"If we keep advancing this fast, we’ll be home rather quickly," said Kwame as they walked towards the town.
"Good. I can't take this place anymore. Everywhere we go, people are treated like trash. What’s the difference behind calling enslaved people “servants” if they are still treated like slaves?" Daniel complained.
"Soon we'll reach home, my friend... What do you think about the kids we are bringing?" asked Kwame.
"They will have a better life for sure. From what I can tell, the most disturbed is the faun."
"Did you see him training while we came here?"
"He trained every single day on the trip so far. Not even we do that, Kwame... I'm afraid it might be too much." Daniel answered.
"Do not worry. I’m paying close attention to him. His dedication might surprise you soon enough..."
If I had that kid's blessings, I'm not sure I would ever stop training as much. Hahah. Kwame thought.
"What's with that weird smile?" asked Daniel, looking at his friend's contorted face.
"Nothing. We are almost at the market. Let's go."
Arriving at the market, both men negotiated food for the entire caravan. The group, formed by the party and the guests, was 14 people. Food for the next part of the trip would be grains, and the meat would have to hunt.
It would take a day to ascertain all the grain and organize it in the carts, so Kwame and Daniel went to the guild.
In small cities, the guild had a similar but smaller setup. There was a small place for adventurers to gather, a board with the oldest jobs listed, and the front desk.
A few people were at the guild when both entered. Everyone started looking at the two and whispering.
"Can you look at their status? I'm level 17 now and cannot appraise either of them!" whispered one of the tables.
"I cannot. Who are these monsters??" another person whispered back.
"They are probably using items to mask their status." a different table entered the conversation. "Even so, those are expensive!"
Daniel heard the gossip but ignored it, looking at the board with posted jobs next to the reception.
"Hello, gentleman. How may we be of service today?" Asked the woman from the front desk.
"Hello, my dear. We are not looking for jobs so far. We only have 2–3 days in the city." said Kwame.
"Definitely. May I have your guild card?" She asked.
Kwame forwarded his card, and the woman choked at her own words.
"We have nothing of your caliber, Mr. Kwame."
Impatient, Daniel had his arms crossed as his foot was tapping the guild floor, he interjected. "Do not worry, we want to exercise a bit. So, any jobs need attention?" he asked.
"We have some goblins making problems on some lands near the mountains. It is a four-hour walk from here, or you can get there by horse in half the time."
"We'll take it," said Kwame.
"Thank you for your help. Please bring the ears as proof of your troubles. If you find any loot, the guild will buy it."
“Yea, yea...". Said Daniel, waving his hand at the front desk.
As they walked out, Kwame placed his hand on his friend’s shoulder.
"You should control your tamper, Daniel." he said.
"Control my tamper? We are about to help a farm in this horrible country... Do you want to bet they will also have your "servants" when we arrive there?" Asked Daniel, grunting on the last bit.
"While we can't save everyone, we must do what we can to the ones we can, Daniel. We talked about this."
"I still don't think it is enough. You better take Zara or Amelia with you. I don't feel like dealing with these goblins…"
Kwame felt silent and walked along with his friend towards the city gates.
Daniel had a troubled childhood. After his ritual, he was sold to a noble family because of his blessings. He had two blessings, a rare catch for any individual and nobles.
His mother and father tried to help, but all they achieved was dying in front of him. That memory has haunted him since he was eight. The noble helped him train as a guard in the following years, but that anger made Daniel mad. He killed that noble and then ran to the other continent. He resents servitude and slavery ever since, especially because in this country, there was no boundary between them.
Kwame was afraid that in a job like this, he might join the goblins in wreaking havoc on the farms.
They looked around as they arrived at the camp only to realize Bryn was not there. Approaching Zara, Daniel pocked her.
"Hey, kitty, where is our new favorite pet?" he said.
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"Kwame, you one day I'll kill this man in his sleep." Zara answered, ignoring Daniel.
