Ceaseless Horizons [A LitRPG Progression Fantasy]

Things happened in a blink. Lev's lance, overloaded with a crap ton of lightning, vanished from sight. Above him, the large whip accelerated even further, pushing him to the ground with its sheer descent.

Time itself seemed to hold its breath as both finishers came closer and closer, only for Lev to realize time was acting just fine. The attacks, however, were not.

Drakys materialized in between the whip and the lance, an arm stretched toward each. With laughable ease, he overwhelmed the caster's control over those constructs and stabilized them completely, rendering them frozen mid-air without an ounce of mana leakage.

Lev could only watch with his mouth ajar, having felt the unfathomable control and experience required to accomplish that. Drakys had made his barriers stronger, took control of the lance's enchantments without a single pause, and turned it into something that even the creator was wary of.

Above him, the whip suffered the same fate. It collapsed into itself, going from dark orange and yellow to a bright blue, becoming exceptionally stable in the process. Abruptly, it shot off towards the sky, exploding in a myriad of colors after a few long seconds high above.

"Wasn't this supposed to be a spar?" the Exalted hmm'd, glancing at both Isabella and Lev. "I thought you two would keep things under control this close to the encampment. Have you looked behind you?"

Lev turned back fully for the first time, taking in just how much damage their stupidity had caused. The tents that he thought were going to be fine, were very much not fine. Instead, they were pressed flat against the wall several kilometers away, and even the stone structure was somewhat blackened from Isabella's stray attacks and the first large blast.

This time, Drakys was looking solely at Isabella, as Lev had blocked her projectiles to the best of his ability.

"I want you both in the meeting room in ten minutes," the Exalted announced, letting the barrier lance disperse before vanishing in a blink.

****

Neither Lev nor Isabella dared to go against the order. Their mess-up would've been completely normal, but too many people had seen their spar. Drakys had to send a message about discipline, and it was going to be loud and clear when combatants as strong as them were punished.

The meeting tent was empty when they arrived, too nervous even to talk. Two chairs were already arranged for them at the large meeting table, placed right in front of the warlords'.

"I'm sorry," Isabella meekly apologized, looking at the ground. "I don't usually get to fight like that because my father never lets me get into truly dangerous situations. Only during the few waves I defended against could I fight so freely…"

"You're mistaken if you think I minded," Lev shrugged, leaning back in his chair. "Just not the best time to go all-out like that, because, you know. We're here for that reason."

They both chuckled, and obviously, Drakys was already sitting in front of them when they looked ahead. That killed off the sound of laughter in record time.

"Had your fun?" the Exalted mused, not angry at all. "I wanted you to show off, not blow up everyone present."

"You can't blame either of us for getting carried away. When does one even get to fight like that?"

"And by that you mean throwing mana at problems until they explode," the Exalted quipped. "It was so easy to take over your mana. Why do you think most people never progress past Master?"

"… Because of how slow leveling gets?" Isabella guessed, still nervous. She didn't know Drakys as well as Lev did. Neither of them was in trouble.

"That is a major factor, but only one of them. Leveling remains somewhat manageable as long as you fight monsters well above you in level. Why do you think that starts to become harder?"

"Do we need to answer that?" Lev said. "Monsters obviously become way stronger above the third threshold. Tell us why."

"So impatient," Drakys clicked his tongue, taking his sweet time. "You see, kids, I have been alive for a very long time now. Along the way, I have noticed several shortcomings of humanity that are not, in fact, shortcomings. Tell me, Lev. How difficult is it for you to control mana?"

"It's as natural as breathing at this point," he answered after a bit of thought. "Manipulating mana inside Stargazer is still so much easier, it's actually a bit terrifying."

Drakys nodded and turned to Isabella. "What about you? How easy is fire to manipulate?"

"Very?" she shrugged lightly, confused about why Drakys was asking that.

"Now picture this," the Exalted's voice turned serious. "I've had the chance to teach a fifty-year-old man about Mana Manipulation once. He struggled to move around a little bit of it at first, but when I added the reward of helping him level after he evolved the skill twice, progress sped up. The man started to focus better, and even then, it took two decades with guidance for him to reach that goal."

Lev and Isabella were thoroughly entranced by now. The build-up was leading to something of extreme importance; they could feel it.

Drakys continued. "That is the first requirement for progress: Desire. Both of you already know the importance of desire from being able to use blue fire. Between wants and needs, it leans more towards wants, and that is already a significant pillar of all mana manipulation.

"Moving a step further, I've taught in multiple academies. Five centuries ago, there was only a single academy on the plains, situated in Whitefall. There, I taught kids with varying levels of ambition and desire. Amongst them, many naturally excelled, but some overcame prodigies through sheer hard work.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

"That reveals the second and third requirements: Hard work and drive. Desire and drive can be the same, or they can be something wildly different. One of my friends shocked everyone with his progress solely because he wanted to be done with a long project quickly to spend more time with his wife. He alone took on several strong third-threshold monsters for that before even reaching the third gap.

"Even higher than that is where things get tricky. Talent isn't a requirement to progress. Far from it, in fact. What it does dictate however, is the quality of the status always accompanying you. Skills rely on your talent to an unfair extent, to the point that we're forced to focus on those who have more of it. They are intrinsically tied to your being, and talent is far too effective there."

Lev and Isabella waited as he went silent for a moment. Drakys gathered his words and turned to Lev.

"That brings me to you. Some of my students were able to complete exercises meant to be completed over a month in two weeks or less. They stood out and could be called middling talents.

