《The Reaper: Consumer of Souls》


 Prologue: A Life and Death Situation

    Raindrops fell endlessly from the starless night sky as a boy ran into a dark alley, running for his life. If only he knew that by running into that alley would change his life forever. The boy kept running as fast as his legs could carry him, not daring to look back, for what was behind him could scare even grown men. With every step that the boy took it would seem like the night got darker and darker, and the rain heavier with every drop. It was almost as if the world itself was saying that his death was near.


    However, that didn¡¯t seem to slow down the boy even the slightest bit. He just kept running as if the rain had no affect on him at all, it was almost like he didn¡¯t even know that it was raining. The only thought that raced through his mind was ¡°Run!¡± Looking at the boy it would seem as he would defy the laws of the world just to keep himself alive.


    Then, as if things could get any worse, he tripped over a crack in the ground and came crashing down hard onto the ground. It was over. Now this night will really be his last. At that moment time seemed to slow down for the boy as he tried to get up and run away but only to find pain shoot through his ankle. He had sprained his ankle. I guess the world didn¡¯t want him to live anymore, it seemed like it tried to do everything to make sure that the boy would not live.


    The boy could hear his heart beating faster and louder as he heard the creature behind him close in on him. Yes, it was definitely over, he had no chance of escape any longer. Looking up at the sky, the boy started to laugh. From an outside perspective it would seem as if he was insane.


    ¡°Why are you laughing human boy?¡± asked a hoarse and deep voice behind him. The boy just laughed even harder before turning around to meet the creature. ¡°Why not? It¡¯s not like I¡¯ll be the one dying today. No; the one dying today will be you. After all, this life that I have I must cherish. My mother died giving birth to me and my father died protecting me when bandits came into my village killing everyone who resisted, and even the those who did what they asked died in the end after being forced to watch all the women being raped in front of them.¡± The boys gaze or voice did not waver at all as he stared down the beast. Its as if the boy was looking down at the creature and mocking him for even having thoughts of killing him. Like it was wasting its time.


    The creature just snarled at the boy angrily baring its teeth at him. ¡°You were one annoying prey to catch little boy, but that doesn¡¯t matter since you are quite a rare catch. You¡¯re lucky that i was even nice enough to let you speak your last words¡­, even if they were quite; what''s the word? Oh yes, harsh. But that¡¯s alright, because I¡¯m quite lucky to have even stumbled upon you. To think that I would find a Reaper that doesn¡¯t even know about his abilities,¡± the creature let out a hoarse laugh as it approached closer. I will feast on you tonight boy, and there is nothing you can do about it. Your life is mine.


    The boy was confused as he felt the creature come closer and closer with every second. What is he talking about? What in the world is a Reaper? Does he mean Death? Well, even though I don¡¯t know most of the things about myself I¡¯m positive I¡¯m not Death. After all, isn¡¯t Death that one creepy skeleton guy who wears a cloak and flies around with a scythe?


    As he was processing all this information the boy managed to see what exactly was chasing him all this time. Might as well see what I¡¯m facing me before one of us dies. Even though the boy said all those things about not dying, in reality he was scared shitless and knew that the chance of him getting away alive was almost non existent. After all what could he do against such a beast that could easily take out grown men.


    The creature before him had a pair of glowing red eyes that felt like they were looking straight at your soul. Just looking at his eyes he felt his fear increase through his body as he slightly trembled in fear. It felt like the beast''s eyes where the manifestation of fear itself.


    The fur that the beast had was the darkest shade of black that the boy has ever seen. It was so dark that you could barely see it. Looking at the beast it seemed as if you were looking at just two red orbs of fear that floated in mid air.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    As the boy kept staring at the beast he didn¡¯t even notice that the rain had already stopped and that the moon started to come out from behind the clouds. A ray of moonlight hit the spot where the beast stood, making it look ten times deadlier than it already did. It opened its mouth to reveal sharp and deadly teeth that could easily rip its prey apart. The beast seemed to be of a wolf species, however it looked like it was some sort of rare species that had the blood of an ancient beast inside it.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid, all your fears will soon disappear, soon you will fall asleep and never wake up again.¡± The beast seemed to grin, if that was even possible for a wolf. The boy grinned back to the beast, ¡°Ha, don¡¯t make me laugh, who would be afraid of you? You look as harmless as a pup.¡± the boy insulted the wolf, while in his head he was cursing himself for being so arrogant and stupid. After all, who in their mind insults the beast or person who is about to kill them.


    The wolf just laughed at the boy¡¯s remark. ¡°You seem like you don¡¯t fear death at all, but you can¡¯t trick me. I can smell fear radiating off of you, and it''s not a wear either it¡¯s the largest I have ever smelled. I will really enjoy eating you.¡± replied the wolf grinning from ear to ear, as if he was trying to show off his deadly teeth.


    The wolf slowly started to walk towards the boy. It was just mere inches away at this point. The boy glanced at the beast''s feet to find long sharp claws that would probably rip him apart in seconds, leaving nothing but little chunks of him behind.


    The boy closed his eyes as he prepared for the worse. ¡°If you want to live follow my instructions¡± said a voice all of a sudden. The boy opened his eyes in confusion and looked at the beast. The beast was almost upon him.


    ¡°Close your eyes and concentrate on the power inside you,¡± the boy heard the voice again in his head. Was he hallucinating from fear? Or was someone really speaking to him. The boy observed the wolf, which was in front of his face at this point. Seems like the wolf didn''t hear the voice. I¡¯m probably just hallucinating. I guess this is it, even after all those words I said about me not dying. I¡¯m pathetic, but what can you say, I can¡¯t do anything, I have no power at all.


    ¡°Listen to me boy if you want to live! We don¡¯t have much time. If you wanna live draw on you power. It should feel as if something was pulling on your guts. The grab onto that feeling and wish for the power to kill the beast in front of you.¡± the voice this time spoke more strictly and seriously than before, as if trying to show that there is no time to waste or only death awaits.


    The boy decided to try out what the voice was telling him, he didn¡¯t have much to lose in the first place. He closed his eyes and concentrated on his stomach searching for the power that the voice was talking about. Within seconds, he felt that weird feeling as if someone was pulling on his guts, trying to rip them out. He grabbed onto the feeling and yanked with all his strength, wishing to have the power to live and kill the beast.


    As soon as he did that, the boy felt power run through his whole body, it felt as if he was super hyper. He opened his eyes which were now glowing with power. The aura around the boy was dark and reeked of death. In his hand was a scythe made out of bones and the blade was made out some sort of black metal that shined in the darkness. It¡¯s as if the blade was absorbing the darkness. On it¡¯s side where some sort of ruins that made up words, but the boy couldn¡¯t read them.


    ¡°Impossible, you shouldn¡¯t have the knowledge nor the power to do this. How can you know the process if you don¡¯t even know what you are?¡± the beast exclaimed in fear. ¡°I better finish you off before it¡¯s too late.¡± The wolf lunged at the boy and tried to bite him while the boy was still adjusting to what just happened.


    The boy seemed to have noticed that the wolf took action and rolled to the side barely dodging the slash from the wolf¡¯s claws. ¡°Let me take over your body for a few seconds if you live, I will finish of the beast off¡± out of nowhere the voice spoke. ¡°Alright¡± replied the boy, knowing he had no chance to survive even if he got this power. He barely managed to dodge that one attack.


    ¡°I will kill you here¡± cried the beast as he turned around and tried to slash at the boy again but found only a bleeding stub instead of his paw. ¡°You bastard!¡± cried out the wolf as he jumped at the boy trying to bite his throat. The boy who was now under control of the mysterious voice easily dodged to the side and brought down the sight on the wolf¡¯s back, leaving a huge gash. Blood started to pour out of the wound as the wolf howled in pain. ¡°Please, don¡¯t kill me. I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯ll never target you again just let me go.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s too late for you, nothing can save you now¡± replied the boy with a voice that seemed like it wasn¡¯t his at all. It was deep and filled with power. ¡°J- Just w-who are you boy?¡± asked the beast his voice filled with fear, as he tried to crawl away but do to a heavy wound could barely move.


    The boy just crazily grinned before speaking, ¡°that¡¯s something you don¡¯t need to know.¡± With those words the boy brought down his scythe on the wolf, ending his life. However, before he gave the control back to the boy he stretched out his hand and said one word ¡°Absorb.¡± When the word left his mouth, the soul of the beast flew out and flew towards the boy before entering his chest. ¡°You boy are one lucky person, to be able to get a soul of the Phantom wolf as your first soul. It seems like your life will be an interesting one, that is if you live long enough to get enough strength to survive.

 Chapter 1: It Wasnt A Dream

    Chapter 1: It Wasn¡¯t A Dream


    I woke up the next morning feeling like somebody had cracked my skull open and tried to put it back by crushing it together. Looking around I found myself back in the orphanage that I had been living in for the last two years of my life.


    After my dad died protecting me from the bandits, I hid in one of the stables till the next morning, crying my eyes out because I was all alone in the world. When morning came I made sure the bandits had left before going to the city where I could join an orphanage. A kid who is only ten years old can¡¯t really survive on his own in this world. Since then, I have lived here and somehow managed to survive with what the orphanage could provide for me and what little I earned on the streets.


    I worked at a blacksmith shop, well you can say I¡¯m more of an apprentice to the owner of the shop. Back when I first came to the city and had only lived there for a month, I met the owner while looking for places that would hire me. The owner was buying food that day for dinner and saw me looking for a job. I don¡¯t know what he saw in me but he offered to take me in as his apprentice.


    I would be lying if I said I was happy, because that was probably the best thing that had happened to me within the few months after my dad had died, and everyone that I knew and grew up with. So, if you¡¯re asking me if I was happy that would be a huge understatement.


    The owner Markus Dur, is a nice guy who is probably somewhere in his mid-30s. I don¡¯t know his exact age because whenever I have asked his age he would never give me an exact answer. He just keeps saying ¡°I¡¯m still young kiddo,¡± and just laughs it off. I don¡¯t know why he does that, maybe it¡¯s because he still isn¡¯t married and thinks that he won¡¯t find anyone anymore. So, the only way he keeps himself away from depression is by saying he is young. Who knows? I honestly don¡¯t really care that much about relationships at this point to dwell on the thought to much. After all, I¡¯m only twelve right now, and my goal is to get stronger no matter what it takes.


    Markus has pretty good looks for a guy his age, and probably among most guys women would describe him as attractive or handsome. He has dark hazelnut hair with brown eyes and slightly tan skin, like he was under the sun for too long. Since he is a blacksmith, his body is just the right amount of muscle that goes well with his height of six feet. So, yet again I don¡¯t understand what he is worrying about all the time. If he tried he could probably a get a date or two easily.


    As my thoughts ran wild, pain struck my head as I was reminded of my insane headache. Its as if someone had just taken a nail and hammered it into my head. Now that I think about it why does my head hurt so bad? What happened last night?


    I tried to think back to what happened last night to see flashes of memories of the previous night, before the memories started getting fuzzy and another wave of pain shot through my head. Apparently, some wolf-like beast tried to kill me last night and then I heard a voice in my head. After that everything got fuzzy and I can¡¯t remember anything. Was it all a dream? Because I¡¯m pretty sure that there was no way I could have killed that wolf by myself; and the voice, who was that? Maybe I dreamt all that, but then why do I have such a horrible headache?


    ¡°It wasn¡¯t a dream kiddo,¡± said a deep yet playful voice. I instantly shot out of bed before almost falling back down in pain as my head felt like it was about to get crushed from the pain. ¡°W-who are you?¡± I managed to moan out somehow. I swear this pain will be the end of me. ¡°Don¡¯t worry kid you won¡¯t die, the pain should pass in a couple of hours, and I¡¯m Ennius, Ennius Fito.¡±


    I slowly got up in my bad after the pain got a little better and I could speak properly. ¡°So, how can you speak in my head Ennius, and who are you?¡±


    ¡°Well, you could say I¡¯m your predecessor. As to why I can talk to you, that¡¯s related to your powers. I can¡¯t move on to the next life until you can properly use your powers and go off on your own into the world.¡±


    ¡°So, basically you are the person who had the same powers as me before you died and now you have to watch over me and guide me or something until I am ready?¡± There was no response from Ennius for a while before he just replied with a simple ¡°Yup, that basically summarizes the gist of it.¡±


    ¡°Do you know what happened with the wolf from last night?¡± I asked him, hoping that he had the answer to my question. ¡°Yeah, you killed him. Well, technically I did, but I was using your body. So, you can say we both killed it.¡± I let myself process all the information before asking the next question. ¡°How did we kill him?¡±


    ¡°Well after you awakened to your powers, I took over your body so that we could kill the wolf. That¡¯s why you have such a huge headache right now. The process to take over someone else''s body is basically to fight for the control of it with your mind. When the owner of the body gets their mind suppressed by the opposing force it damages the owner¡¯s mind, but you don¡¯t have to worry about it, your mind should heal up soon with some rest.¡±


    So, basically I unlocked some sort of powers and managed to kill the wolf by letting my predecessor take over my body, which resulted in me having this headache. I guess having a headache for a bit isn¡¯t as bad as dying. ¡°How often can you take over my body? Will I still get a headache this bad every time? What kind of powers do I have?¡± I asked him question after question.


    ¡°Slow down kiddo, no need to rapid fire questions at me. There is no rush, yet. I can take over your body after your mind is completely healed, otherwise your mind will get permanently damaged and, well let''s just say you¡¯ll become stupid. So, to answer your next question; yes you will get a headache every time. As for the powers, to give you the short version, basically you can use the powers of the enemies that you have defeated by consuming their souls.¡± After hearing that last part I just sat there not knowing what to say.


    ¡°What happens to the souls I consume? Do they just disappear from existence?¡± If that was the case I don¡¯t really want to use my powers. I would take away someone¡¯s chance at another life; they wouldn¡¯t be able to reincarnate anymore and have another chance at life. My thoughts were disrupted by Ennius¡¯s voice.


    ¡°The souls don¡¯t really disappear from existence. The process is more of a contract you could say, or a battle of will power. You can either come to an agreement with the soul of the being that you absorbed. This lets you use their powers to the fullest or you can gain control through will power and destroy the mind of the being that is left within the soul. This method, you can say basically kills the being for eternity and only leave an empty husk with just their powers. However with that method you can¡¯t use the powers as efficiently, and if you lose, you lose your body.¡± So, I can come to an agreement with the being. That seems a bit unrealistic. Why would someone who I killed want to form a contract with me so that I could use their powers?Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    ¡°Is there a benefit for the other party if they make the contract with me?¡± I asked because I clearly saw no benefit for the other party in this, other then not getting erased from existence. Even then, they had a chance to take my body from me if I wanted to fight for their powers.


    ¡°Other than gaining the ability to not die for eternity, the only other perk you can say they get is to be able to live through your senses. It isn¡¯t much, but it¡¯s the closest they can come to living if they agree to make a contract with you,¡± answered Ennius with a somewhat free-like attitude, as if this was getting boring to him. I guess I know most of the things that I need to know about what happened. Except just one more thing. ¡°What happened to the soul of the wolf that died? Did you consume it?¡±


    ¡°Yes, the soul is inside you and he should be getting his consciousness back pretty soon, probably by the time your headache stops. You should prepare yourself because he will try to take over your body. I highly doubt he will sign a contract with you since he has the blood of an ancient beast, and creatures with ancient blood are quite proud. Chances of winning against him are slim, but if you do win; your future would be limitless.


    You got pretty lucky kid, the Phantom Wolf that we killed was just a pup, so you have a chance of winning. However, if you win, there will be trouble in the upcoming future. The pup¡¯s mother will most likely hunt you down. Try not to go outside of the city again until you manage to get the wolf¡¯s power under control, that is if you win. Now that I think about it how did you manage to get into the city with the wolf chasing after you?¡± asked Ennius. I guess he gained consciousness when I was running away from the wolf or right before I was about to die. Now that I think about it how did he know where I lived? Oh well, I¡¯ll ask him some other time.


    ¡°The wolf caught the guards off guard with his speed; killing them within seconds. Due to the sudden and swift attack, the guards had very little time to even think about setting off the alarm.¡± I answered as I recalled the memory of the wolf killing the guards in mere seconds. They died before they realized what was even happening. I wondered how their families reacted to their deaths. Now that I think about it, how come none of the alarms rang? I¡¯m pretty sure the guards had been found by now. Maybe be I slept through it somehow. I guess I¡¯ll have to dig around for information sometime later.


    ¡°I see, well you should get some sleep, you need your mind rested and ready to engage the soul of the Phantom Wolf or this will be the end of you.¡± With those words Ennius didn¡¯t say anything afterwards. I thought about all the recent events and all the information I just learned before deciding sleep was the best thing I could probably do at this moment. I was about to lay back down on my bed and sleep, when my stomach rumbled. I guess I should eat first. With that I got up, put on my shoes and went to the kitchen to see if there was any food available.


    Opening the door to my room with a loud creaking noise I walked down the hall feeling the pain shoot through my head with every step I took. I swear this will be the end of me if I don¡¯t get some sleep soon, that is if I can fall asleep with such a headache in the first place.


    The orphanage that I was staying in wasn¡¯t fancy or anything, it was actually pretty old and worn out. The only reason I had a room was because I was one of the older kids, and even then I still had to share it with one of the other older kids. All the little kids; well, they all basically had to share one big room. There weren¡¯t a lot of us in the orphanage so I guess it all worked out.


    Other then me and my roommate, there were two girls around our age that shared a room. The little kids all shared one big room, no matter what gender they were. They were still kids that don¡¯t really think about the opposite sex, so the elders didn¡¯t really bother splitting them up.


    I walked down the hall taking a turn here and there before arriving at the cafeteria. ¡°Hey At!¡± I groaned in pain from the shouting voice before turning to see who it was. It was one of the older girls from the orphanage that I hung out with quite often, but if you were to ask how close we were I¡¯d say we were just friends.


    The thing is, I don¡¯t really want to get close to anyone here because I plan to leave after I save up enough money and all the goodbyes and farewells will just make it harder to leave. My original goal was to join an adventurer''s guild, do some easy jobs to earn money and try to move up in society. However, with all the recent events more opportunities have opened up for me. Since I have powers now I can go to an academy for the gifted, but that still requires money. If I remember correctly those schools have an entrance fee of two gold coins and a yearly rent which depended on the school, but the cheapest was still probably around one gold.


    With my current earnings I would be able to pay the entrance fee, but after that I would be completely broke. Plus, I still don¡¯t know if I will live long enough to get to the academy because of the soul of that Phantom Wolf.


    ¡°At, you deaf or something?¡± I heard the voice again followed by another wave of pain. I snapped out of my thoughts and started walking towards Alice who was smirking at me from her seat. ¡°Stop calling me At, I hate that nickname and you know it. Will calling me by my name kill you, and please quiet down, would you? I have a pretty bad headache right now, and you¡¯re not helping it¡± I said with a hint of annoyance in my voice.


    My full name is Atilius Fester, but apparently Alice thought that it made me sound like some old man or something and decided to call me At for short. It¡¯s not that I really hate the nickname or anything, but it just feels like I will get closer to the people here if I let them call me by a nickname. Also, it was the name that my mom gave me, and it¡¯s the only other thing apart from my life that I received from her. So, when people call me nicknames it feels like they are trying to take away one of the things that my mom had left for me.


    ¡°Well, isn¡¯t someone grumpy today, eh?¡± I turned my head towards the other voice to see Alice¡¯s friend Zoe sitting with the same expression on her face as Alice. I swear these two always have the same expressions and always do the same thing. It¡¯s like they''re twins or something, but the thing is they don¡¯t look like each other at all and bothe of them arrived here at different times. Alice who had black hair and icy blue eyes came here when she was six, while Zoe had auburn hair and forest green eyes, and came here only a year before me. So, there was no chance they were related unless they got separated at birth which is basically a non-existent chance.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure you would have the same attitude if you had the same headache as me right now. It feels like my head is going to split. So, would you do me a favor and quiet down?¡± I asked in a hushed voice and gave her a pleading look.


    ¡°Alright, alright we¡¯ll try to not be as loud.¡± I smiled in thanks before going off to get some food. I walked towards the kitchen lady and asked her for food. Let me tell you something, the food here sucked. I have no clue what they made it out of but it looked horrible and barely tasted to what it looked like. Like one time, we had omlette for breakfast, well that''s what I think it was.


    It looked like some brown and yellowish pudding and tasted like rotten eggs and butter. At this point I didn¡¯t really care what the food tasted like anymore, the only reason I ate it was to save money and get out of here faster.¡± Looking down at the plate of food that I received I let out a sigh. I swear the food just kept getting worse if that was even possible. It¡¯s like the orphanage was trying to kill us from food poisoning to get us off their hands.¡±


    Ignoring the weird creation on my plate that was supposed to be food I walked up to one of the far tables in the room and sat down. I normally don¡¯t eat alone, but due to my headache I didn¡¯t really want to get bothered by anyone at the moment. I took a bite of the food that was on my plate and tried not to barf. God, was the food terrible. I really need to get out of here before the food kills me. Somehow I managed to force the food down my throat and put down the fork, letting out a sigh of relief.


    I got up and returned my plate to the kitchen before saying goodbye to Alice and Zoe and walking off towards my room. Entering my room I took off my shoes before getting into bed, which was made from rusty springs and a worn out mattress that squeaked with every move I made. Man, it¡¯s like the world really wants me to die from a headache.


    Trying to avoid any squeaking noises from my bed I lay as still as I could and tried not to make any moves. My mind was working in overtime, thinking about all the events that had happened and what is yet to come. It¡¯s as if my mind was trying to figure out the best solution on how to survive the upcoming days. Laying there deep in my thoughts I felt myself getting sleepier and the pain fading into the background. Before long, darkness consumed me and I was left to my dreams.

 Chapter 2: The Phantom Wolf

    Chapter 2: The Phantom Wolf


    The next morning I woke up feeling refreshed, like the headache from yesterday was nothing but a nightmare. I got out of bed, put on some shoes, grabbed a towel with some clean clothes and headed off towards the bathing area.


    Arriving at my destination I stumbled upon a sight that has become a norm for me. Little kids ran around the bath hitting each other with their towels as the elders tried to catch them and put on their clothes, or wash some of them. Good thing the elders were dressed, or I would probably get scarred for the rest of my life.


    I laughed at the sight before me as I dodged one of the kids, before continuing my walk towards one of the available baths. As long as I have been here those kids have made trouble every day at the showers and with every kid that joined the orphanage the craziness would increase.


    After heating up the bath which took a couple of minutes, I submerged myself in the hot war, feeling as if a weight had been lifted of my shoulders. After soaking in the bath for a few minutes I washed my hair with some soap and scrubbed the rest of my body the best I could. I rinsed myself off with a bucket of water before drying myself off with a towel.


    When I finished drying, I put on some clean clothes and cleaned up my bathing area before heading off towards the mirror to comb my hair. The thing with my hair is that once it dries it''s impossible to comb it or style it in some way. So, unless I do my hair while it is still wet my hair will look like a bird¡¯s nest for the rest of the day.


    Looking at myself in the mirror I observed my reflection. My hair was slightly damp was starting to stick out in different directions, meaning that it was starting to dry. Personally speaking, I would say that I had slightly above average looks but I wasn¡¯t one of those pretty boys that all the girls chased around, hoping that they would get courted by them.


    My hair was black and reached around the middle of my neck. What I thought was my best feature was my eyes. My eyes were a pretty amber color that apparently I had gotten from my mother, that¡¯s what my father had told me at least when I asked him about my mom. As to what I got from my father would be my well defined jaw and the bird nest hair. From all the kids in the orphanage and from what I saw on the streets I would say that I was of average height for a boy of 12 years old. Also given that I worked in a blacksmith shop I had developed some muscles that made my body look fit, and giving me a more mature look.


    When I was finally done with everything in the baths I returned to my room, hung the towel to dry before heading of for breakfast. Entering the cafeteria I noticed that my roommate, Lucas, was already sitting with Alice and Zoe and eating breakfast.


    Lucas was a year younger then me, making him 11 years old. He short blond hair and greyish eyes with a few specs of green in them. Even though he was a year younger than me he was taller then me by half a head, making him one of the tallest kids his age.


    I went towards the cafeteria lady and grabbed some food before joining the others at the table. ¡°Morning,¡± I said, getting a few muffled replies back.I picked up my fork and took a bite out of my food, which sent shivers down my back. Yup, bad as always.


    ¡°So, how¡¯s your morning guys?¡± I asked them, trying to start up some conversation. ¡°Not much, just like any other day basically,¡± replied Zoe with an indifferent tone in her voice. ¡°The only thing that was different this week from this daily routine is that two guards were found dead on the city walls. Apparently some beast killed them.¡± That got my full attention, I guess while I was sleeping yesterday most of the day they found the two guards that the wolf had killed.


    I pretended to act surprised since I wasn¡¯t supposed really know what happened yesterday, ¡°Oh? Did they manage to find the beast that killed them? Did it get into the city?¡±


    ¡°From what I heard the beast wasn¡¯t found and since there were no witnesses or further reports they stopped investigating any further,¡± replied Lucas with a bit of seriousness in his tone. I guess out of all of us he took things more seriously than us.


    After that we just chatted about a few things, finished a our breakfast, and headed of our separate ways. ¡°You should find a some sort of deserted area for when you engage against the wolf. If someone interferes with the process it could ruin the whole thing and cause a backlash that will harm you severely, if not even kill you. Besides, you won¡¯t be in control of your body during that time, anyone would be able to do anything to your body.¡± Ennius¡¯ voice suddenly sounded in my head. Honestly, until he spoke just now I had totally forgotten he was even there.


    ¡°Good morning sleepy head¡± I replied in a jocking matter, feeling the grin appear on my face. ¡°Hey, watch your mouth kiddo! I might be dead, but I¡¯m still your elder, also don¡¯t you know you gotta respect the dead?¡± I just let out a slight chuckle, to get some muffled response about kids with no respect or something from him, which made me laugh slightly.


    ¡°Alright, I¡¯m sorry, I just felt like messing with you a bit. As for the deserted place, I think I have something in mind.¡± I said as I remembered an abandoned area near the edge of the city that nobody had lived in for as long as I have been here.


    I just received a ¡°eh¡± in response from him. Seeing as the conversation was over I went to my room to get some stuff I might need before leaving. After I finished getting ready I headed out of the orphanage and headed off towards my destination.


    Walking through the busy streets was brutal, people were rushing from place to place, shop owners were shouting all sort of things: sales, new items, rare items, you name it. After what seemed like ours I finally reached my destination.


    The place that I had come to was some sort of old house with a small yard and well that was long dried out. The house itself looked really and gave of strange feeling as if it was haunted. Maybe because it was so old and worn out, that even some parts of the house were now just rubble and a bunch of debris.


    I walked to an area behind the house just in case and sat down on a piece of stone, which was probably part of the wall before. ¡°So, what do I have to do Ennius?¡± I asked, when I felt that I was ready to engage whatever was to come.


    ¡°You have to enter your subconsciousness and find the wolf. When you find him, don¡¯t try to make a contact with him, beasts with ancient blood are always proud and stubborn, the chances you surviving are already almost non existent, the contact, is nearly impossible. Your only option is to beat him through willpower alone. However, before you start, here¡¯s a word of advice. You are the owner, it¡¯s your domain and you have the power and authority within, so use that to your advantage.¡± said Ennius, leaving me in confusion. What did he mean I have the power and authority?


    I decided to ask him, ¡°what do you mean I have the power and authority?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry my boy, but that is the only thing that I am allowed to tell you at this point. This is something that you will have to figure out on your own.¡± With those words I felt Ennius presence disappear to the back of my mind, as if he were just observing. In which case, I guess he was.


    Seeing as I wasn¡¯t going to get anything out of him I tried looking for my subconsciousness, which apparently wasn¡¯t as easy as the old man made it seem to be. In the first place, he didn¡¯t even tell me how to enter it. He basically just said here''s what you do, now go have fun.


