《A Hero's Beginning》 Prologue "Your End, My Beginning" An expanse of nothingness stretches out as far as the eye can see. Devoid of life and color all around, not even the bones of dead animals and beasts alike remained, nor could withered plants and trees be seen. The scenery was nothing but ashen gray. It was almost emptiness if it weren''t for the two humanoid-shaped silhouettes standing in the middle of these eerie lands. A human stood still; he had beautiful brown skin. He wore a broken platinum armor and a broken platinum helmet. The human raised his arms and removed the helmet, dropping it to the ground, where the impact created an explosion of ash that rained down everywhere. The helmet must have weighed at least a ton to produce that result. After removing his helmet, it revealed blazingly long red hair that seemed to scorch underneath the hot sun. The other stood unshaken with his long blonde hair, fair skin, and long pointy ears. He seems to be what you''d call an elf, if not for the large black protrusions on his body that would make you think otherwise. He wore what looked like a regular tunic if it weren''t for the bluish light radiating around it, suggesting that magic was in play. However, despite that item that could be a magical treasure, the one who wore it had ceased to live as a longsword was stabbed right through its chest. And his left arm had completely disintegrated into ash, with his body slowly following. "They said heroes are made, not born. But what are they made of? Sacrifice?" He chuckles a bit and looks up at the sky. "I have made a lot of sacrifices, haven''t I?" The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. He looks down with a wry smile on his face. "Maybe because I was naive, maybe because I always hesitate with everything I do." He looks at the collapsing figure in front of him. "I guess I wouldn''t know the answer to that now. Isn''t that right, my friend?" The body that once belonged to his friend completely collapses and turns into a harmless pile of ash; the longsword that was stabbed through him drops down and scatters more ash into the air. He picks up the longsword and holds it tight in his right hand. He closes his eyes, and as if time had stopped, the ash that was falling down remained still, as did the wind. Then, all of a sudden, a blinding light surrounds him, followed by an immediate, devastating explosion. As the smoke cleared and the ashes fell, it revealed a new beauty- one that replaced the former beautiful brown skin and red hair with a shining pale skin, white hair, and red eyes. "I''m sorry, Quila. But please wait for me there; I just need to do something first." He stabs his sword into the ground, unleashing an ungodly amount of mana into the atmosphere. The ground shook violently, mountains arose from the ashen wasteland, and monsters and beasts alike appeared out of thin air, covering the blue sky and the barren lands with their gray horrors. The man in the midst of it all spoke. "I, king Eleazar announce-" As if time had resumed, the ashes that was unmoving in the air started falling down, and the various beasts and monsters that rose alongside the mountains started to move. "-the end of the world." In an instant, the mana the sword was releasing stopped, and all the creatures that were moving suddenly collapsed and fell to the ground, and the man in the middle disappeared. Only a weak voice that said, "I''m sorry." Remained in what would be called the Valley of Death a few hundred years in the future. Chapter 1 "The Hero" "S-Stay away from me!!" [???] A large serpent-like creature slowly reveals itself from the shadows of the large trees around it. It measured roughly 20 meters in length and had several large legs protruding from its serpentine body. It hissed as it eyed its prey in front of it, the mere hiss sending reverberations through the air towards its target- a man around his mid twenties, wearing a slightly rusted, but still reliable plate armor. He had tripped earlier from a tree''s roots while running away from the beast, sending his helmet flying away from him and his sword thrown somewhere in the thick bushes. He frantically looked around to see if there is anything, something that he can do to survive but to no avail. The serpent slowly leaned in towards him and opened its big mouth, preparing to devour him all. "Is this the end?" He thought to himself. But just as life flashes right before his eyes the serpent was suddenly engulfed in flames. Probably out of reflex, he started scurrying away from the heat and had forgotten his fear from the beast that was about to make him its meal. And right behind me, he hears footsteps. "Are you okay? Sorry I was late, I''m not really good at directions and detection magic, you see." [???] He turns around to see a man with an awkward smile as he scratches the back of his head. At first glance, you''d judge him to be nothing short of a simple civilian due to his ragged clothes and a simple leather tunic as an armor. However this man not only seemed to be taller than himself but was also more muscular despite not being a knight. And lastly, the greatest giveaway of this man''s status was the great sword he casually held with his right arm. It was easily as tall as the man holding it, maybe even bigger. And the blade shone brighter than any gemstone that it practically screams it is made out of some rare precious metal. And not to mention, the hilt that was adorned with a glistening golden thread, he could feel a slight magic essence coming from it. Before he could utter a word- the man suddenly grabs him and throws him away towards a bush, cushioning his impact. He immediately stood up expecting a sight to behold in front of him but as he stood, a large object abruptly stopped him from doing so as it came barreling towards him at an unexpected speed. It impacted the large tree behind him, not only splattering the object into hundreds of pieces but also sending bluish goo all over the place. And as the tree was large enough, it did receive some damage but not enough to break. He looked at the scattered pieces and judged that it was most likely the serpent''s head, and that goo was its blood. "Ah! Oh hey are you alright? I''m sorry, he just lunged at me so I swiped his head off with my left hand." [???] The knight would normally shrug his words off if it weren''t for the man, who had stretched his left hand towards him, had the blue blood of the serpent on his hand. He took the man''s hand and stood up, he opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by several shouts coming from behind the trees. "Ray! Knight Ray! Are you alive?" [???] "Captain James..." [Knight Ray] "Oh, Ray!" [Captain James] The captain smiled and looked at the tired, beaten, and dirty knight before scanning his surroundings. His eyes lands on the beheaded serpent and then on the tree that had its blue blood splattered all over. "Well I guess you guys took care of the basilisk already. But it''s unfortunate that we can''t harvest its fangs or eyes anymore." [Captain James] "I didn''t do anything, it was the-" [Knight Ray] "Ah shut up, it''s fine even if you didn''t manage to land a hit on it. You were still one of the brave knights who volunteered in the subjugation quest even when our supposed strongest knights decided to abandon this quest." [Captain James] He paused a bit and put his right arm over Ray. "And besides, you''d be coming home with a hefty amount of coins. Plus, we finished this quest without any casualties despite fighting a basilisk, fighting it usually requires a hundred knights and we''d still suffer a high mortality rate, you know?" [Captain James] James looks at the other person with them and smiles at him. "And it''s all thanks to hero Raymond. We didn''t even have to do anything." [Captain James] "No, it''s thanks to you knights that I was about able to do my job. If you guys didn''t help me with detection magic, I''d have lost the basilisk after all." [Raymond] "You give us too much credit. You''re still the one who killed it in the end." [Captain James] "Anyway we''ve spent a long enough time here already, knights! Butcher the serpent and take whatever can be used. As for the rest of its body, burn it to ashes. We don''t want its blood corroding other animals in the area." [Captain James] After giving out orders he looks at Raymond again." "After this. Should we head back and report to the king, hero?" [Captain James] "Yes, we should." [Raymond] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Everyone, at ease." [???] Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. A domineering voice echoed throughout the large room. The man from whom the voice came, sat down on a large golden throne with two red rubies sitting at each tip from the sides. And once his entire body touched the object, everyone suddenly felt an immense surge of magic emanating from the person who just sat. He wore red and gold clothing that lustered in the light, and contrast to his clothes, his mantle was dyed with nothing but jet black. He had a long white beard that had a yellowish jewel tied at its end, his hair was black and so was his yes. The room remained completely silent until one of the knights who was kneeling in front of him spoke. "Your excellency, my king Eleazar IX, I have come to report that the subjugation team have slayed the basilisk." [Captain James] "Mmm. I heard that my knights did not do anything and it was the hero who did all the work?" [King Eleazar IX] "Y-Yes your majesty... it is unfortunate but we simply did not have the powe-" [Captain James] "That is fine by me. I had a choice of letting it free and have it wreck havoc somewhere else, or I sacrifice my knights to take it down. That is why I did not send my finest knights and only put it up as volunteer work." [King Eleazar IX] He strokes his beard and looks over Raymond, who was still kneeling and was facing the ground." "And besides, I called upon the hero to take care of it. However- I am not saying that I will forsake your rewards, you captain and your subordinates, after all.. you lot still took the quest even when nobody else did." [King Eleazar IX] He waves his hands towards one of his retainers and they immediately leave. "And as we had agreed upon. You all will be given 50 silver coins each for your work- is what you''d normally get, however by request of the hero before we left, his rewards shall be given to all of you too. Therefore a total of 100 silver coins each, for you fifteen brave knights." [King Eleazar IX] James and Ray''s eyes lit up as they realized they had just made a fortune. In their kingdom, Rigondrion, being a knight or a soldier is volunteer work. There is no conscription, only during war times. And a lower rank knight''s annual salary comes at around 24 silver coins. It was enough for an average citizen to have a peaceful life in a small house with all their needs taken care of, obviously this does not account debt. So needless to say, 100 silver coins was a lot for them. But in perspective, it seemed low considering they risked their lives on a quest. The king''s retainers return, carrying a box filled with pouches that had the coins in them. They handed over the contents to the knights who gleefully received the pouches. James and Ray look at Raymond with big smiles, seemingly saying thank you to him. In return Raymond returned a smile and a slight bow. "Now that you have your rewards, you are all dismissed. Except you hero- no, Raymond." [King Eleazar IX] The group of knights stood up and gave one last bow to the king, before leaving they waved Raymond goodbye. "And everyone else, leave