《Rise of the Three Gods》


 Rebirth

    Once upon a time in a small village on the night of a solar eclipse, a pregnant woman, the wife of the village chief, was giving birth to not just one child, but three. She cherished the thought of triplets, yet misfortune came and only one child managed to survive the night.


    This day of tragedy was understandably unforgettable to the child''s parents, yet this did not stop them from giving their all to raise their only surviving child.


    As the child grew older, he was a very mischievous child and seemed to be always looking for ways to pull pranks on others. Despite this, however, he grew up incredibly cheerful, bringing life and joy to the once dull and solemn village.


    This, however, seemed to not be meant to last. One day Eric, the young boy, now four years old was hiding on top of a tree waiting for his father to pass below him so he could splash a pot of water mixed with egg yolk on top of him.


    As his father passed by the tree without noticing him in the slightest, the child grinned and advanced a bit so as to throw the liquid in the little pot over his father''s head. Sadly, however, his foot slipped and he ended up crashing to the ground, hitting his forehead and fainting upon impact.


    Luckily, his head had the endurance of a well-trained monk, causing him to only bleed a tiny bit. But, as time would tell, this was not the only consequence.


    When the child woke up, he saw his mother and father waiting by his side, his mother''s face full of tears and his father filled with obvious anxiety.


    Noticing his awakening, his parents attempted to talk to him, yet strangely the child, "Eric", did not talk, but instead only showed a confused look in his eyes. No matter how hard his parents tried, the young boy wouldn''t utter a single sound.


    Fearing the worst, his parents panicked and took him to the hospital. The doctor, however, seemed to be unaware of the problem, simply saying that he might have a concussion and that he should recover after a few days of rest.


    After hearing the doctor''s words, the parents finally relaxed and brought their son home. The next day, when the child woke up and seemed to be full of energy, his parents were overjoyed thinking he recovered and gladly let him go outside to play without paying much attention to such a change. After all, who wouldn''t feel energized after a near-death experience?


    That was, at least, until he came back covered in mud and ran to his room to hide as if knowing he did something wrong. What followed confirmed his wrongdoing, as two adults came knocking on the door while holding the hands of two young boys who were crying.


    They came to complain about "Eric" beating up their children. The parents of the young boy, of course, pacified the parents of the crying children while confirming that they would scold their son so he would never repeat that again. But, they did not do so, at least, they didn''t do too much about it.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    The next day, Eric once again started pranking. His father got smeared with egg yolk, yet he just laughed it off. But, the days that came afterward were just like when he first woke up from the fall, mute and silent. He was without a single word. This, of course, frightened his parents.


    The days after followed a similar pattern. The day after his silence he was filled with energy, while the day after that he was once again was filled with an urge to fight.


    This eventually led to three kids getting beaten up by Eric, similar to the last time. This time, his parents were suspicious of his behavior and couldn''t help themselves but to ask him why he would beat up the children.


    "Eric, why did you beat up those children?" His Father asked.


    "Who''s Eric? I just felt like fighting with them." replied "Eric" with his head lowered as if he was embarrassed.


    The child''s parents finally freaked out, their son didn''t even know his own name? They grabbed him and ran to the hospital again, and eventually learned that their child may very well have Multiple Personality Disorder, or MPD. They were given a prescription that was intended to suppress the other two personalities, though this failed and whenever Eric went to sleep, his other personalities would awaken.


    The child''s parents eventually got used to the way their son behaved and eventually, they came to love both of his other personalities. As time came to pass, they named the child''s other personalities what they intended to name his two brothers. The personality that loved to fight got the name Cross, while the always silent one got Vincent or Vince.


    As such, the three boys lived their life in that village, growing older as time went on. What nobody knew, however, was that when sleeping these three boys could actually communicate with each other in a sort of soul like state inside their mind.


    Aware of the existence of the other two, they managed to create a sort of order between them, with Vince as the oldest brother, Cross the middle brother, and Eric the youngest brother. They grew up as one, causing their bond to grow closer with time.


    As time went on they managed to get a job while having an otherwise lonely life as it was hard to find people willing to accept their situation.


    Thus, they lived on as three different souls within a single vessel, constantly wondering why it was they were able to communicate.


    When they found out their parents were supposed to have triplets, they even created a theory in which Vince and Cross were actually the two brothers that died, though they were met with harsh denial from their mother and never mentioned this again.


    On the arrival of their 33rd birthday, another eclipse appeared.


    The three kids, now adults, looked up at the sky, now sharing their vision, an improvement that happened over lots of training and time, such as when they first learned to control who got control of their body.


    A blinding light shone upon them, a light so bright it felt like it was burning them. As time went by, this burning spread from their body to their soul.


    BOOM!!!


    A thunder-like sound could be heard as the three men lost consciousness.


    On the Heavenly Continent, there was a village on a mountain, this village was surrounded by a forest and was part of a mountain range, causing the village to be surrounded by important natural resources.


    In the village, something magical began to happen as a woman began to give birth.


    Three cries erupted from where the woman was giving birth before a rough voice shouted out in the dead of the night,


    "The madam has given birth to three boys! We shall have a feast tonight!" following this, the man screamed out in joy as those around him followed him to the feast.


    Not a single person slept that night.

 Conversation

    Vincent''s PoV


    When Vince opened his eyes he couldn''t help but notice how uncomfortable he felt within his body. Glancing around in confusing, he looked down and noticed two small hands connected to what looks like a very small body.


    Naturally, he instantly began to panic. Wanting to discuss his situation with his two brothers, he attempted to enter the space inside his mind in which they first met, yet found himself unable to enter the space.


    Though he usually acted cold and indifferent, he truly loved his brothers and couldn''t help but tear up a bit. He quickly, however, managed to calm himself down and looked around some more, noticing he was placed inside a cot bed next to two other small bodies, which he realized were children.


    As he looked at the two others, he began to feel a familiar connection between them, almost as if they were his brothers he came to love. As he continued to calm himself down, he began to rejoice inside his head, they were indeed his brothers. He was always uncomfortable with the thought of sharing his body with others, and only got somewhat used to it as time went by and his relationship with his brothers grew. Seeing as they each had a body now, this should no longer be an issue, thus allowing him to not only get more done but experience a freedom he never felt before.


    This thought, however, quickly brought him back to his current situation, how could he, a baby, experience the freedom he desperately craved? And even more important,


    "Why did we turn into babies?"


    "What was the skin burning light we saw before we died?"


    And perhaps the most important question,


    "Where are we?"


    Glancing at the child to his right, who he quickly noticed to be Eric, he attempted to wake him but quickly noticed he could barely move his body.


    Not willing to give up, he turned to the left to see a baby that looked fatter than both him and Eric. As he stared at the child, the baby suddenly awakened, screaming and flailing his arms around wildly...


    Vince almost failed to stop himself from laughing, and couldn''t help but comment mentally on how even if he didn''t have a strange connection with his brothers, he would''ve most definitely recognized the child as Cross for those actions alone.


    Giving his actions, he could guess that just like Vince had, his brother had tried to enter the space inside their mind (or should it be minds now?) in which they could communicate. After a short time, Cross turned to him while laughing somewhat sheepishly, once again almost causing him to laugh. Figuring he might as well, he attempted to send a thought to his brother using his mind.


    "Hey, Fat Bear! Can you hear me!?"


    Cross showed a surprised expression, evidently getting the message before replying back.


    "Holy shit, Vince, is that you!? Why are we babies now? I was just screaming out to you and Eric!"


    "Still as foul-mouthed as ever, I see! All I heard you say was waaah, waaah!" Vince couldn''t help but deliver a smirking reply after hearing his words.


    "Oh, so you can joke now huh? Not bad, you''re finally making some progress!"


    "Haha, of course. Now that we have our own bodies, I don''t have to hold back anymore."


    "Haha, yeah! We three brothers will turn this world upside down for sure! Is that lazy pig still sleeping? What the hell is he doing?"


    "He''s probably dreaming about some girl again, but that doesn''t matter right now. That light, the one before we got here, you saw that too, right?


    "Damn right I did! I thought I was thrown at the fucking sun, but none of that matters now, we finally have our own bodies! Let me tell..." Before Cross could finish, he was interrupted by a nearby door opening and a beautiful woman with pale white skin, red hair down to her waist, and shining blue eyes entering the room.


    This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source."What the fuck, is that our mother! She''s a fucking babe! Damn, what the hell am I saying..." Cross said, his childlike eyes staring quite obviously at the woman''s large breasts.


    "A babe! Damn if that''s our mother, I''m hungry and I want to be fed now!" Eric, who was pretending to be asleep, quickly ''awoke'' and could be seen with his eyes bulging out of his head as he raised his arms towards the beautiful redheaded beauty.


    "Oh? Little Eric, do you feel hungry? Come, let mommy feed you!" the woman''s voice sounded incredibly soothing, causing the three men, now children, to relax inside the cot, almost as if it had a calming effect on their bodies.


    That little bastard was actually awake! At least Cross is still... he had not yet finished this thought when he noticed Cross began to cry.


    "Oh? It seems little Cross got jealous, come here, I can feed two of you at once" after saying this, their mother smiled as she held both Eric and Cross before beginning to sit on their bed and promptly begin to feed the two.


    Why do I feel as if I got the short end of the stick? Vince couldn''t help but internally sigh as he watched his two brothers feeding on his mother.


    "Little Vince isn''t crying, you will grow up to be a strong man in the future, wait a bit and I''ll feed you after your brothers."


    "Cross, are you serious right now?" Vince began to get angry at his brother.


    "What! I''m hungry!" as Cross said this, he did his best to keep a straight face.


    "haha..." Eric just kept on laughing.


    "You perverted freak! that''s our mother! If you dare to get any strange thoughts, I will personally break your teeth!" said Cross while trying to kick Eric.


    "I don''t have any teeth yet" responded Eric.


    "..."


    "..."


    After their mother finished feeding Eric and Cross, both children were instantly overcome by a deep feeling of exhaustion. Their mother couldn''t help but laugh when seeing their small yawns and put them back in their cot. No matter how much Vince tried to talk to them after that, they simply stayed unconscious. After placing down his two brothers, his mother then picked him up before beginning to speak.


    "Little Vince, you have to grow up big and strong to take care of your brothers! Come, it''s your turn now!"


    No matter how hard he tried to resist his urges, he was still just a baby and eventually succumbed to his hunger.


    His mother was clearly amused as she watched his struggle and loudly laughed at his expression. Vince hated her amusement, he was a thirty-year-old man, and being forced into this state made him feel extremely uneasy.


    After becoming full, he too was overcome by sleep and was put back in the cot.


    His mother smiled before bending down and kissing each of her children on their forehead.


    The three of them dreamt of their previous parents and wished them to a good life as they likely would never see them, though they most certainly wouldn''t forget them.


    Editor''s Note: Two things of note this chapter. First, the author wanted people to know that the mother''s name is Elena but just made the name appear in thin air, thus I removed it and placed it here. Second, I asked the author and he said he has no plans for incest to be a part of his story, so if you''re against such things you have no need to worry.

 Growth

    4 years went by , the 3 babies were now young kids , yet unlike any other kids in the village their age. Usually the kids their age only had playing in their mind , but for the three brothers, it was different. Eric actually got back to playing pranks on their parents.


    Their Father was the village chief again! he was a strong and bulky fellow and named Rolland . His hands and shoulders were buff and had black hair. he was the strongest in the village . he could chop down trees easily and carry 500 pounds stones as if he was just lifting just lifting his hand. He always carried an Axe on his back and had the habbit to train early every morning to keep on strenthening .


    When they reached 3 years old was when eric got the urge to play a prank on his father . So he dug a hole in the yard his father trained in and hid it with bushes , the traditional old trick. So he pretended to get hurt which caused his father to rush to him leaving his training and tumbling down after tripping. Eric laughed so hard , his stomach started hurting. Rolland then grabbed Eric and spanked him twice then leaving to go back to training.


    Vince uttered a stiffle laugh while Cross started rolling on the ground. A 33 year old played a prank on his father and got spanked in return . the look on eric''s face was priceless with his face so red from embarassement.


    Cross on the other hand saw the childhood memories when one pranked and one beat up children. he also had the urge to go kick some random kid''s ass. fortunatley, Vince stopped him . So he decided to train with his father . this made Rolland really happy, because of his 3 children , Cross was the one with most resemblance , be it body or face.


    Cross looked a bit chubby yet strong with black hair like his father and black eyes with a bit of white in their pupils . Vince on the other hand had black hair down to his shoulders , he was a bit taller than the other two and white skin like his mother and blue eyes. wWhile Eric had Red hair which was quite a bit tall and black eyes. They had differents traits from their parents mixed so each one came out unique.


    That year was uneventeful, except for the training that Cross had to go through got harder and harder. The wierd thing is even though this traing was something that adults in their own world was not capable of enduring, a small child could and ended up getting even stronger. This aroused doubts, from rebirth they knew that their was something strange, but the fact that 3 brothers shared 1 body seemed ordinary to them. So they trained too and felt themselves getting stronger and faster than what was possible before.


    3 years went by. Hunting and fishing were the main source of income for the village. Their dad was the best hunter so he taught them how to lay traps , how to lure beasts , how to avoid them...


    The three got even taller , with Vince still the tallest. They were now the strongest kids in the village even stronger compared to some adults . This made Rolland so happy that he bragged about it each time he drank with his buddies.


    Without a doubt , considering strength , Cross was a league beyond the two. He can now pick a 500 pound stone while the two can only pick a 300 at most while 500 was not Cross''s limit.


    But considering battle prowess Vince was number one! As strength and battle prowess are two different concepts . He had amazing fast speed ! he can run 100 meters in 4s to 5s while the other can do so in 7s to 8s and had unbelievable reaction time speed . and he trained his sword to be faster than him by only using the most basic techniques over and over again. Stab-Slash-cut- Draw-pierce... each a couple thousand times a day .


    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.As for Eric , that one can be considered the weakest yet also the strongest. He loved the bow as he always played pranks from afar and got used to ambushing people. This was the best choice for him, while the weakest between the three in comparison to their physical attributes he had an advantage, his sight was much much better than theirs and if one gave him enough time to lay down a strategy then he would be in for a big trouble while his eyesight helped him see targets from hundreds of meters a way. He trained archery so hard that he could now hit bull''s eye continuously in the rage of 300 meters.


    The three of them had build a base of their own a tree house in which they discussed anything they wanted in private.


    They hunted beast for the first time when they were seven years old as a 3 man team, Eric as scout and archer, Vince with his speed luring the beast and Cross hiding near by to strike. they were going into the forest to hunt a boar or a deer. Yet Eric seemed to have something else in mind as he spotted a tiger a few hundred meters away, still a safe distance.


    The tiger did not have stripes but a tattoo on its skin , somewhat strange yet mysterious.He relayed to Vince that the tiger was injured .


    " then something must have injured it , and since you said it looks like it''s still in a vigilant state , the attacker must be quite near by!" vince said


    " let''s hide and see the show " replied Cross


    "hehehe" Eric giggled


    and indeed a snake about 20 meters came chasing and hissing at the tiger for tresspassing into its territory , the snake was also injured , it had multiple claw marks on its body and was bleeding and seemed lacerated on its face while the tiger seemed poisonned.


    The two fought for an hour , enough time to realize that they were not normal beasts. The elders at the village always warned that if they saw these kind of creatures , run! Just run! Never try fighting them!


    The trio had something else in mind. This could help clear some of their doubts. So they waited till the two were launching at each other for 1 last strike being at their wits end .


    whoosh!


    whoosh!


    2 arrows came from 1 side of the forest while the two were jumping at each other .


    the two beasts twisted their body but what they did not expect was an extremely agile young kid jumping behind and cutting with an extreme speed brining out his potential cutting the head of the snake first as poison was the most dangerous for them now .


    the other side had Cross jumping and bringing his axe down with full strength on the skull of the already heavily injured tiger. the beast had no way to act again while mid-air.


    This ended up with both beasts dead and the grinning faces of the trio. What they did not realize was that if the tiger was not poisonned or if the snake was not extremly injured , even if they were six of them they would still die, so luck played a big role in them living on.


    " his mother! hahahahha that was intense waiting for Vince''s call! but we got a huge harvest!" Crossed laughed


    " hehehe ... imagine the looks of the elders when we bring the corpse back" Eric laughed as he liked to show off!


    while Vince just stood there shaking his head seemingly deep in thought as they looked at him puzzled.

 Harvest and pleasant surprise!

    when Eric and Cross turned around , it was then that Vince asked:


    "do you guys believe that if one of these beasts was not injured , could we take it on?"


    ".... NO" both of them replied


    " this world is not normal! not like the previous, and these do not seem like prehistoric beasts as well, just look at these tattoos and spike on the skin of the snake , i don''t think we''ve ever seen something like this"


    "indeed, this is just too strange"


    " anyways their corpses might help clear our doubt so we will dissect one and bring the other one to the village!" vince proposed


    The other two nodded.


    " Cross carry the tiger and put it in the tree house! Eric come and help me drag the snake, watch out for the spikes!" Vince said


    At the village entrance , there was always 2 men on shift guarding the village , they readied some roughly made spears ready to attack when they heard the shuffling voice of the bush .


    " oh it''s little Eric and Vince, how was the hunt! huh! whaa-whaaaa-whaaaaat is that ! Oh my god!" the older one said while stuttering, at first he saw just the two little boys coming out of the bush , a second later he saw what they were dragging and trembled.


    the other was dumbfounded, but as soon as he reacted he hit the bell that was supposed to work as an informant for the villagers to gather.


    soon after The first at the scene was rolland then a couple of elders and when they saw the scene, they too were dumbstruck.


    " hey Vince, where did you find that snake?" asked Rolland while swallowing his saliva.


    "we hunted it!" replied Eric with a proud voice.


    the villagers looked at each other thinking what has the world gone to?? how come the beast that most adults would die fighting got killed by 2 little kids.they felt that they have lived their life in vain.


    " where is little Cross?" asked Rolland in an agitated voice when he noticed Cross was missing.


    " he had to pee , he''ll come after finishing" said Eric


    " thank God! huuuh" Rolland sighed in relief and then asked


    " where did its wounds come from?"


    " it was fighting with a tiger , we took the chance to ambush it while the tiger ran"


    " what! how can you do that! it''s too dangerous! Luck was on your side this time ! don''t you ever do this again ! do you hear me!! i said do you hear me!!" Rolland screamed in a severe voice.


    That''s when Cross came out from a bush grinning foolishly , he was hiding so as to avoid getting scolded.


    All of them nodded.


    " it''s a joyous occasion for you to survive and bring this beast on your first hunt , we have another reason to feast now ! No one shall sleep tonight! HAHAHAHA!" Laughed Rolland.


    " another reason?" asked Cross


    " Hahahah! you don''t know yet ! your mother is pregnant! another member will join our family" replied Rolland with a smile.


    the trio was dumbstruck. For them it was always the three of them , and all of them felt that way , as in their previous life, their mother was just too hurt by having 2 of her babies die so she didn''t want to have another tragedy as she couldn''t handle it.


    They also thought that since 7 years passed , their parents also thought that 3 was enough , this was seemingly wrong .


    Rolland grinned and asked :


    " Do you want a brother or a sister?"


    the trio was silent then small smiles crept up on their faces , this was indeed a joyous occasion. they now could take care and love their little sibling that was on the way.


    " a sister!" all of them replied at the same time


    This time even Vince talked! he was usually silent! and rarely talked to anyone besides his two brothers even their father! only their mother was an exception as he had a deep relation with his mother with the way she treated him since young. One could say like a favorite , while in fact she loved all her children the same, she took extra care for him as he didn''t talk much and hadn''t opened up to anyone. He remembers her saying " i don''t care if you don''t open up to others as long as you open up to me" with tears all over her face . that was the first time his mother heard his voice.


    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.Eric and Cross were not jealous , they realized that their mother was just afraid for her son so they encouraged him to open up a bit to her which yielded good results. She was smiling non stop for a week. Vince saw that just a word from him made her this happy for a week and felt a bit guilty inside yet happy for the care she has given him was much too obvious. As such he started talking to her a bit more and more . His Father too was happy about it and they had a feast at their house that night.


    the feast ended and just when the sun shone , the trio was in their base trying to figure out how to deal with the tiger.


    " no matter how i look at these tattoos their patter is just wierd" muttered vince


    " Cross skin it and keep the skin intact , try not to damage it! it could sell for a lot!" said Eric with glee


    Cross grumbled and grabbed a skinning knife and plunged it but no matter how he did it it would not penetrate the skin. he got up and looked at them with a confused look.


    Vince said nothing and threw his word to him .


    Cross caught it , and tried again , same result. A question then popped up and sweat started forming feeling their backs go cold.


    " then how did it die?"


    vince reacted fast grabbing his sword using all his might stabbing towards the wound it had on its skull . stabbing once twice and thrice, it was then that the sword found its way inside the skull and the tiger''s body started trembling then finally died down with a sword stuck in its head.


    a moment of silence.


    " your hit on its skull and the snake''s poison must have kept it unconscious!" said vince


    "Holy shit! we almost fucked up big time! i can''t imagine if it woke up and got released into the village ! fuck their mother what kind of damned beast is this!" Cross said while wiping sweat from his forhead.


    " confirm that it''s dead" Eric said .


    they pushed the sword with their power and there was still no reaction confirming its death.


    " this beast is too strong and must be very precious, i suggest we don''t let anyone find out , and since we can''t even skin it with steel, i guess the only thing that might work in this village is father''s axe" said vince


    the axe was their family heirloom and was the strongest weapon in the village .


    " Cross ask father to lend it to you for practice " Eric suggested


    " I'' ll be right back!" he rushed off coming back 5 min later holding an axe almost as tall as him . he told them to back off using all his might swinging down to cut off the head. it took 5 times using all his might to finally cut the head off.


    "indeed, ain''t no way in hell this is an ordinary beast" Cross said


    " i think we should eat it" Eric said


    " huh ?" the two looked at him


    " i feel desire when i look at it , don''t you feel the same ?" Eric


    " i thought it was just me!" Vince


    " I want its head! i feel an urge to eat it right here and now !" declared Cross


    " then you get the head , and we''ll get the other parts , but how do we cook it? will ordinary fire even manage to harm its skin?" Eric


    " then do we have to eat it raw?" Cross


    " i guess so, now shut up and start eating" vince


    " i can''t believe we re doing this!" Eric


    a wierd thing happened , they indeed ate it raw , and they had not noticed that once they started , they did not stop and the skin which steel could not hurt got torn easily by their teeth. They found themselves in an ethereal state just eating, their stomach did not get bloated even after finishing a tiger this big. Cross even swallowed a pearl while not noticing that it was inside the brain. another wierd thing was there was no resistance to gory scene and no reluctance . Their state was an ethereal one!


    when they finished , they woke up and got shocked at what happened , before they could even express their , they felt their body burning and blood rushing at an unprecedented speed and they fainted.

 Progress

    6 hours passed by , the trio remained unconscious. Another hour passed by , then they woke up and as they gazed at each other , suprise was written all over their faces! they had changed!


    Vince grew a bit taller while each of his hands had double stripes tattoo rounded over them.


    Eric had some of his red hair gain black stripes with a small tattoo on his neck. Cross on the other hand had the most change, he lost his fat chubby look which made him look thinner. His forearms had tattoos as well similar to the tiger''s and his back as well . He now looked like a muscular little child that lifts weights.


    They were dazed! this change was too obvious and was gonna be noticed by anyone .


    " Cross! your arms are all in tattoos! and you look a lot thinner now!" Eric remarked


    " well your hair changed too it now has black as well" replied Cross


    " indeeed all of us gained some traits of the tiger! i think we inherited it''s strength and agility! with Cross gaining most advantage of its head!"


    " hahaha! yeah i feel so much stronger now! i can slay an elephant with a slap!" laughed Cross while puting his hand on the wall of the tree house.


    Something unexpected then happened, his hand went right through the wood , no resistance whatsoever, pushed deep inside the wall .


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    " Come let''s go to the forest and check the state of our bodies now" Vince said


    " Damn! this is too exciting! it''s just like movies!" Cross said while smiling


    They got to the forest in a matter of minutes. They usually had to run for 10 minutes to reach where they were now but now they did it in 3!! their speed upgraded and they felt as tough taking a stroll! Vince with most innate talent for speed felt he could reach here in just 90 seconds.


    This made them even more excited.


    " hahaha! this is just too awesome , our speed now is unrivalled in the village" laughed Cross


    " Not just that! i think my reflex and eyesight got even better! i can see now more than a thousand meters away!" Eric added


    " my speed also got faster i feel like i can run 100 meters in just 2 seconds or 3 max with no burden on my body" Vince also said then he added " Cross try picking that tree from the ground" he mentioned towards a thick high looking tree.


    "haha sure!" Cross laughed and went towards to pick it up . it was then that bent down so as to use some force as this was impossible for him to do before. To pick up a huge tree rooted in the ground. He was still a 7 year old child!


    What followed actually caused them to open their mouth in surprise. It was as if the tree jumped from the ground its roots dangling mid-air. Cross did so easily meeting no resistance! and he felt just as he was holding a thin stick in hands with no weight pressuring him whatsoever!


    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation." just as i thought! eating that tiger must have improved our physical states tremendously and since Cross got its head, his strength now exceeds even our father!"


    " then will the same happen if the villagers eat the snake we brought!" Eric asked


    " this actually works in our advantage! i don''t think they will faint like us but they will feel their bodies getting stronger , we are young yet more powerful than adults , so we can explain this boost with the fact that eating that beast benefited us in a big way" Vince explained


    After that they tried using their old abilties to check how much they improved. Eric with improved eyesight and faster reaction can now hit dead center of any target within 700 meters . Vince on the other hand with his extreme speed can be seen like shadow and can now actually run vertically on the trees for a precise distance! a hundred meters can be covered in less than 3 seconds with ease!!


    Cross''s skinn did not look that different but it actually underwent evolution! his fingers now can grab stones leaving deep marks there with no scratch! he tried stabbing his fingers into the stone and it actually went in! he got hyped so he grabbed a two stone each weighting around 1000 pounds each and started joggling while smiling .


    They eventually stopped as they had no way to precisely measure their progress!


    " hey! how can we explain the tattoos?" asked Eric


    " we can''t say we drew them since they can''t be wiped!" added Cross


    " indeed, then we ll just have to cast a bit of truth and hide what we ''ve done! we ''ll tell them we woke up and found them but we do not mention the tiger!" said vince


    " yeah that''s it! that''s all we can do for now! come let''s go visit mother and our young unborn sibling !" said Eric


    The trio then smiled and proceeded towards their village. It was better than expected , villagers thought it was just them fooling around .


    But when Rolland saw them , his jaw fell to the ground then he laughed like mad! this made the trio realize that their father knew something . so they asked but he only replied :


    " I ''ll tell you when you become of age" then he continued on laughing and ordered a feast for the night.


