LEVEL UP

“Faster!!... Harder!!... quicken your movements, sharpen your stance, apply pressure!!” The old man yelled as he easily blocked every attack of the younger boy, causing him to stumble on his feet. The boy heaved slowly, his shiny black hair moving gently in the wind.

He rested his hands on his knees, panting and trying to calm his beating heart, which was getting louder by the minute. He had been at this since morning, and he still wasn’t able to land a single strike on him. He tightened his grip on the wooden sword and looked up to see the old man frowning. It was obvious that he wasn’t pleased.

He took a stance immediately, closed his eyes, and drew in a deep breath. Gripping his sword tighter, he jumped with his eyes wide open and ready to strike. As fast as the wind, he raised his sword, and a faint smile crossed his lips.

‘Got you now, old man.’

He struck, but the old man’s figure quickly eluded him. All he could feel was the breeze of his swing. He looked at the spot he had struck and saw nothing.

‘Where was he?’

He felt a light touch on his back, and before he could understand what was happening, a soft tap sent him flying forward, crashing into a pile of hay inside the shed.

“Tskk, tssk... Still too slow and weak. That’s enough for today,” the old man said as he turned, signaling the end of the training.

“Father... wait, I am not tired. I can still train.” The young boy ran to him.

“I am tired, Roshan. I know you have a lot of potential in you, but I don’t know what is wrong with you.” The man looked down at his son.

He put his hand on his hair and ruffled it before speaking.

“You are 16 years old, and the Arkon’s Tournament is to start in exactly four months. If you are still like this by then, I don’t know if you would even make it past the first round. I am scared for you, Roshan. Your brother played his part in the war, and he died respectfully, but what about you? Your mother and I are worried you may not make it that far. But I need you to keep training to prove us wrong, as I have strong hopes for you, boy. When will you be able to do that? Time is not on your side.”

As soon as he uttered those words, he felt a tingling sensation and turned his head toward the shed where his son had crashed earlier.

Roshan kept his head down. “I am not weak, Father,” he said bitterly. But he knew the truth. He was weak, weaker than everybody he had met. Kids made fun of him and bullied him because he was nothing compared to them. He was not as strong as they were.

The old man smiled. “I know, my son, that you are a lot stronger than you know. Would you run to the forest and see if you can find meat for tonight’s dinner?”

Roshan immediately remembered that he should have gone hunting earlier. He picked up his little dagger, slipped it into his back pocket, bowed, and went toward the forest.

“I will be back soon,” he called to his father and waved.

The old man smiled and waved back.

The moment he saw his son’s back disappear into the forest, his smile turned into a frown. He rushed into the house, replacing what was in his hand with his true weapon, his fire sword.

“Darling, we are under attack!!” he called to his wife, and a few seconds later, the door to their house broke down.

---

Roshan walked deeper into the forest as he searched for an animal to hunt. He usually hid and waited for a group of beasts, sneaking in to take away the young ones from the herd, as they were easier to kill.

As he walked, his father’s words kept ringing in his head. He had heard of the Arkon’s Tournament, where boys and girls of a certain age would battle and compete to be chosen for the Mage School, where they would learn magic, or for the Military, where they would train to own and develop abilities.

Things had not always been this way. Everything changed with the arrival of the monsters known as the Daegi.

No one knew where they came from. It happened like a dream, starting with a low rumble echoing through the earth. At first, humanity ignored it as a minor earthquake, but soon the rumbling increased, shaking buildings and houses.

Massive holes appeared everywhere, even across the earth’s atmosphere. Radar and space surveillance systems noticed nothing. Out of those holes, strange and massive ships emerged, their size blotting out the sun.

Strange creatures dropped from them. It was as if they had been taken from a depressed child’s nightmare and made real. They were huge, scaly, with sharp claws and teeth. They moved faster than human eyes could follow, and soon, screams and cries filled the earth. This was no ordinary war. It was an invasion on a scale humanity had never experienced.

But humanity did not back down. They fought with weapons, missiles, and even nuclear bombs, but not much was achieved. Just when it looked like all hope was lost, a certain group of people with strange magical powers and abilities appeared mysteriously. With their arrival, things turned around.

Still, the Daegi could not be defeated. Both sides fought to a standstill until a peace treaty was proposed. The Daegi Leader came forward to sign it, though both sides knew it would not last long.

The time bought by the treaty was used by both sides to grow stronger in secret. Years passed, and the first war became a bedtime story for the younger generation. Civilians no longer paid much attention to the Daegi threat, but those in power knew that the second war would soon come.

They built atmospheres and centers to develop the younger, stronger generation, teaching them how to use their abilities and powers. But little did they know that they weren’t the only ones preparing.

Roshan, despite his family’s great history, wasn’t born with magical powers or abilities. His mother was a warlock, his father a level 38 fire user, a Master about to break into the Elite class before he stopped training. His elder brother was gifted with extraordinary talent. By the age of twenty, he had mastered the fire ability up to level 35. Roshan always looked up to him, proud and eager to be like him.

Everything shattered when the news of his brother’s death arrived. He was killed by a Super Tier beast of level 48. Since then, Roshan had trained to serve in the Military, but anger and weakness weighed heavily on him.

Lost in thought, he did not realize he was heading into a ditch until he fell in. Thankfully, it was not too deep, and he could climb out.

He noticed that he had landed on a hard object. Clawing at the dirt, he uncovered a strange object shaped like a book.

“What is this?”