    I groaned in annoyance before continuing my attempts at finding out how to enter my subconsciousness. What was subconsciousness in the first place? If I¡¯m right, subconsciousness is basically the true me. It¡¯s where my true desires and emotions dwell. So, assuming all that, wouldn¡¯t that make the subconsciousness my soul? In other words, I have to look into my soul and find the wolf¡¯s soul.


    It all makes sense now. I was confused when Ennius said that I had consumed the soul of the wolf, wondering where it went. I can¡¯t believe I didn¡¯t think of my own soul. Now the only problem is, how in the world do I enter my soul? Since the soul is my emotions and desires, if I concentrate on my emotions maybe I will be able to enter my soul.


    Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    I concentrated on my desire of wanting power to protect myself and the eagerness to live through all this. I thought about my mom and how grateful I was for the life that she had given me. Thinking about all this and looking deep into myself, searching for my true feelings and desires I felt something warm in the center of my chest, and a small spec of light appeared in my mind.


    The feeling that the small spec gave off gave me confidence and comfort, joy and peace. This must be my soul! I concentrated on the small spec of light and watched it get bigger and bigger until a bright flash enveloped everything and all I saw was an endless deep blue ocean.


    I floated forward for a while but at the end all I saw was water, an ever ending ocean. ¡°Why is my soul an ocean?¡± I asked myself, not really understanding what it could represent.


    ¡°That''s because an ocean is ever changing and always unpredictable just like emotions and desires.¡± I spun around to find an exact copy of¡­, me? What was going on who is this guy that looks exactly like me?


    ¡°Who are you and why do you look exactly like me?¡± I asked, with curiosity and a sense of awareness in my voice.


    ¡°Hmmm, that''s hard question. Even I don¡¯t know exactly who I am. The best that I can tell you is that I¡¯m you. You could say I''m the inner you.¡±


    I observed the me in front of me. He really did look like me and it does make sense if there was an inner me. There has to be some sort of representation of my true thoughts and feelings. Looking at the facts before me I decided that what he was telling the truth.


    ¡°So¡­, me, what should I call you? Since you''re me, I''m assuming that we have the same name as well.¡± The other me just floated there lost in thought before replying.


    Call me At. I know you like to go by your full name, so I''ll just take your nickname. I thought about it for a second before nodding in agreement.


    ¡°So At, you think you could help me find the wolf?¡± I asked hoping that he could help me somehow , because I really don''t want to fly around endlessly in the middle of an ocean searching for a soul.


    ¡°Sure, follow me I''ll show you where it is.¡± I stumbled back in surprise before a smile spread across my face. I really didn''t expect this kind of outcome. ¡°Well, lead the way¡± I replied happily.


    At just nodded before stretching out his hand in front of him. I just looked confused, not understanding what he was trying to do. I was about to ask him what he was trying to accomplish when a black door appeared out of nowhere. I just looked at the door not believing my own eyes.


    If someone had told me a day or two ago that it was possible to enter your own soul and there you could summon doors and stuff I would probably think that you were crazy and avoid that area, just so that I wouldn''t run into you.


    After getting past the surprise I followed Ag through the black door, anxiously awaiting what was on the other side.


    When I stepped out of the door I found myself in front of an entrance to huge cave. ¡°Where are we?¡±


    ¡°This is where the wolf resides. If you wish to meet him you will have to go into the cave.¡± I walked up closer to the cave, trying to see what''s inside, but the only thing I saw was darkness. Its as if I was looking straight into the abyss.


    ¡°I can''t see anything. Is there a torch here somewhere?¡± Hopefully, I looked at At because I really did not wanna go into that cave blind.


    ¡°Yeah, here you go.¡± With a wave of his hand a torch appeared out of thin air in his hand. ¡°Where do you keep pulling all this stuff out from ¡° I asked him, because there was no way he was pulling them out from nothing or in even simpler terms, creating them.


    ¡°This is your soul, you can do anything. There are some limits, but even then, you can do most things.¡± I just looked at him not knowing what to say until something Ennius had said flashed through my mind. ¡°You are the owner, it''s your domain, and you have the power and authority within, so use that to your advantage.¡±


    It all made sense now. Since this was my soul I can think of something and it will appear. Just to test my theory out I thought of a gold coin being in my hand. Next thing I knew, I had a brand new golden coin in my hand. I thought of it disappearing and it was gone, like it was never there in the first place.


    I smiled, feeling more confident than before at meeting the wolf. I looked back at At grabbing the torch from his hand. ¡°Will you come with me?¡±


    I was met with an apologetic look on his face that answered my question before he even spoke. ¡°I wish I could but this is something that you have to do on your own.¡± I just gave him a small smile in return before facing the cave and walking off into the darkness.


    As I walked further and further into the cave it felt like the temperature dropped with every step that I took further into the cave.


    The cave itself seemed like any normal cave, with stone walls everywhere and few chunks of ore veins of different types of metals. After walking a bit longer I finally came into a huge opening within the cave. The opening was really large that I couldn''t even see the walls of the cave. I walked a bit further until I was completely surrounded by darkness, only the dim light of the torch kept me from completely freaking out and running out of the cave.


    ¡°So u have come¡­, Reaper,¡± said an all too familiar voice. I spun around in the direction of the voice to find myself looking at two glowing red orbs. I stumbled back in fright, dropping my torch in the process and watching as the flame quickly went out. To say I was scared would be an understatement. At that moment I thought that I was going to shit my pants, and the funny thing was that I thought it would increase my chance of not getting eaten.


    ¡°Look at you, all scared and shivering in fright, to think I died to a weakling like you,¡± said the wolf mockingly, but you could still feel the anger and hate in his voice.


    Snapping back to reality, I wished for light, hoping to get another torch. However, to my surprise the whole cave illuminated with light. The light was so bright that I had to close my eyes to not get blinded. After my eyes adjusted to the light I looked around at my surroundings, to find a rocky ground and a huge clearing that could easily fit at least 100 people.


    As I looked around my eyes landed on the wolf. He was covering his eyes with one of his paws and whimpering a bit. I guess that the light had affected him somehow. ¡°You bastard, you will definitely pay for this¡± raged the wolf as he looked at me before sprinting at me.


    Not knowing what to do, I ran. ¡°You can run, but there is nowhere you can hide,¡± shouted the wolf behind, causing me to increase my speed. What the heck was I supposed to do? There is no way that I can keep this up forever. Reasoning out with him at this point seems even more impossible than before, and the chance of me beating him in a fight is roughly the same. My only choice is to try and calm him down somehow.


    I kept running for my life yet again. It''s as if in the past few days all I have been doing is running for my life. My legs carried me around the cave as my brain worked in overdrive, trying to think of a solution. Finally, an idea hit me. This better work, I thought to myself before closing my eyes and imagining the wolf in a huge metal cage.


    Bang! I heard a loud noise behind me as if something had rammed into a wall at insane speed. I turned around to find the wolf howling in pain. I let out my breath, that I didn''t even know I was holding in. The sense of relief washed over me, knowing that my plan worked.


    I walked up to the wolf slowly, trying not to agitate it. ¡°Look I really don''t want to fight you, heck, I didn''t even want to kill you in the first place. So, can we just talk like intelligent beings?¡± I asked hoping that he would accept my request.


    The wolf slowly got up, and looked at me. ¡°And what do you propose, we make contact or something, because there is no way I''m making one with you. My pride won''t let me no matter how much I want to live again.¡± I frowned at that, he really is stubborn and prideful. It will take a lot of work convincing him.


    ¡°Hey kid, since we''re talking, you mind letting me out of this cage?¡± I looked at the wolf before breaking into laughter. ¡°I might be weak, but that doesn''t mean I¡¯m stupid. I bet the second you are out of this cage you will attack me.¡± The wolf just grinned and chuckled. I guess you''re not as dumb as I thought.


    ¡°So, how about it, do you want to make a contract?¡± I asked, hoping that he will suck up his pride and stubbornness and agree.


    ¡°And yet it''s back to this again, look kid, the blood in my veins is that of Fenrir, the ancient beast that was said to have almost been the end of the this world. Knowing that, my pride just won''t accept me sinking low enough to make a contract with a human, even if you are the Reaper.¡± I thought about what the wolf said. If I was in his place and had such noble and powerful blood in me, I would probably not want to make a contact either. It makes sense why he would have such pride. To have Fenrir as an ancestor isn''t something simple.


    Thinking about all this I tried to find some other way, after all there is always more than one solution to something. After some thought I managed to think of a solution.


    ¡°How about we make a deal? You make a contract with me and you can make a request that is either my power to accomplish.¡± Personally, I thought it was a good idea, but you never know it might just not be enough.


    I looked at the wolf, trying to decipher what his answer might be. ¡°Alright, I''ll agree to make a deal with you as long as you promise to get me a body for my soul to transfer later. You see, I don''t want to go to reincarnation straight away. As you probably know I''m only a pup, that''s the only reason you even had a chance of winning. That''s why I want you to either find me a body, or make me one in the future so that I can live as myself again.¡± I thought about his request and it seemed reasonable.


    ¡°How can I make you a body, and how will you transfer your soul into it?¡± I asked not really understanding how this was possible.


    ¡°The process of creating a body isn''t hard, the hard part is obtaining the materials to create one. As for the soul transfer that''s easy. All you have to do when the time comes, is to release my soul and make sure that it doesn''t fly off into the underworld. Basically, you will have to guide it to my new body.¡±


    Hearing the process, it seemed reasonable and something that I could accomplish. ¡°Then we have a deal, as long as you make a contract with me, I promise to make, or find you a new body and guide your soul into it.¡± The wolf nodded in response, ¡°I agree to these terms.¡±


    When the agreement was set a small spec of light flew out from both of our chests, his shooting of and entering my chest and mine entering his. After the spec of light entered my chest I felt a slight bond form. My guess was that the contract had been formed and tied to my soul.


    Seeing as the deal was made I felt more relaxed and at peace. I made the cage disappear, seeing as the wolf was of no threat to me anymore.¡± So what''s your name, I don''t believe we properly introduced ourselves.¡±


    ¡°Leidolf, it means descendent of a wolf,¡± said Leidolf before turning around and walking towards the middle or the cave and laying down.


    ¡°I''m Atilius, it''s a pleasure to meet you.¡± With those words I turned around left the cave. When I came out I found At in the exact same spot. Seeing me he smiled and walked up to me. ¡°I assume everything went well,¡± said At. I just nodded in response.


    ¡°I''ll be going back now, I finished what I came here to do,¡± At just nodded in response and wished me farewell before vanish to who knows where. I closed my eyes and simply thought of leaving. When I opened my eyes I found myself by the old building. The sky was a getting dark and had streaks of red, indicating that the sun was setting. I got up and stretched, my muscles got really stiff sitting there for hours, on the sand position.


    Grabbing my stuff I headed of back to the orphanage. ¡°I can see that everything went well,¡± I heard Ennius¡¯ voice in my head. ¡°Yeah, I''ll tell you all about it later.¡± Seeing that I didn''t feel like talking about it at the moment Ennius didn''t say anything else on the way back.


    When I got back I went straight to my room and fell on my bed, not bothering to even take of my shoes. Even though I didn''t do anything I was super tired, within minutes I could feel myself drifting off, soon sleep consumed me.

 Chapter 3: New Powers

    Chapter 3: New Powers


    When I woke up the following day my body was super sore, must have been from sitting all day yesterday. I got out of bed and did some of my daily tasks, which mostly consisted of my morning bath, breakfast and getting ready for work on some days.


    My work schedule is a bit strange you could say. I don¡¯t work on every day of the week, because Markus doesn''t open the shop on some of the days and just works on new designs for various items like: swords, shields, tridents, scythes, you name it. So, on some days I don¡¯t have work, like yesterday for example. However, today Markus would open his shop again and sell his merchandise.


    Arriving at my destination, Crafter¡¯s Forge. I entered the shop, as the warm air enveloped my body. Weapons were hanging on one of the walls, while shields and some other items were placed neatly in one of the corners of the shop.


    I walked towards the back and opened the door that led to the forge. The hot and steamy air hit me as soon as i opened the door. I could never get used to this heat, how does Markus spend most of his day cooped up in here?


    Looking around I found Markus at one of the tables, looking at what seemed to be blueprints of a scythe. ¡±Is that a new design?¡± I asked, curious about what Marcus had thought of this time.


    ¡°Yes, I spent all day working on this yesterday. I believe that it will be my greatest work yet. However there is still something missing, it¡¯s just that I can¡¯t place my finger on what that is.¡± answered with a thoughtful voice. I looked more closely at the blueprint, but couldn¡¯t find any flaws in it at all.


    Deciding that it was time to open the shop I went back to the front of the shop and put up a sign, indicating that we were now open. I sat down at the counter, watching the people outside the shop walk by, carrying on with their day.


    Sitting there felt like eternity, and the clock on the wall didn¡¯t help at all with its ticking. Before I managed to go completely insane the doorbell rang. I looked up to see a boy in a blue cloak around my age. He had long brown hair that was tied into a ponytail and laid over his shoulder, and dark brown eyes. Looking at him I could easily tell he was one of those pretty boys that girls chased around. Behind him stood a middle aged men in full body armor and a sword at his waist. Must be a knight, and some sort of noble¡¯s kid.


    ¡°Welcome to Crafter¡¯s Forge, how may I help you?¡± I asked in a friendly voice, flashing them a cheerful smile. ¡°We would like to see your best sword, I¡¯m willing to pay a fair price if the sword is to my liking,¡± spoke the boy with a bit of boldness in his voice.


    ¡°One second please, I will notify the owner of the shop of your request.¡± I replied with a bow, before turning around to go notify Markus. Entering the back room I found Markus heating up some metal, must have started working on the scythe.


    ¡°We have customers that wish to buy your best sword,¡± I told Markus as I approached the furnace to observe the process, but not to close because of the intense heat. ¡°Tell them that they can¡¯t afford it and that I¡¯m busy,¡± replied Markus in annoyance. ¡°The thing is, they can probably afford it with their pocket change.¡± Markus stopped working and looked at me, ¡°so you¡¯re saying they¡¯re rich?¡± I nodded in response. Markus let out a sigh and put the piece of metal into a bucket of water to cool it off. ¡°I guess I¡¯ll go and introduce myself.¡±


    I followed Markus out of the back room and into the shop. ¡°Sorry about the wait, I heard something about you wanting to buy one of my best works. You think you can afford it?¡± Markus asked them with a playful grin on his face.


    The guard behind the young noble noticed the slight insult that Markus made and reached for his sword, but was stopped by the pretty boy. ¡°No need for violence, we didn¡¯t come here to fight,¡± spoke the boy with a calm voice. The guard removed his hand from the sword, but you could tell that he wasn¡¯t in a good mood from the glares he sent Markus¡¯ way.


    ¡°If you¡¯re wondering about the price, that won¡¯t be a problem, I came here well prepared.¡± With those words he took out a bag filled with coins and threw it on the counter, spilling gold coins everywhere. I thought my eyes would pop out from the amount of money that I was seeing. In my whole life I had never seen so much gold coins at once, and this pretty boy just threw out what seemed like at least 100 gold coins out like pocket change.


    Markus¡¯ laugh broke me out of my shock, ¡°I guess you aren¡¯t all talk. Wait here a second, I¡¯ll be right back.¡± With that he left me with the pretty boy and the knight with daggers for his eyes. I stood there in awkward silence not knowing what to do with myself. Luckily, I was saved by Markus returning with a few swords that were wrapped in cloth.


    ¡°Here they are, some of my best works¡± said Markus as he put down the swords neatly on the counter. The pretty boy walked up and picked one up. ¡°May I?¡± asked the pretty boy for permission to look a the sword, which kind of surprised. I thought he was just all looks and money, but I guess even he has some respect for others. Markus just nodded in response and the pretty boy unraveled the cloth, revealing the sword.


    The sword was stored in a red sheath that had a beautiful silver outline. When the pretty boy took out the sword I thought it was one of the most beautiful things that I have ever seen. The swords that were on display seemed like scrap metal compared to this one. ¡°Your work is marvelous,¡± the pretty boy praised Markus.


    ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be one of my best works if it was anything like the rest of the swords here¡± gestured Markus towards the swords on the wall. The pretty boy nodded, agreeing with Markus before taking out the sword from its sheath. A few rays of light hit the blade, making it shine in all its beauty and glory. The sword handle was wrapped in black leather, making the grip look comfy and slip resistant. At the bottom of the handle was embedded a small ruby that looked like it was absorbing the rays of sunlight.


    ¡°What¡¯s the name of the sword?¡± asked the boy breaking the captivating feeling that the sword gave off. ¡°The name of the sword is Dusk, since it reminds you of the setting sun.¡± told Markus to the pretty boy. The pretty boy nodded, ¡°it¡¯s a fine name for a sword. I¡¯ll take it, how much do you want for it?¡± asked the pretty boy as he put the sword back into the sheath and wrapped in cloth.


    ¡°Are you sure you want this sword? You haven¡¯t even looked at the other swords yet,¡± asked Markus a bit surprised. I guess that he was surprised that the pretty boy only looked at one sword before deciding on it. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m sure this is the sword I want, I took quite a liking to it,¡± replied the pretty boy.


    ¡°I see¡­, the price for that blade is 100 gold coins, and nothing less¡± stated Markus, clearly he didn¡¯t want to sell the sword for any less. ¡°How dare you ask for such an insane price!?¡± exclaimed the guard in anger, which gave me a small scare.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine George, I believe that the price is fair, this sword is definitely worth the amount that he asked for,¡± the pretty boy stopped George yet again from causing mayhem. Seriously, what was up with that guard, he over reacted to everything, but I had to admit the price for the sword was definitely a bit high.


    ¡°The money on the counter should be enough, feel free to check, if there are any left you can keep it. I¡¯m quite pleased with this sword so, you can keep the change if there is any as a thank you from me¡± said the pretty boy without a care in the world, its as if gold coins were pebbles to him. The pretty boy thanked Markus for the sword before turning around and leaving along with his guard.


    I stood there for a bit, staring at the door lost in thought, I wonder who the pretty boy was? He was definitely from a rich family, but none of the rich families in this cities had enough money to buy such expensive items with such ease.


    ¡°Here,¡± I heard Markus speak behind me. I turned around to find him handing me a gold coin. ¡°W-why are you giving me a gold coin sir?¡± I asked in a shuttered voice from disbelief. Markus just laughed, ¡°I¡¯m in a quite good mod today. I managed to make a good sale and my new design is coming along quite nicely.¡±


    ¡°Thank you sir, I really appreciate it,¡± this felt like a dream come true. With this gold coin my current savings where now 3 gold coins, plus a few copper ones. This meant that I could leave for the academy for the gifted soon. Markus just laughed at my reaction, ¡°you can go for the day after you polish the weapons on display.¡±


    I nodded happily before getting a cloth and some oil for polishing the blade. It took me almost until dusk to finish polishing all the weapons in the shop. Wiping away some sweat from my forehead I got up and put away the sword that I was polishing. Putting away the cloth and the oil, I said my goodbyes to Markus and left the shop.


    ¡°You should try using the powers that you got from the wolf.¡± Ennius¡¯ voice sounded in my head, reminding me that there was some old man in my head. I swear I forgot he is even there until he starts talking. Unless he needs to say something he never talks. Well, I guess that''s actually a good thing, he gives me my own space and doesn''t annoy me with endless blather.


    ¡°How do I use his powers?¡± I asked hoping to get an answer. ¡°Just go ask the wolf, he should know¡± sighting I started walking to the old house instead of the orphanage. Ennius never bothers to explain anything properly if he knows that I can find the answer some other way.


    Walking through the streets I watched shop owners starting to close their shops for the day and the people that were still out hunting to their homes before it got dark. After a few more minutes of walking I finally reached the old house. I circled around the back, entering the yard and sitting down in the spot that I was in yesterday.


    I concentrated on my emotions and desires, trying to enter my soul again. Within seconds, the spec of of light appeared and the familiar warm sensation in my chest. The light got brighter and soon I was yet again floating in the middle of an ocean.


    ¡°Welcome back,¡± I heard a voice behind me. I turned around to find At floating there with a smile on his face.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I greeted him casually. ¡°I''m assuming you''re here to see the wolf, am I right?¡± At asked with a tone that was basically saying that he already knew the answer. ¡°Yeah, I came to ask about my powers that I received from him.¡± At just nodded in response. ¡°I see, I will leave you to it then.¡± With those words he vanished.


    Left all alone, in the middle of the ocean I flew forward slowly wondering how I can find the wolf. Last time At summoned some door that teleported us to the wolf but this time I don''t have At here with me. I wonder if I can summon the door too? I closed my eyes and thought of the wolf. Opening them back my eyes landed on a black door. I guess all I have to do is think about it just like I did when I was confronting the wolf.


    Flying up to the door I stopped before reaching out and opening it. I walked through and found myself surrounded in pitch black darkness. Millions of thoughts raced through my head. Did I do something wrong? Where was I? Am I lost with my soul now?


    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    ¡°Control your fear boy, you reek of it,¡± I heard a disgusted voice within the dark. I sighed in relief and calmed down. So, I was in the right place, but why was it so dark in here?


    ¡°Why is it so dark in?¡± I asked, not understanding why the wolf was sitting here in total darkness.


    ¡°The darkness makes me stronger and makes me feel at ease. You could say it is a part of me. We Phantom Wolves are creatures of the night. The night is our domain, no other creature dares to wander through the night unless it''s seeking death.¡± Leidolf explained to me as I listened carefully, interested to learn more about his species.


    ¡°Well, can I light up the cave? You might like the dark and can see clearly without light. However, I can''t and I don''t really feel at peace being in the dark and not being aware of my surroundings. I was met by silence, as if Leidolf was thinking over my request. ¡°Fine, just don''t make it too bright, it makes me feel sick.¡±


    ¡°I''ll try, but I''m not making any promises. This whole soul business is still new to me so you will have to bare with me.¡± I thought of the cave being slightly brighter, to find it slowly getting brighter. When it got bright enough for me to see my surroundings I stopped and faced Leidolf. ¡°Is this fine?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah¡± he snorted in reply. ¡°So what did you come here for? I highly doubt it was just a friendly visit.¡±


    ¡°I came to ask you on how to access the powers that I received from you.¡± I flat out asked him. Leidolf just laughed, ¡°you don''t even try making an excuse and go straight for what you want. I like it, you might be more fun then I thought.¡±


    ¡°Thanks I guess, but It''s not that I don''t want to talk with you, it''s just that it''s getting late outside and I don''t want to stay out too late. Last time I did that I was almost killed by you.¡± Leidolf just laughed again, seriously what''s with all the laughing? I don''t believe I even said anything close to a joke.


    ¡°Alright kid, listen closely, To property receive my powers you still have to activate them. Try concentrating on the bond that you have with me through the contract. Go ahead and try it, I''ll guide you along the way the best I can.¡± I nodded and closed my eyes. I tried remembering the sensation that the bond gave off and concentrated on that feeling. Soon enough I felt a tiny tingle in my chest that grew stronger the more I concentrated on the bond.


    ¡°That''s it keep, doing what you''re doing. You''re almost there.¡± I concentrated harder on the bond, feeling the sensation getting stronger. All of a sudden a bright light flashed in my mind, blinding me with its brightness. ¡°You should take a look at what happened,¡± I heard Leidolf¡¯s voice. Opening my eyes and looking around I found myself looking at two massive doors that were pitch black in color and looked super thick. ¡°What is this?¡± I asked, not understanding where the doors came from, or what they could represent.


    ¡°Behind these doors are your powers that you received from me. As to what they are that will depend on you.¡± I looked at Leidolf confused. ¡°What do you mean it depends on me what powers I get from you?¡±


    ¡°You see, when you enter through those doors there will be a trial that you must pass, and the choices that you make there will depend on the powers you receive¡± replied Leidolf. ¡°Do you know what kind of trial it might be?¡± I asked, wanting to know as much as possible about what I could face.


    ¡°Hmmm, it¡¯s hard to say what it might be. My best guess is that it will be something related to the nature of wolves, and our ways of life.¡± I nodded in understanding. It would make sense if something like that was part of the trial. Maybe, the trial is actually made to see how well you understand the ways of the creature, and depending on your knowledge you get the powers. So, the more I know the higher the chance that I will benefit more.


    ¡°Tell me your way of life. I believe that it will be beneficial to me knowing how you wolves live and survive.¡± Leidolf just looked at me for a few seconds, thinking over what I just thought. Probably wondering what he could tell, if he was planning to. I hope he tells me something useful.


    ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll give you a quick lesson on the ways of the wolves, more specifically Phantom Wolves. In general, wolves are quite intelligent species that live in packs. They rely on their co-operation to take down prey successfully. However, Phantom wolves are few in numbers. Since we are descendants of an ancient beast we are strong by nature, but because of that we have low reproduction rate. Otherwise, there would be an unbalance within the ecosystem. Due to all this, we live most of our lives in solitude until we find a suitable mate. When we mate we usually only have one pup, almost never a pair has two. After the pup is old enough to hunt on his own, we head off our own separate ways. If we were to stay together the ecosystem would at one point get destroyed and the future generations will have nowhere to live.¡± Hearing Leidolf speak about how his kind live made me pity him a bit. It must be sad to live all alone most of your life. Then, when you finally find a mate, you only have so much time to spend together before you have to separate.


    ¡°Just remember kid, the night is your friend. Where you find darkness, there you will find strength.¡± I let his words sinking in, before thanking him and facing the door. Walking up to the door I felt my heartbeat increase and my palms get sweaty. Wiping away the sweat against my pants, I lifted up my arms and pushed the doors open, to find just a black vortex.


    I gulped, ¡°that won¡¯t kill me right?¡± a hint of fear lingered in my voice as I looked at Leidolf. He just laughed, ¡°stop being such a scaredy cat and go in already.¡± I looked back at the swirling vortex, took in a deep breath, closed my eyes, and ran into the vortex.


    ¡°Good luck kid, I have high hopes for you¡± said Leidolf before turning around, walking back to his resting spot and laying down to take a nap.


    Opening my eyes I was confused, because everything looked bigger than it was supposed to. It¡¯s as if I had shrank a couple of inches. I looked down at myself, and almost yelped in fright. I was a wolf! My arms were now my from two paws, while my legs where the back two. Black smooth fur now covered my entire body. I spun around in a circle to try and get a good look at myself, when I spotted my tail. It looked really soft and fluffy, making me want to touch it. I tried to touch it with my paw, but failed miserably. Repeating the following action a few times, I realised just how silly and stupid I must have looked. Ok, lets calm down and suppress these thoughts, I do not want to act like one of those dogs on the streets, happily chasing my own tail and making a fool out of myself.


    After calming, down a bit I took a good look at my surroundings. It seemed to be nightfall, but I could clearly see in the dark. Must be a perk being a creature of the night. All around me stood insanely tall trees that seemed to reach beyond the skies. The thickness of their trunks was probably big enough to have 5 or 6 men wrap around them.


    I started walking through the forest, rays of moonlight broke through the trees in some areas, lighting up the forest in a beautiful mellow glow. After a few minutes of walking and enjoying the peaceful nighttime forest I smelled something strange. I followed my nose in the direction of the smell, stumbling upon a clearing. The view was breathtaking. In the middle of the clearing was a medium sized lake, sparkling from the moonlight that touched its waters. Some bushes grew along the sides of the lake. What I saw next left me breathless. On the other side of the lake stood the most beautiful elk I had ever seen in my entire life. I think that it even surpasses the beauty of the sword that the pretty boy bought, makinging it easily one of the top things that I found beautiful.


    The elk¡¯s antlers were made from silver, illuminating all their glory in the moonlight. Its fur coat was made out of golden hair, adding on to the beauty of the beast. The whole creature seemed to be radiating an aura of holiness. Looking at the elk on the opposite shore, I got an urge to imbed my teeth into it¡¯s neck.


