VOLUME 2 (NEW HEIGHTS)

CHAPTER 9 - GRAND MOUNTAIN

~2 years later~

ARTHUR LEYWIN

A couple of days have passed and we finally reached the foot of the Grand Mountain, which, by the way, lived up to its name.

During our path, Helen managed to lay down her pride and ask for clarification about the feint step.

Going over it slowly, for each of them to fully understand and get a sense of it. The timing of the interval between the last right foot and the left foot should be and how to properly handle the balance of the output in mana into both feet so you could go the way you’re aiming for.

While I explained to her in perfect terms, I could see the other three idiots' ears growing as they sucked on the information like a mosquito.

The first one to successfully get hold of the technique was Jasmine. After I had judged her to be the cold and genius type, I was correct.

During my lesson of reading and writing in the carriage with my mother, Jasmine would pull me out, almost blushing, only to watch her.

After showing me correctly how the feint step worked, I applauded saying, “Congratulations! You learn so quickly!”

Truth to be told, it was one of the basic techniques I developed, however I didn’t feel like telling her anytime soon.

She was happy, in fact, so happy that she responded curtly saying, “It was nothing”, but the upward curvature of her lips and the slight proud twitch from her nose said otherwise.

By the time we had arrived at the foot of the Grand Mountains, all four idiots had already mastered the technique and adjusted it to their own fighting styles.

Enough about techniques, now let’s talk about the process we are now in for the journey. After making it to the foot of the Grand Mountain, we must now ascend and thankfully the path was wide enough for two carriages. The path circled around the mountain, eventually we would get to the teleportation gate at the top.

Though I must say, having nine people in this carriage really told me that I mustn't judge a book by its cover, seeing as we still had space for two more. In front of the carriage was Durden, holding the reins with my father besides him giving him some company. With our luggage in the top of the carriage. Helen was seated on top along with the luggage to make sure it didn’t fall and to serve as a scout in case of anything. I too was scouting for abnormalities. Angela, my mother and aunt Mia were seated in the back of the carriage, while Adam and uncle James walked behind, keeping guard. While Jasmine steered the carriage, I kept noticing that she would turn her head back and stare at me, almost making the *jiii* sounds.

Is she expecting me to show her other techniques for her to master or something? Not only that but everything I met her gaze, she would quickly turn her head back to the front.

What is she five?

Speaking of age, I turned 4 on the first leg of our journey to the foot of the Grand Mountains. I don’t know when Mother prepared a cake, or where she ever put it. Wait… is it even edible!? But I didn’t complain, put on a big smile, and thanked her and everyone else. While everyone gave me a hug or a pat in the back, Jasmine surprised me then when she handed me a short knife, releasing a proud smile and simply declaring, “Present.”

Aww she cares! I’m tearing up.

However, she wasn’t the only one with a gift, Uncle James and Aunt Mia passed down something astonishing for a 4 year old, that being a hard marble sword. I noticed how Mother and Father’s eyes widened when they saw the present. In a confused and surprised voice Mother said, “A-are you sure you want Art to have this, Mia, James?”

Both nodded and my parents didn’t utter another word towards the topic but rather accepted the fact of the situation. Of course I was solely interested in why both my parents acted like that but I knew I couldn’t bring it up when my Father caught my gaze and shook his head.

Fortunately, our journey up the mountain was rather uneventful. I spent a lot of my time reading my book on mana manipulation, trying to find more discrepancies between mana and ki. So far, it seemed pretty similar except that, in rare cases, an augmenter’s mana usage could take on the property of elements. Reading on, I noticed that for beginners who were able to dabble in this, it wasn’t as distinct as what you might see when conjurers casted spells, but rather the quality of each distinct element.

For example, an augmenter, assuming he has innate compatibility with fire, would have mana that showed an explosive quality when used. Water would naturally have a smooth, flexible quality. As for Earth, it would have a firm and rigid quality. Finally, Wind would have the quality of a sharp blade.

