Defense Of The Ancients - Invoker Lore

Kael determined that he was in a young body that was not more than 16 years old. It was a weird sensation for an old demon like himself who had lived for thousands of years to be encapsulated within a youth.

His young age was probably the reason why he was not even in the Commoner Rank.

Within the Hundred Realms, cultivation is broken into different ranks: Commoner, Herald, Guardian, Crusader, Archon, Legend, Ancient, Divine, Immortal in that hierarchy. Each rank brings about a boost in cultivation, in terms of spiritual power, magic potency and lifespan etc. In his previous life, Kael was an Ancient Rank wizard.

As the Invoker, he commanded the respect of millions of cultivators as he reached the pinnacle of cultivation. Only the realm master of the Defense of the Ancients was a Divine Rank cultivator. As for Immortal Rank, one could only reach that if he could bring about a decisive win in the battlefields of the Defense of the Ancients. Bringing down the Ancient and Fountain of Essence once wasn't enough. However, that was something that Kael could think about only when he reached back to the Ancient Rank. The him now wasn't even qualified to think about it.

Having determined that he should get in touch with other people and with the aim of breaking through the Commoner Rank, Kael traced the spirituality in the air once again. He sniffed out the spiritual path to lead to civilization and he traversed across the forest once again.

From the graveyard to the river bank, he was lucky to not stumble upon any demonic/magic beasts that were wandering in the forest.

However, he wasn't quite so lucky while searching for a village or civilization. After walking within the forest for half an hour, following the spiritual traces, he finally stumbled upon a creature.

It was an oversized spider, spanning 3 meters long. It had 8 bloodshot eyes on its head, staring furiously at Kael. Its 8 legs were like tendrils, flexibly scurrying about and around Kael, observing its new found enemy and prey.

"Demonic Spider huh.. Commoner Rank Lower Phase demon beast. If I can't even deal with this, given my depth of knowledge in combat, then I should really knock my head on the wall." Kael muttered to himself.

Though he had lost all magic power in the body he woke up in, he had a sufficient reserve of magic power now in him due to the spiritual water which he drank at the river bank. He was just like any normal person in the Hundred Realm who hadn't embarked on the realm of cultivation. However, it didn't mean that he didn't have combat skills.

Kael knew of one spirit art which didn't require his body to be trained and attuned in it. It was the most basic form of spirit art: "Octane Blast". Basically one pushes magic power and spiritual energy into his fists to connect with the target, multiplying the damage from the fist exponentially.

As the Demonic Spider was prancing around him, Kael stood calmly in the center, waiting for an opportune moment. Though he was still, he was actually looking for an opening where he could execute the spirit art "Octane Blast" and kill the Demonic Spider in one strike.

Even though he wasn't in the Commoner Rank and his opponent was in the Commoner Rank, there was no fear in Kael as he had plenty of combat experience from his past as the Invoker. He had seen every kind of battle under the planes of the Hundred Realms. As such, he had the utmost confidence that he could deal with a pittance like this creature who thought that he was food for it.

The Demonic Spider pranced around him for 5 whole minutes, searching for a loophole in this perfectly calm man. Finally, it couldn't wait any longer to feast on him, so it leapt from behind Kael and attempted to strike him down with one of its razor sharp legs!

"Shua!"

Suddenly, there was an arrow that zipped through the air at supersonic speed. Without waiting for Kael to make a move, the arrow pierced through the Demonic Spider's body and the creature fell down on the ground, lifeless.

With just one arrow shot, the Demonic Spider was dead. In Kael's eyes, this shot must be imbued with a spirit art for it to be this effective against a Commoner Rank Lower Phase creature.

"Who is it? You may come out now." Kael said as a matter of fact. He wasn't used to being a lowly ranked entity yet, thus he still sounded haughty, like when he was an Ancient Rank Invoker.

Footsteps could be heard from a distance away. After a few seconds or so, two figures appeared from within a nearby bush. One was a petite and lithe woman, while the other was a burly young man.

"Greetings, traveler. What are you doing here in the Black Heart Forest? Don't you know that this is a dangerous place for non-cultivators?" The lithe woman spoke. She looked young and pretty, but she had a valiant face characteristic of a warrior.

"Your arrow was unnecessary. I could've dealt with it myself. Nonetheless, thank you for assisting. My name is Kael. And the both of you are…?"

The woman frowned. "Really? I couldn't sense the slightest bit of spiritual fluctuation from you when I noticed you. How can you deal with the Demonic Spider? My name is Mirana, a student of the Fledgling Myriad Institute. This is my brother, Thrump, who is also a student in the same school."

"School students? Oh. Well, I don't want to explain things. By any chance do you know where the closest village is?" Kael was new to this world, thus he needed someone to guide him along. He decided to rein in his arrogance and sought to establish a relationship with Mirana and Thrump.

"It's just 10 miles away from here in the northern direction. We can guide you back to the closest city since we are just done with a hunting trip." Mirana chirped and offered. Thrump on the other hand was just standing there quietly, not making a single movement and sound.

Kael found Thrump amusing, like a tree. However, he didn't comment. "Alright, let's go then!"