The Chronicles Of Rhaxtyx

"That little beast is not what it seems like!" (Rhaxtyx)

"What are you talking about? Badgey is soo cute! It can never do something wrong!"

"You already named it?!"

Angeline and Rhaxtyx were arguing while Badgey was watching them. Prior to this, Angeline asked if they could take it with them on the journey but Rhaxtyx, knowing the real personality of the badger, rejected and suggested "We ought to throw this cunning fox down a cliff!" And that is why they are having this argument right now.

"Look, Ange, you have no idea how dastardly is that little bastard! It just seems cute to you!"

"No, Badgey is really cute. And it is NOT dastardly! You know nothing, you just don't like animals that's why!"

"No I like animals, there are cute ones and there are wild ones but I still like them. But this little thing is far from that!"

"How can you say that?! Don't you see you're scaring Badgey?! See! It's about to cry!"

"There is nothing like that though."

As they talked, Badgey climbed up Angeline c.h.e.s.t and hugged her. After that it looked at Rhaxtyx with a smug expression.

"I'm going to kill this bastard!" (Rhaxtyx)

"How could you say that!?"

And so, their day has started. After more arguing, Rhaxtyx 'agreed' to bring Badgey along. After their breakfast, they started their journey towards Angeline's village. It would take about two weeks to get there. It would mean plenty of research for Rhaxtyx and plenty of trouble for Angeline. Of course Badgey would bother Rhaxtyx from time to time but before he could do anything, it would always hide behind Angeline. And Angeline would reprimand Rhaxtyx for hurting Badgey.

They could not go through the forest without any troubles however. They would come across the occasional patrol of mercenaries and city guards. They would usually go without being noticed but sometimes they would be seen and forced to detour and hide again.

Because of these kinds of encounters Rhaxtyx manage to learn how to control himself, as most of the time the trouble would find them because of that. So he would touch fewer things and would not chase after wild animals trying to capture them as test subjects. Instead, he focused on finding the reason for his inability to use spells and trying a few methods to do so.

He was trying some chants for the Fireball spell since the original chant he heard form that mage was not working and was instead exploding in his face after the second word in the first line.

After their first week on the road, they were mentally exhausted. Even Rhaxtyx was bored to do the same thing every day. They were setting camp. Rhaxtyx was about to light the fire and Badgey was with him. Even though he hardly bore with it, sometimes the little beast would behave properly.

"I wonder where Ange is. She would've come back already. What do you think?"

*Sniff sniff*

"I can't believe I'm talking to a beast. Do you even understand me?"

*Turns head*

"Thought so. With your tiny brain, it hardly matters. Am I right?"

*Bite*

"OW! You little bastard, you do understand!"

*Snicker*

"Come here you bastard! I haven't realized before but I could use you as a test subject! Why would I need another beast right?!"

*Hiss*

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!" (Angeline)

"What?! ANGE!"

They rushed inside the forest, searching the source of the scream. Rhaxtyx had no idea what was wrong and his face showed his worry. They searched for minutes, called for her but no response came.

"ANGE! Damn it where is she?! Hey, little bastard! Can you smell her scent?"

Badgey looked at him as if he was joking but after that it really started to sniff around. After a couple of seconds, it picked up a scent and rushed. Rhaxtyx was right behind it. After a while they saw her. Angeline was crouching behind a shrub and looking towards something. When she heard footsteps she turned her head and saw Badgey and Rhaxtyx rushing towards her. She quickly indicated them to be quiet and pointed towards where she was looking.

There, a big black bird like creature was looking around, seemingly angry. It was a Gleam Beak. These beasts would stand around 3-4 meters high and were quite passive. Unless they felt threatened or their offspring was threatened they would never attack anyone. If they were somewhat agitated, they could rival even experienced adventurers and a unit of 10 soldiers. They did not have too much attack capabilities but they were strong.

"*whisper* What is it?! Are you okay?! Why did you scream earler?!" (Rhaxtyx)

"*whisper* I'm fine! I was scared that's all. I didn't notice there was a Gleam Beak nest near here. I accidentally hurt one of the babies and here I am."

"*whisper* Haah. You worried me sick! So, what are we looking-"

The sudden silence of Rhaxtyx picked the attention of Angeline and she looked at him with questioning eyes.

"*whisper* Hey. You okay?"

"*whisper* That bastard. I know it!"

"*whisper* All Gleam Beaks look exactly the same y'know."

"*whisper* No. This is the bastard that beaked me earlier!"

"*whisper* Are you still holding a grudge? Seriously? How do you even recognize it?!"

"I will kill that bastard!"

"Wait! You can't even use- That idiot!"

And with that, Rhaxtyx jumped out in the open and rushed towards the Gleam Beak. All the while screaming "I will have my revenge!" Angeline was shocked at his attitude. She wanted to scream at him to stop but she knew he wouldn't listen.

Gleam Beak looked towards Rhaxtyx, confused. But it knew he was a threat so it took position. And as soon as he was within range, it inhaled and screamed.

"How dare you stab me with your beak!? I will cook you for dinner! "

*CUCKOOO!*

"AAAAAAAAAAAAA! Sh*t! The hell is that!? I feel dizzy."

"I was trying to warn you! They have a sonic attack that dizzies their opponent. After that they either run or-" (Angeline)

*Smack!*

"Attack… Damn it…"(Angeline)

With a kick, surprisingly, Rhaxtyx was launched in the air. He was spinning in the air and his face did not look so good.

