Valerian, The Legendary

39 Change.

Valerian restored the mana after sitting down for a few minutes. Then he found some green flexible vines and tied them around the dead body of the War Bear.

After he made a make-shift harness, the boy started to drag the corpse through the forest towards the burrow. The last spell exhausted the mana inside the body of the beast and the cold killed it.

The body of the beast was so heavy that it left a deep grove on the ground. It was not an easy task to drag the corpse, but Valerian did not give up.

It was past midnight when he reached the burrow and fell to the ground. Valerian did not even have the strength to breathe. Gradually he fell asleep from the exhaustion.

Do not think that because he was blessed, the child was invincible. Rome was not built in a day. Valerian received his vine treatment at night and recovered his strength.

In the morning, he woke up from a strong nudging from his sides. Opening his eyes with some effort, he caught sight of a black head and golden eyes.

Valerian asked lazily, ‘What happened?’

The snake asked, ‘What the hell did you do? How did you manage to kill this guy?’

Valerian understood what Gleam was asking her about. He smiled and said, “It just happened.”

.....

The snake kept staring at him for a prolonged period before she finally decided to focus on the pile of treasures and a feast at the side. She slithered her way closer to the corpse and said, ‘Cut him open.’

Valerian asked, ‘How? The skin is as hard as a rock.’

Gleam said, ‘After the magical beast dies, they become vulnerable. You can concentrate the mana on the tip of your finger and then it will cut the body open.’

Valerian nodded and then he stood up from the ground. The boy then came closer to the corpse and jumped up to sit down on the back of the dead beast. He tried to focus the mana at the tip of his finger but after a few minutes, nothing happened.

Gleam, who also climbed up to the corpse said, ‘Close your eyes, think of mana as if it is your blood, channeling through your veins.’

Valerian nodded and did as advised, he sensed a warm current in his body, then slowly he urged the warm current to flow through the body and concentrated at the tip of his index finger.

The sensation changed, the tip of his finger seemed to have become really cold. Valerian opened his eyes to find his finger covered with a silver glow. Gleam nodded like a human and said, ‘Now you can use your finger like a blade to cut up the skin. I will guide you on how to make the cuts, lest you ruin it.’

Valerian has never done such things, so he had no idea, the snake has never done this either, but she knew what parts of the magical beasts were valuable.

Two creatures, sat on the corpse carefully removing the skin, and then harvesting the meat. Gleam transformed into a lion and ate the raw meat. While Valerian cut off a small part for himself. He has never eaten meat before so he was going to try and see how it tasted.

Gathering some dry twigs, he started a fire and carefully baked the meat. It was not easy to cook, Valerian realized that after a few pieces got charred. As he attempted more, he learned and finally he ate a little bite.

Immediately, he sensed his body to be flowing with a warm current. As if he was brimming with energy, he could tell that something was changing inside him, but he could not tell what it was.

The boy started to gnaw at the meat in front of him with a speed that even surprised Gleam. She could not understand what changed all of a sudden. This kid has been so reluctant to consume meat, but now, it was as if he was a hungry beast.

After finishing his pieces of meat, Valerian raised his head and walked up to the corpse. Gleam was surprised and tried to stop the boy but when she tried to approach him. The child raised his gaze to watch her and let out an angry roar.

The meaning was clear, ‘Don’t you dare.’

The roar was so intense that Gleam was scared to take a few steps back. Valerian turned his head to the corpse and he cast the simplest spell, ‘Ignis.’

A wave of flames erupted and hit the corpse, but it did not burn the meat, just heated it up like a half-cooked item. The boy did not care and began eating directly from the corpse.

Gleam could not tell why the child had such a beastly reaction. The feast lasted the whole night. Valerian had eaten the meat thrice, and he only stopped when he was about to explode. He did not say anything to Gleam and retired directly.

Gleam also returned to the burrow, but tonight there was no jade vine tangling around the boy. When the sun came up. Valerian woke up, filled with energy like never before. He was happy at first, but then he noticed that his clothes were very tight around his body.

When he inspected himself, he found that his muscles have enhanced by some margin and had become really profound. Valerian tried to stretch his body when he suddenly heard a little tearing sound.

He stopped because he could sense that the sound originated from his clothes. Valerian stood up and carefully took off his clothes, making sure that does not tear up.

A few minutes later, he was standing naked. Just when he was thinking about what to do, Gleam came out of the burrow and asked, ‘What are you doing?’

Valerian replied, ‘All of a sudden, my clothes feel tight.’

The snake gazed at him and then she said, ‘You outgrew them in a night. What happened?’

The child could only shrug his shoulders, but after careful thought, the snake said, ‘It could be that effects of the magical beast meat, you did act like a crazy beast on bloating yourself up.’

Valerian was speechless, he knew that he was a bit radical and almost beastly but hearing this was not a good feeling, and that too from a magical beast itself.

Gleam said, ‘You can make clothes out of that bare skin, it is hard on the outside and soft on the inside. It will act as armor.’

Valerian’s eyes sparkled, he crouched down close to Gleam and asked, ‘Gleam, how are you so smart?’

The snake gazed at him with an almost human-like stink glare and said, ‘Just how you are so ignorant. Go, I need my sleep.’

After all, she was a nocturnal creature. The snake moved back to the burrow, leaving Valerian alone to make armor for himself. She had taught him how to cut up the skin and he learned it really quickly.

In a couple of hours, Valerian finished the armor, with a vest and pants sewed together with the dried tendons of the War Bear. Tendons were very flexible and strong, Gleam had told him about the uses of tendons.

He even made himself a belt from the vines of a tree. Valerian moved around to test the effects and it was a good fit. From the cut-away scraps, he made a forearm guard, and the nails of the bear had become his knives. They were as strong as a metal knife.

After he was geared up, he left the burrow, to explore the woods more, and to find his next opponent. He will use the two months to become as stronger as he could on his own.

He did not want to enter the Imperial Academy like a country bumpkin. This was not going to help him in his goals at all. Valerian began to move aimlessly, on the way he came across some normal beasts.

After fighting with them for a few minutes, he lost interest because they did not put up much of a fight against him. So, the child concluded to fight with magical beasts only. At this moment, he recalled the crocodile in the stream.

Valerian was very decisive, it could be said that his ignorance fueled his decisive personality. Vita was such a vast world, with so many mysteries, how could a young child know them all?

Just when he was moving closer to the stream, a series of sounds caught his attention. He had trained with Quies and could tell that the commotion was caused by a battle. Recalling his initial training Valerian converged his breath and moved closer to the sound.

From the cover of the woods, he could see a group of people fighting against his new sparring partner, the iron crocodile. All this was being done under the supervision of an old man, who suddenly turned to look in Valerian’s direction and asked aggressively, “Who is it?”