《The Undying Berserker》


 Chapter 01 - A Silent Boy

    When he got up from his bed, the night sky gave room to the blue of a new day. He stared at nothing for a couple of seconds and then felt his back getting itchy. While scratching it, he turned around and saw some insects moving on the straw-covered bed. He stepped on them silently while grunting in annoyance.


    He crossed the large room that he was in silently. The place was filled with straw beds, and a lot of people like him were still there sleeping. They were so exhausted that they weren¡¯t moving a single inch.


    After opening the door of the building, the cold wind made some of the people inside tremble, so he quickly left and closed the door. He began to tremble a bit outside, but soon, he warmed up his hands and his body by moving a bit. Then he checked his hands.


    ¡°I am ready for another day.¡±


    He was around five inches tall or 155 centimeters tall. He had the face of a ten-year-old kid, even though his hands were rough and filled with callouses. Unlike most of the kids in the building, he was decently built since he had the chance to find some extra food while he was working. As such, he had grown well and healthy in the last ten years.


    After walking for fifty meters, he reached a well and then moved a bucket to grab some of the cold water at the bottom of it. He drank a bit and also washed his face, revealing his short brown hair and green eyes with greater clarity. His features were fine, unlike his origin¡­


    His name was Zelos, and he was a slave boy and a war orphan. Although he had never met his parents, he never missed them that much. The reason for that was a bit confusing; he had this idea that something was wrong with his head¡­ whenever he slept, he would have dreams of another person¡¯s life in another place very different from his current one. Unfortunately, everything was blurry in those dreams, but at least they made him be more aware of himself and what he had to do. Thanks to that, for many years, he had been working hard to reach the day he would be able to buy his freedom in one way or the other.


    After following his morning routine, Zelos took the road on his left side and followed the path that led to the closest hill, five hundred meters away. There, he found a large warehouse guarded by some tall men armed with sharp and glowing spears. They looked at him for a moment while he didn¡¯t avoid their gaze.


    ¡°The ax?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡±


    ¡°Take it.¡±


    The guard opened the entrance of the place, and soon Zelos entered it and soon left while carrying an ax that was half of his size and pretty heavy as well. The guards couldn¡¯t help but stare at him in silence while he disappeared into the distance. Zelos was the only one on that farm who woke up every day by himself and followed his duties without delay. He was also the healthiest one, despite the fact that he had to do one of the hardest jobs¡­ chopping trees and moving them out of the forest.


    Over the years, they made fun of him, but soon, Zelos gained their respect despite being a slave, thanks to his work ethic and nonchalant attitude. Nothing bothered him. He was as cold as steel in the winter.


    While carrying the ax on his right shoulder, Zelos walked south of the area, following another path that led him to some cultivation fields and a forest a few kilometers away. Some guards were patrolling the fields to make sure that no beast or thief would damage them. They complained about the cold of winter that was becoming stronger, but soon they shut up when Zelos passed by them. Unlike them, who were covered in thick and warm clothes from head to bottom and even had gloves and boots, Zelos only had a single old robe that was so tattered that it barely reached his knees.


    ¡°... That is the kid, right? The one with a single trait.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, he gives me the creeps. There must be something wrong with his head. A lot of people messed with him because of his single trait. Still, they then eventually decided to leave him alone since he didn¡¯t react to anything.¡±


    ¡°What kind of curse should have happened to make a kid be born with a single trait? And such a weak one at that.¡±


    ¡°Who knows? Better not to learn about it either.¡±


    They didn¡¯t try to hide their conversation from Zelos, but he didn¡¯t react to it either. From the very beginning, he knew that there was something odd about him and about the world he lived in. While he had his awareness since the time of his birth, Zelos took a whole year to learn the language of the world¡­ Eventually, he confirmed everything that he felt.


    First of all, people in that world had something called genetic inheritance. Everyone received those at birth from their parents. They were traits that their parents had and passed on to their children, at least their strongest traits. There were other methods to gain those, but that was a matter of another time. Regardless, since it was necessary for two people to create life, all kids were born with two traits. That wasn¡¯t the case for Zeros¡­ and no one knew why.


    Health: 450/450


    Magic: 200/200


    Stamina: 350/350


    Strength: 25


    Vigor: 20


    Precision: 15


    Wisdom: 10


    Willpower: 10


    Traits:


    Regeneration Lv 35


    Regeneration: increases your regeneration by one point per hour.


    That was the other thing that Zelos learned about that world. There was this thing that people called status magic that everyone could access to confirm their progress. Since traits could be improved over time with use and other methods, it was a good idea to check it periodically and confirm what the training methods were efficient.


    Eventually, Zelos reached the forest while thinking about some other things that he had heard recently¡­ While he counted the spots where he chopped down the trees and pulled out the stumps of the very same, he tried to connect that with his conception. Thanks to those things that were common sense in that world, everyone tried to make kids with the best combinations of traits. Things like arranged marriage were pretty common there among those who were free. For people like Zelos and other slaves, their offspring only had two purposes: to become cannon fodder in wars or a workforce in farms like this one.


    ¡°1099¡­ three years since I started working clearing this forest,¡± Zelos thought while looking around and searching for the next three that he should chop down. ¡°I am not sure this much progress is fine, but progress is progress.¡±


    Usually, that kind of job wouldn¡¯t be done by a single child. Still, since Zelos showed a lot of vitality and willpower from an early age, the owner of the farm decided to make him do that kind of job. Everything else he did was done pretty quickly, after all. To the point that the other children found themselves without anything to do¡­ that didn¡¯t sit well with the owner of the farm, who decided to punish Zelos for his vitality¡­ It only helped him because all that hard work made him stronger.


    After selecting the right three, Zelos began to chop them down, and after ten minutes, they fell in the direction that he had planned. The other kids were arriving to cultivate the fields and get rid of anything that could pose a problem to them as well. At that time, Zelos began to remove the branches from the tree. While the other kids were massaging their stomachs, thanks to their hunger, Zelos also felt that it was time to eat something.


    Zelos looked for some rocks that he had left hidden in some spots and then looked around while carrying them. Before long, Zelos found a couple of birds in a tree and then threw the stones at them. The first hit the head of the first bird and snapped it instantly. They tried to fly away, but it was hit by the rock, too¡­ They were fist-sized rocks, so they didn¡¯t endure the damage.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    After pulling out their feathers, Zelos began to eat them while grunting and with his eyebrows down¡­ eating them raw wasn¡¯t tasty, and eating them while showing that kind of expression made him feel really troubled. Killing and disrespecting animals like that didn¡¯t sit well with him¡­ but he didn¡¯t have any other choice to survive.


    Zelos tried to cook them before, but when he did that, the guards punished him at the command of the owner of the farm. They kept the slaves always hungry to avoid the risk of them running away. They couldn¡¯t go far¡­ that was the cost of Zelos¡¯s trait. He needed a lot of food to make it work¡­ that was why the other slaves had a lot of scars, but he didn¡¯t have any. At the same time, his trait made him stronger the more he pushed his limits, thanks to the process of damaging his muscles through exercises and repairing them with rest.


    After his early breakfast, Zelos cleaned the tree and checked the fields where the other kids were working under the watchful gaze of a pair of guards who were lying down, enjoying the morning breeze on a hill. That was the usual, so Zelos also decided to go with his usual.


    Zelos moved further into the forest and then found a large river that crossed the place. The area was quite dense since he hadn¡¯t cut anything on that part, since it would be a pain to control where the trees would fall. At the same time, it was a pretty rocky shore for a river. A single mistake and the logs would keep moving until the river took it downstream.


    After checking his surroundings once more, he moved some stones to the shore, and then a large wooden club was revealed. It was bigger than him and obviously heavier than the ax, but Zelos grabbed it with a single hand just fine. Without wasting time, he began to swing it down, upward, and to the sides, using only his right arm.


    It didn¡¯t take long for Zelos¡¯s stamina to begin to decline; the club was at least ten kilograms heavy, after all. When he had used half of his stamina, he changed to his left arm and repeated the same moves. From what he had heard, people in that world get stronger with training and with age. He had no idea why that was the case, but their parameters were the same as their age without proper training or with the help of the traits.


    In the beginning, Zelos trained with the axe, and slowly, he began to build up his strength, vigor, and even his precision. Still, the beginning took some time since he could train so much. However, as he got stronger, his work became easier, and he had more time¡­ he got stronger, but he had to eat more, too, and that is why he learned to hunt in a very unusual way, throwing rocks at birds and other things that he could in the forest.


    The taste wasn¡¯t that good, but that didn¡¯t stop him from eating insects either, and even some reptiles. They filled his stomach so he couldn¡¯t complain. At the same time, he noticed that his parameters were increasing once a month since he was able to train harder with that large club¡­ perhaps he should make a heavier one to improve that.


    When all of his stamina was gone, and Zelos felt his arms heavy and stiff as a board, he changed the club to his right arm again¡­ now it was the time when training started for real. Zelos felt his bones and muscles screaming with effort as he kept pushing¡­ Before long, his hands began to bleed and sting , and his health also began to drop with each swing, but he endured it until he completed the set with both hands.


    ¡°This isn¡¯t getting any easier, but I suppose this is a good thing¡­¡±


    The next training was waiting for him, he sat down on the ground and began to meditate and clear his mind as he felt the energy inside him. He focused as much as he could to control the energy inside him and soon he began to feel his wounds not hurting anymore and his body becoming full of energy. Still, after three minutes, the magic ended since he consumed all of it.


    ¡°I need to learn more about this¡­ I am sure that this technique has more applications, but the knowledge isn¡¯t coming to me. I guess I just have to keep training and then try new things, that should stimulate the memories from my previous life.¡±


    After checking his bloodstained hands, Zelos cleaned the blood from the club and his hands on the river before hiding it. After ten minutes, his hand stopped bleeding, but the wounds were still there. They won¡¯t be there any more at noon, though.


    ¡°They said that my trait is worthless, so I am guessing that their traits should be something else. I want to hear more about them, but the guards don¡¯t speak about the wars when I am around. This is the downside of making them ignore me over the years.¡±


    It was hard to obtain information as a slave¡­ keeping people from learning anything was truly the way to go to control them. Regardless, around eight in the morning, some kids came from the farm¡¯s main buildings, bringing breakfast to everyone. Zelos saw them from a distance arguing amongst themselves about who would get his food¡­ he wasn¡¯t popular among the kids since some of them saw him eating all kinds of weird things in the forest. Snakes, fish, insects, birds¡­ all of them raw.


    As such, Zelos had to wait for ten minutes until one of the new slaves, a seven-year-old boy, came to him and gave him a bottle with a small amount of milk and half of a piece of bread that had been bitten recently¡­ probably along the way.


    Zelos looked at the boy, and he trembled from head to bottom. Since he wasn¡¯t talkative for his age and he was very fit, Zelos scared a lot of the other kids. It wasn¡¯t uncommon to see people fighting over food, after all. Still, Zelos didn¡¯t do anything. That probably wasn¡¯t a good idea, since it would make the same thing happen again. However, the food that he found in the forest was much more filling than the almost-gone-bad milk and bread made several days.


    ¡°Since we are at war, most of the things we produce here are sent to the front lines¡­ or so the story goes. The same thing has been happening for over five years, so a bunch of people should have died, but there is no sign of an ending.¡±


    Thinking about it wouldn¡¯t change a thing, so Zelos decided to return to work after eating his breakfast. Until noon, He worked on splitting the massive tree into parts that could be transported. He only had to do that once per day, but he couldn¡¯t hurry up since lunch was going to be delivered again, so he had another training session before lunch.


    After the third training session, Zelos decided to stop since the sun was setting on the horizon. Unlike the other meals, they had to have their dinner at their quarters, too, so it was time to move on. He also saw some guards approaching with a wagon ready to take the blocks of wood that he had chopped.


