《Alctuz Arena》 Prologue: After the war. Author''s Note: This is a work of fiction and made purely on the imagination of it''s author, names, places, things and characters are all fictional and I do not claim anything to be real. This web novel is only for entertainment. PROLOGUE: After the war. It has been 7 years since the Great Archusian War ended, where thousands upon thousands of lives was lost. 20 years ago, the Great Archusian Empire invaded Ino to expand its territory in the east; confident in its power and advance technology the Archusians marched to victory against the warriors¡¯ land Ino. Warriors of Ino have banded together and fought to protect the freedom of their country, but their resistance was futile for the technology of the enemy is far too great to oppose. Despite the enemy¡¯s superior arms, Ino as a proud nation of warriors put up a good fight; but dreadfully its best was not enough. Thus Ino has now become a shadow of its former glory as the ¡°Conqueror of the East¡±. Our story takes place in a land of warriors called Ino. Ino has lost the war against the Great Archusian Empire and is now its colony. It is set in the middle ages with advance technology. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. Peace came to its land, but the once proud warrior¡¯s land is now in a tight leash and now any hostilities including carrying weapons or the use magic is strictly forbidden. Because of this, the warriors that only knew of conflict have lost their livelihood. The Great Archusian Empire enforced a system upon Ino where any conflict can be legally resolved with a game called Alctuz. Alctuz is a battle game using Virtual Reality technology to create Virtual Arenas, where a maximum of 16 players (Each team will have a maximum of 8 members) fight against each other in different battle modes and arenas using their real-life wits, talents, magic, and determination to achieve victory. Since any conflict can be resolved using Alctuz, powerful men have recruited the unemployed warriors as players of Alctuz to fight for them. Because of this the warriors formed guilds that will accept requests from people that wants to use the Alctuz system to resolve conflicts in exchange for payment. Chapter 1: One Armed Guardian. Chapter 1: One Armed Guardian. ¡°My name is Reiji Narudo, I¡¯m 19 years old I have no permanent address but I¡¯m currently living in Jouri staying at Chourin¡¯s Inn. I don¡¯t have much experience but please let me join your guild! I¡¯ll do the cleaning and I can cook too!¡± -says the young man with copper hair color wearing dull clothes of a country bum as his forehead touches the unmaintained floor. As the old man pushes Reiji out he yelled: ¡°Get your ass out of here! We don¡¯t need a scrawny boy like you!¡± ---***--- Walking down a busy street while surveying the signs, the young man was feeling blue when he thought ¡°Ahhgh, the world sure is a harsh place for someone like me. Only 30 silvers left (¡®>_<¡±), at this rate I¡¯m going to die of starvation before I find a job much less a place to live.¡± Then he yelled in the middle of the streets: ¡°Please give me a joooooooob!!!¡± While clutching his purse in his right hand. The young man was far too na?ve and noticed too late that his coin purse was snatched by a little kid that was running like the wind. ¡°Oiii!! You bastard give me back my purse!!!¡± Rei shouted as he ran after the little thief. The little kid ran as if his life depended on it, while Rei ran because his life depended on it; he was almost out of breath he couldn¡¯t catch up to the kid because of his heavy bagpack. Rei lost his sight of the kid and was extremely tired from running around town, he didn¡¯t notice that it was already nightfall and he has no money to stay at an inn. ---***--- A cold midnight breeze brushed through his ears, he shivers while curling up trying to fit his body in the old newspaper that he was using as a blanket. His neck cracking for he was using a can of sardines as a pillow. Our pitiful main character can¡¯t help but cry himself to sleep. As dawn came and noises woke Rei up, he thought to himself : ¡°I should just live in my dreams, I never want to wake up to this pitiful reality, calling this living would be an insult to rats at least rats have homes.¡± After his episode of self-pity, Rei convinced his pitiful self to try again once more and find a job and said ¡°I don¡¯t want to die worse than a rat! When I die I want the world to mourn for me!¡± Strolling around town Rei is looking for a job, even after being turned down by a lot of guilds his determination did not falter. Passing through a store, he saw in the screen a rerun of a 1 versus 1 battle in Alctuz between a Shield & Mace user against a dual-sword user. Rei couldn¡¯t take his eyes off the screen as he witnesses a battle between two great warriors. The shield user¡¯s in game name was Gran he has a short blond hair and is wearing heavy-looking armor with a triangular shaped shield on his left hand that is as big as his upper-body and had an image of a lion carved on it and on his right hand a mace with a cube-like head but with its corners edged like a sword. The sword user¡¯s name was Krul he had a long wavy hair that was red as blood and is wearing light armor with red & black lines on it and both in his right and left waist sides are the two swords¡¯ sheathe, he had both his swords drawn, the swords¡¯ blade is dark black and durable-looking. The map they were fighting on was ¡°Plains¡± where there are almost no place to hide and nothing to obstruct the battle. -*In Alctuz, there are different maps the players can choose to fight on, some maps are tricky and some have almost nothing in it. It depends on what was decided on by the players or the organizers of the battle. You can use any skill you¡¯ve learned in real life in Alctuz and that includes magical powers. Gran was standing like an immovable fortress as he waits for Krul to start attacking first. As a shield user this is a common style but it is also very effective for countering attacks. Krul doesn¡¯t take Gran¡¯s bait as he knows that he will be prone to counter attacks. Gran notices that Krul has no intensions of attacking first; He proceeds to go on the initiative and hit first and hit hard. ¡°!¡± Gran shouted as he focused his mana onto his shield and dashed forwards like a stampeding elephant. : Dashing towards the enemy with a shield that has focused mana power on it. It is hard to stop and can drag enemies that are hit. (Average per hit: 2% Full damage average: 14% ) ¡°Haaaaa!!¡± screams Gran as he dashes towards Krul. Surprised by Gran¡¯s sudden charge, Krul dashes forward as if he intends to collide with the rampaging shield user. Just before they¡¯ve crash against each other Gran poured mana onto his feet and just before jumping he said ¡°Got you!¡± Grand leaped and faced his shield and body downwards and shouted ¡°!¡± he uses the mana from his feet to create a stepping platform in the sky and used it as a boost to crash against Krul like a meteorite. Krul was surprised but with his fast reflexes he strengthened his swords using mana as he intends to block . *Crash* Krul was able to block some of the damage of but still took 12% damage to his health bar and was sent flying in quite a distance; nonetheless is not without its risks, Gran receives 4% damage when lands even without hitting an opponent. : The user will leap up in the air then face his body and shield downward and using solidified mana as a platform he will boost himself to the target at incredible speed. This causes a great deal of damage but will also damage the user 4% of his hp even if the attack did not hit an opponent. (Average damage: 20%) -*In Alctuz there is an HP (Health points) system where you will only be considered as dead if it reaches 0. HP is constant to all players (150,000HP). Only defense and attack powers are different. A player can buy virtual equipment in Alctuz which he will then use for his battles. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. In game the players can only feel a quarter of the pain felt by his avatar. An avatar in Alctuz will look like the players true form in real life except when the players uses disguises such as costumes or full armors covering distinctive parts. Gran thought to himself ¡°I won¡¯t let him regain his balance.¡± Not giving Krul a chance to retaliate, Gran dashed at an incredible speed as he used ; but with Krul¡¯s fast reflexes he used to dodge and deal a counter attack against Gran. : A skill learned by many sword users for its usefulness against aggressive opponents. The user will take a step back and turn spin whilst at the same time using his sword(s) to counter attack. Unfortunately for Krul, a shield user like Gran is capable of blocking his strike. (Not all shield users are capable of blocking a slash at unbelievable speed) But even if Gran blocked the slash completely, it was still a successful evasion by Krul and it gave him a breather to regain his footing. ¡°You¡¯re pretty tough, you move fast for a guy with heavy armor.¡± Krul said with a confident grin. Wanting reprisal for the damage he took from Gran¡¯s Krul then took a hostile turn and charged his swords with mana then ran towards Gran with intention of melee combat. ¡°Let¡¯s see how fast you are!¡±Krul said as he charges towards Gran. A high-speed close-ranged combat has erupted wherein neither fighter is giving the other an Achilles'' heel; both giving their all to the intense battle, Gran tried to make distance between them for he had nearly exhausted his fatigue for he was consecutively using skills and fighting melee while wearing heavy armor. ~*In Alctuz there is a fatigue bar in a player¡¯s interface this bar is based on the player¡¯s real life aptitude, once this bar reaches its max the player will feel tired and will move a certain percent slower than normal, the percentage increases as the player continuously fight without breathers to recover fatigue. (The starting percentage is 10% and increases by 5% every 15 seconds.) But knowing this fact, Krul didn¡¯t give Gran a chance to flee and continued to strike without end. ¡°Eh? Getting tired already? We haven¡¯t even finished out little warm up!¡± Krul confidently shouted as he continued striking. Gran has reached max in his fatigue, and moved a little bit slower than normal; but in their extreme battle, being a moment too late will lead to harm. Exploiting Gran¡¯s moment of weakness, Krul took a stance where he faced Gran sideward facing right and made a cross symbol using both of his sword where his left hand was near his chest pointing the word upward and his right sword pointing at Gran he shouted ¡°!¡± : Deals a huge amount of damage by continuously slashing a enemy/enemies for 5 seconds at different locations whilst moving at astonishing speed using mana power. Once the stance was made, if the enemy is in the user¡¯s direct field of vision or in the pointing swords¡¯ linear position the attack will is extremely hard to dodge. (Average damage per hit: 3% Average full hit damage: 32%) Gran attempted to dodge but since he was directly at the pointing sword¡¯s line of attack he wasn¡¯t able to dodge. Slash after slash after slash, Gran was receiving severe damage and his HP bar has decreased by 45% even thou he has blocked quite a number of slashes. ~*In Alctuz the amount of hits that a skill can inflict is directly proportional to the user¡¯s abilities. In this scenario, ¡¯s average full hit damage was 32% with 3%/hit average but Gran received damage that surpasses that because of Krul¡¯s personal abilities; it means that Krul either has attack power that exceeds the average or Krul was fast enough to land more hits in 5 seconds than the average. [HP Watch]: Gran: 50%HP Krul: 88%HP You may ask why Gran¡¯s HP was 50% instead of 51%, that is because the damage received by Gran was 49%of max HP + several hundreds of damage but doesn¡¯t reach 1% of total HP which was 1,500HP of 150,000HP and leaves Gran with 50% of max HP + several hundreds of HP. Gran lost his right arm and the battle was in Krul¡¯s favor ~*In Alctuz losing a limb cannot be healed, the said limb will disappear in the arena but if there are weapons held or carried by that limb it will stay in the arena for anyone to use. But after the battle those said weapons lost in the arena will not come back to the owner¡¯s inventory if it is either picked up by other players or will disappear to oblivion if the owner is dead and nobody picks the weapon up this rule also applies to thrown weapons (such as arrows, kunai , etc¡­). This makes losing a limb and dying in game even more unacceptable. ¡°Now that you¡¯ve lost your right arm, you¡¯re no threat to me now you should just give up!¡± said in an insulting manner by Krul as he looks down on Gran that was on his knees feeling a quarter of the pain of truly losing an arm. Having lost his right arm which holds his mace, the people viewing the battle was thinking that he has lost his will to fight. They may not be mistaken; the oppressing situation of fighting a very skilled opponent with only his left arm and shield was too overwhelming for Gran. Gran glared at Krul more seriously than ever with hints of anger and desperation; you could see rage in his eyes, the eyes of a man that has never given up anything and a man who has never even thought of giving up at all. Gran lifted his shield whilst looking like he was about to unleash his wrath and shouted: ¡°Morph!!!¡± Gran¡¯s thick and heavy armor transformed into a white knight¡¯s armor with lines of gold in all its edges; his huge shield morphed into a broad sword and like his armor it had golden lines in its blade and a golden lion¡¯s head was at its hilt. After his grand transformation Gran replied in a calm and confident manner: ¡°Give up? Yeah, you should¡± Chapter 2: Reiji Narudo. Author''s Note: Some said that it''s stupid that it''s set in the middle ages with advance technology but doesn''t have guns or nukes. In it''s defense, guns and nukes weren''t invented here because it will make the story boring if all they do in battle is fire guns and shit then fight scenes will be less epic. And I''m pretty proud of the setting cause where are you gonna see VR battles in the middle ages. Anyway thanks to who ever is reading \(^ . ^)/ I''ll try to update at least once a week even thou I have classes xD -Zuku Chapter 2: Reiji Narudo. Provoked by Gran¡¯s statement Krul charged towards Gran with both his swords enhanced with mana. ¡°You morphing won¡¯t change anything.¡± said Krul as he makes his first blow against Gran. Even with only his left arm to fight with, Gran was able to fight almost equal against Krul but it doesn¡¯t change the fact that he is in a disadvantage. Another high-speed clashing has occurred where neither is letting up. An opportunity came for Krul as he felt that Gran¡¯s left arm was too weak because Gran unlike him who is used to using both his arms for sword fighting is used to using that arm mostly to block and not to attack; meaning Krul can focus more on offensive play to destroy Gran. Krul was waiting for the perfect time to seize the opportunity and is constantly monitoring Gran¡¯s movements. Despite being provoked, Krul was still rational and did not charge mindlessly. Krul¡¯s opportunity finally came as Gran attempted a powerful slash, Krul did a turn spin and used both his swords to deflect Gran¡¯s sword outwards leaving him wide open for a moment. Right after deflecting Krul seized the opening and used . : The user gathers a burst of wind energy which is used to boost his piercing capacity. (Average damage: 20%) An additional effect can be used where the user will slash the enemy while the sword is still impaled instead of pulling it out (but it requires strength to do so). (Additional damage: 10%) As his sword penetrated the armor he felt that his victory was assured but he was then dazed as he saw that the one he was piercing has vanished into thin air and before he knew it Gran was at his back preparing a heavy strike. Mana gushing out of his blade like the blade can¡¯t handle the sudden burst of energy he was pouring all his strength for a single attack that can turn the tables of the battle. Gran used whilst saying: ¡°It¡¯s your turn to give up!¡± : The user will charge mana onto his sword until it is so full that mana can¡¯t be prevented from spreading out, then the user will perform a but multiple times stronger depending on the user¡¯s abilities. (Average damage: 35%) dealt incredible damage against Krul and tore off both his right arm and leg. The tables of the battle has truly turned as Gran is now in the advantage as his slash led to a 39% decrease in Krul¡¯s HP. Not even able to stand, Krul faced an unforgiving truth that in his current condition he has no chance of winning against Gran. The prideful swordsman who had the lead moments before is now kneeling on the ground with only a leg and an arm. Krul whispers in a voiced full of embarrassment facing the dishonor of defeat ¡°I c-concede¡± With Zackrul Berg¨¦¡¯s (Krul) resign from the battle, the victor was the warrior-guardian in white-golden armor named Grandel Scord (Gran). ---***--- Looking in awe as if he had witnessed a god ascending, Reiji was so excited to learn how to fight in such battles almost forgetting he had to find a job. Walking in the streets of Jouri he was looking gloom and tired, hearing the noise from the busy streets; he was not exhausted but he was indeed sad. ¡°Being unable to find a job in the huge capital I¡¯m so pathetic.¡± He says Without a place to sleep he found a spot beside an eatery and started begging for left overs. ¡°Please spare me some of the leftovers, I haven¡¯t eaten all day, my purse got stolen and now I¡¯m just wandering the streets.¡± Said Rei while bowing his head Looking at the young man was the old lady who runs the eatery and was about to close for the day. ¡°Come on in young man, it must have been a tough day¡± said the old lady Rei with admiration in his eyes saw the old lady as a savior of mankind and proceeded to enter the establishment. ¡°What is your name young man? My name is Belinda¡± ¡°I¡¯m Reiji Narudo ma¡¯am, I¡¯m sorry to be a bother to you this late of night. ¡°Here, have some of my special meat soup.¡± (Belinda) ¡°Thank you for your kindness, but I really don¡¯t have any money at all and this looks really good and expensive.¡± (Rei) ¡°Who said I¡¯m making you pay, stay the night here and eat up Rei you can use my son¡¯s old room.¡± (Belinda) ¡°Woah! really? Thank you so much granny, I¡¯ll be out of your hair by tomorrow I promise¡± (Rei) ¡°You could stay here you know, you remind me little of my son; a little more help in the shop won¡¯t hurt¡± (Belinda) ¡°You mean you¡¯ll give me a job granny?¡± He says in an excited voice. ¡°I¡¯m not giving you a job, I¡¯m giving you a place to stay while you look for a job but you have to help with the shop or I¡¯ll kick you out.¡± Is what Belinda says but in reality she was feeling happy that the young man came for she was missing her son who went on a journey and haven¡¯t returned. ---***--- Weeks passed by and Rei was still staying at granny¡¯s house/shop, he learned to cook everything on the menu and customers who tasted it were satisfied; he hasn¡¯t found a job yet but he was a great help to granny as she is growing too old to work alone. Granny was strict and cold on Rei on the outside but deep inside she was a loving granny who treated Rei as if he were her grandson. Every time Rei comes home defeated in the conquest of jobs, granny always had her special soup ready for Rei. Ever since residing at granny¡¯s house, Rei¡¯s habit of having self-pity episodes had decreased since he had granny supporting him. Seeing the two of them from a strangers¡¯ point of view, no one would doubt it if the two said they are truly grandmother and grandson. ***~~~*** The capital of Ino is Jouri, in this capital resides hundreds of guilds. Rei came to the capital to pursue his dream of being a warrior but since wars were non-existent and weapons and magic are banned the only place you can be a warrior is in Alctuz but to learn how to become a warrior he had to go to Jouri and find a guild because guilds train their members for battle. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Rei is inexperienced and doesn¡¯t even know how to use a sword which is the number one reason why he hasn¡¯t been accepted to any guild despite his skills in cooking and cleaning. ***~~~*** ¡°Jouri eh, it¡¯s been a while since I last came here.¡± Said the man with gray hair long enough to almost reach his shoulders. The man¡¯s name is Feldgrau Tranel he was wearing a brown cloak and looks like a wanderer or journeyman. ---***--- ¡°Granny, two orders of Special B and an extra serving of rice¡± Rei said with a smile on his face ¡°Coming up!¡± says granny as she places the dishes on the sink counter Busy hours in granny¡¯s shop and at these times Rei is a huge help to granny but after those busy hours comes dead hours where there aren¡¯t any customers; at these hours granny sometimes closes the shop to prepare of the next busy hour. Just before granny was about to close up shop a man wearing a brown cloak came and said ¡°Did I come too late?¡± scratching his head while smiling. ¡°We¡¯re open anytime for you Feld¡± said granny with a joyful face ¡°Thank you granny, if so then I¡¯d like to have your special soup¡± said Feld ¡°It isn¡¯t in today¡¯s menu but I¡¯ll make it for you Feld¡± (Granny Belinda) ¡°Thanks a bunch granny¡± (Feld) ¡°No need for thanks, I owe you a great deal after all¡± (Granny Belinda) While granny was preparing her special soup, Rei was left at the counter. ¡°So you¡¯re a new kid huh¡± (Feld) ¡°Yes sir! I¡¯ve only been here a month or so¡± (Rei) ¡°You don¡¯t look like from the capital, are you from the country sides?¡± (Feld) ¡°Yes sir, I came from a farming family¡± (Rei) ¡°What¡¯s your name kid?¡± (Feld) ¡°I¡¯m Reiji Narudo sir¡± (Rei) After hearing Rei¡¯s name Feld thought ¡°Narudo? Could it be..?¡± ¡°Hey kid.¡± (Feld) ¡°Need anything else sir?¡± (Rei) ¡°Why did you come to the capital?¡± (Feld) ¡°I¡¯m looking for a guild sir; I want to become a warrior and battle in Alctuz¡± (Rei) ¡°Ehh a warrior huh, have you mastered a weapon yet?¡± (Feld) With his face all red Rei said ¡°Eh umh, I haven¡¯t done any training yet¡± ¡°What? You¡¯re looking for a guild in the capital and yet you haven¡¯t even trained yet?¡± said Feld with huge surprise on his face. ¡°Listen kid, sure the capital has a lot guilds and most of the top guilds are in the capital but because of that a lot of warriors travel to the capital to join such guilds and that means most if not all guilds in the capital do not accept inexperienced and untrained people like you.¡± The sudden truth was dropped onto Rei¡¯s head and he was about to go into another self-pity episode when Feld said: ¡°Come with me, I¡¯ll train you.¡± Granny came with her peeping hot special soup, and she saw Feld looking at Rei with a serious face. ¡°Oh My, looks like you boys are having a serious talk.¡± said granny as she placed the soup on Feld¡¯s table ¡°Granny, is it alright if I took this kid with me?¡± (Feld) ¡°It¡¯s not for me to decide, I¡¯d rather let him decide on his own without any idea from me.¡± (Granny) ¡°I¡¯ll go with you¡± said Rei with full conviction ¡°Oh so you got the spirit huh.¡± (Feld) ¡°Yes sir!¡± (Rei) ¡°This won¡¯t be easy, you may feel like quitting midway but I won¡¯t let you.¡± (Feld) ¡°I¡¯m prepared for that sir!¡± (Rei) ¡°You better be¡± (Feld) ¡°Yes sir!¡± (Rei) ¡°I¡¯ll come for you in about 3 days after I finish my business here, you better pack your stuff by tomorrow night to be sure.