The swordsman and Zane started to exchange attacks. Zane used one sword to defend against the swordsman's attack and used another one to strike back. Unfortunately for Zane, the swordsman was skilled enough to deal with two swords coming at him at once.

"Hey kid, got anything better than this?"

In response, Zane threw the heavy sword towards the swordsman and at the same time lunged forward to attack him at a different angle. Seeing this, the swordsman dashed to the side and as if Zane was expecting it, changed the direction of his sword towards the swordsman. The sword Zane threw entered the forest, nowhere to be seen.

Using his quick judgment, the swordsman immediately used his sword to bear the full force of Zane's attack causing his sword to show cracks. Having no other choice the swordsman used his sword to force Zane's sword out of his hands.

His sword couldn't handle the force used and broke but successfully freed the sword from Zane's hand flinging it at a faraway distance. What resulted was two men without weapons having to result to a fistfight.

Looking around, Zane gave Eve an order which could possibly save them, "Eve! Get me my sword!"

"I can't! My arms are still trembling." The wounds on her hands were quite severe as she was still struggling to stop the shaking.

The swordsman interjected, "Well well, seems like we have to settle this with fists then." Right after saying that, the man reinforced his fist and put his all into this one strike.

Zane met the fist coming at him with his own. As their fists met, they both suffered broken hands.

The swordsman yelled out madly in pain, "Just what kind of body do you have?!"

Zane didn't answer, he could tell that they were evenly matched in terms of body physique. Of course, if Zane could use his mana then it wouldn't even be a question who would win. What would win him would be skill and technique.

The man kicked up dirt into Zane's eyes and immediately punched Zane in the gut. Zane couldn't do much about this move, although he had quite the training he didn't learn how to fight dirty.

After that successful hit, the man didn't stop for a moment and tried to poke Zane's eyes out. After cleaning his eyes, Zane saw two fingers in front of him and narrowly dodged that attack but still managed to get a cut on his cheek.

Zane tried the same move the man did by kicking up dirt trying to blind him and went for a sweeping attack targetting his knees. Unfortunately for Zane, the man didn't fall for it and jumped completely avoiding Zane's kick.

However, this was Zane's plan. If the man was in the air, he wouldn't be able to maneuver out of his next attack. After seeing the man jump, Zane had to be quick and think rationally on what move would help him win the battle.

In the end, Zane chose to immobilize him. He grabbed his ankle and pulled the man to himself. Zane used his elbow and smashed the man's knee, breaking the bone.

The man fell down gritting his teeth in pain from that one mistake. Seeing this as an easier fight, Zane still didn't let his guard down as he targeted the side where the man had an injury.

Seeing how Zane kept on attacking his weak side he shouted out in fury, "Coward!"

Zane retorted with a rational argument, "You prepare an ambush and you call me a coward?"

Zane didn't let up as the flow of the battle was going in his favor. He continued moving around the man and kept on targeting the broken leg relentlessly. The man couldn't take it anymore and with a final scream he fell down.

Zane couldn't take any more chances and decided to break the joints of his limbs before getting both of his swords.

When Zane finished everything up, there were three men and one dead. Zane gathered them and laid them flat near the campfire.

"Can you remove that weird thing on their heads?"

"I can try."

Eve raised her trembling arms and tried to remove the barrier blocking their vision. She tried to break it but couldn't. It wasn't due to her condition that she failed to break the barrier but the lack of expertise in the area.

"Well done, Zane! You too, Eve. It seems you are up to par with the bare minimum of what you need to survive in this place! Though to be perfectly honest, what an extremely sloppy fight! You guys have no teamwork at all!"

Adam showed up expectedly. He was clapping and offering praises left and right. He went over to the three men and used his magic to make them sleep.

Zane couldn't help but ask, "Did you do this, Adam?"

"What? Me? I did no such thing! They are simply random mercenaries out to get the little emblem on your neck. Those are worth quite a fortune around here, you know?"

As same as always, Eve remains quiet when Adam's speaking.

"How did they know about Eve's trait?"

"They have connections like you do. It's as simple as that. You know what? You did such a great job, I'll get us to castle right now."

Immediately after Adam said that three kids and three adults disappeared from the night sky. They appeared in the middle of a luxuriously decorated castle with numerous maids standing all around the room in a neat line. There was an empty throne in the middle and a giant dragon statue was behind the throne.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Zane asked curiously, "Where are we?"

"Technically still Bran but right now it's considered as the south. There's been a dispute as far as a hundred years ago and well, this is the so-called king's home. Make yourself comfortable, you'll be here for a month before we set out to the north border."

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that we are going to be doing a little training to keep you up to speed and we will be going on a little journey. By 'we' I mean you two."

A giant door behind them opened up and there showed an old-looking man with casual clothes but was guarded by heavily-armored men all around him.

"Why, Adam! You said the guests would be here tomorrow! What's the meaning of this?"

"My apologizes but these are my companions, they did good and wanted to reward them with a quicker journey."

"Then what about these three bleeding men? What do they have to do with your little game?"

"Nobodies, just people who will be providing some useful information."

"I am letting you have your fun here but remember, a game is still a game. Don't ruin the bet."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

Immediately after, the six of them left. Guided by the maids, they were directed to a place outside the castle. Zane looked around and saw extreme poverty all around, the people were starving, people were fighting without any cause and some were even killed and everyone saw it as if it was a daily occurrence.

