《The Happenstance of Samuel Hayden》


 Wake up and Awaken

    Thwack


    Ugh, why? What kind of devil incarnate would wake a man with a foot to the stomach?


    ¡°Sam you retard why are sleeping in a bush, you¡¯re going to miss the awakening¡±


    Huh, awakening? Oh shit! I jumped to my feet as soon as I gained my wits. Quickly I oriented myself towards the voice.


    ¡°Gee thanks Cassie, if you didn¡¯t wake me that¡¯ll be me over. I owe you one.¡±


    Cassie, in turn, squinted at me for a good couple of seconds before turning away with a sigh.


    "Sure put them with the others" She replied flatly. I nervously chuckled not knowing what to say, I really owe Cassie more times than I could count.


    After I quickly dusted myself off, I followed Cassie towards the main road that led toward Totem Tower. Cassie took a cursory look over me before asking me,


    "How come you''re sleeping in a bush anyway, trouble at home?"


    "Calling the orphanage ''home'' is a bit of a stretch, but the short answer, yes."


    "You know the offer still on the table, you could always live with my family"


    "Thanks for the offer Cass but I''d rather rough it out on my own two feet y''know. Also, I know your father is not my biggest fan either."


    Cassie snorted and decided to not dig into it further as every time her father saw us together he always gave the same lecture on people knowing their place and whatnot. Sometimes I was tempted to take her up on her offer but I just couldn''t stand being the orphan who befriended a noble for their very own benefit. But hey I''m still glad for the times Cassie was there for me even when she didn''t need to, she is too kind for her good. Sometimes I wonder why she keeps putting up with me when there''s no benefit for her in doing so, well I guess only a fool refuses to count his blessings.


    As we walked into the main part of town we got a couple of stares, well I did. People wouldn''t dare risk offending a noble, even one as kind as Cassie. Cassie tugged me to go faster as I stuck out my tongue to some of the gawkers. Other than the ugly stare the town square is easily the most beautiful part of Dorwell, which would make sense since it''s where most of the noble''s peruse for their wares and you wouldn''t normally see people of the lower class around here. Except for today.


    Now the usually calm town square is teeming with people of varying classes all because of one thing, the awakening. The awakening happens every year, the 14-year-old youths gather at the Totem Tower where they''ll have their powers awakened. Humans are either awakened as a warrior or a mage, but other races have different classes to awaken. For instance, dwarves can awaken as blacksmiths or elves as rangers which in my opinion is pretty unfair as humans have only two classes to awaken whereas every other race has at least three.


    Regardless the awakening is an auspicious time when no one dares to cause trouble. Some people say it because people get cursed if they cause trouble or that bad luck would befall their descendants. I like the fairy tale where the totems represent the spirit of the human spirit and that when we die our souls return to the totem so we can help look over our descendants. I know that this probably just an old wives tale, but it''s pretty comforting to think about, that there''s always someone looking out for me even though I have no one in this life.


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    Before I could continue with my lonesome musings the gates for the tower opened up. As everyone shuffled in you could see people making space around some of the more distinguished individual, which included me and Cass. I tried to slip away from her area of influence but she caught me with her iron grip and gave me a look of warning to not try it again. I sigh in defeat and bear with the stares of contempt and envy that are sent my way.


    Eventually, in the main hall, there were hundreds of us gathered in front of the two totem statues.


    One was humanoid figure clad in battle-worn armour that was threatening to fall off, with a battered short sword in its right and half a buckler shield on its left. The statue even managed to capture the following motion of a cape which still impressed me to this day. This totem is called the Spirit of the Fight, which is the embodiment of throwing one more punch before getting knocked down to just get back up to throw another.


    The statue stood opposite was dressed with a ripped up traveller''s cloak, thick iron rings adorned on each finger, a knapsack full of scrolls of maps and travelling instruments, a shabby pointed hat and a gnarled staff with a rough gem placed on top. This totem is called the Heart of Adventure which represents humanities ingenuity and rampant curiosity.


    Neither of these statues is elegant, beautiful or even that nice to look at however when you look at them it emanates valour and bravery. It represents the tenacious human spirit, that even if we aren''t the most powerful race we will keep walking, that our bodies will fail before our will to survive does.


    As the feeling of awe settled into the crowd the Tower Mistress emerged in the in front of the gathering. her attire is just a humble as the totems before us but no one dared scoff as she is one of the most powerful magic users in the city of Dorwell.


    "Welcome everyone to the Totem Tower. I''ll keep this short as I know all of you desperate to know what''ll happen after you awaken. I just want to say that even if you do awaken great magicks or gain tremendous strength what separates the trash from the true luminaries is your stone-cold will, because only with a truly sturdy resolve will you fly so high that even the heavens will to crane their necks to see you soar. Walk tall, live proudly!"


    As she spoke, everyone in the hall, including me, stared at her with fervour as she stoked the sparks of ambitions in our chests with her words. As she finished she lifted her staff high into the as lights of various colours streamed from all directions to the crystal which in turn made her whole figure glow with a golden light. as she whispered her incantations the sheer power she was summoning manifested themselves in bright flashes of flames and howls of storms. As this happened Cassie grabbed my hand into hers, I was shocked for a moment but I grabbed it back because I know this is a much bigger day for than for me because her dreams are also at stake based on what power she gains. I gripped her hand back to reassure her and as I raised my head back up to the Tower Mistress what I saw was a flash of white and the cool feeling of my body seemingly filling with power.


    Walk tall, live proudly huh, I could do that.

 A Deal is Struck

    I could feel something snake into me and encompass my entire being, I felt strong, powerful even. As I was rejoicing this newfound feeling of strength the sense of power disappeared as fast as it came. Now I feel like just before, like my awakening was a dream. Confused I opened my eyes.


    When I opened my eyes the presence of peoples powers manifesting painted the scenes, bright flames, the falling of snow or the prowling if shadows for the mages. the warriors are less flashy with their awakening as their bodies are being coated in a glow of their elemental leaning but nothing as extravagant as the mages in the room. Now I really wonder what happened around me when I awakened and why was it so short compared to everyone else. I know I''m a mage due to the lack of increased strength in my body but something feels off and I can''t press my thumb on it.


    When I looked to my left all of the thoughts about my awakening were kicked aside as Cassie literally just showed up everyone in this hall. Lightning tendrils were snaking about her body and clumps of shadows were orbiting around her. Not only that her body was giving off a yellow and black glow. I don''t have any words, just what? Genuinely I have no words, not only did she awaken two rare elements she even awakened both mage and warrior. I don''t know if I want to be happy for her or depressed that there are such unfairly gifted people in this world. Her ancestors must love her a lot because with new power her clan''s grip on her became a lot looser since she has awakened potential that could rival people from higher-ranked kingdoms or other races.


    After I caught a sufficient amount of flies in my open mouth I looked down at my arm to check on my markings. Markings show if a person has been awakened and their element. To my knowledge, there''s no difference in markings between warriors and mages but hey that could be wrong due to my lack of schooling so I''ll ask Cassie after she finishes showing off.


    However, when I looked towards my arm there was nothing other than some inscriptions that I can''t read and a small image of a black dagger? No colour, no image of an element, no nothing.


    Am I retarded?


    I''ll need to consult Cassie about this before I fall too far into depravity, Eventually, the ongoing pandemonium ceased and the room was brimming with excitement because obviously everyone wants to try out their powers. The Tower Mistress couldn''t be seen so I assume she skipped out.


    With nothing left to do people began to stream out through the gates. Cassie and I walked out in silence as we wanted to talk in private, we walked a fair bit until we were mostly clear of the crowd I was about to ask her about my powers until a voice called to us,


    "Lady Cassandra I found you finally" We turned around and what greeted us is one of Cassie''s greasy clan elders, you know rat-faced, slimy, feels kinda off when you talk to them, he was that type.


    "What is it Harald?" Cassie hid her annoyance behind a cold facade.


    "Milady there is clan meeting regarding your future path since you''ve awakened, and you know how tantamount your presence is for the clan"


    My god I just feel icky whenever he talks. But I also frowned when he said the last part, honestly, clans are always ready to pounce and marry off their heirs to claim the slightest increases in status, both males and females are subjected to this. I heard that in another clan had an heir that awakened a weak power so he just got married off as a concubine to a frightening woman with 8 other men and women as her husbands and wives. It''s honestly sickening but since she''s a high-level mage no one really has a say in the matter. All I can do is pray for his safety and the safety of his rectum.


    Cassie narrowed her eyes and spoke,


    "Fine I''ll be coming soon, c''mon Sam"


    "If I may be so rude milady..."


    "You may not" Cassie rebuked but the slimeball carried on as if he didn¡¯t hear her,


    "I think it''s time you separate yourself from those of lower standings, for your image of course." Cassie tried to hide her scowl but it was obvious she was unhappy, I, on the other hand, was trying to remain quiet as I know little people shouldn¡¯t speak when the big players are talking. As Cassie was about to argue I swiftly cut in,


    "Hey Cass it''s alright, go back to your clan as I still have business to sort in the orphanage, y''know how I''m being evicted due me awakening and all that nonsense."


    Harald the Cuck was obviously unhappy with how casual I was with his ''milady'' but he didn''t speak up as the faster he gets the young mistress back to the clan the less cooked his bacon would become. Whereas Cassie harrumphed and glared in my direction,


    "Fine, but I better see you tomorrow. If you dare pull a disappearing act, may the ancestors have mercy on your soul should I ever catch you." My back was slightly soaked with sweat after she said that because I believe without a doubt she would wrap me up and deliver to death''s door herself.


    "Don''t sweat it, Cass, see you tomorrow at the fountain-like usual" I quickly stated before walking away from certain death.


    "Pthooh foul thing, milady you must quickly dump such trash, his presence is not fit for someone of your noble bearing."


    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    "You''re treading on dangerous ground Harald" Cassie glowered at him. He wormed under her gaze.


    "Of course milady let''s make haste back to the family grounds. We don''t want to keep the clan mistress waiting for too long." Cassie merely nodded before following behind the human equivalent of belly button lint.


    Meanwhile back at my location, I was making way to my secret base, the bush. Truth be told there''s nothing left for me at the orphanage as everything I''ve owned was probably either thrown away or stolen. Honestly, people get petty over the smallest things but hey at least I don''t have to go back there anymore. Everything of importance is on my body which is the clothes on my back, my starving coin purse and a dagger that stole from a guard from a while back.


    As I sat down I reached for my dagger to play with it as I usually before I go to bed but I can''t seem to find it. Fuck where is it? Did I get brain retardation for my awakening or something, where is it? Did I really lose it? As I was about to begin mourning for the loss of my ill-gotten goods I remembered something. My markings!


    As I looked towards my are there it was, the black dagger image. Now that I observed it closely it really is a mirror image of my dagger. What the shit am I supposed to do now? As I brainstormed I decided to first summon my magic to see what happens. I clenched my cheeks and stared at my hands and willed for magics to occur and whatnot. After a couple of seconds of concentration and nearly shitting my pants I felt something slip out of me.


    Blue sparks manifested in front of me, which split into blue circuits which were drawn into the outline of my dagger. After a second or two there my dagger was as if it wasn''t just zapped out of thin air a second ago.


    I stared at the dagger hard for a couple moments before thinking to myself. What the shit.


    Meanwhile, in the Stormcloak clan, there was rampant discussion going on.


    "Our Cassandra has been immensely gifted, she needs to be sent to a higher tier kingdom to realise her full potential."


    "No she should be kept within the clan, we can easily raise her into a powerhouse."


    "Are you dumb, do you want to turn her into a sheltered brat?"


    "Our first priority is to find her a suitable partner, I heard there''s a young master from a neighbouring county who awakened a strong earth constitution or the young mistress of a city lord who awakened fire and ice elements."


    "Our lady just has awakened and you want to sell her off already?"


    "SILENCE" All discussions died simultaneously as the matriarch spoke.


    "Cassandra will be sent off to the Central Kingdom to try for the Great Hazing. Once she¡¯s accepted into an academy only then will her partner will be decided."


    There was silence in the whole room as everyone knew what the gravity of the matriarch''s words meant. The Great Hazing is an extremely brutal competition where the brightest of the young generation strut their stuff to gain the attention of the academies. As silence ensued through the hall the young woman in question spoke up,


    "I have a request" All eyes looked at her at this moment anticipating what she''s about to say.


    "If I were to follow through with your plan I ask for Samuel Hayden to be my partner."


    Shouts of protest broke out throughout, everyone knew of Cassandra''s little orphan friend that she associates with much to the clan''s chagrin. But the very notion of her marrying such pond scum infuriated basically everyone in the hall. The matriarch raised her hand which commanded silence from everyone.


    "Cassandra I will humour your request, however for this to happen you must become a disciple of one of the four Great Academies." Everyone gasped when she said that, if getting into one of the normal academies is considered a massively hard accomplishment then getting into one of the four Great Academies could be considered nothing short of a Herculean task of monumental proportions, you might as well ask the gods for a third hand as there''s more of a chance of that happening than a person from basically boonies getting into the Great Academies. One has to know that a person with ''high potential'' in those academies is considered as common as wildflowers. Despite the clan''s confidence in their young lady even they have to admit that there''s a limit to her ability.


    "I''ll do whatever it takes." The conviction in her voice was hard and firm.


    "Fine, if you do complete what I set out for you, you may marry whomever you want. You already know what''ll happen if you fail. You''ll depart tonight, understood." Cassie nodded at the matriarch and departed from the hall to prepare for the journey ahead.


    After the matriarch confirmed that Cassie was out of earshot she called Harald over,


    "Harald I want you to find this Samuel and warn him to never come in contact with Cassandra ever again, such trash has no place in by her side. Once she realises she''s on a fool''s errand she''ll come to her senses and forget about him."


