As I reach the door to the Adventurer’s Guild I am greeted by the barely suppressed roars coming from inside. “I guess everyone had a good day today”. I open the door and the first thing I notice is the strong odor of ale. All around the guild are groups of adventurer’s talking, laughing and just having a good time with each other. In total, around 50 people are currently spread around hall, drinking and chatting with their friends and comrades. I notice a bunch of different people who were not here this morning, and many of the people who were here this morning are no longer here. I notice Master Broton behind his counter so I make my way over to him.
“Master Broton, would it be possible to find a healer? I had a rough encounter and I have a few cracked or broken ribs and some nasty cuts on my chest”. “Ah yes” He says, “I can see that. Must have run into one of the large rats down in the sewers. All that blood has ruined your shirt, the things claws all but ruined your armor. One moment.” Master Broton calls over someone named Elaina. After she joins us Master Broton introduces us, “Alright, Elaina this is Zyrek, Zyrek this is Elaina Windsong. Elaina is a gifted healer and a member of Gaia’s Heart adventurer’s group.” Elaina is an elf. She has blonde hair that is tied up into a bun on the back of her head. She has very pale and fair skin. She appears to be in her mid-twenties, around five and a half feet tall and she has a very sweet smile. She is also quite beautiful. It is the type of beauty that can calm the heart. “Miss Elaina, would you mind helping Zyrek. He had a rough time in the sewers and is suffering from a few broken ribs and lacerations?”
“Of course, how can I do nothing when a child is in pain?" she says.Elaina rests her palm on my forehead and I feel warm energy flow into me. I feel it travel all through out my body. As it passes through my chest I feel my ribs move into their correct position and fuse back together, I feel my skin pull together and heal at a rapid pace. There was no pain at all and the pain I was feeling has vanished. “Wonderful! Amazing! I had no idea magic could heal wounds that quickly.” I exclaim. Elaina treats me to a large and sweet smile. “It is my pleasure Zyrek. But you should be careful in the future. Wounds like these are simple to fix but there are too few healers who have the ability to regrow limbs or return you to life. You should always be careful. Even if the sewers only have rats in them, there are many down there. They can quite easily swarm you and overwhelm you completely. You should never venture out alone.” She continues to smile at me very warmly as she ruffles my hair. “I will keep that in mind for the future Miss Elaina. Thank you for your help and your words.”
“Hah ha haha. I quite agree with Miss Elaina,” Master Broton has a rather large grin on his face, “That’s why I have already found a group for him to join, if he is willing.” “Who might that be Master Broton?” I ask. From behind me I hear a deep and powerful voice answer. “He means for you to join Gaia’s Heart kid.” I jump, startled, and turn around. Less than three feet from me stands a mountain of a man. He is nearly seven foot tall, clad head to toe in a red steel full plate. A massive warhammer rests on his back. That monstrous weapons handle is probably 6 feet long and the head on it is the size of an anvil. As terrifying as this walking tower of metal death looks, he has a large and warm smile on his face. He had a clean shaved beard, a chiseled jaw, prominent cheek bones, deep blue eyes and short black hair trimmed into a buzz cut. A mans man, is how I would describe him. “How...” is all that made it out of my mouth before all three started laughing.
Master Broton is the first to speak, “I see that you are still able to move as quietly as every Baylein, hahaha. I love the look on their faces when you sneak up on them. Mountain of a man, quiet as a mouse. Hahaha.”
“So who are Gaia’s Heart?” I ask.
The large man who was called Baylein Speaks first. “Allow me to introduce myself. I am Baylein Balaria. Founder of Gaia’s Heart. We are an adventuring group that works to help ensure stability and safety within our Kingdom of Barret. We exclusively take local contracts that allow us to travel between the cities. Our main focus is to eliminate dangers to farmers, travelers and those who are not fortunate enough to live within the safety of large cities, such as this one. We hunt all manor of beasts, bandits and undead. All things that prey on those too weak to defend themselves. We have also been known to help train new adventurers, such as yourself. The people of Barret need people with strength to help protect them from all manors of evils. Gaia’s Heart does what it can to help the citizens. Whether that be rooting out bandits, thinning out Gorgath nests or teaching new adventurers to survive and grow.”