    ¡°My arms hurt like hell, but it looks like I got a bit stronger once again. Even my willpower and magic increased.¡±


    Health: 250/470


    Magic: 200/210


    Stamina: 20/360


    Strength: 26


    Vigor: 21


    Precision: 15


    Wisdom: 10


    Willpower: 11


    Traits: Regeneration Lv 36


    Zelos¡¯s strength and vigor increased by one point, which made his health increase by twenty since both of them increased his health by ten points each. Virgor also increase his stamina by ten points alongside precision. Regeneration also leveled up once, so he considered making a heavier club the next day. He won¡¯t be able to train while he works on it, but it will be more efficient in the long run.


    ¡°Load the wagon with the wood.¡±


    Zelos began to work while the other kids were returning to their quarters. He had some extra energy thanks to some extra birds he ate in the afternoon. Still, he couldn¡¯t help but wonder how strong those guards were, since they barely had the disposition to do that kind of simple work.


    ¡°Maybe it is about time to test my three years of training.¡±


    Although he had gotten stronger, Zelos knew that he was no master at using the club. He had no combat experience, either. He only trained to become strong enough one day not to need flashy moves to defeat his opponents. Overpowering them was much better.


    When Zelos returned to the slave quarters, everyone there was already lying down with their bodies screaming in pain; they completely ignored the insects on the straw beds, too. They had to wait two hours until dinner, and that was one of the worst times of their day since they were exhausted, but they couldn¡¯t go to sleep while hungry. They also only had the chance to clean themselves after dinner, which was another thing they couldn¡¯t skip if they wanted to remain healthy.


    ¡°I am trying my best, but I am running out of patience for this place¡­ maybe it is time to plan my escape, but for the last ten years, the only land that I have known of is the confines of this farm. If I fail, I will probably be killed since I can¡¯t escape without killing some people first.¡±


    Zelos never saw the guards training, so he was starting to think that they should only be slightly stronger than him. People only get naturally stronger until they become twenty-five, and he has just become stronger than that. Maybe if he waits for six months, he will be able to win against them in a one-on-one fight. It¡¯s not like he had to, but that would be a good starting point.


    ¡°All right, six months¡­ I will work harder during those six months to make sure that they will be the last in this shit hole.¡±


    While he thought that, Zelos heard some coughs coming from the other slaves, which made him squint his eyes.


    After dinner, when the group had time to clean themselves in the well, the candles in the quarters were extinguished, and the guards told them to go to sleep. All of them had to wake up in less than seven hours, so they were eager to sleep as much as possible.


    Zelos was also planning to do that, but before long, he heard some unusual sounds of horses crossing the farm. It seemed that they were going further north, where the owner of the farm lived and managed things.


    ¡®They seemed to be in a hurry¡­ it is already midnight, so something must have happened.¡¯


    Zelos heard the sounds of several horses, so it wasn¡¯t a messenger. From what he had heard, the owner of the farm had already sent a bunch of warriors and adult slaves to help in the war, and he didn¡¯t have many of them left. Still, if someone came to talk to him about it, it was fair to assume that the war was taking place pretty close by.


    Still, there wasn¡¯t much sense in thinking about that. When morning comes, Zelos will learn of the truth, so it is best to rest, recover, and wait for it.


    When morning came, Zelos got up and prepared to follow his daily routine. In the warehouse, he found only a single guard, who held his spear tightly and went on his way.


    ¡°Return to your quarters and tell the other slaves to do the same. You will receive your orders soon.¡±

 Chapter 02 - Call for Battle

    That was certainly unexpected. Still, Zelos decided to follow those orders¡­ not training a day just when he made that decision of increasing the difficulty of it was a bit annoying, but it couldn¡¯t be helped.


    After returning to his quarters, Zelos had to wait for a while until the kids began to wake up. As expected, they frowned when they saw him still there and couldn¡¯t help but flinch when they heard that they had to wait instead of start working already. For slaves, food was already pretty scarce. Without work, food would be even more scarce.


    Everyone had to wait for one hour until some guards finally approached the quarters. They were all armed and wearing armor. They looked ready for war, so it was no surprise that the kids couldn¡¯t help but shake and sweat when the guards opened the door¡­


    ¡°What a sorry bunch¡­¡±


    ¡°None of them have any decent traits, so there is no reason to treat them any better than this.¡±


    ¡°At least they will be of some use¡­ today is your lucky day, slaves. You will have the chance to work on the front lines. Survive and work hard enough and you might become a servant of someone who will treat you better. Don¡¯t follow your orders and try to run away and you will regret that for the rest of your short lives. Leave this place and follow our orders immediately.¡±


    Although they were scared to death, the kids followed their orders and left the quarters in a line. They knew that causing trouble would be only worse for them, after all.


    There were fifty kids there and five guards who were about to escort them¡­ it seemed weird that they would call kids from ages to eight to ten, but it seemed that they needed any help necessary to give them some advantage.


    In the end, Zelos and the others followed the path back to the villa where the owner of the farm lived. Along the way, they passed a bunch of houses where some people that worked for the owner lived. Unlike the kids, they weren¡¯t slaves and received payment for their work.


    ¡®I heard that when some families produce good warriors with decent traits, even families made of slaves can become free like them. Usually, the slavers would just force them to create the best soldiers possible, but I guess it is because of that¡­¡¯


    Aside from genetic inheritance, people could inherit traits from those who had their blood when they were about to die. Forcing people to do what was necessary for the sake of their families was a lot easier if they knew that things would improve after that, so slavers normally wouldn¡¯t try to go back on their word. That was also a quick way to lose the faith of their soldiers as well and ignite a rebellion.


    In any case, the group soon found two wagons waiting for them in front of the entrance of the farm, and they were ordered to enter.


    ¡°... I will have the chance to get a real weapon at some point, so I don¡¯t need my club. However, am I ready to fight for my life by killing others?¡±


    That was a tough call, but Zelos had to use his mind and think of tricks that could help him¡­ while he was doing that, he couldn¡¯t help but think about something that he tried to forget for a while¡­ that he should take lives if he wanted to become free, at least the lives who wanted to keep him in chains.


    There was barely enough room for all the kids in the wagons, so they were all cramped¡­ the kids had a hard time trying to hide their sniffs and signs of their absolute fear. They also knew that showing any troublesome emotions now would be an invitation for the guards to punish them, so they had to endure as much as possible.


    In any case, some horses began to pull the wagons and soon they all realized that their lives would change forever¡­ perhaps not for long, since it was hard to tell for how long they would live.


    Much to Zelos¡¯s surprise, the trip didn¡¯t last even a full day¡­ when the sky was turning orange, the wagons stopped and then the guards told them to leave the wagons.


    ¡®... The front lines are close to the farm? That would explain why we were called¡­ we would die soon if our side keeps losing territory, after all.¡¯


    When all the kids left the wagons, they soon found themselves in a war camp¡­ there was a sea of tents around with countless people working. Zelos could see some soldiers¡¯ training, some of them repairing their gear and a bunch of them groaning in pain while their wounds were being treated by some healers.


    Zelos couldn¡¯t help but open his eyes wide when he saw a healer healing someone without touching their wounds¡­ his fingers were close to the wound that seemed like a large sword cut and then some droplets of blood were leaving it in the air.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    ¡®Is that a trait? Isn¡¯t it more like magic?¡¯


    It seemed that the amount of traits and what they could do was a lot more diversified than Zelos had predicted¡­ Some healers were doing the same thing as that guy, but others were just cleaning the wounds with water and some cloth.


    ¡°Split in groups according to the work you did before¡­ explain to me what you did on the farm.¡±


    All of them only did farm work and things similar to it, but they were still split into groups according to their experience. The first group would work on cooking, the second group would work on helping the healers, the third group would work as servants and the fourth group would as squires for the commanders. The last five kids had no particular talent or skills that could name them useful anywhere else, and Zelos was among them¡­ on the most dangerous job of them all.


    The guards began to move the kids to their designated spots, and soon enough, they began to work as night fell. At least they were served enough food for them one hour later¡­


    As for Zelos and the other unfortunate kids, they were told to wait behind a certain large tent while the commanders were having a meeting. Since they were being treated like kids and there was no point in trying to hide anything from them, Zelos was finally able to hear some interesting things¡­


    ¡°The next few days will be crucial for us¡­ the enemies will go all out and try to take us down in one sweep in order to take over that farm. It is the best place for us in this area to get food from, after all.¡±


    ¡°Recovering it will take a lot of time and effort if we lose and the enemy will be able to calmly fight after this victory. We can¡¯t afford to let that happen. I suggest that we use their eagerness in our favor and launch a pincer attack to crush their forces once and for all.¡±


    ¡°That tactic is way too obvious¡­ they won¡¯t fall for something of that caliber. Their current commander is well versatile when it comes to strategic thinking and they have enough soldiers with diverse enough skills to pull many kinds of tactics.¡±


    Little by little, Zelos was able to picture a scene of the war¡­ while he was on his own side, it seemed that the people of the territory he was in were losing. If that were good or bad, he would assume it was bad, since taking slaves that were slaves of someone else could be a risk. As such, the other side might find it better to dispose of him and the other kids¡­ moreover, nothing says that the enemies would treat them better. The inverse was actually very likely¡­


    After a couple of minutes, the meeting ended, and then the commanders left the tent to see their newly appointed squires. The word squire was just a better word for meat shields in case something bad happened to the commanders, and they had to buy a few seconds to escape.


    Regardless, they were a bit different from what Zelos had envisioned¡­ three of them were wearing chain armor that looked pretty similar, but they had different colors and some extra details in some parts of their armor. One armor was blue and had something like claws on its right shoulder pad¡­ another was orange, and the wearer had a helmet in the shape of a dragon with an open mouth.


    The other two were wearing something that looked like tribal clothes. They passed the image that they were supposed to be more wild and ruthless; one of them was a woman who had two crossbows at her waist as well, and her eyes made Zelos feel shivers. Not everything was what it looked like¡­


    ¡°How are any of these kids able to carry anything on the battlefield? This has to be a joke.¡±


    Although the woman looked like she wanted to start another argument, the others looked too fed up with that and just moved. Neither of those kids looked like they would be of any use, so they chose whatever to be their servants until the next day, when, most likely, they all would die. In the end, Zelos was chosen by the guy in the orange armor and dragon helmet. He was already starting to miss his other job¡­ he at least knew what he had to do to survive and what he had to do to actually thrive. Things were different now.


    When he arrived at his tent, the man pointed to Zelos to move to the corner while he studied some weapons in some boxes. Before long, he couldn¡¯t help but sigh¡­ he wanted to carry them all for different situations, but he couldn¡¯t without getting slower, and while Zelos looked a bit strong for a slave of his age, he wouldn¡¯t be able to help with that. Letting him fall behind when the battle starts would be even worse.


    ¡°Get me some water.¡±


    The man said that, and Zelos went to follow his orders while he took out his helmet. The man was already sitting on a chair when Zelos served a wooden cup of water on the table. He had some scars on his face, and one of his eyes was closed, thanks to a scar as well. He also had some grey hair, so his peak had passed probably ten years ago. He wasn¡¯t in the best place to be, even if he had one or two decent traits.


    ¡°... Did you hit your head at some point, kid? Unlike the others, you aren¡¯t shaking like a leaf. You don¡¯t understand that you will probably die tomorrow? At least now you know it, while the others will be fooled with sweet words.¡±


    ¡°No, and no.¡±


    ¡°You probably were born with a screw loose then, kid. Chances are, you will die tomorrow, a very painful death. It must be quite something to be able to die without having the chance to drink alcohol or wear clothes that smell worse than my horse did. I at least was paid beforehand, so I can die knowing that my family will be well-off for a while. Can¡¯t say the same about you.¡±


    Even though that guy wasn¡¯t drinking alcohol, he sure was being talkative with a ten-year-old boy. It only made sense in a scenario where he couldn¡¯t see his way out of that mess. Zelos kept ignoring that and maintained his straight face. While he didn¡¯t have any experience when it came to fighting, he knew for a fact that he wouldn¡¯t allow himself to die like that. His basic skills were in their early stages, but he could make them more useful by using his head.

