6 years later…
Status
Name: Caution Hunt (Level 2)
Titles: Ultimate Challenger
Health points (HP): 10
Mana consumption: 0/18 (MC)
Stats
Strength: 21 Agility: 30
Stamina: 43 Vitality: 2
Perception: 5 Magic: 9
Healing: 1 Free points: 0
Special items: Crimson energy store. (Creator gift)
----------------------------------------
SKILLS LEARNED
- Fire Magic. (Basic)- Minor increase to the manipulation of Fire Elemental Magic based on the Magic stat. Allows the user to use learned fire spells of the basic tier with greater ease.
- Earth Magic. (Basic)- Minor increase to the manipulation of Earth Elemental Magic based on the Magic stat. Allows the user to use learned earth spells of the basic tier with greater ease.
- Water Magic. (Basic)- Minor increase to the manipulation of Water Elemental Magic based on the Magic stat. Allows the user to use learned water spells of the basic tier with greater ease.
- Air Magic. (Basic)- Minor increase to the manipulation of Air Elemental Magic based on the Magic stat. Allows the user to use learned air spells of the basic tier with greater ease.
- Elemental Sustain (Intermediate) - Allows the user to perform learned basic spells of the fire, water, earth, and air elements without incantations for five minutes.
- Healing (Basic)- Allows the user to heal themselves by 2 health points once a day.
----------------------------------------
Caution scratched his neck every fifteen seconds. Skin flakes sprinkled in the air, falling onto his shoulders. Most of what he admired about his previous body seemed non-existent in his current one. He was 5 ft 4, had no facial hair, and spoke with a voice too high for his liking. Had the square head and its buddies forced him to skip puberty as a joke?
He possessed no stand-out physical characteristics apart from a severe case of eczema which tormented him 24/7. It started when he was eleven but had kicked up a notch over the last three years. Patches of itchy, dry skin were currently on the sides of his lips as well as the neck, forehead, eyelids and even his genitals.
Caution stood in a field full of daises, sunflowers and a wide variety of other beautiful flowers and stared at the clear blue sky. The only two things he liked about his current body was his dark brown skin and coarse purple hair. Although he wasn’t a fan of bright, distinctive colours, the hair reminded him of one of the anime protagonists Abeo would rant about. If his son thought it was cool then he had no complaints.
Since Caution shed tears, there wasn't a day spent without thinking of Abeo, Phoebe, Sonya and everything of value to him in his previous life. One thing became crystal clear as the months stretched into years...
It was impossible to forget or detach from Manny Okoro.
The two bodies were intrinsically linked by an invisible bond. If Caution concentrated hard enough he could hear a slow second heart beating and even nurses talking directly to him on rare occasions. Every blissful and painful memory from the 39-year-old man refused to fade, shining bright at the forefront of his mind and reminding him of what was at stake. He wondered if the strong bond was created on purpose by the creators to motivate contestants.
Caution closed his eyes in the hopes to hear his loved ones again like he did six years ago. "Come on,” he muttered. “Please. Come on..."
“Brother!”
Caution turned around to see Yolga running towards him. His younger brother was taller which resulted in some of the villagers to think that he was the older sibling. They shared wide noses, large foreheads and small ears. Their bodies, however, were in two different leagues. While Yolga was slim, Caution was, to put it bluntly, absolutely shredded. He was too muscly for a sixteen-year-old. It was overwhelming and the short height only exacerbated the problem.
“How was your sleep?” Caution asked.
Yolga slowed from a run to a cautious walk. On the surface, it seemed like a perfectly normal question but the brothers both knew the words held no substance. They were filler words soaked with subtext, a hidden meaning…
Ready when you are, little brother.
In the beautiful field of daisies, this was their training ground.
Caution looked around before shrugging. Lilly was nowhere to be found. “Trying something new today? It won’t work. It never works.”
Yolga only smiled warmly. Caution gave a nod of approval. His younger brother had his ass whooped more than enough times to let a simple taunt affect him.
Suddenly, they chanted spells simultaneously and their eyes glowed purple. A cloud of dust engulfed Caution but immediately a gust of wind cleared it away. Again, they chanted spells at the same time. A stream of fire burst out of Yolga’s hand only to meet a stream of water.
“No way! How do you always guess right?”
Despite the aggravation in his voice, Yolga’s face showed no trace of frustration. It was melodrama for the sake of melodrama. He was stalling or something.
Caution advanced. “You’ve improved immensely in close combat. Show me.”
Yolga frowned at the rare compliment. He opened his mouth as if he was about to respond but then dashed away. “Hell no!” The pitch of his voice gradually increased with every word. “He’s coming! Sis, he’s coming, he’s coming, he’s coming!”
Caution didn’t bother running. Instead, he slowly walked in his brothers direction. He felt like the terminator for some reason. When he caught up, Yolga stood on a footpath beside his sister with a confident smirk.
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Like a mad scientist, Lilly cackled, purple hair flying about wildly due to the wind. A large ball of green light shined between her hands. It reminded Caution of Square Head’s healing magic used at the final round of the mini game event. She seemed to be forming an extremely advanced magic spell.
“Brother, your time is up!” Lilly cried. “Time and time again you have defeated us but today is different. Your win streak has gone on for long enough.”