"Seriously though, did he run away?" Daniel's tone was concerned.
"Not at all. He is a freak, that is all. When we arrived, you guys left for the city. The kid started doing strange moves for an hour, then even more fighting moves. He did those for the entire morning! After that, he went straight to the cooks, asking them to help with anything he could. And now, after lunch, he waited for 2 hours and started jumping around everywhere. I'm a cat person, and we don't like so much exercise."
"Could you tell me where he is?" Asked Daniel.
"Keep walking in this direction. He was trying something in the trees."
"Daniel, you go check on him. Zara, you come with me; we are going goblin hunting!" said Kwame
"I just told you I dislike moving about... Are you punishing me?" asked Zara.
"My dear Zara, come on… Let's get Amelia, too."
Both left as Daniel started walking in the direction Zara pointed. It took him a few minutes to find Bryn sweating profusely.
Before Bryn could notice him, Daniel stayed away, looking at the faun's movements. It was hard to believe that the kid was only a level 1 faun. The precise movements and strange flips were not your usual style of running.
I don't remember using appraisal on him since we met at Valorhaven. Let's see… Daniel thought.
After lunch, Bryn was happy looking at his development. From his perspective, should he dedicate himself, he might level up parkour with today's training.
From his notes, skills complemented each other well. Physical Improvement Beginner (PIB), when trained, also improved his proficiency in other physical skills. Bryn could understand, remembering Tigger Woods's debut on the PGA Tour. He played golf as well as most players on the tour, but his physical training was years ahead.
After checking his progress and confirming his stomach was alright, he went to find proper places to train his parkour skills.
The most exciting place around the camp was one kilometer away from where they ate. He found a sequence of smaller trees with interesting branches he could climb and create a route. As well as two super-high trees close to one another. The trees were straight as an arrow. Side by side, Bryn tried to spider-climb the two of them. Putting one hand at the tree’s core and trying to lift his feet to do the same, the first attempt was unsuccessful.
The fact that he had bighorn’s hooves instead of human feet complicated his mind. It took him a few tries to get used to that type of movement.
Another mental note for later, comprehending more and more the differences of not having human feet anymore. Bryn thought.
The training would be composed of performing a few moves alone to try and improve them, then doing a route and ending every session with a climb between the trees.
While immersed in his training, Daniel and Kwame arrived at the camp, and Daniel decided to look for him.
From far away, Daniel said. “Appraisal”.
Name
Bryn
Age
8
Lvl
1
Race
Faun
Titles
Blessed by Lugh
Blessed by Flidais
Protected by Kwame Nkosi’s Vow [Temporary]
Status
Strength
1 (+3)
Intelligence
1
Dexterity
1 (+5)
Agility
1 (+5)
Vitality
2
Luck
2
What is this kid made of? He is a level one with an additional 13 status points. I’m sure he had fewer statuses last time I checked. I’ll help him with a few pointers if he has so much potential. Daniel thought.
When Daniel got closer, Bryn noticed his presence. The man was as imposing as Mr. Kwame, though his eyebrows always contorted inwardly. Also, Bryn couldn’t remember seeing the man’s teeth once since they met.
“Hello, Mr. Daniel, how are you?” said Bryn.
“Hi Bryn, I’m good, and you?” answered Daniel.
“Fine as well… doing some training!. I wanna be as strong as you guys.”
“That is going to take some time… It might take less if I help you a little.” Said Daniel as he circled around Bryn.
“Would you?? I’ll do whatever you want… almost.” Said Bryn as he couldn’t control his smile.
“Don’t take me as some weird uncle you might have. I’ll help you if you explain what you are training?”
This man can see my status; I learned from previous experiences, and I’m not falling for that anymore. The vaguer, the better. Bryn thought.
“You see, I have some mobility skills that level up when I learn new ways to run around! Ever since I got it, I tried to improve my mobility.” answered Bryn.