 Chapter 03 - Battlefield

    ¡°There are some rations on the box at your right side. Go warm them at a bonfire and bring them here. Don¡¯t try to eat them before me. You will regret it.¡±


    Zelos found some pieces of jerk on the box on some sticks and then went to warm them outside. He was starving for the first time in a while, but he was able to endure the hunger since he didn¡¯t make much effort that day. Thanks to that, the man gave him two of the sticks with the jerk. It was probably the first time that he ate meat that hadn¡¯t gone bad, was cooked, and wasn¡¯t something he found in the forest¡­


    ¡°You should last until noon with this much. Can¡¯t let you die before that with my weapons in your hands.¡±


    The man looked at the boxes once more and then considered what he should do¡­ the idea of joining the enemy¡¯s side was appealing for survival. He just had to claim the heads of two or three of the other commanders. That would make him return to his family and enjoy life for a while longer, but the other side would never trust him fully¡­ no one sane ever would trust traitors. He also didn¡¯t want to destroy the history of his family¡­ it was better to die like a man than to live like a coward.


    In the end, Zelos was told to sleep in the corner of the tent while the man slept in his chair. Both of them slept in a bad position, but at least they were able to wake up as soon as the movements in the camp began to get more intense one hour before sunrise.


    ¡°Ugh¡­ no time for breakfast. Try to keep up with at least these two.¡±


    The man passed Zelos a sheathed long sword and a lance while he was carrying a glaive. Considering what he said, his horse was dead, and glaives were better used while mounted, but they should have some other use. Before he could leave, Zelos approached the boxes and was able to grab and carry a Warhammer and a longbow with several quivers, which made the man furrowed his eyebrows.


    ¡°No one said that the kids would have useful traits. It seems today I will have better odds of surviving.¡±


    The man equipped his helmet while grinning. He could tell that Zelos wasn¡¯t just trying to work hard beyond his limits in order to increase his survivability. It was hard to imagine that Zelos would be able to use any of them since he was still short despite his strength, so the man didn¡¯t feel worried at all. Besides, if he were to do something, he would be skewered to death by his underlings, and then he would have his limbs chopped off while he was alive¡­ there would be other ways for him to die as well. In times of war, people grow quite creative when it comes to thinking of torture.


    A group of soldiers was already waiting for the commander outside the tent, so he silently nodded at them before moving forward. Zelos followed the man from behind while the surrounding soldiers ignored him¡­ thanks to the darkness of the night, Zelos was able to see some lights in the distance going upward and then falling¡­ It looked like the battle had already started.


    ¡°Another weird trait¡­ I will have to keep my eyes open against attacks from above, too?¡±


    That would be difficult, but considering their falling speed, Zelos assumed that they wouldn¡¯t be heavy. Since that was the case, he would be able to do something about them. When the group began to climb a certain hill, they eventually came to a stop as they watched two other groups approach from the sides. They should represent two other commanders, so it seemed the other two were already ahead. With that in mind, they couldn¡¯t waste any more time.


    ¡°Follow the plan¡­ attack the enemies from the sides before dawn comes while we keep them busy.¡±


    ¡°All right, we will try not to take too long.¡±


    The commander wearing the dragon helmet grunted in annoyance at the response of that woman from the previous night. It was the worst time for their allies to joke about that when their lives were on the line¡­ in any case, the man soon raised his spear and then lowered down.


    ¡°Let¡¯s kill these dirty bastards.¡±


    All five hundred men in that battalion roared and then began to run while following their commander. They were only jogging while making a lot of noise to scare the enemies, so Zelos was able to follow them.


    ¡°This doesn¡¯t feel like the best time to attack enemies. We are at high risk of being ambushed.¡±


    Zelos kept following the commander while thinking that he wasn¡¯t that nervous. Come to think of it, the idea of dying didn¡¯t seem that scary. Was it because he wasn¡¯t afraid of dying, or was it because he had a lot of confidence? He couldn¡¯t tell¡­


    After running for ten minutes, the sounds of screams and shouts of enemies and allies became more vivid, alongside the sickening smell of blood and flesh being burned. The sound of steel colliding was almost deafening. Zelos looked to the sides and soon found some corpses on the ground¡­ Some wounded warriors were being pulled by their allies as well. The healers weren¡¯t there since they had no combat abilities and could become easy targets. A group like that could throw the battlefield into chaos.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    ¡°Give me the lance.¡±


    Zelos quickly tossed the spear to the commander, who turned around and readily grabbed it while also tossing his sword into Zelos¡¯ arms. The group slowed down, and then Zelos decided to keep at a certain distance from them¡­ all of a sudden, in the middle of the darkness, arrows were fired toward them at supersonic speeds¡­ the command swung his lance from one side to the other and repelled two projectiles. The impact was sharp as the commander clenched his teeth.


    Zelos looked in the distance and saw the silhouettes of the enemies a hundred meters away¡­ they were forming a line ahead, and it looked like they were about to launch another volley of arrows¡­ for their attacks to cross that distance that fast and keeping its power¡­ they should have been a specialized unity. Zelos looked to the sides and saw some bodies with arrows¡­ only on their heads.


    ¡°Focus on defense until you reach them! Don¡¯t stray away from each other!¡±


    Everyone raised their weapons and then proceeded to advance. They blocked the arrows, but not perfectly. Thanks to the darkness of the night, they still got hit on their arms and legs. Zelos looked around in search of the other battalions, but they looked like they had been decimated or had been spread around due to the relentless attacks of the enemies.


    When they covered half of the distance, the arrows stopped, and the silhouette of the archers began to retreat¡­ and soon gave room for a larger and firmer silhouette of enemies¡­ they were equipped with shields and spears, and they were marching in absolute unison.


    ¡°Hammer!¡±


    The commander dropped his lance and then grabbed the hammer that Zelos tossed at him¡­ with his blood boiling already, he couldn¡¯t care less about the fact that he was making Zelos work harder. Without having to worry about the arrows, the group was able to reach the enemy¡¯s lines faster, and soon, the commander stepped in with all his might. A single swing broke the head of the spears and the next swing broke the shields ahead and then the enemies groaned in pain until the commander kicked the heads of two of them with all his might and then smashed the chest of the third¡­


    ¡®... He is pretty brutal.¡¯


    Describing what happened to the body of the guy that was hit on his chest by the hammer probably wasn¡¯t a good idea, but the commander still grinned from ear to ear after he saw the result of the smashed torso.


    Since the shield formation was destroyed in no time, the ground was able to pierce the line of shields soon enough, and then they began to spread the destruction to the sides since there was no other line of them. That made Zelos raise his eyebrows, but the commander was happy just killing the enemies that he could see.


    ¡°Hey, the archers are nowhere to be seen.¡±


    Calling that man commander didn¡¯t feel right about Zelos, so he just said those words. Still, it seemed that he hadn¡¯t heard of it¡­ he was laughing while swinging his hammer.


    Zelos envisioned a fighting style simple but brutal for himself, one that would be as efficient as possible. Still, despite the similarities of what he wanted and the fighting style of that guy, Zelos didn¡¯t want to look like a brain dead warrior¡­ in the end, he hit the back of the helmet of the commander with the butt of his spear and he turned around in search of an enemy, but he only found Zelos and raised his eyebrows.


    ¡°You actually hit me¡­¡±


    ¡°The archers will probably wipe us out when you are done with the line of shields.¡±


    The commander blinked several times¡­ that made a lot of sense. They couldn¡¯t attack them now, but once their allies were done, and they had exhausted their enemies as much as possible, the archers would be two times more effective than before.


    ¡°Shields! Grab the shields!¡±


    The commander had destroyed a bunch of them, but he still felt on the right to grab one of the tower shields that were intact to protect himself. In the middle of the chaotic and screams filled battlefield, everyone still heard the sound of arrows being fired at supersonic speeds.


    Everyone raised their shields, but they still groaned in pain as the damaged shields broke. Some pieces of the commander¡¯s shield broke as well, even though he grabbed one that was mainly intact¡­ such was the power of the arrows, or the enemies had imagined that something like that would happen.


    ¡°Use the bodies of the enemies as shields and charge toward them!¡±


    Everyone quickly tossed away the shields and grabbed the bodies of the enemies as they moved toward them¡­ the dark night sky was slowly turning blue, but they didn¡¯t have time to wait for that. The arrows kept coming and coming, and it was only a matter of time before their numbers began to decrease once again. Fortunately and all of a sudden, the sound of arrows stopped, and soon they heard the screams ahead.


    ¡°The others have arrived! Advance and kill them all!¡±


    ¡°WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!¡±


    The soldiers didn¡¯t need to hear it again¡­ they charged toward the enemy¡¯s lines with all their might and soon found the enemy camp ahead, being attacked by the sides by the other two battalions¡­ they took their time, but they finally arrived.


    ¡°Sword!¡±


    Zelos tossed the sword to the commander, wondering why the scream¡­ he wasn¡¯t deaf like his underlings, but it felt that he would if he kept hearing those insanely loud shouts. Once the group reached the enemy camp, there was no such thing as formation or tactics. They only attacked the closest enemy and kept advancing.


    Zelos remained focused in order not to lose the commander, but he couldn¡¯t help but frown when he began to feel the smell of piss and shit alongside the smell of blood and death. It seemed that people in times of war couldn¡¯t help it in their last few moments¡­ Zelos suddenly recalled the words¡­ there is no honor in death, and he wondered if the person who thought that thought after seeing the aftermath of a battle like that.


    The sun began to rise on the horizon, and then the sea of blood and corpses was revealed¡­ The soldiers around were fighting the remains of the enemies or finishing them off while breathing roughly. At the same time, things began to calm down a bit, and that made Zelos realize that he smelled like blood as well¡­ his cheap boots stepped on several puddles of blood, and the weapons that he touched made the blood flow to his hands while he wasn¡¯t aware of it.

 Chapter 04 - Bloody Battle

    ¡°The life force of all beings¡­ to think that we are this frail¡­ I am even frailer than most of the soldiers here¡­¡±


    ¡°We showed them, boys! These pieces of shit won¡¯t see the sun setting tonight, but we will! We will drink until we fall, too!¡±


    ¡°WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!¡±


    It felt like the ground was shaking in response to their excitement¡­ There were supposed to be 2500 soldiers on that battlefield, and Zelos could only count a few hundred. Despite that, they felt that they deserved to celebrate their victory¡­ Zelos assumed that despite their losses, they truly needed to celebrate being alive. However, when they calmed down, they still felt the ground shaking.


    It didn¡¯t take long for them to realize that, and when they looked at the horizon where the sun was rising, they saw a massive cavalry regiment moving toward them.


    Everyone looked in silence as they saw the cavalry approaching¡­ the ranks on the camp were completely scattered. Since they also thought that the enemies around were the only ones, they showed their best and exhausted themselves¡­ it seemed that the enemies were a lot more cunning, while people on Zelos¡¯ side needed some work.


    ¡°What is wrong?¡±


    The commander looked at Zelos with a blank expression. The kid still had the same expression on his face, and that only strengthened his hypothesis that there was something wrong with his head. On the first battle of the commander, he actually pissed himself a bit. After all, he was only thirteen at the time¡­ he was lucky that it rained during the battle.


    ¡°It is over. Pray that you have a bit of better luck in the next life, kid. Perhaps you would want to die quick and painless instead of taking your chances against those guys. I can help you with that.¡±


    ¡°The glaive seems like the best option against mounted enemies. Are you going to use it?¡±


    ¡°... I almost feel pity for you.¡±


    The soldiers looked at the commander in hopes that he would lead them out of that mess, but he truly believed that he would die and they all would fall as well. but in the end, he took a deep breath and then pierced the ground with his sword and then grabbed the glaive from Zelos¡¯s hands.