us." [King Eleazar IX] Everyone in the room, the retainers, the guard knights, and others gave a bow and left the room. The king sighed and stood up. "Raymond my friend! How long has it been? I thought I wouldn''t see you again despite just living outside the city''s walls!" [King Eleazar IX] "Well I''m sorry about that, I was just busy, you know?" [Raymond] "Busy my ass! You''ve retired as a hero years ago! If it weren''t for the basilisk then I''m afraid we wouldn''t be able to meet again." [King Eleazar IX] "Ah really, I was busy. I have a child to take care of." [Raymond] "Ah right, you did." [King Eleazar IX] After a short pause, Eleazar spoke again. "White hair, pale skin, and red eyes." [King Eleazar IX] This had seemed to catch Raymond''s attention as he shot a quick glare towards the king. "Woah calm down, I was just reminding you of your last duty." [King Eleazar IX] "After all, you''re the only one who can do it." [King Eleazar IX] "Is there really no other way..." [Raymond] "I''m afraid not. May I remind you of the prophecy four years ago. ''white hair, pale skin, red eyes'', that was the description of the demon king that will appear any time this year. That is what the prophets of the kingdom have said. And you have to kill it." [King Eleazar IX] "We''ve hold it on pause for too long, Raymond. And now we''re nearing judgement day." [King Eleazar IX] He looks at Raymond who was now once again looking at the ground. "Raymond. The lives of countless people is on your hands. Even if I muster up all the strongest adventurers and knights, we will not be able to defeat the demon king without the help of the hero. The tragedy of Alagos was a prime example of that." [King Eleazar IX] "Aghh, I''m too old for this hero shit." [Raymond] He scratches the back of his head and looks at Eleazar. "But fine, it''s not like anyone can do this anyway." [Raymond] "Thank you, Raymond. Then I leave that matter to you." [King Eleazar IX] "You owe me some drinks for this." [Raymond] Eleazar just laughs followed by Raymond, they spend some more time joking with each other and reminiscing about their past. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Ugh that bastard, he really thought he can hold his liquor against me. What will the people think if they see their king drunk like that? He''s giving me a headache." [Raymond] He looks up to the sky, towards the setting sun. Even though they started the subjugation quest in the morning, it''s almost night time now as Raymond apparently spent a lot of time with his friend in the castle. "It''s getting late, Elena''s probably waiting for me. I don''t remember if we had food at home, maybe I should buy something before I head back." [Raymond] "Hey! Raymond!" [???] A raspy old voice calls out to him. "Huh? Ah! If it isn''t the old man butcher, you called me just on time. I was looking for something to buy." [Raymond] "Don''t call me an old man! My name is Bob!" [Bob] Bob angrily retorts back. "I was just kidding, just kidding. Anyway you have some meat left, right?" [Raymond] "Scraps again? Obviously I do." [Bob] Bob packs the leftover meat from his shop and wraps it in some dirty cloth. He hands over the package to Raymond. Raymond checks the content of the bag and sees a whole meat inside. "Hey I think you misplaced this, I can''t afford this, you know?" [Raymond] "Ah that''s fine, I''m a bit worried about your daughter that you might not be feeding her well. After all she.." [Bob] "I know, I know. Thanks, I''ll let her know." [Raymond] "You don''t need to. Just do your job, hero." [Bob] Raymond turns around and doesn''t look back as he heads straight to his home. His house is located just right at the outskirts of the city, Certinya, the capital of Rigondrion kingdom. A relatively far walk from the main city but for Raymond, it was just a short stroll. He arrives just a few minutes later and arrives at his home. It was a small house enough for two people to live in. The outside appearance looked rugged with a few planks hanging loose, the house was in dire need of repairs but due to Raymond''s low income, he couldn''t afford it. He slowly approached the door, but before he did, the door opens. "White hair, pale skin, and red eyes.." [Raymond] "Welcome home, papa!" [???] "Elena!" [Raymond] "That''s right, Elena, my daughter. The demon king that I have to kill." [Raymond] Chapter 2 "Whats Important To Us" A loud metallic clang resonates through the grass in an open field; sparks fly here and there as two swords clash with each other. In the middle of it are two figures covered sweat as they fight with their swords under the scorching sun. "Okay that''s enough sword training for today, it''s getting hot." [Raymond] "But I''m still not tired." [Elena] "I know, but I''m hungry so let''s eat first. After that we''ll train your magic. You still remember my test for you, right? [Raymond] "I do. You remember your promise, right?" [Elena] Raymond just looks at Elena and then picks up his sword. He gestures towards her and he starts walking. "I''ll think about it." [Raymond] "But your promised!" [Elena] "You haven''t even passed my test, think about what you have to do first before moving on to other things." [Raymond] "Okay..." [Elena] Elena, visibly upset, looks down on the ground with a sulky expression. Raymond who felt it was awkward, decided to change the subject. "So, uhh.. what do you want for dinner?" [Raymond] "I want meat." [Elena] "Okay, what mea-" [Raymond] "A lot of meat." [Elena] "Okay fine, fine. We''ll have a feast. Go home first, I''m gonna'' go out and buy the food." [Raymond] "Okay..." [Elena] Mana gathers around Elena''s feet as she uses magic to rapidly boost herself and move quickly. Raymond looks at the back of her daughter, quickly disappearing in the distance. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Raymond went to the city first to buy food. He was welcomed by two large gilded gates of Rigondrion''s capital city, Certinya. Certinya, despite being the capital of the kingdom, wasn''t the largest city by a long shot, it is still the center of commerce of the kingdom however. It had only become the capital of Rigondrion for this is where the kingdom was founded, or rather, it was the place where the village the first king grew up was in. The Rigondrion kingdom rose from the ashes of an overthrown tyrannical kingdom. The tyrannical kingdom wasn''t the only thing that the current kingdom had overthrown, they had also overthrown the norms of monarchy by having the two leaders of the revolution, their kings- king Eleazar, the first hero and king Quila. However due to unforeseen circumstances, king Eleazar had to kill his fellow king and friend, Quila. But that is a story for another day. "This city is so lively as always. It''s not even as big as Fort City, but I''m pretty sure there''s more people here than there." [Raymond] Raymond pondered to himself as he looks at the hundreds of people in front of him in the city''s market district. Bright lights that was produced by using magic was scattered all over, making simplistic signboards to garner the attention of customers. Stalls and shops aligned selling various goods from food, clothing, trinkets, and even magical items, and some even providing magic based services, such as {Inventory}, which lets a person to put items inside a subspace using magic, but usually the capacity of such is small and is only usually used for very important items, that is why this magic is practical and mostly used by the nobles or any rich individuals. Rigondrion, despite the birthplace of the first hero, is not the most powerful country by any means. In terms of power, they will just be in the sidelines. And although the Adventurer''s Guilded was first established here, the kingdom does not have control over the adventurers and the guild. The guild acts more like a mercenary company, their adventurers can be hired for a fee and contract and that''s what the kingdom does to close the disparity of power between them and its neighbors. Although they can only mostly hire lower ranked adventurers and not the higher ranked ones. Also the only reason Rigondrion has not been conquered by a more powerful nation is due to wealth, Rigondrion is weak militarily, but when it comes to economy, the rest of the world might as well be peasants compared to them. This is due to Rigondrion''s magic industry. Being the birthplace of the first hero, Rigondrion had the obvious advantage in magical research and thus produces more and higher quality magical items than the rest of the world. The magical items they produce are as simple as cooling magic to as complex as magical tomes that can cast an imbued magic. Raymond finally reaches the cheap meat shop, in which he is a frequent customer. He is greeted by a large, burly man with a goatee, although in terms of height, Raymond is still taller by a few inches. "Cheap meat again?" [Bob] Raymond shakes his head and pointed at a few chops of meat that caught his eye. "No, I''ll buy a slightly more expensive one." [Raymond] "Having a feast?" [Bob] Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Bob said as he packs the meat of Raymond''s choosing. "Something like that, I guess." [Raymond] Raymond replies with a solemn look on his face. "Hmm. I don''t know what''s up but you don''t seem like how you usually are." [Bob] Raymond reaches out for the bag of meat but before he could, Bob pulls the bag away. "He-" [Raymond] "Look. I can at least tell that it''s about family, isn''t it? About your daughter?" [Bob] "Yeah, I guess." [Raymond] "Let me guess. Puberty?" [Bob] "Something like that." [Raymond] "Judging from the fact that you''re buying better food, is it her birthday?" [Bob] "Not quite." [Raymond] Raymond turns around and leans on the counter. "You see, I was supposed to test her magic today. If she passes, then she can go inside the city." [Raymond] "Huh? So you''re telling me you never let her in, not even once?" [Bob] "I did, I did bring her in one time. Four years ago." [Raymond] "Why aren''t you even letting her in? She''s a child. Of course she''d want to go inside the city and sightsee and explore." [Bob] "It''s to protect her." [Raymond] "Are you stupid? What do you mean ''protect''? The daughter of the hero, personally trained by the HERO is going to need any protection? If any, if anyone dared attack her they''re the ones who would need to be protected if they tried to harm the daughter of the hero himself." [Bob] "You just don''t understand." [Raymond] "Of course I don''t, are you an idiot? I''m a father myself with two kids, but I don''t confine them inside my house. I don''t even know where those two are right now but I''m sure they''ll come back home as always before night time." [Bob] After a brief pause, Bob speaks again. "Look here, Raymond. I don''t know what''s going on and I don''t know what''s inside your mind. And if what''s plaguing your mind with problems is anything hero related, I obviously have no say in it. But I can at least say this as a father." [Bob] Raymond turns around and looks at him. "If you keep chaining your daughter down because you think it''s what''s good for her, then she''ll grow up hating you. And don''t say that it''s fine if she hates you as long as she''s living your ideal life for her. That''s not good either." [Bob] "At one point in our lives, we have to let them go free and do whatever they want. Let them open their wings and explore the world with their own eyes. That is the duty of us parents. We raise our kids to learn how to walk and run, we are not their crutches." [Bob] "If it makes her happy, isn''t that what''s