Kal awoke spluttering, nearly every inch of him throbbed with pain. Leo stood over him grinning. Kal couldn’t help but smile, “How’d I do that time?” Yep, talking hurt too.

Leo smiled, “You will do well Kalum. Your technique needs work but your instincts make up for it. Now drink this and get up. Your basic training starts now.”

“Are you going to beat the crap out of me again?” Kal said with feigned dismay as he took the offered glass vial. He doubted he would last two seconds now even if Leo acted like he was level one in this state.

“No, you will be practicing your sword forms and hand-to-hand fighting with the camp followers. They are due to begin shortly”

Kal didn’t bother identifying the vial and just drank it. He immediately began to feel much better, his health jumping from three to fifty immediately and rising by three every second. “I didn’t realize the camp followers also trained.”

“Well of course they do. It’s one of the only benefits of following such a large force. The soldiers gain servants and the servants get to increase the likelihood of gaining a decent class evolution. Besides, many soldiers like myself have mentoring skills that can be used to advance. So it ultimately helps the battalion as a whole.”

Kal finally sat up feeling significantly better than a few moments ago. A few of the camp followers had started to gather in the clearing, most were of a similar age to Kal and their levels ranged from ten to fifteen. They eyed Kal irritably, it appeared Leo was right. Many of them weren’t happy to see Kal among them. Great more pricks… Will he ever get a break from the bloody stares?

He was already getting pissed off when Leo whispered to him, “I have heard a rumor that you may be interested in, Apparently the great prophet of Dhinir plans to hold a tournament amongst the hopeful followers before the raid. I'm sure nobody believes a pathetic freak could win such a thing.”

Kal frowned but when he saw Leo smirking he smiled. Then it was solidified in his mind, that the Imperial Guard Leo Brightflame was a cheeky bastard. Oh, and he would beat the shit out of every single prick in this tournament.

Leo left Kal to his training, yes the sword forms were incredibly boring and the followers kept being pricks. But the possibility of fighting in this little mock tournament urged him. So for the next several days Kal sparred with Leo, got healed up, and trained with the camp followers. After the battalions travel for the day he would eat with Dalen then continue his meditation and Soul Forge practice. Inspired by the recent events he saw consistent growth in all areas. His sword forms and hand-to-hand were significantly better, at least they didn’t disgust Leo anymore. His soul-forging had also improved, he could now forge crimson rings that last a few minutes at a time. He still felt that he was missing something to help to keep them solid but he believed that when Melisia was finally able to see his core they would find something for him to base his practice on at least. Melisia had been strange for the last few days, she seemed constantly distracted by her books. She assured him that she was looking into techniques to assist him, but her behavior had changed. He decided to ask her about her past and her studies in the seventh tower, but she quickly changed the subject. Despite what Leo had said about Melisia being proud of her accomplishments, she seemed nervous. Ah well, Kal was content with continuing his meditation practice for now. He still had things he wanted to try before he decided he was truly stuck. Another day complete Kal opened his status to his gains over the last five days.

Kalum Lesta

Status:

Class: Null

Level: 0

Race: Human

Health: 170

Stamina: 200

Mana: Null

Attributes:

Strength: 22

Agility: 14

Endurance: 20

Vitality: 17

Intellect: 11

Perception: 16

Will: 24

Wisdom: 19

Titles: Null

Skills:

Identify [Inferior], Soul Forge [Corrupt]

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

He was proud of his gains, even though he still hadn’t ascended, his training was doing something right. He had gained a total of seventeen points across his attributes, it was better than gaining a level in a rare class. It made him wonder if the children of noble houses who went through similar training gained attributes similar to his. If that was the case he was nothing special, but Melisia’s shock when he had told her about the weird cloud-form state and his new skill made him lean towards no. Kal still had a few days before this supposed tournament was taking place, and his urgency to improve hadn’t slowed in the least. Quite the opposite actually, a few of the camp followers had cornered him shortly after one of their training sessions while the camp was preparing to embark. Of course, Leo had intervened before a fight broke out. The little gang's leader was a Serf named Julin, and yep he was a real prick. But the man was probably the best amongst the followers who trained every morning, he was better with a sword than Kal. Of course, none were amazing since their lack of weapon skills restricted the full use of their attributes. Leo had told Kal that weapon skills infused some inherent understanding of their use each time they were evolved. You still needed to practice with the weapon but it would significantly speed up the learning time. The whole purpose of Kal practicing with the sword was that when he ascended he would likely be offered a sword-related skill. Leo had also insisted he practiced a little with several other kinds of weapons like axes and spears. Kal wasn’t sure what he preferred but he knew he wasn’t a fan of spears. He felt too far away from his opponent, he could see himself using one in a pinch but he knew it definitely wouldn’t be his weapon of choice. Over the next few days, Kal decided that he would practice with a shorter weapon hoping that performing more dexterity-based attacks and forms would help increase his agility. Kal knew that he likely couldn’t match any of the serfs in a battle of strength unless they heavily invested points into endurance or vitality, but he hoped that getting a few extra points into agility would help him keep up and at least avoid some of the more dangerous attacks. Overall Kal was very happy with physical growth but there was another thing Kal had noticed while getting his arse kicked by Leo or sparring. The challenge still exhilarated Kal but something still felt off about it, he wasn’t bored but felt that he couldn’t commit to the fight fully. He knew that he could attack Leo with all his strength and barely move the man’s skin, was that it? Was it the fact that he knew he couldn’t actually hurt the man? Kal didn’t think so, he liked to fight but it wasn’t the killing that made him enjoy it. Kal shrugged it off, he had time to think about all of this later. It was time to get some rest and prepare for another pummeling from Leo.