    ¡°It is time to show what you are made out of, boys! Show them the true hell! Make them pave our path in the afterlife! Unless you kill three riders and their horses each, I will behead you all myself!¡±


    ¡°WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!¡±


    That was an unusual way to raise his troops¡¯ morale, but at least the commander looked serious. He was going to die, but he wouldn¡¯t feel satisfied until he took at least three riders with him¡­ The soldiers began to cluster together to fight the enemies while grinning from ear to ear¡­ at least until they began to hear some unusual sounds coming from behind¡­


    ¡°Reinforcements! Reinforcements are coming! It is a regiment of cavalry as well!¡±


    That seemed too good to be true¡­ but it didn¡¯t matter in the end. The soldiers had already made their peace and soon charged to face the enemies. It didn¡¯t look like their targets had realized that a group of reinforcements had arrived, so things would get bloody once more.


    Zelos dropped the weapons and put the sword on his back by using the line of scabbard. Soon enough, he grabbed some stones that he found on the ground and followed the commander. Once again, the commander began to lead the charge, and soon, he reached the enemies. When the first rider was about to swing his glaive, Zelos threw one of his stones, and the projectile hit the forehead of the enemy, making his head move backward¡­ thanks to that, the commander had the chance to swing his glaive and behead the horse and the rider in a single strike.


    A rain of blood gushed from both of them, but soon the commander ignored that and looked for his next target¡­ Two riders approached him from the sides and tried to stab him with long lances, but both of them were hit on their arms by stones¡­ the weapons missed the commander and he had the chance to swing his glaive once more and claimed their heads.


    The commander didn¡¯t miss any of those attacks and he could tell that somehow Zelos was helping him, but he didn¡¯t have time to confirm that¡­ several other stones flew and hit the enemies and the commander had the chance to kill them without suffering a single scratch, until he saw the enemy cavalry suddenly turning around and then running away. The reinforcements had arrived.


    The commander turned around and then saw Zelos with the same blank expression on his face, as if nothing had happened. When he looked around, he saw a lot of his allies fallen on the ground and soon went to move to help the injured while the reinforcements passed by them to chase the enemies.Stolen story; please report.


    ¡°Help me here. Let¡¯s move the wounded to a cleaner place.¡±


    Zelos nodded and soon began to transport a man who had his right arm chopped off and his stomach pierced by the tip of a glaive¡­ he was bleeding a lot, but it looked like he could take that kind of pain with ease¡­ he didn¡¯t grunt a single time during the moving process.


    The healers arrived and soon they began to look after the wounded, but Zelos and the commander kept working on helping the wounded.


    ¡°It looks like we arrived just in time to save your ass, Hei.¡±


    ¡°... You are late. We lost over seventy percent of our troops, Rux.¡±


    A man riding a horse and wearing a golden cloak arrived while smiling¡­ he had long black hair tied up in a ponytail and he looked pretty relaxed, given the circumstances. Zelos didn¡¯t care much about their names, but it was better than thinking of tiles for them.


    ¡°I can understand why you would be angry, but you look completely fine despite the battle here¡­ maybe your squire did your job for you, Hahaha.¡±


    Hei grunted in annoyance. He couldn¡¯t confirm that out of sheer embarrassment, nor he could deny it since he didn¡¯t know the truth and he didn¡¯t like lies.


    ¡°Wait, seriously? This kid seems odd, but¡­ I guess he has a weird presence. Anyway, it seems that there are still some issues to solve here¡­¡±


    Rux looked to the side and then Hei and Zelos did the same. They saw a large group surrounding something ahead and soon decided to check it. Zelos thought that he should leave that kind of thing alone, but he felt eager to confirm what it was about¡­ soon he found another slave kid, one of those who had been chosen as squire, being whipped by that tribal looking woman. She has some cut marks that were bleeding in her arms, and it was probably better for her to treat those wounds.


    ¡°Not again¡­¡±


    Rux jumped from his horse and then sighed¡­ it seemed that such a thing was a common occurrence, so Zelos wondered if he survived just to be whipped to death, apparently.


    While seeing that, Zelos wondered what he should do¡­ he didn¡¯t have any reason to be involved in that. All the other kids always ignored him, after all. Still, he felt like that wasn¡¯t enough reason to see a kid die like that.


    A few moments later, a mud ball flew in an arc on the back of the group of people and then splashed on the face of that woman. She immediately stopped whipping the kid and then stared blankly into the air before looking around for the culprit. Everyone looked around in confusion, but Hei looked at Zelos and saw his hands dirty with mud¡­ once again, the kid looked at him without showing any emotion on his face.


    ¡°Who did that? WHO DID THAT?¡±


    The woman moved toward the large group of people out of anger, but soon moved away from them after flinching. Zelos immediately realized that she had some issues, and that was probably why she was whipping the boy.


    ¡°It is enough now, isn¡¯t Lua? Don¡¯t let the blood rush to your head all the time thanks to you hatred. What did he do to deserve this after serving you, anyway?¡±


    ¡°Shut up, he was too slow, and I ended up hurt. I could have died, and he will pay for it once I find the one who attacked me.¡±


    ¡°Enough, Lua. I know that you have your own issues thanks to your past, but this won¡¯t solve anything. The battle is over, and we can¡¯t afford to lose any more people. Look around and see the numerous comrades we lost. Enough blood has been spilled already.¡±


    ¡°Who the hell are you to think that you can give me orders? Fuck off.¡±


    ¡°I am not giving you an order. In your current state, you will only worsen your wounds and you won¡¯t find anyone. If you didn¡¯t realize it, you didn¡¯t feel the attack until it hit your face. Whoever attacked you could have killed you, but avoided doing so. Besides, the kid already served you more than any of your underlings did. Look for a healer and cool down your head. The boy is free now.¡±


    Lua clenched her teeth and grunted in annoyance for a few seconds but soon realized that Hei had a point¡­ she left, and the large group began to disperse as well, so he sighed and relaxed a bit.


    ¡°Well, that was surprising¡­ Why help that kid? Is it really worth getting on the bad side of that woman?¡±


    ¡°... Look for the kids who were brought here last night. At least those who survived until now¡­ we can say to the people of the farm that they died and take them for us.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t need kids nor servants¡­ in any case, it seems that you have your reasons for this¡­ I just hope it isn¡¯t because you barely escaped certain death. That doesn¡¯t suit you.¡±


    Hux soon climbed his horse and then left the area. At the same time, Zelos wondered what Hei was up to¡­


    ¡°Usually, you would lose your hands for attacking people like me and Lua, no matter the reason, but you helped me more than a few times today, so I am willing to forget all that. Moreover, I hate owing favors to others, so that I will be taking the kids and offering them a bit of a better life. You care about them, don¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°I just acted on the spur of the moment.¡±


    ¡°What are you going to do? It seems that despite being a slave, you have been preparing to defend yourself or fight in wars should the need arise for you. There are some mercenary groups and clans that can welcome even kids like you.¡±


    ¡°Like yours, I assume.¡±


    ¡°There are others around. In fact, if you don¡¯t join us, then I won¡¯t feel the need to repay the favor of your help.¡±


    Zelos couldn¡¯t help but stay silent for a bit¡­ that was convenient, too convenient, in fact. While that could be the best outcome for the kids, it could also be a trap to lure him to join Hei¡¯s group in order to learn more about him. Not like a ten-year-old kid could be that insanely impressive, but he could have an unknown trait that had been overlooked and that could power up even some old families or mercenary groups.


    ¡°You should think about that for as long as you want. For now, focus on the last part of your job.¡±

 Chapter 05 - Invitation

    The aftermath of a battle was still part of the battle¡­ that was why no one said anything about Hei helping the kid who was being whipped. except a few short breaks to have a nice meal, Zelos worked until night,


    During the day, he considered the merits and demerits of joining a group¡­ First of all, he would have the chance to train as much as he wanted and also obtain some fighting experience by training with others. There was a limit to how much he could learn by being self-taught and swinging a club at nothing.


    The demerits were that he would have to follow the group for a while and follow orders, and the idea of things going exactly the way he wanted in a mercenary group seemed laughable. Since he was a kid, he would have to prove himself for quite a while as well. Some people would also know his current level of strength, and who could tell if everyone in the group would be a true ally?


    ¡°I would rather work in the wild and keep everything secret, but¡­ is that the best option? The most efficient and quickest method to become strong enough to do what I want?¡±


    Zelos couldn¡¯t tell¡­ without experiencing both sides of the coin and without anyone to give him some insights, he could only trust on his guts. Still, he decided to take his chances because the time to take risks was when he was young. The latter a person makes mistakes, the more they would affect the said person¡­


    After at night the bodies of the allies had been cremated and the wounds had been mostly looked after, the soldiers returned to their own camps to celebrate their victories. The camp now had around two hundred people. Somehow, half of them were still fine and the other camps looked much worse.


    As Zelos approached the tent of the commander Hei, he found some smaller ones that were being used by the former slaves. They were eating while looking around waiting for all that to end and the true colors of the people around being shown¡­ such was the level of their suspicions and trauma.


    Hei was drinking in his tent and by the smell of it, it was alcohol. He still looked fine since he wasn¡¯t drinking his bottle like it was water. At times like that, the commander should be celebrating with his underlings, but it seemed that he had a lot of thinking to do.


    ¡°You have come. I take it that you decided to accept my offer since you want to make sure that the kids will be looked after well. You can rest easy since we lost a lot of manpower and we need to at least find more manpower for non fighting activities. They will be paid accordingly and they will be treated well.¡±


    ¡°I actually came to accept your offer and work for your group for a while.¡±


    ¡°... I expected that you would. I shared what happened with my friend that you saw earlier. He realized that there was something a bit different with you and also offered you to join them. His group does a lot less fighting and tasks related to that. They serve as bodyguards and even temporary defense forces for those who can pay for their services.¡±


    ¡°What about your group?¡±


    ¡°We do a little of everything. We have a territory of our own where we use the downtime between battles to build our strength, prepare our resources, and rest as well. It is like a proper territory with a large farm and everything.¡±


    ¡°What am I going to do there?¡±


    ¡°You can do as you see fit as long as you don¡¯t cause trouble and answer the call when the time comes for the next battle. Still, money comes easier to the tasks that need priority. Farm work, guard duty, occasional jobs outside are things that you should be expecting.¡±


    ¡°That looks like it will be better for me.¡±


    Another thing that made Zelos decide on that path was the fact that he will have the chance to learn more about the world at his own pace. Getting involved in fights all the time before building his strength properly might not be the best idea¡­ the second option seemed more efficient for what he had in mind as well.


    ¡°All right then, welcome aboard. We usually don¡¯t recruit anyone below fifteen, but you might fool people with your calm demeanor. We will depart tomorrow morning, rest properly. There are plenty of free tents outside, choose any of them you want.¡±


    Zelos nodded and then left the commander¡¯s tent, as he did that, he saw the other kids paying attention to him. It was hard to say what had happened to the others, but he couldn¡¯t count more than forty of them.


    ¡°... They will have to look out for themselves now¡­ we all will have to since things are supposed to be improving from now on. Regardless¡­ tomorrow things will start earlier once again, so I should get as much rest as possible.¡±If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    As he looked for a tent, Zelos confirmed the obvious¡­ the kids were all shaking and having a hard time falling asleep. They saw a bunch of corpses, after all. While they were all orphans, they hadn¡¯t seen the results of war so close to them.


    Zelos was the same, but while he saw war closer than them, he still didn¡¯t feel that much bothered¡­ there was something fundamentally different with him, perhaps wrong was a best option instead of different. Either way, his behavior certainly was abnormal¡­


    In any case, Zelos decided to take the first free tent that he found and he also found some rations on it, so for the first time in his life, he went to bed feeling like his belly was about to burst. He had no idea when he would have the chance to eat freely like that, so he decided to stack up the calories for the sake of the future.


    When morning came, Zelos realized that while he couldn¡¯t train until he reaches their next destination, he still could make good use of his trait and make it level up along the way. He never thought that he would have the chance to do that effectively since he always would have to work, or so he assumed before¡­ regardless, he could hurt himself and then recover during the day.