important? Stop worrying about it, hero." [Bob] Bob pats Raymond''s back and in return Raymond smiles at him. "Thanks, Bob." [Raymond] "Anyway, so how much is it?" [Raymond] "It''s free, go and have a talk with your daughter. And you don''t have to pay it, but at least bring her here once in a while. My kids are around the same age as her, yeah?" [Bob] "Alright, sure. I''ll make sure to do that. Thanks again." [Raymond] "Don''t mention it, now go and reconcile with her." [Bob] Raymond turns around and starts walking, mumbling, "What''s important, huh." Raymond then starts walking home. Not wanting to waste any more time, Raymond gathers mana around his feet and boosts himself to reach his home faster. He reaches his home soon after. Expecting to see a carefree smile from Elena, he was instead greeted by unlit lights from his house. Worried and wondering why it was dark, he ran inside and searched the bedroom and bathroom, the only rooms in his house, but could not find Elena. Not losing hope yet, he closes his eyes and tries to track any lingering mana around but found nothing. Either it''s because it has been so long since the last time used magic or there was nobody here at all. However it has only been a few minutes since he and Elena had split and during that time if anyone used magic, they''d still leave a small amount of mana lingering around. It also doesn''t help that Raymond is not profound at this kind of magic. Raymond, despite being the hero and having the most mana, was an uneducated commoner and therefore lacks proper knowledge at certain techniques in utilizing mana. And instead of trying to learn various things, he chose to focus on his forte, brute strength. By applying a mana coating on his body, this greatly improves his sturdiness and durability. He can also use strengthening magic to increase his striking and lifting strength and make his hits more powerful. And thanks to his nature, he is compatible with fire magic, which often relies on brute strength. As if giving up, Raymond places his luggage on the table and sits down. Thinking to himself. "Elena ran away. I don''t know where she went but I can take a guess that she probably snuck inside the city." [Raymond] He sighs and crosses his arms. "Am I worrying too much?" [Raymond] After a few seconds, he shakes his head and decides to shrug it off and just cook. But before he can stand up, Elena opens the door. "Elena? Where did you-" [Raymond] "I''m ready." [Elena] "Huh? What are you talking about..?" [Raymond] "I said, I''m ready!" [Elena] Elena shouts at Raymond, but it was not out of anger or frustration. Raymond could see it in her eyes that Elena had prepared herself for her test. He takes a good look at her and notices her ragged clothes with a few rips here and there with a bit of burnt edges. He can guess that she probably trained by herself. "I see. Very well, let''s go outside." [Raymond] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was only slightly a bit afternoon, a gentle breeze brushes past Raymond and Elena as they stood opposite of each other. Elena carrying a short steel sword whereas Raymond''s platinum great sword was stabbed on the ground. "As you know, magic is controlled through emotions. If you''re too gloom, your output is weaker and risks having your mana explode within you. If you''re too angry, you''ll have a more powerful output but you risk endangering everyone around you. You must maintain calm, maintain balance to have an accurate and powerful magic without putting anyone at risk. If you understand that, do you really want to do this?" [Raymond] "You''ve taught me that many times before already, I''m prepared." [Elena] "I see. Then- your goal is simple. It is to land a hit on me. I will not be using defensive magic. And I don''t mean for you to just land a simple hit, I need you to wound me with your magic." [Raymond] After hearing the last part, Elena''s eyes widened a bit, thinking that she does not want to hurt her father. "I know how you feel. But Elena, this is what we had agreed upon. I need to know if you''re capable of protecting yourself when I''m not by your side. So steel yourself, and do what you must do." [Raymond] Elena looks at Raymond for a couple more seconds before closing her eyes and breaths deeply. She opens her eyes with a brand new resolve. "I understand." [Elena] "Alright. From now on I will not be fighting you as your father or as your trainer." [Raymond] He pulls his great sword with his right hand and gathers mana around it, making it shine brighter than the sun. "But as the 112th hero of the kingdom, Raymond The Stone!" [Raymond] Chapter 3.1 "Fear" First, let us talk about magic. What is magic, and how can it be used? Everyone in the world is capable of using magic; once a being is born, they just naturally harness the surrounding magical essence and take it into their bodies as if it were as natural as breathing. Almost everyone and everything can use magic, as long as they are capable of experiencing emotions to a certain degree. from simple ones such as fear and anger to slightly more complex emotions like empathy. If you can feel something, then you are capable of magic, as emotions dictate your magical affinity, usage, and capabilities. However, just because everyone can use magic doesn''t mean everyone is equal in terms of abilities. There are those who use their sadness to conjure magic quicker; those who use anger to produce powerful single-shot blasts; those who use envy to mimic other abilities, albeit at half their full potential; and so much more. Now, this might sound like magic is one-dimensional, but it is not. There are dozens, if not hundreds, or even thousands of deviations, like fire magic for anger and fire magic for brute force. One can use their anger to put more fuel into their fire magic, outputting slower but more powerful blasts. Or they can use brute force for outputting more magic in a short duration but with a much lower firepower. This is why everyone has their own unique magic, as everyone else feels various emotions; however, because of this too, there''s no single linear path to learning magic because not everyone has the same emotions. Academies, scholars, mages, and everyone else along these lines can only guide other people to a certain extent before they have to walk their own paths. And this is also why no single country in the world has a large concentration of powerful magic users, as magical knowledge is not something that could be cultivated by a collective but only by an individual. And individuals usually tend to go down their own path of choice. Now let''s move on to mana. Magic is nothing without mana; after all, it''s what fuels the phenomenon. Without mana, one cannot use magic. But there has been no recorded case of someone without mana so far in the history of the world. Once you are born, you cry for various reasons, and that is an emotion. It enables magic to flow through a body and makes it a vessel for mana. And just like magic, not everyone has the same quantity or quality of mana. The quantity and quality of one''s mana are defined by their connection with their emotions; the more in touch they are with their emotions, the better their mana is. However, everyone only has a certain undefined limit to how much mana they can store in their vessels; you can only feel that you''ve reached your limit, but you can never go past it, except for one being. The hero. In a sense, a hero is nothing special. When the gods bestow herofication on someone, it only removes their mana limit and lets them store as much mana as they can in their vessels. A normal human who has better training and understanding of their own capabilities can beat a hero who only knows how to strengthen themselves and swing their swords. But of course, this is not to say that heroes are pushovers. They are called heroes for a reason. Having more mana means they can put more fuel into their magic. For example, a fire mage that uses anger as their medium to conjure powerful magic is capable of destroying a small village with just one fire blast, that is because they use their anger to increase the magnitude of their magic. However a hero who is not using anger as a medium, can still produce a similar result just by putting more mana into their magic to increase its magnitude. And that''s what differentiates a hero from a non-hero, simply put: power. Raymond dodged spears of ice shot towards him with ease; although he could just smash the icicles instead, he decided against it as to not break Elena''s spirit this early in the fight. Raymond had not gone on the offensive just yet, as he was gauging what level his daughter was currently at. He wanted to know first if she was capable of fighting him earnestly without him holding back. However, from what he can see so far, Elena has unfortunately not done anything that would garner his attention. only that a lot of the icicles that flew towards him had now melted on the ground under the scorching hot sun. Some of those icicles had scattered around him when he broke a few, then some that he let pass him. which made him think that some of those icicles seemed slow, as if they were meant to fall all over the area randomly. Raymond stopped moving and looked around him, the ground glistening from the countless ice shards scattered all over that had now melted into puddles of water. Even the exact position he was standing on was a bit muddied due to that. He looked at Elena with a large grin on her face and slowly, Raymond realized what she was trying to do. "She got me." [Raymond] "You''ve finally realized now? I know you were going to gauge my fighting capabilities first, that''s why I decided to use my usual ˇ¶Ice Spearˇ· first, but I knew you''d catch on early if I just simply did that so I increased the numbers of the spears to make distract you. But none of that matters now since you''re well within my playing field." [Elena] Elena stretches her arms wide and closes her eyes, a large quantity of mana slowly started gathering around her but was quickly accelerating. "Ah- crap! I won''t let you!" [Raymond] "ˇ¶Speedˇ·" [Raymond] He casts his own magic and to try and reach Elena but it was too late. