AFTER 4 MONTHS

  3rd semester exams are being held. 1st Rankers will get to cultivate 7 days in their respective Altars. An opportunity for which students will 'kill' to get their hands on.

  "It seems like we are eternal nemesis. And all this ends today when I will crush you." Mohan said confidently. Mohan was smiling inwardly. Nishant gave him a bored look.

  "Seems like Mohan is very confident this time."

  "He must have some secret weapon to guarantee his victory."

  "Come forth White Eagle! Tyrant Monitor Lizard!" Mohan summoned. He looked at his 2 beasts in pride. No normal Mid Tier mage can win against them.

  "Both of them are Strong Warriors. Good grief, I will not be able to show off." Nishant said in pity.

  "White Eagle attack!" Vikas ordered. White Eagle launched at Nishant at incredible speed.

  "Scatter!" Nishant casted and easily dodged the attack. White Eagle quickly took a U-turn and Nishant dodged again.

  "As I thought, Nishant is not someone to be underestimated. He has also improved."

  "Yeah, He is even faster now. I wonder how he uses Space Element."

  "I hope I will also awaken Space Element when I reach Advance Tier."

  "Agh! White Eagle! destroy him quickly!" Mohan ordered impatiently. Nishant was actually toying with his warrior beast.

  White Eagle's eyes emit green light. A strong tornado formed and started chasing after Nishant. It was even stronger than Level-2 Mid Tier Wind Spell with a Spirit Core.

  "Tyrant Monitor Lizard! use poison mist." Summoner commanded. The lizard started releasing green poison gas from hundreds of pores on its body.

  "Wind Disc: Tornado!" Mohan also casted the Spell, he also had Wind Spirit Core. Both Tornadoes and poison mist combined.

  Everyone was awed by the combined strength of Summoner and his contract beast and summoned beast

  "Space Rhythm: Stasis!" Nishant casted. Everything in a certain region slowed down.

  "What?! no no no White Eagle! come back quickly." Mohan ordered hurriedly. He didn't think Nishant could have reached the Second Tier of Intermediate Space Element.

  "Holy crap! That mighty tornado is nullified like that."

  "Hahaha, my live streaming viewers have gone beyond 10,000."

  "Space Rhythm: Compress!" Nishant attacked the entrapped White Eagle. There was no way White Eagle will withstand the attack. White Eagle was buried 1 metre down in the ground.

  "Fiery Fist: Nine Halls!!" Nishant targeted both Tyrant Lizard and Mohan. He stacked up the spell which resulted in strength twice as normal.

  "Magic Armour!" Mohan summoned his armour. Both Tyrant Lizard and Mohan were eliminated as their defenses weren't sufficient for defending against the destructive power of the doped spell.

  "If Mohan didn't make a blunder then the outcome might have been different... no outcome would have been the same but the fight would have lasted for a long time."

  "Yeah he should have kept his White Eagle higher in sky and harrass Nishant from up while keeping him engaged on ground."

  AFTER 1 WEEK

  "Haha... by the end of 2nd year I should be ready for Advance Tier. I can't wait to become Advanced Tier Mage." Nishant become excited just by thinking of his modified spells. His Fire Nebula is at peak and it's growth is slowing down indicating beginning of saturation. Space Nebula is also growing and now he can have 2 days in Dimensional Altar in each month which guarantees his Space Nebula will also be saturated within a year.

  AFTER FEW DAYS

  'Fufufu... I will be an Advance Tier mage very soon. How many can compare to me?' Nishant looked at the Galaxy Vein with warm gaze and then he put it in his Pocket Space.

  Nishant was resting in his dorm because he had to wander around a lot to find a high quality Galaxy Vein which was worth of his hard earned money.

  KNOCK KNOCK-

  Nishant used his 'Void Claw' to open the gate.

  "Come in!" Nishant said and sat up. A group of 5 students entered the room. Nishant raised his eyebrows.

  "What brought you lot here?" Nishant asked in suspicion. He was ready if the group decided to attack him.

  "You see, we are planning to go on a trip in Himachal Pradesh and also for training outside the Safe Zone. We were short on one member. So we thought of asking you, you also realise how important it is to hone your skill against real dangers." Mohit explained. Others were his friends from high school. Mohit hates to admit it but Nishant is quite strong and very few Intermediate Mages in the campus who can defeat warriors on their own but again there are even fewer Intermediate Mages with Space Element.

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  Nishant looked at the group of 5. It was the standard number for a squad of mages. It was obvious they are doubtful of their own skills to return in one piece.

  "Fine, just inform me when we will be leaving." Nishant said. He also want to experience having team mates. Though he is quite sure it would not be very exciting.

  "We will be leaving overmorrow in the morning by 9 o'clock. Please be ready." Mohit said and left with his friends.

