The three corporals, with their tiny military green pstic bodies, silently vanished among the tall autumn grass, while the sergeant maintained his vigint position near Ryan, his small but sharp eyes constantly scanning the immediate perimeter.
In truth, Ryan didn't know if he would be able to summon his squad again in case of an accident, so he could only take the risk of experimenting even in this desperate situation. This applied not only to his soldiers but also to his own body.
There was no way a seasoned warrior would trade his sword for something more convenient on paper, and Ryan wasn't going to permanently leave his life in the hands of an ability that originally didn't belong to him.
Thus, he closed his eyes and began to meditate, forgetting everything around him, even himself. With each long breath of air, a thought disappeared from his mind until nothing remained. It was in this void, where even his mind lost form and meaning, that Ryan could feel the energy that exists in all things.
The energy he called aura was like an infinite ocean, and upon opening his mouth to inhale once again, a stream seemed to form beside that ocean, drawing water into his body like a canal irrigation system. From his lungs to his circutory system, the energy seemed to mix with his blood to be distributed throughout his body.
Perhaps because it was the first time, the first 30 seconds of meditation were the most important of his life, his once-numbed body now seeming to break countless chains that had kept him imprisoned.
The second circution of aura opened his mind as if countless windows were opening simultaneously. Pain and confusion disappeared as if they had never been there, as did his reasoning ability.
The tension he had been feeling melted away like snow never to return, even when the little soldiers returned from their reconnaissance with information about the enemy.
It was the corporal who had headed south of his position who began transmitting images of two men in worn bandit clothing. Fortunately, there was no need to give new orders when the corporals decided to disappear again into the yellowish grass that covered their surroundings, this time not far from their summoner.
Ryan, for his part, stopped circuting the aura he was absorbing and prepared himself to be good bait, his gaze beginning to tremble with fear, as much as the rest of his body upon hearing the noise of dry leaves marking the passage of his precious captors.
From a line of trees emerged two men in rough leather armor, their eyes lighting up upon finally finding their captive after an "exhaustive" search.
"So this is where our little piece of shit ended up," said one of the bandits as they approached with confident steps, unaware that four tiny soldiers were in their path, waiting for them with a small but painful surprise.
"I think we should be rewarded for our efforts, there's certainly something that drives me crazy about redheads," outlined the other bandit, patting his companion's shoulder before licking his lips with some kind of hunger. Perhaps excited by seeing Ryan's small body trembling with terror or his tender androgynous body completely defenseless, he was the first to move and the first to take the worst part of the ambush.
Pop!
Pop!
"Aahhhggg!"
Instead of a loud explosion, the sound of the anti-personnel mines was more like firecrackers exploding underwater. Still, the most fearsome aspect of these mines wasn't the explosion, but the countless fragments moving at high speed, grinding everything in the bst range. Despite their tiny size, the anti-personnel mines shredded the first bandit's boot sole along with the skin and part of the muscles in his foot, giving him another reason to fall backward to the ground, not knowing whether to grab his eyes or foot.
The precision and timing of the little soldiers to shoot at the same moment as the explosion occurred were the greatest advantages that covered their weak lethal force. Two pairs of eyes were immediately turned into Swiss cheese simultaneously, causing a simir reaction on the second bandit, who had let his friend advance alone, to stumble backward in pain only to step on a pair of mines that made him fall to the ground seconds after his companion.
"Aah-g-ghuugh!"
But the bandits' screams were silenced by Ryan himself, who had started sprinting at the moment of the explosion, quickly wielding one of the knives sheathed at the waist of the bandit who wanted to have fun with his body.
No more than 10 seconds passed from the ambush before the knife found its pce inside both bandits' jugurs, giving a quick and efficient death to his problems.
"Tutorial completed!
Unlock: Inventory, Memories, Main Mission, Secondary Mission.
Title: The Pyer.
+50 exp.
+50 exp. for first elimination.
Level Up!
Your ability has unlocked the possibility to evolve.
Evolution(2): Power - Units.
Evolution points: 1."
While a new wave of notifications appeared in front of Ryan, he immediately took the pair of knives that both bandits had and started running in the opposite direction from where they had appeared. With one less problem for the moment, the young redhead knew he had little time before the new energy in his body would completely dissipate, returning him to his previous weakened state. Therefore, he ran through the forest while the toy soldiers held tightly to the rags he was wearing.
Beyond his expectations, 30 minutes ter Ryan found himself again on the ground looking at the blue sky while sorting through his new memories and rewards.
It was the new memories that informed him that he was no longer in his own world, but one governed by magic and other fantastic powers. Far from being surprised by the unreality of finding himself transmigrated, what left him perplexed was the extreme purity of the energy he could extract from the world, making it more potent and perhaps more dangerous.
The memories also showed him that due to his noble background, Ryan was obligated to go to the nearest wizard academy, as well as the path he should follow to complete his subsequent missions.
This also spoke a bit about the "system" that had granted him this second life: this entity seemed to ck emotions, spitting out missions left and right to make him grow stronger, with a still unknown objective.
"Main Mission: attend Rosewold Academy.
Deadline before mission failure: 59 days.
Reward: Elementary elemental magic, 75 exp, Title.
Secondary mission: Level up
Experience acquired: 0/200
Reward: +2 Inventory slots."
Despite the bright letters with which the system seemed to want to tempt him, Ryan directly ignored a good part of the new memories he had received, as well as the main mission that seemed to guide him on a path that didn't interest him at all.
Magic? Why would he waste his time walking an unknown path when he could simply sprint toward a path he had already traveled? In his opinion, the path of Aura was perhaps as potent as that of magic, given that Ryan had died at 31 years old when other warriors could normally live for hundreds of years. If it weren't for the war that broke out against "that" person, it would have been impossible to estimate Ryan's potential.
On the other hand, the secondary mission was something he had to do anyway, not only to become stronger but also to increase his inventory's space. So far, the inventory seemed able to contain more than one item of the same type per slot, since the knives he had taken from the bandits only occupied the first of the two slots his Inventory possessed.
And since the title he had received only seemed to be a kind of css that marked him as chosen by the system, the most important part of his reward was the evolution point for his toy soldiers.
"Toy Soldiers:
or
Since the system seemed as good of a conversationalist as Ryan himself, he could only imagine what these two options would do.
Both choices floated before his eyes, each with a different color: bck and green.
Ryan only hesitated for a few seconds before extending his finger toward the most convenient option.
Nakusyer