Ceaseless Horizons [A LitRPG Progression Fantasy]

The day passed without incident. Surprisingly, despite staying on top of the wall for half a day, nothing attacked him. In fact, nothing even took notice of him, despite his past serving as a constant reminder of the risk he was taking.

Lev jumped back down and slowed his fall as the suns peeked over the horizon. His team was likely awake if their previous nervousness was any indication.

"Anyone up?" he sent through the communication crystal.

"We all are," Jack answered. "Where do we meet?"

"I'll be with you in a moment, don't worry."

Ten minutes later, his bubble landed outside Windkeep, right next to the western wall. The Dreadwoods loomed on the horizon, quite far away yet still visible to his teammates and their improving Perception.

In Lev's hand was a simple metal plate. There were runes visible on it, one to input mana, and the other to set the intensity.

"Right," he began and gathered their attention. His team was almost fidgety, staring at him with an intensity he hadn't seen before. "This will suck."

A large barrier dome formed alongside his words, the floor eventually reaching them until it was fully enclosed. The best concealment enchantments he had were carved on it, and within seconds, they were completely invisible to the world.

Forming a small hole in the barrier ground, he chucked the enchanted plate inside and covered it up. Only the input runes were left exposed, and he powered them to full.

A new type of concealment spread into the dome, one just barely noticeable even to his high Perception. Decoding how it worked was impossible, but at least he knew that the aura concealment was functional.

Then he turned to his waiting teammates. They were already armored, prepared for whatever was to come. Lev could see realization and resignation dawn on their faces as he let his aura out of control, slowly at first.

Breathing became harder, and then color started to drain from their face. He kept going still, silently apologizing for the treatment in his head all the while.

Only when they were quivering in their boots did he stop, realizing they were much tougher than anticipated. Or they were simply preparing themselves for the semi-torment for a while now.

Lev didn't like it one bit, but dread monsters had taught him a valuable lesson. Willpower was important, and so was being resistant to outside influences. Combined, they might just be a human's best friend, for there was no surviving without them.

"How does it feel?" he asked, unable to hold back a faint smile.

"Shit," Kayla eloquently answered, trying her best not to stare daggers at him. "What the fuck, even? You never showed this much of it before."

"Because things keep attacking me the moment I do," he reminded her, glancing at the other two. Jack was intently listening to his words. Amelia, however, was slowly moving her arms around, gauging how intense the physical debuff was.

"You aren't restricted at all," Lev explained and started pacing. "The effects are all mental. It feels like you're wading through water, but in reality, you can move just fine. That is the main reason I'm doing this. Monsters, after a certain point, all put pressure on you, though I am safer than most because of my advantages.

"You guys, however, don't have my titles. Your willpower is untouched still, and you aren't used to fighting dangerous monsters that actually threaten your life. That is perfectly fine. None of that needs to happen, either, but nobody expects our team to sit back and relax. Are you guys following me so far?"

Three nods, and Lev shook his head.

"Well, that's a lie. Even I'm not prepared for what comes next. Drakys will accompany me and Isabella for that exact reason. We will not just fight third-threshold monsters. We will fight the third-threshold monsters that the Exalted usually deal with. And for that, you need to start preparing immediately. There will be no one helping us when we reach that point."

His aura rose in intensity again, around 60% of the maximum. Kayla fell to her knees, and Lev was very aware of how the situation seemed to be a repeat of the Hakim encounter that had taken place right above him.

With a silent sigh, he summoned the new longsword and handed it to Amelia. She caught it, identified it to be a rare weapon, and then paused in surprise when fire mana streamed inside it. Lev was powering it with his own mana, giving her a virtually infinite source to draw from.

Jack's hammer and shield weren't as flashy or interesting, though he planned to heal the warrior to make him recover stamina way faster, replicating the same feat as the longsword to a lesser extent.

Kayla glared at him openly now, standing up on shaking limbs. The tri-shield bracer was already on her left arm, and she used it without hesitation. Lev was grinning inside, already predicting the outcome as a jerky, weak shield took form in front of his face.

She pushed it with all her might, and the poor construct quite barely touched his cheek before falling to the ground.

"What the fuck is this shit?" she stared at the item on her arm as if it was going to bite her. "I'm supposed to use this?"

"Yep," Lev happily replied, sharing a glance with Jack, who was barely holding in his laughter. Amelia decidedly wasn't as amused, the frown on her face constantly deepening.

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"Alright, enough messing around," he took a few steps back and crouched. Barrier gauntlets appeared on his hands smoothly, the use of storage rings perfected with hours of practice. "All three of you will attack me at once."

To their credit, his team immediately lowered into their stances and assessed the situation. Lev was fighting only with his gauntlets, no hint of his armor or any enhancement visible.

Their equipment, too, was blunted, which meant that the test was of raw strength and skill.

Amelia charged first, and Lev watched with his Perception slowed to the maximum as she absorbed the flames borne of his mana. The transfer was smooth, gliding through the sword before entering her body. No resistance was noticeable, which proved that the converter runes removed all mana imprints and signatures. That was good to know.

Her sword was batted aside with casual ease, and Jack's eyes widened in surprise when Lev appeared in front of him as a blur, his left arm already flying. It landed squarely on the large barrier shield, sending the warrior behind it flying for several meters.

Sparing a moment to ensure that Jack wasn't actually hurt, he rounded on Amelia. She couldn't even track his movements fully as he punched her sternum lightly, just enough to disrupt her balance. Before she could recover, a simple jerk of his leg was enough to trip her.

