Starlight Life Of The Sage

The humans were engaged with a large horde of the ape-beasts. The warriors were being overwhelmed. Their sword techniques and outer cultivation proved no match for the sheer number of monsters.

Cara cringed a bit as she watched the slaughter begin… But then the mages made their move.

One of the fine-dressed men stepped forward. He mumbled something and Mana began to swell and roil around him like thunderheads. The clouds of mana surged at his command and transformed into spouts of fire that slammed into the monkey horde.

Soon the other 'magicians' joined the first. They fired these 'spells' while taking turns, giving each a chance to rest.

The tide of battle turned. With the artillery from the magicians, the knights pushed back the monster wave until, at last, the beasts retreated into the forest. A victory cry was raised, but it soon fell to a harsh silence as the group began collecting the dead and tending the wounded.

Cara wanted to help when the knights were being overrun, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She knew it was callous, but her own life took priority. She needed to know how strong these mages were, and she was able to make a few estimates about them.

The group of noncombatants tended to their own work. The human party set up a campsite in the clearing.

Cara clicked her tongue. The croco-apes were territorial and relentless. Being forced back once, they would surely rally their numbers and return. These knights and magicians didn't know the Soldier Garden well…

"Everyone here is going to die," whispered Cara as she started to move. She wanted to study the magic used by the mages more. She used that as an excuse to justify her actions.

Even back as The Sage, Cara never was very honest with herself.

She ran through the woods, her feet bouncing off tree branches without leaving a mark. Up ahead she heard the loud thunderings of a beast horde; their stomping and growling shook the ground like a terrible army in march.

Cara drove her cultivation hard and mana surged through her body, filling every inch of her to the brim with power. Only one part of her body wasn't illuminated in blue light: her heart. She was close to being able to attack the 6th and final Xantian Rung for her Body Cultivation.

-

Cara moved like a serpent, weaving through the trees like a snake in grass, and she struck her foes like lightning! She crashed into the lines of the Croco-ape horde and blew them apart like an artillery shell. A crater of black ash formed around her and she stood, straightening her back, so she could level her eyes across the entire beast tide. She put her right hand in the small of her back and held her left up, curling her fingers in a 'bring it on' gesture. Her dark grin resembled an arctic crevasse.

Several of the apes charged her, but she dispatched them with ease. Her body, itself, felt catharsis. Visions of her parents' bodies being devoured crossed her eyes as she struck down her foes. She grit her teeth.

A loud boom sounded from deeper in the forest. Trees rumbled and the land shivered. The ambient mana swirled and collided with itself, creating sparks that resembled starlight on a clear night.

A massive crocodile-ape pushed apart three trees like twigs, snapping them from his path. Around the monster Cara could see the aura of a king, a God descending to aide in the smiting of his people's enemy.

The monster was the strongest Cara had found in the Soldier Garden so far. It was in the third tier, Zong! It was the body-refining equivalent to a Golden Core cultivator, the first step when one is acknowledged as truly strong!

Cara's eyes turned wild. Her heartbeat sounded like a war drum in her c.h.e.s.t, each beat pumping raw adrenaline and mana through her. The shackles to the 6th Rung shook.

"You!" The great ape yelled out in human tongue. "Enemy! You killed Wyvern. You killed my Tephi! You die!"

Its voice was deep as an ocean trench and its eyes glowed red from the raw power coursing just under its skin.

Cara clenched her fists and laughed to break her own tension. It had been a long time since she faced a proper battle. Even when she killed the bandit tribes none of them could compare to her in strength…

But this ape would do for a proper test. Cara knew that a cultivation base untested in battle was shallow. She needed to fight to solidify her foundations, she needed to see battle to understand the true differences between Mana and Qi.

"Is Tephi the name of the wyvern?" Cara asked, responding to the Great Ape.