    Wow, what is this feeling? Why do I have a sudden urge to kill the elk? Is it the wolf¡¯s nature kicking in or something¡­, or could it be that this is a part of my trial? I looked away from the elk, hoping that the sensation of wanting to kill will go away. To my disappointment it only kept growing stronger. The urge to kill began to take over my other senses slowly, making me lose my sense of reason and act irrationally. No! I won¡¯t give in. I¡¯m not going to become like some wild animal, with only the urge to kill driving it. The elk just seems so innocent and pure, but all of that was quickly subsided as the urge finally overcame me.


    I looked back at the elk to see it bend down and drink some water. Seeing as I had a chance to get close to it while it was distracted, I sprinted off along the side of the lake, keeping my eyes on the elk, making sure it was still there. Reaching near the elk¡¯s location I slowed down, and hid in the shadows of some trees. Slowly I made my way from shadow to shadow, barely taking my eyes off the elk.


    Soon enough, I was a few steps away from a spot that I could leap at the elk. I took slow and steady steps, trying to be as quiet as possible, but one twig sabotaged all my hard work. The elk¡¯s head shot up and it just stood there like a statue, listening for any noise. ¡°Shit¡± I cursed in a hushed tone at my carelessness. Well I guess this was expected, after all, I¡¯m not a wolf by birth, heck, this is my first time going on a hunt since my father died.


    I held my breath, hoping that it didn¡¯t hear anything, but I guess my luck ran out for the day. The elk turned around and darted back into the woods, seeing it run away I leaped out of my hiding spot and gave chase. I ran after the elk, dodging trees, and any other obstacles that were in my way.


    After, what felt like hours, I sensed the elk slowing down, it was getting a bit tired from all the running. This made me slightly happy because I don¡¯t think I could keep running for much longer. Deciding to finish this up, I forced myself to run faster, before leaping onto the back of the elk, and digging my claws into its back. The elk let out a cry of pain and came crashing down. The impact threw me off and sent me flying into a nearby tree.


    Bang! I crashed into the tree with enough force to spit out some blood. I layed on the ground whimpering in pain and coughing up blood. At last, the pain numbed a bit and I stopped coughing up blood. Somehow, I managed to stand up and look up at the elk. The beautiful elk was laying on the ground, a small pool of blood was surrounding it and its leg twisted in a different direction.


    I limped up to the wolf, pain shooting through my back with every step I took. Looking down at the elk I felt a bit guilty at my actions, but it didn¡¯t hold me back. I dug my teeth into its neck, causing the elk to go wild, trying to go free. I increased the strength of my bite and put my paws on its body to help hold it down. Soon enough, the once beautiful elk was laying in a pool of blood. I released my hold of it and sat down next to it, observing its lifeless body.


    All of a sudden, the elk¡¯s body started transforming into silver dust, before the wind picked it up and carried it away. I watched the the dust fly away, before I froze in my tracks. It wasn¡¯t just the elk, trees, started disappearing one after the other, vanishing into thin air. What in the world was going on here? I tried to get up and ran away from whatever was approaching and erasing everything from existence, but the pain in my back prevented me from doing so.


    I watched the disappearing trees get closer and closer. Not knowing what was happening, I closed my eyes, preparing for the worst. I waited, for who know what, listening to my surroundings, to find that there was absolute silence. Opening my eyes, I found myself in a white room, with no doors or windows. In the center of the room stood a white pillar made out of marble. On the pillar lay some sort of purple colored orb. I walked up to the pillar to get a better look at the orb.


    The orb was made out of crystal, and inside was some sort of swirling purple energy that seemed to be radiating with power. ¡°Are these my wolf powers?¡± I spoke outloud. So, killing the elk must have been the trial that I had to pass.


    I reached out towards the crystal orb, but before I could pick it up the energy within the orb ushed out towards me and shot straight into my head. I screamed in pain, it felt like my head was going to split open. The pain didn¡¯t stop there, it continued to spread throughout my body. I felt my bones cracking and moving around. The pain was so great that I was on the verge of passing out. Just what kind of torture was this? After what felt like an eternity of continuous torture the pain grew less and less, before completely fading.


    Feeling my body relax from the tension, I continued to lay on the ground. The cool ground sending relief throughout my body. After laying for a bit I got up, feeling refreshed. What happend to me? Did I get the powers or not? As soon as I thought about my powers information flooded into my head telling me all about each ability i received and how to use it.


    The first ability I received was allowed me to travel to certain locations using shadows. However, the shadow that I wanted to travel to had to be within the range of my eyesight. From the information that i obtained on this ability I could tell that this ability allowed short distance teleportation. I wonder if there is some way I can upgrade the abilities I get? It would be really useful in the future if I could improve this ability, traveling would be much more simpler and I would save tons of money on horses and other travelling necessities. Maybe I¡¯ll ask Ennius when I get back, he should know this better than anyone.


    My second ability was some type of possession ability. The ability allowed me to possess someone''s shadow for a certain amount of time, but I had to touch someone''s shadow to enter it. Personally, I found this ability very useless at the moment. It¡¯s not like I was some sort of Assassin or a spy. This ability was more useful for killing someone swiftly, gathering intel, and sneaking into places by using someone else. Which, yet again, I had no use for at the moment.


    When I saw the last ability I was surprised, the ability was by far the best one I got. The ability let me transform into my wolf form, the one I had used back during the trial. In addition, what I liked about the ability was that it allowed me to transform halfway, becoming half beast and half man.


    Looking over my abilities, I smiled in satisfaction. This trial was very beneficial to me, giving me quite useful abilities. Thinking that it was about time I headed back, I summoned a door and went through. I arrived in the cave, or at least what supposed to be the cave. Now, before me stood a small island, floating in the middle of the ocean. What in the world happened? Why is there and island instead of a cave?


    ¡°It¡¯s because you unlocked the wolf¡¯s powers. The ending result strengthened your bond and made a connection between your souls.¡± At¡¯s voice sounded behind me. ¡°I see, so every time I gain new powers something will be added to this ocean?¡± I asked. ¡°Thats correct,¡± At gave me a simple reply.


    I flew towards the island to see what was on it. Arriving at the island, I noticed that most of it was really similar to the forest that I had my trial in. Flying past trees, I looked around for the lake, wondering if it was going to be there. Luckily, the forest was almost an exact replica of the previous one, so I was extremely happy when I found the lake.


    I flew down to the shore and sat down by the water, enjoying the view. ¡°I see you had succeeded in your trial.¡± I heard a voice behind me. Turning around, I met face to face with Leidolf¡¯s sharp teeth right in front of my face. I jumped back in fear, completely not expecting that. Leidolf chuckled lightly before walking up tom and sitting down besides me.


    Thinking back on what he said I paused, ¡°what do you mean succeeded? There was a chance of failure?¡± my eyes darted at him, filled with a hint of fear. ¡°Yup, there was a high chance of you dying if you failed the trial since your soul is pretty weak, and the backslash would most likely would have killed you.¡± I gulped, realizing just how close I was to death. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. You succeeded, and that''s all that matters. It¡¯s time you head back, you¡¯ve been here for quite a while. Comeback some time soon I¡¯ll help you master your powers.¡± I nodded in appreciation before saying my goodbyes and leaving my soul.


    I opened my eyes to find it was past midnight by now, the elders are probably going to freak out and scold me again for staying out so long. Letting out a sigh, I got up, stretched my muscles for a bit, before walking home. On the way home, I noticed that even though it was dark outside I felt calm and relaxed. My senses felt sharper than before, and I could see more easily in the dark. Must be because of the powers I got, some of the abilities changed my body structure permanently.


    Finally, I arrived at the orphanage, I tried to sneak quietly, hoping that none of the elders were still awake. I thought I had gotten away with, but right in front of my door stood one of the elders, waiting for me, scowling. ¡°Care to tell me where you have been out so late?¡± asked me the elder. ¡°U-umm, I decided to take a nap, but ended up sleeping more than I was planning to.¡± I tried to bullshit my way out of it. The elder didn¡¯t seem to buy it, but after a few seconds of awkward silence he just shook his head and left. ¡°Don¡¯t let this happen again,¡± I heard him say before he was gone.


    He was definitely going to give me some sort of punishment for this tomorrow. I sighed again, entered my room and fell on my bed. This week has been the most bizarre week of my life. I really had to get out of here before things got any crazier. Thinking about all these recent events made me sleepy, before I completely fell asleep, awaiting the next day.

 Chapter 4: The Cons of Being a Reaper

    Chapter 4: The Cons of Being a Reaper


    The next day, just like I expected I got a lecture from one of the Elders and had to do all the chores for an entire week. That was an overkill! I swear those old farts were just waiting for something like this to happen, so they could throw all of the work on me. Do you even know how much mess the younger kids make? You clean up one thing, take your eyes off of them for just one second and the next thing you know the mess is twice as bad as before.


    ¡°You should just finish all of this later,¡± spoke Leidolf in my head. I groaned in annoyance, ¡°can you please keep quiet for at least 5 minutes. You have been a huge ass pain in the head since morning. I already told you that I will come see you when I finish with my chores.¡± Leidolf snorted in response and I felt his presence vanish from my head.


    ¡°God, I¡¯m going to go insane at this rate. If anymore people start residing in my head it might actually happen.


    ¡°You know, that''s why some Reapers died.¡± This time it was Ennius. ¡°What do you mean? Did they go insane and kill themselves or something?¡± I asked, hoping that he would somehow rebuke me.


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t exactly say they killed themselves, but their actions played a part in their deaths. Some of the past Reapers grew power hungry overtime, consuming more and more souls. Eventually at one point, the monsters that they consumed drove them insane, fighting for dominance within the user''s body, until the soul and the body couldn¡¯t withstand it anymore, thus destroying them completely¡± explained Ennius.


    ¡°Couldn¡¯t they just forcefully take their powers?¡± I asked, not understanding why they would keep signing contracts, if it affected them negatively more in the long run. ¡°They were blinded by their power for hunger, not seeing that it was slowly consuming them from the inside out, driving them mad.¡± Ennius¡¯ voice left me deep in thought. Will I become like my predecessors? Should I just not get any other powers, and only use my wolf powers? I definitely didn¡¯t want to go mad. ¡°Hey kid, stop stressing over this. You still have to uphold your side of the deal, remember?¡± Leidolf¡¯s voice broke my train of thought.


    ¡°How do you know what I was thinking? Don¡¯t tell me you can read my mind or something.¡± Leidolf just sighed, as if he was tired from all this. ¡°Come on kid, my soul is inside you, and my consciousness is in your mind. Use your head a bit, would you? I¡¯m getting tired of your stupid questions.¡± That ticked me off a bit.


    ¡°Just because you live there doesn¡¯t mean that I can¡¯t have any privacy. In the first place, why are you in my head, you still haven¡¯t explained that to me. Instead, the first thing you did this morning was pick a fight with the old fart.¡± At this point I was more then ticked off, remembering this morning sent a whole new wave of anger and annoyance through me.


    ¡°Hey, don¡¯t be rude to your elders,¡± a pissed of Ennius spoke up. ¡°Oh be quiet, for God¡¯s sake. I¡¯m tired of both of you. One, is of no help, the other, doesn¡¯t shut up even for a second.¡±


    ¡°Hey!¡± both of them shouted at me. ¡°Wha-¡±


    ¡°Shut up! I swear, you just do whatever you want without a care in the world. You treat my body as your own. Well, guess what? This isn¡¯t your body, it''s mine? Let me repeat that for you. This. Body. Is. Not. Yours!¡±


    For once silence enveloped my mind, it felt odd, kind of lonely. I frowned, there was no way that I actually missed that endless blabber. However, I had to admit, it did make me feel kind of lonely. Maybe I started opening up to them a bit more because I knew they would stay with me for a while, especially Leidolf. Still, that didn¡¯t mean they had to be in my head, annoying me all day and all night.


    ¡°Alright, we¡¯re going to set some ground rules. First, you are not allowed to read my mind unless, I gave you permission or there is a valid reason and I just can¡¯t give you permission at the moment. Second, you will give me some privacy and not watch what I¡¯m doing at every point of time during the day. And Third, you have to tell me everything you know about the Reapers. Oh and don¡¯t forget to exclude the reason to why you were fighting this morning.¡± I stated my rules, awaiting their response.


    ¡°Fine, I''ll tell you what everything that I can,¡± finally replied Ennius. ¡°Same here, but don¡¯t think that we will be all friendly now kid. The only reason I agreed was because I don¡¯t want you going insane before I uphold your side of the deal.¡± Leidolf replied a bit harshly, making me feel a slight sting in my heart, and here I thought we could put aside ur differences and get along.


    ¡°Okay, let me finish this and we will discuss all this properly.¡± A few minutes later I was finally done. Putting away everything that I had used for cleaning I walked to my room, closed the door and sat down on my bad.


    ¡°First things first, why were the two of you fighting this morning?¡± I asked with a slightly demanding voice. Honestly, I was tired from going to sleep late, and wanted to sleep in, but no, instead I was woken up by countless growling and arguing.


    ¡°Ah, about that. You see when Leidolf gained access to your consciousness he felt my presence and connected it to the presence that he slightly felt when I possessed you. He managed to connect the dots, finding out that I was the one who actually killed him. Then he just tried to kill me, but since I was already dead I told him it was pointless and that he was just wasting his time. He wouldn''t listen to me, and one thing let to the other, resulting in us arguing, thus waking you up¡± explained Ennius.


    ¡°I see, I understand the gist of what happened. Now, let''s move on the the main topic. Tell me everything I need to know about being a Reaper.¡±


    Ennius sighed before speaking, ¡°this might take a while, so get comfortable.¡± I scooted up to the wall, leaning against it.


    ¡°Now lets see, where shall I start?¡± Ennius spoke to himself.


    ¡°As I have told you before, Reapers are beings who can absorb the soul of the dead, but it has to be within a certain period of time after the being had died. If the time limit passes the soul will leave into the underworld.


    The limit for how many souls you can absorb is infinite, but the drawback of absorbing too many souls is high. Some of the Reapers in the past have gone insane from having all of the voices in their head, never silent, until eventually the Reaper¡¯s mind can''t handle it. If the mind gets unstable, a Reaper is already dead. Without their intellectual ability, a Reaper¡¯s soul is left unguarded. Allowing the souls inside consume their soul, thus destroying the said person completely.


    The other way that Reapers often die is when they try to keep their sanity stable by gaining their abilities through will power only. However, you can''t always win, there will always be someone above you, especially if someone¡¯s existence is on the line.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    You already know most of the stuff relating to how getting powers, so I''ll just give you a quick summary. There are two ways to gain powers, the contract or through will power.


    Through the contract you are able to gain more abilities and use them more efficiently. However you must overcome a trial if you wish to receive the abilities.


    For the willpower method, if you win, you get one ability, and you can''t use it as efficiently as the ones you get through contracts. Also there are no trials for this method. Trials are mostly, challenges set by the being that you will receive your powers from. It''s a sort of test, to see if you are worthy enough to use their powers.


    Lastly, there is one more thing you need to know about Reapers. When we awaken to our powers we also get a weapon. The weapon isn''t anything special, but it is passed down from one Reaper to the next. When the current Reaper dies his soul is absorbed by the weapon and passed on along the weapon to the next Reaper that is chosen. If you''re wondering how the next Reaper is chosen, that''s something you will have to find out yourself in the future. The Reapers from long ago might of know but not us. Along the way many have been lost to insanity, not being able to pass on a lot of information to the future generations.


    If a Reaper goes insane, like in my case, the guy before me went mad and got his soul consumed, erasing him from existence. When something like this happens the weapon just gets passed down to the next Reaper with basic information, explaining how our powers work and what a Reaper is. I don''t know how that works, so don''t ask me, maybe the first Reaper managed to do this somehow.


    That basically summarizes everything you need to know about Reapers.¡± Ennius finally finished explaining, leaving me to process all the information.


    ¡°What''s the weapon that we get, how do I use it?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Think about it being in your hand and it should appear,¡± replied Ennius. I closed my eyes to help me concentrate and thought about the weapon being in my hand, few seconds later I felt a cool sensation in my hand.


    I opened my eyes to find a scythe made out of bones and some sort of metal in my hand. Seeing the scythe, memories of the night when I had almost died flashed before my eyes. So, apparently I had used this before, well to be more accurate it was Ennius, but who cares at this point.


    I twirled the scythe around, it felt right in my hand, the balance was just right and felt like it was an extension of my hand.


    Thinking of the scythe disappearing, it vanished, like it wasn''t there.


    ¡°Will you teach me how to use it?¡± I asked Ennius. ¡°That''s what I''m here for, but I would suggest getting someone who is a master at the weapon to teach you.¡±


    ¡°I''ll probably find one at the academy for the gifted.¡± The academy that is made for gifted people has all kinds of classes, you name it they have it. If it wasn''t for only gifted people it would easily come out as one of the elite schools that probably only rich kids could attend.


    ¡°When will we start training?¡± I asked. Training was what I needed most at this point as soon as I left the city, Leidolf¡¯s mother would probably find me and try to avenge her son. Thinking about it made me feel as if my days were numbered. Why did Leidolf have to be a pup, I wouldn''t have to go through all this trouble. Yet again, if he wasn''t a pup I''d be long dead.


    ¡°Let''s start tomorrow after you finish with your work. Today you should start your inner energy training. The sooner you start, the better.¡± With that Ennius said no more.


    Guess it''s time I went and sorted things out with Leidolf. Entering my soul realm, I went straight to the island, searching for Leidolf. Soon I found him by the lake, sitting there watching the still water.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said, slowly walking up to him. He didn''t reply. ¡°Look, I know that I was kind of involved in your death, but what would you have done in my situation? Let yourself be killed? I think not.¡± I tried reasoning out with him.


    ¡°Look, I don¡¯t blame you for my death, if its anyone that I blame its the old dude. He played the major role in my death, and the fact that I completely underestimated you. I truly did not expect you to awaken to your powers at that moment or have some guy possess you and kill me¡± explained Leidolf still not bothering to turn around and look at me.


    ¡°Since, you don¡¯t resent me and don¡¯t really blame me for your death, can¡¯t we be friends or something?¡±


    What I got in response was something completely different, and a bit insulting. ¡°Friends? Please, why would I sink any lower to be your friend. To me you are just a puny human child, that has no power to protect himself whatsoever. If anything, you are just barely tolerable. To be friends with someone as great as me you need the power to back you up. Get stronger, and then, we will talk about us being friends¡± answered Leidolf in proud and domineering tone. Like I was so some sort of lowly creature that was made just to worship him, never to reach the same heights as him.


    I grinned coldly in return, ¡°oh, we will see about that, give me a few years and I will have long surpassed you.¡± A sense of rivalry boosted my confidence. One day I will definitely surpass him and make him take back his words.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be looking forward to it,¡± Leidolf finally looked at me to reveal a wolfish grin. ¡°Let¡¯s see just how far you can go, before you plummet down from the sky.¡±


    After a few minutes, I left the soul realm after asking him to train me in my new powers that I received from him. ¡°To be able to use your abilities you must first understand how you are able to use them,¡± explained Leidolf in my head.


    ¡°Everyone has a certain amount of energy within themselves, some have more, some have less. Most people don¡¯t possess any at all, or so little that they can¡¯t do anything with it. It¡¯s like its not even there. That''s why there are so few of the gifted.


    An average gifted person has enough energy to be able to last a couple minutes before running out. One with a higher amount will last longer, and use abilities that consume high amounts of energy more often.


    However, everyone can increase the maximum amount of energy they can store. The amount you can store slowly increases as you grow up and the more you deplete your energy, but those methods barely have any affect.


    To increase your maximum energy capacity you need to refine it constantly, to make it more pure. This will increase how much energy you can store and affect your consumption efficiency. The purer the energy you possess, the less you need to use for an ability, but that''s not the end, it''s more of the basics.


    When you refine your energy and make it more pure, it becomes stronger. This is where the next part comes in. Along with the starting energy chamber, there are five other, one for each part of your body. Your first one is in your chest area, the second in your head, the following two are in your arms, and the last two are in your legs, making a total of six.


    After you refine the energy fully within your chamber, you can try to force open the other chambers, thus increasing your capacity. However, with each chamber the force required to unlock the chamber will be stronger. Most people can¡¯t get past the third chamber within their lives, no matter how hard they try. They use potions and medical herbs to try to increase the purity of their energy, but purity is not everything. Some just don¡¯t understand that and are stuck at a bottleneck for the rest of their lives, unable to move on.


    Along with refining your energy you need to understand how the energy works. It¡¯s true you can manage to open some chambers without much understanding and through brute force alone, however, the lack of understanding will eventually catch up to you and hinder your process.


    There are some other things that you will need to know later on in the future, but if I tell you them know it will affect your knowledge of the energy, and can stop your future progression. With time I will tell you these things, but for now just focus on purifying your energy.


    Now, try focusing on your powers and look for the chamber,¡± finally Leidolf finished explaining and started telling me how to begin my training.


    I focused on my chest, trying to find the area within me that could hold the energy. I listened to my heartbeat feeling, getting drawn into its steady and powerful beats. Then, the pitch darkness within my mind changed, showing a room with five tunnels leading into different directions. Those must be where the other chambers are.


    In the middle of the room was a chamber filled with dirty, yellow liquid. It was closer to brown at this point. This must be my energy, but why is it so dirty? Is it because it¡¯s unrefined, and not pure? Will it become more clean after I purify it?


    I sat down near the chamber and thought about a small bubble of energy floating up to me. In a few short seconds a small energy bubble flew up to me and floated before me. Concentrating on the small amount of energy before me I started to purify it. Separating the mulky contents from the rest.


    The process was really slow, time consuming and required a lot of concentration. After what felt like hours I finally managed to purify the small amount of energy. I looked at my complete work. What used to be a dirty yellow ball of energy was now a beautiful golden color, and seemed to be slightly illuminating a soft glow.


    I sighed, realizing just how tough the road ahead of me was. I threw the ball of energy back in with rest, grabbing some more and restarting the process. After purify a bit more energy I was mentally exhausted. Exiting out the chamber I returned back to the real world.


    Having my sense starting to completely return I felt a sticky substance all over my body. Looking down I found some strange black liquid all over me. What is this? Could these be the impurities that I seperated from my energy? So, the body releases it in a similar process as sweat. Sighting I got up, grabbed a towel and headed of towards the baths. This whole new training has brought me a whole new set of things to do. Thinking about all this, I realized something. That I wasn¡¯t going to have a break from this routine any time soon.

 Chapter 5: Mercenaries

    Chapter 5: Mercenaries


    Almost two months have passed by now and in a few more I would be turning 13. The past two months have been pretty chaotic. I was almost always training at my spare time, trying to become stronger as soon as possible, so that I could leave this city and go study at the academy for the gifted.


    However, due to Leidolf¡¯s mother waiting for me in the forest outside the city gates, I could not leave until I had a chance of escape from her.


    Along my training, me, Leidolf, and Ennius had been brainstorming ideas on how I could get away from Leidolf¡¯s mother once I leave the city gates. So far all our ideas ended up with me dying one way or another. At this point I just wasn''t strong enough to escape her grasp.


    Other then that problem, everything else went quite smoothly. My training has been progressing well, and my energy refining has started to show changes.


    What used to look like unclean, dark yellow energy was now a bit more rich in color. No longer looking as some sort of wasteland liquid. It still looked impure but now it was a more lighter shade of yellow, instead of the dark yellow that seemed closer to brown.


    I could now hold my wolf form a lot longer than before. The first time I transformed I could barely hold my transformation for one minute because I could not control how much energy I put into the ability. As a result, I ended up wasting most of my energy that day.


    Even though I could hold my wolf form longer now, I still couldn''t really practice fighting in it because¡­, well, if someone saw me in my wolf form I''d probably be hunted down by the guards before I could even explain myself.


    Right now my main goal for this ability was to be able to transform certain parts of my body, accomplishing a half body transformation. However, that level of control required good control over energy manipulation. So, I probably won''t be able to use that part of the ability for some time.


    As for my other abilities, I practiced my short teleportation ability at sunrise from time to time, because during that time there are almost no people, especially if I go to the area of the old building.


    My third ability was the one I practiced the least since I saw no use for it any time soon. Still I tried possessing some shadows from time to time just in case I ended up needing the ability.


    Putting aside my abilities, my scythe training was going beautifully, at least that''s what Ennius told me. I couldn''t really tell how good I was since I had no one to spar with, but I was told that I got most of the techniques down that I was given.


    I had to find away out of here soon, otherwise I will be stuck here for who knows how long. If only I could have some sort of outside help. Someone with enough strength to protect me from the wolf, maybe even kill it.


    ¡°Hey Atilius!¡± someone shouted out to me. Turning to the side of the voice I saw Zoe running towards me, waving at me.


    ¡°What''s so urgent that you came running all the way here?¡± I asked her, interested in what got her so riled up.


    ¡°A group of mercenaries from Prares arrived!¡± exclaimed Zoe with excitement.


    ¡°Mercenaries? What are they doing here so far from the capital?¡±


    ¡°It seems that they stopped by on the way from some sort of job that they had to do in the area. I heard that they won¡¯t be staying for long¡± explained Zoe.


    I wonder what kind of job they had here. Prares is a month away from Krapross, which is where I currently resided in.


    On our continent Lumis, which was fairly small, we had one kingdom that controlled the whole continent. The capital was Prares, the largest city on the continent. After it were five other major cities, including Kraposs, but among the five Kraposs was last. Following that were just a few towns and small villages.


    The other continents from what I heard were a bit different. Elyria which was in the north was the largest of the three continents. It contained many kingdoms, but they were all in alliance except a few. The kingdoms that were in alliance were called the Northern Federation, which was also what some people called the continent since most of the kingdoms were part of the federation.


    On the other hand, the third continent and the second largest, Ferok, contained countless kingdoms that are always at war. Within a few short years multiple kingdoms fell, and new ones would arise from their ashes. That continent was like an endless battlefield. A continent made only for war.


    In my perspective I think it''s good that they are always distracted with each other because from all three continents they have the best warfare technology. From all the years they spend fighting and trying to overpower their opponents their technology easily made up them a huge threat, that even the Northern Federation feared them slightly.. If we ever go to war¡­ I don''t even want to think about it.


    Among the three continents Ferok was the most isolated because of the countless wars, and if Elyria or Lumis wanted to associate itself with Ferok it would have to pick one of the kingdoms. However, if they did that it would look like they are supporting them, and cause the other kingdoms of Ferok to treat them as enemies, which could start a world war.


    ¡°Hey kid, we could use this situation to our advantage¡± I heard Ennius¡¯ voice in my head.


    ¡°How so?¡± I asked, curious to see how this could help me with my current situation.


    ¡°Well since they are mercenaries they should have fighting experience. You can use that to your advantage. Try asking them if they can escort you. This is probably the only chance that you have of leaving this city alive, it''s still slim, but no longer impossible.¡±


    I thought about what Ennius said. It''s true that with my current strength, no matter how long I train I won''t be able to leave and live.Unless I go out into the world and gain experience through difficult situations. I will never get any stronger. Also, with just my wolf powers I don''t stand much of a chance. However if I have help, I might have a chance.


    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    ¡°But won''t the mercenaries die if I go with them? It''s like I would be leading them to their deaths.¡± I certainly didn''t want innocent blood in my hands.


    ¡°True, most will die, if not all. However, this world isn''t all flowers and rainbows. People die everyday. It''s not something new. It all ends with your choice. Do you want to die here locked up in this city like a caged bird, or do you want to have a slim chance of escape to soar through the skies, meet new people, and have countless exciting experiences?¡± What Ennius said left me uncertain of what to do.


    It''s true I didn''t want to die here, but I didn''t want to have their deaths be my fault. Ugh, what do I do? Ennius is right this is probably my only chance of escape.


    The only reason that the mother wolf hasn''t attacked was because this was a city, and doing something would cause a huge commotion, resulting in bounties for the wolf¡¯s head. In addition, from what Leidolf told me when Phantom wolves mature fully they increase size, making them unmissable.


    ¡°Okay, I''ll try to go with them but I will warn them indirectly. Given my situation this is probably the only way I can prevent some deaths.¡±


    ¡°Hey, At u there? Hello? Anyone home?¡± Zoe''s voice broke my concentration on my thoughts and my conversation with Ennius.


