As he arrived at their usual spot, he noticed what seemed to be a group of demonic beasts attacking Eris. Without much thought, he rushed to her side. Materializing a sword from his shadow, he began slashing at the monsters, but despite his resistance, he found himself outnumbered and weaker than them. There wasn't much he could do in that situation. Despite the odds being against him, he continued fighting. However, amidst the battle, he received a serious injury to his gut. The attack didn't come from the front, but from the back. As he turned to see what happened, he saw Eris stabbing him with a dagger.

"I'm sorry, but I can't die here," she murmured before fleeing into the woods.

Despite the heavy injury, he persisted in fighting, every movement causing him to lose a significant amount of blood. At some point, he became numb, moving only by his survival instincts. In the end, he somehow managed to fend off the demonic beasts, but his body gave up. He could feel his consciousness fading due to blood loss as his eyes began to close. Looking at the blue sky, a figure appeared. He couldn't tell who it was, thinking it might be one of the demonic beasts that had managed to survive. He closed his eyes, letting his consciousness fade, prepared to die a painless death. But before passing out, he heard a faint voice. "Don't worry, I am here," it said.

Isaac woke up later in a bed, his body covered in bandages, with even the slightest movement causing immense pain.

"Don't try to move; your wounds might reopen if you do," said a voice beside him.

As he turned his head, a man appeared. He seemed to be in his forties and didn't seem any different from a regular man except for his pointy ears.

"Who are you?" asked Isaac.

"This is how you talk to your savior? I feel a bit disrespected, but I'll tell you. My name is Gerald. You can think of me as a wandering doctor, and right now, you are in my house."

"Why did you save me?"

"No special reason. It's a doctor's job to save people."

"How's the girl?"

"Ah, even though she tried to kill you to survive, you're still worried about her. What a good boy you are."

"Stop kidding around and just tell me."

"Fine, fine. You're no fun. She managed to flee to the other side of the forest. That's all I know."

"What now?" asked Isaac.

"Well, now you have to rest in order to make a full recovery. Although your body was covered in injuries, none of them were life-threatening, except for the hit to the gut. It will take about a week for you to recover, so rest well. In the meantime..."

And with that, two weeks passed. One week of recovery and another to train his sore body to regain good shape.

"Time sure does fly by. So, what's your plan now that you've recovered?" said Gerald.

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"I was planning to go to a city and become an adventurer, but I don't know where to go."

"If that's all that's bothering you, I can take you there. There's one close by. We can go right now if you want to."

Isaac nodded, and the two departed. It didn't take them long to reach it.

"Here we are, the city of Pristella, also known as the capital of this country. Now then, I've done my job, so let's part here."

"Already? Can't you show me around or something?"

"No, sorry. I have to leave now. We might meet again in the future, who knows? Take care until then," said Gerald before parting ways with Isaac.

"Now what," thought Isaac to himself. Even though he wanted to go to the city, now that he's there, he didn't know what to do. After some thinking, he decided to first register at the guild to have a way of making money. After arriving there, he found a lot of people. Some were taking quests, some registering, and others scouting newbies they saw potential in. After waiting for a bit, it was finally his turn at the reception.

"Hello there, I'm Carly, one of the guild receptionists. What brings a young man like you here?"

"My name is Isaac, and I would like to register as an adventurer."

"I'm sorry to say this, but becoming an adventurer is not something a kid like you can just do. Losing one's life on a mission is common. If you're unlucky, you might lose a limb or an eye. Although there isn't an age restriction for becoming one, we still recommend that people below 18 don't register. But with all that said, do you still wish to register?"

"I am well aware of the dangers that come with the title of an adventurer, but I still wish to proceed."

"Understood. Then, I will explain how it works. You will have a fight with an examiner. If you get his approval, you will officially become an F-rank adventurer and will be able to accept quests within your rank. Accepting quests that are above your level is possible, but failing them will make you pay a fee to the guild. Now that you know the basics, follow me to the training ground."

Just as they arrived at the training ground, a muscular man appeared.

"Who do we have here?" asked the man.

"Andreas, this is Isaac. You two will spar to determine whether he can join the guild or not," said Carly.

"Isn't he too young for this?"

"I already warned him, but he insisted on becoming an adventurer."

"I see. Well then, Isaac, come here. We will start right away."

As Isaac stepped onto the platform, Andreas began counting to three. "1, 2, 3," and the match began. Andreas, who didn't have a strong impression of Isaac, rushed at him planning to finish the fight with one blow of his sword. However, despite Andreas's charge, Isaac stood his ground. As the sword was about to make contact with him, it went across his body as if he wasn't there. Taking advantage of the moment when Andreas was wondering what happened, Isaac drew his sword and pointed it at his neck, ending the fight.

"I don't understand what just happened, but congrats," said Andreas.

"Now then, Isaac, please follow me to the reception so that we can create your guild card," said Carly.

Isaac nodded and followed her.

"Are you a mage?" she asked.

"No, I am a magic swordsman."

"My, that's a really rare job. Okay, now I want you to fill in this form. You can answer what you want and leave the rest blank if you wish."

After filling it out and handing it to her, Carly issued a card for Isaac and encouraged him to take a quest. After looking at the quest board, he chose an orc subjugation mission and departed for the forest. After searching for some time, he finally found his prey. It was in the middle of a meal, and while it would have been the perfect opportunity for an assassination, Isaac decided to fight it head-on in order to assimilate its power. After throwing a rock at it, the orc turned to him and rushed at Isaac, who created a black armor out of his shadow. The armor was able to withstand the orc's strength. It was indeed powerful, but there was a drawback: his entire shadow was used to create it, so he couldn't attack using his shadow. Isaac, who foresaw this situation, drew his sword and beheaded the monster. He then took the orc's magic core as proof of his subjugation to the guild and went to an inn. That night, he tried to organize his thoughts and plan for the future.