Narlou stared at the timer next to his rank points, watching carefully as the seconds kept decreasing. He still had an hour left, and he wanted to spend them, but he knew that he would get many times stronger than before which others would then notice.
In conclusion, he needed to learn how to suppress his mana.
His red eyes turned to Sonya, who walked next to him. He had wanted to spend some time with her since he had been busy with training and fighting the last few days, and he missed talking to the kind woman. Said person was currently looking at seemingly everything within the Ionian forest at once. Her big eyes were full of wonder, and Narlou had to smile as her eyes opened even more to take in a particularly huge tree they just went past.
He waited patiently for some time until Sonya eventually turned to him again with a start, a small blush on her face.
"Ahh, I didn't mean to ignore you, sorry!"
He waved her worries away with his hand.
"Don't worry about it. But now that I have your attention, I was wondering whether you know how to hide your power? It would be useful to know, and I thought you could maybe help me with that."
Her expression lit up with excitement, happy that she could help Narlou.
"Sure! I'd love to teach you!"
Narlou grinned back at her.
'This girl is way to lovely.'
"Thanks!"
She smiled at him and raised a hand to her chin, thinking about his question for a minute.
"Hmm, how do I explain? You already know that mana works with imagination, so suppressing it works kind of the same way. You have to imagine your mana hiding deep within you as if it would be sealed or something like that." She laughed cutely, embarrassed by her own explanation.
Narlou nodded seriously and tried what she had said, imagining his mana hiding deep within himself.
A clap from Sonya made him lose his concentration.
"Yay! You are amazing to do that well on your first try!"
Narlou smiled sheepishly, happy that Sonya was complementing him.
"How much did I hide?"
"At least half of your power! I can tell because Healers have a natural feeling for mana." She explained to the smiling teenager who nodded along.
"Let me guess, I increase my skill in hiding mana through training?"
"precisely!" Sonya giggled upon seeing Narlou's exhausted expression.
"Thank you for helping me, but I have to go see Ethron, something about training." Narlou pulled a face, causing Sonya to laugh again.
"Alright, see you later!"
Narlou waved as he walked away, smiling excitedly.
'Here I come, rank points!'
A few minutes later, Narlou was located deep into the forest where he was sure no one could feel him or his mana.
"Alright. Let's do this."
The teen took a look at his inventory to confirm the number of rank points, when he noticed something else.
"Oh right, I still have lots of stat points left!"
Narlou felt stupid for only noticing now. He had been too focused on his rank points to notice anything else, but a quick minute was all Narlou needed to distribute the points according to his will.
Stats:
-Strength: 45
-Agility: 60
-Dexterity: 45
-Mind: 40
-Sense: 65
points: 0
Just like last time, Narlou felt his body adjust to the changes. For a short second, he could feel his bones being reconstructed and his muscles tighten, but it ended just as quickly as it had started.
Narlou immediately felt stronger, faster and more attuned to his surroundings that ever. It was amazing how just a few numbers could change his entire body like that.
'The system is way too powerful.'
Finally, Narlou turned his attention towards the rank points, the reason he had come this far out. He had already spent a long time thinking about how to spend his points, so he didn't waste any time and put 3 points into Pure Mana manipulation and the last 4 into Enhancement Magic.
The change happened instantaneously.
Mana left his body in massive waves as his capacity increased to ridiculous heights. He felt as if his body was splitting itself apart from within, causing Narlou to fall to the ground, trying his best to stay conscious during the process. Agony was the only word Narlou could think of to describe the terrible pain inside of him, but he endured through sheer willpower.
It took about a minute for the pain to settle, but once Narlou opened his eyes, he felt like a completely new person. He could feel that his mana had become stronger, his capacity had increased, and his understanding of magic had become much deeper.
"I feel like I could take on the world." He whispered to himself with a smirk, summoning a dense ball of pure mana.
It swirled through the air at Narlou's will, feeling smoother than ever before. He could sense the power radiating off the small mana ball. Its power dwarfed his final attack back at the shore battle, showing just how powerful he had become with just a few rank points.
'And I haven't even put them all into my pure mana.'
Narlou played around with his magic some more, trying out different things before eventually turning to the messages appearing in his vision. He took his time to read every single one carefully.
Your "Pure Mana manipulation" has reached rank 10!