“Baylein and the people of Gaia’s Heart are good people. They care for the citizens of Barret and all of Triesen. Being a small group they are forced to focus solely on Barret and its people.” Master Broton explains.
“That is the truth. Gaia’s Heart focus’s solely on Barret. We are constantly moving between the cities dealing with various issues that rise up,” Baylein continues, “Most adventuring groups help the citizens by extention of their adventures. They delve dungeons and hunt monsters for the materials, training and gold. This does help make Barret safer but that is not their goal. We adventure to provide a measure of safety for the people. That is our goal. All the gold, training and materials helps up become stronger so that we can continue to survive and help those who need it.”
“So you travel all over Barret and deal with all assortments of beasts, from men to monsters. And you do this solely for the purpose of helping the citizens?” I ask. It sounds strange to me. Giving up your life and basically living in service for others. Thats not something I can do. I believe in helping others if you can. Though I don’t think I would have much issue refusing to help if it would be too dangerous for me.
Elaina answers this time. “Zyrek, Gaia’s Heart’s purpose is to help those who are to weak to help themselves. We do this by completing contracts assigned by the Adventurer’s Guild. These contracts are posted either by the Kingdom itself or another local governing official. This way we can profit and help the people of Barret.”
“What Elaina says is true. We don’t work for the money but that does not mean we refuse rightful payment.“ Baylein explains. “We would be of little use to anyone if we couldn’t survive our fights. To do this we must constantly become stronger. To become stronger we need Mana Stones, monster cores and equipment. To survive these fights we also need supplies. Health Potions, Mana Potions, antidotes, food and water. To travel around in good time we require horses. Horses sometimes die and need replacing, horses need food and water.”
“I understand,” I sigh, kinda ashamed. Helping people is not a bad thing. Why did I find it strange they focused the way they did. “I didn’t assume yall worked for free, but whenever I think of adventurers I imagine men and women who pursue fame, wealth and power. I never thought their were adventurers who use their fame, wealth and power solely to protect the weak. Sounds like something that would be written about in a childs story.”
“HAHAHAHAHAAAA, I can see what you mean’t Broton, this kid is something else. A ten year old child brave enough scour the sewers fighting off those massive rodents. Only ten and pragmatic to boot. He was more shocked that we focus on helping the weak than he was from my silent approach. So kid, Broton tells me you just developed your core and that you have the fire and earth affinity. He even says you managed to develop two spells on your own, and in record time. Care to let me have a taste?”
Master Broton quickly interrupts. “While I do want yall to get to know each other better. Maybe this should be done in private. I didn’t tell you everything about him. He has a few secrets that are his to share alone.”
“Ah, I just remembered. Master Broton. I haven’t turned in my tails from the adventure today.” I quickly pull out the 28 normal tails and the 1 alpha tail and set them on the counter. “Twenty eight of the the normal, giant rats and one tail from the alpha.”
Baylein rests his hand on top of my head and says, “One of the alpha rats and a small horde, this kid has some moxie. The alpha is usually called a leader rat but I think alpha is even more apt haha.”
“True true.” replies Master Broton, “Now, the bounty for the normal rats is 1 copper a tail. The leader rats are different though. I didn’t say anything earlier because I didn’t think you would kill one. Leaders have a bounty of 1 silver per tail.”
“Awesome!” I exclaim. “1 silver and 39 copper on my first day. Looks like I won’t starve haha.” I scratch my head and laugh, feeling quite proud of myself.
“Now, we can move to my office where our conversation will be more relaxed and private” states Master Broton.
