Sorry for not responding to my tagboard guys. Anyway, as my msn says, i'l be away from 8-18 june for holiday and cca camp, so dun contact me. Anyway, i just realised that i should just post chapters here, so that you guys can comment on it rather than forcing ya'l to read it on fanfic.net. So here goes.

Chapter 3

“How did you get chosen to be a Chosen anyway?” Glen mocked Laran’s efforts, seemingly deflecting his blows easily. In reality, he was barely able to keep up with the hyper-active youngster. Laran’s eyes itched uncontrollably. He had to learn how to fight properly without the use of Terran eyes, as developing a reliance on them would certainly be undesirable.

Glen dodged another swing by Laran, and punched him in the face, hard. Laran’s stumbled backwards, giving Glen another opening. Glen kicked him in his stomach, making Laran fall flat on his back.

Laran flipped onto his feet in a very cool way, and concentrated his energies onto his sword. The sword glowed a faint blue, and started radiating pure arcane power. Laran took a deep breath and held his sword high above his head.

Laran slashed diagonally with his sword, at the same time releasing the pent up arcane energy. There was now a curved current of electric blue arcane energy flying through the air. It crackled and cut through the air, heading straight for Glen.

Amused with the youngster’s power, Glen simply sidestepped, letting it miss cleanly. He then turned to face Laran, but instead saw a blade stabbing right towards his face. Glen, using his estimation skills gained through pure experience, realized that there was not enough time to dodge or bring his swords up. Instead, he punched upwards, knocking Laran’s sword off.

Laran, taken aback by this sudden reversal of circumstances, accidentally let go of his sword. The sword flew over his head, and Glen raised his right blade to Laran’s throat.

“You lose. Again. This makes it one hundred and ninety-nine to zero.” Glen grinned sinisterly.

“I almost got you! I would’ve won if it wasn’t for this stupid unbalanced sword.” Laran lamented.

Glen suddenly slapped Laran across the face. Hard. “Don’t you ever insult a sword. The spirit that resides within the sword will resent you forever. Also, unbalanced for you, it may be. But for someone else, it could be just the perfect balance. ” Glen reprimanded him furiously.

“For a brain-dead teenager like you, I’m just going to have to make you understand what I mean. Through hard work. We’re going to the blacksmith.” Glen grunted before walking off. Laran shrugged, and had no choice but to follow him.

The blacksmith punched Laran in the solar plexus. Hard. “Oof…” Laran groaned, clutching his stomach and dropping to the ground. “You insulted a sword? Stupid teenagers.” The blacksmith and Glen nodded to each other.

“I’m gonna show you the process of even making the sword that u hold in your hands. Now, how is the feel of that sword?” The blacksmith who had introduced himself as Makoto asked.

“It’s a little heavy…” Laran replied, waving his arms up and down to illustrate his point.

“About how much too heavy?” Makoto inquired.

“About…750 grams.” Laran said confidently, using his arcane power to aid him in his calculations.
“Hmm…interesting…” Makoto stroked his chin while looking at Laran.

Makoto beckoned to Laran. Laran entrusted his sword to Makoto, and watched as he walked over to the forge. The forge was filled up with charcoal, and Laran watched the fire engulfed them. The blacksmith made a rising movement with his hands, and the fire roared furiously. Makoto then held Laran’s sword over the fire with his left hand, and he clenched his right hand into a tight fist. The fire, like a beast, pounced on the sword, twisting itself around it, rapidly heating it up. Laran could see that Makoto was concentrating immensely, tightening his fists until veins bulged from them.

“Glen told me that you were a Chosen. What was your previous weapon like?” Makoto inquired in a calm voice.

Laran described it to him.

“Hmm. Well, I think that its time to describe the features of weapons to you. Firstly, do you know of upgrade cores?” Laran shook his head.

“Let me start from the general picture. Certain weapons contain spirits. Namely, the more powerful ones. It is also possible to extract spirits or insert spirits into a weapon. If a soul is left inside a weapon for long enough, the weapon will naturally become more powerful. If you shatter a weapon, its spirit would temporarily be set loose, until it can be caught by a necromancer. Actually, anybody with powerful enough arcane energy can catch, insert or extract spirits.”

Makoto lifted the sword out of the forge, and started hammering on it.

“Back to upgrade cores. Upgrade cores are actually hollow core that contain an element, a material, anything really. It can also contain souls. By itself, upgrade cores are extremely cheap, but upgrade cores with a rare element or spirit will fetch a much higher price. Anybody with arcane energy can merge upgrade cores into weapons. The weapon would absorb the properties of the upgrade core, occasionally reflecting it in design.”