    "Understood Matriarch" Harald let out one of his signature slimy smiles as he''ll finally get rid of the orphan trash that leeches of the young mistress once and for all.

 Ill Fight for my Worthless Life

    Shit, my back is dead, why the hell aren''t bushes comfier to sleep in. I guess a sleeping pack is first on the purchase list. As I look up all I saw is that there''s a stretch of clouds that encompassed the entirety of the sky with dark clumps that are beginning to gather.


    Huh, I guess it''s gonna rain today.


    After I dusted myself off I see that my dagger has retreated back into my arm. I get depressed just thinking about. Manifesting weapons is a pretty rare power and it belongs to a branch of null magic, magic without any elemental leaning. However, I can only manifest a shitty dagger without anything special about it other than the fact that it looks like it''s in better condition, but tell me what''s the use in that? At least I can conveniently butter my bread, but that means I''m the equivalent of trash at the moment, it''s not like I can cultivate my body like a warrior. So basically I''m a normal kid with an average dagger, maybe my enemies would pity me enough to leave me alone.


    Sigh


    I guess I have to keep moving regardless of how fucked I am.


    A ray of sunlight managed to shine through the thick of the clouds, so it''s midday... Fuck Cassie''s going to kill me.


    Panting, I made it to my destination. I stopped at the fountain in one of the quieter areas Dorwell which is where Cassie and I usually meet up. It is much quieter and quaint in comparison to the main square but it has a calm aura about it. As I waited I watched people go about their days with them using low power magic apparatus to cleans the path in front of their stores, the children running playing tag and people setting up their stalls. As I continued to stare into the crowd I listened to the violin player who began playing some pretty good tunes and gathered a bit of crowd for himself.


    I looked towards the gaggle of people I saw the people dancing and frolicking to the folky music, people of all ages were dancing together having fun in the moment. I look towards the violinist as my interest was piqued by such a talented musician. He had dark hair that bordered on purple, a worn sky grey traveller''s cloak and a smile that''ll make any maiden hearts flutter. As I observed him we made eye contact, his bright green eyes connecting with mine. After a brief second, he sent a smile in my direction, fuck he''s making me blush now. Good looking bastard.


    I turned away and went back to my waiting, Cassie is sure taking her time. Does she really think that I''m this free?


    I am but that''s not the point. I waited for about an hour before I got something to eat, the violinist and the joyful atmosphere had left and has returned to the original peaceful atmosphere that was here before.


    As I was waiting, munching on my lunch, I felt a cold shiver down my spine.


    "Well isn''t it the trash" Harald who the hell invited him?


    "Harald what are you doing here, did someone in the clan need their ass wiped so you went out to fetch them some toilet paper?" Harald''s face went ugly. His scowl fits his face much better compared to his usual greasy smile.


    "Hmph, you won''t provoke me, orphan boy. I came here to warn you that you are no longer to be in contact with young lady Cassandra."


    "Who are you to tell me that errand boy?"


    "I don''t need to argue with you, lady Cassandra is going to the Central Kingdom to take part in the hazing. She''ll soar far beyond your reach, so please stop leaching off her for once and learn your place." What Cassies gone, without telling me?


    "I can see by your face that you finally comprehend how insignificant you truly are. Run along now you gutter rat, I can hardly breathe with you around." Fuck you, Harald who was busy laughing heartily at my crestfallen face.


    As much as I wanted to stab him with my dagger right then and there I knew that I wouldn''t even be able to summon my magic before Harald annihilates me, he''s an elder for a reason.


    Instead, I stood there. I did nothing. A cold feeling settled throughout my body as I realise that right now I truly have no one. I''m not needed, not wanted. Just another gutter rat. By the time I came to my senses, Harald was long gone and heavy drops of rain began to fall from the sky.


    When it rains, it storms.


    I made my way away from the fountain, my head held low. What do I do now? No plan, no friends and crappy dagger. This day is really looking down onto me.


    As I skulked my way to wherever the road takes me. In my session of self-pity, I failed to notice a couple of shadows stalking my movements.


    As I turned around a corner I instinctively ducked, where my head was there was an arrow that covered in a dark purple poison. Fuck someones trying to off me. I did a 360 and spotted the perpetrators. They were buff looking men dressed in a rogues garb and had full face masks on their faces. They definitely aren''t your run off the mill ruffians, they''re professional for definite. But who the hell would place a hit on my head... Harald that slimy fucker.


    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    Before I could mentally curse the assassins made their next move and leapt towards me. Not wanting to meet them I ran away in the opposite direction.


    They chased me down the streets, they even kept up when I tried to lose them in the alleyways. I ran, ducking and weaving away from the onslaught of poison bolts sent my way. Breathless I swung on a post to launch myself around a corner but then one of the duos landed in front of me with a dagger in each hand raring to cut me down. I rolled to the right before he could sever my lifeline.


    At least the danger sense I developed from living on the streets the majority of my life is helping me out here, without it I would''ve died without so much as a peep. After I landed from my roll I landed in front of a scrap pile that are usually dotted round in these poorer parts. As I looked at the pile I saw a small scrappy leather buckler shield lying just outside the pile. It had hard-worn leather that threatened to fall apart and a rusty iron centre. It screamed ''hey I''m about to fall apart any moment now''.


    however, this is better than nothing. I grabbed the buckler and restarted my escape. I ran in erratic patterns so they couldn''t predict my movements and pick me off with one of their poison bolts, but I''m pretty sure they''ve pretty much run out due them missing all of their shots and the severe reduction in fire rate in comparison to the beginning of the chase. I guess Harald must''ve cheaped out thinking that I''m easy pickings.


    Unfortunately, I ran into a closed-off area, damn this is going to get difficult. I faced my pursuers with only the tattered buckler strapped to my arm, I didn''t summon my dagger yet as I want to catch them off guard. After a brief 5 seconds of respite, they both charged at me knives drawn. I dodged the first strike and blocked another with the buckler and then I returned the favour with a quick jab at the closest assassin. He jumped out of the way and the other charged at me in his place.


    Shit, as he charged at me I tried to summon my knife, I didn''t get the technique down yet so I just tried to push all of my mana out of me. My dagger constructed itself in the nick of time and I parried his attack and followed it with a heavy shield bash and knocked him to the ground. Before I could finish him off his partner got in the way.


    I still had some mana circulating around my body, so I raised the buckler into a defensive position some mana flowed into it and it glowed bright and reconstructed itself. Blue spark circuits covered the surface of the shield when the light died down the shield looked good as new, better even. This surprised the charging assassin as he stumbled slightly which greatly weakened the blow onto the buckler. With this chance, I bashed is knife hand away with the buckler and staggered him and then finished him with a dagger into his heart.


    I killed him, I really did. I''m the fucking man! The euphoria of extending my life clouded the disgust I''ll feel that I''ve taken another''s life. But before I can contemplate about morals I have to finish what I started.


    I turned to the remaining assassin who looked at me with shocked eyes in return. He must''ve been a novice as no assassin worth his salt would freeze up at such a critical moment. Harald really underestimated me huh? Hopefully, this will bite him in the ass in the future.


    Not letting him gather his wits I pounced on him, bashing his face in with the shield repeatedly before plunging the dagger into his throat, finishing him off. I could see as the last embers of his life were being smothered out of existence, the same unwilling expression etched into his dead eyes.


    I stood up and let the rain wash the blood off of me for a moment. Then I promptly ran to the side and began to throw up. The guilt of killing another person welled up inside of me.


    I managed to calm myself down after a while, now all the adrenaline has fled from my system and all that was left was my tired muscles and aching bones. I de-summoned my dagger and surprisingly the buckler went along with it. As I looked towards my arm I could see a round symbol next to the dagger which I guess represents the buckler. Neat.


    Before I could ponder more about my newfound discovery I noticed a small gash in my arm that was faintly covered in a purple liquid.


    A hollow laugh escaped from my mouth, after all of that, taking the lives of those two assassins, fighting tooth and nail for my life, all for nothing. My life is really pitiful, isn''t it?


    Soon enough my vision began to blacken and I fell heavily to the ground.


    As my body lay unconscious a figure jumped off a rooftop into the scene of the crime. His figure was covered but you could still see his piercing emerald eyes. He waved his hand and the two assassin corpses turned into dust and were washed away by the rain. He then picked up my slowly dying body and leapt away.

 Getting back on the Saddle

    Here I am in the inky black, nothing seemed to spread forever and time seems to have taken a vacation as well, unfortunately for me. I sit there staring into what I guess is the horizon but who knows and wonder how the hell I even got here. I tried to retrace my steps but my last memory is plunging my dagger into the last assassin but then it¡¯s from there. Hopefully, I¡¯m not dead but that possibility that I am is probably very much on the table.


    Instead, I analyse my new acquisition, aka my new shield. I couldn¡¯t summon it in this space but I still could observe that tattoo. It appeared similar to the dagger that it¡¯s just a basic image of a weapon of its type, however, that¡¯s not what I was focusing on. Usually, with weapon magic, you can only summon the weapon you started off with but I didn¡¯t start off with the shield but I guess it belongs to me now. Peculiar. Maybe that''ll mean that my magic isn¡¯t as crap as it first appeared but I wouldn¡¯t put my hopes up.


    As I was still analysing the fresh marking on my arm a jerking feeling suddenly fell upon my body and felt like I was flushed away from this dark plane into the nothingness.


    Plop, the sound of my body planting itself onto the cold hard ground was pleasing to my ears, after spending a good while in the endless void you begin to miss the solid ground. Eventually, I got tired of the floors embrace and slowly got up from the ground to survey where I am. When I looked around I was confounded, instead of the bloody alleyway, I appeared to be in a hospital room an expensive-looking one at that. The sheets that I was just in are white as if they are brand new, the room itself was spotless and the view out the windows is something to die for. I doubt many of the nobles in the city have a view this good. Despite being entranced by my surroundings only one thought was floating around my skull, I can¡¯t afford this shit.


    Panicking, I started to look for a way to sneak out, unfortunately, before I could execute any half baked plan that I could cook up a nurse came in; dashing all hopes of escaping.


    ¡°I see that you¡¯re up and healthy enough to move around. Since you¡¯re better now you need to fill out a couple documents before you can leave.¡±


    ¡°Wait, I don¡¯t have any money, and if I did I doubt I could afford the service here.¡±


    ¡°No need a mysterious gentleman dropped you off here and paid for your fees for your treatment. But since you¡¯re fine now you are free to go now.¡±


    Her face remained blank throughout that entire exchange which contrasts with my shocked face. Who would be kind of to take a person to the hospital never mind pay for their treatment? I have a sinking that my mysterious helper isn¡¯t as simple as he seems. But hey ho, as they say, a fool''s luck never runs out.


    After I finished up with my papers I was ungraciously kicked out. As I look out all I could think about is what I should do now. I have no money, no friends, no home. Nothing other than the skin and flesh that''s on my bones. Well before I did anything else earning money is a must so I head to the only place where a person of my limited skill set could hope to earn anything, the Adventurers'' Guild.


    The guild is a place where people run various errands that can range from defending a town from beast to being stagehands at the local theatre. I never found out what the origins of the guild were but I¡¯m sure that I couldn¡¯t give a toss about it regardless. There are ranks in the guild but every newbie, which is me, starts at F the lowest of the low. F rank is full of people who have either just awakened their powers or have just awakened their powers and are given the lowest paying of jobs that have no risk whatsoever, perfect for a man of my calibre.


    I made my way to the guild, inside it was extremely busy as there''s a tavern inside the hall which makes it a popular place for adventurers and locals alike. There a range of booths that could fit a whole party, various servers handing out plates of food and there were wisps of light floating about. The roof was enchanted to show the sky above the building, even though it was considered a fairly simple enchantment it was still nice to look at. I found the help desk and I quickly signed myself up, which is a very fast-tracked process due to how inconvenient it would be to the guild to interview every newcomer, the guild only focus in on you if you take the rank ascension but that''s a bit far for me.


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    After I got my identification I made my way to the notice boards, a small place like Dorwell doesn¡¯t really have any high stake missions due to how remote it is. I looked at the F-rank list to see anything suitable before sighing and grabbing one. Seriously the highest paying job was 5 coppers which are helping clean the local inn, at least it¡¯s better than nothing. With 5 coppers, if I was frugal, I could feed myself for 2 to 3 days which is not too bad. In the human kingdoms, the denominations are 100 coppers in a silver, 100 silvers in a gold coin, and a 100 gold coins in a platinum coin. After I confirmed my choice with the guild I made way to the urm... Cricket''s Nest? Whatever let''s get this over with.


    When I got there what greeted me was a quaint looking in that looked decently busy with the most horrendous paint job I¡¯ve ever seen in my life. When I came into the inn was decently filled with adventurers, mercenaries, merchants etc. They were sat on oaken benches and laughed merrily as they spilt their drinks whilst telling their extravagant tales of their gallantry. The hall itself was very homely with various paintings on the walls that all have a similar vibe, maybe they were all done by the same artist? Also, There various ornaments around that looked straight out of a lost and found box but they still managed to fit in with the whole theme they had going on.


    I made my way to the counter to see if I could talk to anyone about the job. Eventually, someone noticed me and came towards. It was a kind-looking woman with tawny brown hair, smile wrinkles that are starting to settle around her soft eyes and an honest face. She smiled at me and asked,


    ¡°Good afternoon, how may I help you today?¡±


    ¡°Hey I¡¯m here about the job posting at the guild¡±


    ¡°Ohh I was wondering if anyone was going to come at all, it¡¯s been quite a while since we put the job up. I¡¯m afraid that the initial workload may have gone since it was posted.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s fine I¡¯ll still do the job..¡± As I was speaking a thought dawned upon me,


    ¡°Hey in exchange for doing these extra jobs could I use those as payment for a room,¡± The woman thought for a moment before agreeing to my proposal. The deal was that as long as there are jobs I can stay here free of charge but I won¡¯t get any money for my work. At Least I¡¯ll get free meals which is a major plus, maybe I charmed the boss with my charisma to give me favourable terms.


