Dimensions Collide: Destiny Bond

Unlike Prota, John didn’t hesitate for even a single second. Thoughts would only slow him down. He just had to go. All he had to do was show that he was a competent fighter, no, that he could survive, and he would get a passing grade. He could sit back down and wait for the licenses to come out.

It was as simple as that.

His logic in life was simple. Take the easiest path possible. As long as the end result was achieved, why should he put more effort into something that wouldn’t matter in the end anyway?

And yet, it was strange. The burning sensation in his chest. Adrenaline coursed through his veins as he looked his opponent directly in the eyes, reading every possible move that could be made. Why was he feeling it again?

The thrill of battle. The urge to fight, to win. He didn’t want to lose.

He hadn’t fought any losing battles since coming to this world, right? He’d only ever picked fights that he knew he’d win. But here, in this moment, he was forced into a fight that he couldn’t win. Why did it excite him so?

[Determination activates! Maximum level possible: x2000]

“...even that? What’s going on with me?” To his surprise, his lips curled up into a grin. It didn’t make sense.

Then again, it didn’t have to.

John feinted to the left, then moved to the right, throwing a blow and immediately following up with another, not giving Elfin time to rest. The elf dodged him easily, observing him with what could only be described as boredom.

It made sense. John wasn’t a formidable opponent. That didn’t mean he was completely incompetent. He tripped, falling towards Elfin, but instead of backing off or regaining his balance, he kept the momentum, driving his fist into Elfin’s face. The elf backed off, surprised but mostly unharmed.

“For a non mage, you have quite the fighting style.”

“...is that supposed to be a compliment?”

“Take it as you will.”

John weaved in and out, reading Elfin’s movements and dodging, but not without effort. Sweat streamed down his face as he took risk after risk, avoiding the blade’s edge by mere millimetres just to get an extra blow in, moving in instead of backing out…

He could feel the electricity coursing through his veins, the very tips of his fingers tingling as his nerves felt the wind brush by. He could feel the twitches in his body, moving just the way he wanted it to, feel the blood pumping through his veins into his heart.

He hadn’t felt like this in ages.

He looked back at Prota, who was watching him with curious eyes, although it was hard to tell since they were half closed. Another surge of adrenaline shot through his body.

Was it because he was fighting for someone else? Was he fighting just to win? He didn’t know. Did it really matter?

He shook his head clear of his thoughts. Emotions were messy things, and he’d often told himself that he was better off without them.

But now, it didn’t matter what was good for him. He only had one goal, and he’d follow through on it.

“Kh!” Elfin grunted as he stepped back again. It wasn’t as if John’s blows were doing that much damage to him. With a core like his, mana reinforcement made one practically immune to unamplified physical attacks. A person without mana would almost never beat one with it.

However, the fact that he, a polished warrior, could be out skilled like this…

“No, not out skilled,” Elfin thought. “His movements are messy. There are no signs of training. No signs of meditation or teachings. Then what is it?”

Elfin was right. It wasn’t training. It was just years after years of combat and fighting, death after death. It wasn’t like John had meant to get good at it, but when it comes to survival, you get forced into things you never meant to do. He narrowly dodged another blow and leapt back, then pushed off the ground and dove back in.

Despite his bravado, he still had the stamina of a normal human being. He didn’t have anything like a special attack, so he was really just stalling for time. Stalling for what? He didn’t know, actually. It wasn’t like he would win.

But wasn’t that more exciting?

“...the test is now finished.”

Elfin sheathed his sword. John, too, stopped moving around, panting for air as he wiped the sweat from his brow.

“Did you really think you could win?”

“No.”

“It’s a shame you were born without a mana core,” Elfin smiled. “I would’ve loved to see what you could’ve become.”

John shrugged. “Huh. Do I pass?”

“That remains to be seen. Draco Wynton!!”

The son of the noble snorted with disgust as he passed John on the way to the testing field.

“Manaless peasant,” Draco muttered as they brushed shoulders. “Why are you even trying? You should know your place.”

“Yeah, it’s in your mother’s bed,” John said without pausing his stride.

Draco’s face turned bright red, but John ignored him and kept walking back, where Prota was waiting anxiously for him.

“Ok? Is John ok?” she said over and over. Her sleepy eyes darted back and forth, scanning John’s body for injuries.

“Seriously, calm down. I’m fine. Prota, calm down.”

“...strong,” Prota muttered as she looked at him. Even though he’d lost, she could see that much. She was once again reminded of the skill he’d displayed when fighting against the bandits.

What did she have to do to reach that level?

“The test will now begin,” John heard from the field and turned his attention to the battle that was about to start.