"I get it. Adam, you can't make me kill."

"Oh? Why would I want to make you kill? Ah, look there. The people you told me to save, want to wave them a hello?"

Zane looked at where Adam pointed at and saw the women and children with a dim look in their eyes. Eve started to shiver even more with a glint of anger in her eyes.

"What's the meaning of this Adam?! You said they would be safe!"

"Oh, they are! There are a few rules here, particularly, rules about women and children being off-limits and the men have to fight for the food they bring. I consider them pretty safe. Besides, they could just leech of other men in exchange for following them. Compared to being out in the open, this is a much better alternative."

This time, Eve shouted out in agony, "Why!"

"Ooh, Eve started to gain a bit of courage, huh? I'll tell you what your little training would be."

"What is it."

"Bring this entire so-called kingdom down."

"So that's it, but why can't you?"

"Surely you should know by now. I am pathetic at fights, that's why I hired you to be my bodyguard. This little operation here is affecting me, your employer, so bring this entire place down."

"What's in it for you? There's no way I would ever believe you are being threatened."

"To make it clearer, a had a bet with that little so called-king, that trash. If you can take his kingdom down or not within a month."

"How the hell am I supposed to do that?"

"Rally his people and revolt, take his throne. It's that simple."

"This is just absurd-"

Eve cut off Zane, "Let's do it."

"Well, that settles it! By the way, I'll teach Eve how to use my mana technique properly so you won't have her by your side until she learns it. Good luck, you're gonna need it."

"What about these three men?"

"Me and Eve will handle it, all you need to concern yourself with is how to gather up everyone here and revolt. If you manage to do this, you can ask one thing and I will answer truthfully."

"Fine."

"Those maids will explain everything."

Immediately after, Adam teleported Eve and the three men into an unknown location.

The remaining maids explained everything to Zane. Under the king's rule, he was free to do what he wanted with his people so he made it into an organized jungle. Men were forced to take the role of protectors while the women and children were under their care. They are responsible for what they would eat, do, think, essentially being slaves under them.

How many people under each man depends on how much he could protect or how much he could care for. The only way to get the people under someone was to force them into submission or to kill them.

These rules were highly enforced by the guards standing around the entire place. If anyone were to not do as the rules stated, it was the death sentence.

"That wraps everything up. Here, make them touch your orb to make them considered as your own."

One of the maids gave Zane an orb, it shined a silvery-white under the night sky. They left right after giving Zane the orb.

He was now in front of roughly 50 women and children. There were a few people from the sides stealing some glances and a few more confident ones got up and started to walk towards them. As they were about to reach them, Zane took out his heavy sword and drew a line across the dirt.

"Cross this and you will regret it."

One of the men spoke up in a sarcastic tone, "Woah! This kid has some balls, don't he? Lugging that big sword around like nothing!"

Another one that looked like the boss among them spoke up, "Listen here, looks like you don't understand the position you are in. It's a five against one, move it or you'll regret it. Hell, I'm feeling good right now, come over here and submit to me."

As the boss was about to approach the line, Zane struck his sword into the ground making the ground slightly tremble and created an even deeper indent in the ground.

"I mean it."

The five men were now a little startled and started to back off. Under the night sky with Zane's black cloak and his seemingly high raw power, they were at a disadvantage even with their numerical advantage.

Seeing the five men leave, Zane went forward to the 50 women and children and started to explain to them what was happening. He took out the orb and made sure that they all submitted to him then he went off and gathered them in a circle.

He then went off and asked a nearby guard where he could get food but was met with silence. He then asked the people around him information on how they could get basic necessities but they all demanded compensation or declined.

"I guess I have no other choice, I wanted to keep it in the future but I guess this is a good time as any."

Zane took out the rations that they stocked up on when they left Maghim. Luckily, he didn't touch the rations too much as they ate at restaurants and hunted for their meals.

When the people under Zane got their food, they were slightly more happy as they could now at least get some food. The people around them started to strike up a deal with Zane in exchange for information but Zane refused. He then took out even more rations and decided to use half to feed everyone here free of charge. He even let the five men who started trouble with him eat.

Zane thought while doing this, if I could win the people over then there would be a chance I could do this without resulting in bloodshed. Just having a guarantee there would be food for their next meal would be enough to win them over.

After feeding everyone in the vicinity they all left without saying another word.

Zane then shouted out, "Wait! Where are you going?"

No one answered him as they went back to their places and started to doze off.

"Hey! I gave you food, I could give you more! All you need to do is join me and-"

The people around him started to voice out their thoughts. Within all these voices, none of them were from a woman nor child, it was all rough and deep voices.

"Shut up! If you got more food then we'll be happy if you would just give us more."

"Yeah! Other than that shut the hell up! Trying to sleep here!"

"Follow you? Hah! Why would I? Stupid kid."

Zane just stood there dumbstruck. He gave them food but they still didn't want to listen to him. He looked back at the 50 people under him and decided to let them rest for the night and deal with everything tomorrow.

Zane gathered them all and registered their identities to his own orb. After ensuring that they were safe and it was all right for him to rest, he laid on the hard ground and dozed off.