“If you think its necessary then alright” replies Baylein. I nod my head at the suggestion. I do not know what Master Broton has told him or what he believes to be worth keeping secret so I just happily agree. “Elaina, why don’t you return to the others and enjoy your evening. Im going to talk with these two for a while and then see what Zyrek is made of.” Elaina nods her head to Baylein and then walks away. Master Broton ushers us into his office so I was unable to get a look at the rest of Gaia’s Heart. Once inside Master Broton sits behind his desk. Baylein and I each take a seat in front of the desk.
“Alright” Master Broton begins, “ I will reiterate what I told you earlier to that Zyrek will know exactly what I have told you about him. I will then leave it up to him to fill you in on the things that I have left out. First Zyrek is a homeless child who wishes to adventure in order to make his way in life. He is a very head strong kid. He has two affinities, Fire and Earth. He seems to be a good kid with alot of promise. I would like for him to join Gaia’s Heart because I believe you are the right one to teach him.”
“But Master Broton” I interrupt, “I have 3 affinities, not 2.”
“WHAT?” exclaims Baylein.
“Yes, I know. Though 3 affinities are rare and I wanted to give you the option to hide or reveal that yourself” Master Broton explains.
All that trouble from Master Broton and I let it slip so easily. Oh well. Not like I planned to hide it from Baylein. He seems to be an honest and righteous person. Master Broton trusts him enough to get him to train me, so I should be able to trust him too. Besides, trust is all I have right now. Im too weak to protect myself. Ill need strong people to look after me until I can fend for myself. “I get it now. I should have noticed the first time but it makes little difference” I turn to face Baylein. “It is true. I have a third affinity, Magma. My two other affinities are Fire and Earth, both high affinity.”
Baylein looks surprised momentarily. That changes quickly as a large grin spreads across his face, followed by a loud and chuckle. “ Hahaha, Now I understand why you say I am the right one to teach him. Same affinities and I won’t covet his affinities or resent him for it. Very good call. Someone with his capabilities is someone most people would kill to rope in, or kill if they can’t.”
I let that sink in for a moment. People would want to kill me because of my Magma affinity. I guess it kinda makes sense. People are envious of those who have more than them. Our world is a world of warrior. Knowing that someone else had a rare affinity that has only had a few records of its exitance in history. That is something to be envious of. I’ll have to remember that in the future.
Master Broton breaks me from my thoughts, “I believe it may even be worse than that. Zyrek, I believe you can trust Baylein. I have known him for a very long time. I have never known him to ever do wrong by anyone. If you trust him, tell him when your core developed and show him your Slate. Then I can get you another Mana Stone so he can understand your Mana Resistance.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
I nod my head to Master Broton. “I have little less than a choice to trust Baylein. So choose to trust him, I do. Baylein, my core formed today. Earlier, about midday towards the end of my first trek into the sewers.” I pull out my slate and offer it to him.
Zyrek
Age:10
Gender:Male
Mana: .47/1
Mana Regen: 4 hours
Cognizance:1.05
Strength:1.04
Vitality: 1.12/1.3
Constitution: .92/1.2
Resilience: 1.22
Dexterity: 1.1
Agility: 1.12
Soul Force: 1.04
Affinity: Fire, Earth, Magma
I continue after I hand him my slate. “I activated my Status Slate just before I left to enter the sewers. After a few encounters in the sewers my core formed. Master Broton said that my body was still too weak to support my core so my core had to sacrifice some initial mana capacity to directly strengthen my body.”
After looking at my Slate for a minute with an expressionless stare, like he was deep in thought, Baylein asks me a question “You said you developed spells, correct?”
“Yes, I developed my Fireball and Fire Cone.” I answer honestly since I don’t understand why he is asking.
“Can you tell me the parameters of your spells and what percent of your pool they use?” he asks next.
I reply to his question, “Sure, Fireball is a sphere that flies straight until contact, where it explodes in a five feet AOE. Fire Cone covers a five foot cone directly ahead of my palm. Both burn at 220 degrees. Fireball costs roughly 15% and Fire Cone costs around 6% per second.”
