The Exalt [Cultivation Fantasy]

Oscar did not relent. His hands continued to tug and pull on the thread, bringing himself closer to the Nixagle and deeper into the icy gales that bombarded him.

'Ripple Shroud'

A shockwave of Reis burst from all the pores of his body and abated the freezing winds. It only lasted a small moment, but that moment was enough for Oscar to feel his fingers liberated from the onslaught. The winds carried a vast amount of physical force to provide plenty of Reis that Oscar didn't need to worry about it. 'I'm glad to have learned Ripple Shroud for this.'

Like in his training in the deep waters, Oscar maintained a cycle of using 'Ripple Shroud' to alleviate the forceful winds, pulling himself closer during the moment of respite and resting for a moment until his 'Reis Awaken' was ready. Frost began to form on the tips of his hair, and his breathing grew ragged from the freezing air in his lungs.

Oscar reached the red talon and climbed it up to its hind legs. The Nixagle struggled, stopped its oppressive storm, and flew high up in many different directions while shaking its talons to throw Oscar off. Oscar looked down at the large tree and saw Mary resting on the trunk.

Since the Nixagle was no longer kicking up a storm, she had the freedom to relax and meditate to restore her Ein. Oscar noticed her staring back at him with an ok gesture before returning to her meditation. Since she had the opening act, the closer was up to him and him alone.

Oscar finally reached where the leg and body met. An icy gaze in his eyes, colder than the frigid winds that scraped his skin. A sharp steel drill formed around his arm and stabbed into the Nixagle's side, destroying its pretty fragile feathers and letting loose streams of blood.

The Nixagle screamed and continued to fly madly around.

But Oscar was not finished. His 'Shattering Wave' pulsed through the drill and rampaged through the Nixagle's body, causing more pain and damage. Oscar believed victory was near but had to rethink it as ice covered the Nixagle's wound, preventing blood from coming out.

"How stubborn." Oscar waited for his Adamasreis to recover. The violent thrashing of the Nixagle was a gold mine of Reis for him to absorb. He took out his drill and stabbed into another spot. "Fall, you beast!"

The erratic and sharp turns during the Nixagle's frenzied flight made Oscar feel sick and lightheaded. Oscar grew tired of his and went for a third strike, which finally destroyed the Nixagle's insides, breaking apart bones and rupturing the organs. With the destruction of its organs, the Nixagle shrieked out a rain of blood and lost power in its wings, starting to fall to the ground.

Oscar quickly and desperately climbed over the Nixagle to prevent being squashed by its fall. But for one final measure, he poured all his efforts into one final strike into the Nixagle's chest. The reason being the Nixagle could still turn itself to get revenge on Oscar, but with its death by this strike, there was no chance of that occurring.

The Nixagle landed in the middle of the large forest, crushing the trees under its weight and blasting away a cloud of snow. Oscar, covered in the Nixagle's blood, breathed like no tomorrow as the shockwave from landing still reverberated up the Nixagle's corpse to shake his insides, causing intense pain. But he wore a smile and moved slowly to the Nixagle's neck.

Oscar eyed the prize sticking out like a sore thumb, the Azure Feather. Though, contrary to its name, the feather had golden edges that shone brighter than before. The defeat of the Nixagle signaled the Azure Feather to shine more to let others know its importance.

"Oscar. Are you alright?" Mary caught up to the crash site. She had followed Oscar and the Nixagle from the ground as best as she could until seeing their descent. Her eyes glimmered with wonder at the feather in Oscar's hand. "That's the feather? It looks beautiful."

"It's not just beautiful." Oscar looked at the feather with a puzzled yet delighted set of eyes.

Mary grew curious. "What is it? The Azure Feather has an ability, right? Oh! Before I forget, take the Frost Orb; you must be exhausted."

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"Thanks," Oscar graciously accepted the Frost Orb, feeling the blue frost fading. "Which way is our cavern? I couldn't make heads or tails of directions from the insane flying."

"It's over this way." Mary pointed toward it.

"Grab onto me," Oscar said.

"Huh?" Mary was confused.

"Trust me. I'll show you something good." Oscar smiled sincerely.

"Alright." Mary didn't know what Oscar was up to, but there was no reason to distrust him. She got on his back and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Huh?" Oscar was confused this time. He glanced at Mary but stopped what he was about to say. 'She's too light. Is she eating properly?'