Draco had a smug look on his face as he started chanting, then summoned a giant fireball, probably at least ten times as powerful as the condensed one Prota had made. With a flick of his wrist, it started pummeling down like a meteor crashing to the earth, but he wasn’t done yet.

With another flick, a giant cage of fire pillars surrounded Elfin, restricting his movement considerably. However, the test administrator didn’t look concerned in the slightest as a powerful gust of wind opened one of the pillars up, giving him just enough time to dash through and make his way toward Draco.

“D-dammit!” Draco gasped, reinforcing his body with mana and leaping backwards. He created small explosions at his feet to propel him further, then put his hands in front of him and unleashed a torrent of fire. However, it was sloppy. The gap in time it had taken him to activate mana reinforcement had cost him as the hem of his sleeve was cut.

“That’s a lot of firepower,” John muttered to himself. He looked beside him to see Prota watching with shining eyes. Suddenly, they lit up for a brief moment, then died back down as she continued to watch the battle with interest. Her face looked sleepy, but her hands were clenched in excitement as she continued to watch the fight.

Something clicked in John’s mind.

[Soul Copy Lv 1]

“Hey, Zero,” he thought.

“Yeah?”

“By any chance, would Prota have the capability to copy the magic of others?”

John was met with silence, which was answer enough.

“You’re kidding me… how is this not a [Protagonist]?”

“She’s the [Antagonist].”

John drew in a sharp breath. “Is she?”

“I did a little something called “lying.” That was pretty funny, by the way. You should’ve seen the look on your face.”

“You should live in a circus if you plan on being a clown.”

Regardless, it was good to have something figured out so quickly. John wasn’t sure how Prota had learned ice and fire magic. Either she was naturally a dual elementalist mage by nature, or someone she’d interacted with had had those properties, but it now made sense that she had pulled wind magic out of nowhere. Initially, he’d thought that she’d naturally had it, but then it’s dawned on him. Why hadn’t she used it against the bandits?

The answer was that she hadn’t known that magic at the time. She’d gotten it from Elfin.

“Level one… what does that mean?”

“You want an answer? Just like that?”

“...what do you think?”

“What if the information is restricted?”

“If you’re asking me that, then that means it’s not, dumbass.”

He heard Zero sigh in his mind.

“Just to let you know, the only reason I’m telling you this is because you’ve figured most of it out on your own already. I think this would be censored otherwise. For Prota… it’s not like she can fully utilize someone else’s magic. That would be way too strong, right?”

“It’s not as if her ability was balanced in the first place,” John grumbled.

“Anyways, she can only utilize simple magic. For now.”

“...level one?”

“Right. The more proficient she becomes at her own magic, the more she’ll be able to use the spells of others. Easy, right? Power scaling has to work to some degree.”

John nodded. He’d received two pieces of information here.

First, the fire and ice magic were indeed Prota’s own abilities. The results of her own effort and talent, magic she had created on her own.

Second. This was more of a theory than it was a fact, but she potentially had the power to rival the [Protagonist]. This ability was incredibly strong. Of course, it wasn’t as if there weren’t strong opponents in a story, but Prota wasn’t a normal [Character].

“It’s like… the antithesis to the [Protagonist]. A broken ability combined with an [Anomaly]...”

“Kind of like you?”

“I’m different.”

John watched as the fight between Elfin and Draco ended with Elfin’s sword at Draco’s throat. The boy looked disgusted as he stomped off the field, sitting down with a huff.

“[Soul Copy], huh…”

