A Challenge

His Mana streamed into the tablet, purified and changed within the stone before expelling outwards in a wave that washed over the five hundred or so animals within the pen. Instantaneously, each and every animal stopped what they were doing, heads – or eyes, in the case of the zimdons and Kilamoons – whipping toward Fate.

Those with tongues tasted the air and the Mana within, eyes narrowing as they processed the sensations. The zimdons buzzed and crackled as they sucked the Mana into unseen orifices, pupils dilating and constricting as they judged Fate's character.

Space warped around the Void Gremlins, Fate's Mana growing visible as it was absorbed into the creatures like the event horizon of a black hole. The elementals burned or soaked or smothered his Mana with their element, consuming it and merging it with their memories.

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted the frogs that he couldn't look at licking their chops and rubbing their faces with their forelegs.

The students in the nursery room watched in amazement as the creatures sputtered into motion at the same time, shaking their heads roughly. The majority of them trotted or leaped or floated or slithered as far away from Fate as they could get, smooshing against each other on the far side of the magically-expanded pen.

Many were singed by the fires of the fire elementals or covered in dirt or soaked through with water from the water elementals, but they didn't seem to notice as they packed closer and closer together.

Two minutes later, only a hundred or so animals were left, mostly the aforementioned Persistence Parrots, a few elementals, a splash of Dracoks, and a random assortment of the others.

They didn't find anything particularly repulsive about Fate, but they didn't see him as someone they wanted to spend their life with either. They sat or stood or floated there relaxedly, a Pegasus bending down to chew on the grass as its large eye stared at Fate.

Only one Magical Beast, a Dragon Chicken as tall as Fate's knee, came forward. It had gorgeous blue feathers, dark around its legs and chest and brightening around its neck, and a proud blue comb with a red base, its bright red wattle providing a pleasing contrast to its feathers.

The left and right sides of its neck were covered in pale brown feathers, the same color as its beak, and its magnificent tail was a bright blue, appearing as large as its body was. Its feet were a grayish black, with sharp talons that dug into the grass with every step.

It strode forward proudly, head tilting this way and that to better eye Fate with its blue pupils ringed by red. As it advanced, it took more and more of Fate's Mana from the surroundings, converting it into its own until it was surrounded by a faint, watery mist.

By now, this chicken was the only one partaking in Fate's Mana, but he could instinctually feel that it hadn't yet accepted him as its master.

It stopped about fifty feet away from him. Suddenly, the mist condensed into a ball in front of its face, and its beak flew open, a thin stream of water flying out of the ball to the sound of the rooster's crow.

Fate's first instinct was to dodge and his next was to use his Skill, but he did neither of those things. He stood his ground, rising taller as he dropped the tablet and raised his fists. He knew what this was.

It was a challenge.

The bird was daring Fate to say he was worthy of being its master, to proclaim himself better than the noble dragon blood coursing through the rooster's veins. Fate could feel the disdain coming off of it. The rooster knew every dirty deed Fate did, every moment of weakness he had had.

But it also saw something else in him. And that was what Fate would give it.

Fate never backed down from a fight.

The stream of water crossed the distance in an instant, so swift and silent that once the rooster's crowing stopped the only sound that could be heard was the rustle of the wind. Fate mustered his Mana and met the water head-on with his Mage Grasp, slinging his hands up to make barrier after barrier.

The stream of water smashed through his first barrier, then the next, and the next. The last barrier Fate through up shattered into shards of invisible Mana, but Fate didn't even flinch.

The water jet smacked into Fate's torso and sliced right through it, exiting out of his back and crashing into the wall hundreds of feet behind him. A bloody hole was left just below his ribcage, a dribble of blood leaking from his lips.

He spat the blood out and returned the Dragon Chicken's contemptuous glare with one of disappointment. "Is that all you can do?"

He took a firm step forward, throwing his hands toward the chicken so hard he pulled a muscle. He ignored it entirely as he let loose a "HA!" A pillar of Mana manifested, slamming into the chicken from behind.

Fate hadn't forgotten that his Mage Reach didn't need to start from him. It could come from anywhere around him.

The chicken hopped lightly to the side, a thud sounded next to it. It side-eyed the small hole Fate made before making what Fate could only assume was a laugh, its beak opening once more.

"Oh no, you don't," Fate growled. Clenching his fist, he grasped the chicken with his Mage Reach and squeezed it tight. It bucked and kicked, the ball of water in front of its head whipping this way and that as it grew denser and denser.

Just when Fate felt the distinct feeling of bone starting to fracture, the Dracok released its beam.

Unlike before, this one was as thick as Fate's leg and shot through the air with the force of a cannon. The other one relied on sharpness and speed, but this one relied only on brute strength.

It flew through the air, the wind howling as it was pushed to the side to make way for this behemoth.