The young man stared at the fire. His thoughts unknown but a sorrowful expression crossed his face. A giggle was heard snapping him out of his thoughts. He looked around in the ever-growing brighter catacombs. His companion for the last two years seemed to be having fun using charcoal to draw on the wall.

He got up and came over to study the image. It appeared to be a young girl holding the hand of a large man. The young man looked throughout the entire wall that was filled with various drawings. The man and the girl slowly finding their way through a forested area only to stumble upon an injured half-elf or what the man figured was a half-elf as the ears should be longer. From there they move from towns to cities gaining more and more people. The man and the girl's outfit changed going from rags to armor. While their party followed suit. Then they stumbled upon a star only for it to be revealed as a kid in rags. They took that kid along and he fought alongside them. Always the first into the battles.

The young man watched as a tear slid down his companion's face. They were both wearing long worn-out armor and the man had some sort of carapace attached to his arm as a makeshift shield. He had an ax with swirl patterns on his back and his eyes looked like stars.

“It's time to go Ryna. I’m sure we’re almost there.” The young man Aegeus Kan said as he looked at his companion.

“Ten more minutes.” That was the only response he received.

A.K. sat down and thought about the battle that had taken place 2 years and some months ago. At least if he had been counting correctly. A lot of things came out broken once they jumped through Shadow Bolt's spell. Spacial travel with a high-tier spell being activated at the same time does not mix well. A.K. had a first-hand experience as the moment the blood sacrifice activated he and Ryna were flung through the shadow gate that had opened up. Red the last thing A.K. saw as Shadow Bolt pushed him through.

Shadow Bolt, Mark Magnus, Jaecar, and others were all probably dead. At least A.K. assumed so. They were supposed to be teleported to the city of Cata but the high magical energies interrupted the spell and flung them far, far off course. There were plenty of areas unexplored in the Catacombs and for the past two years he and Ryna had fought nothing but bugs and beast.

Ryna.

Ryna was and still is a mess. After the rank 5 ghoul Break used its aura upon the area. Ryna was one of the hardest-hit although her father had done his best to shield and protect her. Ryna still broke. Her mind was damaged and she had reverted into acting like a little kid at times. At other times her regular personality would present itself but she had changed. From a bubbling talkative girl to a quiet brooding one. Right now her childish personality was present. He thought about giving her a system a few times but had hesitated against it each time.

A.K. hoped to find civilization to heal her. He had collected many previous herbs and ores in his journey throughout the Catacombs and wanted to find a way to heal her.

He sighed.

He was now 11 if not 12 and was sure they were close to Redcoomshi as it grew hotter the farther down they descended. He hoped he almost prayed until he realized that the gods in this world were real. Although many did not act within the Empire. He was tired. He missed the sunlight, a nice warm bed, servants to take care of his needs. He understood why his father had them go on this journey at such a young age. Right as he was really growing complacent with the status and position that came with being the son of such a powerful Duke. He was thrust from his home into the unknown(again). Just like his great grandfather.

A.K. had been told the story enough times he could say it word for word.

“When Extermination came, Herok Kan came and tamed. Granted the bloodline of the Magma Drake, he sliced the head of Orku that snake.”

The base version sang to children of the Dukedom as a bedtime story.

Herok Kan at the age of 8 ran away from extermination as a regular human. Before magi humans became a thing before the Empire developed a magic stone for human bodies. He watched his family and village burnt to the ground and die. Then for the next several years, he ran from place to place to escape the endless slaughter whilst the scene of the slaughter haunted his dreams. That's when he met Andrea he or rather she the first Empress of the Empire was saved by Herock. Andrea was portraying herself as a guy during that period and they quickly became best friends but Herock was never willing to battle always running away. Until his best friend was captured. So he climbed Mt. Reecomshi and begged the magma drake to grant some of its power to him. After a few trials, he successfully freed Andrea from her captivity. Together they went about putting an end to Extermination.

Ten minutes up A.K. did a once over on his and Ryna gear before moving on. The tunnels had been steadily expanding since around a month ago and the one they were entering was around 4 football fields in height. The cave was hot much hotter than any he was in previously and a magma pool resided at its center.

“That's not ominous at all,” A.K. said more to himself than Ryna.

The pool was bubbling and it grew more violent as they drew near. The cave was around a mile long and A.K. could see a descending glowing red entrance at the end of it. Hopefully the entrance to Reecomshi.

Finally, they arrived within the perimeter of the magma pool the heat radiation towards them. Luckily A.K. had found an underground river about 2 days journey and had filled up as they were sweating enough for a puddle to form within minutes. The bubbling suddenly chilled and all noises within the cavern stopped. A.K. felt a chill down his spine and tackled Ryna as a burst of lava hurtled itself in their direction. A creature emerged from the lava stepping out onto the land and A.K.'s mouth dropped open.

“A Lavasioth?”

“A.K. we need to move NOW,” Ryna said in a panic.

“That's a Lavasioth and they’re rank 4 as juveniles.” Her main personality seemed to be present as A.K. saw the spark within her eyes.