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Raymond was suddenly blown away for about a dozen meters away from Elena by a cold and freezing wind. The ground started freezing, and ice was forming from the water puddles that were created by her icicles from earlier. Even the mud froze solid. Large spikes of ice arose from the ground, surrounding Elena. And just a bit above Elena''s head, a floating ice crown formed. Then she spoke with a cold tone. "ˇ¶Ice Domainˇ·" [Elena] "Ice domain. It''s an ice mage''s magic that creates a field of ice around the caster, not only does it make moving hard for swordsmen like me, it also makes the surroundings harshly cold and increases the mana regeneration of the caster as long as they''re inside the frozen field. Although her field is smaller compared to the ones I''ve fought from before and the way that she needed water around to complete the field, it means that she still has a long way before she can completely recreate a full Ice Domain cast." [Raymond] "That''s some nice magic you have there, but do you think this is enough to stop me?" [Raymond] Raymond stands up and stomps his foot on the ground, causing a mini earthquake that shattered the ice around him and sending shards flying all over, Elena moves the ice spikes around her and uses it as a shield from the ice shards. Raymond then started heating up. He coats himself with mana and increases his temperature, it starts melting the ice around him but as he looks down, it only melts those that are touching his skin while those that aren''t are still very frozen. "This is some powerful magic you have, but whatever, let''s begin!" [Raymond] Raymond launches himself towards Elena, he brandishes his sword and swings it towards her but it was blocked by one of the spikes that''s surrounding her. Raymond looks to his left and sees an opening, one of the ice spikes the shattered after blocking the shards that flew towards her. He then shifts his balance to his left and dashed towards the opening, only to be blocked by an ice wall this time. He peeks at the other side of the ice wall and sees Elena smirking at him. Feeling a bit annoyed, Raymond increases the mana on his sword preparing for an attack- "If I can''t find a way in, then I''ll just make one!" [Raymond] He swings his sword wide open to smash the ice wall in front of him, but before the sword makes contact. The ice wall suddenly bursts into a thousand small icicles that launched towards him in high speeds. Raymond tried to block with his sword but some icicles managed to get through, although it did no damage to his skin. It all just melted once it came into contact. He looks at Elena''s expression and sees no sign of frustration from her failed surprise attack, Raymond knows that she is still planning something and he can''t let his guard down. Raymond jumps away and waits for a few seconds to see if another trap might spring up, but none appeared. "Are you getting scared, papa?" [Elena] Elena taunts him. "I should be asking you that question instead; you''re cooped up inside that tiny frozen throne of yours. Don''t you feel cold? Just come out already." [Raymond] "Of course I won''t do that. I''m a mage, you know? I can''t fight man to man with brutes like you." [Elena] "And here I thought that you''d use some swordsmanship that I taught you, as a swordsman, I feel a bit sad." [Raymond] "Then if you''re sad maybe you should surrender for now? It doesn''t seem like you can win against my magic after all." [Elena] "Well I can''t do that." [Raymond] After a short exchange, Raymond comes back to thinking about a strategy. Being a swordsman, most of his skills are melee with little to no ranged options at all. He can still use fire magic however he is saving it for last because if even his fire magic won''t work, then he doesn''t know what to do. "But then again, if she can''t even damage me either then she still loses anyway." [Raymond] "Hmm? Did you say something?" [Elena] "No, nothing. Ignore it. Let''s go back to fighting." [Raymond] "Now show me what you have in store for me." [Raymond] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elena stood comfortable inside her small frozen fortress, while Raymond was outside casting several buffs on him. He has tried brute forcing his way in but all of it was foiled through various means. From ice spikes suddenly sprouting from the ground, a large wall suddenly being erected that explodes into a thousand shards, or strong gusts of frozen wind that blows him away from her. He was at wits end but he knows he still has one last trick up his sleeve, fire magic. "Elena, you really leave me no choice, huh. Okay fine, it''s time to go all out!" [Raymond] Raymond stretches his left hand and balls it into a fist. "ˇ¶FIRE BLASTˇ·!!!!!" [Raymond] He shouts at the top of his lungs, and then a beam of fire appears in front of his stretched hand that shot towards Elena''s frozen fortress in a blink of an eye, when all of a sudden- "ˇ¶Mirrorˇ·" [Elena] A cold tone echoed throughout the frozen field. Then a large oval-shaped ice block that was twice Raymond''s size appeared in front of the fortress. The Fire Blast hits it, and then it gets reflected towards Raymond, hitting him in an instant and throwing him away for a few dozen meters. However, despite that, besides his tattered clothing, he did not receive any damage. "Wow, you didn''t receive any damage from your own magic? I guess they did call you Raymond The Stone for a reason." [Elena] He wasn''t surprised that despite being roughly 50 meters away from her, he can still hear her voice. After all Ice Domain lets its caster hear and see everything that is within her field, it can also transmit her voice. Raymond slowly stood back up as he dusts himself. "Of course, I''m still the hero after all. But what was that? Wasn''t that ˇ¶Mirrorˇ·? Oy that''s supposed to be a high tier magic, how are you capable of doing it?" [Raymond] "I don''t know either, one day I just felt like I could use it. So I thought of hiding it from you while I secretly trained myself with it." [Elena] "I see. Well I''m sure you''re not lying to me, but well we''ll find out anyway after I beat you." [Raymond] "You can try! Not even your magic worked on me, what will you do now, old man?" [Elena] "Ugh- to be called an old man by my own daughter." [Raymond] He looks at Elena with a smirk on her face. "But still, ˇ¶Mirrorˇ· magic, that''s a magic I rarely see. But if I recall it correctly, wasn''t it a certain noble family who can use that magic..? Ah whatever, I need to focus on this for now." [Raymond] Raymond scratched his head trying to find a way through Elena''s defenses. Whenever he tries brute forcing his way through, he gets stopped by countless ice shields and he tries to just keep on breaking them he will eventually run out of mana first despite having way more than Elena. That is because the Ice Domain is draining his mana while increasing Elena''s mana regeneration, making a battle of attrition not an option for him. And neither can he use magic as it will always only get reflected back to him by her Mirror. Although Raymond said in the beginning that he would fight her as the hero, he cannot truly go all out. He is easily capable of literally flipping the battlefield to remove Elena''s frozen fortress, but he is afraid of hurting her and, even more so, killing her in the process. Which is why at the moment, he is only actually fighting Elena with less than 10% of his full potential. Raymond thought to himself that he could try increasing his output a bit and run to the fortress again, but immediately decided against it as he might just get blown away again anyway. He kept thinking on what to do next when suddenly- "Wait, blown away? I kept getting blown away. But ice mages aren''t capable of wind magic, those strong winds comes from the ice themselves exploding. Wait a minute..." [Raymond] Raymond looked back and forth from the fortress and the ground he is standing on, and suddenly, he had an idea. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 3.2 "Fear" Elena continued to stare at Raymond, who was starting to do something weird in the distance. He faced her and started punching the air. At first he only looked funny to her, but then the punches started going faster and faster, ever increasing in magnitude, and she was slowly feeling slight breezes blowing towards her. Then all of a sudden, one of the tips of her ice spears broke from the strong winds coming from Raymond''s punches. Elena immediately knew what he was trying to do. "As if I''d let you!" [Elena] Elena conjures several dozens of smaller ice spears in front of her frozen fortress and launched it towards Raymond. However the ice spears were shattered from the strong gusts of wind coming from his punches. Elena once again conjures more ice spears but before she can launch them- "ˇ¶SONIC PUNCHˇ·!!" [Raymond] Shouting, Raymond punches the air in front of him sending a large shockwave that came barreling towards Elena''s frozen fortress with tremendous force, it destroyed everything in its path as long as it reaches the frozen fortress. "As if I''d let you! ˇ¶Mirrorˇ·!" [Elena] Elena shouts as she forms another Mirror in front of her to reflect the shockwave. However it did not stop it. The shockwave continued to travel and destroys the Mirror and then obliterates half of Elena''s frozen fortress. "Wha-" [Elena] Out of shock, Elena falls down with her mouth agape as she looks at her shattered fortress. She then looks at Raymond who just picked up his sword with a smile on his face. "You thought you were the only one with some tricks on your sleeve? I realized that ˇ¶Mirrorˇ· can only reflect magic, so what if I use a non-magic attack on it? And yeah I know that you could''ve blocked that too but I also know that you''d rely on your ˇ¶Mirrorˇ· confidently and won''t even use other barriers to defend yourself." [Raymond] He confidently looks at Elena. "In short, I created my own magic." [Raymond] "I should have expected you to do something that ridiculous." [Elena] "Now then, are you ready?" [Raymond] Raymond gathers mana around his feet and launches himself towards Elena at a tremendous speed, creating a sonic boom behind him. However as he reaches Elena, he hears a small but confident voice. "I got you." [Elena] Just before his sword reaches Elena, a mere few inches from her face. Raymond suddenly gets slammed to the ground with violent force that it created a mini earthquake that could be felt deep inside the castle walls which was a few kilometers away from where they were fighting. However despite that, Raymond still received no damage, it was more of an inconvenience for him suddenly being thrown to the ground. "What did you do this time?" [Raymond] Raymond said as he struggled to stand up. "I simply increased the density in the air around you by making it colder, thus increasing the drag and making you fall down like a stone. It was as easy as that." [Elena] "Density- what? Drag- what? I don''t even know what those are." [Raymond] Raymond, who finally managed to stand up, wondered as he dusted himself off of debris. "Huh? You didn''t teach me that? Then who..? Why do I know these?" [Elena] "Ah forget about it, let''s just get this over with. But what will you do now that we''re at melee range? Don''t tell me you''ll make another fortress? I can easily destroy it before it forms completely, you know? [Raymond] You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. "I won''t do that. I intend on finishing this just like how you wanted." [Elena] Elena clinches her left hand, and a rapier-like sword made out of ice forms. "Oh ho.. I see, I see! You''re my daughter after all, of course a sword battle is still better! But then what was the point of all of that earlier when we could have just started with this?" [Raymond] "You''ll see later, papa. For now, let''s dance!" [Elena] Elena quickly tries to stab Raymond but he immediately blocks it with the hilt of his sword. He swings his sword towards Elena but as if seeing the attack from miles away, she manages to dodge it easily. The two exchanged a few more blows but it''s apparent that Raymond is at a disadvantage. His sword was very big compared to Elena''s ice rapier, it requires a wider swing compared to her ice rapier which she uses to stab. Elena didn''t need to block either as she can see Raymond''s sword long before it even reaches her. At this point, Raymond knew that he''d eventually lose if this went on. Elena''s much smaller body also helps her dodge Raymond''s attacks and makes it even harder for him to land a hit on her. And now that he thought about it, he had never landed a hit on her so far in their fight, while Elena''s damage to him just kept accumulating. "I''m gonna'' lose at this rate, I guess there''s no other option." [Raymond] Raymond drops his sword, readying his fists. But then he looks at Elena with a wide smile on her face. "Hey papa, did you know? We''ve been fighting for at least thirty minutes now, do you know what that means?" [Elena] "What are you-" [Raymond] Before he could finish his sentence, Raymond realized it. Elena''s plan all along It was through the use of ˇ¶Frostbiteˇ·. He had only encountered this skill once in his lifetime. What it does is that anyone who stays inside the Ice Domain for at least thirty minutes will accumulate damage. And for every ten minutes after that, the damage will double. There is no defense for Frostbite other than resetting its timer by quickly moving out of the field, but so far Raymond has not done that. He had remained inside the field since the beginning. By now, he had been inside the Ice Domain for forty-five minutes, way over the critical time needed for Frostbite to be cast. Now all Elena needed was direct contact with Raymond to deal the finishing blow, and to add to the damage, Elena had been accumulating mana from him since the beginning, further increasing Frostbite''s damage. And Raymond is aware of that. "Ah crap! I can''t dodge in time- am I gonna'' lose here?" [Raymond] Raymond tried to think for a wait out but to no avail. He eventually stopped trying to think for anything and decided to accept his defeat. "Maybe this is not so bad after all. I had fun anyway." [Raymond] "???????W???????h??????????y?????? ??????d?????i???d?????? ??????????y??????o??????u??????????? ???????b????????e???????????t????????r???????????a????????y?????? ????????u?????s??????????????"