The Human Path

"Its stronger than the Sand Crocodile I fought before. We"re lucky that we ran into a spiritual beast from the get go, but how are we going to defeat it." Asked Koren.

"As long as you are in the Armor, you"re safe from any serious damage. However, I had to turn off the inertial dampeners to save power, so be careful of being thrashed around, but we should be clear from any piercing damage." replied Hope.

As Koren continued to drop, he felt his feet touch something hard, like a rock layer.

"It"s probably the outer wall, we need to break in." recommended Hope.

Koren concentrated all of the earth element spiritual power under his feet, and forced his way through.

"Ahh." Yelled Koren as he fell through, and continued to fall for a whole minute, before he finally felt the ground under him again.

"Activate the Kino." Said Hope.

"OK." Replied Koren, as he brought up the Armor Utilities menu and activated the Kino cam system.

b.a.l.l.s of liquid metal started to coagulate around his arms till they detached and turned into round b.a.l.l.s with a camera and flash light of sorts. A total of 30 Kino"s came out from the Armor and lighted up the whole tunnel.

Koren looked up at the roof, it was at least a kilometer high, no wonder he kept falling for around a minute.

"Sand Serpent, straight ahead. I think it noticed us, get ready Koren." Said Hope as her form appeared in the tunnel, right next to one of the Kino"s.

"I"m ready Big sis." Replied Koren with zest and vigor.

"Great, I"m sending half of the Kino"s out to explore this place" Said Hope as 15 Kino"s a.s.sembled themselves next to her before spreading out through the tunnels.

The other half simply turned into miniature lights bulbs, making the dark tunnel system light up.

Koren saw the sand serpent slithering over with speed, it was going so fast that he was sure he couldn"t out run it even if he changed all of his spiritual power points to wind.

"I need a weapon." Said Koren.

"No problem, just bring up the weapons menu." Replied Hope.

"Wait, there"s a weapons menu, how come you didn"t tell me about that before." Asked Koren as he brought up the weapons menu, and chose sharp swords mounted on his arms.

The front of his arms turned liquid before turning into dual swords.

"You never asked." Replied Hope playfully.

The Serpent rushed at Koren, its mouth wide open, its mighty fangs at full display. It was as if it was trying to swallow Koren in one bite.

Koren didn"t dodge. Instead he jumped right into its mouth.

The Serpent thought that this strange creature was dumb and wanted to be eaten, it swallowed Koren without hesitation. Just as the Serpent was about to let out a burp, and be on its way, it felt a sudden intense pain. It wanted to look back to the part of its body where that pain originated, but it was already too late. The light in its eyes retreated and the Serpent fell.

"Ah, Koren, that was so gross." Said Hope as she held her nose. Koren was coved in a slimy liquid, probably the serpents innards. The serpents body was laid out, cut up in several large pieces.

"It did the job. You have to stop being so sissy big sis." Replied Koren as he began to approach the serpents head section. Its body had already started to harden, and after half a minute, the whole thing turned into sand.

"You know Koren, the Armor not only affects your body"s chemistry, but also your brains chemistry. It continues to make modifications to your biology till you are a perfect match with it." Said Hope as she noticed the change in Koren"s behavior.

"Big sis, I know it changes me, but I also know that it"s a good change. I"m more agile and alert, it can save my life and help me grow stronger." Said Koren as he looked down at the shiny shard laid out where the serpents head was moments before, he knelt down and grabbed it. "Well that"s number 1, but we probably need more." said Koren as he wondered where to put the Shard.

The Armor layer on his hand turned into liquid and absorbed the shard, surprising Koren. "Don"t worry, it will store and purify the shards for you till you figure out what to do with them." Said Hope before Koren had the opportunity to ask.

"Well, the Kino"s have been going about the tunnel system, and they found a few Spiritual beasts that you can handle." Said Hope.

"OK, lets hunt" replied Koren in a tone of excitement.

************

Uther began to read the letter that he got from Andre. It was addressed to him from the 3rd Princess Elena Draco.

Uther put the letter down and walked over to a desk, laid out with flasks of a red liquid. Uther poured the red liquid in a cup and drank a mouthful after which he started to laugh like mad. "Haha Haha haha."

He continued to laugh till his cup was empty.
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"Ah, they all believe me to be a tool, to be used when needed, and discarded after its purpose has been fulfilled. But I am no tool, I am a Draco, in my veins flows royal blood." Murmured Uther as a dark flame appeared in his hand. If anyone saw this flame, they could tell that there was a hint of green in it, and what appeared to be a face, a human face.

