Chapter 64: The nightmare

Upon reaching the hill, Lucien was stunned to see so many fire root grass and countless fire root seeds littered around. This was like a paradise for fire magic beasts. With the help of his win element, Lucien was able to gather a huge pile of fire root plants and fire root seeds after which he proceeded to store them in his pocket dimension and quickly returned to the camp, Leaving the fire hounds and the other fire pups in their territory.

Upon return, Lucien ended up meeting Hex just like he had seen in his vision, Lucien checked on Brian, and only after confirming he was recovering did he calm down. He then spent some time with Hex and talked on general topics while feeding his flame pup, after which he fell asleep to recover his energy.

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Lucien was forced to wake up by the grumbling sound of his stomach and the constant barking of the flame pup woke him up. His body shivered due to hunger and when he met the expectant eyes of everyone around he couldn't help but hiss like a snake! Everyone present is hungry and the only edible around is the corpse of the hell hound which should be worth up to a gold coin if he meets the right people.

"I am not giving it up!" Lucien said as he jumped on his feet with his arms raised.

His cold gaze clashed with the murderous gaze of everyone present including Brian and his new partner?

"Come at me all of you!" Lucien growled as he lunged at them viciously!

Time skip…

A sizeable portion of the hell hound was getting roasted by the fire while the flame pup kept feeding on the small stack of fire root seeds. He greedily stuffed more roasted meat in his mouth while thinking of how much money he must have lost with each piece of meat everyone ate.

"Cheer up man, you still have the General level beast core containing the devil flames! A soul flame many will die for!" Hex exclaimed with a hint of sadness in his tone. He wished he could have this.

"You are wrong" Lucien said with a frown on his face.

"The devil flames is nothing more than a mixture of dark and fire elements which the hell hounds use and in my opinion, it's quite common… there are higher grade soul flames that can push your power to the next level, so I suggest you stop aiming too low for yourself… By the way, it will be difficult if not impossible to change soul flames when you have one already." Lucien said sternly.

For now, he had two plans for the beast core he acquired from the hell hound. He can use it to nurture the flame pup to hasten its growth or use it as the power core of his new magic weapon since the wind creek weapon was destroyed in the battle.

"What now?" Brian asked after remaining silent for a while.

They could choose to remain here and wait for the remaining four days to elapse while hoping they don't get attacked by another General level magic beast or a horde of magic beasts. The fire badges they have acquired are enough to give them a good passing grade.

"I intend to go west and get the next badge… I don't know about you guys but I don't plan on sitting and waiting for something to come and kill me. The northern part of this area was under the control of the hell hound and now it's dead and doesn't have any capable leader at the same level, I believe other magical beasts will invade and try to claim this territory for themselves. This place will soon become a battleground! More dangerous than it ever was… I will not be hunted, instead, I will be the one doing the hunting!" Lucien said while thinking deeply.

"I can feel it… with every battle I fight, I get stronger and closer to breaking into a higher realm…" Lucien said calmly.

Seeing that Brian and Hex planned on going with him, Lenard chose to join in as well. They all considered it safe fighting a general level magic beast by Lucien's side than fight numerous soldier level beasts alone.

With that settled the two teams decided to head west together. Along the way, they came across so many magic beasts of different levels but since those beasts were nowhere near the general level they were easily dispatched of, even without Lucien raising a finger. During this time, Lucien had the opportunity to observe Lenard's team and judge their strength based on their performance in battle.

One thing he noticed was that these three put in so much effort in polishing their physical combat prowess even though they were didn't bother to join the slayer or guardian classes for melee combatants. Observing them fight, Lucien could swear on his life that these three had someone backing them up in the shadows. A tutor who excelled in physical combat and magic. 

Lucien was also fortunate enough to notice the flaw in their strength as mages. Even though they possessed strong affinities to their special and extremely rare magic, they were lacking versatility in casting a spell. Since finding people with their magic affinity is rare, these people have no grimoire to rely on, so they have relied on original spells created by them. Only now did Lucien understand why Instructor Emma insisted on him learning normal spells.

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After a journey that took a day and a half, Lucien and the others concluded that students are not meant to collect all four badges, judging based on the massive distance between the hills. They had reached the foot of the western hill only to be greeted by a strong black cloud at the peak of the hill and bodies of students littered all over the place!

"What the hell?" Lucien covered his nose as the foul odor invaded his body. 

Taking two steps back he wanted to throw up but he fought hard to hold it back. Turning around he noticed the others were already pouring out their breakfast without remorse.

"You guys are in no condition to fight… stay here" Lucien said dryly as he summoned the wind wheels and sped off before they could respond. Leaving the little flame pup with them.

[New quest acquired!]

[The general level magic beast; The Nightmare is currently battling some students, save their lives, Kill the nightmare and have them acknowledge you!]

His eyes narrowed as he threw the new quest a glance and frowned. He could guess that the other students all around the beginner rea, realized how hard things are so they joined forces. Judging based on the number of dead students out there he could tell this team was relatively large when compared to theirs since it must have comprised of at least five teams. To think that four teams will die in battle and only one will be left. This made Lucien wonder;

Am I not supposed to be the most powerful member of my set or are there people more capable than I am even with the help of the system?

"I refuse to believe that!" Lucien declared as his eyes let out a bright silver light.

Finally calming down, he tried to recollect all he knew about the general level beats nightmare, the third form of the black Hush. This magic beast feeds from the negative emotions of those around it. Emotions like fear, doubt, uncertainty, all that strengthen the beast and gives it access to enemies mind directly. Recalling the bodies they saw earlier none had any physical wound on them and they were still fresh yet had this rotting odor. Lucien guessed these people had no experience in fighting a general level beast and they experienced those emotions and that's why they were killed so easily. 

This train of thought also brought Lucien back to the same question in his mind!

"Just who the hell are these students who can stand their ground against these terrifying beasts and why haven't I heard of them!"

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At the top of the dark hill, with the great darkness were three youths who radiated of golden aura. Hiding behind a golden sphere they watched as the Nightmare circled them, too reluctant to make contact with the holy aura of the golden barrier. And yet even when forced to face this magic beast that looked like a black storm with a pair of blood-red eyes, they showed no fear, instead, they looked rather calm.

"Are you done, William?" A golden-haired lady with sharp blue eyes and thin red lips asked calmly but there was a hint of impatience in her tone.

It wasn't that she was scared of the enemy and wanted to leave, instead, she was just disgusted by the tainted environment the magic beast was creating and strongly wished to get rid of it. Her massive bosom complimented the white robe which failed to hide her alluring hourglass shape!