Tyr had considered it an educational opportunity. On many fronts. One wanted to learn how to fight, then they should fight. The purest goal of fighting was to kill. This was the best place for that, where Alex's more human sensibilities could disassociate in the slaying of inhuman creatures. Tier one existences that were not given the chance to awaken, making it relatively safe.
But beyond that, he had another question he wanted answering. Technically, he'd received his answer already, but to see was to believe. And he saw.
Alex adjusted to his lessons and began killing anything that showed even the smallest hint of violence toward them. He taught her to sense killing intent. Which was a way to feel world energy in a sense, as that was how it traveled. She was a good 'student'. Better than he had been. He was confident of that, and she was talented. Far more intelligent and quicker on the uptake. If it had been her instead of Tyr taught by Varinn, she'd have become something amazing.
Most of all was the phenomena of man growing more powerful as they killed. Tyr had not been given a chance to observe it in others. All living beings possessed this ability, presumably, but men were the 'best' at it, if that was the right way to explain it. He didn't know, and he wouldn't share. Such knowledge would bring madness to the world, when people considered than they couldn't only take – but also give. Men were worth quite a bit of energy themselves, especially the strong ones.
Tyr could understand the benefits it would bring about, but even he didn't see the merit in letting the world devolve into survival of the fittest. Where the strong ruled and the weak were cattle just like these goblins. Civilization had its place.
Alex reaped, and she sowed. Sowed to her own spira. Growing more powerful, though very slowly. When night fell, her core of world energy was near the point of 'advancing'. That which Tyr had passed multiple times. He knew it would come soon, better now than when he wasn't around.
“Alex.”
“Hmm?” She had calmed herself after the stressful experience. Tyr considered it a good sign that it wasn't from coldness in her heart, or a deadness to the significance of it, but confidence instead. He was toxic. Poison on two legs, and it was good to see that she wasn't like him. Instead of bottling it all up or displaying apathy toward it, she processed it all in a much healthier way.
“Something is going to happen.” He replied. “It's going to hurt, probably a lot since its your first time. I want you to trust me. I need you to trust me. You might want to die, but you won't. You'll feel pain, and I'll try my best to deliver you from it. Can you do that? Do you have any faith in me?”
Contrary to expectations, her reply was direct and honest. “Absolutely. What... What do you mean, though?”
“There is...”
No point to hiding it from her now. I've guided her through the killing of over a hundred monsters and she'll experience it eventually. The energy was split, but she was 'given' the majority of it, only when she struck the killing blow. It was incredible, these souls of theirs. Typically, the human body would slowly metabolize it, but due to the vast influx of energy in such a short period – there was a breaking point. One he'd felt himself in the past. Too much, too fast.
Or perhaps those who understood the spira could relax and circulate it properly. If that were the case, he didn't posses the ability to avoid the horrible process.
An incredible pain for a small amount of progress. A small price to pay, when one understood that it offered the ability to transcend their limits. Even live longer, if Tyr's initial theory was correct.
Thus, he told her everything. And throughout it all, she listened. Really listened. Showing no doubt or skepticism. Nodding, she followed his instructions to bury her spear in the bovaur so near death, pushing her over the brink.
First, she dropped her ranseur. It was a cheap thing, all told. Tyr would have to forge her a new one eventually but hadn't had the time, promising to do his best to equip them better.
Second, she clutched her throat. Viscous black liquid sprayed from her mouth. Her eyes were full of fear, she had thought she'd been ready – or that he was cracked in the head. In any case, she wasn't ready in the least. Too fast for her internal energies to process. Her mana went wild, strong as it was, resisting the spira, flying out of her in a wave that caused great pain to Tyr. But he held her, cradling her head throughout it all. It stank. The stench was beyond imagining, far worse than his had been.
Throughout it, he was given a third person perspective on how the phenomena operated. The expelling of toxins, maybe. It was hard to say, a detoxification both spiritual and physical. Refining her world energy and mana core in tandem. To compensate for the changes, both drew on the energies around them. Here so near a dungeon, it was easier than anywhere else, what with the thick mana.
It wasn't part of Tyr's plan, but he'd never had much of a plan at all. If anything, in his cold mind, it served as an experiment so that he'd be ready for the future. A few troviskan larvae attempted to crawl toward them. A tiyanak and a hubergen too, but they were weak things. Tyr barely needed to lift a finger to incinerate them as soon as they came within range. Another experiment, to test the limits of the spellbreakers. Capable of assisting him in focusing his mana and casting spells at the equivalent of a level two standard with a thought.
Not so powerful, but things were never that easy. It was good enough. Eventually, she calmed herself. Her bones ground against each other and her brow was beaded with sweat. Beyond the stench and her incredibly quantity of impurities... It had seemed less terrible than his own.