Baylein just nods his head for a few seconds while thinking about something. “I understand now. You have a very powerful core. Based on what you tell me, your core is at least twice the capacity of average. The average new mage’s fireball with the same parameters would have cost them 40% of their pool. You have a great headstart compared to others. Matters little in the long run, but it is a blessing. Even with your loss of capacity, your mana pool is deep for your development. Your high affinity also allows you to cast spells more easily and for less mana.”
Master Broton speaks at this time, “I wholly agree with your deductions Baylein. A large initial mana capacity, a well developed body, high mana affinities, possibly extreme affinity with magma. But thats not the most terrifying part about our young friend, nor is it the main reason I want you to train and look after him.” Master Broton pulls out a Mana stone similar to the one earlier. “Here Zyrek, this is an identical Mana Stone from from before. Show Baylein your Mana Resistance.”
I nod my head as I take the Mana Stone. I take the Mana Stone and close my eyes. I feel the mana within the stone. I follow the instructions Master Broton gave me earlier. Feel for the mana and draw it into the body. Weave it around the mana core and feed it into the core from several places. As the mana enters my body it is once again hungrily absorbed my my body, only allowing half to make it to my core. I finish absorbing the Mana Stone in roughly 10 seconds, then it turns to dust. I can see the shocked look on Bayleins face, same look Master Broton gave me earlier.
“WHAT? How is that possible? His Mana Resistance must be as high as my own or even yours Broton. How can a child at the age of ten, on the first day that their core has developed have a Mana Resistance as high as someone who has been training for 40 years?”
“I do not know the answer but I do have a theory.” replies Master Broton. “I believe he has a special body. He must have a powerful ancestor or something along those lines. His body is like a dry sponge that is ready to absorb any mana that gets close to it. I even believe he has been constantly absorbing mana from the environment passively all day long. This hasn’t showed up on his Slate because there hasn’t been enough time for it to show, but I feel as if the mana in the room is slowly moving in his direction. Its very faint. If I wasn’t looking for it, I doubt I would even notice.”
Baylein looks back down to see if my Status Slate had changed any. When he showed me my Strength, Resilience and Constitution had all increased by a small amount. “Now I understand why you want me to take the kid. You are angry at me and want him to eat me out of house and home hahahahahaaaa.” Baylein jests. “If Zyrek agrees, I will happily accept him into Gaia’s Heart. The potential he has is terrifying. If I can help lead him down the right path, he can be a powerful defender for all of Triesen. At the very least, I can instill some good values into him. Even if he wants to explore the world, and not spend the rest of his days defending the weak, as long as he doesn’t turn out to be a vicious and cruel demon, that will be well enough.”
I laugh at Bayleins antics. “Do not worry. I personally believe in helping people if I can. A live and let live policy. I will happily join Gaia’s Heart.” I guess with this, I finally have a home, for now at least. Baylein seems like a good man. He really seems like someone you can depend on. Elaina seems really nice too. I would be that Baylein keeps company of other same minded individuals. I can see us getting along well.
“Perfect,” Baylein says, “then we start your training now.” Before I can even say anything he stands up and grabs me and throws me over his shoulder. The next second Earth erupts through the floor in Master Brotons office and fully surrounds us and we are completely encased in darkness. After a few seconds the earth surrounding us recedes and we appear to be in a training room of sorts.The room is very large, atleast 50 by 50 feet. There are several dummies along the wall. There is a bench with a bar resting above it. There are a few hand weights resting on the ground beside it. There are a few other pieces of equipment that I do not recognize.
Baylein speaks at this point, “Alright, first I want you to attack me. Go all out. Do everything you can to hurt or kill me. I want to see how well you can do.” I nod and comply.I retrieve my mace from my side and ready my stance. Baylein just stands there waiting me me to begin. I wait for a second then act. I immediately dash for him. I get within striking range and swing my mace directly for his midsection, where his ribs should be at. I swing with all my strength and he just stands there and takes the attack. As soon as my attack his my mace vibrates viciously and bounces off harmlessly. I quickly drop to a knee as I spin around and follow up with a second attack to his left knee. Again he stands there and my attack harmlessly bounces off. I use the momentum from the recoil and launch my third attack on his right knee. Same outcome.