Back in my old world, these kinds of qualities in ki had nothing to do with elements, but rather depended on how you utilized your ki. Shaping your ki into points and edges would give it the so-called “wind element,” while storing up your mana into a single point and bursting it at the last moment would give it the “fire element,” and so on. Sure, practitioners had preferences and were naturally better at practicing one style than the other, but I wouldn’t go as far as to say it was rare.

Only the most basic use of ki involved reinforcing the body and weapons.

I would have to test this with mana in the future. Being stuck in a 4 year old body with constant supervision by suspicious adults made practicing really hard.

I kept reading on when suddenly, Helen’s alarmed voice rang in my ears.

“BANDITS! PREPARE TO ENGAGE!” she shouted, as a rumble of footsteps came from our right and rear.

“Submit, O’ wind and follow my will. I command and gather you around in protection. Wind Barrier!” Instantly I felt a gust of wind forming a tornado around Mother, Angela, Mia, and I. Then the gust bent into a sphere around us.

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Angela was holding out her wand, concentrating on keeping the barrier active while arrows constantly bombarded the barrier, only to get redirected to a different direction.

My mother pulled me in close, trying to shield me using her body from whatever might get through. Thankfully, her efforts didn’t seem to be necessary as the barrier held strong.

In a matter of seconds, the trap converting the carriage was torn to shreds and I got a better view of the situation at hand.

We were completely surrounded.

At least thirty bandits were outside. Our current situation was unfavorable at best, as both our path forward and our retreat back were blocked off by bandits wielding swords, spears, and other close ranged weapons. On the mountainside to our right, there were archers positioned atop a cliff, their bows aimed at us, while only the steep edge of the mountain with the looming fog beckoned to our left.

Jasmine, Durden, Uncle James, and my father seemed to be fine, with no visible injuries, but Helen had an unhealthy pale complexion that seemed to be a result of the arrow jutting from her right calf.

Then, a bald man with multiple scars deforming his face and body of a bear carrying a giant battle axe spoke out. “Look what we have here. Pretty good catch boys. Leave only the girls and the kid alive. Try not to scar them too much. After all, damaged goods will only sell for less,” he snorted with a smirk that revealed a nearly toothless mouth.

Damaged goods…

I felt my body temperature rising; tension from a smoldering anger I haven’t felt towards someone in a while.

Being sheltered in the bubble of my home had almost made me forget that any world has its own share of trash like him.

I was ready to rush this brute, almost forgetting the fact that I was now in a four-year-old’s body when my father yelled out, “There are only four mages and none of them seem to be conjurers! The rest are normal warriors!”

He was right, faint mana fluctuations around a person’s body made mages distinguishable compared to normal humans, only apparent if studied closely. As for whether they were an augmenter or a conjurer, making an inference based on physical structure and the weapon they were holding gave me a pretty solid idea.

I could visibly see how quickly my father reverted back to his former adventurer days when he had once led the Twin Horns as his expression held the wisdom that could only come from experience. He donned his gauntlets, shouting, “Safeguard Formation!”

Uncle James and Adam arrived quickly behind us as he faced the back of the road, spear pointed,sword in stance, while Jasmine and Helen came to our left with both of their weapons unsheathed, facing ahead. My father and Durden faced the mountainside, positioning themselves to protect us from the archers overhead.

Meanwhile, Angela maintained her position, preparing another spell as she kept her wind barrier active.

“Gather and guard my allies O’ benevolent Earth; do not let them be harmed!”

[Earth Wall]

The ground rumbled as a four-meter earthen wall transmuted up from the ground curving up in front of Durden.

Using that moment, my father burst forward, raising his gauntlets in a guard position against the arrows towards the enemy archers.