Nobody spoke as he landed on her back, eyes wide. The smile on Jack's face betrayed his realization, but Amelia was still clueless, taking long seconds to process what had just transpired.

"Dude…" Jack exhaled. "Just how high are your physical attributes?"

"Guess?"

"Like… 250?"

"Nope, 290 in Strength and Dexterity, and another 645 in Constitution."

"Holy shit," the warrior smiled, happier than Lev expected him to be. "And let me guess, you didn't put a single point into them?"

"Correct," Lev replied as a barrier hand dragged Amelia upright. She jolted and quickly righted herself before she could fall again. "This was another thing I didn't want to reveal too early. My attributes are… well, I don't think I can describe them as anything less than insane. My titles grant me a total of 260 to each attribute, and some more from a single title that I put into Wisdom."

"But… is that normal?" Amelia asked, finally breaking out of her trance.

"Nope," Lev chuckled, glancing at Kayla, who had the best view of his movement. It was obvious from the look in her eyes that she knew Lev was holding back. "Not even close, actually. I remember a very strong healer talking about how I had more attributes from titles as a new Adept than most new Masters."

"Wait," Kayla frowned. "Why didn't you help us get those titles?"

"Because we don't have the time," Lev answered with a frown. "I also started with way too high attributes for a level one, which let me pull off some ridiculous things. You guys didn't have those advantages."

"Such as?" she pressed.

"Such as fighting first-threshold monsters below level 50," he answered, noting the extent of their reaction. "Sounds quite stupid, doesn't it?"

"So, you started with a big advantage, great. What about us?" Amelia interrupted.

"What else? You will earn your titles now. We train for ten days, and the rest will be spent fighting monsters. So, get up. Kayla, use the regeneration bonus on me and keep your passive up at all times."

"All times?" she repeated.

"Correct. We're gonna be here all day. Chop chop."

They all took their stance again, the grips tighter than before. Lev still sent a glance towards the healer, telling her in no uncertain terms that she wasn't safe any longer either.

****

The first day came and went without anything of note. Lev pretty much toyed with his team, keeping his Perception strained to rob them of a single satisfying hit. Their frustration boiled over all the time, and surprisingly, they channeled it into the strikes pretty well.

He wasn't expecting them to take it so well, but it seemed his warnings about not going easy were taken seriously for a while now. They were much better prepared than he had hoped.

Unfortunately, that only made him treat them even worse than before. Everyone was running on fumes, especially Kayla. The suns had set an hour ago, and in dim moonlight further illuminated by Amelia's sword and enhancement, he danced around their strikes without breaking a sweat. Having so much Constitution might as well be a cheat code in the current scenario.

Amelia's sword passed mere inches from his nose as Lev tilted sideways, easily sliding over one of Kayla's barriers that sought to imbalance him from behind. Jack's hammer was already waiting for him, a testament to their rapidly improving teamwork.

He ducked under it easily enough, almost succeeding in tripping Jack again. The big man was expecting him and leveraged the position to throw his shield, hoping to catch Lev off guard.

The barrier mage sighed and didn't move out of the way, letting it land squarely on his crossed arms. It hit harder than expected, making him slide back a few feet as he effortlessly righted himself.

"HA! Take that!" Kayla shouted, only for her excitement to fade when the other two didn't join in. "What?"

"He could've easily dodged it," Amelia answered, staring at Lev with flat eyes. "What was the point of this?"

Guess the frustration wasn't channeled completely, he mused and stuck out his right hand. "Strike me."

Her longsword landed on his palm in the same instant.

"What's the difference from earlier today?"

"I'm a bit stronger?" she guessed, not particularly enthused.

"You didn't hesitate at all," Lev replied with an eyeroll. "Hesitation is the first major hurdle you need to remove completely. If you are feeling fear, then there's no room to be controlled by it. Hesitation will get you killed. Same for you two. I mean, at this point, I'm gonna have to set up a ward around my bedroom, given how Kayla is staring at me. The lesson worked extra well on her."

"You don't have anything to worry about," Kayla said, all smiles suddenly. "I totally won't do anything."

"I doubt you're gonna be able to stay awake for another few minutes," he shook his head and glanced at the other two. Now that they were tired and breathing heavily, Amelia finally noticed the pattern on her sword.

"What is this?" she asked, sending pulses of fire through it.

"That, is an eastern dragon," Lev happily answered. "They are like flying beasts with the body like a lizard's, as well as scales covering every inch of their bodies. Fire is always a constant, regardless of which fiction they are present in. Some of the most majestic beings from Earth's fiction."

Amelia was pretty impressed, and it didn't seem like he had anything to worry about. The team was too busy observing the dragon carving as Amelia channeled different frequencies of fire through it, and Lev took that moment to go over the day's events.

Orianna found me a team of monsters, he sighed mentally, noticing that he had raised the intensity of his aura even more than what he had started with. They didn't even realize it, and now they move as if the aura is barely weighing on them. And it's my aura, to begin with. How ridiculous is their willpower if it can already protect them to such a degree?

Granted, he was very far from going all out. Monster auras were so dangerous because they freely imbued their emotions into them. Their brand of madness was incredibly invasive, always trying to erode one's mental resolve.

Similarly, if Lev had wanted to kill the trio in front of him, his aura would reflect that. Once that happened, his team would simply pass out on the spot. Emotions like bloodlust and rage were that potent when it came to auras.

Still, he was impressed. Finding such a motivated team did wonders for his psyche, and he was looking forward the next day was going to go. Eventually, he was going to slow himself until he was even slower than them, and then real training would begin.