¡± (Feld) ¡°Yes sir!¡± said Rei with an enormous smile on his face as finally he will be able to take a step forward to becoming the warrior he had always dreamed of. Meanwhile granny was looking quite sad for she is about to lose another son like or grandson like person in her life. ¡°Don¡¯t look so sad granny, I¡¯ll come by as soon as I finished training; by then I¡¯ll become strong. I¡¯ll never forget your tough love and kindness granny.¡± Said Rei as he proceeds to give granny a hug ---***--- Getting his backpack from the room he was staying Rei excitedly came to the shop¡¯s front for his master was waiting for him and his journey to being a warrior begins. But his was delays a bit as granny said: ¡°Oi you boys, you should eat here first.¡± ¡°Yeah we should, we won¡¯t be eating anything good for a while.¡± Said Feld as he was speaking from experience ¡°Alright, thanks for the food!¡± (Rei) The two were eating like it¡¯s their last meal before execution. Right after eating they came to the front of the shop and said their goodbyes to granny. ¡°See you granny! I¡¯ll come back stronger I promise! Thank you for everything!!¡± (Rei) ¡°Bye granny, see you next time.¡± (Feld) With little tears in her eyes as her new grandson left to train similar to how her son left, she waves her hand goodbye to the two boys going on a journey. After the boys were out of her sight granny thought ¡°Did you notice too? Feld¡± ---***--- Master and student walking in a desert nearing another town called Ribas. ¡°Master, may I ask why you offered to train me?¡± said Rei with a curious face ¡°I was kind of like you in the past; I was also from the country sides and stayed at granny Belinda¡¯s place together with my childhood friend Bistre and his lover Lavender. We left granny¡¯s place to go to war together with her son Dian.¡± (Feld) ¡°Wait..? Bistre..? That¡¯s the same name as my dad! Did you know my dad?¡± (Rei) ¡°I knew it, you were his son; your eyes remind me of him, and that is the second reason I offered to train you.¡± (Feld) ¡°Please tell me about my dad!¡± as Rei was bowing his head to his master ¡°I will, after you finish your training.¡± Feld said to further motivate Rei ¡°We¡¯re here.¡± (Feld) What awaited them was a town full of stone houses and buildings like it is prepared for a sand storm (and it is because it is near a desert) but Ribas still looks like it¡¯s wealthy in crops and water because not very far from Ribas is the farming village of Genoah. ¡°I¡¯ll start your training here Rei, this town is famous for their training grounds because they are cheap; unlike in Alctuz where the training map costs 10gold per day here it only costs 75 silver to 3gold but the main difference is in Alctuz training grounds you can feel blows but won¡¯t feel any pain while here you¡¯ll feel everything.¡± (Feld) Chapter 3.1: Dancing with the pebbles. Author''s Note: Since I have classes, I thought posting chapters part by part will be better for my schedule; but it will still be at least one chapter a week. Thanks for reading and please continue following our story. \(^ . ^ )/ -Zuku Chapter 3.1: Dancing with the pebbles. Master and student strolled around Ribas to find a good place to train. ¡°Listen Rei, when you come here for training; you don¡¯t have to pick the most expensive grounds, what you need is somewhere secluded even if it¡¯s run down just as long as you¡¯re able train.¡± As the master said with a proud look on his face as if he was teaching life lessons Listening to his master, Rei was thinking ¡°Ehh, you¡¯re just cheap aren¡¯t you?¡± but saying ¡°Yes sir!¡± to save Feld from embarrassment. They found a training ground in the not so good part of Ribas where you can see a lot of felonious looking individuals roaming around the streets. ¡°It¡¯s only 50 silvers a day Rei! What a deal!¡± happily said by Feld After reserving the place, Feld and Rei went to get some pebbles. ¡°Why are we getting pebbles master?¡± said by the confused Rei ¡°Ah, these are the tools we¡¯ll use for your training.¡± answers Feld ¡°But how is this going to help?¡± asks Rei ¡°You¡¯ll find out soon enough, if you have time to talk use that to gather more. We¡¯re going to need a lot of these.¡± (Feld) ---***--- After returning to the training ground Rei was exhausted for the pebbles were carried by him on his back the entire way back. They managed to collect 3 bags full of pebbles; they put the pebbles on two barrels. ¡°Alright Rei, we¡¯ll start training right away!¡± yells Feld in a loud voice that rung the ears of the worn-out Rei ¡°But master, we just got back and I¡¯m weary from carrying all those pebbles back.¡± Rei said whilst breathing heavily ¡°You have no time for rest! In the battle field you must push yourself to the limits in order to win. It is essential to build up your stamina, starting now I¡¯ll work you like a donkey.¡± Said Feld Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Without warning Feld threw a pebble at Rei; being worn-out as he is he wasn¡¯t able to sense much less dodge the pebble Feld pitched. ¡°You¡¯re sluggish Rei; we¡¯ll need to fix that.¡± (Feld) ¡°You threw it out of nowhere!¡± yells Rei ¡°You never know when an attack is coming; you must always be on your guard.¡± (Feld) ¡°First you have to learn to dodge; I¡¯ll throw pebbles at you and mustn¡¯t let a single one touch you. You have to learn to be swift on your feet to be agile. Let¡¯s start!¡± (Feld) ¡°Gwahh! Wait wait wait!! I¡¯m not ready yet!¡± yelled Rei as he was receiving pebbles left and right non-stop. The goal of not letting a single one touch him was easily broken as he was hit multiple times not long after starting. Pitying Rei, Feld decides to suspend the agility training for tomorrow. ¡°Ahhahh, this makes it look like I¡¯m bullying you; let¡¯s start over tomorrow, just put all the pebbles back to the barrel then come outside for some grilled meat.¡± Said Feld with an annoying face After tidying the place up, Rei went outside as his master said for some grilled meat. He was surprised to see that the meat was still raw and the grill has no fire. ¡°Where is the grilled meat?¡± asks Rei ¡°Oh, you go cook ¡®em; I¡¯m pretty tired from all that throwing. Anyway, wake me up after you¡¯re done grilling and prepare some juice while you¡¯re at it¡± Feld said while yawning Rei was looking annoyed as his master was relaxing while he was grilling the meat and making juice. Although Rei was irritated by Feld, he understood that this is what Feld meant when he said he¡¯ll work him like a donkey; and the reason is to build up stamina to last longer in battles. ¡°It¡¯s done master Feld, wake up~!¡± said Rei ¡°Oh, I already ate; that¡¯s all yours. Eat up cause tomorrow I¡¯m not gonna let you off easily.¡± Said Feld as he continues his sleep Rei ate a ton of food then passed out on the table. ---***--- Chapter 3.2: Dancing with the pebbles. Chapter 3.2: Dancing with the pebbles. He was snoozing on the table; it flows down like a river to a waterfall as his drool leaves the table onto the floor. But suddenly, he felt a cold sensation as ice water was poured on him by Feld. ¡°Wake up Rei! It¡¯s time for morning training.¡± Feld said with a grin as if he was about to give punishment Still drowsy, Rei proceeded to go in the training area. ¡°Am I gonna dodge the pebbles again?¡± asked Rei ¡°No, you¡¯re gonna deflect them this time.¡± answered Feld Feld threw a wooden sword at Rei. As Rei caught the sword, he notices that the wooden sword was too heavy for a wooden sword. He then asked ¡°What kind of wooden sword is this? It¡¯s pretty heavy.¡± ¡°The wood is made from the trees in Sugtar forest. The wood there is strong and heavy; it can probably take a few tough blows from a real sword and survive. Plus it¡¯s cheaper than metal! And since it¡¯s as heavy as a real sword we can use it for training.¡± Said Feld ¡°Now, you have to deflect every single one of the pebbles and for each failure to deflect a pebble you¡¯ll be punished by 25 sit-ups and push-ups; I¡¯ll start slow, we¡¯ll start with 50 pebbles.¡± Feld continued ¡°Yes sir!¡± said Rei ¡°Let¡¯s start!!¡± said Feld Feld started pitching pebbles against Rei; he threw a pebble every two seconds. Rei had no problems with the first 20 pebbles but Feld started to challenge Rei by throwing it in different locations around Rei. Rei is getting confused trying to predict where Feld plans to throw the next pebble. The 50 pebbles were successfully deflected by Rei, but he suffered a significant drain in both mental and physical stamina. ¡°Alright, not bad kid; we¡¯ll do 75 pebbles next. I¡¯ll throw a pebble every second¡± (Feld) Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. The next batch of pebbles were coming at Rei in great speed, even Rei wasn¡¯t able to believe that he had already deflected 50 pebbles. But Feld started to make it more difficult for Rei as he now throws the pebbles in opposite directions, making Rei chase after the pebbles. Not impossible but extremely difficult for the worn-out Rei to chase the speeding pebbles pitched by Feld; and because of that Rei missed 9 pebbles. Missing 9 pebbles meant doing 225 sit-ups and push-ups making Rei exhausted. After Rei finished the punishment, without giving him time to rest Feld said ¡°Next batch is 100, let¡¯s go.¡± Exhausted like a horse running non-stop, Rei continued to push himself to the limits as he still tried his best to deflect all the pebbles. Pebbles were coming at Rei left and right as if Feld wanted him to miss, but Rei didn¡¯t give up; tired as he was, he was still able to deflect the pebbles. Feld was astonished because Rei learned to use footwork he has never taught. Turning and spinning his body and with swift footwork, Rei began to deflect the pebbles coming at him with ease; he began rotating the sword and passing the sword between his left and right hand to deflect with style. Feld was surprised as Rei deflected every single one of the pebbles he pitched. Feld then said: ¡°Nicely done kid, I honestly thought you were gonna miss at least 50 pebbles. But you astounded me with your footwork and style¡± He couldn¡¯t believe what he had done; he deflected a hundred pebbles in that speed while he was exhausted. Because of this amazing feat, he wasn¡¯t able to respond to Feld¡¯s praise. ¡°We¡¯ll now have lunch, go get some rest while I buy us lunch; we¡¯ll restart training in the afternoon.¡± (Feld) ---***--- Chapter 3.3: Dancing with the pebbles. Author''s Note: Sorry it took pretty long to update, some school stuff happened and yeah you get the gist of it. Anyways, thanks for reading; please continue to do so. Chapter 3.3: Dancing with the pebbles. Afternoon came and they resumed training, this time Feld tweaked the training method to further challenge Rei. ¡°This time you¡¯ll do both dodging and deflecting, I¡¯ve up a red ¡°X¡± symbol at pebbles you should dodge and the rest you should deflect; right of the bat we¡¯ll start at 200.¡± (Feld) ¡°Furthermore, if you deflect a pebble with an ¡°X¡± on it you will receive the same punishment as not being able to deflect a normal one; you must dodge the pebbles with an ¡°X¡± on it, if you¡¯re hit then you¡¯ll receive punishment as well.¡± Continued Feld ¡°Yes sir!¡± said Rei Feld threw pebbles at a speed Rei has never seen before but even though it¡¯s fast, Rei was still able to deflect them but the hard thing about the challenge is the pebble marked with X. So far Feld has only thrown normal pebbles but with great strength which gave Rei a hard time deflecting it, nonetheless Rei was still able to deflect. Feld increased his throwing speed and started throwing more than one pebble at a time; this was too hard for Rei and he missed 6 pebbles. Feld started mixing X pebbles and normal pebbles and Rei hits 2 X pebbles. Rei was hit by 3 X pebbles. After a while the 200 mark was over and in summary: Rei missed 18, hit 7 X pebbles, and was hit by 4 X pebbles so he has to do 725 push-ups and sit-ups. ¡°634, 635¡­701¡­725¡± Rei finished his last sit-up and went to do push-ups ¡°703¡­715¡­723, 724, 725¡± Rei was exhausted again after doing a quarter less than a thousand push-ups and sit-ups. ¡°Can you still go at it Rei? Well, you don¡¯t have a choice! Pick yourself up and let¡¯s start over, this time it¡¯s 300!¡± Feld said like a strict military trainer. Feld threw normal pebbles at first then mixed in the X pebbles he increase the speed and number every 50 or so pebbles. Despite being exhausted as hell, Rei was still able to reach 150 pebbles without mistakes and with style like when he first deflected all 100 earlier in the morning. Feld noticed that Rei gets better when he¡¯s extremely tired. Wanting to test Rei even further, he pitched a normal pebble together with an X pebble side by side by each other which made it very hard to hit the normal one without accidentally hitting both. Rei saw what Feld did, he was confused at first but then in the spit second after seeing it he made a conclusion to hit it instead of dodging. Rei thought ¡°I have to hit the normal one without hitting the X pebble, I can do this¡­ I can do this!!¡± It was a test of precision if Rei can avoid the X pebble while deflecting the normal pebble at that speed then he¡¯s closer to being ready for the next part of Feld¡¯s training. Rei thought fast and he acted the same, he made a side-step to clearly see which the X pebble is and which is not. Upon seeing that the normal pebble was at the back of the X one, he hit it like a pi?ata. Feld smiled as Rei was able to meet his expectation, because of that he confirmed his hypothesis that Rei gets better when pushed too far. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. After confirming that, Feld threw more trick pebbles to further test Rei¡¯s capabilities. In response to Feld¡¯s challenge, Rei started doing trick moves like crouching before hitting the normal pebble and jumping to dodge the X and then hit the normal pebble. Feld was overjoyed for his student had such an amazing hidden ability where when he is pushed to the limits he becomes even better than previously. ¡°This kid, he¡¯s like dancing with the pebbles.¡± Feld thought. Feld relentlessly pitched more trick pebbles at Rei but they don¡¯t seem to faze him. Rei was able to hit every normal pebble and dodge every X pebble thrown by Feld and with that; the first part of Rei¡¯s training was already over. ¡°Great job Rei, you finished the first part of training in only one day. That¡¯s really impressive, you might have some hidden talent.¡± Said Feld Feld did not tell Rei about his ability to be better when exhausted or beaten up because he thought that ability might disappear if Rei becomes conscious about it. ¡°Thank you, sir!! I feel like I¡¯m a new person.¡± (Rei) ¡°Although you finished the first part, we¡¯ll still practice it every morning.¡± (Feld) ¡°What?! I¡¯m gonna be this tired every morning?!¡± (Rei) ¡°Yes, there¡¯s no point in training if you¡¯re not gonna do it daily to become an expert at deflecting and dodging.¡± (Feld) ---***--- ¡°Master Feldgrau! Master Feldgrau!!¡± says the young woman approaching Feld in the streets of Ribas ¡°Oh! Glace how have you been¡± said Feld whilst looking at the blue haired beauty with short hair only long enough to reach her shoulders. ¡°I¡¯ve been teaching the way of the sword in Frostbite training ground¡± (Glace) ¡°Perfect! Say Glace, can you do a practice battle with my new student next week?¡± asked Feld ¡°Anything for you Master Feld!¡± happily said by Glace ¡°Great, I¡¯ll tell him right away, I¡¯m sure he¡¯s gonna be in cloud nine after he hears this.¡± (Feld) ¡°Okay Master Feldgrau! I have to go I¡¯ve got a class to teach; see you next week at Frostbite TG¡± said Glace while running and waving goodbye at Feld ---***--- ¡°Hey Rei, I got some good news for you; I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll be excited¡± (Feld) ¡°What is it sir?¡± asked Rei ¡°You¡¯ll be having a practice match against my former student.¡± Excitedly said by Feld ¡°Wooohooo! Where will we fight? In Alctuz?! Heyeaahh!¡± said Rei as he was jumping up and down with joy. ¡°Of course it¡¯s in Alctuz; I can¡¯t have you dying after only a week of training¡± (Feld) ¡°I can¡¯t wait to meet the opponent, can I meet him? Please can I meet him?¡± said by Rei while begging Feld to let him meet his opponent ¡°No, you can¡¯t meet yet. You¡¯re still unprepared, I trained your opponent meaning your opponent already finished my regime; and in a week you¡¯ll be facing the finished product of my training. To beat that you have to finish it too, and you only have a week.¡± Lectured Feld ¡°Alright, prepare dinner then get some rest, 2nd part of training begins tomorrow.¡± Said Feld (Chapter End) Chapter 4: Froststone. Chapter 4: Froststone. The sound of wood clashing surrounded the training area as both master and student are fiercely sparring in the middle of the grounds. Although Feld had an enormous upper-hand, but he did not use his skills; he only matched the level Rei is currently in. Left-right, down and under Feld tested Rei in different directions; he purposely lets himself open for Rei but disappointed in how Rei was unable to strike. The clashes continued as both were starting to exhaust, even the strongest and most seasoned warriors cannot escape old age. He used to be a fearsome warrior in the midst of the battlefield, a growling lone wolf of war, a beast craving for blood of his enemies; but now he¡¯s become a mentor to rookies that aims to find glory. He wasn¡¯t that famous but he was one of the greatest, only few remembers what he did in the war but his valor will forever remain. He believed that one day his land will be his own again. He cried onto battle without fearing death, the enemies¡¯ great forces were trembling in his splendor. He was called the ¡°Grey Death¡± for his hair was shaded gray and he brought death to every enemy in his path. But even for the Grey Death, the disadvantage in technology was indomitable. His name was Feldgrau Tranel. ---***--- 7 Days later, the day of the match. ---***--- Noisy and crowded as if a movie star is inside the halls; the Frostbite Training Ground is busy as always for a lot of aspiring warriors enroll in their training facility. The facility itself is not that great, but students around Ino enrolls to FTG because of the sweetheart Glace Lozenge Froststone; she is a beauty with sky blue short hair and is an instructor in FTG. Despite being famous around Ribas for her beauty, she was also known to be the strict instructor; she wouldn¡¯t bat an eye to punish any student who does not follow her instructions. ¡°One two one two¡­¡± said by the crowd of students whilst swinging their swords. ¡°Alright everyone time to spar, pick a partner then stay at the sides. We¡¯ll have two pair at a time.¡± Said by the female sword instructor. The students obediently sat in the sides as Glace said. Glace glanced at the door, she saw a man with gray hair leaning on the door case. ¡°It¡¯s time¡± said the gray haired man ¡°I have to go now guys continue the sparring session, Mr. Hedera please continue the students¡¯ training for today¡± Glace said to her students and fellow instructor She then walks towards the man and said: ¡°Is he good Master Feldgrau?¡± ¡°Oh you¡¯ll see¡± Feld replied. They then proceeded to walk out of the establishment. ---***--- ¡°You should come in first and introduce yourself to him; I¡¯ll follow a little bit later¡± (Feld) ¡°Ehh?! But Master Feldgrau, you should introduce us to each other.¡± (Glace) ¡°Nah, I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll both get along.¡± (Feld) ¡°Go ahead and come in¡± (Feld) Glace then gives up convincing Feld to come in first and came inside the cheap training ground Feld and Rei rented. ¡°Excuse me¡­¡± whispered by Glace in a nervous tone as she enters the training ground Rei was in the training area practicing his swings. Glace continued to explore the establishment, anyone who enters the building can easily observe that it is rundown and cheap just as Glace noticed; the ceiling is cracked, the floor is a mess, and there are almost no doors. While she explored she came across the training area and saw Rei practicing she then thought: ¡°He must be Master Feldgrau¡¯s new student, he looks so innocent and kinda cute too.¡± After fixing herself up, Glace then shouted at the practicing Rei: ¡°Good afternoon! You must be Master Feldgrau¡¯s student, I¡¯m Glace Lozenge Froststone.¡± She then walks up to Rei. Rei was feeling nervous as the beautiful young woman walks up to him. He couldn¡¯t stop himself from stuttering. ¡°Hello, I-I¡¯m Reiji Narudo; y-you can call me Rei. A-Are you the person I¡¯m gonna s-spar with?¡± Rei timidly said to Glace with a glowing red face. After seeing how Rei was blushing she thought ¡°He¡¯s so cuuuute!¡± Glace was infected by Rei¡¯s blush virus and was flushed as well while saying ¡°Y-Yes you can call me Glace, I may not look it but I¡¯m a sword user and I¡¯m proud to say that I¡¯m pretty good too!¡± she said as if trying to impress Rei. Feld then came to the scene and said: ¡°Alright kids, enough with the blush fest and let¡¯s head to the Chariot.¡± ---***--- The Chariot is the place where the Alctuz pods are, in those pods is where players lay to enter the Alctuz Arena. The three of them traveled to the middle of Ribas to be able to use the Chariot; after reaching their destination, Rei was amazed on how futuristic the building the Chariot was. A payment of 10 gold per pod has to be made in order to use it of a day, in this day and age 10 gold is a huge sum of money enough to feed a family of 4 for almost a month. Besides the capital, every city in Ino only has the Chariot in the middle of the city; even the poorest of cities in Ino has it, but the quality of the establishment varies. ¡°Rei, Glace, Do you have any money on you?¡± asked Feld ¡°Why do you ask?¡± replied Rei ¡°I¡¯m short 6 gold for the pods¡± said Feld ¡°WHAT!? You set this up and you have no money?¡± yelled Rei ¡°It¡¯s not like you have any money either! You should be grateful I was feeding you¡± replied Feld Feeling ashamed of himself Rei just silenced himself. ¡°Hmph Master Feldgrau you never change, good thing I got a real living now unlike you; I¡¯ll lend you the 6 gold and if he wins you won¡¯t need to pay me back.¡± Proposed by Glace Happy by the no-lose scenario Feld joyfully accepted Glace¡¯s proposal. ¡°Alright Rei, you need to win; my money¡¯s on you Rei!¡± said Feld ¡°Of course it¡¯s on me! Leave it to me master¡± Rei replied Feld noticed Rei just called him master and not the usual ¡°sir¡± and thought: ¡°Ehh, these kids are getting along aren¡¯t they? Glace just what the hell did you do to Rei¡± ¡°Alright you kids, let¡¯s go.¡± (Feld) ¡°Yes master!¡± both said by Rei and Glace as they follow Feld entering the Chariot ---***--- Rei was dazzled by the Chariot¡¯s facilities, he felt that it was even bigger than what he saw outside. ¡°Two pods please, the public ones¡± said Feld to the lobbyist of the Chariot This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. Public pods costs 10 gold per day, being public means anyone can see what you¡¯re doing inside Alctuz through the screen. Private pods costs 13 gold per day. Once you¡¯ve given payment, you¡¯ll be given passes to the pods and those passes expires after 24hrs. The group then proceeded to the public pod area of the Chariot; Rei was again astonished for seeing a number of pods lined up and organized in rows. Unexpectedly, not a lot of people were in the Chariot; maybe it was because it was not the capital so only a few people come in the Chariot, nonetheless it was still almost half full. The group found two pods next to each other in the corner of the pod area, they then decided that this was the best spot for them and went in to activate the pods. The pods are shaped like huge sunflower seeds, its body is colored white and its door is colored blue; the door opens upwards and the inside it has a comfy bedlike design. It has a tube attached to its northern exterior extending to the ceiling then to the control room. ¡°We¡¯ll do one full round, as our deal says if Rei wins I don¡¯t have to pay the 6 gold I owe; but if Rei loses he has to pay it up.