    ¡°Huh? Were you saying something? I was thinking about something, sorry?¡±


    Zoe just let out a sigh, ¡°God what is up with you lately, you just blank out and stand there like a statue half the time.¡± I just laughed lightly and rubbed the back of my neck awkwardly.


    ¡°Sorry, I was just thinking of going to see the mercenaries, that''s all¡± I replied.


    ¡°Huh? Why do u want to see the mercs? Do I want to ask them something or what?¡± I sighed. Why did she have to always ask the right questions. I don''t want to explain why I need to see the mercenaries.


    ¡°Umm, yeah. I wanted to ask them something?¡± my voice trailed off. I did not want to discuss this, at least not yet.


    ¡°Oh really, what did you want to ask them?¡±


    I guess I have to explain all this now, I wanted to do it right before I left so that they wouldn''t try to convince me to stay or something along the lines.


    ¡°I plan to leave the city, and I wanted to ask them if they could escort me.¡± I explained to Zoe, hoping she wouldn''t over react.


    ¡°You what!?¡± exclaimed Zoe. Oh boy, there go my hopes down the drain. ¡°Why do you want to leave? You can have a stable life here. Markus made you his apprentice and gave you a job. Later on you might even be able to open up your own blacksmith shop. So why? Do you wanna leave because of us? Is that it? What gave you this crazy idea?¡±


    Zoe, was now crying. Great, what do I do now? Not having a slightest idea how to handle the situation at hand. I did something that shocked me. I hugged her.


    I felt Zoe stiffen before relaxing in my embrace, continuing to cry her eyes out.


    ¡°Look Zoe, this has nothing to do with you or anyone else. You are all great people that I am truly glad to have me, but I don''t wish to spend my whole life here. I want to travel the world, experience different things, meet new people, see what the rest of the world is like.¡±


    Of course that wasn¡¯t the full truth, but I didn''t want to reveal that I was gifted. Which meant I couldn''t tell her about the academy or anything related to my powers.


    I felt Zoe starting to calm down, until I felt her move and leave my embrace. I looked at her to see puffy red eyes, with a hint of sadness. Is there anything that will convince you to stay?¡±


    I looked at her sadly, ¡°I''m sorry, but no, there isn''t.¡± Nodding, Zoe turned around and left, her head towards the ground.


    I let out a breath that I didn''t even know I was holding. That was worse then I thought it would be. I never thought she would break down into tears. Letting out a sigh, I examined my shirt, which was now half wet. Great, now I have to make a useless trip to go change.


    After going back and changing I was now standing in front of the inn that the mercs were staying at; Black Rabbit. Preparing myself, I opened the door and walked in. To my surprise the place wasn''t as messy as I thought it would be. Some people were sitting at some tables, casually chatting and drinking ale.


    The inn itself wasn''t big, the first floor was basically a dining area, and the second floor the guest rooms. After looking around a bit I walked up to the innkeeper.


    ¡°Hello sir, I was wondering if you could tell me what room the mercenaries from Prares were staying in. I wanted to discuss something with them.¡± The innkeeper just looked at me blankly, not saying anything. I sighed and pulled out 5 copper pieces. The innkeeper took them before speaking, ¡°their leader is in room 207, that will be the last room on your right.¡±


    I nodded in thanks before walking up the stairs. Ugh, I hated how you needed to pay money for every little piece of information. Soon, i arrived in front of the room. I took a deep breath and knocked. ¡°Who is it?¡± I heard a rough male voice call out.


    ¡°My name is Atilius, I wish to discuss something with you.¡± I heard footsteps, before the door opened.


    A middle aged man stood in the doorway, wearing a black robe. He had dark brown hair, and a small beard. His eyes were a dark brown, that made the pupil blend in. On his right side of his face ran a long faded scar that reached to his cheekbone.


    The guy observed me for a bit, then spoke. ¡°What do you want kid?¡±


    ¡°I was wondering if you could escort me to the capital. If you need money, I''ll pay, but I don''t have much.¡±


    The man just looked at me, ¡°Why are you travelling alone kid, where are your parents? It¡¯s not safe for you out there.¡±


    ¡°I have no parents,¡± was all I said in response. ¡°Sorry about that lad.¡± Seeing as I wasn¡¯t going to answer anything else he gave up on me. ¡°I''ll let you join us for a gold coin.¡±


    I smiled, reached into my money pouch and pulled out the gold coin Markus had given me. The guy took it and put it in his pocket. ¡° We leave in two days at sunrise, wait for us at the city gates.¡±


    I nodded and was about to walk away when I remembered why I needed their protection in the first place. ¡°Oh, just wanted to tell you in case you haven''t heard, apparently there is some beast outside the city gates.


    The guy just laughed, ¡°don''t worry kid, if there is a beast we will kill it, but thanks for the warning. See you soon kid, remember sunrise, and don''t be late.¡± With those words he closed the door, leaving me in the hall.


    ¡°I hope that you can backup your words or we will all die.¡± I spoke to myself, hoping that what he said will come true.


    The next few days flew by fast, and soon it was just a couple minutes before sunrise. Zoe, Alice, and Lucas were standing outside, sending me off.


    ¡°You sure you won''t stay?¡± asked Lucas sadly. Even though I tried not to get to close with anyone I had to admit I''ll miss them a bit, after all I did live with them for some time.


    ¡°I''m sorry, but no, this is something I always wished to do.¡± He just looked at me, not saying anything.


    ¡°Oh, for God¡¯s sake stop looking like I died or something. I promise I''ll come visit if I''m ever in the area, and Lucas you finally get the room to yourself don''t look so glum.¡± I answered cheerfully, showing them a bright smile.


    ¡°Alright, just go already, you don''t want the mercs leaving without you now, do you?¡± spoke up Alice.


    I smiled and gave her a hug, ¡°Don¡¯t cause to much mayhem without me here. I don''t want the elders dying early from stress.¡±


    She just laughed, ¡°I''ll try, but I''m not making any promises.¡±


    Finally, I faced Zoe, who was quiet the whole time. ¡°Hey, I-¡±


    I was interrupted by Zoe launching at me, kissing me lightly on the lips and darting off back inside. Dead silence enveloped the atmosphere. My mind was blank. What did just happen? Did Zoe seriously just kiss me? Now, I was starting to feel a little guilty about leaving. No, I can''t start wavering here.


    Turning back to Alice and Lucas, seeing their shocked expressions made me laugh. ¡°Guys, close your mouths before a fly flies in.¡±


    ¡°W-when did all this happen!?¡± Exclaimed Alice. ¡°Since when have you been in that sort of relationship? I can¡¯t believe Zoe would hide something like this from me.¡±


    I chuckled slightly at her reaction, ¡°nothing ever happened between us. What she did there even surprised me. Look, I''d love to go and talk to her, but I will be late at this rate, so put in some words for me and, take her of her and each other.¡± With those words I said my final goodbyes and left.


    Arriving at the city gates, I found only the guards. My mind went into panic mode. They didn''t leave already, did they? Please someone tell me they didn''t. I was about to go ask one of the guards when I saw a group of men walking towards me in the horizon. Is that them?


    After the men got a bit closer I recognized the man with the scar from before.


    ¡°Didn''t think you''d make it kid? I honestly thought you would sleep in. Guess you aren''t as much of a kid as I thought you were.¡± Spoke up the scar man.


    ¡°Oh, I believe I hadn''t introduced myself last time. The name is Foran, nice to meet you kid.¡± He stretched out his hand for a handshake. Grabbing his hand, I noticed how rough it was.


    ¡°Are these all of your things, doesn''t look like much. You sure that''s all you need?¡± asked me Foran.


    I looked down at myself. I had new forest green cloak on, some light leather armor that I bought for a discount because it was used. However, it still cost me a decent price for my small amount of savings. On my right hip hung a shirt sword that I had received from Markus as a parting gift. It was a prototype one of his works but it was better than nothing. Normally this would cost me several gold coins.


    Other than all that I had a small knapsack over my shoulder with some food, water and a clean set of clothes. This was basically all that I owned, which wasn''t much. Oh, and I still had two gold coins, and a few silver ones.


    ¡°Yeah, I''m good, I have everything I need,¡± I replied back. ¡°Alright, if you say so then it must be so,¡± Foran answered.


    After that he introduced me to the rest of the group and we settled of on our way. Excitement and dread filled me with what was yet to come. I just prayed, hoping that everything turned out for the better.

 Chapter 6: Is This the End?

    Chapter 6: Is This the End?


    The horses hooves made a steady rhythm as we galloped through the forest. At this point of day the sun had almost reached its peak, but there still wasn¡¯t any sign of the wolf. That didn¡¯t mean I let my guard down. Even with all the mercenaries around me, I still pushed my increased senses, listening to everything that was happening around us. After all, even if the wolf didn¡¯t attack me yet it didn¡¯t mean that some other beast won¡¯t.


    ¡°We¡¯re stopping for a short break once we find an area with a big enough clearing for a horse¡± shouted Foran from the front of the group.


    Soon enough we were able to find a small clearing in the middle of the forest near a creek. Getting off my horse I led it towards the creek and tied it to a tree to prevent it from escaping. Observing my horse, I could tell that it was more tired than the others, but it makes sense.


    When I went to buy a horse before I left, I couldn¡¯t afford to waste a huge sum, so I bought a horse that wasn¡¯t to cheap because I didn¡¯t want it to drop dead on me. Instead I bought something for a medium price, worth 50 silver. Thinking about the price made me sigh. Within the past few days I have spent more money then I spend in a year.


    However, all the items I bought were necessities and without them I would be in trouble later on. Like my horse for example, if I hadn¡¯t bought it I might of not have been able to travel with the mercs, and it would take me a lot longer to reach Prares on foot.


    Even though the horse isn¡¯t at its prime; I¡¯m glad I bought it, it''s a good horse. My horse was a beautiful charcoal color with a light grey main. Looking at it made me forget how much it cost me, it¡¯s as if its beauty captivated me and cleared my mind.


    Finally, I joined the others at the small circle that they had made and took out my flask of water. I took a few gulps, before taking out a dry biscuit and nibbling on it. Listening, to the mercs tell stories and joke around with each other, but I couldn¡¯t really relax and join in. The sense of danger loomed over me, not allowing me a peace of mind.


    A few minutes later we set off on to the road again, this time we were planning to get out of the forest by nightfall because it would get more dangerous, when the nocturnal beasts started to come out. For the rest of the day we rode in silence, stopping only for a few short breaks before heading off again.


    Traveling through the forest trail, it got darker and darker with every hour. ¡°We won''t make it out of the forest by sunset. I underestimated the distance,¡± spoke Foran.


    ¡°Let''s go on as far as we can before stopping for the night,¡± decided Foran. Fear slowly spread through my body, knowing that I would be in the forest at night with the wolf still after me. Especially when the night is when it''s at its strongest.


    After another hour or so of riding we stopped for the night and set up the campsite. My senses worked in overdrive. To every sound within the forest, shivers and cold sweat ran down my body. The tension was too great. Not knowing when something will happen is the worst, especially if your life is on the line.


    ¡°Rye put up some traps, make sure that plenty of trip wires are set up. We can''t let our guard down in this forest, even more at night.¡± Foran told one of the mercs.


    Rye just nodded before leaving to do his job. Having nothing to do, I went up to the fire to get some of the tension of my back.


    The flames roared through the night, lighting up the dark forest. Beast cries could be heard deep within, raising up my guard and making me unable to fall asleep.


    Laying by the fire, I listened to the cries that echoed through the night, becoming more paranoid with every cry.


    Then I heard it, a wolf''s cry. The forest grew silent, only the cracklings of the burning wood could be heard. It was finally here, it came to kill me.


    Another howl broke through the night, this time it was closer.


    ¡°Everyone get up, the beast is closing in. One of the trip wires has been set off. Don''t let your guard down no matter what, and stay alive. I don''t want any of you dying on me.¡± Foran brought encouragement to the rest of the men with only a few words. After all, no one wanted to die.


    All of a sudden my senses went crazy, as if screaming that there was danger. I gulped and pulled out my short sword. In my current situation I couldn''t use my scythe because it would cause trouble amongst the mercs if I just took it out of nowhere.


    I heard light growling from the dark forest in front of me. Then I saw an all too familiar sight. Two red orbs of pure terror shone brilliantly in the dark. Compared to Leidolfs eyes, his just felt like a glare, but these, these eyes left me paralyzed in fear. I stared at the wolf''s eyes, unable to move my body at all.


    Was this how it was going to end? Me being paralyzed in fear and the wolf just killing me?


    ¡°Kill it! Don''t let your fear take hold of you. Fight it, or else you will die.¡± A voice broke my stance, allowing me to break out of my paralyzed state. Returning to my senses I turned my head to the direction of the voice. It was Foran. He was holding a longsword and standing in a fighting stance, his eyes glued on the concealed beast.


    Then next thing I knew, the wolf jumped out of the shadows towards Foran. A wave of dread and hopelessness washed over me after seeing its size. Its size was at least five times of what Leidolf was, whose size was around my own. The wolf swiped its sharp claws at Foran, almost slicing him in half. Luckily, Foran managed to roll out of the way before it was too late.


    I just stood there, watching, not knowing what to do. How was I even supposed to fight such a humongous beast. ¡°Hey Leidolf, got any tips? I asked hoping he could give me some sort of weakness of their kind.


    ¡°Look, thats my mom. I put my feelings aside knowing that you need to survive this or we both die, but I am not going to give you hints on how to fight her. She is still my mother, what kind of sick creature would help someone kill their own parent?¡± replied Leidolf in a bit of a pissed off voice.


    ¡°Sorry, I forgot for a second that she was your mom. I should be thanking you for even helping me with all this.¡± I answered with a slightly guilty tone.


    ¡°Ha, don''t think I''m helping you out for free, don''t forget that you have your end of the deal to uphold. Everything I''m doing is for another chance in this life.¡± Leidolf replied mockingly, as if he was laughing on the inside that I actually thought he helped me out from the goodness in his heart.


    A painful scream broke out through the night, snapping me back to my current situation. What the heck had happened? I looked around to find the wolf''s claws imbedded into one of the mercs.


    Then, right before my eyes. The wolf raised its paw and slammed it into the ground crossing the mercs¡¯ lower body. I felt like throwing up. Blood was splattered everywhere, some of the mercs had deep gashes on them that wouldn''t stop bleeding. What did I do? Why had I led them to such a fate?


    ¡°Don''t blame yourself kid, even if you are slightly at fault. People die everyday, some earlier than others, but we still all die at the end. If they die today that means it was their time. Plus, they are mercenaries, their lives are always in danger. They came into this forest knowing the dangers that lie within.¡± Spoke Ennius in my head.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    ¡°But if I never came here they would of lived.¡± I cried out desperately. ¡°Look even if you didn''t come they still could have died¡± replied Ennius calmly.


    ¡°They would have had a higher chance of survival without me.¡±


    ¡°True, they would have, but the possibility of them dying was still there. Now listen to me, they are fighting right here for their lives and yours. So, don''t just stand here, acting like some training dummy. If you die, their deaths would be in vain.¡±


    I nodded in agreement, before observing my surroundings. Three of the mercs were already dead, their lifeless bodies torn to shreds by the wolf''s claws. The others had some injuries but they weren''t life threatening. Foran, was facing off against the wolf, dodging and rolling to avoid the incoming attacks.


    The rest were either trying to flank the giant beast from the sides or help distract it. I grabbed my short sword and circled behind the wolf. I crept closer and closer, making sure it was still distracted by Foran and the rest.


    Somehow I managed to get closer without being noticed. Seeing as this was the only chance I would probably get, i set my plan into motion.


    I broke into a sprint and slid underneath the wolf thrusting my sword into its bottom. The result was not what I expected. My sword barely penetrated its skin, leaving only a small scratch and stopping my momentum. Leaving me right underneath the wolf. Just how thick was it''s skin to have my sword only leave a light scratch.


    Only one word ran through my mind, ¡°Fuck.¡± I kept cursing in my head. This stupid idea caused my death.


    ¡°Get out of there! I''ll cover you.¡± I heard Foran shout. Trusting Foran¡¯s words I yanked out my sword and rolled out from underneath. I got up as quickly as possible and leaped forward, barely dodging a claw.


    I turned aunt and glared at Foran, ¡°what happened to watching my back?¡± I asked with anger in my voice. He had almost cost me my life!


    ¡°It almost bit me in half, I¡¯m not planning on dying just yet.¡± Shouted Foran back in response. I just ignored what he said and concentrated on the threat before me. On this field it seemed like every man was for himself. No one would risk their life to save yours.


    Knowing this, it felt as if the guilt that was weighing me down disappeared. All the fighting had ceased, no one made a single move. Everyone was glancing at each other, including the wolf.


    Finally, one of the mercs couldn''t handle the intense pressure and charged. The wolf simply swiped with its claw, tearing the mercs body in half. The merc didn''t even have time to scream before his body dropped lifeless lay on the ground.


    Realizing what just happened all the mercs charged. Instead of engaging the mercs full on, the wolf leaped into a shadow, completely disappearing from sight.


    ¡°Where the hell did the bloody beast go?¡± One of the mercs cried out. Knowing about its shadow abilities my eyes scanned all the nearby shadows, searching for the beast.


    A scream made my head turn faster than I thought was possible. What I saw before my eyes sent shivers down my spine. The wolf was halfway out of a shadow. It''s sharp teeth shone brightly from the few moonlight rays. Between it''s teeth hung the bottom half of the body, dangling from its mouth. As quickly as it appeared, the same way it disappeared.


    Not knowing where the wolf would strike next, fear overcame me. Was I going to die just like that mercenary?


    Another cry broke through the night. One after another, mercenaries kept dropping like flies, until only four of us were left.


    ¡°We have to do something or we will all be dead like the ones before us,¡± spoke Rye.


    ¡°What do you suggest we do? We are hopeless against it. The way I see it, the bloody wolf is just toying with our lives. It can kill us at any moment.¡± Foran answered. By the tone of his voice I could tell he was about to give up any second.


    ¡°Let''s try to blind it, it''s our only chance to get away from it alive. It''s skin is too tough for our blades to cut. All we can do is try and blind it, so that we have a chance of escaping.¡± I proposed. From my perspective there was no way we could kill it at this point, our only option was to somehow get away.


    ¡°We can try, but with it hiding in the shadows we can''t do anything.¡± The other mercenary spoke, I think his name was Sarc.


    ¡°If we stay together and don''t give it a chance to catch us off guard it will most likely come out¡± I answered.


    ¡°Alright let''s try it, at this point it''s our best bet.¡± Foran spoke up in agreement. The others agreed and we put or plan to motion.


    We got into a small circle, each facing a different directions. I watched the shadows nearby for any movement.


    We stood there, waiting patiently for the wolf to appear.


    Soon enough the wolf came out of the shadows. It stood in front of us, observing our actions and behavior.


    ¡°What do we do now?¡± asked Sarc the group.


    ¡°There isn¡¯t much that we can do at this point. Find an opportunity to run away, I can promise you that the wolf won¡¯t chase you because it was after me from the start. This was the reason that I asked you to escort me. I killed its pup a few months back and now it is trying to get revenge by killing me. When you see an opportunity just run.¡±


    With those words I tightened my grip on the sword and walked off towards the wolf, not bothering to hear what the mercs had to say. Maybe I should summon my scythe, at this point I don¡¯t need to hide my abilities any longer. So, there really isn''t a good enough reason to conceal my abilities at this point.


    I started slowly approaching the wolf, focusing its attention on to me. Slowly I circled towards the side of the wolf, not breaking my sight of the wolf. At the corner of my eye I saw a shadow formed from the few rays of moonlight and an idea struck me. I moved closer to the shadow and jumped into it.


    I reappeared on the other side of the wolf. Taking advantage of the confused wolf, I broke off into a sprint and summoned my scythe. Using my scythe like a pole to jump higher into the air I landed on the wolf. At this point the wolf snapped out if its confused daze and tried to get me off.


    I put away my scythe and started climbing towards the wolf''s head. It tried to get me off, but I managed to hold on to its thick fur.


    Somehow I managed to reach the top of its head. At this point the wolf had its full concentration on me, trying to get me off with its front paw. Barely dodging I climbed closer to the eye, took out my sword, ready to plunge it into its eye. Preparing to take care of the deed I raised my sword and was about to strike when the wolf shook its head, forcing me to lose my balance and fall off.


    Due to me losing my balance, instead of embedding my sword into its eye I only managed to cut it. I got up quickly and rushed to the side, away from the wolf. Turning around to look at the wolf, I gulped. Cold sweat started to run down my body. The wolf looked pissed, no that''s the wrong word. It wasn''t pissed, it was enraged.


    It glared at us with its remaining eye, as if it was trying to kill me with its glare. Taking a quick glance to the side I noticed that the mercs were long gone by now. Seems like they darted off while the wolf was distracted by me.


    ¡°Hey kid, run to the deeper part of the forest. It will be more dangerous but there are stronger beast there that are able to fend off against the wolf. As long as you lead the wolf into one of the beasts territory, you will have a high chance of escape. The beast within the deep part of the forest are very territorial and will try to drive anyone who therspasses. Just make sure you don¡¯t get killed by one of them.¡± Ennius spoke up in my head.


    Seeing as this was my only choice at the moment I ran as fast as my legs could carry me towards the deeper part of the forest. However, no matter how hard I tried to put some distance between us the wolf kept getting closer and closer. Its thunderous footsteps kept getting louder with each step behind me.


    At this rate it''s going to catch up to me. What should I do? Should I try using one of my abilities to put some distance between us? I could use my wolf form to increase my speed, but that would consume too much energy. My possession ability is useless at this moment, which only leaves me with one choice. The only other option was to use my shadow teleportation ability.


    Deciding that this was my best shot I jumped into a nearby shadow. Now let me tell you something, the feeling isn''t pleasant. It feels cold and empty, like you are inside a void and everytime I get the feeling that I will get lost within the shadow and will be unable to come out.


    Finally, I popped out from another shadow which was the farthest one I could see from my original spot. I glance back to see if the wolf was still there to find nothing.


    Realization struck me, causing me to run even faster than before. Ugh, how stupid could I be? I¡¯m not the only one who can teleport using shadows. I cursed in my head, continuing to run as fast as I could. I jumped into another shadow, before I became completely paranoid from not knowing where the wolf will strike me. However, right before I was about to leap out of the shadow a strong killing intent exploded behind me, i felt like I was going to suffocate.


    I jumped out as soon as I could. The sudden action tossed me into the air with enough momentum to fly through the air a bit. Even though I came out I could feel the killing intent right behind me. Looking back, I found the wolf right behind me leaping after me from within the shadow. Crap, when I land it''s going to easily get me. What do I do?


    Millions of thoughts ran through my head at those few short seconds. Somehow, I thought of a solution. Acting as fast as I could due to the shortage of time I summoned my scythe and hooked it around a nearby tree, swinging around the tree to change my direction. I landed in a different directions and continued to run. I willed my scythe to disappear to not drag me down. At this moment I needed the least amount of weight on me.


    I ran, not daring to look back to see how close the wolf was, nor did I have too because I could hear its footsteps right behind me. Deciding to risk it I jumped into a nearby shadow of a tree, but this time I didn¡¯t teleport right ahead of me. This time I came out a bit to the right, and oh how did I regret that decision.


    Right in front of me lay a massive white tiger with golden stripes. On it¡¯s back where two beautiful long wings. The sound of the wolf''s footsteps caused me to panic, not knowing what to do.


    ¡°Possess the tigers shadow,¡± suggested Ennius. Not having time to decide on anything else I did as he suggested. I jumped into his shadow and waited for the wolf to arrive.


    Soon, the wolf broke through the forest, and halted when it saw the tiger. The tiger who was sleeping before this, must of have sensed the danger and stirred slightly. Slowly it got up and stood at its full height. Seeing the wolf it let out a loud and angry roar.


    The tow beast just stood there, neither attacking. ¡°You got lucky kid, the White Heavenly Tiger is one of the few beasts that can take on the Phantom Wolf. However, I¡¯m surprised to find one here. Usually these beasts live up in the mountains, to find one here is quite rare. It must of stopped here for the night to get some rest, which the wolf just disturbed.


    Listen, when the two of them fight wait for the right moment to escape, since they will be distracted by each other you have a high chance of escaping.¡± I listened to Ennius and was amazed that there was another beast out there as strong as the Phantom Wolf. On the other side, dread and fear occupied my mind. Here I was in the middle of two powerful beast that were about to rip each others guts out.


    I sighed mentally, this might seem like a stroke of luck, but to me it seemed like the whole situation just got worse.

 Chapter 7: Battle of the Beasts

    Chapter 7: Battle of the Beasts


    Loud explosions rang throughout the night forest. At the source of the explosion two majestic beasts fought each other, neither having an advantage over the other. By now, the whole area near the two beasts was destroyed, leaving not a single tree standing.


    I watched as the Heavenly White Tiger lunged at the Phantom Wolf trying to cut the wolf¡¯s neck with its sharp claws. The Phantom Wolf easily dodged the attack and tried to bite the tiger¡¯s neck. Seeing this, the tiger leaped back a bit to avoid the wolf¡¯s sharp teeth.


    The same process would repeated for what felt like hours, one would try to bite the other but neither succeeding. Only a few scratches here and there did they manage to land on each other. If only I could escape right now, but I would definitely get noticed by the wolf if I tried anything now.


    Sitting in the tiger¡¯s shadow, I could feel my energy slowly depleting. If I spend anymore time here I will eventually run out of energy and be kicked out of the shadow which will be the end of me. The moment the wolf sees me it will try to kill me the first chance it gets. As for the tiger the probability of it killing me isn¡¯t on the low side either.


    So I sat there, anxiously, waiting for my chance of an unnoticed escape. I observed the fight, admiring the strength of the two beasts. Will I ever be as strong as them? To be able to fight such beasts by myself? Thinking about accomplishing such things renewed my determination and desire to get stronger.


    The two beast slashed at each other, tried biting the other¡¯s neck, but neither succeeded to leave a severe wound yet. Only a few light scratches could be seen on each other¡¯s body. Now that I think about it, why haven¡¯t they used their abilities even once? The wolf would might succeed in landing an attack if it used it¡¯s shadow ability.


    As I was thinking this over, the Heavenly White Tiger spread its huge wings and flew into the air, hovering a certain distance above the wolf. The two beast stared at each other, one from above and the other from below. The scene before me looked like the heavens and the earth were at about to engage in a battle.


    The Phantom Wolf¡¯s body was radiating with dark purple aura that was closer to black. On the other hand the Heavenly White Tiger was emitting an aura that was the color of white gold. It shone brilliantly in the night sky, illuminating the spot with its holy light.


    A loud roar from the tiger pierced throughout the sky as its wings glowed in a bright light and countless feathers started raining down on the wolf. The wolf dodged the incoming projectiles, but some feathers managed to imbed themselves into the wolf, causing it to howl in pain.


    The Heavenly White Tiger seemed to have noticed this and increased the firing rate, as it flew above the wolf trying to inflict as much damage as possible. I chuckled slightly at the scene, from my perspective it looked like a hawk was chasing its prey. The wolf was running around dodging, trying not to get impaled by the raining storm of feathers that was coming down from the sky.


    Finally, it seems like the wolf was done with this game of chase and leaped into a nearby shadow disappearing from view. The tiger stopped its barrage of attacks and flew above the spot in circles. I watched the shadow that the wolf used to hide, wondering what it was planning on doing. It wouldn¡¯t run away right? Not that I minded, but all this just seemed to hopeful and easy if the wolf ran.


    Seconds past like minutes, yet still, there was no sign of the wolf. Did it really run away? The tiger circled the area a few more times before descending down, landing lightly on the ground.


    The moment he landed on the ground trendels of shadows shot out from different directions, binding the beast on the spot. The tiger let out an angry roar as it struggled to get out of the shadows, only to find them slowly wrapping around him, forming a cocoon. Angry roars could be heard from within the cocoon, but no matter how hard the tiger tried to break out with brute force he couldn¡¯t do it.


