《Dragon and Wolf: Two Brothers》 Prologue 03 of June 2019, Brazil The city of S?o Paulo is very likely the busiest city in Brazil. People and cars came and went constantly, forming a seemingly endless stream of people and machines. A normal day. In the streets of this city two young men walked side by side, talking excitedly they completely ignored the chaos and noise around them. The two, after all, had lived there their whole lives and long got used to doing that. "Do you think that with the help of Captain Marvel they''ll defeat Thanos ?" asked one o f the young. The young man in question was about one meter and seventy, white skin with brown hair and eyes. He also wore glasses and a red shirt with a wolf on it. This is the seventeen year old William, though he vastly prefers to be called just Will. "I don''t think so" the other young man replied "Like, Thanos is invincible with the jewels, with the way he''s now I doubt even Captain Marvel can put a stop to his plans without some serious hack" . He was a taller than Will, skin of pardo tone and short black hair with light brown eyes, He wore a very cool looking blue shirt with a dragon on it. This one was the nineteen years old Lucas. The two friends have known each other for a long time, with many of the same hobbies and habits their friendship was remarkably strong. So much In fact that they refer to themselves as brothers rather than friends, such is the bond they share with each other. At that moment the two are going to the cinema watch the movie ''Avengers; Endgame''. The movie was basically one of the biggest releases of the year, due to circumstances they hadn''t been able to watch it back when it first came out, but now a new chance to watch the movie in the big screen was presented to them and they aren''t going to waste it! "I''m so glad we managed to avoid spoilers all this time" "It wasn''t easy Lucas, I''m gonna tell you that" "Relax brother, our effort will pay out soon enough" Lucas replied to his brother with a pat on his back.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Lucas smiled at his brother "There''s only one way to find out"
Some hours later. "I still can''t believe how good this movie was" "Me neither, the MCU universe is something else " After watching the movie the two very excited brothers went to a bus top so they could go home, while waiting for their transport they chatted about the movie while wearing big smiles on their faces. It was obvious that their time in the cinema was a good one. They chatted for many minutes about the movie and it''s many amazing scenes, only stopping after they run out of topic to speak of. "Man, the bus is taking too long today" turning to the side Lucas saw Will looking up a troubled look on his eyes."Hey, what was that look" "Nothing, I was... was just thinking about some things" "Well, whatever is that it''s troubling your mind you talk to me about it" Lowering his head Will and looked at the man he called brother beside him, seeing the supportive look on his eyes Will nodded and said: "Sigh Will we... will we be brothers forever?" Lucas was taken aback by Will''s question, not understanding why the doubt. "But of course we''re going to be brothers forever, I''ve said this before and will say it again how many times I need to." Lucas walked over to Will and put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, why the doubt now?" Will hesitated for a few seconds, but in the end he said "It''s just that recently I''ve been watching some documentaries, and saw some people talking friendships that went beyond death. I know it''s silly, but and I was wondering if ours would be like that too " After hearing the his brother''s question Lucas smiled, clapping the young man in the back he answered with a smile. "Do you even need to ask? Be in the next life, or the next after that. We''ll ALWAYS be brothers!" Will smiled. "Haha It''s true, We''ll always be brothers, I don''t know why I came to doubt this " "Right?" Having resolved the misunderstanding the two brothers laughed in a relaxed manner. Some time after that tired of waiting for the bus Lucas couldn''t help but start complaining. "Fuck man, why this bus isn''t arriv- " Lucas did not have time to finish what he was going to say, for in the moment that he turned his face a strong headlight engulfed him. A car would hit them. "WILL!!!" "WHA-" Seeing the car coming towards them Lucas had the instinctive action of trying to cover his brother with his own in order to protect him. Unfortunately, his noble intentions would not bear fruit. BOOM The Car Crashed on them.
03 of June 2019. That was the day that two friends, two brothers, left the world. Relatives and other friends were in absolute shock at their abrupt death, some cried in mourning, some raged, while some others who managed to maintain a level headiness wasted no time in going forward to the authorities to make sure the perpetrator of this tragedy will received the proper punishment for his actions. However that wasn''t truly the end. Unbeknownst to all, while yes the life of the two young men on their world ended, a new one was about to start in another. Their journey on Earth may have came to a close, but a new one was starting anew in another place. The journey of two brothers. Chapter 01 - Awakening Pain. Cold. Fear. These were the sensations that hit me in the moment that car hit me and my brother, the pain from the hit came fast, and the same way gone just as fast. What came after was a coldness that spread all over my body, the feeling of life coming out of me has opened the path for what was coming after. The realization of what would come made that a overwhelming fear spread trough my body, a type of fear that I have never felt before, fear of dying young, fear of leaving the world without being able to accomplishing nothing really important, fear of never be able to see my family again, and mainly fear of what would come now after death. Ah After breathing my last sigh, my consciousness was stating to black out, but I remember the last thing that I saw, was a sphere of light floating by my side. That was my brother. I don¡¯t know why, if the bond between us was really able to surpass death or not, but in the moment that I saw that sphere of light, I sure that was my brother. And know that have fill me with peace. After that my consciousness shut down, but only a few seconds after that she come back, I could feel my body again. Surprise and hope had fill me. I open my eyes. However when I opened my eyes I knew immediately, that my life and that of my brother would never be the same again.
Origin World Forest and trees of colossal size, chains of mountains without a end, crystal deserts, city¡¯s with giant towers poking the sky, creatures of the most different types and sizes. This was a world of magic and fantasy, home of many people, civilizations and races. With different cultures, and most of all, different powers, skills and talents. The Origin World is a different place, and the same time similar on some aspects to Earth. Of adventures and discoveries, to unimaginable danger. This is the Origin World. And is in this magic world that the new journey of two young man was about to start. On the top of a small mountain surrounded by forest, theirs is a great tree with clear green leafs, and behind that trees there is a cave. And inside that cave you could find two being sleeping side by side, just like brother¡¯s. The sunbeams that hit the two bodies serenely, plus the soft wind whistle, made that the scene inside the cave invoke touch feelings inside whenever one that see it. This is of course if you ignore that, this two beings in question are two of the most dangerous magic creatures ever seen. Beings that, if awakened, would send shock, and maybe even panic to many on Origen World.
¡°uhhn¡± Inside the cave the two being have start to awake, and being still a little drowsy the two stood up. ¡°Wh-Where I am?¡± Still not fully awakened the two being start to murmur confuse, not understanding where they are, or how they have ended up there. However just a few seconds after they stood up, the two come to find out a really important fact. ¡®There¡¯s someone else with me?!¡¯ After realizing this point they turned their faces at the same time, facing each other . ¡°B-But What is this?!¡± But on the moment that they saw who was the someone by their side, the two instinctively shout in exclamation Because what each one saw, was something totally out of what they have thought. The first being when turned came to face with a wolf, one that at first glance could be see to be different. The wolf in question was covered in black fur, his face was ferocious with intimidating look, his eyes are red and glowed was if they are fire, giving the impression of really holding flames inside of them. The claws in his paws looked more like daggers and shined with cold light. His body with proportions bigger than that of a tiger, was big, but with aesthetics more inclined toward a athletic style focused on speed. However was just needed one glance on the beast muscles, that one would know that this wolf would not lose to any tiger on terms of raw strength Basically this wolf radiated the fire aura of a great hunter. The second being now revealed to be wolf, when tuned around have come to see one the most know, and feared creatures on the world. The creature was big, having more than double the size of the wolf, his body was similar to that of a wildcat, but instead of fur, his body as covered in powerful black scales. His tail as long and with sharp tip, a pair of scaled wing rested on is back, on top of his neck rested te head of carnivore that resembled that of a dinosaur. Grey eyes with occasional flash¡¯s of white-blue appearing, making that whatever who see it have the impression of a sky full of lightning was there. This creature was a dragon. The dragon was emanating a aura of pressure like that of tempest of lighting. ¡°A Wolf?!¡± ¡°A Dragon?!¡± When the two beings saw what was by their side ended up screaming in exclamation, and out of reflex the two jumped to the side, trying to move way of one another. However and they have done that, they have sensed something strange with their bodies, and after taking a second to look on themselves they have find out something really important. ¡°I am a Dragon?¡± ¡°I am a Wolf?¡±
Everything that was happening was real confusion for the two, they have woken on a strange place, a cave, find out a strange creature by their side, and after that find that themselves have become a magic creature.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. And to turn the situation more confuse, the voice that come out of the Dragon/Wolf was really familiar to them. ¡®This voice¡­ ¡® The eyes of the dragon and of the wolf grew large with the realization, and looking on each other face they saw the same realization. ¡°Will this wolf, is this wolf you?¡± asked the dragon, expectation heavy on his voice. ¡°Lucas this is you? You have become a Dragon?!¡± the Wolf now revealed to be Will spoke in exclamation. ¡°And you a Wolf¡­ But how is this possible?¡± Lucas now transformed into a dragon asked his brother in confusion. ¡°I also don¡¯t know, the last thing that I remember is you screaming, then the sound of car breaking... and after that¡­ ¡° Pain. Cold: Fear. The consciousness of the two brother that still was blurred star to clear out, and the memories of their last moments on Earth returned, and with them the realization of what have happened with them. ¡°We died¡­ ¡° Will that now had recovered is memories spoke in a sad realization ¡°Our families, our homes¡­ never again¡­ ¡° After Seeing his brother like that, Lucas walked to his side and tried to put his hand on his should like e used to do when comforting him, but his body was same hi was, so instead of his hand, his wing was spread out and put Will shoulder. The strange about this is that Lucas apparently, didn¡¯t see to realize what really he had extended, like that was something normal to him. ¡°Ei little brother, I know that is hard to accept all of this, hell I barely can believe in all of this, but¡­ ¡° here Lucas gave a slight sigh ¡°But we should look on the good side¡­ we have gained a second chance¡± Was this moment that two became silent. A second chance. If everything that happened was real, the two of them should be dead, in fact the two have actually died, but for some reason have gained a second chance; None of the two know the way they have gained a second chance, after all, they were just two normal young mans, without any type of characteristic or achievements that would make them stand out. Will was still a high school student, and Lucas who just have left his high school just two years ago was working part-time on a bookstore. Excluding the occasional times that they would go out with some friend, the two would live what the two call a bland and without excitement life. The two don¡¯t know what type of entity or all-powerful being had brought they back from death, or what motive would have to do this, much less why have turn the two into a dragon and a wolf, but they know that this might as well be a opportunity, so they could have a life very different from the last. If anything else the two not being dead is already good enough.
¡°You¡¯re right, we are alive, and this is what matters¡± ¡°Exactly¡± After calming down a little more, the two brother gave a better look on their new bodies, this time taking time to wander trough the cavern (that they have find out is REALLY big), and stretch their bodies. ¡°You know brother, I have thought that when changing from a two legged body, to a four paws one would bring some type of discomfort, but I am now feeling nothing of the type. If anything I feel great¡± said Will who was walking trough the cave, his movements are fluid and natural, even making him have the impression that he always have walked in four paws, not two. ¡°I too, apart from de dizziness that I felt after waking up, I did not feel nothing wrong with this body. Just look this¡± while walking Lucas also started to open and close the wings on his back ¡°Is so natural that I even feel like I always had six member, no, seven¡± When he finished talking, besides his wings, Lucas was also waving is tail from a side to the other, and even having to move seven members at the same time, he still didn¡¯t feel any discomfort. In the process of walking trough the cave, Will ended up getting close to the cave entrance. The sunbeams bathed his body, the sensation of the warm heat spread trough his body, and Will could not help close his eyes and feel the heat that the sunbeam gave. ¡®Heat¡­ Fire¡­ ¡® This words started to appear in loop on his head, and by repeating them the heat involving his body grew, but even with the temperature increasing, Will who was eyes are still close, didn¡¯t show any type of reaction to it. ¡°Hey Will, what do you think that w=¡± Lucas that already had stop of stretching his new members had turned in the direction of his brother, however the scene that he saw mad him stop mid-sentence ¡®What is this that I am seeing?¡¯ ¡°What happened?¡± Will who was immerse on the feeling of heat, opened his eyes after listening his brother coming, but when he turned around what he saw was his brother looking at him, his draconian face showcasing a look of surprise. ¡°What with that look?¡± ¡°How I say this¡­ Will are you not feeling, hot?¡± Will became confused with the question, not really knowing what the young dragon was trying to say. ¡°Ahh¡­ ¡° Lucas seeing that his brother was still not understanding, have a sigh and in a blunt manner said ¡°Will you are catching fire¡± ¡°?!¡± Only after this that Will came to perceive what was the motive for the look on Lucas face, his canine body that is covered in a mantle of black fur, now was covered in a layer of flames. The flames are of dark red, with occasional points of gold, and would emanated aura of danger and power. Power that was clear after looking on the black marks surrounding Will. However the power of these flames didn¡¯t affect Will was covered in them, nor was Lucas that was standing by his side. ¡°Do you mind saying how did you do that?¡± Will looked on the flames on his body ¡®How did I do this? All that did was stand on the sunbeam, feeling the heat, and thought of¡­ thought of fire¡­ ¡® Arriving on this point Will closed his eyes again ¡°?¡± Lucas seeing Will didn¡¯t answering him and closing his eyes again, was going to ask and happened, but he contained himself as soon he saw the flames on Will¡¯s body decreasing. The flames on Will¡¯s body gradually diminish until they completely vanished from his body. ¡°I just thought, and they appeared¡± answered Will while checking the black marks left by the flames around him ¡®Hmm¡­ ¡® ¡°You just thought?¡± asked the Dragon. ¡°Well, the words kind came to my mind by themselves, but is basically this¡± [Fire] To show his point, Will summoned the flames again, and put them way just after that. [Fire] [Fire] [Fire] ¡­ Repeating the action many times, Will have started do hone his control over the fire, being able turn it on and off almost instantly. In fact after a few tries, he was already able to make the flames appear by his side in the form of a ball of fire, instead of mantle over his body. [Fireball] ¡°To tell you the truth, this is kind easy¡± and with another thought de fireball vanished ¡°Hmm¡­ By doing all this I have sensed some energy leave my body, is kind hard to describe, but I can say it is a really small amount¡± ¡°Just thought you say¡­ ¡° Lucas had observe the whole process of Will testing his powers, and in the end couldn¡¯t help to think ¡®Wonder of I can make It¡¯ ¡®Lightning¡­ Thunder¡­ ¡® Almost like if responding to Lucas, words started to appear on his mind, in a similar manner to what happened to Will, and like his brother he too started to repeat the words on his mind. [Lightning] Before he could realize his body was already covered by a layer of lightning that emanated a aura of pressure and power, that illuminated the cave. Will looked at his brother with surprise, and in joking manner he said ¡°Ha, look at this copier¡± ¡°Who you calling a copier?, you used fire, I am using lightning, is completely different¡± Lucas who was testing his power looked on Will with a smile and joked back. ¡°Haha¡± [Lightning] [Lightning] [Lightning] ¡­ Lucas started to test his powers on the same way that Will have done, put on and off the lightning in a continuous form, but instead of trying to for a ball of lightning, Lucas decide to give a go a launch the lightning forward. Zap But instead of hitting a rock, the bolt of lighting had gone strait way to the cave¡¯s entrance. Boom ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± The two brother¡¯s immediately stopped, looked on each other face, and after that sprinted to out of the cave, to see where the lightning had landed.
¡°Uau¡± ¡°Amazing¡­¡± Outside of the cave there was a large green field surrounded from all sides by a forest with really tall tree¡¯s, with a lake of crystal water being near the entrance of the same. In the center of the green field there is a big tree, with thick roots coming out of earth on the bottom, and crystal clear leafs that even looked like they glowed on the top. But what really caught the attention of the two brother was the view that the two had when leaving the cave. On leaving the cave the two brothers had come to realize that they are on the top of a REALLY big hill, because from the entrance of the cave they got to see a privileged of the landscape around them. A forest stretching as far as the eyes could see, green plains, mountains at the back, and possibly more beyond. Together with the orange glow of the sunset, made that the scene that the both brother saw really something to take the breath way.
¡°it¡¯s already getting dark¡± said Lucas while looking the horizon While looking to the horizon the two young man had see that the sun was already going down, and the sky was getting dark. ¡°Hm¡­ I think it¡¯s not a good idea to go out now, it¡¯s best to go back to the cave and wait until morning ¡° said Will to his brother. ¡°You¡¯re right. After all too much have happen in sequence, is best to let all of this sink a little before we do anything¡± completed Lucas. Finishing looking to the horizon, the two returned to the cave, to the same places that they had woke up previously, and prepare themselves to close the most confusing day of their lifes. However the two didn¡¯t sleep right way, instead, they started to chat for a while, talking about everything that had happened, and what they should do from there forward. ¡°Good Night Will¡± ¡°Good Night to you too Lucas¡± And even after having closed the eyes the two have not stop thinking about everything, while their situation was complicated, having each other company was something really reassuring to two of them. Because they know, that not matter what happened in the future, as long they have each other support, they will be able to overcome anything ¡®What a day¡¯ What a day¡¯ Chapter 02 - Lending a Hand The Wild lands, this is the name given to the places where there is a high concentration of magic creatures, and where there is not many signs of civilization, in another words, places that are still ¡®Wild¡¯. For ordinary people the wild lands are dangerous places that should be avoided at all costs, while to other like adventurers, the wild lands are special places full of riches and opportunities, unexplored mines full of special ores, areas full with rare herbs and plants, magic creatures of different types and strengths, besides ruins and ancient buildings full of mysteries and relics. The wild lands are really place of riches and opportunities, but also is a place full of hidden dangers. ¡­ In a forest some changes have happened in the last days, from one day to another, a hill and the area surrounding it had become devoid of any magic creatures they started to avoid this area like is some type of forbidden place, flying creatures like the stellwing falcon do not dare to fly over the skies of this area, and not even the insect types like the wash-foot-ants can be found in that areas. A basically universal characteristic among the magic creatures would be the almost sixth sense like instincts in relation to the danger that they have, they instinctively can know if something is dangerous or not to them. So when a large group of magic creatures avoid a area, this is to say that in that area there is something dangerous that they should avoid at all costs, usually this something dangerous is a powerful creature that had made that area his territory, so the scene of a large group of creatures avoiding a area should be something normal right?. Well, this is something that someone would think before they see which magic creatures had made this hill and the surrounding area their territory.