???????? ?????????[???????????????????????????????????????????]???? "Who''s there?!" [Raymond] "?????S????????h???????e????????''????????????s??? ?????????t?????????h????????e???????? ????????????d???????e??????m??????o??????????n???????????? ??????k?????????i?????n????????g???????,?????? ??????k????????i???????l?????????l????? ?????h???????e???????r???????????.???????????"???????? ??????????[????????????????????????????]????????? "No she''s not! She''s my daughter!" [Raymond] W?????????h????????y?????? D????i????????d????? Y????????o???????u??????? B????????e?????????????t???????????r???????a????????y????????? U??????s????????????? "I didn''t betray anyone!" [Raymond] "??????H????????a???????v?????????e??????????? ???????y???????o???????u????? ??????f????????o?????????r??????????g?????????????o??????????t???????t???????e????n????? ????????a?????b???????o???????u?????t?????????? ???????????u???????s??????,????????? ????p?????????????a???????p?????????a??????????????"?????? ???????[????????????????????????????????]??????????? Before Raymond could say anything, he saw a dark figure at the corner of his eyes that was about to stab him. Out of reflex, he gathered a tremendous amount of mana on his left fist and quickly swung towards the dark figure. Expecting to see a pool of blood from the assailant, Raymond regains his consciousness as he hears Elena''s short scream towards his left. He turns his head slightly and finds her slammed against a tree with blood coming from her mouth as she coughs and her midriff showing through a burnt hole in her clothes. She thankfully did not receive fatal damage, as she seemed to have managed to create an ice barrier to absorb Raymond''s hit. "Elena!" [Raymond] Raymond shouts as he runs towards the bloodied Elena, but before he can touch her, she shouts. "GET AWAY FROM ME!" [Elena] She slowly tried to get up and gathered mana around her feet as she dashed away from Raymond. "No, Elena wait!" [Raymond] He decides not to chase Elena as he looks at her disappearing figure. He looks down on his left fist, regretting what he has done as he blames the voices in his head for what has happened. Chapter 4 "Different" A dark and dreary atmosphere. The air was covered with the stench of rotten food, feces, urine, and other foul smells that could usually only be found at a garbage dumpsite. This was Certinya''s slum. Certinya or Rigondrion as a whole is by no means a poor kingdom, regardless of not being even among the world''s strongest countries; in fact, they''re probably the richest. However, despite that, it is impossible to completely eliminate poverty. That is due to various reasons, from corruption, underground societies'' control over different areas, or, in this case, excess mana from Certinya''s magical item factories. Different items can be imbued with mana and, subsequently, magic to create an item that can be used in different ways. For example, a mage technician can imbue mana in a leather breastplate and then pre-cast some kind of defensive magic on it that can later be activated by the user just by chanting the magic and wearing the item. This way, even if you''re a fire mage, you can be capable of casting water magic as long as you have a magic item with such magic. However, that does not mean that magic items can be the ''be-all and end-all'' solution to one''s deficiencies. Different materials can carry different amounts of mana depending on their quality, purity, and source. An example of that is a mana stone. It can literally be any kind of stone, and a mage technician can imbue mana into it for later use. But again, that does not mean you can just pick a random rock around and imbue mana in it. For example, for a simple 1kg rock that you can find on the road, you can imbue only about 0.03g of mana in it(in liquid form). An average leather breastplate will have several materials in it, from the leather itself to strings and pins; this will all affect the purity of the item. As the leather breastplate is not completely made out of leather, it will lessen its value as a vessel to carry mana, and to add to that, the quality of the leather will also lessen its value. All in all, an average leather breastplate is only capable of carrying 0.5g of mana in liquid form, which is enough to be able to cast about two defensive type magic. And now let''s talk about liquid mana. To make it clear, first, mana is intangible. It is an essence that can be felt by any living being in the world. There is currently no clear explanation as to how mana is formed, but it is there and it can be turned into liquid, and that''s where the problem comes from. Let''s go back to the mana stone example. A 1kg rock can only carry 0.03g of mana in liquid form, but how will you know about it? When an item is imbued with mana, it increases its weight. And to imbue mana into an item, you just keep on doing it until it starts leaking from it. In this case, the rock will leak 0.97g of mana. That liquid mana will then pour down to the earth, corrupting it, making growing greens impossible, and making the air around it turn sour. Liquid mana cannot be recycled, as after going through an impure item, this corrupts it in return, cannot be used to cast magic again, and is only poison to a person''s body if they try to drink or gain it back. This is the world''s first kind of pollution: liquid mana. Even Rigondrion''s greatest mage technicians could not find a way to minimize the harm it causes or at least reuse it. And that''s where the slums come in. Magical item factories are naturally close to Certinya''s castle, in the middle of the city. It does not produce smoke, unlike blacksmiths, which is why it can be erected close to the district where nobles usually roam around so that they can boast about their magical industry. However, thanks to that, they have to funnel the excess mana coming from those factories through special underground sewage that eventually leads to the outskirts of the city, where the slum is. Due to the smell and infertility that liquid mana brings to the land, the higher-ups of society do not live anywhere near an area that has those, and is instead occupied by the less fortunate citizens of Certinya. Having no option, and housing in the area being several times cheaper than a proper land or house deeper inside the city, they are then forced to live here. The slums, despite its disgusting atmosphere, are a very lively and eventful place. People who have no job or anything better to do usually band together to drink and waste away the entire day, causing troubles for those who try to make a living. But even without them, several events already occur on a daily basis. Such as houses being intruded upon by mean-looking men, they drag out their tenants and bring them somewhere else, never to be seen again. The house in which they live will then be occupied by a different person several days later, and after a few weeks, the same thing happens, rinse and repeat. And on the other side, there will be people who gets in a heated argument, they will fight and it usually ends up with both of them just giving up and going their own ways but there are times where an unfortunate one meets their end there. People will pass by without a care, moving along with their daily lives as if nothing happened. The person is lucky enough that if other people get annoyed at his rotting body, it will be thrown into the liquid mana stream, which will gradually melt the body, leaving nothing behind. But the less fortunate ones will have their bodies collected by a group of hooded men and brought someplace else; the body never returns, and only a small amount of coins will be given to the bereaved. On a corner, a large group of about a dozen people in their early teens surround someone with white hair, pale skin, and red eyes. Elena had found herself cornered by these people after she snuck inside a hole she found in the city wall after running away from Raymond. She clutches her stomach as it still aches a bit after getting hit by Raymond''s powered punch earlier that day. One of the teenagers standing in front of her spoke. "Hey, hey. What''s the demon king doing here?" [Teen 1] "Maybe she''s here to invade the kingdom?" [Teen 2] "Oh? Is that so? Then doesn''t that mean the citizens of Certinya needs a hero?" [Kid 1] "Yeah yeah! Defeat the demon king!" [Teen 3] "W-What are you guys talking about, I''m not the demon-" [Elena] Before Elena finishes her sentence, she looks around her and sees that no one looks like her. Everyone else had black or blonde hair; there were some rare occasions where a person with red hair would pass by, but most had white or tan skin; some were darker, but none were as pale as hers. And most of all, no one had bright red eyes like her. She was very different from everyone else. And then it hit her- even Raymond was very different from her. He had short black hair, his skin tone was darker, and his eyes were brown, not red. Elena knows that she is adopted; after all, Raymond made that clear to her years ago, but nevertheless, she still treated him like his own father, as he is the one who raised her, as far as she remembers. