My Devourer System: Rise of the Bastard Son

The next day, the caravan was on the move again. Now surrounded by tall, white trees laden with sweet Carama fruit. Lucen longed for a taste of the reddish fruit, but there were too many people outside.

Everyone was outside their carriages, their speed lowered by the winding roads.

Garin climbed a tree to get some fruits while the other Knights cheered him on.

Not all of them of course. Duran wrinkled his nose at Garin's childish endeavours, Lot looked very conflicted and annoyed.

The Knights on this journey with them were split among two factions as far as Lucen could tell.

One of them strictly following Duran who, from what he heard, was the strongest Knight in their year group.

It was formerly Thomas, but now he was gone. Lucen smiled a little to himself.

The other faction was centered around Garin and his ridiculous strength. Lot was one of the faction's key members. Even Tenibri for how timid he was among them and garnered a lot of respect.

Lucen watched all these people with his [Mana Sense], seated comfortably in the carriage. He was playing a game of Highcraft with Aya.

The carriage rumbled as it rolled on, pulled by two griffin-like beast, half bird, half horse.

Inside the carriage, there were two benches on opposite sides. Lucen, Kon, and Elle were seated on the right. While Aya, Helie, and Hither sat opposite them.

Lucen and Aya had already played everyone else and this was a sort of finals. Kon kept tapping him on the back.

"Slow down," Kon said. "You have to win this."

Lucen rolled his eyes. Aya was the enemy, but she was also technically a guest that they needed to work with.

He was playing Farrow commander while she played Steel commander. A reversal of their first game.

The other Squires were pissed when he picked a commander that he barely played with, but the little smile on Aya's face was worth it.

At least that's what he thought in the beginning. Now Aya was manhandling him while he fumbled about, trying to understand how to play Skirmish.

There were three ways to win Highcraft.

First, by breaking through all the defenses and taking the enemy's commander. Commander capture.

Second, by controlling sixty percent of the board by the end of the game. Field domination.

Third, by holding on the half of the board till the game ended and having more living troops than your enemy. Attrition victory.

Lucen liked to annoy people when playing games so a game of attrition was his go to.

Aya was more versatile than him and skilled in all styles of play.

She took a different commander each time and still whopped everyone soundly.

Everyone's hopes rested on him to win, but now things were looking bad.

In just a few moves, Aya went from the Steel commander's Attrition style to the Castle commander's Siege style.

He was almost relieved to lose. This game reminded him how much he still had to learn before saying he was good at Highcraft.

"No, Lucen!" Kon yelled, shaking his shoulders. "Why would you pick the Farrow commander?! Even if you didn't want to go for Attrition you could have played Siege."

"Siege sounds boring," Lucen said, brushing off Kon's hands, "Everyone is always complaining about how I only play Attrition and how cool Skirmish is."

Helie frowned. "You could've played Skirmish against any of us? Why choose it against the toughest opponent?"

Lucen shrugged; no reason honestly, other than trying to make Aya happy. He stood up and leapt out of the carriage in one smooth motion.

"Time to climb the trees. I've wasted enough time."

The others followed, Aya at the very back. Lucen was going to use the water spell he got from Kedral to climb, now that the other Squires and Knights was up ahead anyway.

"Get me one, too," Kon said, "I have no idea how you're going to climb that though."

"Ouu, me too," Elle and Hither chorused.

He turned around to tell them no, when Aya raised her hand. "I'd like one too, if you don't mind."

Helie and Kon gave her a sour look, but said nothing. Lucen sighed.

"At least let me get up there first."

"You can do it," Helie promised. "Just don't break the bark, its sap is corrosive."

"I know." He muttered in return.

Carama trees had deadly sap that could burn through fingers in seconds.

There was also the Withmare. Six-armed beasts with snow white fur and savage fangs. They wore masks made from the skulls of their enemies.

Withmare protected the Carama trees viciously, not eating any fruit that did not fall from its branches. And their Veils were said to be incredible.

Lucen scanned the forest, carefully checking for any signs of the creatures. Then he summoned the runes for [Tailwhip].

The water spell created a solid tail of water behind him that was like a fifth limb.

At first, Lucen had wondered why not a fist. A hand or hammer would be more effective.

But the image of a tail amplified the power even little amounts of mana could achieve.

The simple tail could shatter steel and squeeze bones till they turned to dust.

It was very versatile in what it could do, and its power was definitely enhanced.

Another use of [Tailwhip] was its ability to be a medium for spell casting. Lucen could enhance the watery tail with [Serpent's Call] or cast [Sinking Sand] through it.

He poured mana into the spell's runes, but the tail formed sloppily, leaking water over the stone and wasting mana.

Water spells had a strange disagreement with him. The runes didn't resist his summoning but his control of the spell was sloppy.

The tail swished around and water splashed between his feet.

"Finally, a spell you can't flawlessly control," Elle sighed happily. "It's so rewarding to see you make mistakes."

"I think you're using too much mana," Kon advised, smirking. "How many times have I heard that line?"

Helie slapped his shoulder playfully, laughing softly. "No, his control over the spell is loose."

Lucen clicked his tongue and jumped, the tail stretched and wrapped around the white bark of the tree tightly. But not too tight. He placed his feet against the bark softly and began climbing.

Water streamed down, the tail served as an anchor, allowing him drag himself up the tree.

But his ascent up the tree was slow and arduous. His mind locked into a vicious battle with the spell.

The bark creaked and a hiss erupted from the water and Lucen stopped, legs tensed, ready to jump away.

The sap made its way down the tree steaming. Lucen walked around it, sweating slightly.

Soon he reached the fruits and broke them off with one hand, storing them in his space ring.

He was about to start coming down when he saw a flash of white. His spear flashed into his hand with a brief light.

Withmare.

But it wasn't coming after him. There was a small shape running from the six-armed beast. A child, barefoot and dirty, was running from the monster.

Helie and the others had also summoned their weapons as soon as Lucen's spear appeared. Liam, who had been on top of the carriage this whole time, drew back his bowstring.

Liam saw the little boy and let the arrow fly without hesitation, letting it whistle through the air, and stab directly into the Withmare's neck.

The creature staggered and let out a guttural roar before ripping the arrow free. It had just been playing with its prey, but now it surged towards the boy.

A Stalker. It wouldn't go down easy.

Lucen crushed the bark with his watery tail, he waited a moment as the water began to bubble viciously.

Then he jumped off the tree lightly to not break the bark, and pushed harder with his tail.

The force of the push sent him soaring through the air. He swung his body mid air and used the tail to grab the Withmare Stalker's head.

The tail ripped the monster from the ground and flung it through the air. Lucen landed beside the child hard, crouching to his knees.

The huge body of the creature crashed noisly into the forest floor.

The child's face went from horrified to relieved in seconds. He grabbed Lucen's elbow. "Please, my parents, they're still there."