Moments later, Angela finished her spell and unleashed a torrent of wind blades, aimed at the front and back of the path. That was apparently the cue as Adam and Jasmine shadowed behind the wind spell, arriving in front of our distraught enemies that were covering their vitals against the flurry of blades. Uncle James stayed at our side, blocking and fighting whatever moved with killing intent towards us. Helen remained, her arrow nocked and bow drawn, imbuing the tip with mana that shined in a faint blue light.

It didn’t take a genius to realize that this arrangement was ideal for protecting valuable goods or people. With two layers of protection from the conjurers and an archer mage ready to snipe anyone who managed to cross the assaults of Adam, Jasmine, and Father into the defense line, it was a standard, yet, well thought out formation.

Surprisingly enough, Uncle James, who is not from a mage descendancy but rather a normal human, who started to learn swordsmanship back again just two years ago, was strong enough to fight against an experienced warrior and still manage to win, told me how much of fair share of battles he had.

Warrior coming your way, Helen!” Adam shouted as he dodged the swing of a mace, delivering a precise swipe to the jugular of the unfortunate bandit. His eyes widened as he dropped his weapon, desperately trying to seal the fatal wound with his trembling hands as blood spurted out through the gaps between his fingers.

Mother was holding me firmly in her bosom as she tried to shield my eyes from the scenes of gore happening around us. Fortunately for me, she wasn’t looking down at me so she didn’t realize that I could see fairly clearly how Uncle James beheaded the desperate bandit trying to live from his fatal wound.

Meanwhile, a scruff, middle-aged man wielding a machete lunged towards Angela, hoping to disrupt the spell. Although the wind blade spell didn;t seem all too powerful, it provided a painful distraction that was keeping us on equal footing, despite our lack in numbers. I tried to free myself to block the man before he got in range to attack Angela, but before I could pull myself away from my mother, it was already over.

The fierce sound of the show came only after the arrow had done its job. Helen’s shot had carried a force powerful enough to pierce through the armored chest of the machete-wielding bandit and lift him up and back a half-dozen meters, nailing him into the ground just for Uncle James to finish him, stabbing the bandit’s heart without mercy or hesitation.

I took a brief moment to take a mental note: wise men ought to not piss off Helen.

“I’m sorry for not being of any help to you guys.” Remarked Aunt Mia with her hand covering her mouth and widened red eyes, trembling at the sight of the bandit’s lives being taken. Angela responded, not taking her concentration away from her wind barrier, “It is alright, James is still helping us make this scenario better.”

Helen’s eyes narrowed as she nocked and drew another arrow. Focusing, I could faintly see the mana gathering into her right eye as she shut her left. Soon, another reinforced arrow streaked through, followed by a sharp hiss, ignoring all opposing air resistance as it closed in on another enemy fighter.

This man vaguely resembled a smaller version of Durden, except more muscular and more angular of a face. His brows furrowed in concentration his giant sword, which was his height, had somehow reached the arrow in time, generating a sound of a bullet hitting metal.

The enemy fighter slid back, but wasn’t harmed as he anchored his greatsword into the ground, using it to balance himself. However, before he even had the chance to smirk in content, a second arrow pierced through his forehead. It was a grim sight, seeing the light drain from his eyes.

Jasmine was engaged in an intense duel against an augmenter, whose weapon was a long chain whip. It looked like Jasmine was at a disadvantage since the range of her two daggers was lacking. She was doing all she could to dodge the erratic movements of the whip.

By now, it was evident that the enemy had realized how much she was struggling as he jeered while licking his lips. “I’ll make sure to treat you real well before we sell you off as a slave, little missy. But don’t worry, by the time I’m done training you, you’ll be begging to stay with me,” he hissed, followed by another lick of his lips.

The very thought made me shudder, but, at this point, all I could do was clench my fists in frustration. Against a fighter, I had a chance; against an adult augmenter? I didn’t have the confidence in winning.

It pained me to stay in the protection of everyone while they risked their lives? I tried to come up with something, ways to help, but, so far none came to mind. I could only grit my teeth and endure.