SOUL FORGE CHRONICLES
Chapter 12 — Take This Fireball!
The Low-Grade Synthetic Creature Core looked like an enlarged neuron, with several thick blood vessels extending outward from its surface. When the monster had still been alive, vast quantities of blood and energy had been transported through these vessels to every corner of its massive body.
Now the monster was decomposing rapidly, but the core still pulsed with a steady, healthy rhythm in the palm of Aldric's hand. The blood vessels had sealed themselves shut, and the remaining blood inside had begun its own small internal circulation.
To Aldric, it felt less like a biological organ and more like a specialized parasite capable of sustaining itself independently.
"Not now," Aldric decided quickly.
After losing consciousness during his last refinement session, he had learned his lesson well. From this point forward, he would only perform refinements somewhere truly safe. Besides, the ability to create Synthetic Creature Cores wasn't immediately useful to him right now. There was no harm in storing this core for later.
Aldric carefully placed it into his bag.
The monster's body had completely collapsed into a pile of bleached bones within minutes. Aldric searched through the remains and found a cloth-wrapped staff tucked inside what had been the creature's digestive tract.
"This must be one of the magic items the academy prepared."
He picked it up. About half a meter long, weighing roughly a pound, pitch black in color, with a round crystal about the size of a baby's fist embedded at its top.
Aldric used his Aether Resonance to examine it, and a message left by the staff's creator immediately surfaced in his mind:
[This staff is inscribed with the Minor Fireball spell. Recharge time: three minutes. No automatic recharge circuit. Cost: one third of a standard magic stone per use.]
Aldric clicked his tongue in amazement. He had never encountered a method of information transmission quite like this before.
"Minor Fireball, one third of a magic stone per use, three minute recharge time." He swung the staff a few times to test its balance. "Its cost-effectiveness is a bit low compared to the Frost Spike ring for the current situation."
The Minor Fireball was theoretically more powerful than a Frost Spike — but most of the enemies he had faced so far were opponents with high offense and low defense. The Frost Spike, with its near-zero recharge time and extremely low cost, was far more practical for those situations.
Using Fireball against opponents like that would be like using a cannon to kill a mosquito.
"But something is always better than nothing. Who knows when I'll run into a stronger magical beast further ahead."
Aldric shook his head, stored the staff carefully, and reactivated his Silence spell before quietly slipping away from the scene.
Not long after Aldric left, several students drawn by the earlier commotion arrived at the monster's remains.
"Too late. Someone already got here before us."
"Then what now? Did we come all this way for nothing?"
The students exchanged frustrated glances and turned toward the bald student standing at the front of their group.
The bald student was just beginning to think through their options when a massive figure leaped out from the dark forest.
The man was approximately two meters tall, his powerful frame encased in battered armor. More than a dozen bags were tied to his waist. In one hand he gripped a massive double-edged sword, and in the other he dragged a barely conscious student by the collar as casually as one might carry a sack of grain.
"Don't worry about what to do." His voice was low and cold as iron. "All of you are going to die here."
...
The next morning, the sun rose as it always did, indifferent to the violence that had unfolded beneath its light.
Aldric rose from his pile of fallen leaves. After a night of meditation, his mind was sharp and alert — but his body was a different story. After a full day of travel and the unexpected confrontation at midnight, every muscle ached with a deep, persistent soreness.
But the journey had to continue.
Aldric pushed through the discomfort and got moving. The monster's rampage the night before had cleared several new paths through the otherwise dense undergrowth, saving him considerable effort. With the assistance of Featherweight, he covered nearly half of the remaining distance with relative ease on the second day.
As they all drew closer to the destination point, the density of students in the forest gradually increased. Every student he encountered carried at least two or three bags of supplies. After briefly displaying their crystal balls, most simply continued on their way without incident. Only a fool would risk their life in a fight when the exam requirements had already been satisfied.
That night, Aldric settled among fallen leaves to meditate once more.
Even though most students this far along had already secured their requirements, Aldric remained cautious. Throughout the entire day he had been unable to shake the persistent feeling that someone was following him at a careful distance — a feeling that made it difficult to sink into deeper meditation.
His instincts told him not to dismiss it.
And indeed, dozens of meters away, a large powerfully built figure crouched silently in the branches of a thick tree, watching Aldric's position with cold calculating eyes. More than a dozen bags dangled from his waist.
"I've been following him all day, and all he does is keep moving and avoid everyone he sees. How could a coward like this have been the one to kill that monster?"
He had assumed any student capable of killing a beast like that would be a formidable knight. But after a full day of observation, this person seemed no different from all the other unremarkable students who had already been eliminated.
Was he deliberately hiding his true strength?
...
Aldric, halfway between wakefulness and meditation, suddenly felt a cold chill shoot down his spine.
His body reacted before his mind could — he ducked sideways on pure instinct.
CRACK!
A wooden spear as thick as a grown man's forearm buried itself into the tree trunk right beside his head. Its sharpened tip still vibrated from the force of the throw.
Someone had just tried to kill him. And not just anyone — this throw had been made with extraordinary precision and force.
Aldric's hand immediately shot to the Fireball staff at his side.
To throw a piece of wood with that kind of accuracy and penetrating power, the attacker was either a highly gifted knight, or the owner of an extremely powerful magic artifact. Aldric was hoping for the former — because the latter would mean this person had both.
"He dodged it. It seems there's some ability there after all."
A heavy voice drifted from the darkness. Aldric turned, and a large powerful figure stepped out from the forest — a massive double-edged sword resting casually across one shoulder, more than a dozen bags swaying at his waist.
More than a dozen bags. Aldric's grip on the staff tightened slightly.
In this exam, the minimum requirement was just two crystal balls at the finish line. Yet this man had already accumulated more than a dozen bags of trophies — which meant he had killed more than a dozen students and hung their belongings from his waist as if they were hunting prizes.
This person wasn't just dangerous. He was unhinged.
"Allow me to introduce myself." The man's tone was bizarrely formal given the circumstances. "I am Cavan Redstone, of the Norrath Empire. Might I ask your name?"
Moonlight filtering through the canopy illuminated his face. Red hair, sharp triangular eyes, a straight nose, and a long scar running from the bridge of his nose all the way to the outer corner of his right eye. His armor was covered in dents and gouges from what must have been dozens of battles, yet there wasn't a single wound visible on his body.
This was an extremely skilled fighter. Almost certainly a full knight.
Aldric said nothing. He studied Cavan in silence, running through his options in the span of a breath.
"Not going to answer?"
After waiting for a reply that never came, Cavan gave a calm, unhurried shrug.
"People who won't even give their name can just die."
The massive double-edged sword swung off his shoulder in one fluid motion, its blade catching the moonlight as it arced toward Aldric with devastating speed.
Aldric didn't flinch. Didn't step back.
The red light at the tip of the staff in his hand had already been building from the moment Cavan first spoke.
A slow, cold smile crossed Aldric's lips.
"Foolish. Take this Fireball!"
— End of Chapter 12 —