However compared to the silence found in the area around the hill, at the top of the hill one would find a very different situation. BOOM BOOM BOOM Three consecutive explosions cause by lightning rang in the green field at the top of the hill, raising three clouds of dust in the process. And from inside the cloud of dust a magic creature came running in extreme speed. Voosh! The speed of the creature was so great that all that someone could see was a black flash, however professionals with high level of perception would be able to tell that the creature running was in fact a wolf. Ooosh! And right behind the wolf the shadow of a large creature flying could be seen chasing the wolf, and from that creature is where the lightning attacks targeted at the wolf had come. [Lightning] BOOOM Another lightning fallowed by another explosion rang at the field, this time almost hitting the wolf running in the ground. [Fireball] The wolf running used of his skills to create two fireballs, one on each side of his body,and then counter-attacked launching them at his flying pursuer. Oosh. But the wolf was out of luck, his two attacks ended up missing the target, target that seeing the attack coming had not even changed his flying course ¡®Tch Hitting something flying is really a pain¡¯ The wolf running is the young reincarnated Will, and the chasing him flying is the now dragon Lucas; At the moment the two brother are in a training fight to hone their skills and powers. ¡­ Will that was running in a straight line suddenly changed his course, running in the direction of large rock nearby. Using the rock as a spring point Will jumped into the air, his claws started to wrapped by a dark red energy with tints of that made them look more like blood stained daggers, making anyone present there feel a sense of impeding danger. And shooting in the air Will use his claws to attack Lucas. [Ruin Slash] ¡°Hmph¡± Seeing Will using the skill [Ruin Slash] at his direction, Lucas that was flying started to prepare to use a skill of his own to counter attack. Lucas raised his right arm, and from his claw to his elbow a type of white/blue energy emanating a great pressure started to appear from between his scales, making his entire forearm glow with the power of the energy. [End Claw] BOOOM! Thetwo attacks collided, creating a big explosion of energy. ¡°Argh¡± ¡°Urgh¡± The two brothers started to battle for dominance, with both of them trying to win in the energy clash. The clash lasted for a few seconds, but in the end Will ended up being sent flying to the ground by his brother draconian force. ¡°Ei, this don¡¯t count, you flying is unfair vantage¡± Will that sent flying exclaimed while looking at his brother that was still in the air. ¡°Hahaha But of course is fair, I¡¯m a dragon flying is natural thing¡± Lucas that was still flying landed on the side of the young wolf ¡°Besides, you and that zigzag are not easy to deal with either¡±The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Whatever¡± said the Wolf ¡°So, is today that we¡¯re going to explore the north area?¡± It was been about a week since the two brother had awakened in this new world as magic creatures, at first the two have been afraid of leaving the cave, but knowing that many problems would arise if they stayed there, hunger been one of them, the two eventually had come out of the cave area. And when they had done that, they come to find the fact that no other magic creature would get close to the area surrounding the hill where their cave was. However although they have not found any magic creature in the area surrounding the hill, outside of that area the two had come to find a big variety of magic creatures, and with this the two brother had come to find out, that compared to the magic creatures that they had find out until now, the two of them are really strong. And with that on mind they stated to explore the areas around their territory, however as they had just arrived in this world, the two ended up doing this in a slow pace, as to lower the chance of something bad happening, the result of this was that the they had only explored the areas in a small radius around the hill. ¡°That¡¯s right. One week of training and getting used to this world is probably enough, it¡¯s time that we go outside of our comfort zone¡± confirmed the eldest of the brothers. ¡°Finally!¡± said Will with a wolfish grin on his face. ¡°Be sure notto go too far¡± warned Lucas. ¡°Yes brother¡±
On a far side of the forest an unexpected scene was unfolding. ¡°Oooorgh¡± ¡°Ah shit!¡± The scene was that of a chase, where one creature fleeing and a big one chased. The fleeing one had around 1,70m of height, his whole body was covered in reddish scales, with light brown ones in the stomach area, he had a tail on his back, and his feet and face are that of lizard, the creature was didn¡¯t wear nothing with the exception of a cloth made of the skin of some animal on his waist. This creature is a type lizardman called Kobold. The creature chasing looked like a fat humanoid giant of almost three meters of height, his skins as of a light brown, two fangs coming out of his mouth, one hand holding a log like it as a mace, and a with little cloth covering is parts, the creature was a ogre that chased the kobold while screaming in unstoppable rage. ¡°Tch Why this guy had not gave up already?!¡± exclaimed the kobold while running from the ogre. While running the kobold tried several ways of using the terrain to mislead the ogre chasing him, but while the kobold used his small body to pass between the branches of the trees, the ogre that coming behind only smashed his way through using his brute force to open the path. Stretching. So the kobold tried to use another tactic, he pushed one of the branches that was in front of him and after that released making the branch bounce in the way of the ogre. Break Move that unfortunately didn¡¯t work, as the ogre simply tanked the blow as if was nothing, blow that only enraged the ogre even more, that after a brief pause resume the pursue. ¡°Ooogh¡± ¡°Damn¡± ¡­.. The cat and mouse situation between the kobold and the ogre lasted for a few more minutes until a sudden changed occurred. ¡°You gotta be kidding¡± said the kobold that was running from the ogre when he saw that his path was blocked by a giant rock. ¡°Oooorgh!¡± The ogre that was coming right behind saw his target standing there and without thinking a second time lifted his mace and smashed in the kobolds direction. ¡®Argh!¡¯ The kobold seeing the ogre mace coming toward him knew that his life would probably end there, so in grim resignation he closed his eyes and waited for death ¡®Goodbye everyone¡­ ¡® BOOM ¡±Oooooogh!!!¡± ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ But death never came. ¡®H??¡¯ The kobold felt confused when he realized that the imminent attack of the ogre never came, he heard a loud bang, but didn¡¯t felt the hit. Many possibilities came to his mind, and like this the kobold slowly opened his eyes. ¡°W-what is this¡­ ¡° From all the scenes that he imagined, the one in front of him was not one of them. When he opened his eyes the kobold saw the ogre that had chased him had now fall face flat in the ground, his mace had now fallen to the side, on his back a spot of black skin with smoke coming out appeared, and if looked closer one would be able to see a still bleeding hole on the spot of burnt black skin. ¡°How did this happened?¡± the kobold asked himself not knowing how something like that happened, what he did not expect what that the how ended up answering him. ¡°Well, you looked like someone in danger, so I decided to lend a hand¡± Said a calm voice. ¡°!!!¡± The voice spoke with a calm tone, but the kobold felt the same as earing the rumble of thunder , making the kobold heart skip a beat. Then in a frantic manner he looked to the sky in the direction from where he felt that the voice came, and when did that his eyes widened ¡®It cannot be!¡¯ In the sky a creature flew while looking at the kobold with curious eyes, the creature in question was big, bigger than the ogre, his body was covered in black scales that glowed with lightning, with pair of powerful wing s on his back, a tail that looked like a sharp spear, terrifying claws and teeth¡¯s, and eyes that emanated the pressure of a sky of lightning. When his eyes fell on the body of the creature that had saved him, the kobold felt his heart stopping and his breathing halting, because inside of him he knew instinctively what creature was that ¡®A Dragon!¡¯ Myths say that kobold are descendants of dragons, and while many doubt the veracity of this fact, the truth is that kobold really descend from the dragons, but they only have a close to zero dragon blood in them, thing that is already enough for the kobolds that see dragons as near godlike beings. They had a natural instinct to serve dragons, and be the servants of a dragon is considered the greatest honor that a kobold could have. Therefore when the saw the dragon, the kobold that was being chased felt like a electric current was running through his body, e instinctively knelt in the ground shouting ¡°Great Dragon Lord, I the insignificant of name Zix thank you for saving my life¡± ¡°That was nothing¡± The Dragon that¡¯s was still flying landed in front of the kobold now revealed to be called Zix ¡°But tell me Zix, why that ogre was chasing you?. ¡°Answering the Great Dragon Lord, a group of ogres have invaded the territory of my tribe, we tried to fight but the strength of the ogres group was too much for us, so the chief of the tribe decided that was best to move from that place. He sent me and other kobolds as scouts at first was fine, but we eventually bumped with ogre, I baited him so the others could flee¡± Explained Zix. ¡°Hmm interesting¡­. ¡° The Dragon heard the explanation and then fell in silence, Zix the kobold although feeling nervous in the presence of the Dragon made is best to not disturb the Dragon and his thoughts. ¡°I already decided¡± the Dragon that was in silence for more than a minute in silence suddenly said while pointing at Zix ¡°Your name is Zix right?¡± ¡°Yes, this insignificant one Is called Zix!¡± ¡°The insignificant part can be left out¡± said the Dragon ¡°Zix, I want you to take me to where your tribe is located¡± ¡®Could it be?... ¡® hearing the Dragon¡¯s wish Zix became excited over the possibilities of what that could entailed, however he did not dare to show it, so while suppressing his surging emotions he said ¡°Yes, Dragon Lord, I will bringyou to my village¡± ¡°Ah, and just so that you know, my name is Lucas Raynis¡± said the Dragon. ¡°Zix will forever remember the great name of the Dragon Lord Lucas¡± exclaimed the kobold. Zix that was still kneeling in the ground got up, bowed to the Dragon Lucas, and then turned around so that he could show the way to his tribe to the Dragon Lord. However when he turned around something grabbed his body and lifted him up from the ground. ¡°With you walking will take us too much time¡± a powerful voice said from above. Only then did Zix realized that hehadbeen lifted into the air by one of Lucas claws, that now carried him while flying. ¡°It¡¯s in that way¡± While stunned at first, Zix short after be lifted in the sky resume his task of guiding the way to his tribe to Lucas. And even still he was being carried like that by Lucas, all that Zix felt was a great surge of excitement ¡®I¡¯m being carried by a Dragon!¡¯. ¡°ROAR!¡± Lucas flew in the direction that Zix had pointed out, but before doing that he raised his head high up and let It out a powerful roar that could be heard from several kilometers across the forest. Roar that some could see as a show of power, was in truth a calling roar. But who this roar was calling? Only Lucas knew. Chapter 03 - Kobolds Tribe ¡°Now I know what people that do wingsuit jumping feel¡± said Lucas while immersing himself in the feeling of flying. It¡¯s already been about three hours since the two brothers left their territory to explore what they call the north area, at first everything was alright, but after a time walking Will looked at Lucas and said ¡®How about we split up?¡¯. If this was one week ago when the two of them had just arrived in this world Lucas would had certainly said no, but now after getting used to this world, and seeing how their new bodies fared against the magic creatures, Lucas decided to agree with his little brother suggestion, as he too could see the pros of them splitting up. ¡°Besides, this also is a sign of him opening up again¡± Even if they didn¡¯t show on the surface, the two of them had been in inner turmoil since they arrived in this world, after all, how many could say that they could stay calm in their situation? They had died and been sent to a world different from their own, never being able to see their loved ones, and having to deal with the fact that they now would need to live in the wild, even as they had no prior knowledge in how do that. Surprising enough, the fact that they are not human anymore little worried them, as since waking up as magic creatures they had not felt any type rejection to the new forms, if anything they had felt that was something really cool. But as the time passed, and the two brothers started to focus in their new life and how to deal with their problems in hand, those inner turmoil began to ease up. ¡®Killing to get food for instance¡¯ thought the Dragon remembering their first experience trying to get food in this world.
(One Week ago) ¡°This place is really beautiful¡± ¡°Certainly it is¡± After waking up and discovering that they had not dreamed what had happened yesterday, the two brothers had finally decided to go out of their cave of origin, and like in the day prior, both of them had been stunned once again by the beauty of this place. They already see pictures of beautiful places back on earth, from the otherworldly dunes of the Len?¨®is Maranhenses in their home country Brazil, to the exotic blue forest of Hallerbos in Belgium, but this is the first time that had been in person in a place as beautiful as this. The big tree in the center of the green field outside of their cave with its crystal green leafs, glowed in the morning light making the whole place be filled with an aura of fantasy. ¡°This really is another world¡± said Will while the two walked across the green field. When they walked close to the lake that existed near the forest, Lucas that was in the front crouched near the border of the lake, and stretching his arm put one of his hand in the lake. The cold water brushing against his scales brought a cool feeling to Lucas, making him once more realize that this is not a dream, and everything here is real. ¡°As I thought, it¡¯s just water¡± said Lucas after a time. ¡°It¡¯s safe to drink it?¡± asked Will. ¡°I think it¡¯s¡± Lucas looked around once more ¡°Thirsty will not be a problem, the thing is that we don¡¯t have food¡± ¡°I had already gave a look around the place and I have not found any type of fruit or vegetable¡± Said Will looking at his brother ¡°And I also have not found any animal here¡± ¡°Me neither¡± said Lucas with a sigh. The two brothers walked a little more in the green field until they got near the forest entrance ¡°I think the only way is to go down the hill¡± said the Dragon. And with that said the two brothers entered the forest in search of food, and also to see what was in wait for them in this new place. ¡­. In the forest of the wild lands one would be able to see a great variety of many magic creatures of different types, some looked like thing that one would only see in fantasy books like cockatrices, while other looked like animals from earth, but bigger and with different shades. This is the case of the blood-boar, that as is name imply is a big boar like animal that had red fur and sharp tusks that come out of his mouth. Being one the most common magic creatures the blood-boar standout because of his reputation of being short tempered and prompt to attack anything that comes near him. Thing that had already created incredible scenes, liked when a blood-boar as saw fighting head-to-head against a young basilisk, and although the boar as losing he didn¡¯t backed down, standing his ground and fighting until a group of adventures nearby saw the scene and decided to help the boar. Being able to fight a basilisk without backing down earned the boar a reputation of not knowing fear. So if anyone saw the scene that was happening in a forest right now, they would most probably not believed their eyes. ¡°OOorrrrink¡± The scene in question being that of group of blood-boars running in extreme fear from something that was chasing them from behind. Ooosh Voosh Two shadows appear right behind the fleeing boars, with one running in the ground and the other flying above. Little by little the two shadows approached the group of boars, and when in a matter of seconds they already had got behind them.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°OOorrrrink¡± ¡°OOorrrrink¡± Two boars that were in the back of the group got stroke by the two shadows, the shadow running bounced in one of the boar neck, while the one flying dive straight into the other boar back. ¡°OOorrrrink¡± The rest of the group of boars didn¡¯t even looked behind at theirs companions as they keep running way. Looking back to the two boar¡¯s one would now see the forms of the two shadows that had chased the group of boars, one being a dragon and that a wolf. Of course the two are the brothers Lucas and Will. ¡°Uhh¡± Lucas looked at the dead boar in his feet ¡°This is sure more easy that I thought it would be¡± The young wolf walked to his brother ¡°I have to say¡± Will licked is lips which have been stained with blood ¡°This sure is an awkward feeling¡± After the two brothers had entered the forest outside their cave, they had come to find out that basically no magic creature was in the area around the hill that they lived, and only after walking a little further did they stated to find out other magic creatures. Seeing creatures that had looked like they jumped out of a fantasy books stunned the two, even though they had already thought of the possibility of both of them being in different world. Funny thing about all of this is that all of the magic creatures that saw them would flee even before they got close. Thing that is not their fault, after all, with the two being a dragon and a wolf who would not flee in the spot after seeing them? After a few failed attempts of getting close to the magic creatures, the two brothers started to act more like a predator would. It was like a voice was in the back of their heads whispering what they had to do in that moment, and without even realizing Will stated to walk seemingly unnoticed by the magic creatures around, and even Lucas started to fly without be noticed. And when the two saw the group of blood-boars they felt like a switch has been lift inside of them, the two acted like in trance, not using their skills the two attacked the boars. With only a few second two boars laid down dead before them. ¡°Funny¡± said the wolf ¡°I was wavering in relation to kill, but now that I had done it, I don¡¯t feel the bitter sensation that I had thought that I would. Why is that?¡± ¡°Well¡­ I would say is because of what we are now¡± Lucas saw the inquiring look of his brother ¡°I mean, it would be strange to see a dragon and a wolf hesitating in relation to kill¡± ¡°So to say that our bodies are not the only ones to have changed¡± said Will with a sigh. ¡°Pretty much¡± Being from the civilized world that was Earth, the brothers have grown with a natural hesitation when it comes to kill, so the two became very nervous knowing that now they would need to kill in order to get food, they are not used to this thought, as many are back on Earth. They hesitated. But when they finally did kill, the bad sensation or guilt that should appear didn¡¯t came. ¡°Anyway let¡¯s go back¡± ¡°Ok¡±
¡°Sigh¡­¡± Lucas ¡°I wonder how will be when we finally meet some humans¡± In Lucas eyes, the fact that the two of them will not hesitate when it came to kill can be a good and a bad thing. Good because considering the type of world that they are now, killing will be a pretty common part of their life, so not heisting in killing can actually be a help for them. Was for why is a bad thing is kind obvious, Lucas fear that in the future he and his brother might stop caring about others people life, might become indifferent. ¡°This is problem for another day¡± Lucas said with a sigh. Lucas continued to fly above the forest, immersing himself in this newfound feeling that his flying. ¡­. ¡°Huh?¡± While flying above a more far side of the forest, Lucas came to see a very peculiar scene. ¡°There is something you not see every day¡± The scene being that of humanoid lizard like creature fleeing from what would appear to be an enraged ogre that chased the lizard while screaming ¡°Is that a kobold?¡± ¡°Oh, he is good¡± Using his enhanced dragon vision he followed the two creatures in their cat and mouse situation from above, and after a few minutes saw the kobold being cornered by the ogre ¡°Hmm¡­ ¡° Seeing the kobold made a somehow strange idea come to his mind, he thought about for a time, and when the ogre was about to strike the kobold ¡°I have made my mind¡±. And with lightning gathering around his body he acted. [Lightning] ¡±Oooooogh!!!¡±
In a clearing in the middle of the forest a tribe of kobolds could be found. The wall surrounding the tribe was made of mud with about seven meters in height, was in the moment covered by cracks, with some parts being almost missing huge chunks that needed to be covered with some wood planks. The flustered sound of the kobolds within the wall could be heard from afar, thing that made the chief of tribe had a headache. ¡°This is not good¡± said the kobold chief inside his house. Standing in two meters high with big muscles, with steel like red scales, wearing a more exquisite that others kobolds cloth at his waist, and a tunic made of some kind of magic creature at his back, the tribe chief Dahru was a rare breed among the kobolds. ¡°How the situation had come to this?¡± said Dahru waking from one side to another ¡°Zix had still not come back¡± Dahru has already been the chief of his tribe for ten years, and in all this years this is the first time that had come to face such problem. For some reason recently a group of ogres had come to his tribe territory and started to harass his people. At first everything was alright with only one or two ogres scattered around, they had been able to dispatch of them quite easily, but the situation turned around when they started to appear in groups. ¡°They started to use coordinate attacks, attacking us without giving time to breathe¡± said Dahru ¡°Even more startling is that some of them used iron weapons instead of their usual oversized sticks¡± The technological level of intelligent beings is something really important to consider in this world. Take ogres for example. Normal ogres for a lack of better words, are not on the smart side of the spectrum when it came to intelligence, they are not just dumb animals, but they are not smart enough to know how to do metalwork, and because of this that they normally use tree trunks as weapons. Ogres have herculean levels of strength that could easily squash a normal human with just a slap, but they are not smart, are quick to anger, and their equipment most time are resumed to a tree mace at one hand and a skin cloth at their waist. This led to the fact that ogres although strong are not threatening as they should be, thing that change if you add smart tactics and good equipment into the equation. Being masters at mining and trapmaking, the kobolds themselves are quite smart actually but they are not so developed, with weapons that although better than others, are still somehow underwhelmed. The reason that the kobolds had been able to tank the attacks until now was because of the traps surrounding the tribe and the leadership of Dahru. ¡°Sigh If only we had a Dragon Lord to help us now¡± Dahru that was going to settle his tribe stopped midway when he started to hear a commotion coming from outside ¡°What is this?¡± Thud The door opened and a gasping Kobold holding a spear entered the house screaming ¡°TRIBE LEADRER DARHRU!¡± ¡°Calm down¡± asked Dahru with a frown ¡°What happened?, Why the commotion outside?¡± ¡°A Dr-Dra¡± the kobold gulped ¡°A Dragon had landed just outside the walls!¡± BOOM Dahru felt like a bomb had been dropped on his mind, and without a second thought he sprinted out the house. ¡­ ¡°A Dragon really came!¡± ¡°His Zix, I saw Zix been hold by the Dragon Lord¡± ¡°Zix had brought a Dragon Lord to our tribe¡± ¡°We are saved!¡± ¡°The Dragon Gods had blessed us!¡± Wherever you go in tribe the only thing that you would be able to hear is about the Dragon Lord, from kids to elders, all that the kobolds talked was about the Dragon that landed outside of the Walls. ¡®Has a Dragon Lord really came?¡¯ thought Dahru while sprinting across the tribe, thing that didn¡¯t last long, in only a minute with his top notch physic among the kobolds he arrived at wall. ¡°Chief Dahru, Zix is with the Dragon Lord outside¡± Said a kobold at the walls to Dahru. ¡°It¡¯s really true!¡± Dahru that arrived at the walls looked in astonishment at the figure standing outside of his tribe. With a larger body covered in black scales, big wings on his back, sharp pointed spear like tail, powerful claws on his hand, and cat gray eyes, the figure of a Dragon emanating an aura of pressure stood there with the kobold Zix at his feet, looking at the kobolds on the walls. All the kobolds felt an electric current crossing trough their bodies at the moment they set their eyes at the Dragon, and at that moment only one thought was on Dahru mind. ¡®Had the Dragon Gods really heard me?¡¯ Chapter 04 - Tracking ¡®This guy sure is different¡¯ Thought Lucas while watching the kobold Zix bringing tribe chief Dahru to him. On the way to the tribe Lucas had inquired many things about the kobold tribe from Zix, who was more than happy to answer. From what Zix said this tribe chief was a rare breed among the kobolds, standing in about two meters tall with big muscles and red scales, Dahru had not only the strength but also the mind befitting to a leader, being more thoughtful than other kobolds, Dahru was not just a muscle brain and knew how to act in different situations. Thing that Lucas could see was he get near him, while in the walls he saw the flustered and stunned face of tribe chief, but in the moment that Zix had approached him and said that Lucas wanted to talk with him the look on his face immediately changed to a more serious one. ¡°Lord Lucas, this is Dahrut chief of my tribe¡± ¡°Tribe chief Dahru pay his respect to the Dragon Lord Lucas¡± And not even five minutes after Lucas landed outside of the kobold tribe, Dahru the kobolds tribe chief was already in front of him bowing in respect alongside kobold scout Zix. ¡°You two can stand up¡± ¡°Yes Dragon Lord¡± While Lucas had watched them, Dahru had also took a more close look on the Dragon Lord, the pressure that he felt from the wall only got more strong was he approached him, it was like if he was standing in an open field in the middle of storm and then he looked in the lightning filled dark clouds in the sky. The more he looked the more he became sure that this was his tribe chance of changing their destiny. ¡°I was passing by the area when I saw our lithe friend Zix here being chased by an ogre¡± said Lucas while looking at the two ¡°I saved him and he said that his tribe was being invaded by a bunch of ogres. Could your perhaps explain more to me about this situation¡± ¡°Yes Dragon Lord¡± said Dahru ¡°The situation began about five days ago, when hunters spotted three scattered ogres in our tribe territory, they reported to me and with a group of warriors I swiftly took care of them¡± ¡°Obviously that was not the end¡± said Lucas. ¡°Unfortunately it was not. The day after that another group of ogres had come, and in the next day another one, each group having more ogres that the last, they also started to use tactics with some of them even using iron weapons¡± Dahru looked at the cracked walls ¡°Last time they had come at night, catching us of guard. They cracked the walls, but thanks to the traps around the tribe we succeed in holding them back, but¡­ ¡± ¡°But that was already your tribe limit, so you send a group of scouts to find an escape route, but they bumped with an ogre, Zix baited him and ended up being saved by me¡± concluded Lucas. ¡°It¡¯s was as the Dragon Lord said¡± ¡°What tough situation¡± Lucas sighed. The two kobolds could only smile helpless at the Dragon Lord statement, because as he said their tribe situation was really a tough one, their tribe traps had been able to hold the ogres back until now, but it was clearly that would not able to do so anymore. ¡°Anyway, I¡¯m going straight to the point¡± Lucas looked at Dahru ¡°I can save your tribe from the ogres, but there is one condition¡± Dahru could already guess what condition Lucas is talking about, but he still asked ¡°What is your condition Dragon Lord Lucas?¡± ¡°You and your entire tribe have to swear allegiance to me and my brother¡± said Lucas in a solemn voice, the pressure around his body growing by the second ¡°Swear to obey everything that we said, do that and not only I will save your from the ogres, but I also will make it more strong and developed that it could ever be¡± Most people would probably hesitate if they had to answer this question. ¡°In the name of my entire tribe, I chief Dahru, swear that we will forever serve the Dragon Lord Lucas and his brother, obeying they every order, and if one day we dare to break this oath, that our souls be burned by the dragon gods eternal flame¡± But was a kobold Dahru didn¡¯t. He didn¡¯t even asked who was Lucas brother or any other question, he and Zix simply bowed to Lucas pledging their allegiance him in an oath that honestly stunned the dragon ¡®As if I would let a chance like this pass¡¯ ¡°We Swear loyalty to the Dragon Lord Lucas and his Brother¡± Dahru voice was heard by the kobolds at the wall, they also bowed swearing the same oath, which in turn prompted the other kobolds inside the walls to bow and swear the same oath. ¡®These guys¡¯ Lucas had felt a strange feeling when he heard the oath of the kobolds, we was not used to this type of situation which made him a little flustered at the kobolds oath, but even then something inside him made him calm down and in the end he only said. ¡°Very well I will accept your oath¡± said Lucas. ¡°Thank you Dragon Lord Lucas!¡± Lucas voice was heard by all the kobolds, who in turn shouted in happiness. ¡°Huh?¡± Lucas that was looking at the kobolds happy faces felt a tug feeling, a very familiar presence started to approach him. So while looking at the forest on his side he said ¡°Took you long enough huh?¡± ¡°Look who''s talking¡± Dahru and all the kobolds only heard a voice coming from afar, and before they realized a black wolf with red flaming eyes emanating a dangerous aura was standing by Lucas side.
