Revian feet sank into the ground as if the plane he stood on was made out of liquid. His body was like a sailing ship, cruising faster and faster without the slightest obstacle blocking him. Althea followed beside him, doing the same.
After a while...
"Sir Mahanta, I see nothing but Uhndak, should my side flank them?" Hada suggested from the edge of his seat.
Uhndak is probably the weakest monster out there. Though they're really versatile in large numbers. I think Hada already asked Althea if there's a Knife Holder among them, cause if there's even just one, he won't be so daring to propose something like this.
Unless of course, he got an idea of his own.
"No need, Your Grace. Just let me take care of this fast so you kids can safely proceed to your orientation destination." As expected, Sir Mahanta rejected the boy's suggestion.
"Hmm…" You could his the dissapointment in Hada's tone. He must have something he wanted to try with Falisha and Althea.
"Ahahaha, don't be like that Your Grace, let me put on a show to make it up for you."
Accompanied by a smile, Sir Mahanta grabbed his spear and shield and hopped out from Revian's room.
He dropped onto his shield with lethal grace, instantly carving a path through the white snow. It was in a blink of an eye that he managed to eclipses Revian by fivefold.
Far ahead of us, the Uhndaks lined up in disarray, pointing their weapons at us. Their charcoal black skin seemed unaffected by the cold air, with armor covering only their torso and arms. Their maroon eyes glared ferociously at Sir Mahanta who was scourging towards them.
A maroon aura began to bleed into their steel, pulsing with the unmistakable light of the Chaos element. The realization hit us cold: a Knife Holder walked among them. Chaos can disturb anything it touches, which is why those mages are highly dangerous for newbies like us.
Speaking of Knife Holder, why on Conqueror's name did Hada suggest a flank!? Did he has a death wish?
On the other hand, the snow didn't just part behind our Watcher—it evaporated, instantly melted by the searing heat of his shield. He rode the momentum until the gap was closed, then broke into a tight roll, rising into a lethal stance with his spear leveled at the Uhndak lines.
"This is why you shouldn't have bloomed in winter, friend…" He muttered to the Uhndaks.
Twin antlers erupted from the face of his shield, branching out wildly with a molten orange glow. The area around him grew scorching hot. Snow hissed into nothing, grass burnt to cinder.
By his strength the Sky bruised in crimson,as he drew his spear slowly, giving rise to a blazing fire, which he used as the chain of command for what he was about to summon.
[Fire Arts]
[7th Level]
"(Band of Fire Stags)"
"Genbregada Arinaai!"
From the heat of the wind, gathered orange fireflies that coalesced into stags, bathed in turbulent fire. Flamming breath blew from their noses, burning the air to nothingness.
Their gazes were fixed on the enemy far away, and their feet made a furious stance for their arrival. Sir Mahanta raised his spear high, ready to give a command to his wild troops.
"Level 'em!"
His eyes flared, matching the inferno of the beasts he commanded.
The herd surged forward, lunging at the Uhndak with a blinding speed. The earth convulsed under their weight, the ground blackened by their searing hooves. The sound of their primal roar tore the air open, leaving terror to those who heard it.
All of a sudden, lines of maroon chaos shields emerge in retaliation, covering those Taanji from the Band of Fire Stags charging toward them.
But it was useless.
Every single shield shattered, along with the bodies of the shredded Uhndaks. Everything was squashed and burnt, swept away by those raging animals. The only thing left for me to see was scorched trails that sent ashes flying into the sky.
"Bless the Cold Wind… that's a Platinum member alright…"
We're all astonished, gawking at the scale of destruction our Watcher's brought. He's not even from the main bloodline, nor a Damage Dealer. He's supposed to be a vanguard that protects masses with his shield, yet he completely flattens everything on his path.
Later, Revian and Althea continued their ride through the black land which was filled by nothing but ash and dust. Sir Mahanta quickly hopped back to Revian's room and sit among us with a satisfied grin on his face.
"Sir Mahanta, do you have any statistics we could see? I wanna read your attributes." I asked as soon as he entered, curious about just how strong he is in numerical value.
"Statistic? Oh! Here's my Guild Member Card, on its back, Your Highness can see all those numbers Your Highness wanted. But I might not be able to explain all your questions, this numerical system had just been implemented along with the birth of the Academy."
No matter, I'm sure Hada can come up with something more comprehensive in the future.
With his card in my hand, everyone then gathered to see what's written on it. Even Hada and Falisha jumped from Althea's room to satisfy their curiosity.
[EXP: 5732/7200]
[Strength: 9691 + xxxx + xxxx]
[Agility: 850 + xxxx + xxxx]
[Intelligence: 631 + xxxx + xxxx]
[Perception: 600 + xxxx + xxxx]
[*Vitality: 18253 + xxxx + xxxx]
[Max Stamina: 1500 + xxxx + xxxx]
[Max Mana: 100 + xxxx + xxxx]
[Max Speed: 312 + xxxx + xxxx]
Praise the Sun! What are these values!? The first set alone is like 5 times my statistic… even more! Is this the effect of God of Death's blessing!?
We all can't help but froze, shocked at how big those numbers are. He can easily wipe people from the main bloodline like me with this much power… well unless we're talking about my father though, he's just beyond powerful.
"Sir Mahanta, why are there 3 sets of numbers?" Hada asked. I'm actually wanted to ask that too.
"Hm, if I remember correctly His Holiness said that each of them represents different sources." Sir Mahanta replied. He then began explaining what he recalled to us.
"The first set is for our base statistic, which all of you get to see on your front page of your [Biodata]. This set is the one that got blessed by His Holiness every time we ranked up. They are decided by our genetics alone."
"The second set is from our activities through our lifetimes. For example, if you lift every day your strength will increase, if you got hit a lot your vitality will increase, and so on."
"Uwoh! More reason to get smacked every day!" Chiya commented in excitement. I can already picture her asking me to punish her every time she gets the chance. Will doing that increase my strength though?
"Sir, does running increase my agility? Or my speed?" Anna asked. That's actually a solid question.
"Both. Though, if you wanted to increase specific attribute, we put all shorts of guide on your class gym's wall." Sir Mahanta answered.
"Oh! I saw them on our way to the bath this morning, isn't that right brother?" Said Falisha.
"Yea, there's even intelligent guide, which is why I've been reading books since getting cleaned."
So Hada already saw it, yet he doesn't share the info with us!? Well… he probably trying to prove something first before telling anyone about his founding.
"Finally, the third set is from our equipment, which is why my uniform and jewelry look kind of tacky. I don't recommend you kids to care about this for now, since they're absurdly pricy, even for a platinum rank like myself." He finished his explanation.
"Understood, Sir!" We answered in unison.
Guild is also known for how rich they paid their members, which is why a lot of Sky Scientists also tried to enroll in the Academy. Money wields a lot of power in this world after all.