Adrian stands on the edge of the clearing where the Fire Bovine rests. The area around it is charred and ashy as fire flows out of the bovine’s nose every time it exhales. Its each inhalation in turn takes in the fire back, circulating it in its lungs before pushing it outwards again.

  It is said that this is the way for them to grow strong, apart from killing more and growing their stats. Growing their internal flame is as necessary to them as it is for humans to learn to utilise their skills and combat techniques.

  I should have more Mind than it now. At level 3, my Mind is at a nice 9. Unless it’s level 9, it should not have more Mind than 8.

  A good thing, but it doesn’t help him that much particularly. Only if he could hit them while they are suspended in the prison, but sadly something so good is beyond him. At least for now.

  Adrian, realising that he’s just procrastinating at this point, finally motions for his avatars to take their position while he quickly climbs the tree nearest to him–the motion coming as easy as walking on the ground–and focuses.

  Adrian goes into that place of his where everything feels so distant and his own body like a mere puppet. In that state he can see everything so much clearly, like his mind has been freed of all anxiety and fear.

  He goes through all the information he knows about the Fire bovine in front of him. Tough skin. Earthly Fires. ‘Be careful of the fire which flows like water.’ Not fast. Has a weak point along its chest where the lungs lay.

  With the information in mind, he does not stall any longer and orders the avatars mentally to start the assault as he sits on the tree looking at the fight carefully.

  His avatars–now 5, as he created two more earlier–sneak up on the Fire Bovine, scrunching dry leaves and twigs under their feet. The bull does not wake up at all, but just as they are a few feet away from it, it suddenly stirs awake, bellowing in rage.

  The avatars let go on every attempt at stealth and blitz forth, 4 of them piling on top of the bull as the last one with his blade pierces the bull’s eyes with a thrust. That is the last thing it does, as a powerful stream of earthly fire is released from the bull’s mouth, completely covering the avatar and his sword still lodged into its eyes.

  It thrashes and turns, throwing away the avatars, but one of them manages to grip the sword before being thrown away. A sizzling noise fills the area as hot metal presses against skin, but the avatar doesn’t care, calmly wielding the sword.

  Adrian curses sitting on his branch. He had meant to save that avatar, but hadn’t been quick enough.

  Next time.

  Another avatar slips away from Adrian, quickly descending down the tree and joining the fray. This is the last avatar he can spend in the fight without completely sealing away all of his mana points to be used at other times.

  While the new avatar joins the fight, the other four surround the Fire Bovine. The bull, now angry and blinded in one eye, continues to bellow flames at his avatars as it charges at them furiously, and Adrian is focused on keeping them alive by placing prisons right in front of them. He still loses function in two of them, as the flames blow away the prisons which are not fixed in space, burning their hands or feet off, forcing Adrian to spend more mana to make even bigger prisons and making sure they’re supported by the avatars.

  As the last avatar joins the fight, they all once again charge at the bull from every direction, but the bull only has eyes for the one with the blade.

  It charges at him, bellowing yellow flames at his avatar who only survives due to the timely assistance of a prison in front of him, a single blade of grass floating inside of it. The bull, unable to stop its momentum crashes onto it, stopping completely and Adrian quickly casts his Prison on the bull.

  The familiar tug of mind comes, and Adrian focuses on it. He can feel that the bull has slightly higher stats in Mind, but the bull is raging, in pain, and has lost half of its mind. As such, Adrian quickly clinches the victory, staggering on the tree as he escapes the mental tug of war.

  The bull now encased in the prison rages, and Adrian can see it trying to escape the Prison with its flames, but nothing comes out.

  Adrian quickly commands the avatars to overturn the lantern, to reveal its weak point. This is an idea which came to him only after the fight started, as he sat thinking how he could leverage Prison to his victory instead of simply putting barriers.

  As the bull is turned to its back, one of the avatars with the blade climbs another long tree, peering in at the long fall between it and the bull. He nods at the main body and then jumps down, the blade held tightly in his hands, aiming directly for the weak point.

  At the last instant before he crashes into the prison, Adrian cancels the Prison allowing the avatar to pierce the blade through the bull’s skin and through its lungs.

  The bovine rages, thrashing and bellowing, crying in pain as it turns the avatar who jumped on it into ash, but Adrian knows that this is just a small loss and the victory will be his in just a few moment-

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Adrian looks at the fire flowing out of the Fire Bovine’s chest instead of blood. The flowing fire continues to increase as the bovine comes closer and closer to death, its motion limiting to a crawl as it lays at the ground in defeat, but the fire continues to flow from him.

  Adrian hears his party members come outside to the clearing, looking at him in amazement, but his eyes are focused on the flowing fire. Why did it feel so easy? Is it because of his avatars? Could it be?

  Be careful of the fire which flows like water. Adrian remembers those words as he looks at it, an ominous premonition overcoming him, and he is about to yell at others to clear the area and move away, when he sees it.