“Interesting, tell you what. How about we train together tomorrow? I’ll follow your training method for half a day, and then you can ask me for pointers on any subject.”
“Yea!! I would love that!” exclaimed Bryn.
“It is a deal, then. Now it is time for everyone to prepare dinner.”
After finishing training, Bryn and Daniel left for the camp, talking about life. Daniel connected with Bryn because of his past. He saw the young faun as a reflection of himself.
The following day came, and Bryn woke up with him calling for the teacher.
“Wake up, lazy. The sun is almost out!!”
“Good… GOOD MORNING, Mr Daniel…” Said Bryn, jumping from his bed.
“Come on, it is a beautiful day outside. Perfect for us to train! How should we start?”
“Aahhh…” Bryn yawned before answering, “Well, the start of the day is usually stretching…”.
“Show me the way.” Daniel opened the tent with one of his arms, pointing towards the outside.
“Sure, sure… While we stretch, please use appraisal on yourself and every skill related to mobility and physical improvements. Remember their level and %. On every exercise, think about how the exercise can improve any and every skill.” Suggested Bryn.
“I’m no child, you know?”
Bryn looked sideways at Daniel and remembered that he was still eight years old in this life.
Daniel soon realized that the faun had exceptional flexibility as they started with Bryn's routine—much more than himself. The positions and moves were not possible for him.
“Are you alright?” Asked Bryn.
Looking at the adult beside him, the sun reflected on Daniel’s skin, almost like a mirror.
“I’m fine,” he said.
He was trembling from head to toe. He tried following Bryn’s slow movements, but his body had other plans.
He is young. All babies have crazy flexibility… Daniel thought.
Bryn was excited about the possibility of learning from Daniel. From the group dynamic, he was the second in command after Kwame. He was strong, so his help would speed up his improvements.
“Now that the warm-up is done, we can go for martial arts and physical training! Do you have the PIB skill?” Asked Bryn.
“Who do you think I am? I maxed that out long ago. I’m almost maxing Physical Improvement Intermediary.” Daniel answered as he expanded his chest and raised his head.
Hearing those words made Bryn’s face shine like he could reach the gold pot at the end of a rainbow.
“OK, so you’ll have to rest half the time and do double on every exercise. Let’s start with upper defense.”
Bryn chose a few modifications from the training he did yesterday. They alternated one set of twenty taekwondo moves, ten squats, and rest for thirty seconds. Another twenty taekwondo moves, then twenty crunches, rest for thirty. Taekwondo, five push-ups, then rest. Daniel was in disbelief. His status was monstrously higher than Bryn’s, so he was not tired. But to the faun, the training was intense.
By the time they finished everything, Bryn had done each taekwondo move twenty more times and almost fifty squats, fifty push-ups, and 100 crunches.
“In the last part, we will do all the different moves, incorporating them in a sequence so our body gets used to the shift in balance.” said Bryn.
Daniel had never done training like that. In a world with levels and skills, you didn’t need to consider the most efficient way of doing things. Enough levels would compensate for the lack of skills. High-level adventurers felt that skills without percentage bonuses were useless past level 30. The reasoning was simple. At level 30, your status as a human would sum to 300, an average of 50 per status type. Even if you had PIB max at level 10, you would get +3 on each status. The difference could be better compared to when you were like Bryn, level 1.
“Mr. Daniel, thank you for respecting my training style. It is time to incorporate my mobility training, but first, let’s hydrate a bit… How was the training for you?” Bryn could tell Daniel was much better than during the yoga and stretching.
“I have to say it was not as intense. The level difference is too great for you to understand what is or is not intense.” Said Daniel while shrugging his shoulders and tilting his head sideways with a smile.
Unlike his expectation, Bryn’s pupils expanded and contracted with hungry eyes. It was as if the faun wanted to devour every information Daniel offered.
“Amazing! Let’s see the next part of the training.” said the faun.