SSS Awakening: I Can Class Change at will

Moon dealt with the cluster of beasts using runes alone. He didn’t need to waste time creating new basic ones. Lukas and Frey’s stockpiles were still packed with premade runes of various types. They were weaker than what Moon could inscribe now with his Runemaster skill, but more than sufficient for clearing out beasts at this level.

He threw them one after the other, each rune detonating or activating on contact. An explosive rune cratered the ground beneath the first beast, killing it instantly. A binding rune locked the second in place long enough for an explosive rune to engulf it. The remaining five fell in similar fashion, each one dispatched by a different combination pulled from his seemingly endless supply.

In the span of a few minutes, seven beasts lay dead across the ravine floor. Their levels ranged from 33 to 37. Decent kills that added to his reserves, but nothing that pushed his growth significantly.

“I need to head to Mistwell Lake.” Moon muttered, storing the corpses. “I should find stronger beasts in there.”

He had learned the layout of most of the island over the past few days. The Flying Thorns Forest, the Shardfall Cliffs, the hunting grounds near the base. But there were still areas he hadn’t explored. Mistwell Lake was one of them, a large body of water on the island’s northern side that Frey had mentioned but warned against visiting.

Where there was water, there were territorial beasts that guarded it. Stronger ones. The kind that didn’t roam the open terrain because they didn’t need to.

With his combat power approaching Second Star Evolver rank, Moon wasn’t worried about being overwhelmed. Outmatched by a single beast, possibly. But caught completely off guard with no way to fight back? Not likely.

He nudged Mirage northward and picked up the pace.

Moon recalled his spirit back to the pocket space inside his mind. The spirit sat at Second Star Evolver strength, having it ready to deploy at a moment’s notice gave him significantly more confidence in dealing with whatever called the lake home.

It took less than an hour to reach the northern side of the island. Moon saw the mist before he saw anything else.

It blanketed the entire area in a thick, white shroud that swallowed the terrain ahead completely. The lake was somewhere inside, but nothing could be seen beyond the first few meters of the mist’s edge. It was dense enough to block out the sunlight, turning the ground beneath it into a grey twilight.

The island’s wind, which had been howling at his back for the entire ride, died the moment it touched the mist. It didn’t push through. The mist simply absorbed it and remained undisturbed.

Moon didn’t bother trying a wind spell. If the island’s natural gales couldn’t clear this, his wouldn’t either.

He drew his sword and held it at his side. If something lunged at him from within the fog, he needed to be ready to fight at close range without a second of delay.

Moon nudged Mirage forward. The horse didn’t hesitate despite the feeling of danger he felt, his ears pinned flat, nostrils flaring at something Moon couldn’t smell. Then he stepped into the mist.

The white closed around them instantly. Visibility dropped to less than ten meters. Sound changed too. The crunch of Mirage’s hooves on stone became muffled and distant, as if the mist was swallowing the noise before it could travel.

Moon sat atop Mirage like a cavalier, his back straight, his sword resting across his thigh, his eyes scanning the grey nothing around them.

Somewhere ahead, water lapped against a shore he couldn’t see. They moved deeper into the mist. Mirage’s hooves found solid ground with every step, but the terrain had changed. The rocky, windswept stone of the outer island gave way to damp earth that squelched faintly beneath the horse’s weight. The first thing Moon noticed was the silence of the place, it was almost suppressive in a way. The only sound was their breathing and the soft lapping of water somewhere ahead, impossibly gentle for a lake on an island battered by constant wind. Moon’s eyes landed on the trees that appeared out of the mist like sentinels. Tall, pale-barked things with no leaves. Every branch was bare, bleached white, stretching outward in crooked angles that looked like reaching arms frozen mid-grasp. Their roots broke through the soil in thick, gnarled clusters that spread far wider than the trunks should have needed.

None of them were alive. Moon’s eyes narrowed as he spotted a pile of things on the ground, just barely outside his view. Upon closer look, Moon’s face darkened. “Bones…”

There was a ribcage half-buried in the mud near a root cluster. A skull the size of his fist sitting in a shallow pool of dark water. After checking them for a moment, Moon decided to continue moving in. Whatever had killed this creature was still lurking somewhere here.

As they continued, the bones grew larger. The water grew louder. The shore was close. Mirage’s ears swiveled forward, then snapped backward, then forward again. The horse couldn’t decide which direction the threat was coming from.

That was the most unsettling part.

Neither could Moon.

Eventually, the shoreline appeared through the mist. Dark water stretched out before them, perfectly still, its surface like a black mirror reflecting nothing.

Moon dismounted. His feet sank slightly into the wet earth as he landed. He kept one hand on Mirage’s neck and the other on his sword.

Moon’s eyes snapped to a location on his right hand side. ‘I could have sworn I saw something move just now…’ He thought.

It was a subtle ripple that many would not have noticed. Moon did not leave it to chance, he immediately activated his skill.

[Four-Headed Hydra] [Level: 40] [Details: A highly aggressive aquatic predator with four minds controlling a single body. Each head operates independently, capable of attacking, defending, and casting simultaneously. The embodiment of chaos in combat. Regenerates severed heads within minutes unless the wound is cauterized.]