I am awoken to a blinding light. ‘Thats odd,’ I thought. I could have swore I closed my blinds last night. It takes a few seconds for my eyes to adjust to the bright light in my room. As I take in my surroundings I notice my father standing in front of my window. Thats odd. My father has only been in my room once as far as I can remember. Most of the time he acts like I don’t even exist. Not that I can blame him. My mother died giving birth to me. From what people tell me her death was very strange. Most women who die giving birth do so due to the lack of a healer and unexpected complications. For my birth there were two healers present. No matter what they did though, they failed to save my mother. My mother should have survived. She was a very powerful mage and she had a healthy body due to her Body Enhancing.
My father notices that I am awake. “Good morning Father...” I don’t know what else to say.
“Morning Zyrek.” My father gives me a sad look. People tell me I look like my mother. We have to same nose and the same vibrant red eyes. Every time my father sees me, he sees my mom. He has never smiled at me. Suddenly my father turns and walks towards my door. He stops with his back to me, by the door and I can see my mace, leather cuirass, forearm guards, shin guards, boots and a set of brown pants and a simple white long-sleeved shirt. Besides that, I also see a backpack.
“What is this father? Are we going somewhere?” I am very confused at the moment. My father never takes me anywhere. All my father has ever done for me is pay for tutors so that I could learn to read, write, learn some basic geography, do math and he also hired a combat instructor to teach me how to wield different weapons and to help defend myself. Besides that, I doubt he noticed that I was even alive.
“We, are going nowhere. You, are leaving. You are ten years old and you still have not developed your mana core. Every time I see you, I can only see her. I am tired of it all. Most children develop their core when they are between seven or eight, but you, you are a cripple. You have no mana core. Its a disgrace to say you are our son. As of today you are no longer a member of my house. You are no longer a Devart. Today you turned ten years old. From this day on, you are not my burden. Ill give you some gold so you don’t starve to death before you can find work. Now get dressed and get out of my house. If I find out you ever use my Devart name again... I will execute you myself.” As my father finishes, he leaves my room.
For the next few minutes, I just sit there on my bed stunned. Disowned. Homeless. Alone. I always knew my father hated me. I always knew that I made his heart ache every time he saw me. I always knew. So why is this so... surprising. I feel, hurt. My heart hurts. It is not my fault my mother died, but I am blamed. I am just as much my fathers son as my older brother. But Father loves Naszran. Naszran is the heir to the Duchy.My Father loves my older sister. My Father dotes on my older sister Bellinda. Bellinda is the only one who does not openly despise me. She is the only one who ever tried to treat me as family. I knew my father hated me... so why does this surprise me. I slowly get out of bed. I feel light headed. Almost like I am in a daze. As soon as I settle to my feet I move to the mirror. I have my fathers obsidian black hair, his jaw, his prominent cheek bones. I have mothers small and distinct nose, her fiery red eyes. My body is toned for my age. I do not have a mana core so I am unable to cultivate mana into my body using Body Enhancement. I did not let that stop me from growing stronger. I trained and toned my body the hard way. I lifted weights. I ran until my legs felt like they were on fire.I suffered through the pain. I was determined to be strong. I am tall for my age. I stand around 4‘11“ tall. I turn from the mirror and move over to my gear. Or should I say, all my worldly belongings. I pull on the pants and shirt. Both fit me well. Not baggy but loose enough to allow movement. I pull on my brown leather boots. Not fancy but sturdy. I strap on my armor. Since my body is weak due to my lack of a core I have always trained in my leathers. Heavier armors always weigh me down and I don’t like to limit my mobility when I spar with my instructor. Lastly, I grab my mace. It is a simple iron flanged mace. I always loved the mace. It feels like it is a partner, not just a weapon. Just swing it in the direction of the enemy and let it do the rest. Its simple but so elegant. Its not a fast weapon. The mace is slow on the draw back. If you miss an attack you leave yourself wide open. To overcome this downside I use my agile legs and body to maneuver into an advantageous position then strike with the mace. Quick moves, hard hits. I tie on my belt and slide my mace into the ring on the belt.