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! Elena had been cooped up within Raymond''s house for years, since she had regained consciousness after apparently being rescued by him from a disaster. And thanks to that, Elena hadn''t really seen anybody else for a long time besides Raymond. She doesn''t remember what had happened prior to those events, but Raymond, who is the hero, was taking care of her. She felt safe around him, eventually warming up to him enough that he called him her papa. She had only gone inside the city walls once in her life, four years ago. She was riding inside a carriage and could not see outside that much, not to mention she was asleep most of the time, which is why she couldn''t remember what she saw or heard inside. And because of that, she tried multiple times to go inside the city again, but she was always stopped by Raymond, except for this time when she ran away from him out of fear. "Why is the demon king suddenly quiet? Is she afraid at the mighty hero in front of her?" [Teen 1] The kid in the middle, who seemed to be the leader of this group, looked at Elena with a smug plastered on his face. He looked around him, gesturing at the other kids to make some noise. The others then started shouting and praising him, calling him hero and such. Out of nowhere a flies from the crowd and hits Elena to the head. "Ah!" [Elena] With a short scream, she falls down to the ground and clutches her head with her free hand. Blood dripped from where the rock had hit her. "Oy what are you guys doing?!" [Teen 1] "Yeah yeah what are you guys doing hurti-" [Teen 2] Before he could finish his sentence, his leader cuts him off. "She''s supposed to be my prey. Nobody touch her." [Teen 1] He picked up a brick on the ground and slowly walked towards Elena. "Any last words, demon?" [Teen 1] Elena couldn''t look at him due to the blood covering her eyes, but she could sense something malicious coming from him. Because of that, she tries to cast an ice barrier but fails. She senses her mana flow inside her and discovers that it had been disrupted from the attack she received from Raymond earlier. With nothing to defend herself with, Elena tries to plea. "P-Please stop.." [Elena] "Oh? This actually feels cool. The hero has defeated the demon king! But will you guys let it end like that?" [Teen 1] "But I didn''t do anything!" [Elena] With a click of his tongue, the leader of the group replied. "This is boring." [Teen 1] He raises his hand holding the brick and prepares to hit Elena with it. He swings it down and all Elena could do was clutch her head tightly and brace for impact. But it did not come. Elena slowly opens her left eye and sees the teenager holding the brick looking behind him. "What do you think you''re doing!?" [???] "Oh? If it isn''t Bran. Do you wanna'' get beat up again?" [Teen 1] "You lot! What are you doing bullying a girl!?" [Bran] "A girl? Can''t you see her? White hair, pale skin, and red eyes. She perfectly matches the demon king in the prophecy." [Teen 1] The kid named Bran looks at Elena. He meets Elena''s eyes but she immediately averts it and looks at the ground. "All I''m seeing her is a bunch of childish bullies picking on a girl!" [Bran] "Ah shut up. You''re no better, you always run to your sister and ask her for help when you''re in trouble." [Teen 1] He pauses for a bit and speaks again. "Speaking of your sister, I don''t see her anywhere. Boys grab him!" [Teen 1] Immediately after giving out his order, Bran get surrounded by other teenagers and they grabbed him left and right. He tried to break free but due to their numbers, he couldn''t. "Now then, it seems that we not only caught the demon king, we also caught her general!'' [Teen 1] "Now Bran, what will you do, call your sister?" [Teen 1] He laughs as he provokes Bran. "Yes, that''s exactly what I''m going to do." [Bran] "Huh?" [Teen 1] "ANNAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" [Bran] Bran shouts at the top of his lungs calling for his sister, Anna. And without any exposition, a crystal-like door appears behind Bran. It slowly opens and a slightly taller girl than him with a long brown hair appears, wearing simple villager clothing and an apron with blood stains on it. "S-She has killed a person!" [Teen 4] One of the teenagers who saw her screamed with terror, they tried to run away but before they could they all started floating in the air. "Excuse you, this is not a blood from a person but pig. I was helping my father when I heard Bran''s scream." [???] "This person.. she''s powerful." [Elena] Elena was better at detection magic than Raymond; she has always been able to feel mana essence better than him since the beginning. which is how she managed to always avoid dangers in the forest as she trained. Whenever a beast approached, she could feel the faint mana they emit, and before they could sense her, she had already run away. So far, she has only had goosebumps four times whenever she senses a strong aura emanating from a being. The first time was when she first woke up and saw Raymond. The second time, was when they went inside the city walls, but as she was mostly unconscious during that time, she barely remembers who she sensed it from. The third time she felt the presence of the basilisk. And the fourth time, when the girl in front of him appeared from the door. "Anna!" [Bran] Anna takes one glance at Bran then looks at the people floating in the air. "You bitch! Let us down now!" [Teen 1] "Can you please shut up before I decide to peel your lips off?" [Anna] The leader immediately decides to shut up as he did not want his lips to be peeled off. "Now then, Bran. You don''t seem to be hurt. So tell me who are the guys here trying to hurt you?" [Anna] "No, I''m not hurt. But most importantly, sister. Look!" [Bran] Bran points at Elena, who was still on the ground. Anna looks at her and sees her very different appearance from the people around them. The demon king prophecy immediately hits her mind but she decides to shake it off. As she continued to look at her, she notices blood dripping from her head. "Oy, Bran. Who did that to her?" [Anna] With a cold voice, Anna asked Bran, holding back her anger. "It was them..?" [Bran] Bran points at the people floating above and then in an instant they got launched to the air not even letting them scream. "Wha- sister won''t they die if you do that?" [Bran] "They won''t. I sent them all to the river on the other side of the city, they''ll probably shield themselves with magic or something to absorb the impact. And if they don''t do that nor don''t know how to swim, it''s not my fault. No one would miss those thugs anyway." [Anna] "O-Okay.." [Bran] He then makes a mental note in his brain to never offend his sister. Anna slowly approaches Elena who had put her guard up after seeing what just happened. "Don''t worry little girl, I won''t harm you. What''s your name?" [Anna] "E-Elena.." [Elena] "I see, that''s a beautiful name. Would you please come with us? I''m not really good at healing magic but we can bring you home to take care of you." [Anna] Elena, who couldn''t handle the pain anymore, just nods at her and loses consciousness. Anna manipulates the gravity around her to prevent Elena from hitting her head on the ground. She then calls Bran and asks him to carry her as she opens her crystal door. Before they go through, Anna looks at the whole in her clothes and senses a strong mana coming from it. "That''s some ridiculous mana that even I can''t produce. It''s obviously not those boys, they don''t have enough mana to do this even if they combined. Who did that?" [Anna] She ponders to herself as they step through the portal. Northric Continent Part 1(Bottom Right) The world''s(Gaia''s) largest continent contains the majority of Gaia''s most powerful countries, which is because in Northric''s center is the Wasteland. A vast expanse of land and mountains devoid of life. There is neither a plant nor a river that flows inside of it, so it is incapable of harboring life. But that is the exact reason why it is surrounded by various nations. The Wasteland is full of precious, untouched resources waiting to be mined; it is a treasure trove for those who dare. Although not just anyone can enter the Wasteland, It is a place with no mana circulating, which means creatures who enter will only have to rely on their vessel''s mana capacity to survive inside as they cannot regenerate lost mana. Food is also scarce, if not impossible to come by, as there are no animals or even beasts that lurk around. Buildings erected within the Wasteland slowly corrode to the same ashen gray surroundings in a short time. Due to that, the Wasteland is often explored by ˇ¶Adventurersˇ· who can store large amounts of mana in their vessels and thus survive inside the Wasteland. Oh, and have I mentioned? The air within is also toxic. Once inhaled, it will slowly melt the insides of a creature. A person coating themselves with mana effectively filters out the toxic air, and they will be able to survive inside, but once they run out of mana, their time is limited. Rigondrion Kingdom One of the major nations in Gaia, despite not being powerful militarily, Rigondrion still holds a powerful seat in politics on the world stage. This is due to the reason that their nation is the birthplace of the first known hero, which is also their first king, Eleazar The Peasant, alongside his friend and fellow ruler, Quila. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. But other than their history, Rigondrion also has the world''s best magic item industry, this is once again due to their nation being the birthplace of the first known hero. They had the advantage in magical knowledge and was able to make use of it to dominate the world economy and magic item trade. That is why despite being militarily weak, most of their neighboring countries is in their pockets. Arenara Kingdom One of the few nations in Northric that is not under Rigondrion''s influence. They''re a militaristic and imperialistic country, as seen with their control over the Keia City-state. The only reason they have yet to expand westward is due to the Forest of The Forgotten. It is a thick, lush forest containing various animals and beasts alike. It''s also an interest in rumors that a dragon resides in the heart of the forest. And because of that, Arenara has yet to make moves on other countries on the other side of the forest. Although Arenara is not on par with Rigondrion in terms of magic capabilities, they are still tremendously more powerful than them. This is because Arenara utilizes lesser demons in their attacks. They capture lesser demons and release them on enemy territories to wreck havoc, once the enemy has received enough damage, Arenara''s anti-demon troop steps in for clean-up procedures. This is how they have expanded so far. Acacia Although owning a territory slightly larger than Rigondrion. Acacia is not by any means a powerful country or even a major player on the world stage. This is due to the fact that their country is divided by the Acacian mountain range which is speculated to be the spine of a long gone ancient dragon. The mountain range seems to sap life around it, thus Acacian cities had sprung up along the coastline instead. There is not much going on in Acacia, although they are also under Rigondrion''s influence. They hold not much important for them other than their ports that they use for international trade. Forest of The Forgotten The home of the elves. Although not a nation because elves tend to form tribes instead. However that is only on the surface, deeper inside the forest, hidden with magic is the Elven Kingdom. In the heart of it, the Dragon of Beginnings slumber Wasteland Nothing lives here, everything in this area on the continent is nothing but ash gray. There has been no one in Northric''s history that was able to go deep inside the Wasteland due to them not having enough mana to deal with the toxic air, except for the Grand Mage Randolf. He has seen the epicenter of nothingness. Chapter 5 "Gravity Of The Situation" Elena slowly opens her eyes and notices a strange ceiling above her, one that she''s not used to seeing every time she wakes up. She slowly rose up and rested her back on the wall, immediately remembering the events that had led her here. She looks around the small room enveloped in quietness, which was broken when the door opened. Anna steps inside the room carrying a tray with a bowl of soup on it. "Oh you''re finally awake." [Anna] She puts the tray down on a table. "In case you''re wondering, yes this is our house and you''ve only been out for like half an hour, so don''t worry too much about it." [Anna] Elena then looks