    When they reached their mother , she didn''t react much as Rolland must have explained to her beforehand . She had pride,joy and some worry in her eyes. They asked her as well but she didn''t answer. This made even more confused.


    " Did you come to visit your little sister?" asked Elena with smile


    " how do you know it''s a girl ?" asked vince and the other 2 with a surprised voice


    " a mother''s intuition!" giggled Elena. She then embraced them and told them to come eat .


    They followed but with many questions swirling in their mind while discussing with their telepathic ability.

 Little sister Ella!

    8 months passed, the trio found that their appetites were now huge! they need 4 times the amount a normal adult would need just to pacify their hunger! Elena and Rolland found this rather normal and did not question it. The trio , not wanting to put too much pressure on their parents started hunting their own meals and with their boost in ability they could now even advance to the sea and fish for new meals!


    They wanted to become even stronger , but normal means now had no way to help them improve so they decided to look for strange beast around the mountain! in 8 months they only found 2!


    one was easier to handle which was a panther rather fast , it was not black but white! it moved fast! but thanks to vince somewhat keeping up they managed to slaughter it with minor injuries!


    Vince ate its head while the other two shared the rest. this time they did not faint but the same feeling of burning and blood rushing through their body was really painful!


    They endured and the result was that vince was now unimaginably fast! like just way too fast . A hundred meters dash in less than 2 seconds was a piece of cake . the other 2 could do it in 5 after eating the panther . Eating strange beasts improved physical state of the body while those with talents to a specific aspect would gain more advantage in it!


    The second beast was tough to handle! it was an eagle! they fought twice! the first one they ran away! but with the second time giving Eric enough time to lay traps and lure it they managed to win!


    they had Vince and Cross taunt it ! which led to it successufly giving chase. Eric had prepared a trap with a net that caught the beast right after Vince and Cross passed by! He was most efficient at stealth.


    Eric got its head this time as Eagles were known for their eyesight . The result was Eric now capable of seeing 3 to 4 kilometers away clearly! One thing that all of them improved in after this beast is eye-body coordination! this was tremendously helpful .


    This made them gain even more control of their bodies, which further enabled their prowess to grow even more powerful. The trio had an advantage no others had! their telepathy! the link their souls shared that could not be severed!


    A couple of days went by, and on the evening of a sunny day, Their mother''s water broke! she was gonna give birth!


    a sight to behold was that the three brothers were more anxious than their own father!


    giving birth was longer than expected , and when they thought it was getting dangerous. the midwife came out with a smile.


    " congratulations to the village chief ! your wife gave birth to a beautiful girl! she will surely be as beautiful as an angel in the future!"


    Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings." hahahahah, thank you for your effort !" laughed Rolland


    Then 3 kids went racing trying to get in shoving each other wanting to see their little sister! The moment they got in, they saw their mother holding onto a cute little angel, they got closer with sparkling eyes. Eric actually held his hands up in the air wanting to hold her! Vince slapped the back of his head this made Elena and Rolland who just got in laugh.


    " Dear what do you think we should name her?" asked Elena while smiling at the little baby in her arms.


    " i think hannah is quite a good name " Replied Rolland


    " i was thinking abigail" said Elena


    " mother,father , can you please let me name her?" said vince while Bowing towards them .


    this surprised them a lot ! like a lot! never once has Vince asked them for anything so they just could not say "no" no matter what.


    Eric and Cross were surprised as well but their expression changed after hearing the name Vince suggested!


    " sure, what name do you think we should name her? " Rolland and Elena looked at each other and nodded.


    " I would like for her name to be Ella" said Vince.


    "oh this is quite a good name" said Rolland


    " Ella it is! her name shall be Ella" said Elena


    Elena and Rolland did not notice smiles filled with longing on the trio''s faces! Ella was the name of their mother in the previous life! and they wanted to name their sister in remembrance of her! Eric and Cross agreed with Vince''s line of thought and respected it!


    Ella was doomed not to be a normal child as well , she just came to this world and opened her eyes. when she saw her mother and father she did not react much. But when she saw the trio she got happy for no reason and started laughing .


    " hahahahah it seems she likes me! don''t worry ! ME! your second Brother shall never let any harm befall you and always take care of you! hahah!" said Cross while laughing , he really felt happy when she smiled at him.


    "Keep Dreaming she was smiling at me her third brother , why would she smile at you? don''t worry little Ella i shall work hard and give anything you would ever need!" Eric said, at first he wanted to call Cross fat pig but he did not dare since his father was there, and since they looked alike it was like calling his father a fat pig . as such he called him fat pig telepathically.


    Vince just kept on smiling. He rarely smiled. but this was a rare occasion. he promised inwardly that since he named her Ella he willl protect her with his life.


    Ella was a baby destined to be different, her eyes were bright and brought happiness and comfort to anyone neaby, she had this soothing aura around her stronger the one their mother had. Of course she was not like them, an adult fully aware , but a 100% child , a special one!


    seeing this spectacle made their parents laugh , this night is destined to be a joyous one where no one slept!

 6 Years

    6 years has gone by, during the first 2 years , the trio were managing 2 primary tasks set by them. First look for a fish called twin tailed fish that was extremely helpful and nourishing for their baby sister . It could be considered as half-strange beast. The problem was not killing it but finding it! one can never find it in the open sea, but nearby boulders in the sea . This is the reason they only managed to hunt 3, but this was already extravagant even for some noble families. One has to know they were really rare and this is why most never got them , even they themselves did not. They only heard elders talk about it when the birth of Ella was still the hot topic of the village so they decided to get it no matter what. As such Ella was one of the very few to enjoy this.


    After 2 years could now speak more than other kids her age, the day when she called the trio was a happy yet sad and funny at the same time for them.


    " hey, litte Ella , who am I ?" asked Cross with a smile


    " Big fat bro! big fat bro is strong!" replied Ella with a cute smile.


    Cross wanted to cry but no tears came out .


    "hahahahaha little Ella sure knows things for a small lady , she ''s too smart hahaha" laughed Eric


    " Big bad bro, don''t laugh at big fat bro!" Ella told Eric


    tears formed at Eric''s eyes as he eyed Cross and getting a telepathic message " hahaha u deserve it!"


    " little Ella, who''s this?"asked Eric while pointing at vince .


    " Cool big bro! " and she ran to vince and hugged him .


    Vince smiled and pick her up playing with her nose and petting her head causing her to giggle.


    Eric and Cross looked at each and Said telepathically " WTF! why?!"


    The second task was to look for strange beasts and get stronger. In 2 years they hunted 10 beasts! they actually raided the nearby mountain of all its strange beasts. by the time they were 10 years old, no one could match them anymore, not even their father. Of course no one knew about their true abilities as they always did this in secret . The twin tailed fish was easy to handle compared to strange beasts.


    They had hunted 1 bull, 2 tigers, 2 panthers 2 eagles, 1 snake, 1 wolf and strange fish, yes, a strange beast of the ocean. the results they yielded are simply outstanding.


    Vince can dash a hundred meters in 1 s but it would take a toll on his body and leave him a bit exhausted and he knew he could not advance much more than this. As the stronger you get the more difficult it becomes to get stronger.


    Cross got stronger as well and his skin was like iron hard to injure. His speed did improve but not as much. but His strentgh now was not determined with no way to measure it .


    Eric has gotten better at reflex and speed . his eyesight limited now to almost 10 km away.


    Simply they all improved but they somehow reached a bottleneck of somekind not knowing how to break through it. but that does not mean they did not get advantage , the bull and tiger gave strentgh, the panther gave speed and agility, The eagles eyesight and reflex, the Snake gave swiftness and elasticity , the wolf gave awareness and the fish gave an extremely good ability. The ability to last up to 5 min underwater , not breathing but somehow the pressure on their lungs was inexistant which made it easier to hold oxygen longer.


    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.Knowing that strange beast could no longer help . they started strenghtening their foundation! Vince got better at the sword with the help of the combination of wolf''s awareness and snake''s swiftnesss and tried to create moves with sword to help him maximize his ability with the sword and he indeed managed to create a move . He called it " curved sword" with the snaked elsiticity as basis and speed as core made the sword look like it curvs around its targed at an amazing speed. he also trained his feet , moving side to side , advancing and retreating , running down trees and walls yet managing to stand still upon impact made create a basic ability , yet really helpful he could change direction even when going at full speed but only once!


    Cross trained his strentgh, he borrowed his father''s axe and started striking at rocks and boulders with the goal of not increasing strength but controlling it and doing maximum damage with it , he knew he could only bring 70% at most of his strength as such he decided to train to get 100%. the goal was that the strike would leave the stones with a clear smooth surface after the cut that''s when it was considered as success.


    Eric Got inspiration From Cross and Vince , so he tried to gather strength in his arms so that the arrow can much more speed and power of penetration behind it . he meditated a lot so that he can gather strength in his arms after success he started developping a techinque calling triple strike. it was really hard! the purpose was to release three arrows but at speed and angle that made the target only see 1 arrow, one can imagine the speed of launching and precise control required.


    During these 4 years one can see Ella growing into a beautiful little child she had red hair and blue eyes but she was sure to become even more beautiful than her mother! She always brought them fruits and drinks while they were training . Seeing her big brother , she trained a bit with them as well , they were all eager to share their knowledge with her but she did not like melee combat . this made Eric smile to no end but cried after telling him she did not like the bow.


    They then asked her what she wanted to do and she replied by saying she just wanted to help and heal. and once while Vince was training the curved sword he injured his hands , Ella then ran to him and crying he tried to comfort her when he noticed a glow in her hands as she held his. he felt a comfortable heat and in a couple of seconds the wound was gone . this surprised them to no end and they ran to their parents. Rolland laughed like mad yet again and told them they''ll know when they come of age . having no choice but to drop it they left but Ella was too happy she could now help her brothers!

 Golden Eyed Eagle! Dual Elemental Tiger!

    In this world, it is common knowledge that one is considered to be a young adult at the age of 14 and any of the younglings reaching this age have to go through a ritual called the coming of age ceremony.


    It is known that it has 3 phases, first, praying to the gods , second sacrifice the blood of some hunted beasts, third awakening. It might seem simple, but simple is no way to describe it as it affects the destiny of these young adults!


    One has to know that praying is only an act of courtesy! As Gods tend to give no heed to random mortals! As for beasts blood, it is sacrificed in hope for the young ones to gain some kind of affinity or ability of the sacrificed beast! The better the blood The better the chances! But still it does indeed need a miracle for that to happen as the chances are 1 in ten thousand people!


    Awakening happens when one finished the ritual, during the ritual, one sits inside the pattern drawn by beast blood . This pattern is built around an altar that every village has! And when the rituals ends, no matter if one managed to gain an ability or not , he gets a tremendous boost in his basic abilities!


    The Trio had 6 months till they reach their coming of age, and knowing one needed blood , they immediately thought about strange beasts! for them , normal beast just wouldn''t do! and it was best that one finds a beast that he finds most befitting to himself!


    the trio decided to split up and each one hunts his own beast considering this some kind of trial.


    Eric''s Pov :


    " I need to fight myself an eagle! as they always helped improve my eyesight and reaction speed , the best things for an archer" Thought Eric as he headed towards a Cliff


    He reached the Cliff and looked down , he saw a nest , not big but not too small either, it had an Eagle about 1.5 meters laying there. Seeing that it was just a small one, Eric paid it no heed as he wanted to find the best for his ceremony .


    And just as he was leaving the sun reflected in his eyes almost blinding him. he looked around and found nothing metallic that might reflect the sun light. He looked down once again and said :


    " what the hell! its feathers are actually metallic! wait, why is the end of each feather golden!"


    Eric, even with his superior vision, failed to notice it at first. He hesitated no more and brought out his bow and launched and arrow towards it but the arrow just reflect off its feathers with no scratch.


    Eric expected it to leave some scratch but none?! he instantly knew that to win he had to blind this eagle and he decided to target its eyes, it was then that he saw it had golden eyes!


    the eagle rose and attacked Eric dodging all his hail of arrows, Eric kept on retreating back into the forest but the golden eyed eagle refused to give up! And no matter how Eric hid it still saw him.


    But during the fight Eric was not afraid but calm and a bit excited! Predator vs Predator! he was analysing its fighting pattern , he noticed that each arrow that targeted its eyes would be blocked by both wings and then it would continue its assault! Eric now can blind one of its eyes but he knew that once he did so it would flee! so he had to blind both at once , and for that reason he bet all on trying something he never did before! and it was in a life and death fight! he launched two arrows and grabbed other Two arrows while veins bulged from his arms , the eagle seemed to notice danger and somehow dashed with speed double the first! Eric retreated but his left arm still got an injury by the claw.


    Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.The eagle rose up in the air somewhat exhausted after using this dash , Eric on the other hand noticed the delay in its movement and grasped this chance launching two arrows while withstanding the injury of his left arm. The eagle defended with both wings and just as it removed them another two arrows hit it right in both eyes blinding it! and it fell to the ground defeated.


    Eric on the other hand had now injuries on the right arm as well! using this tactic took too much toll on his current body! and twice at that! he had mastered "triple strike" but this was not triple but quadriple with delay and instantenous launch! Even tough he had a smile on his face from this achievement, he knew that if the last strike failed the only thing he could do then is run!


    Cross''s Pov :


    Cross also wished for the best and he desired the tiger''s strength , so he went to the highest mountain searching for a befitting tiger!rival! He was strolling around while aware of the surroundings of course .


    then he felt some kind of resonance inside of his head which pointed to a certain direction! without controlling his body he started rushing in that direction, after a bit he found a black dot from afar rushing towards him as well!


    when the two reached each other, one was Cross, the other was not a dot it was a tiger 4meters long and 2 meters in height! it was dual colored! Black with red stripes while its forehead had a red tattoo of 2 vertical thick strips with a thin one crossing both horizontally. It was the king of the mountain! No one can challenge its prestige! it growled towards Cross and surprisingly Cross growled towards it as well with some kind of understanding! The pearl he once ate from the tattooed tiger glowed inside of his heart where it now lays!


    the two rushed at each other ! normally Cross has no way to beat this beast! maybe it would be possible with his brothers along side him and after much effort and injuries they might win ! but now with the help of the pearl which layed inside him for years had already integrated with his body as one considered another organ! It strengthened him when facing beast of the same kind but the reason it awakened this time was because the tiger in front had bloodline from its natural enemy!


    Cross had no way to know this as he was fighting for his life! the fight last an hour with no one gaining any advantage. Cross knew he had no way to beat this beast , they both on equal grounds! So he tightened his grip on the axe and veins bulged from his legs and arms and rushed at the tiger


    leaving intentionally some openings and jumped at the tigers, the tiger took the chance and bit towards him and clawed as well. Cross mastered up all his strength using the skill he had managed to learn after years of training! it was kind of a passive skill which enabled him to exert more force than he possibly could for a short period of time! he called it "Overdrive". After which he threw the axe towards the skull with all his might and then just as quickly he tried to grab the claw heading towards him . The claw struck his chest but did not send him flying as he used his hands to grab onto it and change direction into going under it and hammered it with both fists continuously! the tiger guarded against axe by lowering its head a bit still the axe managed to injure it and it did not expect that Cross would not get sent flying after it striked him and managed to break its ribs! with these kind of injuries it was no longer a fight but a slaughter!


    " Damn , one mistake and i would have been gone for good!" sighed Cross as He looked at his injuries. He had stronger resilience and recovery so it would take much less time for these injuries to heal.

 Winged Wolf! Pride!

    Vince''s Pov :


    "I am truly confused about what to choose, should i go for a snake? or should i look for a panther?" thought vince.


    Growing up with his innate talent for speed, he always benefitted best from panthers, but his swordstyle seemed to get better when consuming snakes! it added swiftness which provided more possibilities to manoeuvring the sword!


    He seemed deep in thought while sitting on the beach gazing into the sky. Hours passed yet Vince still could not make up his mind.


    "if i can''t decide i''ll let fate do it for me! no matter which strange beast i encounter first i will slay it and use it for my ceremony!"


    Just as he said so he noticed something falling from the sky at an amazing speed . His eyesight could not be compared to Eric''s but it is still leagues above others! The distance was quite far yet with the shape one could see that was no bird! it was a beast with wings! what kind? Vince could not make it out.


    The beast was flying with a wierd style kind of drunken one would say! it was flying fast but not in a straight line, with its current speed and falling from the sky like that it seemed like the landing won''t be smooth .


    As it flied past Vince he got up and followed it , And indeed the impact was rough, it smashed into the ground. Before the impact the Beast turned around using its back to collide with earth , but that did not go as well as one would think!


    BOOOOM!


    it crashed and kept on rolling both of its wings caught up between defending and stabilizing! one could hear bones getting broken! it only stopped after smashing into the edge of the mountain. One can imagine its speed before! after the rumble died down, one could hear it grasping for breath!


    just when Vince reached 1 killometer mark away from it, his senses abruptly shot up! instinct screaming at him! RUN! RUN! RUN! Don''t look back! Just fucking run! these thoughts overwhelmed him!


    Vince was the kind of guy who stayed true to himself and always fullfilled one''s word! he said he''ll slaughter the first strange beast he encounters but he always followed his instinct as it never failed him before! and there was no way in hell that was a strange beast! it had wings! that was a mythical beast for all that mattered to him! he still didn''t know anything besides the fact that it has wings! But he knew fighting it was suicidal so he turned around and ran like a comet falling from the sky . he never ran this fast before!


    he ran for miles and had that spike in his instinct again screaming danger! He turned around and saw a heavily injured Wolf 3 meters in height with broken wings rushing at him and from the looks of it , he had no chance to run with his current speed that already exceeded what he could do before!


    Vince knew he had to fight for his life now! so he dodged to the left! and the wolf brushed by! this was the ability he gained from training changing direction totally even at full speed . It may seem like just a simple twist of ankles! but it is crucial and extraordinarly hard! and it was now that it saved him.


    Vince got a hold of his sword and looked towards the wolf straight into eyes! he smiled as he tightened his grip on the handle.


    the Wolf turned around and saw the small kid that it considered an ant before looking at it straight with no fear . It was surprised as it fought much more stronger opponents before and most of them cowered in fear ! but this little baby in its eyes had surprised it twice by now! the first with that timely dodge and now it saw something in the eyes of Vince that it has not detected before. That was PRIDE!


    What was the trait of the wolf, it was its pride! in their previous world, all kinds of animals performed in the circus only a wolf did not! But what was strange was the fact that this young baby ( Vince) in its eyes Had the same thing! Unwavering and pure Pride!


    It gazed at him silently and it did something that astonished Vince , its wings shuddered and it lowered its head a bit as if recognizing his pride but only as a gesture of respect . Vince did the same! he bowed in respect of its strength. The wolf then kind of nodded as it approved the action as well. They were the same! They understood this fact!


    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.The wolf decided it would be too much of a pity to let such talent died but it still had to fight him! at most it will injure him and leave him be!


    After a bit of gazing at each other! Vince felt the blood that was rushing at an extreme speed cool down! his senses hightened! he could grasp every small change in the movements in certain field and area, even if it was just a grass swaying! This helped him to read the movements of his opponent so as to take precaution! with his current strength he could not do counter measures! even if he had them, he can only focus on defending his life but not forgetting the offense!


    The two launched at each other, this time vince''s speed skyrocketed, it was amazing what lofe and death situation could bring out! full potential! Vince grasped his sword and tried to attack its injuries ! the wolf surprised by the increase in speed attacked with the goal of disarming him ! it was still leagues beyond Vince and it just wanted to see what more he could bring out! This was the first time it has taken an intrest in a human!


    The fight continued for minutes with Vince''s speed getting faster and faster , strength also growing and when the wolf realized this it knew this human was breaking through! he needed crucial timing so it bit at him much faster this time!


    Vince saw this abrupt increase, his eyes squinted and felt his body free! yes free! as if shackles that had been binding him all this time were dropped to the ground and the weight was no longer there . so he brought his sword vertically and placed his feet on them pushing with all he could to retreat , if not for the breakthrough he would not have succeeded. he survived !


    The wolf nodded apprainsingly at him grabbed the sword and threw back to him ! Vince surprised ! bowed once again in apperciation! and said :


    " I know you understand me! this has been the best fight of my life! you are the strongest opponent i have met! and i know i am no match for ! I respect our fight! I will stake everything on this last strike then you handle the rest as you wish!" Said vince with a smile all over his face , he had injuries on his arms and chest !


    The wolf nodded! and prepared to defend with all it has in respect for its opponent!


    Vince calmed himself down, closed his eyes, then opened them, they were serene calm like the ocean! he tightened his grip on the sword and advanced!


    for the wolf he disappeared from his vision , this was Vince''s speed at its new peak , he was in the air! he dashed and jumped performing 3 strikes while changing direction three time mid air and stabbing once in the middle . the sword unleashed slashes! yes that was force unleashed from within the body! creating a triangle with a dot in its middle rushing at the wolf .


    The wolf actually felt danger from this strike so it opened its mouth and unleashed a blast ! this was an innate ability , to actually be forced to use it , Vince can be proud enough.


    The two strikes collided and an explosion of force happened , the wolf stood its place while vince retreated! Vince smiled and said:


    " It was an honorable fight! you were stronger so is the law of the world! I lost fair and square, do as you wish!"


    he then grabbed the sword with both hands and stabbed it into the ground! coughed out blood! but remained standing then he closed his eyes.


    The wolf did not want to kill him and it advanced towards him yet he did not move! it found out he was unconscious yet remained standing . Its eyes brightened! hesitated for a bit and growled some kind of incantation! spit blood on vince''s face and howled into the sky!


    it dug a bit into the ground and slashed its paw creating a little pond of blood! smilet at vince and left !


    What no one knew! was that an unprecedented event took place there! Vince with no method whatsoever, broke through to the next realm! with his own will! never in history did this happen! one could say The trio were on the extreme of mortal , on the edge , their supperiority came from talent! Cross had Innate Supernatural strength while vince speed and Eric vision. And now one exceeded mortal limit with will alone! only the future could tell what shall happen!

 Explanation! Understanding!

    After Vince woke up, he found the puddle of blood besides him and felt some kind of closeness to it. Eventually he bent down to collect it and saw that his left palm had a wolf tattoo while his right one had tatto of wings! he did not know what this meant but everything would be explained the day of the ceremony!


    Cross and Eric consumed the meat of the eagle and tiger , there was no immediate effect but it was slowly integrating in their bodies! these were not strange beasts but sentient beasts! a grade above strange beasts! and they had bloodline inheritance and innate abilities!


    After a collecting the blood they went back to the village and asked their father about the coming of age ceremony, their tattoos and their sister''s healing ability.


    "You have to know, that our village belongs to azure throne kingdom! and the closest city is a thousand miles away called candor city! in there, you would meet people! different people! at first i thought about leaving the village to you but since you awakened the ability pattern otherwise said tattoos! i knew this place can no longer hold you!" Said Rolland with a smile on his face .


    Their mother on the other hand started having tears silde down her face because of the thought of her boys leaving!


    " people have their talents determined at the coming of age ceremony . There are different kinds of people with different aptitudes! There are swordsman who use the sword and they consider it a life partner! and there are warriors who use a club/baton or axe ! there are archers who use the bow and mages who uses magic! "


    " I am a warrior and warriors like swordsmen, archers and mages , each have realms indicating their strength. I am a one star warrior, in other words the weakest realm of warriors! i don''t know much about swordsman and archers beside the fact the correspondent realm to a one star are sword disciple and one star archer! and these are also called the Extreme Mortal stage! And many can''t surpass this stage"


    " Mages are different from others! Ther future is decided by which element they have affinity to! the different elements are : Light, Darkness, Wind, Lightning, Fire, Water, Earth , Wood , Space, Time and Healing!"


    " The last three are extremly rare and as you saw , your sister Ella has healing element , and what''s more she awakened it at 6 years old! we told you to keep it a secret so that she may grow up with us! if others know they''ll taker from us! so i once again instruct you not to let anyone find out until she comes of age as well"


    " now, the ability pattern you have on your skin is an indication that you will awaken an ability! and since all of you have these patterns your chances of awakening if you do the ceremony together is much higher! and by the way those who get an innate skill are called sentient warriors, swordsmen,archers but mages don''t have the ability to become sentient as all their spells are skills, the only advantage one can have is the amount of mana !"


    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon." the reason i did not explain this before was that you do not get your hopes up as kids and get disappointed in the end! but now you can handle it!"


    " now go rest! and prepare yourselves for tomorrow! I hope the Gods bless you"sighed Rolland after explaining.


    the trio bowed and went on to digest the information! once again in the tree house:


    " it seems I am an archer! Cross a warrior and Vince a swordsman" Eric said


    " yeah! it''s obvious now! but what exactly is our realm now? i am sure we exceed One star!"Replied Cross.


    " No it doesn''t seem so! we have been stuck at our progress for quite a long while! we are in one star realm , just our innate abilities have given us an advantage! the fact that we gained enhancements from strange beasts aided us!" explained Vince


    " anyways , how can we know now? so which blood did you get?" asked Cross with a smug look on his face. he was quite proud killing a mountain king! the dual elemental tiger.


    "Oh i Slayed a golden eyed eagle with metallic wings" replied Eric with a proud tone and then proceeded to describe the battle.


    " fuck your luck! and here i thought i ll be bragging tonight! Well i hunter a dual colored colored tiger , it was 4 meters in height! and had a tattoo on its forhead!" Said Cross


    " this little bitch never loses as well huh!" murmured Eric


    " you''re the little bitch! your entire family are little bitches! wait huh!??!"


    " hahaha you just cursed yourself and all of us stupid pig!"


    " anyhow! Vince what about you?"


    " I didn''t kill or slay a beast! i fought one and lost! but it has shown mercy and even gave me its blood" replied vince


    " huh?"


    "huh?"


    " YOU!YOU WHAT? LOST? what kind of beast was this?!" Both of them screamed! they could not believe! how can he lose to a strange beast with his speed!


    He then proceeded to recount his encounter with the wolf!


    " a silver winged wolf huh? wow! and from its actions it has intelligence equal to a human ! If I ever meet it I will be sure to thank it profusely for its mercy. dayum!"said Cross


    " well thank god you''re still alive and since you got 2 more ability patterns That''s good as well ! but what kind of abilities do you think we''ll awaken ?" Asked Eric


    " i don''t know, but it will definitely be outstanding, and yeah since when has your eyes turned golden Eric?"asked vince with an intrigued face


    " huh what?!" Eric got confused , his vision is still the same , how come he said my eyes are now golden, wait , the eagle!


    " it must be because i ate the eagle, good thing it was before coming of age!"


    this was doomed to be a sleepless night thinking about which abilities they will get after awekening.

 Coming of age! Divine abilities!

    On a platform , three youths were standing in front of an altar! From afar no one would be able to see they were brothers from the same mother and father! Cross was huge 165 cm and bulky like weightlifters from their previous life! do remember he''s still only 14 years old! so his height is somewhat high! his hair was black and short making him look a bit like a brute! A natural born warrior!