I finally feel myself snapping out of shock of what is happening. I am just a child, disowned by my father. I am being thrown into the world on my own. I no longer feel surprised. There is nothing I can do about it. I can only adapt. I refuse to lay down and die. No matter what, I will survive and I will gain power... someway. Only the strong are respected in this world. This is a world of magic and monsters. I may be a cripple, but I can still use magical equipment. Equipment can be enchanted for a variety of effects. Enhancing your bodies strength is a simple enchantment found on even the cheapest magical armaments. I guess that is all I can do, hope I survive long enough to be able to buy some good equipment. I pick up and check inside of the backpack provided by my father. Inside is a tent, bedroll, flint and steel one cooking pot and spoon. As well as a small pouch of ten gold pieces. Better than nothing. I don the backpack and leave my room and head towards the front door.
As I near the front door I hear my brother,”Father finally decides to get rid of the trash I see. I don’t understand why he is even allowing you to live. If it was my decision I would have cut your head off the day you murdered our mother.” My sister Bellinda is beside him, she says”Shut up Naszran, he is still our blood. He is not responsible for what happened to mother. He was just an infant.”
Bellinda is the only family I have ever really had. I put on the best smile that I can muster and wave good bye to my sister. Then I exit our manor.
I begin making my way away from the Devart Manor. While walking I contemplate what to do. I could try heading into the forest to collect herbs. I can then sell the herbs to some of the local Alchemists. Nothing too valuable grows around here but you can find herbs in the forest to create simple medicines and a few ingredients to simple health potions. I could head to the Adventurers guild. I should be able to join and do some simple contracts for some coin. If i join the Adventurers guild that would also give me somewhere to sleep at night. I could also leave the city and head to one of the outlying towns or villages, work as a farm hand. That would be the safest option. I let out a sigh. If I had a mana core I would not be so hopeless. Even if I continue to train my body and fighting technique the most I could ever be is one of the weaker guards in a city or town. Or worse... cannon fodder in the army. I shake the thought from my head as I head towards the Adventurer’s Guild.
After about thirty minutes of walking through town I finally manage to reach the Adventurer’s Guild. While the Devart Manor resides in the very center of town, the Adventurer’s Guild is located near the western gate entrance very close to the large market and Auction house. The guild is a very large building. It stands nearly fifty feet tall and and two hundred feet wide. The building dwarfs the shops around it. The guild is mainly built of stone. Columns decorate the front while a wide staircase lead to the entrance. Two massive doors rest in the center of the building. After steeling my nerves I walk up to the entrance and open one of the doors. Despite its size, the door opens easily. As I walk inside I am greeted by the sight of nearly 100 adventurers scattered about the area. All of them are donning differing sets of armors and wielding many different types of weapons. Varying forms of plate or chainmail are the most common armor while swords of different sized are the most common weapon. Most of the adventurer’s are sitting around the various tables chatting with one another. A few are reading through posters that are pinned to a massive board, job posting most likely. In the rear of the building I notice a staircase that leads to the higher, and most likely lower, floors. To the left of the room I notice a man standing behind a bar flipping through a large tome. He is a middle aged man, probably around 40 if i had to guess. He has very short red hair and he appears to be wearing a vest with no shirt on beneath it. He looks very toned, unlike some of the hulking piles of muscle in the room this man appears to value speed over brute force. ‘ I guess he is the one to talk to first,’ if i had to take a guess. I approach the man. As i reach the bar in front of him, he pausing what he was doing and looks at me. “How may I help you?” he asks.
“Uh, hello. I would like to join the Adventurer’s Guild” I say this with as much confidence as I can muster. He raises an eyebrow at me and asks “A little young to be fighting monsters aren’t ya?”
I smile at the man. He is right. A ten year old child joining the Adventurer’s Guild is unheard of. I think for a second then reply to him, “While I may be young, I do know what my limits are and I also know that I would rather fight to survive than slowly starve to death. I also know that the farm life is not for me.” I was rather pleased with my answer. The man smile at me, “There are no rules about age requirements in the Guild. It is up to the discretion of each Guild Master whether someone can join the Guild. I like you kid so ill let you join. Just need some basic info and I’ll get you your status card.”