    At the corner of my eye I watched as the wolf walked out slowly from one of the shadows and started to approach the tiger. The roars at this moment had almost stopped. Did the tiger give up? Fear slowly spread throughout me. If the tiger loses this fight that means I will be next. I had to do something to help the tiger or my chances of survival are zero at this rate.


    However, before I could even think of something an insanely loud roar was released from within the cocoon. I covered my ears with my hands, try to dull the sound. What the heck is this? Why is this roar so loud? I¡¯m inside a shadow and I¡¯m being affected, just what kind of ability is this?


    I looked at the cocoon to see that it started to unravel and the wolf was howling from pain. Looking at the wolf I felt a bit of pity. The roar was loud enough to affect me, but the wolf was right next to the cocoon, just how loud was it up close?


    At this point you could see some parts of the tiger, as the cocoon slowly fell apart faster and faster because of the wolf being unable to control it.


    Boom.


    The cocoon exploded and the shadows dispersed showing the Heavenly White Tiger, and oh boy, it looked pissed. The roar slowly faded away, but I could still feel the light ringing in my ears. I looked at the wolf to see that it was on the groaned in a daze.I watched as the tiger started slowly walking up to the wolf, preparing to finish off its opponent.


    ¡°Quick! Use this chance to escape before it''s gone.¡± Ennius¡¯ voice sounded in my head. Hearing what he said I agreed. I watched the two beasts for a few more seconds before jumping out from the farthest shadow that i could see from within the one I was occupying.


    I jumped from shadow to shadow not daring to look back. Running like this for my life reminded me of the time Leidolf was chasing me. Back then I normally would of died, but thanks to Ennius and him helping me to awaken my powers I managed to live. Thinking back on all this I decided that I would definitely escape and not waste this life that I was given.


    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    I ran for a few more minutes before I had to stop. I collapsed by a nearby tree, panting from exhaustion. My energy was already more than halfway depleted when I started to run, but the thought of living and escaping kept me going, pushing myself to the limit.


    My eyes were closing as I tried to not fall asleep. If I fall asleep here I won¡¯t be able to defend myself if any danger arises. However, my body just wouldn¡¯t listen to me as I was engulfed by darkness. I opened my eyes to see myself in front of some sort of house. Where was I? How did I get here? Millions of questions raced through my mind as I tried to understand where and how I got here.


    The house itself wasn¡¯t anything special. It was a normal wooden house with two floors, and seemed like it had around four-five rooms. There was a white fence around the house and a small garden of flowers on each side of the front yard. Stones lay in a row, making a small passage towards the house. In all, the house gave off a warm and relaxing feeling.


    Deciding that just standing here wouldn¡¯t answer any of my questions. I walked up to the front door and knocked a few times. ¡°Come in,¡± I heard a very familiar voice answer from inside the house. I opened the door and was met with a small hallway that seemed to be leading to the living room. On the right side of the hallway were stairs leading up to the second floor, while on the left there were two doors.


    ¡°Come to the living room, it''s the room at the end of the hallway.¡± The all familiar voice spoke again. I swear I heard that voice somewhere recently, I just couldn¡¯t put my mind on who it belonged too. Having no other option and being curious to who the voice belong I walked down the hall.


    Walking up to the entrance to the living room, I could finally see the inside of the room. There was a fireplace on the opposite side from the entrance with two armchairs by it. On the wall hung different kinds of pictures. In one of the was a small boy, smiling happily. In another was a boy with a women and a man; must be his parents, I assumed. On the floor lay a white animal pelt with a small table on it that had some tea cups and sweets.


    ¡°Help yourself, they¡¯re pretty good.¡± I heard the man¡¯s voice to my left. I turned my head to see a man of around fifty years old sitting at a table reading a book. ¡°Who are you?¡± I asked. This was the first time I¡¯ve seen the man, but I had a feeling that we both knew each other.


    ¡°Take a guess kid,¡± replied the man with a small smirk playing on his lips. Hearing that one sentence I instantly knew who it was, after all not many people called me kid.


    ¡°You look quite different than I imagined, Ennius.¡± I answered with a grin on my face. ¡°Here I was imagining that you would be some old man with a beard and a cane.¡± I could see Ennius¡¯ eye twitch as he just smiled at me coldly.


    ¡°Now, now, just how old did you think I was? Care to enlighten me?¡± asked Ennius calmly, which sent shivers down my back. I gulped knowing that my joke went a tad too far. Seeing as I was already in some deep shit and Ennius¡¯ wasn¡¯t going to let me off I decided to mess with him a bit more.


    ¡°Let¡¯s see, eighty? Maybe more? You did say you were my predecessor so I assumed you were old. Plus, you always call me a kid, makes one think you are a grandpa or something. Doesn¡¯t it?¡± I answered him as innocently as I could with a dumbfound face, but in reality I was trying not to break out into laughter. Ennius¡¯ reaction was just too funny, even though I knew he will get me back somehow for this, and it won''t be pleasant.


    ¡°Look, just because I call you a kid doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯m some freaking old man who has lived hundreds of years. In my eyes you are still a kid. Heck, I¡¯m almost forty years older than you.¡± Ennius¡¯ kept blabbing on and on about how he wasn¡¯t old or something, but at one point I stopped paying attention, after all who wants to listen to a man in his fifties about how he isn¡¯t old yet?


    I just looked around the room, pretending to listen to his great speech, nodding from time to time. Other than the desk with books and papers on it, two armchairs, the small table, and a few pictures there wasn¡¯t really anything else. ¡°...so, now you see why I¡¯m not old?¡± Ennius¡¯ blabbering finally came to an end.


    ¡°Umm¡­, yeah¡± I replied with the best understanding voice I could put on. It seemed to have worked, or maybe he just didn''t care anymore at this point.


    ¡°So, why am I here?¡± I asked.


    My body was still¡­ Crap! My body was still out in the freaking forest. Seeing as I was still here means that I¡¯m still alive but that doesn¡¯t mean I will be lucky enough to avoid any danger until I wake up.


    ¡°Tell me why I¡¯m here before my body gets devoured by some beast.¡± I said in a bit of a demanding voice, but you can¡¯t really blame me, can you? My body was out there in the forest, basically a tasty meal on a silver platter for the beasts in the forest.


    ¡°Hey, no need to be all demanding and everything. Your body isn¡¯t in any danger at the moment, and it should be fine for the rest of the night. Most of the beasts have left the area the moment the Phantom Wolf and the Heavenly White Tiger started their fight, and if any beast comes within a certain range I will let you know. I used a half-possession on you just to make sure that you aren¡¯t in any danger while you are here,¡± explained Ennius, causing me to relax and calm down slightly.


    ¡°So, why exactly am I here?¡± I asked again.


    ¡°That, I¡¯m not sure off. It could be a side effect of the half-possession, resulting in you coming here when you passed out.¡± I sat down on one of the armchairs, thinking over what Ennius had told me.


    ¡°What is a half-possession anyways?¡±


    ¡°Well in short it¡¯s the same thing as when I¡¯m in your head. I¡¯m able to see and hear everything, but this time since you are unconscious, I can¡¯t. So, the half-possession gives me control of your senses and I¡¯m able to hear everything or see, depending on the situation.¡± Ennius explained to me.


    ¡°Let me clarify this. In other words it lets you know what happens around me whether I¡¯m unconscious or not?¡±


    ¡°Precisely,¡± agreed Ennius.


    ¡°Since you are already here let''s train,¡± proposed Ennius. Seeing as my body was clearly not in any condition to be able to move I decided some training would be useful.


    I followed Ennius towards the back of the house where a huge backyard lay before me. ¡°Wow,¡± was all I managed to say. The backyard was beautiful.


    The backyard had nicely trimmed green grass that made the whole place seem full of life. A medium sized pond occupied half of the yard with some sort of fish swimming in it. Each fish was a different color and had beautiful patterns on it. One of the fish that caught my attention. It was black with a deep purple wavy design.


    ¡°What kind of fish are these?¡± I asked


    ¡°These are called Chromas, but some people call them Rainbow Fish because of the different color variety each fish is. However, both names are essentially the same¡± explained Ennius.


    I observed the fish in fascination, never would I have thought that such beautiful fish existed somewhere in the world. Knowing this a new sense of excitement rushed through me. Just what other amazing things are there in this world?


    ¡°Now let''s get to the training, you can come look at the fish later¡± said Ennius as he walked off towards the a clear space that had nothing but grass. I followed him and stopped a few meters away from him.


    ¡°What I am about to teach you is a certain scythe style that I learned while I was alive.¡± With those words a scythe similar to my own appeared in his hand.


    ¡°This style is hard to learn and master because you need natural talent and great understanding of how to use the scythe. However, since you seem to have a natural talent for the scythe you can probably master this style.


    The style that I am about to teach you evolves with each generation. Each person before you has created a certain move and added onto the style. To truly master the style and make it your own you will have to create your own move at the end too.


    Since this style is different with every person who learned it because they all created different moves with each generation. So if you ever find anyone who practices the same style don''t be surprised if it is something totally different. Only the first three moves will be the same for everyone because one person made them. He was the first one who created this style.


    Now watch carefully this is the first move of the Death Arts.¡± Ennius raised his scythe and made a horizontal slash, followed by a vertical slash, and the many more. With each slash the speed increased until it started turning into a blur. Soon enough the scythe in his hands looked like a whirlwind.


    All of a sudden the scythe stopped in the same position as it started out in. ¡°You use the gravity pull of your scythe from each slash to your advantage to increase your speed until it becomes fast enough to look like a whirlwind. This move is mostly used for defense, it can be used for offense, but it was designed for defense against large groups of opponents.¡±


    I strode there in a daze, this move was incredible. As long as you had enough stamina you stood a chance of surviving when you were completely outnumbered.


    I summoned my scythe, my eyes gleamed with determination to learn this style. ¡°Please teach me all you know.¡± With those words I got into the same stance as Ennius and looked him in the eyes.


    Ennius laughed slightly, ¡°Get ready to taste hell kiddo, because my training won''t be easy.¡±


    I gulped and grinned insanely. ¡°Show me what you got old men!¡±

 Chapter 8: Just A Bit More

    Chapter 8: Just A Bit More


    After what felt like eternity of training with Ennius I finally managed to grasp the basics of the technique. I could perform it, but it wasn¡¯t as flawless as the one Ennius had shown me. Compared to his mine wasn¡¯t as fierce and fast, had flaws, and i couldn¡¯t hold it for long.


    From what Ennius told me I wouldn¡¯t have trouble using this technique against opponents my level, but with someone who was stronger and had a deeper understanding, they could easily find the flaws and rend my technique useless.


    Surprisingly during the whole night no beast came in within the area that my body was resting in, so I could train the whole time without any interruptions. It was a bit strange that no beast found me, but Ennius had told me that most of the beast must of had fled when the Phantom Wolf and the Heavenly White Tiger began fighting, not wanting to be caught up in the fight.


    The next morning I felt completely depleted and exhausted, like someone had sucked all the energy out of me. In other words I felt like shit, but sitting here, feeling like shit, wasn¡¯t going to fix anything so I forced myself to get up.


    ¡°Try to get out of the forest as soon as you can or at least towards the outskirts. Soon the beasts will be coming back and if they find you here you will be in danger.¡± Ennius spoke to me as I walked through the forest.


    ¡°Hey Leidolf, which way leads to the outskirts? You lived here so you should know.¡± I spoke to Leidolf mentally.


    ¡°Just keep heading the way you are, by midday you should reach the outskirts if everything goes smoothly.¡± I nodded to myself, ¡°Alright, I should pick up my pace. The faster I get there the better.¡±


    I walked through the forest and thought about my current situation. During the fight with the wolf I lost my horse, some clothes that i brought and my food. At least I still had my money on me, even though it wasn¡¯t much at this point. From all the things I had to but before left I didn¡¯t even have enough for the entrance fee to enter the academy. I really need to make some money somehow.


    ¡°Hey Ennius do you know a way that I can earn money with my current abilities that won''t take a lot of time?¡± I asked, hoping that he could tell me something useful.


    ¡°Hmm, there are two possible options for you at the moment with your current abilities. The first is the most easiest and simplest; kill some beasts and sell their hides, claws, and whatever else you can.


    The second option is less dangerous, depending on what you are trying to acquire. You could look for some herbs or rare plants within the forest and sell those, but the more rare herbs and plants are usually protected by strong beasts.


    When beasts find rare herbs or plants they make it their territory if it is unclaimed, or fight for it if they believe they can win. The beasts guard the plant or herb until it is ripe and then consume it themselves to increase their own strength.¡± Ennius gave me a simple description of what my two choices where.


    I thought about the two choices, the first one looked more efficient than the first. Plus, while I look for monsters to hunt I can look for some herbs or plants on the way. It''s like killing two birds with one stone.


    Now that he money situation was temporarily solved I moved on to the next one. Where was I going to sell all this and how far is the next city or village?


    In my current situation, it will take me weeks to reach the capital. I had to get a new horse and some food. Once I exit the forest, I won''t be able to obtain any food.


    I could save some of food from the forest but that won''t last forever, eventually I will run out.


    Not knowing where I was exactly I decided to ask Leidolf since he used to live here, ¡°Leidolf how far is the closest village or city?¡±


    ¡°When you reach the outskirts of the forest head east, there should be a small village there. I can¡¯t tell you much about the village because I can¡¯t really enter it, but I¡¯m sure it¡¯s better than nothing in your current situation,¡± replied Leidolf.


    Seeing as my problems have been solved in a way I decided to speed up my pace. I really didn''t want to run into some strong beast or stay another night in the middle of the forest.


    I walked through the forest, trying to avoid any beast that might be near. With my enhanced senses it made the job way easier but I didn¡¯t let my guard down no matter what, you never know what can can happen. Along the way I managed to find three herbs that would get me around fifteen silver coins, but that wasn¡¯t even close to enough. I needed around one gold coin if not more just for the entrance fee, but other then that I need money for other things like a horse and food.


    ¡°Hey kid, get that flower, it will help you greatly in your energy refinement¡± Ennius spoke to me all of a sudden.


    I looked around to find a flower with slightly gold petals that had a few red spots on them, ¡°Is that it?¡±


    ¡°Yes that¡¯s it, this flower is called Weeping Glory.¡±


    ¡°Why is it called a Weeping Glory? Is it because the red spots look like tears?¡± I asked, curious as how the flower earned its name.


    ¡°You guessed correctly. Now go get the flower, just make sure that there is no beast near it or we will be in a bit of trouble.¡± Ennius said causally with a hint of a warning in his voice.


    ¡°Maybe I should leave it then?¡± I asked. At this point I didn¡¯t want to fight any enraged beast because I took something that belonged to it. Who knows, maybe the beast is one of those strong ones like the Phantom Wolf or the Heavenly White Tiger. I really did not want to piss one of those of again.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry you are pretty close to the outskirts from what I can tell and this flower isn¡¯t cheap. It¡¯s not considered priceless or expensive, but for you it is priceless right now. It will help you gain an advantage amongst your peers in energy refinement,¡± explained Ennius.


    ¡°Alright I¡¯ll take it since you claim that it is worth the risk. Just wondering, how much can I sell this for?¡± I asked, interested in how valuable was this flower.


    ¡°Hmm, I¡¯m not sure about now but back when I was alive this flower would sell for one or two gold pieces amongst the gifted. However, I¡¯m pretty sure that the price didn¡¯t change much.¡± Ennius spoke like the flower was worth nothing.


    ¡°What!? One or two gold pieces? That would take me years to earn, this flower is super expensive.¡± I couldn¡¯t believe that such a flower would cost so much, and Ennius said that it wasn¡¯t expensive. I gulped, ¡°Just how much do the really rare plants cost?¡± I asked, wondering what kind of astronomical number I would hear.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    ¡°No one really sells the rare plant because they are truly priceless and hard to obtain. However I remember seeing one in the auction house once. It was a Blood Iris. The flower is truly hard to grow and obtain from waht I know. The iris needs to feed on the blood of a really strong beast until it obtains its blood color.


    However, unless a beast dies, causing it to absorb the blood there is no other way you can get the flower unless you have the strength to obtain it. The beast that finds the iris usually marks its territory there and lets it absorb some of its blood from time to time. Since, the beast is extremely strong it is usually impossible to obtain it.¡± Ennius explained.


    ¡°So how much did it sell for?¡± I asked again, not receiving a proper answer the first time.


    ¡°Two thousand gold coins¡± said Ennius with a small sigh.


    I thought that I misheard the amount he just told me so I asked again, ¡°Could you repeat that? I think I misheard what you just said.¡±


    ¡°Two thousand gold coins,¡± Ennius told me the same thing that I had heard.


    My mind totally went blank before broke down from hearing such a insane sum. Just who in the world spent so much money on a freaking flower? Just what could such a flower do? Two thousand gold coins wasn¡¯t a small sum, with that much money you could probably buy a third of a city like Kraposs, if not more.


    ¡°What is the flower used for?¡± I asked, curious as to what kind kind of miraculous properties the flower held.


    ¡°That is the one thing that I am not sure of, it depends on the blood of the beast. From what I know it can be used to break through one of the energy channels later on, but to use it for that would be a waste. The flower gains different properties depending on the beast. Since, the flower¡¯s properties depend on the beast I assume that you gain something that the beast possessed. Maybe an ability, or you obtain some sort of physical enhancement of the beast.¡±


    I listened to every word Ennius said carefully. If what Ennius assumes is true then the flower really is priceless. To be able to strengthen your body similar to that of a beast you would truly become someone to be reckoned with. Plus, if if the flower truly could give an ability then it really is priceless. I wonder if it there would be side effects from consuming the flower?


    ¡°Kid, hurry up and get the flower, before some beast comes and you have to run with your tail between your legs.


    Putting my thoughts aside I went up to the flower bent down and gently broke the stem. Wait, where am I supposed store this? My knapsack is gone and the only other place it my money pouch. Ughh, why don¡¯t I think things through all the way before doing them.


    Having no choice I took out my money pouch and carefully put the flower inside. I really needed to get out of here and buy the needed necessities. Putting the pouch away I continued to fast walk, before breaking into a jog. I should probably get out of here as fast as possible, if the flower was guarded and is discovered missing it will be a huge inconvenience. So the farther I get away the better.


    After jogging for a while I finally slowed down and continued to walk at a normal pace. By now the sun was already descending from its peak. The forest around me has become a lot less dense, meaning that I have finally reached the outskirts. I let out a sigh of relief before laughing. I actually made it out and managed to get away fro the wolf.


    Speaking of the wolf, I wonder what happened to it? ¡°Hey Leidolf do you know what happened to your mom?¡± I asked, thinking that he might know since his mom knew when he died. Now that I think about it how did she know that he died and that I killed him?


    ¡°She still lives but is most likely heavily injured, so she won¡¯t give you any trouble for some time. However, she will most likely come for you in the future. Now that she knows your scent she will track you down no matter what. Unless, you manage to get my body back before she finds you and I can help you out.¡± Leidolf explained to me.


    ¡°How did she know that you died and I was the one who killed you?¡±


    ¡°When we are still growing up we have a special connection, kind of like the one I have with you. My soul is connected with my mother''s and she can tell my location through our bond. So, when you killed me you absorbed my soul and you were basically watched the whole time by my mother. Later when you entered the forest my mom tracked my soul down and you know what happened next.¡± Leidolf explained to me, not expressing any signs of emotion.


    ¡°I see, by the way your mom can speak too right? From what I remember you talked to me when I was running away from you that night¡± I asked from curiosity.


    ¡°Yes, but she usually doesn¡¯t speak to humans, she doesn¡¯t find them worthy enough. My mom has a pretty huge ego and a lot of pride. To be honest it was annoying a lot of the times.¡± Leidolf spoke with a hint of annoyance in his voice.


    I slightly chuckled, ¡°I guess I¡¯ll try speaking with her later, maybe we can come to an agreement.¡±


    Seeing how the conversation was over I continued to walk through the outskirts of the forest. Since the outskirts weren¡¯t as dangerous as the deeper parts of the forest I started to concentrate more on finding food. At this point I was starving. I hadn¡¯t eaten anything since yesterday before Leidolf¡¯s mother attacked us.


    I managed to find some berries that were edible, from what Leidolf told me, but other then that I couldn¡¯t find anything else. I heard my stomach growl. Seriously, what was up with this forest there is like no food here. Other than those berries I couldn¡¯t find anything else.


    Stressing over about not being able to find any food I let down my guard, forgetting that there were still some beasts that could pose danger to me here.


    As I was lost in my thoughts about what to do about my lack of finding any food I felt the back of my neck tingle. Immediately I rolled forward and pulled out my short sword. I turned around to find a¡­ spider?


    I focused my scenes on my surroundings, not letting my guard down even slightly. My eyes were focused on the spider before me, as it just stood there gazing at me. Neither of us moved. I took this time to observe the spider. It had an ash colored body that seemed to have a slight tint of silver in it, making it it shine a bit in the sun. It¡¯s height on all of it¡¯s legs reached around my stomach. From what I could tell the spider was probably really close to adulthood.


    My grip on the sword tightened and I started to circle the spider. The spider let out a growl and got into a jumping position. I circled the spider a bit more before lunging at it. Seeing this the spider dodged to the side, surprising me with its agility and reflexes. I slashed to the side to have the spider dodge again with ease.


    I groaned in annoyance, this spider was a huge pain in the ass with its quick reflexes. I tried slashing at it again, but it easily dodged again and this time managed to scratch my leg.


    Seeing as I was at a disadvantage with a short sword I decided to put it away and summoned my scythe. The bone like scythe appeared in my hand, sending a feeling of familiarity through my body. I really did feel more at peace with the scythe in my hand.


    I slashed with my scythe towards the spider to have it dodge, but this time I used the pull of the slash to my advantage and spun to deliver another slash from the other side. The spider didn¡¯t seem to have predicted something like this and didn¡¯t have enough time to dodge. My scythe connected with the side of it¡¯s body leaving a deep gash.


    The spider cried out in pain, stumbling back. Not letting this chance slip away I raised my scythe and brought it down on the spider, ending it¡¯s life.


    I let out a sigh, I didn¡¯t think that spiders could be that fast. I walked up to the corpse of the spider to salvage the parts that could be sold or eaten. However, before I could do anything my senses screamed of danger. Even though I knew of the danger I was to slow to completely defend against the attack.


    The spider seemed to have been aiming at my neck but since I managed to slightly move it slashed my shoulder instead. I let out a cry of pain. Quickly taking out my short sword I lunged at the spider, catching it off guard and pierced it through the chest. The spider cried out in pain before dropping on the ground.


    From the corner of my eye I saw another spider emerge, followed by two more. Shit, where did all of these spiders come from?


    I quickly got up and stepped back a bit to get some distance from them. I raised my scythe, flinching at the pain in my shoulder. Not letting the pain distract me I concentrated on the group of spider before me. I needed to finish this quickly and treat my wounds or they would get infected or I could lose too much blood.


    Having this weighting me down I dashed at the group in front of me slicing with my scythe. The spider simply dodged and ended up surrounding me. Seeing this an idea popped into my head. I started slashing with my scythe at the spider in front of be, increasing my speed with each slash.


    Soon enough I was slashing fast enough that the my blade looked like a whirlwind, even the wind seemed to pick up a bit around me. The spider around me started to growl and the one that was behind me pounced at me. I smiled and did a spin slash, slicing the spider in half.


    I turned around to face the other two spider to see them backing off a bit. Lunging at my next target I swung my scythe, to fall flat on my face. I groaned in pain and looked down on my feet to see a line of spider web tied around my foot, connected to the other spider.


    I slashed at the web with my scythe, cut myself loose and jumped back a few steps. This time I didn¡¯t underestimate the spiders at all.


    The spider that I was planning on attacking slightly moved and shot a string of web that stuck to my scythe. I pulled on my scythe but it wouldn¡¯t budge at all. I frowned, I was basically immobilized, unable to do anything.


    I felt a pull from the spider and saw that it was pulling me towards it. I tried to pull back but it was stronger than me. Thinking of putting my scythe away to break away from the spiders hold I was prepared to put it away but then an idea hit me.


    I pulled back away from the spider as far as I could before lunging at the spider. Since, the spider was pulling me towards himself I gained more speed. Quickly putting my scythe away I pulled out my short sword and pierced it through the spider''s head.


    I turned around to see the other spider running towards me. Seeing this I simply grinned and jumped into the dead spiders shadow, emerging from the shadow of the spider that was chasing me and stabbing him from the back. The spider let out a cry before dropping dead on the ground.


    Finally, I slightly relaxed. I looked around the area first to make sure that no more spiders where in the area. Finding none, I walked up to each corpse and gathered what I could sell or eat. I didn¡¯t really want to eat spider meat, but I didn¡¯t have any other option right now.


    Next I started a fire and burned the skin on my shoulder to stop the bleeding. It could become infected but I didn¡¯t bother about that right now because I was bleeding pretty heavily from the gash in my shoulder. I put some of the spider meat to cook and dry over the fire, so that I could save it for later.


    From one of the spiders I took the spider web sack and used it as a temporary bag to store some of the items. To my surprise it was pretty durable. After finishing everything I leaned back against a tree and was finally able to rest in peace.

 Chapter 9: The Village

    Chapter 9: The Village


    After two days of walking and encountering a few creatures along the way I could finally see the village before me. The wound on my shoulder has begun to slowly heal. To my luck it didn¡¯t get infected and saved me a lot of trouble and maybe even my life.


    The village before me wasn¡¯t really big but it seemed like I would be able to at least acquire a horse here. Eventually, I reached the front gates of the village, to meet two guards stationed by the entrance. The guards looked at me before one of them spoke.


    ¡°Hey kid are you alright? Did a beast attack you in the forest? Why are you all alone?¡± one of the guards bombarded me with questions. I looked at the guard that spoke to me. He was pretty tall and had short brown hair that went well with his dark brown eyes. He was wearing leather armor and had one hand on his sword at the moment.


    ¡°I seem to be fine other than the wound on my shoulder that I received from one of the beasts that I encountered. It was bleeding pretty heavily so I had to seal the wound, but if it is possible I would like for someone in your village take a look at it. Also, I was wondering if I would be able to resupply here?¡± I asked them.


    ¡°Let me see the wound¡± the other guard spoke. He had the same equipment as the other guard but compared to the other one this one had black wavy hair and dark green eyes.


    I showed him my wound through one of the tears in my clothes, just realizing how damaged they were. I sighed mentally, now I had to buy new clothes. The list of necessities just keeps on growing bigger and bigger while my coin pouch grows smaller.


    The guard examined my wound. ¡°It seems like that it didn¡¯t get infected since the wound was sealed in time, but I would check in with the village doctor just to be sure. You can stay in the village for a few days and resupply, but I suggest that you don¡¯t leave by yourself. This time you might not get away with just a wound.


    You can stay at my place if you want, I¡¯m sure my wife won¡¯t mind. You can tell me what exactly happened later in more detail, but for now let''s go get that wound checked out to make sure it¡¯s not infected.¡±


    The guard turned around and indicated for me to follow him. I quickly caught up to him to walk by his side, trying to match his pace which was a bit faster than mine.


    ¡°What¡¯s your name, kid?¡± asked me the guard as we walked through the village.


    ¡°Atilius.¡± I replied back


    ¡°Just Atilius? Do you not have a family name?¡± the guard asked curiously.


    ¡°Feste, Atilius Feste. That is my full name.¡±


    ¡°I see, well my name is Hein Dorn, but you can just call me Hein.¡±


    The rest of the walk we didn¡¯t talk much, just walked in a bit of an awkward silence. From time to time he would ask me some questions like where I was from or how old I was. Eventually we reached a small wooden house that had a small herb garden next to it.