    Vince was 170 cm tall ! His still to his shoulders and quite smooth, his blue eyes calm like the ocean coupled with his solemn and indifferent look gave off an air of elegance!


    Eric was 166 cm tall! Red haired and golden eyed gave off a natural charm to anyone who looked towards him! the aura he gave was sneaky and playful one! it was so like him to bother Cross with that 1 cm difference in height and calling him fat pig on every turn.


    the prayer was more like an incantation they learned before which they repeated for an hour.


    After which they headed towards the center of the village, drew some symbols on the ground smeared themselves with the blood they brought! they sat in a lotus position with their eyes looking up to the sky! they had formed a 3 headed formation!


    10 minutes passed and nothing happened , villagers got worried about a possibilty! but then the patterns on the ground lit up and the sky abruptly changed! thunder beamed from the sky and striked down on the three of them! Some people wanted to rush in and help! but Rolland stopped shaking his head! no one can interfere in the awakening! or it will only make things worse? how ? no one wanted to find out.


    The three resisted lightening as it ran through their bodies charring their skin and crunning through their veins! they fainted! Even Cross who had impregnable skin fainted!


    The villagers thought it was because they were talented. Normal ones would keep meditating till they woke up but other talented people would faint as the ability would take a burden on the mind to get inherited. they held them and brought them to their house planning to feast tonight. The three woke up and looked at each other and started communicating telepathically:


    " Did you gain anything?" asked Vince


    " Nope!" replied Cross


    " Nope!" replied Eric


    " me neither! but i Had a dream where i was kept on being called "the forsaken"! how about you?" said Vince


    " Yup me as well!" both of them nodded


    " anyways we''ll tell the villagers that i gained speed , Eric Eyesight and Cross strength! so as not to arouse doubts! now let''s go ask about what happens when one gains nothing from awakening" told vince


    " hey there out let''s ask what they got " someone shouted!


    " hey kiddos , tell us, what kind of ability did you gain?" an elder asked


    " Well i Got my vision improved , i now can see miles away, vince got speed he can now dash a hundred meters in 3 seconds and cross got strength , i have no way to measure it!" Eric stated


    " hahahahah Good! Very Good! You are the pride of our Village come let''s feast!" hollered Rolland with a proud smile on his face. it probably won''t fade for a week!


    After the feast ended , they headed to their father and asked :


    " Father, what happens when someone doesn''t gain anything from awakening?" asked Cross


    " That''s not possible! even the most useless gets a small boost in basic abilities!" replied Rolland


    " but i heard something an elder said about some forsken people? what." asked Eric


    But before he finished his father shut his mouth with his hand and warned :


    " well! first i warn you! never talk about it in public! and second forsaken are a race of people that is not formed by blood but by defiance! they are secluded by the Gods and usually have difficult life! the forsaken are a taboo! and they are ones who indeed do not get as much as a peanut in their awakening!"


    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation." I do remember an old man in the city once saying, that they are forsaken because of their potential! as such even tough it is strictly forbidden to interfere in mortal life! some gods disregard this rule and create obstacles for the forsaken! as they have no need for Gods and Grasp power themselves!"


    the trio nodded and proceeded towards the tree house!


    "hey, it seems we''re Forsaken huh!" said Cross with a bitter smile


    " damn just why?!! I like it easy , I am so lazy why do they have to make it difficult! Damn Gods!" Said Eric


    " You guys fail to grasp the most important point. Our potential ! we can grab power ourselves! i don''t know how yet but I will definitely find out once we go out of the village!" Said Vince with a firm tone.


    "From now on, I will be sure to remember each God that makes it difficult for me! and pay him back a million times for screwing with my life!" Said Eric .


    " Anyway let''s meditate!" said vince.


    They closed their eyes and their mental state drifted across the void! it was an etheral state of inheritance! From the sentient beasts! They stayed in that state for a week! when Rolland came and check on them and found out he thought it was a remnant of the awakening he got overjoyed and left but kept on checking twice a day!


    The ability patterns they had disappeared! Vince still had the tattoos in his palms but the stripes were gone! Eric Lost the tattoo in his neck! but his eyes got even more golden! Cross''s forearms got back to normal but the tattoo that covered his back shrank!


    The moment they woke up , they gazed at each , Eric and Cross Laughed out loud while vince smiled silently!


    " what damn abilities from awakening! what damn Gods! I will Sleep with their mothers! hahahah" laughed Cross .


    "Do pay attention Gods ! no matter how difficult you make it ! I will overcome it and then just wash your necks and wait for me! if you even have any!" Said Eric with Glee!


    "hey brats! focus! what kind of ability did you get and what does it do? we need to know every detail so that our sync will not fall off because of what we gained!" Said Vince


    It was silently agreed upon that he was the team leader and the best with decision making.


    " I''ll Go first! haha this is so good!" said Eric, he always liked to show off!


    " I gained 2 abilities! haha! the first called Essence eye! it enables me to see the temperature of things and some kind of essences! it''s like thermal vision but not just that i can also see the essence of herbs metals and other kinds of things in addition to the increased sight range and sharpness! The second one is Called " Metallic burst" it allows me to add metal element into anything i want! so for example , now my arrows , even though made from wood have the hardness and durabily of those made from metal, this does not change the weight! and also adds into its power and penetration! ha! what do you think awesome right?" explained Eric with joy


    " Not bad! truly! For me i also got 2 abilities of my own! the first is "berserk"! it enables me to enter an enraged state doubling my power for a period of time and i feel it''s not just double but it depends on something else to how much i can multiply my power which i do not understand yet! The second one is too awesome! It will definitely make you jealous! ahahahhah! it is this!"


    Cross said as another Cross got out from his back!


    " The fuck! two fat pigs! is this cloning! dogshit luck!" grumbled Eric


    Vince got surprised but did not say much , no one knew what he was thinking!


    " It''s called DoppelGanger dumbass ! cool huh! but it has a duration time and can only use about 30% of my strength! what about you Vince? " asked Cross

 Leaving the Village!

    "Well, I also gained 2 abilities as well. The first is called "Phantom Shade" it has 2 purposes, it allows me to increase my speed up to five times! its other purpose is a forbidden practice that comes at the price of life force! it can make me phase through and teleport for a certain distance, it is an escape ability! The second is almost like Eric''s yet different, It is called "Soul Immunity" which makes my senses go another level beyond and makes harder for me to fall to illusions! its sub-ability is called "Hyper-Focus" which allows me to feel anything within a certain field or area! making it extremely useful to read the opponent''s moves before he even made them!" explained Vince.


    " That''s awesome! "Phantom Shade" is already Op enough but that "Hyper-Focus" is just an outright cheat!" Said Cross!


    " By the way, Fat pig! what happens if your Doppelganger dies?" asked Eric


    " I get a backlash rendering me unable to exert more than 50% of my strength for 3 days! and a permanent decrease of 3% of my strength! sucks huh?" Said Cross with a bitter smile


    " Yeah, For me, if I overexert "metallic burst" the metal element will seep into my veins and start onstructing blood flow! and if I use Essence Eye too much I will go blind for a week or so!" Explained Eric while shaking his head


    " Well, everything comes at a price! Anyways from now, listen well! Cross Never EVER show your doppelganger unless it''s a life and death situation and kill anyone who sees it! we can''t have other knowing you have that ability , it''s too dangerous for now as we''re still not well informed of the outside world! Berserk on the other hand, don''t try to use it much, anything that overdraws force from the body will definitely have repercussions in the future just like my Phantom Shade!"


    "As for you Eric! Don''t show your Essence Eye to anyone! I imagine its value exceeds our imagination! it is just way too convenient for many professions! As for my abilities they can be explained as talent for battle prowess or passive talent!" Warned Vince


    " Yeah! I agree! but now we shall work up new strategies for our fights that include these new abilities! the duo between me and each of you can be upgraded but you both have to find a new way to coordinate fights as you are both melee fighters!" Said Eric


    He can coordinate with Vince''s speed and Cross''s strength creating combos but these two has not yet managed to find a suitable formation for them both.


    " I already have plans for that! With Cross''s doppelganger this is gonna be unpredictable!" Said Vince.


    Just as he finished the door opened and Rolland came in. He looked at them with a smile and then asked :


    "well now that you have woken up! when do you plan to get your asses out of my house?"


    the trio got suprised then laughed.


    " well not anytime soon!" Eric stated


    " yeah we''ll train here for six months then head to Candor city" said Vince


    "well good enough! your mother can''t stop crying and each time she thinks of you leaving I end up sleeping on the couch! at least this will calm her down a bit " Said Rolland as he rolled his eyes.


    "hahahaha" Eric and Cross laughed while Vince smiled


    Rolland laughed and turned around to leave.


    " hey, vince always smiles but does not laugh heartily!" stated Cross


    " yeah true, but it did happen once when he played the bastard!" Eric said with a disgruntled look on his face. And just as he said this, Vince burst out laughing.


    " huh see, each time he remembers it , he laughs it was always like this!" said Eric


    " well yeah that truly was a bastard move!" Said Cross


    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.They were talking about an event that took place in their previous life! Eric was courting a secretary at a company, she was indeed beautiful and well endowed. It Took him a week to take her to bed, and when they started rolling in the sheets and moving Cross took control and with his fiery personality and started going at it like a beast! Eric fumed and took back control so the pace changed once again! they kept going on and forth like this, the girl was screaming her brains out!


    and when they were about to reach climax! Vince stepped in! at that last moment and his face instantly became indifferent! The girl has already went limp! The second round they went at it they took guard yet still the same happened! so they started calling him a bastard for a month! Imagine doing all the work just for it to get stolen at that last moment , one would be angry as hell yet Vince just kept on laughing!


    After the girl woke up, she found it hard to walk and stayed sitting at her office the hole day! she changed Eric''s name in her cellphone from Eric to "Beast in bed"


    the trio looked at each other and laughed! indeed these memories were good ones even for Eric and Cross as they saw that Vince had fun, they did not mind at all but the anger of remembering made them still call him a bastard.


    Six months passed by! They had now efficiently develeppoed new tactics! and prepared themselves for their Journey to Candor City! Their mother had Tears all over her face!


    " You are now grown up! listen to me! Always be careful and don''t trust anyone but each other! Pay attention to every minor detail as it could save your lives!And take care of yourselves and each other! Eat well and don''t chase girls around every corner in the city!"Elena said as she wiped her face and embraced her three sons. The trio nodded and hugged back.


    " waaaah! NO! NO! waaaah ! don''t leave! you can''t leave! aaaaaah stay with me!" Ella kept on crying!


    The three squated down, smiled and patted her head saying:


    "Ella we Have to go now but we''ll always come back and visit our darling little sister" Eric hugged her and kissed her cheek.


    "Big Bad bro stay, waah! i won''t call you bad anymore!" she hugged Eric and refused to let go. Eric that moment really had the urge to stay!


    "Ella will you stop calling big fat bro if I stay ?" asked Cross


    " No! big fat bro will always be big fat bro!"Ella replied


    Cross had tears streaming down his face


    "litte Ella we will now leave, eat well , and listen to mother and father, when we come back we will bring you a lot of presents and gifts" Vince said , he then kissed her cheek as well then pinched her nose, she giggled each time he did this. he got up then she pointed to Cross and said


    " hug!" with her hands in the air


    Cross smiled and picked her up, she hugged him and bit his shoulder, his eyes had waterfalls falling down! there was no way she could her him with his skin!


    " Come here take this paper and open it after you leave the village! come on now ! be on your way! the Next time you come , you will be men , and at least one you brats has to bring me a daughter in law or i won''t let you recognize the ancestry!" Rolland said with a smile yet red eyes holding himself back .


    They nodded and hugged him as well! then advanced turned back and waved at the villagers who had come to see them off and looked on forwards!


    this was the start of their journey! The begining of the Rise of the three forsaken brothers!the rise of the three Gods! One has to know forsaken is race of defiance bonded not by blood , but the trio is indeed the first case! the journey where anyone who stood in their way had a dark destiny ahead!

 Bandits! or guards?!

    Vince, Eric and Cross marched slowly in no rush to get to Candor City. They kept on going till night fell, it was then that Eric asked :


    " Hey what did Father give you?"


    " oh yeah! let me see" Cross said


    " well i''ll be damned! hahaha! If mother knew, he would definitely befriend the sofa for a couple of years!" laughed Cross


    " what is it ?" asked Vince


    " here see for yourself!" Cross passed the paper to Vince


    Vince saw what was inside and shook his head and passed it to Eric.


    " hahaha! well this is a new one alright! a Father passing a brothel''s adress for his sons " laughed Eric as well. then he suddenly saw something and said in a low voice.


    " shush! i see humans approching us! the heat they give off is a little bit wierd!"


    " how many?!"


    " about a dozen , they are still 4 kms away"


    "it seems the fire we started caused them to target us "


    " yeah! let''s get ready! Cross stay here, i doubt they could do much to you anyway but be careful and don''t underestimate anyone!"


    " we''ll merge with the night! approach them and find out what they''re planing!"


    Vince had "Hyper-Focus" which aided him to avoid grabbing any attention to himself while had already developped enough skill in stealth and was confident they would not notice him.


    They went in their direction, got closer and started hearing them talk normally not loud nor low:


    " Hey! do we really have to rob them?" asked a short man , he had a scar on his cheek and was quite thin.


    "shut up Ronnie! we got kicked out! how can we survive now if we don''t rob?! huh?! I too don''t wanna do this but we have to! we''ll see first if they are normal civilians if so we''ll just take what we need and leave, no need to kill! but if they are mercenaries or city guards! a fight is unavoidable " Said the man leading the group. He was tall , buff not like Cross but still seemed strong. He had a headband on his head and was bald! his eyebrows were furrowed and one can see from his stance that he is a veteran soldier of some kind! he had definitely gone through a battlefield! his aura had some blood on it! That''s why the temperature seemed off for Eric! Blood affects one''s aura, he was used to only seeing humans who only killed chickens before not another human being!


    The others lowered their heads , gripped their fists and marched forwards!


    Vince and Eric communicated telepathically and said:


    " it seems they are not bandits! their armor seems like they are from some kind of army! what do you think we should do? They said they did not want to kill but robbing is still a crime" Eric asked


    "My hyper-focus helps me gauge the strength of others in a certain rage of our own abilities , warn them and if they do not heed it! kill! I''ll head back I''ll leave them to you! all the others are small fries, the short one called ronnie is a lot more agile yet lacks strength! Their leader is strong but i believe you got this!" Vince said as he disappeared


    " so I do all the work then huh!" Eric grumbled , what he did not know was that Vince was still nearby ready to move at any moment! his "soul immunity" has a camouflage effect and the reason he did this was because out of the three brothers! He was not afraid to kill! Cross was straightforward! if someone wanted to kill him he would not hesitate to kill him back. But Eric was never much intrested in fights so Vince was afraid that this might somehow effect his brother and either cause him heavy losses if not his life! he needed him to be determined to kill!


    Killing here was not illegal! survival of the strongest is the absolute non changing rule!


    " Go back from where you came from! otherwise no one shall survive!" Said Eric while hiding. An archer never gives up his position but he had to warn them and was not afraid they''ll catch up to him! he was confident in retreating! and still had some aces up his sleeves!


    Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original." WHO?!" shouted Aaron , the captain of the dozen people, He had sweat down his forhead now in the blink of an eye. He had actually failed to notice that someone was nearby. If that person wanted to kill, a couple of his brothers would ve been gone to the afterlife! He unconsciously released some killing intent.


    Eric Sensed the killing intent and finally understood why Vince left him here to handle them, and indeed it was not easy for him to kill! he was from earth! Killing was a crime! and here he stayed at a peaceful village so no bloodshed was seen! But this world was different! in some situations if you hesitate to kill it will cost you your life! He remembered his Brothers and he would in no way let them down! he steeled him self and said :


    "I shall not Repeat another time! LEAVE OR DIE!" As he said so, he moved while launching a hail of arrows containing metal element . each arrow passed by the cheeks of the dozen men , only Ronnie dodged slightly while Aaron blocked it with his sword and his hands trembled from impact!


    "Elemental Inner force! a sentient archer!" as soon as he said this, all the killing intent disappeared. the other trembled at the word " sentient".


    " esteemed expert! Thank you for your mercy! we are sorry to disturb you, we shall take our leave!" Aaron bowed towards the direction the arrows came from, and turned around to leave.


    Eric was happy at the word esteemed expert but his Ego did not get the best of him. He tried to get information now? why are they wearing guards''s armors and robbing!


    "wait!" he called out!


    " yes esteemed expert! what do you need from me? i shall do my best to fulfill" Aaron turned around and asked politely.


    "I am not from this kingdom. I heard the nearest city is Candor city! Tell me what you know ? and you can leave ! don''t you dare try to lie to or keep something! then you can leave!?" asked Eric


    and just as he asked he got a message telepathically saying " Good choice!" , it was abviously Vince.


    "Oh since Sir expert is here , you must be from the forgotten islands!" he shuddered thinking about this possibility, he then continued explaining.


    They were originally guards of Candor city, sent on a scouting mission to some land north of the city. The City Lord''s son went with them and unfortunately lost his life and they didn''t dare get back! all that awaits is death!


    Candor City had 3 noble families along with The city lord holding the governing position. The City Lord influence ranks first while the other 3 barons have equal influence. The three noble Families were The Teimar family, The Barzotti family and the Velasi family. If gathered together they still fall a bit short of the governement in Candor city! He then proceeded to explain what each family has as territory and source of income! Rules of the city , Underworld influences such as gangs and other small influences as much as he can.


    It is known that in this world, Only nobles get a family name while all others get only first name.


    " You may leave!" Said Eric


    " Thank you esteemed expert! may you have a safe journey!" Aaron bowed and turned around walking away as fast as he could muster.


    " so Vince what do you think?"


    Before Vince could speak , an interrupting voice came:


    " Esteemed expert my ass! you''re just a cry-baby" Cross harrumphed, obviously disgruntled at what took them this long.


    "come! we need to figure out what goals we need to achieve in this city and what means to use to reach it!" Vince turned around and went back to the fire place while the two followed as well.

 Government? Nobles? gangs?

    "Listen! Our goal is to gather as much information as we can! we are now hill billies! Common knowledge is easily gained , but the powers with influence get access to much more defined and detailed infos!" Vince said


    " well Yeah! I think we should split up! each joining an influence , that way we can get ourselves a rather wide social web! and cover bigger areas! but who shoud join which?!" suggested Eric


    "Cross, you join the government, head towards the city lord''s mansion and tell them you wanna get recruited as a city guard , write a letter in which you explain your ability"berserk" and the fact that you are a sentient warrior! it should be given to the higher ups or you can say it personally if you meet the lord face to face! Tell them you just came out from the village and always wanted to be an officer! I am sure they will find your temperament fitting to that role, play dumb and don''t show off your intelligence much! That way they think of you as a pawn! easy to control and won''t fear you much" decided Vince.


    " huh! so you just want me to be a muscle brain! Sure i will play along!" Said Cross


    " Yeah you don''t even need to act, you''re plenty stupid enough! This mission is best suited for you alright!" Laughed Eric.


    " you little bitch! We''ll just wait and see what you will end up doing!" cursed Cross


    " Of course I''ll end up in some noble lady''s lap right Vince?" Asked Eric as he turned to face Vince, but when he saw the grin on the latter''s face his mood plummeted.


    " Unfortunately no! You''ll start from the slums! Build a triad! a new gang and slowly expand swallowing territories and gaining control of the underground! I need your cooperation! And no one shall know that we''re brothers! At least for now!" Vince explained


    " ahhahahahahahhahahaha! little bitch belongs to the slums! you might as well stay there!" Burst out Cross laughing!


    " Cmon! Vince you can''t do this to me man! you go! I''ll seduce noble ladies and help you gain control of their circle! Hell I''ll even give you a nephew!" pleaded Eric


    " NO! I don''t communicate with others much! while you with your charm and charisma make a good leader! So only you can do this! It''ll be much easier for you to start the triad!" stated Vince


    Cross''s face got so red from trying to hold his laughter.


    "Ok! Then it''s decided! We''ll do as such, now our main goal has been determined! but what after?" asked Eric after having his ego satisfied.


    "Along the ride, seize as much ressources and influence as you can! Avoid looking into the "forsaken" for now! as for secondary goals we''ll see after we each infiltrate our destinations!" Told Vince.


    "OK! now sleep we''ll reach the city tomorrow! I''ll go first! Hey charisma guy keep watch first " Said Cross as he yawned. They took shifts to guard.


    Sun shone and The trio got up and marched towards the city, only stopping when its gate was in sight. IT was huge! Even with Eric''s vision could not see an end to the buildings! It had this huge wall surrounding it! It looked like those in midieval times yet on a much bigger scale! It had no castle! But one can see huge mansions inside! They were 7 mansions of the kind! Well more like 6 . One was a lot different from the others yet as big!


    Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site." each shall go in on his own! remember our goals and take care!" Vince winked at them and marched forward. Eric and cross waited a bit then each went on his way.


    Candor City Had 4 gates , One for each direction, North, South,West and East. They were on the south side so both of them went opposite ways East and west!


    Noble Families were maintaining good relationships with each other through transactions , marriages, partnerships...etc


    The Teimar family managed raw ingredients such as herb collecting and raw metals, it had a lot of mines and gardens for raising special herbs.


    The barzotti family handled commerce and slave trade! It was the second richest family after The Vilasi family which had 2 branches! One handled Alchemy while the other handled Blacksmithing!


    They always recruited any talents in one of these fields.


    The teimar family was without a doubt the one with less riches. But what further stabilised its existence was its military power! their private army was proefficient in fighting in formations making it extremely hard to break through them.


    Gangs on the other hand started as tools the nobles used in order to avoid getting their hands dirty! the government found it rather convenient as well so they did the same. This allowed for true gangs to grow up!


    Candor City had 4 gangs , Fallen gang, belonging to the nobles having 3 factions ,each linked to a certain family. Control gang, belonging to the government! The other two had an alliance as they were true gangs from ruffians and thugs! And were called Dragon gang and rising force gang respectivelly. This kept the balance of the city!


    The City Lord''s army was the strongest , and only if the Three Noble Families joined together could they hope to fight on equal stands with the government in Candor!


    At first the guards holding the gate stopped them and asked for their identification which they did not have, they explained each his own situation. The guards had seen this a couple of times, children from villages did not get papers confirming their identity. So they pointed them towards a building to the side where an old man took a certain amount of silver as fees! 5 silvers to be exact! It was half their savings!


    they dropped their blood on a crystal ball which then showed their age. The old men were surprised at their age, they were rather tall and well built for their age. They nodded but said nothing much , they took out a quill which glowed , wrote their names and age on a card and handed to them. As such the registration was finished.


    The monetary system in Azure throne kingdom was like this:


    10 copper coins= 1 silver coin


    10 silver coins= 1 gold coin


    10 gold coin = 1 amethyst coin


    One has to know 2 copper coins were enough to stay at a good inn with all meals covered for 1 day and night!


    Eric headed to an inn in order to gather informations on how to start!


    Vince headed towards the inner part of the city while thinking about which family to target.


    Cross asked around and went straight to middle of the city where the city lord''s mansion lies. Cross shook his head when he got there , the mansion alone was bigger than their village without counting other facilities in the surroundings belonging to the lord as well! Such as The guard''s dorm, the courtyard, their warehouse and others.

 I am here to be a captain!

    Cross''s Pov :


    Cross wandered a bit in the city, trying to understand the necessary procedures to join the city guards! He then headed towards the gate and saw 4 young guards, standing straight up , one on each side of the gate! It was opened , two were on the outer part while the other 2 were in the inner part!


    the two on the front were rather average looking and had normal build, but if one looked hard enough it was pretty obvious they were no ordinary mortals! They might not be as strong as Cross but still a league above ordinary soldiers or huntsmen, and they were only guards! Their aura had a bloody feeling attached to it, an indication that these people have killed before.


    When they saw Cross coming forward, they looked at each other wondering what was his purpose of coming here. They advanced forward to stop him, the two on the front treated him with respect even with his look , he looked like a villager , no way around it. But they had once learned the hard way not to offend anyone no matter how he looked like!


    An old man with ragged clothes came to the city lord''s mansion , the guards stopped him calling a beggar in each sentence , back then they just got accepted into the city guards and had the thought of becoming as haughty as the ones in front of them. Yet what happened next , will never ever be forgotten for them for the rest of their life! The two blew up! Blood and intestines , organs , splashin everywhere! they shuddered and thanked God they had not said anything. From then on , they never took the risk, something like that never happened again, but the was too deeply imprinted into their minds so they never dared to forget! This caused the two to become best friends as fellow sufferers!


    " Young man , what is your purpose for coming here?" asked one of them


    " well I am here to get recruited as an officer" Said Cross with a smile


    The two of them gasped , they never thought the reason for this youth to come here was to join , not as a city guard but as an officer! Just as they wanted to explain, one guard from the back burst out laughing!


    " hahahaha! Oh my god! is this a joke?! you a guard ? then I should become the vice-city lord!" replied a bald and somewhat buff looking man with a haughty tone! he was middle aged around 35 years old.


    "Just because you''re weak enough and dim witted doesn''t mean others don''t qualify!" Replied Cross with a smile


    " You bastard! how dare you insult the city guards! A boy who misses his mother''s milk says guards are weak!"


    "Well I like milk! But I don''t miss it, what I miss is your mother''s pussy" Cross cursed back


    " what the fuck did you just say?!" roared The man


    "ah so you''re deaf as well , this indeed proves it! I said I missed your mother''s pussy, But fortunately, since you''re deaf there is no way you could be my son! I pity the guy who missed the wall and ended up shooting inside your mother having you as a regret!" Cross''s mouth .


    The other three guards burst out laughing at their comrade.


    "let''s see if your fist is as good as your mouth little bastard!" Cursed the guard as he launched forwards preparing to attack Cross. Seeing Him , not dodging, the man smirked, thinking that he was too afraid and couldn''t respond.


    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.Cross on the other saw the attacker''s strength , he was indeed surprised! It was weak! he did not bother to dodge nor block and just stood still with the urge to yawn. The attack was not weak compared to others but Cross was just a freak!


    the attack landed on Cross''s chest creating a whirlwind of dust blurring their figures. The attack had wind element into it yet not! this guy was not a sentient warrior but just somekind of supporting ability gained during his awakening.


    The guards shook their head thinking the youth is gonna end up injured, the image shocked them. Cross was yawning one hand and grasped the other hand that landed on his chest with the other.


    The middle aged man was struggling to break free. One needs to know between the four guards he was second in strength!


    "Is this It? too week , can''t even be considered as a scratch!" He then threw him aside like swatting a fly out the way!


    " now then , how can I apply to become an officer?" asked Cross with a smile


    The Guards were dumbstruck at this youth''s strength. It took them a while before they managed to recover, and just as they wanted to respond .


    " wait! better explain how to become a captain! if he''s a city guard with his strength I believe I can become a captain!"