They both dodged one going right the other left as another glob of magma and molten rock hurtled in their direction.

Instead of retreating A.K. moved towards the beast instead. The stars in his eyes only growing brighter. He started to run towards it unsheathing his ax in the process. Another bolt of lava and rocks was spewed towards him and he used his momentum to dodge underneath the bullet. The creature's aura swept over him but only rank 5s can add some sort of debilitating status to their auras. Rank 4s could only use the aura to boost themselves.

An ax swing came at the creatures top left fin only to bounce off and throw A.K. off balance. The monster not letting this advantage slip swung its body around to slam into A.K. only to be stopped by a glowing shield. Ryna had arrived just in time to help to reinforce her shield and body to tank the blow. Grunting she slid a few feet back.

A.K. was already on the move as the blow connected with Ryna shield. When she was here their teamwork was impeccable. One attacked while the other defended. The cuffs on A.K.'s wrist and ankles triggered and glowed as he released a bit of his mana. He had almost triggered a new attack that he had learned from Ryna quickly changing and activating [Fierce Chop].

The blow landed and pierced through the mid-portion of the lavasioth tail not too far from its right leg. Ryna followed up by using a reinforced bash to put it off balance and expose its soft underbelly.

The battle continued like so for another 15 minutes before the creature fell dead with Ryna sword piercing through its eye into the brain and A.K.s ax mid-way through its neck. In the years of traveling A.K. had experimented with his stamina-based skills and discovered that he could pore more or less energy into each activation. The blow that severed almost half the creature's neck used up 3/4 of his stamina.

‘Status’

Aegeus Kan

Level 39(LOCKED)

Race: Magi Human

Bloodline: Stargazing Magma Drake

Health 500/500 Mana 820/820 Stamina 600/600 Vitality: 50 Intelligence: 82 Endurance: 60 Strength: 65 Dexterity: 52 Wisdom: 45 Will: 30 Attribute Points: 266 Titles: Harbinger - Harbingers received the gift of leveling from [ Beyond ]. Target gets 25% more experience until level 100. Additional effects include increased charisma and faster skill proficiency. Abilities:

Starlight Gazing Lvl 3 - Inborn bloodline ability that causes a single target of focus to fall into an illusion of host choosing. Influences psyche and turns them more favorable to you and your suggestions

Magma Carnage Lvl 3 - Inborn bloodline ability that causes the host to temporarily increase, speed, strength, defense, and perception. Small chance of the host falling into a rage state.

General Skills: Imperial Lvl 5(Max), Common Tongue Lvl 5(Max), Orcish Grunts Lvl 4, Dwarven Stone Lvl 4, Acting Lvl 20, Dancing Lvl 16-> Lvl 17, Calligraphy Lvl 17, Climbing Lvl 20(LOCKED), Charm Lvl 12, Drawing Lvl 15, Mathematics Lvl 20(LOCKED), Running Lvl 20(LOCKED), Noble Aura Lvl 6, Swimming Lvl 12, Pain Resistance Lvl 10, Iron-Blood Will Lvl 15, Shield Combat Lvl 20(LOCKED), Basic Ax Combat Lvl 20(LOCKED), Fierce Chop Lvl 20(LOCKED), Basic Night Vision Lvl 17 General Skills (NEW): Rohan Strike Lvl 1

Magic Spells

Tier 0 Magic Bullet/Variants Lvl 20(LOCKED), Magic Shield/Variants Lvl 18, Meditation Lvl 15, Cleanse Lvl 7, Mana Sense Lvl 14 Tier 1 Flame Spear Lvl 5, Fire Stream Lvl 3, Earth Spike Lvl 3, Earth Wall Lvl 6

“So why in the gods' name did we need to kill it? Lavasioth's are territorial but once out of range of their magma pool will cease hostilities.”

Ryna was glaring at him her face showing annoyance.

A.K. gave her a sheepish smile.

“Let's just cut it for parts and food,” He said before taking a carving knife out of his bag.

They ate as they cut the monster apart its flesh steaming hot and ready. Ryna was still glaring at him as they continued. It seems she would be around a lot today.

“Rohan.”

A.K. gave her a questioning look.

“You’ve never asked me for my last name. It's Rohan. We used to be a noble family in the north famous for our horse champions.”

A.K. took a long look at her before the realization hit him. Just one of the many noble families he was forced to remember. The Rohan's had come up briefly as they were a fallen noble house but they were most famous for their horses and champions before they fell.

“Aegeus Kan,” he said in a quiet voice almost a whisper.

Ryna eyes widen in surprise then anger. As she opened her mouth to speak a switch seemed to be flipped and she gave out a childish grin.

“Big Brother A.K. can I call you big brother Aegeus now?”

A.K. sighed he could see the recognization within Ryna eyes before her switch was flipped whenever she felt strong emotions the flip seemed to happen.

You can call me whatever you want,” A.K. said as they finished up and headed towards the exit.

A massive cavern opened up to them as they stepped through and a mountain double the size of Everest sat there magma flowing from its left side.

“Redcoomshi.”