“Tell him sis!” Yolga boomed, egging his sister on. His eyes beamed with excitement. “Tell him! Let the boy know!”
“For thousands of hours, I have been practising my magic for this very moment. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the debut of my first mastery spell. Fear my power! Regret being born! Suffer under the wrath of my holy prison, dear brother!”
Lilly spun once and threw the ball of light as if it were a shot put. It floated through the air slowly. Before it could get close to Caution, the light fizzled into nothing.
At first, no one said anything.
Caution flicked his red cube repeatedly and tried to ignore the second hand embarrassment. Yolga looked at Lilly who avoided eye contact.
Yolga pressed his palms together. “We come here today to remember the life of Lilly Hunt. She was a stupid girl. Her life was short but eventful. May her soul rest in peace.”
“Huh?” Lilly said.
Yolga’s fist flew towards her head but she ducked just in the nick of time. Caution watched with amusement as the twins exchanged punches. They blocked each other's attacks and tried to outsmart each other by throwing various combinations. He had taught them well.
“You said you perfected the spell!” Yolga cried.
“Yeah, in my mind!”
“You left me alone with that monster for that garbage? My life flashed before my eyes!”
“Your life always flashes before your eyes! Stop whining, you baby!”
“Shut up, shut up, shut up! I can’t trust you again!”
The twins continued to block and evade until their right hooks connected with a temple at the same time. They sunk to the ground.
Caution suppressed a smile, shaking his head. Normally, unproductive training sessions pissed him off—he was hoping to experiment more on blending boxing with elemental magic—but today was an exception. He was in a good mood. After six years of training, he was ready to leave for Adventurer Academy.
He had come a long way.
Initially, progress in the magic department had been abysmal. No spell had worked regardless of how perfect Caution enunciated the incantation since he wasn't able to absorb enough mana from the atmosphere. The solution to the problem, however, was surprisingly simple. Almost every waking second of every day, he practiced absorbing mana and releasing it. Gradually, his mana consumption stat increased from 6 to 18 and his magic stat increased from 3 to 9. Mana consumption practice became an integral part of his fitness regime, and he was able to catch up to Yolga and Lilly in magical ability.
He was now not only a half-decent elemental mage but probably the only one who preferred to fight up close and personal.
----------------------------------------
Apart from family, no one in the village knew Caution personally. He was known as the strange kid who ran early in the morning and punched the air every five seconds. The twins, on the other hand, were a lot more sociable and befriended most of the teenagers around their age. Aside from training and playing with the other kids, the two helped farmers with agricultural work using their basic elemental magic. It was partly due to boredom but they also seemed to love the quiet town and wanted to help out. It was uncommon for humans to possess the ability of magic. According to Caution’s father, ten per cent of humans could use magic and the majority of those ten per cent became adventurers.
The geography of Caution's world was significantly different to Manny's with the earth split into four main lands known as Continent Emerald, Continent Silver, Continent Sapphire and Continent Black. Caution's village and Lissos City, the home of Adventurer Academy, were both parts of Continent Emerald.
Caution stood outside his parents' house carrying a rather large backpack. While waiting for the twins to say their final goodbyes to all their friends, he stared at the Half-Dead leaderboard.
PAGE 100
Rank Contestant Points Kills 991 Stewart Perry 0 0 992 Zuzanna Small 0 0 993 Lennie Grey 0 0 994 Amanda Keith 0 0 995 Isaiah Brady 0 0 996 AJ Jefferson 0 0 997 Manny Okoro 0 0 998 Ria Thompson (DEAD) 0 0 999 Shin Malano (DEAD) 0 0 1000 Alex Sheen (DEAD) 0 0
To his surprise, over the past six years, no contestant had gained any points but three had mysteriously died.
The deaths happened on different years and they reminded him of how little he knew about the world he was in. He had reincarnated in a peaceful country free from conflict and monsters but how dangerous were other places? Did the contestants die because they were born in environments too brutal for a child to live in? Did someone kill them?
“Since you were a baby, you’ve always had that look in your eye.” Caution’s father stood next to him, ruffling his purple hair.
“What do you mean?”
“You have this look of concentration. It’s as if you’re focusing on something that isn’t there.”
“Oh really?” Caution closed the dashboard and looked up at his father.
“I feel like I haven’t been able to teach you anything you don’t already know. At such a young age, you seem to have your whole future figured out. You’re confident, wise and strong. I couldn’t be any more proud but-”
Silence lingered. There was an unusual tension.
“What’s wrong father?”
“We rarely see you smile. We’ve never seen you laugh. You’ve only cried once in your lifetime. You don’t make any effort to make friends despite having the social skills to do so. What’s troubling you?”
“So you and Mum are worried. That’s why you’re making Yolga and Lilly come with me.”
His father nodded. “Every now and then, they seem to bring the life out of you. It will be safer for you to go with them.”
“I see.”
Caution took some time to think. “Well, I’ve been feeling empty, like there’s a hole in my chest. Every day I wake up with the belief that something integral in my life is missing. I’m going to find this missing thing by any means necessary and once I find it I will be complete. I’m sure of it.”
His father hugged him. “I’m not sure I understand.” His voice wavered, and he seemed to be on the verge of tears. “But I hope you find what you’re looking for. I really do, son.”