    " Sir, as I don''t know your exact strength, I indeed can''t tell if you become a captain but you can definitely become an officer, but may I ask your age as there is an age restriction?" asked the first guard who talked to him before, this time in a much more polite tone.


    " Why do you wanna know? I say might is right! those with abilities can grab the position they deserve!" Replied Cross not wishing to state his age.


    "Kind sir ,this is the procedure, i can''t skip it as I like , please take our position into consideration." pleaded the guard. He knew the city lord loved talents, especially those without background! And this guy seems like a villager so if he sent him away and the higher ups got a hold of it! He will be doomed for a lot of suffering.


    Cross grumbled but a laughter broke what he intended to say.


    " Hahahaha! well said! Might is Right! I love that! You said you wanna be a captain, right! Come! Let''s go to the ring inside and see what you got!" came a somewhat 40 years looking old man. He was the same as Cross, tall and bulked! He had an axe that looked similar to that of his father''s yet different. He had a scar on his left cheek and some odd resemblence to Rolland! Cross did not notice this!


    " ch! chie! chie" the guard stuttered but Carter who was the chief a rank above captain glared at him and he shut his mouth.


    Cross smiled and followed then said :


    "Are you a captain? then If I win, can I become a chief?" asked Cross while imagining.


    " what!" The guards screamed and started looking at Cross as if he was some kind of idiot. You winning , you''d better thank god and kowtow if you manage to leave in one piece!


    Carter stunned looking, then burst out laughing :


    " hahahaha! hey brat! indeed if you beat me you can become a chief , hahaha i like this brat! but if you don''t beat me , you ''ll have to join under me and we''ll then see if you have what it takes to become my disciple!"


    " sure! I already feel my blood boiling." Cross said as he tightened his fist


    Carter smiled and lead the way.

 Chief Vs Cross!.... Uncle?!!

    Cross followed Carter around, he then spotted a boulder with some kind of inscriptions into it. It was a tall boulder with 8 crystals embedded in it.


    " Hey! what''s that?" Asked Cross


    " that''s a strength measuring pole! a magical artifact! You activate it then strike the space in front of it and depending on how much resistance you break through! It deteremines your strength!"


    " what you''ve never seen it? wanna try?"


    "Of course not! We do not have this in our village!" replied Cross


    So he''s from a village! a good candidate indeed! thought Carter then he said :


    " Come let''s measure your strength!"


    "Sure!" Cross said with an excited tone!


    " how many times can I punch?" asked Cross


    " 3 times after activation then you have to activate it again" Carter


    "Ok!"


    Cross waited for Carter to activate it he then stepped forward. Gripped his fist and punched casually , he felt the air in front of him resist his punch! after the punch stopped mid air, 2 crystal lit up!


    Carter was surprised! like truly surprised, a casual punch lit up 2 crystals! he asked:


    " how much of your strength did you use just now?!"


    " about 30%" replied Cross!


    Carter was dumstruck! This youth was a freak, he definitely had innate supernatural strength!


    " punch with all your strength!"


    "Sure!"


    Cross tightened his hands , got into a stance, closed his eyes to calm down and focus! Carter nodded appraisingly, he liked this brat more and more!


    Cross then striked his feet sank in the earth and used his waist to rotate adding much strength to the punch! 3 crystals lit up full while the fourth only lit up to about 60%! Cross truly exerted 100% this time! He turned around and asked:


    " how was that?" he truly did not understand the crystal system!


    Carter was finding it hard to swallow! how old was this brat yet he could light up 3 and a half crystals! he was sure Cross didn''t grasp what it meant!


    " Did you learn precise control? who''s your teacher?" asked carter


    " what''s that?" asked Cross back with a foolish look!


    " most people can only exert 80% at most of their strength yet you can use a 100%! that''s called precise control!"


    "oh that! I realised this issue so I trained it myself! by using the axe to slice trees and stones even at water sometimes leaving a smooth surface was when i fully grasped control over my axe and then it was easier as i had more control of my body , using it on fists was only a matter of time!"


    " Truly a talent! indeed!" sighed carted but his eyes still bright


    " come let''s go!" Carter said


    " But I still Have 1 more try !" Cross


    " you already used 100% what more can you do?" Carter


    " You''ll see" Cross turned around and unleashed "Overdrive" to exert 130% now! a 10% improvement with no side effects! He then punched! 4 crystals lit up!


    Carter''s jaw fell! he stuttered a bit


    "Ho-how- how did you do that???"


    " Ability I gained in my awakening called Over Drive!"


    Carter shut his mouth no longer talking, this was already too much, His strentgh already belongs to the top 5 captains!


    Cross would not say he trained this skill as that was truly uncommon! but he could explain it as such! he did not use berserk and kept it for the fight!


    When they reached the ring Carter said :


    " you already qualify for a captain and I''ll tell you where you''ll be assigned! now tell me your name and age!" Carter demanded


    Cross seeing his mission accomplished and knowing that they won''t let him go now even if he stated his age!


    "Cross, 14 years old!"


    Carter stood there silent! looked at him serenely and then said:


    "Don''t joke around ! state your real age Cross!"


    Cross shut up, put his hands into his pockets and gave him his identification!


    Carter panicked when confirming his age this was talent!!! a genius! he sighed and said:


    " It seems we''ll have a change of plans! Come let''s see your battle experience! we''ll fight barehanded!"


    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.then both of them got into the ring and started to ready themselves for the fight!


    Cross then took the intiative to launch a fist , which Carter blocked effortlessly! Cross punched once again this using barely much strength in the first fist followed by a fist that actually had some strength but all of this was a decoy for the kick that was aimed at the knee of Carter Blocked both fists and retreated dodging the kick !


    The fight kept on going as such. more and more people got their attention attracted by the fight! even some higher ups!


    "wow! look at that young man going!" someone said


    " yeah! he''s holding his own against Chief Carter!" another one stated


    " He definitely has the strength of the top 10 captains!"


    " Top 5 you should say!"


    The fight was looking like a stalemate but what was happening in the ring was different until Cross abruptly stopped.


    " what , can''t beat me?" Carter asked with a smile


    " Indeed as such! I can''t beat you! From what you said before, you are no captaion, this fight indeed proves so! But i Still have a card in hand If you manage to defend I admit Defeat! Get Ready!"


    " OK! show me what You got!"


    Cross simultaneously activated "Overdrive" and "Berserk"! His strength shot up to a new realm! He advanced forward punches and kicks much more ferocious with a lot more strength into it, no longer compared to before!


    "Sentient warrior!" shouted Carter deeply astonished! This time he no longer dared to keep his hand and fought with Cross on Equal grounds yet The war inside his mind affected him! Cross was only 14 and was a sentient warrior who had the ability to increase his strength by more than doublefold! battle prowess even more! He indeed is wasted as a captain he started having something else in mind!


    " Holy shit! a young sentient warrior!"


    " what the hell ! his strength now is equal to chiefs!!"


    " where the hell did this guy come from and where was hiding all this time!"


    They fought as equals for 15 minutes this time it was truly a draw! no one could gain the upperhand!


    " hey my ability is about to run out! If You defend this Strike you win! I''ll use my axe!" said Cross


    " OK!" Carter nodded deeply and worked up his defenses to a maximum not daring to hold back! Getting his axe in hand as well.


    Cross nodded and uncovered his axe! The moment Carter saw it his head went blank! All defenses dropped! Cross noticed this and when he was about to ask , he got asked:


    " where did you get that axe?"


    " it''s my family heirloom!"


    " who''s Rolland to you?"


    "you know my father?"


    " Ahahhahahahahahaha" Carter burst out laughing, he dropped his axe and laughed like a maniac


    " I was wondering why the name Cross rang a bell! Indeed your physique and face are similar to Rolland! Well aren''t you all grown up now?!"


    " what do you mean?" asked Cross puzzled!


    " Rolland is my half brother! I am your uncle! and you''re my nephew!" Carter said with a smile


    " how come I don''t know about this?" Asked Cross still not believing


    " How''s little Vince and little Eric? well , it''s normal you couldn''t recognize me, I only saw you before you opened your eyes! the day of your birth and look at this axe" The axe had the same symbol as the one Cross had.


    " but how come we never saw you again?!" Cross somewhat believed after he mentioned his brothers! no one knew them in this city!


    " well Your dad and I fought for Elena''s Love, he won! we were close as kids but after Elena chose him I distanced myself and started focusing on training while he wanted to build a family and continue our bloodline."


    " ah ! well this is awkward!" said Cross while scratching his head, this guy , his uncle used to be in love with his mother!


    " ahahahha! don''t mention the past! It''s already gone! I thought you were a genius and who thought we were family! hahahah our family is indeed destined for greatness!"


    " who is this talented young man?" Asked a deep voice dragging all attention to it.

 The City Lord Whose son died!

    "Lord!" The guards around the ring all got down to their knees and gave their greetings and respect!


    The chief Carter bowed with Cross as well!


    The City Lord was man who looked around thirty something, but that was not his real age! He did not use cosmetics or any other method for his looks to seem young! The realm He reached, increased Life span. He was actually 70 years old yet looked 30! He had white hair and wore an official''s robe. He seemed elegant and this robe was only something that City Lords and above had! His elegance hid a deep sense of terror! One can imagine his strength.


    " haha! My Lord , this is my nephew, Cross, he came from a village, and as your lordship has seen! I believe it to be too much of a waste for him to be a captain!" introduced Carter


    "Indeed, a young man , a sentient warrior with a rare ability and innate supernatural strength is a genius hard to come by!" The City lord nodded appraisingly.


    "My lord, I believe you''ll understand what I mean when you see this!" said Carter as he passed cross''sidentification.


    Dylan, The City Lord , gasped when he saw Cross''s age! He indeed apperciated talent . At first he thought Cross was a young man in his early 20s but after seeing 14! he was pleasantly surprised! if he managed to raise this young man and made him loyal to himself, He would both a right hand man and a trump card!


    He already started planning on how to gain this young man as his subordinate and grasp his loyalty!


    " Come let''s enter the mansion!" ordered Dylan


    " yes! city lord!" Carter said as he followed but Cross stayed looking confused.


    " what are you doing?" turned dylan and asked Cross.


    " me too?" asked Cross as he pointed to himself! playing dumb!


    " of course! Follow me!" Dylan laughed and said. This was indeed in his favor, this young man who came from the village and has not seen the world will be easier to control.


    Carter on the other hand saw his foolish look and reminded himself to teach this nephew who just came out to the world common sense and where dangers lay so that he won''t be conned or put in dangers! Conmen and swindlers were all over the city!


    They entered the mansion headed towards a lobby. IT WAS HUGE! Cross felt that he can fit his whole village just inside this lobby! It was filled with sculptures of beasts! more like mythical beasts! It seemed he was a fan of sculpting!


    " awesome!" commented Cross


    Dylan smiled, pleased with Cross''s expression, he had put a lot of effort into gathering these sculptures he even created some himself!


    " which one do you like the most?"


    " emm ... the winged serpent one!" replied Cross


    " oh why is that?" Dylan asked with a smile.


    " well the texture seems smooth! it must have been hard with all those curves! and those patterns insripted as well are a lot more defined than others , the one who did this is indeed a master especially with how small this one is compared to other statues!"


    " hahahahahaah! Good eyes! Good eyes! This is indeed a precious sculpture made from crystallic stones! very hard to come by! very few would use it as materials for sculptures! and the one who made it is me!" Dylan was pleased and found Cross more and more to his liking!


    " City Lord is indeed a master " said Cross


    Carter made a thumbs up gesture for his nephew saying in his mind : "Good one boy!"


    " drop the formalities! just call me Old man Dylan! you now will Join The special regiment! It is a force that cannot be made to the public and has the highest authority! since you came from a village it would have taken time for you to get tested before joining but since carter is your uncle and vouches for you and he is also a member of second rank , I''ll make an exception and make you join! you''ll star as a third rank member! but I''ll give you the ressources of a second rank member but your badge and authority still remains at third rank." explaind Old man Dylan with a smile.


    " Then i shall be impolite! may i inquire about the ranks?"asked Cross


    Dylan looked at Carter , the other understood and took the lead to explain.


    " a third rank member gets 10 silver as monthly payement, a normal quality 1 star weapon and 3 force increasing medecine! a second rank gets double that and a higher quality 1 star weapon while a first rank gets 5 times and a top quality 1 star weapon."


    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon."Holy shit!" said cross


    " watch your mouth!" shouted Carter


    " haha sorry , I lost control there for a second!"


    " hahaha no worries " dylan waved, he found it funny that someone cursed in front of him and even made him further like this boy .


    " what are the ranks for weapons! and what''s force increasing medecine?" asked Cross puzzled


    Carter and dylan looked at each other. Dylan burst out laughing while carter tried holding it in!


    " Here take this badge! it gives you access to the first story of the library, do not go to the second , it''s good that you are still young you have much to learn. If you have any doubts you can come directly with that badge and consult with me!" Said Dylan as he passed a badge with two characters in it! meaning special access!


    Dylan did this For Cross to start relying on him , and in return for his help and this special treatement Cross would be moved and become more loyal to him!


    " Thank you! City Lord! Cross hurry and thank the City Lord! you do not know how many begged for this chance and still got rejected!" urged Carter and thanked Dylan himself!


    " Thank you Old man Dylan ! .. ehm ehm" Cross wanted to say something after thanking him but seemed reluctant.


    Dylan of course noticed this and Said :


    " Say what''s on your mind"


    " Old man Dylan , did your son go with some guards to explore some ruins?" asked Cross


    " Yes! but how did you know about that? It was a secret mission!" Dylan stood up and squinted his eyes!


    " well, on the way here, some guards with the ones leading them called Aaron and Ronnie tried to rob me, I beat them black and blew and got information from them about the city! under my threatening for their lives, they spilled all the beans! and they said! they said.."


    " What Did They say?" asked Dylan in a Deep tone


    " They said your son died!"


    Carter and Dylan had their brain blank! It was practically impossible, his son was protected by 2 chiefs! and 3 first rank special regiment members with one being a lieutenant. He knew what that kind of power meant! If they were enemies capables of killing the others how could a mere captain survive! This meant either they were in on it or betrayed him in the fight in exchange for their lives!


    He tightened His Fist and Roared! All The city head that roar! and Started wondering what happened that made the City Lord rage this much!


    The noble families and gang leaders immediatly sent people to investigate!


    "Old man Dylan! let me finish! I wanted to bring them here so you could question them but then I heard a voice inside my head telling me to go to sleep! when i woke they were gone!" Said Cross


    "Soul power!" Carter shouted


    "Spiritual beings!" Dylan gritted his teeth and shouted " Shadow regiment!"


    instantaneously, 10 shadows appeared in the room. "Investigate!"


    the shadows nodded and disappeared as they came!


    " Carter take him to lodge in the special area!" Dylan Said and he disppeared as if he never was here in the first place!


    " You got lucky brat!" Carter said


    " what do you mean?" asked Cross


    " The mission was supposed to last for another year and a half and since you brought this news now the city lord can investigate much earlier and find out who killed his son and who''s messing with his plans! The weight of these news is not something you can imagine now!"


    " The special area is a place that speeds up the practice of inner force, and only the elite of the elites and trusted get to stay there!"


    " Oh damn nice! and who were those? " commented Cross


    "You mean the shadows? a faction of the special regiment and most mysterious, Go and Stay in the first floor of the library and don''t come out unless you finish half those books! and listen don''t trust anyone here! it''s not as safe as you think inside the mansion and don''t get too chummy with people now, they will only want to use you!"Carter warned his nephew!


    " will do" Cross nodded and took this to heart he understood that Carter warned him for his own good because of his actions earlier of playing dumb!

 The mute hero!

    Candor City was composed of 2 areas! The outer city where commoners lived, it had small shops, for tailoring, carpenting, Food ration supply stations , everything on a small scale! It was usually where gangs controlled territories. They had very few in the inner city where nobles, officials and high standing merchants resided.


    To enter one has to pay a fee of 3 silver to stay in there for 2 days! Vince payed the fee and he was given a paper which fades after 2 days so if he wanted to stay longer, he would have to pay again.


    The inner city had a barrier surrounding it embeded with a mechanism that shines a red light above anyone whose staying exceeded 1 day after the fading of the paper where he would pay a fine of 5 silvers! an orange light if he stayed half a day, the fine would be 3 silvers! a yellow light as a warning and that he has to leave or recharge within one hour no fine payed.


    The residents of course had their badge and would not pay to stay in the inner city. Anyways, Once Vince Got inside and headed towards an inn that looked more shabby than the others. Probably because of what little silver he had left on him.


    Once he got in, he saw an old bartender laughing heartilty,while the other custommers , some were cursing, some laughing, some whispering and others flirting with waitresses! He went near the bartender, got some paper from his pocket, he bought plenty! He needed plenty! and wrote " drink" and passed it to him.


    " what''s wrong little friend?" asked the bartender who looked like a kind old man.


    Vince wrote " can''t talk" and passed it to him.


    The bartender saw it and felt bad about asking so he apologized:


    " I am sorry for offending you, here , have this drink , this one is on the house" said the bartender apologetically.


    Vince waved his hands meaning no big deal. Vince drank the beer and asked for another.


    after a while passed, Vince wrote a message " what do you know about the noble families?"


    The bartender looked surprised and asked:


    " why does little friend wanna know?"


    Vince wrote " don''t wanna offend!"


    " ah so you''re not from the city, I must have guessed! well sure young man I''ll let my daughter explain as I ''m handling customers now" The bartender called a waitress, she had very short hair but looked cute! her hair was blonde and the curves she had on her body caused other customers to drool.


    Vince wrote " thanks!"


    Valerie was her name. When she saw Vince''s handsome face her eyes lit up, but when she saw him writing in stead of talking she lost intrest in an instant. She then explained what she knew to our mute friend in 10 minutes, she was obviously rushing to leave. Vince remained indifferent towards her treatement! after she finished he tossed her a silver coin not even bothering to write "thanks" anymore and turned around as if she never existed.


    This made her angry, most men would fight it out just by looking at her yet this guy totally ignored her existence! she took the silver coin quite happily but harrumphed thinking:


    " what''s so good about a mute guy anyway!"


    author note: her loss! xD


    The noble families had very good relation ships, their network was always cooperating for ages , way before the current barons! they were following ancestral instuctions to resist the government. The kingdom would gain much more if it opressed the nobles rather than letting them grow! And the nobles made alliances so as to continue on! And pass on their legacy to the next generation! as long as no big crime such as rebellion was commited. The kingdom had no right to take away their title or territory!


    Yes they had territory inside the city ! One now can imagine How big Candor is!


    Vince knew that The Teimar family was not where he would fit in! He did not know a single thing about herbalism nor mining as for fighting, he preferred fighting solo, if not with his brothers!


    The Velasi family was a no go! he preferred battles and exploring! he could not sit around studying alchemy and hell no for blacksmithing, sitting around hammering iron!


    So only choice was to join The Barzotti family, but now he had to find out how to join without arousing suspicion! That''s when he heard a voice inside his mind! he looked around saw customers chattings as before! was he hallucinating?


    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon."Help! I don''t wanna die! I wanna find mommy and daddy!waaah" he heard it again! yet only he seemed to hear it! He unleashed "Hyper-focus" and knew the direction of the sound! he Got up and dashed at an amazing speed! he instantly disappeared!


    Valerie had just turned around to look at him and saw him stand up then vanish! she was stumped for words, that''s when she heard and ruckus outside the inn! and the door that was closed was now opened.


    "could he have been the one who did that?" the more she thought about it the more she realized that was some freaky speed he had if it was indeed true! her curiosity took the best of her and she rushed out.


    She found Vince standing in front of a little girl with pointy ears! and a collar around her neck!


    " he saved a slave?" she thought dumbstruck! no one would fight for a slave and when she saw who he was against she thought he was done for but his speed popped up and maybe he might survive.


    "Hey little brat! hand over that slave and I''ll forget this ever happened." The guy leading the other 7 said . Normally he would just cut down the young man in front of him! but this guy just popped out of no where! he had his guard up and tried to settle this peacefully.


    Vince just shook his head and said nothing. The little girl with pink hair and dirty clothes clang to vince and grabbed his clothes with her hands! He was not bothered in the slightest having his clothes dirtied.


    " do you know who we are? we are from the Barzotti family! and that girl is a property of the young miss!" Explained the guy hoping a fight would not break out! He felt this dangerous vibe from Vince.


    "Hey, how come the Barzotti family seems reasonable today? am i seeing things?" a spectator stated


    " It seems the guy is strong and they are afraid of fighting him" another guessed


    Valerie was shocked , indeed the Barzotti family would just kill the guy in this case , yet now it was wierd they tried to reason twice!


    Vince shook his head! looked at the girl then she said with a trembling voice:


    " He said if you guys don''t leave, you all shall die!"


    " what did you say you little slave!" shouted that man but just as he finished Vince disappeared from their vision and in less one second, all of them , had sword injuries on thier necks! not enough to injure their lives!


    Cold sweat formed for everyone who saw this! For them he disappeared , reappeared almost instantaneously , then all the Barzotti family men had slashes in their necks! if he wanted their lives they would have been dead before they even realize! This scared the living shit out of everyone there!


    The Barzotti men now did not know what to do! if they fought they die! if they left , they ''d get punished and thrown out! a voice saved them!


    " Such a talented young man! why not join our family ? we''ll give you girls , money and further help you improve! A sentient swordsman and a one so young is indeed rare like phoenix feathers!"


    Vince looked towards the woman who spoke ! she was indeed beautiful, her charm was one of a mature woman or rather queen like temprermanent ! Her body was amazing! 2 peaks so big they stopped her from seeing her own foot! a white dress with with a beautiful black scarf.


    " Madam" the men kneeled!


    Vince now knew that she was the wife of the baron! she had stepped out after seeing that the men were late! she watched vince and was the only one who saw his movements! she believed recruiting this young man was much more than the slave!


    Vince took a paper and wrote : " I can join your family but I want her" he gave her the paper and pointed towards the little girl.


    " ah I see , since you can''t talk, you want her ability. She is a half breed from the union of a human and a spiritual being. she would catch a lot as a slave but i believe you are worth more . Join my family and she is yours to handle as you wish!" Fiona said


    Vince nodded . She threw him a badge with the letter B in it sparkled with diamonds and said:


    " Come to the Barzatti family tomorrow." she turned around and left in a good mood!


    Valerie was watching as ideas started forming in her mind with Vince oblivious of her existence!

 Little Amelia

    Vince walked back in the inn sat on a seat! No one dared to get close to him this time! This young man was an extremely strong sentient swordsman! a Genius recruited now into the Barzotti family by the madam herself. the little girl followed but stayed standing, Vince tried to send her his thoughts as he did with his brothers but that did not work! But how come she understood what he said earlier and relayed it to the others!


    " It seems I need to some time to figure it out!" thought Vince , he then took a piece of paper and wrote "sit wherever you like , don''t just stand there!"


    The little girl nodded and sat next to him, she said in his mind "Yes Master!"


    Vince wrote " how can you send your thoughts to me?"


    "My mother taught me. I never knew my father, she was a spiritual being and taught me how to communicate using soul power before we caught! she was killed and i was captured . waaaah!" she then started crying


    Vince saw her and she reminded him of Ella. The little girl was only about 6 years old , Vince took her and sat her on his lap as he started wiping out her tears. Then he wrote " it''s ok! let it all out!"


    The dirty little girl was just 6 years old yet being chased by swords and seeing her mother killed before her eyes was just outright tragic! If she doesn''t let go now she will end up traumatised! she buried herself into vince''s chest with tears and snot all over him now! but still he petted her head because it didn''t matter to him if they got dirtied or not!


    He wrote " what''s your name?"


    she sent him " Amelia Strandim , master" Vince was surprised this was the first time he heard someone introduce himself with a first and last name . He did not know if spiritual beings were the same as humans as only nobles had a first and a last name, or if all spiritual beings had a full name.


    he wrote " Don''t call me master!" Amelia looked up and with her pink hair seemed extremly cute and one has the urge to dote on her ."but the madam gifted me to you, and you protected me If i don''t call you master master what should I call you?" sent Amelia but her eyes never left Vince''s.


    She felt warm anda sense of security with him! The only time she felt this safe was when she slept with her mother in bed and usually ended up having nice dreams!


    Vince wrote " Call me Big brother or Brother Vince as you like"


    Amelia smiled and said : "Ok big brother"


    She then remembered something and asked: "Big brother, are you also a half breed spiritual being?"


    Vince shook his head , both his parents were pure blooded humans.


    " Then why could you hear me when I use soul power"


    Vince wrote "innate skill"


    Amelia looked puzzeled she nodded as if she understood then shook her head


    Vince smiled at this then he heard her stomach growling and asked :


    "why didn''t you say you''re hungry"


    Amelia blushed a bit and lowered her head ashamed. Vince shook his head and called a waitress. A funny thing then happened, Valerie rushed instead of the waitress he called. She smiled at him and asked in flirtatious tone : " what might esteemed sir need?" while sending coquetish looks.


    Vince did not feel anything he just wrote "good food" and looked back to Amelia thinking about this soul power thing!


    Valerie unwilling to give up asked again : " ok sir this meal is on the house! do you want to get your clothes washed? "


    Vince looked at her coldly and wrote : " No need. I''ll pay. Leave!" and continued to ignore her.


    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.Valerie left with an unwilling look! she was not angry because of the way he treated her but this only caused his favorable impression to increase even more! He was strong, mysterious and indifferent! Something that attracted her! and since he does not get affected by charm! And got recruited into one of the richedst noble Family but the madam herself! she apperciated him and everybody knew that since she gave him the slave girl and that badge and left without pressuring him to come, that she placed big hopes on him and wants to loyalize him. So his future is bright and will definitely get a good position! If she manages to get on his good side, He probably won''t get another girl! while she did not even mind if he did!


    "That big sister likes big brother" smiled Amelia


    Vince wrote "I don''t!"


    "Does big brother like Amelia"


    Vince wrote "yes" and then asked "how did you know she liked me"


    " I Feel aura about people! Big brother Had a white and somewhat blue aura meaning calm and pure while that big sister had pink and purple with a somewhat yellow inside meaning she like big bro but the yellow means she loves money and That is not good"


    Vince asked: " is this a special ability of the spiritual beings?"


    " Mother said only her and I can do it, she explained all the colors the auras meant except purple,she told me she''ll explain when i grow up!" she said as tears fell on her food


    Vince patted her head and wrote " it''s ok now, you have me "


    Amelia nodded and continued to eat her food. Vince shook his head as he figured out what the purple means! It stands for lust! something a child shouldn''t know about.


    After they finished their meals Vince only had 1 silver left but he needed to buy medecine for Amelia as well as clothes. He couldn''t leave her in these rags he then remembered the badge and went to a nearby clothing store. The guards stopped him and said: "slaves are not allowed in"


    Vince wrote " she''s no longer a slave" while showing the badge. The guards did not disturb any longer, they moved out the way and bowed when they saw the badge. Someone From the higher ups of The barzotti family, The manager saw the badge and rushed towards them with a smile :


    " so it is the madam''s seal. May I ask, how can I be of service?"


