Adrenaline Junkie [Book 2 Complete]

Chogacrum'Albeo stomped through a stretch of forest he hadn't walked through in over a moon and a half.

The trees here were thicker, taller, and a lot tougher than the ones around the outskirts of the forest. Their bark was darker than the ones in his usual patrol zone, and some of them bled sticky orange sap when clawed. He scraped his claws along one as he passed, sniffed the sap, then gagged and shook his head violently.

"Not tasty tree. No use."

Still, he pressed on.

He'd already decided - this section of the forest, the one the glowing white bear had ended up teleporting him to, would now be a part of the territory he claimed as his own. He was strong enough now. While he wasn't ready to challenge the beasts at the forest's heart - at least, not yet - however, he was more than capable of extending his claim beyond the outskirts of the forest.

The territory he owned on the outskirts of the forest was small – too small for a wizard, and definitely too small for a bear with a name. Especially his name. Chogacrum'Albeo, Wizard of the Storms, Desirer of Bigger Naps. Future Bear Dragon.

He was stronger now; the glowing white bear told him he'd reached the limit of what he could become as a Bear - at least for now. What he needed was to begin expanding again, reclaiming the wide territory he'd lost ever since that massive pillar of light had taken everything from him.

Only then could he become an even stronger bear.

"Chogacrum'Albeo not meant for edge of forest, where the weak hide. Chogacrum'Albeo meant for center," he growled, dragging his claws along a thick tree trunk. Bark peeled away with a screech, and small golden sparks leapt from his fur into the wound.

"Strong beasts live in center. Strong storms too. I take center."

This forest reminded him too much of his old forest. The glowing bear that wasn't a bear, said that his forest was gone and he would be sent to a new one. But this forest was far more dangerous. The kind of forest that didn't just want him to leave - it wanted him dead.

Everything here had teeth. Venom. Poison gas. Acid leaves. Claws made of metal. Magic.

Even the flowers tried to eat him once.

He remembered the first time he wandered this far in. A giant lizard - not shiny like the sharp-tongued one he'd once traveled with, but wet and grey and roaring - had started fighting a massive green and black bird made of bones and roots. Chogacrum'Albeo had tried to sneak past them.

He'd been launched through the trees by a single flap of an oversized sparrow's wing.

How did he survive? His glorious wizard cloak – purchased at the System Bazaar – absorbed most of the impact, shielding him just enough to crawl to the forest's edge with shattered ribs and a thoroughly broken ego.

That was when he gave up on the deep forest. Tail tucked, pride wounded, he limped away to lick his wounds.

It was pathetic.

He was a bear. He was supposed to be the strongest in the forest.

But he'd been defeated by a single flap of an oversized sparrow's wing.

His first loss.

So, he trained and mauled everyone and everything that came at him after he licked his wounds. Only allowing those far weaker than him to live within his property so long as they paid their weekly tribute.

And now, that oversized sparrow's feathers decorated his new den, forty trees back from where he was currently located.

He missed the sharp-tongued, giant lizard. The one who'd laughed so hard his thinker between his ears hurt. The one who told him that Wizards supposedly lived in towers – caves that extended to the sky, and not in the side of a hill. The one that had given him a name.

And now, finally, he felt it again - that same electric stirring in his chest.

He had watched the stars. The moons. He had waited. And now…

Now he was ready.

With sparks dancing along his fur, Chogacrum'Albeo lifted his snout high and inhaled. The wind smelled strange here. New. The trees creaked differently. The bugs made different noises. This was a part of the forest he had never stepped paw in - not since he'd arrived.

And that meant opportunity.

New land. New creatures. New potential tenants who had yet to see what he could offer.

The overgrown lizard had told him something once – something about claiming things with magic. He hadn't understood it at the time. But now, he did. He'd gained a skill for it a full moon cycle after his arrival.

This strip of the forest had no owner – only potential tenants, squabbling like unruly foxes. However, that would change once he became their landlord, and they would pay him his tribute. Else, they would either leave his property or die.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

He slammed a paw into the soil. Arcs of golden electricity jumped from his claws and buried themselves deep beneath the roots. The ground vibrated with low, rolling thunder. Trees swayed. The air thickened.

His magic spread, invisible tendrils crawling along bark, burrowing under moss, crackling along rocks. He walked slowly through the unknown forest, dragging his claws and tail behind him, letting the storm inside him reach out and claim.

With every step, more of the forest became his.

Claim of the Landlord.

Lightning marked his path. Booms echoed faintly from the canopy.

He grinned.

As his landlord magic rolled outward through root, rock, dirt, and tree, Chogacrum'Albeo's pace slowed. His heavy steps softened slightly, and a crooked grin tugged at the side of his wide mouth.

He remembered the first time he'd claimed a patch of land on the outskirts of the forest, near the burbling blue river with the slippery rocks that smelled like fish. It hadn't seemed like much then, but it brought him tenants.

Strange ones.

One of them, being a weak, long, and slippery snake-thing with too many eyes and a tongue that forked three times, had come slithering from a rotted tree not even a day after his lightning had touched the soil. The creature had bowed and mumbled something about "offering tribute for protection."

It had rolled a glowing crystal the size of his paw from within its tree's trunk and offered it as his tribute.

Its design had reminded him of the similarly shaped ball those human cubs had when they wore his wizard hat.