¡± Said Feld ¡°The last part was not in the said deal!!¡± yelled Rei ¡°Be quiet Rei, we¡¯re at a public facility; anyway you good with that Glace?¡± (Feld) ¡°Yes Master Feldgrau.¡± Replied Glace ¡°Listen to me please! I don¡¯t have any money!¡± said Rei as he begs the deal off ¡°Alright let¡¯s go!¡± said Feld ¡°Nooooooo!!¡± Rei screams just before the pod closes ¡°If you don¡¯t want to pay up then win Rei.¡± Feld whispered after the pod closed The players inside the pod will have to wear a tape-like headband which also serves as the sensor for brainwaves. The game now begins. ---***--- Since Rei doesn¡¯t have an avatar in Alctuz yet, he was first transported to the newbie tutorial. He was prompted to pick clothes and a weapon which was free for new avatars. Then he did all sorts of testing like swinging the sword, running, jumping and other basic things that needs inspecting like checking his fatigue limit etc¡­ Meanwhile, Glace was strolling around the lobby of rooms of Alctuz. The lobby of rooms in Alctuz is pretty straightforward, it is a white hall with rectangular hologram-like doors in its sides which displays the picture of the map and below it was the battle mode the players are playing in. You can search rooms using the search function and you can also browse rooms by swiping the hologram-like doors left or right or just walk by the rooms like in hotels. She was bored waiting for Rei to finish the basic tutorials so she went and spectated in a match. A person can spectate in a match in Alctuz in two ways, one is viewing it in a physical screen in the real world and the other is entering the room and being in the arena together with the players but you will not be seen, heard, or felt by the players kinda like a ghost. While Glace was entertaining herself with watching other people¡¯s matches, Rei was in an obstacle course to further check his overall stats. He jumped at gaps, dodged arrows, kicked doors down, he ran, he crossed a one rope bridge and finally he reached the room of trials. In the room of trials he saw two soldier knights with only darkness seen inside the armor. He has to defeat these soldiers to complete the tutorial; fortunately, the soldiers were only scary for show, they are slow and weak. The purpose of these soldiers were for test damaging, to determine how strong the player¡¯s strength and how his attacks convert to Alctuz¡¯s hit/damage system. Being a newbie as he was, Rei had a little trouble defeating the soldiers despite them being weak and slow; and finally after 5 slashes he defeated the first one. The second soldier gave Rei a hard time for it was dodging most of Rei¡¯s slashes but eventually Rei learned the movements of the soldiers and he was able to deal 3 critical hits and won. Critical hits in Alctuz are double damage, critical hits aren¡¯t by chance but by the spot you hit the opponent. i.e. (the neck, heart, head). The spots of where critical hits occur are not constant for everyone except the ones mentioned, some have their real life weak-spots and those can be a target for critical hits. The soldiers of the room of trials had 10% of the HP of real players which means Rei¡¯s average normal slash only deals 2% damage to the enemy¡¯s HP and his critical hits are 4%. At last, Rei completed the tutorial of Alctuz; He was then prompted to enter an in game name; he picked the name ¡°Wist¡± short for his favorite color which was Wisteria. ---***--- After Rei has created his avatar ¡°Wist¡± he logged out using the tape-like watch on his wrist which serves as the tool to access the main menu, because he forgot to ask what Glace¡¯s in game name was. The door of the pod opened and Rei sit-upped and asked Feld; Feld then answered: ¡°Her in game name is ¡°Froststone¡±, chat her up using the chat tab in the main menu.¡± Rei logged in again and went to the chat tab of the main menu, he was asked to enter the receiver¡¯s name and a keyboard appeared he then typed ¡°Froststone¡± and wrote a message: ¡°Hello Glace, this is Reiji Narudo. May I ask where you are? I finished the tutorial.¡± The spectating Glace received a notification on her wristwatch and when she opened it the message Rei wrote appeared. After she read Rei¡¯s message she then selected Rei¡¯s name and sent a friend invitation. Rei accepted the friend request without thought and after that friend request a message appeared from Alctuz ¡°You have successfully added Froststone into your friend list¡± ¡°Would you like to know more about the friend list? YES/NO¡± Rei selected ¡°YES¡± ¡°You can talk with friends telepathically by selecting you friend¡¯s name and selecting ¡°Talk¡± and view their location by selecting your friend¡¯s name and selecting ¡°View Location¡±.¡± Right after Rei closed the message from Alctuz, Glace was already in-front of him and said: ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± They went to the lobby of rooms to create a room for their battle. They selected battle mode ¡°Death match¡± and the map ¡°Temple Ruins¡±.
Author''s Note: If you''re still reading this, I''m very thankful for your support even if I post a little late. Sorry if all I can do is apologize but I''ll try to post chapter5 as soon as I finished it. Cheers and have a nice day. Chapter 5: Froststone vs. Wist. Chapter 5: Froststone vs. Wist. Note: This map only shows the approximate outlook of the arena and is not exact but is just to help imagine the battle better. (PS: I wanted to try sketching out the maps for you guys so you can visualize the arena better, if this works out fine then I¡¯ll probably do this for every map. Please do give some feedback if you can or can¡¯t understand how I make maps or my hand writing. Also, look forward for the map of Ino, I¡¯ll post it in the future after several modifications and improvement.) The battle is about to begin between the swordswoman and the rookie warrior. They have chosen ¡°Temple Ruins¡± as their battlefield and ¡°Death Match¡± as the battle mode; Glace was in the ¡°Peace (Blue)¡±team while, Rei was in the ¡°Chaos (Red)¡± team, their avatars spawned in opposite sides of the map (look at the map to see the locations). (Note: The spawn locations of teams differ from map to map.) Wist (Rei) was confused for it was his first time to be inside a real battle arena in Alctuz; he didn¡¯t know where to go, he was the one who chose the battle arena and he immediately regrets his choice, the map was too complex for a rookie like him. ¡°Where am I supposed to go? Hello! Glace are you there?!¡± Wist asked and shouted. He was completely lost, but then he thought: ¡°Oh right! I should call Glace!¡± He accessed the main menu and went to his friend list and called Glace via telepathy. ¡°Hello? Glace! Uhm this kind of embarrassing but can we just meet up?¡± he asked ¡°Oh right, I¡¯m sorry, I disremembered it¡¯s your first time being here. Let¡¯s meet up in the middle of the map at the center gate. Try accessing the map by pressing the globe-like button on your watch. You don¡¯t have to be on guard, I won¡¯t attack you out of the blue.¡± Froststone replied ¡°Okay, thanks see you there then.¡± Said Rei before he hanged up The map Rei chose was designed for group battles, meaning it was way too big for only two players to fight in. Wist and Froststone finally met in front of the center gate. ¡°Sorry for letting you choose the arena.¡± Froststone sincerely said ¡°No it¡¯s my fault for choosing such a huge map, you don¡¯t have to apologize.¡± Said Wist ¡°Shall we start?¡± asked Froststone ¡°I¡¯m a little nervous but yeah, let¡¯s do this!¡± Wist said with a determined tone of voice ---***--- Froststone¡¯s sword was a rapier with a diamond-shaped guard that is made of 5 diamonds connected side by side encircling her sword¡¯s guard. The guard, hilt, and the sword¡¯s fuller was colored sky blue just like her hair. She wore a female knight¡¯s light armor with a dark blue cape with a hood. On the other hand, Wist had wisteria colored hair which was about the only thing worth noticing on his appearance and equipment. He wore free armor given by Alctuz which was just a plain gladiator¡¯s armor and a free sword that isn¡¯t really dependable, but for a poor guy like him, it was enough. The match started with Froststone¡¯s forward thrust which was instinctively dodged by Wist but his right cheek was grazed by the tip of Froststone¡¯s rapier. He received almost no damage from the graze and he immediately made a counter attack and tried to stab Froststone, but failed for she was agile as a fly. Wist was keeping up well with Froststone for his first battle; Froststone¡¯s style was to deflect then thrust for she was using a rapier which was a weapon for stabbing multiple times. Their exchanges we¡¯re amazing, you wouldn¡¯t think of it as Wist¡¯s first match; he had a little trouble at the start, but now that he¡¯s somehow getting used to fighting in Alctuz that there are less and less wasted movements. Even with his improvement he was still unable to land a strike against Froststone, who had training since she was 13; and now that she¡¯s 20 she¡¯s already an instructor. Froststone¡¯s speed was phenomenal, Wist can barely dodge even more less land an attack; he had to think of a countermeasure to Froststone¡¯s swiftness. What he thought of was kinda tricky, he made a distance between them then charged directly at her. He planned to use his sword to block Froststone¡¯s thrust then slide it towards her ending it with a frontal slash. The moment came where Wist blocked the thrust but he didn¡¯t expect a kick from Froststone waiting for him after blocking the thrust. Wist was sent afar by Froststone¡¯s kick in the belly and was still shocked at what happened even after regaining his footing. He suffered 8% damage from that kick alone he thought: ¡°She has quite the powerful kick, I gotta watch out for that¡± He noticed that the kick she used was empowered by mana, but a kick¡¯s damage still isn¡¯t supposed to be that strong but maybe it was because of Wist¡¯s low defenses he took significant damage. ¡°So it¡¯s mana using time huh?¡± Wist whispered ---***--- *Night time 6 days ago, inside the cheap training ground¡¯s hall* ¡°Rei, touch this orb.¡± Said Feld while holding a crystal ball that kinda looks like the one used for fortune telling ¡°Why? Are you gonna read my fortune sir?¡± Rei said whilst having a grin that looks like being forced closed ¡°Just do it!¡± replied the irritated Feld Rei placed his right hand on top of the crystal ball. ¡°Now concentrate, imaging having an aura, imagine it in any color you like; now focus that aura in your right hand.¡± (Feld) The hall was surrounded by the purple light coming from the orb. Feld was not that surprised but he was still impressed on how massive Rei¡¯s mana is. ¡°Open your eyes Rei.¡± (Feld) He opened his eyes and saw what he was doing, the room¡¯s color has changed for the light was so strong. He was confused yet amazed of himself for what he was doing. ¡°Be proud Rei, you got a ton of mana; it¡¯s even close to mine, the amount of mana determines how strong you can make your attacks. Since you have an incredible volume of mana, you can pour more than average into a single strike.¡± said Feld ¡°I¡¯m going to teach you mana manipulation.¡± Said Feld as he kept the crystal ball away Rei was looking at Feld with outmost attention. ¡°I measured the amount of mana you have using that orb, good news is you have a lot of it, bad news is you don¡¯t know how to use it yet.¡± (Feld) ¡°Which is why you¡¯re going to teach me mana manipulation?¡± asked Rei ¡°Precisely.¡± Said Feld ¡°Try doing what you did with the ball to the wooden sword.¡± (Feld) Rei couldn¡¯t discharge mana from himself onto the sword. ¡°Why couldn¡¯t I do it? I did it with the orb just moments earlier.¡± Asked by the confused Rei ¡°That¡¯s because the orb there was a mana orb, it makes it easier for you to bring out your mana aura; it¡¯s only useful for measuring the mana volume and is pretty useless other than that.¡± (Feld) ¡°But how am I gonna be able to use my mana if I can¡¯t get it out?¡± asked Rei ¡°Of course, I¡¯ll teach you how to control it. Let¡¯s go to the training area.¡± (Feld) They then walked to the training area. ¡°Some people have talent to control their mana right of the bat, but it looks like you¡¯re not one of them so I¡¯m gonna have to force your body to bring it out.¡± (Feld) ¡°How are you gonna force it? It is gonna hurt?¡± (Rei) ¡°Oh it¡¯s gonna hurt alright, but you need to do this; you want to learn to use mana right?¡± (Feld) ¡°Yes sir!¡± (Rei) Feld impaled a huge chunk of wood in the middle of the training area then tied Rei to it. ¡°Why am I tied up?!¡± Rei shouted as he questioned his position while fearing what¡¯s going to happen. ¡°Relax, it will only hurt for an hour.¡± (Feld) ¡°An hour?!!¡± Rei screamed, the shocked Rei was trying to get himself out of there but was unable to ¡°Alright here I go.¡± (Feld) Feld placed his hand on Rei¡¯s forehead then forcefully poured his mana onto him. Feld¡¯s mana was colored white and Rei¡¯s was colored purple, mana colors are manifested by the person¡¯s favorite color. Rei screamed and screamed, he was in pain, he was in agony, he felt like wanting to die from the pain but he didn¡¯t give up, he tried to suppress his screams and endured the torment. Rei¡¯s mana was pushing out Feld¡¯s because it was foreign mana, the fight awakened Rei¡¯s compatibility with his mana. The tormenting pain lasted for 10 whole minutes. ¡°It¡¯s done, it was a success, you get a break tomorrow; we shouldn¡¯t push your body too far, you should rest well.¡± (Feld) The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. *The day after tomorrow* ¡°Alright Rei, try it out again on the wooden sword.¡± (Feld) ¡°Yes sir!¡± (Rei) The wooden sword glowed purple, more accurately wisteria and there was excess mana gushing out of the sword. ¡°You see that excess mana there? That¡¯s what we¡¯ll work on; you have to completely control it without any wasted mana.¡± (Feld) ¡°The first thing you have to learn is ¡°Strengthening¡±, it is the type of mana manipulation where you discharge your mana onto objects and parts of your body in order to enhance their capabilities and the strength of attack and defense.¡± (Feld) Rei practiced strengthening with Feld from that day till the day of the match, he was able to control his mana better but still not on a level of professionals; well of course not, Rei¡¯s training has only been 8 days but nonetheless he¡¯s made incredible progress. ---***--- After receiving a blow from Froststone, Wist determined that it was time to fight using mana as well. He first focused his energy on his sword and feet and dashed towards Froststone double his normal speed for the mana amplified his speed. He increased the mana volume on his sword as he slashes. Froststone used mana as well on her sword and blocked then dodge Wist¡¯s attack. She was impressed that she needed to dodge that attack even after already blocking it. Wist didn¡¯t stop there, he continued pursuing Froststone with slashes; none hit Froststone and both are beginning to exhaust. Froststone distanced herself in order to rest for her fatigue bar to cool down. ¡°I thought Master Feldgrau was overestimating you, but it looks like you got the potential to be a great warrior.¡± Froststone praises Wist. ¡°Thanks.¡± Said Wist just before dashing towards Froststone. He unrelentingly slashed and slashed with his mana filled sword as if just leaving it to chance to hit Froststone; his fatigue bar is reaching up, he¡¯s about to exhaust. Froststone on the other hand was waiting for Wist to deplete his own stamina before bringing him punishment and thought ¡°I¡¯ll wait till he gets tired before attacking.¡± Wist was fast for his feet are boosted by mana, Froststone had to keep up with him by doing the same; both were nearing their fatigue limits with Wist at the lead. Finally, Wist reached exhausted state with -10% in movement speed. ¡°There!¡± (Froststone) Froststone saw this as the chance to deal fatal hits but Wist was still able to move pretty swiftly and dodge her strikes; and because of her eagerness to deal fatal strikes that gave Wist an opening. ¡°Damn it!¡± thought Froststone Wist performed a and successfully hit Froststone he dealt 10% damage, she was stunned for Wist has successfully hit her; Wist continued using relentlessly and was able to hit Froststone another time for she too has reached her fatigue limit. He shouted ¡°Hah!¡± for every slash he made. : A normal slash filled with strength and determination to hit but is considered slow compared to normal slashes for it is prepared for a strong strike. The user will spend a decent amount of mana energy put into the sword then perform as the name says a heavy slash. (Average damage: 10%) [Fatigue Watch:] Wist: 20% Froststone: 10% [HP Watch:] Wist: 91% Froststone: 79% Both were having significant decrease in their movement speed for they have exhausted their fatigues to their limits; Wist continued to go on the offensive, because of this Froststone decided not to be on the defense but also be aggressive. Froststone thought: ¡°I can¡¯t keep this up, I have to damage him then rest.¡± She went on the offensive and started using while trying to open Wist up for a huge skill; the longer the clash get the slower the two of them get, which is why after successfully hitting Wist a few times and dealing 15% damage Froststone ran away from Wist to get a breather towards the water area. Wist was persistent and kept on pestering Froststone with attacks. She¡¯s had it and said: ¡°This is starting to get annoying!¡± She started getting real serious against Wist, she raised her sword and said: ¡°Cold Breeze!¡± then pointed her rapier at Wist as if commanding an army to charge. : A breeze of chilling wind is summoned to attack and slow down the opponent. (Average damage: 5%) (Effect: Slows down opponent movement speed by 10% for 10 seconds) Wist was hit by cold breeze as he was charging towards Froststone, he currently has a -35% movement speed debuff while on the other hand Froststone has -15% movement speed debuff. Wist thought ¡°This is bad, I¡¯m getting slower and slower; I think I¡¯d take a breather.¡± But the breather Wist intended wasn¡¯t allowed by Froststone as she continues her attack combo. Wist received 5% damage from , but Froststone didn¡¯t stop there; after seeing Wist slow down, she then used her sword and gather up wind energy to splash Wist with water from the pond area of the map. The water will serve as an amplifier for Froststone next attack which was . : The caster will cast a blue flame ball of frost and fire it onto the opponent causing a blast of tremendous ice burn damage. (Average damage: 30%) (Additional effect: If the target is damp, the skill will also induce frostbite.) Wist sensed the impending danger and being too slow to dodge, he just quickly went from attack to defense mode and spread his mana all over his body as a shield. Froststone extends her hand towards Wist and fires the blue flame ball of frost; since Wist currently has a -40% movement speed debuff, he was unable to dodge . Wist only suffered 25% damage thanks to his defensive mode that gave him 17% defense but was induced with a frostbite state for 5 seconds. ~*In Alctuz there is a state called frostbite state, in this state the opponent will be frozen completely and unable to move; it has a limited duration but during this time, a single attack will have an additional 50% damage against the player in said state and after that single attack the frostbite state will be destroyed; also If multiple attacks hits simultaneously it is counted as a single attack. This is why ice mages are extremely in demand in guilds because it is most useful especially in group battles. ¡°I can¡¯t move, t-this is bad! I¡¯m going to lose, I don¡¯t have money to pay 6 gold!¡± (Wist) She didn¡¯t stop there again, she intends to use the opportunity of attack made by the frostbite state. Froststone raises her sword like a wand and said: ¡°Diamond Hail Strike!!¡± then just like in cold breeze she points her rapier at Wist. : The caster will summon 1 or more diamond-shaped ice shards in the sky and the caster can target an opponent and fire it. (Average damage per hit: 6%) Wist was unable to move because of the frostbite and will not be able to avoid imminent defeat. Froststone summoned 7 diamond-shaped shards which took all of her mana since she didn¡¯t have time to rest and regenerate mana. The seven shards was coming at Wist at the speed of bullets from a gun, all hope for Wist was lost and defeat is just around the corner. Finally the match was concluded as the 7 shards hit Wist simultaneously. ---****--- A little HP Math: Wist: 91% HP 91% ¨C 15% (Parry Slash) ¨C 5% (Cold Breeze) ¨C 25% (Chilling Blaze) = 46% Diamond Hail Strike: 7 * 6% = 42% Wist has 17% defense from mana aura shield. DHS Damage: 42% - [42% * 17% (DEFENSE)] = 34.86% Frostbite = +50% damage F = 34.86% * 50% = 17.43% Total damage is: 34.86% + 17. 43% = 52.29% Wist HP = 46% - 52.29% = DEAD. ---***--- Author¡¯s Note: This chapter was really fun to make but had my brain exhausted from writing, this chapter was longer than my usual chapters to apologize for the late post of the previous one. Thanks for continued support to everyone that¡¯s still there and I hope you¡¯ll stay. Please give me feedback, I really appreciate it. Thumbs up for my map making skills haha I hope you understood it. I even used a pen. Chapter 6: The Rookies New Clothes. Chapter 6: The Rookie¡¯s New Clothes It was a cold dim room, he was lying there on the cold hard floor. A flash of light came and illuminated the empty space he was in, he was dazzled by the bright light and proceeded to cover his eyes. After trying to cover his eyes he then noticed, his hand was transparent and so was his whole body; the light continued to glare at him but after a while his eyes adjusted to the area. ¡°Am I¡­ A-a ghost?!¡± After realizing that he was a ghost, he was just about to panic but then another flash of light came but this time it was a notification saying ¡°YOU ARE DEAD¡± written in red. He saw in the screen that was illuminating the room, a girl which he then recognized as Glace; he saw Glace standing alone in the arena having a ¡°VICTORY¡± notification floating around her. Glace pressed ¡°Exit Arena¡± and was transported to the lobby of rooms. Rei which was in the dim room for dead players was also transported out of the Chamber of Souls to the lobby of rooms. The lobby of rooms is not a place where you can see other players, you will have your own lobby of rooms ¡°server¡± but will see the same rooms as other players; therefore Rei and Glace did not meet in the lobby of rooms. Rei woke up in a room called ¡°Chamber of Souls¡±, the dead players of the battlefield are sent here and can¡¯t get out until the battle is over. They can freely watch the battle through a screen and can freely talk with other dead players in the room. Rei¡¯s sword was still at his side in his sheath, the reason for this is that newbie weapons given by Alctuz is an exception to the rule where discarded weapons are either lost to oblivion or could be taken by other players; if you can remember in chapter 1. Rei¡¯s watch was glowing and blinking, he was receiving a call from Glace. Rei answered her call. ¡°Hello, Glace? Where are you? I can¡¯t see anybody here¡± (Rei) ¡°Of course you can¡¯t see anyone else there, it¡¯s the lobby of rooms; you¡¯re the only one there but simultaneously everyone is there, get it?