  AFTER TOMORROW

  Nishant is waiting for the team at the main gate of the IIM. Soon he noticed the group coming towards the gate.

  "Nishant, are you not coming with us?" Mohan asked as he noticed Nishant didn't had any luggage. It was like he was on a stroll.

  "No, I'm coming with you." Nishant replied.

  "Then where is your luggage?" Mohan asked.

  "I'm a Space Mage, I can store my things in my Space Pocket." Nishant replied as he noticed the heavy bags on everyone's back. He smiled inwardly at the another advantage of the Space Element.

  "Oh! How wonderful? Can you please store my luggage as well?" a girl asked with a charming smile, she could be considered above average in a city like Delhi. One could say she was used to special treatment. She already pushed her bag towards Nishant.

  "I don't have spare space in my Space Pocket." Nishant lied with a plain face. The girl's smile instantly vanished.

  "Oh! I see... too bad." girl said with a fake smile.

  The group departured from the Delhi Railway station.

  The group was enjoying their stay in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh. They did sky diving, paragliding and bungee jumping.

  "It's really fun. I want to come here every month." Ritika said cheerfully while the group was having dinner.

  "Pradeep doesn't agree with you, right Pradeep?" Ajay said jokingly. Pradeep fell unconscious while paragliding and became a laughing stock of the group.

  "Anushka please pass me some ketchup." Mohan said.

  "Seems like our new friend isn't enjoying the trip." Ajay commented.

  "Friend?" Nishant glanced at Ajay.

  "Of course we are, together for so long and enjoying lots of things together." Ajay said cheerfully. Nishant snorted.

  "How naive? I'm not your friend but a temporary squad mate." Nishant said and stood up and left.

  AFTER FEW DAYS

  The group has come out of the Safe Zone for some training. They were in a forest with dense and big trees. Waste from monsters is excellent fertilizer which results in such forests all around. Unlike Aravali, the mountains in Himachal Pradesh are lush green with dense forests.

  "Going to the forest for your first training in the wild. You lot sure are ignorant." Nishant rebuked. He is usually not worried about ambushes but he is planning to hide his Innate Talent as long as possible. So he will not be able to utilise his full strength. The only reason he accompanied the group was to get some good ideas of using his Innate Talent after all his Innate Talent made him a team of 3 mages but with the same elements and ? mana reserves.

  "Ho! Are you afraid?" Ritika said teasingly.

  "I'm an Advance Hunter. It's you lot who should be afraid." Nishant said in disdain.

  "You are lying, there is no way you are an Advance Hunter." Ajay accused. He was only a 4-Star Intermediate Hunter after accomplishing a number of missions with his seniors which was already impressive. One would need to accomplish several high class missions to become Advance Hunter at such a young age. But unknown to him, Nishant had reached his level by solely killing the monsters not by solving puzzling missions which usually take several days to some weeks. Nishant can be called brute to some extent but he wasn't a no brainer either. Nishant was too lazy to argue.

  "Hmph! Lier." Ajay said provokingly when Nishant didn't refute the accusation.

  Chirp~

  Pradeep's magic bird pet started making noise.

  "Light Blessing: Painted Wall" Anushka casted immediately. The dome of light covered everyone.

  BAM! Something crashed into the wall and dyed it red.

  "It's a group of Blood Sucking Monkeys!" Ajay alerted everyone in grave tone.

  "Please tell me it's a lie." Pradeep said in horror. Blood Sucking Monkeys were mostly servant class monsters with no special abilities except for their insane numbers and their unparalleled stubbornness. If you killed one of them then you will be targeted by the group to the world's end.

  "We are still at the edge of the Orange zone. I believe we can kill them all." Mohan voiced his thoughts.

  "Are you sure? If we get chased by these monsters we will bring disaster to the town we will go to." Ajay said in protest.

  "Let me see, Come Forth White Eagle!" Mohan summoned his Eagle which soared into the sky.

  "There are about 100 of them. What do you say?" Mohan asked.

  "Well, it's already hard to run away from them. I think it will be better to fight back." Ajay agreed.

  "Come Forth: Tyrant Lizard!" Mohan summoned. With 2 warriors and 6 Mid Tier mages killing 100 servants is not a big deal.

  "Wind Disc: Tornado"

  "Violent Waves: Expulsion"

  "Fiery Fist: Exploding Heavens"

  "Ice Lock: Ice Lock"

  "Lightning Strike: Wrath Shock"

  "Ice Spread: Enshroud"

  The group started casting offensive spells. White Eagle also used its wind magic and Tyrant Lizard started spreading its poison.

  "Fiery Fist: Nine Halls!" Nishant casted. A large area got covered in flames.

  "Tier-3!" The group was shocked by Nishant's cultivation.