    Hein walked up to the door and knocked. We stood there for a few seconds before he knocked again. This time there was a reply, ¡°Coming! Just give me a second here.¡±


    Finally, after a minute or two of waiting the door opened to reveal a short man that was slightly taller than me. He had blond hair and grey eyes. ¡°Oh hello Hein, what can I do for you?¡±


    Hein pointed at me. ¡°This kid just came into the village and has a pretty big wound on his shoulder. I brought him here so that you could take a look at it and make sure it¡¯s not infected.¡± Hein explained to the short man.


    The short little man looked at me, as if he had just noticed that I was there before leading as into the house. Inside the house there wasn''t anything grand, it was relatively simple. There was one big room for the guests and two smaller ones. In the main room stood a plain wooden table surrounded by four chairs, one on each side. On one of the walls there was a window that showed the herb garden outside of the house.


    ¡°So, who are you young man?¡± the short man asked.


    ¡°Atilius Feste,¡± this time I gave out my full name, not wanting to bother with people asking what my family name was.


    ¡°Nice to meet you Atilius. I¡¯m the doctor of the this village, Leuthar Hart. Now Hein has told me that you are injured, do you mind showing me the wound?¡± Leuthar asked and I nodded back in response.


    I showed him my wound and Leuthar examined it for a bit. ¡°It seems that there will be no infection, but just in case let me give you some medicine. Follow me.¡±


    Leuthar turned around and went towards one of the doors that led to one of the small rooms. Me and Hein trailed behind Leuthar and entered the room. When I entered the room I was a bit surprised. Along the wall there were hundreds of jars filled with either liquid, powder, or had some sort of herbs in them. In some of them there were even eyeballs floating around. It was a bit gross, but I still managed to find it somewhat cool.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    ¡°Have a seat,¡± Leuthar¡¯s voice broke me from my daze. I turned my head to face him, to see him pointing to a bed that was by one of the other walls.


    I walked up to the bed and sat down, quietly sitting there and examining all the weird substances within the jars. After a minute or two Leuthar turned around with a jar that had gooey substance inside.


    ¡°Could you take of your shirt? I¡¯m going to apply some medicine that will speed up the healing process and prevent infection.¡± I nodded and took off my shirt, revealing a cut along my shoulder.


    ¡°This might sting a bit,¡± with that he took some off the goo out and smeared it on my shoulder where the cut was. I bit my lip from the burning pain that spread through my shoulder. Just what the heck was he putting on me? This definetly wasn¡¯t just a freaking sting, it was agonizing pain! I tried not to cry out from the pain. At this point my lip was bleeding because I bit it too hard. Finally, I felt him stop applying the goo of pain and the pain slowly leaving me.


    ¡°I¡¯m surprised you managed not to scream, it must of have hurt like hell.¡± Leuthar spoke with a hint of surprise in his voice.


    I sent him a glare and was about to say something rude, but decided against it. I didn¡¯t really want him on my bad side. After all, I still might need his treatments later in the future.


    After that Leuthar gave me a new clean shirt so that I wouldn¡¯t get any infections and well¡­ lets just say mine was more of a rag at this point. Hein and Leuthar talked a bit afterwards and then we left Leuthar¡¯s place. We didn¡¯t really speak on the way to his house, just walked in an awkward yet comforting silence.


    Finally we stopped in front of his house, it wasn¡¯t big but it had a nice home like feeling to it. Hein walked up to front of the house and opened the door, I followed. As soon as the door was closed behind me a little girl, probably around four or five years old came running towards Hein.


    ¡°Daddy!¡± she exclaimed happily and running into his arms. Hein laughed and picked her up. ¡°Hey sweetie, how was your day?¡±


    ¡°Mommy showed me how to plant flowers today!¡±


    ¡°Oh really? Will you show me later?¡± Hein asked her with a smile on his face.


    Watching them I couldn¡¯t help but smile and remember the good times that I had with my dad. It brought a few tears to my eyes which I quickly wiped away.


    Finally noticing me the little girl looked at me. ¡°Who is this daddy?¡± she asked in an innocent voice. ¡°Is it a friend of yours?¡±


    ¡°This is Atilius, he will be staying here with us for a few days. Come on, introduce yourself to him.¡± Hein said as he put her down.


    The little girl walked up to me shyly with her hands behind her back, trying her hardest to make eye contact but was too shy to hold it for too long. ¡°Hi, my name is Chloe,¡± she introduced herself to me in shy and quiet voice.


    I smiled and bent down to be at her level. ¡°Nice to meet you Chloe, I¡¯m Atilius. Do you want to be my friend?¡± I asked her hoping that she would open up to me. Chloe just smiled and nodded before running off.


    ¡°She¡¯s a bit shy, but once she gets used to you she won¡¯t leave you alone¡± Hein said with a light laugh. I chuckled and couldn¡¯t stop from smiling at how innocent and cute Chloe was. It¡¯s like she was a tiny angel. She had curly blond hair and clear blue eyes, truly having looks of an angel. I could tell that when she grows up she will become extremely beautiful and guys will probably fight over her.


    ¡°By the way, you can put your stuff in one of the rooms.¡± Hein told me before leading me towards one of the rooms. I put my stuff inside and followed him to most likely meet his wife.


    When I saw his wife i was completely stunned she was the most beautiful women I had seen in my life so far. She looked exactly like Chloe but more mature and ten times more attractive.


    ¡°You must be Atilius that Chloe has been talking about just now. I¡¯m Diana, it¡¯s a pleasure to meet you¡± spoke the women in a soft voice.


    Finally, I managed to break out of my trance and replied back. ¡°Uh yeah, I¡¯m Atilius. It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you too.¡± She just chuckled slightly at my response.


    ¡°I just finished preparing dinner, help me set up the table. I would really like to hear more about you Atilius.¡± I nodded and helped set up the table.


    The food was delicious, maybe it¡¯s because I had been eating dried spider meat lately but it was truly the best food I tasted in awhile, maybe even in my whole life. I couldn¡¯t help but think that Hein¡¯s wife was a goddess or something. She was just too perfect to be a human.


    As we ate I told them where I was from, why I ended up all alone, and where I was heading. When they heard what happened to me as a kid they looked at me with pity and sadness in their eyes. I didn¡¯t elaborate much at what happened my village was attacked because Chloe was sitting with us, but I could tell that they understood what exactly happened without me having to tell them.


    I told them about my life back in Kraposs, how I lived in the orphanage and worked as an apprentice to a blacksmith. They were a bit surprised when they found out that I was an apprentice to a blacksmith, which confused me a bit. I couldn¡¯t understand why they would be surprised that I was a blacksmith apprentice.


    We talked and talked through the evening, Chloe managed to fall asleep when I started to talk about how I set off with the mercenaries to Prares, which gave me a small relief. I honestly didn¡¯t really want to talk about the fight with the Phantom Wolf and everything else that happened in the forest. It might be a bit too much for her.


    When I told them how we got attacked by the Phantom Wolf they looked at me as if I was alive, not understanding how I managed to escape. I explained to them how I encounter the Heavenly White Tiger, which fought with the Phantom Wolf, allowing me to escape.


    As I described the fight to Diana and Hein I couldn¡¯t help but lightly smile at their popped out eyes. They were intently listening to every word that I was saying, having trouble believe what happened to me. When I finally finished none of us spoke for a few minutes. We just sat there at the table as Chloe slept quietly in Hein¡¯s lap.


    ¡°You have some amazing luck kid, it¡¯s almost as if the heavens are watching over you. To be able to encounter two of the strongests beast on the entire continent and live is unheard of, yet here you are alive. Most people will not believe you, but I can tell that you aren¡¯t lying. The way you described everything, the way you spoke, I could clearly tell that you had experienced all of the things you said¡± Hein said with amazement in his voice.


    With that we sat there for a bit more talking before cleaning up the dishes and going off for the night. I had to share a room with Chloe, but I didn¡¯t mind. She was a sweet girl and I was too tired to care in the first place. I layed down on the floor with some blankets since they didn¡¯t have an extra bed and passed out almost immediately


    Overall, I ended up staying around a week in the village. Chloe got really attached to me and it kind of hurt to leave her. As hard as I tried not to get close to her I couldn¡¯t help it. She was so sweet and innocent that it was hard not to like her. Eventually I just gave in and opened myself up to Chloe. Chloe was like the little sister that I always wanted but never had.


    My objective was to go to Prares earn some money and apply to the academy. I managed to get a black horse in the village and sell some items, but not everything. I planned to sell the rest at the Mercenary Guild because they would sell for more there, after all, it was the capital. The prices there were higher for everything.


    Along with the horse, I bought a new set of clothes because the old ones were all ripped and two bags: one big one for the horse to carry and a smaller one for myself. The web pouch worked pretty well, but it looked a bit weird and it wasn''t as big. With the couple items I sold, which were mostly parts of the spider and a few herbs. I managed to raise my small fortune to one gold coin. I had enough to enter the academy now but I needed to pay the yearly tuition still, so I need more money.


    Saying all of my goodbyes and convincing Hein that I was fine travelling alone was a bit hard. I grew a bit attached to the villagers, even though I tried not to, knowing that I would leave soon. Chloe cried when I told her that I was going to be leaving, she didn¡¯t stop until I promised her that I would visit her soon.


    Finally, I departed from the village. I looked back a few times to see Hein¡¯s family standing there watching me go off into the distance. Chloe¡¯s small hand was waving at me, I smiled sadly, knowing that it would be some time before I would be able to see her again.


    Riding off into the distance I already started to slightly miss Chloe¡¯s presence. I will definitely grow stronger and come back to visit Chloe again, maybe I will even bring her a souvenir from Prares. I¡¯m sure she will love it. With these thoughts in mind I rode off towards Prares, thinking about the future and the challenges that lay before me.

 Chapter 10: Prares

    Chapter 10: Prares


    Ba-dum! Ba-dum! Ba-dum! The steady sound of a horse''s hooves sounded like a heartbeat. I have been riding towards Prares for a three days now since I left the village, making a couple of short stops along the way to eat, rest and to make sure that my horse wasn¡¯t getting too worn out.


    Since I have passed the forest now, which contained most of the danger of the trip, I could finally relax a bit and enjoy the journey. Currently I was crossing the Mist Plains. The Mist Plains didn¡¯t have a lot of dangers, especially during the day. The creatures that dwelled here were mostly herbivores and non-hostile unless you provoked them.


    The only trouble about the plains was that during the night the fields would be covered by a mysterious mist that was extremely thick that you could barely see your hand if you put it right in front of your face. In the mist you could easily get lost, but since the plains were very vast you didn¡¯t have to worry about getting lost as much. Once morning comes and the sun goes up the mist would disappear and you can easily find the direction in which you were going.


    You just had to know on which side the Halcyon Mountains lay. If you knew that then it was basically impossible to get lost in the Mist Plains, because the Halcyon Mountains were enormous. They tall enough to reach high above the clouds, almost as if you could reach the heavens if you climbed up to the top. However, not a single person has managed to climb the mountains to the top yet and return alive.


    From the information that people managed to gather, the higher you went the colder it got, making it impossible for normal people to reach the top. Some gifted that had ice abilities tried to go up because they were able to withstand really cold temperatures due to the fact that they grew up with the icy and cold energy in their bodies.


    There was one slight danger in in the Mist Plains that you had to be wary of. At night along with the mist the Blood Winged Butterflies come out. They are extremely beautiful but dangerous. Alone they pose no threat but together they are almost unstoppable. These tiny little creatures are carnivorous and feed on any living being that they encounter, leaving nothing but bones behind.


    If you encounter them it is extremely hard to escape, they will keep on chasing you until the sun goes up. The Blood Winged Butterflies are creatures of the night, therefore they fear light. So, as long as you had something that could produce light you have a high chance of survival. In addition the butterflies make a loud screeching like sound whenever they are near a living being, making it easier to defend and prepare yourself.


    When I learned of this information I was very impressed and amazed that such beautiful creatures could be so deadly. Most of the information I received from Ennius but the basics I heard from some of the people in Kraposs, mainly travelers.


    After riding for the rest of the day the sun started to set, creating a beautiful sunset that colored the sky in a beautiful red color. I set up for the night, took out some dried meat to eat and sat down to watch the setting sun.


    ¡°What a beautiful view, definitely something that you don¡¯t see everyday¡± I said, captivated by the beauty. I sat there for a bit longer until the sun was completely gone from view and replace by a thick mist.


    ¡°Be careful Atilius, I don¡¯t recommend on sleeping here. I can still watch over you while you sleep but I don¡¯t recommend it. It¡¯s too risky¡± Ennius warned me.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I don¡¯t plan on sleeping. The risk is too great. Plus, I was planning on training since I didn¡¯t have much time to do it in a while with everything that has happened.¡±


    Proceeding with the regular routine I closed my eyes and entered the energy chamber. The energy within the chamber was now a deep yellow color. Looking at the swirling energy I could tell that soon the energy would become a golden color and I could attempt to breakthrough into the next chamber.


    I sat through the night cultivating my energy, purifying it chunk by chunk. When I finally decided to stop it was almost morning. The mist wasn¡¯t as thick anymore, but you still couldn''t see farther than a couple of steps before you. I started to pack my things with the little visibility I had. Since the mist most likely won¡¯t clear up for another hour or two I wasn¡¯t in a rush.


    I finished packing faster than I expected which left me with nothing to do. I sat down and started playing with the grass out of boredom.


    ¡°Ugh, I wish there was something to do around here¡± I exclaimed in frustration. Oh how I wish I never uttered those words. In the distant horizon I heard a screeching noise.


    ¡°Oh please tell me that¡¯s not what I think it is. I¡¯d rather stay bored than deal with this!¡±


    However, it seems like luck wasn¡¯t on my side this time. The screeching got louder and louder with every second. ¡°I have to make a fire or something or I¡¯m going to die here!¡±


    Quickly grabbing my supplies I took out some wooden sticks that I prepared just for this. I threw them down on the grass and put some dry grass and twigs on top. Taking out a piece of flint and steel I started trying to light a fire.


    ¡°Come on, ignite. I don¡¯t wish to die here, especially from butterflies.¡±


    Finally the dry grass ignited and the fire grew, to slow for my liking. The screeching noise was all around me and I could swear I could see red dots everywhere within my field of vision.


    Luckily the fire started to grow and increased in size. The flames blazed brightly, making the butterflies look even more beautiful and deadly. It¡¯s like the butterflies could kill you just alone with their beauty.


    The flock of butterflies surrounded me and the fire, fluttering around me and producing horrible screeching noises. I was seriously going to get a headache from all the noise.


    Anxiously, I walked around the fire not knowing what to do. The fire will eventually run out and there won¡¯t be much that I could do. There was no way I would be able to survive¡­ unless I use the herbs and material that I got from the beast i slew in the forest. Just that one thought sent dread through me. There was no way I was going to use my money as fuel. Everything I¡¯m caring right now was probably around one gold coin! This definitely was something that I can''t use for fuel.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    I walked and walked around the fire lost in my own thoughts, not even realizing that it was getting bigger. When I finally noticed the fire was humongous. The nearby grass had caught fire and the fire started to spread exponentially.


    ¡°Crap! Why didn¡¯t I think about this when I was lighting the fire? In the first place, who the heck light a fire in the middle of a grassfield? Well¡­ I guess I was trying not to die, but still¡­ this will definitely spread.


    I quickly ran up to my horse , took out one of the sticks and put one side into the fire to light it up. When it set on fire I got on the horse and charged forward, waving the torch around to repel the swarming butterflies.


    I rode my horse through the swarming mobs of butterflies, all I could see around me was a field of red. Some butterflies would crash into me, hitting me in the face and everywhere else on my body. The butterflies were trying to escape from the fire to which resulted in me traveling inside the swarm.


    I waved my torch around to shoo them away. I rode through the darkness to who knows where with a raging fire behind me and an endless swarm of butterflies surrounding me wherever I was.


    After what felt like countless hours the sun finally peeked out from the horizon. The bright rays of the morning sun pierced through the mist causing the screeching of the butterflies to get even louder than before. My ears started to ring from the loud noise and it felt like my head was going to split from the loud screeching. If this continues for any longer I will probably go deaf or insane.


    Luckily, the butterflies started to fly away from me and the rays of the sun, most likely looking for somewhere to hide. Now that I think about it¡­ just where do these butterflies come from? There is nothing but grass here. Deciding that there were more important things at hand, like running away from the sea of flames that was behind me. I hit the reigns of my horse, telling it to run faster.


    The horse increased it¡¯s speed, finally gaining some distance from the raging flames behind us. I let out a sigh in relief but didn¡¯t relax quite yet. The horse won¡¯t be able to run at this speed forever, eventually it will tire out and get slower. If I don¡¯t take breaks I can wear the horse out to the death and I can¡¯t afford to do that. Especially when I still have around a week of the trip.


    I decided to run at full speed a little while longer to get a bigger distance from the fire. The horse ran forward at full speed like it¡¯s life depended on it. After a few minutes of running I could see a river running perpendicularly to me. That means that the fire will stop and I won¡¯t feel as much guilt for burning down such a huge area of the plains. A small smile appeared on my face from the thought.


    After getting a few meters closer a huge smile appeared on my face. There was a river running perpendicularly to me! That means that the fire will stop and I won¡¯t feel as much guilt for burning down such a huge area of the plains.


    I slowed down my horse and rode up to the river. Seeing as my horse was kind of tired I decided to let rest up. I looked back from where we came from to see huge columns of smoke rising into the air in the far distance. A sense of guilt washed over me as I watched the smoke rising into the air. Even though I felt guilty there was nothing I could do about it. I turned around and filled up some of my empty water pouches.


    After finishing getting all the water I sat down by the river and looked around. A bit farther down the river there were some weird creatures. The creatures before me looked like¡­ a cow? It had the same body type of a cow, however instead of having two horns it had two thick big ones like a rams on the side and one pointed one in the middle like a unicorn.


    Is this a cross-breed between a unicorn and a cow or something? I felt shivers run down my spine form just imagining how that would work. ¡°I really hope that¡¯s just a weird breed of a cow¡± I voiced out my thoughts in a whisper.


    I observed the weird cows. The cows just simply grazed the grass by the river, not caring even a bit that I was here. I sighed, must be nice to not having to worry about anything but eating, sleeping and reproducing. Such a simple life, yet at the same time it looks so boring.


    Even though it was an easy one I wouldn¡¯t want one like it. It just feels like you are living out your days with nothing to do. That just didn¡¯t feel right to me. I had a feeling that there was more to life than just those three simple things.


    Relaxing for a bit more and observing the weird cows I decided that it was time to head out.


    One week had past from the day of the great fire that I created in the plains. I could see the smoke in the distance for almost the whole time that I was travelling through the plains. Only after I exited the plains and entered the main road towards Prares that I could no longer see the smoke.


    Finally, today I had reached the capital. The city was enormous and beautiful. The stood high and mighty, towering around the city. Looking in either direction you couldn¡¯t see the end of them.


    The inside of the city was even more astonishing, hundreds of people swarmed the streets. Merchants and shop owners advertised their goods, fighting over the customers. I walked the streets of the city admiring everything I saw while trying to find a inn that wasn¡¯t overpriced yet in a good enough condition to spend a night.


    Eventually, I managed to find a inn that wasn¡¯t to pricy and not to run down. It was called Black Rabbit. The price for one night was two silver coins and one silver coin for the horse, which was surprisingly not as expensive as I thought it would be, but it was still not a cheap price given my current savings.


    Paying for a week worth of stay I recieved my room key and headed upstairs to find my room. I found my room pretty easily and opened the door. The room was rather simple. There was a bed in one corner with a small cabinet and a desk in the other. I put my bags on the ground by the desk and looked around to find the bedsheets.


    I found the bed sheets inside one of the cabinet drawers and took them out. They looked a bit old and kind of run out which wasn¡¯t really surprising given the inn¡¯s conditions. I set up my bed and went downstairs to get a proper meal. Eating dried meat the whole time made me kind of sick of it so I wanted to eat a proper meal for once.


    After eating my meal I asked the innkeeper where I could find the mercenary guild, grabbed the items i wanted to sell and headed off to find it. On the way there I got lost a few times and had to ask for directions but finally I was standing in front of a huge building.


    The building was made out of stone and was three stories high. Their entrance doors were twice the normal size Above the doors hang a big sign that read Mercenary Guild in big red letters.


    Admiring the building I prepared myself mentally before walking in. Inside the mercenary building there were people everywhere. Some were sitting and eating with their friends, some were standing by what looked like a mission board, and the rest were walking somewhere or talking to one of the people behind the counter.


    There were five people behind the counter. I walked up to a women that was behind the counter , ¡°Hi, I¡¯d like to register for the Mercenary Guild.¡±


    The women that was sitting behind the counter looked me over before speaking, ¡°How old are you?¡± I frowned slightly when she asked me my age..


    ¡°I¡¯m thirteen. Is there an age requirement to join?¡± I asked a bit nervously. On the way to Prares it was my birthday and I finally turned thirteen but I wasn¡¯t sure if there was an age requirement.


    The women looked at me strangely, ¡°there isn¡¯t really an age requirement, but don¡¯t you think that you are a bit young? Can you even hold a sword?¡± she asked me suspiciously and with a hint of mockery.


    I glared at her, ¡°look I don¡¯t want to be rude or anything, but didn¡¯t anyone ever tell you to not judge someone by how the look?¡±


    The women frowned before flashing me a cold and fake smile. I must of had pissed her off. ¡°You¡¯re right, I¡¯m sorry. If you wish to sign up the registration fee is twenty silver coins.¡±


    I took out twenty silver pieces and handed them to her. She took them and gave me a wooden badge with a crescent symbol on it.


    ¡°This is your identification for the guild. Try not to lose it because you will have to pay a fee to receive a new one. your current rank within the guild is the lowest and you can only take certain missions. The better your rank is the more mission are available to your choosing. To rank up you need to earn a certain amount of points which you can earn by completing missions. Do you have any questions?¡±


    ¡°Not really, I just want to know where you can buy and sell items.¡±


    ¡°That will be on the second floor, the stairs are on the far right¡± I thanked her and walked away. I already disliked her. She didn¡¯t know anything about me and dared to mock me and judge me. Then, when I tell her that it¡¯s rude to judge people she starts to hate me. Just how stuck up is she?¡±


    I looked around for the stairs in the direction that she told me but there was nothing but a wall. ¡°Asshole,¡± I cursed in my mind. I asked one of the people nearby where the stairs were and guess what? They were on the freaking other side of the room! Now I definitely hated that women.


    After locating the stairs I went up. The second floor wasn¡¯t that different except there were two counters. One for selling items and the other for buying. I walked up to the selling counter and put my items on top, which consisted of a few herbs, some of the spider parts and a few animal hides that I gained on the way from encounters with some of the beasts.


    The person examined the items, took them and handed me thirty silver coins. I looked at the money, I honestly expected to earn more, but for something so easy I guess it makes sense. Hurriedly I took the money and walked up to the buying counter to see what kind of items there were.


    Unlike the selling counter which was very similar to the registration counter, the buying counter had items laid out on it. There were a few weapons, some here''s, a few liquids, armor and some other items. I looked around, but didn¡¯t find anything I wanted and decided that it was about time to head back.


    I walked back down stairs and out of the Mercenary building. When I arrived back at the inn I ate a quick meal and went back up to my room, before falling asleep as soon as I laid down.

 Chapter 11: The Academy

    Chapter 11: The Academy


    The next morning I got a little earlier than usual because I had a few things I wanted to do and I honestly was a bit excited for the upcoming day. After all, today I was going to go get my first request from the mercenary guild. I quickly ate my breakfast and went out into the city to look around a bit more and to find where the academy was and when the last day to sign up was.


    Since it was still early in the morning merchants and shop owners were setting up their stalls or opening up their stores, getting ready to sell their merchandise. I was walking from one street to the next until I realized I had no idea where the academy was.


    I looked around to find someone to ask for directions and spotted a girl around my age. She was wearing a grey cloak and had sandy blond hair that curled a bit towards the edges.On her back was¡­was that a pitchfork on her back? I was really confused. Since when did people carry pitchforks on their backs? I probably stood there for a good minute or two before the girl turned her head and met my eyes.


    We just stood there looking at each other for a few seconds before she started walking up to me. I was surprised, I didn¡¯t think that she would look in my direction, and then even decide to walk up to me. I wonder what she wants?


    ¡°Why were you standing there staring at me like I¡¯m some sort of rare creature?¡± She asked flat out with a bit of an intimidating voice.


    I smiled at her politely, ¡°sorry about that. I was just looking for someone to ask for directions when I noticed a pitchfork on your back and was wondering why you were carrying it around.¡±


    I looked at her, trying to figure out if she got offended and whether I was about to get punched in the face o not. What happened next definitely didn¡¯t cross my mind. The girl chuckled.


    ¡°It¡¯s not a pitchfork. This type of weapon is called a trident. It is similar to a spear but as you can see it had three points at the end instead of one.¡±


    ¡°Oh I see, I had never seen a weapon like that before.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s fine, I get these misunderstandings quite often. So, I¡¯m quite used to it,¡± she replied casually, showing that she wasn¡¯t bothered by it at all.


    ¡°Although, it can get really annoying sometimes.¡± I laughed, ¡°I can see that.¡±


    ¡°So, where are you going? I might know where it is.¡± She asked me with a calm voice like the previous events didn¡¯t even occur.


    ¡°I¡¯m looking for the Academy for the Gifted.¡±


    ¡°Really? I¡¯m on my way there right now. I will be starting this year and since you don¡¯t know where it is you must be new as well¡± happily the girl before me came to a conclusion.


    To be honest I was surprised. I didn¡¯t think that I would encounter someone around my age, who was a gifted, and to top it off she was most likely going to be my classmate. It was like fate or something, because in my eyes this was way to coincidental and the chances of something like this happening were really low.


    ¡°Do you want to come with me? I know where it is,¡± she asked me a bit more hopefully then she most likely intended to.


    I thought about it for a few seconds and decided that it was a good idea. It will be good to make a friend here in the capital, especially that I will be staying here for some time unlike with Kraposs.


    ¡°Sure, I¡¯d like that¡± I answered her with a friendly smile.


    She smiled happily back at me, ¡°Great! Oh, and by the way I¡¯m Vivian. Nice to meet you.¡±


    ¡°Nice to meet you too, I¡¯m Attilius. I hope that we can become great friends.¡± She smiled back at me, ¡°We¡¯ll see about that¡± she replied back with a smirk on her face.


    After we introduced ourselves I followed her to the academy. When we arrived I was impressed at how big the academy was. I had no idea how I didn¡¯t manage to find it in the first place. The academy was surrounded by a metal fence that had to guards by the entrance. From what I could see the academy grounds were really large and had multiple buildings. All the buildings were big and made out of stone. If I didn¡¯t know any better I would say that the academy looked like some sort of castle grounds rather than a school for the gifted.


    Vivian and I walked up to the entrance and stopped in front of the guards. ¡°Hi, we were planning to enroll into the academy this year and were hoping to learn some information about it¡± I told one of the guards.


    The guards looked at each other before the guard I spoke to replied. ¡°Alright, follow me I¡¯ll take you to the principal.¡±


    Vivian and I followed the guard through the front gate and through the academy grounds. Walking through the place itself made me realize just how much bigger the place was then it actually looked. Each building had it¡¯s own name and from what I assumed specialized in different fields of study.


    Eventually we stopped in front of a grand building that was slightly bigger than the ones we saw before. The building was two stories tall but was still relatively big in size. Above the door hung a sign that said ¡°Grand Hall.¡±


    ¡°This is it. The principal¡¯s room is on the second floor, it shouldn¡¯t be hard to find. I would take you to the principal personally but I can¡¯t leave my post for too long. I don¡¯t want any trouble later on¡± The guard explained to us.


    We thanked the guard for showing us the way and entered the building. The first floor was divided into two sections. On the right there were many chairs, tables, and couches. While on the other side there was a counter with a person sitting behind it. Next to the counter there was an information board similar to the one in the Mercenary Guild.


    ¡°That must be the request board,¡± I said to myself quietly but Vivian managed to hear me say something. ¡°What were you saying?¡± she asked, thinking that I was talking to her.


