Roughly 100 years later in a forest right at the bottom of Mount Lizard's Run.
A a long white-haired, blue-eyed boy about 7 years old with an ethereal blue Dragon gem embedded in his forehead is seen blending into a pile of bushes amidst a forest, It was Lucius Stormblade. He put his hand to is side and gripped a make shift spear made out of wood beside him, his eyes never once left whatever he was watching. He was staring at a 3 meter tall beast that's contently eating a corpse, probably one of it's victims.
The beast looked like a feline type beast,it's fur was black and there were two huge canines peering out of it's mouth, it's eyes blood red and only bloodlust could be felt from those eyes, no hatred just pure clean blood lust. A proud beast of the wild. It's muscles filled with arrogance, battle scars covered it's entire body, it's body spoke of a long story about battle
and survival. It was a PantherClaw Tiger, known for it's extreme aggression and agility, A king of the forest.
Lucius threw a small pebble the slightly smaller than a chicken egg at a tree directly opposite of where he was kneeling, so the beast would expose the back of it's head.
*Nockk*
The beast instinctively turned, before the stone could hit the floor, Lucius shot out like an arrow from a bow, his steps quiet his presence perfectly hidden, his grip on the spear as natural as if it were an extension of his arms, every single movement was adorned with the efficiency of a top tier predator, not a single wasted movement! He closed the 100 meter
gap in the blink of an eye, hovering slightly in the air above the beast, the jagged wooden spear pierced the air as it came down as fast as lightning and lodged itself into the neck of the beast!
*Squelch**
The beast was dumb-struck a look of disbelief in it's eyes, it couldn't believe that after all of it's battles of life and death, after making itself a king of the forest, it would be killed without being able to fight back, it refused to believe so!
**ROOOAARR**
As it roared in fury and anger, the spear broke in two, one piece in Lucius' hand, one piece in the neck of the beast. The beasts tough body stopped the low quality wooden spear from dealing a killing blow. As the beast regained itself, It lunged in desperation at Lucius with both claws, the beast tried to redesign it's fate and decided to destroy this impudent one.
*Whoosh*
Seeing the fierce determination in the eyes of the beast Lucius lowered his body and doged
under the two deathly sharp claws that vowed to shred him into pieces!
As he jolted right under the beast, thereby making it's desperate strike catch nothing but air,
he used the weight of the beast, and did a low spin kick to the beasts right leg, making it
fall forward, twisting his body once more Lucius body shot up like an arrow and jammed the broken wooden spear directly into the beast's eyes pushing it all the way to the make shift handle, killing it instantly. It couldn't even make a single sound.
Lucius then dusted his hand's and cheerfully said
"That's the last one huh, Now that I've finished Uncle Xia's request, I should return"
But before he moved, he realized the corpse the Pantherclaw was eating moved.
'There's no way that thing could be alive, I didn't sense any presence at all' he thought
as he cautiously approached it.
Sparks of lightning quietly appeared in his hand as he formed a fist. He kicked over the corpse and what he saw was a young white small fox like creature with 9 tails and purple eyes. When Xiaxinia told him about the inhabitants of the forest he never mentioned anything like this. It was only then Lucius' realized that the corpse that was being eaten by the tiger was similarly shaped to this little fox and it was female, he could have guessed what happened. It probably tried to protect it's young to the end.
It's not the first time feline and canine species failed to get along, this was common in the wild. As he stared at the little one, it stared back at him in fear and confusion, unaware of if it was going to live or die. Lucius' gave her a warm smile, picked her up and walked over to the corpse, Lucius used his lightning and some twigs to start a fire, and he began roasting the tiger, to which he ate and gave some to the little fox, at first the little fox was too nervous to eat, seeing that Lucius picked up the little fox put her on his lap, stroked her for a while and then when the little fox stopped trembling, he then offered the food once more to which the fox, ate enthusiastically.
Lucius took the skin of the tiger where he made a sort of sling to hold a baby in, he then placed the fox in it. He looked for a tree with a sturdy branch, then remade a low quality wooden spear so he could continue his training when he arrived home, he then begun climbing up the mountain.
After an hour of climbing, he reached a sort of cave, it was a cave he created so he could get a view down to the vast plains, as he didn't have superior eyesight like his mother and his uncles the view on top was impeded with fog as they were too high up he couldn't see a thing, he could always use his variant lightning magic to clear it, Storm magic.
A magic only he could use, the same as his grand mother and grand father. His Lightning contained traces of a different element, as he could compress the wind around his Lightning making it explode on contact creating a Thunder effect or he could use his magic to directly affect the weather, something most lightning mages couldn't do, such was the glory of variant lightning magic.
There are many applications for Storm magic, but young Lucius had no access to them, He needed insight, something he could only gain through basic knowledge, something the dragons couldn't teach him, and he knew this well. No matter how much Varathraga tried, the most he could do was increase Lucius' mana capacity, and his control.
Lucius learned a few Dragonic Lightning spells, ones that were accessible to him thanks to his Storm Magic, but was warned not to use them until his body could handle it or his mana pool could support it.
He began making his way into the cave, there was an entrance to a spiraled staircase, to the right of it were a pile of rocks, he went over to the rocks and poured mana in a specific one and then continued up the stairwell, the stairwell was enchanted with divine magic, it was a joke Varathraga and Xiaxinia played on Veranathus, as he always claimed to be the fastest, the stairwell was designed so the length of distance was multiplied by 1000 times if you didn't pour mana in the rock.
They challenged him to a race in human form to see who was faster and they recommended the stairwell I built as it was wide enough for three human shaped figures. Veranathus always loved showing off since he was more the warrior type dragon and agreed, well you could pretty much figure out what happened after that.