- The power of your Pure mana has increased significantly!
- Your control over your Pure mana has increased significantly!
- Your mana capacity has increased significantly!
Your "Enhancement Magic" has reached rank 8!
Your presence has become stronger. Powerful beings have started to take notice of you.
"Well, that's not ominous at all." He said dryly.
The last message could mean a lot of things. Things that Narlou didn't feel like thinking about right now. Rather, he needed to find out how to stop the other people from noticing his sudden rise in power. He would of course suppress it as much as he could, but there were two big problems.
The first one was Sonya. He already knew that she could feel magic way better than normal magicians, and Ethron, the second problem, had found out his small increase in Enhancement magic just by looking at him the last time. If anyone else asked, he could just tell them that he had a major breakthrough, but he would not be able to hide it from those two.
"Oh well, it will work out somehow." Narlou shrugged.
He ran back to the unit, his steps much lighter than before.
-Noxus capital-
Deep below the capital of Noxus, beneath tons of dirt and stone, a lone figure was sitting in a dark room. Its massive chest heaved with each breath, and a growl escaped its mouth every once in a while.
The figure looked up. Someone was there.
The doors to the figure's chamber slowly opened and a man with a torch stepped in, the light it gave off revealing the massive body of a man that once used to be a famous and unstoppable warlord.
Boram Darkwill stared at the old warlord, his feelings mixed. This monster had always been his last choice when it came to battles since it tended to be violent towards both ally and enemy, but right now, Noxus would need every last bit of power they could get their hands on.
So, here stood Boram, a torch in one hand and a key in his other.
He slowly, cautiously, walked up to the giant whose grey skin looked rotten and whose jaw was replaced by a metal one. One by one, the big chains came loose from its limbs, until nothing was restraining its body anymore.
"Behave and I will give you the slaughter you so desire."
Another growl escaped the giant's mouth, causing the cell to rumble. Boram did not step back or show any signs of fear, he just stared at the monster.
Slowly, the huge body moved and heaved itself up, showing just how big it really was. The leader of Noxus looked like a child in front of it.
"You shall move out again. Bring victory to our nation, Sion."
Boram left without another word, and the beast followed him.
With Sion on their side, this war was already won.
Narlou came back to the unit, only to witness utter chaos. People were running around with concerned or angry expressions, and Narlou felt as if he had misses something important.
'What the hell happened here?'
"Ah, Narlou! Where were you?" Ethron said as he came to a halt in front of him, breathing slightly heavier than usual.
"I was exploring the forest. Why? What happened?"
Ethron gave him a long look, most likely sensing his increase in power. Luckily, he didn't comment on it.
"Some people attacked the back of our army where we store our food. Half of it has been burned down. Even the fighters we put there as guards were completely wiped out and they were not weak at all. Whoever attacked us know what they are doing."
Narlou gulped. This could mean trouble.
"So, what are we going to do now?"
Ethron turned to look at the people running around, running a hand through his hair with a sigh.
"Every non-support soldier will have to help with hunting when we set up our tents, and some fighters of Darius' unit will guard the food for now." Narlou nodded along.
"We took more food than we needed in case the war would take longer than expected but having half of it is a significant setback."
Narlou could hear the seriousness in his tone and felt increasingly uncomfortable. Just this small attack could mean doom for Noxus. Assassins were quite the dangerous bunch, Narlou noted.
"Are you going to be one of the guards?"
"Luckily not, so we can still train together. But talking about training, we will have to step it up a bit. Besides the Ionian army closing in on us, you have become much, much stronger somehow. I won't ask how you did it, but being stronger also means more difficult training, so get ready for that." Ethron said, a teasing hue in his voice at the end.
Narlou sighed in relieve, happy that he didn't need to explain things to Ethron. He was one of the only two people he could trust here after all.
"So, I guess you did not capture the guys who attacked?"
Narlou did of course know the answer, but he hoped that he could help in capturing the people, craving some action.
"No, not yet. We've looked for them all over the place, but they vanished after burning our food. They must be master assassins, even our top people could not find anything."
"Ahh, that's too bad." Narlou said, slightly disappointed that he would not be able to help.
An awkward silence fell between them, none knowing what to say, until Ethron cleared his throat.
"So, are you up for a fight? I want to know how strong you are right now."
Narlou immediately perked up, excitement showing in his expression.