¡± (Glace) ¡°Well I¡¯d like you to explain in length later please, but for now where should I go?¡± asked Rei ¡°Go to the main menu then select return to town¡± (Glace) Rei pressed the main menu button in his tape-like wristwatch then a hologram-like screen appeared where you can select various stuff like friend list tab etc¡­ He then selected return to town. Rei¡¯s avatar was slowly vanishing which started from his hands and feet to his head; it was the process of transporting the avatar to town. ~In Alctuz, there is only one huge town, everything is there from blacksmiths, merchants and the like that can be found in every RPG game. ¡°Uhm Glace, I¡¯m already in town; where should I go next?¡± asked Rei ¡°Look at your main menu button, what number does it say?¡± (Glace) ¡°It says ¡°057¡±, what does this mean?¡± (Rei) ¡°That¡¯s the server channel number you¡¯re in, wait a sec I¡¯ll be coming to you.¡± Said Glace ~In Alctuz, to be able to change server channels, the player must press the main menu button on hold for 3secs then the channel list will appear. ¡°Wist, press the main menu button twice; a list of landmarks will appear, select Circular Grounds¡± (Glace) ¡°Roger¡± Rei replied ~In Alctuz, pressing the main menu button twice will let you see the list of landmarks and warp to the said landmark; this function is very helpful for the town is huge. The circular grounds is like a huge plaza, at its center is a big water fountain. As its name implies it has a circular design, it¡¯s famous because most players do their personal trade here instead of the market area. ~In Alctuz, players can trade weapons, armors, gold, potions, and almost any other item. ¡°I¡¯m here, there are a lot of people here Glace¡± Rei said ¡°Stop calling me Glace here, you should call me Froststone and I¡¯ll call you Wist in game okay?¡± (Glace) ¡°Okay but there are too many people here, are you already here as well?¡± Rei asks ¡°You¡¯ll see me sitting on the edge of the huge fountain at the center of the circular grounds¡± Glace ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll look for you¡± (Rei) Rei strolled on the sides of the fountain only to find Glace sitting at its edge wearing casual clothing. ¡°Hey Froststone¡± (Rei) ¡°Wist¡± (Glace) ¡°Can I call you Frost instead? Froststone is kinda long¡± asked Rei ¡°Sure just don¡¯t call me by my real name¡± (Glace) ¡°How did you change into those clothes¡± (Rei) ¡°Just open your inventory and select what you want to wear¡± (Glace) ¡°I see, I don¡¯t have any other clothes besides this armor for newbies¡± (Rei) ¡°So what¡¯re we gonna do now? Should we log out?¡± (Rei) ¡°No, we¡¯re going to buy you some low grade equipment; follow me¡± (Glace) ¡°But I don¡¯t have any money on me.¡± (Rei) ¡°I¡¯ll lend you some, but be sure to pay me back¡± said Glace as she started to walk ¡°Well I can¡¯t refuse that offer but why help me?¡± Rei blindly followed Glace. ¡°You see Master Feldgrau doesn¡¯t have any other students besides us; I¡¯m just curious how you¡¯ll turn up looking at how I became pretty successful¡± said Glace with a bloating red face full of pride. ¡°I can¡¯t tell him I¡¯m interested in other ways too¡± Glace thought which explains the red face. The two were walking in town not using the warp function for Glace was showing Rei around. There were a lot of stalls and shops in town, even food was being sold. ~In Alctuz, you may eat food and taste it but it won¡¯t make you full in reality. Players who are food makers buy their ingredients in stores owned by the government; they just generate ingredients which makes the food industry incredibly profitable for the government. One stall had an incredible presentation of dishes which made the poor Rei drool just by the mere sight of it. Glace saw how Rei stared at the stall and said: ¡°Want to try some?¡± ¡°Oh no, I can¡¯t impose on you like that¡± said Rei ¡°It¡¯s alright, food here is cheaper that it is in real life¡± (Glace) ~The food in Alctuz is cheap because it doesn¡¯t really give anything to the eater but taste. ¡°Two of that please¡± (Glace) ¡°Sure thing missy¡± said the shop-owner The item they ordered is steamed buns with beef stuffing and had honey and cheese sauce. The smell was appetizing and the sight was mesmerizing and it was incredibly cheap for it was only 50 copper each. ¡°Here you go missy¡± said the shop-owner ¡°Here you go Wist¡± said Glace ¡°How much do I owe you?¡± Rei asked ¡°Nah, don¡¯t mind it; the food here is cheap you know¡± (Glace) ¡°I see, thank you Frost¡± said Rei with a smile as bright as the sun towards Glace Seeing his honest innocent face, Glace¡¯s heart started to skip beats, her face was flushed, and she couldn¡¯t look at Rei for she¡¯d be embarrassed if he sees him like that. ¡°L-let¡¯s g-go to the blacksmith¡¯s place already, so eat faster¡± stutteringly said by Glace Glace asked herself in her thoughts: ¡°I only met him today, so why do I feel like I trust him so much?¡± The ¡°couple¡± continued their walk to town to the blacksmith¡¯s shop in the 57th channel. ---***--- Sitting in the pod area waiting for his students to log out he was bored. ¡°Man what¡¯re those kids doing?! Making me wait like this, their match was already over wasn¡¯t it?!¡± Feld was getting impatient. ~An outsider will not be able to view anything on the physical screen if the player he¡¯s spectating for is currently not in battle. ¡°Well anyway, it¡¯s time to hit the club; I just saved 6gold hahaha!¡± Feld said Feld wasn¡¯t short on gold he was just as cheap as he¡¯s always been. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. After the war Feld could¡¯ve become rich by playing and winning in Alctuz but instead he chose to make a living by ¡°delivering messages and packages¡±. ---***--- ¡°Say Frost, what does Master Feld do for a living?¡± asked Rei ¡°I¡¯m not quite sure but he told me he was a delivery man¡± answered Glace ¡°By the way, how long have you known him?¡± (Rei) ¡°A little over seven years ago, he saved me from Archusian soldiers raiding our village; after that, he trained me till I was 16 then left me to tend to myself.¡± (Glace) ¡°I see, how old are you now Frost?¡± (Rei) ¡°I¡¯m 20 years old¡± answered Glace ¡°Oh, our ages were really that close huh¡± (Rei) ¡°How about you, how long have you been with Master Feldgrau?¡± Glace asked ¡°Almost two weeks¡± said Rei ¡°Just two weeks?!!¡± yelled Glace She was startled by the fact that Rei just trained a little over a week with Feld and was able to put up a decent fight with her. ¡°Y-you¡¯re kidding right? Come on, tell me the truth¡± (Glace) ¡°That is the truth I swear¡± Rei said while placing is fist on his chest ¡°I see, well you got some moves there; have you been training since you were young?¡± asked Glace ¡°Well if you consider farming as training, then yes; that is until my grandparents were killed in our farm by Archusian soldiers near the war¡¯s end.¡± (Rei) Glace was still in shock for Rei has unbelievable talent for fighting. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for reminding you¡± said Glace ¡°No worries, I¡¯m sure they¡¯re in a better place now.¡± Rei calmly said giving off a pleasant vibe. ---***--- ¡°There it is, the blacksmith¡¯s shop in the 57th channel¡± (Glace) ¡°Why are you saying ¡°in the 57th channel¡±?¡± Rei asks ¡°Well, blacksmith shops differ from channel to channel but generally in the same location.¡± Glace answers ¡°The non-player characters here in Alctuz are real people.¡± Glace continued ~In Alctuz, there are no quests; the NPCs in Alctuz like blacksmiths and potion makers are government employed and is a different person in different channels. Players can only design weapons and armors and have blacksmiths make them. Players can start a business in Alctuz but it has to be approved by the government; for example: if I want to start a weapon store and I was approved of it, I will be given a spot at only one channel of the town, I will not be able to rent another spot for the limit is one store per owner. (How businesses work will be further discussed in future content) Wist and Froststone entered the blacksmith¡¯s shop and what awaited them is a large variety of weapons and armor. Shelves and shelves of boxes filled with armors; the walls were filled with weapons on display. They went straight to the shop attendant¡¯s desk. His desk was a little messy but not dirty, the attendant was also the head-blacksmith of the shop. ¡°Hello customers, what can I help you with today?¡± asked Mr. Blacksmith (I¡¯ll be using Mr. Blacksmith as his name here because we really don¡¯t need a name for him right now.) ¡°We would like to try out some low grade armors for rookies¡± (Glace) ¡°I see, please come with me¡± (Mr. Blacksmith) ~In Alctuz, theft cannot be done. You cannot take someone else¡¯s belongings except in ¡°trading¡± function; the same applies with stores, you may pick it up and look at it but you cannot leave the store without paying for it. You do not need to go to the shop attendant to pay for it and just automatically pay with the ¡°purchase¡± function. The only time you may take someone else¡¯s belongings is inside the arena but the item must already be off the owner¡¯s grasp or body. ¡°Uhm Mr. Blacksmith, are you sure about leaving the shop unattended?¡± asked Rei ¡°I take it that you¡¯re the rookie, besides your newbie clothes you still have the rookie vibe haha. Don¡¯t worry theft cannot be done in Alctuz¡± said Mr. Blacksmith The three of them went in the inner part of the shop. ¡°Do you want light-armor? Or heavy ones?¡± asked Mr. Blacksmith ¡°Light-armor please¡± said Glace ¡°Is the armor for this young man?¡± asked Mr. Blacksmith ¡°Yes it is¡± answered Glace ¡°Alright, this armor right here is pretty well made¡± said Mr. Blacksmith ¡°Indeed it is for low grade equipment.¡± said Glace ¡°Hey Wist, come here try this out¡± Glace called ¡°Coming, wow this is great¡± Rei reacted Rei went are tried the armor out, for him it felt perfect but maybe anything will feel perfect for a poor guy like him. The armor was worth 7 gold. ¡°Alright, we¡¯ll take this.¡± Glace said ¡°Thank you Ms. Customer¡± said Mr. Blacksmith ¡°Hey Wist, what weapon would you use?¡± asked Glace ¡°I don¡¯t really know yet maybe until after my training with Master Feld I¡¯d stick to this rookie sword.¡± Rei replied ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go¡± (Glace) The two of them left the shop, and while outside they continued chatting. ¡°You owe me 13 gold now including the bet money¡± Glace said with a smile and eyes looking joyfully at Rei ¡°Yes, yes I¡¯ll be sure to pay you back!¡± Rei said while putting his fist on his chest again ¡°And how do you plan on doing that?¡± playfully asked by Glace as if teasing Rei. ¡°I¡¯d train hard with Master Feld, I¡¯d be a great warrior then earn money to pay you back.¡± Rei said with a determined and proud face ¡°I see but if you don¡¯t, I¡¯d hunt you down and beat the crap out of you. Got that?¡± Glace adorably threatened Rei ¡°Yes, yes I got it; I¡¯d come back for you after I earn enough money¡± Rei replied to the threat ¡°Come back? Are you leaving Ribas already?¡± asked Glace ¡°Well yea, Master Feld told me we¡¯d leave Ribas after this match.¡± Rei answered ¡°I¡¯m coming with you!¡± said Glace ¡°What why?¡± Rei confusedly asked ¡°I don¡¯t trust you¡¯ll return and pay me back! I¡¯d have to stay with you to keep an eye one you.¡± said Glace but she was thinking differently and had ¡°other¡± intentions (IYKWIM). ¡°Alright, but Master Feld has the last say in this not me! You hear that?!¡± said Rei ¡°Hmph! Like Master Feldgrau can stop me from following you¡± (Glace) Realizing that her tongue slipped and her intentions were seen she tried to cover it up with ¡°I mean because of your debt not because of any other reason or anything ¡° ¡°Yes-yes I understand, don¡¯t be so defensive¡± teased Rei as he noticed how flushed Glace was ¡°I¡¯m not being defensive!!!¡± the pouting Glace replied ¡°Let¡¯s log out? Master Feld is probably tired of waiting¡± said Rei Glace agreed and nodded while continuing her pout mode ---***--- The pods slowly opened and the tape-like headband automatically went off, the two of them sit-upped and saw Feld was nowhere to be found. ¡°Where the hell is Master Feld?!¡± Rei loudly asked the air Meanwhile, Feld was in the gentlemen¡¯s club having the time of his life. ¡°Whoooo! Work it girl!¡± yells Feld Author''s Note: Hey guys! Sorry it''s been a while, midterms are done and now I have decent time for writing. Sorry for this chapter''s info dumping but that isn''t even a fraction of the info that needs to be shared haha but anyway thanks for your patronage. Just to be clear guys, even if the updates gets slow; I have no intention of dropping this and I already have an ending idea and I estimate this to be around 50+ or more chapters so please stay tuned and share it with your fantasy fiction loving friends or with strangers. Feedback is always welcome no matter how harsh it is! Give it to me in hopes for making this fiction better! Cheers guys and have a nice life haha! Chapter 7.1: Zobendio Chapter 7: Zobendio In the middle of a circular area, a fighter coated in black cloth that had his face concealed had two small axes which he held one on each of his hands. He appeared to be facing multiple enemies by himself but he wasn¡¯t fazed in the least. He stood there as if he fears nothing and no one. The wind was blowing loudly and aggressively, the coated fighter¡¯s clothes where being swayed at its will. The battle map lives up to its name, Windy Arena. Windy Arena: A spacious circular arena with a statue of a goddess in its middle, other than the statue there are no other obstructions in the arena. Unlike normal obstructions, the statue in the middle cannot be destroyed. Facing him were two players; one is an archer while the other was a swordsman wielding a large great sword. The archer starts the initial clash firing 3 consecutive magical arrows. Teamwork was observed by the tag-team archer-swordsman for the swordsman quickly dashed towards the dual-axe wielding fighter using the magical arrows as his shields against counter attacks. ~In Alctuz, when in group battles, attacks of your allies will just pass through you. Thinking swiftly on his feet, the black coated player heads toward the archer to keep him from firing cover fire for the swordsman. Even though he thought of it, it was no easy task; the swordsman was a fast runner and did not make his intentions easy for him. The in game name of the fighter in black was also concealed from other players besides him already concealing his face. ~In Alctuz, there is an item called ¡°Identity Cloak¡± that hides the player¡¯s in game name and/or face, it is black in color and extremely expensive. ---***--- The pods slowly opened with a sound of trapped air finally being free. ¡°Eh? What is this? Why do I have this mark on my left arm?¡± asked Rei while being confused yet again ¡°Oh that¡¯s just the mark that Alctuz has measured your mana size, it shouldn¡¯t hurt but does it?¡± replied and asked by Glace ¡°Well it doesn¡¯t but I was just surprised, by the way, where could Master Feld be?¡± Rei thought out loud ¡°He¡¯s probably out gambling or maybe ¡°hanging out¡± with women¡± Glace answers with her vast knowledge of Feld¡¯s personality Glace hatched an idea and said ¡°It¡¯s probably a waste of time to be waiting for Master Feldgrau, let¡¯s go back in game. I want you to see more battles.¡± Having nothing to lose and something to gain Rei quickly agreed. ¡°What are you doing?¡± asks Rei ¡°Can¡¯t you see I¡¯m writing?¡± sarcastically said by Glace ¡°Well even I could notice that; but what for?¡± said Rei ¡°I¡¯m just leaving a note here saying we¡¯ll log out on about 7:30PM; so if ever Master Feldgrau returns he knows what time we¡¯ll be out¡± explain by Glace ¡°I see, good thinking!¡± Rei said while doing a gesture of agreement and awe. They proceeded to lay inside the pods yet again put their headbands on and logged in into Alctuz. Wist and Froststone were connected via call in game while browsing rooms; they stumble upon a room for 4 people but there¡¯s only 3 people in it. It was a public room open for spectators, the map was Windy Arena. This room piqued Froststone¡¯s interest and told Wist: ¡°Hey Wist, I think this¡¯ll be a good room to spectate; let¡¯s watch them fight.¡± Not really knowing what is good or bad Rei just plainly said ¡°Alright¡± They both pressed ¡°Spectator¡± mode then entered the Windy Arena. What they saw was a two versus one battle concerning a lone fighter in black with dual-axes and a duo consisting of a long and short range combatant. Rei was surprised in how well the lone warrior stood against two enemies that are clearly not inexperienced. His eyes showed how he was at awe while watching such a battle. ---***--- The fight was about equal, but that also means that the lone warrior was capable enough to withstand two aggressive opponents by himself and currently hasn¡¯t received any damage at all. *Let¡¯s call the lone warrior ¡°Jin¡± even if his name was hidden and the archer ¡°Ark¡± and the swordsman ¡°Bord¡±* Jin thinking to himself ¡°The archer is saying something, hmm; they¡¯re probably gonna use arrows as cover fire for the sword user¡± ~In Alctuz, in group battles, there is a function that is ¡°Team chat¡± wherein you can only hear and be heard by your teammates; you can toggle between other chat functions like ¡°All chat¡±, ¡°Guild chat¡±, ¡°System chat¡± etc.¡­ If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Ark fired 3 magical arrows and Bord used them as cover. ¡°Ah, I was right!¡± Jin thought to himself ¡°I¡¯ll have to first get rid of that archer¡± Jin ran towards the archer with Bord just right behind him Jin thought: ¡°Damn it, their tactic is working; I can¡¯t get close enough and dodging arrows just gives this sword user openings¡± ¡°In that case I just have to get rid of the sword user first¡± Jin stopped running, instead he faced the swordsman and turned his back on the archer. He started fighting the sword user. High level plays were displayed, Jin was amazing at blocking and countering at the same time; for every slash he blocked with one of his axes the other axe will try to strike. Bord wasn¡¯t just gonna let Jin hit him with a counter, he was fast too, and he either blocks or dodges the counters before trying to strike again. Bord¡¯s great sword was proven very useful for block and counter techniques as well because of its massive size and durability. While the two close range fighters are having a clash, Ark wasn¡¯t just gonna sit around; he boosted his jump with mana and fired multiple at Jin while he was falling down. (Okay, before anyone starts asking why does he need to jump to fire , the thing is that he doesn¡¯t, but attacks coming from above are harder to dodge and since has mini explosions being caught in it even if the arrow did not hit directly causes flinch and damage) : The user will fire magical arrows in the shape of stars when seen from the tip. Each arrow cause mini-explosions when in contact with objects or players. (Average damage per arrow: 4%) (Additional damage of the mini-explosion: 3% and causes the target to flinch) Jin having his back turned on the archer and was busy fighting the sword user, he was vulnerable for arrow attacks. Or so they thought, Jin was able to dodge every arrow Ark fired; Ark was shocked for Jin shouldn¡¯t have been able to dodge his attacks. Ark, midway before reaching the ground, he created a mana platform to step on to jump again and fired three s simultaneously so at least one on them will hit Jin. Mana Platforms: A technique used by many players to be able to replicate flying by standing on a platform midair; this technique uses a significant amount of mana so spamming it and keeping a mana platform for a long time is highly un-recommended. (It was used by Gran in the first chapter) After dodging Ark¡¯s first barrage, Bord increased his aggressiveness and unleashed insane number of slashes powered with his mana which made Jin unable to divide his senses for dodging arrows and keeping up with Bord. Jin in the middle of this predicament thought: ¡°Damn, I sense 3 arrows coming at me; I can¡¯t shake this guy off, he¡¯s a fast runner so he¡¯ll catch up to me even if I do pull back, the archer will have the advantage if the try to flee. His slashes are getting too powerful for me to block without using mana.¡± One of the three arrows was just about to hit Jin, Bord prepared a massive attack to hit Jin after he¡¯s flinched by the arrow and started a stance that is used for a powerful slash. The hit Jin and a mini-explosion occurred, Bord was about to unleash his skill but he was surprised as Jin wasn¡¯t flinched at all and was surrounded by Red and Black aura of mana. Jin used a mana powered punch which then knocked him back cancelling his skill. The two opponents of Jin was stunned and was trembling, their opponent was completely out of their league. The archer out of shock muttered: ¡°T-t-two, TWO COLORED?!¡± ---***--- Author''s Note: I think I''m in a slump but I''m not~ I kind of know what I''m going to write but I was just unable to write it in one go, and besides, Dragon Nest SEA had an update and I played for long hours; by the way, this fiction was inspired by the PvP system of Dragon Nest. It''s an awesome game, do try it out, especially the PvP combat system. This chapter isn''t done yet there is still 7.2 which I haven''t finished since I just can''t write it in one go and I wanted to give you guys something to read at least so I just divided it in two parts. Thank you, cheers~ Chapter 7.2: Zobendio Wist and Froststone were made into the form of specters, being a spectator in matches, they¡¯ve assumed ghost like presence inside the arena where players are battling. ~In Alctuz, only spectators can see and talk with other spectators. Private messages, guild messages and the like are banned may it be written or voice, you may receive but you cannot send. Despite being free to wander around the arena, Wist and Froststone stuck with each other while spectating the match. Seeing that the look on Jin¡¯s opponents and seeing that even Froststone was shocked at seeing a multi-colored mana aura, Wist couldn¡¯t be less curious to why we¡¯re they reacting like that. ¡°Why are you making that face?¡± Wist asked ¡°Y-you don¡¯t know?¡± Froststone said Itching for answers, Wist was getting impatient and said ¡°Would I be asking if I knew?¡± in a subtly sarcastic tone. ¡°R-right...¡± Froststone replied ¡°You see, having only one color of mana aura is the default for everybody; having two is extremely rare; if I could estimate around 1 out of 10,000 people can manifest multiple colors.¡± Froststone lectured ¡°But even if it¡¯s rare, why do you and the others look so shocked by it and I can even say you look afraid.¡± Wist said ¡°Well having two colors isn¡¯t just for show, it also increases the user¡¯s capabilities exponentially stronger than having only one.¡± Said Froststone ¡°Exponentially? Like if ordinary mana is doubling your attack power does that mean it quadruples it?