The next day’s training went well as usual, he lost his sparring match, got some side-eye from the camp followers and the prophet, and spent the day chatting with Dalen and the still strangely reserved Melisia. Life was good for Kal right now. When they finally stopped for the day Kal and Dalen went to find where the camp cook set up shop for the night. Kal was surprised after the second day when he and Dalen had found the cook, he had assumed they would be carrying trail rations or that there would be hunting parties from each unit but to his surprise the battalion had a level forty-five chef by the name of Irene. She was given a dimensional storage by the commander and simply packed up her whole tent and kitchen in an instant and brought it with her each day of the journey before plopping it down wherever she wanted. She had a whole team of serfs helping her prepare meals in bulk. Her meals were normally stews or spits but they were perfect after a day of training and travel. Dimensional storage is a beautiful thing. The Kal and Dalen took a seat at one of the fires and began chowing down on their stews.

“Have you had any luck gaining levels during our travels?” Kal asked. Genuinely interested in his friend's growth after Dalen was so smug about his strategy. He had noticed his Identify had stopped working on the man, so something must have changed.

Dalen chucked, “Of course, you won't find an army in the world that hasn’t got soldiers desperate for a pint.” He waved his hand showing his basic status.

Dalen Kreet | Tavern Keeper 18 | Human

Kal smiled, Damn Dalen really had been leveling. He was only two levels away from his first class evolution.

“Well?” Dalen asked.

“Well, what?”

“I showed you mine, so you show me yours,” he snickered.

Kal cringed, “Gods… fine here,” He showed Dalen his attributes. It had been a common occurrence during their catch-ups. Kal would show Dalen his status, and they would discuss his progress and then move on to what Dalen knew about alchemy and what he was starting to work on. Kal was about to bring up what he was about to start trying to increase when he spotted someone walking past with a bowl of stew.

“Hey Harlm, good to see you. Come sit over here.”

The dwarven smith turned towards them and paused for a moment before heading over. He looked haggard, probably worried about his son. Kal hadn’t seen Harlm since the day he kind of helped with the Redblades. Harlm sat down on one of the nearby stumps. “I wanted to thank you for dragging me back to Dalen’s.”Harlm nodded, he looked incredibly uneasy. “I’m sure we will catch up to these cultist’s before anything happens to your son.” Kal tried to sound reassuring. He doubted it would help coming from him but he felt he had to say it.

Harlm nodded gravely, “I hope so.” They sat there quietly finishing their meals, Harlm spending most of that time seemingly avoiding Kal’s gaze. Harlm finished first and left without a word. Kal turned to Dalen “Did you notice he didn’t want to look at me?”

Dalen nodded and frowned, “Yep, but I’m sure he’s just worried about his son.”

Kal and Dalen continued chatting for a while but eventually separated, Dalen heading back to his tent to work on some basic alchemical formula, and Kal heading back to Melisia’s tent to continue his meditation and soul forging.

----------------------------------------

Melisia scoured through her collection of books for anything that related to birthrights. It had been six days since she detected the first sign. Kal’s birthright. She was sure he had one, and her suspicion of which it was terrified her. Kal was such a good man from what she had seen, troubled but ultimately good. Melisia battled with the decision to continue to assist Kal every day, her order would undoubtedly want to research the man. Not as she was but they would take him through… No none of that. No, just because he had this birthright does not mean he will do as the legends say. But that nervous feeling kept crawling back into her mind, after every session it grew worse. Each time she adjusted her core divining tools, she could sense a growing dread emanating from his core. Kal seemed to be completely unaware of it, but soon he would be. They were close to revealing his core, and whatever lay there would be forced into his awareness. Melisia didn’t know what would happen when it did, but she was sure it wouldn’t be good. Melisia had delayed the reveal for a few days already, but it was only a matter of time until Kal would perceived it on his own. The tent flap flung open and the hair of Melisia’s neck suddenly rose.

“Hey Melisia, are you ready to continue?” Kal said, cheerily before taking a seat amongst the diviners.

Melisia quickly threw on a smile, “Oh, hello. Of course, let us continue. Begin as usual and I will continue to adjust the equipment. We are very close to a breakthrough.”

“Ok, that’s great,” Kal said, shrugging. Melisia realized that Kal was getting suspicious of her actions, but she just had to find out first. Was he a man or a monster?