Chogacrum'Albeo had sniffed it. Licked it. Bit it. Then, finally, after a long moment of deep wizard thought, he had laid his back on it.

"A Power Core," the snake-thing had called it.

The moment it touched his back, the hum seeped into his bones. Warm, wonderful tingles spread through his spine. His limbs twitched from the magic, and his nap that day was the best he'd had since before the day glowing bear boomed his ears for hoarding too many shinies in the same place.

The gifts had continued. Skins, glowing pebbles, weird-shaped fruits that tasted like screaming. None of it made much sense, but it didn't have to. He was a Landlord now. A Wizard Landlord.

One who was no longer a weakling.

Archie stood in the middle of a clearing of grass, two meters from the center of his base, with floppy arms at his sides and furrowed brows in deep concentration. The twin suns were shining through the thick treeline above him, making streaks of light refract off his sweat-covered body.

Ten meters ahead stood a lopsided tree marked with a slash of red bark – the destination.

Blink Step requires you to 'break free' of the space between you and your destination point, he repeated. Visualization is key. Like… pushing through a thin membrane. No movement. Just… snap.

He closed his eyes and focused. He pictured himself like a bullet – slipping through a hollow, invisible barrel and popping out the other side.

Nothing.

Still standing in place.

A dry chirp rose nearby.

Volos was only a few feet away from him, doing his own training. His carapace was speckled with tiny pebbles and bits of loose dirt as he practiced earth shaping. His tiny mandibles clacked softly as he reared up and then slammed his front half downward, sending a tremor, only felt by himself, through the ground and lifting a finger-sized clod of soil into the air. With a few twitchy movements of his body, he began spinning the clod into a slowly rotating disc. It wobbled unsteadily, then flopped apart with a soft plop.

Nice, Archie nodded with a grin. You're getting there, buddy.

A rustle from the opposite side of the clearing drew his attention to Arsenic, the smaller and glossier of the two. Tiny green fronds spiraled out from the ground around his legs – plants that hadn't been there a moment ago. A cluster of bright red mushrooms puffed out spores as he passed, reacting to the centipede's subtle toxin manipulation. His back plates glistened faintly with venom.

He stopped beside a small sprout and lowered his head. The plant writhed slightly, vines twitching under his influence before slowly weaving into a spiraled shape.

Alright, you two are making me look bad, Archie mused, turning back toward the red-marked tree. He rolled his shoulders, exhaled, and tried again.

Visualize. Slide through. Don't move – pop.

Nothing.

Again.

This time, a faint ripple in the air around his feet shimmered before vanishing.

Volos paused and tilted his armored head, his little antennae twitching. Arsenic clicked his mandibles together and resumed weaving new plants into formation.

Archie laughed, chokingly under his breath. That was something.

Steeling his excitement, he exhaled slowly. Alright. Imagine a membrane of space around my body. Fold, punch, fold, then close it behind me… what if I…?

This time, instead of bracing himself like he was about to sprint, he relaxed, letting the tension drop from his muscles as he let his spatial mana coat his body.
For a split second, he felt a shift. The air around him warped, faint, like a ripple passing through water.

And then… he was still in the same spot.

But his heart jumped. That felt like something. Something different.

Before he could try again, a sudden crunch drew his eyes sideways.

Volos, trembling with effort, had raised a block of hardened dirt about his size from the ground. Instead of collapsing like his earlier attempts, the disc of compacted soil hovered, wobbling, but holding. His tiny legs twitched with exertion, but he let out a sharp, high-pitched chittering chirp! as the disc slowly spun in place, stable for the first time.

Archie grinned, mentally cheering Volos on; Hell yeah, Volos! That's what I'm talking about!

The baby centipede wiggled in place, clearly pleased with himself – then, in a burst of overexcitement, launched the dirt disc high into the air. A moment later, gravity reasserted itself, and the disc plopped squarely onto his head, burying him in a fresh layer of soil.

Still thoroughly coated in dirt, Volos let out a proud, if muffled, chittering chirp.

Smirking at Volos, Archie went over to him and helped brush the dirt off his body.

Meanwhile, Arsenic stood nearly motionless in front of the sprout he'd been toying with. The sprout from before had grown into a creeping vine, winding up his front leg. But now, as his antennae brushed over it, the vine twitched – then turned, slowly following his movement.

Tiny spores escaped from the sprout as Arsenic adjusted the toxins it was releasing. Arsenic's carapace shimmered slightly, his venom glands working in subtle rhythms as he slowly began to absorb the toxins the sprout released.

Encouraged by the two glenwyn centipedes, Archie turned back toward the marked tree. His fingers flexed as he steadied his breathing, as he wrapped his body in spatial mana.

Blink Step.

The ripple struck his chest and shoulders – his vision wavered, blurring for the briefest fraction of a second.

He blinked, startled.

The tree was closer.

It couldn't have been more than half a centimeter. But he had moved.

Barely managing to contain the rush of adrenaline that was coursing through his body from the exhilaration he was feeling, Archie let out a long exhale as he flexed his fingers and stared forward. Alright. One more time.

And with the centipedes quietly practicing their magic beside him, the clearing filled with the hum of energy, spores, and shifting earth – three creatures, different as they were, each working to master the powers within them.