《Dark historian》 Prologue ¡°Today we celebrate the one hundred and seventy-ninth birthday of our national hero professor Alexander Bates. It was him who understood the dangers we faced and made the virtual reality world so that our proud race could live on. But even today there are rebels who try to destroy the world we have worked so hard to build. Please notify the system if you have information. Any usable information will be rewarded with one hundred thousand credits.¡± George was sitting annoyed in a corner listening to the broadcast. Every night they would play the same clip over and over. Even though George was only fifteen, he knew that the pictures were fake and that the government didn¡¯t know the identity of the rebels. George looked at the camera¡¯s and quickly looked away. ¡®If they knew the faces of the rebels, they could have found them in seconds with the face recognition software.¡¯ George knew that every house had cameras and the government was watching and listening to everything they said. Even though George was fifteen years old, he was really short and thin because of the malnourishment from birth. But even thought he was weak he still had a spark of hope. ¡®Only one more day and I can get out of this hellhole.¡¯ Right as he was thinking that, one of the four capsules opened and a tall and handsome boy stepped out and started to stretch his body and doing the daily exercises. George tried to stay out of his sight hoping that he would forget about him like he sometimes did. But he was not so fortunate tonight. ¡°How are you doing little brother.¡± Said Vincent with a bright smile. If George didn¡¯t know better, he would think his brother was a saint. But Vincent had tormented him from the moment he could walk. If you looked at them, you would think that Vincent was many years older than George but in reality, they were twins. From what the government had told them Vincent was only nine minutes older than George. ¡®Would our position be reversed if I was born first?¡¯ George could not let go of the thought of how his life would have been if he was born first and if he would be different from his brother. Because even though his brother tormented him, his biggest fear was that deep inside he was just like his brother and the only difference was the situation they lived in. He had given up talking to his brother a long time ago. He knew that it wouldn¡¯t make a difference. He had studied human history for fifteen years and knew that his brother was not the type that could be reasoned with and what his true nature was. He also tried to avoid looking at Vincent because it would lessen the chance he would get a beating. And besides, looking at Vincent would only make him angrier anyways. Vincent had the ability to hide his dark side, and because of his handsome face, he looked like a kind and gentle young man. Every teacher they ever had would complement him for the great brother he was and Vincent was smart enough not to hit him where it would be visible. In the beginning, he would complain to his parents and the teachers but nobody believed him. They even went so far to accuse him of self-inflicting the wounds. ¡°Lighten up George, let''s wash up, mom and dad will be back soon.¡± After he said that he turned around and went to the small bathroom that was separated by a curtain. ¡®He has not beaten me in days now, the f*cker is trying to make me stay!¡¯ Just as Vincent was done washing up and changing in his night cloths the two remaining capsules opened and two adults stepped out. Just like Vincent they did their exercises and went to wash up for dinner. George¡¯s relationship with his parents had worsened over the years. His parents were average players who got their dreams of riches and fame beaten out of them by the hard condition on Nash. So like most parents, they tried to pass their dreams onto their son and did whatever it took to make him ready. So from the start, they would give everything they had to Vincent and expected George to do the same because it was his duty as a member of the family. Because the time that one player can stay in the game is related to how healthy the body is and how much your mind can handle, it was not long before Vincent would get most of George¡¯s portions. At first, his father would apologize to him and say that he never intended him so suffer like this. Because of the overpopulation, every family could only have two children. Most families that had the same income as George¡¯s parents would only have one child until the first one was old enough to support himself. But because they were twins the family had to feed two children instead of one, and because his mother had to stay in the real world and take care of them until they were old enough their income was cut in half.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. The time in the virtual reality world worked differently from the time in the real world. Every day the capsule could be used for twelve hours what was equal to five days in the virtual reality world. But because of the malnourishment, George could only stay for two days before he was automatically released because of his bodies stress levels. But George didn¡¯t care, the training world was a white room where the students could study about everything known to human kind. There were also programs where they learned different martial arts. The more parents paid the more children could learn to prepare them for Nash. All the extra money his parents made went to teach Vincent and he could only use the standard free library. His parents didn¡¯t really care what he did so most of the time he would read books that interested him. Vincent, on the other hand, was spending most of his time studying martial arts and weapon training. Parents are not allowed to talk to the children or each other about the game itself because that would give them an advantage. They could only tell them what they needed to learn to prepare for the day they turned sixteen. Every home is planted with camera¡¯s and word recognition software so if the rules where broken the player would most likely be executed, at least that¡¯s what everyone thought because nobody came back to tell the tale. But George still loved his family and even though he didn¡¯t agree, he understood that his parents were trying to make them have a comfortable live in the future. It was not until they were twelve and Vincent started to beat him that he started to hate his family. In the beginning, he would tell his mother that Vincent had done, but that never worked and only made Vincent angrier. So he started to retreat into his own world and the only time he felt comfortable was the time he was alone. He started to fantasize about another life and how it would be if he never had a brother and was free to see the world. It was not until he was fourteen that his mother caught Vincent beating George for the first time. George was waiting for this day, now his mother would know what kind of a monster Vincent was and how he had made his live a living hell for the past two years. But that was the night he found out that nothing would change even if they knew. She had made her choice and said that it was Vincent¡¯s right as the older brother to educate George. He now understood that the only reason he was even left alive was because he was a backup for if Vincent were to die, and felt the burden he was in the eyes of his parents. It was not long after that, that Vincent started to ridicule him in front of his parents and there were even occasions where they would join him. Like usual Vincent and his parents were eating and chatting about exited they were about tomorrow. This was the day they had been waiting for and wanted Vincent to be ready. George¡¯s portion was even smaller than usual because tomorrow was the big day and Vincent even got part of his parent''s food. ¡°You look hungry George, here eat some of mine.¡± Vincent gave a bright smile and put a small piece of meat on George¡¯s plate. George gave a smile back and took a bite of the meat. He knew what Vincent was trying to do and played his part. Because of the constant harassment, George had learned to be on constant alert and had learned to read people and play his part. ¡®Eaten your scraps makes me want to puke, but I will endure. One more day¡­ just one more day¡¯ George kept reminding himself that this was the last night, and he knew that this was the first decision in his live Vincent had no say over. ----------------------- The next morning was like every other day. The chip planted in his head woke him up at seven and like always he could not go back to sleep. ¡®The government has taken over our lives to the extent that I can¡¯t even decide when I want to wake up¡¯ This was a regular complaint he had, but over the years George had learned to hide his taught because if the cameras could even read your face and any complaints against the government was treason. Nobody knew the punishment for treason because you would never come back to tell it. George had this train of thought every morning and for a second forgot what day it was. His parents woke up with excitement in their eyes. Even Vincent who always had a cold look had an existing look on his face. Most adults were used to a standard routine that they did every day. The chip in their head was planted on birth and has basic health functions like checking if you''re alive. Because the outside world was still toxic and everybody stayed inside, the government needed a system to see who is alive and who needs to be burned. The other thing it does is control your sleep, every night at eleven the body would go to sleep automatically and would wake up at seven in the morning. Most people have two hours to prepare before entering the virtual world and two hours after they exit. But because George couldn¡¯t stay the full five days he would exit the machine after only six hours. And had to wait for another six for everyone else to exit. Their house was really small and only had two rooms, a small bathroom, and a living room. After they woke up his parents went to order the standard breakfast but today they got a little extra because it was Vincent¡¯s first day. Meals can be bought with money and would be teleported every morning and evening prepared. The more money you have the higher quality food you can buy. After eating they started with their morning exercises. The sound that could not be shut off guided them every morning and by now felt like a part of their life. George couldn¡¯t understand why the first day was so important. He had seen his parents enter the virtual world a thousand times and they never were as excited as they were today. Just as he was thinking what could make today so important he heard the alarm that told everyone to enter the virtual reality world. Chapter 1: New World Before George entered the machine he looked back one more time, not knowing if he would ever see this house again. Usually, Vincent would have a chat with him every day before they entered the virtual reality world, but today he seemed to absent minded to think about George. For some reason, this made George even angrierlike he didn¡¯t exist in the eyes of his brother. After entering George entered the tutorial world where he came every day. George couldn¡¯t see anything except the white room but could feel a difference from the last time he was here. A screen appeared in front of George with a yes or no option on it. Even though he has never entered NASH, he had lived in the tutorial world for a really long time and had seen screens pop up many times. George moved his finger to press yes but his hand was shaking. Even though he knew a long time ago that he would leave after he turned sixteen he was still afraid of being alone. But he decided to take a chance and hope that he would be in a better place. Just as George pressed yes his capsule was teleported out of his parent¡¯s house without him knowing. -------------------------- Before George knew what was happening the white world started to collapse around him. He was standing in a big open space full of grass and flowers. It felt totally different from the tutorial. He could feel the heat from the sun and the breeze from the wind. In front of him was a town with at the center a big castle. From the moment George was born he had never experienced something like this. He had never left his house and didn¡¯t have the money to visit anywhere but the tutorial world. George had read and seen pictures of grass and trees but this was the first time he was seeing it with his own eyes. He was amazed how real it looked. After looking around for a while George came back to his senses. He started to look for a clue on what he needed to do now. He was put in the game with no objective or any advice. What George didn¡¯t know is that the game had turned into the real world for most of the players. They would spend most of their lives in the game and to them if felt more real than the small homes they had to return to every five days. After thinking for a little while and scanning the area George decided to walk toward the town. He could not see inside the town because of the high walls but he could see the big castle so high it felt like it could touch the clouds. George had never seen anything this big and felt like he was experiencing a brand new world. The town was surrounded by a big empty field of grass with some houses and farms surrounding it. He didn¡¯t know why but the feeling he got from the castle was different from the other buildings. Behind the castle was a big forest that looked like it has no end. There was nothing in the surrounding so he started to pay attention to himself. It was incredible, he still felt the shoulder pain he always had from the time Vincent pushed him against the wall. The next thing he noticed was the clothes he was wearing. It was a simple set of brown clothes with white shoes. Even though it was thin he didn¡¯t feel cold because of the sun shining so brightly. After walking for a while he came a little closer to the town. George had a weak body and was out of breath really quickly. So he sat down to take a rest before starting to move again. He couldn¡¯t see where the entrance was but he found a path and decided that it was his best chance to find the entrance quickly. After walking for another hour he found the entrance of the town and saw two men guarding it. They didn¡¯t look that old and were wearing leather armor. Both had a long spear and were standing in front of the entrance.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Halt! identify yourself.¡± The man on the right had a serious look on his face as he pointed his spear at George. ¡°My name is George Noir, I just turned sixteen and entered NASH for the first time.¡± The man on the left had a big smile on his face as he knew what was happening. ¡°Follow me.¡± Said the grumpy guard. After entering the town George started to look around. The inside of the town surprised him. It was completely different from the castle. George had never smelled anything this bad before and had a hard time keeping up with the guards. Most buildings were made out of straw and wood and everything looked old. After walking for a while they entered the inner part of the city. The bad smell was replaced with thesmell of fresh bread. The castle was surrounded by stone buildings some bigger than others. The biggest one was right next to the castle and had barracks written on it. After entering the barracks the grumpy guard gave a look at the other guards sitting around a table laughing, he started to walk towards a man in blue clothes who was sitting at a desk writing. ¡°Sir we have a newcomer who arrived today. But if you ask me he doesn¡¯t look like a big catch.¡± The man in blue gave George a quick look and went back to writing. ¡±We don¡¯t pay you to think, if you had a brain you would have taken him to the academy instead of bringing him here wasting my time.¡± ¡°But sir you told me to bring you the new recruits first before sending them off to the academy.¡± The grumpy guard said with a little fear in his eyes. ¡°Seems like your ears are just a useless as the rest of you. I said to bring me interesting newcomers, not a small boy who looks like a twelve-year-old.¡± Said the man in blue with a cold voice. He looked young but George could see a confident look in his eyes that he was a little jealous of. ¡°Yes sir, I will do that at once. Please excuse me for wasting your time.¡± The Grumpy guard quickly pushed George out and started to walk away. His mood became worse and he even started to mumble beneath his breath. ¡®Like I¡¯m supposed to know what he means by interesting. They are all new brats,so what can be so interesting about them. Every time I bring a new snotnose to him he scolds me.¡¯ Every time this happened he promised himself that next time he would bring the kid to the academy, but he didn¡¯t know that the commander meant by interesting, and knew that this little scolding was nothing next to the beating he would get if he brought the interesting one to the academy first. That¡¯s why over time he had come to hate newcomers. George was really good at reading situations and decided not to anger the grumpy guard more than he already was. Al this time with Vincent had thought him how to become invisible. Even though his feet hurt he followed the guards without any complaints and tried to make as little sound as possible. Luckily for him, the academy was not far from the barracks and they arrived quickly. The guard started to look around impatiently and went inside to take a look. After they passed the entrance port of the academy George saw an old man cleaning the floor with a broom. In the real world, the houses are cleaned automatically every day so he has never seen anyone clean before. George didn¡¯t know how they did it but every day when he came back the house would be spotless. Even their clothes would be cleaned for them. ¡°Old man, I have a newcomer.¡± The old man looked up for the first time and took a long look at George like he was measuring him up. He had a smile on his face like he had no care in the world. ¡°What do you want me to do with him?¡± The grumpy guard started to get annoyed again and pushed George forward. ¡°My job was to bring him to the academy, you can send him to hell for all I care.¡± After he said that he started to walk away mumbling underneath his breath. The old man started to laugh like he was expecting the man to say that and started to clean again. Every now and then he would give George a look and start cleaning again. George didn¡¯t know what to do, but he was tired and waited for the old man to finish his task. He didn¡¯t like to confront people and thought that the old man would get to him when he was done with cleaning. So he decided to go to the stairs and take a seat. After sitting down he started to inspect the academy. It was a little smaller than the barracks but still had that grand look to it. The academy was made out of three buildings that were connected by bridges on the second floor connecting them. Every building had his own entrance but only the middle one had academy written on it. After the old man was done cleaning he put his broom away and started to walk toward George with the same smile on his face. ¡°Follow me, I will bring you to the entrance exam.¡± As they were walking to the central building George started to look around. He could see some students and teachers but the building was emptier than he had expected. ¡°Let me give you a piece of advice newcomer, I don¡¯t know where you¡¯re from, but here you need to take action to get what you want. Don¡¯t wait for it to be handed to you because that will never happen. The only question you need to answer yourself now is, do you know what you want?¡± The old man gave George an interesting look and slowed his pace because he saw George was getting tired. for the first time, George started to think about this question. Until now it was only about surviving, he didn¡¯t have the luxury to think about things like dreams. Chapter 2: aptitude test The old man didn¡¯t talk anymore seeing George think and had an amused look on his face. After a while, they entered a room with a big blue crystal at the center. ¡°The first year teacher is out on the first session day hunt, so you will have to wait for him to return. But why do I get the feeling you are no stranger to waiting. I need to get back to work, just wait here and don¡¯t touch anything.¡± After leaving George was alone again, he started to look around and there was nothing else except a desk and the blue crystal at the center of the room. Time past and before he knew it he was sitting alone for almost the whole day. But George didn¡¯t care, he was used to being alone. He never felt safe except when he was alone in the tutorial world reading books and found people bothersome. Even when he came back to the real world he would just sit around and think about things he had read today. Just as he was in thought a man entered the room. the man looked young and except for his brother he was the most handsome man he had ever seen. The man was wearing a simple set of black clothes and had a smile on his face. ¡°My name is Solomon, you can call me teacher. I will be your mentor for the first year. Before we start the aptitude test, I will tell you a little about this place. First of all, it is not mandatory to enter the academy, if you want you can walk out of this building go to the town square and try your luck there. That¡¯s why we always explain the rules before we do the aptitude test. Entering the academy is free but students need to pay for lessons. Attending scheduled classes cost less than private lessons of course. Students need to decide themselves which lessons they want to follow. It¡¯s important to think hard before you decide to follow a class because there are no refunds. It''s required to follow at least three lessons every session year to stay in the academy. The academy has dorm rooms that students can use for a cost, but students can decide to stay outside the academy if they can find anything cheaper. But most of the time students stay at the academy for the first couple of years. There is also a hunt every session day. The hunt is for newcomers to practice hunting with the teacher until they get strong enough to hunt alone. Of course, this also will cost a small fee. It also works the other way around, older students can offer their service to the academy for the hunt and earn some money in the process. Students that prove themselves are even invited to join big houses. Even though you can enter wine forest as you wish I warn you not to enter on your own because the chances of dying are far too great. Don¡¯t think that death has no consequences because it¡¯s a virtual reality world. When someone dies they are not allowed back in the same area for more than two session years. If you get killed by monsters you will lose everything you carry including your money and be sentto another area that¡¯s close to your level. But if you get killed by humans not only will you lose your belongings and a level, you will also lose your freedom for two session years. If you¡¯re lucky you will be sold as a city worker like grandpa Wilton who works as a cleaner at the academy. Another option is that you will be sold as a slave to the big families and have to do as they command. Only after two session years are you allowed to start your journey again and will you get back the strength you lost five years ago. Do you have any questions so far?¡± George hadn¡¯t said a word and was listening carefully to everything Solomon was telling him. So when Solomon asked him the question he was surprised and tried to think of the question most important for his situation. ¡°I don¡¯t have any money, is there a way to earn any? And what is a session year?¡± Solomon gave a little smile like he expected the question and started to explain. ¡°Even though it¡¯s not allowed to talk about NASH outside, it is allowed to give family members money. So that¡¯s a way to pay for everything. If not you can take a job from the academy registry. But with your experience, you can only do low-level jobs like cleaning or working in the wine factory which only pays one credit a day. The room at the academy cost one credit every five days and you need another two credits to pay for food. So you can use the nights and the other two days to improve yourself. In the beginning, it''s best to work every day as you need money for classes. But after a while, you will find out that earning money will become easier.¡±This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. What the teacher didn¡¯t know is that George could only stay inside of Nash for two and half days because of his weak body. So it was almost impossible to save any money. ¡°As for session years, that¡¯s really simple. Every year that passes in the real world is five years in NASH. So instead of using five years, we use session years. So you, for example, are sixteen session years and one session day old. So, do you want to join the academy or do you want to find your own way?¡± George didn¡¯t have any high expectations and for him having a bed and enough to eat was good enough. He didn¡¯t know how he was going to pay for the three lessons but that was something he could worry about later. ¡°I want to join the academy.¡± Solomon gave a nod and started to walk towards the big crystal at the center of the room. ¡°Place your hand on the crystal to check your aptitude. This will help me decide what the best course of action is in helping you get stronger. Of course, it¡¯s up to you if you want to use my advice.¡± George walked towards the big crystal and put his hand on the crystal. There was a little pain but nothing George couldn¡¯t handle. Seeing no reaction after George put his hand on the crystal made Solomon a little surprised. George heard the same voice in his head as this morning when he entered the tutorial. ¡®yes¡¯ Name Red Giant Level 1 Class none Job archaeologist characteristics:
Vitality 0
Strength 0
Intelligence 0
Chance 0
Agility 0
Stats:
Heath 30
Mana 30
Prospecting 100
> After seeing the results Solomon shook his face. An average newcomer would have sixty health instead of thirty. And most new students would also have points gained from the training programs they followed in the tutorial world. He didn¡¯t know what had happened but he knew that George had a hard childhood. But he also had a confused look on his face. ¡°It seems like you were gifted with a legacy. But I have never seen the job archaeologist so I can¡¯t help you understand it right now. But it has taken one of your three job spots so be careful not to pick other jobs lightly because you can¡¯t replace them. I will try to find anything I can about this ability of yours so I can help guide you. If you want to find out more about legacy¡¯s you can go to the library buy the beginners guide. The beginner''s guide can be bought for one credit at the library. I advise you to get it as soon as possible.¡± It also looks like your body is really weak. With these scores, your body won¡¯t hold longer than two maybe three days a session. The name you see on the screen is your secret name. You are the only one who can see it. Even the academy will not ask for your secret name. As for why its secret and why it''s necessary you will find out later when you read the beginners guide. George was getting a little bit annoyed, it looked like everything costs money. Seems like the saying is true, nothing in the world is free. Even though Solomon¡¯s tone didn¡¯t change he had a sympathetic look in his eyes. He had heard of people like George but never seen a newcomer with this kind of health before. ¡°The first thing you need to do right now is strengthening your real body. When you do that your health will start to increase until it reaches sixty. I will give you some extra exercises to practice every night and you will need to start increasing your food over time. But to do that you need a job, I will help you look for one tomorrow. Come look for me tomorrow morning, it''s late and the shops are closed. Go find grandpa Wilton, he will guide you to your room. Try to get a good night of sleep you will need the rest.¡± After exiting the room George went to look for grandpa Wilton. After a while he found him cleaning a classroom not far away. Again he waited for grandpa Wilton to finish his cleaning before asking him about his room. Grandpa Wilton had the same smile on his face like always and started to guide George to his room. ¡°What is your name boy?¡± ¡°It¡¯s George.¡± ¡°You sure don¡¯t waste words. Let me explain the situation at the academy to you. There are three buildings here, the central building is the academy itself where everyone follows classes. The building to the left is the girl''s dorm and the building to the right is the guy''s dorm. It is forbidden for guys to enter the girl''s dorm and of course the other way around. If you get caught sneaking into the girl''s dorm you will be punished by having to pay a fine and house arrest for a session day. For second or third session year students thatsdoable but to you, it means starving to death. So don¡¯t try anything stupid.¡± After walking for a while grandpa Wilton stopped in front of a room. he used his key to open the door. ¡°This is your room for tonight, tomorrow you will be put in another room with the other students but for tonight you can stay here.¡± Not expecting George to react grandpa Wilton quickly left. George was alone again inside the small room. The room had nothing except for a small bed and a wooden desk and chair. George was tired of the long day. He had never walked as much as he had done today. He didn¡¯t understand why but his body reacted the same way as it would when he was doing the daily exercises. Lying in bed George started to think about the events that had happened today and didn¡¯t know what to expect from tomorrow. He also was interested in what the archaeologist meant and what it could do. Because of his weak body and the long day he had it didn¡¯t take long before he was sound asleep. Chapter 3: New job The next morning George woke up well rested. It felt like the best night of sleep in his entire life. This was the first time he to woke up himself instead of the chip waking him up at exactly seven in the morning. He didn¡¯t know why he needed to sleep in NASH while he didn¡¯t in the tutorial world but he felt refreshed like it was the first real sleep of his entire life. After washing his face and putting his clothes back on he started to look for teacher Solomon. After looking around for a while he found grandpa Wilton and with his help found the route to the teacher¡¯s offices. George had never seen so many people in one place. Everyone was walking from class to class and busy with their daily routine. But to George it felt uncomfortable with so many people around him, so he started to hasten his pace to the third floor. After arriving at the third floor he started to look on the doors to find his teachers name. The third floor was much more quite because it''s where the teacher¡¯s offices are. Every office has a mailbox where students can use to send requests,like lessons or company for the hunt. After finding the room George knocked on the door but there was no answer. George didn¡¯t know what to do, he could go ask grandpa Wilton or could stay here and wait for Solomon to arrive. He decided on the second and sat down next to Solomon¡¯s office. As he was sitting a young girl around his age started to walk toward him. She had black hair and decent looks. She had a mean looking expression but you could see kindness in her eyes. ¡°Why are you sitting in front of teacher¡¯s office?¡± She said with a cold voice. ¡°My name is George, I¡¯m a newcomer. The teacher told me to look for him after I wake up.¡± Like always George explained without talking much and went back into his own thoughts. Seeing this the girl felt annoyed and started to bite her lips. ¡°Teacher is busy all day and told me to take you to your new job. Still, don¡¯t understand why the teacher has to find you a job if you can¡¯t even do that what good are you?¡± George stood up and waited to follow the girl to his new job. The girl got suppressed seeing no response from George and started to mumble beneath her breath. ¡®Can it be that he really is slow?¡¯ She tried to start a conversation a couple of times but seeing no reaction got bored pretty soon and started to quicken the pace. George had trouble keeping up but did his best not the anger the young girl and followed her outside of the academy. ¡°Listen up kid, the teacher told me to explain a couple of things to you before we arrive at the winery.¡± George got a little bit annoyed at the way she was talking. Looking at her he knew that they were the same age and she would probably be in the same year as he was. But she was calling him a kid and acting like she was the senior. But he still didn¡¯t say anything, it looked like she was about to tell him something important and if he angered her he could lose this chance. ¡°Later when you read the beginners guide you will find out a lot about how Towns and cities work but for now I will teach you the basics. Information like this cost one credit but you¡¯re lucky. The teacher likes you and told me to tell you the basics. Every town is under control of one clan, in this town, it¡¯s the Trust clan with lord Trust as the town mayor. Besides of the trust clan, there are two other clans who have high influence, the Hoopers and the Gullies. The Hooper clan is put in charge of town security and is the clan that commands the barracks. The Gully clan, on the other hand, owns many big shops and is the wealthiest besides the Trust clan. You can recognize them by the color of clothes they are wearing. The Hooper family only wears blue clothes and nobody else is allowed to dress in blue in Wine town. These rules also apply for yellow worn by the Trust clan and green worn by the Gully clan. You need to be really respectful when you see someone dressed in these colors. You need to make sure you don¡¯t offend anyone from these families because that will mean your expulsion from Wine Town or if you¡¯re lucky your death.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. The other thing teacher told me to tell you is how the auction house and the bank work. Almost everything in town is controlled clans except for the auction house and the bank. These two are governed by NASH itself and are the only two shops in town that don¡¯t have a city worker. I do advise you to store your important possessions in the bank before going on a hunt. Anything stored in the bank won¡¯t disappear after you die and can be held save. But the bank also has some disadvantages. You can only store forty different items for free before you need to pay a fine. If for example, you have forty-one items, you will need to pay one credit every time you access your bank. The amount will stay the same until you reach fifty items and then you will need to pay two credits, by sixty you need to pay three credits and so on until you reach a hundred which is the max amount you can store. If you want to store more you will need to upgrade your bank, but that is something you don¡¯t have to worry about for now. I advise you not to add more than forty items in your bank because as you will find out you will need to visit the bank almost every day. The second disadvantage is that your possessions won¡¯t move with you to a new town or city. Every location has its own bank and you will need to move your possessions manually if you ever decide to move to another town or become strong enough to travel to the cities. It also means that if you die you won¡¯t be able to get your possessions back for two session years. This also works the same way with the auction houses. The auction house is pretty straightforward. You can put anything you own for auction and buy anything at the auction house. The auction house uses your secret name as the buyer or seller to protect your identity. Whatever you do, don¡¯t tell anyone your secret name because someone can kill you for your possessions. You never know who greedy enough to commit murder for a quick buck. And because of the two session year punishment, you won¡¯t be able to come back and get your revenge. And even if you find him after the two session years you won¡¯t be able to do anything because of how behind you are after two years as a slave or city worker.¡± The young girl seems self-obsessed with her own story and didn¡¯t pay much attention to George. She had the task to tell him about the town if he listened of not would be his responsibility. George was taking in the information and trying to remember everything as good as possible. While he was doing that they arrived before a big building with dozen chimneys on it. Just like the academy and barracks it had written on it. ¡°This is Gully¡¯s winery; you will be working here. Remember that teacher recommended you. So your actions are a reflection on the academy. You need to do your best not to bring shame to teacher¡¯s name. I also work here, if you have any questions you can come to me for help.¡± The young girl nodded her head while she said that and entered the winery. The winery was full of distillery¡¯s and the smell of wine was overpowering. ¡°Old man Levy, this is the newcomer teacher send to work here at the winery.¡± The old man looked down from the ladder he was standing on and looked judgingly at George. After a while, his mouth turned into a little smile and started to come down from the ladder. ¡°What is this you have brought me, Liz. Even though I told Solomon that I needed help, I didn¡¯t mean he should send me a ten-year-old.¡± Liz and the old man laughed at the same time and looked over at George. But like always George had no reaction. Which made the old man surprised and Liz annoyed. ¡°Old man, he doesn¡¯t talk much. But if teacher recommended him he should be up to the task.¡± The old man had a look of confusion on his face as he didn¡¯t know what to do with George. Even though he needed help he didn¡¯t want someone to be in the way and make it worse than it already was. He was still behind in the orders and needed help. The Gully clan expects him to deliver and he had asked Solomon for help, but he had sent them a small kid who didn¡¯t even talk. But he had good results with Liz so he decided to give it a try. ¡°The annual wine feast is near and I don¡¯t have the time to teach him right now. Liz will teach you how to make wine. Next session day you can try making your own batch and I will decide if you are worth my time.¡± After he said that he gave Liz a nod and started to go back up the ladder again. Liz gave George a look and started to shake her head. She thought that when they got here she would be rid of him, but it seems like she was stuck with him for at least four more days. ¡°Follow me, I will teach you how to make wine. I don¡¯t have time to repeat myself, if you want to work here you need to be quick on your feet and have a sharp mind.¡± Chapter 4: Memory ¡°We''re already late, let''s start.¡± For the first time, Liz had a serious expression on her face. She picked up the pace and started to walk toward the fermenting tanks. ¡°The grapes are delivered at the beginning of each session day. Here we press the grapes and make the wine. You need to pick the grapes for the wine yourself and see which one is the best for the wine you to make today. You can do this by measuring the sugar level and see if it goes with the wine you''re making. At the winery, we make wine all year around. We are the biggest exporter of wine to the other towns. After the grapes are crushed with the crusher we put the liquid in these big fermenting tanks. These fermenting tanks are different from anything you have seen before. They are made by a master craftsman and are able to speed up the time it takes for the fermentation to finish. Normally it would cost between one to three session days to finish a batch but whit these fermenting tanks it can be done in just one day, so you can finish five batches every session day. First, you need to ferment the wine. Each kind wine has its own recipe and there are other tasks that need to be done, like letting the wine out to breath or checking the wine for sugar and alcohol levels. Our job is a lot easier than that of real winemakers. Old man Levy has already decided on the recipe and has written them on the wine manual, your only job is to check which type of wine you need to make and follow the instructions. Both of us are put in charge of five fermenting tanks. If all wine in the five fermenting tanks is correctly fermented and too old man Levy¡¯s liking, you will make two credits every day. You¡¯re pretty lucky to get a job like this from the start, most of the new players are put in the farms where they collect grapes all day and only make one credit a day. But you also need to be careful and do your work correctly. Because if even one of the five batches is not to old man Levy¡¯s liking you won¡¯t get paid.¡± After explaining everything to George Liz started her daily routine. George followed her around and watched carefully everything she did. After finishing her routine she had to wait for a couple of hours for the next step. So she took George to the back to show him the books. ¡°This is the study room. In here you can find anything about wine and how it¡¯s made. You need to study everything so you can be prepared for any situation. This job can be your savior but it can also be your undoing. I have seen people work here for weeks without making even a single credit. Most of the new people give up after just one or two weeks. There are a hundred types of recipes, and as you will find out soon that remembering them all will be very challenging. But until you can make at least ten good batches you only need to make the standard red wine recipe that¡¯s described in chapter two. Read it with care before you give it a try tomorrow.¡± After showing George around Liz went back to check on the wine. George was sitting there alone reading the manual. It talked about many different kinds of wines and ingredients that could be used to make it. It didn¡¯t take him long to learn the first recipe and about the history of winemaking. Even though it had many small steps that were hard to remember it wasn¡¯t hard for George at all. George was a little bit nervous but after reading the first chapters he started to calm down. George always had a good memory, and over the years had learned to memorize important things. The reason that it was so much harder for the others was because of their upbringing. Most parents wanted their children to be successful so made them spend most of their time practicing martial arts or weapon training. This meant that a number of intellectuals in NASH were pretty low. The other thing George learned was that everyone could practice the basic jobs of their village. This was necessary because of the jobs at starting towns. For example, if everyone that entered wine town had to learn winemaking as their first job it would mean that one out of every hundred newcomers would be a winemaker. This would also happen in the other starting towns, and many jobs would become useless because of the overpopulation. To avoid this, it¡¯s possible to practice every job at the beginner level. For example, if a real winemaker and George made the same wine George¡¯s would be inferior even if they did exactly the same thing. Another thing is that the chance of failure is greater when you don¡¯t possess the job. Luckily the wine that George had to make was really simple and if made correctly would be successful one hundred percent of the time.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. It also talked about winemakers that are masters and can even make wine that boost your stats temporary, there are even legends about grandmaster winemakers that can make a wine that boosts your stats permanently, but that has not been seen for over seven hundred years. After reading for two hours George got a little bored. The book was full of recipes and nothing else. It only took him two hours to memorize the first twenty recopies of the hundred that was described and he could always come back and finish the rest later. He decided to look around the room for other interesting books. After looking around for a while he found a miniature fermentation tank made completely out of a substance he could not identify. He didn¡¯t know what it was but even though it was old and didn¡¯t look special it had a majestic feeling. Just as George was close enough to touch it his head started to hurt like never before. If George didn¡¯t have the resistance, he had built over the years he would have already fainted. Just as the sharp pain started to reduce a screen popped in front of his eyes. George looked at the text in front of him with surprise. At first, he thought that he had read wrong because of the immense pain, but after reading it again he started to doubt the screen in front of him. Everyone knew that NASH was created by Alexander Bates one hundred forty-nine years ago. And that even if you counted every session day in NASH it would only come to seven hundred and fifty-four years. So how could this item be so old? After thinking about it for a little while he decided to give up and think about the problem at hand. What is this memory and what if the pain would return after he activates the memory? But he decided to activate it anyways, this could be a good chance to learn something and his curiosity was stronger than his fear of pain. ¡®yes¡¯ Just as he was preparing himself for pain the world around him started to collapse like it did when he entered NASH. Before he knew what was happening he was standing in a big room made completely of stone. Even the chairs and tables were made of stone and the room was lighted with strange crystals surrounding the room. At the center of the room stood a young boy looking up at a middle-aged man, who was holding the apprentice fermentation tank. The middle-aged man had a look in his eyes, that George had never seen before. It was the first time George felt inferior to someone when it came to knowledge. He didn¡¯t know if it was because of the archaeology skill but he could feel the strength coming off from the man. It felt like he could wipe out Wine town with one move from his fingers. He was wearing a white robe with strange markings on it and was holding a staff that looked like a magic wand. Even though he could see them it didn¡¯t feel like they could see him. So George started to walk closer to hear them talk. ¡°We are entering unknown times my student. This apprentice fermentation tank was given to me by my master when I was your age, I wanted to give it to you when you were ready but this may be the last time I see you in a very long time. I have been working as a winemaker for more than fifty thousand years and feel I like my dream of becoming a legendary winemaker will be left for you to complete. The big move is about to start and I will do everything I can to make sure you and your family remain safe. But if by chance we are never to meet again my boy, I will give you one last piece of advice. Don¡¯t let tradition and habit cloud your eyes. We old fool are stuck with our traditions and don¡¯t have the vision to change the profession of winemaking. But you are young and are not bound by the old ways. Try new ideas how crazy they may seem and revolutionize the profession of winemaking. My dream is that one day you can become a legendary winemaker and will be known around the world as my Thaddeus Packard¡¯s student.¡± After saying that the middle-aged man put his hand on little Johns hair and had a big smile on his face. John was looking at his master without blinking and had tears in his eyes. ¡°Don¡¯t cry my child, you need to be strong for your family. Take this memory stone, it contains my life¡¯s work. Use it to learn and add new ideas, and one day pass it on to your student. Go now my child, the move is starting soon and you will need to be ready.¡± Right at that moment, the memory ended and George was standing in the small study in front of the apprentice fermentation tank. < archaeologist level 2> George¡¯s head was still hurting and he didn¡¯t see the screen notification. After leaving the memory his thought became hazy and he couldn¡¯t concentrate on anything. He went back to the table and after sitting down fell asleep. Chapter 5: research Another two hours passed before Liz came to get George. It was already six thirty and the winery was closing. They would usually close sooner but because Liz had to wait for George to wake up this morning they were a little late so the winery they stayed open until she finished her daily batch. Liz had a big smile on her face as she had done a great day of work and had just gotten paid. As she opened the door she saw George sleeping on the desk. She started to bite her lips again and making a first in her hand. She didn¡¯t know why but every time she was with George he would annoy her. When she reached him she took her fist and hit him hard on the head. George felt a sharp pain in his head and woke up. For a second he thought he was home and with Vincent so he changed his posture and didn¡¯t move his head back up. Seeing his reaction made Liz feel a little guilty. She turned around and tried to calm herself down. ¡°I brought you here to study not to sleep! If you fail tomorrow not only will you shame yourself but you will also bring shame to teacher¡¯s name and the academy. It''s late, get up we are going back to the academy. Take the book with you and study a little before going back to sleep.¡± Liz had given up talking to George and showed him the way back to the academy. ¡°Tomorrow we start at eight in the morning so don¡¯t be late. Use the alarm command for waking up, it works just like the chip.¡± After saying their goodbyes George started to walk back to his room. As he opened the door there was a note and a pair of clothes on the desk. It was a note from his teacher telling him that he was too busy with academy matters and that he didn¡¯t have the time to arrange a room for him. And that he would make sure one was ready before the next session day started. Another note had instructions on it about what kind of food he had to buy and which exercises he needed to do to strengthen his body. He told him that he shouldn¡¯t expect an immediate result and that damage done over many years could not be fixed in a day, so he needs to be patient. There was also a letter for Levy and three credits for him to use before the next session starts. George didn¡¯t know why his teacher was so nice to him. He also knew that his teacher waited one session day to handle his forms because now he wouldn¡¯t need to pay the room fee of one credit. It gave him a good but strange feeling knowing someone was looking out for him. He promised himself to return the favor one day and started to study the manual to not bring shame to his teacher¡¯s name. After studying for another three hours George decided to go to bed. He had already memorized more than fifty of the one hundred precipices and still felt weak from everything that had happened today. Just as Liz had thought him he used the alarm command and he put in the time he wanted to wake up. He took off the clothes he had on and before he could start to think about Today¡¯s events his eyes closed and he fell asleep. The next morning, he woke up at exactly seven in the morning. George had visited the winery only once and didn¡¯t want to be late on his second day. He also didn¡¯t know how much time he had before he was sent out of NASH. After washing his face, he put on his new pair of clothes and started to walk towards the winery. It was a little quieter in town but he could still see people running around working, the bakeries had opened and were preparing freshly baked bread and pastries. The smell of freshly baked bread hit Georges nose and he really felt like eating some. Even though players didn¡¯t need to eat in Nash and didn¡¯t get hungry it was still common for everyone to eat every day. Because of how affordable it is to buy food like bread and drinks like wine or ale. Rich clans even have their own chefs who prepare meals for them every day.