The man reaches below the counter and pulls out a small white slate. The slate is rather small, only about 3“x 5“. It is solid white and looks perfectly smooth. “Alright,” the man says, “what is your name and age?” “My name is Zyrek and I turned ten years old on this day”I say. He questions me, “And what is your last name?” I can only offer him a sad smile as I answer him. “I have no family name. I was disowned by my father and forbidden from claiming my family name.” I answer him honestly, as I see no point in lying about it. “Ah, I understand” he offers my a condoling smile. “Well, we can leave that part blank for now. If you decide on a new family name that you would like to take then we can add it on later. Now take this slate and add a drop of blood to the slate. This will allow the slate to display your status, as well as to update as your status changes. This card will also allow the Guild to know if you are killed while in the filled. When you die the card will shatter. This will remove your information from the Guild Tome. In this way, people who care for you can always check to see if you are alive or not. The only way for a name to vanish from the Guild Tome is for them to leave the guild or upon their death.”
The man puts the Status Slate down in front of me and pricks my finger with his quill. A small drop of blood drops from the wound and falls onto the slate. The slate then starts glowing a very faint blue color and text begins to appear.
Zyrek
Age:10
Gender: Male
Mana:0
Mana Regen: N/A
Cognizance:1
Strength:1
Vitality:1
Constitution:1
Resilience:1
Dexterity:1
Agility:1
Soul Force:1
As I look at my status is notice that all of my attributes seem to be one. This confuses me so I decide to ask. “Well,” he says “that is actually simple. How could you measure the ability to resist disease? Is it a Vitality foot? There is no unit of measurement for attributes. The slate takes this information from your blood, but it does not have anything to really compare it to. So, the amount of strength you have now is your 1 strength. As you get stronger the number will increase. Lets say you double your strength. The Status Slate will then show a 2. The Status Slate’s main purpose is to help you keep stack of how much improvement you are making. The Status Slate is a poor tool to use in comparing between two people. If an Arch Mage joins the guild and then gets a Status Slate, his attributes would look similar to yours. Though you are still a long way off from being an Arch Mage yourself. Now let me ask you a question. I had assumed you were forced to leave your family due to your, condition. Now that I can see you have no core and therefore no mana, what will you do to survive as an adventurer?”
I can tell by the look in his eyes that he isn’t trying to belittle me so I decide to answer him. “Just because I can’t use magic doesn’t mean I can’t use magical equipment. Even if I will always be weaker than those around me doesn’t mean I plan to just lay down and die. Even if all of this is hopeless, I would rather die fighting against my fate then give in to it. Besides... its not impossible for my core to still develop.” He laughs out loud at what I said. “True, very true.” He agree’s. “Magical Equipment can increase your attributes, though without a core you will still fall short of all the other adventurer’s. I really like you kid, I can only pray that Magamos, god of magic, takes notice of you and helps with your little problem. With a will like yours, the only thing holding you back is lack of a core. Now, down to business. Journeying into the woods at your age would be a little too risky considering all things. I happen to have a contract for a job here in town. The city needs someone to go down into the sewers and help clear out some vermin that are starting to plague the city. The city is paying good money, on account of the smell. Though for you I would say it would be worth it. Rats are nasty little vermin but not too deadly if your careful. The city is paying 1 copper per tail that you turn in. There are probably millions of the little bastards down there so if you can stand the smell and stay alive, the sewers are a rare gem of an opportunity to train up a little and earn some coin. What do you say?”
