The ruins echoed each time the old man moved. There were no more lights that eased the darkness so the old man was using light magic to illuminate the room.

As soon as the fight ended Simon lost consciousness. The old man heard a thud as he took the sword of Gregory, he will be submitting this to the adventurer’s guild, there should be a large bounty for someone like him.

The salty smell permeated in the air. The old man smiled as he checked on the boy.

The boy’s regeneration was starting, it was quite outstanding and for some reason very convenient for the boy. He picked up the boy…

“Growl…”

The boy was getting hungry while he was passed out. The old man had been dubious of Simon’s origin or if he was a normal human at all.

Actually, he was just getting annoyed since he would have to hunt and cook food before the boy woke up. The old man began to think, luckily the bandits won’t need their food, don’t they?

<--->

A few meters away from the ruins. Smoke was fuming up into the air. A quick camp was already prepared. A boy was sleeping soundly and an old man cooking.

Simon’s nose started moving, he was slowly getting his consciousness back as the smell in the air roused him up. The boy's instincts forced him to grab something warm and he bit into it.

“Hey!! If you are going to eat wake up!!! HEY!!” finally he felt a smack on his head, a familiar smack, Simon was suddenly awake, and there was roasted meat in his mouth that was watering as hell.

“You should learn how to control yourself!!!” the old man complained, he was searing the meat on a hot stone slab.

Simon literally sleepwalked himself into eating the first batch the old man had finished cooking.

Simon’s wounds were gone even though it was a bit brutal. The problem now was that he was really hungry that it was making his head spin.

“Control it!!! BOY I SAID CONTROL IT!!!” it was a warning that comes with blood lust.

Finally, Simon snapped out of it and calmed himself down controlling his hunger.

Simon realized that he was eating naked.

“Get on your clothes first then eat, eat slowly dumb ass!!!” the old man scolded. Simon followed, it seemed that his clothes were somewhat already stitched up.

He wore it and came back to eating.

“Boy! Watch me!!!” the old man suddenly said as he finished another batch, he started slicing the meat into bite-size.

He gave Simon another small knife, it was a good knife he had taken from the treasure room of the bandits. Simon imitated the old man.

“That’s right, now put it in your mouth, this way you don’t have to eat so messy,” the old man said smiling.

Simon followed the old man’s teaching until finally they finished the meat, it was actually from the stock of the bandits.

“Where are the girls you saved?” Simon then asked while wiping his mouth with a cloth.

“They know how to go home by themselves, they are already gone but we have to stay on this spot for a while, they will bring us some food supplies as thanks” the old man answered, he was also about to finish his meal.

After eating the old man noticed Simon drooping down while he was sitting. The calm face of the boy showed the calmness of the night, although the old man would want nothing more than to sleep now he couldn't.

“Don’t sleep, it's still too early to sleep, stand up!! We will do arm bridges!!” the old man said as he urged Simon by pulling him up.

The two began, the old man could tell that the boy was already doing the exercise by just instinct and reaction. He began going faster, the boy stuttered a bit but immediately adjusted. The boy had a very good instinct and could fight proficiently with his fist, it was time to add another arsenal to the boy's skills.

Though the boy didn’t know how to fight the thieves the first time, he just adapted so fast. The sight of him destroying the thieves made him laugh. The boy would be a monster when he grew up.

“Let’s stop… follow me,” the old man said and he stood up, with a wave he urged Simon to go near a tree.

“You can’t punch everything with your fist do you know that?” the old man then asked a question.

“… Shouldn’t it be like that?” Simon wondered, what the hell did he know? The old man nodded.

“You can also use an open hand strike like this,” and the old man showed a palm strike into the tree. “Use open hand strike on hard targets and then close hand on soft targets,” the old man instructed.

“Try landing an open strike in the tree” he wanted Simon to try now.

“Okay!” Simon tried it too on the tree.

With a “Thud,” the leaves fell down. With a bending sound, the tree complained. The boy was really strong.