"Are you going to start?" Mary tapped Oscar's head to snap him out of his thoughts. "Your buckler is very cold."

"Sorry. My thoughts were elsewhere." Oscar thought perhaps he should find a feast somewhere for her later to help her grow. It was a strange feeling, but Oscar wondered if this was what it was like to have a sibling. His parents never had another child for some reason and were content with Oscar despite multiple children being the norm.

He held the Azure Feather and flowed his Ein into it. The feather absorbed Oscar's Ein and sent two streams of blue wind; the two winds rotated around his feet and spun like mini-typhoons. Slowly, his body started to levitate, floating above the ground, and the snow blew away from him, similar to an airship's takeoff.

"Ready for takeoff?" Oscar smiled as he floated. He was initially skeptical of the feather's power, but it worked without a hitch.

"How did you know it can make you fly?" Mary held tighter to not fall out of the air.

"When I grabbed the feather, a surge of information went into my mind. The information was about the feather's power to fly by sustaining an input of Ein into it. However, it doesn't allow us to fly too high like Knight Exalts." Oscar kicked off his feet and flew in their cave's direction. The winds flew upon his face, but the Frost Orb kept the blue frost at bay.

It was only the first day, and Oscar secured the Frost Orb and Azure Feather with Mary. Oscar thought about this overwhelming advantage they had over the other groups, not only in terms of the number of items but also the incredible advantages they provided for this tundra wasteland. The Snowbell Fruit's location was still unknown, but he had ample time with two days to search for it.

Oscar noticed the wide cliff and levitated himself down over it, looking around for the cavern. He found the cavern and turned off the Azure Feather's power because it was incredibly draining. "Mary, how was flying?"

"Cold!" Mary shouted as she got off Oscar's back and ran into the cave to start a fire. "The winds were bad enough, but your buckler becomes a large chunk of ice."

Soon her expression relaxed as the fires ignited and warmed the cave. "I feel sleepy."

They had gone through too much before the day even ended. The night was also beginning to make its way by the coming of twilight.

"There's the bundle of furs we got from the wolf and bunny. Feel free to sleep there." Oscar sighed and chuckled. "I'll be reviewing the map more, so you can rest."

"Ok." Mary plopped right onto the bundle of furs and fell asleep quickly. The sounds of her soft snoring filled the room, matching the flickering of the flames.

Oscar continued to study the map, thinking about the possible locations that seemed likely to have a fruit. "We already scanned much of the forest, and I don't believe they'd put two items so close to each other."

His pencil moved fast to cross out the places they'd been through. Ava Jones had told them there was a chance no one would meet each other; the recollection made Oscar pause for a moment. Ideally, a group would travel from the start and make their way to the mountain at the center, so it stood to reason that the items would be in the general vicinity of the path.

"This is where we met Serena. We veered a bit off course and probably went to the section of land meant for her group. So we self-corrected and returned to this cavern here." Oscar marked three places on the map. One was where they first teleported, and the other two points were equidistant from their spot. "If I assume the other groups started from these two points."

He drew three lines from the mountain to divide the region into thirds. Each of the three x marks of the Frost Orbs fell into each drawn region. "The Nixagle lived here. This spot is also a part of our region. The Snowbell Fruit should be somewhere in our third of the map."

"What are you doing?" Mary surprised him by coming to his side.

"You're up?"

"Can't sleep with someone constantly mumbling to themselves." Mary sighed and looked over the map. "The place is divided into thirds. I can see the logic behind that."

"I was thinking about possible locations for our last item," Oscar said.

Mary gazed at the map silently and facepalmed her small face. "I'm an idiot."

"What do you mean?" Oscar didn't understand.

"I spent many years reading about the law and manuals that I forgot the small rule the Pavilion follows for their trials." Mary looked very angry with herself for not realizing it sooner.

"A rule?"

"A rule to always provide a small boon at the beginning. As for our enrollment trial, the first golden token appeared easily. For the labyrinth, we got a clue right after our first room. The Pavilion follows a strict code of conduct of granting a small advantage at the start to make the students feel more motivated to keep going." Mary cursed at herself. "As a member of the Jones Family, how could I have forgotten that small implied rule."

"So what you're saying is that we must go back?" Oscar understood her meaning and wanted to confirm.

"Back to the ravine."

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