¡°So now we have a tribe of kobolds under us?¡± asked the young wolf.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Pretty much¡± said Lucas while looking at the tribe. After Will had arrived Lucas ordered the tribe chief Dahru to go back inside the walls to calm down the cheerful kobolds, while he and his brother walked to a more elevated area, where they started talk while overlooking the kobolds tribe. ¡°Why?¡± asked Will looking at his brother. ¡°Honestly?¡± the Dragon said ¡°I don¡¯t even know myself!¡± Will look up at his brother with eyes that said I don''t believe it ¡°You don¡¯t know?¡± Seeing the look on his brother face Lucas sighed ¡°Will, have you thought about what we are going to in the future?¡± ¡°What you mean?¡± ¡°I mean, what is our goal in this world¡± Lucas looked at the sky ¡°We have suddenly come to this world, and apart from hunting, eating and sleeping we have nothing more to do here. We are different from those characters on the novel that we used to read, we don¡¯t have a grievance to resolve or a revenge to attain, no we are searching from a great treasure or aiming to become the very best¡± He looked back at his brother ¡°In short we don¡¯t have a clear goal to guide our days apart from not dying again¡± ¡°And developing a kobold tribe is a good one?¡± inquired Will. ¡°Well is a good start¡± Lucas shrugged his shoulders ¡°Considering that we will probably going to live a few thousand years, I thought why not?¡± The orange glow of the sunset fell through the leaf on the trees of the forest, and with the soft whistle of the wind the atmosphere at the forest was that one of calm and serenity. The two brothers stood there in silence while watching the kobolds tribe at the distance, Dahru the tribe chief had already calmed down the other kobolds. ¡°You know¡± said Will broking the silence ¡°Although I have not thought deeply as you, I can see what you mean¡± ¡°So what do you think?¡± asked Lucas ¡°Developing our own territory huh?¡± Will grinned ¡°That actually could be fun, imagine if one day we ended up becoming some type of end bosses!¡± ¡°Yeah that would be fun The Lightning Dragon and the Fire Wolf ¡° Lucas said ¡°Hahaha that does sound nice¡± ¡°HAHAHA¡± ¡°HAHAHA¡± ¡­ ¡°So where you have been?¡± asked Lucas ¡°You said we are against ogres right?¡± the Dragon nodded ¡°So I might know a few thing about them¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Lucas turned at his bother with look that said Tell me more. ¡°It was like this¡±
(One hour and half ago) With towering trees at all sides ,the forests of the Wild lands are most of the times places of silence, as being loud in the wild lands is the same as screaming I¡¯m here! To all of the potentials predators that lurk around. Most of the sounds that one hears inside a forest came from the wind whistle and far way magic creatures. ¡°Squuuek¡± The dying scream of a magic creature broke the silence in one of the parts of the forest, the creature in question being a horned rabbit known as jackalope. The creature now dead as been eaten by a giant black wolf, that used of some type of dark red flame to cook the rabbit while eating it. Click At one point the wolf ripped the chest area of the rabbit with his sharp claws, and from there a small size crystal like sphere fell from the rabbit chest. The crystal glowed with a very faint blue glow. Gulp The wolf bent and in swift move swallowed the crystal, after doing this his red eyes glowed with a faint light. The glow only lasted for one brief second leaving the wolf eyes as fast it came. ¡°A small quality magic core¡± said the wolf ¡°It barely increased my power¡± The wolf in question is Will who had split up from his brother to explore the north area, and the crystal that he swallowed is a something called magic core. Magic cores are basically, the magic energy of a magic creature condensed in a single point, the magic condensed ended up crystallizing forming a sphere inside the magic creatures, the sphere varies in size and glow from one magic creature to another, with some low-level looking like pebble, while high-level ones looked more dazzling than diamonds. The brothers had find out these magic cores by chance while preparing one of the blood-boars that they had killed, and because an instinct hunch they decided to eat the magic cores. When they did that they had come to find that the energy inside them had increased, even if only by a little. Doing a few more tests they had confirmed that they could increase their power by eating these magic cores. ¡°The problem is that these magic creatures are too weak compared to us to give any substantial power boost¡± said Will with a sigh in the end. After finishing eating the jackalope, Will walked to a small spring nearby. He looked at his reflection at the water ¡°We don¡¯t even know what the power levels of this world are, we both know that we are strong, but how strong are we exactly?¡± A week has passed by since the two had arrived in this world, a week normally is not much time but it was in this week both brother live had completely changed. From awaking in a fantasy world as magic creatures, to learn about their new powers, to hunt and kill for the first time, to change their surnames to a new one made from their Latin words of lightning and fire. The two had come to find out many new things about this world, one of them being the fact that they are really strong compared to the magic creatures around them. But one of the things that bothered the two is that they don¡¯t know how exactly powerful they are. ¡°If there is one thing that I had learnt about fantasy world like this, is that there is always a power level scale¡± said the wolf ¡°The question is how will we¡¯re going to find this out¡± Will was about to leave when he come across a unusual footprint near the spring ¡°What is this?¡± He walked to the footprint and then crouched near it ¡°It¡¯s of a humanoid type, probably weighting about three hundred kilograms¡± He walked to another footprint just ahead ¡°height¡­ probably a little les than three meters¡± he sniffed ¡°Very strong smell¡± ¡°It¡¯s an Ogre¡± One of the things that happened a lot with the two since coming to this world, is that sometimes without both of them knowing how, things started to appear on their mind. Like a few days ago, while hunting Will had come to find out how to use his senses to track a magic creature, in a way that only experts know how. ¡°It was two of them, they drank water at the spring, picked something heavy from the ground¡­ ¡± He walked near the forest ¡°Sniff then gone west¡± The like a hunter with glowing flaming eyes he started to follow the track of the two ogres. ¡­ Following the tracks Will found himself in what appeared to be natural track in the forest, track that led to group of small size hills just outside the forest. ¡°There you are¡± sneaking in shadows of the forest with only his red eyes showing Will saw the two ogres that he had tracked, walking in the forest track while carrying cage on their shoulders ¡°Are that wild dwarfs?¡± Inside the cage Will could see what appeared to be bunch of small sized bearded humanoids, that Will told be wild dwarfs. Wild dwarfs are a sub-race of dwarf that live in forest, and would most of time try to avoid detection as they are very distrusting of strangers. Wearing very little, they hide themselves inside forests, living basically in a wild form close to animals. ¡°No¡­ they are not wild dwarfs¡± slowly following the cage with his eyes, Will started to notice a few thing that made in doubt is earlier assumption. Will dwarfs looked like cave mans, with very little to none cloths as they preferred to use their own long beard to cover their bodies. But these dwarfs inside the wore skin cloths very similar to that of humans, and while their physical appearance is very similar to that of wild dwarfs, with a more tanned skin that other dwarfs, their other aspects are clearly not that of Wild dwarfs. ROAR! While pondering about the dwarfs, Will heard a powerful roar coming from deep in the forest ¡°Brother?¡± In one point of their time in this new world, the two brothers had come to find out that they could somehow sense where the other was. It was like they had a tracker inside of them, with only a thought they could sense in what direction the other was. And because of this the two created a rule, that when one of them called using a roar or howl, the other would answer, and using the sense inside of them go to their other side. And this is exactly what had just happened, as Lucas used his roar to call Will back. ¡°Huh¡± Will looked back at the two ogres that because of Lucas roar became flustered and started to walk faster, and even the dwarfs inside the cage became agitated because of the roar ¡°I will come back later¡± Leaving these words Will started to run in his brother direction, leaving behind a bunch that had never realized that a predator had followed them this entire time. Chapter 05 - Wizard Ogre While still standing at the elevated area outside the kobolds tribe, the two brothers started to discuss about the things that Will had discovered in his tracking of the ogres earlier. ¡°Wild dwarfs you say?¡± ¡°Well, I thought so first, but now I don¡¯t quite know¡± Will had said about the dwarfs that the two ogres were carrying at the time, and like his younger brother, Lucas also could not identify what type of dwarf those are ¡°Wait, maybe they are half-blood?¡± ¡°Hal-blood? Well that might be, or they can also be a new type that we don¡¯t know¡± Will jumped at one rock nearby ¡°But what intrigues me, is what the ogres want with these dwarfs¡° ¡°Maybe is from then that the iron weapons are coming¡± said the dragon Laydown near the rock that his brother was, funny enough even lying down he still was pretty big ¡°The thing is how the ogres are able to act organized like that¡± ¡°Well this world seems to follow fantasy rules¡± said the wolf lying at the top of the rock "So if go by this, there is only one answer to why the ogres are acting like this¡± ¡°¡±Wizard Ogres¡±¡± Normal ogres are not the brightest when it comes to intelligence, having pretty simple mind sets that resemble that of caveman, they can form groups similar to tribes among themselves. With some of them even being able to talk normally, but if you think that they can be organized, well, you are thought it wrong. But as the saying goes, there is always exception¡¯s. Wizard ogres are rare breeds that are birthed with higher intelligence, higher than even normal humans, thing that made them have a good affinity with the magic arts, hence the name wizard ogres. The control over normal ogre plus their increased intelligence made them the best choices of leader among the ogres, and probably the only ones that would be able to make this oversized caveman, act in an organized form like this without any problem. ¡°Well if that is the case, thing might get tricky depending on the enemy power¡± said Lucas ¡°I also thought so, but judging by the strength of the ogre of earlier, I would say this wizard is probably not that strong¡± said the wolf ¡°If he was, he probably would had control more strong ogres. I also thought so when I killed the chasing ogres before¡± The wolf that was sitting at the top of the rock gave a stretched followed by a yawn ¡°So what we are going to do, attack now or wait?¡± ¡°Dahru said that that another attack should happen tonight¡± said Lucas ¡°So we wait?¡± ¡°We wait¡±
The orange glow that had permeated the sky had already disappeared, signaling that the time had passed and now as night. The kobolds tribe different from other nights, now hold many torches ablaze across the wall, this something that you normally would not see at the wild land. With predators and other dangers hiding at every corner, have so many torches would make any tribe become a beacon in the middle of the dark, plus the fact that most magic creatures can see better at the dark than humans, made so that his scene became a are one at the Wild lands. ¡°Chief Dahru¡± Dahru that was standing at the top of the walls while overlooking the tribe turned around when he heard the warrior kobold ¡°Had all the torches been lit?¡± The warrior was a only a bit shorter than Dahru, with one meter and ninety he was taller than most kobolds, he was Rokdo one of the wall guards of the tribe, and also the one who had greeted Dahru earlier when he had come to see the Dragon Lord, being also one of the first kobolds to swear allegiance to Lucas and his brother. ¡°Yes, all of them had been lit¡± answered Rokdo ¡°Perfect, just as the Wolf Lord had instructed¡± said Dahru with a praising nod at the warrior. The warrior heard the chief praise and gave a light smile, he looked at the illuminated tribe and with slight hesitation he asked ¡°Chief Dahru, do you know why the Wolf Lord had order us to light all this torches?¡± Earlier when the night had fallen, Will the one that the kobolds call Wolf Lord came to the chief Dahru with an assignment, he lit a torch using his flames and said to use that to lit other torches across the entire tribe. Although confused the kobolds had followed as said and lit many torches across the tribe, and after they came to see the illuminated tribe many woman and children could not help to exclaim in wonder. After all, they generally don¡¯t have so many torches lit at night like this, as it would attract unwanted attention to the tribe, but now seeing their tribe shining with the flames light made a smile appear in the face of many. ¡°I had asked him the same thing¡± Dahru turned around and looked at the forest outside the walls ¡°He said that was to make us see better the show tonight¡± ¡­ The night breeze passed through the dark wild lands, but different from other nights in a certain clearing a new scene could be seen. The kobolds tribe that normally would be shrouded in darkness and silence at this hour, was now shining brightly through the night. The kobolds that in the past few days had sleep under the pressure of the ogre¡¯s attack¡¯s, now are standing awake at the walls of their tribe, not even one of them showed any expression of fear. ¡°Ooorrgh¡± Suddenly the silence of the night as cut short, a very familiar bellow to the kobolds came to their ears, followed by another, then another. The trees at the distance started to change from their calm to sway to a more violently shake, as if there something very tall passing through it, fortunately or not they didn¡¯t need to wait much before seeing what was coming. ¡°Ooorrgh¡± ¡°Ooorrgh¡± ¡°Ooorrgh¡± With almost three meters tall fat but muscular ogres walked one after another from the darkness of the forest, as they stepped at the illuminated area, it became more clear the difference between this bunch at normal ogres. Gone are the tree maces, in their place iron maces that could be considered two-handed weapons to normal creatures, are being held like they weight nothing by the ogres. Their bare chests and shoulder¡¯s, are now covered by iron armor composed of meshed iron plates. A group of more than a hundred of ogres armed with iron weapon and armor, appeared before the kobolds tribe. ¡­. ¡°Hu-¡® ¡°What¡­¡± ¡°Heavens look at this¡± ¡°Gods!¡± The sound of gasps could be heard from the kobolds at the wall in the moment that the horde of ogres appeared, the fear that they had suppressed until now became visible again. But how could they not when a horde of more than a hundred armed ogres appeared before you. ¡°Everyone calm down!¡± said the tribe chief Dahru that was also standing at the walls ¡°There is no need for fear! We are not the same as before, now we have the protection of a Dragon Lord. What is a bunch of ogres before this type of godly power?!¡± As if they had heard the voice of god himself, all kobolds started to calm down at the mention of the Dragon Lord. That look of fear that had briefly adorned their faces had changed to one of calmness, that¡¯s is right, they thought, with a dragon at their side, what could possibly harm them?.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡®This is the power of a Dragon¡¯ thought Dahru as he see the change of his tribe at the mentio of the Dragon Lord, proving to him once more, the level of power that a dragon had over kobolds. ¡­ ¡°Huh?¡± Amidst the horde of ogres one of them in particular stood among his peers, all the ogres could be seen wearing armor that more looked like meshed iron plates, and only him used a more proper armor. He also used two maces instead of one, maces that also are more refined than the others. Most ogres although fat are actually pretty muscular, this one in the other hand had no fat whatsoever, only hard steel muscles, plus the large beard at his face made him look like a commander among the ogre. ¡°Why they are not screaming?¡± asked the ogre ¡°Why they had lit torches, had they been waiting us?¡± Wizard ogres are not the only smart ones among the ogre¡¯s, some other ogres would also develop a more sharp mind as they grow, and the muscular ogre clearly as one of them. The moment than he saw the kobolds tribe shining through the night he had already got suspicious, and was he got closer the tribe wall, and saw that the kobolds are not in alarm as they had been at the previous assaults, the feeling that something wrong was happening only got stronger ¡°Ooorrgh¡± ¡°Ooorrgh¡± ¡°Ooorrgh¡± As we thought about the situation the ogres around of him stared to become agitated, many of them started to bawl in fear, with some even dropping their weapons at the ground. ¡°What?!¡± Even the muscular ogre started to feel agitated, a burring feeling started to appear on the back of his head, it was like a predator was staring him down from the dark, and the only thing he could was feel the eyes of the hunter burning holes through his head. ¡°How is this possible?¡± he asked himself as he looked at the kobolds tribe wall in trepidation, unfortunately to him that was just the beginning, as a pressure bigger than everything that he had ever felt spread through area, ¡°Hum!¡± The pressure that slammed at him was so big that even made him falter, barely been able to restrain himself from falling in the ground, the commander ogre felt all the hairs in his body rising, a tingling feeling came to him ¡°It could be?¡± Swiftly he looked at the sky, but he only thing that the was able to see was a flash of white/blue lightning, before he could realize he was already hit. ¡°Ooorrgh!¡± ¡°Ooorrgh!¡± ¡°Ooorrgh!¡± The lightning fell in the middle of the ogre horde, and then like a spider web it spread it to all the ogres. All of the ogres that are hit started to scream, even the commander ogre started to scream, the only thing strange the he felt, that although lightning was around his body he didn¡¯t feel any damage apart of not been able to move. ¡°Well, you all certainly came prepared to conquer the tribe. But unfortunately for you now this tribe is under our protection¡± A voice filed with power ranged at the area, and the commander ogre that was still covered in lightning suddenly had his vision blocked by the shadow of a big creature. The light of the lightning cast a shadow over the creature body, with only his lightning filled eyes showing. ¡°Now you¡¯re going to answer some of my questions¡±
Outside of the forest a group of small sized hills could be found, and if one walked a few minutes across these hills he would be able to see what appear to be wall made of wood. Made from the giant trees at the forest, the wall stood at more than twelve meters tall, with a big gate at the front adorned with the skulls of magic creatures, and watch towers at both sides, this was the blood fang ogre tribe. This tribe had started to prosper in recent times thanks to the appearance of wizard ogre, that using of is more thoughtful mind, made a good revamp at the tribe, thing that was visible just looking at the walls protecting the tribe. Ogres have herculean levels of strength that made lifting things that would normally need the help of machine, in something trivial as lifting a small stick. This coupled with the mind of the wizard ogre, made them able to build a wall around their tribe, bigger and sturdier than most human village walls. Though the inside the tribe was still a far cry of the organization of a human village, things are clearly in a good direction. ¡­ Inside the ogre¡¯s tribe there is a cave, and just outside of cave a pair of big ogres armed with two-handed iron hammer could be found. Entering the cave one would see that it¡¯s actually a type of fortress inside, it various natural caves and paths, with a few of them appearing to be man-made. Clink Clink Cling In the depths of cave one would start to hear the sound of metalwork, and feel the heat of burning fire. In one of the natural rooms of the cave a forge was been built, many kobolds could be seen carrying huge chunks of ore to one side, while in the other side a group of around ten dwarfs melted the ores and started to forge big sized weapons and pieces of armor. One thing word mentioning is that all of them without exception had a somehow tired expression on their faces. But although tired they could not stop working, as was just need a quick glance at the door direction to see to see two ogres standing guard, and with two more outside, any escape thought would vanish just as fast as they came. One of the kobolds with slight more old appearance that the others, with strange markings painted at his skin, and an older but more well maintained tunic at his waist that others, walked to one of the dwarfs working on a more secluded workbench ¡°Hard day, my friend Thalgrim?¡± Wearing a leather apron, a sleeves shirt that showed his hardened muscle, and a long well-groomed white beard, the dwarf in question also had a more old appearance compared to others. He that was working on piece armor looked back at kobold and without stopping swing the hammer said ¡°Nah, I¡¯ve had worse. And you?¡± ¡°I feel better now, knowing that our time here will not last long¡± said the old kobold with relieved voice. Thalgrim the old dwarf looked at the kobold with an eyebrow raised ¡°Not last long? what has got into you Kam, thinking of dying already?¡± ¡°Have you not felt that the ogres had gotten more nervous recently?¡± asked the old kobold named Kam. ¡°I have felt it. So what?¡± ¡°I had a felt the presence of a great Lord coming from the south¡± Kam said with great reverence on his voice ¡°The wizard most had felt it too¡± Thalgrim hammer stopped the moment he heard Lord coming from Kam mouth. He had already lived for a long time, and he know that only one being can be called Lord by a old kobold like Kam with such reverence. ¡°A Lord you say¡± he resumed his hammer swings ¡°How the chances of he really coming here ?¡± ¡°If we go by what the spirits told med, really big¡± ¡°Uhm¡± Thalgrim stayed silent thinking, and after a minute he stopped his hammer, looked at Kam and said ¡°If your Lord really do came and freed my people from this place, I Thalgrim, would not mind offering him my services alongside you¡± Kam smiled ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m sure he will came¡± ¡°Huh¡±
