Qiyana...
Earlier that same day, at the training grounds.
Thud.
I held my twisted arm by the elbow, teeth gritted as burning pain ravaged my muscles.
Sweat sparkled on my forehead. Blood dripped onto the floor. The mangled arm twitched, refusing to obey.
Sigh.
I inhaled deeply, tightened my grip, and bit down hard—
Snap!
It popped back into place.
My head scraped against the rocky floor as pain crashed over me. But I endured.
Fang stood nearby, arms crossed, watching like a craftsman judging a flawed blade. Then his gaze turned to the ruined ground.
He raised an eyebrow.
"…Crude. But I'll accept it."
Still curled on the floor, I felt [Second Wind] surge from within.
It wrapped around me like an ice bath, leaching the heat from every inch of pain in my body. I gasped for air as the sensation retuned into my arm, each throb driving the numbness away.
'How is that crude?! What eleven-year-old could endure such a thing?!'
"You're ready." said Fang.
"Five hours north from here, your final trial should be waiting. Don't get lost."
Finally. This torture will end.
"Should? You expect me to run for five hours based on a guess?"
He nodded,
"Hmm. Fair. The thing is... I've tracked the thing for years now. But unlike you, I have important matters to attend, so I couldn't bother figure it's exact location."
"…"
"That beast hasn't left that spot in forever, and won't anytime soon."
Fang suddenly turned his back and started walking away, like he's business was done here.
"Hey! You forgot to tell me the beasts name!"
He didn't stop, and simply shouted as he left.
"A Basilisk."
'Hm. I see, a Basi—' I suddenly remember one problem. If I have to find the thing, then how Im supposed to deal with the magical vines?
Fang stepped into the jungle.
"HEY! And what about the vines?!"
His voice echoed back, distant and loud:
"If the vines stop you, forget about the Basilisk."
"…"
The vines around the training grounds weren't a problem—Fang periodically maintained a path for me—but beyond the village they grew like a curse. Maybe it actually was one.
'It must mean that the skill he taught me in all these years also works on them.'
Fang gave me an unheard of skill. I don't even know how it works exactly, but for sure it's something only possible in this crazy world.
A skill for cutting. Simple as that.
Still sore but recovering, I sat upright with a grunt.
"…The Basilisk, huh."
In my previous life, I vaguely remember reading about Noxian mounts: pig-faced beasts with tusks like knives, I think.
I'll gather more information first.
.
.
"Holy shit."
Watch the Ninth.
Qiyana's name was spreading like wildfire, and the doubt that had troubled me for so long was finally answered:
If this is the time Qiyana started her elemental studies, then I'm around the time Arcane started. The balcony kaboom scene.
'Now that I live here, it's not difficult to connect the dots.'
I remember reading about Qiyana achieving mastery in three elements… a misunderstanding on my part.
She actually possesses all seven.
'...Calling herself the Empress of the Elements makes so much sense now.'
.
.
I walked the dirt road toward the vines, where I met Ghero. He decided to follow me.
'Doesn't he have anything else to do?'
Arms crossed inside the sleeves of his mantle, Ghero spoke up:
"You're going to kill that thing, right? It's just a guess but, in the last decade, many of our people have gone missing."
'Oh, sorry about that. Just testing Eyeball Collector.'
"...There's not much known about what happened," he went on. "But because they were all troublesome kids, they must have heard of the beast and decided to mess with it."
'It was nice. Besides the bonus ability power, I also got some gold from First Strike. Nothing game-changing, unfortunately.'
I decided to ask him:
"If you know about the Basilisk, what do you think its weaknesses are?"
Ghero paused, touching his chin in thought.
"Hmm, that's difficult. Basilisk skin is too hard for normal blades. Only magically enhanced weapons can properly penetrate it."
'Yeah. And because of its size, traps are useless. It would just demolish everything. I considered poison, but its immune system could withstand most toxins.'
"I suppose…" Ghero continued as we resumed walking. "The insides could be one. Like the mouth and eyes, but both are too tiny for its size."
As we approached the village borders I adjusted my bow, tightened the handle of my axe, and approached the wall of vines.
Ghero stood behind, intrigued. These mysterious vines. One cannot reach the capital without a special magic technique to control them. And only a selected few have it.
But I don't need that now.
I drew the axe back, lowered my stance and prepared for a series of slashes.
Ignoring the protests of bone and muscle, my body coiled unnaturally, gathering force from ankles to knees, torso, arms, and wrists.
Woosh—
I channeled every ounce of momentum into a brutal swing.
SLASH!
Then in one fluid motion—another SLASH!. Then another, and another. A gatling barrage of brutal swings. Each strike sent clusters of vines flying, carving a path through the thicket.
I analyzed the damage. The jungle wasn't only vines, at times, some space appeared, like hollows. But sentient vine-web insisted on reaching for anything human-shaped.
'So it works.
"Ugh!'"
Suddenly, a rush of fiery pain shot through me. I bit my tongue. My body sore all over. But the healing rune kept me standing.
'The damage is manageable.'
The old man looked shocked. His expression hardened, a drop of sweat tracing down his face. He stood motionless as I walked further into the jungle, the vines already stretching to cover the path behind me.