‘Well, can’t say I expected him to get hurt, but nothing. How strong is this guy.’ I quickly dash backwards and then launch into the air and bring my mace down onto the top of his skull. As soon as I hit I see his face, full ear to ear smirk. Though I do think I knocked a piece of dust off of him.
“Very nice. Quick decisive attack. Vicious and quick combos. When you saw that your attacks were ineffective, you changed tactics. Excellent.” Baylein analyzes and praises me. Though I don’t feel I deserve it. I could have had more effect with a feather duster than my mace.
“How was that excellent? I didn’t even scratch you or make you move an inch?” I ask.
“Thats to be expected. Your still years away from being able to scratch my ass, let alone dent my armor. Give it a year or two for my hair to grow out and you might be able to knock out a hair by then. The point is, you shouldn’t be able to harm me. You have yet to begin properly performing Body Enhancement so you are still extremely weak. This exercise was just to get a feel of your style. That way I know how to train you. It would be detrimental to you if I taught you to stand center field and trade blow for blow with an enemy if your natural insticts and style is use assault tactics. From that demonstration I can see that you value mobility and explosive power. Instead of standing and trading blows you would push your opponent to be defensive and then overpower them with speed and vicious attacks.”
“Huh, guess that makes sense. I could have told you that though. Thats something I figured out when I was being trained by the instructors.” I say.
Bayleins eyebrow arches up and he asks, “What instructors? Broton says your homeless”
“I am homeless.” I answer him. “But I wasn’t when I woke up this morning. My father disowned me and kicked me out for being a cripple.”
Baylein seems to understand as he nods his head. “Alright then. So for your training we will focus mainly on Strength, Resillience, Constitution and Agility. When you become stronger and earn some money of your own you should upgrade you mace first. You will need something stronger and heavier. You could try another type of weapon or continue with what you know. I used to wield maces when I was younger. After a while though I became strong enough that even my warhammer is light for me. So there was no point to use a weapon with less mass when I lost nothing. We will stop here for tonight. Upstairs you will find our home, Gaia’s Hearth. Valoran is our home city and we keep our things here. First room to the left is empty to thats your room. We will be heading out tomorrow to deal with some bandits that have set up camp in the Great wilderness just south west of here. Its still too early for you to deal with human opponents so I want you to stay in town and return to sewers. You can freely absorb mana from the environment here. Gaia’s Hearth is located at the edge of town by the west gate and we have quite a few mana attraction and concentration runes to help keep the mana density high in here. Focus on Body enhancement for the next few day. Feel free to raise your mana capacity if you feel you need more mana to deal with the rodents. I doubt you will need to though. We will be gone less than a week if everything goes as planned. Focus on getting stronger and heightening your reflexes against the rats. You managed to kill roughly 50 rats today... so lets say that if you collect 300 tails before we return i’ll have something nice for you.”
“Alright Baylein, I’ll do as you say.”
“Don’t feel disheartened. We had already accepted this contract before you joined. It is a little above your level. The bandits wont be much issue for any of the other but I still think its a little to early to put you against humans. Our next contract will be taken with you in mind. Now, lets hold off on you meeting everyone until we return from this contract. It’s a little pointless seeing as how we are leaving tomorrow. Head up to your room and meditate and use Body Enhancement tonight. While using Body Enhancement any other form of cultivation, you can supplement that for sleeping. It is still nice to get an actual night of sleep every now and then, but it is unneeded. Now go.”
I left Baylein in the basement and entered the first room on the left. My new room. I sat down on the bed and began meditation and Body Enhancement. My first night of many.
Hello everyone. I just wanted to say hello and ask everyone if they are enjoying the novel so far. I have been working on this novel for a little while now and have actually scrapped it twice already lol. I already have plans to go back and edit the stats. I have them in table format in my word processor but it doesn't get translated over so I will have to do that later. Thank everyone for reading and please, leave a comment.