¡°What is the weapons progress?¡± In another room of the cave a scene very different was occurring. The room was more decorated than the others, having red magic creatures skin plastered across the floor and walls and illuminated by torches, balcony¡¯s with books, crystals, herbs and other magic items. And at the center of the room a throne adorned with magic creatures bones could be seen, and sitting at the throne a somehow imposing figure of a woman could be seen. With more than two meters tall, tanned skin wearing a mage tunic made of animal skin with the front open her barely covered body, arms and legs adorned with rare gems, a necklace made of bone at the neck. Short blond hair with sharp green eyes, the tall woman sitting at the throne is Valerie the chief of the blood fang tribe, and also wizard ogre. Wizard Ogre are very rare among the ogres, the unusual smart ogre is considered by some to be the result of a crossbreed that happen a long time ago, between an ogre and an ancient type of human. Wizard ogres by chance are born with this old bloodline awaken, thing that result in their high intelligence and affinity with magic arts, and also explain why wizard ogres have a more close to humans appearance than other ogres. Valerie is a good example, as she looks more like a giant human woman than an actual ogre. ¡°Tribe chief we already are going at the full capacity that our current numbers permit, please have patience¡± answered a young dwarf that was kneeling at before the throne. ¡°Increased the production¡± ordered Valerie with a stern voice ¡°I already sent Orok with a horde of warriors to capture a few more workers. Numbers will not be a problem¡± ¡°Yes Tribe leader¡± answered the young dwarf with a somehow quivering voice, before bowing and leaving the room. ¡®Why this had to happen now?¡¯ thought Valerie helpless. Things in her life had gone fairly well in recent times, she had been able to led her tribe to a more prosperous time, trainings new warriors and find better equipment¡¯s, and even her power had come to grow recently. But one day she suddenly started to feel a very strong presence coming from the south, one that she had never felt before. And to make things worse, earlier two of her men¡¯s had reported hearing the roar of a very strong being, that honestly made them feel fear from the bottom of their hearts. Normally she would had scold-them for the cowardice, but she knew that a very strong presence had settle in the south. ¡°I only hope that this powerful being will not come here so soon¡± BOOM BOOM ¡°OOOORGHH!¡± BOOM Suddenly the room started to shake, the whole cave started to shake, loud screams of terror came from her tribesmen outside. She was about to cast a probing spell when someone came to her room. ¡°Orok?!¡± The muscular ogre commander Orok came to the throne room, but different from the sure looking commander that had departed, this Orok had a more tired and resigned look ¡°Tribe Leader, the two Great Lords are waiting from you outside¡± ¡°Great Lord?¡± a bad premonition came to her when hearing her best man in this stete saying something like that ¡°What great Lords?, Orok what happened in the kobold tribe¡± ¡°The two Great Lords said that they will explain everything¡± Orok looked at Valerie with a pleading look ¡±You do not want to anger them, so please came with me¡± ¡­. As they walked close to the cave entrance, the bad feeling that she had felt earlier only grew stronger and stronger. And when Valerie walked out of the cave her worst nightmares came to her sight. Suffocating heat A wall of dark red fire surrounded the tribe building, the tribe gate and many watch towers now laid ruined at the ground with dark red flames consuming them until nothing left. Unequaled pressure A pressure big than everything she had felt spread through all the corners of the tribe, many of the ogres at the tribe are kneeling at the ground shakings without been able to rise, and some of them even had white/blue lightning around them like chains pinning them down. ¡°So you are the famous wizard ogre¡± She looked up, and what she saw as the visage of two powerful beings staring her down from up the hill where her cave was located. One was a Dragon with gray lightning filled eyes. And the other was as Wolf with burning red eyes. ¡°My name is Lucas, and this one is my brother Will. And I think we have some things to discuss" Chapter 06 - Adventurers Era At the heart of the Blood-Fang ogre tribe a scene that many had not thought possible was happening in the moment. The Walls and watch towers that once protect the tribe now are gone, burned to the ground by dark red flames. The strong ogres that could squash humans with just a slap are now kneeling at the ground, trembling under the pressure of the white/blue lightning. Valerie that was now under the stare of the two beings that had not only brought her entire tribe to their kneels, but also defeated single-handed a horde composed one hundred warriors led by her strongest man commander Orok, had now to put her best face to talk it this two beings. Such feat is something that she can¡¯t achieve, even, even if she teamed up with Orok the chance of this happening are really small, at least she would not achieve at the same smooth way that the two had. She took a breath and with calm voice she said ¡°Esteemed Lords what type of discussion both you want with me?¡± Lucas flew from the top of the hill where he was and landed right in front of Valerie ¡°First I would like to apologize for our abrupt entrance here¡± ¡°Your tribe members had not received our coming here too well¡± Will jumped from the top of the hill and landed at his brother side ¡°So I ended up killing some of them. My bad¡± Looking behind the two at the burning watch tower the sight of two ogre corpse could be seen burning alongside the building. ¡°It is my honor to have both Lord here at my home¡± She looked at the burning ogres ¡°Also there is no need to apologize for killings these two, they are in the fault to begin with¡± If the tribe chief was a normal ogre he probably would not be able to keep is calm at this situation, but Valerie is different, as a wizard ogre with higher intelligence she know that lashing out at this situation will not do any good. They could had wiped out the entire tribe if they wanted to, but they had not, plus the fact that Orok is standing alive by her side is enough prove to her that these two beings will not kill her. Will looked slight impressed at the wizard ogre posture of not lashing out at them because the two ogres ¡®She is smart¡¯ In all honesty Will had not killed the two ogres on purpose, they had died as result of him burning the two watch towers. He had decided to bring them up now but had not thought that she would react in this way. ¡°You see, the kobold tribe that you ordered your warrior to attack is in fact under our rule and protection¡± Valerie tensed at the Dragon statement ¡°Although you wouldn¡¯t know that as we just received their allegiance a few hours ago¡± ¡°But things had already been done, and compensations are in order¡± said Will. ¡°And what type of compensations the two Lord would want from me and my tribe?¡± ¡°A very simple one¡± Lucas looked her in the eye ¡°We want that you and your entire tribe swear allegiance to both of us¡± Even already guessing what type of compensation the two would ask, Valerie that was in the receiving end of the two beings glare still ended up feeling like a thunder had rang at her brain after hearing what Lucas had said. ¡°We can give you time to think about the matter if you wan-¡° ¡±There is no need¡± Valerie that just a few seconds ago had a stunned look on her face now had a resolute look on her eyes ¡°I just want to know one thing¡± A look of wonder came to Lucas face ¡°What is your question?¡± Valerie gave a look at her entire tribe then turned back and brief looked at the grim looking ogre commander Orok ¡°I want to know if we are going to receive the same type of protection from the two Lords that the kobolds have¡± The two brother¡¯s exchange looks and then with a wolfish grin on his face Will looked back at her and said ¡°But of course¡± ¡°Not only we will protect your tribe, but we going to make it more prosper than it already is¡± Lucas gave another looked at Valerie eyes ¡°Even increasing your power will be a possibility¡± Valerie gave an internal sigh after hearing the words of the two brother then bowing to the two she said ¡±I Valerie tribe leader of the Blood-Fang ogre tribe swear my, and my tribe allegiance to the two Great Lords¡± ¡°Tribe Leader¡­¡± Whispered Orok When the two brothers appeared before Orok back in the kobolds tribe he sensed that Valerie although strong could not match the power of this two. So when they asked to lead them to his tribe he knew that this scene would happen, but even as had foresaw all this he still couldn¡¯t help be stunned when the scene finally happened before him. ¡°We the Raynis brothers accept your oath¡± said Lucas ¡°From this day forward you all re under our rule and protection¡± said Will. When the two brothers accepter her oath the pressure and heat that had enveloped her until now vanished, a strange feeling surged inside of her, a feeling of having made a great deal.
¡°Thalgrim are you sure about that?¡± Inside of the forge inside of the ogre tribe cave the figure of the old kobold Kam could be found talking with his friend the old dwarf Thalgrim. ¡°I think already answered that question¡± After the pleading of allegiance to the brothers everything started to change in the ogre tribe, Dahru with a group of kobolds appeared from outside the walls apparently been there since the beginning. The group had been brought by the brothers was in absolute awe of what they saw, the horde of ogre that would had trampled them was stopped just outside their walls, and the tribe of these ogres that was been guarded by even more frightening wizard ogre also was defeated in a simple manner by the two brothers.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. Following the Dragon Lord orders they started to sort all the kobolds that were been held captives by the ogres, kobolds that of course became elated knowing that they are now free and could have the chance of serving a Dragon Lord. The old kobold Kam was revealed to be the leader of the kobolds been held by the ogres, and after pleading his allegiance to the two Lords he came back to talk with his friend thalgrim about their earlier discussion. ¡°I know my friend. I just want to make sure that this is what you want¡± said Kam. ¡°You are old like me so you should know about this¡± said Thalgrim as he looked at the kobold ¡°The life in the wild lands is full of danger, the strong prey on the weak, what happened to our tribes can¡¯t be called uncommon at all¡± Life In a world where people can attain supernatural levels of strength is not easy and those that live in the wild lands are very aware of that, scenarios like what happened with the kobolds and dwarfs, where an entire tribe is held captive by another stronger one is more common that one might think. ¡°The wild lands don¡¯t have the same laws that the developed areas have to protect the common people¡± said the Dwarf ¡°Here strength is the only thing that can safeguard you and your loved ones¡± The only motive that the two brothers are having a smooth time here is because they are strong. So strong in fact that no magic creatures dare to approach them, and not for the fact that the two learned how to suppress their aura they probably would had scared half the forest as they explored, but normal people of these world don¡¯t have such privilege. ¡°The reason why the wizard ogre agreed so fast was most likely this. To have such backers would be the blessing of any tribe in these lands¡± a resolve look came to his eyes ¡°I need this type of power behind my people¡± Kam stood in silence after listening his friend speech, he knew as much as Thalgrim how hard the life can be in the wild lands and how much strength means here. Valerie the wizard ogre knew this, and after realizing that she had no chances against the two brothers she did the best thing that she could do a pledger her allegiance to them. Doing this not only she had avoided a catastrophe, but also ended up gaining two strong backers. ¡°Ahn do as you like¡± in the end Kam could only sigh. ¡°I intend to do just that¡± retorted Thalgrim. Walking out of the forge the two came to face a two meters tall kobold waiting for them. ¡°Elder Kam the two Lords are waiting for you¡± said Dahru with a respectful bow Kam looked back at Thalgrim and after receiving a nod from his friend he turned back to Dahru ¡°Lead the way¡± ¡­ ¡°To think that only one week has passed¡± said the wolf with a sigh. A few hours had passed since everything that had happened with the Wizard Ogre Valerie, and while the subordinates are following their task, the two brothers are sitting at the top of one the hill inside the ogre tribe. ¡°Yeah¡± said Lucas ¡°Only a couple hours had passed since he had set to explore, it really surprise me how my idea had unfold¡± ¡°Talk about surprises huh¡± Will looked at the tribe ¡°That Valerie it¡¯s really good at management, this ogre tribe is better than what I have thought, Is a pity that we need to demolish¡± One of the main orders that the brothers issued was to move everything at of tribe back to their territory. ¡°It can¡¯t be helped these two tribes are far from our home, furthermore our territory is devoid of any magic creature so there so it is a better place to build a base¡± said Lucas while looking at the ogres in the tribe ¡°Besides we need to keep a close eye on them¡± Lucas and Will had now three different groups of people under them, with the ogres being the most unreliable of them, as they are the only ones forced to pledger their allegiance. The kobolds had pledger their allegiance because Lucas is a Dragon, which means he is their natural Lord, the dwarfs were saved by the two so their ended up pledging too. The brothers had defeated their best warriors, made the entire tribe kneel with their aura, and completely suppressed their leader wizard ogre Valerie, and they had done all this without even engaging in a fight. The brothers basically left the ogres without any choice at all.The brother¡¯s show of power might have tamed their wills, but these don¡¯t mean that they are completely out. ¡°Well you are right on that¡± Finishing talking the brothers walked to ogre¡¯s tribe cave where Valerie and Dahru are standing while supervising the move of things from the cave. ¡°Lords Lucas and Lord Will¡± said them after seeing the brothers approaching. ¡°How is everything?¡± ¡°All the kobolds and dwarfs had already been released¡± said Dahru ¡°Elder Kam and Thalgrim are now escorting them alongside a few warriors back to our tribe, from where they will wait to move to the Lords territory¡± ¡°Orok is doing the same thing with my tribe¡¯s man¡± followed Valerie with her usual stern tone ¡°Everything that I had collected has already been shipped out¡± ¡°Very good you two¡± said Lucas with an approving nod. Dahru showed a grateful smile at the Dragon Lord praise and even Valerie showed a slight smile at that. ¡°Sniif This smell¡± Will that idle by the side suddenly turned to one of the wooden crates that had been carried out ¡°There is something in this create¡± ¡°Open the crate¡± Valerie prompt ordered the Ogre that was by the side of the crate to open it up following the Wolf Lord question. The crate as swiftly open by the ogre revealing inside a bunch of gold and rare crystals, alongside a few more fined made items ¡°What is this?¡± asked Lucas after seeing the content of the crate. ¡°A few days ago some of my man had ambushed a human merchant caravan¡± explained Valerie ¡°These things are what they had brought back, I thought in giving them to two Lords as gifts¡± The last part of her explanation she had said looking at Lucas direction, and even without her saying he already knew it the reason why. ¡°That are any humans settlements nearby?¡± asked Will ¡°There is not¡± answered Dahru with a shake of his head. ¡°There is a road used by humans and other peoples in the plains to the west of here¡± explained Valerie ¡°Humans settlements are a little more far way than that, if the Lords want I can lead you two there¡± ¡°Maybe in the future but not now¡± said Lucas. ¡°Let¡¯s close the day¡±
Origin World Year 9.885 of the Adventurers Era History is something very important, and knowing it is a basic rule that every civilization must follow. The history of the Origin World is very long one that was divided by its people in many different eras, with each era having their particularities that set them apart from one another. Like the mothers era where matriarchal type of rules was used by most civilizations in the world, or the Five Empires Era where five new powerful empires surged across the world crushing the old ones, our Adventurers Era that is the current one in the world. During the end of the last era a great natural catastrophe occurred in the world, mountains crumbled and became plains, deserts flourished and turned into forests, alongside many more scenarios. Many places had not suffered any damage while some others became completely new ones. Areas needed to be re-populated and maps needed to be re-arranged. The adventurers that already existed before became more needed, but it was only after a special event that hey really started to surge. In the begging of era that would carry their name, a group of powerful adventures had completed the crossing of a desert that had surged in the catastrophe. The Desert in question had surged between two kingdoms cutting the connection between the two, the adventurers had completely the cross and made well detailed map, doing this they helped the two kingdoms regain their former connection. With the support of the two kingdoms alongside their own levels of influence, the group created the Adventures guild an organization that supported the adventurers across that world, creating new rules and benefits to the profession. The Adventurers guild became the biggest power outside of the kingdoms and empires authority, making the adventures profession one of the most respected and needed ones in the entire world. Nowadays the adventurers are an inseparable part on the world, and the Sages council who lead them became power figures even bigger than many emperors. ¡­ Morning Star city, Aleora Kingdom The Morning Star city is a medium sized city located in the south-west of the Aleora kingdom, known for being one the most beautiful cities in and isolated towns of the kingdom, Morning Stars is very close to a wild land area that attract many adventures to the city, thing that also made many of the inhabitants of city to become adventurers themselves. And inside a restaurant in Morning Star a girl that also wants to become an adventurer will soon discover that her future is not as simple as she had initially planned. Chapter 07 - Master Most cites in the Origin World had in sense a similar architecture to that of cities in middle age times back on Earth, but because of magic the cities in the Origin World adorn a more grand and exquisites designs. With much more well-made buildings and more advanced areas, the civilizations of Origin World had developed in a way that made them very similar to that¡¯s of fantasy books back on Earth. Morning Star city is such an example, situated in the green fields juts outside a forest the city has a look that screamed fantasyand practically shines in the morning light. The city although not very big has an attraction to many adventurers because of its near wild lands, thing that boosted the economy of the city that in only a few decades became a very stable city in the south-west of the Aleora kingdom. In the end of the market area of Morning Star a somehow well know restaurant in the city could be seen. The small family run restaurant named Golden-Sun is most known for its delicious meat based dishes, and is considered to be a rare gem to those who know. And is in this restaurant that a soon to be adventurer story will soon start.