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Especially the wine was really popular, having the same effect in Nash as it has in the real world people tend to drink a lot of it. Especially because I didn¡¯t have the dangerous it has in the real world. The feeling of being drunk was simulated by Nash itself and players didn¡¯t get any brain or liver damage, physical addiction is also not possible. For one credit you could get one hundred pieces of common bread or nine liters of wine so players only needed to buy it once in every couple of session weeks and could enjoy themselves with good food and drinks every night. But it wasn¡¯t a luxury George could afford being a newcomer and already three credits in debt. Arriving at the winery George started looking for Levy. Solomon had asked him to give him a letter and he didn¡¯t know how much time he had before he was sent out today. After he found Levy and delivered the letter and waited for his instructions. ¡°What! That¡¯s what I needed, a broken boy. If only I hadn¡¯t asked him a favor back then, I wouldn¡¯t be stuck here with a broken kid and no time to spare.¡± Levy didn¡¯t realize he had yelled and looked at George with a little shame in his eyes. Seeing no reaction from George he signed and started to think what he should do. ¡°It seems like you will disconnect soon, so it¡¯s not possible to make wine today. Your master asked me to send you to the library to buy the beginners guide, I don¡¯t have the time to take you but here is a map of the town and you can find the way on your own. This map is worth two credits so keep it safe and don¡¯t lose it¡± Not wanting to make Levy any angrier he took the map and went looking for the library. George had already seen the library before and didn¡¯t need the map to find it. So after a little while, he entered a building that looked like a church but was filled with books. There were so many books that someone needed years to finish them all. But it wasn¡¯t that impressive to someone like George who had the library at the tutorial world at his disposal for so many years. Looking around he found a young girl sitting behind a desk reading a book. This was the quietest place in Wine town. It gave George a good feeling and he started to walk to the city worker that was organizing books. ¡°Excuse me, I would like to buy a beginner¡¯s guide.¡± The city worker started to came down from the ladder and started to walk towards the counter. After buying the beginners guide George started to read it. It told many basic things that George had already experienced and talks about many things George wasn¡¯t interested in at the moment. He could always read it later when he needed the information. Right now he wanted to know more about his legacy job and how it worked. Unfortunately for him, he couldn¡¯t find much. It only talked about how legacy jobs or classes were given to newcomers by Nash itself and that it had to do with chance and the way they lived their lives. George really liked history, he could sit and read history books for days without getting bored. But it also said that only less than one percent has legacy¡¯s and that it was really rare to come by. Legacies can also be passed on to next generations. It also talked about a master who had reached such a high level that could pass their legacy¡¯s before their death. After that, he looked around for information about secret names and found that it was pretty straightforward. Just as Liz had explained he could use the secret name to stay hidden and buy and sell his property. But he could also change his current name to his secret name if he wanted to. It talked about legendary assassins who would use their secret names on missions and nobody could every find out who the culprit was. After that, he started to look for detailed about Nash itself. The beginner''s guide confirmed his theory that Nash was only seven hundred and fifty-four years¡¯ old. He started to think about the item he had seen and how it could be so much older than Nash itself. The feeling he got from the memory was nothing he had experienced before. He tried to remember something that could help him find clues about Keenan but nothing came to mind. Not finding any answers he started to look around for useful information. He looked around for information about Keenan, Thaddeus Packard or even John but couldn¡¯t find anything. He tried to touching many old books to activate a memory buy nothing happened. After looking around for a while he gave up and decided to keep reading the beginners guide until his time was up. It talked about how old people were more likely to be city workers and those younger peoplehad a higher chance of being sold as slaves. And that you need to be at least level ten before you can pick a class. George didn¡¯t like to fight but he knew that he needed to get stronger if he wanted to live an easy life. But he still didn¡¯t have the finance or the strength to go on hunts and had to focus on his new job and strengthening his body. George decided to put the beginners guide away and concentrate on the wine manual. The sooner he could start working the sooner he would improve. After reading for another hour his sight started to get blurry and the capsule started to open. George stepped out and was in a place he had never seen before. Chapter 6: New home George started to look around, the building looked exactly the same as his parent¡¯s house. He wouldn''t have noticed the move if it wasn''t for the missing pictures and there being three capsules instead of four. George didn¡¯t waste any time and started on his new workout schedule. He already had problems finishing the standard one and didn''t know if he could finish the new one that was almost twice as long. His master''s letter said that it would only take around two hours to finish but it took George more than two hours and thirty minutes to finish. He tried to keep going but had to stop a few times because of the extreme burn. After finishing his new workout, he went to take a shower knowing that he wouldn¡¯t be able to get up if he sat down. George always liked to shower, he would sit in hot water thinking about the day for hours if he could. After the shower, he dried himself and put on fresh clothes. He didn¡¯t know which room was his so he didn¡¯t enter any room and waited for the others to arrive. He was really hungry, but the machine would not give any food before the designated time so he had to wait. Everything outside of Nash was completely controlled by the government from when you sleep to when you eat. Before long the other two capsules also opened and a young boy and girl stepped out. They were both short and had a common look to them. They both had a simple look on their face and seemed to know each other pretty well. The young boy walked toward George with a smile on his face and put his hand out. ¡°Hallo my name is Omar and this is my little sister Clara. You must our new roommate, it¡¯s a pleasure to meet you.¡± George shook his hand but didn¡¯t trust him. He had seen many people who would smile in your face but put a knife in your back. ¡°My name is George, glad to meet you.¡± He started to observe Omar and Clara while they were doing their evening workout. Omar was the calm but responsible type. He looked like the type that would do anything for his sister. Clara, on the other hand, was shy but the energetic type. From the moment they exited the capsule, she would talk to Omar but she had still to say a word to George. After they finished their workout they started to order food. Omar got two one credit portions and started to eat together with his sister. It didn¡¯t surprise George that the government would put them together. It was like them saying, be poor together. George went to order the standard one credit meal. Solomon had ordered him to eat the whole thing. The one credit meal had all the nutritious and calories that a person needs a day. A person would stay healthy if they ate the one credit meal and didn¡¯t skip breakfast and got the vitamins they needed. The standard one credit meal would differ every day but always existed out of rice, vegetables and a different kind of soup. People could also order other foods like meat but had to pay more money for it. George started to eat his daily meal but had a hard time finishing it. When he lived with his parents he would live on one meal every two days. This way his parents could save money for Vincent¡¯s to go to private lessons. George finished around eighty percent of his meal and felt like he was about to throw up. He looked at the two sitting in front of him. George didn¡¯t want to sound rude and asked in a low voice. ¡°I can¡¯t finish my meal do you want it?¡± Clara gave a mean look and pushed the tray back towards George. ¡°We don¡¯t need your rests!¡± Omar gave Clara a quick look and put his hand on her shoulder. ¡°Calm down, I¡¯m sure he didn¡¯t mean anything by it. Besides we are in no position to turn down food.¡± He took the tray and finished the food quickly. Omar¡¯s actions made George respect him and be a little more open to his new roommates. Most of the time George would go lie on his bed after dinner and think about the things he had read, but today he was listening to the story Omar was telling him. Omar and his sister had lost their parents when they were children. They have lived their whole life in foster homes until nine months ago when Omar turned sixteen and took the responsibilities of raising his sister on himself.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Omar couldn¡¯t talk about Nash but George knew the situation. Newcomers had to work three days for expenses and could use the other two to strengthen themselves. But Omar had another mouth to feed and didn¡¯t have the money to go on lessons or hunts. Luckily for them, Clara would turn sixteen after three months and they could start to grow stronger and hopefully make a living together. George didn¡¯t talk much but that didn¡¯t matter to Omar. He was happy there was someone who he could talk to about his burdens. No big brother would unload his feelings to his little sister so he was happy there was another person to talk to. The evening clock was about to set and Omar showed George to his room. George didn¡¯t feel good because of the amount of food he had to eat. But Solomon had told him that whatever happened he should withhold himself from throwing up. Luckily for him, the chip in his head started to work and before he knew it he was fast asleep. The next morning, he woke up and felt his whole body burning. The workout from yesterday was too severe and it was hard to walk. But to George, this was the best kind of pain you could experience. Until now the pain he felt was because of Vincent, but now the pain was him improving himself. After changing his clothes, he started to do the morning exercises. He didn¡¯t think that he could keep up, but after a little while it got easier and he finished it. The morning workout was a lot easier than the evening workout, but it still took him a half hour longer to finish. After the workout and taking a shower, George went to the kitchen for his breakfast. He didn¡¯t want to eat but it was necessary. His body wasn¡¯t used to big meals and his stomach started to hurt again. He orders his standard one credit breakfast made from toast, butter and honey and one pill for the vitamins. Clara made a frown when she saw him coming and started to ignore him like yesterday. Omar and George had talked for a long time and she felt she felt like she had to share her brother with a stranger. George noticed Omar sharing one breakfast with Clara and felt a little bad eating a whole breakfast on his own. He started to think about Vincent and how he ate like there was no care in the world while his own brother was starving. ¡®Having no compassion is a skill on it¡¯s on I guess.¡¯ But he had to think about himself and finished his breakfast. After eating he started to get ready for the next session day. He said his goodbyes to Omar and Clara and entered Nash. After a while, a new session day started and he was standing on the last spot he had been before he was thrown out of Nash last time. With haste, he left the library and checked his clock for the time. It was already seven thirty and he would be late for his first work day if he went back to the academy to look for Solomon. When he entered the winery he saw Liz and Levy standing there talking. Liz had a sad look and George knew that Levy had told her about his situation. Levy had a smile on his face and started to give George instructions on what he needed to do today. He repeated a lot of the same things Liz had told him and asked him if he had studied the manual. After George gave a small nod he started to work. His assignment for today is to make five batches of the standard red wine. Having memorized the recipe, he started to work. George had a good mind for detail and did exactly as the manual told him. The work was not too hard and even Liz could do it, but to George, it was tiring work. He still felt the pain from yesterday¡¯s exercises and had to empty and fill big tanks. Even thought it was hard work, George still liked it. He could keep himself busy and didn¡¯t have to think about anything else. George didn¡¯t like to think because of the negative thought flying around in his head. If it was not Vincent torturing him fiscally it would be his thought torturing him mentally. After a hard day of work, they had to wait for the wine to finish fermenting. Liz and Levy sat down to eat and offered some to George. Levy told him that he provided meals to employees but George knew he only said that to make it easier for George to take the bread. Seeing Liz and Levy talk and smile made George think that there was also a chance for him to be happy. He wondered if this alone would be enough for him to be happy like they were and if he could live in this town for the rest of his life in peace and with no worries. ¡°It¡¯s almost time for the annual newcomer competition. I heard that the Trust clan had a couple of talented newcomers they are going to display. But you can never underestimate the Hoopers. Even the Gully¡¯s can¡¯t be excluded even though they have not won a competition in the last couple of years.¡± Liz gave a little smile and looked down ¡°The three clans have their own teachers and don¡¯t need to send their newcomers to the academy. So it¡¯s logical that we are going to be last like every year. But I will do my best to honor the teacher and last as long as possible.¡± Levy wanted to change the conversation knowing he had messed up and saddened Liz. ¡°Don¡¯t worry child, with your talent you can enter any clan you want. You only need to be patient and train hard.¡± After saying that Levy stood up and asked Liz to help him with the wine. George also went back to work and finished the first batch of wine he had ever made. He put it in barrels and waiting for Levy to come test it. He tried to look calm but he was really nervous inside. After finishing his work Livy came to test the wine. He didn¡¯t have high expectations and wanted to praise George hoping it wouldn¡¯t make him lose hoop. Levy almost choked on the first cup of wine and surprise could be seen in his eyes. He drank a little water to clean his pellet and tried the other four cups. Every cup he drank the anger in his eyes became more visible. After drinking from the last cup he threw the rest of the wine in Georges'' face and after that also threw the cups at him. George not understanding the situation stood there not making a sound. ¡°You scum! You dare try to deceive me.¡± Chapter 7: New roommate George didn¡¯t understand the situation and didn¡¯t know what Levy was talking about. What was there to deceive? He was asked to make five batches of wine like the manual told him and that was exactly what he did. George had never seen Levy this angry and got a little afraid. His heart started to beat rapidly and his head started to spin. He wanted to walk away but he couldn¡¯t move. So he put his head down and tried to calm himself down. The anger in Levy got worse seeing no reaction from George and he started to pace back and forth ¡°Do you think you have the wits to trick me, boy? I have been doing this job longer than you have been alive. I don¡¯t care how broken or pathetic you are; I won¡¯t let you cheat me. I would have already kicked you out of the city if you weren¡¯t a student of Solomon. Now scram out of my workshop before I give you a beating.¡± George didn¡¯t even listen to what Levy was saying. His panic attack got worse and he felt like he was about to pass out. So when he saw Levy make the sign for him to leave to ran out of the workshop with as much speed as he could muster. He ran to the big grass field next to the winery and had to throw up. After that, he started to regulate his breathing and he felt a little better. George didn¡¯t like this part of himself, he wanted to be brave but his body would react in a way he couldn¡¯t control. After a while, Liz came back and saw Levy sitting in his usual chair with an angry look on his face. So she went to ask what the problem was and was surprised by his answer. ¡°It¡¯s that boy George, he wanted to cheat me out of money. He looked like an honest kid and I felt bad for him because of his situation, but I will rather die than let anyone take advantage of me.¡± Liz gave a confused look and tried to understand the situation. ¡°What could he have done to cheat you?¡± Levy gave an annoying look and tried to explain. ¡°He had luck and made one good batch and tried to pass the others of as the same batch. When I tasted the cups I knew instantly that there was virtually no difference between the five cups. Let alone him not even a third-year student can¡¯t make wine that consistently. Too bad, he had real talent. The first batch was already just as good as a beginning winemaker.¡± Liz was surprised and went to the bins to take a sample. She drank from the first batch and was surprised by how good it was. Even she couldn¡¯t make a batch taste like that even after two years working as a winemaker. This was of course because she didn¡¯t want to take winemaker as a profession even though Levy had told her that she had a talent for it. Liz gave a quick smile not knowing how someone like George could make a batch of wine like this. ¡°It seems like even dimwits can bring around a wonder.¡± She wanted to leave to her curiosity made her try the other batches as well. She went to the second batch and got a little wine from it. She took a sip and her eyes almost popped out of her head. The taste was identical. She looked at the batch to see if she didn¡¯t drink the first batch again by mistake. She quickly washed her mouth with water and drank from the other three batches. Every one of them tasted exactly the same. Liz didn¡¯t know whatever to laugh or cry, how could someone who was making wine for the first time make five high-quality batches of wine on his first try. Liz started to panic thinking about the events that had happened and went looking for Levy. Seeing Liz run to him made Levy a little bit surprised. He had never seen Liz excited about anything. She was out of breath and told Levy about her discovery. Levy didn¡¯t believe Liz when she told him that every batch tasted the same. He was a winemaker for a long time and had never seen anyone make five identical batches on the first try. Most new winemakers would make mistakes would make a lot of mistakes on their first try. And even if they did everything right they would fail at the last part when they had to shut off the fermentation bins at the right time. The bins were made by master craftsmen and time would move a lot faster in the bins and even one second could change the taste drastically. The ingredients and the breathing of the wine would also change the taste of the wine drastically.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Even though the taste of the wine was good it was the consistency that made him confused. Just as he was thinking how the consistency could be this good without the winemaker job he came to a realization. Levy hit himself in the face and had made a stupid look. ¡°Liz go get the kid, the way I treated him was pretty harsh. I wanted to teach him a lesson and let you pick him up tomorrow. But it seems like I made a big mistake.¡± At the same time as Levy was drinking the wine, George came back at the academy. He didn¡¯t feel good and was trying to calm himself down. He went to his room but the door was locked. He reminded Solomon¡¯s letter and went to look for him. He arrived at his door and knocked two times. Solomon told him to enter and he went in. They talked a little about how his first day outside of Nash went and how it felt. George explained his situation and how eating everything was impossible. Solomon gave him a few tips and told him where his new room was. He told him to ask Grandpa Wilton to help him if couldn¡¯t find it and told him to keep up the good work. George didn¡¯t tell him about the situation with Levy. He didn¡¯t understand it himself and didn¡¯t feel like taking about it. The other thing he felt was rage, he had worked for a full day and was kicked out without any explanation. George didn¡¯t need grandpa Wilton¡¯s help finding his room. He knew how the numbers worked and found his room pretty fast. He didn¡¯t feel like thinking and just wanted to go to bed. He didn¡¯t know what he was going to do tomorrow and how he was going to feed himself. But that was a problem for tomorrow and now he just wanted to sleep. When he opened the door he found a middle size room with two beds and two desks. The first bed had custom sheets on it and there were clothes on it. So he went to the other bed and lied down. It was still early and the others were working. But he couldn¡¯t sleep and after lying down for a while he stood up and went to the desk on the other side of the room. The desks were old and were made from simple wood. The other desk had a quilt and books on it so he sat down on the empathy desk and started to read the winemakers manual. He wanted to find out what he had done wrong and understand the situation. While he was reading the manual the door opened and a boy in blue clothes walked in. George kept reading the manual ignoring the boy entering the room. he was a little surprised by the way he was dressed and didn¡¯t feel like talking anyway. The last thing he needed right now was to offend a Gully¡¯s clan member. The boy seeing George not react gave a weird look and went to his own desk reading a book about martial arts. The two were sitting there reading and before long Liz came looking for George. She didn¡¯t know where his room was and had to ask Solomon. She was a little surprised that George had not explained the situation to Solomon and got a little angry as to why George didn¡¯t try to defend himself. After knocking on the door twice the boy in blue stood up and answered the door. ¡°What do you want?¡± Seeing the blue clothes surprised Liz and it took her a while to answer. ¡°I¡¯m looking for a boy named George, the teacher told me he was assigned to this room.¡± The boy gave George a quick look and went back behind his desk reading. George stood up and went outside to see what Liz wanted to talk about. He didn¡¯t want to talk about the winery and didn¡¯t feel like explaining himself to Liz. Seeing George with a cold look in his eyes made Liz give a long sigh. ¡°Levy asked me to come pick you up. It seems like he made a mistake with the wine. It was the first time a newcomer has made five batches with the same taste and he thought you had cheated.¡± Hearing Liz tellthe story made George even angrier. He could accept it if it was his fault but it was Levy who made the mistake. And instead of coming and apologizing he had sent Liz to do the dirty work for him. ¡°I¡¯m tired and want to sleep, tell him that I will see him tomorrow.¡± After saying that George closed the door and went back inside. Liz had a weird look on her face seeing George react in such a calm and cold manner. She started to knock on the door again trying to change his mind. But George didn¡¯t want to go back to that place, especially not tonight. He felt betrayed by Levy and his thought on how everyone was as selfish as Vincent was confirmed by the way Levy had treated him today. Liz didn¡¯t seem to give up and kept knocking on the door. The boy in blue got angry and gave George a mean look. ¡°Tell your girlfriend to keep the noise down, I¡¯m trying to study.¡± Seeing George not react made the boy¡¯s anger turn into rage. He opened the door and gave a mean look to Liz. ¡°The mute doesn¡¯t want to come out, so beat it!¡± Lis had forgotten about the boy and got a little scared by his reaction. He was wearing blue and was a member of the Gully clan. Even though his status seemed to be low, he still had the power to make her life as living hell. She waited in front of the door for another two minutes and after that made her way back to the winery explaining everything to Levy. Seeing the situation not solved as he wanted too gave Levy a headache. He knew that he was in the wrong and had no other choice to wait for George to come back tomorrow. Chapter 8: Oak tree George didn¡¯t feel like reading the wine manual anymore. He knew the reason for this morning and didn¡¯t want to think about it anymore. But his personality didn¡¯t let him forget. So he tried to fall asleep but he couldn¡¯t. He even started to think about the chip and how handy it would be right now. He didn¡¯t have any book except for the Beginners guide and the wine manual and didn¡¯t feel like reading either of them. He kept looking around the room and saw a small book on the desk of the boy with blue clothes, with the text skills and its uses on it. It was pretty new and looked like the boy hadn¡¯t used it much. George had never learned martial arts and there were also no books about it in the tutorial world. If you wanted to learn martial arts, you need to pay credits. He didn¡¯t know the boy and didn¡¯t feel like taking his things without asking. And it didn¡¯t seem like the boy liked him either. After giving it a lot of thought he didn¡¯t go to the boy to ask for the book. He didn¡¯t have the personality to be bold and didn¡¯t want to worsen his day. So he noted the book in his mind and decided to buy it the next time he went to the city. The next morning George exited his room and started to walk towards the winery. His underneath his eyes were black circles and he had a tired look on his face. He couldn¡¯t sleep last night and felt irritated. He arrived at the winery and looked for Levy. He was still an hour early and it didn¡¯t seem like Levy had arrived yet. He went to the back yard and saw a big tree what looked old and almost as long and the building. Next to it was a well that hadn¡¯t been used in a long time. He went to the well to get some water but saw no bucket to use. After looking around for a while he found an old bucket in the yard and used it to get himself some water. After drinking some water, he decided to sit in the shade and wait for Levy to arrive. He needed to know what his situation was and if he needed to start looking for a new job. Just as he leaned back on the tree he felt a sharp pain like that felt as severe as the last time he used the archaeology skill but a lot less severe. Having less pain than the last time George started to concentrate on the text. The first thing he noticed was the ancient oak tree being mentioned. Now his suspicions that Nash was older than seven hundred years was more plausible. He didn¡¯t know how long the screen would stay and active the memory as soon as he memorized the text. The same thing as last time happened and he was standing in the exact same place as he was now. He looked up and saw a town that looked big enough for only five hundred people and that the wall was not even built yet. The only thing that was exactly the same was the castle in the middle of the town. There was a boy standing above the corps of a girl crying. They both looked poor and the boy had leather armor on and a wooden staff in his hand. The girl was wearing the standard entering clothes and looked like she was beaten to death. ¡°I swear to my honor as a man that I will get my revenge from the one that did this to you.¡± The boy put her head down and closed her eyes. ¡°I couldn¡¯t protect you, Maria, even though you trusted me with your live and sacrificed so much for me.¡± After that, the memory ended and George was back to the present time. He had the same feeling of tiredness and confusion as the last time and did his best to memorize the event. He couldn¡¯t see the use to this kind of memory. Another thing that bothered him was the timeline. It told him that the tree was 739 years old but it didn¡¯t tell him how long ago the memory happened. Without himself knowing his eyes started to close and he fell into a deep sleep. After a couple hours of sleep, he woke up and realized what had happened. He didn¡¯t think that the memory was really useful, but he had learned an important lesson that memories could be found in the strangest places. He also saw the old town and could see which buildings have a higher chance of activating memories.Stolen novel; please report. Just as he was thinking about what he could use and wat he had seen he remembered why he was there. He didn¡¯t know the time and started to walk toward the winery. Seeing George arrive so late made Levy a little angry but he didn¡¯t say anything. He wasn¡¯t in a position to criticize anyone and felt like he should apologize first. Liz also had waited for George to arrive and wasn¡¯t as forgiving as Levy. ¡°Why are you so late?¡± George realizing what had happened gave a quick smile and tried to hide the real reason he was late. He didn¡¯t know the full uses of the archaeology skill but didn¡¯t think that sharing it with anyone would be a smart move. ¡°I forgot to set my alarm and just woke up.¡± Levy had a weird look on his face and knowing George went straight to the point. ¡°I made a mistake yesterday and I apologize to you. I still don¡¯t know how you did it but it was still my mistake to assume that it couldn¡¯t be done. I hope that you will keep working here and don¡¯t waste your talent because of the little fight we had yesterday.¡± It may have been small to Levy but it was a big fight to George. He had a hard day yesterday and couldn¡¯t even sleep because of it. But the situation didn¡¯t change, he was still a newcomer with no skills and a damaged body. And loosing this job for a job at the farms would not be a smart decision. ¡°I will come back to work¡± George gave a quick response and nod. Levy gave a sigh seeing George¡¯s cold reaction. He still wanted to ask about how George had made the last batch but didn¡¯t want to push things and wanted to give him some time. So he quickly ended the talk and send George back to work. ¡°Here are three credits for yesterday¡¯s work. I added one as my way of apologizing. I also will keep the winery open until you finish today''s batches.¡± George went to work and finished another five batches. He took his time and made another five identical batches of wine. Levy got a little surprised because he didn¡¯t think that George could do it a second time. He gave George another two credits and told him to come early the next session day. ¡°Your wine is good enough to be sold as middle-grade wine. But you need to remember that it¡¯s also the easiest wine to produce and that you have a long way to go. If you can produce the wine just like today and yesterday for another ten session days, I will let you try making a higher grade wine. Do your best and grab this opportunity. Every five batches of second tier wine will earn you four credits.¡± Seeing Levy try to solve the situation made George a little happier. He needed the money and didn¡¯t have the same amount of time the other newcomers had to earn money. But he would never put another foot in the winery if he had a choice. George was a vengeful person and didn¡¯t like people who treated him badly. Liz was also watching and got surprised, it took her two session months before she could make second tier wine. She only just started making third tier wine one session month ago after five session months. Levy had told her that she had talent and could even be making forth tier wine if she took the winemaker job but she didn¡¯t want to lose a spot to a job like winemaking. Even thought he could earn good money now it would drop a lot later compared to jobs like cloth making or weapon smith. But George didn¡¯t feel like that about winemaking. He had seen Thaddeus Packard and didn¡¯t think of winemaking as an inferior job. He just wished he could see more of his life and learn from a grandmaster like him. But even a job as simple as winemaking was hard to get for a newcomer. Jobs could only be learned from birth like legacy¡¯s or passes on by others masters, who have the ability to give the skill to one student every session year. That¡¯s why everyone would jump at the thought if they got offered the job like Levy had to Liz. But Liz had high ambitions and didn¡¯t want to jump at the first opportunity she got and wanted to wait for better options. George didn¡¯t know why some jobs would be called legacy¡¯s and some would be called normal jobs. He decided to look it up the next time he was reading the beginners guide. After finishing his work day, he went to find Solomon. He had earned five credits but he still had a debt of three credits to Solomon. after finding Solomon, George tried to give him the two credits. Solomon had a little smile on his face and knew of yesterday¡¯s events after Liz had told him this morning. Liz was Solomon¡¯s best student and put a lot of emphasis on her. That¡¯s why they became really close and he was like a true master to Liz. Solomon happy with Georges actions took one credit from his hand and started asking about how his day was. George again not wanting to bother Solomon said fine and didn¡¯t explain yesterday¡¯s events. The situation was solved anyways. Solomon amused with George¡¯s actions made a sign with his hands for him to go back to his room. ¡°I¡¯m happy you came back to pay the debt you own. This alone will keep you alive a lot longer than many other newcomers. But I didn¡¯t say you have to pay me back as soon as you got the money. Bring me back one credit every session week and use the rest to strengthen yourself. There is a class tomorrow morning at eight that¡¯s called skills and the basics. It costs one credit and you will also receive a book called skills and its uses. Even though it doesn¡¯t explain skills, it does explain the types of skills and will help you find a skill that suits you. Now go back and get some rest. Your look like you haven¡¯t slept in days.¡± Chapter 9: Class After waking up the next morning George went on reading the wine manual until it was time for class. In the beginning he disliked the automatic sleeping system in the real world but after experiencing sleepless nights he was starting to miss it. In the real world the chip would also block out dreams but in Nash he would have this uncomfortable dreams about his parents and Vincent, and what annoyed him the most was that he would take the abuse just like he did in real life. George had almost finished the book but he couldn¡¯t really concentrate because of his thoughts. So after a while he gave up reading and started to walk towards the classroom. A lot of students were outside busy going from class to class. George wondered how long it would take for him to make enough money to take classes every day. But he wasn¡¯t that worried about it, even though Nash was a harsh world it did have one advantage, if you didn¡¯t have any ambition or wanted to live a common live you could do that without fail. Common food is really cheap and every only needed to work one of two days for food and another day for some extra money which most of the people used for drinking. People can also voluntarily become a city worker. This gave security and also would mean that they would not starve. George had thought a lot about that kind of life. It would be a lot easier than trying to gain strength and go adventuring. But the one thing George hates the most is wondering around with nothing to do. George could learn new things fairly easily and didn¡¯t like mindless work. So he still hasn¡¯t decided what path he wants to follow. But he still needs to learn a lot of things and decided to put his trust on Solomon for the time being. After walking around the school for a while he came to the practice yard and saw the boy in blue working with a sword in the yard. He was sweating and was hitting a dummy with a wooden longsword. Every hit made almost no sound and felt like the last bit of energy he had left in his body, but he kept hitting the dummy without stopping. George respected his effort but couldn¡¯t relate to it, learning things came easy to him but he didn¡¯t have the drive to keep practicing, he had tried learning a lot of things in the great library but would get tired of it soon and go to the next subject. But seeing the determined look of the boy in blue was something he was envious about, he wanted to have something in life he would work just as hard for like the boy in blue did his sword training. After a while, he came back to his senses and he was already late for class. He walked to the classroom at a high pace and to his surprise was not as tired as he had expected. But he was still breathing heavily and went to take a seat. The classroom was small but could still fit around fifty people. They all looked around his age and he could feel the tension in the air. George found a seat in the corner so that he wouldn¡¯t be bothered by the other kids. But that didn¡¯t really help. A boy around his age with a big smile on his face got up and started to walk towards him. George had read about people with dark skin but this was the first time seeing on in real life. ¡°Hallo there, my name is Tyler a pleasure to meet you.¡± George gave him a hand and introduced himself, for a second he left his guard down and started to chat with the boy about how long ago he had entered Nash and what kind of work he does. The boy had a smile that George had never seen before, he felt like he could trust him even without knowing much about him. After talking for a while George found out that Tyler had entered Nash only a few weeks before George had and that he was working as a gatherer. After a while, Solomon entered and Tyler went back to his seat. After Solomon entered the room everyone became quite like a mouse. Everyone had worked hard to earn credit to entered classes and so would try to get the most out of it. Solomon went to the center of the room and put two stones on the table and had the relaxed look on his face like always. George didn¡¯t know what the stones were for but he could see everyone staring at them like their life depended on it. He could see the excitement, surprise, and sadness on their faces. He felt the tension in the room and knew that this was the time to pay attention.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Before I start to explain the basics of skills I will introduce the new students here about classes and how it works. Usually, this is a separate subject and you need to pay one credit to take it but I will make an exception today.¡± George saw Solomon looking at him when he said that and he wonders if Solomon did this for him, and if yes why was he so kind to him. ¡°You need two things to succeed in Nash, Willpower and luck. Just like in the real world some people are given advantages and some are given disadvantages. this means that a big part of your future is already decided for you and there is nothing you can do to change it. When you enter Nash for the first time you have the chance to gain a legacy, this can change your whole future. New players with strong Legacies are taken in by big clans and get the chance to become individuals with great power and wealth. That is why the annual newcomer competition is held every session year to find new talents and mold them into great warriors. If you can prove yourself, you have a chance of joining on of the three clans and get access to resources that others could only dream about. But what most newcomers don¡¯t know is that the annual newcomer competition exists out of more than only a fighting competition. The big clans are looking for talented people in many different areas like legacy jobs or people that show great promise with regular jobs. Even though legacy jobs are rare it¡¯s not enough to have one, a prodigy that has the chance to become a master is just as if not more valuable to big clans as people with legacy jobs. But I¡¯m drifting off, let¡¯s get back to classes and how luck plays a big part in it. But before I go on I want to ask if there is anyone here who has a legacy class?¡± Everyone was looking at each other with curiosity, but no one said anything. Not surprised Solomon went on to his lecture. ¡°You don¡¯t need to be disappointed, legacy classes are very rare and in my eight years of teaching I have only met two students who had a class legacy.¡± After Solomon said that a boy in the front of the class raised his hand to ask a question. Solomon liked to interact with his class so he stopped talking and let the boy ask his question. ¡°Teacher when we all came to Wine village we all had the aptitude test. When I took the test I got a message saying that I don¡¯t have a class so what is the use of this second test?¡± Solomon seeing the question coming a mile away was prepared and went on with his story. ¡°That¡¯s a great question, you all know that you don¡¯t have a class so why the second test? Most new students assume that because they don¡¯t have a class they can decide their class themselves and train in whatever martial art style they like, but that is not the case. When you reach level ten you are given a class and you have no say in what class it is. What the stone here does is tell you what class you will get when you reach level ten. These stones are borrowed to us by the Trust clan and are really hard to make. There are people who could work their whole life and won¡¯t make enough money to buy one. Even the academy doesn¡¯t have the money to buy on so we have to borrow it from the trust clan. The reason we do this is to give you a head start. Big clans have a lot of resources and its relative easy for their youth to reach level ten in weeks, but you guys don¡¯t have that luxury and there are students who do as long as a session year to reach it. That¡¯s why we use the stone to identify your class so you can focus on classes that are of use to you. In the old times students would waste money and time on classes they would have no use for after they reached level ten and would get left behind by others students who would be lucky enough to get the class they wanted. But before we continue I want to talk about a subject that has been discussed for century¡¯s and there are a lot of different theories. The question is, why are we not allowed to pick our own class and why is it given to us after reaching level ten?¡± The same boy in the front put up his hands and answered with confidence. ¡°Teacher, you told us that luck is of great importance, does that not answer both questions?¡± Solomon gave a quick smile and nodded his head. ¡°Luck is the easiest but also the most believed theory. Any other ideas?¡± Everyone was thinking but it was a hard question. George had a couple of ideas but decided not to attract any attention to himself. But thinking about all the things Solomon had done for him decided to answer the question. ¡°Balance.¡± Everyone looked at George with a look of confusion. Nobody understood what he meant with the answer. ¡°explain.¡± Said Solomon. George not liking the attention decided to be quick and to the point. ¡°Everyone can make wine in Wine town but doesn¡¯t have to learn the wine skill, this in itself is a rule made to keep balance. If you try to do any other job in Wine town you need to learn the skill except for winemaking. I think this was done to keep balance just like the beginner wine manual explained. For the same reason, we are not allowed to pick our own class. This would mean that strong classes would be taken more often and it would disturb the balance.¡± Chapter 10: class (2) Solomon waited for other ideas but seeing the class falling into silence and everybody thinking about George¡¯s answer decided to continue making his point. ¡°The reason I asked you to think about the subject is not that I wanted to solve this mystery today, but I want to use it as an example. I know many of you have been thought martial arts and have neglected academic studies from birth but I want you to think about every situation and act accordingly. Read the evidence and get your own conclusion and don¡¯t let other people think for you. If you believe it''s luck then use it in future situations and calculate your chances and if it¡¯s worth to take the risk. And if you believe its balance then maybe that¡¯s the answer to everything like forming your team or selecting your jobs. It can also be a combination of the two, or like many people believe a system put in place by the government to control what class everyone gets and to destroy their enemy¡¯s that why.¡± George could see many different reactions, most of the people didn¡¯t understand the importance of the lesson they got but a few were paying close attention. Just as they were expecting Solomon to continue Tyler put up his hand to ask a question. ¡°Teacher I want to ask about the last theory you mentioned, isn¡¯t it true that if that theory is true there is no point in Nash and whatever we do we are just pawns of the government.¡± Everyone including George got surprised by this question. Some even started to look around like they didn¡¯t hear Taylor. Talking about the government was not something everyone dared to do and it could be seen as an offense. Even the theory Solomon mentions was not wildly spread because of the fear of the government. But George was interested, he wanted to know who these people are and why they rule from the shadows. ¡°You have to decide for yourself, there have been many governments even before Nash where people had little freedom, but analyzing the theory is important. Ask yourself, if the government is all powerful why would they need something like this to control the big clans. And why do they monitor us in the real world but not in Nash.¡± Tyler was in deep thought about the answer he got and didn¡¯t ask any other question. ¡°Teacher your thinking too much about this. The government is all powerful there is no way they are not controlling or monitoring us.¡± Said the boy sitting in front with confidence on his face. ¡°Is that so? Then let me ask you, why are we not allowed to talk about Nash in the real world? And if the government can see all why are the members of the dark clans not found after all these years, or Green moon punished for the crimes he has committed.¡± The boy had a confused look on his face and Solomon continued. ¡°You are just starting on your journey and already think that you have the answers. Subjects like this have been discussed by great minds for generations with no answers. Don¡¯t let common opinion or speculation fool you. In your journey, you will find many people who preach lies and even clans that twist the truth to make people do the things they want. That¡¯s why I want you to think for yourself and draw your own conclusion, but only after you have done the research and are sure that this is the truth or the closest thing to it.¡± The boy in the front felt angry because of Solomon¡¯s reaction and didn¡¯t say anything anymore, so Solomon continued his lecture. ¡°So let¡¯s start the test shall we. Before we start is there anyone who already knows his class or doesn¡¯t want to be tested?¡± Even though Solomon knew that almost all newcomers would take this great opportunity he still had to ask them if they wanted to take the test. But seeing nobody say anything he quickly moved the two stones in place to start the test. ¡°Classes are divided into four basic groups which consist of fighter, rogue, mage, and support. Some people are born with legacy classes that are so unique that they can¡¯t be put under any of these four classes. So it was decided to add a fifth group which consists only of legacy classes and therefore is called the legacy class. But this does not mean that all legacy users have to be in the legacy class, almost all of the legacy users can be put in the standard four classes. For example, if a regular player is put in the fighter class as a samurai, a legacy player can also be a samurai but with a special skill that is usually passive like the ability to add bleeding effect on the enemy, or to neglect enemy armor on his first and second attack. Legacy classes with active spells are so rare that only one in every ten thousand legacy users has it. Because of their extraordinary power they are kept a secrecy by clans and are seen as a big treasure that can elevate a clan to new heights. There have been cases of clans going to war to obtain them or to kill them. In my travels I have only met two myself, one has the ability to transform his body and become an ancient beast who has absolute control over ice and can¡¯t be harmed by it. And the other one can make and manipulate formations that are so powerful that entire armies can¡¯t break them.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. Even the people who get legacies are dependent on luck at the end of the day. Many of the passive skills that legacy users get are not so special and only give them a small advantage in the beginning stages of their training. But others get skills so powerful that they can shake the world if given the time to cultivate.¡± Everyone was looking at Solomon and trying to imagine how strong these people were and if one day they could be as strong as them. But to George it was just bothersome, he could imagine the pressure and hard work these people had to go through to reach the strength they had. And the last thing he wanted to was having to sleep with one eye open, afraid of assassins or clans that wanted these powers for themselves. He would just go from being control by his parents and Vincent to being controlled by powerful clans. Solomon waited for a little so the students could take in the information and went on to his lecture. ¡°I won¡¯t talk much about skills. You will find everything you need in the manual. The only thing for now that you need to know is that it shows you what kind of elements you are compatible with, and that¡¯s it¡¯s not recommended to buy skills with other elements. Most people are only compatible with one element and if you¡¯re lucky maybe two. But there has never been a limitation, there are stories about legends who had four or more elements. One of them Green Moon who I mentioned before. I wish you all the best of luck.¡± The students started to take the test, starting from the front seats. After the first student went it was the turn of the boy sitting the front asking the questions. George could see from Solomon¡¯s expression that he had an interest in him and that he was curious what the results would be. ¡°Good luck Alex, I hoop you get what you wished for, Silverster, ¡± said Solomon with a smile on his face. Alex still a little angry about before said his thanks and walked toward the stones. He put both of his hands on the stones and waited for the results.
