Rex sat in the carriage, his gaze dirrected outside the window of it, seeing rather monotonous scenario passinng by his eyes. As far as his sight allowed, all he could see was rather simple forest, encompasing the dirt road they were traversing, sometimes replaced by a rather mundane and simple field of grass, or, if he was lucky, a hint of river, or some other larger body of water gleamed in teh distance, whispering of the possibility of new and never before seen species of creatures grazing at its shore. Still, all he could do was either boringly gaze at the rather simple and boring sights that he passed by, or immerse himself in deepening his own understanding regarding the laws of nature he was already proficient in, growing ever closer to another breaking point, opening up countless possibilities when it came to applying said laws to whatever he could desire, though mostly he would be able to tap in said potential when it cam to harming others.
And so, with no better alternative, he immersed himself in something of an inner world, his mind asking questions about the nature of soul, its purpose and other aspects of being. Were he to ask the same questions out loud, to an audience who were nowhere near as aware of said laws, his questions would sound like a foreign tongue, impossible to decipher and even more so to understand. Such was the nature of laws though, a mystery and impossible to comphrehend, unless one had reached past a certain treshold. And so, he spent his time, minute after minute, hour after hour, untill it was dusk and the coachman stopped the cariage, informing Rex of stop.
The two horses pulling the carriage were released for the night, allowing them to both rest and fill up on the grass nearby. The creatures were well trained and obedient, ensuring that whatever the situation, they would stick by the coachmen in charge of them. Then, in order to have no need to take shifts for guard duty, a rather special alarm tool was deployed, fulfilling the task of a guard, reacting to movement and mana used in its vicinity to warn the campers. It was rather expensive, though quite a few of the coachmen had their own. Though they were only used in cases where the client they were transporting was important enough and of small enough parties, making a proper night shift schedule quite the impossibility.
The first night went by without a hitch, with Rex waking up rather early in the morning, much to his ussual time. Noticing the coachman was still out cold, seemingly quite used to spending nights in tents in the wild, he left the tent quietly, enjoying the rather pleasant air as he took a deep breath. Fresh and chilly air entered his lungs as he sent out a mana pulse, taking in his surroundings and noting anything important. Though, since they were only a day away from Vixiera, he did not find anything of note. Still, it was always better to be carefull, always assuming that there was someone out there, planning for your demise. And while stopping said planning was impossible, being aware of ones surroundings and prepeared for an ambush was an entirely different matter.
With some time in his hands, while waiting for the coachman to wake up, Rex walked over to their luggage and supplies, and after finding a rather small, yet invitingly looking piece of dried meat, he returned to teh center of their small camp. Setting up a rather simple wooden board, he proceeded to cut said piece fo dried meat in smaller cubes. Then, after collecting a few known herbs, ones he quickly cleaned and sliced in similarily small pieces, he trew it all in a small pot he had placed on the fireplace where a fresh fire was joyfully dancing, consuming a few small wood pieces placed there.
With the meat and herbs boiling, he stood by, adding salt and some spices as well, tasting his project a few minute later. He was no master cook, that muc hwas true, but making some simple travel soups and the like? He could do that much at least. A few more minutes later, after several more tastings and corrections, either adding a bit more salt, or some other spice, he was satisfied with the result, removing his breakfast from the fire. By the time he was done with his breakfast, consuming the light soup with some rather hahrd bread, the coachman also woke up and came outside of the tent. Offering his broth to the man, noting it was no restoraunt food, he started to clean up.
"Anything special you are going to capital for sir?" the coachman asked, once they were ready to depart, his curiosity piqued due to Rex young age.He had also heard that Rex was quite the character, though he did not know anything precise.
"Vixiera was not up to par. From what I have heard, capital's adventurers guild should have plenty of records and information about the places that would serve to help me grow the fastest, while aslo having numerous adventurers I could party up with." Rex replied calmly, having taken the seat right on the other side of the wall that the coachman's back was pressed against. With a small window open, they could easily have a conversation while traveling. There were plenty of people who would rather talk of mundane and insignificant things, or share rumors they had heard whereever they came from, rather than sit in silence and loniless.
"Well, yes, Vixiera is a rather good place for begginers, allowing them to grow used to the place while maintaining the danger level within reason. But precisely because of that, once reaching a certain point, it becomes rather insfignificant and pointless to remain there." The coachman agreed, sharing some of his own knowledge regarding the matter, as well as some of the rumors or stories he had to share, shaving away the monotonous and boring time they had to spend on their journey. And so, with tales and stories, sometimes funny, other times recounting tragedies, they get through yet another day, stopping at a small village for the night.