Inside the Golden-Sun kitchen two figures could be found talking with one another. ¡°Are we really going to talk about this again?¡± said a deep and somehow annoyed voice The first figure was that of almost two meters tall middle-aged man with bronze skin, wearing chef¡¯s cloths with the sleeves rose showing his big muscles, short black hair and well maintained beard the man has surely a very imposing figure. ¡°We did, but you still hadn¡¯t give-me an answer dad!¡± said back a young woman voice. The second figure was that of younger woman with about one meter and seventy, short blond hair, tanned skin, turquoise eyes as well proportional body with a large breast and a plentiful set of buttocks, wearing with shirt with a brown jacket on top along matching pants, certainly a very attractive figure. ¡°But why do you want to become an adventurer Lucy?¡± asked the tall man revealed to be the girl dad ¡°It would be so much better if you stayed here in the restaurant with me, don¡¯t you think?¡± ¡°I have lived eighteen years in this kitchen already¡± said Lucy as she followed he dad out of the kitchen ¡°I want to go out and explore the world, be an adventurer just like you and mom used to be¡± As they walked the girl dad duo passed through the restaurant lounge, which consists of about a dozen tables, a balcony on the back with a door the led to the kitchen, plus the simple but beautiful decoration the restaurant certainly a place with his charms. ¡°Who said to you that I used to be an adventurer?¡± asked the Dad as he open the door of the restaurant. ¡°It was Uncle Glenn¡± a excited look came to her face ¡°He said me that you used to be a very fierce adventure with a very big reputation¡± ¡°That idiot and his big mouth¡± grumbled the dad ¡°It¡¯s someone that I know?¡± said joking voice As the dad open the door the figure of a man could be see standing at the front of the restaurant. The man in question has a skin tone similar of that of the Lucy Dad only a bit lighter, he also was a bit shorter been one meter and ninety, long black hair wearing a dark-green jacket with a hood, black pants with many pockets, fingerless gloves. A bow and a quiver on his back and a hunting knife on his waist, the man that looked like a hunter as similar to Lucy Dad albeit only a bit more handsome The man smiled at the Dad surprised face ¡°Hey not going to invite me?¡± ¡°Uncle Glenn¡± before the Dad could say anything Lucy that was by the side ran and gave the man a hug. ¡°Why are you here?¡± asked the Dad. ¡°Cant a guy visit his only brother and niece?¡¯ said the man in a joking manner ¡°What is that face Brenio?, looks like you are having a tough time¡± ¡°He doesn¡¯t want let me become an adventurer¡± said Lucy Gleen looked back at his brother with a surprise look ¡°Why not? You used to be an adventurer yourself¡± ¡°Is because that I used to be an adventurer that I¡¯m like this, can¡¯t a man want his daughter to be safe?¡± finish the Dad with a sigh. ¡°Bus still you should let the girl do want she wants, the she has already eighteen for crying out loud!¡± said the Uncle. ¡°Are you going to start bugging me about this too?¡± to his question Gleen gave in a look that said ¡®What you think?¡¯ ¡°Arh FINE! You two win¡± the Dad threw his arms to the air as he conceded. ¡°Thanks Dad!¡± Lucy walked to her Dad and gave him a tight hug and kiss on the cheek. ¡°All for my little girl¡± He patted her head. Glaring back at his brother he point at him and said with a stern voice ¡®You are just like your mother¡¯ ¡°And you freeloader, at least teach her the ways of an adventurer, give her some advices. I will finish the preparations¡± and he walked back inside. ¡­ Back at the restaurant lounge Lucy and her uncle set and one of the tables close to the balcony, and at that moment the always present joking smile of Gleen vanished from his face, in his place a more serious look came to him. ¡°So you smart brat I helped you to convince my brother, but just like him I''m also worried about you, so tell me¡­¡± He glared at her in the eye ¡°Is this really what you want?¡± ¡°Yes uncle¡± Lucy also became more serious ¡°To be honest I had discovered about father and mother past a long time before you told me. I had find one of mothers old journey books when I was little, reading about her adventurers, the places that she had seen, the people that she had meet, it was everything so amazing so wonderful¡± ¡°I want experience these things too¡± She put a hand on her hearth ¡°Furthermore I don¡¯t know when it began, but I start it to feel something different inside of me, it spread all over me and I simply can¡¯t stay still in one place anymore¡± Gleen was looking directly at his niece eyes all the time, and he could see the sincerity in her voice, the desire for adventurer, desire for freedom. It honestly remind him of someone that he knew very well ¡®You surely are your parents daughter¡¯ ¡°Alright you convinced me¡± a happy smile came to Lucy face ¡°But you still are going to hear my lessons¡± ¡°What type of lessons?¡± ¡°We will start from the basics¡± he said while adjusting himself at the chair ¡±Tell me, what do you know about classes?¡±Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Well, classes is the way we call the various fighting professions that people follow in order to get strong¡± start to explain Lucy ¡°For some when reason when people do certain activities, like fighting strong opponents or meditating, the mana inside of them will start to grow and by using different training methods we can force the mane inside of us to some parts of our body which in turn will strengthen that part and make it stronger¡± ¡°Very good¡± praised Gleen with a nod ¡°You are right, using different methods you can strengthen your body in different ways, for instance¡­¡± Gleen that was talking swiftly took a silver coin from his pocket and started to flip the coin through his fingers in a very skilled manner ¡°My profession is hunter, so as such I focus more on dexterity and speed, so the method that I train focus in using the mana to make my muscles more flexible, like that¡¯s on my hand¡± The eyes of Lucy shined at her uncle demonstration she was looking straight at him when he took the coin from his pocket, but his movements were so fluid that to her it looked like he took the coin from thin air. ¡°Well you know about classes¡± Gleen stopped the coin trick, Lucy slight pouted at that ¡°So what you know about the power levels?¡± ¡°I know that mana of someone is measured through an ancient method that classify the power of someone into number levels starting from one¡± Lucy frowned ¡°But I don¡¯t know exactly how high the scale go¡± ¡°According to the ancient method levels are classified from one to one hundred¡± explained Gleen ¡°But people also like to divide these levels in ten ranks and then give different names to each rank¡± ¡°Why is that?¡± ¡°Because is easier for normal people to understand¡± said the deep voice of the father. Looking back to the balcony Brenio the father could be seen finishing the settings of the restaurant. ¡°Could you elaborate to us brother?¡± said Gleen with his usual smile back on his face, to which his brother scoffed but still answered. ¡°It¡¯s like this, if you approached a normal person on the street and told her ¡®I¡¯m a lvl 15 warrior¡¯, that person would probably look at you with a puzzled look¡± explained the father while looking at his daughter ¡°But instead if you say ¡®I¡¯m a Soldier-Rank warrior¡¯ the person will start to understand what your level of power really is¡± Giving a nod to his brother Gleen follow ¡°The number scale is a more precise way of evaluating the power of someone, but to normal people and even some adventurers is very hard to really gauge the power of someone from these numbers. So because of this across the many years people start to give names to describe certain power levels, they use wide know figures who have these power levels to serve as reference, as to know what these levels can really do¡± ¡°These ranks would be: mortal (Lvl 01-10), solider (Lvl 11-20), knight (Lvl 21-30), Keeper (Lvl 31-40), Wanderer (Lvl 41-50), Elite (Lvl51-60) and Master (Lvl 61-70)¡± ¡°Wait, didn¡¯t you said that the levels go to one hundred?¡± a puzzled looked came to Lucy face ¡°What about the other ranks?¡± ¡°The higher you go in the scale the more-harder it became to ascend in power¡± it was her father that explained ¡°Wanderer rank are still somehow common, but elite and master are very rare to come by. As for higher ranks, well most people will die without seeing them, for this motive and many others people named all the levels above seventy as Legendary¡± ¡°Some believe that legendary rank used to have other names¡± said the uncle wonder look ¡°But as they got more rare people shifted the name to legendary to suit more these unknown levels of power¡± ¡°So Legendary-Ranks don¡¯t exist anymore?¡± asked Lucy. ¡°They sure exist, we only don¡¯t see them. There was a time that I was luck to see an Elite-Rank doing his work ¡°a look of fear came to his eyes as he remember the encounter ¡°that level of power is already scary enough, but according to myths an Elite-Rank is nothing before a Legend, such a power¡­ Is better that hey remain hidden¡± The look of fear in her uncle eyes stunned Lucy, and when she looked back at her father the same fear could be seen at his eyes. But although they looked similar Lucy could see some differences, her uncle fear came from a speculation that he had made in his mind, but her father eyes gave her the impression that he had actually witnessed that power ¡®Had father meet a Legendary-Rank?¡¯ ¡°Anyway you know pretty well about the basics¡± Gleen returned to his old smiling self ¡°I think you could already go to the guild and sighn yourself up as a novice adventurer¡± AS he say that Gleen start to get up from the chair ¡°You are going already?¡± asked the Dad. ¡°She already known the basics¡± explained Gleen ¡°Besides I need to report some things at the guild. I will return tomorrow to take Lucy to the guild hall to make her registration¡± ¡°Okay and behave yourself¡± said the Dad to his brother ¡°And when do I not behave?¡± said Gleen with a smile as we walked to the door ¡°Bye Lucy¡± ¡°Bye uncle Gleen¡±
In the south part of Morning Star a big and beautiful blue building could be seen standing proud among the others, the building is about twelve stories high. The big entrance of the building as careful carved from white-stone, the door was adorned with intricate carvings with detail in gold that shined in sun light. An in the top of the entrance a sign with ¡®Morning Star-Adventurer Guild¡¯ as found, if one looked at the letters the power of who had written could be felt. The street in front of the adventurer¡¯s guild is very busy, and every person that pas close to the building would look at the sign at the top, not matter who was a look of admiration would appear on their faces. Inside of the adventurer¡¯s guild in the last floor a very elegant scenario could be found, the place although simple in design radiated a noble aura, the wall and floor all had very simple ornaments. What really caught the attention would be the celling, gone are the chandeliers is their place a starry night sky could be seen, the glittering stars are what gave the room its light. The scene as so vivid that even high level people would find hard to tell if what they are seeing is real or not. ... Walking across a long corridor in the last floor an elegant and beautiful figure could be seen. The figure was that of a mature looking woman, her white skin is smooth and beautiful as the most rare silk, her hair tied in a bun as of shining gray, her eyes are of lilac color with tints of purple, her tied and neat dark blue cloths made her look like a CEO of a great company. The woman walked in silence as she hold some papers in her arms and in just a few seconds she came before a double door, giving a few light knocks at the door she opened it and walked inside. The other side of the room a very simple put well cared reading was found, with many bookshelves across it, a big window with view to the city bellow, the strange thing is that if looked from outside this window could not been seen. In front of the widow there is a wooden desk and sitting behind the desk the figure of sage looking old man, with white hair and a long white beard, wearing a neat and clean suit with magic symbols adorning it. The old mad sat there reading a book, only stopping when the elegant woman came before his desk. ¡°Good afternoon Master¡± greeted the elegant woman. ¡°Good afternoon Alice¡± a kind smile came to the old man face ¡°Is unusual for you to be here at this time, had something happened?¡± The old man was the Master of the Morning Star Adventurer Guild and the elegant woman as Alice the vice-master of the MS guild, the Master''s secretary and also his apprentice. ¡°Indeed master¡± said Alice ¡°Do you remember the incident that happened a few days ago, where the merchant Yosef caravan as assaulted by a group of ogres?¡± ¡°Yes of course¡± the Master nodded ¡°The report of his man¡¯s said that the ogres were acting more organized that they should. Huh only a wizard ogre could do that¡± ¡°That is what I thought master. To let an ogre tribe with a wizard ogre like this close to merchant road is a great danger¡± said Alice ¡°So to confirm this I sent one of the guild scouts to see if what they said as true¡± You could say that one of the main benefits of the adventurer¡¯s guild is the difficult measurement that they do in the many jobs posted at the guild. One of the main problems that adventurer¡¯s faced In the past, is the fact that some of their people would give false information when employing adventurer¡¯s. Be for not wanting to pay the according reward, for fear of no one wanting the job in question, or for some malicious motive by upholding information the people that employed an adventurer would in put him in great danger. Many adventurer¡¯s died in the past because of this, so one because of this the adventurer¡¯s guild in make sure to evaluate the jobs that they received before letting the adventurers take them. In most cases they would only do questions using ¡®Lie Detector¡¯ magic, but depending of what was posted in the job they would also sent their personal trained scout to see if the information given was really true. In the beginning many still tried to fool the guild, but the ones that did came to understand first handed that you can¡¯t fool the guild and go without punishment, so nowadays not many dare to uphold information when posting a job in the guild. ¡°So I would assume that you found something ¡°asked the Master ¡°The scout that I sent found the trail of the ogres, following them he came to the place where their tribe used to be¡± answered Alice. ¡°Used to?¡± ¡°The signs clearly showed that a tribe use to be there, but now only debris are left¡± She shook her hand making a piece of rock appear on it ¡°He brought back this rock from the place, when I scanned it I found to very strange auras¡± The Master stretched his hand and the rock that was on Alice hand flew to his hand ¡°Hmm¡­ very interesting¡± As the time passed a smile that only grew bigger start to appear on the Master face. ¡°Master?¡± ¡°Well Alice, it looked time my time here would be more entertaining that I initially thought¡± said the Master with a happy smile. ¡°What do you mean Master?¡± asked his apprentice with a puzzled look¡± ¡°Everything in its time Alice, Everything in its time¡± As he said that the Master turned his chair so to face the window behind, as he did that his gaze looked like could pierce the clouds and see in the distant forest the two brother like figures ¡®I wonder what you two going to do in the future?¡¯ Chapter 08 - Swamp Crawlers ¡°Did you felt that?¡± asked Will. It was been about four days since the incident with the kobolds and ogre tribe¡¯s, and the two brothers have returned to their territory alongside their new underlings. And although there is still some bad sentiments between some of them peace still reigned under the suppressive aura of the brothers. The two brothers that were preparing to go see their subjects suddenly stopped when a strange feeling came to them. ¡°I have¡± answered Lucas ¡°What a strange feeling, is almost like¡­. almost like there is someone watching us¡± And like if they had planned the brothers turned their faces at west at same time, with their eyes glowing the brothers tried to perceive who as the one peeping on them, but just as fast as the brother had turned the feeling of watching eyes on them vanished completely. ¡°Who was it? Had we already attract someone attention?¡± the Wolf grew a little nervous ¡°Should we became worried?¡± ¡°No, I don¡¯t think so. It was brief but I could tell that the person watching us held no malicious intentions¡± said the Dragon with a more calm tone ¡°Besides it don¡¯t make sense that someone would hold something against us¡± Hearing his brother answer Will calmed down ¡°You right, in the eleven days that we had been here the only big thing that we have done is the ogre tribe subjugation. It shouldn¡¯t have gained the anger of someone capable of peeping on us¡± ¡°This person had a more curious feeling than anything¡± said Lucas as the two started to walk ¡°Furthermore the person stopped the moment that we turned, which means that at least it doesn¡¯t want to annoy us¡± ¡°We still should not lower our guards¡± ¡°Never said we should¡±
In the foot of the hill where the brothers lived a new tribe could be seen. At first the kobolds and the others could only guess how their Lords territory looked like became a hot topic among them all with many possibilities sprouting in their minds, one more different than the other, with the only thing constant is that it would be a very good place. The territory didn¡¯t disappoint them. Very tall trees with light green leaf at the top, beautiful flowers almost like a carpet could be seen around the forest floor, rare plants and herbs found one after the other, and a river with crystal clear water flowed at the side. And the more they walked in the brother territory the more rich it became, at the foot of the hill where the two brothers lived the place already looked like heavens to them. Although curious on how the top of the hill where the brother lived looked, the group content themselves with the foot of the hill with the top of it becoming a forbidden area to them. Setting on the foot of the hill they started to build the new tribe where they all would live from there on. Initially the kobold¡¯s in Dahru tribe including the young and old numbered to more than five hundred members, and after the integration of captive kobolds of Kam tribe the number soared to almost one thousand members. Valerie ogre tribe held about three hundred and fifty members, less than half the number of kobolds but their physical powers make up for the number difference. The dwarfs led by Thalgrim of the three are the ones with less numbers having only about a hundred members, but as almost all of them regardless of age are very skilled crafters and blacksmiths their numbers seen about right. Building a village from scratch is something that normally would take some time and effort, but this task became something easy when put in the hand of this group. Under the Lords orders the three groups started to work together in order to build the village, the kobolds with their big numbers acted as the main workers building most of things in the tribe. The ogres acted as the heavy lifters as with their strength the job of carrying the giant logs became something easy, and the dwarfs acted as secondary workers with most building things that needed a more skilled hand to build. ¡­ ¡°They really had gone all out¡± After the little watcher incident the two brothers walked down the hill to the place where the village without name was being built, village that from afar could already been seen. The free of magic creature¡¯s territory of the brothers gave the group peace of mind to focus on their jobs at hand, and with only four days of earnest work the figure of a village could be already be seen. ¡°To think that only four days had gone by¡± the Dragon sighed. The village was still looked crude, thing that was expected since it was built in only four days, but although simple looking this is a four days built village where about one thousand and five hundred people could live, this fact is something that really impressed the two brothers. The presence of the approaching brothers was quickly noticed by the three leaders that in response quickly came to meet their Lords. ¡°Welcome Lords¡± Said all of them in unison. ¡°I¡¯m seeing that things are going pretty well¡± stated Lucas with an approving nod to which the three smiled. ¡°Although I would say that wood is not the most resistant material to use in a construction¡± said Will as he looked at the tribe ¡°Say, do you guys know how to make bricks?¡± ¡°Bricks?¡± asked Dahru. ¡°Yeah bricks, do you guys know?¡± ¡°I know¡± answered Thalgrim ¡°The problem is that we wished to build something quick as the Lords had instructed, also I gave a look around the Lords territory and I haven¡¯t seen much clay around¡±Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Well this is a problem¡± Will frowned though to make really resistant brick you need to use more than just clay, it is still the main core of the thing. ¡°I know a place where we could find enough clay¡± Valerie that was by the side gave a step forward ¡°But it may be dangerous¡± ¡°Oh¡± Lucas raised an eyebrow is interest being picked.