    ¡°Oh, I was just saying that the board over there looks similar to the one in the Mercenary Guild which gives job request. So, I was thinking that there are job requests on that board.¡±


    ¡°I see¡­ Wait you¡¯re in the Mercenary Guild? Why did you sign up? I never knew they allowed people our age to even sign up in the first place.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I signed up yesterday because I need to earn some money for the academy fees and other necessities. I don¡¯t think there is an age requirement to sign up but the lady that signed me up yesterday was rude to me because I told her not to judge people based on age.


    You know what she did after I asked her where I could sell some items? She freaking sent me the opposite way!¡± I raised my voice towards the end, remembering just how much she had pissed me off.


    ¡°Wow, that¡¯s a bitch move,¡± said Vivian after hearing what happened.


    ¡°So, did you take a job request yet?¡± she asked me.


    ¡°No, I planned on doing that after going to the academy¡± I told her.


    ¡°Oh, do you mind if I join you? I¡¯m kind of short on money and i was wondering where I could earn some.¡±


    I thought it over before replying, ¡°Sure, this way we can take a request a bit harder and earn money faster.¡±


    ¡°Thanks, show me how to sign up later.¡±


    ¡°Alright.¡± After making some plans for later we went up to the second floor to the find the principal¡¯s room. After entering the second floor we found the principal room within seconds. The door was extremely easy to spot because of the golden sign on the door that said ¡°Principal.¡±


    ¡°You ready?¡± I asked Vivian, feeling a bit nervous.


    ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s go in.¡±


    I knocked on the door and waited for a response. ¡°Come on in¡± I heard a female voice answer behind the door. Glancing at Vivian one last time I opened the door and went in, followed by Vivian. Inside the room there was a simple desk with two chairs in front of it and a bookshelf on the right side of the room, along with a few wall decorations on the other walls.


    Behind the desk sat a woman that looked like she was around in her mid thirties. She had dirt brown hair and hazel colored eyes that I thought went really well with her hair. Her skin was slightly tan which added even more to her charm.


    ¡°Have a seat you two, don¡¯t be shy.¡± The principal spoke with a soft and alluring voice that made me feel at ease. I wonder how she did that? Was this her ability or did she learn how to do this herself?


    I sat down on one of the chairs, thinking about whether the voice thing was the principal''s ability or not. In the corner of my eye i could see Vivian sit down in the chair next to mine. I stopped my train of thoughts and focused my full attention on the principal.


    ¡°I¡¯m the principal of this school as you can see. Now, what did the two of you want to come here to see me personally?¡± she asked us with a hint of curiosity in her voice.


    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    ¡°We were planning to enroll here this year and just wanted to know more information about the fees and the enrollment process,¡± I told her straight out.


    ¡°Oh, I see. Well, it¡¯s really simple to enroll at this school. All you need to do is sign some papers and register as one of he students. Then you pay an entrance fee, which is a one time thing and after that you just have to pay a yearly fee because all of our students live on campus. You also need to show some proof that you are gifted.¡± The principal explained with a bit of a happy tone. Must be because she was about to get two more students two joint the academy I assumed.


    ¡°Will showing our abilities count as proof?¡± I asked her since I had no idea how else to prove it.


    ¡°Of course, that is the most efficient and easiest way.¡± I nodded before turning my right arm into a wolf arm. The principal and Vivian looked at me surprised.


    ¡°That¡¯s a really rare ability, not many can shapeshift, especially parts of their body at such a young age. You have some amazing talent young man,¡± the principal praised me.


    ¡°Can I have some water to show my powers?¡± asked Vivian.


    The principal nodded and stood up, ¡°Wait right here, I¡¯ll be right back.¡±


    The principal left the room leaving the two of us all alone. ¡°Your powers are really cool. Are you a wolf or something?¡± she asked me, full of curiosity.


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m a wolf. If you want I can show you some time.¡±


    ¡°Really?!¡± she almost cried out from excitement, which caused me to chuckle.


    ¡°Yeah. What¡¯s your ability by the way?¡±


    ¡°Oh, mine isn¡¯t as impressive, and it has it¡¯s drawbacks. My ability allows me to control water.¡±


    ¡°Wow, that¡¯s cool. Sounds really impressive. Now, I really want to see it,¡± I told her. To be honest I found her ability really cool. To be able to control water was awesome. I wonder if I would be able to get an ability like that one day?


    At that moment the principal walked back in, ¡°Sorry about the wait, here is some water.¡± The principle set down a cup of water in front of Vivian and sat down.


    Vivian looked at the cup of water and raised her hands. As she lifted her hands the water in the cup floated up and formed into an orb. She moved the water around creating different types of objects and shapes.


    ¡°You guys are to diamonds in the rough. To think two students will be joining the school with such extraordinary talents. Now that I know you are gifted and not just here to waste my time like some other people let''s continue. So, what would you like to know?¡±


    ¡°How much are the yearly fees and the entrance fee?¡± I asked her flat out, not to waste any time.


    ¡°Well, the entrance fee is one gold coin, while the yearly fees depend on what kind of place you will be staying in. If you are staying in a regular dorm in will be one gold coin a year. If you want a room to yourself then that would be two gold coins. Now if you want your own house, that is quite pricey and also depends on the house. I believe the cheapest that we currently have is around ten gold coins a year.¡±


    I gulped at the amount of money the cheapest house costed to stay in. I barely made one gold a year back in Kraposs, yet the cheapest house here was ten years worth of savings. It would take some time before I could even think about getting one of the houses.


    ¡°I see, then I have one more question. The yearly fee, do you pay that in the beginning of the year or at the end?¡±


    ¡°All fees are paid in the beginning of the year unless you are unable to afford it. If that is the case we give you an extension to pay the fee. However, we also put an interest with the extension. So if you take too long to pay if the fee the price will just keep on rising.¡±


    I thought over everything before speaking again, ¡°Alright I understand how the system works now. Where can I get the enrollment papers?¡±


    ¡°Oh, if you want to we can fill out the enrollment forms right here. I should still have a few here.¡± She opened one of her drawers and looked through some papers before taking out two pieces of paper and handing hem to the both of us.


    I looked down at the paper in front of me and scanned through it. It had a few questions on it, asked some information about your family and stated a few terms.


    She handed us both a quill and some ink and we began to fill out the papers. I answered the questions the best i could and left most of the family ones blank because I no longer had any living relatives. Reading through all the family questions and information I was supposed to fill out made my eyes a bit watery, but I held back my tears. I didn¡¯t want to cry in front of Vivian and the principal.


    I read through the terms that the form stated, which were mostly stating things that were allowed and what wasn¡¯t and the concsecounses that would follow. After I finished reading through the list of terms I signed the bottom of the paper and handed it back to the principal. She took it and started to look over it.


    I watched eyes reading the paper, until they stopped and looked at me. ¡°Why did you leave most of the family information and questions blank?¡± she asked me confused.


    ¡°My parents are dead, so I saw no point of writing down information about people who are no longer a part of this world.¡± I replied back without any sign of emotion. She looked at me sadly before speaking again.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry to hear that¡± said the principle with a slightly sad voice.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine, you didn¡¯t know, so you have nothing to worry about.¡±


    ¡°Alright then, that will be everything with the registration. You can pay your fees anytime before the first week of the school year ends. Oh, and don¡¯t forget to sign up for your classes. Just go down to the first floor to get your class forms, that¡¯s also where you pay your fees and select where you want to stay. It was nice meeting you all, I will see you all in three weeks when the school year starts.¡±


    We said our goodbyes, thanked her and left the room. Vivian let out a sigh, ¡°That was so nerve wrecking, I was nervous for no reason.¡±


    I looked at her if she was being serious, which apparently she was. ¡°I did all the talking and you just sat there the whole time, and you¡¯re telling me that you were nervous? If anyone should be nervous it should be me.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, yeah, let''s get going I¡¯m getting hungry and we still have to go to the Mercenary Guild remember?¡±


    ¡°Alright, let''s get this over with. I¡¯m getting slightly hungry too.¡±


    As we were walking down the stairs I hear Vivan say something quietly, ¡°What was that?¡± I asked her.


    ¡°I said, I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    ¡°For, what?¡± I asked her, not understanding why she was apologizing. She didn¡¯t do anything that should she needed to apologize for.


    ¡°That you lost your parents, I can¡¯t even imagine how that must feel like since both of mine are still alive.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s alright, you don¡¯t need to apologize. Just cherish all the times you spend together before it¡¯s too late. You never know when someone near you might die. Anyways, lets not talk about all this depressing stuff and go sign up for our classes and get our dorms.¡±


    Vivian just nodded and we went to the counter that was downstairs. Behind a counter sat an elderly man with white hair, reading a book.


    ¡°Hi, we would like to get our dorms and sign up for classes.¡± I told the man who was still reading. The man put down his book and grabbed five papers. He handed us two papers each and put the other one in front of us.


    ¡°Fill those two papers out, one is for your classes and the other for your dorms. This one is a list of all the available classes that you can take. There is one class that everyone is required to take, but you don¡¯t have to worry about that since it¡¯s already written down on your class sheet.¡± I looked down on my paper to find one of the sections filled out.


    Energy Training


    Huh, I wonder what they teach in that class? Do they teach you how to refine your energy? Or is there more to it? I looked at the list of classes that I had available. I could only take up to four classes each year so I only had three more spots to fill.


    There were many classes and some I had no clue what they were even about, even the descriptions didn¡¯t help. The two that I definetly decided on were Beastiology and Herbology. The Beastiology class was extremly useful to me because of my powers. The Herbology class I took to know more about herbs and plants so that I could earn money easier on the side. Also it would help me identify rare herbs and I would know how to use them. Who knows, maybe it will even save my life one day.


    However, the last class I had no idea what to do with. I was stuck between Self-Defense and Blacksmithing. Blacksmithing was useful in repairing weapons and armor. Plus if I had good materials I could make my own equipment later on which would save me some money. However, Self-Defense would increase my fighting ability and increase my chances of survival.


    After thinking it over I decided to go with Self-Defense because I could learn blacksmithing skills later and I already had some basic knowledge of it. My life was more important at the moment, if I lose my life everything is over. I wrote down my last class and started to fill out the next form which basically asked me where I wanted to live and I had to sign at the bottom to show that I was agreeing to pay the fees and that if I ask for an extension there will be additional charges.


    Finally, I finished all my paperwork and turned to Vivian to see if she was almost done. Luckily she finished within a few seconds after me and handed the papers to the man. The man took her papers and in return gave us each a key with a number on it along with a badge.


    ¡°Here are your keys to your rooms. The number and letter on your key tell you where your dorm is. So, since you have A-211 your room is 211 in building A,¡± said the man after looking at my number.


    ¡°The badges are your identifications within the academy, each student has one. Try not to lose it because it¡¯s a real hassle to replace one.¡±


    We thanked him and left the building, headed towards the Mercenary Guild. ¡°What classes did you take?¡± asked me Vivian on our way towards the Mercenary Guild.


    ¡°I took Beastiology, Herbology and Self-Defense. What about you?¡±


    ¡°Ability Training, Beastiology, and Self-Defense.¡±


    ¡°Oh, we will have most of our classes together. Why did you decide to take Beastiology though?¡± I asked since I didn¡¯t know why she would need it exactly since she wasn¡¯t in my situation.


    ¡°I think it will be helpful in the future when I fight against different kinds of creatures. Knowing your enemy''s weakness will save your life one day.¡±


    ¡°Smart reasoning, most people would prioritise learning how to fight rather than broadening their knowledge.¡± She blushed slightly at the compliment, which I found kind of cute.


    After we had some food to eat and Vivan registered for the Mercenary Guild we went to the request board to look for a job to take. ¡°What kind of request do you want to do?¡± I asked her. From my view I would prefer to take some sort of hunting request to improve my combat abilities, but since I was doing this request together with her I needed to take her opinion into consideration as well.


    ¡°I want to fight something, is there any request that we can do that will require that? We can sell the skins and stuff too right? That way we can earn more money.¡±


    I grinned, ¡°you and me might get along better than I originally thought.¡± Vivian grinned back at me and we went to the counter to receive the job.


    ¡°So, what are we hunting exactly?¡± asked Vivian.


    ¡°Yellow Boars,¡± I told her as I looked over the job specifications. ¡°We have to kill 15 boars and bring back some sort of proof back to receive the reward.¡±


    ¡°Oh, how much is the reward?¡± asked Vivian happily.


    ¡°Five silver pieces¡± I replied back a bit gloomily. Since the both of us were doing the request we would both get two silver pieces and fifty copper, plus half of the materials each.


    ¡°That¡¯s not that much, I guess you can¡¯t earn a lot early on. So when are we going to go hunting?¡± asked me Vivan as we exited out of the Guild.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go tomorrow at sunrise, pack some supplies with you just in case and let¡¯s meet here, in front of the Guild.¡±


    ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll see you tomorrow.¡± With that we said our goodbyes for the day and went our separate ways.


    ¡°You should use the Weeping Glory today or given a few more days and it will start losing its effect. It probably isn¡¯t as effective already since some time has passed, but it should still be useful,¡± Ennius spoke in my head with a bit of a pissed of tone.


    ¡°Oh, hey Ennius,¡± I replied back.


    ¡°Oh, hey Ennius? That''s all you have to say after barely speaking to me and Leidolf for the past two weeks?¡± said Ennius a bit angrily.


    ¡°Sorry, I didn¡¯t mean to ignore you or anything, I just kind of forgot,¡± I apologized. Honestly, I kind of did forget they were in my head since most of the time they don¡¯t really talk to me that much. Plus, with all the recent events my mind wasn¡¯t really occupied with who lives in my head.


    ¡°How¡­? Ughh, never mind. Anyways use the flower tonight, I¡¯ll tell you what to do when you return back to your inn.


    ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll hurry up back then.¡± I increased my pace a bit and soon reached the inn. I went to my room right away, locked the door and prepared what Ennius told me I required.


    In front of me I had some hot water, that I had to go ask the innkeeper to give me, the flower, a bowl, and a rock. I need a mortar and a pestle but I didn¡¯t really have any on me so I had to use a wooden bowl and a rock.


    ¡°Now, take the petals of the flower and crush them until they are like paste. Then add the hot water into the bowl and drink the mixture.¡±


    I did as Ennius told me. I crushed the petals using the stone which took a few minutes, then added the hot water which wasn¡¯t as hot as before, allowing me to drink it right away.


    ¡°Refine your energy now, the refining process should be faster now, but it won¡¯t last forever. The effects of the flower will run out after some time so use it for your advantage right now. Just remember one thing, make sure that your energy level and understanding are balanced,¡± Ennius gave me a warning.


    I closed my eyes and entered the energy chamber and began to refine the energy. The speed was way faster than my original speed that it was almost twice the speed of the original. I sat there refining the energy while trying to understand how it worked.


    I watched the energy swirling in the pool, glowing in a brilliant golden color. It was quite a beautiful sight to behold. The energy would flow just like water, ripples formed when i put back the energy that I was refining, sending small waves throughout the pool, just like water.


    Wait, water¡­ That''s it! I understand it now. Energy is almost exactly like water. I understand why having the energy flow through more chambers increase my power. It¡¯s just like how when there is water life will blossom near it. So, with energy it is similar, the more chambers it passes through the more power it can give to my body, thus increasing my overall ability.


    So, to break through the next chamber I¡¯ll have to make the energy gush through the sealed entrance to break through. Excitedly, I stopped refining the energy and concentrated on the the flow of it instead. I imagined how it feels like when ripples are formed and tiny waves are formed. Slowly, I felt as if I were becoming energy itself.


    I turned my eyes towards the chamber and willed the energy to gush forwards. A torrent of water shot out of the pool, ramming into the sealed entrance. Small cracks appeared on the entrance.


    ¡°More, I need to hit it a few more times!¡± I exclaimed happily when I saw that it had worked. Turret after turret i rammed the into the sealed entrance until it the entrance exploded and the energy gushed through, filling up the dry channel.


    I let out a sigh of relief that I finally did it and decided to check out the new chamber. The new chamber was basically the same thing as the first except there was more room then in the first. I looked down at the energy and it looked just like the energy in the first chamber had before I started refining it. I sat down by the pool of energy and started refining all over again, not wanting to waste the effects of the flower.

 Chapter 12: The Hunt

    Chapter 12: The Hunt


    I stood in front of the Mercenary Guild, waiting for Vivian to arrive. After I made a breakthrough last night I spent most of the night refining the energy, not wanting to waste even a bit of the flowers effects. Now, that I had opened up my second chamber I could feel my energy increase by a great amount and that it was more solid than before.


    My understanding had also increased which improved my utilization of energy. From what I could tell the amount of energy required had decreased by a slight margin, but I still didn¡¯t know know how much exactly because I had yet to test it out.


    The one thing that I was very excited to try out though was my partial transformation ability. Before it consumed way too much energy and I could barely hold it for a minute or two, since the ability requires more concentration to transform certain parts of your body then just the whole. Now that I understood energy more clearly I will have better control than before, which should increase the amount of time I can hold the transformation. Plus, I have more energy now, so I have a larger supply to draw from.


    ¡°Atilius!¡± I heard a shout in the distance. I turned my head towards the voice to see Vivan jogging towards me, waving her hand. She jogged up to me and stopped to catch her breath.


    ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m a bit late. I¡¯m not used to waking up so early so I slept in a bit!¡± apologized Vivan.


    I smiled in response, ¡°It¡¯s alright. Plus, I said we will meet at sunrise, and it¡¯s still sunrise so technically you¡¯re not late at all.¡± She smiled happily at me and seemed to be looking over my attire.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t know that you used a scythe. Do you use a sword and a scythe?¡± She asked me curiously and a bit surprised as she indicated at the scythe on my back and the short sword on the side.


    ¡°Yeah, I use a scythe as my main weapon and the sword was given to me as a gift when I left the city. The sword is easier to use at close range, while the scythe is more useful for long range.¡±


    Vivian listened closely as I explained. ¡°I see, I¡¯m really looking forward to seeing you fight. Let¡¯s get going shall we?¡± With that she started walking towards the city gates.


    ¡°Do you have any strategies or ideas on how we should face the boars?¡± asked me Vivian.


    ¡°Hmm, we should probably have one person distract them, while the other person gets the boar from behind while it is distracted.¡± I suggested


    Vivian thought for a moment before answering. ¡°So, who would be distracting the boars? I definitely don¡¯t want to get chased by boars the whole time.¡± Vivian said and looked at me, like she was trying to tell me that I will end up doing the boring and tedious work.


    ¡°How about we switch off? I will take the role of distracting them for a while and then you take over. That way one person won¡¯t have to be constantly chased,¡± I suggested.


    ¡°Alright, I¡¯m fine with that¡± replied Vivian. After deciding how we were going to hunt the boars we just talked about random things, which mostly were related to school. We were both excited to start our school life and gain all kinds of different experiences.


    Personally, I was looking forward to the Beastiology class. Just thinking about all the different kinds of creatures there are in the world made my imagination run wild. Especially when you have the power to gain some sort of ability from them. It¡¯s like you have limitless opportunities in this world. That even if you miss one two more will appear.


    Finally, we reached the city gates and I stopped to make sure that we had everything before leaving. ¡°Did you get some food and some items to spend the night if we don¡¯t make it back in time?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah, I got enough food for two days and brought a blanket just in case,¡± I nodded in response. ¡°Good, that should be enough.¡± I rechecked my stuff and we headed off to the outskirts of a small forest that was near the plains that I came from.


    ¡°Oh, gather herbs if you see any. We can sell them later to earn some more money, unless you need some of them.¡± Vivian just nodded and we kept on walking.


    After a while we reached the outskirts and began looking for the boars. ¡°Do you know in what kinds of areas these boars stay?¡± Vivian asked me.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, I never encountered these boars, but they probably shouldn¡¯t be too deep within the forest. They will most likely be near the plains because it is an easy source of food for them. Let¡¯s look around the outskirts and if anything we will go look deeper in the forest.¡±


    Vivian nodded and we started walking along the outskirts of the forest, looking for any signs of the boars. We found some footprints on the ground but they weren¡¯t fresh and wouldn¡¯t really help us. After spending some more times looking for any traces of the boars we ended up empty handed.


    ¡°Ughh, where are they? We have been looking for these stupid animals for hours! Yet we haven¡¯t seen even one of them so far. Do you think someone else hunted them here before us?¡± Vivian asked me, clearly pssied off.


    ¡°Let¡¯s stop and eat and then we can go check out the forest, maybe we can find some there¡± I proposed. I was kind of getting hungry and I didn¡¯t want to deal with a pissed off Vivian, so I decided to suggest a break.


    We found a suitable spot to rest and took out some of the food that we brought with us. Mine mostly consisted of dried meat and some bread, while Vivan had a bit more of a fancy meal than me. She managed to get some cheese on top of what I had.


    ¡°Where did you get the cheese and for how much?¡± I asked her, thinking that if it¡¯s not to expensive I might get some as well.


    ¡°One of the stores near my inn sell some. They sell it at eight copper coins for a piece that''s the size of your fist.¡±


    ¡°Oh, I see maybe I¡¯ll get some in the future.¡± I sighed mentally. The prices in the capital were no joke. To think that a piece of cheese would cost so much.


    ¡°So, do you want to get going?¡± I asked her after we finished eating and rested for a bit.


    ¡°Sure, let¡¯s hurry up and find these boars already. I¡¯m getting tired from looking for them most of the day.¡±


    We packed up our stuff and headed into the forest. The trees were pretty far apart, giving us lots of fighting space for when the time comes. We continued walking through the spacious forest, observing every detail, looking for some sort of tracks that the boars could of have left.


    ¡°Hey, I think I found something¡± I told Vivian as I knelt down and observed my find. On the ground, slightly buried by the leaves were some fresh footprints that looked like they belonged to a boar.


    ¡°Do you think a Yellow Boar left these?¡± Vivian asked me as she came up to see what I found. ¡°I¡¯m not sure, but they seem similar. I think we should check it out. So far this is the best lead we have all day.¡±


    We cleared the leaves that covered the tracks and began to follow them. It didn¡¯t take us long until we saw something yellow in the distance, eating something by one of the trees.


    ¡°Is that it?¡± asked Vivian excitedly.


    ¡°I think so. It¡¯s yellow and looks like a boar so it is most likely what we are looking for.¡±


    ¡°So, who will go distract it?¡± asked Vivian, her eyes shining as she looked at me. I smiled, and lightly chuckled at how easy you could read her.


    ¡°I¡¯ll take the first one I guess. Have to show you how it¡¯s done, don¡¯t I?¡± I told her with a smirk playing on my lips. She just looked at me before laughing, ¡°you¡¯re a few years too young to tell me how to do things¡± replied Vivian.


    I slightly frowned, ¡°how old are you?¡± I asked, just realizing that I still didn¡¯t know her age. I could tell that she was around my age but couldn¡¯t grasp exactly how old she was.


    ¡°Now, now, hasn¡¯t anyone ever tell you not to ask a woman¡¯s age?¡±


    I laughed, ¡°I don¡¯t see a woman here.¡± I told her, grinning like an idiot. She looked at me, probably not believing I just said that.


    If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    ¡°Take that back!¡± she exclaimed and hit me playfully.


    ¡°Nope, I¡¯m not taking it back no matter what you say.¡±


    ¡°Ughh, I¡¯ll get you back for this, just you wait. I¡¯ll strike when you least expect it¡± she tried to threaten me, but I just smiled and couldn¡¯t help but think how cute she looked right now, waving her fist around and threatening me.


    ¡°So, how old are you?¡± I asked her again, since I didn¡¯t get a proper answer.


    ¡°What makes you think I¡¯ll tell you?¡± she asked me like she had the advantage here.


    I just smiled evilly, ¡°well, lets see. How about I just call you little girl from now on then. Sound good to you?¡±


    She just looked at me, her mouth wide open. ¡°Oh no you didn¡¯t. You will not call me that!¡±


    ¡°Nope, little girls have to listen to their elders,¡± I teased her.


    ¡°Ughh, I¡¯m fifteen so stop treating me like a kid and calling me a little girl!¡± I just laughed as she raged out and tried to get an upper hand.


    ¡°For someone your age you sure act you¡¯re younger than me. I guess it¡¯s true that actions speak louder than words.¡±


    ¡°Ughh, you¡¯re unbelievable. I¡¯m done with you, let¡¯s just go kill the boar already.¡± I laughed as I followed her towards the location of the boar.


    As we approached closer, I calmed myself down and focused myself to the task at hand. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll distract it and you go around and then when you see an opening attack it.¡±


    Vivian nodded and started walking towards the right and around the boar. I looked at the boar and smiled. ¡°It¡¯s just you and me, let¡¯s show her how it¡¯s done.¡± I found a small rock nearby and threw it at the boar as hard as I could.


    The rock struck the back of the boar, causing it to whine and turn around in anger. ¡°Crap, that might of had made it too angry.¡± I said at loud, cursing my actions. The boar spotted me, got into a charging stance and darted towards me.


    I quickly got out my scythe and got into a guard stance, ready to engage the boar. The boar got closer and closer with every second and I could hear my heart beating loudly inside my chest. I focused my attention on the boar, not letting it out of my sight.


    As the boar neared me, I jumped to the side, my scythe trailing behind me. I barely by passed the boar, leaving a light scratch with my scythe on it¡¯s side, causing it to whine in pain and get more angry. The boar turned around and charged at me again, this time even more aggressively.


    I got into a defensive stance again to be ready to engage the overly aggressive boar. This time as the boar got near me I jumped up in the air and over the boar. Quickly turning around I sliced at the boar''s feet with my scythe, cutting them off cleanly and causing the boar to crush into the ground.


    Vivian darted out from a nearby spot up to the boar and stabbed it in the neck with the trident, ending it¡¯s life. ¡°You took all the fun. It feels like I just killed a harmless sheep,¡± pouted Vivian as she finished off the boar.


    ¡°You took too long,¡± I told her and started to skin the boar. After we skinned the boar, and took everything that we could use before looking for another boar to kill.


    After killing that one boar we managed only to find only a few more before it started getting late and we decided to camp out in the forest because we wondered off a bit too far and most likely wouldn¡¯t make it back in time before the city gates close.


    We found a suitable spot and started to set up our camp. I setup my bedroll and started looking for some sticks that we could use to start a fire. Finally, after some time Vivian and I managed to gather enough sticks to keep the fire going through the night.


    ¡°Do you want to cook some of the boar meat we got today?¡± I asked Vivian after we finished setting everything up and had a nice fire going.


    ¡°Sure, sounds good¡± replied Vivian as she continued gazing at the fire.


    ¡°Alright then, I guess we¡¯ll try some boar tonight.¡± I got up and went to get some boar meat from one of my packs. I took a few chunks of meat and went back to the fire. Taking a few of the sticks from the fire I put the meat on them and placed the over the fire to roast them.


    ¡°The fire is pretty, don¡¯t you think?¡± Vivian asked me suddenly.


    ¡°Yeah it¡¯s beautiful, but at the same time quite dangerous.¡± I replied back, remembering the time I set the plains on fire.


    ¡°True, there is always a different side to everything.¡± We continued talking through while waiting for the food to cook, learning more about each other and finding out that we had more in common the we originally thought.


    ¡°I think the meat is ready to eat now,¡± I told Vivian after checking the meat one last time.


    ¡°Oh finally, I was afraid that my stomach would eat me if I wouldn¡¯t eat something soon.¡± I laughed and handed her a piece, which she bit into right away, causing her to almost spit out the meat because it was kind of hot.


    I waited a bit for my meat to cool off before biting into it. I let a slight moan at how good it was. I could feel the deep flavor washing over my taste buds, causing me to want more. I tried to eat my meat as slowly as I could to make it last but ended up eating it faster than I thought I would.


    ¡°We should have cooked some more¡± I told her after we finished eating.


    ¡°Yeah, I could probably eat the whole boar myself.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ll get fat¡± I told her in a joking matter.