down and after a second looks back to Anna with a worried face. Puzzled a little bit, Anna immediately realizes Elena''s concern. "Don''t worry, I''m the one who changed you. I won''t let a man touch an unconscious maiden''s body after all." [Anna] Elena then sighs in relief but then looks down again. Anna checks Elena''s expression and only sees a frown. She then sits down on the bed and pats Elena''s head. "Hey. You''re safe here, you''re going to be fine. Those guys won''t bother you again." [Anna] Elena shakes her head in response. "It''s not that.." [Elena] Anna''s eyes narrowed and tried to deduce what could be the cause of Elena''s distraught, she then remembers the thick mana concentration she saw on Elena''s stomach earlier. "Could it be..?" [Anna] "Elena I''ve been meaning to ask. What happened to that?" [Anna] Anna asks Elena as she points to her stomach. Elena gets surprised and covers herself with a blanket. "Even if you cover yourself with that, I can still sense the mana, you know? [Anna] Elena didn''t budge, but instead curled up a bit more and retreats inside a small blanket tent she made around herself. Anna, still being curious, decided to press further. "Who hurt you? It''s alright to tell big sister Anna. I''m more powerful than you think." [Anna] She still did not respond. Not feeling dejected, Anna tries to find a different approach. She rests her back to the window looks outside, she opens her mouth to speak. "My magic is ˇ¶Gravityˇ·. I don''t really know much about it besides its name and general description but it seems that I can control an individual object''s gravity. Although I only have a limit to how many objects or creature''s gravity I can manipulate, or I can instead control the gravity a few meters around me. But doing that will affect everyone, besides me, in that radius. So I rarely use it." [Anna] Anna looks at Elena who still did not move. "My family used to be part of a traveling merchant group. But one day while we were traversing a forest, a monster stampede occurred." [Anna] She pauses for a bit. "And during the stampede. I watched my mother be eaten by those monsters." [Anna] Anna clenches her fist and continues- "I was powerless to stop it. All I could do was swallow my tears and wails and try to survive the onslaught." [Anna] She then slumps down on the bed. "It was not easy for me and my father. But well, life has to keep moving. We buried her, well whatever remained of her, the following day and the group had to keep moving. I don''t even remember where we buried her." [Anna] A small window shows up on Elena''s blanket tent, she slowly peeps outside. "You and your father? What happened to Bran?" [Elena] Anna, looking hesitant, pauses for a bit. After a few seconds of thinking, she answers. "We picked him up a few years later. During one of our journeys. And it was shortly after that when I awakened my magic." [Anna] Anna rises up and sits. "Being a traveling merchant, we encounter a lot of dangers on our way. Most of the time we find safe routes to take but of course, nothing in life is predictable." [Anna] She furrows her eyebrows. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon."A few months after picking up Bran. On our supposed safe route, we were attacked by bandits. Turns out that one of our new members sold our information to them. My father managed to negotiate with them that they can just take all of our merchandise, we thought we were going to be spared. But when they saw Bran, for some reason their minds changed." [Anna] Anna pauses. "Apparently Bran with his red hair and brown skin was rare. And they wanted to take him and sell him instead. The rest of our group agreed, they tried to convince us that the life of Bran is less important than our lives. I honestly understand them a bit, we haven''t even known Bran for a year yet., however... me and my father couldn''t agree with them. He tried to plea with the bandits but they had instead struck him, fortunately it wasn''t that deep so he''s still alive today." [Anna] She grabs a mug with water and drinks it. "But now that the only person who could fight back was down, they grabbed Bran. I- I didn''t want to lose anyone again so I ran towards the bandits. With no plan, really. I was just easily pushed away, I thought I was going to die there since once of the bandits was about to strike me down when it happened. I suddenly felt it." [Anna] "I could suddenly manipulate gravity. And then after that.. I- with the bandits..." [Anna] Anna looks down on her hands, slightly shaking and sweating. Elena could already guess what Anna did. "You don''t have to tell me, I understand.." [Elena] Anna looks at Elena with a smile. "Thank you." [Anna] Feeling flustered, as she was supposed to be the one consoling her. Anna immediately stands up. "T-The point is, I''m not here to harm you. If I was gonna'' do that, I already had plenty of chances earlier, right? Don''t worry too much, big sister Anna is here to protect you." [Anna] But before Anna or Elena could say anything more, the door suddenly breaks open and falls down producing a cloud of dust in the air. "AND ME!!" [Bran] Bran appears standing on the broken door. "BRAN!!!! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING BREAKING MY DOOR!?" [Anna] Veins popped on Anna''s head as she shouts at Bran and clenches her fist. "Well I was hearing you talk about something that sounded hero-like so I-" [Bran] Before Bran could finish his sentence, Anna decides to smack his head with her clenched fist. "YOU COULD HAVE JUST KNOCKED FIRST!" [Anna] She smacks Bran again. "AND WHY ARE YOU EVEN EAVESDROPPING ON TWO GIRLS HAVING A CONVERSATION!?" [Anna] "Ehhh sister, I''m sorry.." [Bran] Bran replies with a whimper as he scratches his head. "If you were sorry this wouldn''t have happened again. You''ve broken my door for the FOURTH time this week already!" [Anna] The two siblings continued to bicker with each other; meanwhile, Elena, who had been looking and listening at them, slowly came out of her blanket tent. Slowly she laughed and laughed until her laughter was loud enough that the two siblings stopped bickering and looked at Elena. "Oh. She''s laughing." [Bran] Bran says as her sister makes him float by reducing his and his clothings'' gravity. Anna slowly puts him down and turns to Elena. Elena then opens her mouth to speak. "I''m adopted too, like Bran." [Elena] The siblings widens their eyes from the revelation. Elena then tells them what happened prior to her being surrounded by the thugs earlier, but she omits Raymond''s name and occupation. "Your papa sounds... strong, huh." [Anna] The two siblings look at each other and then back to Elena. Bran speaks first. "But I don''t think he was intentionally trying to hurt you." [Bran] Anna continues. "Elena, I know you''re powerful. I can sense your mana too, if we fight each other I''m probably going to win due to experience however you''d still give me a hard time winning due to your vessel''s mana capacity." [Anna] She pauses and sits down besides Elena. "What I mean is- me and Bran have sparred multiple times. He has never won against me but there are times when I feel like my life is in danger and I instinctively produce magic more than what I need. I haven''t hurt Bran as much as you have but that is because he just has a sturdy constitution." [Anna] "What big sister Anna''s trying to tell you is that maybe your father wasn''t trying to seriously hurt you. My big sister is powerful, but not all-powerful. There are times where I find weak spots and try to exploit them, although because of her heightened senses she manages to dodge it or she''ll sense my killing intent that she''ll instinctively react and hit me with a powerful blow. That''s probably what happened with your dad too. You found a weakness in his defense and you were probably to keen on hitting that, resulting in a strong killing intent that your father, who you''ve said was a former swordsman, sensed and instinctively defended himself from." [Bran] "Oh. Bran''s actually smart, huh." [Anna] Anna jokes lightly and Elena giggles in response. Bran just ignores Anna and continues. "Right now your father might be looking for you too. You said he''s bad at detection magic, right? He probably can''t find where you are right now." [Bran] Elena nods and then speaks. "Then what should I do.. I ran away and broke our promise." [Elena] Anna caresses Elena''s back. "It''s fine, I''m sure he''ll understand. From what I can gather based on how you describe him, he seems to be a wonderful father, no?" [Anna] Elena nods once again. "Thank you." [Elena] "Don''t mention it." [Anna] Bran, intently looking at Elena, was repeatedly blinking as if trying to remember something. "Big sister, don''t you think that Elena looks like those people we met from before?" [Bran] "What do you mean.? Oh-" [Anna] Anna remembers and with a eureka expression, she grabs Elena''s hand. "Elena! Are you a noble?" [Anna] "Eh? I''m not..?" [Elena] "Really? Huh.. well I guess we don''t really have enough evidence for that." [Anna] "You see way back then, we went to some city to trade with. And we were greeted by the noble who ran that city. I don''t really remember much since it was so long ago but I do at least remember his red eyes, which looked really similar to yours. Although his hair wasn''t white nor his skin was pale. So I guess there''s that." [Anna] "..." [Elena] "I''m sorry, I don''t remember anything." [Elena] "Hmm. Oh well, that''s fine. Anyway, Bran. Is father still not home?" [Anna] "I can feel his mana coming closer, ah he''s here." [Bran] "Anna, Bran! Are you kids home?" [???] A raspy old voice calls out from outside the house. Anna then turns around and grabs Elena''s hand, helping her stand up. "That''s our father. His name is Bob. You can just call him uncle Bob." [Anna] "Mm." [Elena] With a nod, Elena comes with the two siblings to their front door. "Father! We have a visitor!" [Bran] "Oh? Has our Bran finally brought home a girlfriend? Now, who might this visitor be- ..!" [Bob] "U-Uhmm.. hello.... I''m Elena.." [Elena] "White hair, pale skin, and red eyes.." [Bob] "Kids get away from her!" [Bob] "Wha-? Father what are you-" [Anna] Before Anna could finish her sentence, Bob pulls her away from Elena and grabs his axe that was hanging near the door. "You.. you''re the demon king..!" [Bob] Chapter 6 "Frozen Count" Loud clanging of swords and tremendous footsteps ring everywhere in what used to be a bustling market district of Alagos. Ruins of different structures are seen left and right, and even more are being destroyed as a swarm of thousands of various beasts cause an earthquake-like stampede. Sounds of bones being crunched on, screams of dying humans- adults and children alike- being devoured alive and regurgitated by the uncaring beasts that had come to their doom. They had a warning, but there was nothing they could do to prevent it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Just three days ago, Count Varyl Dormer received reports from his scouts that a dragon had awoken from its slumber in the nearby forest and started flying eastward. However, after that, he no longer received any news from them, and soon after, the reason for that showed itself in front of his gates. The city of Alagos, Rigondrion''s biggest and most successful city, is under siege by countless beasts that stretch out as far as his eyes can see. Count Varyl stood at the top of his castle as he eyed the incoming catastrophe. He closed his eyes and activated a type of communication magic. "Citizens of Alagos! Fear not! For I and alongside my family, have stayed behind to