  All that flowing fire suddenly congregates together, compressing within the Fire Bovine as it gives a dying scream, and then a blinding light emerges. Adrian is already creating two avatars in front of him, as he looks down at others who are left unprotected. He can see Mat begin to move, a charge of mana flowing through him, but he won’t be fast enough.

  And just an instant before a powerful explosion shakes the forest, Adrian puts all of his points into a final Prison and imprisons his party members.

  Then a searing heat hits him, a blinding pain so severe that Adrian can feel it searing him alive. His focus breaks and he is brought back to the world of pain and agony and so much of it that he teeters on losing control of his emotions and mind. His sanity edges a knife so thin and sharp that Adrian feels it cutting into his mind, or perhaps that too is just the heat.

  After what feels like so long later, the flowing fire is finally over. He opens his eyes, every motion causing more and more pain, and looks at the sky above. I’m on the ground, Adrian thinks.

  I must’ve fallen down. He couldn’t turn his head without causing much pain, and he couldn’t move himself at all. Large areas of his skin are burned, his face slightly protected, but not any better. The two avatars he had called forth earlier are much more burnt, almost dead but not quite.

  Adrian lets them disintegrate, his vision close to fainting, but with the last of his willpower, he looks at his party, who is still imprisoned under his Prison. It held strong.

  Messages from the Tower bombard him, but he has neither the mood nor the energy for any of it. All he really needs right now is a cold bath and some sleep. Maybe some recovery too.

  So with the remaining drops of his willpower, he cancels the Prison around his party members, and before their chatter and nonsense could overwhelm him, he falls unconscious, letting the darkness take him away with a small smile on his face.

  #

  Adrian wakes up to once again realise what pain really is. If he was foolish enough to think that being burned alive by earthly flames of a Fire Bovine was the epitome of pain, then he understood a new high today. Being treated for burns while everyone around him criticises him for his foolishness and nags him as if he isn’t already attacked by a headache that they feel the need to add more of.

  It has been a few hours since he has woken up in the climber’s ward of his cult where he is being treated with potions and such. An hour or two later, his parents arrived to nag him. Saying words like how could he ever bring their family more fame and respect if he were to die on something so foolish!

  Truly the epitome of his mother’s concerns. Adrian simply sighs and apologizes, too mentally drained to have a discussion with his mom.

  But sadly for him, his party members arrive an hour after that, who also nag him and criticizes for many things he did wrong and could’ve done better. He feels annoyed at their tone. If only they hadn’t come to the clearing, he would’ve been able to protect himself better!

  He hates it all. This concern feels too fake to him. As if they can’t see their own faults in this mess. As if he couldn’t already see the places he fucked up.

  Eventually they walk away after congratulating him for taking care of a floor boss on his own.

  So that was a floor boss. No wonder.

  Adrian sleeps for a while more after they go away, tired and drained after the conversation and wakes up sometimes in the middle of the night. With nothing to do, and sleep nowhere near in sight, he starts to critically analyze his fight.

  The fight revealed somethings to him. That even if he doesn’t have his party, he can easily go solo. His avatars and his prisons-acting-like-shields gives him that kind of flexibility, and with a few more levels and a few more upgrades to them, he wouldn’t need to worry about a lot of enemies.

  Perhaps in a few floors. A few more floors.

  Second, he should’ve learned more about the enemies on the first floor before he took that fight. He knew a bare minimum, and he is sure that there is a way to stop the Fire Bovine from exploding like that, but he just didn’t know.

  Third, that he should always carry something on him that he hates so that he can use a quick shield around him. Earlier if he had it, he would’ve been able to get away from the final blast much safer, and wouldn’t have to rely on his avatars to soak the damage.

  And lastly…that he can so easily cast a Prison around his party members. He had done it instinctively back then, but the fact that it works reveals his own hatred towards them. No one… no one should know what the criteria for his prisons are, otherwise things can get very messy.

  Adrian sits back staring at the ceiling as he wonders how many more such hospital visits, and how many more such injuries await him. Finally, he brings the messages crowding the bottom of his vision.

  You have killed a Fire Bovine (lvl 10)

  Congratulations! This is a floor wide announcement! Someone has killed a floor boss alone!

  Extra exp is distributed at this achievement.

  Then the level ups come.

  You have levelled up! Manifold Warden lvl 4

  You have levelled up! Manifold Warden lvl 5

  You have levelled up! Manifold Warden lvl 6

  You have levelled up! Manifold Warden lvl 7

  Four levels at once. Not bad, huh.

  Finally to top off the good night, and before he can sleep for a little more, he opens his Status.

  Name: Adrian Alphona

  Class: Manifold Warden 7

  Body: 7

  Kinesthetics: 21

  Resistance: 1

  Mind: 21

  Mystics: 35

  Mana: 350

  Free Points: 13

  Primary Abilities: Avatar, Timer, Prison

  You have one Upgrade pending!

  #