¡± further asks Wist ¡°Well it hasn¡¯t been confirmed that it really is like that but you could say that people with multiple mana aura colors are terrifyingly strong.¡± Said Froststone ¡°How do you get multiple colored mana?¡± Wist asks ¡°I have no idea.¡± Froststone replies ¡°I see, thanks for always answering my questions¡± said Wist ---***--- While the spectators were chatting, the match was of course continuing. ¡°Damn it, we can¡¯t beat this guy; we should quit¡± ¡°I know but don¡¯t you want to try fighting a multi-colored?¡± ¡°I do, but we¡¯ll just get trashed for no reason¡± ¡°Well if you want to quit go quit by yourself, I¡¯m going to fight him.¡± ¡°Fine! Let¡¯s get our asses handed to us! You have to treat me to some food later.¡± ¡°Alright let¡¯s go!¡± The swordsman was eager to try fighting Jin even though he knows that he isn¡¯t a match for him. He covered himself with a thin layer of mana defense and allocated significant amount of mana to his feet and great sword. He ran towards Jin, then jumped, turned to his back then performed a kick; this technique is called dash kick, it¡¯s not an actual skill but deals decent damage and has good aesthetics. The archer didn¡¯t just sit still, he fired several s at Jin while Bord was still dashing. : A mana arrow that is of Ice element is fired, it leaves a snowy frozen effect on its path and has a chance to inflict frostbite without any catalyst. (Average damage: 10%) (Additional effect chance: 50%) Jin did a stance where he placed his right arm in his front with the blade of the axe facing outwards and did the same with his left arm and axe at his back. He stepped forward using his right foot at the same time charging mana throughout his whole body including the axes he carried then he started to spin rapidly. This technique created a whirlwind like phenomenon colored red and black, it was beautiful but even more than that; it was terrifying for anyone near it. : A technique with multiple hits that renders an enemy flinched, it has an average radius of 2 meters, the duration and radius varies depending on the user¡¯s capabilities. It creates a whirlwind with the user in the middle and has a weak suction effect but if it already connects it is hard to escape. (Average damage per hit: 1%) The arrows were the first one to reach Jin, the strength of his whirlwind completely destroyed the arrows. Being unable to cancel his kick midair, he was caught in Jin¡¯s whirlwind. Bord struggled and struggled but was unable to escape, he was taking rapid 3% damage per every hit of Jin¡¯s whirlwind that seemed never ending. He was screaming in pain, although he only felt a fraction of the real pain it brings, you can feel the despair in his voice, he was in agony and he can¡¯t get out of it no matter what he does. Hearing his ally¡¯s scream of suffering, Ark was going mad with thoughts: If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°I have to help Bord.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t leave him like that¡± ¡°I have to do something¡± ¡°At this rate he¡¯s a goner¡± ¡°This man is a monster¡± ¡°We didn¡¯t stand a chance from the start¡± ¡°That idiot Bord, wanting to fight a beast like this¡± ¡°We should¡¯ve just quit¡± ¡°Damn, I can¡¯t do anything¡± ¡°I sorry Bord¡± ¡°I¡¯m really really sorry¡± ¡°I can¡¯t do this, I¡¯m leaving¡± ¡°Wait, you can¡¯t leave him¡± ¡°No, no this is Bord¡¯s fault anyway¡± ¡°Hah ha, yeah, this is his fault¡± ¡°He¡¯s suffering like that because of his stupidity¡± ¡°I¡¯ll just have to say goodbye to that stupid loser¡± ¡°Hahahahahahahaha¡± ¡°That¡¯s right, I¡¯ll just leave him there¡± After reaching a conclusion in his mind, he noticed that the screaming has stopped and decided to look. Bord was dead, a notification of a death has emerged in the sky on top of where Bord died. He was sent to the Chamber of Souls. He looked at the man that defeated his ally with only one skill and laughed like a mad man. ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA¡­¡­.¡± He went to the main menu and picked the option to quit then vanished from the arena. ~In Alctuz, quitting equals that of death and if a player quits, he/she will not be allowed in the spectator mode of the same room. ---***--- Wist watching what happened had his eyes glued on Jin, you could see in his eyes that he wants to be like the man before him and is even more motivated than ever. ¡°I guess we should get going now Wist¡± said Froststone ¡°Hey, Wist! Are you even listening?¡± (Froststone) ¡°Oh, yeah okay¡± said Wist without really knowing what Froststone said and continued admiring the lone warrior in the arena. Jin after picking up the weapons of his enemies, proceeded to press ¡°Ok¡± in the VICTORY notification floating around him. After Jin left the arena, the spectators were automatically sent back to the lobby or rooms. ¡°Let¡¯s meet at the real world Wist¡± said Froststone ¡°Alright¡± Wist replied ---***--- The pods opened yet again and both Rei and Glace sit-upped. They saw Feld in the bench in front on the pods sleeping and smelled the stench of alcohol. ¡°Ahh, there he goes again; he just couldn¡¯t drink moderately¡± (Glace) ¡°Come on Rei, help me carry him to the trash bin¡± (Glace) ¡°Ehh?! Stop joking Glace¡± (Rei) Glace snared at Rei and with that he knew that she was not joking at all. They carried Feld like a heavy bag of dirty sand, Rei was in charge of the feet and Glace was in charge of the arms. While they were carrying Feld, he woke up. ¡°Hey, where that hell are you taking me!¡± ¡°Come on let me go¡± Feld was struggling like a child being bullied. Glace let go Feld¡¯s arms and said ¡°Oops!¡± with a sarcastic and annoying tone. Rei lets go as well and Feld stood up with an old man pout expression. ¡°Tch, kids there days don¡¯t even show respect to their elders¡± ¡°Well how can we respect a drunk right?¡± (Rei) ¡°Oh, you¡¯ve acquired a sharp tongue now eh Rei?¡± ¡°Ah, uhm, no, sorry!¡± (Rei) ¡°That was bad! I let out what I was thinking¡± Rei thought Feld and Rei went to their training ground to have dinner then sleep, while Glace went back to Frostbite TG to do the same. Morning came and Rei and Feld just finished preparing their things as they were leaving Ribas. After stepping out, what awaited them was Glace carrying a hug bag on her back. ¡°Heyy! You guys are slow!¡± Glace yelled with a happy and excited smile as she has seen the two Surprised by what was happening, Feld turn to Rei to ask what Glace is doing there. ¡°Hey kid, what did you do to Glace, ehh?¡± said Feld while looking at Rei as if he did a very bad thing to a father¡¯s daughter ¡°Err uhm nothing, she just said she¡¯s coming with us and you can¡¯t stop her¡± Rei replied ¡°Well, as long as you didn¡¯t do anything¡± (Feld) ¡°What the hell do you take me for!!?¡± Rei yelled Next thing the two knew Glace was beside them. ¡°What are you two talking about?¡± (Glace) ¡°Oh nothing! L-let¡¯s go¡± (Feld) ¡°Good.¡± Glace said with a beaming smile Chapter 8.1: Truth Chapter 8: Truth Master Feld, Glace, and I left Ribas; we walked for 5 hours before reaching the Noah Plains because Master Feld was too cheap to pay for a carriage ride. ~In Ino, fast cars are only used by important people. You may think that because the world they live in has advance technology that they already have cars; they do but their power supply is completely different than ours, they don¡¯t have oil for gasoline. The Noah Plains was refreshingly plain, there aren¡¯t any trees or building or houses in the plains but there are lots of yellowish grass. The wind was as chilly as snow, I regret not having anything for a coat. The wind reminded me of the Windy Arena where I saw such a one sided beat-down from an outnumbered warrior. I guess he¡¯s just that good, I hope I could be like that someday. Since I remembered the incredible fight I¡¯ve witnessed, I was curious to why the dual-axe wielding warrior had two colored mana aura. I asked Master Feld: ¡°Hey Master Feld, Glace and I were spectating at a fight yesterday and I was wondering, how could a warrior have two colored aura?¡± ¡°Did he just have two favorite colors?¡± I added ¡°No, what you saw was ¡®Zobendio¡¯¡± Feld said ¡°What¡¯s Zobendio¡± I asked again ¡°It¡¯s the two colored mana aura thingy.¡± Feld replied ¡°That doesn¡¯t explain it at all!¡± I replied with a semi-pissed tone ¡°Oh, this is what I hate about students, they ask a lot of questions.¡± Feld said as if he¡¯s very tired ¡°Come on just tell us already.¡± Glace butted in because she too was curious ¡°Alright okay¡­ I¡¯ll tell you jeez, why is this hangover still here.¡± Feld ¡°Zobendio users are extremely powerful, if you¡¯re against one you might not stand a chance unless you¡¯re one as well.¡± Feld ¡°Can you beat Zobendio users?¡± Glace asked Feld ¡°I was saying that ¡°YOU¡± don¡¯t stand a chance but I can demolish those guys hahaha¡± Feld mockingly said with laughter ¡°How can we get Zobendio?¡± I asked ¡°Nobody really knows but rumor has it that it can be trained.¡± Feld replied ¡°Really? Do you know what training to do?¡± I continued with my questions ¡°Don¡¯t ask me that kid, I said they were only rumors and such rumors aren¡¯t to be trusted. Believe me, I too tried to have a Zobendio¡± Feld ¡°What does Zobendio mean, I mean the word itself?¡± Glace asked ¡°Well I think it¡¯s a second something, I dunno just second something¡± Feld replied ¡°I see¡± Glace said ¡°You know Rei, your father was the only guy I¡¯ve that could take me on one on one¡± Feld said ¡°Woah really? What was he like? How does he fight?¡± I bombarded him with questions I couldn¡¯t let this chance slip by, he was finally going to tell me details he know about my father. ¡°Well I told you that I¡¯ll tell you about your father after your training is finished but I¡¯ll give you one trivia, your dad was a Zobendio user.¡± Feld said ¡°Woah!! This makes my chances of being a Zobendio user higher right?¡± I asked ¡°Don¡¯t push your luck kid, I don¡¯t think it¡¯s genetic¡± Feld ruined my parade of excitement Glace became really quiet, I don¡¯t understand why she hasn¡¯t spoken at all after Master Feld said the second something thingy. I was curious but I just let my curiosity pass as I saw the forest that was the exit of Noah Plains. I even forgot that Master Feld was in the mood of answering my question because of my relief to see some trees after 7 hours of walking since we left Ribas. Seeing that we can build a resting spot there I quickly ran towards the forest for some shade. We left in the morning and just reached this forest just passed noon. It was currently 1:30pm, we haven¡¯t eaten lunch yet because we just got to the forest for some shade. Master Feld brought out some cooking equipment and ingredients he bought at Ribas while we we¡¯re still in the Arena. Master Feld had this ring where he can store a lot of stuff, I heard that that ring is very expensive depending on the amount of stuff it can carry it can cost about ten thousand gold. (With 10k gold you can buy a decent amount of land) If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Master Feld was surprisingly a good cook, Glace didn¡¯t seem surprised at all so he was probably like this even in the past. After the late lunch, Master Feld made me look for water to wash the dishes; I found a small waterfall nearby and started washing the dishes. --Meanwhile¡ª ¡°Hey Glace, I noticed you and the kid being a little close; what¡¯s that about? Finally reached that age huh hehehehehehehehehe¡± Feld was teasing Glace but she wasn¡¯t responding at all. In fact, she hasn¡¯t spoken since the thing about the Zobendio conversation. ¡°Hey Glace hey Glace! Hello??? Since when did you become so ¡°cold¡±, get it? HAHAHA¡± Feld was seemingly talking to himself because Glace ignored him too much. ¡°Don¡¯t be like that Glace, I¡¯m trying to talk to you here.¡± Feld¡¯s tone suddenly became somewhat serious. ¡°Don¡¯t act like there¡¯s nothing wrong here, you left me without a word. You left a 16 year old girl at Ribas, did you know what happened to me after you just tossed me aside like trash? Did you even think that I was probably wishing for death because of what happened? I hate you, I hate you so much *sobs¡± Glace threw a fit at Feld. ¡°You know, if you hate me that much, then why did you come with us in the first place?¡± Feld asked with his tone full of guilt and regret After her fit, Glace returned to being quiet. Rei came back from washing the dishes wearing a proud face the screams ¡°I¡¯ve done a fantastic job can¡¯t you see?¡± He noticed the depressing ambience around Feld and Glace and just brushed it off and said: ¡°Master Feld! Here are the dishware you wanted me to wash, aren¡¯t they like super clean now? Even better than brand new right? *huge grin*¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah good job good job¡± Feld sarcastically said while clapping as if mocking Rei All of a sudden, Feld heard noises in the woods. ¡°Rei, Glace pack up your stuff we¡¯ll go to the Plains¡± Feld said with a serious expression Rei and Glace did what Feld asked without asking questions. Once they got the Plains again Rei asked: ¡°Why did we go back here, aren¡¯t we supposed to move forward?¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you feel the presence?¡± Glace said to Rei ¡°What presence?¡± Rei confusedly said ¡°Ugh¡­¡± was Glace¡¯s reply ¡°Come on tell me!¡± Rei said as if begging ¡°Never mind that Rei, here they come¡± Feld said to Rei People started the exit the forest onto the Plains where Rei and the others were waiting. ¡°These people don¡¯t look like ordinary bandits.¡± Glace said The ¡°bandits¡± were carrying weapons. ¡°Hey how¡¯d they have those weapons, aren¡¯t weapons strictly banned?¡± Rei asked out-loud ¡°Well you see Rei, bandits are bad guys so they carry weapons to look more like the part right?¡± Feld was still mocking Rei¡¯s innocence ¡°I knew that! But why would bandits be here?! Wouldn¡¯t it be better for them to be on the roads and stuff?¡± Rei tries to defend his pride ¡°Here they come!¡± Feld shouted as he took 3 wooden swords from his magic ring and threw one to Rei and Glace. Author''s Notes: Hey guys, sorry to cut this short; as you can observe I haven''t been the most active person in RRL, it''s probably because I had too much on my plate that I can''t write and also because I''ve been thinking of a lot of stuff to put in the fiction that I don''t know where to start from. Anyways cheers and hopefully you don''t lose interest. Thank you. [th_053_XD.gif]:grin: Chapter 8.2: Lies Chapter 8.2: Lies Note: This is a direct continuation of chapter 8.1 if the start is a little off please reread 8.1''s latter part. There are 3 kinds of magical accessories in Lhukresia (Lhukresia is the how the people of Lhukresia call their world or if compared to us it is their ¡°Earth¡±), enhancement accessory, spell accessory, and utility accessory. The magic ring that Feld used is a utility accessory that is called ¡°Spatial Ring¡±, it is used to store items in a unique dimension and is accessed and connected through the use of magic. Note: If you have any questions about the Spatial Ring you may ask in the reply box, I just didn¡¯t want to info dump too much. ¡°These people, they don¡¯t seem like bandits at all¡± Feld thought to himself Four men came out of the forest, all of them wore the same clothes but you can tell they¡¯re different people based on their height and hair etc¡­ ¡°You should just leave us be, we don¡¯t have any gold¡± Feld shouted to the bandits Suddenly 3 magic arrows came flying out of the forest, it was directed at Feld. Feld performed a to deflect two of the arrows and dodge one by doing a turn spin. As Feld spin aside to dodge the last magic arrow, one of the bandits rushed towards him to stab him with a dagger. ¡°Crap!¡± Feld said Seeing Feld¡¯s panicked expression made the bandit with the dagger more motivated to stab him. ¡°Just kidding¡± Feld suddenly said then he passed the sword to his left hand and did a slash upwards hitting the bandit ¡°Tsk¡± the bandit with the dagger said The one Feld his was a shadow. ¡°Ohh, a shadow type ehh; that¡¯s pretty rare don¡¯t you think?¡± Feld said As the bandit with the dagger rush towards Feld again to have a clash another bandit said ¡°Worm, stop it¡± The bandit who made Worm stop was wielding a blue lance with a red tip, he seemed to be the leader of the bandits. Meanwhile Rei and Glace was fighting with the two other bandits that came out. Glace was having a hard time using the wooden sword, she is used to using a rapier in Alctuz and even in the Frostbite TG. Surprisingly, Rei was doing better than Glace in the fight against the other bandit; they clashed and clashed swords but no one has yet to taken damage. Glace¡¯s enemy was also using a sword in about the same length of the wooden sword, all of them knew that sooner or later the wooden sword would break even if strengthened by mana. ¡°I can¡¯t keep this up, I should just use magic¡± Glace thought Unlike in Alctuz, using wide area magic in real life may also affect your allies which is why Feld and Glace refrained to using big skills. ¡°I shouldn¡¯t let up, every time there¡¯s distance between us the magic arrows just keep firing.¡± Rei thought to himself while clashing with the bandit Glace fired several s at the direction where the magic arrows are coming from while saying ¡°You¡¯re too annoying!!!¡± Skills are very lethal in the real world, a hit from an ice shard of equivalents that of an arrow or a stab of a sword. Glace being busy as she used at the archer in the forest, the sword using bandit that was fighting her rushed towards her but she expected this and used to slow him down. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. The slow effect of in the real world if very different from the one in Alctuz, in the real world the receiver isn¡¯t slowed as a debuff at all but rather wrapped in thin layer of ice which in turn does the slowing. After slowing the sword using bandit down, Glace used to finish him off, but the archer in the forest was quick enough to hit his ally with a . : An arrow that cures anomalies or debuffs plaguing the target. It doesn¡¯t heal diseases and wounds. After being cured the sword bandit used, (It was used by Krul in chapter 2). : The user gathers a burst of wind energy which is used to boost his piercing capacity. (Average damage: 20%) An additional effect can be used where the user will slash the enemy while the sword is still impaled instead of pulling it out (but it requires strength to do so). (Additional damage: 10%) Glace¡¯s ice shard was casted towards the bandit but shattered the shards and went straight to Glace. Glace couldn¡¯t defend against so she just wrapped herself around mana defense but sadly it was not enough and the bandit¡¯s sword went through Glace¡¯s stomach. ¡°Glace!!¡± Rei shouted ¡°You don¡¯t have time to think of her right now you idiot!¡± said the bandit Rei was fighting as he continues to attack. ¡°My consciousness is fading, is this where I¡¯ll die? Ahhh I knew it a bad decision to follow them; there¡¯s no use crying over spilt milk, it¡¯s time to rest.¡± Glace thought to herself before passing out. Rei was angered by Glace¡¯s injury, and so he relentlessly threw Heavy Slashes to his opponent. ¡°Rei, don¡¯t be reckless! Your sword will be destroyed!¡± Feld shouted to Rei Feld was battling three foes: the dagger user, the spear user and the archer. After curing the swordsman that defeated Glace the archer went and provided artillery for the two that are fighting Feld. Rei¡¯s opponent backed off a bit, Rei used mana to boost his speed and dashed towards Glace and stopped the swordsman from delivering the finishing blow by using a mana filled kick to the head. The swordsman bandit was sent flying, since he didn¡¯t expect for an attack and was unable to dodge it the swordsman bandit suffered a concussion due to the kick Rei delivered and was left unconscious. The other sword using bandit followed Rei and attacked him, with both of them using Heavy Slashes it¡¯s obvious that Rei¡¯s sword would lose; after a while of intense clashing his sword finally gave in and broke. With Rei not having a weapon, it was the best opportunity for the bandit to hack him to pieces. He said ¡°This idiot haha, now you don¡¯t even have a weapon! You know I¡¯m a kind and generous guy, if you beg for your life I¡¯ll spare you.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t listen to him Rei!¡± Feld said as he threw his wooden sword to Rei. ¡°It¡¯s time for lesson three¡± Feld said with a cool tone with his eyes¡¯ expression as if a beast it about to start a hunt. Author''s Note: Yo I''m back! I don''t want to apologize anymore cause I''m probably gonna be slow again so please enjoy and many thanks to you guys. Chapter 9: Struggle. Chapter 9: Struggle. *A little over 4 years ago on 8th month of the Sky of the 557th cycle.* Lhukresia follows the ¡®Ancient Origin¡¯ calendar which has 12 years per cycle, 12 months per year, 25 days per month, and 24 hours per day. The cycle years are arranged as follows: Boar, Spider, Dragon, Horse, Bird, Snake, Earth, Sky, River, Grass, Mountain, and Valley. ¡°Glace, you have to stay here. I can¡¯t take you with me anymore.¡± ¡°Wait, Master Fe¡ª¡° Before the young lady was able to finish her sentence, she was put to sleep with a wave of hand by the gray haired man using magic. ¡°I¡¯m sorry Glace, I can¡¯t put you in any more danger. I hope you¡¯ll understand, please don¡¯t hate me for this.¡± The gray haired man¡¯s expression is that of a dad forced to leave his child. He kept himself from shedding tears, stood up made a fist and left running. The splash from his footsteps from the puddles he¡¯s stepping on was the last thing the young lady could remember in that rainy night. Awoken from the noise of the street, she found herself in an ally in the city of Ribas. She was confused and looked for her companion ¡°Master Feld? Where are you?¡± she said gently. Memories from the night before came back to her and she didn¡¯t even notice her tears falling. ¡°Why?¡± she said as she covers her face crying herself out. Her tears shed non-stop as she feels alone again after the tragedy that came a few years back with her parents. After regaining her composure the young lady noticed that Feld¡¯s purse was tied at her waist. Upon looking at the contents of the purse she recognized that it¡¯s all the money Feld and her had. She continues to cry as she looks at the purse of her stingy master. ---***--- The atmosphere of the area became heavy, wind was gushing out strong enough to blow a tent away blew the leaves of the trees; the archer hiding in the forest found it hard to maintain his position atop the tree so he went down. A silver light wrapped the man where the wind was coming from the silver light seemed to have taken form of the wind and was wrapping the man like glowing bandages that continues to circle around every part of his body. Once the glow disappeared, it became clear that the origin of the gush of powerful wind was Feld unleashing his mana throughout his whole body. Feld began to concentrate a large sum of mana onto his hands and formed two items made of pure mana, it was a short sword a shield. The shield had a loose triangular shape and was glowing silver but the glow isn¡¯t bright enough to blind but rather it feels as if the shield had its¡¯ own mana aura. The short sword felt the same as the shield and it had a curve at the tip and a wide middle. Feld has an amazing amount of mana or magical energy, and his expertise in using it is top class. The young man was almost stunned with what his master has showed him but he didn¡¯t lose his focus on his opponent. ¡°I can¡¯t beat this guy, there must be another way to knock him out.