defend you. We will not let any beast hurt a single strand of hair from my citizens. This is my vow as the count- no, as a father, as a man with a family to protect." [Count Varyl] He pauses and grabs a mana stone and saps the mana in it, after he had exhausted the item he throws it to the ground. "The royal family and the church had both heard and responded to our request. They will be sending a hundred thousand men as reinforcements, alongside the hero Raymond." [Count Varyl] Count Varyl pauses again and looks around, due to how high he currently is, he could neither hear or tell if his citizens were happy with the news. However he had no choice whether they took it positively or not, he continued. "They will be arriving in a few days. But I assure you that the walls can last and our soldiers are doing their best to protect you. And I, Count Varyl, will also personally make sure that they will not cross the walls." [Count Varyl] He falls to his knees and immediately gestures to his servants, who were running towards him, to stop. Normally, Count Varyl would have had one of the highest mana capacity in the kingdom. However as he is currently using telepathy on a hundred thousand people, this was still taking a toll on him. He realizes this and starts closing his speech. "For now. I wish for you to stay steadfast, the castle walls is open for anyone who needs food or shelter during this trying times." [Count Varyl] He spoke again but was cut short because his mana had ran out. Even if a person runs out of mana, they will not faint as mana is not inherently part of a person''s constitution. Although they will feel weaker, but they will not be falling unconscious. He immediately turns around and looks at his servants. "Bring me a case full of high grade mana stones, if there is no more in the treasury. Go grab the family heirlooms, they should contain much greater mana than any mana stone." [Count Varyl] "B-But count-" [Maid 1] "No buts, our survival is at stake here. I''m sure our ancestors will understand." [Count Varyl] His servants just bow and leaves the room, Count Varyl follows shortly. He goes out of the castle and briskly walks outside, headed for the western headquarters to survey the situation. A knight with no armor and a black sword follows behind him. "Still not wearing armor, are you Winton?" [Count Varyl] "Of course not, I could just use mana to defend myself anyway." [Winton] "Same as always, huh." [Count Varyl] "Aren''t you the same? You lecture me about wearing an armor and you don''t wear one yourself." [Winton] "It''s due to how we fight. You''re a swordsman, I''m a mage. An armor for me would just be a hindrance." [Count Varyl] "Eh whatever you say boss." [Winton] After a few minutes, they reach the western headquarters that was just right behind the city wall. From there, they could hear loud screeching of countless beasts on the other side, trying to scratch and gnaw through the stone wall. He knows that the walls won''t last long, and he needed to do something quick to prevent it. "Where are the mana stones?" [Count Varyl] "Count." [Maid 1] A servant gives him a case full of mana stones, but the one that sticks out the most is the golden dagger in the middle. It was not sharp; it could not even be used to stab anything as the tip was flat. It was a family heirloom that had been handed down to the Dormer family since their family''s inception. However, Varyl had no choice but to use it, as it is made out of pure gold and therefore carried more mana than all of the mana stones in the case combined. He grabs the golden dagger and saps the mana in it. The golden tint started fading away to ash and soon enough, the dagger shatters like glass, losing its golden shine and properties. It was nothing more than a simple pile of ash now. "Let''s go." [Count Varyl] He alongside his followers goes up the city walls. He once again looks at the countless beasts trying to get inside the city and he closes his eyes. "ˇ¶Ice Domainˇ·" [Count Varyl] In an instant, hundreds of meters in front of the city wall had instantly frozen. And then eight ice spikes punctures through the walls around Varyl. "Stand back. Winton, with me." [Count Varyl] The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. After that, Varyl jumps down and walks on the frozen fields, he looks down and sees hundreds if not thousands of beast instantly frozen to death. But he knows it wasn''t finished, as he looked straight, countless more beasts started pouring out of the forest. Some had slowed down due to the ice, some because their mana is getting drained by Varyl''s Ice Domain, and some who steps on the ice with so much force that they pierce through it and prevent themselves from slipping. "Hey boss, that looks like a lot. Ya'' sure just the two of us can handle this?" [Winton] "Our purpose is to not kill them all, but cause a delay. I will share with you the mana I drain from the beasts. Don''t focus on dueling, inflict as much damage as you can. If possible create earth walls that could hinder their movement." [Count Varyl] Winton only replies with a thumbs up. But before Varyl could move, Winton talks. "Oh boss- if I kill more than you, will I get a raise?" [Winton] "Talk to me after doing your job." [Count Varyl] "Ah as serious as ever." [Winton] Varyl then turns into mist and disappears from Winton''s eyes, and in an instant, several dozen ice speaks with a height of at least a dozen meters appear far away from his position. "I guess I''m really not winning against that." [Winton] Winton then gathers mana around his feet and jumps several hundred feet in the air, landing on a swarm of beasts and causing a massive explosion. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Is there any beast that stands out among them?" [Count Varyl] He thinks to himself as he surveys his surroundings. Thousands upon thousands of dismembered corpses of various beasts were scattered throughout the ice field. Varyl had mostly used ice spikes to cause this much damage, as he can manipulate them all like giant swords floating in the air. His control over ice magic was unparalleled, and he was called the Frozen Count. He looks to his left and sees several earth walls had been erected from the ground, followed by rumblings on the ground. It was Winton''s doing who specialized in earth magic. However despite their successful attack, he could only sigh in disappointment. Varyl knew that this was way too inefficient. The both of them had been fighting for half an hour now and the onslaught of beasts didn''t seem to go slower, he''d even argue that the beasts just became fiercer. However he had no choice. When inside Ice Domain, it will drain anyone''s mana inside it. It will not differ from friend or foe. So what Varyl did is share his mana with Winton. His mana gets replenished through Ice Domain, and he can transfer his mana to Winton every time he comes back to him to replenish his. This obviously will not work if he had to replenish thousands of soldiers'' mana; he will not be able to do any fighting but just become some sort of living battery. Although doing that might be able to net them more kills, that''s only if his soldiers were immune from the cold and would never get tired. And due to those reasons, he was only able to rely on Winton, his right-hand man. "Lost in thought?" [Winton] Without batting an eye, Varyl stretches out his hand and touches Winton. He then transfers mana to him. "Thanks. So what do we do now?" [Winton] "We''ll keep on stalling. The church has only said that the hero will arrive in a few days, they had not specified any exact time." [Count Varyl] "But couldn''t the hero reach here in just a few hours if he decided to run full speed?" [Winton] "He could, but what about the army?" [Count Varyl] "He still has an army to lead. And even if the hero does reach here fast, he''d be in the same boat as us. Stalling until the army arrives." [Count Varyl] "So for now, we have no choice but to do this." [Count Varyl] As he stood up, he hears a voice in his head. "Count Varyl, I have a report." [Voice] "Speak." [Count Varyl] "The northern wall had fallen." [Voice] "What? I''m on my way. Have the soldiers form a defensive line; do not go on the offensive." [Count Varyl] "Understood, count." [Voice] "Winton. It seems that the northern wall had fallen. It seems that I was too focused on the side that was facing the forest, forgetting the fact that other sides are under attack too. For now finish your job here then head straight to the eastern wall. If you need mana, just grab the mana stones I brought with me. I will take my leave." [Count Varyl] "Alright boss." [Winton] Varyl once again turns to mist. In just a minute, he arrives at the northern wall. He sees several holes in different sizes and behind them were his soldiers with big shields trying to push away the beasts that managed to get inside. On top of the walls were archers and mages doing their best to eliminate the intruders. "What''s the situation." [Count Varyl] Varyl enters a tent that seems to be the northern wall''s headquarters. "Ah count! Unfortunately as you can see, the beasts have broken through the walls. We are trying our best to block them again but due to the number of the beasts, it was simply too hard. We''ve already lost about two dozen workers from it." [HQ General] "Hmm. Then order them to stop, I''ll figure something out." [Count Varyl] "Understood, count." [HQ General] With a bow, he turns around to his subordinates and tells them the order of the count. Varyl then walks outside and slow trods towards the city gate. "I don''t have much mana left. If I cast another Ice Domain, I will be too weak to even walk." [Count Varyl] "However, I have no choice." [Count Varyl] "I will erect ice walls on all the holes on the walls, and on my mark, the shield bearers shall move backwards, and the archers and mages on top of the walls shall kill the beasts that leaks in immediately. Swordsmen, be on standby. Shield bearers form a defensive line behind me after you have retreated, be prepared for anything. Now relay this message to everyone." [Count Varyl] He orders a nearby courier who bows to his orders. After a few minutes, Varyl had been notified that all officers posted on each of the holes had been notified. He waits for one more minute and looks around first. "ON MY MARK!" [Count Varyl] Everyone tensed as they await for their count''s orders. "MOVE!" [Count Varyl] The shield bearers respond immediately and started falling back behind Varyl. Beasts then started pouring out from the walls but was then instantly cut out when large meter thick ice walls sprouted from the ground. The archers and mages kill the stragglers that got through, the swordsmen on standby didn''t have to do anything as the former group had done their job. Varyl then falls to his knees for a second time in a day. He scoffs before being helped up by some of the shield bearers behind him. "Count, are you alright?" [HQ General] "I am." [Count Varyl] He pauses for a bit and points at an ice wall in front of him. "Those walls will melt in half a day; after eight hours, notify me, and I shall strengthen them. However, if I cannot come, then have the shield bearers surround each hole while archers and mages shoot from above." [Count Varyl] "Understood, count." [HQ General] "Very well. I will rest. I am exhausted, I will need to replenish my mana." [Count Varyl] Varyl turns around and walks away. Although he said that he will rest, it was most likely that he wouldn''t be able to. And he is aware of it. "We managed to survive for a day. However I have an ominous feeling." [Count Varyl]