Player Alex Silvester
Class Mage
Compatible skill type Water
Solomon seeing the results was pleasantly surprised. ¡°You are pretty lucky. When you have the credits go to Master Adam¡¯s class, he can guide you the best of all the teachers here. But with a great class like this also comes problems, like the cost of lessons. Water mages are proud and ask a lot for lessons and are known to refuse people they think are not worthy of their time or knowledge¡± After that, the test went on as usual with everyone getting different classes and no more than one element. George was thinking about his chances when it was Tyler¡¯s turn to take the test.
Player Tyler Ingram
Class Archer
Compatible skill type Wind and earth
This was the first two element skill type and everyone was looking at Tyler with surprise and envy. Solomon, on the other hand, was not so excited as the rest. ¡°Your luck is good to get two elements but you have a hard road ahead of you. Archers are pretty weak and the beginning and it¡¯s almost impossible to get the necessary skills to grow stronger if you don¡¯t belong to a strong clan. But it¡¯s not impossible if you find a way to reach the highlands you have a good chance of being recruited by the big clans because of your two elements. Go to master Percy¡¯s class, he properly won¡¯t teach you any active skills but he can teach you some novice passive skills. He does also have active skills he can teach but how you are going to convince him to teach you is a challenge you have to overcome yourself.¡± Tyler only had a smile on his face the entire time and you could see the determination on his face to succeed. He gave his thanks and went back to his seat. After Tyler was done it was George¡¯s turn to take the test. Even George couldn¡¯t deny that he felt nerves taking the test that could decide the road he would be taking for the rest of his life. When he came to the front Solomon was waiting for him with a smile on his face. ¡°Good luck George.¡±
Player George Noir
Class Tank
Compatible skill type dark
Chapter 11: conflict George didn¡¯t know much about elements so he didn¡¯t know if the dark elements was good or bad. The only thing he was curious about was that there were no dark element characteristics so how did it work? Did it all fall under intelligence or maybe wisdom? He decided to do some research about it later and focus on Solomon¡¯s teaching. Solomon shook his head a little and started to put the stones away. ¡°It¡¯s ironic that you out of everyone here gets the tank class. Tank in itself is not a hard class to find teachers or skills for, but your combination is an unlucky one. The dark element is seen as a strong offensive element and most of the skills are made offensive attacks. It¡¯s a shame if you had the light element which is a strong defensive element you would have been scouted by at least the trust clan alone if not all three of them.¡± Solomon clapped his hands and a book appeared in front of every student with the words skills and its uses on it. ¡°This is the book that was promised, read it well and act according to your own conclusions. If you only follow your teacher¡¯s instructions and never think for yourself, the best thing you can become is just a copy of your teacher. Also, remember that at the end of the day it¡¯s your own responsibility what skills you learn or how you use your characteristics. The academy and teachers are not responsible for your decisions. Well, thanks for coming and I wish you all the best in your upcoming endeavors.¡± Everyone took the book and started to leave the room. George could see the excitement in everyone¡¯s eyes and fast pace. He also wanted to read the book but waiting for everyone to leave before he got up to go back to his room. The last thing he wanted to was get into another conversation. Walking back to his room George didn¡¯t really pay attention to the students around him and was thinking about the great quantity of information he got today. He had learned a lot of new things but also gained a lot of new questions. George really wanted to go and read the skill book but didn¡¯t think he would have the time before he would have to exit Nash today. Just as he was entered his room he found Liz waiting for him in front of his room. ¡°Hey George, I was waiting for you. I knocked but you roommate didn¡¯t let me in and asked me to wait here. He really is a piece of work you know; these nobles think they can treat everyone like dirt because they are from big clans.¡± George having the same thought knocked his head and waited for Liz to explain why she was waiting for him. ¡°Master Solomon asked me to tell you to come to his room, he wants to talk to you. I need to go to the winery, so see you later.¡± After saying her goodbyes Liz left and George went to Solomon¡¯s office. He didn¡¯t know how much time he had left so he decided to make haste and didn¡¯t linger around. When he arrived he found Solomon¡¯s door open and he could see Solomon sitting behind his desk writing a rapport. ¡°Come in and close the door.¡± George closed the door and sat down after Solomon offered. ¡°If you paid attention in class you know that I gave everyone advice on what to do next except you. The reason I did that is because I don¡¯t know what you want to do next. You should have figured out by now that I have taken a special interest in your future. If you have been a teacher for as long as I have you can see a student¡¯s worth just by looking into their eyes. The parents who spend all their credits on martial arts lessons and not on education are fools who wish to teach their children how to run before they can walk. I know that you have never followed a lesson before entering Nash and that at first, I took pity on you because of your physical stake. But seeing you excel at winemaking to the point of surpassing Liz¡¯s record and fooling Levy shows that you learn quickly, and with the answer, you gave today I can see that you have been reading a lot and that you have above average intelligence.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. Believe it or not but this makes you even more valuable, to like reading and studying without being forced is a trait many youngsters lack these days. They just want to swing their swords and only use their brains to read the wine list when they get drunk every night. But they have something more important that you miss, willpower. I don¡¯t know what happened to you but when I look at you I don¡¯t see a shred of passion or the sense you want something; it¡¯s like looking at a walking corps.¡± Solomon had a look of annoyance on his face and even banged his hands on the table softly. George didn¡¯t expect Solomon to say something like this and was caught off guard by his statement. For a moment his anger took over him and he started to speak his mind. ¡°You speak like there is any choice, from the day we are born our lives have been controlled by god knows who. You say there is a choice but to me, everyone is doing the same thing, put in this prison called Nash and asked to go on his pointless journey which I don¡¯t know why but everyone seems to want to take. Tell me, teacher, if I play their game and go on this journey what will I gain at the end of the day?¡± Solomon got angrier by the second, stood up from his chair and banged his hands on the table. ¡°Horse Crap! You can tell these lies to make yourself feel better but I will tell you what the real problem is. You are afraid to try, and keep telling yourself excuses to justify doing nothing. Real world or not Nash is the best thing we got, and like it or not you are a part of it. Do you think that our ancestors before Nash had a purpose? They just like us lived a life that was limited and came to an end after eighty years or so if they were lucky. So if we have to be part of it, why not try to change it for the better or set goals to give our life meaning instead of making excuses why it¡¯s all pointless and we can just as well never try.¡± George clearly sensitive to this subject couldn¡¯t accept Solomon¡¯s reaction. ¡°Perhaps, but it¡¯s my life and I know one thing for sure. I have only entered Nash for a couple of session days and have the right to think longer about how I want to live my life!¡± Solomon sat back down and the room became silent. He knew that George was just sixteen and that arguing about this won¡¯t solve anything at the moment. ¡°Then go back and make a decision. If you want to be an ordinary worker you can keep your job at the winery and make enough to survive day by day. But if you decide to follow the path of cultivation, see the world and experience adventure come back to see me. Now go back and rest, it won¡¯t take long before your session ends.¡± After that Solomon went back to work on his rapports and George left his office in an angry state. He went back to his room and wasn¡¯t in the mood to read so he decided to take a nap and try to calm down. But he couldn¡¯t sleep and before long was kicked out of Nash. Even though he was angry he still decided to do his exercises. George knew that being able to stay five full days in Nash had the most priority right now and that he had to do his best. After a while, Omar and Clara exited the capsule and started to do their daily exercises. George just exiting the shower went to order his dinner and had a hard time finish his plate. Omar was pretty easy to get along with and he liked to talk about his troubles. George could also use a talking companion, he didn¡¯t want to think about Nash and listened to Omar talk about mostly how hard it is to survive with so little money. Luckily it was almost time for Clara to enter Nash and that why their income would increase. This would give Omar the chance to save credits for lessons and skills. George thought about how it would be if Vincent treated him like Omar treated Clara, but put the thought out of his head after feeling uncomfortable just thinking about it. Omar talked about how there is an option to choose your starting village if you have the credit for it and that the big clans use this to put their children in villages under their control. And that the reason he had to share a meal with Clara was that he was saving for her to start at the same starting village as him. But he didn¡¯t know if he could make enough money in the short amount of time he had left. George like usual didn¡¯t say much and let Omar do the talking. Clara was not used to getting no attention and was angry, sitting the corner of the room. But George could also sense that she was sad because of the burden she was on her big brother. Omar had entered Nash almost a session year ago and should already be at the point of leaving the starting village. But had to save every credit he made to pay for his sister''s transfer. Seeing that Clara wanted to be alone with his brother and that is was almost sleeping time George said his goodnight and went to his room. He was not able to sleep comfortably in Nash and was looking forward to a good night sleep. He still had some time to think about his discussion with Solomon and the worst thing was that he felt like he had lost the discussion. But it¡¯s his decision and he is the one that has to make it at the end of the day. Chapter 12: meeting the principal Two session months went by from the time George entered Nash. George had just finished today''s batch of wine and was waiting for old man Levy to check it on quality like every day for the past two months. But Old Man Levy didn¡¯t show up and he decided to go look for him. He found old man Levy in the front of the store drinking a cup of wine after a hard day¡¯s work. ¡°Seems like you''re done for the day, good work like always. Come have a drink of wine with me, this wine Is a specialty of my hometown I made it this morning.¡± George didn¡¯t like to drink; he had tried it but didn''t like the feeling of not having any control so decided not to drink again. Deep inside he was afraid that he would like it and become like the thousands of people who drank all night in the pubs. Seeing George shake his head no, Levy quickly gave George his four credits and told him to go home. ¡°Old man Levy, why didn¡¯t you check his wine today?¡± Said Liz sitting in front of Levy drinking a cup of the special wine Levy had made. ¡°There is no need, every day I taste it and it''s always the same. It pisses me off how he is so consistent that even the flaws are there every time.¡± Levy wanted to give George the Winemaker job but didn¡¯t know if that would be the best decision. George didn¡¯t put in a lot of effort and always made the same wine every day. He would make it just good enough to pass the test and didn¡¯t try to make any improvements at all. In a matter of fact, Levy knew that if he really tried he would have masters second tier wine and be making third tier wine by now. Levy knew that George had talent that he could become a master winemaker one day but he didn¡¯t like his personality and he only had a couple of invitations left. George like every session day went straight to the library to get some books to read. The physical training, he had done for two months had worked really well and he could already stay in Nash for three full days and a couple of hours of the fourth day. He didn¡¯t think that it would work so fast but to his surprised, he was getting stronger every day. The reason it was working so fast was because of two things. First was the standard meal he took every day, even though it looks like an ordinary meal it is specially made to nourish the human body for the capsule. By eating every day his body was getting the vitamins needed to get stronger and he was gaining weight pretty fast. The second reason was the training regimen that Solomon had put him on. George really didn¡¯t have anything to worry about anymore. He was making good money and was making enough in the first two days that he didn¡¯t need to work the third one. At first, he didn¡¯t have any money after paying for the room at the academy and his food in the real world, but after making tier two wine he started to make eight credits every session day so he started to save money pretty quickly. And having no interest in martial arts which is the most expensive thing in wine village, he could do the things he liked for very little money, like eating fresh food and reading books at the library. After spending some money on clothes and a night lamp for reading he still had around two hundred credits left. This was an amount that would make most students jealous and even bring thieves to his house if they knew about it. The truth was that George was pretty lucky with his job, and that he could master making tier two wine in such a short time. Even Liz was only making tier two wine and she would average four out of five batches every day. But even Liz is left with little at the end of the day. The only reason George had so many credits was because he didn¡¯t spend any. For example, most students would follow martial arts class and join the daily hunt¡¯s which alone would cost more than most people made every session day. And because of the high cost of the lessons most had to choose which one they preferred and would do the other one only when they came into money. Some even chose to go hungry to be able to do both. George went to his room after he got the books and went straight to reading like every day. He would mostly read fiction or random books about many different jobs of the past. He had already finished the wine manual a long time ago and hadn¡¯t touched the skills and its uses book yet. George didn¡¯t want to train in martial arts so what was the use of reading the book anyways. The boy in blue was sitting at the other desk and was reading as well. They were the ideal roommates and didn¡¯t interact with each other. After almost two session months George still didn¡¯t know his name or who he was. He would see him training every day in the training yard alone and to be honest wasn¡¯t interested in who he was and why he tried too hard. He was just happy that he didn¡¯t bother him and use his status as a noble to order him around.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. George had trouble sleeping and would sometimes skip sleep and just read. At first, he thought the boy in blue would protest because of the light, but it didn¡¯t seem to bother the boy and he could just stay up all night. Levy had offered him to work the third day as well but George wasn¡¯t interested. He was making enough money and used the third day to just read books. Sometimes he would go out for a walk and see what Tyler was doing. Tyler was working hard on becoming stronger but had the bad luck of no money and no teacher to train him. Everyone at the academy was talking about how he would go to master Percy every day and ask him to teach him but master Percy would just ignore him. For some reason, he didn¡¯t like Tyler and would even charge him more for the passive skills he sold to everyone. So Tyler asked George to buy his skills for him so that he wouldn¡¯t charge extra. George didn¡¯t know if master Percy knew of this or not but it didn¡¯t seem to stop him from selling to George whenever he wanted to buy a skill. At first, George tried to cut himself from human contact as much as he could, but after a while found himself missing interaction with others and felt lonely. But he didn¡¯t like to have people around all the time either so he decided to go and see Tyler whenever he was in need of company. It would have been easier to talk to his roommate, but he didn¡¯t want to disturb their relationship. Even though the boy was always alone training and never had any visitors he was still a noble so he could make it difficult for George. After reading for a while, George went to bed and with some luck slept for a couple of hours before it was morning. It was his third day so he had nothing to do. He went to the kitchen to get himself some fresh bread and see which kind of soup was on the menu today. George liked to eat and even though it didn¡¯t do anything, it gave him a full belly and a pleasant feeling. The kitchen was pretty cheap and for just one credit you could eat three meals a day for a whole session week. When he was eating his breakfast a woman started to approach him. This was the first time he had seen a woman teacher and unlike the other girls who were just sixteen she was older and even George had to admit that he had never seen a woman so beautiful. ¡°You must be George; I have a message from the principal. He wants you to meet him at his office after your done eating.¡± She didn¡¯t wait for George to respond and started to walk toward the exit. George had never met the principal and felt a little nervous. He didn¡¯t know why a man of his stature would be looking for him. He had heard stories about the principal and some said that he was even respected by the other three clan leaders. George knew where the teacher offices were and it didn¡¯t take him long to find the principal¡¯s office. The same woman he had met was sitting behind her desk working on a rapport. When she saw George she stood up and entered the principal¡¯s office and it didn¡¯t take long before she came back out again. ¡°You can go in now.¡± The woman didn¡¯t use a lot of words and went back to work. George felt a little annoyed on how little information he got and wondered if others felt the same way when they talked to him. When he entered the room he found a middle aged man sitting behind his desk. He wore sloppy clothes and even had an odor to him which was most uncomfortable. George was thinking of possible situations and preparing for every situation got caught off guard and didn¡¯t say a word. He didn¡¯t know why, but he was expecting an old wise man sitting there with a long white beard like he had read in most of the story books. ¡°Come in and close the door, my assistant doesn¡¯t like it when I leave it open and she has to stand up and close it. She is the best assistant I ever had but she just doesn¡¯t have any personal skills. I swear woman are too arrogant these days, how dare she ignore me like that. I mean I¡¯m the principal of this school and deserve some respect, instead, she just keeps looking at me like I killed her father or something. Luckily for he, I¡¯m not because if I were her father I would teach her a lesson. Yes, how beautiful it would be.¡± The principal had a big smile on his face and George didn¡¯t know what to say. For the first time in his life, he was speechless. He didn¡¯t even blink and was staring at the principal in total confusion. The principal seeing this started to caught loudly and moved on from the subject. ¡°Anyways, come and sit I want to talk to you.¡± Chapter 13: meeting the principal (2) George still not knowing what was going on took a sit and didn¡¯t say anything. Usually, he could at least guess what it was going to be about, but with the combination of the woman who said almost nothing and this principal who kept rambling about punishing woman he had no clue what he was to expect. ¡°It¡¯s my job as the principal to know a little about all my students. You have been here for two months and are working at the winery at the request of Solomon. I have read your test results and agree with the choice Solomon made to let you start at the winery. Solomon is one of the best teachers we have and if he takes an interest in you, it means that you have something to offer. What you properly didn¡¯t know is that we get a rapport about every improvement you make. So, for example, I know that you excel at winemaking and have been making enough money to follow every starters lesson you want. So I went to look at your applications to classes and to my surprise found that you have only taken one class since you entered our academy.¡± The principal had an annoyed look on his face and turned the paper around pointing his finger at the one class mentioned on it. Then took another piece of paper from his desk and put it up next to the other one. ¡°only one class, look at your list and the list of another student who joined us on the same day. He doesn¡¯t even have half the money to spend that you have, but he has already taken at least ten lessons. So I went to talk to Solomon and see what is going on. He told me about the conversation you had and that he has no interest in you if you don¡¯t have any ambition. But Solomon sometimes forgets that you are just sixteen and that everyone your age is pretty stupid. And that free will is overrated. I¡¯ll be damned if I let you piss your future away making cheap wine in a starters village.¡± The principal had a mocking smile on his face and leaned back into his chair. George finally understood what it was about and got a little annoyed by the principal. He already had this conversation with Solomon and it was his decision wat he wanted to do. Right now he wanted to live in peace and didn¡¯t want to do something like training. Maybe in time, he would start studying martial arts if he felt bored or changed his mind on how he wanted to live. ¡°I¡¯m sorry principal but like I told Solomon I don¡¯t have any intention to train in martial arts and to my knowledge you can¡¯t force me if I follow the rules.¡± The principal didn¡¯t react at all and just kept staring at George with that mocking smile on his face. ¡°You know rules are a funny concept. Just like you follow your rules I have to follow mine. One of those, for example, is that good jobs like working at the winery should go to students who show promise. Even though Solomon gave you the job I have every right to take it away and give it to someone who wants to make something of him- or herself. So how about we find you a new job where you can follow the rules and still make enough money to read books every night. There is a mine not far from here and even though experts claim it''s empty I still want to send some forces to try finding valuable materials. I wonder how much we will be able to pay you though with the budget we have this year with the tournament coming up. Maybe I pay you one credit every two days if you work hard. Just hope youlike to do some physical work.¡± George got a little angry but couldn¡¯t deny the principals argument. But even then he could be sent to work in the farms, why did he need to torture George by sending to the mines on a wild goose chase. But he wasn¡¯t going to let the principal threaten him with a job. He still had enough saved to survive for two hundred session days even with a job that paid one credit every session day. And in that time he could work on his stamina and in another two months he could work four days and still make enough to live a comfortable life. ¡°I understand principal, please send me a map with the coordinates of the mine.¡±This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. The principal didn¡¯t expect him to react like that and became a little bit angry. He stopped staring at the ceiling and made eye contact with George with an angry look on his face. The smile was gone and replaced with a stern look. ¡°I wonder what some of the senior students will do if they find out that a first-year student with no training has a saving of around two hundred credits. I mean it would be unethical for me to tell them but you never know what will happen after a couple of drinks. Do you drink? I find nothing more relaxing than a good glass of wine after a hard day of work. But it has to be good you know, not the piss you make but quality wine.¡± George was getting angrier by the second. The principal was nothing like Solomon who was kind and didn¡¯t make decisions for others. George knew that if the principal did that he wouldn¡¯t survive a day with everyone coming after him with everything they got. ¡°Principal! This is unfair.¡± George gave an angry shout and for the first time in a long time almost jumped out of his chair. The principal stood up from his chair and slammed his hands down on the table. ¡°Listen little shit, I¡¯m not Solomon who is going to let you do whatever the hell you want. If I tell you to study, you better ask me when and how long or I will make your life a living hell. You wanted to live like an ordinary citizen so I¡¯ll let you experience it to the fullest. The first rule I learned when I was your age, the strong will rule and the weak will follow. From now on you¡¯re my personal student, you will come here every third day of the week and I will give you an assignment. Finish it and you will be rewarded, don¡¯t and I will punish you. Another rule made for commoners.¡± George felt a rage he had not felt for a long time. He knew that if the principal wanted to he could make his life unbearable and that he would not have a second¡¯s rest. There was no way for him to win this fight so he was at the mercy of the principal and had to do what he was told. ¡°I¡­ understand.¡± The principal getting what he wanted got relaxed and the mocking smile came back on his face. It was almost like he got pleasure from humiliating George. ¡°Don¡¯t worry kid, you can still do whatever you want the first two days of the week and I won¡¯t make you do anything I don¡¯t think you can handle. The day will come where you will thank me for what I did today. Kids your age are stubborn like no other and think they have the answers for everything. I blame it on the hormones. And try to talk more or you become the male version of that irritating woman outside. And god knows I can¡¯t handle two of those in my life.¡± Seeing he was getting off topic the principal took a sip of water and went on with his lecture. ¡°You are lacking in a lot of aspects, but the first thing you need right now is a good beating. Go to master Keven. He is responsible for teaching the basics of fighting to people with the tank class. Class won¡¯t start for a couple of hours so you still have some time to read the basics of the skills and its uses manual. After you done with the lesson work on memorizing the first chapter of the skills and its uses manual before next week. I hope your memory is as good old man Levy has told me and you can remember that much in such a short amount of time or you I will have to come up with a punishment for you. So please don¡¯t mess up and study hard, I don¡¯t want to spend days trying to think of a way of torturing you without really torturing you. Students never understand how hard it is for us to come up with these punishments, I mean everyone can use the standard once like detention or a hundred lashes but what is the fun in that. You need to be creative like making someone run naked trough the woman dormitory or use him as bait in the next session hunt.¡± George not really in the mood to listen to the principals rambling decided to cut in and stop him before he went off on another subject. ¡°I understand. Now if you excuse I have to go prepare for class.¡± The principal thinking that George was nervous about the assignment didn¡¯t push anymore and ended his ramblings. ¡°Fine, you can leave. Send in that annoying woman between the two of you maybe I¡¯ll get a full conversation.¡± George didn¡¯t really listen anymore and left the room. He told the woman that the principal wanted to see her and started walking away. He needed some fresh air and time to think about his new situation. George didn¡¯t really fear the principal''s request of memorizing one chapter of skills and its uses because he knew how thick the book was and that he could memorize the whole book in three days if he wanted to. George didn¡¯t know how to handle the situation. George had never met someone like the principal, you couldn¡¯t reason with him and he would ramble on about random stuff and you couldn¡¯t tell if he was joking or not. George wondered how such a man could be respected even among the clan leaders. But George knew one thing and that he needed to prepare for some hard times. The path of martial arts is not easy and it costs a lot of time and money. So after thinking for a while, George decided to go back to his room to get ready for his first lesson in basic martial arts. Chapter 14: heritage George came back to his room and didn¡¯t feel like reading the skills and its uses manual. He still had all of next week and didn¡¯t want to do something he didn¡¯t feel like doing right now. He didn¡¯t want to study martial arts but he had no other option. Like it or not, the village was controlled by the tree clans and the academy and if any of these four wanted you to do something you had to do it or they could make live a living hell for you. George had to be patient and wait for the right time if he wanted to do something about it. After resting for a while George got up to go to the training area. On his way, he saw Tyler training archery. Seeing George, Tyler got surprised and started to walk towards him with a big smile on his face. ¡°I didn¡¯t think you liked training, why are you here?¡± George not in the mood for small talk told Tyler what had happened and kept walking toward the training ground. Training grounds were separated for every class. Archery had the biggest training ground and was the closest to the academy with the tank training ground the smallest and the farthest away from the academy. Tyler couldn¡¯t keep his laughter in and started to laugh out loud. From what George could tell he had already met the principal and wasn¡¯t surprised by what George was telling him. ¡°Yes the principal is special, I remember the first time I met him. But to be honest I¡¯m happy he made you do basic training. Maybe the day will come when we both can leave the village together and go see the world.¡± George could not read Tyler like the others and didn¡¯t know if he was serious or just polite. ¡°You talk like there is no other way to leave this village except for cultivating. I also hope that the one day we can leave wine village and go see the world.¡± George had already decided that he wanted to leave Wine village after he saved enough money to go to the first city. He wanted to go see the world and even learn new things. Besides the library here didn¡¯t have enough books for him to stay here for the rest of his life anyways. Tyler happy that George also wanted to travel the world and see what it had to offer shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s a long story and I can¡¯t tell you about it. The academy forbids students to share information that they learned in class. It¡¯s a new rule the principal made when he noticed how much credits he was losing because of students who were sharing information with each other. Of course, the chance of being caught is pretty small, but you have the money anyways. Go to master tod¡¯s class about geography later, he will explain it to you.¡± George interested made a mental note. After walking for a while they came by the fighters training ground and he saw the boy in blue training hard like always. George would see him train every day and knew that he didn¡¯t need a job because of his noble birth. But the thing he didn¡¯t understand was why he was staying in a small two-person room at the academy instead of the big mansion owned by the Hooper clan. Seeing George focus all of his attention to the boy in blue Tyler started to become curious. ¡°Do you know him?¡± George gave a quick nod, but seeing Tyler still looking at him decided to elaborate. ¡°He is my roommate; we don¡¯t talk much but he seems like a hard worker.¡± Tyler not expecting that was startled, but after a while started to shake his head. ¡°You need to be careful around him. He is not just a member of the Hooper clan, he is the son of one of the five generals who after the clan lord have the most influence in the clan. This means that he is far more powerful than the clan leader who is put in charge of Wine village. I heard stories about how his father is a great fighter and that the position of general has been passed on from his grandfather to his father before he went on adventuring. So I expect he wants to get strong enough to take the position from his father when he grows up.¡±The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. George didn¡¯t think that his status would be so high, and if his status was so high why was he staying in his dorm room. ¡°Why is he staying in my room if he is the son of some great general?¡± Tyler expecting the question went on explaining. ¡°I heard some rumors from a couple of Hooper nobles when I was drinking in the pub. Apparently, it was expected of him to take his father¡¯s place just like his father had taken his grandfather''s place, but the thing nobody thought about was that there was a chance he would not get the same class as his father and grandfather because everyone in his family for three generations had become a fighter. When he did the test, it was to everyone¡¯s surprise that he didn¡¯t have the fighters class but a cleric instead. Even though clerics are support types and are mostly specialized in healing it¡¯s still a good class. But he couldn¡¯t accept it and keeps practicing the sword refusing his father¡¯s command to become a healer instead. When his father heard of this he got angry and ordered his son thrown out of the mansion and excommunicated from the clan. The clan leader did this but still, keeps giving him financial support in the fear that one day he will fall back in the good graces of his father and come for revenge. At first, I didn¡¯t think of it as anything more than rumors but seeing that he really is staying at a small room maybe it¡¯s true. But then against maybe it¡¯s not, who knows.¡± George hearing the story felt a little closer to the boy in blue, just like him he was being forced to do something he didn¡¯t want and when he didn¡¯t do it he was punished by his father like George would be punished by the principal. ¡°It¡¯s funny how two people with almost nothing in common have the same problems with authority.¡± Tyler shook his head and didn¡¯t seem to agree with George. ¡°What you are doing it totally different from what he is doing. You won¡¯t want to train in martial arts because you don¡¯t want to be a warrior. What he is trying to do is become a tiger when he is just a sheep. He can stand there and swing that sword for ten years but that won¡¯t change that he will never be a warrior. I know that a lot of people look at him and see bravery and passion, but when I look at him I see a fool who just can¡¯t accept reality.¡± George understanding Tyler¡¯s reasoning and could to an extent agree with him, but still felt a little bad for the boy in blue. ¡°I don¡¯t know enough about how skills or the cleric class to say anything about that, but as a person, I feel sorry for him and I hope he finds his own way in life.¡± Seeing George react like that made Tyler a little ashamed. It was true that he didn¡¯t have all the information and that he couldn¡¯t tell for certainty that there was no way. ¡°Are you saying that because you also want to follow your own way, and think that if he succeeds you can too?¡± George gave a rare smile and nodded his head. ¡°Is that so bad? Most of you dream of becoming great soldiers or whatever you call it, but I don¡¯t. So what¡¯s the use of practicing martial arts or cultivating? When I finally find something that I want to do and it becomes my dream, I will do anything needed to reach it. If that means that I need to learn martial arts so be it.¡± Tyler laughed out loud and didn¡¯t say anything. He liked to talk to George but found himself losing arguments most of the time. After a while, they reached the training ground. Tyler said his goodbyes and told him to visit him next session day to get a new skill from master Percy. George looked around and saw a lot of students training. At the center of the ground was a middle-aged man standing with a muscular body. George thinking that it was his best bet started to walk toward the man. ¡°Excuse me, I¡¯m looking for master Keven. Do you know where I can find him?¡± The man had a kind look on his face and gave a quick nod. ¡°You must be the new kid. I have been waiting for you for a couple of hours now. I heard from the principal you don¡¯t like martial arts. Master Keven is at the back waiting for you to arrive. Go inside the small house at the end of the training ground, you will find him there.¡± George nodding his head started to walk towards the end of the training ground. There he found a house made of stone that looked more like a small hut. George walked inside and found nothing more than a table and two chairs in the room with an old man sleeping in the chair. At first, George didn¡¯t want to wake him up but decided that making the old man angry was a better option than going back to the principal the next session day without learning anything. ¡°Excuse me, sir, I¡¯m here at the request of the principal.¡± The old man opened his eyes and had an angry look on his face. ¡°What took you so long. that annoying kid told me that you would be here hours ago.¡± George didn¡¯t know what to say, the principal told him to go in the afternoon and didn¡¯t give him a timeline to follow. ¡°my apologies, the principal just told me to be here in the afternoon and didn¡¯t give me a specified time.¡± The old man starting to wake up, stood up from the chair and started to walk toward the exit of the hut. He looked like he could fall any second and even used a long stick as a cane to walk. ¡°And here I thought that he forgot the time because of his long ramblings, I swear if I was twenty years younger¡­.¡± The old man coming back to his senses started to caught and played with his white beard. ¡°Come with me kid, I will teach you the basics of the tank class. I heard from the kid that you don¡¯t have any interest in martial arts but that is none of my concern. I will do my job and teach you to my best ability¡¯s, and what you do with it is up to you.¡± Chapter 15: basic training ¡°Follow me, kid.¡± Master Keven started to walk toward the training grounds. Everyone was doing different training exercises like training with weapons or trying to master new skills. At the middle of the training ground were three people who were giving advice and sometimes a demonstration. Master Keven was slow and even George two months ago could keep up with him. But everyone was showing him the utmost respect by greeting him. Master Keven, happy with the students kept nodding his head and sometimes would give one or two students advice. When the three teachers at the center saw master Keven coming, they ran towards him and made a deep bow. The middle-aged man in the middle was standing in front of the other two and gave his greetings first, and then the two at the back did the same. ¡°Kid, prepare the training ground. I¡¯m going to teach this kid the basics.¡± George was getting annoyed, he didn¡¯t know if master Keven was calling everyone kid because he was so old and couldn¡¯t remember the names, or that it was one of those annoying habits some old people just have. At the same time, the two people behind the middle-aged man started to prepare everything while the middle-aged man started to approach George. ¡°My name is master Hughes, but everyone calls me Joseph. Master Keven is very old and doesn¡¯t have the time to teach students every day, so I¡¯m the one running the training grounds. If you have any questions you can come to me and I will answer them, for a price of course.¡± George wasn¡¯t surprised by Joseph¡¯s comment. It was school regulation that lessons and advice can only be given when the students pay credits for them. How much he has to pay depends on the class or the information he was looking for. Joseph had a smile on his face, and unlike George had imagined was not muscular at all. Master Keven is also skinny, but George thought that was because of his age. George was observing the students, and Master Keven was having a casual conversation with Joseph. After a while, the two teachers came back and informed master Keven that the training ground was prepared. In reality, it was just a small part of the training ground made especially for new students. There was a small round field made completely out of the sand with one big rock in the middle. Master Keven moved next to the rock and pointed to George where he should stand. ¡°You don¡¯t know anything yet and I don¡¯t think it was such a good idea to send you here first. That kid just wanted to give you some motivation and didn¡¯t think about all the basic knowledge you are missing. So I will give you a crash course on everything you need to know for now. But of course, it won¡¯t be free, hand over ten credits.¡± Master Kevin had a big smile on his face when he said the amount, but George almost passed out. He had worked hard for his money and didn¡¯t think it would cost this much to learn the basics. ¡°Don¡¯t worry kid, the information I¡¯m giving you today is worth at least twenty.¡± George hesitated for a while but still decided to give master Keven the ten credits. Everyone was showing him the utmost respect and he didn¡¯t think that someone who everyone respect would swindle him, especially for an amount of ten credits. Master Keven accepted the credits and started to walk back and forth thinking about where to start. Joseph was standing on the sideline watching George while the other two teachers went back to assisting the other students. ¡°I¡¯m just going to start by explaining the classes. There are four things that make a class, characteristics, weapons, skills and insight. I¡¯m going to explain a little about all four so you can understand what makes a class special, and help you make a start as a protector.¡± Old man Keven wasn¡¯t looking at George and was pacing back and forth. This was not the first time someone had mentioned the word protector instead of a tank. Some older teacher and students would call it protector instead of a tank because it sounded more respectful. ¡°The first thing that I¡¯m going to talk about is the characteristics system, and how every class has its own characteristics paths. Every class can put a hundred points into every characteristic but after that, it changes completely. For example, because we are the protector class we can keep putting points into vitality and it will never increase in cost. But if let¡¯s say a warrior keeps putting points in vitality they will need to spend three points for every one point of vitality gained after they exceed the one hundred.¡±Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. George was trying to listen to everything master Keven was telling him without missing a word. He didn¡¯t want to forget anything and have to spend more credits on martial arts classes. And something told him that master Keven isn¡¯t the type to repeat himself. ¡°I¡¯m not going to talk about how characteristics work for other classes because we would still be here tomorrow. We as the protectors have it pretty easy actually, everything except vitality will cost three points after you exceed a hundred. And with only five points gained every level you can¡¯t afford to casually spend characteristics points. I would recommend you to put every point on vitality, but there are protectors who chose another way and some of them succeed in becoming strong protectors in their own way. The reality is that characteristics are not as important as they were a long time ago, but they can still be the deciding factor between victory and defeat. I recommend you to read more about it in the second chapter of the skills and its basics manual.¡± Master Keven turned around for the first time and moved his right hand up, and from nowhere appeared a long staff made of wood. George got surprised but it didn¡¯t have time to think about it because master Keven continued with his teaching. ¡°This is a b¨­, also known as a long staff, this is the weapon we protectors use when we start training. In time you can move up to a halberd and shield, but that¡¯s not going to be anytime soon. To master a weapon you need to training in weapon skills. Weapon skills are restricted to classes, but that doesn¡¯t mean that other classes can¡¯t use the b¨­, it just means that they can¡¯t learn the weapon skills that are available, and therefore won¡¯t be able to master it. Every weapon had its specialty that fits the class the best, I¡¯m sure you can guess that sword skills are the most powerful offensively and that the halberd and shield are the strongest defensively. But it also depends on how good the weapon skill is and how much insight you have. For example, a protector who has mastered a high-grade b¨­ skill can do more damage than a warrior who has a low-grade sword skill and has not mastered it. The quality of the weapon itself and its harmony with elements is also very important, you can read about that in the fourth chapter of skills and its uses manual. Also, don¡¯t assume that someone is a warrior jus because they are carrying a sword, bandits use this trick to steal money from newcomers. But it also works the other way around, a lot of experts carry support or protector weapons to blend in, and offending them would be courting death. ¡± Master Keven moved his hand again and a scroll appeared in the same hand the staff was in. He threw the staff and scroll to George, just like his walking it was really slow and it didn¡¯t take George too much strength to catch it. ¡°This is a basic b¨­ skill, this including the staff are yours. You should thank me, the information and the two items I gave you are a lot more worth that the ten credits you gave me. Use the skill in your hand and try to learn it.¡± George put the staff down and tried to open the scroll, but whatever he did he couldn¡¯t open it. Master Keven seeing this had a big smile on his face. ¡°Skills don¡¯t work like books kid, use the command inspect.¡± George was a little bit annoyed but didn¡¯t say anything. ¡°inspect¡± George read the text but didn¡¯t seem to give a lot of information about the skill, and what the seven levels do. He decided to trust master Keven and learn the skill. ¡°yes.¡± The scroll in his hand started to heat up and started to disappear like it was burning away. At the same time, a lot of new information started to enter George¡¯s brain. He felt like a whole book worth of information was being transformed to him in an instant. George couldn¡¯t explain the feeling, but it was something he definitely wanted to feel again. He just had to close his eyes, and he could see pictures moving, performing martial arts stances. George opened his eyes and was thinking about what just happened when master Keven decided to continue his story. ¡°I¡¯m sure you have noticed that skill aren¡¯t magic pills you take and you can use them. The information transfer to you is what you need to master the skill, but it¡¯s you who needs to put in the work and practice. A skill like this is straightforward and easy to learn as long you put in the work, but in the future, you will find advanced skills that are so hard to master that only one in a thousand maybe even then thousand will be able to master it. Of course, there is also the possibility of you not having the required stats like mana to use a skill, luckily for us, the mana use for protector skills are not high, and with some good equipment, you can use most of them. Passive skills like these don¡¯t use mana and can be used as long as you have the stamina to continue, but active skills or skills that require a specific element do always require mana to use.¡± Master Keven stopped moving again and faced the sky. ¡°The last thing I want to discuss and maybe the most important is insight. This is something that old people like me are still in search for, and finding it can change you from an everyday protector into a legendary character.¡± Chapter 16: basic training (2) ¡°Kid come here and help me.¡± George and Joseph both looked at each other with a confused look on their faces. Which of the two did he mean? Keven got a little angry after a while and started to scold Joseph. ¡°Hurry up kid, the kid only gave me ten credits and I don¡¯t have all day. And I thought I was slow, at least I¡¯m eighty session years old, what¡¯s your excuse?¡± Joseph didn¡¯t seem angry and if he was angry he was good at hiding it. he quickened his pace and went to where master Kevin was standing. ¡°The basic b¨­ skill had seven levels as you already know. Unlike the first five levels, the sixth and seventh level focuses on offensive. The sixth level is just a set of offensive moves you can use with the b¨­, but the seventh level is something not many students can do and even experienced martial artists find hard to master. Kid show him the sixth and the seventh level.