    After the deal was sorted out she showed me to my room and said she¡¯ll put me to work early tomorrow. I jumped onto the bed as soon as she left. The room was pretty nice and this bed is heaven compared to the bush I¡¯m used to sleeping in. The room itself was pretty plain with only a bed, a small table, a chair and a small wardrobe. But this is more than enough for the negative amount of belongings that I own. I couldn¡¯t believe my luck that I scored myself such a good deal, fool''s luck babyyy.


    Before going to sleep I summoned my weapons, both the buckler and dagger flashed into my hands. Now that I¡¯m observing them closely they¡¯re both look good as new as if they¡¯re straight off the store shelf. This is pretty strange as the dagger was fairly used when I got it and both of them should carry some wear from the battle yesterday but no matter how much I search I couldn¡¯t find a trace of any use.


    This got me thinking, I brought my dagger to the buckler shield and slashed it a couple of times. There''s no a couple of light, but noticeable scratches on the shield I de summoned it. When it went back in me I felt the smallest amount of mana being drained from me. I summoned it again and when I inspected it there was nothing there as if the damage I¡¯ve done just a moment ago never happened at all.


    No fucking way.

 My First Labour

    After seeing that my shield came back without so much of scratch I couldn¡¯t quite believe my eyes. After a couple more experiments of seeing how much damage I could inflict before it gets repaired, so far everything I did got repaired as if it was nothing. There has to be a limit I can¡¯t just repair everything, can I? I guess I¡¯ll need to do a bit more testing.


    Wait, because I can repair my weapons every time I de-summon that means I don¡¯t need to waste money on maintaining my equipment. Fuck yes. Every adventurer knows that maintaining equipment is a major profit sinkhole in their finances, with this I can be much more flexible with my wallet. I wonder if I can bound myself to armours as well, what''s the limit of weapons I can bind myself to? Can I bind myself to anything more than weapons?


    So many questions but too little time. I guess before I do any of that I need to earn my first bit of coin. With that thought I went to sleep, the bed is so much more comfortable than a bush I can¡¯t seem to stress that enough. I let myself go to the sweet, sweet embrace of sleep excited for what tomorrow could bring.


    Sunlight streamed through the cracks in the curtains, splashing onto Sam¡¯s slumbering face.


    Ugh, I¡¯ve never been so unwilling to wake up in my life until now, all this fancy living is going to spoil me. After I tended to my personal hygiene I psyched myself up for today. As I walked out the room to the main room in the inside does look really homely and calming which contrast with brain rotting colour scheme on the outside of the inn, I get the heebie-jeebies just thinking about it. Walking through the inn is much quieter than it was last night, I guess people like coming down for the alcohol.


    I looked about looking for the landlady but I couldn¡¯t find her so I just sat down at one of the tables and waited for when she comes out. There were just a couple in the room eating breakfast, other than that there was nothing else of interest until I locked my eyes onto a broom and dustpan. That got me thinking, could I bind myself to anything other than weapons. I guess that¡¯ll food for thought since I don¡¯t particularly want to steal the landlady¡¯s broom before I even start working.


    For a while, I sat on the bench twiddling my thumbs until the door to the kitchen opens up, instead of the kind-faced landlady what came out instead was a hulk of a man. Well maybe not a hulk but he is huge, is plain commoner clothes fail to hide the Adonis physique underneath, his hands would put a bears paws to shame and has untamed bristly beard that made feel inadequate by being in its presence. Upon seeing this muscle-bound god-like being all thoughts were halted and my brain is now on idle.


    The man in question came out of the kitchen and saw a scrawny looking youth with blueish black hair and amber eyes and a stupid dumbstruck look on his face. This reminded him of the description that his wife gave him about an adventurer finally brave enough to take the task he put out, but seeing the kid now he figures that he¡¯s just fresh out of his awakening and doesn¡¯t know who he is so the youth thought it was just another average job. He did a small silent prayer for the youth in front of him as his wife is definitely going to put him through the ringer.


    ¡°So who might you be?¡± The large man worked up a smile as he asked me. My God even his voice is manly.


    ¡°Samuel Hayden Sir¡± Why am I saying sir? Why am I saluting? Hopefully, he didn¡¯t notice. Upon seeing Sam¡¯s minor breakdown the man let out a small smile as the display reminded him of disciples when they first met him even though he was never an army man.


    ¡°Pfft at ease kid, this ain¡¯t the barracks. So you¡¯re the unlucky sod who Maria picked up, well good luck to you. If you survive you can find me at the guild, just ask for Mathias.¡± And with that, the large man gave Samuel a small pat on the shoulder and lumbered out of the inn. As Samuel watched him go out all he could think about was what he meant by ¡®unlucky sod¡¯. After forcing down a cold shiver he walked into the kitchen to where his destiny awaited him.


    -


    Meanwhile, a large man who just exited the inn was frolicking like a child with tears in his eyes, rejoicing his newfound freedom, he did a silent salute to the unlucky newbie before skipping his way to the guild.


    -


    When looking around the kitchen made he found the landlady who had a little kid beside her as she was working the stove. Shit, I better not keep her waiting much longer.


    ¡°Er-excuse me, boss lady, is there anything that you need me to do?¡± The landlady whipped around and brought Samuel down at ladle point but once she recognised who he was she quickly retracted herself as her sudden outburst never even happened. She smiled at me but damn when I see it now it make me go into a cold sweat.


    ¡°Of course honey, as a matter of fact, I¡¯ve got a list of odd jobs for you to start cracking on with.¡± She then pulled out a magi-tablet and handed it to me.


    ¡°You have three days to complete these tasks, any longer then you¡¯ll get diddly squat. Understood?¡± I quickly nodded my head, this woman is definitely not one to be trifled with. As I was about to turn around she said,


    ¡°You can use the tools in the shed if needed, if there any junk in there get rid of it will ya. Also, let Annabell tag along with you while I run some errands.¡± I couldn¡¯t even get a word in before she puts her kid in front of me, puts on her coat and disappears out of the door into the horizon.


    Speechless I look down at the little girl in front of me and she looked back at me. What do I do with her then? I give her a nervous and she replies in kind. Okay then¡­


    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    I look down to the magi tablet. These are magic tools that are for everyday use that anyone can use even if they don¡¯t have an ounce of magic in them. This one is one of the higher end models as well, I guess my employers are a lot richer than they let on huh.


    As I focus back onto the tablet and scroll through the list of tasks and instantly my mouth fell open. This is just impossible, no other word for it. She wants me to ¡®tame the garden¡¯ build some new outdoor furniture and give the inn a new paint job in three days. I now realise why no one picked this job, it¡¯s fucking extortion and free labour. There''s no way around it, I have to complete the tasks as you have to pay a fine if you cancel the job with the guild and as my purse has a severe case of dead broke I just have to grit my teeth and get this done with. At least I get a bed and meals with jobs.


    First I went into the garden to assess the damage and my god is the landlady getting her money worth. It¡¯s like a jungle back here, I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if a demon jumps out at me right now. I wonder if this place could qualify for a danger label from the guild.


    Sigh


    Let''s check out the shed before I start landscaping. I ask Annabel to lead the way and we make it to a dilapidated shack that is also on the list of tasks to be completed, fuck my life. Annabell went back inside obviously, I wasn¡¯t interesting enough for her, now that I think about I didn¡¯t even hear her speak at all. Whatever it¡¯s not my problem.


    The shed on the inside is what I expected it to be, cobwebs seemed to be ubiquitous, heavy layers of dust and everything was burnt with rust. She said that I needed to get rid of any junk but it all looks like junk. ¡®This is vile¡¯, this is all I could think as I waded through the loose filth. I looked down and saw an old looking scythe, man I forgot that these were garden tools before people used them to annihilate each other. I look up and down at this scythe, it was a bit taller than me, wait this is definitely a weapon scythe as the handle is completely straight and the blade is too heavy to be used for garden work, although it may have been impressive in it¡¯s prime its just a bit of rusting on stick now, to the junk it goes.


    As I was about to throw it away I thought if she¡¯s just going to throw it away, why don¡¯t I just take it off her hands for her. HAHA, I¡¯m a genius, wasting no time at all I press my magic into the rusty weapon and felt a large chunk of my reserves disappear, the familiar sight of blue sparks and circuit blaze upon its entire body, engulfing it for a couple of moments before it disappears like a dream. What¡¯s left behind is a tall, sturdy, mahogany shaft free of all splinters, and the previous rusting metal piece is now a wicked sharp crescent blade. Holy crap this is some expensive equipment.


    Fucking jackpot.


    I go through the rest of the dust and junk to see what else I could salvage. The boons of my findings are a hunting knife with a cracked handle, some leather gloves with some extra leather wrappings, a small iron mallet with a fragmented stone handle, strange, finally a huge axe with a shattered a blade. The rest of the stuff in the shed is still in good condition and I don¡¯t want to get too greedy as I¡¯ve already profited already.


    I then bonded with each of my new equipment and by the end of it, I was wheezing as all of my mana has been drained out of me. I never did this before and now I know why people hate it. Right now I¡¯m a zero circle like every other mage when they first awaken, circles are a consolidation of one''s stage and to get to the first circle one just needs to build up enough mana so they can construct their first circle.


    It¡¯s different for warriors as they have a core rather than circles and they need to increase the size of their to increase their stage. At the beginning for them, it''s zero core as their core hasn¡¯t formed yet. In order to progress you¡¯ll have to either increase the level of your core or circles which go up to 10, after that I¡¯m not too sure of what''s next as that¡¯s all Cassie told me.


    Anyway, after waiting for a while for my mana to regenerate I summoned each of winnings one by one. First the hunting knife, now that I see it in its original state it is just a good quality knife, nothing too special about it. Next to the gloves and the wrappings, when summoned they went straight onto my hands and arms, this is so sick I don¡¯t even need to waste time putting them on. The mallet fucking surprised me when I summoned it was much taller than me with the handle restored it was about 2m long and the iron was actually the core of the hammer as the head is now a huge stone rectangle with wave style engravings on it. This is a fucking Warhammer, who the hell is the landlady and her husband that they just have war weapons lying around. I gulped down, I better keep on their good side. Finally, the axe and I was a bit underwhelmed as it¡¯s just a standard issue battleaxe, maybe with better construction and materials however compared with the hammer I was a bit underwhelmed.


    After I de-summoned everything I looked towards my arm I saw the new symbol what confused me is that they¡¯re no longer just images of weapons, they''re now runes as I recognise the rune for knife, and that''s not even the weirdest thing, the blue circuits that appear when I summon my magic are now marked onto my arm. I don¡¯t know if this is a good thing or not but I¡¯m just gonna roll with it.


    I go back outside, ready to take on the world but first, the garden.

 Earning a Helping Hand

    First things first, I summon the scythe and approaching with an easy-going gait as I know that the grass isn¡¯t going to put up too much of a fight. I ready myself and let out a great sweeping blow which resulted in a radius of grass around me being chopped down. I stumbled a bit on the dismount, but man that was cathartic. Overgrown weed, prepare to meet your maker.


    Blow after blow, swipe after swipe, eventually the legions of overgrowth fell to my blade and after I finished I heard Annabell come out. Looking over at her I saw her jaw dropped expression which I didn¡¯t know was possible as her face never betrayed any emotion in the entire morning, but this shocked expression was a welcome change.


    ¡°I know, I know I¡¯m amazed no need to be too shocked.¡± I tried to calm the nonexistent flattery coming towards me. In return Annabell shot an annoyed look at me, she then walks and looked at the scythe that seemingly came out of nowhere. Does she want to play with it or something, before I could say anything she exclaimed,


    ¡°That''s mommies,¡± shit I didn¡¯t think she would notice. What if she tells her mom, I¡¯ll be in deep shit. What do I do? Come clean or lie out of my asshole. I thought back to the hammer and shivered, I¡¯d rather not lie to the person who wielded that.


    ¡°Urr yes it was but your mom said I could throw out any junk and I thought that if she didn¡¯t want I would take it off her hands.¡±


    ¡°But how¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s my magic, pretty amazing right?¡± Her eyes seemed to shine when she heard the word magic, so I took this chance to distract from the fact that I restored herd moms old weapons and to show off a bit and get on her good side. I de-summon scythe and brought out the Warhammer. Her eyes went wide when she saw the hammer. I hefted it up and gave a smile at her, yeah I¡¯m the coolest. She ran around the hammer excitement clearly obvious in her body movements. She then climbed up to my shoulder like I was a tree, was she a damn squirrel or something, and sat on my shoulder to get a good look at the head of the hammer. I then started doing some clumsy moves with the hammer to show off a bit more, man this hammer is heavy but Annabell was squealing so I guess she was enjoying herself.


    However, this tomfoolery didn¡¯t last long, as we were fooling around the door creaked open and out popped the landlady. At first, it looked like she was about to admonish me for fooling about but then her eyes settled on the hammer in my hands. Annabell and I practically froze like statues as we knew any sudden movements would set her off. This kept up for a couple moments before she looked straight into my eyes,


    ¡°How?¡± Although she was asking, I knew I better answer correctly as my life relies on what comes words come out of my mouth next. Small breaths. Begin,


    ¡°You said earlier that I should throw any junk that I find and I thought that it was a good idea that instead of just throwing them away I would take them for myself.¡± After a brief pause, I chanced a glance to see what her expression was, thankfully she wasn¡¯t about to rip my head off,


    ¡°So I used my magic which allows me to bind weapons to myself and restore them, sorry I didn''t me-¡± She put her hand up as I was about to explain myself, she then put her hand out and quickly passed the hammer over to her. She heaved the thing like it was nothing, damn how strong is she? She stroked the weapon and looked at it with fond eyes. This is a good development.