"Tephi was cute! Angel! I want kill you for long time. Get revenge! Now you come to us! No more searching!" The monster laughed. There was grief in its voice. Cara didn't particularly care about its story. Who, in all the world, hadn't lost someone they loved before? She could sympathize, but she didn't. She knew that mercy towards an enemy would be cruelty to herself.

Cara stepped forward and took a proper stance. She couldn't look down on this foe. A tremendous white light formed around her fists as her Heaven's Light Boxing activated. The skill felt wonderful and broad, as if it could branch out endlessly. It was a minor martial art technique in Cara's first life, but in a world of mana its potential exploded!

The Great Ape charged and Cara met him head on. Their collision created a shockwave of air that knocked down trees and blew away remnant apes for nearly 100 meters. The impact of the titans collapsed the ground around them further, and the crater turned into a caldera, their mana spikes created the eruption. A cloud of dirt, debris, and ash rose over the canopy into the sky.

-

Far away, the humans who made camp after their own battles sensed the great disturbance and already started to evacuate. Some powerful creatures were fighting.

"What is that!" One of the mages cried, his voice cracking like a prepubescent boy. He looked to be in his forties.

"It must be the monster that took out the Garden Bandits!" One of the knights cried out.

The human party scurried away, leaving behind tents and gear, unconcerned with their abandoned supplies. None of them could bear even being close to the battle auras ahead. The pressure alone caused several of the powerless civilians to lose consciousness.

-

Cara's small frame left her lacking for reach. The Great Ape's arms were long and it used them like wh.i.p.s, its knuckles cracking at the edge of the sound barrier with each blow.

Cara ducked under one particularly harsh swipe only to find the monster in the air above her. She crossed her arms over her head and braced herself for impact. She planted her legs like ancient trees, and she felt the earth below her offer its embrace, as if the ground itself had sapience and will.

Cara didn't understand the sensation. It was unlike anything she ever experienced in her previous two lives. It felt as if an electric current ran through her, filling her with tremendous mana, like her legs had turned into plugs and the earth itself turned into a battery.

The shackles on her cultivation shook. The 6th rung cracked and she felt mana piercing into her heart like needles.

She screamed from pain as the pressure of her breakthrough mixed with the pressure from the strange mana source connecting to her from below.

The Great Ape's interlocked fists smashed down on the small girl. A tremendous cloud of dust was kicked up and the beast smiled, thinking its enemy defeated… But its face twisted in horror as, when the dust cleared, it found Cara's glowing blue eyes staring back at it. Her body didn't even flinch. Her arms were extended above her head, holding up the Ape's fists like they were stuffed with feathers.

The cracks on the shackles glowed, as if a tremendous light wanted to burst free. The chains on the 6th rung g.r.o.a.n.e.d one last time in protest before an unstoppable force blew them to smithereens. Power rolled through Cara's body as she achieved her breakthrough; her expression twisted and she snarled at the sensation.

She looked up and met the eyes of the Great Ape. Cara's lips curled ever so slightly, but her eyes were warped. Her sword-like brows were angled down in a sneer.

Beneath her feet she could feel the pulse of some strange magic, a connection of sorts, as if she was tied to the forest itself.

"I see," said Cara as her expression softened a bit. "The land here wants you dead, monkey."

Cara pulled back one of her fists and clenched her hand so hard it trembled. The power of the Earth Element swarmed her and concentrated into her fist, mixing with the Heaven's Light Boxing system and changing it.

The aura of the World's Tree, Yggdrasil arose.

Cara threw her punch and the clearing was filled with a blinding light, as if the sun dawned on land.

When the light died only one fighter stood. In Cara's extended hand was the arm of the Great Ape. The stub where it once connected to the rest of the beast smoldered, the fat of its flesh bubbled and spit. The rest of the monster drifted away on a cold wind, dancing with the ashes of burned trees. Cara's strongest attack appeased the spirit of the Soldier Garden.

Around her soul one of the stripes on the reincarnation shield faded to white.