"YES!"
"Hahaha, good! Then let's fight right now. We will catch up to the unit later." Ethron said, watching the now much calmer people gather their belongings to start moving again.
"Let's go!"
The fight went just as expected.
During the first fight, Narlou only managed to land a few small hits on Ethron despite his increase in stats. They had decided to only fight with their body and no magic, but Narlou still lost terribly.
"It's not that you are slow or weak, but you neither have a fighting style nor experience in real battles." Ethron had said to him after the one-sided fight.
"Then teach me!" Narlou had answered excitedly, hoping to learn his teacher's fighting style as well, but that proved to be impossible.
Ethron had said that his fighting style was not suited for an agile guy like Narlou but had promised to find someone who would teach him something better as soon as possible.
After that, they had fought with their enhancement magic.
The fight went even worse for Narlou, and he lost without getting even a single hit in. Ethron's enhancement magic was just beyond his current power level.
"Don't feel too bad. I've trained my enhancement magic for as long as I can remember. It would be much worse if you actually stood a chance after having learned it only a few days ago."
That had lifted Narlou's spirit and had made him feel dumb at the same time. Of course, Ethron was better at enhancement magic, how could he even compare. He was not that talented.
After their fight, Narlou and Ethron had fought until the sun was barely visible behind the mass of trees. He had learned a lot in those hours of fighting and felt confident in winning against any lesser fighter in enhanced combat. He had also gotten a stat point in agility and dexterity for his efforts.
Right now, they were back at the camp in Sonya's tent, who was fretting over a wound covered Narlou.
Ethron was standing at the side, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment as Sonya warned them to not hurt each other like that again.
"We never know when someone will attack!"
Narlou found it sweet that she cared about him that much, but he assured her that they were just friendly spars.
Luckily, she had also not asked about his power. He had wanted to hug them both, being happy that they trusted him that much.
"Hmpf! Just don't do it again! I don't like seeing you guys hurt, alright?" She eventually ended the argument, staring Narlou and Ethron down, who awkwardly looked at each other.
They eventually craved, promising to keep the fights at a normal level to appease the angry supporter.
The group spent the rest of the evening together after that, talking about all kinds of things and just enjoying each other's presence, until it became too dark, and everyone went to their own tents to rest.
That night, the sky unleashed huge amounts of water onto the sleeping soldiers, drenching everyone who was not already in a tent from head to toe. Thunder could be heard high in the sky, drowning out all the other noises and strong winds were rushing between the tents.
Narlou could not sleep that night. A sense of foreboding was dominating his mind, now allowing him to rest. He had tossed and turned, changing sleeping positions and trying his best to calm his mind, but it was all for naught. So, he stripped down to his underwear, left the cloths in his tent and went out to the rain.
The cold winds were making him shiver, but he enjoyed the sensation of the freezing rain running down his back as he stood next to his tent, relishing in the distracting sounds of thunder as they lit up the sky every few seconds. He could easily shield himself form the rain with mana, but he decided not to. The distraction of the uncomfortable sensation was a very welcome distraction to his overheated mind.
As he stood there, eyes closed and barely moving, he sensed a few people moving at the edge of their camp. But they were not enemies, he could feel it.
'Likely the night guards.'
Narlou felt sorry for the poor guys who had to take the night shift during such a shitty night, but he also found himself envying them. If someone would attack, they were the first people who got to fight. He wanted to fight as well.
Now that he thought about it, he had been noticing a craving for fights recently. It was as if the more powerful he became, the more violence he desired.
It was a scary thought, but Narlou quickly threw it aside, knowing that he would not lose himself to those cravings.
He instead thought about some other things, about how his life had changed in such a short time. About how amazing his powers were, and how he even got them in the first place. He had thought about that question a lot, but he never came up with a good answer. He just knew too little about the world and its magic.
The only hint he had gotten on that front was when he spent his rank points. He still remembered the message clearly.
Your presence has become stronger. Powerful beings have started to take notice of you.
There were powerful beings out there. Whether they were champions or something else, they existed, and it both scared and excited Narlou. Maybe it was one of those beings who gave him his powers? He would not find out unless he found them.
Narlou shrugged and let his thoughts wander again, never noticing the eyes staring at him from within the shadow of the trees.
