“Privates, a man needs but one virtue. Discipline. If ever a change needs to occur it can only be done through honest hard work.” Said the Captain overlooking the training grounds.

“A man, with discipline fears no god. They fear him, for his willpower can accomplish anything.” He heard the voice continue as James tried not to choke from inside the mud pit.

“You hone that willpower, harden it, beat it into form, an iron grip of discipline that will weight down your soul, and you’ll reach the realm of heroes.”

—-

James woke with the lingering feeling a vivid dream can cast. He also woke drooling a bit of dry spit on the axe’s shaft. They were sleeping together to ward off any potential thieves.

A naked man fears no pickpockets, but a sane man will do just about anything to ward them off his riches.

James smirked at the thought. But that included an uncomfortable sleeping position in proximity to a deadly weapon.

Yesterday, after realizing the axe wasn’t dangerous to the touch, he kept it as close to himself as possible. It was worth more than he could imagine.

The vivid dream had reminded him of a time when things were more straightforward. When he trained hard, followed orders, and enjoyed the companionship of his fellow cadets, he woke up each morning knowing what to expect, something he apparently dearly missed.

A mindset that he found comforting, to say the least. With a grunt, he got up from bed and in contrast to every morning till now, he bent down to stretch.

His legs were stiff and protested at the pulling as he went through different poses, holding them long enough to feel the light muscle pain deepen.

After he finished his lower body, he went for his arms, shoulders, neck, and back—every muscle group had its time. By the end of it, he was wide awake and ready for what came next.

Push-ups, squats, lunges, and burpees, a full-body workout, that ended with core exercises that would make any YouTube trainer proud.

Panting, James finished his morning inspiration a little lightheaded. He hadn’t had breakfast yet, only a chug of water that he kept by the bed to clench the morning thirst.

The training wouldn’t do much on its own, but he hoped if he regained some form of routine everything else the day threw at him would seem a little easier—cold shower theory in practice.

He wiped himself with a worn towel and put on his pants. Huh. No clean shirt to wear today. He had gone through all of them with blood, sweat, and literal tears.

Bare chest it is.

It wouldn’t matter much when the Ombraks wore very loose or nonexistent clothing while strolling the city streets. He didn’t particularly feel any shame that he would share in the practice.

He hurried through breakfast a little too fast, inhaling the food Ann placed before him and nearly choking on a few bites. He washed them down with generous gulps of some kind of juice, while Ann gave appraising glances at his half-nakedness.

After eating, James got up and entered the main tavern hall only to see Hox arrive at the same time.

“Good morning,” James said to the gleemix who looked slightly less irritated since James didn’t make him wait.

“Hox, my buddy, can I show you something? It’s important.” James continued while thinking what was the best way to tell the nasty fellow about his axe.

“What is it, human?” Hox replied with thinning lips.

“Well, let's sit a moment, trust me on this,” James said. He felt his morning nerves tighten around the breakfast he had just eaten.

Leading the way, he found the furthest table from the entrance and the kitchen door and sat leaving the axe wrapped with a new clean cloth on the table.

Hox with a curious look followed along, sitting opposite him. “And this is?” Hox pointed at the axe with a nudge of his head.

“Emm, I’ll say it plainly. Something happened yesterday that I’m not sure how exactly it went down. This is your axe, please have a look first,” James said and waited for the gleemix to make the first move.

At the mention of the axe, the curious look was replaced by a stern expression that sent a chill down James's spine.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

With swift movements of his hands, Hox unwrapped the weapon. His jaws fell to the floor as he observed the marvelous light the axe excluded.

“What…? This is not my axe, human.”

“Ah, well it is your axe. I don’t understand it as well. It just happened to transform into this...” James said with the confidence of a clueless 14-year-old going to the blackboard to solve a math problem in from of the entire class.

The gleemix looked at him like he was some kind of moron. But even then it was more like a glance since he was staring wildly at the weapon.

“A relic…” Hox murmured. “How?..” It seemed that the little guy's brain had frozen solid, unable to form a full sentence.

James just shook his head and shoulders. He didn’t know how.

“Even if I believe you, which I don’t. Because the axe I gave you had no reason to be upgraded to a relic. There are much better axes to be taken as a base material by a master craftsman. My axe had chips on the metal right her…e, huh?”

“There is a chip right there,” James said helpfully.

“I can see that,” Hox replied scratching his nose. “Is it really my axe?”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you... It’s not like I had many axes previously. This is the only one I possess.”

“But a relic? It makes no sense. And I can’t take this. No, no, no. A lot of trouble. You owe me a perfectly nice axe, human.”

“You won’t take it?” James asked surprised.

“Nah,” Hox shook his head in denial. “Relics are worth a lot only if you can keep them safe. Omny would take it in a heartbeat and sell it even faster to one of the biggies. Maybe you should give it to her. The clan leader will know what to do.”

“Huh, I see. And how dangerous will it get if let’s say, I keep this?”

Hox gave him a long hard look, tearing for once his eyes from the axe. “Lots,” He said in a blank expression.

