Three years passed at Drisil academy before Kyrion was permitted to enter the practitioner rank by Gamodren. The following two years were spent learning the limits of his new abilities. Which will not be laid out in a convenient menu-based format. Suffice it to say versatility and misdirection were the focus.

Ceres reached the third threshold of the practitioner tier in that time. Making her the strongest in terms of rank in their group.

Tiffany entered practitioner a year earlier than Kyrion and was now at the second threshold. Her swordsmanship and magical ability grew exponentially. She made it to rank four in their class, right under Ander.

Ander was still as secretive as ever but had managed to bind with Fujin for his second threshold spirit. Giving him access to a new form of lightning to hide from the rank one.

Brion regained full mobility after two more years of training. He then became a practitioner at the three-year mark. Bonding with the supposed legendary sword Kyrion had gifted him. His rank stayed at five as he continued to grow in power.

Cecil did not enter rank matches, preferring to practice his craft in peace. Nevertheless, a few odd gadgets and gizmos made their way into the arms of this country’s army.

Bella was a first threshold practitioner like Kyrion. She preferred to shadow Cecil and avoided rank matches when she could.

Maximus turned out to have a taming ability. Which disqualified him from participating in one on one events for rank battles. Tamers had their own system of rank. They need to pass eight different tests and earn the chance to compete in a grand tournament. Max is currently ranked two in the tamer’s ranking.

Kyrion never got to fight Amadeus again, and he didn’t want to. He was unranked and preferred it that way. Easy to skip when no one cared who you were after all.

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Kyrion was headed to the capital of Etrevonia. On official business. He had a letter to deliver from the headmaster, or so he had been told. Along with the letter was a list of tasks he had to complete before his arrival.

Obtain a horn from a Golian Buffalo. Then, take the hide from an Oterian Bear and check on the village of Coran. It was a bit of a roundabout trip, but it should be easy. One he could make on his own.

Standing a solid six-foot-eight Kyrion with long red hair that flowed to his back and light-brown skin that evenly coated his entire body. His traveling robes hid most of his bulk and muscles gained from training. At his side was a metal staff with a feathered fan lined with silver fur, while a walnut sat inside an emerald. As though the gem crystalized over the nut. Hidden in his robes were weights that each weighed more than a ton on each limb. His total weight was a bit over eight tons total. An enchantment that prevented them from adding pressure to the ground below him was a necessity.

The Golian Buffalo were residents of the Golia plains northeast of the Draxis River that split the continent in two. From there, he’d travel North to the village of Coran which was near the border of Etrevonia, Welheim, and Lodrim, to rest before taking on the Oterian bear. The Oterian bear is a creature not native to this country and had forcibly migrated here when the war destroyed its territory a few years back. It was supposedly of the practitioner rank and had been relatively peaceful until recently.

Kyrion began his trek through the plains of Golia in search of his target. Moving with the tall grass and masking his appearance. Kyrion spent the day skulking in the grass and adding its scent to his own. That night he set up a defensive ward and went to sleep without a fire.

The following day he sat out and found a pack of the creatures traveling. Kyion stayed on the trail of the animals for two days before he saw one had begun to lag behind. By nightfall, Kyrion had caught up to it. Finally, putting the beast out of its misery with a jab near the creature’s thick temple.

After some inspection, he found that the meat wasn’t clean. Instead, something sharp and jagged was embedded from the sole to the ankle. Signs of infection had set in, and the animal suffered for it. Kyrion cut open the wound with a scalpel and discovered that some sort of leach had buried itself into the creature’s corpse.

Kyrion buried the animal after taking its horn. He then planted a flower where the creature rested.

Kyrion arrived at Coran the following day. It was a small farming town Southeast of his final destination. Much smaller than the village he grew up in, with very few shops. There wasn’t even an inn. He’d have to find and secure a place to sleep before anything else.

Kyrion found his way to the local tanners and knocked on their door. There was no sign, but the smell of rot was a dead giveaway to someone with common sense.

A grumpy bearded man answered the door.

“Who are you and wha? Do. ya. Wan?” The man paused as he saw the giant lined up at his home and place of business.

