Chapter 4 – The departure
I was standing in front a huge pyre which was burning in white, also called the holy fire. I don't think there is anything holy in it. Just that it's ultra hot. I had to create a high level mana barrier around it to contain the heat. Otherwise it would have created a forest fire. Only high level fire attributes monsters are able to create it like phoenixes and upper tier dragons. So it's also called phoenix fire.
Today is the day my grandfather and grandmother died. This was their funeral pyre. They said they never wanted a gravestone or be buried. They wanted to be burned to ash after death, together. I am fulfilling their wish. My eyes were red and teary. They brought me up, taught me things, instilled values in me and made me what I am right now. It's time to move on.
I am 17 years old now and I have black hair and black eyes . I am being honest when I say that I look slightly above average. I am lean and athletic and I look and am dressed like an adventurer. After everything was burned and fire put out, I decided to set out. I lived in this forest for the past 17 years. This forest was called the great mannoroth forest. Mannoroth is the name of the legendary sleeping dragon in this forest. The forest was created around mannoroth, so it should be sleeping at the middle of the forest. Our hut was halfway into the forest.
Almost no one comes halfway into the forest because of the various kinds of beast living here. As you go towards the center of the forest you would encounter powerful beasts. It is like there are various layers inside the forest. Where the beasts residing in each layer will be more powerful than the previous one with the most powerful mannaroth at the center.
I started walking out of the forest towards the Nubian kingdom. Nubia was the name of the kingdom bordering the forest. I don't have to worry about any beasts attacking because no outer layer beast would attack an inner layer beast. After all they have good instincts. It would take a long time to travel to the edge of the forest if I walked normally. So I blinked the whole distance. Blinking is short range teleportation. You could only teleport to places you can see. I have huge amounts of mana so I could do it. I reached the edge of the forest in about half a day through teleporting and running.
I began walking when the forests started to thin out. I couldn't help but reminisce about grandma teaching me blinking.
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Eva: “Listen closely Lucas. Blinking is just short range teleportation and it's extremely useful. But never use it in battle. There are certain conditions to be met while using blink. As you already know, teleportation is achieving by spacial folding. You fold the space to make two points come together. It's paramount in teleportation that the space you are blinking to does not have anything solid. Or else your body will be burst open and you will die instantaneously. It's pretty gruesome.”
Lucas: “Ughh...., But then grandma why am I not supposed to be using it in battle. All I have to do is select a empty place i see, right.”
Alzier: “No Lucas, it's not that easy as you say. Blinking requires enormous amount of concentration to perfectly pull it of. No matter how accomplished you become it will always require you to focus on that at that moment. Which means you are vulnerable just before and after blinking. In a heated battle with a weapons master he will not let that golden opportunity slip away. Also there will always be very small amount of time required for you to dematerialize and materialize back. For someone experienced that window of opportunity is enough to strike you down.”
Eva: “Also when mana is used in battle it causes mana fluctuations in the surroundings. These fluctuations will affect you while you blink. The mana fluctuations in the air is bigger as powerful beings fight. For example if two elder dragons fight, the mana fluctuations alone could kill you. So if you use blink when there are mana fluctuations you will become disoriented for some time at the least and internal injuries and unconsciousness at worst. It could only be used in extreme emergencies and when there is no other option available at hand. You understand”
Lucas: “Yes Grandma”
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Now I have become an expert at blinking and I know enough to understand that it's risky to use in battles. While I was walking while thinking those things I detected a few human presences up ahead. They seem like they are not moving. I started walking towards them. I could now see that they were hiding. When I reached their position they jumped up and blocked my path. There were four of them. They should be bandits. The middle one must be the leader and he was tall and heavy. He was showing me a disgusting smile with all his yellow teeth and was eyeing me up and down. The other two were to the side and behind him and they were smirking. There were nothing noteworthy about them, just plain bandits. There was yet another one standing behind the boss and peeking over his shoulder to look at me. There was a fearful look on his face. Oh, he's a smart one.
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Boss: “Look what we have in here boys. Fresh meat. You better leave everything you have boy and we will let you live. We are part of the mannoroth bandits and you better remember that.”
Bandit 1: “yea”
Bandit 2: “yea”
Bandit 3: (whispering)“Umm..., boss I think we should be careful about this boy. He came from inside the forest. You know the rule of the mannoroth forest. If something comes from the inside then run”
Boss: “Shaddup you idiot. What! Do you think this little boy here is an apex predator of the great mannoroth forest. He might have just wandered in for some adventure and now that he found out that it's not a pleasure trip he ran back out. Hahahaha”
Bandit 3:(whispering) “But boss, he was walking calmly and there is not even a spot on his dress”
Boss: “If you don't shut that mouth of yours I am gonna bash your skull”
Lucas: “You know I would at least consider what he said if I were you”
He started staring at me stupidly for about 2 seconds and then starting edging closer with a savage grin. His two cronies also sheathed their weapons. Only the third started edging back.
Boss: “So now, you think that you are someone great eh.”
This idiot must have equated my age and unblemished and radiant face('its the truth') with weakness. I am not benevolent enough like some idiot protagonists to leave them alone with some bashing. He tensed up when my hand went to my sword in my hip. I lowered myself and kicked the ground with enough power that accelerated me towards the bandit boss. I was in front of him before he could even blink and I unsheathed my blade in a quick draw cutting an arc through his neck. I calculated the distance correctly so that I only slit his throat and not behead him. Before I could crash into him or the blood could sprout from his cut throat I kicked my left foot at an angle to change directions. After barely a second all four of them were down with their throats cut and they never even knew how they died. The only thing that remained where their dead bodies and the depressions in the ground where I kicked.
These are the burst steps.
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Alzier: “Listen and watch very carefully Lucas. What I am going to teach you is called Burst steps. They are one of the most important movement technique in a fighters arsenal. If you could master this you would become terrifying in battlefield. Nobody would even see how they died. You would be the god of death giving out judgments. I will show you how to it's done. Watch carefully.”
After saying that grandpa tensed up his body and crouched down. Suddenly he disappeared from there. All that was left was a dent in the ground. He would frequently appear at various points and disappear leaving a dent like a mirage. I couldn't see him neither follow him. All I could feel was the intense winds created by his movement. Suddenly he appears just in front of me. I was surprised and fell back on my bum. I was astonished and excited at the same time.
Alzier: “This is burst steps”
Lucas: “That was awesome Grandpa”, I said while standing back up.”How did you do that”
Alzier: “It's simple, you just have to kick the ground to accelerate and change directions. If you kick the ground at certain angles you could vanish from your enemies point of view completely making it look like teleportation. But this would require extreme leg strength. There will be recoil while using this and your leg muscles will take the toll. So you will have to careful so as to not overexert and also enhance yourself with mana while doing so. The more mana you use more the more powerful your legs will be and the more faster you will be. Your acceleration should be inside your control zone otherwise there is no point if you cannot control yourself and eventually you will crash into something.”
Lucas: “Yes grandpa”
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My eyes became misty when I think about the times with my grandparents. I searched the bandits for their possessions. There were nothing significant with them. Only some copper and silver coins and a single gold coin. The currency in this world was mainly coins. One copper coin should be enough for a loaf of bread. A hundred copper coins is one silver coin and 100 silver coins is one gold coin and 100 gold coins is equal to 1 platinum coin. These are the basic denominations. They don't even have any decent money with them. The money might be inside their hideout. Maybe I should visit that place. They also said something about being part of the mannoroth bandits. Better find out what it is.