Speed Is King

“Okay, now release all of that energy! All of it! That’s right! Keep going! KEEP GOING! Two more seconds! Well done! Good job!” Rak’Tharos praised Jennifer ecstatically as six very sharp golden fangs shot out from her body in six different directions.

“That attack is called the Golden Fang Energy Burst. It is a special move belonging to my tribe and my tribe alone. You should be highly honored that you are able to get the privilege to learn it.” Rak’Tharos said somewhat proudly.

“It’s pretty good.” Jennifer nodded in satisfaction.

She had worked hard all week and had finally mastered the elusive arts of manipulating energy. True to his word, Rak’Tharos had granted her a few drops of his concentrated blood on the second day, thus allowing her to gain the ability to turn partially into a powerful Golden Lioness Overlord beast.

From that moment on, a swirl of gold and fire energy had appeared within her, and she had spent hours upon hours just learning how to manipulate them into patterns, and then learning how to do it very rapidly within a blink of an eye.

Out of the hundred patterns which Rak’Tharos had asked her to master, she had mastered seven. And she had just used all seven to unleash the Golden Fang Energy Burst which Rak’Tharos was so proud of.

“How long till I become as powerful as you?” Jennifer asked with a sharp look.

“Bahahaha! You’re an impatient one, aren’t you? You’ve mastered seven runes. Just another Seven hundred more, and you’re probably done…” Rak’Tharos trailed off.

Jennifer remained silent. She knew that there was something more.

“Done with 10 percent of your journey to become as powerful as me!” Rak’Tharos finished triumphantly, thinking that he had managed to make Jennifer’s heart become hopeful and then crushing it once more.

However, Jennifer’s steady and calm look told him that he had failed miserably – again.

“Just slightly over seven hundred runes?” Jennifer asked. “Is that all of the runes available in existence, or all that you know of?”

“That… That’s almost all of the runes in existence! How can there be many runes that the great Rak’Tharos, I, do not know!” Rak’Tharos shouted defensively.

“How many more runes are there?” Jennifer pressed on with her questions.

That… How am I supposed to know how many runes are available from the other elements? All I know is that within the gold and fire element, I’ve mastered all that could be mastered at the King level, and almost all at the Emperor level. Once you reach my level, you would stand at the peak of power within the Emperor level!” Rak’Tharos said proudly.

Jennifer merely turned around and resumed her training.

“What are you doing? It’s almost time for lunch! Your should be cooking! I just caught a beautiful fat deer this morning. Cook that for us! Quick!” Rak’Tharos shouted at her.

Jennifer continued to train her Golden Fang Energy Burst.

“You’ve reached the maximum number of runes you can master with your current energy level.” Rak’Tharos said in an exasperated voice. “You need to meditate and digest the blood that’s within you. That’ll unlock more energy, and with more energy, you’ll have more power to master more runes. Your training is useless now! Quick go cook us lunch, and you can digest the energy while you eat!”

“A few more minutes.” Jennifer replied stubbornly. “I want to master the movements first.”

Rak’Tharos sighed deeply and settled down on the huge rock. He could only observe her training and wait for her to be done. He was completely addicted to Jennifer’s cooking, and would not go without eating it at least three times a day.

Jennifer formed the runes within her body rapidly, and then released her energy along with it.

Boom.

Seven golden fangs shot out from her small but lithe body.

The Golden Fang Energy Burst was a powerful area of effect spell which released a series of powerful runes combined into one into her surroundings. The runes would then absorb the gold and fire energy of nature around her to form fearsome golden fangs, before shooting out in all directions.

It was a complicated spell for a beginner, and Jennifer was showing fearsome learning capacity by mastering it within seven short days.

And seven golden fangs were actually one golden fang more than she had managed to fire off earlier.

It was something that Rak’Tharos did not fail to notice.

“In the long run, both Jennifer and her brother would be critically important pawns in my plan.” Rak’Tharos thought to himself. “I was merely planning to use Elliot as a high-powered bait to lure out that damned Void Walker out where I can slaughter him. But now that Jennifer is showing incredible promise as well, maybe I should think of something long term. Something that could utilize their ridiculous potential and power to the maximum.”

Boom.

Eight golden fangs shot out from Jennier. One even smashed itself onto Rak’Tharos, to absolutely no effect. She gritted her teeth and fought the sudden sense of fatigue that threatened to overwhelm her.

“Training session is over. You need to rest. Now.” Rak’Tharos announced. “After that, you’re cooking us lunch. If you say no to that. I will not teach you anything else. I don’t want to spend my energy training a stupid girl who’ll only end up killing herself out of exhaustion.”

Jennifer sat down where she was and panted heavily. Her small body was completely devoid of gold and fire energy.

She closed her eyes and began to meditate on her training, and to digest more of the blood that had made its way into her heart.

However, before she could begin, a wordless message appeared in their minds.

“Congratulations for surviving the first week! We have made an Apocalypse Survivor Weekly Update. Please take a look at what your fellow Earthlings had been up to for the past action-packed week!”