The village was nothing to write home about, just a loose collection of homes, with a simple fence around the perimeter, keeping the more curious of critters away, since no real monster would be held beack by something as small and shoddy as the fence in question. In total, the village sported some hundred plus souls, most of whom worked the simple farming plots just right outside the village. paying the innkeeper a few coppers each, they retired for the night, with Rex performing his ussual training regiment, since he did not have to worry about a night raid. They had a simple, yet heart breakfast the next morning, and soon departed once again.
The next few days could still be somewhat tolerable adn rather interesting, the coachman still sharing al kinds of stories, even jokingly adding that such long travels were the bane of many adventurers, since most of them were men of action, finding such boring and uneventfull traveling a chore. And while the coachmen themselves were more than fine with such state of things, they were rather peculiar people to begin with. In return, Rex told a few more harmless things aabout magic, well aware that it was precisely why the coachman was speaking so much with him. Well, it was not per say because of him knowledge on magic, it was simply a way to entice people tp speak more, accidentally revealing things one would rather not.
It was at the beggining of the second week that Rex was starting to feel quite annoyed, the long travel time taking it's toll on his mind. Even with all the meditation he had been going through, he was starting to be come rather bored by now. In between his meditation sessions, he started to think of ways to solve the issue, swaering to himself to aquire some monster that could fly fast and for a long time. At another point in time, he considered, how much time and recourses it would take to create a rather well developed train system, allowing thousands of people to travel for incredible distances in a single day. Much less feasible than the demonic bird and numerous times the cost as well, so his options were rather limited, with him deciding on the bird option once he had the chance.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
By the end of the second week, Rex looked like some beggar, his hair disheveled, though mostly clean, courtesy of baths in inns and ponds along the way, though he had not bothered to keep it neat at all. Even his eyes were somewhat bored, little spark of vigor or life radiating from them. If anything, he looked like some tired and experienced elder, ready to teach his young studens some profundities of life. It was then, that something happened. As per ussual, Rex used a mana pulse every few hours, purely out of habit, ensuring that they did not pass by the any points of interest. What he noticed there was slightly off, instantly igniting some spark in his eyes. Finally, something was going to ahppen. A group of people, stalking outside the field of vision that one would have while traversing the dirt road, were hiding, and another, smaller than the first, awaited further ahead on the road, blocking it for the most part. Seven men, each and every one of them with rugged and worn looks, a glint of agression and brutality in all but one of their eyes, The only person who looked somewhat civilized was standing slightly furtehr ahead of the group, clearly chosen to be their spokesperson of sorts.
"Greetings coachman!" he spoke in a rather courteous and polite manner. "My apologies for the blocade, but we must insist that whoever you are carrying be unloaded and you can go on your merry way." he continiued. Rex understood well their intentions. Due to the coachmen guilds rather notorious reputation for dealing with those deeming they are a fine target to kill, most bandits and the like with at least some brain would do their best to ensure that their conduct would not hurt the coachmen, if at all possible. Their people they were carrying though, well, it was all fair game. Who were robbed and killed? Who robbed and then kidnaped for ransom or sold in the some black market as slaves, that depended on the group at fault, tjough slavery part was rather hard in thsi particular nation, what with their general dislike with the practice.
Having learned some information about Rex, while having to slow down to near halt, the coachman replied, but was interrupted midway, by none other than his passanger. "I would advise you and your friends let us pass without incident, we..."
"NO NO NO." Rex quickly interjected, "Let the gentleman do his thing, I have been dying of boredome here." Slight panic in his first few words, followed by somewhat more quiet yet steely voice.
Sighing, the coachman stopped entirely, shrugging and letting things play out as they will. Just moments later, Rex stepped out of the carriage, his eyes radiating vigor and energy so much so, that the bandit, who had been talking so far, furrowed his brow in confusion. He had yet to meet someone using the coachmen carriages who was so lively when meeting them.
"Go on, dont you plan on calling your friends over there?" Rex asked, nodding his head in the dirrection of the other group, hiding in the distance. Something that clearly startled the man in front of him, making him step back a few steps in fear. Who ever they had stopped was clearly no ordinary man, even with the lacking mana signature they had sensed, but before he could think of a quick solution to try and talk his way out of the predicament, one of the brutes behind him almost growled, exlaiming in frustration, clearly not the patient type. "WE ROBBING OR NOT?"