¡± Joseph walked to the center of the yard and started to move with his whole body, warming up. When you looked at his movement it looked like any other student training, but George could see the difference when he concentrated on the moves. There was no unnecessary movement. But even so, it didn¡¯t look that hard to do with some training. What George didn¡¯t know was that Joseph was not only showing the offensive moves of the sixth level but also the defensive moves of the fourth level which let no opening for a counter attack. After doing the basic moves for a couple of minutes Joseph walked toward the stone at the center of the yard and started to attack it with the b¨­ staff, the hits looked basic and George was a little surprised by how weak Joseph was. What he didn¡¯t know was that Joseph had put all his characteristic points on health and only had the strength of an ordinary human. George was getting bored after a couple of minutes and just as he was losing his concentration on the moves Joseph was making he saw a white glow on the b¨­ staff, the attack that did almost no damage hit the stone and a hard explosion could be heard that reached the end of the training ground. Master Keven was looking and started to nod his head when the big stone broke in half. ¡°Nicely done kid, I can see you worked hard on mastering your light element energy.¡± Joseph moved his hand and the rock got replaced with a new one that looked exactly the same. He wasclearlyhappy with master Keven¡¯s compliment but didn¡¯t want to show it. George was still trying to understand what just happened. He didn¡¯t think that joseph¡¯s last attack would be so powerful to break the big stone in half, especially after the weak attacks from before. This was the first time George saw someone that could do something no ordinary human could and he couldn¡¯t deny the excitement he felt when he saw the results of joseph¡¯s powerful attack. Master Keven walked toward the stone and without giving any warning hit the rock with his cane. The attack could not even be called an attack and looked more like two objects connecting. After a second the rock exploded and the big rock turned into thousand smaller rocks. The sound it made was so hard that even the other training grounds could hear it. George not expecting it got a big fright and had a look of shock on his face. Master Keven also moves his hands and the rock he had just destroyed was replaced with a new one. Master Keven had a smile on his face seeing the surprise on George¡¯s face. In reality, it was the first time master Keven had performed an attack that strong since the time he came to wine village and he only did it to show George how powerful martial arts and cultivation could be. The principal had told him about George and that he had no interest in martial arts and this was master Keven¡¯s attempt to make George more interested in martial arts. ¡°The attack I just used was a simple attack that could be compared with the seventh level of the b¨­ skill. I didn¡¯t use more mana or element energy than Joseph did, but you could see the difference. The reason my attack is so much more powerful is because of my insight in the earth element. This is why people who get insight are so much more powerful in fights. Even though I¡¯m not from the fighter class I can do more damage than most of them because of the insight I have in the earth element. But the fighter class masters who have insight on the elements can destroy the who training field we are standing on with the same amount of element energy. But don¡¯t think that because of their great offense people like us have no chance of winning a fight. What we lack in attack power, we gain in defensive skills.¡± What George didn¡¯t know was that master Keven was talking about the elite who have the power of generals and that many fighters who could be considered masters only had a little insight on the elements.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Master Keven turned his palm up and produced something that looked like green energy. ¡°When you kill a magical beast they will drop something called energy stones. Inside the stone is something we call natural energy. When you absorb the energy it enters your body and becomes part of you, when you absorbed the natural energy it changes into dark element energy. A specific amount of natural energy is needed to break into the next level until you reach level ten. After level ten you need to find insight into the dark element and find a way to compress the dark energy inside your body. Only then can you break the bottleneck, and live as a real cultivator, we call it the first level of the spirit stage. Double or more element users need twice the insight and natural energy, even though it means double the work it also means that they will have a big advantage over other cultivators. But they can also decide to work on only one element and make a breakthrough with that element first. There are double element users who find it hard to gain any insight on an element or it doesn''t fit their class and decided to focus only on the element that suits them.¡± George was listening with care to what master Keven was saying, partly because he was interested and partly because he thought that the principal could ask questions later. ¡°There are two ways to absorbed the energy from an energy stone, energy refining techniques, and alchemy. It doesn¡¯t matter if you buy it or kill a beast for it, but you still need to absorb the energy within and change it into dark energy. This is what an energy refining techniques are for. The difference between a low-grade refining technique and a high on is simple, the amount of energy you can get from each energy stone. In fact, a low-grade refining technique can only absorb twenty percent of a low-grade energy stone. This means that eighty percent of the energy stone is wasted. That¡¯s why you should never use an energy stones above low-grade, and just sell it. You can then use the money to buy energy pills, which are made by alchemists. Alchemists have the ability to take the energy stone and change the natural energy into element energy, which the users can then use, without losing any of the energy.¡± Master Keven walked toward George and patted him on the shoulder with a kind smile on his face. ¡°This is the last thing I can do for you.¡± When he said that a small stone and another skill appeared in master Keven¡¯s hands and he gave the two items to George. George had never seen an energy stone before but it was smaller than he had expected. It was just as big as a fingernail and he could see bright energy inside. ¡°Put those two away and use it when you are alone in your room. The refining technique alone is worth five credits and people will snatch if from you if they see it. I sure am nice to give to so much for just ten credits. Now go home and use the remaining time you have to learn the refining technique. I wanted to try some moves, but with the money you gave me I can¡¯t in good conscious do more than I already have, it would be unfair to the other students. Come back to train the b¨­ skill at least once every session day and ask Joseph if you have any questions. I will come and see your progress in one session month. An average student would master at least the first level after a session month so I would try hard if I were you. Especially with the principal kid as your personal teacher.¡± Master Keven had a small evil smirk on his face which made George afraid. After they said their goodbyes to master Keven and Joseph, George went back to his room to study the refining technique. It was already late it was getting dark outside. George didn¡¯t know how much time he had left but he didn¡¯t increase his pace and didn¡¯t care if he still had enough time to learn the refining technique tonight or wait for the next session day. ¡°Master you just gave him a middle-grade spirit refining technique! Maybe you didn¡¯t see it because of your bad eyesight, should I go get it back?¡± Master Keven turned around with an angry look on his face. ¡°I¡¯m not that old, that I don¡¯t know the difference between low-grade and middle-grade techniques kid. I gave it to him to teach him a lesson he won¡¯t forget.¡± Master Keven had a smirk on his face from ear or ear and started to laugh out loud and left Joseph there standing in confusion. When he reached his room he saw the boy in blue reading like always. George knowing a little more said hello and went to his desk reading. The boy in blue surprised by George¡¯s greeting greeted back and didn¡¯t say anything else either. Just as George was changing the comfortable clothes he had bought and getting ready to sit and learn the refining technique, three boys were standing outside of his room. ¡°Are you sure master Keven gave him the middle-grade spirit stage refining technique?¡± The other boy next to him nodded with confidence. ¡°I was there watching the masters hoping to gain some insight and saw master Keven hand him the yellow scroll with spirit refining technique on it. But are you sure we should do this? Someone who gets a middle-grade refining technique should have a powerful background.¡± The boy in the middle clearly the leader nodded his head and whispered back. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, the boy is new and doesn¡¯t know anyone. I heard he never talks to anyone and doesn¡¯t practice martial arts so it should be too easy snatching the skill from him. Besides we are wearing masks, so he can¡¯t see us anyways. Before he knows what¡¯s going on we have the technique and are out of here.¡± Chapter 17: misunderstanding ¡°Let¡¯s wait for night to arrive before we make our move. There is only one exit and I don¡¯t want to attract any bystanders, especially the kind that like to play hero.¡± The scared boy behind him didn¡¯t say anything and waited for them to start. The other boy had a smile on his face and seemed excited about the situation. The money they could get from the middle-grade spirit stage refining technique was not a small amount and it was a skill only available to the nobles, to begin with. Noble families didn¡¯t like the sell middle-grade skills to outsiders as it was an unwritten rule which was made to weaken the common people, of course, if the prize was right everything could be bought. While keeping watch the excited boy got a thought and his face turned from excited to worry. ¡°What if he uses the skill while we wait here?¡± The boy who had made the plan hadn¡¯t thought about that and had a confused look on his face. After thinking for a while his eyes opened up with shock and he started to walk towards the door of the room. ¡°Alf, go knock on the door and wait for him to open. I don¡¯t want to kick the door in and break school property. The last thing we want is that damn principal coming after us for credits. When he opens the door I will jump him and knock him out, Max you look for the scroll while Alf keeps watch. Don¡¯t screw up, I already have a warning from the school comity and can''t afford a second one.¡± In the meantime, George was reading a book he got from the library and didn¡¯t feel like doing any more training today. I had been a long day and everything had changed. George couldn''t really concentrate on the book and was constantly thinking about his options and what he was going to do next. George didn¡¯t like to be unprepared and was trying to find a way how he could handle the situation with the principal. He got a little interested in martial arts by the skills he saw today, but it didn¡¯t mean he wanted to dedicate his life to it. He couldn¡¯t understand how people would put everything aside for martial arts and see it as a dream, while to him it was only a means to an end. While he was thinking someone knocked on the door, George didn¡¯t react and waited for the boy in blue to open like he always did. Liz had visited him a couple of times in the last month and every time the boy in blue would open the door, and after a while, it became the custom for the boy in blue to answer the door. The boy in blue stood up and walked toward the door clearly a little bit annoyed. He didn¡¯t have any friends or family in Wine village so he didn¡¯t have a lot of visitors. He had tried to not react and wait for George to answer it, but George would always wait for him to open the door, and he didn¡¯t have the patients to let that annoying girl knock on the door for ten minutes like the first time she visited George. So he stood up to answer the door as fast as he could so he can get back to his reading as soon as possible. Wat he didn¡¯t expect was to find a boy wearing a red mask in front of him punching him on the nose. The boy in blue not ready for the attack was sent back flying and hit the wall at the end of the room. Even though the room was small it was still a hard to send someone to the other side of the room. The boy in front of them had clearly trained in martial arts. George hearing the hard hitting sound got shocked and was staring at the boy in blue seemingly unconscious at the end of the room. his body reacted on instinct and he tried to hide in the corner of the room. He didn¡¯t know what the boy in blue had done to anger these people but he didn¡¯t want to get involved. He had mastered hiding and not getting noticed over the years with Vincent and felt confident he wouldn¡¯t get caught in the middle of their fight. He had enough problem of his own and didn¡¯t want to get into more trouble with the principal than he already was. Besides, the boy in blue was the son of a general so he could handle himself if it came to that. Alf got surprised when he saw the boy in blue and started to panic. He didn¡¯t know this boy but could tell that he was a noble by the clothes he was wearing. The leader not knowing this was the wrong guy quickly moved inside the room and started to look for the scroll on the two desks. What he didn¡¯t know was that George always but his books on the counter drawer next to his bed so that he could reach them easily if he wanted to read at nights. He couldn¡¯t sleep well and over the months had noticed that the boy in blue was a light sleeper and didn¡¯t want to get out of hid bed at night and disturb him. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Max, go search him, he can be wearing It on him.¡± The leader searching the desks turned his head and saw Max standing there not moving. Even thought he was the leader he couldn¡¯t order Max around, and he didn¡¯t have to until now because of how reliable Max was. But this was the first time he saw Max standing there with his eyes open like he had seen a ghost. ¡°Max! wake up, search him.¡± Max hearing the boy''s voice got shocked and turned his head back to look at Alf. ¡°You fool! Why didn¡¯t you tell me he was a Hooper.¡± Alf didn¡¯t react and was looking at max with fear in his eyes. He was panicking and hyperventilating at this point and he couldn¡¯t think straight anymore. The leader turned around and was clearly getting angry at Max. He had searched the desk but couldn¡¯t find anything and he didn¡¯t know if anyone had seen them and reported them to the masters or worse the principal. ¡°You could have guessed that he was a noble anyway. We have already come too far to turn back, besides he is out cold anyways, noble of not. Now hurry up and look for the scroll!¡± Seeing Alf not react made Max even angrier and he turned around to look at the leader. He didn¡¯t know what to do anymore. The chance to get a middle-grade spirit stage refining technique had clouded his judgment and he felt like this situation could make him or break him. Not knowing what to do and being too young to react calm he turned around and started to shout at Alf. ¡°You good for nothing fool! He is not just a noble, he is the son of Eric Hooper, Martin Hooper! He has the power to burn everyone in this damn village to ash, you think something like a mask can keep us safe from a general? I know I should have stayed out if this, you are the most incompetent fool I have ever met. This is my reward for taking pity on you and helping you becauseyou''re family.¡± Max started to look left and right not knowing what to do, and tried to calm down. He looked at Martin and after a while shouted loudly and started to move toward Martin to search him. He had already come too far and didn¡¯t think it would make any difference taking the scroll or not. The only chance he had was the boy not telling his father because he felt ashamed getting bested by just a simple punch. He approached Martin and set him up straight to look for the scroll. Just as he was about to check, Martin opened his eyes and grabbed Max by the hand and pulled him in. He headbutted him with all his strength and kicked him away with his legs. Max was not paying any attention and before he knew that had happened, passed out of the floor at the entrance of the room. The leader and Alf turned around and looked at Max laying on the ground not moving. The leader turned around to Alf and started to shout some command Alf didn¡¯t even hear. ¡°Quickly, guard the door! Only use your practice weapon, we don¡¯t want to accidently kill the boy. I will deal with him.¡± George had moved underneath the bed and was listening to the situation. By now he knew that the boys were looking for him, and he didn¡¯t know what to do. He wanted to go and help Martin but he couldn¡¯t move his body. He was shaking and didn¡¯t have the courage fight back, just like when Vincent would beat him. At the same time that George was trying to think of a way to help Martin the leader of the group moved his hands and a wooden sword appeared. He started to approach Martin with a confident look on his face. ¡°Just be a good boy and hand over the scroll, and I won¡¯t hurt you.¡± Martin, now knowing what was going on didn¡¯t answer, and also got his practice sword. He didn¡¯t care what the reason was that they broke into his room anymore, and the only thing he wanted right now was the bash the head in of the bastard who sucker punched him. He tried to use a quick attack and finish him before the other boy would jump in and it would be two against on. He quickly jumped up and tried to hit him on the head. But the boy just took a step back and blocked the hit with just one hand. He had a mocking smile on his face and with ease send Martin back flying towards the wall. ¡°Your sword skill is pretty good, but you are just an imposter. I heard stories about you but didn¡¯t think a fool like that existed, and that it was just fake rumors going around on campus. It seems you put a lot of time mastering the basic sword skill but didn¡¯t have the balls to put characteristic points on strength. Let me burst you bubble my lord, You will never be a warrior, and these skills you practice so hard every day will be useless to you after to reach the spirit stage, so stop wasting your time and become the useless healer your father wants you to be.¡± Martin was getting angrier by the second, nobody had ever talked to him like that and he started to attack, releasing all the anger and resentment he had built up in the last couple of session months. Martin kept trying to break the boy''s gourd but was send back flying every time he came close to him. Martin¡¯s sword skill was actually on par with the boy but he didn¡¯t have any characteristic points on strength and in the beginning when you can¡¯t use your element power that is a pretty big disadvantage. The boy, wanting to finish the fight made a quick duck and with full power hit the practice sword out of martin¡¯s hands. ¡°It¡¯s useless boy, give me the scroll and I won¡¯t hurt you.¡± Chapter 18: Ashamed Martin standing there with his hand trembling was thinking about his options. He was not a stupid person and knew by now that the person they were after was not him but properly George. But he didn¡¯t care anymore, they had mocked him and insulted his honor as a warrior. The boy waiting for an answer got impatient and decided to just take him out and take the scroll. He had already overstayed his welcome and the chance of someone finding them was getting higher by the second. So he decided to use a sneak attack and hit him hard on the head before he could do anything stupid. He had already perfected the first three stands of the sword skill and found an opening with ease, without making a sound he moved beneath Martin and hit him right on the temple. Martin didn¡¯t feel much pain from the hit and before he knew it was lying on the ground without being able to move. George was just a surprised as Martin and didn¡¯t know what to do next. He wanted to help Martin but he didn¡¯t have the ability to beat the boy and also didn¡¯t have the confidence to run. Martin fell on the ground and for a second made eye contact with George, his eyes were open and he was clearly still conscious, he just couldn¡¯t move his body. George couldn¡¯t handle the stare and ashamed put his head down looking at the ground, tears were falling and this was the first time in his life he felt ashamed. Until now everything that had happened to him was not his fault, but this time it was him not having the courage to help Martin. While George was crying the boy started to search Martin but couldn¡¯t find the scroll. When he found nothing he noticed the ring on Martin¡¯s hand and found out to his surprise that it was a high-grade bronze storage treasure. The problem with high-grade bronze storage items was that unlike the low-grade bronze storage items, only the person who binds it can get access to the items. The only way to get the scroll was to make Martin take it out or kill him and bind the ring himself. The boy couldn¡¯t believe his bad luck and decided to force Martin to take it out because the other options of killing him was out of the question. Killing nobles was the same as a death sentence, even the other noble families would join forces to hunt him down. The noble clans could overlook a small beating between kids but they would definitely not overlook a killing. The boy knowing he had come too far to turn back picked Martin up from the ground and pushed him against the wall. Martin had red bloodshot eyes and looked at the boy with killing intent. The boy was clearly worried but didn¡¯t show it and had a big mocking smile on his face. He gave Martin a couple of slaps to wake him up and started to choke him. ¡°Give me the scroll, or I will beat you like you have never been hit before. You know that the only way to kill you without a real weapon is by internal bleeding and that if I want, I can torture you for days without killing you. Don¡¯t make it harder on yourself than it already is and just give me the scroll and it will all be over. You can run to daddy and get a new one, is it really worth getting beaten over?¡± Martin hearing the boy mention his father got even angrier and spit on the boy¡¯s face. ¡°The only way you can get the scroll is over my dead body. A skill like that is not meant for a peasant like you.¡± The boy getting spit on the face and seeing Martin look down on him started to beat him even harder. Martin didn¡¯t make a sound and was doing his best to take the punches without giving the boy the satisfaction. At the same time, George was watching Martin getting a beating and didn¡¯t know why he would so to such a length to protect him. He felt grateful and ashamed at the same time and for some reason felt a sharp pain in his heart. Martin had a smile on his face and didn''t make a sound, George couldn¡¯t understand Martin''s reaction, was he enjoying the beating? Was it the feeling of being proud, or had he gone insane from getting beaten for so long?Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Whatever it was George had enough of it and decided to go and give the boy the scroll. Everything had happened so fast and he didn¡¯t think a scroll was worth all of this. He started to get out from beneath the bed and before he could get out heard a loud shout that scared him. ¡°Stop, Don¡¯t you dare give it to them!¡± The boy seeing George got a big fright and didn''t know where he had popped up from, but before he could react Alf pointed his finger and shouted loudly. ¡°That¡¯s him, That¡¯s the boy I saw receiving the scroll from master Keven, Roy!¡± At the same time as this was happening, Max woke up again and had a painful look on his face. He got the scare of his life when he saw the condition Martin was in and didn¡¯t think there was a peaceful way out of this so stood up to block the door and made sure that they couldn¡¯t escape. The boy hearing Alf use his name turned around with killing intent in his eyes. They were playing with fire as it was and now this fool had used his real name in front of a noble. At the same time, Alf understood that he had done and got so scared that he fell on the ground and started to hyperventilate again. Not knowing what Roy would do to him he stood up and started to run away as fast as he could. Roy started to run after him but was stopped by Max in front of the door. ¡°We need to finish this first before we do anything else, we''ve already come too far to leave now. But don¡¯t kill them, we can get back from getting caught stealing but if they find us after we kill them¡­.¡± Max was nodding his head and trying to calm Roy down. Roy agreed with Max like he usually would and started to walk back into the room with a tired look on his face. ¡°I¡¯ve had a long day and I don¡¯t care which one of you has it but give me the scroll or I will beat you both like dogs.¡± When George quickly turned around to go get the scroll but Martin used all his strength to grab George by the leg and didn¡¯t let him proceed. George turned around and looked at Martin shaking his head, he couldn¡¯t understand why Martin was trying so hard. Was it that the scroll was really that precious or was there another reason he was so persistent? ¡®No he doesn¡¯t know what kind of scroll it is.¡¯ Roy getting annoyed with Martin gave him a hard kick in the stomach and turned around and was looking at him look like Vincent would when he got really angry. George didn''t care anymore got the scroll from inside the drawer, he had always done what Vincent wanted and this was the only way he knew to make people like them stop. He was looking at the ground in fear of making eye contact with Martin and he promised himself that if would make them pay for today if he had the chance. At the same time, Martin saw George getting the scroll he got even angrier and started to curse. ¡°You incompetent fool! Not only are you a mute but you''re also a coward. I feel ashamed for sharing a room with someone who had no pride.¡± Every word Martin said hitting George like a spear and his whole body started to shake, Roy hit Martin again and had a smile on his face seeing the scroll in George¡¯s hands. ¡°Enough talk, give me the scroll.¡± But something surprising happened what nobody was expecting. While George was walking his sight went dark and before he knew it he was inside the capsule. George overwhelmed by the experience started to cry, he felt ashamed of himself and didn¡¯t know why he was such a coward. He promised himself that he would find a way to make the three people pay for what happened today and that he would never run away from a fight ever again. From the moment he was born he had been a coward who would always run away from fights, his sadness turned into anger and he punched the wall as hard he could. Two of his knuckles tore open and his hand started to bleed, but still the pain was not even one tenth of the pain he felt inside. Chapter 19: Surprise Meanwhile, in the room, the two boys were standing there with shock in their eyes not knowing what had happened. They were so close to getting the scroll but without any reason, the boy in front of them disappeared. Martin being George¡¯s roommate for a session month had seen George disconnect many times and understood the situation. What George didn¡¯t know is that when you disconnect everything on you will also disappear until you log back in the next day, which means that that scroll would not appear again until the next session day. Martin finding it amusing started to laugh out loud until the whole room was filled with laughter. Roy seeing Martin laugh got angry and started to kick him again. ¡°Where did he go! Where is the scroll?¡± But Martin didn¡¯t react and just kept laughing like he had no care in the world. Max didn¡¯t know what happened but he could tell that the chance of them getting the scroll now was pretty small and Martin was too crazy to hand over anything from inside his storage ring. ¡°Let¡¯s go, there is nothing to gain anymore and the chance of getting caught is getting higher by the second.¡± It took a second for Roy to accept the situation but at the end, he also turned around to run away, but before they could do that Martin got up and his laughter was getting even louder. Roy seeing Martin stand up got a little annoyed and got his sword to knock him out for good. ¡°Do you like to get beaten? You are no match for me so stay down and I won¡¯t hurt you any further, don¡¯t push me, I¡¯m already mad enough.¡± Martin had a mad look in his eyes and a big grin on his face and took his sword from the ground and pointed it at Roy. ¡°You come into my house, beat me, insult me and you want to leave like that? I didn¡¯t want to do this but today I will show you the difference between a noble and a commoner.¡± Martin Moved his hand and a black pill appeared, he put it in his mouth and swallowed it. After a second white light started to appear around him and his eyes turned black. The light element around him was moving in every direction and even started to destroy everything in the room. The two boys got scared and started to run away. ¡°You want to run? In your dreams. You may not have the balls to kill me but I will end your lives today.¡± Before they could react Martin disappear and reappeared before the two boys, he casually moved his hands and the two were pushed back by the light energy and hit the wall. Martin could have already killed them but wanted to take his revenge before killing them. ¡°First I remove those masks and see who you are, after that I kill you. Don¡¯t worry, being a noble with a lot of money I''ll make sure to buy you as slaves and let you experience a nice time.¡± Roy got so scared that he peed in his pants, the cold smile on Martins'' face and the dark eyes from the pill made him look like a demon and he knew that he didn¡¯t have any chance of escape. Being a slave was no good times by any means but being the slave of your enemy was the worst thing that could happen, some people would even prefer death. Martin Moved with high speed and tried to break the masks with force but for some reason, the two had disappeared. He panicked and looked around to his surprise saw a man lying on the bed with a smile on his face. ¡°I just wanted to teach the wimp a lesson, why are you going all crazy and take a forbidden pill, I wouldn¡¯t want to be you when the pain kicks in. At least try to gain some insight on the light element while it¡¯s still in your body, I mean who would use a pill worth a thousand credits for something as small as a kids fight. And the worse thing is that it was not even your fight, you could have given them the boy and walked away like a sane person would. Way do the ones Solomon takes an interest in always turn out to be insane? First that awful woman and now you two idiots, I¡¯ll tell you a secret kid, never let Solomon pick your secretary, before you know it you¡¯re sitting in a room with a woman that could just as well be a statue. I mean, don¡¯t I deserve some attention from my own secretary? Instead, I get the cold shoulder, I think she is looking down on my because I¡¯m not tall enough or don¡¯t have the fancy clothes you people wear.¡± Martin was getting angrier by the second and was thinking of whatever to attack or not. But he put the thought away after thinking how fast the principal was and that he had no chance of beating him. Besides the pain would start soon and the pain from a forbidden pill was like someone pulling out your flesh with their bare hands, not many adults can handle such a pain, let stand a kid who is just sixteen session years old. The only thing making that experience worse would be the principal standing there rambling the whole time.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°I mean why are you guys the only ones who are allowed to wear the good colors? How can we look good for a woman if we can only wear boring colors like brown and black.¡± Martin was completely drained from any patience he had left and quickly turned around and sat down in the lotus position to prepare for the pain that was going to come. ¡°Please get out, I need to prepare for the pain and try to get some insight in the time possible. But please remember that this incident is not concluded, I want a full report from the academy and will inform the board of what happened today.¡± The principal moved his hand and the whole room turned back to how it was before the fighting. He didn¡¯t seem to mind Martin¡¯s reaction and still had the mocking smile on his face. ¡°What incident? I tell you what happened, you went out drinking and had a little too much wine. I mean the youth of today just don¡¯t know when to stop, I also heard that there are weird pills out there that make you hallucinate, and I as the good principal came and saved you. And if you think that the wimp will testify for you¡­ well, think again. One word from me and he will be crawling underneath the bed again.¡± After saying that the principal disappeared from the room and Martin was the only one left. He promised himself that he would get revenge for that happened today, but right now the only thing he had to worry about was the forbidden pill he had taken and he started to meditate. In the meanwhile, George was sitting in a corner of the room like he would do when Vincent was still around. He was mentally drained and didn¡¯t even do his daily exercises and was just staring at the capsules in front of him. Everything had changed so quickly, in just a couple of days his life went from carefree to complicated and the worse thing was that he could do nothing about it. He didn¡¯t have any power to fight back or to make his own decisions. A couple of hours went by and Clara got out of her capsule and started to skip towards George. She had a smile on her face and had made a one-eighty after the first week they met. She was a really kind girl and only needed some time to open up to someone, she even started calling him second brother after the second week, to George¡¯s surprise. ¡°second brother George I don¡¯t feel like doing the exercises today, let¡¯s get something to ea¡­..¡± George was sitting in a corner with bloodshot eyes and his hand was bleeding. Clara didn¡¯t know what had happened but didn¡¯t think it was the right time to ask. Seeing George not even notice her presence she moved to her room and came back with the first aid kit. It was the standard kit Omar had bought for one credit a long time ago for emergencies. She took the betadine spray and started to clean and bandage the wound. George didn¡¯t even react to her holding his hands and just kept staring forward. Just as Clara was thinking wat to do next Omar¡¯s capsule opened up and he stepped out of the capsule. Omar had a smile on his face as always and started to do his exercises before he saw Clara running toward him with tears in her eyes. ¡°Big brother come quickly, there is something wrong with second brother.¡± Omar tried to wake George up but there didn¡¯t seem to be any reaction, after waiting for a while Omar got up and orders two meals and came back to where George was sitting. He didn¡¯t want to leave George alone and decided to eat in the corner together with George and Clara. Omar and Clara would occasionally say something to each other but didn¡¯t talk much. The next morning the two got up and saw George lying on the ground in the corner of the room. The sleep had done him good and he decided to go eat breakfast and prepare for another day. He had to go back in the capsule and survive another day and there was nothing he could do about it, the best thing he could do right now was to eat and strengthen his body. Everyone went to getting ready to enter Nash when something unexpectedly happened. George turned around and saw Clara and Omar standing completely in shock, how could this have happened? ¡°Big bro, what¡¯s going on? My birthday is in a month, why does that think say sixteen?¡± Omar also had a confused look on his face and started to panic. ¡°I don¡¯t know, our foster mother told me that your birthday would be in January, the only thing I can think of is that she lied to me or that she didn¡¯t know either and just made something up.¡± George could see an angry look on Omar¡¯s face which was rare when he mentioned his foster mother. Clara got a shock when she heard the voice and quickly reacted. ¡°No.¡± Omar hit the table hard and didn¡¯t know what to do, he didn¡¯t have the money to get his sister in the same starting village and had hoped to earn enough money in the next month. ¡°I don¡¯t have enough¡­..¡± Clara understanding the situation quickly hugged her big brother and had a big smile on her face. ¡°I will be fine, big brother, you didn¡¯t have anyone accompany you in the beginning either and you did fine, I will do my best to make you proud.¡± George was listening to the two and without hesitating got up and walked toward the screen and made the request of Clara entering Wine village. He would have preferred her joining Omar but that was not possible, exchanging money outside of Nash was not possible, it was a rule invented to prevent young nobles from getting riches before they even started. Omar seeing this had a surprised and worried expression on his face. ¡°George the transfer will cost you a hundred¡­.¡± George didn¡¯t care about the money, he needed to do something to get some of his pride back after the events of yesterday. ¡°No worry¡¯s, money can always be earned back. Now let¡¯s get ready.¡± Chapter 20: weaknesses Everyone was getting ready and Clara had a worried look on her face. She didn¡¯t have time to prepare and didn¡¯t know what to expect. George seeing how worried she was tried to calm her down by giving her some advice. ¡°It¡¯s not going to be scary at all, try to calm down and just follow your instincts, we will meet soon.¡± He wanted to tell her to follow the path and get straight to Wine village but he couldn¡¯t talk about Nash in the real world and could only give her some encouragement. He just had to look for her and with some luck find her before it got dark. George didn¡¯t know why but he felt responsible for her even thought he was only a month older. By paying the credits and letting her come to Wine village he had taken over the responsibility of taking care of her from Omar. But George didn¡¯t have the confidence, he couldn¡¯t take care of himself so how was he going to keep her safe. He tried not to make a big deal about it and had to do his best, that¡¯s all they can ask from him. Omar also asked him to take care of Clara and George not wanting to worry him nodded confidently. George once again was in his room and to his surprise was still holding the scroll. He looked around but the room didn¡¯t seem any different from any other day and couldn¡¯t find any sign of a struggle. The only thing that was different was Martin sitting in the lotus position in front of the door, Martin would usually be at the training ground by now and it was unusual for him to be here, especially sitting in front of the door and blocking the exit. George didn¡¯t want to confront Martin and just wanted to go to work but he didn¡¯t have a choice, he had already spent a lot of money and with the expensive training sessions the principal send him too, he needed to work now more than ever. ¡°Excuse me, I need to go to the village entrance to meet a friend.¡± Martin opened his eyes and was looking at George with a cold look on his face. He didn¡¯t have any wounds on his body and looked, even more, fit that then last time George had seen him. Wat George didn¡¯t know was that the body would need at least a session month to recover from the wounds from a forbidden pill, but Martin had used expensive medical pills and had fully recovered in only a few days. But even with the full recovery, it was recommended to not do any physical training for at least a session weekday. That¡¯s why Martin was sitting in front of the door waiting for George and wasn¡¯t working on his sword skills like he usually would. ¡°No I will not excuse you, take that scroll in your hand and use it right now.¡± George looked at the scroll in his hand and didn¡¯t want to use it, he just wanted to get rid of it as soon as possible. What if he used the scroll and the masked thieves would come back? They could get really angry and beat him like had beaten Martin. ¡°I¡­ I can¡¯t do that.¡± Martin signed and started to shake his head in disproval. He didn¡¯t understand how George could just let them walk over him. But at the same time he felt sorry for George, Martin wasn¡¯t the kind of person to bully the weak but he also wouldn¡¯t let anyone get away after they wronged him, weak or strong. ¡°I don¡¯t know why the principal would send those people to beat you, or why he gave you that scroll. But the only thing that¡¯s important right now is that I get my revenge, and the only way to do that is by making you use that scroll and make him lose some of his precious money. It¡¯s not much but it¡¯s all I can get, so use that scroll now or the boys coming back would be the least of your problems.¡± George hearing Martin mention the principal got surprised and angry at the same time. He had done everything the principal had asked of him and still got punished. He didn¡¯t know if the principal did this to teach him a lesson or it was him just messing with him, but whatever it was the message was received. George took the scroll and activated it, the chant and technique of the middle-grade spirit stage refining technique instantly appeared in his mind and he could see how amazing the refining technique was. No wonder the three boys were after him to get the scroll, not only did the technique absorb far more energy than the low-grade spirit stage refining technique, it also helped the cultivator make a breakthrough into the spirit stage easier. There were a lot of things George didn¡¯t understand but he had to read the skills and its uses manual to fill the gaps.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. But George didn¡¯t have time to think about it right now and had to go to the village entrance to meet clear, and still wanted to be on time for work. He had used a lot of money today and didn¡¯t know what other expensive classes the principal wanted him to take so he couldn¡¯t miss work. ¡°Can I go now?¡± Martin smiled for the first time and stood up to move out of the way. He didn¡¯t expect George to use the scroll so soon and was pleasantly surprised. ¡°Maybe there is hope for you yet.¡± George got a little big annoyed and didn¡¯t react, who was Martin to judge himif he had potential or not. It¡¯s like he had forgotten that he was lying on the ground beaten like a dog, and didn¡¯t even have the power to stand up afterward. So he put it away as noble arrogance and quickly started to walk towards the village entrance. When he arrived he saw the two guards he had met the day he came to Wine village, he didn¡¯t have a good recollection of the mean Guard so he went to the other one and asked if he could inform the new arrival that he was staying at the academy and that he should ask for Solomon. The path to Wine village would at least take two hours and he didn¡¯t expect Clara to be here already. After he did that he went to work and like always. Usually, he would make the wine and use the time for the wine to get ready to read books and Liz would chat with old man Levy. But today was different, Liz and Levy approached him and had a look of curiosity in their eyes. Levy pushed Liz forward and nodded his head for her to ask the question. George didn¡¯t know what was going on and was taken back by their actions. ¡°George, is it true that you and the noble boy in your room took illegal drugs and had a fight? There are stories going around that the boy used his connections to get his hands on some powerful drugs and that after using it you two started to hallucinate, had a big fight and the principal had to intervene to stop it and saved your life¡¯s. ¡± George was speechless, he didn¡¯t know how everything had turned out this way. He just wanted to be left alone but the principal was doing everything to make his life a living hell. Liz and Levy were looking at him with curiosity in their eyes and were waiting patiently for an answer. ¡°It¡¯s not true.¡± George didn¡¯t give them time to ask other questions and pretended to go back to work. Liz had a big smile on her face and put her hand up. ¡°You see, there is no way he would do what.¡± Levy was a little bit annoyed and took one credit and handed it over to Liz. ¡°How is that a confirmation? The only thing he said was ¡®it¡¯s not true¡¯, how can we trust his answer? But I¡¯m a man of my word so I will pay even though I still think he did it. If experience thought me anything is that the quiet ones are always the craziest.¡± George finished his work and went back to the entrance to ask the guards if the Clara had arrived, but the guards had changed shifts so he had to go back to the academy to find her. He went to Solomon¡¯s office but to his surprise found out that Solomon had gone on a hunt and wouldn¡¯t come back until tomorrow. He asked around to see if anyone had seen Clara and after a while gave up and went outside and sat on the bench in the garden. He would usually go to his room and read, but he didn¡¯t feel like confronting Martin again and thought that staying here would be easier. But George didn¡¯t have time to read the books he liked and had to study the skill and its uses manual. He started to read chapter one and before long had finished the chapter. It talked about skills and how it worked just like master Keven had explained. George got a little surprised on how simple and short the chapter was and that the principal had not asked him to study more of it. But he wanted to be sure that there were going to be no surprises to he started to read the second chapter about characteristics. ¡°It¡¯s always inspiring to see young people work hard and study.¡± George gave a bright smile and greeted grandpa Wilton. Grandpa Wilton had always been kind to George and always treated him with respect. Grandpa Wilton put the rake down and sat down next to George. ¡°It¡¯s rare to see you outside of your room, does it have to do with the incident everyone is talking about?¡± Hearing grandpa Wilton mention the incident made George ashamed and he tried to explain to his best ability that the stories were not true, but didn¡¯t tell him anything about the principal. It wouldn¡¯t be smart to make claims you couldn¡¯t prove and get himself into more trouble. Grandpa Wilton had a smile on his face and was patiently listening to George tell his story. ¡°You say that they were better than you but in what aspect? If you had to find a weakness, what would it be?¡± George thought about it for a minute and again remembered the mistakes the boys had made yesterday. ¡°They were not the sharpest tools in the shed, it took the leader too long to react to surprises and one of them even said the name of the leader out loud and the leader started to chase him.¡± Grandpa Wilton stood up and started to walk away while cleaning the garden with the rake on his hand. ¡°Now the only thing you need to do is to find a way to use these weaknesses against them.¡± Chapter 21: I have to try George was deep in thought on how to use this to this advantage. He didn¡¯t have the power to confront them and didn¡¯t want to get into any more trouble. So he had to think of a way to get some information without getting himself into too much trouble. After thinking for a couple of minutes he got an idea and started to think if it was possible to execute. ¡°Grandpa Wilton, what happens the next session day when someone is injured?¡± Grandpa Wilton still working in the garden didn¡¯t react and just kept working, George didn¡¯t know why grandpa Wilton was not answering but knew that it had to have a reason. Maybe he knew about the principal''s involvement and didn¡¯t want to get involved. George went inside and decided to look for Tyler, he didn¡¯t want to ask anyone he didn¡¯t trust and out of everyone in the academy he trusted Tyler the most. When he didn¡¯t find him in his room he decided to look for him at the training grounds. Tyler, like Martin, was a hard worker and didn¡¯t like to slack off, he would spend most of his day working on his bow skills or study martial arts in his room. When he reached the training ground he found Tyler working on his bow skills, with a master advising him. Knowing that this kind of sessions cost credit he waited for them to finish. Tyler was concentrating on the target and listening to the instructor, after a while, he closed his eyes and let go of the arrow. The arrow went straight and for a second appeared to hit a tree in the distance, but when it was about to hit it changed direction and hit the target that was on the right of the tree. The teacher had a smile on his face and was nodding in approval, the students were also watching with amazement and George could see the jealousy in their eyes. George wondered how it would feel to have people look at him like that, but let the thought pass feeling uncomfortable thinking about it. ¡°I can¡¯t believe he mastered the first three stands in just one month, there is no way master Percy is going to keep ignoring him after this. It¡¯s a shame the annual tournament is only two session months away, he could have entered the top ten with ease if he had another six months.