“Are they raptors?” one of the guards asked another.

“Small pack,” the small guard said.

“How do you know?”

“The alpha who did the hunting call was small.”

I quickly learned that small was relative. What barreled out of the bushes were frigging horse-sized dinosaurs. They ran towards the cart with two thick chicken legs ending in sharp talons. They were a colorful mix of feather and scale, and their sharp maws suggested they were looking for dinner.

This looked fun. These creatures weren’t as strong as the Silverback, but there were six of them.

I wanted to be swept up in the battle and I did prepare a Water Bullet to strike anything that came near us. I was a little worried about the safety of my family, so I held the spell for now.

“Get behind me and stay low,” I said to my group.

Father raised Danek and his shivering goons as well as my pregnant mother on the cart to huddle against the crates behind me. Then he and Alik pressed against the the cart’s side putting it between them and the raptor fight.

“I should get my spear—” father was about to say, but me and mother turned to him.

“You will not!” we said as one.

Father had no business dealing with these beasts. I turned my focus back to the battle.

A raptor crashed into the short guard, but they extended a hand and pivoted into the air, vaulting over the creature, while driving its beak into the ground. It screeched in anger, as the guard sliced through its abdomen. Even though the blade was of good make, the cut was not deep and fatal. Any normal beast would have been disemboweled, but this was a monster.

The short guard pirouetted in the air, delivering five or six cuts into the beast with their short sword. The raptor let out a weak cry, stumbled a few steps before collapsing on the ground dead.

“That’s a Class Ability for certain,” Alik said. 

The fighting was even, and the guards were clearly powerful. I was very excited to see adults with combat Classes dealing with serious threats. With my Mana Sight, I saw them gulping up mana around themselves as they used their Class Abilities to execute superhuman feats of martial prowess. But the short guard and the captain were clearly a cut above the rest.

With the guards being busy, two additional raptors emerged from the bushes, and they fixed their yellow eyes on me. They snarled and rushed towards the cart. I launched my Water Bullet at one of them, which slammed it off its feet. 

The short guard turned to look at me for a brief moment.

The other raptor didn’t slow down, but lunged at me.

At that moment I activated my newest Perk: Apex Predator.

I could feel a pulse of some sort emanate from me, and the raptor closest to me skidded on its feet, before it let out a cry and turned to run away from me. It vanished back into the bushes.

Now, that was a good Perk!

All of the other raptors were affected as well. They flinched and screeched in fear, and backpedaled away from me.

“What the—” one of the guards said.

“PUSH!” the captain shouted and pushed his spear into one of the scared raptors.

“Is that…?” the short guard said. “Something is coming from the bushes!”

“It’s the alpha,” the short guard said.

“Focus!” the leader said. “On your right!”

One of the raptors chomped down on a guard’s shoulder. He let out a weak cry and fell holding his mangled neck. The short guard lunged and killed the assailant before dragging the wounded warrior under the cart.

Two more raptors were slain by the guards and my Water Bullets, but then another roar called them and they disengaged.

“It’s coming!” the captain yelled.

A larger, more brutal raptor emerged from the bushes. It had large and colorful feathers flaring above its head like a crown. The scaly muscles were black and gleaming, and in its eyes was the cold intent of an intelligent predator. It towered over its pack and us and snapped its massive jaws.

“Oh no…” one of the guards said. “You said it was small…”

“Shut up,” the short guard said tersely.

“We should run…”

“Stand your ground!” the leader said. “Desertion is certain death. Fighting here might not be.”

I looked at the potent mana in this alpha raptor. This one was indeed stronger than the Silverback.

It let out a rallying cry and the raptors assembled in a formation to stalk towards our convoy in a line.

The guards were trembling in their boots. Only the short guard and the captain were on alert. 

I had to help.

Fortunately I had been preparing a strong Water Bullet spell ever since I heard the alpha approach. The kind I had used against the Silverback. I quickly started adjusting the spell to create multiple projectiles. I had to dilute the power. That wouldn’t be enough to wound the Alpha, but…

“HOLD!” the leader said as the raptors were clearly preparing to pounce.

I released a barrage of water bullets.

TSOK!

TSOK!

A few stray ones hit the trees which exploded bark everywhere. But the rest hit their mark. It was really difficult to aim at multiple targets. But I managed to hit three out of four lesser raptors.

The bullets that struck the smaller raptors killed them instantly. I even managed to headshot one of them, making its head snap back. A loud crunch told me its neck had broken. Damn, that was satisfying.

The other one that I killed took a bullet into its throat and chest, collapsing it limply on the ground.

The alpha also took a hit in the chest, but that only messed up its attack, barely wounding it.

The one lesser raptor alive hesitated when I used the pressure from my Apex Predator, but the alpha wasn’t affected at all.

“CHARGE!” the leader roared.

To their credit, the warriors were serious people. They immediately used the opportunity I had created to kill the stray lesser raptor, and then they started to encircle the leader of the pack.