If it were structured in 'levels', it might identify the significance between the two. Tyr was beyond her and the others. They were superior in magic, but he could 'smell' it on them. Their life force was weaker than his own. Only Iscari had more of it now. A good standard to allow him, with his human mind, to consider what it all meant.
“W-what... What happened...? I...!?” Too weak to scream, too dry in the mouth to do much more than croak. Her mana core was near a fifth more powerful. Her world energy about the same. For only a single advancement, it was a significant one for her. Tyr's had been nowhere near so incredible, if it had been he'd have been many times stronger after experiencing it over thirty times. Perhaps the proof lay in the pudding, as an example that talent was what it was. Talent or birth. An obstacle that raw effort could never surmount.
Or, alternatively, through her experience with the college and long period of practical study – she'd reached a higher realm that he'd expected. With his elementary understanding of spira, it was beyond his meager understanding. It was possible that those who were born with denser mana or developing themselves down one path over another would experience different... Gains? They were opposites in terms of their balance of energy, and it stood to reason considering the relationship between spira and mana. Jumping ahead many steps instead of just one at a time because of the balance, corrected through the process.
“I...” It also didn't take long for her to understand the significance of her change. Alex was an incredible talent, from a young age she'd been far ahead of her peers, Tyr included. Searching for answers as to what had just happened, she wouldn't miss it the way he had the first dozen or so times. “This is incredible. You knew this the whole time!? We should tell people! We should--”
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Tyr pressed a finger to her lips. Cross-legged and still cradling her feverish body. “We can't. I share this with you because I think I am supposed to trust you. If you tell anyone, you might die. I'm not quite sure yet, but I am confident someone or something is keeping this a secret, unlike what I told you earlier. I'll need your oath.”
Alex tightened around the lips, staring up into her eyes and noting how incredibly hard they were. “And if I don't?”
“Then I'll try my best to protect you. It is your decision.” Tyr responded. “Only the primus should know this, and I might be committing a terrible crime myself in showing you. My life is in your hands, as is your own. Use your brain and you'll know why. Your oath?”
An oath was steel in Haran. A promise was a promise as a primus was a primus. Oaths broken was a life ruined, and giving one in good faith even verbally had great significance to their people. He required no lawkeeper or a representative, it was enough to hear it.
She offered it. Faith begot faith. She would show Tyr his, and in all reality – she had no interest in allowing others to learn of this once she'd considered it. It would be madness in the streets. Only an idiot wouldn't realize this through their first pass through. She'd changed. Slightly, but it was an incredible step, something to give her great advantage over any other human. To know how this world operated and how she could better herself, and therefore better protect the people of her homeland. Their homeland.
–
Okami had an easy enough time bringing her home. Tyr would stay, to reap a harvest for himself in a way human society might consider more ethical. An almost 'public service' that would see him rewarded with merits and points courtesy of the adventurers guild. Freelance contracts outside of bounties didn't pay in currency, but points could be exchanged directly into gold. Similar to the academy, in a way. Anything he killed was one less golem necessary to oversee the area, one less expenditure of mana contained in their cores.
There was a relatively low daily maximum for simple monster slaying, but the guilds were happy to oblige him an extension as long as he left their corpses for later harvesting. Everything had some sort of value.
Goblins were worth about two silver coins for five. Tyr remained peaceful with those that did him no harm, but it was fairly relatively good money. Something like a troviskan larva, captured alive, could sell for a great deal. Too bad it was illegal, so he'd kill them for three silvers per host, all tracked by the badge he was given to allow him entry. His permit pass.
Naturally, Tyr wasn't in it for the money. Compared to what he still had, this was nothing but loose change. That didn't stop him from enjoying it though. Gainful employment had a merit to I and it felt good to feel the vibration of his badge as it tagged the kill.
Thus far, he hadn't seen any other adventurers in the ramshackle town, just the golems. It was all built into a well ordered grid giving him a very favorable line of sight. Two silver per dog sized spider, terrachnids. One silver per hagmonkey. A whopping three silvers per mimic. The profits weren't great, but as always, Tyr reaped in other ways. Stalking the streets like a phantom for three entire days.
Some of the creatures would die and spill contents from their guts. Lesser magical artifacts of a nature that could not be determined. Another perk of the dungeons. At the very least, they'd smelt into usable scrap. These things he was permitted to keep based on his agreement with the guild with very few exceptions.
Most of them time they weren't even usable. Blades without handles, spear hafts or odd cubes about twice the size of dice with no purpose to them. Some of the artifacts were clearly magical in nature, but they'd look like a metal dinner plate that had been crushed and folded over many times. Warped and unnatural, with jagged edges and holes through them. In any case, again, most were cast from shoddily alloyed manatite derivatives so they were still worth something.
He was in the process of stuffing several enchanted 'daggers' he'd dug out of the gut of a giant spider into his dimensional ring when he heard the shuffling of feet.