“I’m looking for a place to rest. I’m passing through. If you know of anyone with an extra room I could borrow and in need of help, can you let me know?” Kyrion’s still tenor voice asked as that had yet to change much in his years of growth.

“Kid wha ah they feed’n ya to git so big.” The tanner was wide-eyed.

“Everything and the pot used to cook it.” Kyrion answered with a smile.

“Oh right. The Miller’s daughter got sick, poor thing. Work is slow. I’m sure they have room.”

“Thank you.” Kyion handed the man two silver. It was a lot of money in a village like this, and giving someone gold with no place to spend it was a bad idea.

“No. Thank you traveler!” The grumpy man was a lot less grumpy now.

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Kyrion made his way toward a windmill that was currently turning. The house nearby was a two-story building. A wheat field lay nearby. It looked like the plants hadn’t been watered in two days. Some of the plants showed signs of damage.

Kyrion knocked on the door.

There was no answer.

Kyrion knocked again and waited five minutes before he decided to find another way in.

The second-story window was slightly ajar. It wouldn’t have been hard to get it that way. The house was also made of brick. Kyrion closed his eyes and let his senses ping inside the building. Three people were on the second floor. Two had a minuscule amount of mana that seemed to waver like a candle low on wax. While a third source on that floor had quite a bit more, although it was also slowly fading.

Kyrion decided to use the obvious entrance this time around. Jumping from the ground floor to the second-story balcony. Landing softly on the roof. He opened the window and poked his head in.

“Excuse me!” Kyrion said into the room.

“Y-es?” Asked a weak voice.

“I heard someone here is in need of assistance. Is this the Miller’s residence?”

Kyrion looked into the room and saw a small form lying on the bed with sunken eyes. Their skin was excessively wrinkled, and their hair was very thin and brittle. The color was a sickly gray hue that seemed to be unnatural. It was like looking at a corpse.

From the window, Kyrion’s red hair was covered in sunlight, making it appear lighter. His form was covered in radiance.

“Are you an angel?” The figure on the bed asked.

“No. I’m here to help the Millers get back to work. People need their bread afterall. Can’t believe they’re just sleeping here.” Kyrion sauntered into the room.

“So you aren’t here to help?” The figure turned away from him.

“I’m just here to mooch off of your hospitality. I need a place to sleep and food to eat. Though you seem quite out of it. What’s wrong with you?”

Kyrion placed his hand on the shoulder of the man who collapsed near the bed. He shook the man gently, and there was no response. His body was cold like a corpse, and there was no pulse.

He then placed another hand on the shoulder of the woman on the other end of the bed and grimaced.

“I’ve been cursed.”

“Do you know the origin?” Kyrion asked with a calm expression.

Kyrion closed his eyes and opened his senses to the world around him. First, he discovered two tendrils of mana leaking out from the corpse-like adults and down the stairs. A third line, much thicker, was on the sick girl’s neck.

“I don’t know.” She muttered.

“Fine then. Can you swallow medicine?” Kyrion asked as he pulled out a dark red berry.

“Medicine? Is it nasty?”

“It’s the sweetest medicine you’ll ever eat.” Kyrion said cheerily before eying the two corpses with dark rings under their eyes and blank expressions. Kyrion subtly removed his eye patch before placing the pea-sized berry in her mouth.

After it was consumed, Kyrion watched as the mana from the berry seemed to get siphoned off to the top of the girl’s neck. His sense traced the line down the stairs and pinged. Something was under the house.

“I’m going to sit you up. Is that ok? The medicine needs you to be sitting up so that it can flow down. Is that ok?” Kyrion lied.

“Ok.” The girl said tiredly.

Kyrion sat her up and pushed her hair to the side, revealing a black leech-like creature on the back of her neck.

Kyrion sent a wave of life mana at the creature, and it faded into ash.

“A few days of rest and some food should get you back to a hundred percent. That’s quite a lot of mana you have by the way. You could probably become a spirit master if you wanted to.”

“So you’re a spirit master? Are you from the clergy?”

“No. Just passing by on business. Do you mind if I root around in your cellar a bit?”

“Of course.” The girl said.

Kyrion sat a tangerine on the dresser before he moved down a set of rickety stairs.