Things were getting more and more complicated.

~~~

Fate was standing silently as he watched Draco’s ego get pulled down a notch. He hadn’t liked the noble the moment they’d crossed paths, but there was no need to get involved in something that would undoubtedly become an annoyance.

Besides that, though, his intuition was screaming at him to look at the man next to him.

John. He looked like a normal person, other than his strange clothing, which looked oddly familiar. He didn’t stand out, other than being pretty weak.

The girl, on the other hand… Prota? She seemed strong, but she was young. Was that what his intuition was telling him to pay attention to? The girl? Yes, it was probably the girl. For someone of such a young age, she would undoubtedly become a formidable force.

“Fate!” he heard. There was no more time to think. He pushed off the wall he’d been leaning against and brushed himself off.

“Remember what I said,” a female voice spoke in his mind. “Magic only. No swordplay.”

“Yeah, yeah, I got it,” Fate grumbled to himself as he headed towards the field, leaving his sword behind.

However, he wanted just one more peek. Looking back, he noticed John looking at his sword with interest… no, not just interest.

Recognition.

“Hey, Kit,” he thought. “Keep an eye on that guy.”

“The coreless man? Why him?”

“Just do it.”

“Are you ready?” Elfin asked as Fate stood in front of him.

“Yes.”

“Then… the test will now begin.”

Fate felt mana run through his veins as he formed a ball of wind swirling in his hand. He threw it like a baseball, something that Elfin easily dodged. However, the test administrator didn’t move, as if waiting for Fate’s next move.

“Big mistake.”

Forming a fireball in the other hand, he launched it directly at the ball of wind, creating a massive explosion that shook the ground. The air amplified the fire tenfold, making it a much more effective spell.

However, Fate didn’t stop there. He muttered an incantation, and nine swirling orbs of fire formed above his head, flying one after the other into the dust cloud that had formed from earlier. They seemed to have minds of their own as they chased after an unseen target.

However, it wouldn’t be as easy as that. Elfin charged out of the dust, cutting down fireball after fireball, using the wind to propel him in all directions, easily avoiding the attack. He flinched momentarily as a pillar of fire rose right in front of his face but recovered quickly and kept going.

The gap between the two was now non-existent.

“You’re quite the caster,” Elfin said. “Even using incantations at such a rapid speed… unfortunately, it seems you didn’t set up any defensive spells.”

Fate grinned underneath his mask. He wasn’t just a caster.

He redirected the mana that had been used for spells back into his body, amplifying the effects of mana reinforcement. As Elfin thrust his blade, he neatly sidestepped the attack and went in for a punch. The attack missed, but he jumped back and scanned his opponent, searching for openings.

“Impressive,” Eflin said. “I’d love to see your expression under that mask of yours.”

“Sorry, but the mask stays on,” Fate said.

The two traded blows for another two minutes, each blow so strong that a single mistake would’ve decided the winner and the loser.

That mistake was made by Fate. As he shifted his foot, he stepped on a piece of rubble, causing him to lose balance. That was all it took, but with that, Elfin’s sword stopped just in front of his face.

“Excellent,” Eflin said, a hint of satisfaction seeping out of his voice. “We will end the test there.”

Fate’s chest rose and fell deeply. The sound of his panting was masked, but it was audible.

“The test is now complete,” Elfin announced to everyone. “Please return tomorrow to pick up your licences.”

Fate hesitated. Really? Was it that anticlimactic? He felt like there should’ve been more of a battle, more of a-

No. This was good. The whole point of this had been to disguise his abilities as much as possible. The longer the fight dragged on, the worse it would’ve been for him. Satisfied, he started walking back to his fox and sword.

“You can’t tell us our ranks now?” Fate heard. Turning his head, he saw John raising his hand like a schoolboy in a classroom.

“...You are F rank. Any other questions?”

There was laughter all about, a satisfied grunt from Draco, but that wasn’t what Fate was focused on. The more he looked at that boy, the more intriguing he became.

John’s face. There was no disappointment anywhere. In fact, besides the fact that John’s eyes were as lifeless as they’d been since the start, there was a hint of smugness in the man’s grin. As if he’d gotten what he was going for all along.

~~~

“F rank.”

This was what he’d been aiming for. It was a little bit too close to the actions of a main character, pretending to be weaker than he really was, but… wasn’t he actually weak?

He could raise his power to x1000, but what he hadn’t told Prota was that it gave him a huge headache the more he used it. It wasn’t like he couldn’t deal with it, but it was annoying enough that he’d avoid it if he could.

John was slightly disgusted with how cliche his situation was, but he didn’t really have a choice if he wanted to become an adventurer. And besides, he really was weak. He had to remind himself of that fact. There were certain things he could do to gain an advantage, but starting as a high rank adventurer would really be a threat to his life. Of course, [Reset] was always an option, but he’d prefer not to use it if possible. And besides, his fighting style was suited toward people, not monsters.

The only thing he had going for him was the element of surprise. That was the basis with which he’d operated his entire time in this world. His gun, first, was a weapon nobody recognized, so as long as he caught them off guard, he could probably kill anyone with a single shot. His hand to hand combat skill wasn’t reflective of his physical age, so there was that, too.

However, these conditions could only be met if the opponent underestimated him in the first place.

If he was anything higher than E rank, people would question his skill. Idiots would ignore it, but anyone with a brain would be wary. Why was he a high rank if he didn’t have mana? How had he gotten to that level?

Those questions would raise their guard. If John wanted to be of any use, he couldn’t have that happening. On the surface, he would just be Prota’s guardian. Of course, he planned on letting Prota protect him as much as possible. He didn’t understand her obsession with trying to keep him safe, but it worked for him, too. However, there would likely be scenarios where she wouldn’t be able to handle it on her own.