    ¡°The previous owner of the tent left some clothes and knives here¡­ they will be useful with that in mind.¡±


    Zelos didn¡¯t hesitate in cutting his right hand with one of the knives¡­ a lot of blood began to fall from it, but soon the wound closed. Thanks to that, he lost around ten percent of his health. He covered the wound with a piece of clean cloth and then prepared to dismount the tent.


    ¡°Showing this to others will make them think that there is something wrong with me, but keeping my fist clenched should keep the wound from hurting and preventing it from healing completely. This definitely will make people avoid interacting with me¡­ I really should be cautious about this.¡±


    When morning came, the entire camp had been raised, but the other camps of the other groups were still there and would remain for a while longer.


    The stuff of the camp like the tents, some weapons, tools and rations were being transported on several wagons, but Zelos decided to keep some of the stuff to add to his weight in order to do some exercise.


    The wounded were also being transported in some wagons, but their numbers had halved overnight thanks to the work of the healers. Zelos was starting to think that his trait was pretty good since he could recover from any kind of wound in half a day, as long as he had enough nutrients in his body.


    Regardless, considering their movement speed, it didn¡¯t look like their destination was that far away¡­ perhaps three to five days away from the front lines. Zelos never had the chance to travel, so he got curious about what he was going to see¡­ he found nothing aside from hills, grass and the occasional tree.


    ¡°I wonder what I was expecting¡­ anyway, I have a lot of time to think without having to worry about anything, so I guess I should make the most out of this while planning for the future.¡±


    Zelos had no idea for how long he will work for Hei and his mercenary group, but he probably will be fine if he plans with the short future in mind like a period of six months. Depending on the result of his training and life from now on, he might make some big adjustments, so it is better to focus on the simple things.


    ¡°I guess this will do¡­ and this will do it as well. After that, I just need to chop a tree and make another wooden club.¡±


    Zelos found some nice rocks along the way. They were pretty round and heavy, so they would help him with this strength and precision training. For now, he decided to store them in his backpack, and wait until night to use them properly. Still, even when night came, they kept marching.


    It seemed that they were pretty close¡­ After walking for two hours after sunset, they began to see some lights in the horizon and they also began to pass through some fields¡­ the other farm probably wasn¡¯t that big since they reached the next one while heading north east for a little more than half a day.


    The pace of the whole group increased a bit and after one hour, they soon reached the closest village of the area and they took a break there. A lot of people welcomed the group with large smiles in their faces, but soon many of them broke into tears after learning that the people that they were waiting for died. Still, they soon recovered from the bad news and welcomed the ones who survived.


    ¡°We will camp here tonight, rest properly.¡±


    The first village should be part of his territory¡­ which would mean that his group was pretty influential. Still, they lost three hundred members, so things might become harder for them in the future.


    While Zelos was looking for the right place to do some throwing training with the large stones, he decided to stop when he saw Hei leading some of the kids to a group of people in the village. He wanted to know what was going to happen, so he decided to approach sneakily to hear about it.


    ¡°They are kids who belonged to the farm in the south, but they gained their freedom in the previous battle. If you guys need some extra manpower, they can do farm work. You just have to give them food and rooms for them, I will handle their payment.¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t really need extra manpower. Even with the losses, we should be able to maintain the fields. Expanding them shouldn¡¯t be necessary either since we won¡¯t have enough guards to guard them at night.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that, and I will begin recruiting soon. We also should have some time before the next large conflict since the enemies suffered some heavy losses in this battle. We will have at least six months of peace.¡±


    The villagers nodded, and they looked nice enough since they were relatively elderly and had that aura of grandpas and grandmas who tend to spoil their grandchildren¡­ Thanks to that, one-third of the kids were left there.

 Chapter 06 - The First Step

    Zelos considered what he had heard and just decided to do some weight-lifting in his tent¡­ he thought that such a mercenary group would be pretty homogenous, but now that he thought about it, after some tough battles, it would be hard to recover their numbers without opening their doors to outsiders. That could cause some problems¡­ but it was better than fighting with a numerical disadvantage.


    ¡°He should know that and he should have the experience to deal with the possible problems that can come¡­ I guess I will just have to wait and see.¡±


    Since he had some extra energy, Zelos was able to train until midnight¡­ his arms were barely moving when he was done, but at least the exhaustion made him rest deeply. Training with this inner energy around other people was a bit too risky, so he decided to hold on it for now. When morning came, Zelos began to move with the ones that didn¡¯t stay behind, and soon they had the chance to see some endless golden fields of grains in all directions¡­ that was a good land for farming¡­ maybe that was why the enemies were waging war against them. Maybe that was also the reason why newcomers were loyal to that mercenary group¡­ food was pretty important to keep morale, after all.


    During the day, they stopped at two other villages where soldiers and kids were left to live their new lives or recover from the battle. In the end, only fifty people were left to reach to the core of that massive farm¡­ Hei probably had achieved a lot in his early years to deserve all that much.


    ¡°The captain is calling for you.¡±


    While Zelos was deep in thought as he watched the golden fields, a random soldier approached and then passed the message. Zelos nodded and then increased his pace to reach the front of the group. At the same time, a small town appeared in the distance.


    ¡°That is our headquarters, the town of the Hei clan.¡±


    ¡°Hei Clan?¡±


    ¡°Although it is rare, some mercenary groups last for long enough, and eventually, they become clans. Clans are communities that share a common ancestry, heritage, culture, and set of traditions. We have some familial ties and are organized around a specific lineage and family name. In this case, the Hei clan. We welcome anyone that would want to follow our ideals and goals.¡±


    Zelos wanted to ask what those were, but he will learn about them in due time. In any case, since things worked like that, it was safe to assume that the Hei clan was a pretty stable one since its commander lived to become forty or fifty years old. Hei¡¯s father probably lived for a while before he passed his position to him, alongside the treasure of his lineage. Which Zelos still couldn¡¯t tell what it was¡­ maybe it was to have some crazy luck.


    ¡°The people here have their own homes that they will return to, all of our soldiers who had fallen had families left so that you won¡¯t find an empty house for yourself, but you can live with some families for a while, or you can live in an inn or camp that is up to you. For one week, we won¡¯t do anything, but then we will reorganize ourselves and prepare for the future. Use that time to get used to life here.¡±


    ¡°I will camp close to the town.¡±


    ¡°What kind of work do you want to do? We all work hard here to keep things going, so we can¡¯t give free food since that would be the same as laughing at the work that someone else put on the fields.¡±


    ¡°Something that can be done in the morning. Something that requires a lot of strength.¡±


    ¡°There is plenty of work that can be done in the morning. That seems a bit rough for a kid of your age, but since you want that, then you can fetch water for the animals and transport grains between the villages. We lost a lot of horses in the war, so it will take a while to buy new ones. We will celebrate again today, but tomorrow you can present yourself to the farm south of the town. The person there will be waiting for you.¡±


    ¡°I am grateful.¡±


    They reached the town, and many people welcomed the group while cheering for them. At the same time, Hei saw Zelos moving to the side of the road toward a tree on a hill. It was a place where some kids tended to play. Regardless, that kid was really different. It made Hei think of some veteran mercenaries that he would find traveling now and then¡­ and it also made him recall an old friend.


    It didn¡¯t take long for the sun to set, so things kept going for a while in the town. While there was free food there, Zelos decided to stay in the tent he mounted and wait until the next day. It was his policy to keep his distance in order to avoid complications and maintain his daily routine unaltered.


    ¡°I will need to devise some better training sessions since I won¡¯t have to worry about food as much¡­ I am not sure I have any need for now to increase Wisdom and Willpower, nor I can increase them with physical training, and that is something I should focus only on.¡±Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    Zelos stopped doing the weight lifting with his arms only and then turned upside down while holding the stones with his feet. He was training his strength, vigor and precision with that, so it was the best exercise he came up with.


    Once he got used to the stance, Zelos began to do the handstands¡­ he messed up a few times and almost got his head hit by the five kilograms of weight stones¡­ which was quite dangerous. In any case, he soon stopped since he had to get up earlier the next morning.


    Even before the sky turned blue, Zelos left his tent and then went to look for the farm on the side of the town. The place was hard to miss since it was massive. The cattle shed was hundreds of meters long, so it should house countless cows. When Zelos approached it, he found a bit of a chubby man wearing farming clothes yawning as he approached the entrance of the cattle shed.


    ¡°I am Zelos. Hei told me to come here today.¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­ he told me that a kid would come to help me and that you can do any demanding task that I can give you in the morning. I hope that you mean it. There is a river north of here where you can get the water for the cattle that will be your first task. The buckets and the staff are there.¡±


    Zelos nodded and then grabbed the staff and the buckets. They were heavy, so he could support the staff on his back and shoulders and carry them all at once. Even adults have a hard time doing that kind of job without the right trait, and those who had it preferred to fight instead of doing that kind of work, so the chubby man wondered how long Zelos would last.


    The river was five hundred meters south of the farm, so it was impossible to miss it. Zelos filled the buckets and then put them on the staff as he checked the weight. It should be around fifty kilograms, but it felt just right, thanks to the balance. He thought of adding some extra weights, but he decided to wait and see for how long he could do that with his stamina alone.


    Inside the shed, the cows were waking up and then looking for the water in the large bowl connected to all the parts of the shed. Zelos poured the water into it, but only eight buckets instantly vanished as the water flowed further. Still, he just went to grab some more.


    With his current pace and stamina regeneration, Zelos could do the trip in five minutes with no problem, but that wouldn¡¯t be a real challenge, so he decided to hurry up. Before long, his back began to burn a bit, and his feet began to sting¡­ his boots were pretty worn out, after all.


    ¡°I will do better barefoot¡­¡±


    Zelos threw away the boots and soon began to feel the rough terrain under his feet. Still, that was easy to endure, so he just kept going. After the tenth trip, his feet were stinging a lot, and he could feel the skin peeling, so he smiled in satisfaction. That was exactly what he wanted¡­ one hour and a half later, he finished the task and lost around half of his health. That is without considering the health that he had recovered.


    ¡°Not bad, not bad at all. You have spirit, boy. I was expecting that you would only finish this at noon, but¡­ I need some hay. You can find it in a warehouse on the other side of the town. You can use that cart over there to transport it.¡±


    Zelos nodded and then put away the buckets and grabbed the cart. Considering its size, it would only carry around ten stacks of hay, so he would have to make several trips to feed all the cattle that day. That was exactly the kind of work that would benefit Zelos the most. Without hesitation, he left while jogging and pulling the cart¡­ ten minutes later, he was back, and the farmer realized that he was barefoot and his heels were bleeding.


    ¡°Wait, wait! Take these boots¡­ no, wait. You probably need to cover the wounds and wear some new boots. Mine are kind of sweaty, so they might make things worse.¡±


    ¡°No need.¡±


    The farmer sighed¡­ Now people will think that he is making the new kid work in extremely harsh conditions. While the kid looked fine, rumors were bound to spread, and then he would get a very nasty type of fame.


    Before the farmer could finish spreading the hay, Zelos was back, and soon he left, ignoring the state of his feet¡­ he had heard that Hei had brought some former slaves with him, but he didn¡¯t imagine that all of them were used to working like that.


    Zelos finished his second task mid-morning, and soon, the farmer asked him to spread the hay among the cattle. While there were some fences around and pasture for them, apparently, it hadn¡¯t grown enough to let them move around.


    ¡°This will be enough for today. Tomorrow, I will have more work ready for you, boy. Since you saved me some time, here is some extra for you. I would advise you to use the extra to treat your wounds.¡±


    Zelos received fifteen green coins that appeared as if they had been made of some sort of crystal¡­ in any case, he had no idea how much those were actually worth and that was another thing that he had to learn.


    ¡°I will return tomorrow at the same time.¡±


    ¡°All right, I will be waiting with more work.¡±


    As long as he received it, Zelos wouldn¡¯t mind if he worked like a horse. Since he had some time and he was hungry as well, Zelos decided to head to the town after he washed his feet¡­ he probably should buy some new clothes and boots as well, but they probably would get worn out too soon.


    ¡°I also need a weapon for training¡­ one that is heavy enough,¡± Zelos thought as he entered the town.