¡± Tyler said his goodbyes to the teacher and started to pack to go home. Tyler, unlike George, was a really social person and was on good terms with almost everybody. George had experienced this first hard and knew how comfortable everyone felt in Tyler¡¯s presence. But George also knew that the relationship Tyler had with everyone was really superficial, he didn¡¯t like to talk about personal matters and didn¡¯t have any real friends except George. You could say that they were two very different people who enjoyed each other¡¯s company, George liked how comfortable he was around Tyler, and Tyler liked the intelligent conversations. When Tyler saw George standing there he got surprised, this was the first time George had visited him on the first day of a session day. But the surprise quickly changed into amusement. ¡°If it isn¡¯t the party boy, taking drugs and fighting nobles, what a good life we have.¡± George had an annoyed look on his face and didn¡¯t know how the rumors had spread so fast. He could imagine the principal sitting behind his desk laughing his ass off. Tyler seeing George¡¯s reaction started to laugh and pat him on the back. He didn¡¯t believe the rumors and just wanted to tease George. Most newcomers would go wild the first couple of months experiencing freedom for the first time, even Tyler was caught a couple of time drinking, but George and Martin were the only two with no bad habits and their image was squeaky clean. But the real reason the rumors had spread so fast was because of Martin and his background, there were even rumors going around that his father had sent assassins to kill him before he would bring more shame to the family name. George said his greetings and told Tyler about the incident, but let the part about the principal out. Tyler like him was a newcomer and he didn¡¯t want him to get noticed by the principals. Tyler was a little jealous of George because of the middle-grade spirit stage refining technique, but he was also happy that George had used it before it was stolen.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it George didn¡¯t want to involve Tyler in his plan and only wanted to ask the question about injuries. He would have asked Martin but he knew that there was no way a commoner could recover from the beating he got in just one session day. ¡°You really need to follow more classes, don¡¯t tell me you haven¡¯t even gone on a daily hunt?¡± Tyler gave a quick sigh seeing George shake his head, he didn¡¯t know why George was wasting his time and not training. He had heard George talk about how martial arts were not his dream and that he didn¡¯t know what he wanted to do yet but he didn¡¯t want to leave George behind when it was time to leave Wine village. So he came up with an idea to make George realize how important martial arts training really is. ¡°I will tell you what you want to know, but in return I want you to visit the geography class with me tomorrow night.¡± Tyler wanted George to know how Nash works and that he needs to work hard if he wants to get stronger and leave Wine town. George didn¡¯t expect Tyler to make such a request but didn¡¯t see the harm of following class, so agreed. ¡°When you get injured in Nash you not only feel the pain but also get damaged like the real world. The injuries only heal over time and some people are not able to move for months because of injuries. That¡¯s why some people find it easier to die than to let themselves get poisoned or severely injured. But most physical injuries are easy to heal and can be done with pills and cultivation and off course time. Wine village has a building next to the barracks that gives basic treatment for free, it¡¯s run by the Gully clan, they give free medicine to the poor and help the weak when they get Injured in the daily hunt. The Gully clan is truly more generous than the other families.¡± George smiled for the first time today and was thinking of how smart the Gully clan was. Not only were they building a good reputation for themselves, they were also making a huge amount of money. ¡°They don¡¯t do it for the people, they do it to make money. By letting newcomers get free healthcare they are cornering the market, it¡¯s one of the oldest tricks in the book. Companies in the old times would give students free tools to let them get accustomed to their product, which meant that when they were done they would buy tools from them for a lifetime, but if they can do a good deed and make some profit, who am I to judge them.¡± Tyler found it amusing at how smart George was in everything except martial arts. Not long after that, they reached the infirmary and George asked Tyler to go to the barrack and see if he could find any information about Clara. It was the perfect way to keep Tyler out of the incident with the principal and also ask around about Clara¡¯s whereabouts. Tyler not thinking much about it agreed and told him to meet him here in fifteen minutes. George entered the Infirmary and to his surprise found a simple building with a couple of rooms. There were around twenty sick people and only four workers, George went to the woman in the first room and was trying to calm himself down. ¡°Excuse me, I¡¯m looking for a friend of mine, I think Roy brought him in this morning, do you know where I can find him.¡± George didn¡¯t expect to find much, there was only a small chance that the boy would be here. The boy had angered the leader and there was a chance he got a good beating after the boys went away empty handed. But there was no downside to trying, best scenario he would find the boy, worst scenario he would go back empty handed. ¡°Alf is in room nine, the poor fellow got beaten by a magical beast this morning and is heavily injured. The medicine that is healing his bones is working right now and it''s best to not disturb him for too long, so please make it quick.¡± Hearing the woman confirm his idea George got surprised and a little scared. He just wanted to try something, he didn¡¯t expect to succeed on the first try, but what if it was another person? How was he going to find out if it was the same boy, it wasn¡¯t like he was going to tell him. George walked to room nine and peeked inside and was shocked by how stupid these people were. He had still the same clothes on from yesterday and George could easily tell that it was the same person. But wat was he going to do now, was he really going to confront him, Should he go back and get Martin? But George remembered the promise he made to himself and didn¡¯t want to be dependent on other people for the rest of his life. ¡®calm down, you can do this.¡¯ George took a deep breath and walked into the room and sat on the stool next to the bed, the boy had taken medicine and was clearly in pain. When Alf saw George he got a good scare and it was only the pain that stopped him from standing up. ¡°Who.. who are you?¡± George had a smile on his face but was freaking out on the inside, he had come too far to go back and had to find a way to get the information he wanted without the others finding out he was here. Alf had already got what he deserved and it was only the leader and the other boy he was after. ¡°Well, I thought I return the favor and visit you like you visited us last night, but it doesn¡¯t look like you¡¯re doing too well right now.¡± Chapter 22: improvise Alf was lying on the bed and was staring at George with open eyes, he didn¡¯t try to look calm and was breathing heavily. He couldn¡¯t find any good comeback and just reacted like Roy and Max had told him too. ¡°I think you have mistaken me for someone else, I got these injuries from the hunt yesterday and I have never seen you before.¡± George felt really uncomfortable sitting there with an arrogant smile on his face, the only way he could get the information he wanted without getting caught was to scare the kid into submission but he had nothing to scare him with so he had to improvise. ¡°Don¡¯t do that, you are more intelligent than that. I¡¯m not here to discuss if you were in our room or not, I¡¯m here to tell you the consequences of your action. Did you really think that you could beat a general''s son and get away with it?¡± George could see that Alf was getting more scared by the second, he had never met a noble other than Martin but he had read books about nobles from old times and how most of the time they didn¡¯t even listen to the others point of view and would just push their own conclusion as the truth, because someone who has power doesn¡¯t need facts. So when Alf was about to speak again he grabbed one of his broken legs, pushed hard but not hard enough for him to yell. George hated people who acted like this but he had to remember that these were the same people who had broken into his room and beaten his roommate and given the chance would have done the same to him. So he took another couple of breaths and tried to show as little emotion on his face as possible. ¡°The mistakes you people made was to think that the general has forsaken my master, but what you didn¡¯t know is that it¡¯s all an act to protect master from internal dangers in the family that you don¡¯t need to know about. You should not have gone overboard when you broke in to steal the scroll last night, that scroll was a cheap reward master had gotten me for my service to him, but you had to break in and not only beat him but also call him a fool and question his honor as a nobleman, or did you think that it is a coincidence that a commoner is living in the same room as general Eric¡¯s son!¡± George waited for Alf to take all the information in and at the same time get some air himself, It didn¡¯t look like it but on the inside, he felt more panic and fear than properly even Alf felt at the moment. Seeing Alf not say a word he felt a little happy that his plan was working and he went on with his story. ¡°The general has already put an enslavement order on you and your family and it took me a lot of time to convince master to give you another chance. He wanted to visit you himself this morning after we got word that you were here but I convinced him that you had already suffered enough and that you could be of some help to us. So he told me to give you two options, you tell us everything we need to know and supply us with information or you can be quiet and take your chances when master comes and visits you himself next time.¡± George knew that there were a lot of plot holes in his story but he didn¡¯t have time to come up with something better. But he didn¡¯t think that Alf had the intelligence to notice anything. ¡®Stupid, the next time you want to make up a story, take some time to make it believable so you don¡¯t have to use stupid excuses like we wanted to give you a second chance. What if he doesn¡¯t buy it and goes to the principal, the man is already crazy as it is, I can¡¯t afford to anger him any further.¡¯ George had always been hard on himself and full of self-doubt, but luckily for him, Alf didn¡¯t seem to notice anything and nodded his head in agreement. George felt like he could breathe again and was thinking of what to ask next. ¡°Master told me that your punishment depends on how much information you can give me, and remember that we will question the other two as well when he catch them, so no lies. Now, tell me everything you know about them, and whose idea was it to steal the scroll?¡±If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Alf paused for a second to think and after a while put his head down and started to talk. ¡°I had an appointment with the principal about my progress as a protector. I¡¯m the only second-year student that hasn¡¯t mastered the last stage of the B¨­ skill yet and he told me to go watch master Keven perform it on the training ground. I don¡¯t have a lot of money and getting a chance to see master Keven use element power made me really happy, even a demonstration from Joseph would cost me at least two credits. So I went to the training ground and saw them hand you a middle-grade spirit stage refining technique, after the training was done I told Max and Roy what had happened and it was them who had the idea of stealing the scroll.¡± George didn¡¯t know if he was telling the truth or lying but it didn¡¯t really matter, he had already confessed to being there and he already knew the principal''s involvement. George felt a little annoyed on how cunning the principal was, he had orchestrated everything but there was nothing to connect him to the crime. He even had saved the day and made a name for himself, the only reason they knew about his involvement was because he had said so himself. George didn¡¯t know why he had shown himself to Martin but there were two reasons that made sense to him. He wanted to teach George that power was more powerful than the truth or he wanted to gloat about his deeds, or maybe both. ¡°Now tell me everything you know about Max and Roy.¡± Alf hesitated a little but didn¡¯t stop, he had already crossed the point of no return and he still felt a little angry about the beating he got from the two, especially Roy who had broken both of his legs as punishment for saying his name. ¡°The boy who fought your master is Roy Nelson, he is the leader and is one of the best second-year students. There is even a chance of him reaching the top ten in the annual tournament in two months. He can be considered one of the three strongest students the academy has and there is a chance of him being recruited in a big clan if he performs well in the next tournament. The other boy is Max Morrow, we are not really related but our parents belong to the same clan so we consider each other family. Max is a lot more cautious and even though not a match for Roy he can still be considered in the top ten of the whole academy. The truth is that both didn¡¯t really want to hurt your master and didn¡¯t attack with full strength or he wouldn¡¯t have had the chance to use that pill.¡± George didn¡¯t understand what pill Alf was talking about but didn¡¯t think that it was the best time to ask. He had a lot more questions he wanted to ask but he felt like he had reached his limit. ¡°That will be enough for today, I will tell my master what you did and hopefully he will pardon you from your crimes. I will contact you if I have any other questions, and remember, not a word to anybody or we will find you.¡± Alf nodded his head and George got up to leave, he didn¡¯t change his expression and walked out with a slow pace. After he left the room he fastened his pace and exited the hospital, he found a small tree next to the hospital and moved next to it because he felt sick. But to his surprise, he didn¡¯t have to throw up and after a couple of minutes the fear he felt changed into excitement. He had never felt such a rush before and even though he didn¡¯t really enjoy the encounter it wasn¡¯t as bad as he thought it would feel. But what he did enjoy was the feeling of outsmarting Alf and getting what he wanted without even lifting a finger, was this what made the principal do those things to him? George went back to the entrance of the hospital and it took Tyler a couple more minutes to return. Tyler had a worried look on his face and was running towards George. George had never seen Tyler with a worried look and was wondering if something bad had happened to Clara. Tyler was out of breath when he reached George and it took him a couple of seconds to tell him what had happened. ¡°When I entered the barracks I saw the fool guard celebrating on the table and drunk, when I asked the others what had happened they told me about how he had brought a newcomer to the commander and that this time he had found a genius recruit. Apparently, she is an assassin class and can control three elements! So when I asked where they took her they told me that she was sent to the Hooper clan training ground and that with some luck she would be ready to enter the tournament in two months. If she shows any potential at the tournament she will be accepted as a Hooper clan member and taken to the next area and enter a real academy. So there is no chance of us seeing her for at least the next two months.¡± George didn¡¯t know how to react, was this a bad thing or a good thing, did they force her to enter the Hooper clan or did she agree on herself? George didn¡¯t have enough information, he didn¡¯t know what Tyler meant with next area and a real academy. ¡°Maybe you can ask your roommate to go look for her.¡± George didn¡¯t know if that was possible, he didn¡¯t really have a good relationship with Martin and didn¡¯t think he would help him, but he had to try. ¡°Yes, I have to talk to him anyway. I will see you tomorrow in class.¡± Chapter 23: personalities George was walking back to his room and was thinking about how to explain everything to Martin, he had used his name and didn¡¯t know if Martin would be happy about it or not. But he was more worried about Clara than himself right now, he had promised Omar he would take care of her but he didn¡¯t even know where she was. But part of him also felt relieved that a big clan would take care of her and that he didn¡¯t need to do it, but he didn¡¯t know the conditions, did they force her to join their clan or did she go on her own? He had to find a way to meet her and ask her how she was doing but it wouldn¡¯t be easy, you can¡¯t just walk to the Hooper clan mansion and ask for a visit, he had to ask Martin to help him. But he didn¡¯t have a good relationship with Martin and knew that their personalities didn¡¯t match. George was the calm type who would think about survival first but Martin was the hot-headed type who would rather die than let someone offend his honor. George did admire Martins courage but he didn¡¯t want to be involved with someone who didn¡¯t think about the consequences of his actions, the only thing he had to do was to stand up and walk out but he got himself involved with someone else¡¯s problems and the consequence was the beating he received from Roy. But whatever he agrees or disagrees with Martin he still owes him, Martin didn¡¯t betray him even after getting beaten to the point that he almost fainted, so he went and got the information Martin needed to get his revenge, while at the same time getting his own revenge and repaying his debt, but now he had to ask for another favor and he didn¡¯t know if Martin would help him and if he did what he would ask in return. George arrived at his room and found Martin sitting on his bed meditating, he didn¡¯t want to disturb him and sat down to do some reading, he didn¡¯t trust the principal and wanted to read as much of the skills and its uses book as possible. He didn¡¯t have anything else to do anyway and just wanted to be prepared, and unlike the first chapter, the second chapter had some important information in it. But it still didn''ttake him too long and he finished the second chapter when it was sleeping time. Just when he was about to turn off the lights, Martins'' eyes opened and he started to get ready to go to bed as well. George didn¡¯t think that he should wait until tomorrow and stood up to confront him about the events that had happened today. Martin noticing George walking toward him paused for a second and waited for George to say what he wanted, to tell the truth, he was a little disappointed in Solomon for showing interest in someone so spineless like George and didn¡¯t know what he saw in the boy. George walked over and held his hand out with a piece of paper in it, he found it hard to talk with people who made him feel uncomfortable and just wanted to get this over with. Martin rolled his eyes and took the paper from George¡¯s hands. ¡°You know, normal people say something before they hand someone a piece of paper, what is this?¡± Martin opened the paper and found information about three people in it, he only knew two of the three and had some basic information on who they were. Roy was in the top three in the academy and had made a name for himself by perfecting the basic sword skill, and even thought he was only the third strongest he had only entered Nash fifteen session months ago while the other two had trained for more than eighteen session months. Everyone knew that he would surpass the other two in a matter of months. ¡°These are the boys who broke into our room and tried to steal my cultivation scroll. From what I understand they didn¡¯t want to offend you and could have broken every bone in your body if they wanted too. This was just the principal trying to teach me a lesson and he didn¡¯t expect you to get involved. I didn¡¯t want to tell you and let this matter rest, but even though I didn¡¯t ask you the beating you got was because of me and I owe you this much. But I do not want to have anything to do with whatever you do next, I already have enough problems with the principal, I can¡¯t afford to have other people come after me.¡± George felt a little bad letting Martin do all the dirty work, he knew that Martin was not the type to just let this go and decided to get his revenge trough him. But Martin had the whole Hooper clan behind him and George was just one person who didn¡¯t have any power. And besides, the part about the Principal was not a lie, he didn¡¯t know what was going to happen next and unlike the three boys, the principal was someone he couldn¡¯t fool easily.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Martin was looking at the piece of paper with surprise in his eyes, he had met Roy one or two times on the training ground and he would always give Martin pointers and tell him how brave he was for following his dreams even though everybody told him it couldn¡¯t be done. But he was just trying to suck up to him and thought of him as a fool. He felt a burning flame full of hate against everybody who doubted him and promised himself that one day he would get his revenge against everybody who mocked him, and who better to begin with than a commoner. But how was he going to do it, he was excommunicated by his father and the clan¡¯s village head had received orders not to help him in any way and he didn¡¯t think he had the strength to defeat Roy on his own. Martin hated the fact that he wasn¡¯t strong enough to take care of these people by himself, he only had two months until the tournament and decided that if he wanted to show everyone that he was not a fool he had to practice twice as hard. Martin got back into the lotus position and wanted to start meditating again when he saw George still standing next to him waiting. ¡°Don¡¯t expect me to give you anything for this, just as you said you still owed me one.¡± George rolled his eyes and didn¡¯t expect Martin to repeat his own words back to him, but he had to stay friendly and not make Martin angry. ¡°One of my friends got recruited by the Hooper clan and is taken to the Hooper mansion, I was wondering if you could take me there to see her?¡± Martin didn¡¯t like George and didn¡¯t want to ask a favor of the village head for something like this. ¡°I do not owe you anything and there is nothing I want from you, why should I do this for someone who is a spineless coward and doesn¡¯t even want to take revenge against the people who broke into his home and tried to take what was his?¡± George felt a little disappointed but at the same time felt some rage coming up, but he didn¡¯t want to push it, he would just find another way to see Clara. ¡°If I had done what you did that night they would have broken every bone in my body and killed me afterward, it is really easy to talk about things like honor and courage when you have the whole Hooper clan behind you. But to people like me who don¡¯t have anyone the only thing he can do is survive. I didn¡¯t ask you to help me and I don¡¯t think them mistaking you for me was my fault, but I still risked my own life today to get this information to repay you. Let¡¯s just forget about this incident and go back to how our relationship was before.¡± Martin hearing George say that felt a little bad but didn¡¯t show it. He had a stubborn personality and didn¡¯t like to apologize, even if he regretted it. He closed his eyes and went back to meditating, he had to train twice as hard if he wanted to beat Roy in the upcoming Tournament. George woke up the next morning and started to get ready to go to work, George didn¡¯t enjoy work but it was something that had to be done, he had spent a lot of money and only had eighty credits left. It was still a high amount that would make everyone jealous but it was not enough to keep spending like he had the last session day. George started making a batch like every day and was thinking of ways to see Clara at the same time, he had gotten used to making second-grade wine and didn¡¯t need to put in much effort, he had asked Levy to teach him the Winemaker skill but Levy had refused him several times. At the same time Liz and old man Levy were watching him work, Liz had a close relationship with Levy and was wondering why he didn¡¯t teach George the winemaker skill after she had refused him, she had tasted George¡¯s wine and knew that his wine was better in quality than hers and that he was ready to make third grade wine if he had the winemaker skill. ¡°Old man Levy, why don¡¯t you teach him the winemaker skill? The wine he makes is good enough to be served to the guards.¡± Old man Levy hearing Liz got an annoyed look on his face and started to shake his head. ¡°I have seen him work for a long time and I think I understand how his head works. When you watchhim work you will find that he does everything like a machine, every move is the same and it never takes him a second longer to do something than it did the last time. He even times how long it will take for him to do every part so that he can plan everything out and that''s why you get the same taste every time . He isn¡¯t a genius winemaker, he is a genius in following instructions, this can be helpful right now but he won¡¯t be able to use this in the future with middle- and high-grade wine. There would be a way to teach him, but it¡¯s a lot of work and to tell the truth I don¡¯t really like the boy.¡± Chapter 24: Sale pitch George finished work and before long it was time to go to class, he went to Levy and got his daily payment and left the winery, he wanted the winemaker skill but didn¡¯t think that Levy would give it to him. George didn¡¯t feel like going to class but he had promised Tyler and was a little curious what Tyler wanted him to see so badly that he even would waste a credit and visit the class a second time. Tyler had told George to meet him in the cafeteria to eat something before they went to class and he was waiting there for Tyler to arrive. Tyler worked at the wine fields and it took them a lot longer to finish work, but George liked moments like this and was sitting there enjoying the day. It took a long time for Tyler to arrive and they had to eat fast because the class was going to start, George asked Tyler what the class was about but Tyler told him that he could better wait and hear it from the teacher. After eating the two stood up and walked toward the classroom, George could see people looking at him and giggling. Tyler had a big smile on his face and hit George¡¯s on the shoulder. ¡°You are pretty famous, there are even rumors going around that the general kicked his son out because he couldn¡¯t accept your love for each other.¡± George stopped moving and was just staring at Tyler with his mouth wide open. He couldn¡¯t believe how fast the wild rumors were spreading and didn¡¯t know what Martin would do if he heard people talking about him like this. Tyler seeing George standing there couldn¡¯t keep his laughter in and started to laugh out loud, it was funny to see George having no answer for the first time since they had met. George followed Tyler to class and was deeply in thought, he didn¡¯t like people talking about him but he had to admit that there was also an upside to all of this, the more people affiliated him with Martin the smaller the chance of people bothering him or trying to steal his possessions. It didn¡¯t take long before Tyler stopped and George found himself in a classroom with only a couple of people. George took a seat and waited for the teacher to arrive, and before long a young man who looked in his twenties entered the room with a big smile on his face. What surprised George the most was that he was wearing a green outfit and George was wondering why a member of the gully clan was teaching them personally. ¡°The gully clan is a little different from the other clans, They don''t look down on commoners and even volunteer their time to give free lessons at the academy, a class like this costs at least four to five credits but we only pay one to the academy for using this room.¡± George didn¡¯t believe for a second that a big clan like the Gully''s were doing this out of kindness, his life experience had thought him that everyone has an agenda, you only had to wait long enough to find out what it was. ¡°I¡¯m master Tod and I will teach you a little about how the world of Nash works, this is a one lesson course and you will receive a book with information and a map courtesy of the Gully clan. Later when you need to get a better maps or supplies you can just go to the Gully market and get everything you need, use my name and they will give you a five percent discount.¡± George rolled his eyes and couldn¡¯t believe how the man didn¡¯t even try to hide his intentions, and the worse thing was that everyone was eating it up without understanding that it was all a ploy to make them use their stores. But George didn¡¯t care, he was smart enough to see what they were trying to do and didn¡¯t mind the free lesson. The teacher went on for another ten minutes advertising about their shops before he started the lesson. ¡°Nash was made in a really complex way to make sure that everyone has a chance to become someone great, this is done by separating the different areas and let newcomers develop. This means that when you leave wine village and go to the next area you will never be able to come back unless you¡¯re bought as a slave or a city worker. And even then, there are restrictions, slaves will lose all their abilities and will only have the power of a normal human. City workers, on the other hand, will get a restriction on their power, the limitation installed in Wine village is the first level of the spirit stage. The only thing Nash doesn¡¯t put any restriction on is your insight but even that has its limits because of the amount of energy you can use.¡± The teacher moved his hands and a golden card appeared in front of him, it had some strange patterns on it and he could feel natural energy surrounding it. ¡°Everything build in any settlement is made by people, these cards are the deed to the buildings and the owner will get the profit when someone uses their services, the academy, for example, is owned by the Hooper clan and all the profit will go to them at the end of every session month, over the years almost every building in Wine village has been taken over by one of the three clans. But Nash has put in a couple of rules in place to protect newcomers, the first rule is that Nash doesn¡¯t allow free trade between settlements and there are only a couple of standard trading agreements created by Nash itself with a fixed prices, this has been done so that clans can¡¯t buy their own products for a high price and flood Wine village with money you couldn¡¯t dream off and to make sure that the Cities can¡¯t sell high-grade cultivation resources to make newcomers so strong that they could easily complete the dungeon. You can find the prices and products you can buy at the auction house in the book you will receive later. The other rule that has been made is that the property cards can¡¯t be taken outside to the next settlement, this to make sure that everyone has the chance to obtain them even though the chance of doing that is really small. Every clan has multiple strong city workers like me working for them protecting the property cards, but you can imagine that it would be completely impossible if you had to steal it from a clan lord.¡±Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. The teacher put the card away and had a proud look on his face, George didn¡¯t know what the reason was for him to be so confident but it didn¡¯t look like he was afraid of the card being stolen. ¡°But there is another card you need to watch out for, every settlement has a black card that gives the person ownership of the whole settlement, Wine village, for example, is ruled by the Trust clan and they get a percentage of the profits made by every building, you can see it as a kind of taxation, therefore they make the most money and are by default the strongest clan in Wine village. Black cards are really important and are protected by very powerful people, the trust clan has given this task to one of their retired generals and it will be almost impossible to obtain it, even for me. But don¡¯t think of this as unfair, to buy city workers like the retired general the clans have to pay a high price and almost lose seventy percent of their yearly income, we spend this money because we value Wine village and don''t want it to fall it into someone''s hands that would hurt the people, this is the place we find new talent and who knows, maybe one day you will be part of the Gully clan and be a brother of mine.¡± Everyone hearing the teacher talk had a smile on their face and desire in their eyes, but George didn¡¯t buy the story. The reason all the clans were spending so much money on protection was because of each other, he had read about old times before Nash and how countries would spend a lot of money on the military because there was always a chance of being attacked. George didn¡¯t know about the relationship between the three clans, but with the money, they were spending it didn¡¯t look like they trusted each other completely. The teacher waited a while so that the information to sink in and used his high-grade bronze storage ring to make a book appear in front of every student. ¡°This is a book with the map of Wine village and the route you need to take to the first dungeon, it also contains the rules I explained and a lot of smaller once you need to read for yourself. I¡¯m not your martial arts teacher but I will give you some advice on the dungeons, do not try to do a dungeon before you reach level nine and are almost ready to enter the spirit stage, also the dungeon can be done with one to eight people, make sure the group is not too weak but also not too strong, the dungeon will adjust the strength of the magical beasts to fit the group so going with too many people is not always the wisest decision. The magical beasts and the test are different for everyone and you never know what the test is going to be about. And if you want to buy any maps or tools to make sure you are going to pass, make sure to visit the auction house owned by the Gully clan of course.¡± The teacher clapped his hands and called for the end of class, George didn¡¯t know why they called it geography class and didn¡¯t just call it a sales pitch. But he had learned a lot of new things and understood why Tyler had urged him to learn martial arts, but he didn¡¯t know if he wanted to leave Wine village for a big city, the cities are filled with big clans and people like the principal and it would be a lot harder to be left alone. After they left class and were on their way back to the dorm Tyler tried to convince him that he needed to train hard so that they could leave wine village together, George nodded and didn¡¯t disagree with him. He didn¡¯t think that telling Tyler that he didn¡¯t want to leave Wine village right now would be a smart move, Tyler would decide to leave Wine village one day and George would decide then if he was ready to leave with him or not. George went back to his room and was thinking about what he had learned today, the information he got made the situation with the clans more interesting and there was so much more to gain and lose. He didn¡¯t know if they shared such important information with him because they were forced to by Nash or if they wanted to use the lesson to show commoners that they owed everything and that there was nothing they could do about it. George felt like the clans were telling them to accept them as their rulers or try to obtain the deeds themselves. It didn¡¯t take long for him to fall asleep, someone was knocking on the door and it was still five in the morning. Martin got up angry and opened the door only to find the principal''s secretary waiting on the other side, he waited for her to say something but she didn¡¯t say anything. She reminded him of George and Martin got angry, he hadn¡¯t slept for a couple of days and was just enjoying a good night¡¯s rest. He went back into the room and grabbed George by the collar. ¡°Let¡¯s make a deal, I will take you to the Hooper mansion next session day and in exchange I want you to answer the door from now one.¡± Martin started to walk back to his bed and was cursing underneath his breath, but George didn¡¯t have time to worry about him. Why was the secretary of the principal looking for him at five in the morning? Chapter 25: You are like me George put on his clothes and followed the woman to the principal¡¯s office when he entered he saw the principal sitting behind his desk clearly still tired. The principal had an irritated look on his face which made George even more nervous, he could usually understand people and keep out of trouble but the principal was different, why didn¡¯t he just listen to Solomon and follow some classes, than all of this wouldn¡¯t have happened. When the principal saw, George enter the annoyed look turned into a smile like he had found something to release his frustrations on. ¡°Come in and sit down, I don¡¯t have much time to play with you today. The next tournament is coming up and I have a lot of work to do, playing around with you is pretty fun but I need to spend my time on students who are worth it.¡± George got hearing the principal got happy but tried to hide his emotions, he didn¡¯t want to be associated with his madman and just wanted to be left alone. But right at the same moment, the principal got a mocking smile on his face and he started to write again. ¡°If only life was so simple, the only way you are going to get rid of me is to get yourself killed or grow a pair. Now, did you read the first two chapters of the skills and its uses manual?¡± George was raging inside but didn¡¯t say anything and nodded his head, George was a pretty smart person but one of his biggest faults was that he was pretty gullible. But he was also a little happy because he had prepared chapter two and wouldn¡¯t get into much trouble. The principal nodded his head in approval and started to write again. ¡°Good, now I can add a couple of extra activities to your chart, let¡¯s see¡­ basic training, reading the first two chapter of the skills and its uses manual, hiding underneath your bed like a twelve-year-old girl and getting revenge on the three baboons by lying, and manipulating your roommate.¡± George got a shock trough his whole body, he was completely caught off guard and didn¡¯t know what to do next. He could try to deny it but would that work? Besides he didn¡¯t know how the principal had found out and he had to find the mole first before he could do anything rash again. The principal seeing George freeze started to laugh out loud and clearly wasn¡¯t as angry as George had expected. ¡°Don¡¯t worry kid, it¡¯s the best thing you have done since the day I met you. It¡¯s the only reason I haven¡¯t send you to the mines and forgotten about you after that embarrassing incident, the way you manipulated everyone to get what you want was brilliant. You remind me of myself when I was your age, the boy took a beating for you and didn¡¯t betray you and you still used him to get what you wanted and made it look like you were doing him a favor and you did it all without blinking.¡± The fear turned into anger after he heard the principal compare himself to George, it was true that George had done something he wasn¡¯t proud of but the principal made it look like he had done it because he liked it and not because it was the only options to stay safe. ¡°it¡¯s true that I did something I''m not proud of but I did it to survive, what was I supposed to do, get into a fight with one of the best martial arts students at school and try to fight him?¡± The principal didn¡¯t say anything and started to shake his head, the smirk on his face turned into a little friendly smile and he looked at George for the first time, George didn¡¯t know why but he felt like the smile on the principal¡¯s face was sincere but he hadn¡¯t forgotten the lesson from five minutes ago. The principal stood up and started to make two cups of coffee and went on with his story. ¡°There are always going to be reasons to act and the important part is that you didn¡¯t hesitate and pulled the trigger. I¡¯m not here to tell you what you should and shouldn¡¯t enjoy, what I¡¯m here to teach you is how to survive in the real world. The reason I made the joke when you entered was because I know what you see these sessions as punishment, but why do you think that Solomon sent you to me? We have lived for a long time and know that the world is not a nice place where everybody is a good person and you can just live a happy life. There will be points in life where people will try to take advantage of you and there are only two things you can do, fight or submit. I know that you think that you know a lot but there are things we grownups know true experience and try to pass it the next generation. I¡¯m not asking you to become the strongest member of the academy and join a big clan even though I think you can do it, the only thing I want is for you is to be able to do is defend yourself when someone breaks into your house. When you reach the next area, you will find out that a lot of people decide to live a normal life or work on jobs instead of martial arts, but everyone knows the basics and that¡¯s all I¡¯m asking for you to learn, is that so much to ask?¡±This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. George didn¡¯t know how to react; he didn¡¯t expect the principal who always rambled and looked completely insane to say something so reasonable and took a sip of his coffee. But was he sincere, or was it just another ploy like last time? But George knew that it wasn¡¯t something he was going to figure out right now and decided to agree with the principal, he had already decided to follow basic training anyways after the break-in incident. So, George agreed and the principal nodded his head in approval and asked George to explain the characteristics system to him. ¡°Characteristics are a system made to enhance the body, after every breakthrough the user gets five points to spend. There are five different stats available, vitality, strength, intelligence, chance and agility.¡± The Principal nodded his head and asked him what Characteristic he was thinking of upgrading himself and why. ¡°Vitality adds to a player¡¯s health and makes them more resilient to attacks, it also makes it easier to learn defensive skills. Someone with high vitality will have strong resistance to attacks but it still has its weaknesses like not beeing able to survive if the attack hits a critical part of the body like the neck or heart. Most protectors go for vitality because of the resistance they get not only against other players but also against magical beasts, the other reason vitality is the only viable option forprotectorsis because the other four will need three points to level once after it reaches fifty points.¡± The principal nodded his head in agreement and told him to explain the other four. ¡°Strength like the name suggests increases the strength of the player and also makes it easier to learn attack skills. There are some that say that it also makes it easier to gain insight on the earth element but that has never been proven. Intelligence will increase the player¡¯s mana and the regeneration rate, it will also increase the recovery rate from injuries and make it easier to learn magic skills.There are some that say that it also makes it easier to gain insight on the fire element but this also has never been proven. Chance will increase the Prospecting of the player which mean it will increase the drop rate of materials from magical beasts and make it easier to learn jobs. Which makes it popular with people who have committed their whole lives to becoming masters. There are also theories going around that it increases the chance of gaining insight on the water element but this also has never been proven. And lastly, there is Agility that increases the speed and stamina of a player, players who put points on agility will find it easier to learn movement skills. And once again there are some that believe it will help with insight on the wind element.¡± The principal nodded his head and was happy with how good George had prepared, he wanted to scare him and didn¡¯t expect him to have already memorized the second chapter and asked George what his thoughts on Characteristics were. ¡°Characteristics are very important in the begi¡­.¡± Just as George was explaining he felt he couldn¡¯t move his mouth anymore, it didn¡¯t take long before he fell and hit his head hard against the ground. He could see and sense everything but he couldn¡¯t move his body, he even felt pain from the fall and tried again to move his body without success. The principal got up from his chair and picked George up and put him on the ground at the center of his room, he had a smirk on his face and didn¡¯t look worried at all. ¡°That took a lot longer to work than I thought, I was getting worried that the guest would arrive before the drug started to work. You don¡¯t need to be worried kid; it¡¯s going to be over soon.¡± George hearing the principal say something like that with those look in his eyes got a little scared and didn¡¯t know if this would be the end of him. Maybe the Hooper clan had heard the rumors about him and Martin and this was their solution. A couple of minutes past and George didn¡¯t know what was going to happen next, he couldn¡¯t move so the only thing he could see was the ceiling and if he concentrated he could hear the principal writing behind his desk. George was a pretty negative thinker and thousands of different scenarios were rushing through his head. Some time passed and someone entered the room, it didn¡¯t take longer than ten minutes but to George, it felt like years. This was the worse experience in his life, it felt like he was a prisoner in his own body. But he tried to calm himself down and listen to what was happening. ¡°Welcome commander, please take a seat, I¡¯m happy you could make some time and visit us at the academy.¡± George hearing the word commander felt a big shock, the only person in the village that was called commander was the village leader of the Hooper clan the young man he had met the first day he entered Wine village. ¡°I don¡¯t have time for small talk, it¡¯s the turn of the Hooper clan to do the preparations for the annual tournament and knowing that old fart he is going to complain about everything. Is that the boy from the incident with my cousin?¡± Chapter 26: I had an opportunity and I took it ¡°As you can see the boy is not able to do anything after a bad reaction from the drugs, luckily I was in time to save the young master.¡± The commander had the same cold voice he had the first time George had met him, and he felt like there was something more going on than just the principal trying to teach him a lesson. ¡°I''ll take you at your word, the most important thing is that my cousin is fine, it¡¯s true that he is trash but he still has our grandfathers blood and we can¡¯t let him die a disgrace in a starts village. I will make sure to ask the next principal to take good care of him so he can¡¯t make any more trouble. As for you principal Maxwell, you have done a great job, the annual amount the academy makes is one-third higher than the last couple of years and it¡¯s a shame you will be leaving us in just two session days.¡± George got surprised but didn¡¯t know what was the point of all this was if he would be leaving in just two session days. ¡°Commander, about the request I made last time, did you have the time to discuss it with the elders?¡± The commander took a long time to answer and the room became completely quiet. George didn¡¯t know what the principal was talking about but understood that everything had been a big act for the principal to get what he wanted. ¡°To tell you the truth the clan decided to reject your proposal, we only accept new members directly in beginner¡¯s villages and we were going to advise you to join the army and prove yourself, this decreases the possibility of traitors and spies. But after the incident with Martin the Hooper the clan decided to give you a chance, however, you will need to go to the capital and there will be a memory test and several background checks. The principal hearing the commander got happy and started to laugh and thanked the commander. ¡°I want you to take care of this boy, make sure people don¡¯t see him like this and blame Martin or the clan, give him a few drops of this and he will go quickly.