I turn a little green at the prospect. My first grand adventure is to crawl through shit and piss fighting off a horde of giant rats. Oh, i just realized something. I got so caught up on the value of my attributes, I forgot to ask what they represent. Fortunately I remembered. So I asked the Guild Master, he told me his name and title was Master Broton. He played mock offended that I never asked. He then went on to explain to me what the different attributes represent. Mana is you total mana capacity, for me it is zero since i have no core. Mana Regen is the time it takes for your core to passively fill your mana supply from empty to full. Strength is a measure of the raw power of your muscles. Vitality represents your ability to resist disease, poison and it reflects your blood supply and healing rate. Constitution is a measure of the bodies ability to perform actions over time, its your bodies “energy supply.” Resilience reflects the toughness of your flesh, organs and bones and their ability to withstand trauma. Dexterity shows your general level of ability to finely control your muscles and limbs. Agility is you overall speed. It reflects your ability to dodge attacks and the speed of your attacks. Lastly is Soul Force. Soul force is a measure of the strength of your soul. Soul force is important because it reflects how sturdy your souls is and how well it can resist soul attacks.
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“Thanks for the information Master Broton. I will accept this contract. Where should I enter the sewers?” “You should probably enter from one of the manholes near the edge of the city. The infestation seems to be less concentrated there so you are less likely to get swarmed” he answers. “Ah, and one more thing, take this dagger and satchel. You can use these to collect the tails of any vermin you kill.” I thank Master Broton for all his help and I exit the Guild Hall ready for my first adventure.
It takes me roughly ten minutes to reach the manhole I had decided to enter. “Well, here we go.” I resolve myself and lift the manhole cover. As soon as I do my nose gets assaulted by a putrid smell. I now understand why the city is paying for each rat tail. Even if it is damn expensive, who would venture into this land of vile revulsion for any less. I let out a “ugh” and proceed down the manhole. You would think it would be dark down here, well you would be wrong. Between the grates from the road and some glowing stones in the roof of the sewers, the lighting is actually half decent. At least I won’t have to worry about fighting in the dark. The tunnel i find myself in goes 3 ways. The water is flowing from the path ahead of me and it is flowing down the left and right tunnel. Running concurrent to each of the tunnels is a walkway that rests above the flowing water, seems to be maintenance walkways of sorts. 'No need to wade through this shit, thankfully' I think to myself. I decide to follow the current upstream. On the side of the tunnel i head down are glowing characters that read “W8“. I hope this means the tunnels are labeled, I would hate to get lost down here.
Suddenly I hear scurrying coming from ahead of me. 30 Yards or so from me I see 4 large rats coming my way. I say rats, what I mean is small dogs. These rats are huge. They look more like a small indoors dog that nobles like to keep. Each of these beasts probably weigh 30 pounds if not more. I retrieve my mace from my belt and ready myself for the rats to reach me, It only takes about 4 breaths of time. My mace is by my side and ready to strike. As soon as the first rat reaches me it jumps and attempts to tackle me to ground. Unfortunately for him I was ready for him. Before he can reach me I swing out my mace with all my strength and strike him in the side of the head. I can feel the bones in his head shatter and my mace makes short work of his skull. Before I am able to celebrate my first kill another one of the rats jumps at me and takes a bite at my right leg. Fortunately my shin guard does its job and it manages to hold out and keeps those nasty front teeth out of my leg. Before I can shake off rat number 2 another of the vermin catches me in the stomach with a tackle and makes me lose my balance. I fall hard onto the ground. Rat number 3 tries to rip out my throat but I manage to get the shaft of my mace into his maw and push him off of me. I retrieve the dagger from my hip and stab him directly into his left eye. He lets out a high pitch shriek and starts whipping his head back and for trying to get away, spraying blood and bits of eye all over me in the process. I use the dagger as a lever to keep him from running and I smash him right in the spine with my mace. I hear bone break and his body goes limp. I quickly kick rat number 2 off of my shin and rip the dagger free. There is a short lull in the fight as the last two rats begin to hiss and snarl at me.
“Who knew rats could be so dangerous? If I were any slower to react there they would be munching on me for lunch right now” I shiver at the thought. It seems the lull is going to be short lived as both rats charge at me. The rat on the left jumps at my waist trying to knock me down and the rat on the right goes for my ankle. “Damn ankle biters” I roar as I slam my mace down and onto the back of the airborne vermin. The rat slams into the ground hard and I follow through with the hit and slam down onto the the vermin that just latched his teeth into my boot. Being rodents of unnatural size their bites hurt quite a bit. Fortunately the pain is short lived as I use all my strength to smash the rat into the stone walkway. Blood sprays all over the ground and onto the walls. I quickly use the dagger to stab the last, dazed, rat in its eye, ending its life.