“Actually, my arcane energy isn’t as powerful as others, so I can’t properly merge the cores into the weapons. But you…I heard Glen say that you were able to manifest your arcane energy and use it as a weapon! That's amazing! Maybe you can finally put this item of mine to good use.”

Just then, Makoto lifted Laran’s sword and handed it to Laran. Somehow, it was now the perfect weight, Laran noticed as he weighed the red-hot sword.

“Now, when its still hot, it will be easier for the sword to absorb the upgrade core. Hurry, follow me!” Makoto was as giddy as a little child before Christmas, hurrying to another room. Laran followed, gingerly holding out the sword.

“Try this.” Makoto gestured. Laran picked up the upgrade core. It was slightly smaller than his thumb, shaped like a bullet. It contained a tiny hilt inside, with the design of a skull.

“Argh!” Laran suddenly grabbed his head, as waves of pain shot out. Black stipes flew across his eyes, obstructing his vision. Then, they wrapped around him, and everything went dark.

Chapter 4

He was back in the past.

“Great slaying there Laran!” the same person from his memories commented.

Laran looked around, only to realize that he was standing next to the “corpse” of a huge armoured skeleton.

“Who are you?” Laran demanded.

“Good joke.” The person gave a hearty laugh and tossed something to Laran. Laran caught it, and looking closely, he could see that it was the same hilt that Makoto had given him, the same one from his previous memory.

“This one’s yours. C’mon, there are more monsters to slay!” The person shouted out. To Laran, the person’s features, his stature, everything was extremely blurred. He couldn’t make out who the person was.

Then, the world suddenly flashed impossibly bright. The flash was so bright that Laran had to immediately close his eyes and shield them…

A wave of nausea overcame him. He doubled over, kneeling on the ground. “Hey, you okay?” Makoto asked, concerned.

Laran slowly stood up, his legs shaking ever so slightly. He placed the upgrade core onto the hilt of the sword, placed his hands over it and concentrated.

“Try to visualize it entering the sword.” Makoto suggested.

Laran gently applied his arcane power to both the upgrade core and the sword. He could see the very particles that comprised of the sword shift to make way for the upgrade core. It started slipping into the hilt, slowly. Laran had to apply more and more arcane energy in order to keep the particles from each other.

Meanwhile, Makoto watched, amazed. Laran’s hands started shaking. He was drawing out too much arcane power from his body. Only a quarter of the upgrade core remained sticking out. Laran’s legs trembled badly, threatening to give way. Then, another force was cast over the upgrade core. Makoto was helping him.

Finally, with one final push, the upgrade core sank into the sword. The hilt flashed, and twisted into the design of a skull, the same one from Laran’s memories.

“You owe me one…” Makoto panted, as both of them lay spread-eagled over the floor. Both were utterly exhausted.

Later on in the day, Laran went back to meet Glen at the sparring arena.

There, he found the old man sitting on a bench, deep in thought. As Laran took a seat next to him, Glen suddenly spoke.

“Four. I had four apprentices. Now they are spread across the land, each honing their skills in their unique, individual way. It seemed like just yesterday that they were under my supervision. Now, you are right here, in front of me.”

Glen suddenly stood up, and pointed his left sword at Laran. Laran understood. One last fight.

Laran was able to grip his sword even better with the new hilt. His speed was much quicker with the balanced blade. Glen never stood a chance.

Clank! Laran striked with such speed that Glen was unable to respond. Laran feigned a horizontal swipe, before stabbing aggressively. Glen, caught off-guard by the youngster’s speed, could only block the stab before falling to the ground, panting.

Laran looked at Glen, with a triumphant smile on his face. “You didn’t get to two hundred.”

Glen grinned in return, panting, “Give me a break!”

They stayed there for a few seconds, before Glen declared. “Judging by my age, I have not long left on this world. I want you to be my successor.”

“But…” Laran protested, taken aback by the old man’s sudden words.

“No buts. You are a Chosen. Who else could be a better pick?” he grinned to himself, “I…actually have nothing else to teach you. All I have left is to pass you my most valued possessions. I hope that you can make good use of them.”

Laran followed Glen into his house. Glen brought Laran to the room that he was recuperating in. He took down the mirror, and lo and behold…behind it lay a wall. Glen placed his palm onto the centre of the wall, and without warning, the wall suddenly split into two.

“Wait here.” Glen muttered, before heading inside and emerging with a small wooden box. He slided open the box, to reveal a cellphone, 10 small rocks with the words (ARCANE INC.) written on them, a map, and a scroll.