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Veranathus didn't talk to them for weeks. After about half an hour Lucius came to the exit, he hopped out the cave, making his way to Xiaxinia's nest.
As he walked up he saw a black haired, young man in his mid twenties, red eyes, with a handsome face, and lean body, in full black leather armor peering down at the world below him and yawning, looking incredibly bored and sleepy.
"Uncle Xia I've returned, and brought the all the teeth of the Kings from the forest below" said Lucius.
Upon hearing Lucius' voice Xia turned around with a smile and a face relieved of its boredom,
he replied
"Ahh!, Lucius you're back!", " Did you kill them all in one hit like I asked you to?" He queried
Lucius then made a sort of sad expression and spoke softly
"Not the pantherclaw tiger, it took two hits. The spear couldn't penetrate the first time"
Xiaxinia observed all of the teeth and then he said
"Yeah that sounds about right, I designed it that way for a reason, Veranathus will show you how to piece steel with paper"
he then followed up with
"I wanted you to get accustomed to an ever changing battle situation to make sure you never put your complete trust in an attack, Sometimes, a cornered, dying beast is the most dangerous thing Lucius, never take your eyes off your enemy even if you're sure he's going to die."
He said sternly, "Understand?"
Lucius nodded, and said resolutely " I understand Uncle".
"Well aren't you going to introduce me to our little guest?" said Xiaxinia
It was then Lucius remembered. he then looked down at the little fox peering out of the sling, looking nervous, it seemed it recognized the presence of the Dragons.
"Oh right! Uncle Xia you never mentioned seeing a beast that fits this description, what is it?"
Lucius replied as he took the little fox out, it wrapped it's tiny tails around Lucius as if to say don't hand me over, with a look of fear in it's eyes Lucius couldn't help but chuckle,
"Don't worry, this is my uncle he won't harm you" he said while he lovingly stroked it's little head". The little fox's fear, calmed down a bit as if it understood what Lucius said.
"Oh!! This is a nine tailed elemental fox!! These guys are thought to be close to extinction, there are probably only a few of them left in the entirety of Zenheim Lucius, As these guys grow in the wild, the element they are most exposed to becomes integrated in their bodies and they are capable of mastering that single element, they were hunted by humans and other races, because they make invaluable companions to mages, as they could tame them, and inject them with their own mana, so the pet can receive it's magical capabilities and affinities, but these guys don't bow just to anyone, they absolutely hated being owned by anyone, they refused weak masters and no matter how much they were beaten, they would never submit, That's why they became close to extinction."
Xiaxinia day dreamed for a second as he looked well off into the distance and then muttered to himself under his breath ....."How fitting..that these two would meet"
He then returned focus to Lucius and said.
"It seems this little one has taken a great liking to you and already chose you at it's master, so you should finish the contract"
"How do I do that Uncle?" asked Lucius.
"Well just put a drop of your blood on her forehead and inject your mana slowly into it's tails"
Lucius did as he was told, and the fox didn't resist it seemed to want it on it's own. As he began pouring mana into the little fox's tail, he could feel it pulling every ounce of mana he had, at an alarming rate, he looked at his uncle but his uncle nodded as if to say it was normal.
The little fox then started glowing in a blue light and then it fell asleep.
"Alright Lucius, go put her in your room and give her time for her body to evolve and adjust"
Lucius got up and carried the little fox to his room, Venastrasia saw him approaching and gave him a kiss on his cheeks, she gave a sweet smile at the little fox and gave a giggle.
"What's wrong mom?" Queried Lucius.
"Nothing, fufu it's better you find out on your own" his mother replied with a mischievous face.
He put the little fox on his bed and wrapped it in his cover so it wouldn't feel cold. He then left, and went to his make shift gallery, where he could see far off into the plains, as he decided to meditate there he loved changing locations to meditate, but before he sat down, he peered over the cliff and looked down, to his surprise, what he saw was a human climbing up the cliff approaching the entrance of his cave. He then poured mana into the rocks and charged up the stairs, he wasn't sure if to kill the human or not, so he went to go ask his mother.
When he returned he saw Xiaxinia, Varathraga and Veranathus talking to one another, Veranathus hid something pole shaped wrapped in black cloth behind his back and began whistling while walking back slowly....Lucius could clearly see it, because the pole was without a doubt long.
Veranathus then stealthily retreated...He approached Varathraga and Xiaxinia and asked worriedly.
"W-what's wrong with Uncle Vera? Could it be? He's still mentally suffering from the prank Uncles did on him?"
"Hahaha, you'll find out later" said Varathraga, as Xiaxinia just smiled.
Venastrasia approached the three, and asked Lucius " Not going to meditate again?"
She found it strange Lucius would come back after he said he was going to meditate, Lucius was meticulous and never became lazy. Something, Venastrasia took alot of pride in. So she was surprised since this was the first time he had ever came back.
"Oh, well there was a human climbing up the cliff, so I wondered should I kill him? he doesn't look dangerous though, if anything he looked incredibly stupid" Stated Lucius truthfully.
Xiaxinia put on a mischeivous smile as he thought of something and said " No no, let him climb up, this should be a bit fun"
Venastrasia sighed as she facepalmed and walked back into the cave she and Lucius shared to watch over the little fox, before she entered she stopped and then turned back to say a few words.
"Once you're done with the human, don't kill him I want to speak with him about a few things" She then showed a strange expression and looked at Lucius.
The three nodded with devious smiles, as they intended to scare the living daylights out of the dumb looking human.
After some time passed, the dumb looking human emerged from the Gallery cave ( Cave with the view)
As Lucius looked down at him, he was waiting on top the entrance of the cave. Lucius chuckled quietly and then hopped down quietly behind the man.