Ceaseless Horizons [A LitRPG Progression Fantasy]

In the end, Lev did what he was asked without daring to ask another question. He really needed to start controlling his tongue better. It didn't help that Jack gave him a brief look of understanding, silently telling him that it was okay. The big guy was way too good at reading people.

Dreadbane crystals were literally like black diamonds. They had a lot of smooth surface and sharp edges, and were also extremely durable. Lev knew for certain that they made for an excellent coating because of their toughness and resistance to mana, and because of their rarity, gathering quests for them were always up.

Ten minutes later, they were back in their training bubble, right next to the western wall. A few monsters somehow ended up wandering close, and Lev happily tested his artillery on them. He doubted he was going to get tired of splattering monsters anytime soon, especially when it happened faster than a blink.

"Right," he voiced once his armor was done being carved. A kinetic absorption enchantment, targeting both impacts and the armor's own speed, ensured that he wouldn't accidentally use too much strength. Every other formation had been erased. "Same rules. Come at me with full force. Don't buff me."

They didn't need to be told twice. Kayla's buffs enveloped the duo rushing at him, just as three mana barriers from her bracer flew above Lev.

Hmm, he crouched slightly, most of his focus ensuring that he wouldn't lean into manipulating his armor unknowingly. Physical strength was already enough. Kayla' aiming for blocks and footwork disruption from the start already. Amelia's forming fire slash is also obvious.

Perhaps it was a bit unfair to notice all those things with his vastly better senses. Unfortunately, he couldn't exactly reduce the effectiveness of attributes.

A lunge was enough to change Amelia's approach as she stopped and waited for Lev to reach her. He instead abruptly changed direction, rushing Jack. The big man was prepared, hammer already raised high.

Lev took it all in a moment, absorbing his own momentum to not sprint too fast, and ducked under the blow. A knee landed on his palm, already deflecting it to run past the big man. Jack's eyes widened as the barrier mage easily avoided his last-ditch grab, and also jumped over a barrier about to hit his leg.

Kayla didn't let up, and the other two also tried to stop him. Lev slapped away a barrier right in his face, dodged the second by jumping over it, and the one he had initially avoided also flew at his neck. His Perception let him feel its position clearly, except he still had to make a decision. Amelia's fire slash was swiftly approaching his right, Kayla's barrier from behind him, and Jack's wide swipe was already about to land on his left shoulder.

Finding the hammer to be the easiest to deal with, he crouched slightly and pushed the approaching blunt weapon with his palm. The swing was mighty, almost overpowering his physical strength alone, but he still managed to change its trajectory enough to escape-

Another barrier tried to smash the top of his head, except he was prepared. Lev knew that Kayla was making an effort to push both her bracer and general skill at once, using four barriers at once-

His eyes widened when a fifth barrier, hidden close behind Jack's back to avoid his detection, thudded into his chest. The meager force behind it wasn't supposed to hurt him, only slow him down.

Amelia's fire slash was accounting for that too, landing squarely on his raised arms as Lev turned around in the nick of time. Blinded by the explosion, he took advantage of the brief opening, dashing towards Kayla. The swordswoman was already there, a grin on her face that matched Lev's smile as Jack and Kayla slowed down to let them brawl for a moment.

****

In the end, Lev found himself on the barrier ground this time. With his speed and strength at the same level as the other three, it didn't come as a surprise when they eventually overpowered him. It wasn't like he was some unbeatable combat prodigy, and his only dedicated skill, glaive mastery, wasn't put to use either.

"You alright?" Jack asked and offered a hand.

Lev grabbed it and stood up. "Unhurt. Just considering things."

"You don't have an unarmed skill, right?"

"Nope, just one movement skill that is focused on aerial combat. Don't think I should be focused on training without my glaive anymore."

Jack chuckled. "It's funny hearing you say that when you aren't even using your class."

"And how can you sense my barriers so well?" Kayla asked, having caught her breath after the hour-long training session.

Lev was curious about that too. "I think my Mana Perception is close to evolving."

"It still hasn't?" she asked, surprised.

"Nope. My Perception was always really high, so I couldn't quite push the skill to its limits. It also scales with Perception, so it kept improving in the background without evolving."

"Are you going to use your glaive now?" Amelia asked. She sat cross-legged, thinking about how the brawl had gone and why it took them so long to pin him down.

"Not the Superior version," he said and formed a barrier replica of Stargazer. "Tell me when you're ready."

Five minutes later, Kayla, Jack, and Amelia stood opposite him, twenty meters away. Lev held the replica calmly in his hands, finding it to be a better companion than his bare fists, even if his talent with melee weapons was lacking. That was fine. Hard work was going to prevail again.

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Crouching slightly, he adopted his stance and nodded. Amelia took the spar more seriously from the get-go, immediately launching a wide wave of fire at him. Lev powered through with little trouble, his armor absorbing it all with casual ease. Jack was there, waiting with his hammer.

Perhaps using his armor to negate the fire wasn't the best move, but the swordswoman needed to know that monsters could shrug off weak attacks without pausing for even a moment. His lessons had already borne fruit, though, as she was just a step behind Jack, whirling on him from the right.

Stargazer flashed, slapping away two of Kayla's barriers in a single swing. The haft blocked the descending hammer without problem, though Lev didn't let himself absorb the impact completely. His feet slid back slightly as would be fitting for a monster at Jack's level, providing a brief opening for Amelia as the glaive took too long to reposition.

Instead of his weapon, Lev threw it up lightly and turned to Amelia with his fists. Another two of Kayla's barriers accompanied the swordswoman, so he first manipulated his mid-air glaive to fire an extremely weak mana slash.