I fall right onto my butt. I am tired. The fight only lasted about 8 seconds but it feels like I have been training for hours. I would never have guessed that even a short fight would be this tiring. I guess killing something that is quite literally trying to eat you takes a lot of energy. Another thing is that I used all of my strength in every attack. “I need to make sure to thank Master Broton for this dagger. I would probably be dead right now without it.” I rest for ten minutes and then collect the tails. I continue going down the tunnel. I walk for about 50 yards when I hear more scurrying sounds. I am a few feet from a turn a intersection of tunnels so I decide to sneak up and see if I can get the jump on whatever is making the noise. As I get closer i realize the noise is coming from the tunnel on the right. I peek around the corner and see 3 rats munching on what seems to be a large fish. ‘I guess a river runs into the sewer. That would explain where all the water comes from.’ Despite all my lessons on geography I actually knew very little about the lay of the land. I knew a good bit about some of surrounding cities and large scale geography, like some of the local mountain ranges and the territories of our kingdom and the surrounding kingdoms, but I was clueless to most of the other local information.
After refocusing I decide to try to rush these three rats and kill them before they get a chance to retaliate. I ready my mace in both hands and burst from around the corner. The rats were only 5 yards or so from me so I manage to make it up to them very quickly. My mace is inches from flattening the first rat before they even know I am there. I bring the mace down on the startled creature and splatter his brains into the floor. I pull the mace back and manage to strike the second rat in the head and knock it a few feet through the air where it slams into the wall. Before I can get my next attack off the third rat leaps at me and sinks his oversized from teeth into my thigh. I grit my teeth and draw the dagger and proceed to stab the rat in the neck. The rat lets go of my thigh and blood begins to flow from the wound. I pin the rat down with my left foot and bring my mace down on its ribs and destroy them in one clean hit. The pain then really kicks in. I feel the wound pulsing, fire spreading through my body. Besides a few scrapes and bruises from training with my instructor I am relatively new to the world of pain. I inspect to wound and am fortunately to find that it isn’t too deep. I think it will stop bleeding in a few minutes and I don’t think I am in any danger of it limiting my mobility. Suddenly I hear a series of shrieks and hissing sounds coming from further down the tunnel I just entered. Apparently the scuffle earlier attracted some unwanted attention in the form of 4 more rats. Great. I reverse the grip on the dagger, bring the mace up and infront of me and ready myself for battle once again. The rats act almost instantly as they begin charging me. The front most rat leaps at me attempting the same maneuver as the ones before, he tries to tackle me. I quickly side step his leap and stab him in the stomach as he flies past me. Another rat is 3 feet ahead of me and he is trying to go for my ankles. “More ankle biters.” I proceed to kick that rat in the face which stuns it long enough for my to bash in its skull. Before I can draw my mace back the third rat is upon me. He jumps at me as I am lowered and finishing off his friend. He takes the opportunity to sink his teeth into my shoulder and latches on. My senses are assaulted by the pain and I scream out, “Aaaaaahhhhh.” I use the dagger to stab the rat in its back. The first stab wasn’t nearly strong enough and it only scratches against the bone. This causes the rat to bite down harder onto my shoulder and tear into my flesh. It hurts less now but I am still unhappy about it, to say the least. I stab again a second time, this time with much more force. I am successful in driving the dagger between its ribs and I assume i hit something important as the rat goes limp and falls to the ground dead. I get the wind knocked out of my and crash into the ground as the last rat takes the opportunity to slam into me at full sprint. I manage to roll and right myself in time to see it begin charging at me again. I ready myself on my feet. I ended up dropping my mace from the impact but I still have the dagger. When the rat is a few feed from me it leaps toward my blooded left thigh. I use all the strength i have and send a powerful right kneed directly into the head of the rat, knocking it back. I bolt after it and bring the dagger down stabbing it in the side. The rat cries out and I answer with another stab to the side of the rat. I stab the thing twice more before it dies. I lay on the ground panting and hurting. I feel like i just ran ten laps around all of Valoran. I feel a burning pain coming from my shoulder and I grab onto it and wince in pain. Those rats are supposed to be the weakest of weak. They are considered vermin, not even monsters. But i can not deny they they have a nasty bite. I decide to lay there for a while to rest and recuperate.