¡± George understood what the commander meant, after he took the poison he would be sold as a slave or city worker for two years and by then everybody would have forgotten about this incident. The principal agreed and walked towards George with the poison in his hands and put it in George¡¯s mouth. George felt hatred he had only felt against Vincent and promised he would take revenge one day. After a while, George opened his eyes and the principal was standing in front of him with a torch in his hand. George tried to move his body but could only move his hands and it would take a lot longer before he had full control of his body back. ¡°You know the first time I came to the mines the old principal told me that this was a formation hidden deep inside the mines and anyone who entered would die instantly. I studied it a lot and I must say it¡¯s a lot more remarkable than that, my power has been locked so I couldn¡¯t examine it to the best of my ability but I found out that it¡¯s a formation that seals the user inside and won¡¯t let them get reincarnated after death, which means that when you die inside you will stay death until someone drags your corpse outside of it. I didn¡¯t want to do this to you kid but I had an opportunity and I took it, I should admit that the plan did almost go south when that insane boy almost killed the three baboons I send. The plan was to make them almost kill Martin and save him at the last second, but what I didn¡¯t expect was for that the boy to take a forbidden pill that even experienced martial artists are afraid to take, to take a pill that could break someone¡¯s spirit completely, he really has the mind of a warrior, it¡¯s a shame luck is not on his side. I couldn¡¯t let them die inside the village because the owner of the village deed will sense it and there would have been an investigation. so, I took the risk and made it look that it was all about teaching you a lesson because I knew that even though the two cousins hate each other, the chance of him going to the commander for help would be too great if he sensed any real danger. So, I soul linked you both and waited to see what you were going to do next and you both did exactly as I hoped, Martin hates his family and didn¡¯t go to them for help and you like always just kept to yourself and didn¡¯t tell anyone about my involvement, but I must say you did surprise me a little when you found their identities so quickly. That¡¯s when I knew that I couldn¡¯t take the chance to let you live, I can¡¯t take any chances on this mission and the only way to make sure my cover isn¡¯t blown is to make sure you don¡¯t get the chance to meet Martin or the commander ever again, and the only thing left is to do is tell Martin that you died on the daily hunt and was sent to another starters village.¡±Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. George couldn¡¯t hold his anger anymore and started to move his body but he was still too weak from the drugs, he hated himself for beeing to weak and for falling for the lies the principal had told him. But he also felt fear, was this going to be the end of his life? ¡°Don¡¯t worry kid, you will still have the time outside of the capsule and maybe you won¡¯t die immediately, I just hope that you have kind roommates that are willing to feed you, so you don¡¯t starve to death. If you want to blame someone, blame your back luck for everything turning out the way it did.¡± The principal took George and kicked him inside the formation, George took a last look at the principal with killing intent in his eyes, the principal had a cold smirk on his face like always and didn¡¯t seem to show any compassion. When he passed the formation, he found himself falling but he couldn¡¯t see where he was falling or how far it was, George couldn¡¯t explain the fear someone feels when they don¡¯t know if the next second is going to be their last. Luckily for him, the drop was only about three meters high and it wasn¡¯t high enough to take his life, but because he couldn¡¯t move his body his head hit the ground hard and George lost consciousness. When George woke up he was inside a big room with noexits, the thing that surprised George the most was that there was light without any torches or other sources. George tried to move but every part of his body ached, it took some time but George got up in a sitting position and started to look around. The room had a couple of corpses inside and all of them were so old that the only thing that remained were the skeletons, this only happened when someone died inside the capsule from something like a heart attack or in this case properly starvation, the corpse should disappear after a session day but the formation had stopped the system from removing the corpse. George¡¯s heart skipped a beat thinking about what the principal said and that this could be a sealing formation which meant that he would never be able to leave this place. George was still young and didn¡¯t want to die, but this was not the time to think about those things, he had to find a way to get out of here and tell everyone what the principal had done to him. George started to look around to see if some of the other people left some belongings and found only one person with a ring, the man had properly taken everything from the other corpses and put them in his own storage ring. George couldn¡¯t stand up and had to crawl to the corps, he took some blood from his head that had opened to bind the ring. George looked inside and it looked like the last user had used all the credits and was only left with a couple of energy stones and some healing pills. George took one of the pills and used it, the feeling of energy entering his body and slowly healing him felt like someone gave him a glass of water inside the desert. The pill took a couple of hours to work and it didn¡¯t heal every wound on his body completely, George could walk again but he still felt a lot of pain when he put pressure on his left leg. George got up and started to walk towards the only wall that had drawings on it, he didn¡¯t know what kind of drawing it was but he had the feeling that it was part of the formation. The feeling thelightenergy gave him was unreal, it gave him the feeling that let alone him, the whole of Wine village wouldn¡¯t be able to break this formation with force. George slowly extended his right hand out and touched the wall slowly. < Grand sealing formation: 55.495 years old. Extra experience points gained for finding a second memory file from the life of Thaddeus Packard. Do you want to activate the memory?> George got pleasantly surprised and activated the memory and before long three people were standing in front of him walking slowly towards the wall he was standing next too. He could see Thaddeus Packard leaning on a young boy who was clearly helping him to stand up, the two were wearing a simple white robe and only the man in front of them was wearing a luxurious golden robe. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have tried to force your way into the royal court father, we have already lost the war and there is no way the king could accept the request you made.¡± The boy said with a sympathetic look in his eyes, Thaddeus Packard shook his head and at the same time, the man in front of them started to laugh out loud. ¡°You¡¯re lucky that we didn¡¯t exterminate your entire clans, did you really think that you could just barge in and make his majesty change his mind after all that you have done?¡± The man walked to the wall and started to draw lines on three different areas of it, a small door opened in front of them and the three exited the room. George was trying to concentrate on the patterns and tried to memorize them to the best of his ability, but it didn''t take long before he felt a sharp pain and this time it was so painful he passed out. Chapter 27: Ancient city George woke up and the first thing he noticed was the pain he felt all over his body. He stood up and walked toward the wall in front of him, he didn¡¯t know why but he could always remember every detail of the memory like it was stored in his brain and the only thing he needed to do was to close his eyes and think about it to see it back. George started to practice but it was harder than he expected, he didn¡¯t know what would happen if he made a mistake so he wanted to make sure he could do it in one try. The thing he had to be careful of the most was that the movement, it needed to be smooth like someone writing down their autograph, you can''t stop in between or make any unnecessary movement. It took George a couple of hours to master the movements and he was ready to open the formation, he wanted to do this before the session day ended and he didn¡¯t know what time it was and how long he had before he kicked out of the capsule. George walked toward the formation and was nervous, what if he failed to do it correctly and would be killed or worse, stuck in this place for the rest of his life. But he decided to be brave, he couldn¡¯t run away anymore, the world didn¡¯t give him the luxury of living an easy life and it was time for him to step up and show himself that he was worth more than everyone thought he was. George walked toward the formation and his hands were shaking, he knew that he could do it without fault but the problem was the pressure he felt, George knew that the more he thought about it the worse it would be so he did the same thing he did while making wine, he followed the exact same steps and made the movements without fault. George was standing there looking at the formation with suspense. He didn¡¯t know if there were other requirements for the formation to open and it would mean that he would be stuck here for the rest of his life. Just like in the memory a door appeared and George felt happy for the first time today, at least now he had a chance to survive. George took a deep breath and entered the door, he didn¡¯t know what to expect on the other side but it would at least be better than this. George entered the door and was amazed by what he found, it was an underground city that was bigger than anything he had ever seen, he was standing on a big path which leads to the entrance of a castle that looked like it was made of pure gold. Behind the Castle were hundreds of big white buildings that were not as tall as the castle but still bigger than anything George had ever seen. < archaeologist level 5> George didn¡¯t know when he had passed the third and fourth level but it must have happened when he was passed out. But it wasn¡¯t the time to think about that and he was looking at the amazing city in front of him. It gave him the feeling of grandeur and for the first time in his life, he felt the curiosity of exploring something. Who were this person that they could make something so big and majestic beneath the starters village? George didn¡¯t need to think long about what to do and decided to follow the path to the entrance of the castle. The castle was the most beautiful thing George had ever seen in his life, the top of the building was shining like It was made of the light element, in a matter of fact it was the light source for the whole city. The lower parts of the castle were made of what looked like pure gold and even though it didn¡¯t shine it still had a bright glow around it. George still had the injuries from before and it took him almost an hour to reach the castle entrance, it would have taken him a lot longer but he pushed through the pain wanting to reach the entrance because he wanted to know what was inside the castle, he couldn¡¯t imagine the suspense if he had to wait for the next session day to explore the city. When George reached the gate, he found a corpse next to the gate of the castle that looked like it was made completely out of black stone and was at least three meters long. Even though the city looked like a city of light the drawings on the door had a dark feeling to them, but what surprised him the most was that the drawings kept changing like it was telling a story. George could see a man sitting on a throne with seven people behind him and thousands of people kneeling in front of him, but in the next picture the man was standing with his hand stretched out and some of the people who were kneeling looked happy and were celebrating while some of them looked like they were in agony. George was so impressed with wat he was seeing that he forgot about the corpse for a second, but when he looked at the corpse again he understood that the formation was still active and that he was still inside of it. George tried to push the door open but he didn¡¯t have the strength to open it or even move it. Touching the door also didn¡¯t active a memory and he didn¡¯t know what to do next. George started to look around and tried to touch different parts of the castle to activate a memory without success. Just as he was about to give up he remembered the body and looked if he could find anything on it. The body was only a skeleton with a ring on his finger. George first tried to touch the skeleton to activate a memory with no success so his only chance was to find something inside the ring. But to his surprised the moment he touched the ring he got a massage.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. < high-grade blue diamond storage ring: 35.836 years old. This ring was given to Winston Linwood by the court as proof and reward of becoming one of the king¡¯s personal guards. Extra experience points gained for finding the third memory file from the life of Thaddeus Packard. Do you want to activate the memory?> A part of George told him not to active the memory in fear of the pain that was coming afterward but his curiosity and the will to survive were stronger and George activated the memory without much hesitation. He saw the same three people walking toward the gate and Winston was leading the way. When they reached the gate, Wilton stopped and turned around, George didn¡¯t know what he was doing but he hoped that he was looking for a way to open the gate and show him how to enter the castle. But something unexpected happened next. ¡°The king had agreed to let your legacy be handed down to your son and let him join the court. You should be happy, old man, it¡¯s a chance for your son to become your successor and for your legacy to survive.¡± Thaddeus started to shake his head in disapproval and didn¡¯t react for a long time. He turned around and looked at his son with a look of pity. ¡°I¡¯m sorry my son but I have to follow the wishes of my prince and my brothers and sisters so I can¡¯t give you my legacy. I know that I have not been a good father but I still wish for you to find John and see if he is doing alright. Help him grow and I will promise you that the day will come that he will shake the world with his skills as a winemaker. I have had a lot of achievements in my life but giving life to you and accepting that boy as my student are the best decisions I have ever made.¡± Thaddeus had a bright smile on his face and was looking at his son with great love, seeing Thaddeus look at his son like that made George think about his own family and imagine how it would have been if they loved him as Thaddeus loved his son. Thaddeus getting ready to enter the castle turned around only to find Wilton blocking his path with a big smirk on his face, Thaddeus¡¯s son had a sad look on his face and without Thaddeus seeing took a dagger from his ring and shoved it in his father¡¯s back. Thaddeus had a look of complete surprise and was looking at his son with a look of horror, the pain he felt from his son betraying him was worse than the pain he felt from the dagger. ¡°Why¡­¡± Thaddeus¡¯s son had a sad look on his face and couldn¡¯t look his father in the face, George could even see tears coming down his face. Wilton at the same time was laughing out loud and had a big smile on his face. He took a blue scroll from his ring and towards it towards the boy. ¡°Use this to forcefully take the legacy from him, I don¡¯t expect a lot of resistance. It¡¯s true that his legacy of one of the rarest and the strongest but when it comes to fighting he is just a healer.¡± The boy knowing that there was no turning back took the scroll and activated the scroll, Thaddeus at the same time was still looking at his son with despair in his eyes. It was the only boy he had with the woman he loved and now the same boy he had cared for every night was standing here trying to steal his legacy forcefully. But he also couldn¡¯t let go of the love he felt for his son and couldn¡¯t stand him crying in front of him. ¡°If taking my legacy is so important to you that you are willing you kill your own father then take it, just promise me you will take good care of your mother and John.¡± Wilton¡¯s smile turned into a cold smirk and a yellow stone appeared in his hands. ¡°Do you mean the boy who you passed on your hopes and dreams? I already took care of him, although I couldn¡¯t have done it without your son''s help.¡± Thaddeus seeing the memory stone in Wilton¡¯s hands was looking at Wilton with killing intent in his eyes. George had always admired Thaddeus for his loving character but this was completely the opposite from before, it was like the old man had turned into a demon who was looking at his next pray. The air around them got heavy and the groundaround him started to burn, Thaddeus moved his hand and a staff appeared in it, the air itself started to burn and in just a second Thaddeus¡¯s son had burned to ashes. He had a horrified look on his face and Thaddeus was looking at him with an ice cold look on his face, it was almost the same exact look the principal had on his face when he pushed George into the formation, and if George didn¡¯t know better it looked like Thaddeus was killing someone he didn¡¯t care about. Wilton moved away from the flames that were surrounding him at what felt like light speed, at least that¡¯s what it looked like to George, he was just a normal human and couldn¡¯t follow Wilton¡¯s movements. Wilton waved his hand and a golden bow appeared, he drew the bow and two arrows penetrated Thaddeus body,Thaddeusalready week couldn''t keep standing andfell on his knees. it was like nothing George had ever seen before, it looked like the exact same moment Wilton let go of the arrows they had appeared inThaddeus''s body like teleportation. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect you to kill your son, it seems the stories about you being too kind and weak were not completely true. But you need to know your place, maybe if the dual wielder was here you had a chance of surviving but you are just a healer.¡± Thaddeus had a bloodshot look in his eyes and started to laugh like a madman. George didn¡¯t know why but he felt his whole body shiver and every hair on his body stand up. Big flames were surrounding Thaddeus and even his own clothes and body was starting to burn, George could feel the power coming from both of them and was looking at the scene in front of him with surprise but also excitement in his eyes. Were these humans? ¡°It¡¯s true that I am the weakest when It comes to combat compared to my brothers and sisters, but that doesn¡¯t mean I don¡¯t have offensive abilities. Young ones are always arrogant and underestimate the old, I will make sure this is the last mistakes you ever make.¡± Thaddeus got back to his feet and held his staff in both hands, the staff started to glow red and the flames around him started to increase. George didn¡¯t know what Thaddeus was doing but it looked like he was going to die inside his own flames, but just before Thaddeus was completely burned alive he carried his staff in the air and a strange fiery light covered his whole body. ¡°Absolute heal!¡± Chapter 28: Ancient city (2) The moment Thaddeus cast the spell the burns on his body started to heal and the flames started to spread over almost all the city. George could tell that Thaddeus ¡®s body was still getting damaged but it was being healed at an even faster rate, this made it possible for him to damage Wilton without dying himself. Wilton seeing the flames surround him fastened his pace and started to shoot arrows but to his surprise, he couldn¡¯t hit Thaddeus, the arrows would explore mid-air before they reached him. George couldn¡¯t see the arrows but he could see the explosions. It was like everything was happening in an instant and he could only see the result of their actions. Wilton was doing his best to dodge the flames but got surrounded after a while and there was no way to escape them. George couldn¡¯t see him because of the flames but heard Wilton scream and saw his bow drop out of the air damaged by the flames. Just as George thought that Thaddeus had won he saw four dark arrows each at least a meter-long pierced trough Thaddeus ¡®s body and the flames started to disappear. For some reason, the buildings weren¡¯t damaged and it looked like as if nothing had happened. Thaddeus caught a mouth full of blood and fell on his knees, George looked up and saw Wilton standing there with half of his body burned and a dark aura around him. He was holding a new bow that looked like it was completely made of black flames, the feeling he got from it gave George the chills. Wilton didn¡¯t seem worried about the burns on his body and had a cold smile on his face. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you are still alive after I hit you through the heart with my eternal weapon, your legacy is really something else. But unfortunately for you, this is the end, you don¡¯t have enough power left and I can just keep shooting you until you are out of energy. But you should be proud, there are not a lot of support typed that could say they made me use an eternal bow to kill them.¡± George saw the black arrows disappeared after a while and Thaddeus was healed enough to stand up, the wounds on his body had healed but he was still in pain, just when he was about to say something two more arrows hit his legs and he fell on his knees again. ¡°Who said you can stand up, why don¡¯t you stop resisting me, I will get your legacy one way or the other.¡± Said Wilton with a cold smile on his face, Thaddeus ¡®s legacy was something many people would be willing to risk their lives for and he had an excited look on his face. Thaddeus was looking at the ground and was clearly disappointed with himself, he wanted to get revenge for himself and his student but didn¡¯t have the power to defeat Wilton alone. ¡°My dear sister, please help this incompetent brother of yours who couldn¡¯t get revenge for his student.¡± Said Thaddeus with emotion in his voice. ¡°Your brothers and sisters are all sealed inside the tomb, there is no way anyone is going to help you now, now give me the legacy without any tricks or your clan is going to be next.¡± Said Wilton with a big grin on his face, it clearly looked like Thaddeus was getting desperate and was even asking for help from people who had been sealed. But just as he was laughing something unexpected happened, the whole city started to shake and the earth above the city started to tear apart. Big rocks were falling on the city and the castle but it didn¡¯t seem to be able to damage it. George wonders what the city was made of to not be damaged by fire and now big rocks. Just as George was thinking what it could be the hole in the roof of the city got bigger and a creature started to push itself inside of the city, George had never seen such a big lizard and it was at least just as big as the castle itself. The lizard had dark green skin with sharp teeth and two bright red eyes. George unknowingly fell on the ground and it was hard to breath, his whole body was shaking from the terrifying energy he felt coming from the lizard, the pressure he got from the big monster was like nothing he had felt before, the pressure Wilton gave off was like that of a child compared to the lizards. When the lizards head broke through, George saw a woman standing on top of his head, she was wearing a black robe and had the darkest eyes and hair he had ever seen which popped out because of her completely white skin, she was standing therecrossing arms and had an arrogant look on her face.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°That¡¯s impossible, the second prince sealed you himself, there is no way you could have broken out.¡± Said Wilton while at the same time moving a couple of steps back. George had seen it many times before and knew instantly that the look on Wilton¡¯s eyes was that of fear. The woman didn¡¯t say anything and the lizard was still trying to push itself into the city but had a hard time getting his whole body inside. ¡°Do not think that I¡¯m afraid of you woman, I don¡¯t want to fight you but that doesn¡¯t mean I won¡¯t be able to kill you even if that means going all out and putting my life on the line¡± Said Wilton while the dark energy around his bow started to get stronger, not only George but Thaddeus was also surprised by the power Wilton was releasing, it looked like he was just playing with Thaddeus earlier and was getting serious for the first time. At the same time the lizard got enraged because he couldn¡¯t get out of the wall completely and started to shoot lightning balls from his mouth, Wilton with greater speed dodged the lightning balls and before George knew that happened had fired eight arrows that were at least ten meters long each into the body of the lizard. The lizard screamed in pain and to Wilton¡¯s surprise didn¡¯t seem to slow down in the least and was even getting stronger by the second. ¡°If that freakish monster breaches the wall I won¡¯t have a chance, it looks like I have to use everything I have to finish it before it¡¯s too late. It¡¯s truly incredible how the ninth prince was able to collect such a group of monsters, but this is also a chance for me, if I can get my hands on her legacy I will have the power to become a contender to join the second prince¡¯s court.¡± Said, Wilton, while he released every drop of power he had, the air around him got even heavier and the dark energy coming from him was almost just as strong as the lizards. ¡°I can¡¯t believe someone who had only trained for around twenty thousand years has reached this kind of power, we old fools really think too much of ourselves.¡± Said, Thaddeus, while shaking his head in disappointment. He had been alive for more than fifty thousand years and found it hard to believe that someone who was so much younger like Wilton had reached this level of insight on an element. George couldn¡¯t follow the speed of the two attacking each other. The Lizard kept shooting lightning balls but Wilton was only dodging and the whole city was being destroyed by the lightning blasts, George couldn¡¯t believe how powerful the lizard was and that one of those lightning balls could blow the begins village and everyone in it without even a chance of escape. Wilton was channeling all his power into one attack and was planning to finish it before the lizard had breached the city completely. What George didn¡¯t know was that the walls of the city were protected by a formation and that breaching the city was almost impossible and that being able to breach it even a little was already amazing. Wilton finally made his move and before George could see there were more than fifty dark arrows inside the lizard¡¯s body each a couple meters long, the lizard screamed in pain and stopped moving. The woman standing on top of the lizard was also torn to pieces and George saw her falling from the lizard and hitting the ground. ¡°It¡¯s a shame your sister was so overconfident, she could have breached the formation on her own and summoned a monster when inside instead of trying to brute force her way in. All you first generation cultivators always think too little of me and the prize you have to pay is two legacy¡¯s, and I will gladly accept.¡± Said Wilton while breathing heavily, George could see that he had used all his strength and that he almost didn¡¯t have the power to stand. Just as George thought Wilton had won the battle the big lizard disappeared and the whole city that was in ruins turned back to normal. A woman who looked young and had a big smile on her face appeared behind Wilton and within seconds cut his throat. ¡°Impossible¡­¡± Said Wilton before closing his eyes and dying on the spot, George could see the unwillingness to admit defeat. ¡°big brother Thaddeus, I did good, right?¡± Said the girl standing behind Wilton¡¯s corps, she was completely the opposite of the girl from before. She had a kind look on her face and she looked like a fun and warm person. The thing that George noticed the most about her was her eyes, it looked like mechanical eyes and one of them was blue and the other purple. ¡°You really are amazing Marie, to think that you could make an illusion of this magnitude when you have been training for less than ten thousand years, and to think that you are just a support type just like me. I wonder how strong you could have become if you had the chance to keep cultivating, it¡¯s a shame we won¡¯t be alive to see it.¡± Said Thaddeus with a sad look on his face but also a spark in his eyes when he saw Wilton lying there dead on the ground. ¡°I was only able to reach this level of cultivation so quickly because of the help of the prince and you guys, it¡¯s true that I won¡¯t get to cultivate anymore but I wouldn¡¯t change the time I had with the prince and the group for anything. Now let¡¯s see what this guy was up too.¡± Said Marie with a smile on her face, she put her hand on Wilton¡¯s head and her eyes started to shine with blue and purple light, George looked at Thaddeus and his eyes were also shining with a blue and purple light. Chapter 29: searching for a way out George didn¡¯t know what the two were seeing and it took them a while before their eyes stopped shining. They both got a big smile on their faces and started to laugh simultaneously. ¡°It seems like we didn¡¯t need to go through all the trouble to kill him, to think he had the audacity to come here without the king¡¯s permission and try to steal our legacy¡¯s.¡± Said Maria with a big smile on her face. George didn¡¯t know why but he didn¡¯t feel any pressure coming from her at all and it was like night and day from just a couple of minutes ago. George wonders how someone could go from ruthlessly killing someone to smiling in seconds, he had seen the same thing with Thaddeus and the principal. Was he the one that was abnormal or did these people train themselves to not feel any emotions? ¡°To think that he had the audacity to offer my son the first stance of the secret bow skill that the third prince created for the secret guard. Even though it¡¯s the weakest skill that the third prince has created it¡¯s still a secret skill that can change the path of a cultivator from mediocre to a master.¡± Said Thaddeus with a hint of surprise on his face, his son was an archer who was never good enough to enter the third prince''s school and had always wished to join the secret guard but just wasn¡¯t strong or talented enough. ¡°That¡¯s not necessarily true, even though it¡¯s a great skill it¡¯s still a beginner skill and after the big move skills like these will become useless. Besides, I don¡¯t even think he was going to give it to Jon and was just using it to bait him.¡± Said, Maria, while shaking her head, she was good friends with Jon and was sad about how he had betrayed his father and met his end. Thaddeus also shook his head and started to bury his son¡¯s remains, he had a sad look on his face and Maria was sitting on the side watching him. George didn¡¯t have a close relationship with his family and didn¡¯t know why Thaddeus would do this for someone who had betrayed him if he was ever in the same situation with his parents or Vincent the only thing he would do was to spit on their corpses. After Thaddeus was done he started to walk towards the entrance of the palace, Maria also got up and started to follow him. She didn¡¯t have the calm look on her face like Thaddeus had and it looked like she was not ready for what was coming next. ¡°Do what is right, not easy.¡± Said Thaddeus and the palace door started to open, Thaddeus turned back and looked at the grave of his son and started to walk inside the palace. ¡°Big brother, don¡¯t you want to get your memory stone back?¡± Said Maria still a little hesitant to follow Thaddeus inside. ¡°There is no point in taking it with me to my grave, let it stay with him and maybe oneday someone will find it, even though the chance is almost pretty small.¡± Said, Thaddeus, while walking inside with Maria following him. George looked inside the palace and couldn¡¯t see much except for a big hallway with stairs leading up. When the two entered the palace, the memory ended and George was sent back to the present. This time he was prepared and tried to keep consciousness, the pain was even stronger than last time and George didn¡¯t know why the pain was getting stronger with every new memory. < archaeologist level 6> < archaeologist level 7> George saw the notifications but didn¡¯t have time to think about it, the pain was still present and his eyesight was starting to go black. Was there no way not to pass out? He didn''t think that passing out every time he got a new memory would be convenient and besides, the time he was wastingpassed out was too much for someone who had only three days, to begin with. George opened his eyes and found himself inside the capsule, he had forgotten about the time and was happy that the pain had stopped. George got out and started to do his daily routine, he decided to not stop buying meals for now and just keep doing what Solomon had told him too. It was still the first day he had entered the formation and it was too soon to start saving credits and if there was no way out one or two days wouldn¡¯t make a difference.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. When Clara and Omar exited the capsule the three of them had dinner like every night, George didn¡¯t know why but he felt like everyone was pretending to be fine to not worry the others and he decided to just do the same. He didn¡¯t want to make them worried about something they couldn¡¯t do anything about and didn¡¯t want to talk about it anyway, and besides, Clara had enough to deal with anyway. The rest of the night was the same as always except for Omar asking them how they were doing every hour or so and George was fine with that. He was still thinking about the memories he had seen and what it all meant, and more importantly if there was a way to get out of the formation because if there was no way out, nothing he had seen would matter anyway. Even the secrets of the universe would be useless if you have nobody to share it with. The next morning came quickly and it was almost time to enter the capsule, George said his goodbyes and entered the capsule. He was standing in the same spot as last time and had Wilton''s ring in his hand. He looked inside the ring and only found a couple of things, the ring had three memory stones with one being the one Thaddeus had given to his student and two empty ones. The other thing he found was the skill Thaddeus and Maria were talking about and lastly a set of winemaking tools Wilton had stolen from Thaddeus. George didn¡¯t know why the ring didn¡¯t have anything else inside but suspected that it was because Wilton had left most of his belongings in the bank fearing he would lose it if he died, properly by the hand of the king or the third prince. George didn¡¯t take the skill or memory stone out to inspect and decided to do it later, he was curious about what was inside the castle and wanted to find a way out as soon as possible. If he couldn¡¯t find a way out everything he found would be useless anyway. George used the same quote Thaddeus had used and the palace door started to open, even though a lot of time had passed the entrance looked the same and there was a big staircase that was going to the top of the castle. The first thing George noticed was that the castle was a lot smaller on the inside than it looked on the outside. George not seeing any other option started to walk towards the top and was careful of traps. He knew that the chance of him being able to avoid traps made for monsters like Wilton was small to none but he decided to be careful anyway. The staircase leading to the top was connected to every floor and George not wanting to miss anything was searching every room. The whole castle looked cleaned out and George was expecting that it had something to do with the big move. George was slowly going to the top and was thinking about how the inside of the castle was completely the opposite of the outside. On the outside, the castle looked grand but the inside of the castle looked old. George didn¡¯t know if this was because of the big move and that everything had been removed from the inside of the castle or that the prince liked to live a modest life. It took George two full days to reach the top floor of the castle, he wanted to inspect everything to make sure he wasn¡¯t missing an important memory. It would have taken him weeks if the castle was not as empty as it was. George was getting a little anxious thinking about how this was his last chance of finding a way out and that the other option was being imprisoned in this place all alone for the rest of his apparently short life. When George reached the top floor, he saw a big room instead of many small rooms like the other floors, inside was a big round table with eight chairs. The room had a majestic feeling to it and the table and seven of the eight chairs were completely made of gold, the last chair was made of a black substance George didn¡¯t know and it had some drawings on it. George went closer and found golden writing on the black chair. George couldn¡¯t even tell that the drawings on the chair was a language and this was the first time he had heard about Soul power. He was surprised to notice the image beeing stored in his brain like it would with a memory. George decided to touch the black chair first to see if he could activate a memory with no success. He went past every chair but there was no memory to be activated, just when he was about to give up he remembered the table and walked towards the table. It was his last chance of survival and George could feel his heart beating, it now depended on his luck and even if he found a memory the chance of it saving him from the situation he was in was pretty small. George took a deep breath and touched the table and it felt like the longest couple of second in his life. Chapter 30: Meeting The next moment the whole room got bright and the walls were glowing like the outside. George didn¡¯t know why the inside had gone dark but he didn¡¯t have time to think about that right now. He saw seven people sitting on the golden chairs and only the black chair was empty, they were all wearing simple white robes and George could feel the tension in the room. George looked around and the only three people he knew were Thaddeus, Marie and the woman he saw on the giant green lizard. ¡°Why did his highness not follow the king''s orders when he was the one that proposed this arrangement in the first place?¡± Said a man who was more masculine than anyone George had ever seen, he had a kind looking face with no hair and a white beard. Like always George didn¡¯t know what was going on and the memories didn¡¯t really help in answering any questions. Was this last chance of escaping, was it really just a random meeting or did he have a chance to get out or find a way inside the city itself, maybe there was a way out from there? ¡°There is no use arguing about that anymore Thomas, his highness has already send a message to the king rejecting the offer and we all know that for the project to go through every city has to agree or the owner of the city has to be replaced, knowing the king it¡¯s not going to be the first option.¡± Said another middle-aged man who had long brown hair while shaking his head. ¡°But that¡¯s impossible Eli, the other princes already own a city deed and other than the princes and the king himself there is no one who is strong enough to defeat his majesty.¡± Said someone who from the tone of his voice was clearly a man. He was the only one who was wearing a mask and George couldn¡¯t see his face. The mask was like nothing George had seen before, the mask was made with a black alloy and it didn¡¯t have any holes in it. The only thing visible was two white light where the eyes should be and a wave length where his mouth should be. ¡°I know the king for a long time and he is not the type to sit around and accept this. If his majesty doesn''tchange his mind and accept the king''s decision at the meetingtomorrowthe situation is going to be really bad for us. I can just imagine him sending the army and just destroy the city and be done with it.¡± Said Marie with her head down looking at the ground clearly worried about the situation. ¡°His majesty has been distant from us the last couple of weeks and I don¡¯t know what he is thinking, did we really do the right thing to just let him reject the king''s command?¡± Said the masked man while shaking his head. ¡°Did you grow so arrogant to question his majesty Luke, did you forget that everything you have was given to you by his majesty when you were just a random bounty hunter roaming Keenan beeing hunted?¡± Said, Eli, while punching his fist on the table with a look in his eyes that gave George chills. ¡°It¡¯s true that we all reached much more than we ever could imagine with the help of his majesty but it also means that we have just as much to lose. I have a whole clan that is depending on me to stay safe, what if his majesty ignores our advice and we go to war, are you willing to sacrifice your clan for something as stupid as this, are you willing to kill people we have called brothers for thousands of years that stood by our side when the Zuki¡¯s tried to invade?¡± The room went silent and everyone was looking down without saying anything, Eli was clearly annoyed that he couldn¡¯t answer the question and was tapping his finger on the table nervously. ¡°We already made our choice to follow his majesty a long time ago when we decided to follow him, I advise you to go to your clan''s and spend some time with them while you still can. I don¡¯t know why but I have a bad feeling about this.¡± Said the woman George had never seen before, she had a kind look on her face and had short green hair and brown eyes. ¡°Lexie is right, there is nothing we can do until his majesty comes back from his meeting with the king, let¡¯s hope the discussion is a peaceful one. Go back to your clan''s and wait for me to summon you in a week, but don¡¯t say anything about what is happening to the people, we don¡¯t want chaos in the city.¡± Said Eli while standing up, the others seeing Eli stand up got up and everyone said their goodbyes and before George could see where they went the room was empty again. George seeing the memory end started to feel pain again and did his best not to pass out. To his surprise, the pain was not as painful as the last time and he could keep conscious. Not finding anything in the castle made George scared but he didn¡¯t give up hope just yet, he had only looked around in the castle for two days and it was really dark so maybe he had missed something or he could find a way to enter the city and find an exit there.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. But not today, he was tired and just wanted to wait for the day to end, It was like he was afraid to keep looking and finding out that there is really no hope left. But just as George was sitting in the corner of the dark room a light appeared and George looked up to see a white door in front of him. George didn¡¯t know what was happening or what was on the other side waiting for him but he felt a little happy knowing that there was still hope to survive. George stepped through the door and was instantly teleported to an unknown location, it wasn¡¯t that big and the only thing he saw was an underground cave that had no exit with eight statues in it. George recognized the seven in the front but didn¡¯t recognize the last one that was sitting on a throne made of stone which was properly the prince. George was a little disappointed by how the prince looked, it was a young man who was neither good or bad looking and had black hair and brown eyes. He looked like an everyday person and George wouldn¡¯t be able to pick him out if he found him in a crowd of ordinary people. But George knew that he should be an extortionary man for everyone else to look up to him like they did. He had seen the power of the two supports and couldn¡¯t imagine how powerful the others and the prince would be. The statues were all around four meters long and were made of gold, they werealsoglowing like the walls of the castle except the statue of the prince. George was looking at the statues and was mesmerized by how beautiful they were, but he got the scare of his life when they started to move. George didn¡¯t have much time to look at the messages that popped up and was looking at the seven statues in front of him that seemingly had come to life. George was wondering what they were and if they were here to protect the tomb from intruders and were going to attack him. But the door to the tomb had opened for him and he didn¡¯t think that they wanted to kill him, at least he hoped not. He also didn¡¯t think that they could be the real people because there was no way they had survived this long inside a tomb. ¡°It¡¯s good you have such a strong sensor ability Marie or we would have missed his presence, I wonder how someone so weak was able to break open the formation and get this far. Marie,show us who he is.¡± Said the statue that looked like Eli while looking at George with curiosity in his eyes. ¡°Don¡¯t resist boy, you won¡¯t be able to stop me and it will only hurt more.¡± Said Marie with a smile on her face and then used her ability to read his mind, George didn¡¯t try to resist and his mind went blank. At the same time, the eyes of Marie¡¯s and the other six lighted up with a blue and purple light. It didn¡¯t take long for Maria to finish and George got the ability to control his own body again. The seven people in front of him were looking at him with surprise and shock in their eyes and it took a couple of second before one of them broke the ice. ¡°haha,and people think our abilities are scary, to think such an ability exists.¡± Said Thomas whit a big smile on his face. George felt a little at ease seeing Thomas laugh but he got nervous again seeing everyone else look at him with a conflicted look on their faces. ¡°To think that after all these years the only person to reach this far is someone so weak, I can¡¯t in good conscious give my legacy to someone like him. But I have to admit that the ability he possesses is beyond extraordinary if only it fell in the hand of someone worthy.¡± Said Luke while shaking his head is disappointment. George hearing Luke got a little angry but didn¡¯t say anything, these people in front of him were not people he could mess with and he still needed their help to find a way out. ¡°And yet he reached the place even the other princes can¡¯t break into, this ability is not something to be taken lightly.¡± Said Eli without breaking eye contact with George. George felt a little uncomfortable with Eli looking at him like that and looked away after a couple of seconds. ¡°interesting, If you like his ability so much why don¡¯t you give him your legacy.¡± Said Luke with a mocking in his voice, Eli hearing Luke mock him turned his head but didn¡¯t have anything to reply with. George knew what everyone was thinking, even he didn¡¯t think he was worthy of a legacy like theirs. He was just a boy who didn¡¯t like to get in conflicts and these people had powers that could wipe out Wine village in one blow. ¡°If you have read my memory¡¯s you know that I do not wish to become a warrior, I know I¡¯m not worthy of your legacy¡¯s and just as you don¡¯t want to give them to me I do not want to accept.¡± Said George trying to sound convincing, it took him every ounce of courage he had not to stutter. George''s reaction surprised them and they all looked at Eli for answers. Eli was thinking about what to do when Thaddeus started to laugh. ¡°Unfortunately for you the only way out is to accept a legacy, that was the rule the king made when the formation was made. Unfortunately for us only one of our legacies can leave the formation. You and I have a strange relationship, you are also a winemaker like me and even have the memory stone I left for my dear student, so if you and the others accept I¡¯m willing to give you my legacy and hope that one day you find my clan and lead them.¡± Said Thaddeus with a smile on his face that made George trust him and want to help him. The others didn¡¯t say anything and nodded their heads in approval, Thaddeus was one of the first followers of the prince and was highly respected by the others even thought they were all stronger than him. But before George could react the eyes of the statue sitting on the throne started to shine with a yellow light and before George knew it he was standing in a white room with the young man standing in front of him. Thaddeus and the others turned around In surprise and were looking at the statue with a look of shock on their faces. ¡°How is this possible, his majesty was supposed to be killed by the king and was not allowed to leave a soul imprint.¡± Said Eli with a look of shock on his face that quickly turned into happiness. Chapter 31: Sacrifice George was standing in front of the young man in the room that was completely white and didn¡¯t look to have a begin or ending. The man had a bright smile on his face and didn¡¯t give any pressure like the others which made George a little bit more comfortable. ¡°My name is Lucas, I¡¯m the ninth prince of the Qedor empire and ruler of the city of Keenan. But as you can see there is not much left to rule. The reason I brought you here is because I have a proposition for you.¡± Said Lucas with a calm voice and a smile on his face, the white room started to change and George was standing in a room that was familiar, it looked like one of the rooms in the castle George had searched for clues. It was full of color and decorated with many paintings, flowers, and vases. ¡°To tell you the truth I can make you do whatever I want because your soul power is almost nonexistent, I can even make you believe that you are acting on free will but in reality, you are doing what I order you to do. I understand why you think that Marie¡¯s ability is to read minds but her real skillis to share everything she sees with the people she is connected too, Marie has a strong soul search ability for someone who has only lived around ten thousand years but her ability doesn¡¯t compare to mine. I have been able to see your entire life without you even noticing yourself.¡± Said the prince with a proud smile on his face, George didn¡¯t know why he was telling him this, was he trying to show George how powerful he was or was he trying to make George believe that he couldn¡¯t deny him? ¡°Ooh you can deny me if you want and I won¡¯t do anything to you, in a matter of fact I want you to deny me if you don¡¯t think you are up to it. But before I make my proposal I want to share a little bit of my past with you.