“That’s it… let’s have sleep,” the old man said and they went back to their spot.

<--->

The old man didn’t see the girls when they went out, he just wished that they were already safe. They resumed traveling eastwards through the forest. The two were literally hunting any kind of monster or beast they found, from bears and tigers to wolves and even the large goats. The forest was teeming with life.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Simon practiced the open and closed palm and the result was actually very sad, especially for the beast that got hit. The boy was beginning to understand the difference between the two. The problem was how they would dispose of the carcasses. The boy would specifically target good edible beasts. The old man could see the species go extinct and he had to hold the reigns for the boy. It was just another day of their travel.

“Old man, why won’t you teach me sword?” Simon suddenly asked, he was cleaning himself on a river. He had blood all over his arms.

“I told you… if you can control your strength then I would teach you,” the old man said as he was having a hard time salvaging what was left of the boar Simon palmed strike to death.

Strange noises registered to the old man and the boy. It was the old man who reacted first. He stopped what he was doing scanning the area around them.

“Simon don’t move,” suddenly the old man warned Simon, the boy followed but his eyes were looking around. “They must have been following our kills… get ready boy,” the old man warned him more. Simon gulped, he didn’t know what monster the old man was talking about.

Then Simon felt a bit of vibration behind him. He instantly jumped away from his position. Two giant tadpoles appeared out of thin air, rather they were on camouflage, it was trying to trample down on the boy.

“I probably fucked up in our direction of travel,” the old man said as he saw the monster. He was right, rather than going west, they were slowly southwest.

And on to the southwest part of the area was a dungeon that was made out of a cavern. This tadpole-like monster that could camouflage would usually come out of there.

There were 6 tadpoles circling around the 2. He heard this information long before when he met the boy.

The old man clicked his tongue, this reptile enemy was not that strong but they were sneaky, even veteran adventurers had trouble dealing with them. Although they were only seeing 6, there was probably more of them. There should also be a pair of parents. They should be nearby.

The old man needed to use magic, but as soon as he touched his sword in preparation to dispel their camouflage his hands shook in pain, and he froze. The battle against Gregory of the wind blade actually took a toll on him, for a long time now his magic had been unstable

“Shit,-” the old man complained, he put his hands on his waist, the metal tumbler was there “-It's fucking empty… I’m an idiot!!!” he muttered in a low voice.

But he was just going to use a dispel magic to dispel the effects of the camouflage… when did he become so worrisome? He glared at the back of Simon… it was goddamn obvious.

The old man smirked “Simon close your eyes I’m going to…” and he noticed Simon was actually fighting toe to toe with the 3 tadpoles. The annoying boy was practicing the open and close-hand strikes.

“HAHAHAHA!!!!” the old man started laughing, he was really the idiot it seemed, all the tension was drained down.

“Old man, why are you laughing… you enjoy fighting?” Simon even had the time to ask.

“Yep! I do!! Let’s kill them all!!!-” The old man drew his sword and waved it, it dispelled the camouflage of the tadpoles, which made it clearer that they came from the south… their parents must be there. “-Simon take care of them, I’ll go and have a talk with their parents!” and the old man dashed off.

“Ah… okay,” Simon muttered as he dodged a tackle from a tadpole. He countered with a punch puncturing a hole in its stomach. “Disgusting!!!” Simon said.

A tail strike came from behind and from a closed hand strike he opened his fist. He broke the tail and the tadpole screamed in agony not that the boy cared, he finished it up with another punch puncturing its body.

The tadpole was as big as a grown human and a single boy was eradicating them. Simon for some time now had been using vibrations to locate them even when they were in camouflage earlier.

<--->

The old man’s flash step was out of the norm, not only did he command light. He embodied its abilities, like how light fast travel. He hadn’t used this for a long time now so his knees were crackling, he instantly located the 2 parents. The ugly frog with barked skin was the female while the frog that had a small bait on its head was the male.

