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CHAPTER START---
Only a few hours after sunrise, in a now familiar clearing rests the Swamp Wyvern.
Laying peacefully, it sleeps beside the small stream, the clearing around it larger than days ago.
Each day it was expanded, only due to how clumsy its residents are, uprooting, slashing, and snapping the large trees into pieces with every conflict.
Now, as the Swamp Wyvern sleeps peacefully, perfectly vulnerable for an ambush, Oberon floats down into the clearing.
Wearing only his boots and a pair of shorts, arms crossed, body fully healed, and a determined look on his face.
He takes a moment to stretch, relaxing his muscles and preparing his mind. But while most, sane, sensible, intelligent people would pounce at the chance to ambush their target…
Instead, he claps his hands together.
"Grh," the Swamp Wyvern groans as it wakes up, taking a moment to shake the sleep off of itself, glancing at him for a moment before it turns away from him to drink some water from the stream.
Oberon watches patiently, as he's done the two days prior, and takes a few deep breaths as he focuses his Magic Energy.
'Radiance Formula 40: Light Spear!'
40 Runes appear in the air and collide with each other before he crushes them between his palms, and as he opens his hands, a spear of brilliant golden light hovers in front of him.
Oberon reaches out and grabs it, feeling the radiant heat from this Spell like a gentle warmth, but knowing that his enemies would feel it like an inferno.
'Sunlight properties really do wonders for Light Magic, as expected since no human can compete with the sun itself,' Oberon smiles at his new spell, and looks at his opponent.
The Swamp Wyvern glares at him for a moment, eyeing the new Spell wearily, then growls and digs into the ground with its claws.
"You ready?" Oberon asks, taking a combat stance as the spear grows to almost twice his height.
In response the creature roars and charges forward, and another of their daily duels has begun.
Both combatants intending it to be the very last.
Oberon rockets forward, only for the creature to immediately spit a stream of acid at him.
He flies to the left, and it closes the distance, opening its wing to impale him with the claw at the joint of it.
Oberon sees this and raises his spear while moving upward.
The spear and the claw slam into each other, and Oberon has to pour more and more of his Magic Energy into his Spells to keep from being crushed as the creature's overwhelming strength slams him down.
His feet dig into the soft dirt and it presses him to the earth, but he holds the spear above his head, fighting against the immense force.
'That's right, keep pushing down, and…Fall!'
With a thought Oberon leaps backward and increases gravity on the creature tenfold, causing it to stumble and lose balance before falling to the floor.
He wastes no time and charges in at its head, aiming for its relative small, beady eye.
As the spear is closing it, it manages to open its mouth and spit another stream of acid at him, forcing him to fly to the right to avoid it, only for its barbed tail to rush toward him there.
Oberon's eyes widen in surprise as he barely sees the tail rushing toward him.
Instinctually he flies backward, and this causes him to drop the Gravity Magic pinning the Wyvern down, allowing it to pounce forward from its spot on the floor by using its large wings.
As it descends onto him, teeth bared to shred him into ribbons, he sees his opportunity as its clearly off balance.
He rushes upward, at its face, spear held forward aimed at the eyes.
And in response, the creature doesn't back down, instead opening its mouth to spit another stream of acid directly at him.
Oberon sees the attack coming, and fights his instincts, willing himself to send more Magic Energy into his Cosmic Armor, Gravity Magic, and Light Spear, all at once.
Using all his Magics at once, forcing them to resonate within him, as once again.
Under pressure, Magic blooms.
Oberon rushes through the stream of acid as it crashes against his Cosmic Armor, and grabs onto the creature's face.
It lands on the ground and brings its wings down while he lifts his spear, and the moment its wing slams into him he nearly loses his grip.
With the stream of acid still flowing the wing knocks him back into it, but Obeorn places a foot in its mouth, with another hand holding onto its upper teeth, and locks his Cosmic Armor in place.
The creature suddenly realizes that it can't close its mouth, and instead slams its mouth into the ground, putting Oberon's back to the earth as all its weight is pressed against him.
"Mmmmmmm!" Oberon groans as he feels the strain on his Magic Energy while he focuses as much of it as possible into the Light Spear.
And after the creature raises its head once more and slams him into the earth, he trusts his hand forward, extending the Light Spear even more and piercing its left eye.
"DIE!" he screams as he then extends the Light Spear even more, punching a hole directly through its brain, instantly killing it.
The stream of acid stops and Oberon flies out of the way as its body collapses, finally able to take a breath.
He waves his hand, and all the acid is flung off his body, allowing him to look down to see his boots were completely dissolved, the skin beneath perfectly fine.
"I guess in the heat of that fight I forgot to wrap my clothes in the Cosmic Armor too," he says, noticing his pants had acid burnt holes in them.
---10 Minutes Later…
Ores, Oberon's client, the armorer from the Pergrande Kingdom, is sitting at a table in his tent, inspecting a studded leather armor made by his most recent student.
He carefully runs his hand over the material, feeling the Magic Energy flowing through its enchantments, then pours some of his Magic Energy into it, feeling the leather become cold to the touch.
Ores smiles as the Frost Thorns Enchantment works exactly as he taught the girl.
"Sir!" one of the guards rushes into the tent, a panicked look on his face as he looks at Ores.
"What is it?"
"They creature, he killed it," the guard says, as if he doubted his own words.
"Then what are we still doing here, lets go get the other and harvest it," Ores says as he quickly slings a toolbelt over his shoulder and rushes out of the tent.
"That's the thing sir…" the guard stops talking as he and Ores step outside, seeing the Wyvern hovering in the air beside Oberon, who is now fully dressed and wearing his second pair of boots.
"By the gods," Ores mutters.
He looks around to see everyone else in the camp completely stunned by this sight.