Rex already predatory smile grew even larger, making the other party understand that he was not going to agree to a peacefull seperation, both groups leaving as is.
"Damn fool." he cursed the bastard who spoke out of turn, but signaled with his hand for the people behind him to advance, clear reluctance and unwillingness reflected on his face. He was already thinking of a way to use the coming chaos to slip away and leace the nation, not willing to risk his ass on the off chance he would run into his maniac. His suspicions grew ever more clear, the moment one of the brutes charged ahead of the rest, roaring a battle cry filled with bloodlust and savagery, only to loose his head in a blink of an eye.
Their oponent had a sword in hand now, dripping with fresh blood. And while the blade seemed as if made from crystalized blood, something it was indeed so, unknown to the eloquent bandit, the way said fresh blood dripped off of it seemed wrong, and the bandit has had enough chances to see similar sights. What was trully bone chilling though, was things happening to the fresh corpse of one. The blood was slowly flowing out of it, congealing into a small orb above it, clearly being drawn by someone, or something.
As the rest of his fellows reached the strange man(?), he moved into action as well, barely avoiding the strikes reaaching for his flesh, finding a small opening every now and then to deliver a devastating counterstrike, reducing their numbers by one. The singular enemy moved with teh grace of a dancer, and was as slippery as an eel, avoiding any of the atempts to corner him. Yet, the greater worry was still the blood orb, still congealing above the first victim. And then, he noticed something else that caused his legs to go still, causing him to fall on the ground, his jaw now clattering in abject horror. Every other fresh corpse the man had made, displayed a similar blood orb forming and condensing above them, signifying the true danger they were in. It was now that th ebandit understood what the coachman wanted to say. He was trying to warn them off, sparing their miserable lives.
As Rex was slaughtering the foolish brutes, using his experience and already dangerous weapon to reduce their numbers, he continiued to pay attention to both, the singular man who was on his ass now, trembling like a weak leaf in a wind, and the group further ahead, who had been creeping ever so closer bit by bit, maintaining their stealth, or so they probably assumed. 'No matter, I have been prepearing for them to come into my range for a while now.' Rex thought as he avoided yet another strike, utilizing an opening and bisecting the fool who he had just sliced with his weapon. IF he did not know better, he would swear his weapon was singing him praises for its continius use.
Aproximately five or so minutes later, only the terrified bandit, still on his ass and trembling in fear remained, the other party having reached quite close. Rex reasoned they were close enough for him to deliver a friendly gesture of saying 'hello!', but before he could do so, multiple voices resounded, screaming '"Holy Light!", as five or so sources of said spell illuminated the area, all aimed dirrectly at him, followed by an order.
"Cut down the damn blood sucker while its weakened!"
Following the command, multiple men in leather armor jumped out of the nearby brushes and taller grass, each with some kind of weapons in hands. Be it sword and shield, dueal wielding, or two handing axes, they all charged forward, each of them hoping to at the very least inflict copious amounts of damage, if not outright get lucky and kill the monster. Was it any suprise to see their faces distort in pain and confusion in equal levels, when their charging bodies were peppered with bextremely powerfull and dangerous crystalized blood needles, coming from the floating blood orbs. Rex followed that with another salvo of blood arrows, aiming at the priests in hiding, though their positions were obvious to an unreasonable monster like Rex.
Yet another barrage of screams and wails later, he could focus on the people right in front of him with several states of exaustion, wounds and other ailments afflicing them. The ones remaining alive further away were already running in absolute panic, leaving their wounded and dead friends behind. For a moment there, Rex considered hunting the fleeing bastards down to every last man, but he came to the logical conclusion that it would be time consuming and rather boring. And so, even if their blood held some value, Rex decided against pursuite, focusing on the moans of pain and curses coming from the still living men right before him. Though, truth be told, he could see some rather ugly looking women among the group was well. Deciding it was more humane, he ended their suffering, delivering quick and precise cuts on each of the agonizing bandits, ending their suffering. And since he could sense no other probable enemies aproaching, he moved towards the last bandit alive. Rex had a few question to ask, and what better subject that on so terrified of you that it was almost possible to smell him soiling himself. Rex scrunched his nose for a moment, realizing the reality. It was not just his imagination, the poor bastard had gone and emptied his bowels in his terror induced state.
"It was a simple curiosity is all." Rex spoke, no longer willing to bother, creating a slightly larger blood bullet from one of the orbs, shooting it and penetrating the head of his cature.