“Firstly, this cellphone has so many capabilities that I can’t even begin to describe it! In addition to being able to call others, you can use it to form arcane energy connections! Cool huh! Next, these small rocks actually allow you to store arcane energy inside. What you can do with them is entirely up to your imagination. The map…well, its self-explanatory, I’ve marked down the locations of my apprentices so you can seek them out. They will train you to become even stronger.”

“And finally…the scroll. DO NOT open it until you absolutely have to. This will increase your power exponentially, at a great risk. Just read out the inscriptions to activate it.”

Laran nodded, taking all the items gratefully. He bid farewell to everyone in the town, and set off for the first apprentice, at the Mountains of Moria, south-east to Panon.

……………………………………………………………………………………………….

“Tempest Slash!” Laran shouted, swinging his sword down and releasing the pent-up arcane energy that he had built up inside the sword.

The crackling electric blue of arcane energy flew bit deeply into the armoured hide of the wolf. Deeply coloured magenta blood flowed out from the wound. The wolf howled in pain, before succumbing to its death.

Laran stood far from it, still holding the stance he used to release the arcane energy. He had recently named that killer technique. “Still not quite up to standard,” he muttered, sheathing his sword behind his back, samurai style. He should have literally sliced that wolf into half with the amount of arcane energy that he had pumping into his attack.

It had already been 4 days since he left Panon. According to Glen, he should almost be at his first apprentice’s area of stay, the mountains were just another kilometer more.

He searched the wolf’s body for any valuables. Sometimes, monsters carried items that they stole from people. “Finders Keepers” was the rule in the world. They usually concealed the items in upgrade cores. As such, everyone needed to check the items inside the upgrade core before fusing it into a weapon.

Everyone knew the famous story of Amai. He fused an apple that was inside the upgrade core to his dagger. He proudly paraded around with his “edible dagger”, making a fool out of himself. Some ignored him, a few applauded him, and the majority beat him up for making a ruckus.

He found an upgrade core in one of the various compartments of the wolves’ armour. Looking inside, he found a tiny spellbook. Extracting the spell book from the upgrade core, he saw its title. It was titled “Arcane manifestations”, and spoke of how to manipulate one’s arcane energy to form armour. Intrigued, Laran read on.

The key idea is to harness one’s arcane energy and shape it. Once the user is able to imagine the shape and form, he must then embark on the most difficult step, integrating it into the design that he has came up with. The most successful users are able to make the arcane objects to bear the exact same qualities of the actual products. If successful, the user would receive protection

Laran steadied himself. He would attempt to form a chestplate. As he concentrated, the flow of arcane energy coarsed slowly throughout his body. Smiling at the familiar feeling, he close his eyes and begun to imagine a black chestplate with red dragons at the shoulder plates. The arcane energy coarsed even faster. Laran’s muscles tensed, as he focused even more. His eyes shut themselves tightly, and he held his breath.

After he sensed that the transformation was complete, he opened his eyes and examined his chest. There was a flimsy silver metal vest, instead of a fully formed chestplate. Laran was not really disappointed though, he knew that he had to practice to perfect his skills.

“Not bad. For a warrior.” A voice rang out. Laran twisted behind, to see a figure dressed in grey robes, holding a wand. That person was sitting on a nearby rock, with his legs crossed over each other, examining Laran. From what he could infer, the person was a wizard.

“Your arcane energy…it’s pretty powerful.” The wizard got off the rock and walked towards Laran.

“But…for a Chosen, its just ordinary. And yes, I’ve been following you ever since you left Panon. That's how I know. I’m still having my doubts though, how could a drooling fool like you truly be a Chosen?” The wizard said a-matter-of-factly.

“In fact, check this out.” The wizard raised his wand. Boom! Arcane energy exploded in the form of an energy blast.

Laran felt the force pushing him back several feet, but he managed to stand his ground.

“Hey…you didn’t fall over. That's good…” The young wizard grinned.

“How about a bet? If you can defeat me, I’l give you this.” The wizard held up an upgrade core. Looking closely, Laran could see a silvery strand that looked like a liquid slithering about in the core.

Laran immediately realized two things. Number 1: That silvery thing was a spirit! Number 2: That wizard must be a Necromancer!

He recalled Glen’s advice before he left.

There are two types of Wizards. The elementals and the necromancers. The elementals are especially skilled in manipulating elements of nature, fire, water etc. The necromancers on the other hand…well you can guess what they can do.

“And if you win?” Laran asked

“Its no fun taking things from the weak.” The necromancer laughed aloud.

Laran drew out his sword. He had no idea what Necromancers could do. I am so…dead. Laran thought to himself.

“Ready when you are.” The necromancer waved his arms, mocking Laran.

The ball was in his court.
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*Pants*
Happy reading, and mugging your hols hmwrk.