    Vince pointed towards Amelia and when he saw his own dirtied clothes he pointed to himself as well.


    The manager said:


    " ah! so it is clothes for the young lady and the young master, come in , choose what you like we can also tailor requests!" Vince nodded and chose a couple of clothes for himself and Amelia.


    after changing into new ones. Amelia now seemed like a young lady from a respected family , they had washed her face and limbs in the inn before leaving. Vince thought about something and wrote down an order!


    The manager accepted it readily .


    Vince then wrote " I will pay later! I remember you" and turned around to leave.


    " ah my honor young master! " said the manager pleased he gained the favor of this young master from the Barzotti family. He was not afraid of a fraud since no one dare to forge a fake seal of a noble family and even someone did only death awaits! he can afford the loss of what amounted to 3 golds with the order included but he could not afford to offend a higher up in this family!


    The medecine also went as such, not too many obstacles! but as soon as they left heading back to the inn to spend the night before going to the baroztti family! IT was then that they heard a roar that shook the city!

 Mysterious Girl! Mysterious Eric ???!!

    Eric''s Pov :


    Eric first headed towards an inn, but stopped at the entrance. He was not supposed to join an influence like his brothers but start his! At first he wanted to start a gang just as he was told, but then another thought came up instead.


    Now That there is some distance between them their telepathic connection takes a couple of seconds to get a response! he sent:


    "Hey Vince! Why not instead of a gang, I start a group of mercenaries! we can do tasks and missions insted slowly building connections , granting favors and widening our network!"


    after three seconds, came a response:


    " That is a pretty good idea, but who are you gonna recruit? and how loyal are they gonna be? If we end up doing this idea , I''d rather have you get a spokesperson in your stead to take tasks while you remain hidden and a mystery!"


    " Indeed, That is even better " thought Eric


    " It is gonna be slow at first, but it is indeed better than a gang!" replied Vince


    "Ok , i''ll think about it some more , go on for now!" said Eric.


    "Ok!" Vince said


    Eric started strolling around until he found a rather beautiful garden! He did not understand how can a garden be so beautiful. He could see what others could not! His essence eyes saw that each herb of this garden had a special essence filled with vitality!


    He entered and Jumped to a tree and started meditating while thinking about a solution. One thing about Eric , he was a scheming person, but only to his enemies! But he always had a longing for nature, He always felt at ease near forests and oceans! His meditation here was thereupon enhanced!


    A couple of minutes passed and he entered a state not ethereal but another called " One with nature" usually those who entered it stay in this state at least for 3 days! It was dangerous as they were always open to attacks!


    But Eric was not normal! 3 hours passed and a young lady dressed in a black robe with a hood! only her face is seen and some couple of strands of her red hair which are similar to Erics''s . Her eyes were green and she had some kind of accessory headband. At first she was surprised and angry, who dared to intrude her holy garden! but when she saw Eric ! she gasped! The entire reason for her to build this garden was to enter the " one with nature " state. Yet this young man who had entered had already achieved it. She was not a villainous woman and knew that she could normally easily cause him heavy losses but now she decided to stay and watch how much time could this young man stay in this state.


    Another suprising thing caused her to gasp! just as she got Closer, Eric opened his eyes and looked towards her! Historically known, the least amount of time to stay in that state is 3 days!! No less!


    There were indeed cases of less time before but all those who did got heavy losses from nature itself! Most considered it , if one was not attacked, a disrespect for nature!


    But this young man here broke that law as he just looked at her with a smile! His red hair dangling on his face and his golden eyes were indeed attractive! For any young maiden! Even Eric was not aware of his charm as he smiled especially at this moment when he was just integrated with nature!


    He asked:


    " who are you?"


    The lady woke up from her stupor and blushed a bit, how can she, be entranced by a man''s beauty! She was angry at herself but she decided to take it out on Eric!


    " You are an intruder to my Holy garden and you ask for my name without even introducing yourself?" snapped at him


    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation."I am sorry! I apologize for my rudeness young lady! let me introduce myself! I am Eric! I did not mean to barge in , But when I saw the garden , I felt closure and peace, and i unkonwingly woke up when you got close to me, I do not even remember how I got to the tree." Eric got on one knee grasped the lady''s hand and kissed it!


    He alwasy wanted to try this when he saw it his past life! The girl at first was surprised as to why he would kneel? he did not know her true identity and when he grasped her hands she had no resistance towards it!


    She blushed when he kissed it and took it back! She has never seen a man doing this as a greeting! Yet she felt odly attracted to him, he was intriguing and a bit mysterious to her! Normally she was the mysterious one especially with her current clothes! yet this man did not even see that as wierd! she Had thought that no man would kneed to a woman as it was a matter of pride! But this guy was indeed proud and this action in her eyes did not diminish that in the slightest! For Eric this was just him being a gentleman and trying it out for fun!


    She remebered him saying closure and peace and shouted :


    "you have a nature spirit?"


    Eric did not answer as he did not know and he did not want to show himself in front of her as an uneducated man so he only smiled. She took that as a yes! A nature spirit was an item that one meets by luck and cannot be sought for! It congeals around the person and allows him to advance faster than others in inner force! precisely near Nature essences! It comes in different shapes and sizes never the same appearance!


    Eric did not have it , But his Essence eyes help him integrate with surrounding essences!


    " My beautiful young lady, I was strolling around looking for answer, and By staying here I found it ! So I owe you a favor! may I ask how can one make money here? as I am not from around these parts!"


    the girl Blushed at being called beautiful, usually these compliments were ignored by her and left her unmoved but now her heart was racing out of her chest!


    "One can hunt strange beasts for a couple of silvers! Sentient beasts''s prices differ from 1 gold to 2 amethyst! or one can sell precious metals or herbs to either the auction house or the golden gate pavillion." explained the lady


    " Thank you, young lady, for being kind enough to share this information! I apologise once again for disturbing your place! "


    " ah no problem! but where are you from?" the lady raised her head after her blush faded but Eric was no where to be seen.


    "I owe you a favor. We shall meet again in the future!"


    she heard his voice coming out from no where! She looked around and tried to find him but in vain. This left her disappointed and at the same time Happy! This was the first man who saw her and did not do anything to get close to her! He immediatly left after finding out what he needed , he was a focused man! Obviously, she knew nothing about Eric!


    " My name is aurora!" she shouted at the void hoping he would remeber her name but no response came back! she mumbled with a smile " I don''t believe the next time we meet ,this princess can''t charm you" she then blushed and rebuked herself for thinking this way!


    Eric was already going out of the city! He did not hear her name! But he will indeed look for her to repay the favor! He was gonna go to the primal mountain! the biggest mountain near Candor! opportunities coexisted with risks there. One can he hear him say


    " I need money!"

 Adapt! adjust!

    1 month has passed since the trio first entered Candor! Many things has happened during this one month! The news Cross has brought turned The City lord''s mansion upside down! He on the other hand was oblivious to what''s happening outside! He has gotten an advance payment for this month and passed all the money to Eric using his clone! he stayed inside his courtyard training and reading books and sent his doppelganger to run chores outside! He shared all the information about the kingdom, medecines , weapons, materials and herbs with his brothers! in short, he was reading and sharing them at the same time!


    Their Link was evolving, at first they thought it was just getting stronger thanks to the laws of the new world! but that was not it! now They can send images and memories between them and maybe in the future share vision from three different bodies! So each time Cross read about a metal , herb or anything, the image would appear in the others''s minds in an instant!


    This was of tremendous help! they could now widen their knowledge 3 times faster! What made this even more precious was the fact That Eric went out hunting in the outer area of the primal mountain, he now knew the names of the beasts! of the herbs and metals! His essence eye aided him enourmesly in gathering materials!


    With Cross''s help he could now estimate a price and not get cheated when selling materials! Eric now gained a considerable reputation in the outer circle and a little in the inner city! He was called "The Collector"! he was hunting strange beasts and gathering materials as if collecting chickens!


    No one knew his name nor his face. He always wore a mask on his face and a black robe with a hood. It was what Vince had ordered and it was of rather good matherials of peak strange beasts.


    Cross''s clone picked it up and passed it to Eric. Of course Cross''s clone also hid his identity!


    The name " Collector" started going around in the city and some even started requesting tasks of him! whenever he came to exchange materials .


    The only request he took were those of the auction house and the golden pavilion! so as to build a good relation ship with them. And indeed this worked! Both influences gave him A seal of a first rank vip! they had guessed that he had some innate ability towards herbs! He only sold Herbs and never metals and ores! The number of strange beasts he hunted indeed proved his strength! They knew he was an archer from the wounds on the beast corpses and not a normal one! as most beasts had 1 or 2 wounds!


    That meant that He never needed a third arrow to kill his target! This gained the respect of both influences and tried to recruit him! He politely declined and said that he would consider in the future after finishing his task!


    They knew his task was to get money , from the fact that rate of his exchanges was extremely hard! they offered to give him a sum of money in order to solve whatever he needed. This was already enough sincerety on their part.


    Eric stood awkwardly then said that it was a personnal matter and he was not at liberty to say. The two influences no longer pushed and reminded him to consider in the future, which he nodded to! They had not given up hope since he said he would do so in the future! This was the best way to ensure them a stable relationship and this would not seem as a disrespect to them! as he only partially declined for now!


    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.Another thing that caused him to start to tread carefully from now on, is the fact that he aroused the intrest of the alchemy faction of the Velasi family! They were indeed intrested as to which ability he had that made him sense herbs! Alchemists needed herbs the most and this ability was a treasure to them! They wanted to recruit him and wanted to offer rather generous conditions to entice him but they never managed to see him. They had put some guards with the only mission of informing them when he came to exchange so they would talk to him! The auction house and the golden gate pavillion had the same intention so they never released his location and always let him leave from the back door so as to help him! And they were indeed rather happy by the fact that he avoided the noble family.


    Cross on the other hand has passed 2 of the force increasing medecines to Eric, and not Vince as he would get them from the Barzotti family. They were of a rather high quality since he belonged to the City lord''s mansion! This medecine was not an immediate effect one, but it takes time to nourish the inner force of the body! So three were enough for 15 days to Cross who was not normal! and Because he had the same treatement as a second rank he recieved 6! just enough! As to why 2 , Eric needed to try his essence eye on the medecine to try and figure out the recipe!


    a medicinal recipe was not available even on the nether market! or otherwise called the black market! the only ones who had the recipe were the alchemy faction of the Velasi family! and not even their blacksmithing faction was allowed to see it as security measures!


    And indeed, he was able to recognize the herbs used! but not the method used to concoct them! Every herb had something like a print! same to an aura and herbal fragnance! Eric was able to see through the essence of the medecine , and he knew the herbs as he had gathered them and sold them before.


    Each of the three brothers had an amazing memory! far above the average! A normal human had much unused space in their brain that they would end up not using even till their death! But now the trio had started to unknowingly open it! Because the day Vince unlocked Soul immunity, they also got a taste of the effect yet they had not realised for 2 reasons. It was sublte! The second was they were not aware of their soul power! But now with that imagine their brains as if three hard drives combined into an evolved hard drive a hundred times more wide ! with so much space , their brain now was like a sponge for knowledge and this made it hard for them to forget something they learned!


    Eric could remember each essence of any herb he encountered and this was the reason he easily saw through the medecine . What''s left now is the concoction method which they will leave for later!


    Eric once had found a somewhat strange metal! its enssence was even stronger than steel! but it was indeed quite heavier! he immediatly heard Cross say he ''ll send his clone to get it and that he needed it!


    Cross wanted to help upgrade his family heirloom! He did not wanted another weapon but chose to keep the one his father granted him as a parting gift! Carter praised him for his choice even though knowing that this was even harder! as to when he''ll upgrade it, he needed more metals and decided to embed it with a magical core! A certain item that belonged for Beasts of the second realm! in the meantime He would use the 1 star higher quality axe he had chosen.

 Bodyguard??

    Vince slept on his bed that night in the inn, he had already understood from Cross why the City lord raged. But when he woke up, he saw that Amelia had left her bed and climbed into his sleeping while holding onto him! He smiled and got up , ordered food and readied it for her. She woke up and found the food, it reminded her of what her mother did for her, her eyes moistened as she ate.


    Yesterday, Vince has already figured out the basics of sending thoughts to Amelia! He only needed to target her with his vision and just like he used his "Hyper-Focus" , he focused his senses into the words he wanted to send and then throw it towards her!


    At first, because of his superior soul power! he almost hurt her, but after a bit he managed to tune it down and gain better control! enough to send a couple of words.


    After they finished, they went down and found that Valerie was there as well, she saw them off while glancing at Vince who ignored her! He went to The Barzotti family territory, asked around and went deeper into the territoy where he found a mansion , It was pretty big and had a huge gate! a couple more buildings which he didn''t know what they were for.


    He proceeded for the gates where he was stopped by the guards


    "who are you? and what is your business in the Barzotti family?" asked the guard


    Vince grabbed the Madam''s seal and showed it to the guard.


    The guards bowed when they saw the seal! they were supposed to kneel in front of the madam and bow for anyone who had a higher seal! They then said :


    "we are sorry your excellency! you may proceed forward to the guest''s lodge. My comrade will show you the way while i send someone to notify the lady of your arrival"


    Vince nodded and followed the guard to a rather big and nice looking house! Big enough to fit a thousand person, yet it was only reserved for guests! It had maids and butlers ready for your call!


    He sat down. It took quite a while before a young lady came. She looked quite similar to Fiona, definitely her daughter. She was indeed beautiful but she did not have her mother''s charm.


    She was someone who looked down on commoners, thinking they were there only to serve them nobles! To her, They were from another superior race, her haughty look indeed made it look so! and what she said further proved it!


    " I am Barzotti Emilia, so You''re the so called talented young man my mother took pity on and hired huh? from now on you should give yourself up to the Barzotti family and we won''t treat you badly!" she sat in front of him but did not look at him, she emphasized the Barzotti!


    Vince ignored her and waited for her mother. It took one minute before Emilia turned around and found that he did not even notice her existence! she fumed and wanted to ask them to kick him out! how dare he a commoner forget his place and ignore the dignified her!


    Vince glanced to his left then wrote a paper and threw it at a near a shelf , the note was caught midair by some invisible force! there was a concealing barrier laid there. Fiona was there the whole time! From the moment Vince entered the gates! she wanted to test him and see his reaction when he met her daughter and how would he react when they made him wait! His performance was indeed to her satisfaction as he did not complain but she was a little bit disappointed since he did not manage to realize her existence! while even her daughter did not know she was there. She had placer her hopes a litte bit too high! And just when she wanted to step up He glanced towards her direction which made her stop! and he then threw that paper that got blocked by the barrier and when she saw what he wrote she immediatly smiled wryly!


    He wrote" have you seen enough?", He had launched Hyper-focus the moment he got close to The Barzotti gates and had already noticed her when he stepped in the guest lodge. But he just played along.


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report itShe stepped out with a smile and said :


    "It was indeed a right choice to recruit you, it seems that there is more than meets the eye to you! now i can feel assured with the task I assign you!"


    Emilia got surprised. She was a mage and sensitive to the flow of magic in the air yet did not feel anything ! and her mother was there before she even got here, yet this guy was already aware this entire time ! she saw what he wrote and got even more angry! It was as if he was playing a game with kids! But she did not say anything since her mother was now here.


    It was now that Amelia who sat there and everyone forgot her existence spoke :


    " Big brother asked what task do you have in mind?"


    " oh you''re the little girl from yesterday, you''re quite beautiful now!" praised Fiona


    she then continued:


    " At first, I was gonna give you a position as a lieutenant in the private army but now I changed my mind!"


    Emilia was flabbergasted when she heard it! a lieutenant was some one who was at least a 4 star path chooser!( warrior / archer / mage etc!") This one was already a 4 star path chooser at such young age! She was a 2 star mage and everyone called her a genius but in front of Vince she had no qualifications to brag!


    Unfortunately they were wrong! All of the three brothers were In The peak of 1 star path chooser yet their prowess was a lot higher because they were forsaken! Only Vince who broke through to a mysterious realm when fighting the winged wolf had a little higher battle prowess than the other two for now! Each Forsaken had a different ability to seize power under certain conditions which differ from a forsaken to another! The trio can steal inherited skills from certain beasts, modify them into their own in a better suited format! Their strength now was equal to 4 star early stage with Vince middle stage!


    "I guess that your strength must be around peak 4 star , so I want you to be my daughter''s bodyguard!"


    " what!" Emilia screamed not knowing wether about the 4 star peak or about the bodyguard fact!


    Vince calmly wrote " NO! lieutenant better!"


    Emilia fumed when she saw this and was about to start a chant and attack him!


    Fiona giggled and said


    " either that or start as a mansion guard!"


    Vince calmly wrote " guard". Emilia had enough! she started chanting and her mother stopped her , she found it hard to breath so she left and stamped her feet along the way!


    "Ok! enough jokes! you''ll be her personnal bodyguard! and protecting her is now your mission! You''ll get 5 golds a month! 10 force increasing medecine and you can choose a top 1 star sword and I''ll give you an authority badge equal to a lieutenant! I think this is enough to show sincerety!"


    Vince nodded and looked towards Amelia who then said to Fiona:


    "Big brother said instead of a top 1 star sword give him metals and recommend him to a black smith"


    "Oh why is that?" asked Fiona intrigued


    " Big brother said Customized sword , better prowess!" Amelia said cutely!


    " Then ok , so it shall be, give me the blue print and I''ll provide the best materials and a good blacksmith but it can only be a top1 star sword!" Fiona nodded and when she looked at Amelia, she smiled and tought it would''ve indeed a pity if she stayed a slave. She was a perfect candidate for a concubine! They could use her later when she grow up to Grasp influence!


    The sword that Vince had in mind was a katana that the japanese in his last life used but with a bit of modifications to enhance its toughness and speed!


    " You can stay here, I''ll ask them to build you a special place. By the way, If you need to relieve yourself, any maid here is at your beck and call!" She then turned around and left!

 Selling news!

    From various hunts and exchanges , Eric had amassed around 100 golds in 1 month! including Cross''s and Vince''s salary! But this was not enough for what he had in mind!


    This day was just like any other day! Eric headed towards the outer area of the primal mountain as always. He wore his mask and black robe! The robe was common unlike the mask! this was a new mask That He found during one of his trips to the mountain! it was hidden inside a rock , He only saw it with his essence eyes! Its essence was unlike any other! It was a transparent essence, Which almost fooled Eric into thinking it was an item without essence but he felt the essence! It was white and had many patterns inscribed into it!


    The appraiser at the auction house deemed it as normal but Eric did not believe it to be so! After observing the essence for a week he was finally sure it was harmless and was not dangerous! That essence was helpful but he did know how to use it! So he ended up just wearing it.


    Eric usually hunted small strange beasts yet powerful ones! This time he also had quite the harvest and just as he was heading back he saw a blinding light come from about a couple of miles to his left! and it was all essence! He has never seen this amount of essence in any item before! and it was gray! a new color!


    He was really fast and got there in less than a minute! His speed was not comparable to Vince''s but it was indeed still among the top in their ranks! when he got there, he saw a dozen men with 2 keeping guard but still they could not sense him in stealth mode! While the others had mining axes and shovels! they were drilling on a side of the primal mountain and the light came from inside ! The light was too much and he could not identify the item!


    These men were from the Dragon gang! They were obviously really happy now !


    " hahaha! OH my god! we ''re rich! if we get this star meteor iron! we won''t need to work for the rest of our lives!"


    " damn yes!"


    " shut up! we''re here on a mission! and since the higher ups sent us here , they must already know how much is there! so we can''t take even a bit! so just stay here and guard it while I inform them, the rewards and promotion shall be enough for our troubles!" The one who seemed like their leader said as he darted towards the city!


    " Star metoeric iron!" Eric eyes were so bright they could swallow the mountain whole! This was an extremely rare metal! so rare that they say it was the essence of the meteors that fell from heavon! IT was extremely durable, light and flexible! Just a small bit is already priced with amethyst coins!


    Just as he was about to kill them all, his eyes shook and he got startled! he saw something move in the stones! IT was a snake! as for its strength all he could say he never something so strong! his senses urged him to run and he was about to!


    The gang members did not notice it! as it came out of nowhere and ate half of them before they even managed to react!


    " A sentient beast!" Shouted the surviving members! as they turned around to run! This was not a sentient beast but something even more dangerous! a snake of the second realm! exceeding six stars!


    IT immediately chased after them, Eric took this chance to dash towards the hole in the mountain he saw the iron embeded into rocks, he did not bother with it but grabed two gray herbs who had quite the essence and ran for his life not looking back!


    The snake finished them off and went back to guard its lair!


    Eric never ran this fast and he reached the city in 20 minutes! He looked at the herb that looked like a gray lotus and did not recognize it! but it had quite the essence! so much essence that all of the herbs he collected so far seemed dim compared to it!


    He had no choice but to look for the auction house''s head-appraiser. He dashed into the auction house , the guards greeted him: " Collector!" ,he usually greeted back but now he rushed to where the manager Anthony who he always dealt with stayed and barged into the room.


    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.Anthony was disgruntled when he saw someone barge into his room! but when he saw it was "The collector" He had dealt enough with him to know he was not the imbecile type and since he did so he had to have a reason for it! so he said:


    "oh it''s the collector what brings you this time in such a hurry?"


    "Big deal! call the head-appraiser"


    " oh! Call Isaac over here now!" Anthony was surprised , since he asked for the head appraiser it was definitely something big! the collector was not the type who played jokes!


    Isaac was an old man with white hair and beard! He rushed here after the call, he was only called for special items!


    Eric did not say anything more and brought out one lotus!


    "What! No! this can''t be? where did you find this??" Asked Isaac in an agitated tone


    " Isaac what is it?" Anthony was dumbstruck at Isaac''s reaction!


    " let me calm myself first!... If it is what i think it is , then the Collector just struck it big and we as well!" Isaac said between breaths


    " Just tell me what is it!" Anthony demanded!


    Eric was also curious!


    " It is called Mettalic Upgrade lotus! One of the very few herbs used in smithing! Using it on a weapon can increase the weapon''s rank by 1 star! any weapon under 3 stars! "


    Eric''s jaw fell under his mask, he understood its value now! each Star corresponded to a realm so they could use it on a 2 star top rank weapon and it becomes a top 3 star one! Good weapon for those who reached the third realm!


    "What!" Anthony was amazed he knew what an increase by 1 star meant! he turned around and asked Eric:


    " are you sure you want to sell this?" He almost smacked himself after asking this question


    Eric nodded, now that he has shown it, it was better to sell it there were still others in the snake''s lair and he still had one left! He''ll think about how to get two later!


    " OK, then we''ll give you 50 amethyst coins for it!"


    Eric shook his head and said : "100! "


    Anthony was surprised but he then did some calculations in his mind he still benefited greatly! so he agreed!


    " haha! it has always been a pleasure doing business with you collector!"


    " I got a bigger deal, you intrested?"


    " what is it ?" Asked anthony


    " 1000 amethyst in advance first and 1000 after"


    " what! what is that has such a price!"


    " priceless information!"


    Anthony hesitated, 1000 amethyst coins was not a small sum but he still grit his teeth went to his office and paid it to the collector and asked:


    "what information ?"


    " A star meteoric Iron small mine''s location!"


    " What the fuck! stop joking!" cursed anthony and he almost wanted his money back!


    " young man do you know what you are saying?" shouted Isaac!


    " Yes, the dragon gang just found it and it is guarded by a stone snake with strength that exceeds 6 stars! all of their men died except for one who left early! they would still want to keep it a secret as they do not know that their men died!"


    " a second realm beast!"


    "transcendent beast!"


    screamed both of them, then added : " where?"


    Eric said :"paiment"


    anthony immediately passed another thousand to him not hesitating anymore! they could indeed get 10 times this amount if they sold this information! just to 1 noble family!


    Eric asked for a map which he then circled an area in it ! exactly where the snake was! Anthony told Isaac to go contact noble families!


    Eric had a plan in mind, he told Cross and asked him to use his clone to go to golden gate pavillion and sell the news there as well! he just needed to find manager Julian and tell him that the collector sent him! and they would trust him!


    Now they easily gained over 4000 amethyst coins! They got rich in One deal!


    Seeing Eric not leaving, Anthony asked:


    " something else?"


    " Do you have slaves here?"

 Buying slaves

    Anthony thought for a while then said:


    " Well there are 2 available now"


    " How are they?"asked Eric


    " A warrior, but he is injured. A 6 star Water mage! she''s a specimen and from rare species! They have perfect elemental affinity for water, she ''ll definitely get into the Transcendence realm!"


    Usually anthony would not recommend one nor say the flaws about one of their things, But the collector taught of him first and brought him priceless news! he can get so many advantages from it! He had no way to know about Eric and Cross''s plans!


    " Ok i''ll take the mage! how much?"


    " 200 amethyst coins!"


    " that expensive!"


    " I already deducted 60 amethyst coins!"


    "huh why?" asked Eric confused


    Anthony walked to his desk and took out a badge much more defined than the one he had! IT had 3 in it meaning a third rank vip! He passed it to Eric.


    Eric understood, he now gets a 30% discount after this deal! He immediately sent Cross a thought to make The manager Julian give him the same treatement.


    " Take me to see her!" said Eric


    Anthony nodded and asked a servant to bring him to the cages and give him the slave contract of the water mage.


    They took him to cage where he saw a human girl about 16 years old! She was human and not any species . She had beautiful azure hair and it seemed wet in this dried up place!


    The servant brought him a blue crystal within a box he took it and it disappeared into his arm. The moment this happed a seal around the girl''s neck lit up for a couple seconds and sent a light into Eric''s hand and it disappeared as such!


    The girl looked at him with lifeless eyes . Her eyes moved him, he knew she had given up on life and this would do him no good. He asked her :


    " who are you?"


    " Aria, Master!" replied Aria as she was forced to answer!


    " do no call me master, call me collector from now on!" Eric said!


    Aria was a bit surprised but said nothing! Eric looked at her deeply then whispered to her:


    " I don''t know why this happened to you, and I don''t wanna know! But I''ll tell you something right now! That look in your eyes is useless to me but it reminded me of something! So I''ll give you a chance!"


    (author note : It reminded him of nothing! he just said this to be dramatic! you know Eric!")


    She looked up at him puzzled:


    " 2 years! stay with me ! fight with me! become stronger with me ! and I''ll set you free! and in this time I promise you not to lay hands on you! unless you want me too of course! Who knows maybe I''ll even end up punishing those who made you end up like this!"


    she blushed when she hear him say this, who wanted him to lay his hands on her! she ''ll never agree! and he had the nerve to say she would ask him for it! it was infuriating but he was still her master!