    ¡°I see, well I won¡¯t berate you for seeking an opportunity. I don¡¯t worry I don¡¯t need this anymore as I left that life far behind me.¡± She threw the hammer back towards suddenly, I wasn¡¯t prepared to catch so I de-summoned it before it crushes me and Annabell. The landlady, in turn, gave a small chuckle and said,


    ¡°Well good job on the garden I see you also have taken the scythe, it¡¯s kinda annoying how one of my old weapons is now being used as a common garden tool but I¡¯m glad it¡¯s in good hands, right?¡± She gave me a small stare at that last part and I nodded quickly in return. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    ¡°Also it¡¯s lunchtime in 1 hour so you better get some more done by then.¡± With that she went back inside, Annabell also jumped off me and followed her inside. I on the other hand hurriedly went back to work, I cut down any weeds with the scythe and crushed and any standing rubble with the hammer. After that I began to tidy up then went inside for lunch, I went to greet the landlady who was plating up the meals for everyone else at the inn. Without looking at me she said before I could get a word in,


    ¡°Your form is shit you know that right. You¡¯re already at a disadvantage of having to use weapons as a mage.¡± I looked down at my feet as she said that. Even if my magic is pretty cool that I don¡¯t need to maintain my weapons, I¡¯m now warrior and I¡¯ll never match them or monsters in strength. Even other mages who have weapon magic have advantages that their weapons are made of energy and they could telepathically use them and other advantages, whereas I have no such advantage. I''m like a glass twig, can¡¯t take any damage and can deal even less.


    As I was slipping into another depressed state the landlady cut in,


    ¡°So if you do a good enough job I¡¯ll give you some pointers.¡± I lit up as she said that, who else would know how to use a weapon better than their original owners.


    ¡°Don¡¯t get too excited, the only reason I¡¯m helping you is that I got to see my old partners again. But you¡¯ll have to explain yourself when Mathias sees you fixed his old axe, honestly, he loved that damned thing so much even though it¡¯s just a standard-issue.¡± I heavily swallowed I thought back to that hulking man.


    After eating lunch I went back to work, as I walked out Annabell trailed behind me. I had a basic idea at what she wanted so I summoned my buckler shield to let her play with it, which she accepted with shining eyes. I guess I hit the mark. She then ran off with the small shield which looked perfect for her size. I laughed to myself at how excited she was and then went back to work. I tried my hardest to do a good job to get those lessons. When the sun was about the set I went back inside and threw myself into my bed. My gods my body is dead.


    I continued in this cycle of working and sleeping for the next three days. I fixed up the back for outdoor eating with new benches and a clean grass area. I even made a flowerbed for the landlady. Furthermore, I fixed up the atrocious colour scheme out front. I also grew a bit closer to Annabell as I played around with her with the weapons I summoned. I also grew some understanding to my powers, if I do decide to unbind with a weapon it returns to its original state as I tested that out with the axe when Mathias begged me to give it back to him. But when I unbound from it, it returned to the state before I bound to it.


    It¡¯s now the last day and I¡¯m waiting in apprehension for the landlady¡¯s for her verdict on training me. I sat on the table while Annabel and Mathias were stuffing their faces with lunch which really didn¡¯t help my nervous mental state. Finally, the landlady sat down on the table and did a light cough to get my attention, this, however, didn¡¯t deter her husband and daughter from continuing their meals.


    ¡°I have observed you the last couple of days and evaluate the quality of work you have done.


    My verdict is¡­¡± My heart was in my throat at this moment, even the other two paused themselves from their meal to hear the verdict,


    ¡°I will teach you.¡± I leapt up from my seat with literal tears of joy coming from my eyes, Annabell joined me in my celebrations whereas Mathias'' mouth fell wide opened. He then looked at me,


    ¡°What have you done with my wife?¡± The landlady shut him up with a mana infused fist.


    ¡°We start early tomorrow.¡± And with that, she retired to her bedroom. Mathias meanwhile was still recovering while Annabell was prodding his body like it was a dead insect. He then got up and looked at me with a look of newfound respect,


    ¡°You¡¯re extremely lucky, back when Maria was on the frontlines she was called the Storming Centurion you don¡¯t know how many other people would kill to have someone her calibre to tutor them.¡± He then went up to the bedroom, probably to apologise to his wife, meanwhile, I was mulling over the words Mathias told me. While I was in my own world Annabell shook me out of my thoughts with a pack of cards in her hands and I give her a warm smile and begin the deal the cards out.


    My luck is really turning around Cassie, but I wish you were here with me.

 Bringing Home the Bacon

    After an hour or two of having my ass handed to me by Annabell in various card games, I gave up as I have no more pride left to lose. As I made my way upstairs I could hear the patrons who were watching me lose. They probably fell to Annabell schemes as well and lost much more than I had. Honestly, she could probably cheat a Clan Leader out of all of their assets and make them owe her one, it¡¯s scary how good she is at gambling.


    I quickly slumped into bed and let sleep take me, man today has been a roller coaster but it ended up in my favour which is what¡¯s important. But the fact that the landlady is from the front lines makes sense as no one dare makes trouble in the tavern and the fact that they would leave quietly after Annabell manages to cheat them out of their wallet and underwear. I don¡¯t know if this is a good thing or not but I might as well make the most of it.


    I wake up before the sun rises as per usual. One personal hygiene routine later I see the landlady was there already, but I wasn¡¯t surprised as she always wakes up at these obscene times probably because of her military training.


    ¡°I see that you¡¯re, it¡¯s good to know that you have good habits. You¡¯ll need to be strict with yourself if you want to survive. Go to the back and I¡¯ll meet you there.¡± I nodded even though her back was turned and went outside.


    I began to limber up with some lunges and torso twists. The landlady came out as I finished my stretches and smiled,


    ¡°I see you finished your little kiddie exercises, now I will show you how to really stretch¡± A small glint went through her eyes as she cracked her knuckles. I have to say the next 10 minutes were hell, my body was twisted, bent and contorted like never before. My body felt as free-flowing as a blade of grass and I feel as strong as one now. I quickly fell to the ground due to the loss of all strength in my muscles, until I was literally kicked back to my feet by the landlady.


    ¡°Is that all, you do a few stretches and you¡¯re down for the count?¡± I steeled my eyes and steadied myself,


    ¡°Good, at least you have some gumption, time to put you to work. Summon your daggers and shield.¡± I summoned the buckler and the guardsman dagger rather than the hunting knife due to the superior reach despite the lower quality. The landlady led me through some simple moves and tactics because it¡¯ll be the simplest thing for me to learn in comparison to my more ¡®exotic¡¯ weaponry. The moves she taught me were simple and without any flair, but they would provide a solid foundation to build my own style upon.


    After I got used to the moves she put me straight into the ringer and fought me, well mostly it¡¯s me getting my ass handed to men again and again. She would tell me where my blind spots are by hitting into them, correct my lack of proper stance and technique by punishing me for it. It forced me to actively correct my technique as we fought. Her methods were effective if not overly harsh.


    After an hour or two of constant sparring with some breaks in between, she stopped the training.


    ¡°Overall, you¡¯re shit, you would be the first one to die in a battlefield and would drag your entire unit down with you as well. At Least you have a decent danger sense which would keep your sorry ass alive long enough for you to escape.¡± I only gave her a thumbs up as I was rendered breathless by her spartan training.


    ¡°That¡¯s it for today, go to the guild and do a job or something. Tonight is still free but after that, I¡¯m not letting you leech off me any longer.¡± With that she went back inside, I spent a couple more moments fighting to catch my breath. I go back inside and clean myself down and then look through my coin purse. There''s only a lone silver and in the company of 5 other coppers. I sigh to myself, a night in the inn is 5 silvers which are very good for the quality of service you get but it¡¯s still out of my price range at the moment. I guess I¡¯ll need to go back to the guild and apply for another job.


    As I was contemplating my poverty, Annabell crept into my room. Bewildered I looked at her as she doesn¡¯t usually come to my room, maybe she heard that I¡¯m about to be kicked out and came to either comfort me or laugh at me. For an 8-year old she is very hard to read as she remains expressionless most of the time. She quickly jumped onto my bed with me and handed me a small wooden box, I then raise my eyebrow towards her,


    ¡°Open it,¡± her small voice spoke, I shrug my shoulders and did as she said. I pulled the lid off and underneath was ¡­ a pack of cards? Is she trying to nurture a gambling addiction in me? I picked up the top cards and noticed it much heavier than a typical card, I turned it over and noticed it had multiple clumsy indents as if someone hammered it out. I Looked back at Annabell as I ended up with more questions than answers.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    She, in turn, took the card out of my hand and threw it. It flew making some slight slicing sounds as it made a wicked curve and embedded itself into the door. I did a long whistle,


    ¡°Is this a present for me?¡± She shook her head,


    ¡°Fifty silvers, I don¡¯t do charity.¡± My eyeballs flew out their sockets at the sky-high price, she¡¯s trying to extort me.


    ¡°Annie I can¡¯t afford that, I can barely afford a night here¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll lend it to you until you can pay up, it would normally be 60 silvers but I knocked down because I like you.¡± I roll my eyes at her ¡®generosity¡¯ but who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth. As I admired the handiwork I asked,


    ¡°Did you make these?¡± She nodded her head.


    ¡°Where did you do it as I remember there isn¡¯t a forge in the house.¡±


    ¡°Secret¡± she replied cutely while winking, well I think it was a wink as it was more of an awkward blink.


    ¡°Oh so little miss has secrets, well don¡¯t worry you have bought my silence¡± We talked a bit more while I bound myself to the deck of flying death cards. A weapon like this more my speed as Cassie and I used to throw cards as she got bored with the games really quickly, so it¡¯s safe to say that I have some skill with these. As I practice I got tired of picking up the cards, so I unsummoned them which collected them all, which is pretty convenient and also mitigate the disadvantage of losing a weapon.


    After cutting ourselves a fair number of times playing a spirited game of snap we decided to go to sleep.


    After waking up and going through my usual routine I join up with Mathias on his way to the adventurers'' guild. Mathias bonded a bit during my stay in at the Cricket¡¯s Nest, and we could now be considered warm acquaintances, anyway I asked Mathias for some advice on what jobs to take, and he said he¡¯ll recommend me to a couple decent beginner parties but I¡¯ll have to do a job or two to show that I have some ability. We get to the guild and Mathias retreats into the office area leaving me stranded in front of the message board.


    I surveyed the board for a quick moment and quickly look to the bottom for the easiest and quickest jobs. The options were as follows; gather some herbs and plants for the local clinic, hunt wild boar and an escort mission. Seeing how I need to hone my combat abilities beyond flailing my weapons and hoping for the best I choose to take the wild boar mission and the escort mission which is in a weeks time which also gives me plenty of time to prepare.


    I take it to the desk and get signed up, apparently for the escort mission there¡¯ll be other adventurers as well since it¡¯s a merchant caravan they¡¯ll need a lot of manpower to cover all of it. Afterwards, I walk out beyond the city walls to hunt me a boar. I venture past the city limits and straight into the woods. After some thought, I summon Mathias¡¯ axe as it doesn¡¯t require as much strength as the warhammer and needs less skill than the scythe.


    Plop


    Ugh, I just stepped in shit. As I was scraping the crap off my boots I heard some stomping behind, slowly I turned around what greeted was raging figure storming towards me. I quickly jumped into action by jumping out of the boar''s path, after I landed got a good look at the boar my jaw dropped. This was no normal wild boar, it was a fucking magical beast boar variant. You can tell the difference between wild beasts and magical beast due to them having a slightly visible aura and physical differences.


    Anyone can kill a wild beast provided that they¡¯re not an idiot but to kill a magical beast, even the lowest level, one needs to be at least be a first circle mage or first core warrior. This is because magical beasts have tough hides that are very difficult to pierce and usually to kill this level of beast people use first circle spells or can use the strength provided by the first core. However, I have neither strength nor spells, so what do I have?


    Before I could think of something do boar comes back for another charge with an even higher speed this time. Leaping to the side again and I tried to scrape the axe against its side, unfortunately, it bounced off harmlessly. I looked again and could see that there is a small earthen layer on top of its skin, could this day look down on me any more?


    I dodge a couple more wild charges in the hopes that it will tire itself out but stupid swine seems like it wouldn¡¯t run out of juice anytime soon. My body is getting a bit sluggish due to the high-intensity bursts of movement, panting I think of a crazy plan that¡¯ll either work or get me killed.


    As the boar readied itself for another charge I run towards it at the same time with a battle-cry. Before we crossed paths I used the axe to vault myself above the boar, while airborne I switched the axe out for the hunting knife, I didn¡¯t use the guardsman dagger due to it probably won¡¯t even penetrate the thinnest amount of earthen armour. The reason I vaulted over is that the least armoured part of the boar is between its brow ridge. Quickly I plunged the dagger the ridge before getting thrown away by the boar''s muscled body which then crashes into a tree.


    Coughing, I bring myself to my feet and walk towards the boar which is still fucking alive. Fuck this thing is tenacious. It was leaning against the tree struggling to get to its feet but it was having trouble due to the knife sticking out its left eye. I stumbled me towards it and I summoned the warhammer into my hands. I bring it up and slam it into the pommel of the knife, effectively severing the boar''s lifeline.


    The sickening crunch, the fleeting fire in the boar''s eyes, the cascading blood.


    After taking a moment to take it all in I unsummoned the warhammer and the knife and summon the knife again which didn¡¯t have a speck on it despite being 8 inches (20.32 cm) deep in the boar''s skull just a moment ago. I clumsily disassemble the boar which would fetch quite a bit more than just a normal boar. I took a small stone from its chest and held it towards the sun, in my hand was a marble-sized, cloudy, brown stone. Now, this is the money maker, beast cores have a plethora of uses ranging from alchemy to batteries for mana tools.