    Although he crossed the place several times already, Zelos only paid attention to it now¡­ the place was around two kilometers long and wide and it was made of well-lined wooden houses. Some important buildings were made of stone, but they were rare, despite that, finding them had been easy. For starters, Zelos got a set of gray pants and shirt. The owner of the place thought that he wouldn¡¯t have the money to pay for it, but the set was only five green coins.


    ¡°How does this monetary system work?¡±

 Chapter 07 - Training

    ¡°... The green coins are the most common ones, and ten of them are worth one amethyst coin. Ten of those coins are worth one ruby coin. Ten of those coins are worth one sapphire coin, ten of those are worth one moonstone coin. Ten of those are worth one sunstone coin.¡±


    ¡°Thank you for the information.¡±


    Zelos immediately wore his new clothes, but he kept the others in order to use them for work and training. At the same time, he headed to a restaurant to have an early lunch. The full set with rice, beef, and a cup of milk was three green coins¡­ It seemed that the farmer paid him accordingly. In any case, Zelos ate two sets and felt really good¡­ nothing more relaxing than eating a lot of fresh and warm food.


    For the first time in his life, Zelos felt like procrastinating, but soon he forced himself to get up and then went to look for some weapons shops. He probably couldn¡¯t buy anything with four green coins, but he at least would have the idea of how much he would need to save.


    The town actually had several blacksmith shops, each one apparently specialized into a different type of weapon. Hammers, swords, spears, bows and so on¡­ Zelos checked all of them to see some decently heavy weapons, but he didn¡¯t find them. It made sense, speed was king when it came to fighting for one people¡¯s lives.


    ¡°A metal weapon for training will take some time to forge and I will need money as well¡­ I guess I will just buy some planks and put them together and add more weight overtime that should do the trick.¡±


    As it turned out, Zelos didn¡¯t have to spend a single coin on making his next training gear. He had his knives that he found on the tent and he found some planks across the city that had been abandoned. After carving out a bit, he connected the parts with nails that he also found lying around with the stones that he had. When night came, he had a bit heavier club, and he had the chance to swing it around.


    ¡°Perfect¡­ Now I will train to my limits. I want to double the progress speed, so I can¡¯t waste a single moment from now on.¡±


    As usual, Zelos began to swing the club with a single hand and alternated it as well. Three sets had been enough to make his arms hurt like hell and his health dropped to half.


    ¡°A bit more¡­ this much I can heal in four hours, after all.¡±


    Before, he never went beyond that, so Zelos had a hard time doing so¡­ thanks to that, he almost messed up his fingers several times. The blood decreased the firmness of his grip too¡­


    In the end, he stopped with that kind of training and then went to do the handstands. That had been easier, but not less painful. When he used his magic, he was able to make things a lot easier, but soon he decided to stop¡­ until he felt his energy gathering only on his arms.


    ¡®This is different than before¡­ I guess I can control the energy like this. I need to do some more experiments to see if the situation changes the control over the magic.¡¯


    The next day, Zelos worked on the same tasks, but as promised, the chubby farmer also had some extra work for him. He had to transport the milk of the cows to several parts of the city.


    ¡°This is very valuable and our clients like the buckets to be full, don¡¯t waste a single drop of it, if you pull that off, I will pay you some extra money tomorrow after I confirm your success.¡±


    Zelos nodded and then did exactly that¡­ the milk was smelling great, so he wondered if he could buy some as well. Milk should have enough fat and nutrients to push his training routine even further. In any case, on the second day, Zelos gained twenty-five green coins by working until noon, and then he got an extra five the next day when the farmer confirmed that he didn¡¯t mess up on the deliveries.


    ¡°You are slacking off since you are making a kid do your work for you? Don¡¯t you have any shame?¡±


    The farmer¡¯s wife saw Zelos leaving for a delivery while the farmer was relaxing under the shade of his shed. He tried to explain that he was paying him well, but it seemed that the woman didn¡¯t want him stacking up more fat on his waist. Although she had seen him fine after working, she still couldn¡¯t help but think that a kid of his age would eventually collapse if he kept working that much. Still, at the end of that week, Zelos didn¡¯t show any signs of exhaustion. He also achieved his first goal¡­


    Health: 490/490


    Magic: 100/120


    Stamina: 380/380


    Strength:  27


    Vigor: 22


    Precision: 16


    Wisdom:  10You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    Willpower: 12


    Traits:  Regeneration Lv 37


    ¡°It only took one week¡­ I guess the efficiency increased a lot more than I had expected.¡±


    It was all thanks to the work that Zelos had done, which pushed him to the limits in a way that was truly necessary for him. With that in mind, his progress would be even better as he got stronger and could do more. It looked like the changes in his magic training also would grant him some bonuses.


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to come tomorrow¡­ Captain Hei passed the message to you to look for him tomorrow morning.¡±


    ¡°Is it fine? I thought that farm work had no holidays.¡±


    ¡°Your work ethic is commendable, but this is the order of the Captain. If he is calling for you, it should be important. The farm will always be staying here.¡±


    Zelos thought that he would have been fired for working too hard¡­ that would have been an interesting experience. In any case, while he had forgotten about it, he had promised to meet with Hei after one week¡­ truth be told, he didn¡¯t find much reason to do so now that things were going as he had planned, but he had to show some respect to the leader of the place.


    The next morning, after doing some light training, Zelos decided to eat a light meal as well before looking for Hei. After asking just once around, he was told that his office was in the middle of the town, which was his house as well. It wasn¡¯t as flashy as a villa or a castle, but it sure showed his statues since the place was pretty large and had training grounds around as well. The house also had three floors and looked brand new. Fortunately, he found him watching some soldiers sparring, so he wouldn¡¯t have to ask around or enter that house.


    ¡°You have come, I called you to watch us training for a while.¡±


    ¡°And after that?¡±


    ¡°I would ask if you are willing to become part of our force. You are inexperienced and young, but you have some beef on your stature. You also have a strong mind already. As you can see, few people would welcome you with open arms, but I am sure you will convince them that you can become of some use.¡±


    Zelos could see the eyes full of suspicion of the soldiers around. While some of them knew that Zelos worked as a squire for the Captain, they didn¡¯t see him doing anything aside from carrying weapons.


    As a mercenary group, they needed to have a lot of faith in their allies since those who had weak spirits would become a nuisance sooner or later that eventually would endanger their lives. As such, they didn¡¯t want anyone joining them that could become a liability. They needed more allies, but only those who could endure their training could truly be trusted and be considered brother-in-arms.


    ¡°I have work in the mornings, and I assume that is when most of you do your training.¡±


    ¡°That is true¡­ the younger recruits come in the afternoon, though. I imagined that it would be better for you to skip that, but maybe that isn¡¯t the best of options. They need some years of training to become part of the real force, after all.¡±


    ¡°That is fine by me, I don¡¯t have to work in groups in case a large battle approaches.¡±


    Hei nodded. Zelos truly looked like a veteran mercenary who wanted to keep his distance and trust only in himself. That was certainly weird behavior and attitude for a child, but he decided to keep quiet about it.


    ¡°In that case, I might have a better idea of a path for you¡­ it might be very troublesome, though. You might also regret that.¡±


    ¡°If you think that is a good idea, then I will trust your judgment.¡±


    ¡°All right, I will make the preparations. Come back in the afternoon.¡±


    That seemed like a waste of time, but Zelos was fine with that. More time training was always welcome. As for what he told Hei, he wasn¡¯t completely sincere. He only said that to see what would happen. His idea of the best and Hei¡¯s idea could be very different, and that would be a good experience to have as a reference for the future.


    As promised, Zelos returned to the area after lunchtime. He saw a bunch of slightly older kids heading in the same direction. They all looked pretty excited, and he could hear them talking since they weren¡¯t exactly whispering.


    ¡°It is finally our chance. The captain will be recruiting a lot more people in the next few months, and those who live in his territory will have the preference to join.¡±


    ¡°Even if we are accepted, we won¡¯t have much time to gain experience, and we might end up becoming cannon fodder even without his intentions.¡±


    ¡°You might become one. I definitely won¡¯t. My father died in the last battle, and he chose me to inherit the best trait that he developed over forty years and protect our family¡­ I won¡¯t let those dirty dogs get even closer to killing me.¡±


    It was rather surprising that kids could talk like that when they lost their father a week ago¡­ it felt like they were somehow prideful of that¡­ probably because it was a common occurrence in their families to die while protecting their land and people. Apparently, that was the highest level of honor someone could get.


    Zelos looked at them, and he couldn¡¯t see anything different with those kids, so it looked like the traits that they had weren¡¯t that easy to realize¡­ at the same time, it was pretty convenient that they could inherit the traits of their parents when they died and part of their progress as well¡­ it was like skipping some decades of training experience in sharpening their skills¡­ no wonder they felt that confident.


    Some kids were already on the training grounds, and they had assumed resting positions while standing. Zelos was expecting to see someone like Hei in front of them to start whatever was about to happen, but he only saw a girl who seemed to be in her twenties and had a similar expression to him of annoyance and fiery red hair.


    ¡°You are late, worms!¡±


    ¡°What are you waiting for? Scum! Enter the lines already unless you want to take a serious beating right now!¡±


    The kids soon got to the end of one of the lines, and Zelos followed them as quickly as he could, but it looked like he was standing out in a bad way. The girl approached him and glared at him from above since she was half a head taller than him.


    ¡°What do we have here¡­ are you the slave boy that I had heard of? Huh? Why don¡¯t you answer that, slave boy? ¡±


    ¡°My name is not slave boy.¡±


    ¡°Then what is your name, slave boy?¡±


    ¡°I am not a slave anymore.¡±


    ¡°Are you still a boy?¡±


    ¡°Do you want to check it?¡±

 Chapter 08 - It is my Defeat

    The other kids chuckled around for a moment, but soon, they looked away when the redheaded girl glared at them. It probably wasn¡¯t a good idea to get on the wrong side of someone who worked for Hei and had a somewhat position of authority, but Zelos didn¡¯t gain his freedom to be looked back upon like that or accept being called a slave.


    ¡°... What is your name?¡±


    ¡°Zelos.¡±


    ¡°Well, then¡­ Zelos. Your first order is to run around the training grounds until I tell you to stop.¡±


    Zelos wondered if he should tell that he had work tomorrow morning, but he decided to keep quiet for a bit and just follow the orders. He was starting to understand what Hei meant by things that could be more troublesome for him.


    Although it wasn¡¯t efficient and Zelos never tried it that much, he also could run to exhaust his stamina and then force his body to consume his health. Still, he decided to take his time doing that for the sake of analyzing the situation and confirming whether that girl was insane.


    As it turned out, she made him only run the whole afternoon¡­ that was a bit boring, but at least she stopped him when the sun began to set.


    ¡°Unless you are willing to spend the afternoon and the night tomorrow running again, you will learn how to keep your smart mouth shut.¡±


    ¡°That will depend on how you will refer to me. Also, I won¡¯t mind running until morning, but I will have to stop to go to work.¡±


    The girl studied Zelos wondering if he was saying nonsense to mess with her or not. Even when he said those things at noon, his expression didn¡¯t change much, nor did it change now after spending the afternoon running. She had heard from Hei that the body was a weird one, but she didn¡¯t expect that it would be like that, like broken being almost unable to show any kind of emotion.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be late tomorrow. If you do, I won¡¯t tell you what you will have to do, and you will have to run again.¡±


    The girl turned around and Zelos left as well, but soon he turned, and he saw her entering that large building. Aside from the serious expression, she didn¡¯t have many similarities with Hei, but it was safe to assume that they were related.


    ¡°I guess she must be trying to train the new recruits as hard as possible in order to make them useful for Hei. Those who had weak minds and bodies would only become a nuisance to him, after all. Maybe I am thinking too much about this.¡±


    Zelos felt a bit bothered by being called a slave boy, even if it was just for the sake of testing his willpower. It was annoying. If anything, it made him understand that he would do better by focusing on himself alone. Once he became an adult, he could become a sellsword who didn¡¯t have a fixed boss to pay for his services. That could be inconvenient, but at least it would be less troublesome when it came to his freedom and related things.