"Where do you want this?!" Oberon asks, snapping them out of their stupor.
Ores doesn't speak, he simply points to a clearing beside their camp, and as Oberon takes the corpse over to it, everyone in the camp rushes over to see this exciting sight.
"This is incredible!" Ores says as he approaches Oberon and the corpse. "It's in pristine condition, how did you manage it?!"
"Well, it took a while because of your requirements, but I figured it out," Oberon says as he gestures to the now cauterized hole in eye.
Everyone from the camp gathers around, craftsmen getting to work taking it apart and inspecting it while soldiers bring carts to collect and move the pieces.
Seeing this Oberon hovers away from the organized chaos so he can talk to Ores.
"You really did incredible work, more than worthy of that bonus," Ores says.
"Well, I won't say I didn't have that in mind, but it was very helpful finding a training partner who could really push me," Oberon says.
"The Swamp Wyvern?" Ores gives him a strange look.
"He had a sense of honor, we came to an understanding, it's too bad things had to end this way."
"Well, for what it's worth, in the Pergrande Kingdom we do our best to use every piece of what we hunt, we owe it to nature."
"I'm glad to hear that."
"Great, now, how about we get you paid, let's head back to my tent, you can get your money, then tell me how the fight went over some food," Ores says as he turns around and waves for Oberon to follow him.
---Some Time Later…
After getting paid, Oberon is now sitting in Ores's tent having a meal while the man inspects some Swamp Wyvern scales.
"Oh, this is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen, no contest!" Ores says as he carefully places the scale into a large chest with the others.
"Don't let your girlfriend hear that," Oberon says, jokingly.
"Wife," Ores corrects him. "But, that's assuming she hasn't replaced me by the time we get back."
"How long have you been gone?" Oberon asks while Ores inspects other pieces.
"Two years, and we should take at least another year before we make it back home."
"That's a long time to be away from her," Oberon says.
Ores stops for a moment, glances at the boy, then goes back to inspecting some Wyvern fangs.
"What do you know about my country?"
Oberon shrugs, "The Pergrande Kingdom is by far the largest nation on Ishgar, but until a few decades ago, you were completely isolationist. Now, you allow trade to other nations."
"And even allow some of our people to leave," Ores says. "We're the first wave of Magic Armorers to be allowed to leave and explore the continent, she didn't like it, but this isn't an opportunity I can pass up. Do you know about our history?"
"I've already told you everything I know, sorry."
"Well, try this," Ores reaches into his belt and gently tosses a dagger in Oberon's direction, without even looking.
After hearing Oberon's recount of his battle with the Swamp Wyvern, he was sure that even if they wanted to, they likely couldn't hurt this boy.
Oberon uses Gravity Magic to set it down on the table in front of him, "That's the most beautiful dagger I've ever seen."
"It was my fathers," Ores says. "When you become a Pergrande Knight, you get one of those. We call it a Wizard Killer Dagger."
"That's…unsettling," Obeorn says.
"It's symbolic, really, the thing isn't even Magical," Ores says. "But, a few centuries ago our nation was ruled by tyrannical Wizards, people with all sorts of Magics, and anyone who didn't have a Magic was made a slave.
Until some of those slaves got their hands on the Wizards Enchanted Swords, and killed their masters. They led the rebellion, and became the first knight.
That is why we do not have many Magics in our kingdom, and foreign Wizards are forbidden from entering. Instead, we have the Pergrande Knights, like the men outside.
They have Magic Swords, most of which are simple enough. Slashing and striking Enchantments, simple Enchanted Armor as well. Some purchase or are gifted more powerful items through the government."
"Which you make," Oberon says. "I see, so it's a country of Holder Type Wizards."
"Aye, most people with Magic don't have enough to do anything but use Magic Items, so making an army of them is quite easy, but those with enough Magic Energy are allowed to learn our nation's martial art, and become Royal Knights, they defend the capital.
They belong to the Circle of the Crown, which is like a Guild, I suppose. Instead of Wizard Guilds we have Knight Circles, but instead of Jobs they patrol and protect a certain region, the Circle of the Crown protect the capital city, and the royal palace."
"I see, sounds like my Fiore passport won't do any good at your border," Oberon says.
"A Wizard, especially one as powerful as you, there is no chance of you ever getting into Pergrande, at least not legally."
"So has no Wizard ever visited your nation?"
Ores sighs, "There was one man, he said 'The whims of Magic guided me here…', but the crown was forced to retroactively grant him a travel visa to prevent an international incident."
"He must have been important, a King?"
"Worse, he is currently the most powerful Wizard on the continent of Ishgar, the Wizard Saint, God Serena."
"I've heard of him, Master Makarov said he's…difficult."
"A polite way of saying he's a pretentious, selfish, arrogant, greedy, irksome piece of trash," Ores takes a deep breath to refocus on his work. "But the man is overwhelmingly powerful, so nobody could stand against him. His little one man invasion cost us a few thousand knights when they tried to arrest him, before we knew who he was, and since then it's been impossible for other Wizards to get permission to enter the nation."
Oberon frowns, "I was hoping to go see how the Knights use Magic, but I guess that's impossible huh."
Ores laughs, "Sorry, but between that 'Wizard Saint' and our history with Wizards, the last thing we want is powerful Wizards within our border, but if it makes you feel any better, if I'm even in a position to recommend you for a visitors visa, I will."
"Thanks, I'll be sure to be on my best behaviour, I promise!" Oberon says excitedly as he finishes his food.
"What a strange child, but I suppose powerful Wizards are the farthest thing from normal, God Serena showed us that much…"
END CHAPTER---
Discord: discord .gg /eHuxNeZfyS [Come chat with me]
pat.reon: Keanu_Eugene [Read ahead & support me]
You.tube: @KeanuEugene [Giving away all my writing knowledge]