"You, on the other hand, made progress in hours that took them days. For an average mage, the speed at which you improved would be unthinkable. Doesn't matter how much you had practiced before, evolving a skill in less than two days is very impressive.

"And above that is where things have fewer answers than we want. Isabella's connection with fire, similar to your teammate, is something we have no explanation for. It just exists and can be pushed to extreme heights. Many historical figures are undeniable proof of that.

"Now the waters become too muddy to glimpse anything. Desire, drive, hard work, and talent have been accounted for, so things become odd, to say the least. Anomalies are present everywhere, ones we can only look up to. Take your mentor, for example. Alec's talent with mana manipulation is something no one has ever been able to decipher. The boy merely needed to look at an application of the skill, and in a few days, he would be clumsily repeating the exercises meant for Masters."

Drakys finished with a chuckle, reminiscing about the time they spent on the ship. "Regardless of all my life experiences, the awe I feel about those days is still the same. Most of the Masters outright refused to teach him extensively, afraid that their teachings might taint Alec's natural talent."

Lev just shook his head silently as Isabella listened with stars in her eyes. No matter what, his mentor's past continued to be stellar, and his talent, the fucking sun itself. How was he supposed to surpass that?

"Then there are people who go beyond that. Jimmy is one of the most fascinating crafters to have ever existed, one who had the easiest time getting to Exalted. Even right now, we can't disclose his abilities at any cost. People will no doubt try to replicate them, and that will go horribly.

"And lastly, there's Hakim, that madman," Drakys said with a small sigh, leaning back in his chair. "Desire, Drive, Discipline, Talent, and the favor of a Goddess— every road ends at him. There's no one else that even comes close to the sheer might he possesses, nor the dauntless will that carries him forward. You said that the hound would probably win, Lev. I say there's no chance in hell that Hakim would lose."

"Huh?" Lev drawled, caught unaware. "Why do you say so? I know what I felt, and the gap seemed endless."

"Endless between you and the hound, not the hound and Hakim," Drakys corrected. "You've never seen him fight. Most haven't— only the Exalted have. When Hakim truly lets loose, there's usually no room for anyone else to interfere. That's how strong he is. We simply don't compare."

Lev took a moment to digest that information, unsure what he was supposed to do with it. Knowing that the guardian of humanity was so strong was reassuring, but Drakys wouldn't have brought it up for no reason. Before asking that though, he had another question.

"Where do you put yourself in terms of talent?"

"Of course you want to know that," the Exalted chuckled. "I would put myself behind Alec, mostly because his talent encompasses a skill of unlimited possibilities. My talent is with runes and enchantments, especially when it comes to modifying my own body with them. It's like a sixth sense that never explained itself, only aiding me at every turn, even when my body resisted against my efforts."

"Runes, huh?" Lev wondered out loud and sank into his chair. Isabella looked between the two of them, unaware of the singular rune that was dominating Lev's mind currently. How could he ever forget that terrifying existence?

"Returning to the original topic, how much of your strength shows the qualities I just explained?"

"What?" Isabella blinked. "You mean Desire, Drive, Disciple, Talent, and Anomalies?"

"Let's forget about the last one for now," Drakys added. "Do your skills and attacks show the rest? Do they scream the desperation and ambition you want to realize eventually?"

Lev didn't ask questions and fell deep into thought. He could see the Exalted's point quite clearly now that he thought about it.

Desire was the simplest of them all. What he wanted his mana to do was the basis of all manipulation, which could be attributed to desire. He already had a relatively good handle on that, as his manipulation rarely fell below expectations.

Drive was not as simple. The only reason Lev could understand why Drakys wanted to talk about it was because he had experienced why it mattered so much. Life had taught him plenty of times how cruel it could be, but only a singular experience stood out in his mind.

The Core Guardian in the golem dungeon was the best example of how skills could go above and beyond when the user was fully in tune with them. Back then, Lev had wanted nothing more than to beat the stone construct to death, regardless of what it took. There was no room for doubt, only for progress.

And that was exactly what had happened. Despite the debilitating injuries, he had fought tooth and nail, using everything in his arsenal to eke out the victory. The exhilaration and satisfaction were still unmatched, as every other encounter had come too close for comfort.

With only desire and drive combined, he could already accomplish so much with his class— it wasn't even funny. Most would agree that he was the strongest human at his level currently, at least until any external aid was ignored. Isabella was living proof that there could be people even stronger with the right support, and each Exalted was also in a league of their own.

Talent…

How did one even calculate talent, let alone the talent that shone through one's skills? Lev could understand to some extent what Drakys was trying to tell him, but he also had no past experiences to rely on. He was talented, of that there was no doubt by now. Even Drakys admitted that.

When have I ever excelled beyond what I should've been able to do?

Frankly, his ridiculous advantages made everything seem feasible, for it was his efforts that were always lacking in comparison. That presented a massive hurdle, one that seemed more terrifying the more he thought about it.

If his advantages were so big that he had never felt himself approaching the point of fully utilizing them, just how far did he have to go still before his talent could truly shine? Or would it be required before ever reaching the limits, simply to make complete use of his absurd class?

Discipline is at least easy to explain, something I have been horribly slacking on, he sighed to himself, squinting his eyes at Drakys. The Exalted knew exactly what was going on in Lev's head, and the encouraging expression told him that he was on the right track.

"Just so you know," Drakys spoke up again, pulling them out of thought. "The moment you find an answer and make good progress in that direction, The System will acknowledge it too, so don't hesitate to try new things if they feel right."