    " I don''t care what race you are! in my eyes all are equal! only ability speaks! I look at you and I see potential! Follow me for 2 years! stay or leave then is your choice? what do you say ?" he said as he offered her his hand.


    She stayed silent and then looked at him through the mask, his eyes did not seem to lie. A new determination glowed in her eyes. she stood up by herself and then shook his hand. Eric smiled when he saw the lifeless look disappear! he then turned around to leave and said :


    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings." get her a good change of clothes and give her a bath! take off that collar , for me she''s not a slave but a subordinate!"


    Aria smiled a bit which vanished quickly! This guy did not discriminate between races! he was indeed different! she wanted to see what he was really like and find out what he was planing to do!


    He waited for half an hour and when she came out even he was astonished she looked extremely beautiful with her hair down to her waist! her clothes were not those of a mage but tight shorts and and a shirt! it was something indeed different looking here! yet fitted her really well!


    Cross had bought a 13 year old twins! a girl and a boy for just 10 golds! they did not have names and they worked in the mines their whole lives! But Cross knew they were different! he felt a resonance come from them! They growled at him the moment they saw him and he unknowingly did the same! He knew they were not as simple as they looked!


    The boy had white hair and was think looking not too short nor too tall but had black eyes ! but a bit thin from being malnourished. The girl had black hair and was rather thin as well but had white eyes! not all white but a circle in her pupil was white! it was like these two were opposite sides of the same coins!


    Cross then named them Michael and Harmony. The girl''s name came from the fact that they seemed to complete each other! He told them:


    " From now on! you guys are no longer miners nor slaves! I think you felt it as well when I walked by! It seems we''re related while i don''t know why yet! But one thing for sure I''ll give you a choice! no matter what you choose I''ll break the slave contract and set you free! You can stay with me, I''ll treat you the best I can and provide for you the best i could! But you have to train harshly and accomplish missions in the future! Or you can leave now and I''ll give you a hundred gold to live by yourselves ."


    The boy stepped up :


    " I michael, swear to follow big brother and grow stronger to protect Harmony!" obviously he accepted Cross since he named himself and his sister as such!


    the sister cried and Cross petted her head and told her :" don''t cry from now on you''ll get stronger and no one can make you cry!" harmony nodded while holding onto her brother!


    Eric and Aria headed towards The slave chamber of the Barzotti family where he purchased a batch of slaves! There were 2 mages of 5 star both male, one fire mage and the other lightning. 3 warriors, 2 middled aged men and barbaric woman! God knows which tribe she came from! she looked more manly than the other two! 2 assassins, 1 man around 25 years old and a thirty something old woman! The last slave was another small child, he was on his dying breath when Eric took him out of pity and decide to set him free yet the boy refused and said since Eric saved him he would faithfully follow him! Eric broke the slave contract yet the boy still followed . Eric then decided to let him join! This would prove to be an unexepcted gain in so many ways that would leave an unforgettable mark in the history of this continent!


    Eric had paid another 200 amethyst coins for this batch and went on his way to buy a small mansion with a courtyard! in the inner city! The badge given by the auction house is equivalent to a permanent resident so they got in without any problems!


    Now they had to find a good place to settle down!

 Mercenary base! Upheaval In Candor!

    After doing so, they stayed inside an inn in the inner city, for the rest of the night. A funny thing happened, when they asked for a room. Eric got all of the others into a rather big room while he asked one for Michael and harmony who joined later. He and Aria stayed in one room! She was nervous, will he go back on what he just said? am I really that attractive to him that he changed his mind in one night?


    This was her line of thought, while Eric just wanted to tease her! She blushed and when they reached the room, she was just about to rebuke him for going back on his word! But when they opened the door they found 2 beds she rushed to the bed red faced and covered herself with the quilt.


    The night passed rather joyful! Eric teased her once in a while asking her to show her face! Sometimes he acted as if he is going to take off the quilt, which made her hold on to it even tighter and buried herself deeper into it. Eric just wanted to light up the stiff atmosphere and he succeeded. The master servant air disappeared, as normal masters would force themselves on their slaves with no regard to their opinions! A period of silence went by before Aria asked:


    " How much did you buy me for?"


    " really! that''s your first question?" Eric rolled his eyes


    " I am just trying to make a conversation! hmph!" Grumbled Aria


    " 260 amethyst coins!"


    " Am i worth so little!"


    " what the fuck! that''s worth a lifetime of staying at inn with meals included! you''re already worth a small mansion!"


    "If it makes you feel any better,all the other slaves''s price combined Is still less than yours!"


    " It actually does make me feel a little better!" Aria giggled. She then added:


    "Well, Collector, Can I see your face? why do you always wear that mask? even when sleeping?"


    Eric did not answer. He thought about it for a while and remembered that Vince told him they needed a spokesperson and Aria might as well fit for the job!


    He looked towards her and she looked straight back at him he then slowly took off his mask! his hair slid down and his golden eyes brought out! She was surprised! really surprised! she never thought the man who bought her would be a young and really handsome man!


    " No one in this city has seen my face before! and knows of my identity as the collector." Eric said as he turned around to sleep.


    Aria on the other hand, understood the underlying meaning. He showed her his face, as a sign of trust and that he treated her as an equal and not as a slave. He could have hid his face and she still had to follow without complaing but he did not.


    And the fact that only she has seen his face made her have a bit more favorable impression towards him. At first it was just curiosity , but it all starts from this state and evolves into much more!


    Between all the slaves, Only Aria, Harmony and michael were of real importance to the brothers! Michael and harmony were no longer slaves, The little boy Eric saved out of pity named Joshua was not of much importance now , but he volunteered for miscallenous stuff and that made the others look a bit more different towards him now!


    The next morning, Eric and Aria went to the golden Gate pavillion where Julian personally welcomed him this time. The news he brought had gained them many advantages! They had sold it to the City lord''s mansion for a fortune and a favor! The money was not worth as much as the favor! while the auction house sold it to the noble families for a fortune and favor as well! So He treated Eric with a lot more respect now!


    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere." What brings The collector here? Is there anything else you need?"


    " A deed for a good mansion" Replied Eric


    Julian Looked at Aria and as if he somewhat understood. He said with a grin:


    "Oh so sir Collector has brought his companion and want to settle down! I''ll recommend you the best mansion for newly weds!"


    Eric facepalmed while Aria blushed and cursed at Julian! Eric did not bother to explain so he just continued:


    " A big mansion fitting for hundreds of people, can you recommend anything like that? and it has to have a big courtyard!"


    " There is indeed one , but it''s in the outer city! It can handle a thousand people and an even bigger courtyard. It was built for a certain figure who then left and never returned so the deed ended up here."


    " OK! How much?"


    " 1000 amethyst coins!"


    " What!" Eric screamed at the price while Aria screamed because the mansion was worth more then her and it hurt her pride.


    " You''ll understand when you get there, it''s no normal mansion and I have already given you a 15% discount for your Third rank vip!"


    Third Rank Vip gave 30% discount for Items and 15% for real estate.


    " Ah! damn it! never mind here ! take it and bring me the deed!"


    Julian nodded and went on his way to bring it while Eric and Aria waited in the office.


    During this month, Old man Dylan was using most of his ressources to investigate his son''s murder! But no matter what he did, he had to wait for another year and a half till the opening of the ruins to further investigate! But when he got news of the star meteoric iron, he now had to redirect his ressources, because this metal was extremely precious, even in the capital and now they were forced to get it and pay a tribute with it to the Royal family.


    The noble families, had also got wind of the news and started preparing enough forces to handle a Transcendent beast! They were gonna fight for this metal as well! This could bring them unimaginable adavantages. If they equipped their elites with weapons are made or enforced by Star meteoric iron! Their strength would go up a notch! So they decided on an alliance and splitting up the prize comes after!


    The gangs had already learned of this, Fallen gang and Control Gang were given orders to use their manpower in aid for their respected Bosses! Dragon Gang now had a bit of disagreement with rising force gang for hiding the news! they had an alliance but the other kind of broke the mutual pact of trust! but they still decided to cooperate in order to get some of this metal!


    The Guy who left early was punished! and almost killed if not for the fact that a Transcendent beast was there! But he was still not spared since news of the Star iron got out!


    Candor City was in an upheaval. Everyone getting ready to March forwards and grasp this chance but who will end up getting and for what price?!

 Strange mansion! Marching ahead!

    While every other Influence was preparing to battle the beast and fight over the star meteoric Iron! Vince Had visited the mansion they bought secretly! Eric had told him that there was something spooky about this mansion! and indeed When he unleashed "Hyper- focus" A wave of energy was in the air, it had different shapes! These were pure clouds of soul power! and those who could not sense them would not know their benefits! It was very nourishing to the soul.


    Normal people would not notice anything, But Eric just felt uncomfortable around it. Since His brother Vince had Soul immunity he somewhat gained a bit of senses towards soul power but they were rather dull!


    This was extremely helpful to Vince but he had no way to use them. He could absorb it but not refine it into his own! But he knew who could! Little Amelia had this inherent ability as a half spiritual being!


    he Came back to the guest lodge in The barzotti family and he sent Amelia with Cross''s doppelganger to the mansion. She would benefit from it the most! Cross and Eric knew Of Amelia and the also accepted her as an adopted little sister. She too knew of Eric and Cross but this was the first time she met them. She knew that she could not divulge this to any outsider! Since Vince actually spoke to her! He opened his mouth and actually talked. This was why it left a deep impact on her and realized the importance of the matter. Cross and Eric treated her really nicely and she liked them as well but they could never replace Vince in her heart! He was still number 1


    During this month, Vince''s relationship with Emilia Got only worse form her point of vue. He utterly ignored her existance and she could not order him around! His only job was to ensure her life which he did. Her mother Fiona had told her that he was a valuable asset to their family and she should not treat him like others! if he leaves she''ll be held responsible and told her that her that even her father had plans for him.


    Fiona Invited Vince and told him:


    "I Think you already know of the mine in the Primal moutain! we have gathered enough men and made an alliance with the Velasi and Teimar Families! If you any of the gangs get in your way! kill! and if those from the city lord''s mansion do as well! either kill and leave no evidence behind! or find another way to get rid of them without this tracing back to us!"


    Vince nodded, this was standard procedure!


    "This time, Emilia will go with you but she will stay far away. Do not let her engage in the fight! She''s still not prepared and only High level mages have a bigger survival chance! The Top priority is her life! second is the iron! If it comes to one of them make sure you save her! "


    "As you already know, she''s not a bad girl just a little bit haughty! I''ll tell her to listen to you and if she disobeys and tries to fight you may strike her unconscious and bring her back!"


    ( author note : a little ? really Bitch!")


    She turned around and left But Vince stopped her and wrote :


    " If there is a chance to gain The precious metal , Can i sacrifice some soldiers?"


    This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work." Yes of course you can! That Iron is worth more than these cannon fodder! but Not you! Don''t endanger your life!" she actually smiled flirtatiously at him,winked and walked with her back and butt swaying in front of him with a giggle.


    " fuck! " cursed Vince in his mind


    Vince was dumbstruck! He was now in deep shit! The wife of the head of the clan wanted him? What can he do? If it was a test, and he refused to succumb to his desires then he succeeded the test but this meant that she was not attractive enough and he would gain her hostility! and If it was not a test and she indeed wanted to sleep with him. Then God help him! But he was forsaken! was this it? was it starting? some God making things difficult for him? He wondered . But If he rejected her then he was also done for! The Clan head would give up the Star meteoric Iron and Focus all ressources into finding him and killing him for making him a cuckold. All roads led to a dead end.


    He was now stuck in a dilemma , He quickly recovered his composure and threw this to the back of his head and focused on the mission! he''ll deal with this when the time came.


    City Lord''s mansion:


    Old man Dylan had called Carter and Cross as well as 10 first rank, 30 second rank and 70 third rank members of the special regiment! This was the fighting power for this task! 10 six star members! 30 five star and 70 four star path choosers! a force to be reckoned with!


    Old man dylan was not a bit thinner! His son''s death affected him but he was still mentally strong and it seemed as if it did not do much! No one knew why he roared that night as news were kept under control! And this mission was special and was not allowed to be discussed! He still had 2 other sons but they were not here but in the capital!


    He looked at Cross and said with a smile :


    " Cross this is gonna be a battlefield and I heard you wanted to upgrade your family''s axe, so if you manage to survive, I shall give you a bit of the star meteoric Iron to empower your axe! This shall be a reward for the experience and hardships you''ll go through!"


    " Yes, Thank you old man Dylan!" Cross said and bowed


    The others were surprised by the favoritism shown To Cross and he actually called him old man!


    Dylan the turned around and said to the other members:


    "As for you, the rewards are by merits! If you work hard enough and gain the advantage to this seat! I might even grant you a favor!" This motivated them greatly! a favor was the best reward! worth much more than any weapon or medecine! The then set out towards the primal mountain.


    The gangs had already prepared their force and headed out as well! Eric and Aria was a duo who already set out before! they had a plan to be the one who fished in troubled waters! The fight was doomed to be a huge one! He then would sneak into the lair grab as much meteoric Iron and mettalic lotuses as he could!


    All forces marched ahead! Heading towards The primal mountain to fight for their lives for something they would not get a piece of! But since they get paid they had to even though knowing they were mere pawns to be sacrificed! a worse fate awaited if they failed.


    This was a fight where the three brothers would me in a battle once more but this time "against" each other!

 Twin Headed Earthly Snake King!

    Eric had found himself a good vantage point. He had dug a small cave a little bit high up in the mountain 3 miles away. At first, Arira told him to get closer but he did not explain, with his sight he had full control of the view of the upcoming battle.


    The city Lord''s forces, The alliance of nobles, The gangs are now ready to engage but there was a battle between them before even the supposed slaughter began! They were having a face off!


    Levi, The leader of the governmental force, was talking with 3 young men and 2 middle aged men!


    The three were the sons of the barons! Andrew Velasi, Thomas Barzotti who is Emilia''s half brother and Ryan Teimar! They personally came here to supervise the situation considering the importance of the matter! The other 2 were the respective leaders of the Dragon gang and Rising force gang!


    "Here Is the land of the king! and what is in there belongs to the king!" Shouted Levi


    "Hahaha! Levi are you mad from overstaying at the brothel? where is the imperial decree that says so?" Replied Andrew


    " All is the territory of the king! But Here was a territory given by the previous kings to us nobles thanks to our ancestors merits! no one can deny our share here!" aided Thomas


    " we have discovered it , so our share is also undeniable!" the dragon gang leader said!


    Levi knew this would happen but he still had to try! No one wanted to back down!


    " ah! Never mind! We''ll take 70% of the star meteoric iron and you split the rest among yourselves!"


    " Are you serious? I really had to ask? with what right do you have to decide? when the fight has not even started yet and merits are still unknown!" Said Ryan.


    "50% is the best you can take, us three noble families will take 40% and the remaining 10% shall be split up between these two leaders." Promised Thomas.


    "This is in consideration of the king''s tribute! how much you give him is your own business!" Andrew further clarified!


    " Deal! But if someone plans to keep his hand and display their full skill during this battle! This deal is annuled!" Said Levi


    " I couldn''t agree more!" The dragon gang nodded, they were lucky enough to get spared and even gain 10%. Normally when one finds a mine of some metals! If they were nobles they keep it and pay 30% as yearly tax , but when commoners with no titles do! they have to report it and they get a share of 20% for 10 years!


    " But we get to keep the snake!" Added Cross who came out now from the group of the special regiment. People tought that these were guards, captain and chiefs! Only levi was a lieutenant . The special regiment had normal members disguised as guards and other positions like officers and captains so no one knew of the existence of this regiment when laid right in front of their eyes!


    "And who are you to talk here!" Said Andrew with a look of disdain!


    " he''s our youngest chief!" Explained Levi, he indeed forgot about the snake, it was still a transcendent beast and had a magical core! Each part of its body was a treasure in its own! He reminded himself to give Cross a good share for reminding him


    The three young nobles were surprised at how young Cross is and He is already a chief! He had strength and potential that gave him the qualifications to talk!


    " You can take the magical core! but we take the corpse then!" Said Ryan


    " NO deal! The snake shall belong to whoever kills it or get the last strike! If anyone thinks of stealing he the last strike he can try if he does not value his life!" Said Levi as he was sure he can get the last strike!


    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.The other nobles eyes brightened up they too had aces up their sleaves so they nodded! Cross said no more and just readied himself for battle.


    In a rather close corner, Vince had shut his ears, they were about to bleed! Emilia was ranting non stop about how useful mages are and how she could help! Vince now had a wish! That she ignores him and engages in battle so he could knock her out! But she still did not! He cursed her for being obedient now! He even had a thought cross by his mind, That would she shut up if he became her father while thinking about Fiona! He shook his head and smiled bitterly , her talk has indeed affected his mental state.


    Suddenly, a louder noise covered her noise and made her shut up!


    A part of the mountain moved! It was huge! about 50 meters tall! This was the snake in its coiled up state! When the snake was laid bare to the eyes! everyone shuddered, The strongest of them Levi was only 6 stars peak! IT was a fucking twin headed snake! Its skin was like it was a part of earth making it look like some kind of made up puppet! what''s more each head had horns on it! Its eyes were bloody red! And the pressure it released caused everyone to sweat!


    Emilia was scared shitless when she saw the snake and no longer dared to talk. She woke up from her stupor when she found Vince with a paper in his hands written in it : " why not fight! Go and help them! I won''t tell your mother!"


    She knew he was making fun of her when she saw his grining face but she was still to scared to reply to him. Vince shook his head and got in front of her releasing his Soul Immunity causing the pressure to subside and making it easier for her to breath again!


    She somehow now felt safe around him and dared not say anything!


    "Attack!" Shouted Levi waking his soldiers ! he who strikes first and seizes the intiative has better chances of winning. The two sides clashed, the 6 and 5 star warriors were the vanguards, Archers launched a non stop hail of arrows. Their technique caused Eric to shake his head it was too lousy! Aria can see a battle but not as detailed as him! she asked him and he replied saying "their technique is shit!" She knew he was an archer and archers had better eyesight but if he can see clearly everything from 3 miles away! Then that was truly wierd! If she had known that he could see from 10 miles away she would have not been able to talk for a while and he only chose 3 miles as a safe distance Because he was sure to cover it in a dozen seconds or so!


    Mages cast support and battle spells from way behind! Obviously there we no healers those were rare as unicorns! Assassins also played no role in this battle but there were a couple swordsman who took the chance to strike and deal damage to the snake through a few openings in its defense like the back of its tale, under its belly and its head which was the hardest to reach!


    Vince payed no heed to their movements which seemed like childplay to him.


    The battle was still ongoing even after three hours passed! Both head of the snakes were blinded in one eye! and had multiple lacerations, the battle was reaching its climax! Cross was the one who managed to blind one eye and Levi the other! The nobles and gangs lost a lot of people. They had brought almost 700 people combined! but now only 250 remained! And they were only mages and archers at the back . It was then at the climax of the battle that something unexpected happened which changed the course of events!

 Huge harvest!

    The twin headed snake ran away! it heade towards the deep forests that surrounded the mountain! All The fighters were in the heat of battle and their blood still boiling followed it without much thought! Only The three young nobels and and the two gang leaders and Cross stayed! Levi had told him to not let anyone approach the mine till they come back! And the others indeed did not dare to do anything to him nor act and go into the mine!


    This was the perfect moment for Eric to act! He instantly disappeared from from Aria''s sight instantly surprising her leaving his voice behind: " ready your spells!" as he advanced at towards the mine. He blended into the forest and unleashed quadruple strike combined with metallic burst towards the beast bursting its tail into smithereens! He Then sent Cross a message telling him to attract their attention! So he screamed:


    "no one shall get near within 50 meters of the mine, Instructions of lieutenant Levi! Till he comes back no one goes in!"


    The others turned their head and looked at him somewhat disgruntled! but they knew he had to say it because he was instructed to and now they couldn''t defy the order!


    but this was enough for Eric to get inside the mine unnoticed! Cross was at the back so when he screamed all of them gave their backs to the mine and with Eric''s stealth and lack of aura he easily got in!


    What he found almost blinded his eyes! There were a dozen more Metallic lotuses! He swiped them all into his bag! He then Found 3 ores of star Meteoric Iron, 2 were quite big and he can handle one but the last one was of rather medium size but had the most dense essence! and 10 eggs, obviously snake eggs! these would catch a fortune if one tamed them since young! they had the potential to become transcendent beasts!


    He immediately took it and now he had to leave unnoticed once again! He used his stealth and got ready for Cross''s call!


    The direction the snake escaped in was Vince and Emilia''s direction! Emilia''s feet trembled and she could not move! Vince Picked her up instantly and ran, she did not affect his speed much , but the same cannot be said at his movements!


    The snake was fast even faster than Vince and she was close to catching up! so He did something that looked ridiculous at first! He threw Emilia. Emilia was now crying in her mind, maybe if she treated him better he would not abandon her, as she was thrown in the air! He sidestepped at full speed and turned 180¡ã degree and launched an attack with extreme speed! his sword was not even seen! This was a lesser version of the one he used against the winged wolf! That was a three slash and a pierce combo while this one was only a horizontal slash! It unleashed inner force from inside the body! and the only reason he was able to do so was because of the wolf''s help after he collapsed!


    The snake has not put Vince into its eyes and his speed and force of attack were out of its expectations! As such one head rolled into the ground!


    Levi who had just caught up and Emilia who just fell into the ground screamed:


    " a transcendent!"


    Normally, Only those in the transcendence realm can unleash inner force out of their body! ANd there were very few in Candor in this realm! the heads of the noble families were, The gang leaders were not! The city lord Dylan was even more advanced in the transcendece realm but knew by how much! but he was still the strongest in the city! The auction house and the golden gate pavillion each had one!


    So one can realize a transcendent''s position, Emilia tought to how she treated him a transcendent who is equal to her father with such a manner! And one so young! He will definitely exceed her father! She then realized he had not abandoned her but pushed her away from harm''s way!


    Levi had no time to give his greeting he dashed towards The snake hoping to get the last strike. He engaged with the now 1 headed snake in a battle in which it striked him with its tail making him cough blood! Vince then activated Phantom shade for the second time and his speed reached an unimaginable degree! he stabbed his sword into its tail and started running across its belly cutting in into two! The first time he used Phantom shade was just as a test to know his ability!


    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.All the others could see was a flash and the snake was cut in two! The reason the 1 star top rank sword he got from the Barzotti family managed to do so was that after a month of training he could use his inner force and cover the sword with it empowering it in the process! but for an extremely short period of 1 second .


    1 second for vince was already enough to slay a beast! Emilia was dumbstruck! 700 people to fight this snake! and Only 250 were now alive and most of them were those who were at the back while others were injured! And this guy finished the fight in 2 strikes of his sword! She thought back to how she treated him before once again! and this time she wasn''t angry at his behavior because she must have been like a child in front of him! This time she was entranced! Even if he''s mute, he''s so strong an young and his face is really quite handsome! altough cold and proud! there was elegance in there ! She thought " what''s so bad about being mute anyways! If i start to treat him better would he gain intrest in me? maybe marry into our family?" her face blushed.


    The mother and daughter now had eyes on the same young man but who could get him?


    His clothes were clean as the blood couldn''t reach him thanks to his speed. He slowly and calmly wrote on a piece paper! " this beast! MINE!"


    Levi smiled bitterly, normally, even though he represented the government, he would still take the corpse but this guy was a transcendent so he didn''t have the balls! he had seen his speed and he would probably last a couple of strikes at best! Then his would roll besides the snake''s! He thought how did the Barzotti family manage to rope in such a talented and strong young man! Then again he might be older like Dylan! He was already satisfied that this guy did not engage into battle for the mines! and only acted when the snake attacked the young lady Emilia? was she his lover or his daughter? He dared not ask!


    But Vince''s prowess was a 5 star at best, It was just the injuries of the snake had played a tremendous role into slowing it down and especially the eyes that were blinded it left many blind spots which he could use to attack!


    " Thank you esteemed expert for your help, I shall take my leave!"


    Levi turned around and dashed to the mines .


    Emilia got closer to him and said " thank you!" He was surprised because of this sudden change of behavior but he did not think too much into it! He was thinking about how to deal with the snake! He wanted to share it with his brothers and give some of this beast''s meat to Eric and distribute it to Michael, Harmony, Aria and even joshua would get some because of his hard work. He took a note and wrote: "My job" he then went to the snake and sent a tought to Cross telling him that he got the snake and Levi is Coming back!


    " Is this how he sees me ? a Job he gets paid for? but why would a transcendent work like this? could he be hiding from something? I shall consult with mother about this!" Decided Emilia, a bit disappointed


    author note : ( what do you expect! you treated him like shit for 1 month ! and now you want him to instantly fall in love with you and marry! Get real!) XDD


    Cross waited for a bit then declared : " they'' re coming back!"


    The group turned around but saw nothing :" where are they!"


    Cross replied : " my eyesight is better than most people they are 2 miles aways !" The forest was filled with trees making harder to see but since he explained so they believed him! maybe it was an ability or something! They had seen his strength and it was indeed astonishing, the fact that he was a sentient warrior with the berzerk ability made them acknowledge him!


    Eric took this chance to escape the mine back into the cave where Aria looked at him speechlessly. She had seen how he entered the cave and left it unnoticed in front of all those people who were rather capable! His speed and his comment on the techinques of what was considered an elite team of archers as trash and sh** techinques was already strange! No archer was like that! especially the might of that 4 arrow shot! She then asked: "Just who are you?"

 Gains! The Three brothers meet once again!

    Eric''s pov :


    Eric turned to her and smiled :" I am the collector!"


    Aria knew that he would not yet reveal his identity, he has already shown her his sincerety by showing his face! Eric opened his bag and when she saw what was inside she was dumbstruck!


    "hahaha! we really earned big this time! a dozen metallic Lotuses, Starlight essence, and Transcendent beast eggs! 2 magical cores and a transcendent beast corpse! my god! we struck it rich!" he laughed heartily!


    " What did you say!" When she heard the gains she did not know what was going on in the world anymore! Metallic lotuses can upgrade weapons by 1 star! Start Light essence! not iron! It was used as an addition during forging it increases chances of getting a top rank weapon and its fortifying abilities were on a whole different scale! It was not the star meteoric iron!


    Transcendent beast eggs! and 10 at those! Each would catch a sky high price but who would sell them? If they were tamed! they would be a force to be reckoned with! This beast was a king among beasts! It just reached adulthood and was able to lay eggs! Its bloodline had gained some benefits from the starlight essence causing it to become a variant twin headed snake! It actually formed 2 magical cores meaning it had 2 times the amount of force a transcendent beast had! But wait he actually gained them in addition to its corpse! That means his accomplices actually killed this beast!


    Since Amelia Joined the mansion, she knew he was not working alone . She got more confused and curious about this temporary master of hers!


    Eric turned around to her and said:


    "we can use the starlight essence for about 6 weapons, I need three and I shall give you a staff made with starlight essence as the fourth so we''ll keep the rest for now!"