While the warriors were creating space for me, I jumped into the air and shot a Water Jet to pin the monster into the ground. I managed to topple it, but it was fast and strong, and even though the jet of water hit it with tremendous force, it managed to slip away. It took space and seemed to reassess the situation. It looked at me with its predatory yellow eyes and screeched in anger. Then it ran off into the jungle.

Half of the guards collapsed on the grass and groaned. The short guard rushed to the wounded one under the cart and started administering care.

“By the spirits…” one of the guards muttered.

“That was too close…”

“An awakened beast…”

We all just sat for a moment in silence, just happy to be alive. Mother scooted over to me and grabbed me in her arms and kissed me.

“Well done, little gem.”

Alik looked at me with a shocked expression. “You were… holding back in the gauntlet, weren’t you?”

I just smiled at him. “A little.”

Then the warriors got up and immediately started thanking me and asking me if I was a sorcerer and what Class I had.

Only the small warrior didn’t say anything. The short guard was kneeling beside the wounded soldier, pressing a bandage against his shoulder. He seemed to be unconscious but breathing steadily.

“He'll live. Stable. But we need to get him to a healer.”

The captain nodded to the short guard and then put his tower shield down and came to us. “Thank you for the help. I had no idea we were escorting a powerful sorcerer. What is your name?”

“It’s Luka, son of Jonaka” I said. “You’re welcome.”

“Our village calls him Little God,” Danek slipped into the conversation.

I gave him a look, but he only winked at me.

“Luka, son of Jonaka,” the leader said. “Little God? How fitting. Every tavern will know this name tonight, little one. Your age does not do you justice. What class are you?”

“I don't have one.”

The man stared at me. Several of the guards stopped whispering to each other.

“You don't have a Class?”

“Nope.”

He looked at the dead raptors and shook his head.

“By the spirits...”

“Don’t think too much of it,” I said. “I was merely protecting my family.”

The captain just stared at me before shaking his head. “And well you did. This could have been a disaster. Even my best men couldn’t handle an Awakened beast with a pack.” They usually do not venture this close to the city.”

I only nodded. So that was an Awakened beast. I recall Piraka saying they had monster cores, which had mana. Damn, I shouldn’t have let the raptor escape!

“Thank you for your bravery,” Danek said and bowed.

While my family and friends thanked the guards and me, I sat and pondered. I had feared for the safety of my family, but most of all, I had been excited. I felt like I wanted to go into the jungle and go finish what the awakened raptor had started. The fight with Silverback had clearly made me into a crazy person.

*

Veena of the House Salakin felt her heart hammer in her chest. That had been way more than what she had signed up for. This guard duty was excellent training for her. She could level up her Warrior Class in real combat, while also having her safety mostly guaranteed by the city guard. They would not want to anger her father, the governor, and would protect her. 

However, not even five of their best could have protected her from an Awakened beast. Only the rare few with evolved Warrior Classes could contend with such a beast. She clutched the amulet in her pocket. It had a powerful protective enchantment on it, which would have absorbed a powerful blow and made her invisible. However, it was so expensive, that losing its effect would have been a terrible blow for their family’s status, and status was something she couldn’t lose right now. 

Not with House Belator making their move in the Silver Sea Tournament. She needed to get stronger.

This terrifying encounter had given her a level in her Warrior Class, but even though she was level 8 now, she couldn’t reach her Class Evolution before the Tournament began.

It felt like it would be impossible to catch up to the Belator scion, with him already using an Evolved Class. Her family would need to figure something out, but they had been out of ideas. Veena’s father, the governor, had been taken to imported wines lately. Veena had scolded him for it; now was not the time to despair.

After they escorted the convoy safely to the city gates, Veena looked at the small boy on top of the cart. He couldn’t have been more than three summers of age, but he had such a confident look on his face. Now he was fiddling with some magical cantrip and making a fruit float, so he could take a bite. 

The boy must have noticed her watching, and waved at her. She only looked in disbelief.

What silly use of mana. 

Did the boy have endless bags of refined mana? Impossible. He was from a backwater island. 

But then how was he this strong? Could he be from the continent? Then why would he be participating in the Tournament?

Veena shook her head. The power of his spells had been tremendous. She had heard of such use of sorcery, of course. There were powerful magicians of all kinds on the main continent. Most people used mana in some form to augment their Class and Skills.

But this had been deliberate use of what Veena suspected to be structured magic. That meant the child had a build centered around magic. A true sorcerer.

But that was preposterous. Such a build would require multiple Skills to function! When Veena had been of that age, she didn’t even have her System awakened, and she was a damned prodigy!

She shook her head and recalled the glimpses she had gotten of the Little God during the fight.

The water magic had been devastating, killing the lesser raptors in a single blow, where Veena required several successful strikes of her sword. And what had been that fear effect the boy had used? How did he even have such a special ability? Ridiculous!

Moreover, even though the boy hadn’t been able to kill the awakened monster, he had made it back down, saving all of their lives.

Who was this kid?

Whoever he was, Veena saw an angle. If he was unaffiliated, there just might be a chance to win him over to her house. He could become the key factor in this Silver Sea Tournament.