Blaze had gotten a uniform and a crest, to show he was part of the dojo. He had been sent back home ad when he told Mr. Hedgelow that he didn’t have a home, Hedgelow had just smiled. He had given him a key and an address, which led Blaze and Tom to a two story house with clean walls and a garden with a pond. Blaze and Tom had instantly gone to bed and Tom thought Blaze meditation methods at the garden.

“Hey, Blaze, what’s this?” Tom called out from the living room.

“What do you mean?” Blaze asked, entering the living room. Blaze still couldn’t believe he was living in a house. His entire life he had lived in a cottage with only two rooms and now, he was living in heaven. Tom had considered this house small but for Blaze, it was massive.

“This.” Tom thumped his fist on a chest on the corner of the living room, hidden behind the grandfather clock. The room had blue walls and a balcony, with a marble table and wooden chairs. Blaze peered at the chest. On the top was the label ‘Alexander Draconis & Elyn Estenell’. Blaze blinked in surprise.

“That’s my father and mother.”

“Your parents are a chest? No wonder you're not the sharpest tool in the shed.” Tom said, mockingly.

“No, of course not! I mean the names.” Blaze answered, offended, then a sad look crossed his face. “My parents are dead. You know that.”

Tom went silent for a moment, then shook his head like trying to get rid of some kind of thought in his head and tried to open the chest. It wouldn’t budge.

“You try, maybe it’s blood binding.” Tom told Blaze. Blaze stepped over to the chest next to Tom and crouched down next to him. He stared solemnly at the chest, then reached over and tried to open it– with no luck. Blaze tried using a tier 4 unlocking ritual but failed.

“This is either a Tier 5 lock or something else.” Blaze said and stood up. “I’ll ask Mr. Hedgelow about it later. First, we need money.”

Tom stared at the chest for a moment, then stood up next to Blaze and nodded.

“Normal jobs won’t cut it. You still have training to do and I need to apply for a monster hunter. Maybe gambling?”

“Do you even know how to gamble?” Blaze asked.

“No.” Tom said, frowning. “I’ll figure something out. You need to go to training.”

“Right! See you later!” Blaze said and ran off.

****

“Ah, that chest. I forgot about that.” Hiro Hedgelow said. “Those are the belongings of Alexander and Elyn. I forgot they left their stuff to me. Well, it would have suited them well for their own son to have their possessions. Get back to training.” Hiro hushed Blaze off. Blaze ran back to the group. He halted next to Jake, his only friend at the dojo. He had blond hair and blue eyes, with a strong body. Jake was slightly taller than Blaze. Jake had greeted Blaze and had shown him everything he had needed to know. Everyone else had either disdained or feared Blaze. No one had forgotten Blaze’s demonstration of power.

“Took you long enough. What have you been doing?” Jake asked. He had also been casual with Blaze but Blaze had felt nervosity at first in Jake’s aura. Blaze noticed that only one other had aura senses, the girl with silver hair and green eyes. She had ignored Blaze the whole time, not even sparing him a glance. Jake noticed Blaze’s gaze and put his hand on Blaze’s shoulder.

“It’s fine. Lily only acknowledges people that beat her.” Then, Jake grimaced. “In other words, she acknowledges no one.”

“No one has ever beat her?” Blaze asked, impressed. Tom waved a hand in a dismissive gesture.

“Let’s not get into specifics, we need to train, you know?” Blaze grinned apologetically and nodded.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Wanna spar?” Blaze asked and Jake groaned.

“And lose to you again? No thanks!” Blaze rolled his eyes but didn’t stop grinning.

“If you just learn to use your massive sword better, you’d have a chance.”

Excalibur

Uncommon Summon

Angel

This ability summons the holy blade Excalibur using high mana. Excalibur deals blunt damage and burn damage. By adding additional extreme mana, deal true damage. This star power increases rank with the highest rank star power in the user's arsenal. This star power uses high mana. This star power unlocks mana.

“A chance!” Jake told Blaze. “Every time I swing my sword at you, you just use some kind of spell or something and punch me in the stomach!”

“Then stop swinging your sword like a barbarian and try to look for an opening. I learned to fight only two days ago!” Blaze told Jake.

“The sword is heavy.” Jake muttered.

“How does that stop you from making a plan?” Blaze asked. Jake put on a pouty face and Blaze laughed.

“You’ll get there.” Blaze reassured Jake, then turned to call out to Lily.

“Hey, want to spar? Jake here doesn’t have the guts!” Jake punched Blaze in the ribs with his elbow.

“Ow.” Blaze muttered under his breath and rubbed his ribs. Lily glanced at the two boys, rolled her eyes, then walked over to them.

“You alone, Draconis, I wouldn’t bother.” She told him coldly. “I’ll face you both.” Blaze blinked, then grinned.

“Hey Jake, she talks.” Blaze said. A fist rammed itself right into Blaze’s stomach and Blaze toppled over and fell to the ground.

“I deserved that.” Blaze groaned.

“Yes, you did.” Jake assured him.

****

“Give me the strength of giants.” Blaze chanted. He aimed his ritual at Jake. Jake instantly grew bigger, much more than Blaze had and muscles started rippling through his body.

“Huh. I guess my height is just perfect.” Blaze told himself.

“Stop admiring yourself and start punching!” Jake told him and summoned a double edged sword with the length of twice his entire arm. “Bestow me the slayer of gods.” Jake raised his blade and aimed it at Lily, who stood unmoving, unimpressed.

“Distract her, I’ll try to get her from the back.” Blaze whispered to Jake, then started casting the same strengthening ritual for himself. Meanwhile, Jake moved. He had rare rank speed now and he got to Lily in a matter of seconds. He swung his sword down– and hit only air. Lily had disappeared. Jake blinked, then he was kicked hard on the head. Jake stumbled forward but kept himself from falling. He whirled around but found nothing.

“Teleportation.” Jake murmured. “Or speed.” Either way, this was a bad matchup for him. Jake’s setup was all about damage. His uncommon power, Barbaric Attacker, boosted his strength greatly. However, when it came to quick targets, Jake was almost useless.

“I need a speed pow– Oof!” Jake was cut off when five quick punches landed on his back.

“This is like fighting Blaze.” He growled and started circling quickly, trying to cover up all his openings. He heard an ‘Oof’ behind him and whirled around. Lily was standing there with Blaze, facing each other.

“I’ll flank you, you just make sure she gets hit.” Blaze told Jake, then dashed towards Lily. She disappeared, leaving only kicked up wind behind. Blaze turned instantly and ran back to Jake.

“That’s some speed alright. What rank though? Definitely not common, that’s for sure.” Blaze considered. “How do you beat an enemy faster than you?”

“You can’t.” Lily suddenly said behind both of the boys. They both whirled around to stare at each other and both got fists in the stomach. Jake gasped and stumbled back while Blaze just made a wheezing, groaning sound as he fell to his knees.

“That- was- not- nice.” Blaze managed to say.

“It wasn’t meant to be.” Lily said, behind him again.

“You are quite talkative today, did you eat some kind of medicine?” Blaze asked before getting in the face ten times.

****

“What’s with that girl?” Blaze wondered as he and Jake were both taking a break from training. “She seems to like to hit me. Am I that agitating?”

“I don’t know, maybe it’s something about you talking about her social issues all the time?” Jake asked, sarcastically.

“Maybe.” Blaze muttered. “Doesn’t mean I’m gonna stop.”

“It’s confirmed, you’re a lunatic.” Jake groaned.