Dark trees with their root coming out of the ground, muddy floor, pools of dirty water around the place, giant insects and poisonous plants, thick white fog hovering around plus the lack of sunlight gave the place a gloomy and cold atmosphere. This place is know as Fog Dark Woods a swamp located in the east region of the brothers territory, the swamp as is name suggest has as distinct characteristic it¡¯s dark wood trees and an all year around thick white fog, a fog that in some places it even became poisonous. Puff Puff Puff Jut in the border of the swamp you would start to hear some muffled sounds, walking a little closer to the source of the sounds you would find something similar to a construction site, where many kobolds are using a simple looking wood shovel to collect some type of gray mud, the gray mud would be put in nearby giant size wood pushcart that when full would be taken somewhere by a standing by ogre. ¡­ ¡°So, what do you think?¡± asked Will to his brother. Following Valerie the brothers came to the region at east from their territory where a big gloomy swamp as in wait for them, the swamp was not too far from their territory which came as a surprise to the two as they had not notice this relative close swamp until now. After coming to the place and finding that indeed the place had a vast amount of clay, giving their approval to Valerie received green light to bring some people to collect the clay in here, and with the dwarfs crafting a few simple tools the extraction work began in a fast pace. This was three hours ago and now the brothers are sitting in a tall rock while they watched the operation ongoing in the swamp bellow. ¡°Think about what?¡± asked back Lucas. ¡°About this Valerie¡± the Wolf looked at the Wizard Ogre figure at the distance ¡°She is been quite supportive to us¡± ¡°Yeah¡± the Dragon looked at the same direction ¡°But I can understand her, I mean we kind forced her in into this, she is only making the best of the situation¡± ¡°Yeah, but is still felt strange to have so many people as our ¡®underlings¡¯. They know us for like four days, but even so they are already this supportive of rule¡± Will gave a long sigh that even released some steam ¡°I tried to see some type of discontentment about all this but in the end I saw none, not even from the ogres¡± The eldest brother gave one more look at the people working below ¡°We are experiencing culture shock first-handed, to us it might see strange but to them is something very normal. Remember what Thalgrim said when he swore allegiance? , strength is everything in this place, if you don¡¯t have it you will need to rely on someone that has, we are this someone¡± ¡°I thing you are right¡± shrugging we looked back at his brother ¡°Talking about strength, the information that Valarie and Thalgrim gave us had put some light in that aspect¡± In the four days that had pass the brothers had collect a lot of information from the leader figures of the three groups, the most important being the information about the power levels of this world. They had discovered that using an ancient measuring method the ones on this world arrange the power of the people in a scale of one to one hundred, and then further divided it into ten ranks. ¡°Well is good that we finally know how the powers are rank in this world¡± said Lucas ¡°Though is kind sad that we don¡¯t know where we are in this scale¡± They had asked where in the power scale the two of them would stand, but to their surprise none of the leaders could give an exact answer to their question. ¡°Well it can¡¯t blame on them, the difference in strength hinders the measurement¡± said Will ¡°But from our earlier show of power Valerie had said that we probably over the level thirty-five¡± According to Valerie and the others when trying to measure someone power the bigger the gap the hard is to accurately gauge the power, the brothers can gauge the power of the other very easily but the other can¡¯t do the same, and unless they het a special magic item they would not be able to gauge the brother power. Valerie herself said that she is a level seventeen almost a knight-rank, and going by the aura that the brothers give and the power that they had showed she had guessed that the they are probably above level thirty-five. ¡°For what she had said those above the seventy are considered legendary and many even doubt if they really exist or not¡± said the Dragon as he recalled the information ¡°So those close to forty are already considered very rare¡± ¡°That is to say that we are strong, very strong, but still not the strongest¡± completed Willl. One thing that Valerie had also said is considering that with Lucas being a true-dragon and Will ut lupus excelsis (high order wolf), the two probably have very high fighting powers it is to say that human of the same level as them would not be able to take them on, with only a big group or someone of a higher level would be able to fight them. This of course is taking in account normal people, if the enemy is someone well equipped or with a strong ability things my turn different.
¡°Look out!¡± ¡°Kill that¡± ¡°Oooorghh¡± Just as the brothers had finished talking as commotion started to arise from the workers below, looking at that direction the two could see some type of giant insect type magic creatures coming from inside swamp and attacking the workers collecting clay. ¡°Hmph!¡± huffing Valerie that was coordinating some ogres turned to the attacking and pointing her finger at their direction she cast spell. [Magic Arrow] From the tip of her fingers a small emerald magic circle appeared and from it six glowing green like arrows shot hitting the insects square on their hearts killing them instantly. The two meters tall kobold warrior Rokdo also jumped into the fray, a centipede looking magic creature tried to attacking him with its pincers but with a sidestepped he avoided the incoming attack. [Spear Thrust] His spear pierced the beast belly making it shriek in pain he pulled his spear making dark green blood pour out of the wound, giving a little shake at his spear he dashed to another nearby creature. ¡­ Without the brother needing to act the attacking insect creatures have been swiftly dispatched. ¡°Is everyone alright?¡± asked Will as the brothers arrived. ¡°Some of the workers that had been caught by surprise got some injuries¡± answered Rokdo ¡°But it was nothing major, a quick visit to elder Kam and they would be back in shape¡± ¡°What are those creatures?¡± asked Lucas to the wizard ogre. ¡°They are known as swamp-crawlers, and as their name suggest are a type of magic creature that live inside the swamp, and for some strange reasons are very aggressive in nature¡± explained Valerie ¡°Their volatile temper is the reason that I said that it could be dangerous to come here¡± Walking to one of the dead insects Will lowered his head to have a better look at it, at first the magic creatures look exactly like oversized insects, but if you get a little closer you would start to see purple/dark blue bulges all over their bodies ¡°Sniff There is strange smell on these things, is like they are sick¡± ¡°Hmm¡± turning his head to the swamp the eyes of Lucas glowed for a moment before stopping ¡°I can feel a strong magic source coming from inside the swamp where they had come. Do any of you know what it is?¡± Valerie shook her head ¡°No, many tried explore the swamp but the swamp-crawlers would always attack them before they could found anything¡± ¡°Beside further in the swamp the fog turn into poisonous mist¡± completed Rokdo. ¡°Are we going in a little swamp adventure?¡± a grin started to appear on Will face as he said that. ¡°I guess so¡± Lucas tuned to Valerie and Rokdo ¡°You two are in command for now, work together to build a small camp outside the swamp in the meantime that we are out¡± ¡°Yes Lord¡± Nodding at the two Lucas spread is wings and took off in the swamp direction his wolf brother running just below him as the two set out to explore the thick fogged swamp. Chapter 09 - Purple Crystal In the beginning everything was relatively normal, but as they walked more deep in the swamp things started to change. The already dim light became even more-dim, making the place gloomier that it already was, the trees became even more-tall and distorted, and even the ever hovering fog started to emit a very strange aura. ¡°The fog had changed¡± said Will as felt his surrounding ¡°It felt as if it had become poisonous¡± ¡°But not a normal type of poison¡± said Lucas as he landed near his brother ¡°Can you feel it? it¡¯s corroding the mana around it¡± Following what his brother said Will tried to feel the changes in the mana around the mist, and true to the Dragon words the mana around the place really was strange. The quantity of it is the same was in the swamp entrance if nothing it was denser, but it didn¡¯t give the pure vibe that normal mana gave instead it gave a somehow corrupted one. ¡°It is the same feeling that I got from those swamp crawlers¡± Will said looking at his brother ¡°Do you the mist is what did that to them?¡± ¡°It could be, but I wonder what caused this to the mist in the first place?¡± Lucas walked a little into the mist letting it hit his body, Will got surprised at the act but stayed in silence, a few moments later Lucas turned back ¡°Was I thought, we are immune to it. We can still go on¡± ¡°Huh I never said that before but our bodies are really OP¡± said Will with a joking manner to which Lucas smirked. Will also walked into the mist, but just after stepping into the mist something happened. ¡°SHRIEK!¡± A giant centipede magic creature lunged at will from behind a tree, the cold light the sharp pincers glowed in the dark swamp. Bang Without looking behind Will propelled itself into the air in an inverse somersault using his legs, passing over the centipede head that ended up hitting the ground where the wolf once was. ¡°¡­¡± The centipede that attacked Will didn¡¯t move after hitting the ground, it stood there froze for three seconds when suddenly a rip appeared on is back, green blood pulling out of it like a fountain. When in mid-air during the sault Will used his claws to attack the centipede, the Wolf claws cut the centipede armor like it was made of butter killing the creature almost instantly. Will looked at the dead centipede then back at his brothers that was silently watching the show ¡°And here I wondering if this guy was going to attack or not¡± ¡°Showoff¡± Lucas looked at the centipede one more time ¡°This thing is similar to the ones that had attacked the others, but there is some difference¡± The centipede that had attacked the brothers looked exactly like the ones that had attacked the workers and the clay camp, but with the difference that this one looked more vicious. The claws longer, the pincers behind the mount are sharper, the eyes showed a more blood-thirsty look. ¡°There are more bulges in this one too¡± completed Will ¡°Besides I also could tell that this is one is a lot stronger than the earlier ones¡± It might not be clear when the brothers are the ones fighting it, but the centipede here is in fact more-stronger than the ones at the swamp entrance. Using the power scale is like the ones at the entrance are around the level eleven-twelve, while this one is already fifteen. ¡°A jump of three-four levels with this little distance¡± Lucas looked back at magic source direction that he had felt ¡°I wonder what this things is¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go Will¡± ¡°Alright brother¡± ¡­ The brothers had just walked from the point where the centipede had attacked them and something already happened again. ¡°Shoosh¡± ¡°Shoosh¡± Two magic creatures surged from within fog and attacked in the brother direction, but instead of coming from the back the attacked now came from above. ¡°Caw¡± The magic creatures looked like ostrich sized black ravens with longs beaks, blood-thirsty red eyes, feathers black as night with the same bulges of the centipede all over their bodies. The ravens flew in an almost blinding speed aiming for the most obvious target that it was also flying. ¡°Huh¡­¡± even with their speed Lucas saw the two ravens from afar flying side by side at him, to which he only twisted his body as to fly sideways. ¡°Shoosh¡± Just as he flew past between the two ravens the Dragon attacked, his tail acted like a swift whip and slammed at one of the ravens while his claw slammed at the other one. The two bird magic creatures basically exploded at the attacks, blood and fathers flew to all sides in a gore display, and the few remaining intact parts of the birds got sent flying way in the swamp. Lucas without giving the birds another thought landed in the ground just to see his brother with a knowing smile looking at him ¡°What?¡± ¡°Who is doing the showoff now?¡± asked the Wolf with a smirk. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you are talking about¡± ¡°I¡¯ll pretend I believe¡±
The brothers had come to really understand what Valerie meant when she called these swamp-crawlers aggressive, it turns out that the attacks from earlier have been just the warming up. More and more magic creatures came from within the fog swamp and attacked the two, and although the brothers easily dispatched of them the magic creatures coming at them appeared to have no end. ¡°This is getting ridiculous¡± said will as he dispatched a frog looking magic creature with a fireball ¡°This guys have no fear¡± ¡°Is really strange¡± Lucas stomped a crab magic creature using his claw ¡°Normal magic creatures flee from us like we''re some type of plague, but these guys instead of running from us they run toward us¡± In the time that they had been in this world the brothers became very clear of the fact that magic creatures in general would avoid them, their self-preserving instincts basically yell at them to flee from the two, and not even the blood-boar who had a reputation of having no fear would flee at the sight of the two. This is understandable considering that they would have no chance in case if the brothers decided to attack them, but these swamp-crawlers are clearly different from normal magic creatures as they keep attacking the brothers without much of a second thought. ¡°Is like they have no self-preserving instincts¡± said Lucas. ¡°True, but I have to say that I¡¯m actually liking this about them¡± Will turned to his brother ¡°At least they try to put up a fight¡± Being now two of greatest predators among all magic creatures the brothers had inherit some their prime fighting-thirsty sides, although clearly not to the point of clouding their minds the beast instincts inside of them crave for fights. But with every magic creature that see them fleeing, the only times that they can have some fight is when they are training. Even though these swamp-crawlers are very weak compared to the two, they at least attack back. ¡°Clank!¡± When they thought that all the swamp-crawlers had already been deal it a sound coming from the side told them otherwise, sound that came from a rusty full plate armor dragging a sword, vein like mark covered all his body. ¡°Well that is an unusual one¡± Will looked at the approaching walking armor with some surprise, but after sensing the armor power he quickly dismissed is threat. [Fireball] Without much of a second thought Will launched a fireball that hit the armor square in the middle, the dark red flames completely engulfed the armor making looked like a human formed torch, completely stopping its movements just one meter way from the wolf. ¡°Impressive as it looked it was not much of threat¡± said Will looking back at his brother with a light smirk. ¡®There is something wrong with this thing¡­¡¯ Lucas also sensed the armor power and although strong compared to normal people it was no threat to them, but even with the armor going down with only one blow the young Dragon still felt something amiss Clank! A metal sound coming from inside the flames confirmed the Dragon suspicious, the armor that was thought to be deal it attacked from inside the flames at the Wolf back with his sword in a overhead swing.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! ¡°!!!¡± Will was surprised by the sudden attack of the armor, this coupled with the fact that they are very close to one another didn¡¯t helped his situation ¡®I should have hit harder¡¯ ¡­ [Lightning Dragon Breath] But just as the sword would strike Will a beam of white/blue energy radiating pure power came from behind him and hit the armor sending it way in an abrupt manner. BOOM The armor exploded in the power of the beam, only smoke was left in the place where it landed. ¡°Huh¡­¡± turning back Will saw his brother with wisps of smoke coming out from his mouth as he glare at his direction ¡°Sorry brother, I got careless¡± ¡°You should be more careful¡± Lucas sighed at his brothers sorry looking eyes ¡°Look is not your fault. It¡¯s our first time doing something like this, some slips should been expected¡± After a few seconds of silence Will looked back at his brother and asked ¡°That thing was strange, all other creatures had gone down with only one blow that was the first that needed a second one¡± ¡°And it had some strange markings too, we should take a look on them but¡­ ¡°Lucas looked back at the spot where the armor was blow to, only a small crater was left. ¡°Well, it surely don¡¯t looked like a magic creature, although did have magic but it didn¡¯t looked alive¡± said Will as the two brothers started to walk ¡°Not normal life at least¡± ¡­ The walked for a more couple meter in the mist before coming to face with something that made them stop in their tracks. ¡°Well this is a thing¡± Ruins that looked like a temple stood in the swamp before the brothers, the place was big easily the size of a university from back on earth with vines growing all over the place, something that looked like once had been a tower was in crumbles at one side. Exchanging glances the brothers walked inside the ruins and as the two did that they started to see that the place really looked like a university, library¡¯s and rooms that looked like laboratory¡¯s could be found basically at every corner. ¡°What do you thing this place was?¡± asked the Wolf as they walked in a garden looking place ¡°I don¡¯t know, it could had been many things but if had to guess I would say that was a some type of researching place¡± he looked around ¡°But clearly something most had gone wrong and now is abandoned¡± ¡°I could see that but¡­¡±Will tilt his head in confusion ¡°Why build in a swamp?¡± ¡°Discretion maybe?¡° Clank Clank Clank Metal sound suddenly started to ring breaking the silence of the place, suits of armor like the one that had attacked the brother earlier started to appear from all sides, and as any would guess they started to walk at the brother¡¯s direction. ¡°Remember to hit harder¡± reminded Lucas to his brother. ¡°Don¡¯t worry I¡¯m not going to make the same mistake twice¡± Past two minutes the garden where the brothers were was now filled with broken suits of armor over it, the brothers stood by the side of the most intact one. ¡°There is many inscriptions inside of this things, maybe his type of magic golem?¡± With a intact specimen the two gave a more careful look at the suit of armor and tried to figure out what make it tick, what they found was an intricate magic circuit inside of the suit armor. ¡°It surely must had been¡± Lucas pointed at the purple/dark-blue color of the circuits ¡°Look at the color, they must have been corrupted just like the swamp-crawlers¡± ¡°Sniff The smell match¡± Will looked at his brothers ¡°What do you think happened?¡± ¡°Maybe something happened in this place in the past that corrupted the mana in the area, this things must had been the personal golems of wherever who owned the place, and because they run by mane they must have been the firsts to become like this¡± he looked at the heart area of the ruins, his eyes glowing for a moment ¡°Sure enough, the thing that I felt earlier is inside of this place¡± The two exchanged glances again and then took off.