    I quickly store everything of use into my pack before making my way back to the city not quite understanding the gravity of the feat I just accomplished.

 All Mages are Safe from Sea Bears

    Eventually, I made my way back into the city and I also killed 3 NORMAL wild boars which were much easier to kill and should satisfy my quest condition if they didn''t accept the magical beast boar. With my pack brimming and body tired I walked into the guild and went straight to the reception.


    I found out that the magical beast wouldn''t be accepted if I handed just that in which means I was lucky that I caught the other one''s. For the quest, I managed to score 50 copper which is a pretty good payout as with 50 coppers one could feed themselves for 2 or 3 days or pay for a night in a cheap inn. What surprised me was that the magical boar was worth 50 silver! It was considered a low-rank E-rank beast which is well above my F-rank despite the seemingly small difference. The difference between an F-rank and E-rank could be crudely described as the difference between a slingshot and a bow, obviously there much more factors that go into it but that''s just a simplification of it.


    After I sold it I got asked if I wanted to rank up to an E-rank adventurer but I decided to decline as it might make me a bit too high profile and I''m technically supposed to be dead due to the hit placed on me by Cassie''s clan, the Stormcloaks. I shouldn''t be in too much trouble because they have much bigger threats to consider instead of lil old me but you can never be too careful. I still think about what might''ve happened to Cassie as I knew she wouldn''t leave without telling me nevermind send thugs on me, but she probably had a good reason.


    With my coin purse being fuller than ever I decided to wander around town a bit to see anything catches my fancy. The first thing u set out to do is by myself some more clothes as with adventuring you can never know when you might need a spare. Afterwards, I go to some weapon stores to see if there is anything worth getting.


    Turns out 50 silvers is nowhere near enough to get any fresh equipment as anything that''s not trash starts from at least 80 silvers to a gold. I then remembered that I don''t need new equipment, I just need some good equipment that''s broken and I could fix it up myself. Sam you genius. I quickly made way to a back alleyway weapon shop that looks like it sells scrap metal. Walking in front of me were neat enough shelves with various weapons and armour on the wall, there were some people in the shop. Probably blacksmiths as even though the weapons are useless, they could get some inspiration from some of the designs.


    I quickly join in with the milling and look at the various shelves to see if anything suits me. Near the front of the shop, were damaged gear that could still be used and just needs some maintenance, but as you go back the gear becomes more and more decrepit. The pricing around the front was about 10 to 30 silvers depending on the damaged but near the back, it goes down into coppers which is the area that I''m going to hit. Honestly, some of the stuff you can''t even recognise so I looked around to see if anyone could see me but luckily the shelves back here go up to 6 feet high.


    Confident that no one could see me I sneakily bind myself to some weapons to see if there is anything decent and unbind myself from them when I''m done inspecting them. Man, I am dastardly. However, my hopes were dashed as most of this gear is similar in quality to the cheap guardsman dagger that I have.


    I resolved myself to get a light breastplate which could go for about 2 gold if it were new but now it was 12 copper. I also got some decent greaves and gloves. I also got a thickly armoured gauntlet for my left hand as I could use it to deflect blows when using the scythe were using the buckler would just get in the way.


    So far my trolley was about 60 coppers as the gear was truly totalled before I bound them to me. I was happy with the armour that I¡¯m purchasing so I purchased along with some travelling cloaks and boots that would be good quality once I bind them to myself.


    On the way back I look through some windows into some of the more arcane establishments. There are always materials available but never the ones you need which seem to curse every production class mage once in their careers. What interested me instead were the circle spell scrolls. When you form a circle you can engrave a spell into it which will improve the spell slightly and decrease the cost, a common example would be fireball as when engraved it would massively decrease the cost which would help people send out much more fireballs for the fraction of the mana.


    Also, some higher strength spells can need more than one circle, for instance, Lightning Strike is a two circle spell and you can even get spells that take all 10 circles but people rarely do that as it¡¯s not worth it. Also, spells have to be in your element, so for me, it¡¯ll need to be a null element spell. The spell I¡¯ve been looking at was Boost as it can boost my attributes in exchange mana, the number of attribute increase with the level scroll. A low level would probably only increase strength with high mana cost whereas a high-level scroll could increase multiple attributes with a more affordable mana cost which makes Boost a popular choice amongst all adventurers.


    Unfortunately, scrolls are fucking expensive. The lowest level spell Flash, where it''s the only purpose is to lights up a room, is worth 11 gold and the decent ones start from 20 gold. I walk back to the inn in a bit depressed, unfortunately, it got worse as soon as I stepped through the door a ladle immediately hit me in the face.


    ¡°What the hell were you thinking, fighting an E-rank beast at your level. Why didn¡¯t you run away? Do you think you''re some hotshot since you got some new weapons, huh?¡± The Landlady¡¯s ruthless berating continued for a further 10 minutes meanwhile Mathias and Annabell were laughing at my misfortune whilst peaking around the door. Afterwards, she sent me to my room without any dinner. As I went to my room I felt warm in my heart despite her harsh words, I could feel the care in her voice. It feels warm.


    I get to my room and I throw myself onto my bed and rest my tired body. After a brief moment of respite, I sit up, cross-legged. I better get some meditation in. However as it was going as normal I suddenly felt some resistance, furrowing my brows, I scan myself to see what the obstruction could be. However my jaw dropped when I inspected myself, I¡¯m right on the threshold for my first circle. Before I could even think about what caused this I shoved all thoughts to the back of my mind and focus on forming my circle, this is a vital step where I couldn¡¯t afford to lose a single iota of concentration.


    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    I sit in the lotus position with my two fists meeting in front of me. and concentrate on making sure mana is circulating throughout my entire body. This is so my body gets tempered to be able to handle the stress of forming a circle. This is the main difference between mages and warriors. Warriors actively temper their bodies to become faster and stronger which in turn passively increases their mana capacity whereas mages actively increase their mana capacity which passively tempers their bodies. However, despite both the spirit and body getting cultivated by either class, a warrior can never have the same mana capacity as similarly levelled mage and vice versa for the physical constitution.


    This is where people who are both mage and warrior, like Cassie, are completely dominant as they cultivate both their spirit and body to the same degree as a focused mage or warrior. However, I heard that people who have dual classes have to spend twice as long cultivating which makes it a bit more level for other single classed people.


    A focus with utmost concentration to make sure there is no stuttering in my mana circulation As I form my circle the runes on my arm that represent my weapons light up as well and something unexplainable occurs. There was my first circle which is a pale blue due to my null magic nature but there was something else, behind my circle there was another circle with an electric blue and it was about twice the size as my first circle and as I inspected the runes more I realised they¡¯re the same ones that were on my arm. What the hell does this mean?


    After my circles have finished forming what remained was my first circle and this second circle. I have no idea what this means, I mean I never heard of a case where someone has an extra circle, does that mean I make two circles instead of one every time I level up or would I just have 11 circles in the end. Questions flitted about my mind for a couple of more moments but I decided to shove them all to the back of my mind. I began meditating again with my new circles. As I said before mana is stored in us, for mages they are stored in the soul so the stronger the soul the more mana you can store and the better control you have, that''s why we meditate as it slowly strengthens the soul. Circles act as a seal for the soul, it absorbs mana into the soul and prevents it from leaking out.


    As I circles began to spin mana began to be sucked into my soul at a rapid pace, the marks on my arm lit up bright blue as well. After a short 20 minutes, I fill my capacity from zero to full. This speed outstood me as normal first circle magicians need at least 30 minutes to refill their mana. My speed is slightly slower than a 2nd circle magician. However, that¡¯s not the most exciting aspect when I stopped meditating my circle stopped spinning and the blue glow from arm faded but the second circle still kept spinning albeit at half the pace.


    Shit me does this mean what I think it does, to test out my theory I summon all of my weapons and unsummoned and watched how my passive regeneration has increased by an enormous amount. This is insane, one of the major problems with mages is mana regeneration as spells constantly take mana and mana regeneration always take time which leads to them relying on expensive mana potions. I could probably replenish my mana in about 40 minutes passively whereas before it would take about 2 hours.


    As I was taking in my newfound blessings I heard a knock on the door,


    ¡°Come in¡± After I said that I saw that the landlady came in with a bowl in her hand.


    ¡°I see that you¡¯ve finished forming your circle, you¡¯ve been glowing like a flashlamp for the last hour¡± I¡¯ve been forming my circle for an hour? But it felt like minutes, time must fly when your gaining cosmic powers also whats that with me glowing. Was it the runes on my arms?


    ¡°Well I don¡¯t have any windows in this room so I had to make my own light¡± I grinned as I provoked landlady Maria, in which I was successful as she immediately hit me over the head.


    ¡°Don¡¯t get cocky with me.¡± She smiled as she said that,


    ¡°Anyway now that you¡¯ve become a first circle magician, albeit a bit faster than the norm, you need to consolidate your magic, I would suggest starting the mana mastery exercises, tomorrow I¡¯ll also train you in some of your other weapons alright.¡±


    I nod my head before remembering my 2nd circle,


    ¡°I have something to ask when I formed my circle I made two circles instead of just one and I was wondering if you ever heard of that happening before¡± As I finished I saw the shock in her expression and spoke in a slightly frantic voice,


    ¡°You mustn¡¯t tell anyone about your second circle understand! If word gets out not even I would able to protect and you would be slaughtered on the spot.¡± I only nodded at her demands, my back was coated in a cold sweat. Who did this second relate to and how strong were they that they could even scare the landlady.


    Afterwards, she calmed down and told me that I¡¯ll have to figure out my second circle myself as she had no idea about it and she left me to eat my food. While slurping on my stew I felt the rotations in my circles, the pulses that it sent out every cycle, the slight rumbling sensation in my soul as it rotates. I mull over the landlady¡¯s warning, I look at my hands and felt the mana circulate above my palms. Why should I have to fear others who I haven¡¯t offended, why should live in fear of a possibility. I strengthen the resolve in my heart to gain enough strength so I can at least live without fearing an unknown boogeyman.

 The Shortest Training Arc Known to Man

    Right now I was sat against the wall like a sack of potatoes while Annabell was on my lap messing around with my hair and presumably giving me some wacky hairstyles. The reason for my unsightly predicament was due to my training session with the landlady who insists that I call her Aunty from now on as it feels more natural than just referring to her as just ''landlady''.


    She started training in using the hammer and scythe with some basic forms but obviously due to my scrawny build I could barely keep this up for more than an hour so she got me doing strength training instead with the occasional danger sense exercise where she literally lifted stones with her mind and pelted them towards me. This surprised me because I''m pretty sure she''s a warrior and they don''t have such over control elements like this without the use of a skill but she''s been doing it a flick of her eyes. I tried asking her how she does it and she replied,


    "You can''t even swing that hammer properly and you want to learn this, get over yourself kid." She then punctuated her statement by throwing a couple larger stones my way


    Afterwards, when my body has been completely spent she sat me down and told me to get started on the mana mastery exercises they only require mental strength and some mana. They are basically different forms of mana control like how one would have different forms in sword fighting. The first exercise is materialising where you just summon your mana to your hand and form it into a stable sphere. Turns out my control is utter crap as I could barely coax the mana out of my body. I spent hours trying to mana from my source and summon it to my hand, trying to get mana to my hand inside my body is hard enough to not need to mention controlling it above my hand.


    Although these exercises have no combat uses they''re a good way to gain better control over mana which indirectly helps develop combat skills but people tend to disregard them as after the first couple they''re just variations over the same techniques. I thought about it the same way but the landlady quickly put me in my place by controlling the Earthen Wall skill so they appear as a fist and punch me in the gut and then put me into a full nelson. I then quickly quieten down and begin the exercises as Mathias'' and Annabell''s raucous laughter could be heard from the house.


    In the mana mastery exercise, there are 3 main points, emission, amplification, manipulation. Emission is summoning mana from outside your body and perfect emission would be summoning mana from any point on your body. Amplification is amplifying a property of the mana for instance brightness, colour, etc. And manipulation, the hardest part, controlling the movement of mana.


    After all these exercises left in me current circumstance where I am powerless against an 8-year-old as she uses me as a canvas for her artistic vision. I tried to fight her away but my body is too weak and Annabell is frighteningly strong for her age, much stronger than I was at her age that''s for sure.


    "Annie sweetie could you please get off my lap, you''re crushing me." Annabell, obviously unhappy with my remark, began to tug on my cheeks,


    "Samuel commenting on a woman''s weight is extremely rude, I expected better from you," She said with her deadpan face. Mock tears fell from my eyes, why did she have to use my full name.


    ----


    Mathias chuckled at the sight before remembering that Annabell never refers to him as dad instead she always called him Mathias for as long as he could remember. It''s almost laughable being the guild master of the Adventurers Guild but not being able to get basic respect from his own daughter. If any of his employees ever saw how she treats him they would be on the floor in tears as the great Mathias McCroyle is on a first-name basis with his daughter. Crestfallen he looks towards his wife he was watching him with an amused face. She then leaned in towards him and gave him a kiss on the cheek to quell his sadness.


    With his mood lifted he looked back at his child and his wife''s unofficial disciple who collapsed into a deep sleep despite his hair having unprecedented amounts of volume. Annabell with her masterpiece done fell asleep in his arms which made Mathias feel a pang of jealousy as his daughter never fell asleep in his arms since she was a toddler. He was always vexed by his daughter who shared his fiery, wild, red hair was exactly like his wife when she was younger, especially her cold facade and deadpan expression which is why he''s so confused as to why she got so friendly with this Samuel boy so quickly despite their short time together.