    There were other options, but all of them were too soon for a ten-year-old kid¡­ it would be better if Zelos stayed patient until whatever happened truly hindered his growth. In any case, after returning to his tent, Zelos resumed his training and then went to bed after cleaning the wounds on his hands and feet. At that point in time, the skin bled a fair bit, but it was also too rough for a wound to become much worse¡­ it was better to be safer than sorry, though.


    After working the next morning as usual, Zelos went to have lunch at the same restaurant he always went to since it was pretty close to the training grounds. He liked their large servings, so he felt like it was worth it to eat there two times in a row and recharge his batteries for the whole day.


    As he had been told, Zelos arrived a bit earlier than before, and the redheaded girl was nowhere to be seen. The other kids were already there, and for the first time, Zelos had the chance to realize that some girls were part of the group too¡­ he didn¡¯t recall seeing women in Hei¡¯s group before, then again, he didn¡¯t check the face and the bodies of everyone around.


    ¡°It seems that no one is late today¡­, and it also seems that no one has given up yet. Well, today is a good day as any for that to happen. Your task today is to do handstands. You don¡¯t have to spend the whole afternoon upside down, but you can¡¯t take more than ten seconds of rest between each session. If you fail, you are welcome not to come here anymore.¡±This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    That seemed like fun for Zelos. He had never tried his limits like that without weights, but it should have been interesting. Without hesitation, all the kids followed the orders and soon started the handstand session. Everyone there had good balance and decent strength, so staying like that for a while had been easier. Things started to get complicated after half an hour.


    When Zelos felt his arms getting a bit heavier, he decided to take a short break and then move his arms around to make the blood flow better, and then he assumed his stance. He felt a lot better, and the other kids began to feel like copying him a bit.


    ¡°Are you getting tired, slave boy?¡±


    ¡°Are we still on that page?¡±


    ¡°Yes, we are. Does being called slave boy bother you?¡±


    ¡°Maybe, since you haven¡¯t confirmed yet if I am a boy or not. Do you want to confirm now? I am upside down, so this might be funny.¡±


    ¡°It seems that you want to run around the training camps again, this time until morning.¡±


    ¡°Only if you don¡¯t feel like confirming if I am a boy or not.¡±


    ¡°You can run around the training camps while doing the handstands.¡±


    ¡°I expected that you wouldn¡¯t.¡±


    A vein began to throb on the girl¡¯s face as Zelos began to move around the training grounds. She couldn¡¯t let her anger become that obvious, and she couldn¡¯t give up on testing the spirits of everyone there¡­ it was easier to test that when all the kids were of the same age, but when one was younger than them was enduring much, it made the others feel eager to push their limits out of pride. That could be helpful, but it also could be something very stupid to do on the battlefield¡­ since it could cause their deaths. Instead of relying on their pride, they had to rely on their wits to survive.


    In any case, much to the girl¡¯s annoyance, Zelos motivated the other kids to try harder once again. He took some breaks during the afternoon, but none of them took more than ten seconds. He had the guts that she wanted for the recruits to have already, but his attitude was still the problem¡­ She also knew that she was also at fault.


    ¡°... It is over for today. Don¡¯t be late tomorrow.¡±


    The girl watched Zelos disappear in the distance with his hands red with blood. She couldn¡¯t help but frown since he didn¡¯t show any signs of discomfort, but that still should be pretty painful for a kid of his age.


    When she returned home, she found Hei waiting for her in front of the door with his arms crossed. It looked like he had many things to say, but he didn¡¯t say anything.


    ¡°Don¡¯t even start, Dad.¡±


    ¡°You are going too far, Heirina¡±


    ¡°I have to. Didn¡¯t you say that you almost accepted death during the last battle?¡±


    ¡°I should have never said that¡­¡±


    ¡°You need people you can rely on, people with guts. You lost a lot of them in that battle, and since you aren¡¯t planning to retire anytime soon, I have to do something about it.¡±


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t appear to me that they need your help to show that. So, try not to make other kids even more fearful than you. It is quite embarrassing that a kid of your age doesn¡¯t have any friends.¡±


    Heirina had a hard time keeping her expression calm, but the red on her face betrayed her. Hei couldn¡¯t help but let out a sigh¡­ being the leader of such a territory had its share of merits and demerits. One of the most troublesome demerits was the fact that his only daughter would take his role once he died. That was too much for someone of her age¡­ even though he had come with terms of that in the previous battle.


    ¡°Just don¡¯t do anything too harsh anymore. Those kids can be your closest allies one day and they won¡¯t be of any use if they hate your guts.¡±


    ¡°All right¡­ by the way, did you know that kid was called Zelos?¡±


    ¡°No¡­ it is an unusual name. He is pretty suspicious of me, so I had decided to treat him like everyone else, so I even forgot to ask that. What else did you learn?¡±


    ¡°That he is always barefoot and that his hands and feet are always bleeding when the training ends, but the next day they are mainly back to normal.¡±


    ¡°He might have a talent for healing¡­ it is hard to say. Considering how he helped me in the battle, I assumed that he had some archery traits¡­ anyway, just keep your distance and don¡¯t do anything harsh.¡±


    Heirina didn¡¯t say anything, but she started to think about what she should do next¡­ she was pretty much a member of the mercenary group and soon she was going to join her father in the battles. As such, she received the job of training the recruits of the town when they reached the right age. She has been doing that for two years already and while some people succeeded in joining the group, those end up resenting her.


    ¡°... I suppose I need to become dependable in another way.¡±


    When the next day arrived, Heirina still had no idea what she should do. She knew that she had to improve her attitude a bit, but suddenly doing a 180 seemed unnatural. When she arrived on the training grounds, she found everyone silently waiting for hell once again.


    ¡°... Today we will practice hand to hand combat. While we never should lose our weapons, we need to be ready for that if something happens. Split into pairs and come forward to face each other. The loser will have to do a handstand for ten minutes.¡±


    Everyone looked at each other confused, but soon they followed the instructions. Still, Heirina didn¡¯t realize that the number of recruits wasn¡¯t even, so Zelos ended up alone.


    ¡°You can spar with me, I will go easy on you.¡±


    ¡°It is fine, I assume my defeat.¡±

 Chapter 09 - Lightning Speed

    Without wasting time, Zelos began to do the handstands, and he even began to walk around the training grounds while doing that. Heirina felt her head aching¡­ she tried to be a bit nicer, and that was the result of it. Still, she decided to take a deep breath to calm down, since he had the right to be a bit pissed.


    Since the recruits were serious about joining the group, they fought hard against each other and some good punches and kicks were landed. At the same time, they endured those for quite a while¡­ as such, only a single round happened there. Everyone had the chance to fight at least once.


    ¡°Tomorrow we will test your skills with the spear and the sword, bring wooden swords and spears to be used against each other tomorrow. That is all.¡±


    When Zelos heard that, he couldn¡¯t help but raise his eyebrows¡­ getting fighting experience by sparring with those kids wouldn¡¯t do him any good¡­ he would rather train his body hard, but perhaps that was a good chance¡­


    ¡°Using simple tactics and heavy enough attacks to overpower my opponents is my goal, but I guess this is a good chance to develop my fighting style.¡±


    Zelos had some coins saved up. It was better to spend on something already, otherwise, he will end up spending on food. Lately, two lunch sets weren¡¯t filling him as much as before¡­ It looked like his trait made his body a lot more intense when it came to consuming calories.


    In any case, Zelos easily found some wooden weapons, but they didn¡¯t feel right in his hands¡­ They were too light. He could probably make them heavier by using stones or even pieces of wood, but he also had to get used to them with their normal weight.


    When he got back to his tent, Zelos checked the wooden sword with a few swings and soon nodded to himself in satisfaction¡­ Despite the difference in weight, his swings were pretty sharp as long as he stuck to the basic, single horizontal and vertical attacks. The wooden sword cut the air while making a powerful whoosh sound that was quite satisfying.


    ¡°How about some trusts¡­ or should I just try that with spears?¡±


    Zelos tried that, but he soon confirmed that it was pretty hard. He wasn¡¯t used to that, so his muscles didn¡¯t obey him as they usually would¡­ he had to train them. While he could use them now and then, Zelos decided to focus on a single multipurpose weapon that would fit most of his purposes and be easier to master. The answer was obvious, but he wasn¡¯t sure now if he should follow the path of the sword.


    People should feel used to handling enemies with swords¡­ Still, considering that he wanted to improve his strength, vigor , and precision parameters, it seemed the best option for him. After thinking for a while, he decided to gain some experience and then make up his mind soon enough. That was the best option for him for now.


    The next day, Zelos went to the training grounds while carrying the wooden sword and spear. For the first time since the training sessions started, everyone looked eager since they wanted to show their skills and there was no better place for them to show how worthy they were in joining the clan. When Heirina arrived, she studied everyone for a moment before speaking her mind.


    ¡°As I said yesterday, we will spar with weapons today, but the rules are a bit different. This might take a while, but it doesn¡¯t matter. The winner will stay and face the next challenger, and the challenger will choose their weapon. You two can¡¯t use the same weapon. If you get hit once, you lose. That is the rule that will determine the winner. It doesn¡¯t matter where you get hit.¡±


    That seemed interesting enough. Zelos would be able to get a lot of experience. Even if he doesn¡¯t win, the losers would have the chance to see everyone fighting a lot, and that would be a good experience as well.


    ¡°Are you up to join today?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I am.¡±


    ¡°All right¡­ you go first. You go too. Use rock, paper, and scissors to decide who will use which weapon.¡±


    ¡°He is younger, so I am fine with letting him choose.¡±


    That guy was one of the boys Zelos saw talking on the first day he was coming to the training grounds. He was a tall youth with short, spiked black hair. Now that Zelos paid attention to him, he was well-built as well. That would be a good experience, so he accepted and chose the wooden sword.


    Zelos had no idea if the other kid would use his trait against him, but he wasn¡¯t going to wait to find out. Soon, they assumed their positions, and Zelos moved his sword to the side while holding it with a single hand. Everyone couldn¡¯t help but frown since any attack he launched with a single hand could easily be blocked with a wooden spear. The other kid couldn¡¯t help but smile. It looked like Zelos was a bit too cheeky, and not only for the instructor. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    ¡°Start.¡±


    Zelos stepped in first while the other kid moved his spear to the side to block Zelos¡¯s very obvious horizontal attack. Still, he lowered his stance when he saw the speed of the wooden sword and the sound of the wind. The weapons collided and the sound of the impact echoed in the area, followed by a snap.


    The wooden spear broke, but before Zelos could hit the other kid, the older boy actually stepped back in that fraction of a second and then avoided the hit¡­ that kind of reaction speed was abnormal. Moreover, he looked completely unfazed after Zelos cut that air.


    ¡°That was definitely his trait¡­¡±


    A trait that allowed him to read and perhaps dodge attacks like that would certainly be useful for melee fighters. No wonder he looked confident about using a spear instead of a sword¡­ actually, any weapon would do it for him since he could dodge them all and focus on the counterattack.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t hit him. What are you waiting for?¡±


    Zelos stepped in to hit the other kid without hesitation and swung his sword from one side to the other, but the other kid stepped away at the exact time and just enough to avoid the hit¡­ There was no tension in his eyes and body, and he was in total control of himself.


    After cutting the air a few times, Zelos stopped and squinted his eyes while studying the other kid. It looked like he was planning to recover his wooden spear to turn things around, but Zelos didn¡¯t have to wait for it.


    In the next moment, Zelos raised his sword a bit and then prepared to swing it down at the other kid. After he stepped in, his opponent moved away, but then Zelos weakened his grip, and then the wooden sword left his hand, and the tip hit the stomach of the other kid¡­ he didn¡¯t expect that Zelos would let go of his sword.