As I lay there I feel a fire growing in my stomach. Its not painful, its actually comforting. The warmth spreads through my limps and helps sooth my muscles and my wounds. ‘I wonder what this wonderful feeling is?’ It feels like my entire body is being massaged. The pain from my thigh and shoulder are beginning to numb. I check my thigh and the wound is already beginning to clot. Thats strange. I have always been quick to heal from minor scrapes and bruises but this is strange, and there is still hat warm feeling flowing through my body. It feels like it originates in my stomach, above my naval and below my ribs. “What could be the cause” I wonder. Then it hits me. “It couldn’t be!” I exclaim. I pull out my Status Slate to check.
Zyrek
Age:10
Gender: Male
Mana: .80/1
Mana Regen: 4 hours
Cognizance:1.03
Strength: 1.02
Vitality: .90/1.01
Constitution: .63/1.05
Resilience:1.04
Dexterity:1.02
Agility:1.03
Soul Force:1.01
Affinity: Fire, Earth, Magma
As I see my status all I can laugh. I laugh and cry from the pure joy I am feeling. I am not a cripple. My future is not hopeless. I can achieve greatness if I work hard enough. Before it didn’t matter how hard I worked, I would always be cannon fodder for those who had a core. Even with magical equipment I would not be able to compete with them. But now it has all changed. My core had finally developed. I turned ten years old today. I was disowned and kicked out of my home. I was left on my own with no power. I joined the Adventurer’s Guild out of desperation. I was desperate to prove I was not useless. I was not a cripple. Now here in the sewers of Valoran, where the air smells and tastes like rotting shit, where giant rats have tried multiple times to eat me for lunch, my core has finally developed. Thank you Magamos, god of magic, bestower of knowledge, knower of secrets, the hand of life. Now I have my chance. I have my chance to make a name for myself. I lay there relaxed and let the warm feeling spread throughout my body, I feel it as it nourishes my skin, blood, bones and even my organs. I do not try to direct it because I have no knowledge of the practice of Body Enhancement, so I just relax and allow the mana to flow through me and nourish my entire body. As I lay there I feel my muscles hear from the strain of the fight, the wounds on my thigh and shoulder scab over and begin to heal at a fast pace. There is a faint red light being emitted from my body. Seeing this light I feel an inspiration. Even in my darkest moment I found a light that brought me salvation. Instead of a life of mediocrity and poverty, a life of scrapping by hoping nothing to dangerous finds me and splatter’s me to smithereens, now I have a life full of hope. I have a bright future, a future full of possibilities. I know what name I will take. From this day on I will be called Zyrek Ferolux.
(A/N: The name is derived from Latin. Fero means “to bear” and Lux means “light”. While the name Lucifer means “Light bearer” I didn’t want to use that name for my character. The main reason and the most important is that it just didn’t sound right. Zyrek Lucifer. Thats two first names, and they don’t have any “flow” together. So I did a little language butchery and arrived at Ferolux. Zyrek Ferolux.)
After resting for a half hour I decide to collect the rest of the rat tails. Eleven tails can be exchanged for Eleven copper. While it is not a fortune by any means, with my earnings I can atleast feed myself tonight. I refuse to use the money my father gave me unless I have no other choice. I will support myself in this life. I collect my mace and put it into the ring hanging from my belt, I check to make sure the dagger is secured in its sheath. With every thing collected I begin to make my way back towards the exit. I could go looking for more rats to kill but I am very excited to learn how to use some magic. I need to learn a proper way to use Body Enhancement cultivation and Core Cultivation. I also need to learn how to form spells. I make my way back to the manhole cover and I am greeted by a bright light. A welcoming sight.