    ¡°I¡¯ll just go fight something to get back in shape if needed,¡± replied Vivian like this wasn¡¯t even a problem to her.


    ¡°Well, we should probably get some sleep so we can finish earlier tomorrow. Do you want the first watch or the second?¡± I asked her.


    ¡°Hmmm, I think I¡¯ll take the first watch.¡±


    ¡°Okay, wake me when it¡¯s my turn.¡± I unfolded my bedroll and laid down to sleep. Apparently I was more tired than I thought I was because the next thing I remember is Vivian trying to wake me up.


    ¡°Get up Atilius, it¡¯s your turn.¡± Vivian told me with a sleepy voice. I opened my eyes to see her leaning over me, her eyes right above mine. Our eyes met and we just looked at each other for a few seconds, not breaking eye contact.


    ¡°You¡¯re finally up, it took me forever to wake you up. You sleep like a freaking dead person. Did you not sleep last night or something?¡± Vivian asked me as she walked to her bedroll and laid down.


    ¡°Yeah, I was refining my energy most of the night,¡± I told her.


    ¡°I see,¡± was all she said before she went to sleep, leaving me to the crackling sound of the fire. I guess I should utilize this time and refine some more of my energy.


    ¡°Hey Ennius, do you mind taking the watch?¡± I asked him.


    ¡°Sure, I got nothing better to do,¡± he replied with a bored tone.


    ¡°Thanks.¡± I closed my eyes and enter my energy chamber and began refining it bit by bit.


    The next day we woke up at sunrise, gather our things and began our search. It took us most of the day, but we finally managed to kill enough boars to complete the request. We went back to the guild and turned in our request, receiving the money reward. After that we sold off some of the boar meat and most of the hides and other things we could sell, earning a total of around ten silver coins each, counting the money we got from the request. Finishing up everything up we got ourselves new requests and decided to start the day after to get a day off.


    Overall, that''s basically how our days passed by over the days before school started and today, finally the semester started. I walked past the Academy gates and entered to school yard. I was now officially a student here.


    I pulled out a map of the Academy I received and went to find my dorm, which ironically was called ¡°The Wolf Cabin.¡± Like seriously, what kind of coincidence was this? If the principal played a joke on me then she¡¯s pretty good. After looking for my cabin and finding out I went into the opposite direction I finally found my dorm.


    The dorm itself was pretty big and looked like it had at least three floors. Outside of the dorm stood a big statue of a wolf, which kind of looked like a Phantom Wolf to me. I went up to the door, opened it and entered the building. On the first area was a small lounge and a fireplace along with a table and some chairs around it.


    In the left corner of the room was a spiral shaped staircase that led to the upper floors. I went up the stairs to go quickly find my room so I had time left to find where my classes were located. I found my room pretty quickly since it was on the second floor and entered my room.


    The room was relatively simple. There were two beds, two desks with a chair each, and two cabinets. Seeing as both sides of the room were empty I assumed that my roommate still wasn¡¯t here. I put my stuff on the left side of the bed, organized some of them and decided to do the rest later.


    I grabbed some of the stuff I needed and headed out to find my classes. The academy grounds were quite big so it took me a while just to get to the place where my first class should be. My first class of the day was beastiology which I was really looking forward too. The building in which the class was taught in was pretty big, but seemed to have only two floors. The cool thing about it was that right next to it was a stable that was almost as big as the main building.


    I entered the building, seeing how there wasn¡¯t much time left to go look for the other classes. I found the my classroom on the first floor and entered the room to find a few people already sitting there. There were six rows of tables in the room that allowed around eight people per row. I sat down in the middle of the third row and waited for the class to start.


    Having nothing to do, I looked around the classroom. On the walls there were different kind bones hanging or some sort of pictures of different creatures. In the front of the room hung a chalk board and there was a desk a bit to the side.


    I continued to observe the bones and the pictures, trying to guess what the creature might of been. People started to show up soon and Vivian finally showed up. She looked around the classroom, spotted me and smiled.


    ¡°Hey,¡± she said as she walked up to me and sat down next to me.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I replied casually. ¡°How¡¯s your morning so far?¡± I asked her.


    ¡°Great, but the academy grounds are so big and my classes seem like they will be really far apart.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, the academy grounds are huge. It took me forever to get here. If I didn¡¯t leave early I would of had probably been late.¡±


    We continued talking while waiting for class to start. We checked our schedules to see when we have breaks and can go eat lunch together. Finally, the teacher walked in and class started.


    ¡°Hello all, my name is Marell and I will be teaching this years Basic Beastiology. This class is relatively simple; there will be two lectures every week and at the end of the semester there will be a project. I won¡¯t discuss the project at the moment, but later on in the course I will tell you what the project is. Now if there aren¡¯t any questions I would like to begin the lecture.¡±


    I looked around the room to see if anyone had any questions to find everyone just sitting there waiting for the lecture to start. The teacher looked around the room one last time and began his lecture. Throughout the whole lecture he mostly talked about what kind of beasts there were, what their origins were and how they came to be. Basically, most of the things I learned from getting the Phantom Wolf powers. The only things I learned were some of the types of creatures there are and the rest of the ancestral beast.


    My next class was Herbology which surprisingly was really close, just a building away. In that class the teacher mostly explained what we were going to do and gave us a brief introduction. She told us how we will each grow our own her towards the middle of the semester and that it will be our project for the class. In addition we will learn how to properly plant different types of hers and also gather them. Lastly, like any other class there will be a few short lectures a week.


    After I got out of Herbology I went to the dining hall to get some lunch and to find Vivian. My classes were finished for the day so, I planned to go to the library to see if they have any interesting books that I could read and maybe get a head start.


    I entered the dining hall to find a lot of people in there eating and talking to their friends, and many others waiting in line to receive their meals. I tried to look around for Vivian but it was almost impossible at the moment from the amount of people currently present.


    ¡°Damn it, we should have picked a place to meet. At this rate it will take me ages to find her.¡± I walked around the dining hall looking for Vivian and after some time just gave up and went to the back of the line to get some food. I stood there for what felt like hours, but eventually I got my meal and went to go find a seat. Surprisingly, I managed to find one pretty fast, so I sat down and started to eat.


    My meal consisted of some mashed potatoes, a piece of meat and some vegetables. I¡¯d say it was probably one of the best meals I had in my life. Normally, I used to eat bread and some other cheap stuff just to save money. While eating my meal I still looked around for Vivian and finally managed to spot a blob of blond hair.


    ¡°Vivan!¡± I yelled to get her attention. Her head spun towards my directions and I waved at her. She noticed me and began walking in my directions.


    ¡°It¡¯s so crowded in here I couldn¡¯t find you at all!¡± she exclaimed as she sat down in the seat that I had saved for her.


    ¡°Yeah, after looking around for you for a few minutes I just gave up and decided to get some food. So tell me, how were your classes?¡±


    ¡°Well, you had beastiology with me so you know how that one was, but Ability Control was pretty fun. The teacher is pretty cool and we get to use our powers. A pretty easy and fun class I¡¯d say.¡±


    ¡°I see, so you shouldn¡¯t have any classes today anymore right?¡± I asked her since the rest of the classes she had should be the same as mine.


    ¡°Yup, I¡¯m free for the day. What were you planning on doing?¡± she asked me.


    ¡°Oh, nothing much. Just planned to check out the library and then get back to my dorm and finish unpacking my stuff. You want to go the library with me?¡± I asked her.


    ¡°Sure, I have nothing better to do. Might as well go see how the library looks like for future reference.¡± After that we just talked about some other stuff, I told about my Herbology class and we just discussed our academy experience so far. After we finished our lunch we got up and left for the library to check it out.

 Chapter 13: The Hell Class

    Chapter 13:The Hell Class


    I woke up the next morning excited to attend the rest of my classes. Last night me and Vivan spent most of the afternoon in the library, had dinner and then went to our dorms after having dinner. When I came back I was surprised to find that my roommate wasn''t in the room. His stuff lay on his bed but other then that it was as if he was never there.


    I looked towards my roommates bed to find it already empty. I was a bit surprised to find him already gone, it was still pretty early in the morning and the first classes didn¡¯t start for another two hours. Just how early did he get up that he was already gone?


    Deciding that it was time to get ready for the upcoming day I climbed out of my bed, got everything I needed for the day, and went down to the dining hall to get some breakfast.


    Entering the dining hall I looked around to find almost no people there. I went to get my food and found a spot to sit down and eat. I took a few bites of my food and took out one of the books, ¡°Bestiary of Ancestral Beasts.¡± I opened the book and began reading, only looking away to put some food in my mouth.


    The bestiary began with the introduction of what the Ancestral Beasts are and the history behind them. From what the book explained so far there are three categories of Ancestral Beasts: Avian, Aquatic, Terrestrial. Each category possessed three types of beast, making a total of nine. Having one beast from each category on each continent.


    Avian beasts consisted of a Phoenix, the Void Dragon, and a Griffon. Each one of these beast was said to contain the power to wipe out a great city, while all together they could lay waste to a at least one third of the continent.


    The book continued to talk about the terrifying strength of each creature and their descendants. I continued reading the book to find out some sort of clue of where they used to live. Finally, I found a bit of information that I was looking for.


    Each beast was said to have resided on one of the continent, on the highest mountain that could be found. The Void Dragon could be found on the peak of the Halcyon Mountains, the Phoenix in the Ash Mountains, and the Griffon within the Storm Range.


    I put down the book, trying to grasp the astounding information that I have just learned. To think that one of the ancestral beasts used to live so close to Prares. I definitely had to visit the top of the mountain one day if I could. Who knows, maybe I would be able to find something interesting there. Especially since the Void Dragon lived there.


    Looking around I noticed that a lot more students were present and that the dining hall was filled with a lot more noise, no longer peaceful and quiet like it was when I had first arrived. I finished up my food, cringing at the cold taste. I folded the tip of the page I as reading to bookmark where I stopped reading and decided that it was time that I headed off to class.


    I still didn¡¯t know where exactly my classes for today were so it would be better if I arrived earlier to find them. My first class of the day was Self-Defense and after lunch I had Energy Training class, which I was slightly curious about. Like what would they teach me there? How to properly refine energy? Or will it be just a class where you sit down and refine energy for the whole class period?


    Lost in my thoughts, I didn¡¯t even realize I was already before the building where my class was supposed to be. I examined the building, to find out that it was just a one story building that was very wide. It seemed to be made out of wood, yet had some small mixture of stone and some other materials.


    Looking over the building, one more time I entered inside. The inside was rather simple, it was just a giant room with a wooden flooring that had two doors on one of the walls. Inside the building there were already a few students sitting on the floor chatting among themselves, while a few just sat by themselves waiting for class to begin.


    I looked around to see if there was anyone that I recognized from some of my other classes to find a few people from my Beastiology class and two people from my Herbiology class. Since, I didn¡¯t know them or even talk to them I didn¡¯t bother to go up and greet them. I just sat down by one of the walls and looked around to see what kind of weapons the rest of the students possessed.


    From what I could see a sword was the most common weapon amongst the students, while a few had a spears, daggers, bows, and some other weapons that weren¡¯t commonly used. Since I used to work in a blacksmith shop I could easily tell which weapons were good in quality and which were just on the border of being useable.


    Most of the students had very good weapons that could probably rival some of the work that Markus made. There were only a few weapons that were of bad quality and I assumed it was because they didn¡¯t use weapons as their primary choice of offense or couldn¡¯t afford to buy a good weapon.


    As I sat against the wall, more and more people started showing up for class and one person caught my eye that I was surprised since I didn¡¯t really think I would meet him here. Heck, I didn¡¯t even think he was a gifted.


    The pretty boy that I had met back in Kraposs walked in with the sword that he bought back then at his side. He looked around the room as if looking for someone, showing no sign of recognition when our eyes met. I watched him walk up to the wall opposite of me and leaning against it. I just sat there waiting for class to begin, wondering where Vivian could be. From what I remember she was definitely supposed to be in this class. Unless she slept in or got lost she should of have been here by now. I highly doubt she would sleep in, so she most likely got lost.


    Finally a tall and scary looking man walked in through the doors, causing the whole room to quickly quiet down. He had a very good body build and a couple of scars across the parts of the body that could be seen. The one that caught my attention particularly was the one that ran across most of his face. It started from around the edge of his right eyebrow and all the way down to his left cheek.


    All the students including me just watched the scary looking guy walk to the center of the room, until he stopped and looked around.


    ¡°I¡¯m Instructor Vikram, and I¡¯ll be teaching this year''s Self Defense class. In this class I expect you to follow all of my orders. I do not wish to hear any of your complains or any whining. If you do something that goes against what I said, or fail to accomplish the task I have given you the whole class will be punished. So if you do not wish to be hated by the whole class, I suggest that you suck up any complains that you have or will have. You will also receive a punishment if someone is late. Now, all of you divide yourself by year. You have two minutes.¡±


    After the rough and booming voice of the Instructor stopped resounding throughout the room, complete silence engulfed us all. Not a single person said a word, not wanting to gain the attention of the Instructor. Finally, I heard someone speak quietly from behind me, who I assumed was an upperclassman.


    ¡°Damn it, we got unlucky this year. Instructor Vikram is the worst teacher you could get. He grades the most harshly and his punishments are extreme. I heard that even the Principal is a bit scared of him.¡±


    ¡°Aww, seriously? And here I thought that we could get Instructor Aylen. She¡¯s a bit harsh, but her looks definitely make up for it.¡± I shook my head as a small smile appeared on my face when I heard the other student¡¯s reply.


    However, my smile didn¡¯t last long when I remembered Vivian was still not here. If not for the Instructor saying he would give a punishment to the whole class for being late. I just hope that no one would take it out on her when she shows up.


    ¡°Why are you all still standing? Do you think that the timer will start when someone decides to move? I¡¯m afraid to tell you that¡¯s not how things run around here. You have one minute remaining. If you fail to accomplish this within the remaining time there will be a punishment awaiting you.¡± Vikram¡¯s voiced boomed through the room.


    I looked around the room to see everyone''s faces pale from learning that there might be a punishment. Everyone started gathering into groups, trying to find their own respective groups. I looked around myself and started looking for other people who were first years. After a few people I managed to find one person, but the pressure from that one minute kept getting bigger and bigger.


    The way that I saw it there was no way we could make it within the given time. The an idea hit me, I put my hands around my mouth in a U shape and shouted at the top of my lungs.


    ¡°FIRST YEARS GATHER OVER HERE!¡± The room grew completely silence as everyone turned to look at me, even the Instructor. However, he looked at me a bit surprised before looking away.


    The silence quickly ended as groups of people started to approach me, some of the people from the second and third years followed my examples and barely within the given time we managed to gather into our groups. We all stood in our represented groups, watching the instructor to see what was our next task.


    Instructor Vikram looked like he was about to speak when the sound of a door opening could be hear and all the eyes looked towards the entrance doors to see Vivian walk in. I could hear grunts and curses throughout the whole room the moment Vivian walked in, which slightly confused her from what I could see.


    I lightly sighed myself thinking that we escaped one punishment just to receive another one. Vivian just stood by the doors looking at the three groups and the Instructor, not knowing what to do.


    ¡°Why are you late?¡± Instructor Vikram asked, his voice loud as ever.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m a first year here and still don¡¯t know exactly where everything is and on my way here I got lost.¡± Vivian quickly apologized.


    Vikram just looked at her not saying anything, ¡°It¡¯s your lucky day muffin top(A/N:wanted to say cupcake but given the time era, I don¡¯t think they had cupcakes), since you are new and one of the first years managed to impress me just a little while ago, I¡¯ll let this even slide this one time. However, mark my words. In the future do not let this happen again or there will be consequences. Now hurry up and get to your group before I change my mind.¡±The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Vivian nodded and thanked him, before looking around the room and spotting me. Quickly she jogged up to our group and stood by me. I greeted her quietly before looking back at the instructor, managing to catch a few thankful and respectful looks towards me.


    ¡°Now that you are all in groups, I want you to introduce yourselves amongst each other and then get into pairs by the order of your identification numbers.¡±


    Identification numbers? When did we get those? I tried to remember when I could have gotten an identification number, the only time I could think of was when I got my identification badge. I pulled my badge out and examined it more closely to find a number engraved at the bottom of the badge.


    1-203


    Finding no other number, I assumed this was what I was looking for. I looked at the number, wondering how the order worked. The one I assumed was the year you were in and the rest was the number of my badge? Not coming up with any other solution, I assumed that mine was correct.


    Since the pairing is in order, I¡¯m assuming it''s the first person with the second and so on. However, before that we have to do introduction. It¡¯s a good opportunity to find out what numbers people have so I have a good idea of what the order will be like.


    Deciding I should probably get down to it, I looked around to see some people already talking amongst each other. I turned to Vivian to see her talking to a person already. I was about to go walk up to someone and go introduce myself when I felt a tap on my shoulder.


    I turned around to find a slightly pale looking boy behind me. From what I could see he looked like he was around two years younger than me. He had white colored hair with a purple streaks throughout it. He was a head shorter than me and a bit skinnier than your average person.


    ¡°Hey, I¡¯m Atilius. What¡¯s your name?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m Hyst, it¡¯s nice to meet you. I really liked what you did back there. A lot of people seem to be grateful to you because of what you did.¡±


    I smiled, a bit embarrassed at the praise. ¡°It wasn¡¯t anything grand, all I did was yell so that I could find the first years. It¡¯s not my fault no one else was smart enough to think of doing that. No offense to you or anything¡±.


    He just laughed lightly in response. ¡°Now worries, none taken.¡±


    We continued to talk for a bit more about random things before I managed to ask him what his identification number was.


    ¡°My number is 1-317¡± he replied. I repeated it in my head a couple of times to remember it better.


    ¡°Hey Ennius, remember the number 317 for me.¡± I told Ennius, thinking it would be better if people tried to remember it then one.


    ¡°Huh? Why should I do that?¡± Ennius responded back, sounding like I just asked him something completely unbelievable.


    ¡°Please, it would help me if you did this for me. Plus, it¡¯s not even a hard task. All you have to do is remember a couple of numbers. It doesn¡¯t even have to be exact, just remember the general number.¡±


    ¡°Ughh, alright, I¡¯ll help you out.¡± Ennius replied with a sigh.


    ¡°Thanks, you¡¯re a great help.¡±


    I finished my small talk with Hyst before going to find someone new to talk to. I ended up talking to a couple of people before I heard the Instructor¡¯s booming voice.


    ¡°You have two more minutes to get into pairs.¡±


    Everyone started to hurry up, asking every person they saw what their number was. A small line started forming when people started to get a general idea of what their number was.


    I looked around for Vivian since I knew our number most likely were right next to each other. I spotted her amongst the crowd of first years and made my way towards her.


    ¡°Hey, what¡¯s your number?¡± I asked her when I managed to get her attention.


    ¡°1-204,¡± she replied. I nodded, seeing as my assumption was correct.


    ¡°Lets try to find some people with numbers near ours.¡± I told her and started to try and remember what the closest number to me was and who it belonged too.


    ¡°Hey, Ennius the closest number to me was around 250 right?¡± I asked Ennius just to make sure I was right.


    ¡°The closest number that I remember that was closest to you should be 233. I believe it belonged to the kid with black hair and a greatsword on his back.¡±


    ¡°Oh, thanks Ennius.¡± I looked around for a kid with black hair and a greatsword to find him talking to a group of people who started forming a line.


    ¡°One minute remaining!¡± I hear Vikram announce. I hurried up my pace and quickly arrived at the group with Vivian.


    I found the black haired kid already standing in line between two people. I walked up to him and asked him what his number was right away just to make sure I remembered it correctly.


    ¡°Your number is 233 right?¡± The black haired kid nodded in response and I turned to the person on his right and asked him what his number was.


    ¡°My number is 218.¡± I turned my attention to the person next to him.


    ¡°What¡¯s your number?¡±


    ¡°134,¡± I was about to get into my spot when Vikram announced that the time was up. Instantly all of our faces paled.


    ¡°Now, as I have said before. Fail to accomplish the task, a punishment will be given. As for your punishment, run 20 laps around the building, for every person that fails to accomplish this the whole class will run two more laps.¡±


    One person couldn¡¯t take it anymore and asked what we all had been thinking. ¡°Why do we keep getting task that are almost impossible to accomplish within the given time and why do we have to all receive the punishment when someone fails to accomplish the task? Shouldn¡¯t we just have one person receive the punishment?¡±


    Everyone looked at the Instructor to see what he would do, hoping not to receive a punishment for the stupidity of one of the students.


    ¡°The tasks aren¡¯t impossible, the only reason you keep on failing them is because you believe that you have the entire time in the universe to finish them. This is a Self- Defense class, do you believe that in the future the enemy will wait for you to prepare yourself to fight? No! The enemy will strike at you at any chance give. The enemy won¡¯t let you gain an opportunity to defend yourself. This is why I give you a time limit to accomplish these task.


    It not only helps you accomplish things faster but improves your teamwork. If you haven¡¯t noticed both tasks rely on teamwork to accomplish within the given time.


    As for why the whole class receives the punishment it¡¯s because if one day you are fighting amongst your comrades and the enemy manages to take one out they could easily break through your formation and wipe you out within seconds. That¡¯s why teamwork is so important, one day it could save your life and then you will be thanking me. Now go run your laps before I make you run 20 laps around the academy instead!¡±


    No one said a word as everyone hurried outside to run laps. It might not seem like a lot but after around seven to eight laps I could feel my body to begin to tire out. I could see some people already starting to fall behind. Even though my physical abilities were a bit enhanced because of the wolf powers I received it only made my endurance a bit better than an average person''s. I embraced myself and continued running. After what felt like hours I finally managed to finish the 20 laps.


    When I entered the building I found that only five first years managed to finish so far. There were a bit more second and third years, but given that they have been here longer I assume that they were in better shape than us, first years.


    After waiting for a couple of minutes the rest of the people started to show up and after a couple more the last person finished. Well, if you can call almost crawling finishing.


    ¡°Now, finish the task I gave you before you went to run laps, you have two minutes.¡± Vikram announced and everyone hurried back to getting into a line and looking for their spot in line.


    I went to my spot in line and just stood there waiting for the other people to find their spots. As I waited I noticed pretty boy walking down to my spot in line. Soon he was standing right infront of me.


    ¡°What¡¯s your number?¡± he asked me.


    ¡°203,¡± I told him while observing his face for any signs that showed that he recognized me. However, he showed not a single sign of recognizing me, or just didn¡¯t want to mention it.


    ¡°My spot is here could you make some room?¡± he asked me and I moved a bit to the side to make sore room for him.


    ¡°Thank you,¡± was all he said as he got into his spot and we just stood there not speaking to each other. Finally after what felt like way more than two minutes everyone managed to find their spot and we all got into our pairs. Turns out I was paired with pretty boy.


    ¡°Now that you have gotten into pairs you will spar with each other until someone wins. After that you can go that will be it for the day. I expect no one to be late next time. Oh, and make sure you coat your weapons with energy, I don¡¯t want to clean up any corpses afterwards.¡± When he said the part about being late I could swear that he glanced at Vivian.That however, wasn¡¯t my concern. My problem was that I had no clue how to coat my weapon with energy.


    ¡°Hey Ennius? Do you know how to coat weapons with energy?¡± I asked him, hoping that he knew.


    ¡°Who do you think I am? Of course I know! Just feel your energy, pull on it and imagine it coating your weapon.¡±


    I took out my scythe and tried doing what he said. The moment I pulled on the energy within me I started feeling a bit nauseous. I ignored the unpleasant feeling and imagined the energy coating my weapon. When I thought I was finished I opened my eyes to see my scythe coated in a goldish white energy. I smiled at my success and looked at pretty boy.


    I decided to introduce myself when I saw that he had finished coating his weapon. ¡°Hey, my name is Atilius.¡±


    ¡°Amyas¡± was his only reply.


    ¡°Let¡¯s spar then and get out of here,¡± I told him and he just nodded in agreement and got into a fighting stance.


    ¡°Nice sword,¡± I told him, wondering if that would make him remember me.


    ¡°Thanks¡± was his only reply. Seeing as he most likely forgot me. I didn''t bother trying to get him to remember me. I simply adjusted my footing and got into a fighting stance.


    ¡°Ready?¡± I asked him and he just nodded. We stood there, observing each other and waiting for someone to strike first. We began to circle each other looking for any openings in each other, ready to to strike as soon an opportunity appeared.


    I decided to attack first since I had more of a range than him. I swung with my scythe downwards to test out his reaction speed. He easily dodge the swing and took the opportunity to dash at me and stabbed at me.


    I changed my grip on my scythe mid-swing, similar to that of a saff and parried the stab to the side and tried to hit him with the end of my scythe but he just rolled to the side and we returned to our starting position.


    This time he was the one who decided to attack me first. He lunged at me with his sword and swung it at my right, I raised my scythe to block the swing to find out that it was a faint. The faint caught me off guard and I just barely had enough time to raise the other end of my scythe and block the swing. However, it caused me to stumble and lose my balance a bit.


    Taking the opportunity Amyas swung his sword again, which I blocked again, but the force plus my imbalanced form caused me to lose my balance completely and I fell on the floor.


    He tried to stab me with his sword, but I quickly rolled out of the way and swung at his feet. Amyas jumped over my swing and proceeded his attacks. I dodged and parried his attacks, but couldn¡¯t go on the offensive at all. I was forced to defend and just dodge his attacks.


    I had to think of something or eventually I will make a mistake and he will break my defense. My brain worked completely overtime trying to come up with a solution on how to get out of this situation.


    ¡°Use a faint on him,¡± I heard Ennius¡¯ voice in my head. ¡°Pretend that you made a mistake in your defense and then when he goes for it you will get a chance to counterattack.¡±


    ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll try it out,¡± I blocked a couple more of his attacks and decided this was a good opportunity to try for a counter attack. I pretended to make a tiny mistake in my form, which didn¡¯t go unnoticed by Amyas. He took the opportunity just like Ennius said he would and tried to break my guard.


    I quickly parried his incoming attack and side stepped to the right causing him to stumble forward from the power of his swing. Not wasting any time I swung with my scythe making sure that the blade wouldn¡¯t hit him. I hit him on the back and sent him crashing down on the floor.


    I slightly panicked remembering that my strength was slightly higher than normal, but relaxed when I saw him Amyas get up. He looked at me a bit pissed and surprised, but mostly surprised that I managed to counterattack so successfully. If only he knew that it was actually Ennius.


    I swung my scythe at him horizontally, trying to end this fight, but to my surprise he managed to get up fast enough to dodge my swing.


    He took the opportunity to attack me with a stab at the side that left me open from my previous swing. I rotated my scythe a bit, barely deflecting the sword up, which almost ended up piercing my neck.


    I gulped, thinking that even if this sword wasn¡¯t coated in energy I would still get severely hurt if not worse. I quickly snapped out of my shock and used my scythe to push him up, causing him to fall on his back. I quickly put the sharp edge of my scythe below his neck.


    He put his sword away and I removed my scythe. ¡°You¡¯re pretty good, want to spar again some time?¡± I asked him. He was better than me and I could see it. If not for Ennius¡¯ help and the little surprise at the end he most likely would have won.


    ¡°Sure, you¡¯re pretty good yourself. You have very good defense, I couldn¡¯t find an opening at all.¡±


    ¡°My teacher told me that preserving my life is more important than being able to defeat your enemy.¡± I told him what Ennius once told me.


    ¡°Your teacher is a wise man, I don¡¯t think many people think like that¡± I swear that Ennius had a smug expression on his face even though I couldn¡¯t see it.


    ¡°If you don¡¯t have a class right after want to go get lunch with me?¡± I asked him, since we seemed to get along and it wouldn¡¯t hurt to have a friend other then Vivian.


    ¡°Sure, I don¡¯t mind,¡± he replied. I took a quick look around to see if Vivian was still here. I saw her talking to some girl with auburn colored hair. She looked like she was making a new friend I decided not to bother her.


    I turned my attention back to Amyas and we headed of to the dining hall talking about our experiences with fighting and for how long we trained with our respective weapons.