¡± The young man thought ¡°Hey Rei, hold him off I¡¯ll be right there in a moment¡± Said by the gray death in a very confident manner ¡°Master Feld sure is arrogant, but his words are reliable¡± Rei thought to himself inwardly smiling Instead of defending against the attacks of his opponent, the young man chose to dodge to preserve his sword¡¯s durability and waited for an opportunity for a clean strike. Following up on his words, Feld rushed towards his enemies and so did the pair of bandits with the cover fire of the archer from behind. Whilst running, the dagger using bandit called Worm seemed to split into three. The arrows fired by the archer were just brushed off by Feld¡¯s shield.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. It seemed like five versus one on Feld¡¯s side, Worm was fast and agile but Feld kept dodging and blocking his attacks. ¡°Dodging and blocking isn¡¯t going to make me win.¡± He turned onto the dagger wielding duplicates and smashed them with his shield leaving only one remaining. These bandits are rather skilled, Feld thought to himself. Even though he wasn¡¯t using the entirety of his strength, the bandits are actually holding him off. To Feld, these bandits we¡¯re easy to deal with if he were alone, but with Rei and Glace in the mix he didn¡¯t risk it. Even without telling him, Feld believed that Rei could be of help to him in this battle. Rei was acting rather calm after seeing Feld show a glimpse of his true strength, he thought inwardly that he is a disciple of such a master; his opponent attacked and attacked but he appeared as though he can read where the attacks were going and proceeded on dodging. As little as Rei knows about magic and swordsmanship, he knew that materializing mana was extremely hard and would require talent or years of practice. His heart jumped in joy after thinking about learning it from Feld but he knew now is not the time to think about that. He almost forgot about what happened to Glace after seeing Feld fight with materialized mana. He quickly hated himself then brushed it off. The spear-wielder didn¡¯t seem to be helping Worm much, other than sudden spear stabs he didn¡¯t do anything else but let Worm fight Feld by himself. Feld noticed this and kept an eye on the spear-wielder. He imagined the spear-wielder will do something to attack him the moment he let his guard down. Feld destroyed two duplicated which left one to be fighting him, this one seemed like it¡¯s the original. Worm was very aggressive, he charged towards Feld without any regard for his life. Feld found it suspicious that Worm just keeps on charging like a madman towards him because the bandit group seemed to know who he is and should know that he is not an enemy to be underestimated. Feld definitely believes that the spear-wielder has something up his sleeve, otherwise we would just let his subordinate attack him with disregard of his subordinate¡¯s life. Worm¡¯s style was far from docile, his daggers seemed to be special; Feld felt that when he smashed Worm¡¯s clones the quality of the daggers they wielded seemed to be the same as the original. Worm charges towards Feld yet again without hesitation, Feld saw this as a chance to take down Worm; the spear-wielder also saw this as his time to unleash a killing move. Worm multiplied again, Feld was facing more than 10 clones, he was shocked but he didn¡¯t show it. The Shadow Clone skill is a very hard skill to learn but it was the same as breathing for a certain powerful clan in Ino. Ino was ruled by royalty but in a different sense, the government of Ino before the war was almost comparable to Federalism without the money. Lands were ruled not by lords but by clans, these clans are independent and are responsible in keeping peace in their respective territories. War amongst different clans were not uncommon, but they were deterred from conflict by the royal clan of Ino. The first Emperor of Ino was of the Impelheart clan and since then they ruled Ino. The Impelheart main family said to have a terrifyingly strong skill that was only known to leaders of the different clans. The movements of each clone is amazingly precise and didn¡¯t seem reckless, as they surrounded Feld all of the Worms focused mana on their daggers. A clash occurs between Feld and the 13 Worms; Feld had an amazing control of his vast mana dodging the Worms¡¯ slashes and stabs. He used mana platforms in different ways. Whenever a slash he can¡¯t block is thrown, Feld uses his mana platform as a stepping stone to jump; while in the air he uses another platform to jump in a different direction. With Feld¡¯s amazing control of mana, the clones had a hard time keeping him in one place. The clones started using skills. Feld was even more surprised as the clones used skills other than Heavy Slash. ¡°This can¡¯t be serious, is this kid from the Umbracloud clan?¡± Feld inwardly thought as he continued to jump, dodge, and defend against the Worms. Although Feld¡¯s shield was incredibly tough, the sheer amount of damage that the Worms inflict was taking toll on Feld¡¯s mana to maintain the shape and hardness of the shield. To Feld¡¯s surprise, the Worms surrounded him again; and when he jumps from platform to platform to dodge the Worms started using platforms as well. An aerial battle occurs and slashes were thrown on multiple directions. *Slash* *Slash* *Slash* *Slash* *Slash* *Slash* *Slash* *Slash* *Slash* Feld was being bombarded by slashes in the air and from the ground; the Worms were using Heavy Slashes and Mana Slicers, Feld was using his shield and short sword to block and his mana filled feet to attack by kicking the Worm clones. : Sending a slicing mana wave as a projectile through a slash with the use of a sword or sword-like weapon filled with focused mana. (Average damage: 5% note: this damage estimation only applies in game in Alctuz) Surprise after surprise after surprise Worm¡¯s clones were using mana like he has a bottomless supply. Rei battle was rather a simple one, he dodges then counters with Heavy Slash; his opponent seemed very experienced with led Rei to conclude that he will not be able to beat him. Instead of trying to defeat his opponent Rei focused on holding him off until Feld comes to help. Glancing at Feld¡¯s fight, Rei¡¯s resolve on waiting for Feld waivered because it seemed Feld was having a tough time against that many clones. Back to Feld¡¯s battle Feld¡¯s mana filled kicks were often blocked by the clones but what surprised him was that the clones weren¡¯t disappearing even with his kicks. Usually, the clones of the Umbracloud clan branch families are able to endure a relatively weak force to dissipate but Worm¡¯s clones were strong enough to endure a direct mana filled kick from him. Even the other swordsman was made unconscious by Rei¡¯s mana filled kick, sure it wasn¡¯t directed at the clone¡¯s head but it should have been more than enough to dissipate the clone. ¡°Could it be that each of these clones is tougher than that unconscious swordsman?¡± Feld thought as he continued his rally against the clones. Feld is getting stressed, not only did the spear-wielder vanish he¡¯s taking too much time on fighting Worm. ¡°Tsk, I have to risk catching their attention.¡± Feld muttered silently as he prepares to use a skill A burst of mana aura that seemed like white flames scorching his body, the light it emits is slightly brighter than the sun in the afternoon. An enormous pressure can be felt coming from Feld¡¯s figure. Rei was unexpectedly unsurprised by Feld¡¯s display of power; he had concluded than even after showing such strength, Feld still wasn¡¯t using his full power. A streak of light circled through the clones and was swung to the air one by one without knowledge of what hit them. The streak of light was Feld moving at such high speeds that it was almost impossible to follow with ordinary eyes. Feld was using 20% of his strength; he determined that this amount of strength won¡¯t cause the lord of Genoah to act but it was still possible to catch his attention. His short-sword and shield became even sturdier than before. He proceeded to cast but unlike normal shield charge Feld¡¯s was even faster, it seemed as though a bullet train will run over the Worms; the clones disappeared as Feld rammed into them. There were no more Worms present in the area. This caused Feld to be confused, he then proceeded to help Rei but it seemed his opponent took the unconscious swordsman and fled. Then it came to his mind that the archer stopped helping the Worm clones as soon as the spear-wielder vanished. There were a lot of things in this fight that Feld became curious about; an Umbracloud skill user with a lot of mana and a fight that didn¡¯t seem to have any rational motive. To Feld, these ¡®bandits¡¯ didn¡¯t seem like bandits at all. Feld¡¯s attention shifted to Glace as he hurriedly came towards her and proceeded to carry her. ¡°Rei, use mana to keep up with me; we need to get to the nearest village in Genoah to find someone to tend to Glace¡¯s wound¡± Feld said in a very serious close to panic voice that caused Rei to attentively listen and agree. Feld carrying Glace and Rei behind them ran across the forest as fast as a mana carriage. Finally after a few hours of running they reached the outskirts of Genoah. Feld then looked at Rei and was impressed by how Rei kept up with his running; Rei didn¡¯t even seem to be out of breath at all. Chapter 10: Awake Chapter 10: Awake Carrying Glace, Feld and Rei wandered around the farming village of Genoah looking for their village healer. After asking the natives they said that their healer was currently at Genoah Palace where the lord resides in and have not returned since the 556th cycle. Feld applied first aid to Glace using the little knowledge he had on healing magic but it was still far from enough to make Glace recover. Feld felt regret that he didn¡¯t bring any healing potions or salve because he himself never needed one. The next thing he thought about was to find a decent place to stay in while looking for a healer for Glace. ¡°Rei, let¡¯s split up and look for a place we can stay in.¡± ¡°How much gold are we prepared to spend for lodging?¡± ¡°Try to look for someplace that offers around 10 silvers a night I don¡¯t have much money on me and we can¡¯t access Glace¡¯s spatial ring.¡± The two of them split up to find a place to stay in but while looking around, they both didn¡¯t find any inns. Since they are at the farming village of Genoah, there weren¡¯t many travelers that go here so having a business such as an inn is rather pointless and unprofitable. The villagers advised them to go to the main city of Genoah which was called Cidroah. The farming village itself took up a third of the whole Genoah province, and with Genoah being so huge; it could take days to a week to go to Cidroah. It crossed Feld¡¯s mind to go to Cidroah since there most likely be healers there than in the farming village. But Glace won¡¯t survive the travel, she¡¯s suffering from a very high fever besides the wound; having her travel will probably only make it worse. While Feld was having a dilemma, Rei came towards him together with a young lady around Rei¡¯s age and a little boy about 9 years old. Rei¡¯s expression seemed to be excited and so Feld expected good news. Rei then said ¡°Master Feld! This kind big sister says we can stay at their place for a few days! Not for free of course, she said that we just have to buy our own food and pay 3 silvers a day.¡± Feld looked at Rei with surprise, neither of them was able to find an inn but Rei instead found a house that could take them in for a while and it¡¯s really cheap too. ¡°Hello, my name is Louise and this is my brother Edward¡± said the young lady She wore humble clothes with a few patches and had her light brown hair braided to her right shoulder. The young boy had similar clothing and had a messy curl as his hair. Feld is suspicious of the offer because it was too good but they both seemed kind people so Feld didn¡¯t reject the offer. As they walked together, the young lady then asked: ¡°Mr. Traveler, Rei said that you have an injured person with you; may I ask what caused her injury?¡± Feld was hesitant to answer but he then replied ¡°We encountered some bandits along the way, and she was stabbed by a sword.¡± The young lady then said ¡°May I see the wound?¡± Feld¡¯s face was indescribable as he looked at the young lady he thought to himself why a young lady would like to see a stranger¡¯s wound. But he still showed her Glace¡¯s wound. ¡°Oh my, why would anybody hurt such a beautiful lady¡± she said. Louise then halted her walk, the others stopped as well. She then placed her hand hovering over Glace¡¯s wound and started using something that looked like healing magic. Her hand glimmered yellow and brown with a hint of gold and waved it in circles. Rei¡¯s eyes widened as he witnessed a healer at work, healers are considered nobles in Lhukresia since healers were lifesavers. As the glow dimmed the young lady muttered ¡°I¡¯m sorry my healing isn¡¯t that good, I think I will be able to heal her if I continued for a week.¡± ¡°Really?!¡± Rei spat with excitement and joy as he learned that Glace could be healed in a week¡¯s time. Even Feld felt relief at the words of Louise, he then said ¡°Then I¡¯ll leave it to you. If you don¡¯t mind me asking how much would it cost us?¡± Feld is a very very very thrifty guy, his concerns about money is expected of his personality; but this time, he¡¯s not going to spare a single copper piece just to save Glace. ¡°Oh no, I wouldn¡¯t mind just helping her out.¡± Louise replied with a surprised tone as she wasn¡¯t really planning on charging them at all. ¡°Big sister, let¡¯s hurry home! Mom¡¯s cooking stew tonight!¡± said the little boy who pouted because he¡¯s probably hungry ¡°You¡¯re right, it¡¯s almost dinnertime after all¡± Louise repliedYou might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. After a little time walking they finally reached the house of the siblings. It was a relatively big house and it had a barn. Their family also had a decent amount of farmland. This definitely is a farming village, every house is decent in size and there is no shortage of rice and herbs and other fruits. Among all the houses Feld and Rei have seen, the house of Louise and Edward is in the upper half in terms of size. The door opens, what greets them is Louise¡¯s mother, ¡°My, you must be Louise¡¯s guests¡± said the mother ¡°Mother, these people are in need of lodging; I presented our home to welcome them, may they stay here for about a few days to a week? I told them that they must pay 3 silvers a day and find food for themselves.¡± Louise spoke to her mother as if trying to convince her to take Rei and the others in. ¡°Now, you don¡¯t need to worry about the food and the lodging; we will treat you as guests, stay as long as you need. Isn¡¯t that right father?¡± Louise¡¯s mother muttered as she looks at the old man sitting in the corner by the window. ¡°I do not have any complaints, as long as you treat us respect we will treat you with respect as well.¡± Said by the old man that seemed to be Louise¡¯s grandfather ¡°Oh, I almost forgot. This is my mother Roselle and that is my grandfather Fredrick¡± Louise said as she introduced her mother and grandfather. ¡°My name is Feldgrau Tranel, I am grateful for your hospitality; I hope that our stay here doesn¡¯t hinder your daily lives¡± Feld muttered in a very respectful un-Feld-like manner. ¡°My name is Rei, nice to meet you all; thank you for the help!¡± Rei said in a respectful yet too cheerful kind of way ¡°Oh my, is seems we have guests¡± an old lady suddenly comes into the room; it seems that she came from the kitchen. ¡°Grandmother, these are Mr. Rei and Mr. Feldgrau; they will be staying with us for a while¡± Louise introduced them to her grandmother. ¡°Oh hello there, my name is Louisa¡± said the old lady ¡°I see that you also brought a boy in Louise, finally at that age eh? Kukuku¡± Louisa continued playfully teasing Louise ¡°Grandmother, that¡¯s not why I brought them here!!!!¡± Louise said as she denies any indecency that her grandmother is implying. She was flushed and embarrassed as she covers her cheeks with both of her hands. ¡°Oh Louise, don¡¯t be that stiff; you¡¯re getting old you should marry! Not everyone has my flawless skin and face¡± Louisa kept being playful Roselle was smiling as she watched that conversation of her mother and her daughter. ¡°Mr. Feldgrau, I¡¯m sorry for all the trouble; I didn¡¯t lead you to a room where the lady can rest.¡± Louise said then she proceeded to lead Feld and the others to their rooms. The house is quite humble in structure but it was very spacious. There we¡¯re a lot of rooms which is why Feld, Rei and Glace each got their own rooms. ¡°After you keep your things, please come down and have some dinner.¡± Louise said before leaving them to themselves. As he watched Louise leave, Rei couldn¡¯t help grinning towards Feld as they both stand in the hallway. Feld had just finished tucking in Glace in her own room. ¡°What are you grinning about kid?¡± Feld said to Rei with a mildly frustrated tone ¡°Oh nothing¡± Rei said. Clearly Rei was proud to have come across such a kind young lady and got them a house to stay in and even get free food. The two of them then proceeded down and had some dinner with Louise¡¯s family. The family was lively and kind, the grandfather was clearly acting stiff but very kind on the inside, the grandmother always teased Louise which makes her pout and blush, and the mother is focused on Edward. After the meal, Rei and Feld spared no time and proceeded to head to their rooms. Louise on the other hand went to check on Glace and cleaned her wound and changed her bandage. Louise is a very kind girl, she just brims with warmth and care; her smile can send a thousand soldiers to march and she is very caring even to people she doesn¡¯t know. Everybody in their neighborhood loves Louise and she doesn¡¯t have any shortage of suitors; every house in their neighborhood that has a son wants Louise as their daughter-in-law. She herself is very beautiful and yet she doesn¡¯t not act entitled by it. As she was changing Glace¡¯s bandage, a young man opened the door. To Louise¡¯s surprise, it was Rei. ¡°Is there anything I may help you with Mr. Rei?¡± Louise then said after calming herself from her startle ¡°No, I was just worried for Glace. Please just call me Rei, I¡¯m just not used to having a ¡®Mr.¡¯ haha¡± the young man said as she scratches the back of his head. He then proceeded to sit not too far from Glace and Louise as he watches her work. ¡°If you don¡¯t mind me asking, how did you become a healer?¡± Rei said out of the blue ¡°Oh, my father was a healer he taught me a lot since I was a child¡± Louise replied ¡°Could it be your father was the town¡¯s healer?¡± Rei asked with a sensitive tone. ¡°Yes¡± Louise replied as her usually warm expression fades and replaced by a lonely appearance ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I brought it up¡± Rei said as he realized he made her remember a dismal memory ¡°No, you don¡¯t need to apologize it¡¯s just than I miss him so¡± Louise said as to console Rei¡¯s guilt ¡°I should go now, you must rest as well Rei; you had a tiring travel didn¡¯t you?¡± Louise said to Rei before leaving the room. Rei then stood up and opened the window slightly just to let in a little breeze. After feeling the breeze he looked at Glace. His eyes widened and his expression changed to a puppy that saw his master come home ¡°Glace!¡± Rei said with a loud voice Rei then excitedly came to Glace¡¯s bedside and held her hand. ¡°Glace, we we¡¯re worried about you! Are you hungry? Do you need anything?¡± Rei bombarded Glace as soon as she woke up ¡°Why are you holding my hand stupid!!¡± Glace screamed as she was flushed by Rei holding her hand ¡°Oh oh I¡¯m sorry!¡± said Rei as he hurriedly lets go of Glace¡¯s hand. ¡°I said why you are holding my hand not let it go.¡± Glace whispered swiftly and very silently as she hesitates whether she wants Rei to hear it or not. ¡°Are you hungry?¡± Rei asked is a gentle tone completely different to how he was so excited earlier ¡°No, I feel heavy¡± Glace said as she stares at the ceiling ¡°But I am pretty thirsty¡± she continued ¡°I¡¯ll go get you something to drink¡± Rei said as he hastily went out to get her some water Glace was pale and felt as though she was deprived of energy. ¡°I could have died¡± she thought as she remembers the strike that almost got her killed She then tries to lift her hand up as if trying to grab the stars that were seen through the window, her hand trembles as she tries to make a fist ¡°Was it the right decision coming with them?¡± Glace said as she puts her hand down to her chest Rei was able to witness Glace through the opening on the not fully closed door and he somewhat feels responsible for not being able to protect her. He utters to himself ¡°You can¡¯t¡± a number of times and then opened the door ¡°Here¡¯s some water¡± said Rei as he smiles to Glace He helped her sit up and then helped her drink some water. Glace was really thirsty, she drank an entire glass in one go; good thing Rei brought a pitcher. ¡°I should get some rest, you should too¡± Glace said with a gentler but conflicted tone and expression ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll go now¡± Rei said before he walked towards the door Just as Rei was about to close the door Glace then said ¡°Thank you.¡± Rei smiled slightly just before closing the door. Chapter 11: Forged Chapter 11: Forged The start of the day was a beautiful morning filled with blissful ambience and warmth, beside the barn Feld and Rei appears to be training. Seeing Feld fight yesterday, Rei was eager to learn to manipulate mana into materializing; however this is a very high level skill, it takes even the most talented people years to even materialize a brittle weapon. ¡°You don¡¯t have to rush it Rei, even I took two whole years to materialize my first weapon; and they called me a genius haha!¡± Feld said as if he was being conceited his expression wore a huge grin and it was as if he was trying not to laugh ¡°Ha, I¡¯ll show you!¡± Rei replied not giving in to all the teasing A small ball purple of color appeared as Rei cupped his hands to his chest, in a serious expression Feld was inwardly thinking ¡°This kid, he¡¯s really got some talent; I shouldn¡¯t tell him, it might get into his head.