The Rise Of Calamity

*Click Click Click Click Click*

*Tap Tap Tap Tap Tap Tap*

Two different sounds echoed through the forests as a golden blur and a red-brown blur moved at extremely high speeds, jumping branches and dodging trees in their way.

All the beasts in the forest could see were blurs and the feeling of gusts of wind hitting them lightly.

*5 Hours Later*

*Gasp*

Gasping for air, June held onto her trembling knees while sweat dripped from her face onto the soul under us. I on the other hand had been standing in the same place for the last minute while watching June gasp for air.

We had been running for about 6 hours now and the sun was already setting. According to my calculations, it would take another 7 hours to reach Fredrick City so we weren't very far away at this point. While yes, we would have reached the city before sunset if we had ridden on Keaurin, I had not seen him in more than a month now and I can't keep relying on him for every mission I have to go to that is outside of Lagua city.

'I need wings...' I sighed

[In the future, maybe...]

'Maybe?'

[Ugh. I mean that maybe in the future, you might learn or even evolve into someone who can have natural wings. However, for now, the closest thing you will have to create wings is either when you start using your battle aura, or when you reach a high-Gaseous-Stage.]

'Oh, thanks for the info... I have a question though. How long do you think the divine energy assimilation will take? It is like 61% now and there isn't really any pattern and it kinda just spiked a month ago and now it stopped... Do you know why?'

[Those were two questions... Anyway, I don't know how long it will take nor how it works, but what I can tell you is when it does reach 100%, you can expect an explosion in the amount of power you hold]

Thinking about what analysis said, my thought process gradually shifted and at the same time, my eyes landed on June.

"Hey, June?" I spoke

"Yeah *Gasp*" even in her current state, I could still feel the animosity in her voice gradually become more apparent in a single word.

"How long did it take you to reach the knight rank?" I narrowed my eyes.

"Why? *Gasp*" She furrowed her brows.

"I just want to see how good my growth has been over the years." I smiles back, but of course, she could not see my smile due to the mask I wore on my face.

She looked into my eyes skeptically as her panting gradually subsided, becoming lighter and lighter after every pant. Eventually, she did not need to hold onto her knees, allowing her to straighten her back and turn to me.

"Aren't you a mage?"

"Elemental Warrior" I retorted

"Yeah, doesn't change the fact that while I cultivate my inner energy, slowly creating a sturdy battle aura that grows through fighting and inner cultivation, you have to cultivate your mana heart through the use of ambient mana. While it may sound the same, the level of difficulties and speed of cultivating is completely different. Did you not learn this in The academy?"

[From now on, I will be calling inner energy soul energy, while calling the Flame of life a soul flame instead. This is done for simplicity's sake and the people who say "Soul energy" do not know about all creatures having soul flames within them nor anything about soul contracts.]

Hearing her last sentence, I chuckled while lightly rubbing my neck.

"Of course I have. I just wanted to know how long it took you" I replied

"Then just say that. Ugh, you are so annoying" June grumbled

"Are you going to tell me then?" I tilted my head to the side.

"Well, I started cultivating my soul energy when I was 6 years old after my awakening. Due to having more than one affinity, my affinities became weak individually while I was also too weak to combine them. Even if I could combine them, I am not a dwarf so my control over magma and lava would have been weak anyway." She sighed before continuing-

"Anyway, my father is in the army so he decided to give me the army cultivation method and from the start, I was really good at." She did not pause speaking, however, she started walking towards the direction of Fredrick City while gesturing me to follow her.

'I don't remember asking her for her life story...'

[I don't remember asking anyone to be stuck with an idiot host]

'...'

"I am pretty sure I reached Supreme Warrior rank at the age of 14, right before going into the academy. In the academy, I was able to break through into the Knight rank at the age of 15 and by the end of the academy, I was at the peak of the Grand Guardian rank. You are actually a little more powerful than I was when I left the academy, but I didn't have any experience in fighting so I became a mercenary and joined this guild" Her voice throughout the whole conversation gradually became softer until she finally got to her last sentence where her smile had become as bright as the sun.

"What about you?" She asked with childish excitement.

'Is she a child?' I was a little startled

"Well, my life has been a little complicated so far. My father is in the military while my mother is an Ex-Adventurer. My father had taught me a little bit of weapon training while looking after me, and my sister mostly took care of me. My mother is kind of a control freak who cared a little too much about her status in society. I awakened the Fire, earth, and light elements at the age of 5 when I was fighting against a peaked advanced-level beast. I trained, went to the academy and now I joined cuz' my cultivation has reached a bottleneck" I watched many emotions flash on June's face, one of them being envy and the other being anger and self-loath.

[Even though I think you are stupid, the way you simplified your entire life into a few sentences was amazing. Oh wait, maybe I am overestimating how eventful your life is.]

'Oh please....'