    Aria''s jaw fell! and she looked at him strangely. He asked her:


    " what?"


    "Stop the bad jokes?"


    " what jokes ?" he looked puzzeled.


    " are you serious?" she asked


    " about what?"


    " the staff"


    "Of course!" he then turned around and said : " let''s hurry back! I need to breakthrough!"


    Aria followed behind him, and a storm raged inside her mind. She had only known him for a couple of days yet he promised her to help her become stronger and keep her dignity! She knew the value of star essence, the amount needed for the staff would buy her 30 times! Yet he did even flinch! He truly treated her as an equal and abided by his promise! In just 3 days , he gave her what she could not afford in a lifetime! Slowly her thoughts about him started changing from curiosity to something else! But she hid it and swore that she will never forget his favor and that she will only think about this after her revenge!


    Vince''s pov :


    Vince on the other hand had packed the the parts of the snake together and started to leave. He felt that there was a magical core in each headthanks to his high senses and sensibility towards soul power and fluctuations of Inner force! he sent this to Eric and Cross who were happy by this fact! Emilia stood by his side silent . After a while, she asked : " Are you gonna sell the Snake to the Barzotti family?"


    Vince just shook his head and stayed silent! Emilia then asked again:


    " Why did you keep the fact that you''re a transcendent hidden?"


    Vince just shook his head once again and stayed silent ignoring her!


    "I need to know! if you have enemies we maybe can help you stay hidden this kind of information is not something you can keep when working for someone!"


    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.Vince stopped and wrote on a paper : " I am not a transcendent! Innate ability!" Then he ignored her once again and continued on! he was also in a hurry to breakthrough!


    Emilia was now silent! Her head was blank! he was not a transcendent but had an innate ability to release inner force! and that speed! she was now in a hurry to report this to her mother. No wonder she placed high hopes on him! They had to rope him in!


    When they reached the Barzotti mansion, Emilia immediately relayed what happened to her mother. Fiona''s eye had a hidden light flash through them as she thought " It was indeed a good choice to recruit him! It seems a change of plans is now necessary!" she then Said to him:


    " You may keep the snake. You are a lot stronger than what i Thought! Anyways I got news That The noble families had gained the 40% share and are now bringing it here, I''ll add a bit of Star meteoric Iron to your sword as a reward for protecting my daughter."


    Vince had noticed the change in her expression when Emili recounted what happened in the fight, it seemed they had something in mind planned for him and he now further hightened up his guard against them!


    He calmly wrote :" thank you"


    " haha! no worries! we gained big this time a bit of star Iron is no big deal! you can pick up your sword in 4 days" A smile appeared on her lips as she winked at Vince


    "Ok" wrote Vince and nodded, this time his mind did not wander but had his guard up! But he acted normally and did not arouse suspicion! Then he turned around and left with the snake! he would take it with him in the night to their base! They still needed to decide on a name for their team and their base/ mansion.


    Cross''s pov :


    " hahaha! Good job! This quantity of star meteoric iron is indeed big! We''ll offer 30% as a tribute to the Royal family! 20% is ours! 10% shall be kept in the treasury and those with enough merit will get their weapons fortified by it ! " Old man Dylan Was in a good mood today for the first time after his son''s death. As to why! he now had star meteoric Iron and had heard that there was a Metallic lotus with these two he can create a perfect weapon for himself! a Top 3 star weapon!


    " Cross, You fought well against the beast, you are a warrior and survived! as per our agreement I shall give you enough star meteoric iron , same volume as your axe!" He was now sure he can rope in Cross!


    " thank you old man Dylan !" Thanked Cross with a grateful expression. He knew Dylan did this to rope him in but Dylan was not a bad guy and he would repay him in the future!


    " No big deal! Dismissed" He allocated some rewards to others and only Levi got Star iron as well.


    When He said the Barzotti family had hired a transcendent or that may be their daughter''s lover, his eyes squinted! Another Transcendent in a noble family would upset the balance.


    Later the Barzotti family, released that Vince was a sentient swordsman with an agility ability! He was the young lady''s bodyguard! Rumors spread about a sword deity working for the Barzotti family and how he could slay transcendent beast when he was still in extreme mortal stage/ path chooser!


    Cross left his clone here in the city lord''s mansion and went to their base as well!


    This was the first night since entering Candor did the three brothers gather once again!

 Breakthrough!

    Inside the mansion, in a seperate room, Eric , Cross and Vince gathered. They looked at each other then a smile crept up their faces! Cross then bear hugged the Two of them!


    " This fat pig is as touchy as ever!" Eric said with a smile, even though they were always arguing, there was no doubt about how much they loved each other!


    "hahaha! I see you bought slaves you sly bastard! did you bang the females?" Asked Cross as he laughed.


    " What the fuck is wrong with you? I certainly did not!" Eric rollod his eyes


    " That''s all you guys talk about, but oh well, The Barzotti family madame wants to cuckold her husband with me! So i guess I win!" Said Vince with an indifferent face


    The other two''s jaw fell. Since Vince said it it must be true, they did not even consider the possibility of a joke! he rarely did that but they knew when it was the case.


    "WTF! " Eric


    " hahahah! my man! Good brother so did you tap that?" CRoss asked


    "Not yet!" Responded Vince


    " So you''re actually planing to!" Hollered Eric


    " Hey guys, what about a bet? " Cross asked with a smirk


    " what is it" asked Eric


    " The one who loses his virginity first in this world first can make the other two obey one command from him!" Cross explained


    " But we can always go to the brothel dad mentioned" Eric


    " No! It has to be by chance! or someone you fell in love with! and we can easily know when someone cheated!"


    "Deal!" Said Vince, he definitely had something in mind!


    " OK then! by the way we need a name for the mercenaries " added Eric


    " I had a name in mind" said Vince


    " oh! do tell!" Said Cross


    " Since we are forsaken by the gods! we shall rise no matter what even by going against them! and since we plan to stay in secrecy! I suggest Vanishing Rise mercenaries!"


    " Not bad! I think It works , it''s just a name after all!" Eric commented


    " Yeah! So how do we deal with the snake king?" asked Cross


    " The magical cores shall go to Cross since he is planning on upgrading the family heirloom! Eric and I shall get another Star essence share.! as For the snake, we''ll eat the heads, keep the rest for Amelia,Aria and the twins! The core members in the team we plan to develop for now!" Vince proposed


    " Yeah, I''ll upgrade the axe with starlight essence, star meteoric Iron and 2 magical cores and Metallic lotuses! It''ll definitely end up as something alright! I''ll be damned!" Cross said smiling


    " Well , when I take the katana from Fiona, I shall then Make some modifications i kept hidden from her and add the starlight essence as well the metallic lotus ! Eric I suggest you keep the starlight essence and when you build a bow, use twice as much! an earth magical core is not suitable to a bow! As for me, I have something else in mind in regards to forging!"


    Transcendent beast usually had an affinity to one or two elements! Just like when a transcendent human gains an affinity when breaking through to this realm and his inner force changes as consequence! So the magical cores had earth element embeded into them! They were rather suitable for the axe.


    " We can''t sell the beast eggs! and we don''t have much use for them as well! huh!"


    " No I belive we can sell them! My reputation now with the managers is rather repsected! They do not know my face but they trust my deals! They can keep secrecy!"


    "Ok then you sell them! now let''s dig in!"


    They started eating the snake, after digging out the magical cores, they were yellowish orbs about a fist''s size but had a lot of energy! They ate the snake''s heads raw, they wondered why they never felt nauseous! but that did not matter! They felt their bodies go hot and they started resisting the heat! but they could not and fainted like they once had when eating the Tattooed tiger!


    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.This time something strange happened, They had signs of breakthrough before which was feeling the inner force in their body pulsating! But they suppressed it but now something which could not be seen by normal eyes happened! Energy left Vince''s body and went into Eric while Eric went into Cross''s and Cross''s went into vince. It kept on rotating Each time the owner''s energy returned to his body it was much more pure and dense. This went on for the whole night! and Just at the end, the energy from all three of them gathered into the centre and mixed into an vortex which spiraled for a while and kept on becoming bigger and bigger after which it seperated into three and returned into their bodies!


    When they woke up! they felt much more powerful than they had ever been! they had broken throught to 3 star warrior, swordsman and archer!


    " Damn , I feel like a beast! I could slap that snake flying now!" Cross said


    " Dream On!!" Eric replied


    " What did you get ?"


    " Poison, I can now mix poison with Metallic burst! This poison can petrify the blood on the wound" Eric said with glee


    " Armor, well more like skin strengthening! If there is earth nearby I can use inner force and Harden my skin!" Cross replied rather pleased.


    " Well mine is rather useless i guess ! my feet can act as a magnet towards earth! which means i can walk on walls and ceilings now!" Vince did not like it much , but he''ll understand its worth later on!


    " Shit it''s already morning, I guess we need to go !" Cross said


    " yeah we''ll group once again in 4 days and we''ll go prepare our weapons , Eric be sure to sell those for a good price!"


    They immediatly left afterwards! Eric walked out and found Aria waiting for him with some food!


    "OH! preparing breakfast! If others see this they might indeed think we are newly weds" teased Eric


    " This is the least I can do since you are gonna give me starlight essence!" Aria rolled her eyes and answered.


    " Well if you promise me to keep making it! I''ll even add a metallic lotus!"


    "Are you serious?"


    "Yes!"


    "Ok deal!"


    Eric sat down and tried the food, he instantly regretted opening his big fat mouth! Aria could not see his expression through the mask!


    "How is it? it''s my first time trying!"


    " it''s emm .. ah .. how can i say this ! it''s ok for a first time!" Usually stealth helped him cover his senses and aura! now he tried to use it and shut those damn senses off! but in vain, this suffering was unavoidable and when he saw the earnest look on her face he couldn''t bring himself to tell the truth! He quickly finished the plate , Food was meant to be enjoyed slowly but he wanted to get rid of that plate as fast as he could!


    "Oh you already finished it ? want another?" asked Aria


    Eric cried! he then hurriedly said: "NO NEED! You can also forget about the promise, I don''t want to tire you! I thank you for your intentions! I''ll even give you 2 metallic lotuses so just please for the sake of food just stop!" and he ran away to the auction house!


    " Oh" She thought that since he finished his plate really fast he must have liked it, there was much food there! and he even added another metallic lotus! She did not hear the last of the sentence!


    She went and tried what she had cooked and immediately threw up!


    " He actually ate all of that! why did he not say it was this bad!" She was somewhat affected and found it funny since he ran away! But she apperciated the fact that he did not tell her and even ate it all! It moved her quite a bit!


    " Seems like I need to learn how to cook!" She started wondering about how to do that! she had promised herself not to fall in love till she gets her revenge? but is that really her choice? can she do it?

 Sky High Price!

    Eric ran from Aria''s food faster than when he ran away after he got out of the mine! He headed towards the auction house and met with manager Anthony. Anthony welcomed him with open arms!


    " The collector, what brings you here today?"


    " I want to put a thing for auction"


    "Oh! what thing would it be!" Asked Anthony intrigued.


    " Variant transcendent beast eggs!"


    "What!" Screamed Anthony.


    "Variant transcendent beast eggs!" repeated Eric


    " Are you serious! you sell even those!" Anthony now formed another idea about Eic in his mind! This guy must be from some superior influence if he does not even put these beast eggs in his eyes! he would gladly accept them.


    " Why not sell them to me?" Tried to persuade Anthony


    " No , just auction them and take off your fees!" Eric shook his head!


    "All right then! There was supposed to be an auction in 2 days! I guess the final item has now changed. how many by the way?" asked Anthony


    " 10!"


    "..." what Anthony right now wanted to say was " get the fuck out of my face!"


    "how much!"


    " I said 10!"


    " OH i tought i was hearing things! my ears had some problems lately but now I think it''s my brain that has the problem, I''m hallucinating and seeing illusions! 10 transcendent beast eggs is surely a dream!" Anthony started doubting his reality!


    "Keep my identity a secret!"


    Eric left after passing the eggs and took a receipt this time to prove that he had handed them to the auction! standard procedure and precautions!


    News got out the next day! Transcendent beast eggs were put up for sales! But no one knew how many of them existed.


    This news rocked Candor city upside down once again! Every influence started gathering money to participate in the upcoming auction!


    "have you heard! multiple transcendet beast eggs are up for sale!" a random person said in an inn


    "Yeah! The city lord, The three noble families are all attending!"


    "No shit! I wonder how much they would sell for!"


    The auction house was composed of three floors built around a square where they presented the items!


    The first floor was the biggest while the second was prepared for vips! such as Nobles and the city lord!


    The third floor on the other hand was meant for supreme VIP, A certain amount of prestige and status was needed for one to stay there! and in today''s auction, it was actually occupied but no one knew who was there Not even the nobles! Only the City lord dylan knew!


    Today, All the barons attended!Old man Dylan as well! They all wanted the beast eggs!


    Anthony walked out and said:


    " Ladies and gentlemen! For today''s auction there was a change of plans! we will only auction the beast eggs! As all of your esteemed selves already know! The rules state that pressing the price with status is not allowed! Bidding fair and square is the rule! I wish you all a plentiful harvest!" He clapped his hands and a beautiful woman in a red dress came out holding and egg rather big with both hands , she put it inside an already prepared box and smiled to the audience.


    " We shall not announce how many Eggs there are so bid as you wish, the starting price is 100 amethyst coins!"


    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author."200!"


    "500!"


    "700!"


    "1000!"


    The price kept on rising till it reached 2500 called by The velasi family head!


    "3000!"


    came a smooth and beautiful voice from the Third floor! The Velasi family head did not dare to bid as he knew only dukes and above had the right to be there!


    Eric was startled by the voice ! He knew he recognized the voice somewhere! he searched his memory and remembered the girl he had met in the holy garden! This was a perfect chance to repay the favor! so he told Anthony:


    " Take the egg to that girl! and tell her That this is a thank you for that time in the garden, don''t charge her the price as for the fees you can take it from the sum at the end!"


    He thought for a while then wrote on a paper something and passed it along saying" this as well!"


    after the end of the auction, he knew he was impuslive! since she had seen his face that time! and if she investigates now she can easily link him to the " collector"!


    Anthony was surprised, he first tought this guy wanted to build relationships with that person but after he heard all, he confirmed his earlier guess even more so!


    Meanwhile in the third floor!


    " Princess, why Buy these eggs? Your father can give you better ones!" an old looking woman asked Aurora!


    " These are not normal transcendent eggs but from a variant king of beasts! If raised well they could help quite a lot!" replied Aurora


    A knock then sounded on the door!


    "It must be it!" thought Aurora!


    A good looking servant girl came in! and said after she kneeled.


    "Your Highness, The seller told me not get charged!"


    but before she finished the old lady interrupted her!


    " Everyone wants to build relations huh! take the money to this seller and go"


    " Esteemed lady! please let me finish my message!"


    the old lady was surprised that there was more so she waved her hand as if letting the maid continue!


    Aurora was surprised as well!


    "He also said, this is a thank you for that time in the holy garden! and his piece of paper!"


    Aurora''s eyes instantly brightened up! she had tasked her servants of looking around for this guy yet no results came back! It was as if he was a ghost! But now he showed up again with these eggs! She remembered that time he asked her about how to make money! it seems he found this way!


    She had an urge to meet him now but she had to wait until the end of the auction.


    She took the piece of paper and read:


    "Thank you for showing me the way, Day and night, I always dreamt about an angel in a holy garden, your beautiful face suprressing nature around it lighting up my way. We will meet again shall our paths cross!" She blushed hard! and stood up, she wanted to find him now!


    Author note : BASTARD ERIC!


    The auction continued and prices were high since no one knew how many eggs were there! After all was sold! Eric sat in front of Anthony :


    " The amount accumulated is 30000 amethyst coins! after cutting out the fees and the first egg!"


    "Damn! IT seems we now have enough to go look for good materials and build our weapons!" Thought Eric but then the door was opened and a sound came:


    " You''re here!" Aurora said!

 Aurora

    Eric looked at the door and saw a gorgeous looking young lady! Her red hair down to her waist and her emerald green eyes making one peaceful when looking at them! she had neck accessory and two green Earrings! adding to her almost perfect face. She had white skin and her smile immediately put all the lights in the room out!


    " We meet again my beautiful lady!"


    " yes! I" She was gonna say, I thought about but she then stopped and blushed! she changed the subject by asking:


    " Why are you wearing a mask?"


    Anthony was surprised, he knew the identity of aurora! and since she knew who this man was and from the way they talked was almost as equals! Now, in his mind, Eric was almost royalty! He immediately took his leave.


    " My face is only meant for you to see!" Eric sai with a straight bullshit face!


    "what are you saying!" Aurora blushed! and then added with an expectant face : " would you come with me to the holy garden?"


    " It would be my pleasure to walk with you!"


    "hehe! then let''s go!"


    Eric stood up and walked by her side. First there was a bit of silence! Along the way she would glance at him and with Eric''s vision he would turn and look at her instantly!This caused her to lower her head!


    If anyone from the Capital saw this they would immediately commit suicide, maybe the eunuch could even grow his d*** back!


    After they reached the garden she sat on the beautiful green grass! Eric did not sit beside her but in front of her.


    " Why would you sit there?"


    " so that i won''t miss the chance to look at your eyes!"


    she blushed and asked:


    " who are you?"


    " who do you think I am?"


    " You said you are not from around here? do you mean the city ? the kingdom?"


    " emm... NO! I am from somewhere very far away from here!" Eric thought about earth and said.


    "Do you remember my name?"


    " eeeeeeh!" Eric was now stumped for words


    " hmph! it''s Aurora!" Aurora snorted, she finally gained some upperhand in this conversation!


    "since our last meeting, I have given you many names but this one fits you rather well, classy and elegant!"


    " what names?"


    " Angel, Goddess, Hope, Future wife! ..." That future wife was one eric whispered


    " Stop right there! "


    "what?" asked Eric puzzled


    " what was the last one?"


    "Hope?"


    "the one after that!"


    Eric started observing the garden then said:


    " a rather lovely garden you have here!"


    " don''t change the subject!" yelled aurora!


    " those herbs look amazing!"


    " I said say!" she grabbed his collar! Eric looked at her surprised . She was really agitated by his shameless behavior!


    She immediatly took back her hands and asked:


    " This garden is beautiful right?"


    "yes it is!"


    " The herbs are great ?"


    "yes they are!"


    " you sold those beast eggs didn''t you?"


    "yes!"


    " Are you strong?"


    "yes"


    " Do you like me?"


    "yes! eeeh! wait what no!?" Eric then woke up and an a wierd expression on his face appeared! He indeed liked Aurora a bit, but he knew that since then that her status was not simple! He wanted to wait until he made a name for himself as he was still quite young! Then if they met again he would ask her out!


    Aurora had a smile on her face when she heard yes! but when the "no" came in her face changed! She never thought he would reject her!


    She asked once again:


    " Do you like me?"


    Eric looked at her deeply! and then took off his mask and said with a smile! but his voice had a serious tone this time and aurora felt that!


    " Yes I do! it was indeed a chance meeting! I thought about you quite a few times! But I can tell you right now! I am strong yet not strong enough! I had hoped that when I made a name for myself and met you again, I would defenitely ask you te be my companion! Since I knew your status was not simple! We don''t know much about each other but I am indeed attracted to you! But I am afraid you would be disappointed if you knew who I a really am!"


    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.Aurora smiled and she dazzled him this time, she said in a gentle tone:


    "You indeed left an impression at that time and i also thought about you a few times! You may not be strong now, but you will be in the future! You may not have status now! but you will in the future! The past is gone! The future is still far away! we only have the present now! and that''s all that matters ! As for me, I don''t care about status! I only care about the heart! we may not know each other but we can get to do so ? So what do you say? want to give us a chance? who knows we may be compatible more than we think!"


    "hahaha! well said! since you said so! so it shall be! I shall give myself a base introduction then! I am called Eric , a 3 star archer with the prowess of a 6 star! this shall be enough for now!"


    Aurora was surprised, a 3 star archer that can win a 6 star! he was a genius indeed!


    "I am Aurora Lanstar The third princess of the Azure throne kingdom! descendent of the current king William Lanstar!"


    "Hahaha , I tought as much!" Eric was not surprised , he had guessed that she was royalty! he had seen the aura nobles had! hers was a tad higher.


    " yeah , since we decided to give ourselves a chance! you have to keep this a secret until you have enough strength to at least run for your life!"


    " Yeah no worries , now explain to me the strength of the capital so that i Know what I am up against" he asked as he now sat beside her!


    She knew that they would get together in the future, but she still prefered things to progress slowly but she indeed liked Eric! So she explained the forces, influences, Restricted areas, Nobles, customs, rules almost everything!


    This took time. Each time he woke up in the morgning he would suffer from Aria''s meal then come hang out with Aurora. And this was not nothing, he was gathering information but most importantly having fun and getting closer to Aurora! After the explanation ended, he looked for a pure emerald rather big that it was worth 50 amethyst! And Sculped" Aurora" and made a bracelet out of it! The "Aurora" he wrote was in english! the characters here and language were entirely different.


    She really liked it and asked him what it meant so he said that this was the language where he came from and that was her name which made her like it even more!


    Days passed and they hang out and strolled by the garden many times so she noticed something and asked him why he always came with a bitter expression. She could sense he liked being with her so him being forced to come here was not it! He replied by saying: "food"


    She thought how could this guy who now had tens of thousands of Amethyst coins eat bad food so she pressed for an answer as now they were rather used to each other! Her Fiery personality kicked in a couple of times and Eric quite liked it! He also tought about playing some small yet rational pranks on her! So when she knew that some girl , a subordinate, all he could say was preparing food for him! She did not like that so she told him not to eat it anymore and refuse the girl while going for his ears! He nodded but he could not do so to Aria! He knew she was traumatized before so treated her rather nicely! As such he still suffered!


    As for Aurora, she decided to learn how to cook! she did not want him to see her as a princess but as his companion so now Eric suffers twice the amount with a smile on his face!

 Dying Blacksmith!

    Amelia has returned to stay with Vince. She did not bare to get away from him again! And she always slept beside him now! He talked to her when they were alone! His place in her heart now is unmovable! The only one she could relie on besides her mother!


    Vince found her company rather enjoyable in this house! And she helped him keep the maids who wanted to get into his bed at bay!


    He avoided Fiona as much as he could, while Emilia started coming by more often and tried to get close to him! Vince found her annoying but he had to protect her so she used getting out as an excuse to get him to accompany her!


    Today wa the day where Fiona brought him his new sword! IT was almost like a katana but quite different, he added to the width so as to get more materials! It indeed had some star meteoric iron into it but not much!


    he wrote his thanks and told them he had something to do For 3 days and that he has to leave! They could not keep him under any pretense and they were not afraid he would as he had no reason to! But Plans that were made were already in the making!


    He took Amelia with him this time, she was so happy that she would be going out with Vince, for her nothing could be better! Dropped by their base picked up some star essence and 2 metallic Lotuses, as well as their family heirloom left there by Cross and went out of the city towards Chester City! His speed was a bit much for her so she bit his neck unkowingly! He stopped and when she saw what she did she cried saying sorry! he laughed and told her he would go more slowly now!


    The Azure Throne kingdom had its capital Avalon, there were rumors about big it is and that even a 100 Candors could not match!


    Beneath it were 3 big cities which are the following :Somerset city, Chester City, Cadbury City. Each one was as big as 10 Candors! Vince now knew some informations about it from what Aurora told Eric! So he took Eric''s now 4 th rank VIP of the Auction house after selling the beast eggs!


    There was an auction house in each city with the head quarters in the capital! That badge functions everywhere! The 3 big cities had Counts and Viscounts, The city lord was of the third ream! and transcendence realm fighters were a bit more common! So he had to be wary!


    He wanted to find a blacksmith to help Him craft suitable weapons for him and his brothers. His speed was enough was to reach Chester City in 1 day if he did not stop!


    The geography of the kind of circular and centralised! With Avalon in the middle, and the 3 big cities surrounding it! with they them selves surronded by 3 to 4 lesser cities like Candor!


    And while he was running through a forest he saw a small hut deep in the jungle and he heard some cough!


    Usually he would not stop but since Amelia seemed a bit tired he decided to do so and see if he could help the source of the cough as well!


    He went to the door , put down Amelia and knocked! The coughing stopped and a huge looking man came out, He had a bald head and white beard! Multiple scras along his arms that were really buff! even more than Cross!


    " What do you .. cough want .. cough ?" asked the man!


    Vince looked at him said:


    " at first, I wanted her to rest , and decide to see if i could provide help! it seems no such a thing is needed." Vince pointed to Amelia who hid behind him and then turned around after he finished talking.


    " I apologise, it''s been 70 years since i last talked to someone!"


    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.Vince was surprised, this guy did not look 70! at all!


    "Big brother , it''s Ok , This big uncle is not a bad person! he just hurt badly" Amelia judged by the aura she saw around him , there was orange meaning he gets easily angry but is not a bad person and there was also black meaning he was really sick!


    Vince had learned to trust her judgement, and she told him that Emilia liked him!But she was bad person! And Fiona was even worse! she saw white and dark intertwined which means that she was a hypocrite! This made him sure that she had something bad planned for him but he played along as he still had use for them!


    The big guy looked at Amelia and said: " what a cute child"


    he then added:


    "my humble abode is not much, so if you do not mind please come in for some water! I don''t have much else to serve!"


    "water is good!" said vince


    Amelia smiled and followed in! They saw that there was a huge hammer and a forge! Amelia jumped and said:


    "uncle is a blacksmith! yay, now we won''t have to go to the city!"


    "Oh you were going to the city to find a blacksmith?"


    "yes !" answered Vince


    " Do you want to forge something or just repair? oh I forgot, by the way , I am Ariel!"


    "Forge 4 weapons!"


    "4! huh! same kind?"


    "Different kinds! Sword, Axe, bow and staff!"


    " what materiels are you using?"


    " why are you here on your own!" asked back, Vince


    Ariel stopped talking for a while! then he sighed and said :


    " a youth''s fault! I was overconfident and messed up a task given by the viscount Nathan fendall and he banned me from entering any city as long as i live!"


    "then why not leave the kingdom?"


    "Not allowed as well!" answered Ariel with a bitter smile


    " what kind of task!"


    " A shield for an entertainment battle!"


    " conscending bastard" cursed Vince in his mind and Ariel noticed this expression.


    " bad viscount! bad viscount!" shouted Amelia


    Ariel looked at her with a smile: " really! a good child! such pity I was not meant to have one" he sighed. What Ariel did not say was that he was sentenced here not by the the viscount of this kingdom but of an empire!


    "would you let me take a look at the materials? I spent more than a hundred years smithing, I am now rather confident in my ability"


    Vince took out his sword and starlight essence as well metallic lotuses.