    Sighing to himself, he looked back towards Samuel, this kid was an enigma to him. His wife who never much cared for any youth that''s not her daughter took an interest in this random newly awakened who seemingly came out of nowhere and is now treating him like her own son despite knowing him for only about a week. Mathias tried asking about it but she only replied that he''s her sister''s son but this confused Mathias further as he knows for definite that Maria doesn''t have any siblings but he decided to leave it be as it doesn''t really concern him. Also, he could be completely wrong about Maria not having siblings but he won''t open that can of beans as of this moment.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    ----


    After waking up my body was sore all over, every part of me hated each other made sure I knew about it. The groans and creeks were deafening. I quickly gave up trying to get up as I was going nowhere fast so I look down and see Annabell drooling on my shirt. It was so cute, especially since she''s making a sound sleeping expression rather her usual deadpan, it almost made me hesitant to wake her up, almost. Nudging her awake she slowing got up, squinted at me and let out a small eep sound. Before I could do anything she began rubbing her face into my chest wiping all of her drool onto my chest after which she then ran straight upstairs.


    "Annabell! Just you wait," Aggrieved I finally got up and cleaned myself up, afterwards I went outside and started doing aunties warmup exercises in preparation for today''s training.


    I continued this torturous routine of strength training and mana mastery continued until it was time for my escort mission which was postponed for a month. By that time I could do the basic forms for scythe and hammer sort of comfortably but my control over both my body and my mana shot up. I managed to summon my mana and make it slightly brighter and make it travel, albeit very slowly, around my hand which is good progress in one month according to aunty, and my dodging ability increased slightly as well, especially since my life was on the line as Annabell joined in and started throwing her razor-sharp cards at me with a small smile on her face.


    After eating breakfast that aunty prepared for me I got ready to set off, I put some extra clothes into my pack and some cooking utensils as you''ll never know when you might need to hunt and cook your own food. I brought more provisions with me as the mission got upgraded from a usual low F-rank mission to a low E-rank mission that''ll last about a month. This increase in difficulty made aunty slightly hesitant in letting me partake in the mission. Despite the increase in difficulty for someone like me, it was a large leap but Mathias, who I only recently found out was the Guild Master, deemed me capable enough to take part after reviewing my recent training which is why Aunty let me go through with the mission.


    I got a hug off Annabell as she got really attached to me in the time I''ve been staying there although you wouldn''t see it on her face as it remains blank but I got proficient at reading her emotions from the smallest change in her expression. I replied in kind to her hug by showering her in kisses onto her small cheeks which in turn made her face blaze up and match her hair colour. It was an extremely humorous sight to the patrons seeing the ever stoic Annabell who cheated them out of their socks acting so meek.


    After Annabell started to punch me with her small hands to make me stop did I let her go, she then promptly retreats behind her mother. I then go up to aunty and give her a warm hug,


    "Don''t get killed out there kid or there''ll be consequences." She said in a faux stern voice but her voice sounded extremely warm. I squeezed her a bit with my embrace.


    "Of course I won''t die out there I''ve been trained by Storming Centurion of all people." She pinched my cheek while giving me a warm smile.


    I then turned to Mathias and gave him a wide grin, I''ve grown closer to him as he gave me some training on how to use the axe. I repaid his kindness by helping Annabell prank him, for instance, we put a live frog into his sandwich and we braided his hair with flowers and cute hair clips which made him a laughing stock at the guild. Mathias looked like he was waiting for his turn as he looked like he was about to drop some pearls of wisdom onto me but I shut him up by giving him a big wet kiss on the cheek and running away as fast as I could. I could see Mathias go even redder than Annabell did, but for a different reason, and the entire room burst out into guffaws at Mathias'' expense.


    I made my way to the south gate as that''s where mission said to gather for the mission. After 10 minutes I finally made my way there, there were 6 people. The 6 were split into 2 groups one was a duo who looked like brothers with a run off the mill brutish appearance that is typical for adventurers. The other group consisted of a lanky man with an eye patch for both of his eyes and he had two cutlasses by his side and he was also wearing a bandana. I almost choked on my spit when I saw the dude, like how was he walking about all normal like that without seeing and why isn''t anyone perturbed by it. Shaking my head I look towards the next person.


    Next to the lanky man was a girl that looks to be a bit older than me, she was wearing a mages garbs and she had tomboyish features with her hair cut short to match. I could tell she was expressive from the excitable way she carried herself and her bubbly aura from when I saw her conversing with her teammates. The off-putting thing about her is the fact she is currently wearing massive jewel-encrusted gauntlets on both hands making her hands akin to something you would see on a golem.


    Shaking my head again I look to the next person, they were wearing a large cloak that obscured most of their features but you could tell it was a female due to their stature. However, the most interesting thing about her is the fact she was standing a bit further away from the other 3 like she isn''t close to them. It''s not my problem anyway, at least she seems remotely normal in contrast to the other two.


    And finally, I look towards the last person he had purple hair and blue eyes and a smile that can make any maidens heart... holy fuck I remember describing this guy before. It''s that good looking bastard that made me briefly question my sexuality a couple of chapters of ago. I feel an irrational annoyance towards him as I have a feeling he is going to be a source of headaches for me in the future, especially that whimsical expression of his and that lackadaisy atmosphere that follows him. As if on cue he looks towards me and gives me a flashy smile and gives me a knowing look,


    "It seems like the final member of our party has arrived." He gave me a wink. I look towards the group of oddballs in front of me and I realise this going to be a long mission.

 A Great Adventure Begins by Pissing off your Party

    I sigh to myself and put on an amicable face. I look towards the group leader aka purple-haired violin guy. He was a bit older than me, had a slim build, fairly tall standing at a bit taller than me with a height of around 1.75m, textbook handsome face with his long hair made him look like a typical good looking noble. But he looks familiar to me, like even before I got jumped and his blue eyes look familiar to me but I couldn''t put my finger on it at the moment. Tossing those thoughts to the back of my mind I greet him,


    "Nice to meet you, err.."


    "Marshall Jr but call me Mars, Marshall is my father." He sent me a winning smile while holding a hand out to me expectantly.


    "Nice to meet you Junior and the names Samuel" I shook his hand a bit stiffly. I heard a small snort that came from the bubbly pixie cut blond with the wicked gauntlets. She had warm brown eyes, pretty face peppered with freckles may be a bit on the boyish side but nice to look at nonetheless, she was a bit shorter than me but I could see she was packing a lot of punch with her skin being defined with muscle. After Marshall first greeted me the rest of them joined in.


    First pixie cut,


    "My names Estelle but you can call me Stella or Estelle, I''m easy." She said with a more genuine smile in comparison to Marshalls. After she introduced herself I heard Marshall say under his breath,


    "You definitely were acting easy with that flute loser," Which promptly got silence with a fist that sent Marshall flying into a tree.


    Ignoring what just transpired I looked towards the dual eyepatch guy, he had dark green hair, sharp features and a lanky build where he towered over everyone in our group but his body is packed with muscle in comparison to Marshall. But obviously, the eyepatches were his defining feature which made me wonder what''s behind them,


    "And my names Mighty and I don''t have a nickname, and before you ask," he then pulls open his eye patches and show his stark grey eyes, "I am in fact not blind, I just wear these as they are related to my innate ability."


    I nodded at the answer as innate abilities are abilities that people gain when they awaken and they are imprinted onto your circle or core. So for me, I could summon weapons that I bind to. For others, it could be flight, abnormal fire mastery or something as mundane as seeing slightly better in the dark. But an innate ability in contrasts with skills which can be learned by anyone could be unique to a person when awakened or inherited from a strong bloodline in clans and families such as Cassies which has a strong lightning ability called Thunderclap which is a potent high-speed skill which allows the user to partially turn themselves into lightning.  But even in clans innate abilities could mutate and become weaker or stronger, in Cassies case she gained a darkness element which could change her ability which in turn could lead to strengthening the clan''s bloodline with her offspring. Anyway, the presence of innate ability is why you should never underestimate anyone as you never know what they could be hiding up their sleeves even people from clans with well-known abilities as you never know if a mutation or completely new ability has manifested.


    But some abilities could have restrictions for them to work so when I heard Mighty''s eyepatches affect his ability made me think about what it could be. With thoughts buzzing around my head I look towards the last person. She was a bit taller than me and look like she had a leaner build in comparison to Stella but I couldn''t tell much else due to the cloak and hood obscuring the majority of her features, but I could still see her red lips due to me being shorter than her. But if I hazard a guess I would say she was a beauty but I could see why she would cover it up as beauty is both a blessing and a curse in this line of business. She said flatly,


    "Helen" and promptly turned away from me and looked towards nowhere in particular. I was at a bit of a loss at her cold attitude but I felt a hand on my shoulder,


    "Don''t worry she was like that with us, the only person she said more than 5 words to was to Mighty but I have no idea why and Mighty won''t spill the beans," Marshall said as he gave the finger to the self-imposed blind man who somehow knew and gave the finger back.


    I shrug my shoulders at the situation as it''s not my problem. No one else came after me and we all waited until the caravan came so we could set off. While waiting I did some mana exercises, I managed to compress my mana into a ball and roll it around my hand like a marble in slow motion. Although I''m well away from forming my next circle with my current control I reckon I could form my next circle with relative ease at the moment. This wait only lasted around ten minutes as the merchant''s caravan finally came.


    It was a fairly large caravan with 5 large carriages being dragged by River Bison magical beasts each carrying a different ware, damn this merchant must be a quite rich guy if he''s using magical beasts to pull his caravan. Whistling I think that our group of 7 is a bit small to cover all 5 carriages so I look towards the merchant who arrived in front of us for answers. He was a portly man which was typical for merchants,


    "Hello I''m the man who runs this caravan, I hired you all to protect this carriage from Dorwell towards the west to Hemelith which is our endpoint and we would make multiple stops on our way there, we will also add more adventurers to the caravan on some of the stops." The man spoke jovially with a big smile but his enthusiasm was met with deadpans all around other than Marshall and Stella.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    After the Merchant briefed us he got his workers and his small group of guards to begin prepping the caravan. In this wait, I did a recount of everything on my person, I got all my equipment in my pack, my sleeping bag, spare clothes etc. The pack I was carrying is made from azure moleskin which has a weak space affinity which allows more things to be held in it than due to a small spatial expansion charm. This pack was a standard issue from the adventurers guild that everyone gets and is of the lowest grade but it works for me at the moment.


    After all the prep for the caravan was done we set off. While walking I looked around me, it was mainly calm woodland with some meadows here and there. I then look behind me and saw Dorwell, I take it in the image as this is the first time I truly leave the city. Small bubbles of excitement could be felt in my stomach, it feels quite surreal to be finally leaving to be finally stepping out into the wide-open world. Spinning back around I focus on the path ahead and the adventure that lay before me.


    After the initial excitement of leaving Dorwell, the journey quickly become monotonous, man I didn''t realise that walking could be so boring. The scenery quickly became tiresome and there was only silence other than the clanking of the wooden wheels of the carriages on the dirt path. Sighing to myself I put myself onto autopilot and go back to my mana mastery exercises. I summon a pale ball of mana and try to increase it''s size from a marble to an apple and surprisingly the ball swelled in size without any complications. Huh, I must''ve improved more than I thought, let''s get a bit ambitious shall we, I started to manipulate it''s shape but as soon as it turned oval shaped it burst with a loud pop.


    Licking my lips I go back to trying to manipulate the shape of the orb but it always seemed to pop before I could make any major changes which gradually pissed me off more and more. I kept at it for about an hour and my frustration must''ve been comical as I looked to my right and I saw Marshall and Stella holding back their laughter whereas Mighty looked at me with pity I think, it''s a bit hard to tell with the eyepatches. Narrowing my eyes I ask,


    "Alright, spill what''s so funny?"


    "Nothing," Marshall and Stella say together and then promptly go back to snickering amongst themselves. Shrugging them off I tune out their giggles and go back to the old grindstone. Tens of tries and multiple pops later I see coming at me from my peripheral, I try to duck but it was too late and I get drenched by a large water ball and knocked down to the ground due to the force. Flicking my hair out of my eyes I looked aggrieved at the perpetrator, what I saw was Helen with her hood pulled up so I could see her rage-filled face, but my god was she beautiful. However, that didn''t matter at the minute as she began to berate me,


    "My god stop that you imbecile, your mana is unstable couldn''t you fucking tell after the umphteenth time doing the easiest mana exercise?" Before I could hit her back with a witty reply she stomped off to the back of the caravan.


    Feeling wronged I look towards the trio and they all were bent over laughing at my scolding. Slightly hurt I ask,


    "Okay haha, why didn''t you warn me she was pissed,"


    "It would''ve been funnier to see how she''ll react" Stella stated with a smile which Marshall emphasised by nodding his head along. Shaking my head I look towards to Marshall,


    "Yo Junior what did she mean that my mana was unstable?" He put on a thoughtful face for a couple moments before answering,


    "I think it''s that you don''t have granular control over your mana and that you''re doing too much at once. If you want my advice focus on controlling smaller amounts and focusing on controlling a small part perfectly then increase the amount of mana." Woah he gave me actual advice and by the looks of it, Stella and mighty were equally astonished they didn''t expect such a comprehensive answer from him.


    Annoyed by the looks of awe Marshall burst out,


    "Don''t look at me like that, I can give actual advice when I want to."


    "Of course Junior we all knew you had it in you," Mighty replied by patting Marshall on the shoulder but looking in the completely wrong direction.


    "It''s Mars, not Junior, get it right," Marshall shouted feeling more wronged than before, but everyone ignored his small outburst. I went back to concentrating on my mana exercises. However this time I summoned a small sliver of mana and analysed it and I noticed something, it wasn''t completely blue there was a mix of a pale light blue and electric blue but the pale blue mana seems to be overwhelmed by the electric blue mana which causes the collapse of the mana altogether.