In the heart area of the ruins inside a very big hall the two found the biggest laboratory that they had seen until now, the place had many carvings around it that glowed in a soft light giving the place a very mystical vibe. In the center of the hall a one meter tall purple crystal with swirls of dark-blue stood proud as it glowed in a very glooming light, a magic circle surrounded the crystal as it glowed at the same glooming way. ¡°Looks like we have found our culprit¡± said Will as we saw the crystal with the same colors as the corrupted creatures. Crumble Just as Will finished talking the hall started to shake and from the middle of it a tall figure started to rise from the ground. The figure in question with size similar to that of Lucas had a humanoid shape, looking like a puppet carved from stone the thing had many carvings all over is body that glowed in the same light as the crystal. Stomp Stomp The stone golem didn¡¯t wasted time and just after as it finished rising from the ground it started to walk in the brother¡¯s directions, his intentions very obvious. The brothers also didn¡¯t wasted time and without uttering any word the two assumed fighting stances. [Lightning] Boom Making the first move Lucas launched a lightning attack at the golem direction, the lighting landed in the golem making a thunder rumble ring across the room, the golem stopped for a brief moment before resuming his walk. Swoosh Will also made his move, just as Lucas launched his lightning attack he sprinted at the golem direction which in turn lifted his giant arm and swing it at the approaching Wolf direction. ¡®Too slow¡¯ the movements of the golem although strong are very slow to match Will speed, so in a very easy manner he dodged the attack that landed in the ground. [Ruin Slash] With his claws coated in dark-red energy Will attack aiming at the golem chest area where the magic carvings converged, making them dim for moment before suddenly regaining their glow again Swoosh The golem tried another swing at the wolf direction but it ended up hitting the side of the Dragon that intercepted the attack. Poow The power of the blow created wind and carved a crater in the ground, even someone at level thirty would have been mortally wounded by something of this power, but Lucas? He acted as if as nothing his scales brushed the hit with easy. Rotating his body Lucas attacked again, his tail started to glow was it became wrapped in lightning and then in a powerful swing he slammed it at the golem. [Lightning Slam] Boom The golem was sent flying by the Dragon attack and ended up crashing at one of the hall walls making it crack but it didn¡¯t fell, the carvings at the wall glowed more intensely at moment of the impact before calming down again. Crumble The golem started to get up from the ground but before he could do it the spot where he was became engulfed in dark-red flames. [Fire Pillar] In a move to not give the enemy time to react Will used another skill, he created a bigger than normal fireball and then launched at the golem, the fireball slammed at the golem in a very strong manner making a pillar of dark-red flames that reached the celling rise from the place where the golem was. Just the heat that the flames radiated at this moment alone would have been enough to kill people up to middle Knight-rank. One thing worth mentioning is that the walls that should had been crumbled to dust are still standing high, the carvings that glowing at every impact. Puff The flames extinguished themselves after a few seconds revealing the figure of the golem that was visually affected by the brother synced attack, his body had cracks all over it with the place where Lucas had hit missing a chunk, a big black mark could be seen in the center of his body where the pillar of flame had slammed. Huumm Before the brothers could react, the carvings on the golem body started to glow with more intensity his body starting to repair itself in an astonishing rate. Before they could realize the golem had already restored itself. ¡°Urgh¡± ¡°Huh¡± The brothers could not help but grumble at the scene of the golem repairing itself again, and without exchanging more words they attacked again. ¡­ The fight continued with more intensity than before with the entire ruin shaking with the power of the battle, and the only motive that the hall where the fight was occurring was not destroyed was because of the carvings in the walls that glowed at every impact. The golem itself was supposed to be already destroyed by the brothers many times, but each time he came close to crumble the carvings in his body glowed and repaired it back to peak condition. ¡°Tch This guy is too stubborn ¡°complained Will as he saw the golem restore itself again. The golem itself is not big of a problem with his attacks being to slow to hit will and too weak to hurt Lucas, but the carving ability to restore the golem is what give the brothers a headache. ¡°Those carvings are the problem if they run out of energy his ability to restore itself will be gone¡± said Lucas from the side. ¡°Yeah but he don¡¯t seem to have a core inside of him, we checked before when you blew his chest open¡± At the moment Will eyes grew in a sudden realization ¡°Only if¡­¡± In a sync manner the two looked at the giant crystal direction, and sure enough the crystal also glowed more alongside the carvings in the golem body. The brothers looked at each other before smiling in a very savage way, then without much of a word Will took off at the crystal direction. Stomp The golem probably sensing the brothers intentions tried to go at crystal direction to try to defended it but it was stopped by Lucas who stood before him blocking the way. Swoosh [Fire Pillar] Crack Crack Crack Will took only a second to get close to the crystal, concentrating more energy than normal then he slammed fire pillar at the crystal direction, the power of the fire big making the crystal crack but not completely as he start to give signals of restoring itself ¡®No you don¡¯t¡¯ Still running Will jumped in the air arriving in the celling of the place freezing there for a moment before boosting himself back at the crystal direction, his claws coated in the familiar red energy. [Ruins slash]! SHATTER The crystal that was under the burning heat of the flames was not able to withstand the attack of the wolf and ended up shattering in a small explosion of purple energy, the carvings in the wall diminished instantly and the ones in the body of the golem showed signs of going out. ¡°Crumble¡± The golem made a strange unwilling sound when the crystal shattered to which Lucas that was holding in smirked, with his arm glowing he attacked the golem. [End Claw] BOOM Crumble! The golem was sent flying at the wall that without the protection of the carvings crumble instantly making a big hole appeared on it. The golem that was now outside had a deep dent on his chest area, the carvings that would had restore it before now only gave a dim glow that didn¡¯t accomplished nothing, the golem tried to stand up but before he could do that a shadow big as him covered his body. Whoosh Lucas was not going to give the golem any more chance he grabbed the golem by the arms using his front claws and used his tail to immobilize his legs, with a single beat of his giant wings he flew into the air carrying the golem with him ¡®Let¡¯s see if you can tank this!¡¯. In a matter of seconds Lucas arrived at the clouds level, then unwrapping his tail from the golem he threw the golem down. Whooosh!! The golem shot like a bullet but Lucas hadn¡¯t finished yet, bringing his head back he took a good breath before releasing it at the golem direction. [Lightning Dragon Breath]! A giant beam of white/blue lightning came out from Lucas mouth enveloped the golem completely making it fall even faster than before. BBOOOOOOMMM!!!! Looking from afar the golem looked like a lightning falling from the clouds an explosion that made the swamp shake took place at that moment. Every magic creature¡¯s that lived in the region had felt the power of the explosion, and even the brothers subjects at the swamp entrance looked at the swamp direction in shock ¡®the level of power of the Lords¡­ is really frightening¡¯ thought Valerie as she felt the explosion at the distance. The explosion in true only lasted for a few seconds before going down, only to reveal a hundred meter crater on the ground and the golem shattered to dust. Will came out of the hall in time to see the scene of the golem falling, he looked at his brothers that now had was hovering close to him. ¡°ROAR!¡± ¡°HOWL!¡± The two exchanged smirks before throwing their head up, a victorious roar and howl rumbled across the swamp. Chapter 10 - Fallen Tower ¡°I think we might had gone a little too far here¡± After calming down form their adrenaline rush the brothers finally decided to see the effects of the battle. As most part of the fight was inside the protected walls of the hall, not much damage was done to the rest of the ruins outside, this of course was until the final part of the battle, when the Golem was brought outside and then smashed by Lucas in what resulted in a big explosion that rocked the entire region. But apparently the luck of the brothers is very good, the golem landed more to the edge of the ruins making the effect of the after explosion not as drastic as initially thought, although some things had still crumbled because of it. ¡°We? There is no we, you are the one that smashed him through a wall, and as also you the one that decided to go all out on that last move¡± said Will to his brother with an amused look. ¡°I just was making sure he would not get up again, who knew it would make this big of a kaboom¡± Lucas sighed. The Wolf looked back at the after effect of their battle ¡°Yeah¡­ I still feel that is surreal what we can do now in our new bodies¡± ¡°Yeah, me too¡± Lucas turned in the direction of where the swamp entrance was ¡°I will go see how Valerie and the others are going, maybe even bring her here to see what inputs she has about this place¡± ¡°Good idea. In the mean time I will take another look around¡± After nodding at his brother Lucas took off at the swamp entrance direction.
After the destruction of the purple crystal the ever present poisonous fog begin to vanish from the ruins, and without the fog the gloomy atmosphere of the place also started to vanish. Just like that after who knows how many years, the forgotten ruins finally once again became bathed in the warm light of the sun. Lucas that returned with Valerie saw the scene of the ruins covered in sun light and could not help but marveled at it. Now without the fog hovering around the scenery of the ruins became clear and many details that are once obscured started to come to light. Like the carvings in the buildings, simple looking at first look but exquisite and deep in meaning in other. ¡°How could know that such ruins existed in the swamp¡­ ¡°Valerie murmured in wonder at the sight before her, wonder that evolved into awe once she saw the many carvings in the buildings around them. Lucas that was watching decided to give her a few more seconds to marvel at the carvings before saying ¡°I would assume those carvings have some great meaning, considering that you are so entranced with them¡± Valerie snapped out of her reverie ¡°Indeed they have, these carvings are magic runes¡± ¡®So these are runes¡­¡¯ Nothing more needed to be said from there, magic runes are almost of a universal presence in any fantasy book or game back on Earth, making he have a somehow basic understanding of them. Whille walking through the ruins the two came to find many different runes all around them, some Valerie couldn¡¯t recognize while others she could. ¡°Some of these runes appear to be very complex in concept, but you still ended up cracking them, really amazing¡± Lucas could not help but compliment her after seeing her display of knowledge about runes ¡°I don¡¯t have much knowledge about runes but even so I can see that what you just did was not easy, I wonder who was your teacher¡° ¡°You are flattering me Lord Lucas¡± She said that with smile at him, but after that, assumed a sad expression and she said ¡°But you are wrong, as I never had the honor of having a teacher¡± ¡°Never had?¡± Said Lucas in mild confusion, he thought that being a wizard ogre would make her a rare student material ¡°You never came across another wizard ogre or something?¡± ¡°Wizard Ogre are very rare and far apart from one another, as most of the time they are born do to luck¡± Valerie gazed at the sky, her tone soft as she explained her situation to the Dragon ¡°My parents were just like any other normal ogre, not very smart, but by chance I was luck to be born as a wizard ogre. Using the basic knowledge about magic that I had inherited from my blood I slowly advanced in the path of a wizard, stumbling and falling many times but eventually succeeding in the end¡± ¡°One day when I was young a group of human adventurers with a wizard amongst them came to the area close to the tribe, becoming excited at the prospect of meeting another wizard I decided to approach them, hoping that with my more human friendly look I would be able strike a conversation with him, and maybe even getting to learn some new things about magic¡± ¡°How foolish I was¡± she gave a sad sigh ¡°I didn¡¯t even had the chance of saying anything before being attacked by them, but fortunately for me the group was not very strong. I managed to ditch them until the rest of the tribe arrived, after that all of the adventurers got killed and I got all of that wizard books and notes, and since them the only teachers you could say I had was those books¡± Valerie sighed in the end of her explanation. Lucas stood there in silence as he digested what she had said. Valerie history was not very deep or complex but had still carried a certain meaning that touched the Dragon. Valerie on her hand start to get a little nervous seeing Lucas in silence for so long, the invisible pressure that she had forgot during her history came back again before been dispelled by the Dragon. ¡°You may have had a rough start but it also show that you are a rare talent, being able to learn all of this using some novice books¡± he looked at that wizard ogre that was gazing at him ¡°Although I feel sorry for ending up forcing you in this situation, I¡¯m also happy for having gaining such great talent like you. Like promised before, if you stay with us, I will make sure that will you be able to achieve heights that you never dreamed before¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Although simple, Lucas answer ranged deeply with Valerie, the promise that he made in what she thought to be the worst day of her life came back to her mind. Suddenly all of her worries about her tribe situation vanished, looking at the Dragon before her in a different light she smiled ¡°Thank You¡± ¡°There is no need for that¡± said Lucas with a smile of his own. ¡­ As they walked through the ruins the two eventually came across the remains of one of the armors that protect the place, Valerie eyes basically glowed at the sight of the intricate magic circuit inside of it, seeing that Lucas asked ¡°Are you able to recognize some of these?¡± ¡°Only two¡± Valerie nodded as she pointed at some runes ¡°This rune here is for mana gathering and this other one is for mana distribution, the other ones are very advanced so I¡¯m not very sure what they do. Sigh If I could have some books of advanced runes I would be able to tell more¡± ¡°I think I can help with that¡± Walking from the shadows between two buildings the figure of Will appeared before the two ¡°Hello Valerie¡± ¡°Lord Will¡± Valerie greeted back as she got up. The Wolf looked at his brother ¡°While walking around I found something interesting that might help us with these runes¡± ¡°Have you found a library or something?¡± asked Lucas. ¡°Yeah, something like that¡± Will turned and started to lead the other two back from where he came ¡°I found it when I was looking at the fallen tower that we saw earlier, the place has surprisingly a good number of intact books lying around¡± After a few seconds of the three walking in silence Will from his leading position turned his head to Valerie and asked ¡°While walking back I heard your talk with my brother, and like him I¡¯m very impressed. So I would like to ask, from what you had seen what can you say about this place?¡± Valerie was mildly shocked at what Will said, but recovered after remembering about his supernatural senses ¡± I think it¡¯s clear to all of us that this ruins should had been a type of research ground in the past, what they researched is the real question¡± ¡°Does that purple crystal ring any bells?¡± Valerie thought a little before answering ¡°I¡¯m not very sure, but from what Lord Lucas had said that crystal most likely was a Mana Source Crystal. These mana crystals as they name suggest hold within them really big reserves of mana, and would almost always be used to power magic towers and other¡¯s type of big magic constructs, but this one sure is strange¡± she frowned ¡°I never heard of any mana source crystal acting like the one that was powering this place¡± ¡°The mana that the crystal radiated had been corrupted somehow making everything that powered by it, or that was in contact with it for a long period of time be corrupted as well¡± said Lucas. ¡°No question about that¡± said Will after his brother ¡°I don¡¯t know about the golem and the armors, but those swamp crawlers had been surely corrupted, they are not well on their heads¡± ¡°I read about many herbs that could make someone bloodthirsty, but never about a mana crystal¡± Valerie lowered her head as she murmured ¡°Almost looks like a curse¡­¡± Although she murmured the last past the brothers still heard her, hearing the word curse made their instincts jump a little. Both of them exchanged silent gazes before turning back forward, and after walking for a few more seconds the three came to face with their destination. The fallen Tower Built in some bronze color material now covered with vines with dimmed magic runes on its surface, the fallen tower although looking very simple radiated an ancient aura of a long forgotten time. After a few seconds contemplating the tower, the group of three walked through a big crack at the side of the building. Inside they saw what once had been a library, the place became covered in rubble as consequence of the tower fall, sun light came down from cracks at the walls of tower in forms of beams, shelves ended up glued to the side of the building do to its fall, the books that they once held had been tossed to all sides alongside many other furniture and items. After picking up a book from the rubbles Lucas saw that apart from some dust and a few scratches, the book was pretty much intact ¡°Interesting, even after so much the book is still intact, could this be the effect of a rune or something?¡± ¡°Is quite simple actually¡± Valerie that was already used to the brothers lack of knowledge about certain thing walked forward and picked the book ¡°The majority of books and scrolls holding important information are made using special ingredients like magic creature hide, and written using special ink. This insure that the book and its information would remain intact from an longer period of time, those with magic profession would also inscribe runes on their books making them even more resistant, some even say that a magic book from a master-rank mage could be even more resistant than many shields¡± ¡°This is really interesting, how much a book like this could last?¡± asked Lucas as he inspected another book. ¡°Depends on the materials and runes used, It could vary from hundreds of years to dozen of thousands years¡± She looked at the book on her hand ¡°After reading some of them maybe I will be able to tell what happened here, and how long had it been¡± ¡°That would be helpful¡± Walking past some columns Will attention was grabbed by a stand made of some sort of golden material with a giant open book atop of it, walking close to it he saw that this was in fact a big map ¡°Brother, I think we had find ourselves a map¡± The Dragon walked close to his brother next to the map ¡°This is a map of the swamp and its surrounding regions¡± ¡°Are you sure about that?¡± asked the Wolf to his brother. ¡°Our territory is marked on the map, I recognize it from what I saw when flying¡± Lucas turned to Valerie ¡°I will assign some people to gather everything of value from here, and since you have the most knowledge about these things I will put you in the command¡± Following what Valerie said any book that remained intact in this place after so much are of high value, just the map alone is worth a lot in the eyes of the brothers. ¡°Thank you¡± Thinking that Lucas had assigned her to take care of so many valuable books about magic made Valerie extremely happy, the image of tribe leader vanished giving way to that of earnest wizard as she thanked him with a smile. Lucas gave the place another look ¡°There must be some valuable things in the other areas of the ruins, but for now last return¡± ¡°Okay brother¡±
Is of common knowledge that the wild lands are places of great danger for normal people for two main reasons, the dangerous magic creatures and the not easy to travel terrain. For this reason most of the people that travel long distances are those with strength, or those with enough money to hire those with strength, to those with neither of these the only option left is to use the roads cleared by their kingdom and powers to travel around. But sadly life never can be easy as even in those main roads built by the kingdoms and powers danger still would been found, as many people with dark and greed intentions would lurk in the far and least supervised areas, attacking and robing unprepared travelers. These groups of bandits are considered by many to one of the most annoying problems, apart from magic creatures, that one would find while travelling, with some of these group¡¯s even putting themselves above the threat of magical creatures. One of those groups however will soon discover that this line of thought is not a good one. Chapter 11 - Bandits Near the River Crime is something unavoidable no matter where you are, as regardless of the world you are in there will always be people that want to tread the easy way, and the Origin World is no exception to this rule. Crimes in the Origin World can be found in many different forms; from blunt robbery to the most schemed heist, targeting from the homeless street kid to the richest of nobles. But even with such a large range of combinations of crimes and targets one, in particular, would always stand out among the rest, not because it¡¯s the most lucrative or easy, but it¡¯s because it is the most common. The crime is robbery, and the targets are travelers. The Origin World is a very big place with many people traveling around all the time, meaning that targets are certainly not lacking, making stealing from travelers the main street of business for many bandit groups. But stealing from travelers is not exactly easy, common people when going around would use the more guarded roads, and only those with some means to protect themselves would travel the least guarded ones; Merchants most of the time have their personal escorts, and adventurers that dare to travel alone, considering they are not idiots, generally have some level of strength or at least something under their sleeve to safeguard them. But those groups that are used to this type of crime are not simple either, to be able to survive in this branch of work many would step up on their game, using tactics or greater levels of strength that their targets some groups ended standing out among the others. But not everyone could handle fame well, some groups with inflating egos would let success cloud their reason and would be ended up claiming that they are more dangerous to travelers than magic creatures. One of these groups that has an area of action close to a certain forest in the south-west region of the Aleora kingdom is about to discover that this claim could not be further from the truth.
In the banks of a river close to the edges of the forest, an interesting scene has been set up. A circle of tents made from the hide of low-level magic creature had been set up near the river. The circle is composed of five layers with a more-grand tent in the middle of everything at the last layer, a campfire with a large cooking pot was built at the side of the circle, a soup made with a mix of parts of blood-boar being prepare on it. Behind the circle of the tents in the opposite direction of the river some carriages had been parked, getting closer to them you would see some spots of blood on their wheels, marks of swords slash at the doors and other signs of struggle could be found in the body of the carriage. A Bandit Camp The group had about sixty members that could be found around the camp as they ate and chat about their day, this bandit group is called Crew of Shadow and they had just finished an ambush against a merchant transporting his goods. The merchant had a good number of escort guards that would have not lost in a frontal clash against the crew, but unfortunately for them, the crew also knew that hence they made a well-prepared ambush that resulted in all the guards being killed. After collecting the prize the crew of shadow left the crime scene before anyone could show up, hiding in the wilderness is a dangerous but effective plan as the magic creatures would unknowingly hinder anyone that came chase them, the crew would escape scot-free with the many goods, a good plan. This, of course, considering that they themselves don''t become prey to the many magic creatures living in the wilderness, but this is just the edge of the forest, they thought, we can handle the magic creature around him, they thought. Sadly they don¡¯t know that this forest has two powerful owners now. ¡­ ¡°I hate to keep watch¡± A little far away from the camp in the now dark forest two bandits stood in watch, the two wore a simple leather-armor made from a magic creature similar to a bull called tourom, both of them had heart and shoulder guard made from tempered iron, and both of them also had had short steel swords at their waists. The one who spoke had brown short hair, an average face with light brown eyes, the other one by his side was actually somehow good looking, with deep green hair and dark brown eyes. ¡°Are you gonna keep complaining all night Alex?¡± asked the green-haired bandit to his partner. ¡°I probably will Elvin¡± grunted the bandit Alex as he passed a hand through his hair ¡°I mean, why do we even had to keep watch? Is not like the beasts around here are strong enough to pose a threat to us¡± ¡°You said that because you spent too much time holed up in the base and really don''t know the dangers of the wilderness, even if we are only in the edge of it it''s still dangerous to let our guard down¡± said Elvin the green-haired bandit as he shot his friend a stern glare. ¡°Hmph, If is such a concern, them why the boss hadn¡¯t bought a surveillance array? I¡¯m pretty sure the people of Monroc would have given our boss a pretty good price¡± Alex looked at his friend who opens his mouth to retort but eventually just gave a sigh ¡°I thought so¡± Magic is a very essential and key part of everything in this world, so since the first era of the world people tried to find ways to use magic to help their needs and easy their lives, one of these ways of using magic is through arrays. After studying the abyssal depths of mystery and knowledge of this mystical force called magic some people came up with the idea of arrays, magic circles that would normally only do certain specific actions are brought together, and then programmed to achieve wondrous effects that they wouldn''t be able otherwise. Arrays are just like computer programs from Earth, even though they are made using deep knowledge and skills they still can be used by normal people, because magic arrays, in general, have default set actions that at most would need you to put a certain level of magic to active it and use the basic effects, of course, higher-level arrays would still need some depth of knowledge to be used. A surveillance array as its name imply, is a type of array that would keep watch a certain area of effect and warn its owner if anyone not allowed step in the perimeter, at most basic it can detect movements, while the more advanced ones are able to detect even disturbances in space itself. A very useful array that unfortunately is out the reach of normal people, as even its most basic form costs around five hundred gold coins, for normal people that don¡¯t really have that much of a need for a magic alarm system, the cost of five hundred gold coins is really not worth it. For people that travel deep in the wilderness, on the other hand, surveillance arrays are really good investment to make. In the wilderness, danger can come from about any direction, so having an 360¡ã magic system the work for you is a really good way of keeping your life safe, but putting this aside just the fact that you don¡¯t need to stay awake at night is already a huge positive point to many. Unfortunately, not everybody wants to spent so much money in an array, when they can have about the same thing by using living guards that are a lot cheaper. ¡­The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Putting the matter of arrays aside the two bandits started to talk a little to pass their boredom, with Alex obviously being the talkier of the two. They kept watch for about three hours without nothing happening, the camp activities ended and almost no one was awake apart from them and the others in watch duty in the opposite side of the camp. Looking around Alex decided it could not sit still anymore ¡°Hey man, I go take a leak¡± ¡°Be careful out there¡± said Elvin in advice to his talkier friend, who just returned a dismissing wave of his hand as he walked away ¡°Sigh this guy¡­¡± The wind of the night blew through the forest bringing with a cold feeling to the place, the moon so bright and entrancing in the sky was only able to give a dim light to the forest, thing that accentuated the quiet dark and cold feeling of the place, but at same time also gave the forest a very unique and mystical feeling that was hard to really put in words. But the silent darkness of the forest wasn¡¯t able to faze Alex who was taking a leak behind a tree near the river, the confident bandit kept his cool the entire process, even taking extra time in his task at hand. Finishing his business behind the tree he walked to the river to wash his hands, the silence of the forest never changing as the moon now appeared reflected in the water. ¡°Hm?¡± as he was about to leave Alex that was calm all the time felt a strange feeling, turning back he looked at the river with a watchful look. In the silence of the night, the only sounds you could hear were those of the wind in the air and the water in the river, not a single presence could be felt by him there. He stood there for about two minutes, but concluded in the end that what he briefly felt was just his imagination ¡°This place really has nothing¡­¡± Alex walked back to his post while complaining more about the place, the matter about the feeling he felt apparently tossed to the back of his head. But unknown to him while he looked at the river, underneath the waters of the river two pairs of eyes looked back at him, and they continued to look at him as he left the place. They remained in that area a little longer, setting their eyes at the bandit camp before silently going away, swimming the river back to the depths of the forest. All the while, the bandits remained unaware of the danger that now will be heading in their way.