In that case…

“Come on, Prota, let’s go back home.”

~~~

Prota opted to stay in bed all day, completely exhausted , but John had research to do. The entire time, he’d gone off vague information. He was aware of a lot of things since the world was established like a generic fantasy novel, but there were specifics he had to look into.

The first thing he did was look into mana. The world had ambient mana, which he was familiar enough with, so he set that aside and moved on.

The most important thing John learned about the world was that there were no strict definitions. No one was one kind of mage or another, there was nothing really predetermined at birth, nothing like that.

However, what was known as “affinities” existed. Certain people had stronger connections to certain kinds of magic. To have a connection to more than one was to be a dual mage, which could be attained through training. There were tri element mages, quadra element mages…

What John hadn’t expected was the existence of a wide variety of elements. Things like lightning and ice were simply extensions of fire and water, but there were also elements such as light, dark, poison… it wasn’t just four. At a certain point, it could be argued that elements weren’t really a thing. It was possible to create a magic that didn’t fall under a specific category.

The possibilities were limited only by one’s imagination.

“...doesn’t that make a dual element mage kind of common?” John mumbled but kept reading. It was driving him crazy, sitting and researching for so long, but at the same time, it was kind of fun.

Mages were classified into four categories: caster mages, combat mages, augmenter mages, and battle mages. Once again, it wasn’t so much a matter of only being able to do one as it was a matter of preference, but it seemed that people stuck to the class they belonged to without straying elsewhere.

A fighter mage was the simplest. They infused their body with magic, reinforcing it way beyond what simple mana reinforcement did and attacked. They used elements as well, but those spells typically were restricted to enhancement and defense. From what John could see, Elfin was a fighter mage.

Caster mages focused on attacking with spells, usually long range ones, although it was technically possible for them to fight in close range combat by using quick spells. The primary difference between a caster and a combat mage was that a caster rarely used their body in combat.

Augmenter mages and battle mages had very little information on them. Apparently, they were quite rare and had very little documented about them. Augmenter mages had the ability to heal and were often found in hospitals or royal courts. Battle mages were people who performed the roles of both caster mages and fighter mages with equal levels of skill.

“It’s like an RPG,” John muttered. “Roles… elements… so Prota would be a caster… dual, no, triple elemental in fire, ice and wind… for now.”

“Wow. I didn’t know you were literate.”

“Shut up,” John grumbled. He wasn’t exactly happy with it.

“Come on, John, you did maybe an hour of reading. Was it really so hard?”

“Yes.”

Zero chuckled and left John alone as he walked back to the inn.

~~~

“So, what did you think of today’s applicants?”

Alber Alimbert, chief of the town’s adventurer guild, was an imposing figure, even behind his desk. The room was filled with cigar smoke, but Elfin just smiled and nodded.

“Most of them were standard, as usual. The son of that noble… exceptional, as expected of that household, but his temper is not to be desired. However, due to his conditions…”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Damn nobles, fuckin everything up.” Albert grumbled. “Why can’t they teach their kids some goddamn manners?”

“That’s neither here nor there, boss,” Elfin sighed. “Now, for the other three…”

Elfin looked at his clipboard. “Fate. We don’t know his true name, correct?”

“Right.”

“He’s an exceptional warrior. I really thought I might lose.”

“Ha ha!” Albert roared. “Is that why you ended the test?”

“There was no point in injuring either of us.”

“Good excuse,” Albert grinned. “Go on.”

“For his age, if he’s a human, he’s very strong. Dual elementalist at least, good close combat skills, enough to make me wonder if he’s a hybrid…”

“I’ll keep an eye out,” Albert nodded. “The others?”

“The girl, Prota Char. Also exceptionally young, especially for a human, and yet she seems unusually skilled in combat. It would help if we knew her history, but… well, she, too, is a dual elementalist. Wind and fire, same as the boy. I would assume they were siblings, were it not for the last applicant.”

“John Quarta?”

Eflin nodded. “He’s coreless. He announced it to everyone before measuring his core, so he’s not shy about it. When he sat on the sidelines, his posture was sloppy, and he looked bored. However, during our fight, he was unusually skilled. He didn’t bring a weapon with him, but his combat skill… there was something about it, although I can’t place my finger on what.”

“And yet he’s an F rank?”

“Sir, he doesn’t have a mana core. No matter how skilled he is, he can only go so far. The rank system exists partially to ensure the safety of the adventurers. You know this.”

Albert nodded. “Thank you, Elfin. Dismissed.”

The elf bowed and walked out of the room. As soon as he was gone, Bren Brer, the man who’d been with Albert the night before, appeared from the shadows.

“What do you think?”

“There’s one that stands out.”

“Fate?”

Albert grinned. “Yeah. We’re gonna have to keep an eye on him. We might even get him involved in ‘that.’ It’d be good to have someone powerful on our side if we want to investigate further.”

Bren nodded, a deep look in his eyes. Vanishing into the shadows, he took note of everything Elfin had said and stored it away.