¡± Hours passed by and it was already noon, Rei without any breakfast or lunch sat by the barn¡¯s shade focusing on making the ball of mana bigger and bigger. After a few more hours the ball was a meter in diameter and it was glowing like the sun but was only purple in color. The color of mana produced didn¡¯t really mean much of anything; it was just the manifestation of the user¡¯s favorite color in their subconscious. Purple was never Rei¡¯s pick for a color, but deep inside his subconscious he yearns for that purple color. Seeing that his mana color was purple he then picked his hair color in Alctuz accordingly. After a few more hours, Rei¡¯s ball of energy started taking shape of a stick although it is shaped like a stick it looked more as purple smoke rotating and rotating into the shape of the stick. Glace was by the window watching in awe as Rei practices; she couldn¡¯t believe her eyes as Rei manifests a form of mana materialization. Even she herself tried to practice mana materialization but gave up after a year for lack of progress. This skill was indeed very hard to master, but in Glace¡¯s experience she determined that if you cannot master this skill there isn¡¯t any real setbacks because materialized mana doesn¡¯t have the same attributes and effects of weapons made from beast shards. Beast shards are crystal like cores found in beasts in the land of Lhukresia; these shards are adequately tough and store the special abilities of the beast that it came from. Beast shards develop as the beast go into adulthood; once taken out of the beast, the beast won¡¯t be able to use its special abilities contained in the shard. Feld returned from his trip to the market with Louise and Louisa and saw Rei¡¯s progress. He was dumbfounded by the scene that unraveled before him; Rei actually started real materialization of mana in less than a day! Rei¡¯s progress is just too absurd, never have Feld seen talent like this; Rei was a genius among geniuses and Feld couldn¡¯t believe that he underestimated Rei¡¯s talent to this extent last time they trained in Ribas. Having a genius student always makes a master more motivated to train him. Following that, Feld¡¯s heart raced with excitement as he thought about what he could impart to Rei. He didn¡¯t dare distract Rei¡¯s concentration, he calmed himself as fast as he could and hurriedly took the things they bought in the market to the house. After keeping the things in the house, he hastily went to watch Rei manifest his materialization. As he noticed with the mana orb, Rei¡¯s mana supply is close to his but Rei¡¯s was larger; thinking about this, it would mean that if Rei fully controls his mana to an amazing extent comparable to how he can do it, Rei could surpass him within a few years at this rate of progress. At first, Rei struck him as a country bumpkin; he only took him under his wing out of pity and boredom among other reasons. But after much thought, he is indeed the son of his rival Bistre. Rei¡¯s mind seemed like it was out of this world and was plunged into a spiraling dimension, however it did not affect him in any way like making him dizzy from all the spiraling and spinning. It was a dark world, a world filled with stars and smoke; it seemed that the horizon is limitless and the stars are countless. Rei though of nothing but the mana ball and the shape of a stick, after much concentration he then changed its shape into a sword. As Rei thought of this, the stick of smoke-like mana in his hands turned into a sword. Feld felt as if at his old age all of these surprises these few days will give him a bad heart. The smoke-like mana that is the shape of a stick suddenly turned into the shape of a sword right before his eyes; this level of progress is just too great, he almost fainted from think about how embarrassed he¡¯ll be after teasing Rei earlier.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Little by little the smoke-like structure of the sword hardened, Rei still hasn¡¯t opened his eyes; it would seem that he is still not satisfied with the sword in his hands. After another hour has passed and it was nearing dinnertime Rei still hadn¡¯t move from the spot he was sitting on. Feld and the rest had their dinner; Louise thought of getting Rei to eat but was prevented by Feld from doing so. It became hard for them to sleep because of Rei¡¯s glowing figure that was almost as bright as sunlight especially in the night time. The neighbors whispered and whispered about their suspicion of Rei being a descendant of demons, due to the rarity of warriors coming to the farm lands they aren¡¯t used to seeing mana in its visual form. Even the town guards are amazed to how much glow the mana of Rei was; although mana isn¡¯t something extraordinary for them, it was the sheer luminosity of Rei¡¯s mana that captivated their attention. After the commotion died down, everyone in the surroundings had gone home and slept. The next morning, Feld found Rei still sitting at the same spot but to his surprise the sword he had in his hand was crystalized! Feld face was so surprised that it was indescribable, he was so shocked that his mind went blank; this was the first time Feld has seen mana this pure and this solid his entire life. After Feld arrived, Rei started to open his eyes; he held the mana sword and swung it. ¡°This is really light!¡± Rei said in his surprise ¡°Well of course, mana is as weightless as air.¡± Feld replied in a voice that seemed hoarse as he gulps his saliva down his throat ¡°This took me a lot of time. Master Feld, let¡¯s try out its durability¡± Rei said with a slight grin as he obviously wants to boast against Feld ¡°Sure kid, but don¡¯t cry after I break your little toy.¡± Feld said as he tries to regain his dominance towards the issue Feld created a sword almost exactly the same length Rei made his sword to be, he wanted to try and copy the sword¡¯s appearance and structure. In the end, Feld end up with a sword with a silver glow while Rei¡¯s sword is a purple crystal that is quite transparent. Even though Rei didn¡¯t inject any more mana towards his sword, Feld still felt the enormous pressure the sword emits; he concluded that the sword Rei materialized is definitely not anything he¡¯s seen before. ¡°Here we go Rei, try to block this with that sword¡± Feld said as he lifted his sword up then slashed downwards towards Rei¡¯s sword. Rei then quickly used his sword to block using both his hands he positioned the sword horizontally. The slash Feld made was strong; it definitely isn¡¯t something an ordinary mana sword user can block. Rei closed his eyes as he saw the strength of Feld¡¯s slash and hoped that he won¡¯t get too hurt by it. The two swords collide and one sword vanished; the collision created a massive wave of air as if trying to blow them away. Rei opened his eyes to see if he received any injuries from the clash, his eyes widened his mouth opened as he looks at his sword being without a single scratch. Feld¡¯s eyes widened in surprised, he couldn¡¯t believe his sword was the one the lost; even though he only used about 30% of his total power, to not even be able to get scratch it felt very disheartening. ¡°Even if I used a 100% for my power, I don¡¯t think my mana sword will win¡± Feld though internally Feld could not make any excuses, he then said to Rei ¡°Rei, that sword is terrifying; can you create another one?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll try¡± Rei replied with much confidence if he can or not After that exchange, Rei dropped the sword and proceeded to sit in the same manner as before; he sat there for about an hour and was able to replicate the mana sword. Feld had enough of surprises, but the surprises aren¡¯t enough of Feld. Rei actually manifested another sword of the same quality; and what¡¯s more, Rei¡¯s first sword hasn¡¯t disappeared! Mana swords usually disappear a few seconds after the creator lets go of it or it leaves the creator¡¯s person. ¡°Rei hand me the first sword¡± Feld ordered ¡°Okay¡± said Rei as he hands over the first sword ¡°$#@^!!! How can I hold another person¡¯s mana sword?!¡± Feld inwardly shouted as he held Rei¡¯s sword Mana swords should only belong to the person who made them, this shocked Feld because he actually wielded Rei¡¯s mana sword. Feld filled it with mana then swung a Mana Slicer in the air. ¡°The Slicer was smooth as if I used a high quality sword.¡± Murmured Feld He tried doing a bunch of stuff like using various skills, and directly injecting his mana into the sword everything was as if it was done with a high quality sword! As he injected his mana, the purple transparent figure of the sword began to fill with silver ones as if he was pouring milk into a purple glass. ¡°Rei, we should test how long this sword will stay¡± Feld said to Rei to determine the sword¡¯s duration After three days Rei continued to create more and more weapons of different kinds, and each time he became after in making them; currently his average speed was about 10 minutes to create a sword. Rei also made armor parts and other stuff. Feld continued to test the sword tirelessly and it never gave any hint of disappearing. The fourth day, Feld determined that the sword will not disappear; his conclusion was based off a skill he used to stress the sword. Feld used a wind technique called . : Using immense wind as a defensive barrier, the wind will form as a defensive barrier that uses fast vibrations to deflect incoming attacks. Air Cushion is most effective against projectile attacks. Feld created Air Cushions then used the mana sword to stab the Air Cushion causing the sword to be stressed out via vibrations; after doing this for the whole day Feld determined that the sword is indeed high quality and will not disappear under normal circumstances. What amazed Feld even more was after countless trials, he noticed that the mana that makes up the sword is the purest he¡¯s seen in his lifetime. A pure mana can create a high grade mana essence; a mana essence is used similar to a mana potion (to recover from mana fatigue) and also as a crafting material to forge a Beast Weapon; it looks like a small crystal stone that brims with magical power. Feld saw Rei as a moneybag, his mana was the purest he¡¯s seen his entire life; his mana would make Flawless or even Superior grade mana essence and he even has a vast amount of mana to boot! If he teaches Rei how to create a mana essence he could sell it and make thousands of gold! Chapter 12: Lord of the Land Chapter 12: Lord of the land Not only did Rei learn how to materialize mana in a day, he was able to create mana weapons that are as solid as or even more durable than high quality weapons and it even has smoother mana flow absorption that most high quality weapons. ¡°Rei, I¡¯m going to show you something; make sure you watch attentively so you can replicate what I do¡± Feld said it like a swindler that has set his eyes one a whale Feld cupped his hands as if he was holding a basketball and in the middle of the space between his hands was a silver light a small ball of mana similar to how Rei started his mana forging of his mana sword. What differs from these processes is that Feld¡¯s mana ball was like a black hole sucking all the mana he releases from his hand. This kind of process is called Essence Creation, Essence Creation is immensely more difficult to master than Mana Forging; it takes a practitioner tens of years to master this skill, although Feld mastered it in 8 years. Rei tried it the whole day and couldn¡¯t progress further than creating the mana ball; Feld couldn¡¯t blame him so for it was a very challenging skill than even he spent 8 years of cultivating. As Rei kept on trying, several soldiers that seemed to come directly from the palace of Genoah came; they were under a banner with a Whale Beast as its crest. The Genoah palace is currently under the rule of the Earth Narwhal family head; the Earth Narwhal family is a noble family that originates from Archus. The soldiers themselves looked as if they have been provided with good equipment, this could mean that the Lord of the palace of Genoah is someone not only powerful but is rich as well. The noble families of Archus replaced most of the clan leaders of Ino after the war ended. Some clans are left alone, some are now on Archus¡¯ side, and some have fled in seclusion seemingly preparing for a revolution. The appearance of these soldiers struck fear among the country-folk as they knew that soldiers from the palace coming to the farmlands is not a good sign for them. These soldiers seemed to be looking for someone and came closer and closer to the house of Louise; they went to a stop when they were in front of Louise¡¯s house. A soldier in the middle of the troop stepped forward, he seemed to be the troop leader; he had better looking equipment than the rest of the soldiers and had a red and blue feather on his helmet. ¡°Where is Louise Rendelfolt?!¡± shouted the solder No one was answering, although nobody in the neighborhood told where Louise lived for they adored her and would not want her to be of harm¡¯s way; the soldiers seemed to already know or even just be suspicious that Louise was in the house that they currently are in. Louise was kept by her grandmother and mother in a secret storage compartment under their home. Louise was in tears because she believed that they are looking for her because of her capability as a healer. Her dad was summoned to the palace and never returned, while curiosity to know of what happened to her father was urging her to come with the soldiers; her fear of not being able to return was a stronger force in her heart. The soldier leader seemed to have already known from the start that this was where Louise resides in and just asked around the neighborhood just for the sake of procedure. How could he not know? They have kept the son of the couple that lived here for more than just a few years, and they are tasked to look for his daughter; of course she will have lived here, not unless she went out of town but it was highly unlikely. That was the soldier leader¡¯s thought process. Suddenly Edward came out of the house, Louisa and Roselle was busy hiding Louise that they forgot to keep watch on Edward; Edward then came to the soldiers and shouted ¡°Why are you looking for my big sister?!!¡± Edward had an angry expression as if he is confronting a person he can beat ¡°Thanks little boy.¡± Said the soldier leader as he grinned and crouched to face Edward The soldier leader then stood up and ordered his men ¡°Get in the house! I don¡¯t care what you do with it as long as you get the girl!¡± After hearing their order the soldiers busted open the door to their home and started entering. There were dozens of soldiers destroying the house¡¯s furniture, one of the soldiers found Glace in her bed; the soldier then proceeded to carry Glace like a bag on his shoulder. ¡°Sir, is this the woman we we¡¯re looking for?¡± said the soldier as he presented Glace to their leader ¡°No you imbecile, but take her anyway!¡± said the leader as he instructs the soldier Rei looked at the scene and was infuriated, his eyes were definitely filled with anger and he was about to kill someone when Feld put his arm against Rei¡¯s shoulder as if trying to prevent him from doing anything rash.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. ¡°Master Feld, they¡¯re going to take Glace! We can¡¯t just do nothing!¡± Rei shouted silently at Feld as if trying to reason to Feld to fight the soldiers ¡°Are you an idiot Rei? I don¡¯t think so, look at the enemy numbers; they have dozens and there are only the two of us. If they don¡¯t return to their palace, the Lord will probably send an army. Do you think you can fight them and rescue Glace?¡± said Feld as he clenches his fist in anger for not being able to do anything ¡°Honorable soldiers of the palace please do not take the girl, she is injured. We are travelers and she is one of my companions, I ask that you please let her go; we will not intervene with your search of the girl named Louise and in fact we¡¯ll even help you.¡± Feld said to the soldier leader as he returns to his smooth talking swindler ways ¡°Tch, give them the girl.¡± Ordered the leader to his men ¡°Thank you honorable leader¡± said Feld while bowing his head ¡°Tell me, where is the girl named Louise?¡± asked the soldier leader in a very arrogant manner as if he was stepping on Feld The atmosphere in the area became tense, the onlookers were staring daggers at Feld with eyes saying not to tell the soldiers anything. Fredrick, Louisa, and Roselle were frightened, to think that their guest they had treated kindly had betrayed their trust and is now going to tell the location of their Louise! Edward ran towards Feld and started punching him with his little hands crying and saying ¡°Don¡¯t tell them where big sister is!¡± a number of times whilst crying; Feld then waved his hand at the child to put it to sleep. The crowd of onlookers became angry at Feld for what he did and started shouting ¡°You fiend! How could you do that to a child! You don¡¯t have a sense of gratitude!¡± and other hurtful things. Edward¡¯s family was brimming with anger as they watch what Feld did to Edward. ¡°We shouldn¡¯t have taken them in¡± said Roselle as she turns red from anger and hate Fredrick was feeling anger but he did not show much of it; meanwhile Louisa¡¯s anger and fear disappeared after she saw Feld make Edward sleep. ¡°Now you two, don¡¯t make sudden conclusions; Mr. Feldgrau isn¡¯t that kind of man now is he? We spent quite a bit of time with them, and to my observation Mr. Feldgrau isn¡¯t someone who sells out someone who helped him.¡± Said the usually playful old lady in a serious and convincing manner After hearing what Louisa said, Roselle and Fredrick went a little calmer but then Louisa continued ¡°I don¡¯t believe Mr. Feldgrau will sell Louise out; you two, we must act very angry after he tells them a wrong location!¡± The crown kept on shouting at Feld as he continued to smile and bow his head to the leader of the soldiers ¡°Don¡¯t keep me waiting! Where is the girl?!¡± said angrily by the soldier leader. ¡°I apologize for not stating it quickly, I believe to have seen the girl running towards that cornfield right after she saw you¡± said Feld as he pointed at the cornfield. ¡°Good haha! Men, go get the girl!¡± the soldier leader said as he was ordering his men to go after the girl that ran into the cornfield. The soldiers then dashed hastily towards the cornfield, they found traces of a person coming through and followed the trail. Little did the soldiers know that the one they were chasing was not Louise, it was not even a girl; it was Rei. ¡°Rei, I need you to run to the cornfield when you see an opportunity; create a trail for them to follow, but whatever happens do not fight them.¡± Feld said to Rei as he gave instructions ¡°I¡¯ll meet you at the back of the barn later tonight.¡± Feld continued ¡°Okay¡± with no hesitation, Rei agreed to Feld¡¯s plan and entrusted the situation to Feld Running and running, Rei frantically ran as fast as he could without using mana as boosters because it will give away his identity. Running away from the soldiers was as hard as a fish swimming away from a shark, the soldiers were using mana as boosters for their speed. It was no easy feat that Rei was able to stall them at least 10 minutes and counting. Meanwhile on Feld¡¯s side, Feld suddenly attacked the soldier leader. Caught by surprised the attacked didn¡¯t even last a second and the soldier leader was left dead in a single strike. The crowd of onlookers changed their opinion of Feld really quickly, and listed to Feld as he gave out instructions on hiding the soldier leader¡¯s body and covering up the scene. Feld¡¯s attention then went to Louise¡¯s family, ¡°We must leave your home, what happened here will surely get to the Lord and in no time they will assemble a punitive force to annihilate us¡± said Feld in a very serious manner that is hard not to obey. Louise¡¯s family started packing what they thought is valuable; Feld lent them a few of his spatial rings for easy storage of the items. Feld escorted Louise out of the secret storage compartment that was told to him by Louisa. ¡°We¡¯ll have to leave here, any idea to where we can hide?¡± Feld asked Louisa ¡°We can hide in any of the houses here in the neighborhood, they will gladly take us in¡± said Louisa in a confident manner. Feld gave it some thought and determined that hiding in one of the nearest houses is a good idea because they probably wouldn¡¯t expect it. ¡°I agree, let¡¯s talk to them¡± said Feld as he nods in agreement to Louisa¡¯s plan. The Rendelfolt family was most welcome in any of the houses in the farm lands, not only was Louise¡¯s father a healer that healed many of their sick and injured; Louise was the girl of all the young male¡¯s dreams and all the parents of these young men would gladly have Louise as their daughter-in-law. Finding a house they could hide in didn¡¯t take long at all, in fact all of the neighbors volunteered. Rei is getting tired of running around and seemed pretty exhausted, he used a little bit of mana boost every now and then; the soldiers who chased after him was dead out of mana and was even more exhausted than him. Rei noticed that as he gets even more exhausted he gets even better at running away. After much trouble in was nightfall, Rei was finally out of the huge cornfield that he played hide and seek in. He exhaustedly went to the back of the barn where Feld and he should meet. He saw Feld waiting for him, and without much exchange of words he followed Feld in a nearby house. *The Lord of Genoah¡¯s Palace* ¡°Lord, soldier leader Larks is nowhere to be found; and the girl Louise has not been found either¡± said the soldier kneeling in front of the Lord¡¯s throne as he makes his report ¡°They escaped eh?¡± The Lord inwardly spoke to himself and then said ¡°Look for her in the neighborhood again!¡± ¡°But Lord, we already checked that neighborhood; are they so brave as to hide nearby?¡± pleaded the soldier ¡°Are you questioning my order?¡± said the Lord as he intimidated the soldier to death ¡°No Lord, I apologize!¡± the soldier quickly retorted ¡°Go¡± said the Lord Without delay, the solder got up and did as the Lord asked. Chapter 13: Wit鈥檚 End Chapter 13: Wit¡¯s End Rei followed Feld in a surprisingly close house that was bigger than Louise¡¯s house; it can be described as just a little short of a mansion. The house they we¡¯re staying in was a close family friend of the Rendelfolt family was Crois family. The Crois family was a friend of the Rendelfolt family for generations, they had marriages between families as well; the only son of the Crois family was promised to marry with Louise. Although the promise to marry isn¡¯t set by Louise and Gus Crois, they were childhood friends and both had mutual feelings for each other which made the arrangement very agreeable for the both of them. Among all the suitors lining up for Louise, it was Gus who stood at the top of the list. Rei and Feld were greeted by a lady dressed in a Victorian maid outfit. The lady led them to the dining room where everyone was already seated and was preparing to eat. The house was especially spacious on the inside; it was really just short of a mansion. The dining room was well decorated the dining table was long and the chairs looked like they¡¯re expensive. The maid then pulled some chairs for Rei and Feld, Rei¡¯s chair was the opposite of Louise¡¯s. A conversation started between the Crois family head which was Beau Crois, the grandfather of Gus Crois; Gus¡¯s father died during the War, he was a splendid mage. The chat between grandfathers became somewhat nostalgic for them as they were both childhood friends themselves, Roselle felt a little out of place in the conversations but she kept her smile. Louisa on the other hand seemed rather quiet for her playful personality was suppressed by the delicious food as she continued to consume food. Louise quietly ate her food in a very graceful manner as if she was pressured on how she eats. Rei was the same as Louisa but he showed a little restraint despite being so hungry and tired. Feld in on the level beyond recognition, he was so well-mannered that you would not even know it was him eating at that table. Rei was surprised by Feld¡¯s actions multiple times since leaving Ribas but what surprised him the most was how Feld can transform from a dirty drunkard to noble in a blink of an eye. The dining table grew livelier as time flowed and before they knew it, it was already late in the night. Each of them was lead to their separate rooms, Glace who was already in one room and was not part of the dining table from earlier slept like a baby; it seemed that she was stressed from all the things that happened earlier in the afternoon. Morning came and Glace awoken again, beside her was Louise that was preparing to use her healing magic again on here. ¡°Oh you¡¯re awake, Ms. Glace would you like something to drink? Are you feeling hungry?