    Scratching my head I brainstorm for a couple of moments about the reason for this. I deduce that it could be due to my circle so focus on my inner space and see my two circles, my normal null magic circle and the larger electric blue circle. I rotate them and release a small sliver of mana and see that my null magic circle not working properly and that''s there some stuttering which leads to the null magic being unstable and being overwhelmed by this different mana from my second circle whose element I still can''t figure out. This has me stumped, what could be the reason for this, could it be the difference in size, is my circle incomplete I haven''t the foggiest.


    My inner-thinking was interrupted as I accidentally walked into the back of one of the scary-looking adventurers that the rest of us avoided.


    "Sorry, I wasn''t looking wher..." I was silenced with his fist that connected with my cheek. I then crashed heavily against the ground, he then grabbed me by the scruff and picked me up,


    "Fucking pay attention, this isn''t a playground greenhorn. Never let your guard down unless you want to die early." With that, he threw me away and went back to his friend. Fuck that hurt like a bitch, as I massaged my cheek Marshall and the others came to me,


    "Are you alright, he went a bit too far there?" Marshall asked concerned.


    "Should I get him back for you?" Stella asked but from the look in her eyes, I think she just wanted to punch something.


    "No he was right I let my guard down, this is a mission I need to take it seriously," I said resignedly. It was my mistake, I shouldn''t lose focus like that especially in unknown territory.¡± The three of them gave sympathetic smiles as they agreed with the sentiment.


    We went back to walking, while I was rubbing my cheek Helen came to my side. I was about to ask if she needed anything but I got shut down by her splashing more water in my face. Before I could admonish her for splashing me for seemingly no reason I noticed that my cheek stopped hurting. Slightly dumbstruck I look at her,


    "Don''t mention it, take it as an apology for splashing you earlier." She said as she gave me a small smile, huh maybe she''s not that bad. I watch as she goes back to her position. With renewed vigour, I go back to inspecting my circle while remaining vigilant of my surroundings.

 Its Circle Time Boys and Girls

    After an hour or two of fiddling with my circles, the only thing I could deduce was that my null magic circle has something missing or is incomplete but I couldn''t put my finger on what it was. Frustrated with the lack of progress I decided to come at the problem from a different angle since my null magic circle won''t be cooperating any time soon I decided to just not use it for now. Instead, I focused on releasing magic from my second seal since the mana coming from that circle seems to be stable and man did it make a large difference, well it''s still hard to manipulate the mana but at least it''s not collapsing for no reason so it could be considered progress.


    Afterwards, I got a bit bored of doing mana exercises so instead, I fell in line with Marshall.


    "Say Junior have we met before, I feel like before." To my question, Marshall hit me with a deadpan.


    "Seriously you don''t recognise me, like at all? Dude, I''m Cassie''s cousin from her father''s side, I was there at most of her birthdays."


    Feeling embarrassed I give a weak smile while I try to remember, but to be honest I''m bad at remembering faces so it''s no surprise that I forget about him.


    "You forgot about me, didn''t you?"


    "Nooo I didn''t forget you, it''s just I briefly couldn''t recognise since you''ve become such a strapping young buck." But as I say that I think I have faint memories of seeing him before, but you can''t blame me for not remembering as most of Cassie''s ilk weren''t too fond of me so I limited my exposure to them.


    However, Marshall gave me an unbelieving stare that said ''you forgot didn''t you''. In an attempt to ease the tension I ask Marshall,


    "Don''t you dare doubt me Mars I remember you, seriously. I am a man that stands by his ambiguous." Marshall''s face softened since I called him by his preferred nickname,


    "It''s okay little buddy, I don''t blame you if you don''t."


    "Little buddy? Dude, you''re barely a quart taller than me,"


    "And don''t you ever forget it" Marshall finished a loud laugh. The journey continued with light banter between me, Marshall, Stella and Mighty I even seen Helen smile a small bit under her hood. The caravan kept moving until nighttime where we set up camp. As the carriages stop I saw some of the workers step out of the back of some of the carriages and then start setting up camp. It was about 40 minutes until they started serving food for everyone which was an alright tasting stew but it was nothing to write home about.


    I finished eating and left the group saying I needed to do my business and went into the forest. The reason for this is to test a theory that I''m cooking up. I look around making sure that no one could see me and I concentrate on summoning my mana. I make sure only my secondary circle is releasing mana and not my null circle. With mana circulating I summon my shield and seeing that appears without a hitch confirmed my theory. My innate ability that I have is related to my secondary circle, not my null circle which means I was wrong about the nature of my magic all this time, my innate ability is not null magic at all but magic of a different elemental leaning, it seems I need to go to a library to see what it could be, as I have no idea at the moment.


    So, in conclusion, one of my circles is slightly defective and I don''t have a solution to fix it, but at least I have identified the problem which is better than nothing. As I made my way back to camp I felt a chill go down my back so I look around quickly to see if anything was there but it turned out to be nothing, unfortunately, my gut doesn''t agree with that statement as it was telling me something smells fishy or maybe it was the haddock I had earlier. Cautiously I made my back to camp and saw that people were either went to bed or staying up to keep watch.


    Knowing today I didn''t I have to keep watch tonight I just went straight to bed so I found a comfortable looking bush and went straight to the dream world.


    Days went by in the same boring routine from dusk till dawn, no bandits, no magical beasts, no grand plots. It was just walking, some jokes and more walking, which really put a dampener on the whole ''life of adventure'' idea. In this time I got on better terms with Stella, Marshall and Mighty. I found out that Stella and Mighty aren''t from Dorwell but were friends with Marshall from when they were young and decided to form a party when they awakened which I thought was pretty cool. Apparently Mighty was from a small coastal town down south that faced the Blue Divide, an enormous expanse of water that separates the landmasses. Not else is much known about this ocean other than the legend that it leads to ''The Edge of the World'' but that was a fisherman tale that caught on somehow despite how mad it sounds. Alternatively, Stella is from the northwest and lived near to the Spine of the World which is an extremely treacherous mountain range that is rumoured to have valleys that go as deep as the mountains go high. It was also fraught with danger but is full of rare ores which is why a large population of dwarves live there. As we talked they even told me some of their adventuring stories which were much more exciting than the one we''re on now but they assured me that all missions start out boring and they either finish boring or with an experience of a lifetime. During this time even Helen opened up a bit as she mostly listened to the stories with me but didn''t say much.


    Helen was an interesting person I think. She kept up the whole mysterious stranger get up even now but she even got put up with me for night watch so I got to know that she''s been in the ''Game'' for a year however I''m pretty sure she''s not human but one of the different races from how she holds a bit of contempt to everyone else and has a completely different aura than anyone else but I didn''t inquire as she''s wearing a hood for a reason and I don''t want to be that guy.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    One thing I did get out of Helen was some mana mastery advice and she led me through some of the exercises which led my overall control to shoot up as I had someone to lead me through it. I can now complete basic manipulation but I still have a long way to go as Helen has mad control over her mana as when she demonstrated led to my mouth falling wide open. However, I still have no idea on how to fix my circle and was too scared to ask anyone to not reveal my second circle.


    Last but not least I didn''t get punched in the face by the scary dude, which is a plus I guess.


    As of right now, we made it to the first town. We were supposed to stay there for a day while the caravan restocks on supplies and allow the Bison''s to rest. We all scattered after we went into the town and were told to meet at the gate tomorrow at noon. I decided to go hit the library to see if have any information about circles.


    Walking through the town I saw although it was pretty small, it has a cosy vibe around it and people had an aura of contentedness around them. Feeling invigorated by the mood I decided to take the scenic route instead as I meandered through the town and took in the sights. While walking, I saw a bustling market and decided to check it out.


    When I arrived I saw that it was a general bazaar that had a little bit of everything. The first thing that caught my attention was a mouth-watering smell, like a bloodhound I tracked the scent to woman grilling meat on some skewers with what looks to be her sons. I order two skewers and continue to look around, I saw some nice clothes but they were a tad too expensive but I found a nice woollen hat and I decided to buy it and immediately equip it. I then saw a stall selling a collection of books and scrolls, walking up and looking through what''s there. It was mainly just some odd scrolls on identifying volcanic herbs and other rather specific encyclopedias. However, I saw a small scroll that caught my attention, it was titled ''A Comprehensive Guide to Street Fighting and Fleeing''. Seeing such that it had such a compelling title how could I not buy it and it was pretty affordable at 1 silver and 40 copper. I continued to look around for a while longer but nothing seemed to catch my eyes so I decided to just go to the library.


    After a short while and some backtracking, I found the library, when I went inside it was a pretty lively atmosphere as there were a lot of children milling about seems like it was the school was holding class here. Discounting the children, the library reflected the cosy and comfortable feeling that permeates throughout this town with oaken pillars, walls painted with plain colours and comfortable furniture. However, due to the surplus of children, the regular chars were pushed aside and in their place were large fluffy pillows which looked just as comfy. After a quick scan, I found the magic theory section, it was full knowledge that could be considered basic knowledge as it was available for anyone to read, the juicier tidbits were hidden within large institutes such as guilds, clans, academies and the such.


    I picked up a book called ''Encyclopedia of Elements'' and ''Identifying the Arcane'' to see if either has any clue as to the nature of my second circle and I also picked out ''Understanding Circles'' to see if it has any solutions to my null circle. With these books in hand, I made way to the seating area and set up camp on a large pillow. The class of children were all sat in front of the librarian who was reading a story to them all so they won''t be disturbing me anytime soon.


    For an hour I was looking through the encyclopedia to see if I can at least identify my element. The encyclopedia had a list of numerous elements and basic description, for instance, null magic specialised in utility spells that could be practised by everyone. There are lots of elements, the most commons were fire, earth, water and wind. However, there are more obscure elements that are derivative from the 4 main elements or completely separate such as poison, nature, lava and such. At first, I thought my circle was of the space element as the colour was similar however after I cross-checked it in ''Identifying the Arcane'' and realised that it wasn''t as the runes and patterns in my circle were different and it also had a slightly different colour. Space was a blue colour speckled with black whereas my circle was a bright blue with flecks of green so I went back to digging. After a good while has passed I found it. My circle was of the dimensional element which was derivative from the spacetime element. Spacetime is a really powerful element as it had many applications which would let the holder such an element live a relaxed life. My dimensional element was much more common in comparison but was still rare in it''s own right, it mainly specializes in spells such as inventory, teleportation, mana containment, etc but this meant I wasn''t compatible to the majority of spacetime spells and I would be lucky to find one that''ll work with my circle. I also found out how my skill works as well, as it turns out I don''t repair items instead I just rewind the time on them and return them to their original condition and I store them in my own personal space. This would be overpowered except for these skills to work they need to have restrictions on them and mine seemed to be that it only works on wearable equipment and weapons which explains why I couldn''t absorb objects such as raw materials, food and coins. I even tried it on a rabbit at one point to test my luck but it just wasn''t meant to be. Also, some extra information I found out was that my ability is more space-oriented rather than time which is why there''s more blue in the colour of my circle than green. A crude way of explaining it but it''s the best the books got.


    Phew, that was a lot to take in but at least I know what my element is, however, it only gave rise to more questions such as why have I got a second circle, who were my parents that they had such a rare element and why did they leave? Many questions that would undoubtedly lead me down a rabbit hole filled with follow up questions.


    Shaking these useless thoughts out of my head I go through the last book the only useful information I found was to pump mana into my circle to bring about improvements. This was common knowledge as the ways to improve circles and by proxy, their innate skills and talents were to use the skills extensively, repeatedly empty and refill mana to slowly increase mana capacity and meditate and slowly saturate the soul and, and as a consequence the circle, in mana. There are other more obscure ways but these are the established tried and true methods. All of these techniques would improve the capabilities of a mage. I guess I have no choice but to do as what the book said as I currently have no better ideas at hand.


    Standing up I heard a cacophony of cracks and snaps within my body which felt heavenly. Looking around I saw the library was devoid of children and was back to a calm atmosphere. Staggering back to shelves, due to pins and needles in my legs, I put the books back to their original places. I was about to head towards the exit but something caught my eye instead, sitting at the table was a girl who was leaning on the table with her face in a book, it was obvious the girl was fast asleep. However that''s not why I stopped, the reason was that I knew her, it was Helen! The hood of her cloak was pushed back, probably by accident while she was sleeping, which put her face in full face. Man her face was beautiful however that was not all as her skin had a purplish tint to it and her ears had a slight point to them, my god Helen was a drow. No wonder she always wore a disguise although there is no direct hatred between races anymore like in the past however stereotypes still persist and Helen would be a prime candidate for discrimination due to dark elves being known back in the day for affinity for assassinations especially against the human royalty.


    Looking around and confirming no one around I rushed over and put her hood back on and roused her back to the land of the living. Groaning Helen sat up and let out a big yawn while some paper was attached to her face, dazedly she looked at me and we made eye contact for a couple of seconds before recognition returned to her eyes. Quickly she sprung into action by grabbing me by the neck and flipping me onto the ground. With a muffled thud I was slammed down and she mounted me. It would''ve been a compromising position that would make me blush except for the fact she held a knife to my neck.


    "What did you see? Speak!" From the look in her eyes that if I didn''t answer carefully I would pay for my carelessness with my life.


    I gulped down and answered...