Swimming up the river you would eventually ended up back in the depths of the forest, the trees would change from their normal size to giant, the variety of plants and herbs would rise and the magic creatures would started to appear way more than before. The figures that were spying on the bandit camp swam to the side of the river arriving in a more open shore, climbing up from the water the figures revealed to be two kobolds. The two red-scaled lizardmen had about one meter and seventy-five of height, their wore the standard loin-cloth that most kobolds use, the difference being the ones they wore are more well made, with a strange tribe symbol drawn on them. Surprisingly they also wore a chest piece of armor, similar to a heart-guard, made from the hide of a magic creature. Both of them also held a spear each, with shafts made from iron-wood and the head from steel, those spears are clearly very well crafted weapons that you would normally not see in the hands of kobolds. Exchanging a look the two nodded at each other and without uttering a single word they walked forward a few meters, marching past a dense bush near a giant rock the two arrived in a giant wall made of wood logs and rocks, and atop the walls two other kobolds similar to them if not a little taller, wearing similar equipment to the two below stood guard. One of the kobolds atop of the walls saw the other two kobolds approaching, recognizing the two he looked back inside the walls ¡°Open the gate, Kalgu and Hokba from the river patrol have returned!¡± With a gruff deep grunt as response part of the wall bellow the kobold guard started to lift, showing to be a gate of sorts. ¡°Thanks, Akko¡± ¡°Yeah, thanks man¡± said the two kobolds from the river to the guard kobold before walking inside the wall, just on the other side beside the gate stood an ogre holding a chain attached to the gate. The giant that was both fat and muscle wore apart from the usual loin-cloth an iron helmet at his head, along a sort of belly armor made of iron, and at his feet a mace fit for his size in one side and a slab of some meat in the other. The ogre seeing that the two kobolds had already walked in close the gate, sitting down he picked his mace with one hand and the slab of meat with the other ¡°You guys are late¡± said him to the kobolds with his deep gruff voice before taking a bite at the meat in his hand. ¡°Just to you know, we are not late¡± said Hokba the kobold on the right with a roll of his eyes to the ogre as they passed by him, to which the ogre only shrugged before going back to his meat ¡°This guy¡­¡± The other kobold named Kalgu could not help but laugh at his friend expression ¡°Good to see you too Blorig¡± saying his greetings to the gatekeeper ogre he resumed his walk with his friend. Inside the walls simple but well-made big wood huts had been built using wood from giant trees, going past the huts the grassy ground would give way for a more rocky terrain, that would then lead you downhill to a cave with clear sign of excavation, all the while you would see kobolds, ogres and a few dwarfs going past and forth around the place. This is the south river mine or fort, built by order of the brothers Lucas and Will after they had acquired a map of the region from the fallen tower in the swamp. Although the map was somehow outdated, it still helped the brother point out the location of a good mining area no too far from their territory, which was good considering the needs for resources their tribe will have in the future. After having Thalgrim send a few dwarfs to the place to confirm the information in the map, the two new Lords sent a few of their subordinates to secure the place, then using the strength of ogres, with the skills of the dwarfs and the numbers of the kobolds a base around the mine was build. ¡­. As they walked through the fort Kalgu and Hokba would occasionally greet some of the tribe members passing, who them would return the greeting or simply reply with a nod. The vibe of the place was unusually harmonious considering that some there used to be enemies, kobolds would mingle with the ogres, something that could only really happens thanks to the brothers influence. The incident between the Blood-Fang ogre tribe and the others became something of the past really fast, and even if someone still has some bitter feeling about that time, they still would not dare to show it thanks to the pressure of the two brothers. At some point the two also walked past what appeared to be a simple looking barn, stored inside a group of big magic creatures would draw the attention of any normal person. The magic creatures in question had the shape of a rhino, it¡¯s body at first look appeared to be covered in full plate knight armor, but it¡¯s not, the hide of the creature has a metal element in it that causes it to grow in a fashion similar to a knight armor, and just like a rhino the creature also had a horn, the difference being that his horn was made of metal. The armored look of the magic creature besides a great defense, also gave the creature the name of Armored beast, because of his body an armored beast would seek resources of metal to eat and was because this trait that the brothers had been able to find this creature near the mine location. Taking into account the strength of the armored beast, that was capable of even serving as mount to ogres with armor, thee two decided to tame the group and use as their tribe car pushing animal, all they needed was show their strength and feed the guys with some metals. Walking just a little past the barn the two kobolds scouts arrived in the biggest building in the fort, made in a more grand way than the rest the place was the heart of the fort, and where the head figures put forth by the brothers would be. Inside looked similar to a war room, two of the three head figures of the place stood behind big a table. One was an ogre with pure muscles and no fat, in his face, a large well-groomed beard, instead of the usual loin-cloth this one used pants made from magic creature hide, he wore a well-crafted steel armor and had two big maces hanging from his waist. The other figure was that of a muscular one meter and ninety tall kobold, he wore loin-cloth similar to that of Kalgu and Hokba, but his was clearly of better quality, because of his scales he didn¡¯t use much armor, only a single shoulder guard made of steel and a chest piece to protect his belly where the scales are more soft, in one of his hand he held a spear with the shaft made from a type of slightly gold metal, with the head made from black iron. The ogre was Orok, and the kobold was Rokdo. It had been a month since they had become the subordinates of the brothers, and the changes could not been more clear, while they still pretty basic the equipment that they now use received a very welcomed upgrade, all thanks to Thalgrim and the dwarfs that now got to put their skills to use without being forced to. ¡°¡±Head Rokdo and Orok¡±¡± the two scouts kobolds walked a little closer to the table before saluting the two powerful warriors before them. The two heads of the fort nodded back in acknowledgment ¡°Good work you two Kalgu and Hokba, now what¡¯s your report from the scouting?¡± asked the head kobold Rokdo as he looked at the two before him. Kalgu exchanged a brief glance with his friend before taking a step forward ¡°While scouting down the river we had come across a few humans, apparently a group of them had set up a base near the river!¡± Hearing the mention of a base of humans down the river made an astonished look appear on the two heads face, followed them by a serious face with a dangerous glint in their eyes. Chapter 12 - Eerie Scene at the River In the heart of South Fort the two leaders, Orok and Rokdo, are studying the information given earlier by the two kobold¡¯s scouts about the humans down the river, a map of the region laid on top of their table to help them in this situation. Both of them wore a serious face as they pondered about how they should tackle this situation, the fort came into being recently, hence, during all this time they never encountered any hindrance to the mine¡¯s operation, the magic creatures that live around the fort are not high level enough to pose a threat to them, until now the biggest problem they had come across was mining a big piece gold-leaf ore deep in one of the tunnels of the mine, a human base near their river is really the first really serious situation the fort will have to handle. Orok is the general of the ogres and former second-in-command had a good amount of knowledge about how to tackle this situation, before the merge of the tribes he even had led an attack to a human merchant, Rokdo in the other hand is among the strongest warriors of his tribe, he had helped his people fend off many invasion before, leading to him become good in dealing with unexpected enemies. The two discussed about the situation for a few minutes, only stopping when the door opened and the figure of dwarf entered the room, the dwarf in question had brownish-red hair and a very enviable beard, his skin bronzed from his time in the forge, different from the other two that he wore a short-sleeve white shirt with black pants, atop of his clothes an apron made from leather of a cinder beast, on his head a pair of gold forge goggles. This was Dalnur, apprentice of Thalgrim and the one chosen by the brothers to be the third leader of the fort, which includes also been the head blacksmith of the fort. ¡°So, we have a few humans nearby¡± said Dalnur entering the room, cracking his fingers greeted Rokdo and Orok before taking a seat beside the other two leaders ¡°I¡¯m will not bother with chit-chat, you two know I¡¯m not good with this type of situation, so tell me the plan and let''s get done with this already¡± The kobold ogre duo didn¡¯t look surprised at the blunt way of Dalnur, having worked together for a time now they had become already used to the dwarfs honest and direct way, Dalnur had expressed many times that he didn¡¯t want to deal with any matter besides the ones involving the mine, which could be seen by the fact that, since they arrived, he would seldom leave the forge inside the mine. His innately strong dwarf physique was only used to mine and to withstand the strong heat of the forge, a heat that comes for a flame personally lit by the Wolf Lord Will, which makes kinda understandable why he almost never leave the forge, any who consider themselves a blacksmith that come in contact with this flame would not want to leave its side, because it¡¯s that good of a flame. ¡°The humans, according to the scouts Kalgu and Hokba, had set up their camp down the river around this area near the edges¡± Orok pointed the area on the map as he explained. Normal ogres can¡¯t really read maps, but Orok is not a normal ogre, while not been born smart like a wizard ogre would be the general ogre inevitably grew smart and wiser as the time passed, so to him, using a map became actually something easy ¡°They number around sixty, their equipment from what the scouts saw it¡¯s good but mostly low-level. I suggest we attack now, using this opportunity their guard will be a good chance of taking all of them out before they could even realize¡± ¡°Alright¡± Dalnur nodded in approval, it¡¯s a known fact the Orok is quite used to night attacks, being something he did with great efficiency many times in the past, so Dalnur knows this tactic has a high success rate with Orok in the team ¡°How exactly will you guys do that?¡± ¡°We will close them in a box¡± said the kobold warrior Rokdo while marking a perimeter around the human camp in the map, pointing at the river he proceeded ¡°I will lead some brothers down the river, this area doesn¡¯t have any strong water creature, meaning they will not expect anything dangerous coming from the river¡± according to Kalgu and Hokba none of them is watching the river, which confirms, even more, Rokdo¡¯s point. Dalnur eyes gleamed as he heard Rokdo, his confidence in this plan growing by the second ¡°This plan is solid, with you two in the lead I don¡¯t see this going wrong¡± he smiled at the rotten luck of those humans, Rokdo and Orok are the strongest fighters under their Lords, there¡¯s a reason why they had been chosen to lead this fort, their leadership was only being part of it ¡°I will go back and get some of the equipment¡¯s I was working before coming here, your hit squad will be ready in less than fifteen minutes¡± Nodding at each other Dalnur left the room to do his part of the job, soon word was spread through the fort about the human camp nearby, that the heads of the fort are preparing a night attack at their camp. In an instant the fort exploded with roars full with fervor, the calm period the fort experience actually bored many of them to no end, a battle like this is something none of them wants to miss, this been the first show of strength of the fort to their Lords helped lit the fervor even more. Choosing their strongest amongst the ogres and kobolds a solid team of about thirty members had been quickly created, twenty kobolds and ten ogres, their numbers had been set like this by both fort leaders during the creation of the plan. The primary idea of this entire operation is to be an ambush, having too many people would make things harder, besides, according to their estimation those humans should be around level ten, while on the other hand, the weakest member of the fort is a level twelve. As subordinates of the brothers, their lives improved in a way they had never imagined before, the territory of the brothers they live now not only is free of unwanted magic creatures but also rich in mana, the density, and purity of the brothers territory is leagues above anything else in this part of the wilderness, like the difference between heavens and earth. This difference greatly helped the growth of all of them, Valerie for instance, with the increased mana in the air, plus the help of the books got from the fallen tower, actually broke through her previous gap and arrived at level nineteen, if Valerie continues this way she will probably break through the gap again and arrive at level twenty. Even if they had guessed wrong, the difference in innate body strength will trump this one for them, not talking about the ogres, the kobolds themselves have a really good amount of strength in their bodies. So, all in all, this operation has really little chance of failure.
Back at the bandits camp, the atmosphere hasn¡¯t changed much. The moon was still shining at the sky, barely breaking the veil of darkness in the forest below, the night wind still blew through the dark, quiet forest, bringing with him cold feeling to the place. None of the bandits in the camp are awake, with even some of those in watch duty having fallen asleep, to them this area in the edges of the forest only had trash low-level magic creatures, for six hours into the night they had stood watch, and during this six hours they only had seen some small animals that barely qualified to be called magic creatures, this coupled with the group confidence made them lower the guards, with some lowering to the point where they would fall asleep.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Alex, the talkier bandit, was only awake because Elvin would not let him fall asleep, an action which of course was met with the discontentment of the brown-haired bandit ¡°I will go take a leak¡± In one point he could not take anymore, so using his same old excuse he decided to stretch his muscles a little before he goes mad. ¡°Again?¡± Elvin raised his eyebrow at Alex''s action. ¡°What, can¡¯t I go take a leak now?¡± Without even waiting for an answer the brown-haired bandit strode away into the river direction, leavings his fellow bandit staring at his back with pissed eyes. Walking the same trail he used before he marched at the river direction, the forest was still quiet and dim, small beams of moonlight been the only things to break the complete darkness of the forest, but a difference in the atmosphere could slowly be felt, the mumbling Alex failed to notice the dangerous change of atmosphere. With his usual confidence the man walked to the nearby river, arriving at the bank he crouched looked at calm waters of the river, where the moon was reflected in all her mystical beauty, this river was actually quite large, going up to the depths of the forest the river would grow even larger, becoming large enough for many ships to sail, like those cruise boats usually used by nobles and rich folk to travel ¡°Ha, one day I will also be able to board of those fancy ferries, I will make those wealthy snobbish women¡¯s crawl around my feet, just they wa-¡± suddenly a black-headed spear sprung from the water, piercing through Alexa throat, who only reacted to when the spear had already pierced him ¡°ARr-Gurgle¡± he wanted to scream, but only blood would leave his mouth. In a question of a second his strength left his body, the spear was taken from his throat making him fall to the ground, all he could, while his body grew cold, was watch the figure of his killer rise from the waters, the figure of a tall red-scaled kobold. The kobold in question was Rokdo, who only gave the dying man an indifferent look before focusing his attention around him, after assuring himself that no one was around, he let it a low growl escape his throat, following the growl seven other kobolds rose from the water, all of them wearing equipment¡¯s recently made by Dalnur. One of the kobolds among them, the scout Kalgu, pointed at one direction with his spear, silently nodding Rokdo mentioned forward with his hand, he then leads the group in the direction pointed by Kalgu, just like that, they silently vanished into the darkness of the night. The only trace left of their passage was the cold body of Alex left in the ground. ¡­ ¡°Something Is wrong¡± Elvin the green-haired bandit, didn¡¯t know his fellow bandit had silently died near the river, but even so he started to feel a little uneasy, he who hadn¡¯t taken their situation as carefree was the others quickly took notice of growing change of atmosphere in the forest. He swiftly took his sword out, looking around the darkness of the forest became a lot more eerie to him, triggering more than a few alarm on his head ¡°Enemies are approaching, I need to get Alex fast¡± Making up his mind Elvin dashed forward at the direction Alex had left earlier, he took something that looked somehow like a small flute, he brought the flute to his mouth and was about to use to alert the other in the camp. But the action of taking the flute out broke his attention of the surroundings for a brief moment, and in that brief moment, the trail before him became blocked by a giant ¡°Urgh¡± he bumped into the giant figure, then suddenly he felt a big hand grab his head, being raise by this hand he left the ground. Splash Elvin only heard a deep grunt before he was no more, his head crushed by the hand with the easy someone would crush an egg. Dropping the body, the figure that was Orok didn''t even dignify another glance at the now-dead Elvin, from the darkness of the forest behind him seven other well-equipped figures came out, two ogres and five kobolds. Orok took his two maces out, without turning he silently mentioned at one direction with his left mace, marching forward the group passed the remains of the green-haired bandit, one of the ogres, Blorig, while walking spotted the flute dropped by Elvin on his death, picking the flute without stopping his march he casually put it behind his belly armor, just beside a piece of meat that he somehow managed to squeeze in there. The group walked forward in the bandit¡¯s camp direction, again, only a cold body left was trance of the fort hit-squad passage. ¡­ The hit-squad started to close the bandit camp into a kill box, dividing themselves they managed to silently take out all the bandits in watch duty, which honestly was really easy considering that most of them had been sleeping. Finally stepping into the human camp the group strode to the circle of tents where all of the bandits are sleeping, all of them could clearly hear the light snore of the sleeping humans, all of them unaware of the breath of death closing upon them. The ogres approached the outer layer of the circle, while the kobolds silently strode forward to the inner layers. One of the kobolds walked behind one of the tents, raising his spear with both his hands he aimed at the human sleeping inside, this feat would be hard for a human to accomplish in a camp that was covered in darkness, but easy for a kobold who was a enhance sense of smell, around him his brothers of tribe did the same with other tents, seconds later all of the members of the hit-squad had already assumed their positions. Piercing Piercing Piercing With muffled sounds the spears of the kobolds started to pierce their human targets inside the tents, striking the throat of all the bandits sleeping, warmblood would instantly gush from the mouths, stopping any the dying bandits from screaming and alerting the others. The ogres on their part did the job in a more direct way, stretching their arms inside the tents they would grab the head of the bandits and crush them, killing them before they could even awake! ¡­ Inside the main tent, the Shadow Crew leader Barlow, suddenly opened his eyes, feeling a strong killing intent aimed at him he quickly rolled to the side avoiding the black-headed gold spear aimed at him ¡°WHOS IS THIS?!¡± in a quick move worth of his status Barlow took his sword the place beside his bed with one hand, swiftly assuming a defensive stance he blocked a spear thrust aimed at him. A shockwave was issued from the clash of the two weapons, Barlow could feel the strength of his opponent pushing him back [Cross Slash] with no hesitation he used one of his strongest skills, mana flowed from inside his muscles to his sword, coating the blade in a white glow, with a burst of speed he made a cross-cut at the direction of his enemy, then with not even looking at the result of his attack he dashed out of his tent ¡°ARGH!¡± The moment he stepped out of his tent a strong blow out of nowhere hit him at his legs, they broke in many different places instantly, falling into the ground he started to scream at the agonizing pain coming from his legs, from behind him came a cold snort, something hit his nape knocking the leader of the Crew of Shadow completely out cold.
At the edges of the forest, an eerie scene could be found, the camp recently set by a group of bandits became completely devoid of life, inside the still intact tents no trace of their original owners apart for some blood could be found, the carriages the crew proudly loot also gone, not a trace of the hit-squad could be found in the camp. Hours later already in the morning, when many residents of the city to the south-east go to the near the river, what would greet them would be the eerie scene of dozens of dead bodies floating away down the river. The vision of the dead bodies, many who had red-eyed ravens on top of them, would haunt many for months to come, a myth would be created around what had happened with those dead men, but for all of them, none will come close to the truth. A few days later, without the residents knowing, two powerful beings that will create even bigger myths will pay a visit to their city.