“Well, well, well... What do we have here?”
Wondering how the kijin had managed to take him unawares without him sensing it first was a question that would have to wait. Tyr remained relaxed, noting that several more humanoid figures as well as the crustacean-like maxxid were observing him from their positions along the road. Eight in total, larger than your average party. Each of them wore a badge similar to his own, denoting them as proper adventurers.
The kijin had luminescent red eyes that seemed to stare into the deepest parts of his soul. Nothing so complicated, he knew that, but with the coming of dusk they stood out as twin orbs in the darkness. Eerie and unblinking.
“Bounty on your head, did you know that? Eighteen gold courtesy of some mystery client.” The kijin continued after Tyr refused to respond to his ill greeting. Monotone, voice bereft of any emotion, just an observance of fact. “And here you are, all alone.”
Tyr clucked his tongue in annoyance. He grit his teeth, wondering how Alex would feel after he'd broken all of these 'men'. Even after all the lessons. “You'd think they'd have the sense to round it up to an even twenty.” On second thought, this had to be justification enough, and she wasn't here to feel betrayed or lied to. He'd spent three days in this place, growing grumpier every day. It was irritating how much work went into refining his world energy compared to her startling change. Tyr enjoyed the hunt, but the grind of it was agitating to say the least.
“Twenty... Eighteen... Gold's gold, so why don't you go ahead and throw down that blade of yours.”
The spellbreaker gauntlets did their job. Easy as breathing, as good a focus as he'd ever held or tested. Elemental fire filled his limbs until they were nigh bursting with power, enough to carrying him across the plaza with incredible speed. So fast that the kijin barely had time to avoid the loping smash from Tyr's crudely imagined war hammer. Missing his chin by mere inches.
“Oi, man! It was just a joke, relax!”
“...A joke?” Tyr paused, but he didn't relax. Earth mana filled him to ward off any projectiles. His skin took a rigid appearance, cracked and split in some places. Purely cosmetic, it did not pain him or cause him to bleed from the cracks, though the use of two elements at once did give him a headache. “A stupid one. What if I didn't miss?”
“Kirk said you were pals now after the scrap in the city. Wanted to pull a little mischief. No harm intended, or we'd have come at you before you noticed us...” Tyr could smell it. Air magic to shroud the sound of their steps and moving bits of armor. Darkness magic to eliminate their smell. If anything, the kijin was competent, a better mage than Tyr to be sure. “Eighteen gold for the head of am imperial prince? I'm not suicidal for anything less than a few hundred creds, man.”
“You know who I am?” Tyr asked. “And... So, there really is a bounty on my head?”
“Yes and yes. Kind of hard to avoid knowing when you stood in front of a band of northmen screaming 'primus' this and primus that. Gave me chills, haven't ever had a fight like that.”
Tyr snorted, allowing the auronite of his weapon to become a blade again before slamming it into his sheathe. “What do you want?” Worrying about such a petty bounty was below him. Eighteen gold to kill another man was a paupers purse, a joke of its own.
“Just to say hello.” The kijin shrugged. “I didn't expect you to come charging right out of the gate like that.”
“Typically...” Tyr sighed. “One would expect armed adults to behave themselves. What are you – thirty years old, forty?” The kijin had to be old, what with its adult features. Old enough to develop a sense of maturity, one would think.
“Me...?” The kijin looked confused. “I'm only eight cycles old. You?”
“Eight!?”
“Yes. Kirk is only four.”
“Seriously?” Tyr clicked at the maxxid who had a rather mundane and normal name compared to his expectations, wondering how exactly an arthropod was capable of smoking from a pipe. But he was doing it, blowing geometric shapes into the air from his... Maxillipeds?
Mouth would probably be fine... Tyr frowned.
“Naturally you cannot expect all of the other races to behave in a manner you'd expect of humans. Our maturation and gestation cycles are simply different. My egg was laid and hatched within hours, reaching adolescence at three cycles. Do not be ignorant, my brother. Kijin age must faster than man, reaching maturity within two cycles. This is common sense. Everyone knows this.”
“...Ah. Well... A pleasure to officially meet you... Kirk?”
“It is easier on his mammalian vocal chords. My actual name is Krrrk Tikik Lklklklk Wulululun. You see? He does not speak the deep tongue as you do. Our only means of communication are via writings, but it is well enough. I have no taste for the language of the shell-less ones.”
“Ah...” Tyr coughed, feeling a bit awkward. He'd admit that he had little knowledge regarding the rarer races, but this was a shock to his system. To think that a four year old and eight year old were our here slaying was out no matter what race they hailed from.
“That reminds me. Name's Benny. And you're Tyr, we already know that. Since you're here and all, want to help us take down a scorpicore? Twelve percent of the cut is yours if you help us out.”