“Okay, I’ll… keep it for the farming and then see how to get rid of it,” James said a little depressed with the news. It was a good axe afterall.

“Off we go, we have work to do,” Hox said hopping off the chair and going for the entrance. He paused a moment, “Best keep it out of sight, however, Avi’Gale isn’t the place to brag about your gear.”

James didn’t need the reminder as he wrapped that axe back in its cocoon and tied it securely to his belt. Then he followed the gleemix outside.

—-

“How come it's only us going back and forth from the valley?” James asked finally breaking the stale silence that had descended upon them since leaving the tavern.

“The others stay near the fghel grounds so they have more time to farm, obviously.”

“And what about you then?” James asked.

“I, like you have more work to do in the city.” Said the gleemix in a dour mood.

“Makes sense,” James said, as he couldn't imagine anything else keeping the gleemix away from the potential coins he could make from farming.

“I have a question. How do you… use the blessings for so long without getting the nasty side effects?” he finally asked the question that had been bothering him for a while now.

“You messed up your build, human? You need to be careful with the blessings you chose… No one told you that?” The gleemix replied.

“Mmm no, not really. I’m trying to figure things out by myself mostly, and it’s not going well so far.” James said.

“Arg, okay well. I'll explain things to you. So pay attention.” Hox said, avoiding a particularly large rock that had emerged on their path through the grasslands.

“You have a set number of blessings to play around with until your soul hits a hard limit. For some, it might be three and for others might be seven or even ten. I believe ten is the upper limit, or so I’ve heard. For us born near the border to the lost lands, it's closer to three, however, so don’t get your hopes up.”

“Mmm, okay, okay..” James nodded along at the gleemix’s words keeping up with his strides to be able to hear every word.

“A blessing will not only put a lot of stress on your soul but also your body as you have surely felt. It’s only natural that you’ll need to have a strong foundation... You will need a core blessing that will support your body first. We call these inner-body or core blessing enhancements.”

“So I’m missing one of those?” If he had a core blessing and could use his improved agility all the time he would improve his offensive and defensive capabilities greatly. He had to make it a priority to gain one of those core blessings next. With his already three, he was quite possibly close to his capacity already. If he could lose the Wayfarer one, which didn’t seem particularly beneficial… He wanted to keep Jane’s minor fire though. It had shown how deadly it could be.

“The most common choice is minor vitality. It will offset most if not all of the side effects you felt previously. Minor strength will give you some benefits, but it's not a cure for all.”

“How can I get rid of a blessing to make space for another?” James asked intent to be ready in case he had already hit his limit.

“Mmm, it depends who it’s from. The bond can break if the person who gave you the blessing dies. If on the other hand, it’s from a deity… you can’t do anything about those.”

“Ahh,” James suspected the Wayfarer one was of the latter. “Thanks, I guess I need to ask the cult leader to help me get a core blessing.” If my soul can take more…

“Finally! We are here.” The gleemix said increasing his pace. He was eager to start farming.

It was the same for James, he had to repay an axe on top of everything else he needed to buy. “See you later,” he called after Hox who didn’t bother to reply.

James headed inside, bypassing the thick vegetation of the valley and the rest of the cult members in the process of farming. He had to give a wide breadth when the ongoing battles merged with his path as the aggressive fghels could fling their bodies in any direction with little notice.

When he finally reached a quiet part, he unwrapped his weapon and readied himself for another round of fighting. In the quiet before the storm, he momentarily looked inward.

The strange letters popped into his mindsight, swimming in the rough waters of a lake that he couldn’t see the end of.

Blessing of the Wayfarer

Minor Blessing of Fire

Minor Blessing of Agility

The waters surged forward, drowning him, and submerging his form beneath them. It felt dark and suffocating as if it was getting harder and harder to breathe. It felt like a dream where he was unable to act, just experience the inevitability.

James reached the bottom of the lake, and sharp brown rocks emerged from the white sand to cut at him, but strangely his form passed through them. There among the rocky teeth of the lakebed, he found something.

Blessing of the Wayfarer

A true traveler will always find his way, no matter the danger, no matter the struggle, no matter what comes his way.

He stared at the explanation. Was this blessing the reason for everything that had happened so far? He had gotten a roof over his head, and a salary at the tavern when he needed it the most. He had met Omny, the fierce cult leader, who seemed interested in him. Had all this been accomplished due to this blessing?

He searched the lakebed for what he knew should be there.

Minor Blessing of Fire

Fire is rage, fire is passion, burn hot, and set the world ablaze.

He moved to the next one.

Minor Blessing of Agility

Be quick and light for there is no greater art but the swiftness of oneself.

He sucked a breath, his lungs filling with oxygen. It brought him back to the surface and out of the mindspace he had been experiencing.

He shuddered. It had been an uncomfortable feeling, involuntarily being sucked inside what he supposed was his SoulSpace.

At least he had gotten some information out of it and if his guess was true, his first blessing was actually the most important one.