Seeing it for the first time, his team was caught unprepared. The slash broke one of the barriers and pushed away the second, leaving Amelia in a one-on-one. Lev was on her in a blink, his fist pushing the flat of her longsword to avoid the initial thrust. She still tried to knee him, just as a wave of flame rose out of the deflected weapon.

Limited as he was, it would be too much to just walk through the flames again. Instead, he ducked and had to jump away when Jack jumped him from the side. A mana bolt also almost grazed his shoulder, dodged hastily in a roll.

Whew, Lev grinned under his armor, matching the expression on his team's faces, even Kayla's. Now that they were fighting on even terms, it was entirely possible for him to be soundly defeated. In fact, he was expecting that to happen at least once in the next few days while slowly ramping up his strength, forcing his team to adapt against a gradually strengthening adversary.

This will be fun, he thought and charged, now more interested in seeing how well Kayla could keep him at bay.

****

Another half an hour later, Lev was still standing upright, undefeated. His team had put up a valiant effort, but he was too experienced to lose so quickly. Granted, they were learning terrifyingly quickly and were also growing into their skill and attribute potential, but he was also adapting to their moves and teamwork.

Summoning a chair for himself, he waited until his team was seated around him.

"Any questions?"

"Yeah, how did you first meet Isabella?" Kayla casually asked.

"I mean about the training," Lev flatly answered. "And she came to me to warn me about her father being adamant about recruiting me."

"And?"

"He was a reasonable man," he shrugged. "Not pushy or overbearing, especially when I explained how much my presence would endanger his daughter."

"Yeah," Jack smiled. "It would take a certain brand of idiots to join you."

Even Amelia nodded with a smile at that. "I mean, like Orianna says, it is as much a danger as it is an opportunity. Much more of the latter with Lev's support, if I'm being honest. Don't know why the Duke didn't understand that."

"I'm certain he did," Lev replied. "It's just that, who can willingly put their daughter at even more risk? I know I wouldn't be able to."

Jack's look was enough to show that he agreed, though the girls were momentarily thoughtful. It didn't take them long to agree as well.

"Alright, here's the plan," Lev got up and paced around. "I am limiting myself to mana slash and minor manipulation of my barrier glaive. That way, it can be used automatically for no more than a minute per half hour. It will remain that way for the next two spars, after which I will start adding even more. By tonight, you guys will be facing a small portion of my mental strength, which is way higher than the physical counterpart. Any questions?"

"Just one," Amelia voiced. "What's the end goal?"

"To use about 10% of my total mental strength when fighting you guys. It's very excessive by my estimates, though the chances of you actually surviving a minute against that much power aren't negligible either. I want to see if it's possible to push you that much."

No more questions were forthcoming, so after healing Jack to restore his stamina quicker, Lev adopted his stance again. His team followed his lead without any complaint, more than happy with the extremely rare opportunity.

****

The day passed with only a single defeat, and only in the second spar while he was still fighting at minimum strength. It was also very surprising and amusing, in a way. Amelia had to hear Kayla berate her about overusing the fire enhancement for ten minutes straight.

After that, she wisely didn't push it too much. A few burns still happened, except Kayla only glared at her for them. It was acceptable by the healer's standard.

Jack showed the most improvement. The big man's hammer, if aimed right, could easily lift Lev off his feet. That was the main reason he lost in the first place, and also why he never lost again. He was too wary of that damned hammer.

Night was in full swing now, and Lev hovered above the western wall. Something was watching him from the forest, that much was certain. Which was also why Sherron landed next to him after a few minutes, already looking intently at the distant region.

"What is it?" Lev asked, both wary and too curious.

"I can't tell," she replied tensely. "It's beyond my eyesight's effective range."

Lev's curiosity dimmed a little, and after a single glance from Sherron, he was flying towards Hakim's office. Less than a minute later, all three of them were on the wall.

"It's not the first time," Hakim spoke after a few seconds of loaded silence. "Ignore it, the creature is not a monster."

… Huh. That's new. Something sentient lives in the Dreadwoods?

Sherron's gaze lingered for a few seconds before turning to him. The warning in it to steer clear of the wall was clear, except Lev wasn't so inclined to. Even Hakim didn't seem worried, just accepting.

"I'll make more preparations," he said, taking one last look at the distant region, barely visible under the twin moons. "Don't worry, if anything happens, I'll try my best to live."

"Why do you- ugh, forget it. Just make sure to use the alert crystal. We'll know," Sherron grumbled and flew away.

Hakim smiled slightly as he watched her go before giving Lev a look. Lev just grinned back, and his grin widened a notch when he noticed the gleam in Hakim's eyes that was also visible in his own currently.

A wealth of curiosity.

Both of them wanted to know what the creature was. It hadn't attacked anyone, nor was it threatening Lev in any way so far. Hell, it might even be friendly, which made Lev all the more excited to finally meet it.

"I'll be careful still," Lev said, understanding that Hakim wasn't as hot-headed as him. "Besides, I can't exactly run away when my presence may save many, especially if I lure it away."

"I won't tell you otherwise," Hakim rumbled, relaxed yet serious like always. "Just know that a lot more can be accomplished by being alive."

"Of course," Lev nodded. "That's the priority too, but you know, I don't think I can abandon civilians if it comes down to it."

"It's understandable," the guildmaster answered and vanished in a puff of silver.

Lev just stared at where the tall man was for a moment before shaking his head. The old folks never got tired of silently flexing their powers in front of the younger generation.