  "Fiery Fist: Nine Halls!" Nishant didn't bother with the group's reaction. He was focused on burning the bodies to ashes to avoid attracting more monsters. If they retreated to the city or town with the monsters chasing them it wouldn't be surprising if authorities threw them out of the city or town.

  "This is not working." Ritika was on the verge of crying. Monsters just kept increasing.

  "Damn it! Return!" Mohan summoned back his beasts as they were already battered.

  ...

  "Captain something is happening down there." a young man in military uniform alerted his senior

  "That's where we located that nest of Blood Sucking Monkeys. I'm afraid someone has provoked them. Let's go boys." a man (Captain) in his late 20's speculated. Captain rushed to the battlefield followed by 10 soldiers.

  ...

  "Space Rhythm: Compress!" Nishant casted 3 Star Patterns overlapped each other. An area of 150 m2 got crushed and killed tens of monsters.

  "Holy crap!" the team got shocked with destruction.

  "Is that the real power of Space Element!" Anushka asked in shock. .

  "Space Rhythm: Compress" Nishant repeated the spell 4 times and made a clearing around them.

  "You could have done that from the start." Mohan said in displeasure. They were fighting for their life and Nishant was saving his mana, it wasn't pleasing to know.

  "Crush!!!" Nishant started crushing monkeys' heads. But to everyone's dismay they found themselves getting surrounded. The battle was going on for a long time and nearby nests already started gathering.

  "Follow me!" Nishant said and started walking in the air using void walls as steps. Others followed after him cautiously.

  "*Pant* *pant*" Nishant quickly caught his breath and started meditating to replenish his mana while using one of his consciousness to keep the void wall.

  "Guys, it seems like we will not be making alive out of this place." Pradeep said in a grave tone when he looked below. The number of monsters was increasing every minute.

  Anushka started crying loudly. Ritika was also shedding tears and others were sitting silently.

  "We are going to die!" Ajay said hopelessly.

  Only Nishant was calm, he knew if on his own he can easily escape the monsters but he was waiting for others to die as he can't possibly run away with someone shouting for his help.

  ...

  "Descending Light: Holy Arrows" an imperious voice heard among the cries of monsters. Hundreds of light arrows pierced through monsters kill tens of them in an instant and leave the same numbers injured.

  "Violent Waves: Flooding!" a torrent of waves swept away monsters and slammed them into trees and rocks.

  "Ice Lock: Ice Hill!" 8 ice chains wrapped more than a dozen monsters and froze them instantly.

  "Wind Disc: Shredding!" razor sharp wind slashed down several monsters.

  "Fiery Fist: Nine Halls!" a group of 8 monsters were burnt to death.

  "Thunderbolt: Madness Dance!" several lightning bolts fell from the sky and charred several monsters.

  "Violent Waves: Flooding!"

  "Ice Lock: Ice Hill!"

  "Wind Disc Sky Snare!"

  "Fiery Fist: Nine Halls!"

  "Heavenly Flame Funeral: Blazing Rain!" Rain of fire balls turned the area into a sea of fire.

  "It's military! We are saved!" Pradeep rejoiced. Everyone was happy when the rain of spells decimated the hateful monsters.

  AFTER AN HOUR

  All the Blood Sucking Monkeys in the region were killed. Once beautiful and lush part of the forest was now like a scene from apocalyptic movies with more than a 1000 monsters laying dead.

  '13 Soul essences meaning at least 1300 monsters were killed' Nishant thought. It wasn't Nishant who got those soul essences but the Advance Tier mage from the military who helped them.

  "A group of troublemakers I see" the sole young man from the military squad commented. He was a Peak Intermediate Mage like his squadmates but unlike them who were in their late 20's or early 30's he was about the same age as Nishant and his group.

  "Good thing you have a Space Mage with you and considering you were in such an extreme situation. You must be an Intermediate Mage." Captain looked at Nishant with a gloating expression.

  "Yes sir" Nishant replied in a polite tone.

  "So, are you affiliated to any clan or organisation?" Captain asked.

  "I'm a student at IIM Delhi and a part time Hunter" Nishant replied.

  "I see... good... have you ever thought of joining the military? We have quite a few resources for Space Mages." Captain tried to lure Nishant. Nishant was a little nervous now. The man before him can be a Psycho like Lu Nian and may kill him if he doesn't like his answer. He has to answer cautiously.

  "Actually sir, I wanted to be free from such shackles and grow on my own and I don't think I'm cut out to be a soldier." Nishant replied which didn't satisfy the Captain.

  "In short you don't want to belong to any faction. That's really a pity. You should really join a faction. Otherwise you will be wasting such a precious gift." Captain said in pity.

  "Thank you for your kind advice sir, I will surely give it a thought." Nishant said politely.

  "Good enough, boys burn down the corpses." Captain ordered. Everyone started burning the corpses including the students.

  After burning the corpses, the group of students and soldiers went to the nearby town.