“Hmmm… There is no way I can think of to explain how I broke into someone’s house and healed a child and discovered that the parents were dead before I got there. She clearly looked worse than the adults yet she was mostly fine.” Kyrion stood above a door that led to a staircase that went downwards.

“Would this have happened if I hadn’t come here?” Kyrion scowled as he opened the door.

A giant rat lunged at the boy from the doorway.

“Nope.” Kyrion slapped the creator across its snout, snapping its neck with ease and sending it into the cellar wall.

“Hmmm.” Kyrion closed the cellar door behind him and lit an oil lamp to light the room.

Five rodents had turned their heads towards the light and then the red-haired giant. One immediately started playing dead. That was not going to work.

Kyrion let a wave of wind mana pulse from his position and bisected the creatures in an instant.

Their corpses were placed inside a bag before getting sent to his domain.

Walking into the storage section of the cellar, Kyrion saw a humanoid with purple flesh and a leech head. It had no eyes and only a mouth with a set of whirling teeth. At its slimy tendrils that were supposedly feet were a series of other leeches that were carbon copies of the one that was on the neck of the girl above.

The creature turned towards him and attacked by sending a wave of psychic force at Kyrion.

Kyrion felt a pressure in his head that faded instantly. “Looks like you’re here for a fight.”

Kyrion cracked his knuckles as his body became infused in a thick layer of life mana.

The leeches that flew towards him died when they made contact with the barrier. Which proved to be an antithesis of their own being.

The leech-headed monster flinched as Kyrion slowly walked towards the creature covered in a bright radiance of life mana.

“I sorry! No kill!” The creature panicked.

Kyrions senses told him that the monster was only a fledgling. Still, in a remote place like this, any sentient monster could do much damage. It had taken the lives of at least two humans.

Kyrion didn’t like killing needlessly. In fact, had it been a person that could have been subdued and placed into the custody of the empire’s guards. But no, this creature was a monster whose first thought was to take the lives of villagers who couldn’t fight back. He also noticed that the beast had over 32 brains that seemed to move about. So it couldn’t be subdued through normal means.

“Did you give them a chance to surrender?” Kyrion asked.

“Oh, so you’re here because of them. They’re still alive, don’t worry, in fact I’m sure that they’ll happily come down and show you.”

A blood-curdling scream echoed from above.

“Mommy! What are you doing! Help!” The girl cried from above. Followed the thudding of footsteps heading downstairs.

“What did you do?” Kyrion asked as his voice cracked and began to sound a bit off. It went from tenor into a falsetto as though he sang the last word of the question. His hair had started to hide his eyes.

“Nothing, yet. See, just turn around and you’ll see that everyone is alive.”

“Ahh yes, rage, I can fill it. Are you going to let me take care of him? I promise I'll make it quick just let me hold the reins.” Psycho said with a giddy voice.

“No. This is my fault. I should have come here first, the horn could have waited.” Kyion whispered aloud as he began to clench his hand as a sphere of wind surrounded his foe.

“W-what are you doing?” The leech began to worry as it was trapped.

“Nothing yet.” Kyrion said in a sing-song voice.

“Just turn around and you’ll see that they’re fine.” The leech said.

“So that you can fling one of your parasites onto my neck when I’m not looking? Ok. I’ll humor you.” Kyrion turned around and confirmed that the two adults were walking corpses animated by the leech’s mana.

A splat sound echoed behind Kyrion, who held his somewhat clenched hand up.

A leech that had connected with the wall of swirling wind had been turned into pulp in an instant.

“Close your eyes and next you open them, this nightmare will be over. Ok? Your life may be different but this nightmare will be over.” Kyrion told the girl as he approached her, his back facing the enemy.

The girl was scared but did as she asked.

Kyrion balled his clenched hand into a fist and whispered.

“Rend.”

The creature behind him was eviscerated by blades of wind. The liquid that remained left behind was a purple stain on the ground. The two undead collapsed as the mana animating them stopped flowing toward them.

“This left a sour taste in my mouth.” Kyrion tied up his red hair and left the cellar. Cleansing the muck on his sandals with some water.

Kyrion sighed as he picked up the weak girl and injected her with healing mana in a place that would induce a nap as he left the house.

“She won’t want to see this place again anytime soon.”