    ¡°The match is over¡­ still, would you throw your weapon in a battle where you have to deal with other enemies?¡±


    ¡°I would find another way to deal with it.¡±


    ¡°Like how?¡±


    ¡°I probably would kick a weapon on the ground at them.¡±


    Heirina raised her eyebrows, imagining that Zelos was joking or trying to be funny, but there were no signs of that in his expression; he was serious. The other kid left the training ground while massaging his stomach¡­ he felt really bothered about losing like that against someone so much younger, but at least he was smart enough to recognize the good experience and the fact that he underestimated Zelos a fair bit.


    The next kid was a shorter boy than the previous one, and he chose the sword, and then Zelos was forced to take his spear. He practiced a bit with it the previous night, but the weapon truly didn¡¯t feel right¡­ maybe it was a matter of getting used to it, but he somehow doubted that.


    Once again, Zelos grabbed the spear with his single hand and lowered his stance. He almost looked like he was copying the posture of the previous kid, so it was weird that he wasn¡¯t using both hands.


    ¡°Start.¡±


    Both of them stepped in at the same time and then swung their weapons. Zelos used a trust since he had the advantage of range. Thanks to that, the other kid adjusted his aim and then blocked Zelos thrust with the tip of his sword. His stance didn¡¯t break since he was using both weapons, but he was still pushed backward somehow.


    The other kid opened his eyes widely at that, but soon had to recover his focus since Zelos stepped in and then thrusted his spear at the stomach of the other kid. This time, he repelled the attack to the side with his sword and stepped in, only to be welcomed by Zelos, head-butt on his chin. The kid¡¯s eyes turned white, and he fell backward like a puppet that had its strings cut off.


    ¡°I thought that it was obvious, but I guess I need to tell you that you can only use your weapons. Anyway, next.¡±


    Things were getting more interesting than Zelos had expected. One kid had a trait that improved his reaction speed, another had one that increased his precision quite a lot¡­ the varieties were quite something. Still, while they had those traits and they had trained a bit already, they lacked a lot of experience that they could only obtain by sparring with those that weren¡¯t related to them or in real combat.


    As it turned out, Zelos was able to spar with three other kids and then he was hit in the sixth spar. His adversary was a girl that had shoulder-length brown hair and green eyes. She was supposed to look quite cute, but since she glared at him as if she had some sort of grudge against him, she looked like a person who had grown among the beasts of a forest.. That was weird since Zelos couldn¡¯t recall meeting her before¡­ Regardless, when the spar started he was suddenly hit in the stomach and he grunted in pain¡­ the girl suddenly appeared in front of him as well.


    ¡°... The spar is over.¡±


    The girl glared at Zelos for a few seconds, but soon, she turned around and then left. At least his wooden sword didn¡¯t break, so he didn¡¯t have to spend extra money, extra money that he could use to buy food.


    ¡°A trait that makes her pretty fast? That seems to be the case¡­ Anyway, with this kind of trait, her family should have become pretty famous. They must be pretty old allies with Hei¡¯s family¡­ but he didn¡¯t have anyone particularly close to him during that battle. Well, that¡¯s not my problem. If traits like this exist, I need to find a way to counter them.¡±


    Zelos left to watch the next match of the girl, but while she proved herself to be quite fast, she didn¡¯t show anything on the same level as before. Despite that, after five matches, she was completely exhausted and breathing roughly while covered in sweat.

 Chapter 10 - Mission Outside

    ¡°Even if it is a powerful trait, she still should consume a lot of stamina to move that fast¡­ perhaps a few times more than she would do by covering the same distance without using her trait.¡±


    The other kids showed some interesting traits, but nothing like the girl who defeated Zelos. Still, getting used to them would be worth the hassle, for experience¡¯s sake. In the end, Zelos went to his tent, thinking that he had done the right thing by coming to that place¡­ if he could spar with everyone like that, he would be able to gain the experience that he wanted. Unfortunately, the next day, Heirina decided to return to the basic training. Her intentions were obvious¡­ she wanted to let everyone think for a while about how they could improve after watching all that.


    At the end of the week, when Zelos joined the other kids, he received another day off. He couldn¡¯t help but raise his eyebrows since he didn¡¯t have to work or train that day. Just when he felt motivated to do so because on the previous day, he had gotten a bit stronger and on the day before, Regeneration had improved as well.


    Health: 510/510


    Magic: 120/120


    Stamina: 400/400


    Strength: 28


    Vigor: 23


    Precision: 17


    Wisdom: 10


    Willpower: 12


    Traits:


    Regeneration Lv 38


    ¡°I guess I will spend the day training and only a break to eat at noon,¡±


    After making up his mind, Zelos did that¡­ while he wasn¡¯t used to training during the day and in the open, he ignored the stares that he had. He had to stop, though, when some people approached, and then he saw Hei among them.


    ¡°Sorry for bothering you. I imagined that you would take it easy today.¡±


    ¡°There was no need to treat me differently when I accepted your offer. As far as I can tell, there are other people around who deserve more that kind of treatment than me.¡±


    ¡°You think I was doing that? I was just being a bit cautious because of your origin and behavior. It is quite hard to get a good read of your facial expression, after all. I also don¡¯t interact with kids often, aside from Heirina.¡±


    ¡°That must be the name of the short-tempered instructor.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what she said to you, but don¡¯t take it to heart. She has her reasons, even though I told her to ignore them a bunch of times.¡±


    ¡°No worries. Whatever she said was soon forgotten after I gave her my responses.¡±


    He studied Zelos for a while, and then his club was made of several planks. It was a weird training tool. It was too big and heavy for a kid of his size unless he had a trait that increased his strength, but if that were the case, there would be better ways to improve that.


    ¡°All the kids showed promise, and Heirina won¡¯t do anything that will push you guys beyond the necessary, so you don¡¯t have to worry about that. However, I will have to tell you today that soon enough, the training sessions will have to come to an end, at least for a while.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°I am planning to send her to gain some experience doing something else. That job might take a few weeks. However, she doesn¡¯t have to go alone, and she can choose whoever she wants with her.¡±


    ¡°I am not suited for any kind of job now, and I am satisfied with what I am doing right now. The sparring sessions are interesting, though.¡±


    ¡°You can continue with that along the way. It isn¡¯t like you will travel day in and day out.¡±


    ¡°Our personalities aren¡¯t compatible.¡±


    ¡°That I can¡¯t deny. Anyway, you can refuse the offer. This is just my prediction anyway, and it isn¡¯t like it is certain that she will choose you.¡±


    Hei left without even saying what was that about¡­ still, his previous idea of what it could be good for Zelos worked, so perhaps the second one would be the same. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    ¡°Any experience is a good experience¡­ is that how it goes? Where did I hear that again?¡±


    Zelos also felt like improving in silence and focusing on what he could do would be a better option for efficiency¡¯s sake. However, he also couldn¡¯t deny that he could learn more about some abrupt changes. All in all, there was no clear path that he could follow. There is no such a thing as perfection, after all.


    For the next few days, Zelos realized that Heinara was deep in thought, so she apparently already received information about the job that she was going to do. Thanks to that, he had time to think about his surroundings more and realize that he was severely lacking when it comes to information. He needed to learn more about the world¡­ strength would give him the chance to defend himself when his life was being threatened, but knowledge will give him the tools to thrive in other fields and improve himself in other areas as well.


    At the end of that week, Heinara called everyone that had been working under her. That was a first. She rarely said anything after the training sessions, after all.


    ¡°In one month, my father will start the tests for those who can join our clan. You all have priority, but you still need to undertake the test. Still, considering the spirit and the skills you have shown until now, you should be able to join with no problem. Continue training until then and you should have no problem pulling it off. I am going on a mission out of our territory and this will take a few weeks, so you will be on your own until then. That is all.¡±


    Although they kept their distance, the kids around said bye to Heirina and thanked her for a bit before leaving. Zelos couldn¡¯t understand the need for such a drama, even more so when their distance was still the same. Regardless, much to his surprise, she called out for him, the tall guy with good reflexes and the insanely fast girl.


    ¡°Thank you for staying behind. As I said before, I am going on a mission. Someone called for me to do a job outside our territory, but it will be pretty boring and I don¡¯t want to fall behind on my training. While you all are younger than me, I believe that you can be of some help in that regard.¡±


    Zelos raised his eyebrows¡­ that was an unusual way to ask for a favor¡­ or to hire someone for a job. Since there was nothing in for Zelos, he thought that it would be better if he refused the job altogether. Heirina will be the leader of the mission and with that attitude, one could tell how insupportable she would be during the whole thing.


    ¡°I wanted to refuse the job, but that would put the clan in a bad light. It is an escorting job, so you guys will be paid three sapphire coins and you won¡¯t have to worry about food.¡±


    That was the same amount that Zelos could get by working for three months on the farm¡­ and free food! He couldn¡¯t have asked for more. Still, he calmed down, since he couldn¡¯t fall for such easy temptation. Not everything that shines is gold.


    ¡°Who are we supposed to escort?¡±


    ¡°You will learn when we find them.¡±


    The tall guy studied Heirina¡­ he didn¡¯t look bored that his question was answered like that. He could tell that it was someone relatively important, but if that was the case, why would they hire Heirina alone? She might be the next head of the clan, but she was still far too inexperienced, and those who knew her also knew her short temper. If someone called for her, that someone should know her fairly well¡­


    ¡°I am in.¡±


    The quick girl said without hesitation. She seemed to be in a good mood for some reason, to the point that she didn¡¯t even care that much about that mission¡­ Zelos couldn¡¯t help but think that her judgment needed some work.


    ¡°If you are still interested after hearing just this much, then come here tomorrow at sunrise. That is all.¡±


    Heirina left the area and then the other girl left. She looked determined already, but the other two were not so much. Since the quick girl was going as well, Zelos could tell that the mission would be more annoying than actually difficult, but the idea of free food was too appealing to ignore. Unless something really happens, he will be able to train as much as he wanted, eat as much as he wanted and be paid for it¡­


    ¡°This is quite the tough choice, don¡¯t you think? But the merits outweigh the demerits.¡±


    ¡°I am not so sure about that.¡±


    After saying that, Zelos decided to leave¡­ The sun had already set, so he had to make his choice soon and tell the chubby farmer that he would be out of the town for a while. Perhaps that will be good for Zelos, since he will miss his work, so he might be willing to offer him a raise.


    ¡°I would accept a bucket of cow¡¯s milk every day.¡±


    In the end, Zelos decided to accept the offer and told the farmer about the mission. He didn¡¯t even try to convince him to stay since missions outside were important. He didn¡¯t even ask for the details.


    After doing some light training, Zelos began to pack his things for the trip. He didn¡¯t have much, so traveling would be easy. Still, he felt like he should buy some things along the way. He had been saving a lot of money despite the fact that he currently eats enough for three people. He felt his health improving and so was his training speed and efficiency, so he didn¡¯t feel many reasons to stop with that.


    ¡°I was starting to get used to life here, but this will be helpful. No need to second guess myself.¡±


    With those thoughts in mind, Zelos went to bed and woke up a bit earlier than usual. After a couple of minutes, he had packed his last things and tent as well¡­ ten minutes later, he was on the training grounds and the tall guy and the quick girl were there. From the back of Hei house, Heirina showed up while riding a large carriage being pulled by four horses.


    ¡°Hop on. We need to be moving before the sun rises. It isn¡¯t like we are in a race against time, but I would rather finish this as quickly as possible.¡±


    Those three entered the carriage and confirmed that it was basically a small, but comfy room¡­ there was no food there, so Zelos felt like he had been tricked. Soon enough, the carriage began to move, and then he sighed.


    As Zelos sat down and watched the scenario moving through the window of the carriage, he realized that he had never ridden anything in his life. Not even horses¡­ he had always been a slave, so he felt weird by the fact that he was moving without using his legs.


    ¡°This might be a bit late, but we should introduce ourselves¡­ I am Heirina, but you should call me captain during the mission. This is official business, after all.¡±


    Zelos was amazed that she called people to work with her that she didn¡¯t even know their names. It looked like she was only planning to hear the names of those who truly join the clan¡­