¡± said sweetly by the lovely flower that is Louise ¡°Thank you, I¡¯d like to have some water please.¡± Said Glace as she tries her best to create a smile but only accomplished half of the task. Glace received a glass of water from Louise and she also ate the porridge Louise brought her. Louise felt worried because Glace¡¯s condition reverted back to the same state she started with. ¡°I¡¯m sorry Ms. Glace, I think it would take another week for me to fully heal your wound.¡± said Louise in a very apologetic tone and a voice that is full of worry and sadness. ¡°Don¡¯t mind it, thank you for doing your best¡± Glace replied as she tried to grab ahold of Louise¡¯s hand. ¡°Yes!¡± Louise said as she took and held Glace¡¯s hand with both of the hands then placed them onto her chest. Several hours passed by, Louise already left the room a few hours back; Glace was feeling a little bored not being able to do anything but lie there in her bed. The room she was in had a window but all she can see was tall grass; the wind that caressed her was warm yet felt chilly for Glace. As her hours passed and her boredom grows; she tried to stand but she failed to do so because her stomach still hurts. As she lies on her bed, she could only sleep her boredom away. In his room, Rei was busy practicing making a mana essence; after a lot of failures he still couldn¡¯t create one. Feld kept the weapons and armors Rei made in his spatial ring, after Louisa and the others return his rings he gave one to Rei but Rei only had his bag to put in there. Rei only had few clothing which was why Feld went to the market by himself to buy Rei some clothes; he disguised himself by wearing a bandage on his head and he wore merchant clothing. He proceeded to a Genoah¡¯s merchant association in order to get a permit to have a stand. Feld planned to sell the weapons and armor Rei made for a high price at Ribas once he returns there but since he also told Rei to create some farming tools for the Rendelfolt family he thought to just sell those for a quick buck. Feld was denied the permit to have a stand; it seemed that you can only have the permit if you¡¯re a citizen of Genoah which Feld was clearly not. Feld has been here many times in the past but it was the first time he tried to get a merchant¡¯s permit here. Having no other options left, Feld proceeded to a blacksmith that makes farming tools for the town in order to bargain with him.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. The farm tools store was rather well-kept; it had a variety of tools displayed on the walls. The storekeeper appears to be rather young; he wore a very clean and tidy robe with the color of green laced with blue and gold. He politely asked Feld ¡°What may I be of service with sir?¡± ¡°I¡¯m more interested in servicing you instead!¡± Feld excitedly replied to the boy. ¡°Sorry sir, I don¡¯t swing that way!¡± the young man loudly said as he hides at the corner of the counter while peeking slightly at Feld with his eyes filled with fear and his hands covering his privates. ¡°No no no no no! I meant I want to sell you something!!¡± Feld quickly retorted as he denies what the young man understood of what he said After being given a little time to calm down, the young man regained his composure and straightened up his clothes. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I don¡¯t think there¡¯s anything we need right now.¡± The young man said politely. ¡°Look at this.¡± Feld said as he brought the rake out from his spatial ring. ¡°Sir, I¡¯m sorry but we don¡¯t take glass tools.¡± The young man said as he assumed that what Feld brought out was a glass rake ¡°This is not glass, this is made of mana!¡± Feld proudly said as if he was the one who made it ¡°Ehh?!¡± The young man could only react that was because what Feld was saying was rather absurd ¡°Sir, please don¡¯t take me for a fool; that glass doesn¡¯t look like mana at all. We may be a farming village but visual mana isn¡¯t something that rare for us.¡± The young man said as he explains that he isn¡¯t a fool. But he is, since it really is a mana rake! ¡°Here, hold it¡± said Feld as he hands over the mana rake. As the young man held the rake, he couldn¡¯t believe what he just held in his hands; it was like he was holding a balloon! Mana was basically as weightless as air which is why when the young man held it he expected it to be a bit heavy but to his surprise it was weightless! ¡°Is this really made of mana?!¡± the young man was still surprised was trembling with excitement ¡°Yes¡± Feld replied with a slightly smug expression ¡°If it¡¯s made of mana, isn¡¯t this going to disappear?¡± asked by the young man seemingly confused ¡°The guy who made this is a bit special, that mana rake will not disappear.¡± Said Feld ¡°I want to test its durability.¡± The young man said while seemingly forgetting to be as polite as he was earlier Excitedly, we went and fetched the shop¡¯s biggest hammer; it was a sledge hammer only to have a bigger head than usual. He placed the standard steel rake they had on two large bricks with a curve to keep the rake from moving then smashed it with the hammer. The standard steel rake they had was broken on the spot. He then placed the glass-like rake Feld brought out and said ¡°You¡¯re fine with testing this thing right? I¡¯ll pay 2 gold for it if it breaks.¡± ¡°Okay¡± Feld said in agreement With all his might, the young man struck the glass-like rake and to his joy and surprise the rake didn¡¯t show any scratches at all! ¡°For how much are you selling this rake?! I could buy it with 30 gold!¡± said the young man who couldn¡¯t contain his excitement Feld thought about it and 30 gold for a quality of this magnitude is a little low, even high quality weapons are priced at least 100 gold without enhancement. But Feld did understand that what he¡¯s selling isn¡¯t a weapon but rather a tool for farming which farmers won¡¯t spend much on. ¡°I want 70 gold¡± Feld said to the young man as he was increasing the sale price ¡°As much as I want this rake sir, 70 gold is a little much; only farmers will use this.¡± Said the young man ¡°But if you¡¯re willing to go for 45 maybe we can have a deal¡± the young man continued ¡°50 each, I have a total of 23 farm tools of the same quality; you can check if you¡¯d like¡± Feld said as he bargained a wholesale. The young man was surprised yet again because he never thought that a unique item such as this and Feld has 23 of them. The young man calmed himself down as he said ¡°All right, but I¡¯ll have to check.¡± then proceeded to check each of Feld¡¯s merchandise. Feld received a total of 460 gold for the tools and an additional 10 gold as a tip that probably means Feld should sell only to his shop. 460 gold was a fortune compared to what Feld was going to buy for Rei, clothes usually only cost a gold or two for high quality ones and around 50 silver for intermediate quality ones. Feld did a lot of shopping of food, clothing, and other necessary items. Among them was a high quality healing salve for glace that costed 120 gold. Feld then headed to the Crois¡¯ family home. Rei was overjoyed when Feld bought him new clothes; he reevaluated his impression of Feld from cheap dirty drunkard to dirty drunkard. The healing salve Feld brought really helped Glace¡¯s recovery, it was already feeling well after applying a little healing salve. After a few hours, Glace was finally able to stand almost normally and walk around like she just had a stomach ache and not a stab. Healing salves are expensive but they are extremely effective on physical wounds especially non-fatal ones. Finally, Glace was able to join everyone for dinner. As they were eating dinner, a loud noise was suddenly heard outside of the Crois family home. When Feld and Rei took a look outside they were surprised to see about 200 soldiers surrounding the whole house; they never expected that they¡¯d be found so quickly. The good news is that Glace has already recovered enough and they can easily escape through force is they have to, but the bad news is that the whole Crois and Rendelfolt families would be left behind. After weighing in pros and cons of the decision Feld decided they should run but as he looked at Rei and Glace his choice on the matter was immediately shattered; Glace and Rei were clearly not going to leave the families that helped them behind. They¡¯re expression says that they will fight if they have to. Feld couldn¡¯t risk it, fighting a Lord army is very much above him; they had low chance on escaping but they have no chance at all in fighting 200 soldiers without casualties. ¡°Why is the Lord of Genoah so hung up on Louise?¡± Feld asked himself After a moment, they saw fire lit up in every direction surrounding the house; they were arrow lit with fire aimed at the Crois household. ¡°Bring out the girl named Louise that the Lord is looking for or we¡¯ll burn the house down!¡± shout the battalion commander The battalion commander had a big build and wore A-grade armor, he had black short hair and a huge longsword; he seems like the kind of guy that cuts his opponent in half. His expression is strict and determined like someone who would do anything to finish the task assigned to him; there is no way Feld can convince this guy to withdraw. Feld knocked his head as he thinks of a way to get everybody to safety, but sadly he couldn¡¯t think of anything. While everybody was focused on the battalion in front of them, Louise went out to surrender herself. She chained her fear and unleashed her inner courage as she walked towards the battalion commander. She stops in the midway to say ¡°Leave my family and friends be; I¡¯ll come with you!¡± Louise was determined to give herself up for her family and friends; it was the first time Louise has shown a fierce and angry expression. The battalion commander then walked towards where Louise was currently standing. ¡°Heaven¡¯s lightning strike!¡± Suddenly a huge lightning strike struck the path where the battalion commander was in but with his fast reaction we was able to dodge quickly and did not receive any damage. ¡°No one is taking my Louise!¡± said the young man as he demolished the wall of soldiers in his path towards coming to Louise¡¯s location. ¡°Look it¡¯s big brother!¡± Edward said while inside the house They looked at a tall slim figure, dark skinned like the Crois family; he had white unruly long hair, and he wore a vest-like white hoodie. His clothing was like clothing for winter cut to be worn on summer, the vest-like hoodie he wore was only as long as reaching his ribs and he had winter bracers; his clothes didn¡¯t look like clothes at all but rather accessories. He was barefooted, and wielded a single knife holstered at his left side waist. The young man¡¯s name was Gus Crois. Chapter 14: Lethargic Chapter 14: Lethargic With lightning seemingly coming from his feet, he moved so fast that it was like he made instantaneous travel; from the edge of the circle of soldiers to Louise¡¯s front, the young man fiercely looked at the battalion commander with a strong bloodthirst. ¡°Gus!¡± the young lady behind him called out. His angry expression transformed into a warm one after one word from the young lady as he looks at her, but after that the hungry tiger-like face returned as he looked at the battalion commander. Feld felt strong fighting power from Gus and started to think of an alternative plan where they could all escape. As Feld was thinking of a way to escape a voice was suddenly heard, the voice was from a shout coming from a young man in the midst of the area. ¡°I challenge you to an Alctuz Battle!¡± the young man said to the battalion commander The soldiers surrounding the area was talking among themselves about how crazy the idea of this young man; for one, it was because they had no reason to accept the challenge at all because they have no chance of losing in a feud right now. ¡°HAHAHAHAHA¡± a loud deep laugh was heard The laugh seemed to come from the battalion commander that was amused by what Gus said ¡°Fine, I will relay your challenge to the Lord!¡± said by the battalion commander still tickled by Gus¡¯s contest Feld was really surprised by this development he couldn¡¯t keep himself from blinking repeatedly a number of times. Rei watched in awe as he saw how cool Gus was being; he had a totally different impression of Gus than that of when he first met Feld. ¡°Interesting, ask the man what he demands¡± said the Lord as he spoke to his communication bracelet, the bracelet was gold and had inscriptions and a large green stone. The battalion commander then grinned and yelled at Gus ¡°What are your demands!¡± ¡°Let everyone here go.¡± Gus said with a determined expression, he wished for harm to be repelled for those in his house and Louise The commander then inquired to his Lord, and after a little while they came up with their demands. ¡°The people in that house killed a subordinate of mine; we can¡¯t just let them off with just you.¡± the commander said with a smirk on his face. ¡°What do you want?¡± Gus replied with a slightly rude tone ¡°We want a battle with 3 members each you can have less if you want, if you lose we can choose to execute someone in your group and take that young girl Louise.¡± The commander replied with his conditions. Gus felt a sudden loss of energy as he thought about fighting 3 representatives of the Lord by himself; even though he had the courage to plow through the wall of soldiers it was only momentarily for he was too consumed by his anger towards what was happening to his beloved Louise. As his knees began to weaken and his gaze towards the ground becomes sharper a voiced suddenly reached his ears. ¡°I¡¯ll fight with you¡± The voice was arrogant and unreliable in tone and the person it came from was even more undependable but his wavering resolve suddenly got stronger and his spirit began to lift up slowly. The voice came from a young man seemingly younger than himself but nevertheless not lacking in courage. Gus¡¯s eyes began to prey on Rei and as he stares at him longer his words became more and more unreliable; but he still believed that having him is better than not. As Gus¡¯s thought circled around another voice fell upon him and it was from a young lady. ¡°I guess I¡¯ll help.¡± The blue haired girl said reluctantly as she didn¡¯t really want to carry the burden of having one of them die and Louise getting captured. Even though Glace¡¯s statement was somewhat unenthusiastic Gus felt that her words are more dependable than that of Rei¡¯s Feld didn¡¯t say a word, although Feld knows how Alctuz works but he never entered it personally and has no practical experience. ¡°Give me a week!¡± Gus shouted rudely to the battalion commander Gus wanted to see if Rei and Glace are up to the task which is why he didn¡¯t accept the battle conditions right away. The battalion commander then turned to his communication bracelet and after a few murmurs he then replied ¡°5 days! You will be followed and guarded by my men and as insurance we will take custody of Louise and both of us will sign a blood contract for you not to run away¡± Gus thought about it and the blood contract caught his attention. Blood Contracts can never be broken, the law of heaven and earth are on the side of the contract and if one signs the contract in bad faith or breaks a rule in the contract the rule breaker will sent to eternal suffering. The contract itself is a magic spell of grade S but can be easily casted by spell casters.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. The process includes using blood of both parties as a seal with the conditions written in a piece of Dragon Cloth. Dragon Cloth is only called dragon cloth or dragon paper but it is actually made from a tree called Nyphiclus, it is an uncommon tree but it isn¡¯t rare and it¡¯s quite easy to cultivate as long as the land is fertile enough. Gus nodded at the battalion commander, after waiting for a while the battalion commander finally finished preparing the Blood Contract they were going to sign. After reading the contract, Gus determined that the terms are acceptable. Gus had confidence in his intelligence and didn¡¯t need to consult the other before signing the contract. Feld didn¡¯t stop Gus from signing the contract, if worse comes to worst he¡¯s just going to escape with Rei and Glace by demolishing their way through. The blood contract only applies to those who have their blood in the seal, the contract stated that there are to be two representatives of each party Louise, Gus, the commander, and the lord will put their blood onto the seal. Since the names of the are already stated and 3 of the 4 people already signed, if the lord doesn¡¯t sign it in 2 hours the contract will be nulled which was why after the contract signing the commander hurriedly left to get the Lord to sign with his blood. The blood contract requires fresh blood so having the blood of someone else won¡¯t do any good. Gus then faced Louise that was behind him who whole time with the exception of the contract signing. He was suddenly flushed as he looked at Louise¡¯s eye that were fixed upon him, after a little while he started to get embarrassed because the circle of soldiers didn¡¯t leave and was there to keep an eye on them. ¡°L-let¡¯s go inside.¡± Gus said with his embarrassment barely hidden Louise nodded and didn¡¯t say a word as Gus held her hand while leading her to go inside the house. As they walked together, even after all the bad things that are currently happening to them Louise was happy in this moment. When Gus went inside, all the others who stepped out went inside as well. A kind of gloomy atmosphere surrounded the house, instead of celebrating the return of Gus since he was always traveling; what filled them was worry and despair because of the situation they are in. The Crois family was caught in this mess because of Louise; it would not be surprising if they blamed Louise for being the reason of their anguish. But not one of the Crois family members, not even one attendant felt that way towards Louise. She was indeed loved by everybody. ¡°Hey you, kid. What¡¯s your name?¡± Gus said with a little rudeness but Rei understood that it¡¯s just probably how he talks normally ¡°Call me Rei!¡± Rei replied normally ¡°I¡¯m Glace.¡± Glace then followed ¡°The gray haired man is Mr. Feldgrau¡± Louise then said to introduce Feld ¡°They¡¯re travelers, they helped me escape the first time the soldiers came¡± Louise told Gus for him to know why they are with them ¡°I see, thank you for taking care of Louise!¡± Gus said as he scratched his head, his rude expression suddenly disappeared and a gentler expression replaced it Louise let out a smile as she looked at Gus¡¯s transformation as she knows that this is the real Gus. He¡¯s rude yet kind, strong yet gentle, a little underhanded but honest in his heart. They all rested; the next day they started practicing. Given that they only have 5 days to prepare for the Alctuz Battle Rei and Glace practiced together with Gus and gauge his skills. *Morning* Glace sparred with Gus while Rei practiced his Mana Materialization. Glace was far from Gus when it came to melee combat, Gus was very agile and unpredictable; his being barefooted was a part of his fighting style. Rowdy and chaotic is how one would describe Gus¡¯s style; it can also be called wild and aggressive as he stays close to his opponent. Gus¡¯s stamina was amazing, although it wasn¡¯t surprising for Glace as he sparred with him he keeps on jumping around on mana platforms and does some flips and kicks everywhere. Even with that much movement Gus didn¡¯t show any sign of gasping for air. After a while as they spar, Gus won against Glace in their melee battle. Gus wasn¡¯t even exhausted; his stamina is even more formidable than that of Rei that is what¡¯s inside Glace¡¯s mind. Meanwhile Rei walked towards the back of the barn, he saw a number of soldiers keeping tabs on him. He shrugged of the feeling of being intruded and proceeded to create a mana sword that is of less quality than of the swords he used to make. The sword he made was similar to what Feld creates; it in itself is already considered a genuine mana sword. Rei practiced throwing the swords at a huge rock he placed in the middle of a plain field at the back of the barn. His aim wasn¡¯t bad but it wasn¡¯t something to be proud of either. After a few hours of practicing he went inside the house for lunch and as they were cleaning up after finish lunch a knock on the door was heard. It was the battalion commander! The commander¡¯s name was Lion of the Flame; the name was bestowed upon him by the Lord himself. The Lord has a relatively large military force for a governor of a province that specializes in producing crop. The Lord has 3 generals or battalion commanders, they are named: Lion of the Flame or Flame Lion, Sword of the Water or Blade Serpent, and Genoah¡¯s Mountain; each of these generals are given personal armies that numbers in thousands. Genoah¡¯s Mountain has the largest among the three for he has 5800 soldiers, second is Flame Lion with his roughly 3000 soldiers, last was Blade Serpent¡¯s army that is about 1000 in number but has very skilled men. Flame Lion is the Lord¡¯s right hand man while Blade¡¯s army was his special corps; the Mountain is tasked with Genoah¡¯s security. ¡°I¡¯ve come to take custody of Louise¡± Lion said with joy with his eyes but looked sharp and firm Louise readily went with Lion; no other words were said as the two of them walked away. Gus stared at her back as she walked away, he made a fist with his hands as if showing his determination to save his beloved. Rei looked at Gus¡¯s pained face and proceeded to tell him ¡°I¡¯m sorry I¡¯m a little unreliable, but I assure you I¡¯ll do my best to help you win¡± Rei said it in a straight face without any signs of dishonesty or pity ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m counting on you.¡± Gus replied as he throws his rudeness out the window to focus on getting Louise back. Glace watched the scene as she smiled, her stomach still hurt a little but she never showed a sign of it even when sparring with Gus; Gus didn¡¯t even know that Glace was previously hurt Glace decided to participate in the battle even though she¡¯s hurt because in Alctuz as long as your body could channel mana you may use skills in Alctuz as if you¡¯re in top shape and since Alctuz is in virtual reality her physical wound would not be a problem. The pod where an Alctuz player resides in sucks his/her mana as the player uses skills. Mana continuously fills the body because mana itself as an object is everywhere and the soul sucks and contains the mana. As the players lie in the pods their mana that is sucked by the pods is slowly being restored by the player¡¯s soul sucking the mana in the surroundings. The pods cannot suck mana from the environment, the body serves as a machine that converts natural mana into energy similar to electricity but possess magical capabilities. The players are conscious while in Alctuz they are just induced to paralysis so they don¡¯t do what the brain is doing inside Alctuz; which is why the players can sense their mana capacity in game. The 5 days given to them passed by like a blink of an eye, the time for the battle has come.