Akali, the feared killer, the cause of nightmares and one of the best assassins to ever set foot on Runeterra had been assigned as a leader of Ionia's best assassins and in charge of slowly chipping away at the Noxus army.
Just yesterday did she and the others burn half of Noxus' food supplies. They did their job excellently, not one of them being caught with Akali as their leader. Not even the top guys at Darius' unit could find even a hint of them.
Akali felt proud of herself and her group, the high spirits from yesterday making them believe that this night would be a success as well. The plan was to keep the troops awake with loud noises and fake attacks, slowly tiring them out, but something happened that Akali had not predicted.
She was a student of the famous master Shen and had been for almost her entire life. She had always been training and learning things, so she never had any social interactions with other people her age. This, as she grew up, caused a severe lack in social experience.
People assumed that she was a more laid back, quiet person, but that had never been even close to the truth. She was quiet because she didn't know what to say or how to act. She was quiet because she was afraid of stuttering or saying nonsense.
In other words, Akali was an introvert.
Being an introvert and having no social skill also meant that most people, especially men, stayed away from her. Combined with her title as a champion, most people never even dared to approach her. So, Akali was completely clueless when it came to emotions like love, or horniness.
"Fuck!" She moaned quietly, her fingers rubbing over the cloths covering her crotch.
Just a few minutes ago, she had been on her way to the front of the army. She was in charge of all the strong people since she was the only one who could escape them, especially Darius. The young assassin had been ready and had wanted to give the signal to all the others, when she had spotted a person standing in the rain next to a tent.
The image of the person had been blurry at first, the rain making it difficult to seen anything. It had seemed odd, because why would a person just stand outside in the cold during such heavy rain?
Then, as she had come closer, she saw what she had never expected to see.
A young man that had to be around her age was standing in the rain, his eyes closed and his wet brown hair clinging to his shoulders. He looked peaceful and content, but that was not the first thing that the young assassin had noticed.
No, what she first saw was his appearance, and she immediately concluded that he was the most beautiful person Akali had ever laid her eyes upon. But what also caught her attention was the lack of his cloths.
He only wore underwear.
She had fist looked away, blushing bright red with her heart pumping faster that it should have. She was a trained assassin who had seen plenty of naked bodies, so then why was she reacting so hard to that one?!
She used that as an excuse to look at the guy again, quickly noting that the person had not seen her. With that information in her hands, Akali had allowed herself to just look for a few more seconds, but her mission was already completely forgotten.
She had analyzed every part of his body with hungry eyes, from his sharp jawline to his defined chest muscles to his strong looking arms.
Arms that looked like they could pin a woman down quite well.
The longer she stared at him the more she realized how truly perfect his body was, and the more she found an unfamiliar heat building up inside of her. The woman didn't know what to do with that feeling, but she felt as if she needed to do something, so she just did what felt like the right thing to do.
And that was how she got into the situation she was in right now.
"Mhh~!" She moaned into her hand that covered her mouth while the other one worked on her nether regions, having slipped into her pants.
She was soaking wet, and her hand moved quickly to do something about that damn heat.
Another silent moan escaped her throat as her eyes bore into the man's figure, and a desperate need to release something bubbled up inside of her. Her hand moved faster, and her breath became more ragged.
She had not looked away from the man once, giving him her entire attention, eating him up with her eyes. Akali hoped that he would not discover her, not wanting to be seen in such a vulnerable state by anyone, let alone the enemy, but a small, unsure part of her wanted the man to see her, to do things to her.
The small part might be bigger than she thought, because for a short moment, Akali actually considered bringing his attention to herself. She imagined him walking up to her, forcing her into humiliating positions for his pleasure and having his way with her.
Her thoughts were immoral and went against anything she had been taught, but that only seemed to make everything so much sexier.
Her fingers sped up once again, and Akali closed her eyes, losing herself to the fantasy.
Then, with one loud moan, she released whatever had built up inside of her, reveling in the unbelievable pleasure that was caused by the release, her body shaking with satisfaction.
She drew heavy breaths to calm herself, quickly looking around to see if the man had heard h- to make sure that no one had heard her last moan, but the man was still standing there with his eyes closed and his body unmoving.
She felt both relieved and disappointed.
Akali shook her head, trying and failing to get the man out of her head. She had a mission to complete for fucks sake.
A/N: Feel free to tell me what you think, reviews are always appreciated