"I will play your game princess, for now." Said Uther as he sent a single ember flying towards the letter.

************

Koren dashed to the side to dodge. The Earth Rhino was the type of beast that like to hammer its opponent with its horn. Koren jumped back and prepared his blade, he sprinted headfirst, and tried to pierce its neck.

"It"s Armor is too thick Koren, we need a different approach." Said Hope as she saw sparks flying from where Koren stabbed.

The beast, thrashed about randomly, and finally hit Koren with its hind leg. Koren was sent flying back as he felt a huge force almost cave his chest in.

"ahhh, that was unpleasant." Said Koren as he tried to get a breather. "Get up Koren, its coming back." Yelled Hope as the Earth Rhino set its gaze back on its prey. Koren could see madness in its eyes.

"What"s wrong with this thing, it just won"t give up" said Koren, noticing the Rhino"s constant loud shrieks.

"Puaahh" screeched the beast as it rushed Koren, who was still laid out on the ground after the last thrashing.

With its thick metallic skin shining under the Kino"s light, it rapidly appeared over Koren, and just as it was about to bash his head with its legs, Koren dodged to the right. Koren changed all of his points to earth and concentrated them on his right leg, and sent it flying toward the beasts belly.

"Puaahh" screamed the beast.

"Its hurt, target its belly." Said Hope as she directed the Kino"s to project a sort of target on the Rhinos belly.

"Got it" replied Koren as he dodged the beast tails, which was about to lash him, and sent another kick.

The Earth Rhino howled, but its madness prevailed, its legs thrashed around, its eyes bloodshot, its yells louder and louder.

Koren continued to use earth element spiritual energy to repeatedly kick the beasts belly, he noticed his points starting to decrease. After 10 mins, only 14 points were left, the battle continued for 20 mins till the beast finally fell. Near the end, Koren only had 7 points left.

"Finally, it"s dead. Although you didn"t pierce its Armor, but your repeated kicks turned its insides into mush." Said Hope as she saw the red spots on the beasts belly.

"How come it was so strong, its level was 9, and its harmonization was only 3. Overall its stats were the same as the sand crocodile." Asked Koren, confusion prevalent in his voice.

"I don"t know either, but one thing I can tell, is that this shouldn"t have happened." Replied Hope.

The Earth Rhinos body started to harden, and turned into sand. Koren approached the region of its head and picked up the shard.

"That"s number 17. Big sis this should be enough, we don"t want to be gone for the whole night" said Koren as the Armor stored the shard.

"Koren, look over there, what"s that?" said Hope as she pointed at the region where the beasts belly should have been. Koren looked over to see a shiny metallic ingot of sorts laid out.

Koren walked over and bent down to grab the ingot.

"Wait Koren." Yelled Hope just as Koren"s hand was about to touch the ingot.

"Did you notice the beasts, behavior. All the other beasts were cautious when fighting us, they were even somewhat intelligent, but this thing fought without any concern for its life, like it was in pain, and wanted some one to end it." Said Hope inquisitively.

"Use the Geo Sampler to see what this thing is." Said Hope in a cautious tone.

Koren used the utilities menu to find the Geo Sampler, it wasn"t an external tool, but a default tool of his Armor, that Hope had shut down to preserve power. The Geo sampler sent a wave of light from the Armor and scanned the ingot.

"Oh My, this thing is pure chaotic energy, no wonder that Earth Rhino had gone mad, this thing may increase its strength but it would drive it crazy." Said Hope with excitement and fear.

" Chaotic energy, isn"t that useful for the Armor?" Asked Koren.

"Yes Koren, we can use this thing to fill up the Armor with enough power to turn on most of its pa.s.sive instruments." Replied Hope with obvious delight.

"However, this thing is obviously a part of a bigger piece, if we can find the rest of it, maybe we can push the Armor even further." Said Hope as she looked at Koren with a smile.

"Uhh, big sis we have to go back to the village, or someone will notice we were gone." Said Koren.

"OK, fine. But can we keep some of the Kino"s here, they will run on search mode, the power requirements will be minimal, and they will only do reconnaissance. Next time we come here, they will have mapped several hundred kilometers of this underground maze." Asked Hope.

"That"s fine Big sis, now lets store this thing, and head back to the village." Replied Koren as he grabbed hold of the ingot, letting the Armor absorb and store it.