“Okay…” the old man appeared in front of the 2 monsters, they were quite surprised and even tried to camouflage but in one swing the old man canceled their ability.

The old man couldn’t explain it but even from a long time before his magic edge level 2 could dispel illusion magic.

The large frogs are called Tugak. This monstrous frog was a sign that the dungeon in the south had a stronger species in it. They have a variety of mutations pertaining to their abilities. The barked-skinned female is an acid spitter while the one with the bait on its head was an ambusher. It was clear who was his target first.

“Oh… more eggs…” he noticed then that there were eggs around the female frog.

That was really bad, if these monsters were discovered a week late they would have an army and could potentially subdue human settlements. He promised himself that he was going to scold the adventurer’s guild the next time he came around.

His first target was the male Tugak. The old man dashed and cleanly landed a slash on the body of the male Tugak, the Tugak didn’t even have the time to react, still, it tried to attack using its tongue and body but to no avail, fighting on an open field against the old man was suicide, in few moments the male frog died with too much bleeding wounds.

The old man approached the female that was at the center of the colony of eggs.

“Oh… you didn’t even react to that… sorry… I can’t let you live,” the female Tugak seemed to have accepted its fate as it was not moving but that was not the case, it spouted acid and it caught the old man off guard, still the old man managed to dodge it.

“You don’t even care about the eggs eh?” in his surprise the female frog lunged into the air trying to trample the old man. It crushed some of the eggs in process but the female didn’t care at all.

A sharp pain throbbed in his right hand, some on his shoulders. He checked his body... it seemed that when he dodged the acid earlier he was not unscathed, it was some burn on his shoulders but his right hand which was his main hand in fighting had been occasionally getting this uncontrollable pain. The old man smiled, it was something from getting old.

His magic edge level 2 began to get unstable, he switched to level 1 from a white gleaming glow into a faint reddish one. He used his flash step to get closer but his feet started to throb in pain too. He was making mistakes on his landing spots and when he landed a slash, his level 1 magic edge wouldn’t give him enough time to cut deep and he was just landing shallow wounds to the Tugak due to the fact that the blood that was oozing out of it was also acidic… it was bad.

“Old man!!!” Simon suddenly appeared with blood all over his body.

“Simon… you sure did it quick… look at their mother it can tell you slayed all of its offspring!!” the last remaining Tugak clearly showed hostility to Simon.

“I’ve got something new!!”

Simon rushes into the large frog-like creature aiming for its stomach. The old man instantly knew what Simon was going to do.

“Simon!! Don’t hit its belly!!!” the old man warned but Simon was already going in, he was not listening at all, he was in his battle frenzy, he was evading all of the Tugak’s attack in paper-thin margins.

“You are in front of me!!” Simon touched the belly of the Tugak with an open palm and like a statue, it stopped moving.

“What the hell!!!” the old man was surprised but then the Tugak burst out from its mouth all of the acid in it. Simon who was under it tried to get away but the spread of the Tugak’s acid was too wide.

“Shit!!! you little!!!-” The old man tried to use his flash step but he fell down, his knees were getting weak. The old man watched as Simon’s lower extremities got caught in the acid. “-SIMON!!!” the old man screamed.

“AAAAAARGGHHH!!!!” Simon screams in pain.

<--->

His knees were buckling as he ran, the old man was carrying Simon’s body, the boy had already passed out but he was not regenerating, he covered Simon’s wound with his own cloak that was also melting a bit, that’s just how much Simon’s skin has been doused by the acid.

The old man was not running at full speed but it was not the problem.

“Why am I hesitating” the old man muttered as he looked at Simon’s pained face.

It didn’t matter if his legs broke… he needed to do something now. Without care of his surroundings, just a direction on his mind the old man used his flash step to its maximum uncontrolled potential. He left their things in the forest. Fixing Simon’s flesh was of utmost importance.

In a few minutes, they already arrived at a town northeast of the black river just south on the borders of the dark forest. The town of Pharsha.