 The Plot Thicken

    Within the confines of the library, there were only two people present in a rather compromising position which would send even a nun¡¯s mind to the gutter except for the unlucky lad below the ravishing young lady had a knife held to his throat. Samuel, the lucky or unlucky bugger depending on how you interpret the situation, was panicking but he didn''t let it show on his face, a real man never exposes his inner feelings, right? He had to be smart about this as he knew Helen was a decisive person and wouldn¡¯t hesitate to put him down. ¡®Empty your mind, be clear and concise. Ok, showtime.¡±


    "I think it¡¯s cute the way your nose scrunches up when you sleep" What the hell was that? Idiot. Idiot. Tentatively Samuel looked towards Helen and saw that her eyes still had a hard expression except it had some traces of disgust as well. Samuel put up a warm smile as if he had the noblest intention despite what he said moments completely contradict it. Helen stared at him for a couple of moments before sheathing her dagger and standing up to her feet.


    Relief flooded through Samuels system as he thought he was a real goner there. Before he could get himself up a foot slammed into his chest and Helen spoke out threateningly,


    "If you try something, anything, I will kill you. Understood?" Samuel quickly nodded as the strength in her kick was by no means weak especially considering she was a mage. Helen then briskly left the library leaving Samuel flopped on the floor. After a couple minutes after Helen left only then did Samuel relax, taking in deep breathes he calmed himself down. He resolved to lock this moment of his life into the mental vault and to be remembered again. Samuel also decided to avoid Helen for the duration of mission lest she gets cold feet and kills him just to be safe.


    After brushing himself off he got up and out of curiosity, he looked at the books that Helen was looking at. It was an encyclopedia on rare herbs and plants. The page she opened to was an entry about a plant called ''Luna Daisy''. A bit of a dumb name but ok, Samuel continued to skim through and it read that the flower had miraculous antidotal properties and could even potentially lift curses due to a slight holy attribute it has due it being bathed in moonlit essence. As amazing as this sounds this plant is probably impossible to get ahold of due to it being the possession of the Moonlit Fae. The majority of Fae races don''t take kindly to outsiders, especially to ones that aren''t of their own race which is why they never show themselves ever.


    After scanning through the page Samuel shrugged to himself and exited the library, it wasn''t his business and he was in dangerous enough water with Helen so he won''t pry about it. The sun was beginning to make its descent towards the horizon, deciding that today was exciting enough Samuel thought to look for an inn to rest for the night. After a short while of aimless meandering, he found a decent looking one. Walking inside he saw it had a pretty jolly atmosphere as small groups of people enjoyed some evening drinks. Samuel was greeted by a middle-aged man,


    "Evening son, you looking to stay the night or you wanna sit in and eat?"


    "Just a room for the night," Sam replied.


    "Alright, one night costs 80 copper," Nodding at the acceptable price Samuel paid and followed the man to his room for the night. Crashing down into the bed as all of the stress from today was immediately released and he snuggled into the padded bedding. After a couple moments, he sat up crossed leg. Remembering about his circle problem he began to meditate and saturate his soul with mana. As his circles span and turned the mana from the environment into his personal mana his capacity slowly increased. Progress was slow but the Great Tree didn''t grow in a day so he kept at it. After an hour of meditation Samuel inspecting himself for changes, first of all, his capacity increased by a minuscule amount, probably less than 2% but what he also noticed was that the runes on his null magic circle were glowing as some more runes appeared and the circle grew ever so slightly bigger. Excited at the prospect of making some headway in solving this problem Samuel proceeded to empty his entire reserves into his circle and had his dimension circle spinning to create more mana. All this multi-tasking put some strain on Samuel mind but it was bearable. After he emptied himself, the null magic circle generated about two more rune characters and grew ever so slightly bigger but it was still about half the size of the dimension circle. After all this concentration and exertion Samuel was well and truly pooped, however, this lead him to remember something about his awakening. When he awakened he finished well before anyone else by a pretty large margin, he remembered how when the massive amounts of mana pumped into him he felt like he was about to burst it but that feeling faded in seconds. He figured that there wasn''t mana allocated to him to fully awaken his abilities so he has to now finish the job himself, which could also explain why his null magic circle is so small.


    With a solution now at hand, Samuel was content and all that was left to do was good old fashioned hard work. Seeing that his dimensional circle was still spinning by itself and generating mana he focused to send the small stream of mana into the null magic rather than his mana storage. After redirecting it, mana continued to flow from one circle to the other while his body will naturally absorb mana into his reserve despite its speed being insignificant compared to what his circle could achieve


    With that sorted, Samuel went straight to sleep.


    Waking up to the sound of the bustle outside Sam woke up went to the washroom to take care of his bodily needs. Feeling refreshed he walked into the dining room and sat himself down. After a few moments, a young boy a bit younger came to him,


    "Good morning what could I get you," He spoke with a smile. After telling the boy his order he looked into himself and checked the progress with his circles. He saw that the circle grew slightly and that it went from less than half the size of his dimensional circle to about above half, this may seem like a small amount but it felt like a stark difference to what it was before. Samuel figured that after a week or two of constantly supplying mana from his dimensional circle to his null circle will his circle finish forming.


    After a short while, his meal arrived and Samuel basically inhaled hit by finishing it in a matter of moments. Afterwards finishing his business with the inn he made his way outside and walked aimlessly down the street. He looked at the clocktower and saw that he still had time until he needed to meet up with the rest of the caravan. Seeing that he had nothing urgent to do he decided to just walk aimlessly and see if anything interests him.


    Walking around he somehow made his way to the outskirts of the town where it was a bit less savoury for most people. Seeing as he shouldn''t be here, Samuel turned around and began making his way back to the main part of town but as he was walking back he saw the adventurer who punched him in the face and his partner. While watching them he saw that they were on high alert, seeing their suspicious behaviour Samuel decided to tail them and see what they''re up to.


    He followed them further into the slum area, this place no longer had an inviting atmosphere with poverty around each corner. Scenes like this could be seen just about everywhere and Samuel was used to this sight as he used to be a character of such a hopeless scene when he was younger before he was befriended by Cassie. Not wanting to open old wounds Sam focuses on not being seen while tailing the duo. He saw that they entered a warehouse that was well guarded. Cursing to himself Sam looked around and decided to flank round to the back of the building, remembering some of the climbing techniques from ''The comprehensive Guide to Street Fighting and Fleeing'' he had to climb over several shacks and buildings, he was a bit clumsy but he had to do this in order to remain inconspicuous until he reached the warehouse, Samuel reached the building in question and he saw he could jump onto the roof.


    After leaping onto the roof, he found a loose section of tiles so Sam summoned his knife to pry apart some of the roof tiles. Sam had a bad feeling about those two and not because one of them punched him in the face. Sam made enough progress so that some of their conversations could be heard by him.


    "Have you two done it?" A voice that Samuel couldn''t recognise spoke out.


    "Yep, the merchant has taken the ''bribe'' and has willingly decided to transport our ''goods''" The guy who punched Samuel spoke this time.


    "Good the boss will be happy, alright continue as normal until you reach the last town before Hemelith then we''ll dispose of the extras,"


    This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.''Shit he''s not talking about me is he?'' Sam thought to himself.


    "Don''t worry they should be easy pickings also I found out something interesting,"


    "Ooh what could it be," The unknown voice asked inquisitively,


    "Yesterday I saw the cloaked one in the library and get this, she''s a drow," A shocked silence lasted for a second or two before the unknown voice burst out in laughter,


    "This is great news, drows are high-value merchandise and any noble would pay a pretty penny for one as a slave." Sam drew in a cold breath, they were talking about Helen. This revelation lead to Samuel feeling colder and colder, he wanted to warn Helen but he can''t be sure that she''ll believe him because she has no reason to, moreover he doesn''t know who else is in on the plot so he doesn''t know who else he could tell. Sam was panicking, this was definitely above the grade of the mission. Sam got up to leave but he slipped on some tiles that he just uprooted. Shit, without waiting for anyone''s reaction Sam rushed off as fast as he could. He leapt from the roof and continued on this rooftop pathway, he could hear shouts behind him so he quickly increased his speed to the maximum.


    ''I guess instructions from the guide would become useful earlier than I thought it would'' Samuel mused to himself as he leapt from rooftop to rooftop, climbing up and over each obstacle in a bid to lose any potential pursuers. Sam made some headway and he saw the wall of a dilapidated building in his way so Samuel summoned the hammer and then he spun two times before launching it at the wall. Obvious the wall crumbled down but the loud crash that accompanied it alerted the pursuers of his location. Rookie mistake, not stopping to think mull about it, Sam ran through the newly paved exit and leapt to another building. He could hear some hustle and bustle behind him accompanied by rough and aggressive voices screaming at his back. Throwing the hammer was a mistake but there''s no point in dwelling on mistakes when your life is still on the line, so Samuel de-summoned his hammer while running and increased his speed.


    After running for a minute with a group of assailants still on his tail Samuel decided to make his way to higher ground so he changed his direction towards the centre of town where the buildings were a lot taller and it was more densely packed. Samuel''s lungs were burning at this point, his muscles are used to such high demands from when he used to run away from shopkeepers when he was younger but the parkour added extra toll onto his body. Furthermore, if Samuel looked inside his dimensional circle was spinning at unprecedented speeds and was rapidly creating mana and sending it into his null circle which was then forming at an increased rate as well and runic character steadily appeared.


    Samuel arrived at atop a building that faced the middle section of the clocktower, he saw that some men were still following him and he also saw the adventurer duo who looked furious as well as bloodthirsty, luckily Samuel put on a different cloak so they couldn''t recognise him. Sam jumped into an open window within the tower and he could hear shouts from below as his chasers entered the tower as well. Running up the stairs Samuel bounded his way up the tower but he knew the situation was beginning to get grim for him as if he keeps going up he''ll eventually get cornered, also he was beginning to slow down as going up steps was a massive stamina drain on his already depleted reserves. He could hear them catching up so Samuel decided he should fight back a bit so he summoned the deck of cards and rained them down onto the unsuspecting men below. Samuel grinned as he heard some of them cry out as the cards either slashed them or embedded themselves in their bodies.


    ``I need to get Annie a present after this'' Despite slowing them down slightly the cards couldn''t afflict fatal damage as these types of weapons are designed to be used in conjunction with poisons. While running up the stairs he saw out of a window a thick wire leading from the clock tower to the buildings below, Samuel figured that they were the wires attached to the lightning rods. These were common in all towns and cities as by absorbing lighting from storms you can store it as lightning mana which can be sold as batteries or ingredients for consumables and weapons if lighting essence was created as well.


    Seeing a chance to escape Samuel decided to go all in, but Sam remembered he was terrible at poker as Annie kindly demonstrated to him by relieving him of his underwear. Hopefully, some metaphysical being would take pity on him and increase his chances of survival. Needing to go all out Samuel summoned his hammer again and threw it down the winding staircase and a group of goons which caused them to cry out,


    "Where the fuck did he get a hammer?"


    "Is he fucking insane?"


    Samuel continued to summon his weapons, his axe, his scythe and even his shield, he threw them down and caused the goons to slow down as well as wonder where the hell is he pulling all this equipment from. Samuel reached a window that was below the thick cable and decided that this was all or nothing. De-summoning all his equipment and summoning his buckler he crashed out of the window.


    This feeling of weightlessness, time seemed to slow down for Samuel as his consciousness began to catch up with his actions. He saw the shattered pieces glass around him, the ground below with people moving at a snail''s pace, he could see some of the reflections of his pursuer in the fragments of glass, their shocked faces as they witnessed Samuel seemingly leap to his death. His slowed-down perception began to catch up with real-time and he felt himself fall toward mother earth.


    "AAAAAAAAHHH" Samuel cried out to the top of his lungs as he started to doubt his sanity as to why he would make such a suicidal decision. He quickly snapped out of it and his eyes locked onto the thick cable above, he tried to grasp it but he only managed to caress it with his fingertips before he began to fall down.


    ''NOOOO'' A cry of defiance cried out in Samuels mind, he was not going to die like this. His mind went blank as all he focused on was surviving, he suddenly felt a pulse of mana flow through his body and a vague red shadow materialised around his neck. He was ambushed by a familiar feeling of weightlessness as he felt like he stepped on clouds, he leapt off the ghostly platform and found himself moving back towards the cable while the phantom shadow disappeared. Samuel''s eyes were bloodshot as a second chance appeared before him. Briskly he summoned the scythe and hooked it around the cable. Gravity once again took ahold of Samuel and he almost lost his grip of the handle. He lurched up and down the cable but the scythe remained hooked on and Samuel began sliding away from the tower and his would-be killers.


    Samuel didn''t relax yet as he still wasn''t in the clear, he would only relax when his feet touch the solid hard ground. He didn''t notice while running but his body was soaked in sweat and his muscles were crying out in protest however he still held fast to the scythe. Looking around he could see the town around him, and looking forward he could see the caravan which put a sinking feeling in Samuel''s gut as he realised that he only just escaped the pan and that he was still falling towards the fire.


    Eventually, he got close enough to the rooftops to land, seeing as his body couldn''t take much more he jumped as soon as he could. Samuel landed with a tumble but he tumbled one too many times as he found himself falling off the side of the rooftop. While falling he hit obstacles such as washing lines and open windows, all of which broke under his body. Samuel finally landed in what seemed to be a pile of hay where a bunch of animals were feeding.


    ''I guess my luck is turning around after all'' Samuel joked to himself.


    As much as he wanted to lay there he knew he couldn''t stay for much longer. After a brief moment of respite, he got up and changed his cloaks and began walking in the direction of the caravan. He was limping slightly as he might''ve sprained his ankle during the fall which is lucky considering the punishment he just put himself through. Samuel trudged his way to the caravan while picking up a recovery potion on the way, it was quite expensive and burned through about 60% of his funds but it was necessary as he doesn''t want to draw attention to himself from the criminal duo lest they recognise him as the escapist.


    The potion worked wonders as he could feel his body heal at a rapid pace, he felt is arms heal, his back strain disappear and his limp go away. Eventually, he arrived at the caravan where he knew that unfortunately, the action has only just begun.

 Dropped

    This novel has been dropped due to my low grades, sorry for any inconveniences.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.