    "A rather good shape for the sword but too many impurities, it needs to be thinner as well! oh well starlight essence and metallic lotus . You can make quite a good sword with these materiels!"


    Vince was surprised with one look he immediatly identified all the flaws and materiels and did not seem surprised much! he underestimated Ariel.


    "what else have you got?" Asked Ariel intrigued.


    Vince took out the magical cores , the family axe , star meteoric iron, more lotuses, everything out !


    " You ''re not simple young man!I give you that!" After Ariel identified the rest of the materials he said


    " If you trust me with these materials, I promise You the best weapons! what do you say?"


    Vince was silent for a while and then said :


    " Fate plans what it plans , and destiny plays its role!"


    Ariel tought for a bit then laughed out!


    " hahaha well said! you had different plans yet your destiny lied here! nicely said! I promise you, you won''t be disappointed!"


    Amelia Said : " Uncle is the best!"


    "haha good child, after i''m finished I''ll give you a good present! He then took the materials and started doing his thing

 Soul bound weapons! Disciple?!

    Ariel the grabbed his hammers, They had patterns inscribed into them! The forge also lighted up as well! This surprised Vince! This was no simple blacksmithing, but he did not say anything , it was a taboo to interrupt and alchemist or blacksmith during his work!


    He grabbed the sword! threw it inside the forge! The sword instantly melted! returning back to its original form! He then added the starlight essence! And started hammering! He hammered for so long and with much force! Vince started counting and Ariel only stopped at ten thousand! He then added the metallic lotus and two blue looking orbs! Lightning broke out instantly! Ariel''s arms had tattoos glow into them andthey supressed the lightning , he then started chanting an incantation and forge glowed so bright!


    Ariel then melded the sword into the wanted form and started hammering ten thousand times again! It took a while and at that last hammer one could hear lightning and thunder!


    Ariel looked a lot paler but the sword was finished, he then screamed:


    " Bind it by your blood now!!"


    Vince reacted quite fast and bit down a chunk of his flesh from his hands and threw blood towards the katana which calmed down! Vince actually felt the katana binded to him! he felt the sword! it was still only a 1 star weapon! with all those materials yet 1 star! this surprised him a lot but he did not doubt the weapon''s power!


    "It is not a normal weapon! it is the first weapon created by a technique i spent my entire lifetime on!


    IT is now in a baby state! it will grow along with you so treat it well! it Evolves by eating rare metals and lightning cores!"


    "Thank you! You used your own cores! how can I pay you back?" asked Vince grateful and excited.


    " By treating my sword well! and by using it to rise above any other in this kingdom!"


    " I promise you it will rise above any in this continent!"


    Ariel looked deeply into Vince''s calm eyes! and He laughed:" ahahah worth it! so worth it!"


    " Name the sword now! it needs a name!"


    "you created it so you name it!"


    " alright!" Ariel was not an artificial person , he thought then said :


    " its name shall be Soul devourer from now on! It shall develop its consciousness thanks to your superior soul power! its inherent ability is related to soul power like you! And lightning attribute is boosting its speed and power!"


    "how did you know?"


    " the technique i used requires soul power in order to create a seed into the weapon making it different but it comes at a price! my life force! don''t worry! I am already on the edge of life and death! So using this little left to create weapons that make history is a deal I''ll always take!"


    " Thank you so much!" Vince bowed!


    The sould devourer was a katana with a blue gem mixed with purple embeded into is handle. It was quite small and did not change the shape much but strikes of small lightning appeared on the sword.


    " hahaa ! No big deal young man! what are your names?"


    " I apologise for being rude! my name is Vince and this is my little sister Amelia!"


    " Good names! I shall rest for now! I''ll build you a weapon each day!"


    "sir Ariel, I promise you this! This world shall remember you as the creator of the strongest weapons! that is my oath to you!" Vince said solenmly, he rarely gave promises but he lived up to every single one of them!


    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation." Thank you!" Ariel then left


    The second weapon he created was named the Sky crushing axe!


    The third was Heavon piercer bow!


    The fourth was Tsunami staff!


    Each of these weapons were soul bound weapons that required life force and 2 magical core of certain element to make! Ariel has given up his entire savings making these weapon but he was joyful! As Vince said Fate plans what it plans yet destiny plays its role and takes!


    Aftaer finishing the staff he could no longer walk! so Vince helped him onto his bed. Ariel was short of breath yet he sternly asked after some time:


    " Little Amelia, come here"


    Amelia came closer to him :


    "my greatest regret after indulging my lonely life into the abstract realm of smithing is not passing my legacy on! you area little girl and not fit for smithing ! yet you are a talented young girl in soul power thanks to your lineage! You are even more talented than pure blood spiritual beings! so I pass to you this book which has all my achievements in soul power! and this jade bracelet which nourishes the soul! And when you break the seal inside ,which i could not do, in the future it will surely help a lot! it''s a treasure!"


    " I don''t want treasure! i want uncle to live!" Amelia cried while Ariel smiled.


    " Vince , You as well , have to learn from that book! it suits your potential as well! And i hand you this book which has all my smithing techniques in hope that you pass it to a righteous man! He has got to have innate supernatural power! And a technique that multiplies his strength! this is necessary for my legacy!"


    " Sir Ariel, my brother Cross fits your description rather well, may I ask for you take him on as a disciple?"


    " haha ,cough! fate sure has its twists! cough! sure i do! i rather trust your judgement!"


    "Then I bow to you in his place and he said that he will surely not let you, his master, down! and will be sure to make your legacy known and respected by everyone! he will study smithing seriously!"


    " what! where is he?" asked Ariel surprised!


    " I can communicate with him even though we are far away! our souls are linked!"


    "hahaha! this is indeed a joyful end! Twins with soul links, now I am sure his talent is as good as yours!"


    " actually we''re triplets! "


    "hahahaha! cough! A joyful end indeed! The three of you shall rise with my weapons along side you! a shame i won''t get to see this!"


    "Sir Ariel, I have a request!"


    "Oh! what is it" this surprised Ariel he was on his last breath and could not do much anymore!


    " will you take us as adopted son and daughter?"


    Ariel''s eyes widened up and tears formed! he then said with smile between tears!


    "MY HONOR! MY PLEASURE! "


    "Adopted father!" Vince and amelia both called.


    they both hugged him and he actually got up and hugged them back! he then started laughing:


    "hahahaahahaha a rather fitting end! hahahaha" He was laughing from happiness as he slowly passed away!


    Vince was indeed affected! He bowed for another whole day not moving an inch! Amelia cried on the other hand!


    Vince then took Ariel''s corpse and dug a grave and buried him inside! he then made a pannel written in it:


    "Ariel : Legendary BlackSmith! Father to Vince and Amelia! Master to Cross!"

 Erics expirements!

    Vince stayed longer than expected but he was now both satisfied and sad. He went back into the city and passed the smithining book to Cross as well as the sky crushing axe! The double handed axe was now black with a little yellow! Bigger than before by quite a lot! It had 2 cores which now became gems embeded on both sides of it! Cross immediately bound it by blood and its innate ability was revolving gravity around it to increase the attack damage! gravitationnal force!


    "Cross, now You have to learn smithing with diligence! and live up to adopted father''s name!"


    "Definitely, I won''t let Master Ariel down! his smithing techniques were tailored for me simply! He was a good man with an unfortunate destiny! But we shall make his name resound thoroughtout this continent! And I shall imprison that damn Viscount shall for the rest of his life! playing with lives as he pleases!"


    " Yes! Now that I think about it, let''s ask Eric about this damn viscount!"


    " Hey! little bastard! stop strolling with the princess ! Do you know about Viscount Nathan Fendall?" Cross then sent a thought to Eric


    "Fuck you! jealous pig! No there is no viscount with that nmae in this kingdom!"


    "Could he have died?"


    " Probably not! but there is one thing you need to know!"


    "what is it ?"


    " Azure throne kingdom is but 1 of 30 kingdoms belonging to an empire!"


    "What the fuck! cmon!"


    "It seems this world is bigger than we thought!"


    " Revenge is for later! now we get stronger!"


    " Eric how''s the medecine plan working on?"


    " ahh.. I haven''t started yet!"


    " dude! Your little future lover won''t run away! start now!"


    " OK! will do! Vince bring me the weapons along the way!"


    Vince then dropped off the two other weapons and left! Eric immediately bound it and its ability was similar to Metallic burst! It was a power infused into it causing it to camouflage into its surrounding and gain more penetration power! This was void power! but he can only use this shot once a day!


    The Heavon piercer bow was gray with many inscriptions onto it! It had no string! but when he put the arrow the string was formed from inner force! and the best use for it for was to release an all out attack!


    Eric then headed towards the auction house and golden gate pavilion and bought a ton of herbs for 15000 amethyst coins! This surprised Anthony and Julian quite a lot!


    But this should be enough herbs for a year, thought Eric! He then called Aria who came in a lazy manner.


    " Close your eyes!" said Eric


    " why?" asked Aria


    " just do it and open your arms!"


    "Ok" Aria looked at him in a strange manner but did as told


    Eric then took out the staff and put inside her hands! Aria oppened her eyes the moment she felt something in her hands! She was shocked silly! The staff was extremely beautiful, it was quite tall and had 2 metals intertwined gray and blue! they sparkled and at the top of the staff an extremely big and big Aquamarine ( aquatic jewel like sapphire!) was there!


    " what sta-staff is this?" asked Aria trembling trying to keep herself in check!


    " This is called Tsunami staff! It''s an aquatic mage weapon! A soul bound weapon! It evolves along side its master! You have to bind it by blood and it awakens an innate ability! probably related to water element! Once it recognizes you! it shall not recognize another master again! It has 2 high grade Water magical core melded into one as well! what do you think?" Asked Eric with a smug face!


    Aria was dumbfounded and her head stopped working! IT was blank! She has never seen this kind of weapon before! but one can realize that a weapon that can recognize its master was a BIG DEAL! It evolves as well???!! 2 high grade magical water element cores! she did not of course forget the starlight essence and metallic lotus!


    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.How can he spend so much precious Items on her! She would bet her life the king did not have this kind of weapon! and indeed he did not! She looked at his smug face with mask off! and her eyes teared up! She jumped and hugged him! Then started crying!


    Eric was surprised, but he could not push her away! this meant that she now trusted him so he slowly patted her back and said :" It''s okay to cry! let all out!"


    A while passed before Aria calmed down! she pushed him away and blushed ! She had stayed had calmed down a while before but stayed in his embrace a bit longer, she thought that after the 2 years contract ended! And she was not a slave she would then pursue him with dignity resolutely! he was good to her and honest about it with no other intentions. He teased once in a while but in a harmless manner.


    What she did not know, was that with Vince''s help they managed to break the contract without her realising. The core members of the vanishing rise mercenaries were not slaves!


    " haha! it''s ok I hope you feel better now! when you''re ready you can tell me about what happened to you and I''ll see how we can help!"


    Aria nodded shyly. Eric then added seriously :


    " Listen to me! I need your help! You will work as an assistant for me in an extremely important matter! no one can know about it! it shall be done in secrecy! The building next to the mansion is a lab where we''ll work and conduct expirements making medecine! you''ll understand the stakes then!"


    " The only one who can do this here is you! This means I put more trust in you! and I reveal more of my secrets to you! DO NOT BETRAY ME!" said Eric gravely


    Aria nodded solemnly as well, she did not see him this serious in like ever!


    " Come now follow me!" Eric advance to a seperate building, All the other slaves from that batch worked like servants here maintaining The mansion in a good state while working as guards at the same time! They are bound by contract not to defy their master, their life and death are at nothing but a whim from him!


    Aria entered the lab and found huge amounts of herbs! She was at ease when speaking to Eric so she then asked:


    " what are you planing to concoct?"


    " Force increasing medecine!"


    "what! how do you have the recipe?"


    "secret!" grinned Eric


    "hmph!" snorted Aria


    " first, I''ll write you a list , so that you seperate these herbs in batches!" The list he wrote consisted of herbs with different essences but she had no way to know, the second type of batches was the one he experimented on! He tried gathering the most compatibles essences together in order to create a new medecine! a new force increasing medecine!


    " huh, so much miscallenous work!" grumbled Aria


    "why so much complaining! if you do not shut up and work! no mana gathering pellets for you!"


    "what!"


    Mana gathering pellets were pills Magician used to recover their mana faster, they were rare as Mages did not have inner force but mana they can gather from surrounding elements!


    She was now confused as to how he got his hands on 2 strictly managed recipe formulas! But she did not ask! He would tell her later when he''s ready! he already trusted her enough by telling her and showing her these facts let alone , she now works beside him and can see all he does! aslo the fact that she now can spend more time with him and get to know him better!

 Joshuas talent

    Cross''s clone now stayed permanently at the mansion with Eric and the others! Harmony and Michael stuck close to him quite a lot! Their bodies now started looking more normal. Michael was a bit buff while Harmony was delicate and shy.


    Cross''s clone job was to focus all his time on studying blacksmithing and indeed this ended up well! at first he read the book 10 times over and he only started to understand the properties of metal and its components! this book was really complicated. Before you even start to smith! you need to understand metal!


    It had tens of thousands of metals! God knows how many metals Ariel encountered to write this much! And each Metal had its properties written! the fire degree required for it to melt! the best temperature to star hammering it ! when to meld its shape and these were only the basics!


    The main part of the technique was using sould force to guide the operation! Cross respected his master more and more each time he understood something new! he found himself extremly babylike in this new world! The book itself was priceless! it was a treasure to any blacksmith!


    It also had notes about expirements of making new metals! This was what Caused Ariel''s death! He found a way to mix essences from different metals into new metal! harder, more durable, stronger and more flexible! it depended on the characteristics of the metals combined! The metallic essence seeped into his life force during an experiment! This caused his corpse to become metallic like a statue later on! Vince did not know this as he had buried him in flesh! This was still way too far out of reach for the current Cross! Another thing was required was a sentient forge and hammer! Which Cross went to pick up himself and pay his respects to his late master! He spent 2 days there thanking him profusely!


    The two brothers also gained another level of profound respect when hearing about this which then inspired Eric to create new medecine as well! He had essence eyes! something never seen before! Making it easier to find compatible herbs!


    This was another normal day! Joshua , the little boy Eric saved out of pity, was now living really happily! He ate really good food, unlike Eric! The others all treated him nicely and did not force him!


    He was really loved, he handled everything they gave him with excitement, and since he helped everyone handle matters , they looked at him more favorably! be it slaves or Core members of the mercenaries!


    He played With Amelia when she was here, but now he plays with harmony and michael.


    One day, Cross sent him to get him a metallic lotus! He immediately ran to Eric , But Eric was in his lab, so he waited until he came out . He then took the lotus back to Cross''s room but Cross was not there!


    He placed the lotus next to the open book and he glanced at it. he saw a hammer going down on a piece of metal and his eyes lightened up!


    This book was not something he could understand , but he seemed to grasp something from that picture! He was always a curious kid, this is why he learnt he read and write just by listening to private teachers! He was the son of a maid working at a household of some officer! And when they caught him eavesdropping they beat him and sent him to the slave market! where he met Eric who saved him from the verge of death!


    he read the book more and more ! he kept flipping pages not noticing cross at the door looking at him with a smile. 2 hours passed and Joshua was still engrossed in the book!


    Cross coughed and Joshua jumped! he Looked at Cross and knew he did something bad! They treated him nicely but he read the young master''s books without his permission. His eyes teared up and he kneeled down!


    "I am sorry young master! please punish me! please do not throw me out!"


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.Cross looked at him and shook his head! then said:


    "If i wanted to throw you out , I wouldn''t wait here for 2 hours!"


    " 2 hours?" Joshua was shocked! he stayed here for 2 hours? he felt it was a minute!


    "so what did you understand? tell me honestly " Cross said with a smile


    " yes, young master!" seeing Cross not angry at him, Joshua was finally relieved. He then started explaining what he understood. THis shocked the living shit out of Cross! This technique required one to have tremendous strength! Yet this little guy took its core and somehow shaped it into his own form of blacksmithing! It had some subtle mistake that Cross noticed but this was not something an ordinary kid could do!


    He started explaing to him what he got wrong! Joshua was very happy seeing his young master helping him and not angry at him! This made him feel blessed! The more they talked the more they saw things from new angles! This was not talk between blacksmithing master but two apprentices sharing their views! Cross allowed Joshua to read the book as much as he wanted making the latter cry with joy!


    They indeed both benefitted from it quite a lot!


    Time passed and Cross asked Joshua :


    " what type of weapon would you forge for yourself?"


    "I don''t know! Something that hits from afar! I don''t like melee fights!"


    " haha! so an archer! then I''ll get Eric to teach you!" Said Cross! He was very pleased with joshua and treated him like a friend! Only Aria, Harmony michael and Joshua knew Cross, Eric and Vince''s names now! but they still did not know they were brothers!


    "Not bow! too big!"


    "haha then what do you want a gun?"


    "what''s a gun?"


    " ah!!" Cross was stumped for words! gun was from his last world.


    "it''s also a weapon that hits from a far! you put bullets which are small piece of metal and they go off just like a bow! but they are smaller and more deadly! its shape is like this!" Cross explained the basic things about guns!


    "but why does no one use such a great weapon!"


    "because it''s a special weapon! and only very very few know about it!"


    "is the gun you drew the only special weapon?"


    "No! there are different kinds! this is a sniper! It strikes from really far away! this is a rifle and it has small range but amazing burst power! This is a ray gun it shoots the inner force of the body as a bullet!" Cross changed the power from the futuristic immaginary weapon to inner force to make it more believable


    Joshua''s eyes lit up! upon seeing these weapons! he was hooked! He asked without thinking:


    " Young master can we make special weapons?"


    " Yes! I think we can! but not now! maybe when we advance more in Blacksmithing!"


    "Young master, I will build a special weapon and fight with you!"


    "haha, then so be it! we shall forge it and Eric shall teach you some techniques as he is the best fighter with range i know!"


    " I will definetly not let the two young masters down!"


    Months passed and Cross and Joshua made the first prototypeof a gun that uses inner force!


    More months passed and a working Gun made from starlight essence and metallic lotus was made but kept as Joshua Trained using the prototype, he was now considered a core member as well as a half disciple to both Cross and Eric.


    He never felt this blessful to belong to family! His mother has abandoned him to the slave market to save her own skin! she did not even plead for him!


    Strange how small events change one''s destiny! If he had not been thrown into the slave market! he would not meet Cross and Eric! And he would not Become the first in history to create another path! The gunner path! A new foundation! watch as he rises above the masses with his created weapon of designs coming from earth and evolves into something much more!

 1 Year 4 months

    16 months passed since the Star meteoric iron! Much happened since then! The trio are now 16 years old! They have broken through to 4 star peak!


    Eric Had gave up on making force increasing medecine! And doubled his efforts into making new medecine! He indeed succeeded! But they have not yet tried them! He made 2 new medecines, Force purifying paste which helps one purify his Inner force making it much more durable and forceful! The second medecine was for mages! This was the real invention! A mana increasing potion! It helps mages increase their mana! This made the difference between talented mages and normal mages shrink by quite a lot! But if talented mages use the potion as well they progress even faster! Before they only relied on meditation!


    For the purifying paste he used herbs that had pure white essence but they were not enough so he added the ones with blue essence , after many combinations he finally found success and started developping that formula!


    For the Potion, he first meditated and Trained his Essence Eyes! 1 month ! he did nothing but that! And he indeed grasped something , he could now see some floating energy with different colors! each belonging to an element! This was mana! He started studying its nature and how it ressembled essence from certain herbs. As such he decided that each potion would be different relying on which element the mage needed!


    Aria had gained some insights during the procedure of processing and concocting this potion! She advanced to 6 star peak and is on the verge of breaking through to the transcendence realm! one step closer to getting her revenge!


    Her relationship with Eric got a lot closer as she now knew of his essence eyes! The shock this brought her was huge! she was working with him everyday, the tea she now prepared is pretty good and food is now edible! They always started working after noon!


    One time Eric came back and had a woman scent on him! She did not let him conduct any expirements on that day! He got interrogated so hard he gave up his ancestor''s information!


    He said a brothel woman wanted to seduce him and he eventually ran away! Aria Ignored him for 2 days! No matter how he apologised or teased her she still ignored him! he Then Bought a sapphire and wrote her name on it like he did to Aurora , she then smiled and talked to him normally! He had to admit that now Aria was quite important to him as well! being with a person everyday for a long time you would start to care about them if they treated you nicely!


    Actually Aria was jealous! She didn''t bare the idea of another woman getting close to him so she got so mad and ignored him!


    The source of the scent was Aurora!! That day was the day where he hugged Aurora as they laid back on the tree! Their relationship was now confirmed! They hang out everyday and enjoyed each other''s company!


    Eric had a new habit! He showered before coming back to the mansion so that Aria would not get mad! He was having a headache about how to handle the situation! He feared the moment the two met!


    If Aurora with her fiery personality knew he took a shower after hugging her and called her a brothel seductress she would tear his ears off their place! Eric now got used to getting scolded for no reason! One time they were going out! she always wore a robe that hid her figure and a veil! Eric saw a woman coming out of a store and her breasts were off the charts! She noticed him goggling them and she chased him down and started casting spells! She was a rare dual attribute wind fire mage! a 6 star one!


    Eric on the other hand pranked her many times! One time he wrote her a letter as he hid with his stealth! The letter said he was going to check on his daughter! Aurora freaked out and beat him silly when he broke out laughing! Another time, he brought the assassin slave he had bought and said she was his fiance ! Aurora then wanted to kill them both! She was a jealous person as well !


    He trained Also Joshua in the night and early morning! This helped joshua have better night vision and upgrade his precision! he gave him pointers on ambushes , different angles of attack the most common things between ranged fighters!


    Joshua would have to develop his own skills regarding this new path he tread! but The trio had high hopes up for him!


    Author note: God Help Azure throne kingdom when Aria and Aurora clash!


    Cross was training hard! He knew that the opening of the ruins was coming soon! and they would need to be as strong as they could! OverDrive now can exert 150% easily and he created a new ability by combining the gravitational force of the sky crushing axe which was now a top 1 star weapon! like all the other soul bound weapons! and the skin strengthening he got from the twin headed snake! As the axe had Earth element he could infuse his inner force into the axe and the gravitational force would react and anything within 2 meters of the axe would have his gravity Doubled! Gravity field with the axe as core!


    His clone was a good way to multi-task! the other two could do it as well but not as effective as Cross who had a doppelganger! his achievements in this one year are unbelievable! He can now make 1 star normal weapon!!! In Just 1 year 4 months!! Usually blacksmiths would spend years before being able to do so! But he was an exception , he had Ariel''s journey to blacksmithing!


    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.Blacksmiths required more power to make more powerful weapons! That''s why only Transcendent realm blacksmiths can make 2 star weapons! and it goes as such! No one knew Ariel''s true realm!


    He made 1 star gun for joshua as Little Joshua did not have the strength to hammer the metals! But this was a variant 1 star since it had metallic lotus and some starlight essence.


    Cross spent his days in the city lord''s mansion rather comfortably! he was really close to his uncle Carter who he always hang out with! Old man dylan also checked on his progress once in a while and had upgraded his rank to a second rank member of the special regiment and gets first rank treatment! He planned for him to join this trip to the ruins.


    Cross''s relationship with Harmony was rather strange! she always liked to sit on his shoulder! even though they had 1 to 2 years difference Cross look older than he really is! Harmony on the other hand looked younger than she really is! 14 year old young lady looking like a 10 year old child! Cross did not have any thoughts towards her! he just let it be! he was not a lolicon!


    The first time she climbed onto his shoulder she was fast and when he wanted to get her down! she immediately moved like a cat and instantly ended up on his other shoulder! no matter how he tried he couldn''t do it ! so he gave up! Harmony laughed and enjoyed playing with him. she was now much more open to him and not shy in the slightest


    Michael looked up to Cross as his Idol but he did not train the axe! He liked fighting with fists and claws style! He could easily smash stones and leave dents on hard metal with just his fists, They had developped their powers as they had started training and they were rather strange and talented!


    In a few days would be their coming of age ceremony!


    Vince progress could be the biggest as he focused and battle only with no blacksmithing nor alchemy!


    He observed lightning that comes from his sword! and saw its movements and grasped the pattern! He also asked Eric to explain to him the lightning essence as much as he could! As such he made a new technique!


    He called it lightning dash! as lightning was not straight this movement was also like that! But it was unbelievably fast! The only thing that allowed him to create this technique was that basic sidestep at full speed. And now with his breakthrough to 4 stars peak, his body could handle a couple more switches at full speed! This was the movement it left multiple after images left and right confusing the opponent! but this was only its basic start!


    When Amelia saw the after Images, she screamed :" Many big brothers!"


    Vince laughed at this. He also noticed that her ability was getting better since she absorbed The soul power at the mansion! there was quite a lot but no one knew where it came from! She can now see Auras about most people more clearly and sense their life force, and some kind of images! Vince had a winged wolf on him! This surprised him a lot! the only ones who knew this were Eric and Cross! So he asked her to look at Coss and she said : " Big Tattooed triple eyed tiger" They remembered the First strange beast they ate but it did not have a third eye! what they did not know was that the tiger was only an infant! Cross had eaten the head! It seems it indeed was no simple tiger!


    Eric had a blurred figure of some wierd bird, she could not see well!


    She had the ability to recognize bloodlines! She had spent every night beside Vince! in this world now! only he existed in her eyes! without him she did not know what to do! At first she did not want to die and wanted to see her unknown father! But now she thought she only needed Vince, he took care of her, bought her anything she liked , took her out to play! Even stopping his training but later she waited for him to finish! until now she never heard him say "no" to her! and she also thought


    that if he asked her for something she would not say "no", but she was only a little kid! waht could he want of her?


    Vince also asked Fiona to lend him books about swordsman ship! she let him see all the books as he pleased! Emilia Brought the books and continued to pester him , but he was a little different to her now since even a bad person can have honest feelings! She had noticed the subtle change and this motivated her! But Vince was not moved, he just treated her a little better!


    Eventually Vince created a new sword style after engrossing him self in those books for a long of time, he had an epiphany! " One sword! a million lives! One strike! one life!"


    He made an extremely simple move, it was unsheathing the sword! This was his fastest strike! By the moment his hand touches the handle! it looks like he just touched it and recalled his hand back but then a tree would fall or stone would be sliced in half!


    He now had hope to develop dual wielding in the future! as he continued to think about ! he knew it was now time to let the Barzotti family and the others of the ruins! Another upheaval is gonna make the city tremble! But then the now 8 year old Amelia told him:


    "Big brother, my awakening is close!"


    "what! you are only 8 years old!"


    " spiritual beings awaken at birth! I am a half breed so I am different ! "


    "Ah why didn''t you tell me earlier! Come I''ll leave you in the mansion with the other 3 kids! I and Cross shall go and hunt you the beasts you need!"


    He knew about the awakening of Harmony and michael but now plans changed! He picked her up and dashed towards the mansion unnoticed!