"I will… *burp* kill that mother… *burp* Ouf!"

He finally landed. More like falling than landing, actually. His head was spinning and Gleam Beak was preparing for another attack.

"I will show you! Once my head stops spinning… Has the ground always been blue?"

"Come here you idiot! Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"

Angeline pulled him towards a bush. She looked at him as if he was insane and turned towards the beast.

"I will hold it off. So run. I will meet you guys at the camp! Hup!" (Angeline)

With that Angeline unsheathed her sword and ran towards the Gleam Beak. She started to attack it but her sword hardly did any damage. It did not even leave a scratch. But she wouldn't give up no matter what. She would fight this magical beast and save her friend. Even if it meant-

{Blazing flames of the nether realm come forth!}

*CUCKOOO!*

A bolt of fire struck the Gleam Beak. It charred some of its feathers and the burning smell of flesh permeated everyone's noses. Gleam Beak started to run around because of the pain and cries of misery left its mouth.

Angeline was shocked. There were no people here other than them and the chant she heard was nothing like what she heard before. Plus, the normal chant for firebolt was not so long as well. The intonation of the chant resembled fireball's chant.

When she looked where the spell was fired from, she saw Rhaxtyx with smoke coming out of his palm.

"How did you-"

"We'll talk later. First comes our dinner!"

He fired another bolt after that. His face became a bit pale but he was still standing. Angeline saw this and readied her blade. As she charged, bolts of fire would fly past her and land on the body of Gleam Beak. It would scream and cry but because its mana was almost depleted after using so much sonic attacks, it could do nothing about this onslaught. And after a couple of minutes it was down.

Angeline was breathing heavily and Rhaxtyx was sweeping the sweat from his brow. She threw him a questioning look and he just shrugged his shoulders.

"What? Why are you looking at me like I did something inexcusable?" (Rhaxtyx)

"How did you cast a spell? And what was that chant? You can't control mana right?"

"I just took the spell 'Fireball' and changed its chant, that's all. I tried using a second line before but I failed each time. So one line it is."

"But how?"

"Oh come on! Who the hell am I? The God of Magic should at least do stuff this much!"

"You really are something I'll tell you that. And about eating this. The meats of Gleam Beaks are actually quiet close to chicken meat. Of course it is harder chew and you need to purify it first and then there is the dismantling which is always a hassle and you need to clean the meat you dismantled again and-"

"FINE! I get it! We can't have it for dinner! Okay!"

"Why are you yelling at me!?"

"I'm sorry please don't glare at me like that."

"There you go. Anyway, we should at least get the core out of it. I wanted to take the beak as well but it is too big for us to carry."

"The beak? And what's a core?"

"The beak makes a good accessory actually. When imbued with magic the beak shines and stays like that for a long time. And the Monster Core is found in every magical beast. It is their source of power and their life line. If taken out while the magical beast is alive, it will die in a matter of seconds. Apart from giving them their lives, it also is the place where their magical energy is stored. As well as their bloodlines. So if a magical beast eats a monster core of another beast, then that magical beast has a chance to inherit the abilities and the bloodline of the other magical beast."

As Angeline talked, she climbed up the carcass of Gleam Beak and began cutting in. After five minutes or so, she came out carrying a purple orb the size of a fist. It looked like a muddy crystal ball.

"This is it! It is the core of a Gleam Beak but it should guarantee us a good amount of coin. Monster cores are not that common after all."

"Are there other uses to these things?"

Asked Rhaxtyx as he picked the core up from Angeline's hand began observing it.

"Well there's one that I'm aware of, other than alchemical purposes. If a wild beast eats a monster core, there's a chance that it can turn into a magical beast. But there's almost no record of this happening because the energy inside a core is too chaotic for wild beasts and they almost always die. And if they don't die they attract other magical beasts to prey on them as the chaotic energy revolving around them is a good source of mana for them."

After hearing this, Rhaxtyx's ears jerked and his head slowly turned towards Badgey. He had new kinds of experiments to do from now on and his first subject has already been chosen. Seeing this, Angeline made a scary smile and looked at him with a cold gaze.

"If you think of doing anything funny… Capishe?"

And with that, they returned to their camp and ate their dinner. After a while Angeline and Badgey went to sleep while Rhaxtyx rummaged through their stuff.

'Where is it? Where is it? How can a ball that big can vanish? Aha! There it is! Now for the main course!'

Rhaxtyx carefully picked Badgey up and went inside the forest. After going a safe distance he squeezed Badgey awake. After it has woken up, it realized its situation and it tried to run away. It escaped Rhaxtyx's grasp but a firebolt cut its way. When it looked at him, he grinned and spoke while lifting the core up.

"I only have one question. Pill, or suppository?"

Badgey looked like it was confused. It understood the pill but the other thing? Rhaxtyx saw that and continued and looked downwards.

"As far as I'm aware of, there are only two places this can go."

Badgey sweated and came closer. There was only one thing it decided on; better to die that way. It was hesitant, understandably, but it had no other choice. Either it ate the core or this douchebag force fed the thing to it. After reaching Rhaxtyx's feet, he crouched and presented the core. Badgey opened his mouth and core's energy flowed into Badgey's mouth. For a while nothing happened.

"Hmm. So you're alive. That's neat."

Just as Rhaxtyx's words left his mouth, Badgey started to shine brightly.