¡± The prince moved his hands and the room around him started to come alive and a past memory started to play, it looked like the memories George himself had but the only difference was that the prince was in total control. George was a little worried because the prince seemed to be able to read his mind but it was not something he could do anything about and he wanted to focus on what the prince wanted to show him. The prince was sitting behind his desk working when suddenly a man with a mask entered the room and appeared behind the prince and had two daggers in his hands. George did his best to follow his movements but it was hard for his untrained eyes and he only saw the man when the dagger dropped down both entering the prince''s shoulders, after the daggers hit the daggers started to shine blue and the prince was hit by electricity, and for a second it looked like the prince had died. Then something unexpected happened, the prince¡¯s eyes and what looked like his blood vessels started to glow dark red. Energy started to gather in the room and the man with the mask was pushed back against the wall. The prince got up and without any trouble got the daggers out of his body and walked towards the masked attacker. The attacker tried to run away but was pinned down against the wall by the prince in a matter of seconds and didn¡¯t have the power to move. The prince removed the mask and clearly had a look of shock on his face. ¡°To think that once I considered you my friend, why would you try to kill the man who is your only blood relative left, who bribed you, was it the fourth prince of maybe the Zuki¡¯s?¡± The prince tried to look calm but George could clearly see the sadness in his eyes. ¡°I gladly sell my honor and life to the people who killed our family if that means getting rid of you, even enslavement of our people is better than the fate we will suffer under your rule, I know what you really are and today I take you to hell with me.¡± When the man said that he bit his tongue and fresh blood started to surround the whole area. The prince didn¡¯t look worried and made sure there was some distance between him and the attacker. George was getting a little sick seeing the blood surround the man and starting to tear his body apart and slowly turn everything into a big ball of blood. George had never seen anyone go to such extremes before to kill someone. When the man¡¯s body got fully absorbed the ball of blood started to get smaller until it was only as big as a baseball and started to shine blue. ¡°It¡¯s going to destroy the whole castle with it if I don¡¯t do anything to stop it.¡± Said the prince while moving with high speed towards the ball of blood. George could notice the prince¡¯s skin starting to tear apart after he tried to hold it in his hand and the dark red aura around him started to expand until George could see nothing else in the room except the dark red aura and the ball of blood. George couldn¡¯t exactly tell what the prince did but the explosion only damages the room and the prince was shot back against the wall with blood coming out of his mouth and missing his right arm. ¡°That was the day my last blood relative and one of my most trusted commanders who had been by my side for thousands of years killed himself by blowing himself up using the lightning energy, at the time I thought he wanted to kill me for status or power but the suicide made me wonder if he there was another reason. The way he killed himself was permanent and there was no way coming back so I decided to look for answers, I even send spies to the Zuki empire but wasn¡¯t able to find anything so I started searching for answers at home.¡± Said the prince while he moved his hand and the room changed into what looked like an underground cave. George saw Luke standing in front of a door arguing with Eli about something he couldn¡¯t hear and the prince walking towards them.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°What is this place and why do I not know about it? ¡± Said the prince with a mad look on his face, Luke and Eli both got really nervous when they saw the prince and started to panic. ¡°Your majesty, please leave this place, please do not ask questions that you don¡¯t want the answers to. We would never keep anything from you without a good reason so please trust us.¡± Said, Eli, taking a bow, Luke seeing Eli bow did the same and both waited for the prince''s reaction in suspense. ¡°And what good reason do you have for making an underground laboratory that was kept secret from me? Now get out of my way or ill remove you.¡± Said the prince with anger in his voice, George didn¡¯t know why but he had the suspicion that the prince knew more than he was letting on too. Luke and Eli seeing the prince angry hesitated but eventually moved out of the way. When the door of the laboratory opened George saw thousands of people lying on small beds while the nurses were working. George didn¡¯t know what was going on but he could tell that the people were not well and that most of them would just stare at the ceiling while some others just kept moving back and forward without saying anything. The prince was staring at the situation in front of him with shock that turned into anger and he looked at Eli standing next to him. ¡°I give you one chance to explain what is going on here, I hope for your sake that the answer is to my liking or this will be the last day you breathe air.¡± The aura around the prince started to get heavy and even George felt his heart skip a beat. Luke got on his knee and started to explain. ¡°Your majesty.¡± Eli seeing Luke start to talk turned towards him and tried to stop him. ¡°Luke!¡± The prince seeing Eli act against his command got angry and his eyes turned dark red and the whole laboratory started to shake and crack, the energy coming from him was so powerful it hit Eli against the wall. George had a feeling that if Eli wanted he could have dodged the attack but didn¡¯t want to. Luke tried to walk towards Eli to help him up but Eli stopped him and stood up. He didn¡¯t seem injured and walked back to where the prince was and went on his knee. ¡°I was the one that suggested to keep this from your majesty and I want to be the one to tell you the truth today. This is the result of your sacrifice ability you used on the people when the third battalion of the Zuki empire attacked. I was the one that decided it was best for the people and yourself to hide this and if you think I did the wrong thing I will accept any punishment you see fit.¡± Said Eli not moving or saying anything afterward. The prince turned around and looked at the people in the laboratory, he was staring at the people without blinking and after a while tears started to roll down his face. Even George had to admit that the scene was not pretty, the people were alive but they could just as well have been dead, they looked like he did when the principal gave him the poison. The prince next to him moved his hands again and they appeared back in the white room everything started. ¡°The ability I was born with is called sacrifice, it¡¯s an ability that gives me power in exchange for inflicting excruciating pain on people. At first, I always used it on my enemy¡¯s and didn¡¯t worry about it, but when the Zuki¡¯s send a battalion and the main army was at the front I had to use it on my own people to recharge my powers to face the enemy. I thought it was called sacrifice because the people had to sacrifice for their country, but it was at that moment that I understood that it was not about them, it was about me sacrificing my humanity in exchange for power.¡± Said the prince shaking his head and continued. ¡°When I found out that my ability damages people mentally and that a lot of people were not able to come back to consciousness when they experiencing that much pain I vowed never to use it again. But there are always new ways to justify your actions and in no time I started using it on prisoners and later when the final attack came to our borders I even used it on civilians that were what I called expendable. That¡¯s why when the big move was announced I decided to humiliate the king and make sure there was no way for me to join them. Even though the world was a peace for years there would always be another war and I didn¡¯t have the confidence I could resist the power.¡± Said the prince with some sadness and shame in his voice. ¡°But I didn¡¯t expect the king to lock up my most trusted generals and friends with me, my only wish is for their last wish to be fulfilled and their legacy¡¯s returned to their clans. The only way to do that is for me to pass my legacy on to someone and I will give it to you if you are willing to accept the challenges that come with it.¡± George hearing the prince got surprised and didn¡¯t know what to say, he didn¡¯t wish for powers to shake the world, all he wanted was to wake up, read a good book, talk to his friends and eat delicious food. ¡°That¡¯s why I want to give it to you, not only do you not desire power you also rejected it in the past.¡± The prince moved his hand and a playground appeared, George was standing next to Vincent and they were talking to a boy that was almost twice their size. Chapter 32: Necessary evil George couldn¡¯t hear anything, but he didn¡¯t need to. The boy in front of him was the son of a noble who was a lot stronger than the others and used it to force others to pay him. Nash was made in a way so that the strong would get the best treatment and this meant that the people who paid more would enjoy better food that even helped with things like growth and strength. George, for example, was a lot shorter and weaker than Vincent even thought they were identical twins. Most people would just pay the boy one credit every session day so he wouldn¡¯t bother them including Vincent, but George didn¡¯t have that luxury. He only got one credit every two session days so if he paid the boy he would starve to death. He had asked his parents for help but they didn¡¯t believe him and even called him greedy for standing in his brother¡¯s way of reaching success. At first, George would just accept the beating because he knew that getting beaten is better than starving to death, but when the boy understood that George wasn''t going to pay him no matter what he decided to go to Vincent instead. So when Vincent had told him to meet him behind the school after the third period George got a little nervous. Vincent didn¡¯t beat George at this point but he still had a cold relationship with his brother and he didn¡¯t know what his brother¡¯s solution would be to this problem. George could still remember how Vincent had told the boy that he would take care of George and that he would get his credits at the end of the day and that there was nothing to worry about. When Vincent handed one credit to the boy and the boy turned around to leave an incident happened that George would never forget for the rest of his life. Vincent opened his right fist and a piece of metal not longer than half a meter appeared in it, Vincent without making a sound took the metal bar and hit the boy on the back of the head as hard as he could. Hearing someone¡¯s skull crack for the second time didn¡¯t startle George like the first time but he still felt sick to his stomach. But Vincent was looking at the body in front of him lying on the ground with a smile on his face. ¡°You see little brother this is how the world works. He wanted to take something from you that you were not willing to give, now you have two options, finish the job and live or walk away and accept the consequences. I will not force you to do it, but if he returns for revenge and you didn''t take this opportunity to finish him, you¡¯re on your own.¡± Said Vincent with an evil smile on his face while he handed the metal bar to George expecting him to finish the job. George could still remember the thoughts that were rushing through his mind at the time. The reason you had to wait until you were sixteen to enter Nash was because your brain couldn¡¯t handle death in the capsule before that age. This was why every child had to go to school until the age of twelve and afterward could go to special classes to get ready for Nash until you turned sixteen. But the decision was not a hard one to make and George took the metal rod from Vincent¡¯s hand and walked over to the boy. His hands were shaking and he closed his eyes before he used the metal bar to smash his head in. At the same time, George who was watching next to the prince tried to close his eyes but couldn¡¯t move his body. He had to watch himself kill the boy for a second time and tears were falling down his cheeks. He hated the prince for making him experience one of the darkest moments of his life again and wanted to get out of there as soon as he could. The next moment they were standing in the white room and George could control his body again. George felt sick to his stomach and was wondering what the point of all this was. ¡°Your brother used that incident to take over the boys business and started to make a lot of money. The only thing you had to so was to follow him and you could have had enough money to eat every day and even take some classes later, but not only did you not do that you even started to ignore your brother.¡± Said the prince with a curious look on his face. ¡°My brother and that boy are sick psychopaths who will hurt others for their own sick pleasure and gain. The only reason I killed that boy that day was to survive, I tried to talk to him and explain my situation but he wouldn¡¯t listen and after Vincent had hit him it was too late to make it right anyways so I was forced to do something I will regret for the rest of my life.¡± Said George with rage in his voice, he had never told anyone about what had happened and it felt good to let everything out for the first time in his life. ¡°And it was this kind of attitude that made your brother beat you after you turned twelve. I don¡¯t know for sure but I think that every time he looked into your eyes he could feel you judging him. The power of the sacrifice legacy will be like nothing you can imagine, I couldn''t resist it but I hope from the bottom of my heart that you will be able to. As for the reason, i made you watch, it''s because if you accept my proposal you must do what you did that day many times to protect the legacies and yourself. People like your brother will do anything they can to gain wealth and power and if that means killing you and everyone you care about, they will do it without blinking.¡±Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. George was looking at the ground and was thinking about what to do, should he accept the offer or just take the legacy Thaddeus had offered him? ¡°The offer Thaddeus made you is off the table, Thaddeus is a kind man who will sacrifice his own dreams for others but I will not let him. You will walk out of here with my legacies or you will be stuck here for the rest of your life. You will also have to sign a soul contract which states that you will work hard to find the seven people who are worthy of the legacies. I feel sorry for what happened to you but I can¡¯t sacrifice the legacies of the people I owe so much to, so you can go back to the beginner¡¯s village and read books for the rest of your life.¡± Said the prince while shaking his head and clearly determined to make sure that George would accept his proposal. George felt a little cheated but wasn¡¯t too angry, he could understand his situation and it wasn¡¯t the prince''s fault he was stuck here. George thought about it for a while but understood that the only two options were to accept the deal or death, and George didn¡¯t want to die so he accepted the prince¡¯s offer. ¡°You can still decide how you want to live your life. If you don¡¯t like to fight then don¡¯t, let the others do the fighting. If you don¡¯t like to lead let the others lead, the only thing I want from you is to find the seven people who are worthy of the legacies and after that, you can even decide not to cross the final bridge with them if you don¡¯t want to.¡± Said the prince while a contract appeared in front of George. George read the contract and it was simple, he had to keep searching until he found seven people worthy of the legacies and after that, he could decide himself what he wanted to do next. ¡°Use your blood to sign it and I will give you my legacy and one of my best skills. I want to give you more but the deal I made with the king states that I can only pass on one skill. The skill I''m giving you is a soul cultivation skill that will help you cultivate soul power and make sure you can¡¯t be spied on again like the principal did. Two people have been tracing you with a soul link this whole time but they were pretty weak so I had no problem removing them. My advice to you would be to make learning the soul cultivation skill one of your priority.¡± Said the prince with a kind expression on his face. George didn¡¯t hesitate much and signed the contract. He didn¡¯t know what was going to happen next, but this way he still had a future to worry about. After he signed the contract he was sent back to the room where the statues were. The prince and the others were communicating with the help of Marie but George couldn¡¯t hear what they were talkingabout. When their conversation ended the prince looked at George for the last time before he disappeared and a screen appeared in front of George. George accepted the legacy but he didn¡¯t feel any different from before and decided to use the soul skill before he exited the formation. The information entered his brain. George looked at the palm of his right hand and a small tattoo appeared that looked like a drop of blood. The next moment the statues in front of him went from gold to stone and six smalltattoosappeared on his right palm circling the drop of blood. George looked up and the only one that was still standing there was Thaddeus looking at him with a big smile on his face. ¡°To tell you the truth I don¡¯t know if you have what it takes to be a good winemaker, but you found my memory stone and I decided to give you the winemaker job if you want it.¡± Said Thaddeus with a smile on his face. George nodded his head in agreement and before long a screen appeared in front of him. < Do you wish to accept the winemaker job?> George was happy with the chance to become a winemaker and wanted to thank Thaddeus but he didn¡¯t have the chance because he disappeared like the others and another tattoo appeared on the palm of his hand. A small door opened and George exited the room, he was standing on the same spot the principal had thrown him inside the formation. The mines were emptied from any special alloy a long time ago so there were no guards standing watch, and George had no trouble getting out. It was still day so George started to walk back to the village, the walk was long and it took him almost until midnight to reach the village. He asked the guards about the principal and found out that his two session years were over and that Solomon had taken over as the new principal. George felt a lot better knowing that the principal had left and walked back to his room. Martin was sitting on his bed meditating and saw George enter the room but didn''t say anything to him. George had a long couple of days behind him and jumped on his bed without even changing clothes. His eyes were heavy and he almost fell asleep immediately when one of the tattoos that looked like two swords crossing each other started to shine. The blue light shot out of his hand and hit Martin in the forehead who was still meditating. ¡®You have got to be kidding me, out of everyone in this whole damn village why him!¡¯ Chapter 33: The chance of a lifetime. Martin was standing in a white room with no end and was looking at a man standing in front of him with a smile on his face. Martin didn¡¯t know what was going on but he couldn¡¯t feel any killing intent coming from the man so wasn¡¯t too alarmed by the situation. The man in front of him was Eli who was looking at Martin with interest and was happy because he didn¡¯t expect to find someone so soon. When the prince had explained the situation and told them that there was a chance for them all to leave the tomb and for their legacies to be returned to their family¡¯s, he didn''t expect to be able to find a suitable candidate so soon. The reason he knew Martin was because he could search George¡¯s memory¡¯s after they merged with him and Eli was impressed with the mentality of the boy. ¡°My name is Eli but I¡¯m also known as the dual wielder. I have seen your spirit as a warrior and I think that you are the right person to continue my legacy.¡± Said, Eli, while a black stone flew out of his hands and flew over to Martin who took it. When Martin touched the memory stone he immediately understood what was happening and he saw everything Eli wanted him to see in a matter of seconds. Eli¡¯s soul was not as strong as the prince and he couldn¡¯t keep Martin here longer than a couple of minutes. The memory stone showed him who Eli was and what he wanted from him. Legacies can¡¯t be forcefully taken or given unless you possess a special scroll that only the king can make. Therefore, both Eli and Martin needed to agree to the others request and come to a mutual agreement. ¡°I need someone that can make it past the bridge and I think you have what it takes to get there. But I also need someone who can lead the clan after he makes it there, from what his majesty told me the new successor doesn¡¯t have the obligation to pass the bridge so there needs to be someone who can lead the people if he decides to stay behind. As second in command, this task falls on the person who inherits my legacy, This means that your loyalty needs to be to his majesty and the people of Keenan. This can be difficult for someone who is already part of a clan and it¡¯s your right to reject my offer.¡± Said Eli with a smile on his face, he didn¡¯t want to make it look like he was forcing Martin to do anything. He was looking for the next leader of his people and he needed someone who had passion and would willingly fight for his people, he didn¡¯t want someone who was not motivated and would just do the minimum the soul contract asked of him to do. To tell the truth, Eli was a little hesitant but there was nothing he could do about that. Most clan leaders would spend years training their successor and see if they have what it takes, but Eli didn¡¯t have that luxury. He had seen Martin¡¯s spirit as a warrior and his pride but that¡¯s all he knew about the boy, but the had to take a leap of faith and trust that his gut feeling was right. Martin felt exited, this was everything he ever wanted from the day he turned sixteen. Everyone had laughed at him but this was his chance to show them that he wasn¡¯t just a useless support, this was his chance to show his father that he wasn¡¯t trash. Martin didn¡¯t feel any loyalty to the Hooper Clan, they had done nothing but humiliate him and threw him aside from the day he had entered Nash. Besides, the contract didn¡¯t say anything about leaving the Hooper clan entirely, just that the orders from his majesty and the needs of the people Keenan would weight higher than the orders from the Hooper clan, but he still had a question. ¡°Who is this person you call his majesty?¡± Asked Martin with a look of curiosity on his face, if he was going to follow someone he needed to know who this person was and if he was competent to lead him. ¡°Your roommate George is the new holder of his majesty¡¯s legacy which means that he will be the one that will find the other chosen ones and lead the people of Keenen if he decided to cross the bridge.¡± Said Eli a little hesitant, to tell the truth, he wasn¡¯t that confident in George he didn¡¯t understand why the prince had chosen him. He also knew that the two didn¡¯t like each other but George was already chosen by the person he trusted the most in this world and he knew that there must have been something his majesty had seen in George. When Martin heard the name George his eyes almost popped out of his head, it was the last name he ever expected. George was the quiet type who didn¡¯t have an ounce of fighting spirit in him. He could still see him hide underneath his bed like a coward, was this the boy that he was going to get orders from for properly the rest of his life? ¡°Don¡¯t misunderstand the meaning of the contract, not betraying the young prince is not the same as following him. The contract states that you need to get my legacy back to my clan and not that you need to do it together with the young prince.¡± Said Eli clearly not happy with the idea. The prince had ordered all of them to let their successors make the decision for themselves. Eli didn¡¯t know if he did that because he wanted the new generation to follow their own path or because he didn¡¯t trust George with the responsibility to lead everyone.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. When Martin heard that he got a little happier, this meant that he couldn¡¯t betray George but he didn¡¯t need to follow him. Martin wouldn¡¯t try to betray George anyway, that the two didn¡¯t like each other and had different views on life was not a secret, but Martin wanted to believe that they both respect each other enough to let the other do their own thing. Besides, the legacy was everything he wished for, he would gladly sacrifice some of his freedom if that meant that he could travel the world and fight other warriors and prove to the world that he was not weak and useless like everyone thought. Martin read the contract one more time and when he couldn¡¯t find anything fishy signed it with his blood. There was excitement in his eyes and he felt like he was getting the opportunity of a lifetime. The legacy is a sword legacy and it¡¯s called divide, it lets the user divide his mind and gives the user advantages while fighting like using both elements at once. ¡°Do not forget that because I chose the path of a dual wielder you should do the same, find your own path and work hard.¡± Said Eli clearly emotional, he wanted to teach Martin many things but he didn¡¯t have the time. His soul was not that strong and couldn¡¯t be sustained for long. The tattoo was designed to recharge the soul power five times so he could try again if Martin denied, but the king had made it so that it would only work once on a person so that they couldn¡¯t take advantage of the system. ¡°I have the right to give you one skill, every skill I have has the basic dual wielder manual as his core, and they can¡¯t be learned without it. I will give it to you and you can decide what you want to do with it, skills will come in time so don¡¯t decide your path for the sake of a skill alone and think hard about which path you want to follow.¡± Said, Eli, while he started to disappear, he had a kind smile on his face and if he had any doubts, it couldn¡¯t be seen on his face. Martin forgot about George after Eli left because he was too busy studying his new legacy. When he opened his eyes, he saw George sleeping on his bed. George had waited for a while but he was too tired from the past couple of days and fell asleep waiting. Martin didn¡¯t mind, he didn¡¯t feel like talking anyway and he also was tired from a hard day of work. The next morning George and Martin were walking towards the Hooper clan mansion. When George woke up the next morning and saw that one of the tattoos on his hand had disappeared and knew that Martin had gotten one of the legacies. He wanted to know what had happened but he didn¡¯t really have a good relationship with Martin so instead of asking him directly he asked him to take him to the Hooper mansion to see Clara. It took some time but eventually, George decided to explain everything to Martin except the part of how he had gotten the legacy¡¯s and told him that he found it after the principal had tried to get rid of him. Martin also told George what had happened last night and he was surprised to find out about the principal''s plan. They talked about a lot of things but didn¡¯t mention the part that both were thinking about, were they going to get there together or on their own? George didn¡¯t see the point of discussing this right now, it was still early and they could decide on it when they wanted to leave Wine village. The Hooper mansion was smaller than George had expected, it was around the same size as the academy. George could only see the building because the door was open and two guards were standing watch, the wall surrounding the mansion were higher than the building itself and the doors were made of a metal alloy. ¡°I expected it to be bigger than this, maybe the noble lifestyle is not what it¡¯s cracked up to be.¡± Said George with sarcasm in his voice. ¡°You are mistaking about that, the building is just as big as the academy but there are around a thousand students at the academy while there Hooper Clan only had around a hundred members stationed at the Wine village.¡± Said Martin not taking his eyes of the mansion in front of him. It was here he had taken the test and found out that his dreams of becoming a warrior were never going to happen, but now he had the chance to show them that he was not useless. George laughed a little when Martin reacted so seriously to his question clearly not getting the sarcasm. The guards didn¡¯t try to stop them when they saw Martin and they entered the grounds without a problem. Martin knew the way and walked towards the entrance of the building not paying the guards any attention. George was following Martin and was looking at the building in front of him, the building was clearly higher grade than the academy and looked like it was made completely out of white marble. George would have been a lot more impressed if he hadn¡¯t seen the castle in Keenen, still, it was something George could never afford to live in himself. The yard to the mansion was pretty big and it took them a long time to reach the mansion entrance, three people who looked like clan members walked out and started to approach them. George looked at Martin and could clearly tell that he wasn¡¯t happy seeing the three people walking towards them. ¡°Are you lost, little brother? This is the mansion of the Hooper Clan not somewhere useless scum like you can enter as they wish. And to make matters worse you brought a filthy commoner here, but I guess you really lost your mind like the elders told us.¡± Said the boy in front of the other two with a smirk on his face. Chapter 34: Fighting back Martin felt rage when he saw Jon walking towards him with that mocking smile on his face. John was the grandson of the strongest general and was part of the inner court like Martin. The clan is made of the inner and outer court, the children of inner court members are automatically part of the inner court, and new recruits like Clara who join because of their talents are part of the outer court. Only the strongest outer court members who have proven themselves by outstanding service have a chance to join the inner court. That¡¯s why the inner court members treat each other like family, this was decided by the clan lord to make sure that every new inner court member has the chance to prove themselves and give everyone the same chance to prove themselves. The clan lord had seen a lot of clans lose their position because of how they spoiled their children which made their new members lazy and weak minded, and that¡¯s why everyone was equal and the only way to climb the ladder was with proving yourself. The Hooper Clan was also the only clan that had experimented with equality for every new member but that didn¡¯t work because the clan was infiltrated by a lot of spies and traitors, that¡¯s why every new member has to prove themselves before they have the chance to become part of the inner court. George had seen the look on Martin¡¯s face before and knew that he wasn¡¯t the type to hold his punches, that¡¯s why he tried to find a peaceful way out of the situation they were in. These people were nobles and people like George were just insects to them. George''s instincts told him to just keep quiet and wait but he didn¡¯t trust Martin and didn''t think he could handle the situation peacefully. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for disturbing you, we are looking for a friend of ours who lives here, we can leave if it¡¯s not a good time to visit.¡± Said George taking a small courtesy bow, it wasn¡¯t a rule in the village to bow to the nobles but it was a something that started a long time ago and everyone was just doing to not to stand out. Martin broke eyes contact with John and looked at George understanding what he was thinking, Martin was a hot head but he wasn¡¯t stupid, he knew that he had to be careful around John. But the boy behind John didn¡¯t give George the chance to finish and closed the distance between them with high speed. George didn¡¯t see him coming and felt a sharp pain before he fell on the ground bleeding, he almost passed out from the direct hit on his head but the pain was manageable, it was nothing compared to the pain he had experienced the past couple of days activating the memories. ¡°You really need to teach your slave to know his place, how dare he talk to me without my permission.¡± Said John with the same smile on his face, he knew that there was no rule that George could not talk to him but he wanted to make Martin angry. Martin got his sword and wanted to attack the boy but George stopped him with one hand while he used the other trying to stop the bleeding. George had been treated like this his whole life and a little pain didn¡¯t matter to him, the only thing he knew was that he had to get out of here before the situation got out of control. John clearly not happy with George stopping him gave the sign to the boy to keep attacking. He couldn¡¯t attack Martin unless it was self-defense and he wanted to make Martin angry enough to attack them. that way he had the perfect excuse to defend himself, how would Martin explain attacking members of his own family just to protect a commoner. The boy took his staff and started hitting George multiple times on different places on his body, he didn¡¯t want him to pass out so he didn''t attack him on the head. He expected George to scream from the pain but George was just looking at him with a cold look in his eyes not making a sound which creeped him out a little. Martin couldn¡¯t take it anymore and with full speed attacked the boy, but before he had the chance to stop him John intervened and stopped him. John had a look of surprise on his face when their swords connected which turned into happiness. The reason he hated Martin was that he was one of the few who had a real chance to become a general or even the next clan lord, so he saw him as competition. Just because he was a support type didn¡¯t mean he couldn¡¯t become a general, some clans had even support types as their clan lord. The truth was that every class was useful and that if you trained hard enough you could become a strong member of the clan no matter that class you possessed. Martin''s cleric class, for example, was a strong class and a lot of people would gladly change theirs to have it, but it was Martin who didn¡¯t want to be a support type and had to become a warrior like his father. ¡°To think you put your characteristics on strength for some early advantage, your future is finished.¡± Said, John, not able to hold his laughter, it didn¡¯t matter anymore if he could defeat Martin today, Martin¡¯s was finished. George was still receiving a beating and he didn¡¯t know what to do, it didn¡¯t look like there was a way out anymore, why did he always have to get caught in other people¡¯s problems.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. George was swinging his staff around trying to block the hits and was able to block a couple of them, but the boy in front of him was clearly messing around with him. Martin at the same time was clearly winning his fight and had almost gotten the upper hand. Martin was one of the hardest working students and it wasn¡¯t that hard to overpower John now that he had the strength to block his sword. Most students including John had a nine to five mentality, but Martin lived for the sword and would not waste a second of his time on unimportant things like John did visiting the brothels drinking and playing around with the woman. The girl that was standing there watching saw how Martin had the upper hand and got her wand to help John. Most outer members like her needed support from inner court members if they wanted the chance to gain influence and these two had decided to serve John and in return gain some power for themselves. With the girl helping, Martin lost the upper hand but was still able to fight to a standstill. He was a little surprised at how talented the girl was and how she used lightning attacks to block Martin''s sword from attacking John¡¯s weak spots. Lightning is known as the strongest offensive element and is also known as the hardest to control, but the girl was using the right amount of power with every attack. It is true that it¡¯s easier for mages to use elemental power but it was still incredible how she was making sure that every attack was only hitting Martin''s sword and not hitting him directly. Martin knew that she was properly strong enough to fight him on one on but she was only helping John defensively, how talented she may be if the clan found out that she tried to attack the son of a general it would mean the end of her and even John wouldn¡¯t be able to save her. Attacking a high ranked member of the clan was punishable by enslavement to make sure it wouldn¡¯t happen again and they would use their power to make an example of her. But Martin knew he had a problem, George was not able to hold on for much longer and he knew that they could kill him without facing any consequences. The contract didn¡¯t say anything about saving his life but that didn¡¯t matter to Martin, he had brought George to the mansion as his guest, what would it say about him if others found out that he let George diewithout at least trying to stop them. George was trying to block the boy''s attack with his wooden staff but wasn¡¯t too successful, the boy was using a real b¨­ staff but George was still using the practice staff he had received as a gift from masterKeven. The other problem was that the boy had clearly more fighting experience than George. ¡®Show vitality.¡¯ When the vitality hits zero the person would pass out if the attack was not critical, they could also die if they were hit by a killing blow like the puncture of an organ or an attack strong enough to cause severe internal bleeding. George had read about this in the skill manual and it was one of the tools people used to see how strong the opponents attack was and how much longer they could go on. But something strange was going on, the boy was too relaxed and wasn¡¯t concentrating on what he was doing. George had a good memory and could still remember the movements of theb¨­skill and the attacks the boy was using were flawed. At one point, it looked like the boy was so overconfident that he stopped using skills and was just swinging his sword. If others found out that George was still able to remember the moves after such a long time their mouths would hit the ground. Skills were like books stored in your brain that you could activate to read anytime you want, but a lot of people needed to activate it multiple times to memorize it and even then, they would not be able to memorize it completely. But George could memorize most of the moves after only activating it once. George didn¡¯t like to fight but he didn¡¯t have a choice, he had to defend himself or accept that he was going to die. The longer he waited the more careless the boy became; he was clearly not in a hurry to kill him and was only randomly hitting him. One good hit to the head could have ended this a long time ago and one clean hit was the only chance George had to win the fight. Usually, it would not be possible but the boy was too confident and wasn¡¯t even taking a defensive stand after his offensive attacks which is one of the most basic rules of theb¨­skill. ¡®Show vitality.¡¯ George knowing that he didn¡¯t have much longer closed his eyes for a second trying to visualize the attack stance and tried to mimic it to the best of his ability. It wasn¡¯t something you could master at your first try but he wouldn''t have a second chance and had to do his best to not make any big mistakes. When the boy made a wide horizontal swing George saw his chance and dodged the attack for the first time in a while. He had not dodged the last couple of hits to let the boy become more carefree and make even more mistakes. George dodged the wide attack from underneath and tried to close the gap between them as fast as he could, he closed his eyes and tried to attack him with all the strength he had left. The boy clearly not expecting the move was looking at the attack coming towards him without being able to do anything. The wide swing made sure he didn¡¯t have the time to stop George and the attack was coming right toward his head. Direct hits to the head were almost always effective, and even if they didn¡¯t kill the person, it would make sure he wouldn¡¯t be able to move for a long time. When George tried to use the move something surprising happened, he stopped thinking for a second and his body moved on its own, he felt like he was one with the image. His speed increased and before he knew that had happened the staff hit the boy on the side of the head so hard that the staff shattered in his hands. When George opened his eyes the boy was on the ground unconscious and bleeding from the side of his head. George was also bleeding and was completely exhausted, he was barely able to stand. Chapter 35: Consequences At the same time, Martin stopped fighting and looked at the boy lying on the ground, his eyes almost popping out from the surprise. He knew that everyone here except for George had a lot more fighting experience, all of them were only one step away from reaching the spirit stage. But he had to concentrate on his own fight and continued attacking John when he saw the girl try to kill George, but now the girl had to choose between helping her master or taking out George. Martin was a lot stronger and if she didn¡¯t help her master it wouldn¡¯t take long before he would lose the fight and not knowing what Martin would do to him she decided to help her master. The boy slowly opened his eyes and started to look for his weapon, but George had picked it up and was using it as support to stand. It would take a normal human at least a couple of hours to get up after a hit like that but the boy had put all his points on vitality so he could take a lot more damage. But being conscious and being able to stand up were two different things, he couldn¡¯t control his body and every time he tried to stand up his body wouldn¡¯t listen to him. When he saw George walking towards him the boy got scared, George was looking at him with bloodshot eyes and he could even feel killing intent coming from him. George didn¡¯t know how long the boy would stay down and he knew that if he stood up the chance of him doing something like this again would be nonexistent. He felt a strong hate and a part of him even wanted to kill him, but he was a noble and the only chance he had to get out of this situation alive was to get out of here without causing any permanent damage. So, he decided to make sure the boy wasn''t able to move and use the chance to get away. He hated these people, they talked like they were nobles and more civilized, but every time he met one they would act like wild animals and attack without even being provoked. George didn¡¯t know how long it would take before the boy could stand up again and decided not to take any chances, but when he tried to hit the boy unconscious something unexpected happened. George couldn¡¯t explain what it was but in a split second the world around him got completely dark and he felt a sharp pain before he passed out. Martin turned around and saw Solomon standing there looking over George¡¯s body with a cold look in his eyes. He had hit George¡¯s head against the ground so hard that even his skin had started to come off. At the same time an old man in blue exited the mansion and walked towards them, everyone including Solomon got a little nervous seeing the man walk towards them like he didn¡¯t have a care in the word. This man was one of the clan lord¡¯s oldest friends and held a high position in the clan, even though he wasn¡¯t the village leader in name everyone knew that he was the one that had the final say on important matters, even the generals couldn¡¯t disrespect the man let alone kids like Martin or John. Nobody knew how such a strong member of the clan was killed and was forced to spend two years working as a city worker but it had to be a powerful opponent. The old man walked towards the boy on the ground and pointed his finger at him, the golden light started to heal the boy. In a couple of seconds, the wound on the boy disappeared and the boy could stand back up again. He still felt a little dizzy but the damage was not extensive and he was able to gain full control of his body after a couple of seconds. ¡°Thank¡­ thank you, elder!¡± Said the boy bowing down as far as he could, this was not someone he could be disrespectful to and he was a little ashamed of what had happened. The old man patted the boy on the shoulder with a kind smile on his face that gave someone the sense of security. The old man helped him to stand up straight and from one second to the other slapped him so hard that the boy turned two times before he hit the ground. ¡°The Hooper clan has invested a lot of time and resources in you and this is the result? Swinging your weapon around and laughing like a retard, don¡¯t expect to stay in the clan if this is all you''re capable of. I can¡¯t even sense any elemental power inside him, to think you lose against someone who isn¡¯t even a cultivator yet, do you want to make us the laughing stock of the whole village?¡± Said the old man to the boy while looking at John, his expression had not changed and he was walking towards him with the same pace as before.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. The boy felt pain but for some reason, his body wasn¡¯t damaged, the hit was multiple times stronger than the hit he got from George but it didn''t even make him lose consciousness. He could even stand up but didn¡¯t want to anger the elder and decided to stay still. John seeing the man walk towards him got a little nervous and didn¡¯t say anything, there were not a lot of people that were higher than him in rank in Wine village, but this old man was not someone he could offend. The old man stopped when he was next to him and slapped him even harder than he had hit the boy. John was sent into the air and fell on the ground after a couple of turns. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you were plotting but at least fight your own fights instead of letting a woman do your fighting for you. The things you want can¡¯t be obtained with blood alone, you must work hard and show everyone that you¡¯re not just a useless fool with some background.¡± Said the elder still walking around like he was taking a stroll around the park. John was not injured in any way but he still felt the pain and was humiliated in front of everyone, he was the grandson of a general and this was the first time someone had hit him. But he couldn¡¯t say anything, this man was not someone he could trifle with and knew that if he wanted he could have done much worse. The elder gave the girl a quick glance and shook his head while walking towards Martin. His expression changed for the first time from a smile to curiosity and before Martin had the chance to say anything he started to ask a question. ¡°I¡¯m going to ask you a question not as an elder but as someone who is a cleric himself, are you just stupid or do you think that the cleric class is not worthy of you?¡± Martin didn¡¯t know how to answer the question without offending the elder, it wasn¡¯t that he looked down on the cleric class but It wasn''t a class that could fulfill his dreams. ¡°I¡­¡±. But before he could go on the elder slapped him even harder than the others and he was sent flying. ¡°You were given the chance that millions would give their lives for and still this is what you do with it. I had even agreed to take you as a temporary student and teach you the basics, I even agreed to take you as a personal student if you showed any real promise. You have everything given to you and you just threw it away like it was nothing, you work hard and even have the background to become one of the greatest but this is the end result of your actions. If you want to be part of a clan you need to think about the clan first and yourself second, we don¡¯t need anyone so selfish that he would throw his own future away for some temporary strength. Leave this place and never put on the colors of the Hooper clan again, the next time I see you wearing blue il break both your legs.¡± Said the elder clearly disappointed in Martin, he had high hopes for him and thought that he would come back to his senses after playing around a little but it looked like he was just too stupid to understand his situation. The elder turned around and looked at George lying on the ground in a pile of blood. He had seen how George had taken the boy out without even having any martial arts training and he showed a lot of promise. He would even think about letting him join the clan if he hadn¡¯t come here and dared to hit a noble, but it was too late to think about that and the boy had to be punished, even the elder couldn¡¯t ignore the clan rules and the punishment for something like this was working in the mines for five session years. ¡°Il take care of the boy elder, please leave it to me.¡± Said Solomon taking George by the hair and pulling him up like an animal. He still had the cold look on his face and started to drag George away. ¡°How times change, when I was their age the world was so simple, but the world has changed and there are people who are against us and even try to hurt or deceive us. Put him in the mines for five session years, that will make an example out of him and show everyone what happens when you cross us.¡± Said the old man turning around and walking towards the mansion with the same pace he had exited. But before he could go away he heard something and turned around to see Martin tearing his blue clothes right there in front of him. The elder was impressed by Martins resolve and courage, his smile turned into an evil grin, most people would beg him to not punish them but the boy had not only not begged him but even tore down the clothes that represented the one thing that was even more important to him than even his own life, the clan! But to him, it was just a child making a statement and not something he should worry about. ¡®Let¡¯s see if you still have the same arrogance when you learn how the world works when you¡¯re not wearing the blue.¡¯ Chapter 36: What are we going to do? George woke up and was in the principal¡¯s office, he was lying on the same spot as last time. Solomon was sitting behind his desk working and didn¡¯t see George wake up. George was able to stand up a lot easier than he expected, he didn¡¯t feel any pain except for his face that burned a little, even the pain he felt from the injuries he got in the mines was gone. Solomon eventually noticed George and pointed at the chair in front of him, he clearly wasn¡¯t in a good mood and was looking at him with a disappointed look on his face. George tried touching his face but the second his fingers made contact with the bandages he felt a sharp pain. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about the skin damage, I¡¯ve already healed the important parts and its only superficial. I would have healed that one as well but I don¡¯t want the clan to know I healed you. I expect the damage to be healed in two to three session days.¡± Solomon went back to writing, he was still angry and seeing George sitting there without saying anything made it even worse. He waited a while for George to react but seeing no reaction he got impatient and looked up only to see George looking at the ground and ignore him like he wasn''t even there which made him even angrier. ¡°How can you be so stupid? You attacked a noble, the punishment for doing that is working in the mines for five session years, if you keep quiet and don¡¯t make any more trouble. I don¡¯t know how you let it come this far, what happened to I just want to live a simple life?¡± Solomon was clearly disappointed; he had not seen George again after their talk and had expected him to come looking for him when he was ready to do something with his life, but now he had no other choice but to send him to the mines. The elder was not someone Solomon could con like other people and he didn¡¯t have any choice but do as the elder ordered him to. Solomon was also a cleric and one of his special moves is the ability hit someone without them getting any real damage except for pain. He had used it on George to make it look like he had punished him and tried to get him out of there before a someone saw him but unfortunately It was too late. Not only had the old man found out, he even used the same move on the kids to show him that he was onto him. To everyone else, it looked like he was teaching the kids a lesson but Solomon knew that it was meant to put Solomon in his place, people like the elder had a high position and didn¡¯t have an interest in the kids so they usually wouldn¡¯t get themselves involved. ¡®Scary Monster used one of my signature moves I worked years to perfect like it was nothing.¡¯ Solomon shook his head still not believing how the elder had performed a skill that it took him years to learn. Solomon was part of a noble clan that had a complicated relationship with the Hooper Clan, what nobody except for Solomon and the elder knew was that the one that killed the elder was Solomon¡¯s father. The elder didn¡¯t bother Solomon because he was too proud for that, but it wasn''t a secret that he didn¡¯t like Solomon, Maybe if he had stayed out of it and let the kids resolve the situation themselves, the boy wouldn¡¯t have been sent to the mines. Solomon was even angrier on himself than he was on George, Solomon had a completely different look on life than other nobles. He didn¡¯t think of other people as lower beings and if it was up to him everyone would have the same rights. He even went as far as not to wear the colors of the clan, this had damaged his relationship with his father to the point that he didn¡¯t even try to buy him when he died. He knew that the Hooper Clan had only bought him so that they could humiliate his father, but they wouldn''t hurt him, he was still the son of the leader of a powerful clan and hurting him could mean going to war. ¡°Will you say something!¡± Solomon got impatient and slammed the table with his fist, he would have sent George to the mines already if it wasn''t partly his fault, he believed that everyone should be held accountable for their own actions, but he couldn¡¯t deny his own involvement and stupidity in the matter. ¡°Is there a way to get out of this situation?¡± George was still looking at the ground and didn¡¯t feel like talking, he had tried to reason with people but the result would always be the same anyway. ¡°Luckily the punishment is not as heavy because you didn¡¯t kill the boy and you are a minor, you will be sent to the mines to work for eight hours a day and get paid three credits every session day so you can eat and keep your room. You are only allowed to go straight to the mines and back to your room and are not allowed to visit any classes. If you talk to anyone about what happened today at the mansion you will face consequences, one of them being imprisoned in the mines and your five-session year sentenced doubled.¡± Solomon tried to sound reassuring but at the same time scare George enough to make sure he didn''t talk to anyone about today''s incident, he knew that the elder had less than one session year left before in Wine village and that after the elder left he could sneak George out of wine village.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. ¡°You didn¡¯t answer my question.¡± George was burning up inside, he had never gotten this angry, not even when Vincent was around. He didn¡¯t know if it was because of today¡¯s incident or everything that had happened the last couple of session days but he finally understood that he didn¡¯t want to just sit by and do nothing anymore. Solomon was a little surprised by George''s reaction. George was still young and therefore a lot more sensitive to situations like this and he didn¡¯t want to make him worried, but George had reacted in a completely unexpected way and looked calm for someone who had just received a prison sentence. ¡°There is a way, but forget about it, officially the person that gets first place in the annual tournament has the right to pick three people to enter the dungeon as the first team. This is a rule the three clans came up with together and it can¡¯t be broken without paying the ultimate price of destruction by the other clans. But it can¡¯t be done, there has never been anyone in Wine village that has won the tournament that wasn¡¯t part of one of the three clans. Besides, didn¡¯t you always say you want to have an easy life? The mines have been depleted for years and nobody expects you mine for minerals, you can just go there and read all the books you want. I will even help you find the books you like and bring them to you.¡± Solomon had a big smile on his face and tried to make it sound like everything was going to be okay. ¡°And I can¡¯t enter the tournament myself?¡± George didn¡¯t know a lot about his legacy but if he could train for the next two session months maybe he had a chance to win this thing. He had seen how strong the prince was and if he could learn to control the power he had a chance to get out of here. ¡°No, the prisoners of the Clans can only watch the tournament and not enter them.¡± Solomon Shook his head a little surprised by George¡¯s question, he couldn¡¯t be as stupid to think that he had a chance to defeat the noble¡¯s right? ¡°I understand, I¡¯ll be kicked out of Nash in a couple of hours so I¡¯ll be going back to my room now. If there is nothing else, please excuse me.¡± George didn¡¯t wait for Solomon to answer and got up to leave the room, he didn¡¯t think he could control himself if he stayed there any longer and complaining to Solomon wouldn¡¯t solve anything, he was just one of their puppets and he couldn¡¯t do anything for him anyway. Solomon wanted to say something but didn''t know what to say in a situation like this. He always thought George would come to his senses and come looking for him when he was ready but everything had gone wrong and this was the result, the future of a young bright arrival destroyed by something so stupid. But there was nothing he could do right now, so the best thing was to give George time and help him when he could leave the village when the chance arrived. George was sitting on his bed and didn¡¯t pay any attention to anything around him, it was like everything that had happened the last couple of session days had pushed him too far and he felt a rage inside him that he had never felt before. He always thought that after leaving Vincent he would have the chance of a normal life but the last couple of session days had made it clear that nothing had changed and that Vincent was not the disease but just asymptom. Martin was looking at George sitting on his bed and was also thinking about what he was going to do next, in just one day he had lost the right to be part of the clan his family¡¯s helped build. A part of him blamed George but deep inside he knew that it was his fault for taking George to the mansion, not only had they almost killed him but now he had to stay in Wine village for the next five-session years. Martin waited another ten minutes before he got impatient and asked George what they were going to do next and how they were going to get their revenge. ¡°Forget about those people, they are just acting their part in this corrupt world we life in.¡± George didn¡¯t care about those people and he knew that if he tried to take revenge and kill one, two would come to take his place and it would be a never-ending battle with no way of winning. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re just going to let them do this to us without doing anything about it?¡± Martin yelled from the top of his lungs, was George really going to stay in Wine village for the next five-session years? Martin didn''t want to admit it but was a little scared, he was all alone for the first time in his life. George was the only one left and it gave him some comfort he wasn¡¯t completely alone, but he and George were completely different people, and for a seccond he had forgotten how annoying George¡¯s was. ¡°Who said anything about not fighting back.¡± Chapter 37: I鈥檓 not willing Tyler and Martin were waiting for George to start talking, but George was just sitting there looking at the ground. George had asked Martin to get Tyler because he couldn¡¯t leave the room anymore, Martin feeling bad had done so without complaining. Tyler didn¡¯t know what had happened but he could see something was wrong from how uncomfortable Martin was, and the injuries on George''s face. George was just sitting there for ten minutes, Tyler and Martin looked at each other and were both confused. George was clearly nervous and took a deep breath. ¡°Has any of you two ever thought about having kids one day?¡± George''s voice was full of emotion and it was pretty hard for him to say what was on his mind. Tyler and Martin got surprised by the random question and looked at George in confusion before they both shook their head that they wanted children one day. ¡°I have never told anyone about this, maybe because I never had anyone to share it with.¡± George shook his head and chuckled. ¡°I always dreamt of having a wife and children one day, I would love them and do everything for them my parents never did for me. I would sit and think for hours about the things we would do and what kind of people they would be and what kind of father I would be. I don¡¯t know why I spent so much time thinking about it when I was younger, maybe because I felt lonely, but the point of the story is that after everything that has happened, I don¡¯t want children anymore. I¡¯m not willing to bring a child into the world where you can be punished for just protecting yourself or because he talked without permission. I¡¯m not willing to bring a child into the world where you could end up with a face like this for just wanting to visit a friend.¡± George had a lump in his throat but did his best to continue his story. ¡°Not only do we not stop these people, we fight each other to serve them and call it a privilege. Tyler, do you remember the day I told you that I would do anything to reach my dream if I ever got one? Well, I think I finally know what I want to do, I want to help create a world where everyone is treated as equals and people can decide themselves what path they want to follow in life, without being belittled or punished.¡± George had a little smile on his face when he said that and felt good that he had finally put it out there, he didn¡¯t know why but this was the only thing he could think about after he had woken up. ¡°And how do you plan on doing that, will you fight them and take their place?¡± Martin looked at George with a mocking smile on his face, he was not a bad person, but he was also a realist and he knew that there was no way for people like them to challenge the big clans even if they tried for a thousand years, the elder had told him stories about the big cities and how powerful the clans really are. ¡°I have no interested in fighting the clans or power but there is something I can do that nobody else can. I remember how Solomon talked about how we need to study our own history and find out who we are and where we come from. What if I told you I can answer those questions without there being a single of a doubt if it¡¯s true or not? Maybe if the people understand how this all began and why Nash was created they would finally take action and change the world for the better. Everyone thinks that the outside world is governed my the nobles and that they have no choice but to follow, what if Nash isn''t controlled by the nobles and we have a chance to be free?¡± George moved his hand and a memory stone appeared, two flashed of light hit Tyler and Martin between the eyes with the memory of the first time he activated the archaeologist legacy and visited Keenen. He had played with the memory stones when he was searching the castle and had found out that one of the stones was special. It gave the user the option to show someone a memory that they could not share. If someone tried to tell it to others or someone tried to forcefully take it by using soul power the memory would disappear and the memory would disappear from the person''s mind. Of course, they would not forget to talk about it afterward but that didn¡¯t matter, the memory that showed the skill in work would be gone and it would be impossible for someone to prove he had a skill like that without any prove. George didn¡¯t feel proud that he wouldn''t have shown them the memory if he didn''t have this memory stone available but he also knew that power could blind people and that not only his but their life would also be in danger if someone found out about this. There was also a chance of someone trying to get it forcefully and this was a good way to make sure that wouldn¡¯t happen. What George didn¡¯t know was that the stone was made by the seventh prince and that there was only a handful of them made.This was made for military use, the king could give his orders without being afraid that the information would fall into enemy hands.These memory stones were so special that the king had ordered that they would be returned after every mission.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Tyler and Martin didn''t know what to say, this was just ridiculous. A legacy like this was just too insane for words. ¡°Did it really say 55.495 years old, and what is this big move he is talking about?¡± Tyler was shaking from excitement, he had been listening to George this whole time but he also didn¡¯t think that George was being realistic, but this legacy could change everything. ¡°I have not been able to find the answer to both of those questions, that¡¯s why I need to go out looking for answers. That the world is at least fifty-four thousand years older than we think shows what there is so much we don¡¯t know, that¡¯s why I want to travel the world and find answers to those questions but I can¡¯t do it alone. After everything that has happened I understand that the world won¡¯t let me do what I want and I¡¯ll need strong and motivated people around me to be able to travel far distances and find answers. I¡¯m not a warrior and even though I know that if I do my best I can become one I don¡¯t want to sacrifice everything for it, that¡¯s why I want to ask you two tohelp me. Eventually, people will find out about my legacy and they will try to hunt me down to protect their secrets and stop me from revealing information that could destroy everything they have worked for.¡± George had a smile on his face for the first time and was looking at them with a challenging look. He decided not to tell them about the whole incident with the King and how he was the one who ordered the big move, he needed to see if he could trust them first and decided to tell them later. ¡°I don¡¯t know if it can be done or if I can be of any help but I will try, all the big clans have rejected me and I wanted to travel together with you anyways.¡± Tyler had an excited look on his face, Tyler¡¯s dream was not just to become a great fighter but also to leave his mark on the world and be remembered. ¡°So what are we going to do next?¡± Martin wasn¡¯t the type to say something emotional and this was his way of agreeing to join George. He never thought that a wimp like George would want to do something as interesting as this and wanted to be part of the ride, he didn''t have anything to lose anyway. George took a deep breath when both Martin and Tyler agreed. This was the first time he had talked from the heart and he was not sure how the two would react. Deep inside George always felt that people were not interested in what he had to say and that¡¯s why he always tried to just be quiet, but this time he had to speak, there is just a point in a person¡¯s life they have to act and try to do what they believe in. ¡°The first thing we need to do is to enter the tournament in two session months, I¡¯m not allowed to participate and the only way for me to get out would be if one of you two wins the tournament. To tell the truth, I wouldn¡¯t have the confidence I could win even if I could enter, the question is do you guys think you can do something that has never been done before and defeat the nobles?¡± George had a bright smile on his face and was clearly trying to motivate them to work hard. Martin had a smile on his face and was excited by the challenge, he had the chance to train with his new legacy and showing all those judging people what he could do. He also knew that it wasn¡¯t going to be easy and that the chance of them winning was pretty small, it wasn¡¯t just the Hoopers they had to worry about, just thinking about all the strong fighters was enough to put a big smile on his face. Tyler, on the other hand, had a complicated look on his face and was clearly disappointed, more than anyone else Tyler understood the power of George¡¯s legacy the most, he wanted to help but he just didn¡¯t have the recourses. ¡°I tried to convince Master Percy to train me but he refused. There is no way I can compete against those monsters with just the basic archery skills.¡± When Tyler said that George remembered the archery skill he found on Wilton and got a little excited. The scroll he had found on Wilton''s corpse was pretty special, it contained all the skills a new archer needed to start his training like a footwork skill and even had a high-grade refining technique that was made especially for archers. A part of him wanted Tyler to get on of the legacies but he was still pretty lucky he had found this scroll on Wilton. ¡°Take this scroll, it contains basic archery skills, it will help you prepare for the tournament. Also, move into our room from tomorrow and quit your job, for now, you two need to concentrate on preparing for the tournament, I already have enough to feed us for the next two session months and I''ll pay the rent with the money I make at the mines. I will try to find a way to make some extra money so you two can take some classes later.¡± George knew that if he was going to ask them to win the tournament which was almost impossible he needed to do his part and support them so they could concentrate on their training. A part of him felt bothered that he had to do all this work, but he was also excited, this was the first time in his life he had set a goal and he was actively trying to work towards it. But making money wasn¡¯t going to be enough, he had to start training to make sure he was strong enough to clear the dungeon if Martin or Tyler really did win the tournament. The only question he had was how he was going to do that without being able to follow any classes? Chapter 38: Preparing George was meditating on his bed inside the mine where he had made a home for himself, he couldn¡¯t believe how fast one session month had passed and how much he still had to do. ¡®I can¡¯t believe how long that took, but at least the first part is done. I hope I can finish the second part before the tournament begins.¡¯ George didn¡¯t like to meditate; it was boring and easy, the only thing it did was take a lot of time. But luck was on his side, he still had enough energy stones left for the last part, it was primarily because of the middle-grade spirit stage refining technique. The energy that was absorbed by the body would enter an energy crystal that would solidify at level ten. He already had enough energy to solidify it, but he knew that he had to try and expand it at least another twenty percent. The energy inside his body could be manipulated in a strange way he couldn¡¯t explain, he had the power to condense the energy and store more before he solidified it. George had read about geniuses who were so gifted that they had twice the amount of energy stored inside their first energy crystal. This meant that two people could be on the same level but one of them could fight twice as long. This was not something that could be bought, it depended on the person¡¯s intelligence and understanding, George had noticed that he started to absorb the energy faster after he started to train his soul with the soul cultivation skill the prince had given him and he was wondering if it would help him with the condensing. George wasn¡¯t in a hurry to solidify the energy crystal; he knew that everyone would try to condense It as much as they could before the tournament and decided to do the same. Besides, he looked forward to the hard part and wanted to challenge himself to see how far he could condense it, and how he would compare to the noble kids now that their clans couldn¡¯t give them an unfair advantage. From what he had read in the scroll most of the students would be able to increase the energy by twenty percent with most nobles being in the thirty percent. But there were some people who had even reached the ninety percent, these people had advantages in fights but also in jobs where more elemental energy meant that they could train longer or make higher grade items. The first thing he needed to do right now was too condensed the energy enough to make room to absorb another energy stone. George tried to condense it but he quickly found out that it was not an easy thing to do, condensing the energy was binding the energy together which made the energy strand stronger, even thought it was bigger than the original it was still smaller than two independent strings. The concentration required to just fuse two strands of energy was complicated enough to take hours, but the hard part comes after that, the more strands of energy you fuse together the harder it becomes because of the concentration needed to manipulate all of them at the same time. But he didn''t have the time to do it right now, he had already run out of credits and had to succeed today or he had to start skipping meals like the old times. He had told Tyler and Martin that he had enough money to support them for the two session months but he only said that to make sure they didn¡¯t worry about money. Luckily for him, both of them had some credits left and could follow classes while he figured out how to make more money. George moved his hand and a small fermentation tank appeared in front of him, it was completely white and was big enough to make one liter of wine. George was pleasantly surprised when he found the hidden world inside the storage ring he had found on Wilton''s body and had found everything he needed to make wine. George had found a lot of stuff inside the storage ring like a bed and lights to make it livable inside the mine. The more George looked through the ring the more excited he got, the ring was big enough to fit the whole of Wine village inside of it, but he didn¡¯t have the soul power to fully control it, so he had to search it little by little. The ring had a special feeling to it, it contained two parts, the first part was the place where George had found the scroll, it was a space that was not part of the world and he could only store items, but the second part of the ring felt like it was real and he could enter it in soul form. George didn¡¯t know why Wilton had not put the scroll and the memory stone in the mansion where he couldn''t get access to them, but it became clearer the more he looked around. The second part was just too big, every time he entered it he was spawned in a different location which made it impossible to find anything fast. Besides, he wasn¡¯t expecting to die anyway, so he had all the time to put the items away when he had killed Thaddeus and taken his legacy.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. George didn¡¯t find much except for long fields filled with crops he couldn¡¯t recognize anymore, the smell almost made him sick. It looked like the crops had rotten after Wilton had died and didn''t have the chance to harvest them. The only thing he had found was a big mansion which made the Hooper Clan''s mansion look like an old shed. George had searched the whole mansion and it didn¡¯t contain anything special except for it beeing luxurious. It looked like Wilton carried his home around with him to live comfortably while he traveled. The only thing that got George''s attention was the three rooms that were different from the others. Two of the three rooms were closed off with a formation and George couldn¡¯t enter them, this was clearly where Wilton kept his most important possessions and this was his way to make sure nobody would gain access to them even if he died. The last room was clearly something Wilton was still working on and George could see that he hadn¡¯t finished the room jet. The room just like the rest of the mansion felt weird to George, there were computer screens in every room that George only recognized because of the screen in his home that would repeat the same messages every morning, just thinking about them made George annoyed. There were ten fermentation tanks with five of them so big that it hit the ceiling of the room. Unfortunately, only three of them were installed and that¡¯s why George could tell that Wilton was not done installing them. He was properly preparing this room to use when he got the memory stone from Thaddeus¡¯s son. When George was ready to leave, he found a small door at the end of the room that looked out of place. George opened the room and found a warehouse that had a lot of ingredients inside that to his surprise hadn¡¯t gone bad, George didn¡¯t know how this was possible but he didn''t care, it was the last piece of the puzzle he needed to start making wine. The warehouse was bigger than he expected and was split into two parts, one part was for the ingredients and the other was made of shelf spaces to put the wine. George had used the items in the mansion to make himself a comfortable home that he had to live in for the next two session months. He didn¡¯t have any fresh air and it got cold at nights but it was good enough. George had thought a lot about what he had to do and the most important thing was to make enough money. He had told Martin and Tyler that he had enough money for the two session months but he only had ninety credits left and that was only enough for one session month and that would be just for the basics. He wanted to make sure there was enough money to follow some classes and buy some good equipment for the tournament. The only reason he had focused so much on meditating was that he needed the dark energy to make a wine Thaddeus called, nightfall, it¡¯s a red wine that¡¯s one of the easiest to make and you need the ingredients and dark element for it. There were energy globes George could buy later to make wine with other elements but that wasn''t an option right now and this was one of the only two types of wine he could make that would sell. The memory stone had a lot of memories, and it would take him years to watch all of them, Thaddeus had recorded at least one memory of preparing every recipe. He also talked about how he didn¡¯t want John to use the automatic option and to add the element manually, it was a lot harder but it would increase the chance of success. ¡®if I¡¯m correct the only reason I have been failing until now was that I didn¡¯t have enough dark energy.¡¯ George was a little nervous, he only had four days to succeed or he didn''t have enough money to pay rent for the others. Worse case was that he had to bring them to the mines but there were other problems like paying for food or going to class. He had finally trained his body enough to stay in Nash for four full days so he didn¡¯t want to stop eating and destroy everything he had worked for the last couple of session months. George put his hands on the small tank that was just big enough to make one liter of wine and tried to focus, the process was at least three hours and he had to keep his concentration up to not make a mistake. He was able to successfully make the wine the last time he tried, but Thaddeus had said that every wine that didn¡¯t have stats was a failure so he had to keep trying. The process was not a lot different from how he made wine in the factory, the only thing that made it hard was that he had to add the dark energy manually. George added the ingredients and started the aging process, he was lucky that he had found high-grade tanks that Wilton had brought or else it wouldn¡¯t take hours but days to make it. George started the process like every other time and he knew that the end was the real challenging part, he just didn¡¯t have enough energy to finish the aging process. Hours went by and George was still concentrating on the tank in front of him, the most important thing was timing and he had to make sure he added the dark element in the right moment or it could fail, Thaddeus had talked about how being one second late could ruin the wine completely and that every batch would be different from the last one, that¡¯s why even the greatest winemakers were not able to remake their best work even if they tried to. The last part of the process came and George was almost out of energy, George started to get dizzy and knew that he only had four chances left to succeed. He had to wait a whole day before he could try again and he knew that it was now or never. The fermentation tank started to suck more energy like it always did at the very end and George did his best to control the speed and amount that was released, just as George thought that he didn¡¯t have enough energy left the tank stopped moving and the batch was done but had he succeeded? Chapter 39: Taking a chance George was inspecting the end result of a hard day of work with fear in his eyes, he only had a couple of chances left and was filled with self-doubt. This was one of the first times he had enough elemental energy to finish a batch, but he didn¡¯t feel in control of the apparatus, it felt like his elemental energy was being sucked out like a vampire sucking the blood of a young girl. ¡°Activate test,¡± George said anxiously. He could test it manually, but he had the luxury not to. The first time he had seen this it felt like something out of this world, a drone appeared in front of the barrel and started to scan the content. George looked at the description and it made him a little angry, the first couple of days he would look at it and smile, but little by little it was getting to him. Deep inside he knew the problem, the apparatus was controlling him and that was a bad sign. It felt like he didn¡¯t have any control on how the energy was being sucked out of his body, the ending particulate made him feel like nothing but a battery with no control over his own body. He knew that he needed to keep trying and that he would learn it in time, there was no point in making himself anxious. It was time to train martial arts, surprisingly he was good at it, it didn¡¯t take him long to learn most of the defensive moves. He had memorized all the skills and was working on his offensive skills where he had made little progress when Tyler arrived. George had a look of surprise on his face which quickly turned into a smile. ¡°So he finally beat you,¡± George said mockingly, liking this little competition the two had invented. Only a couple of days after George had left for the cave, Martin showed up looking pretty angry. George couldn¡¯t get much out of him, but over the weeks he learned more when Martin would show up every day asking for a match at the exact same time. From what he understood the two had made a bet, they would fight at sunset and the loser would go to George and challenge him to a dual. At first, George felt a little bad that they had to do this to help him, they were wasting time walking to and from the mines every day that they could spend training, but when he saw the improvement in Martin¡¯s moves he changed his mind. They were challenging each other and improving at a higher rate because of it, after that he used this time to train himself and use this opportunity to improve. George knew that using a basic move was not a hard thing, especially the defensive once, but the hard part was to use them correctly in fights. When two fighters have the same strength, fighting becomes about strategy, the winner is decided by the moves he used and if he could outsmart his opponent. In the beginning, Martin would beat him in seconds and be on his way, but with time George improved and was able to hold on for a minute on average. From what he could tell, Martin wasn¡¯t holding back, he would waste no time and try to get back to his training as soon as possible, and seeing George stop his moves that would have knocked him out a week ago didn¡¯t help, it only made him angrier. The reason George lost so quickly was that he didn¡¯t have any elemental power left after his Winemakers training. So when Martin used his wind element energy to attack he didn¡¯t have any chance of blocking it. George had to admit that he admired the passion Martin had for fighting, but he also liked to use it to tease him a little. Every day after Martin turned around and walked out of the cave without saying anything he would mockingly say his goodbyes and that he looked forward to seeing him tomorrow.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. ¡°Yeah he got the better of me this time, I didn¡¯t expect to win every time anyway.¡± Said Tyler with a grin on his face, he looked like he didn¡¯t mind losing at all, but George could swear he heard a bit of disappointment in his voice. That was the one thing he never understood about Tyler, he always looked calm and George couldn¡¯t read him like he could read others. When George asked about how everything was going Tyler told him about his training and that he and Martin would go on a daily hunt tomorrow to train and that he was excited because it was his first hunt. George hearing this felt a little bad about not being able to make more money, he had asked them to succeed but he himself had failed consistently. Tyler wasn¡¯t his talkative self which showed that he was a little angry about losing and they started their battle. George quickly noticed that long-range enemies were the worst possible opponent for protectors. Him using the practice weapon he quickly bought before moving to the mines didn¡¯t help either, the weapon was not steady enough to block the arrows and that would cause him to take some damaged, and worse, slow down his momentum. But he knew that he wasn¡¯t fast enough to catch Tyler, either way, the way he was moving farther away with ease was amazing, every move was perfect. George finally understood why Martin had lost every time, it felt like they were playing cat and mouse and like in the cartoons, only this time the mouse would still crush him even if he got lucky and got close. Luckily for him, the arrows were made of rubber and wouldn¡¯t kill him but they still hurt like hell. What made the arrows scary was the speed, not only did it make the arrows harder to follow but also stronger on impact. With every arrow coming towards him George started to get better at blocking them, he had this amazing ability to read the attacks and react ten times faster, especially if the moves were predictable. George didn¡¯t know if Tyler was helping him train or is this was his full strength but he was able to block the attacks for five minutes and with every second it became easier, but there was no chance he could get a hit in, even if he tried to move one step he would lose his focus and the arrows would get through his defense. With every fight, he understood why teams were needed and that fighting alone against high mobility classes was not something he could do as a protector. Another minute went by before Tyler made his move, by now George felt comfortable blocking the arrows and he was trying to thinking of a way to move. Tyler stopped his rapid attacks and shot an arrow that was a lot slower than the others. Seeing the attack coming towards him that slowly made George mistrust the situation, he could dodge or block the attack. Seeing Tyler stand there not shooting anymore made George suspicious, was he baiting him to dodge? The arrow was moving closer by the second and George had to make a decision, and not having a way to damage Tyler he decided to play it safe and block the arrow. The arrow heading straight came inches to connecting with the Bo staff before it disappeared and appeared right in front of George¡¯s chest. The impact was hard enough to hit George back against the wall and even draw some blood. ¡°You are not the only one who can read people, playing it save it not always the best option.¡± Said Tyler with a smile on his face, the same way he enjoyed beating Martin at fighting he enjoyed beating George at what he was best, reading people. George was lying on the ground still dizzy from the hit, it was the same kind of attack he had seen Wilton use against Thaddeus. The hit had shaken him awake, was he really that predictable, when was the last time he had taken a chance? After Tyler helped George get up and brought him back to his room he said his goodbyes and went back home, he had a big day tomorrow and wanted to get some sleep. George sat there and looked at the ceiling of his room thinking about what Tyler had said. Was he taking a chance the answer? Not being able to sleep he at least could give it a try, he got up and got the one dark energy stone from his pocket he had found in the array and decided to take a chance. The energy that the machine was using was not part of his body and it became a lot easier to control the output. Just as George was thinking that the end was here and that he had won the apparatus didn¡¯t stop and kept sucking the energy out of the stone that was in his hand until the stone became empty and the stone shattered in thousand pieces. Why had it not stopped? Why was this damn machine so inconsistent? ¡°Activate test,¡± ¡°F@#!¡± Chapter 40: First hunt Tyler was looking at the big forest made out of trees that were bigger than the longest building he had ever seen. The whole area existed out of two parts, the first part was the big green field of grass that connected to the village and the forest that didn¡¯t look like it had an ending. The forest made Tyler feel uncomfortable, it was too quiet, the only sound he heard was the students talking as they followed the teachers. Unlike the students the teachers had to stay focused on the task at hand, they were paid to keep the students save and failing would mean losing trust, and losing trust would mean losing clients which in turn meant no income. Making money is an important part of the job description when it comes to city workers, they needed to perform or it would mean serving as slaves for the rest of their sentence. ¡°Did you notice anything?¡± Said Martin looking at the road ahead, this was something Tyler had noticed about Martin, he would almost never look you in the eyes when he talked to you. He didn¡¯t know if this was part of him being a loner or it was part of being a noble. ¡°He isn¡¯t really talkative you know, but if you ask me I would say that he has not achieved his goal,¡± said Tyler while observing his surroundings. ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter, we can¡¯t take a chance with only a couple of days left until we run out of money. Try to keep up and stay out of my way,¡± said Martin keeping his eyes on Solomon. Solomon was the principal now but he was still in charge of the hunts, most principals would hand the job down to the vice principal but Solomon liked it too much to do that. Martin just like Tyler had never been on a hunt before and didn¡¯t know what to expect, the only thing that made sense to him was to pay attention to what Solomon was doing and not missing out on chances. Tyler had a mocking smile on his face trying to ignore what Martin had said, he knew that he was by far the better fighter of the two. He had lost one fight but that was only because he wanted to try something new that was risky and it just didn¡¯t pay off. Also, an archer was by far the better hunter against low-level monsters. Besides, half of the time he didn¡¯t know if Martin was serious or that it was just part of his personality to be so competitive. They walked for another hour before Solomon stopped and asked everyone to stay put and not touch anything. Nobody knew what to expect, it was just like the rest of the forest, just more trees. The whole forest was so boring that Tyler could see the disappointment on Martins'' face. ¡°The teacher will cast a formation to blind your senses, do not panic and wait patiently for them to come back. Do not forget that even though you can¡¯t see, feel or sense anything you can still move so if you panic and get lost or even worse kill yourself it¡¯s not our responsibility,¡± Said Solomon while ordering the teacher to cast the formation. The feeling of not having any of you senses made Tyler unfordable, it felt like.. it felt like nothing except himself existed. Fortunately for the students, the effect wore off quickly and they senses came back one by one. Martin rubbed his eyes and looked up at Tyler who was staring in front of him with his mouth open. He had never seen Tyler so surprised, the building was so big it felt like the sun had set and night had come. The building was nothing special but it was the biggest building Martin had ever seen. It was made of white stone and was properly bigger than the whole village. The temple had the family crest of the three clans. The Trust clan had the crest of a young woman dressed in white at the center surrounded by a yellow outline. The Hooper clans crest was the most beautiful of them all, a green stone Martin couldn¡¯t identify, but the crest that drew the most attention was that of the Hooper clan. The crest was a blue mask that looked like the mask of an ancient samurai on a shield and a broadsword. Martin had mixed feeling seeing his old clans crest, it had always been a source of proud but now he only felt pain and hatred. ¡°You are properly wondering why the secrecy?¡± Said Solomon with a smile on his face, he always enjoyed the look of surprise on the faces of the new hunters. The students, on the other hand, hated his speech, some of them had heard him tell the same story more than fifty times by now. ¡°The three clans build this place twenty session years ago when they lost one of the best newcomers we have ever seen, even until today. Some of you may recognize him as Rin trust, the man who had the ability to become the next clan lord or even the overlord. The other clans fearing his ability and worked together to kill him systematically so he could never develop, nobody knows where he is now and what has become of him. So the clans build this walls to protect the students, this is why it¡¯s important not to show your ability to outsiders! Showing-off can cost you your life, freedom and worst of all sanity.¡±A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. Most of the students didn¡¯t really listen to Solomon and brushed it off, but Tyler knew he was teaching them something important, especially for someone like him who had an amazing ability but no power to back him up. Martin had the same usual cold expression on his face, but Tyler didn¡¯t have to worry about him, if anyone understood what Solomon meant, it would be Martin. The entrance was guarded by two men. They were no ordinary guard and were wearing blue color cloths which showed Tyler how important this place was. This was the first time Tyler had seen a clan member without their fancy clothes, one of them was a swordfighter and was wearing a gold plated armor set with a great sword behind his back that was almost as big as most of the students. The other one was wearing leather clothes and had two daggers on his sides and was a lot shorter than the other. Tyler had to laugh when he saw them next to each other, they reminded him of David and Goliath. Martin seeing the two didn¡¯t react and ignored them as he entered the building, the clan and everyone in it was dead to him. Besides, he was there to train, not to build relations. The moment they entered the building they saw three big statues of the first three clan lords with the Trust clan lord standing in the middle with a staff risen above his head. ¡°There are nine doors here, we advise to enter the room number that matches your current level, make groups of three and enter one at the time, the rest will be explained inside,¡± said Solomon as he walked to the seats in the middle of the room were all the instructors were resting and drinking wine. ¡°We need to find one more,¡± said Tyler looking around to find a suiting candidate, the most important thing was to find someone who wouldn¡¯t clash with Martin. ¡°He said we advise, so we can just do it with the two of us. Don¡¯t forget about what we talked about, don¡¯t use any of your special skills, I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if they were watching us,¡± said Martin while he walked towards the door. He and Tyler had reached level nine a long time ago and this training session was solely for gaining fighting experience, and if he made some money that wouldn¡¯t be bad either. ¡°Wait!¡± Tyler and Martin stopped and turned around seeing a young girl running towards them, Martin had seen her before, she was the girl that had visited their room before looking for George. ¡°I¡¯m Liz, I worked together with George in the winery, can I join you guys?¡± She said trying to look harmless. ¡°Why us? I have heard about you, they say you are at least in the top ten of all the students, everyone here would want to have you in their group,¡± said Tyler not trusting her. He had seen her before when he went to visit George in the winery, she was too ambitious for his taste. She looked like the type that would do anything to get to the top, even if she had to step over bodies to do so. ¡°I like to hunt with everyone at least once, this way I can learn new fighting styles, and besides the chance of you guys reaching the key without three people is almost zero,¡± said Liz with a smile on her face that made her look completely innocent. Tyler hated situations like this, what was this key she was talking about? But before he could react he was interrupted. ¡°Sure, you can join them, but don¡¯t get their hopes up, the last time a group from the academy got a key was ten session years ago,¡± said Solomon taking a sip of the wine in his hand that had a strong aroma to it. ¡°let¡¯s go then,¡± said Martin clearly excited to start training, the clan had always denied him to train here and he had resented them for it. Tyler looked around confused and decided to just follow them inside. The plan had changed in an instant. The door opened and they were standing in the middle of the jungle, Tyler could still see the roof of the building high above them and two side walls making the area about fifty meters wide. Tyler recognized the voice, it was teacher Hanna who worked as an instructor. Just as he was thinking a small hole opened, and a box with three bracelets appeared. The bracelet looked high tech, it had only a red batten on it for emergencies and a small lens next to it. When they all put it on the lens started to glow and a message appeared.
Objective Rewaard
Reach the first checkpoint. 5 credits p.p
Reach the second checkpoint. 10 credits p.p
Reach the third checkpoint. 25 credits p.p
Reach the last checkpoint. 50 credits p.p / Dungeon key