In the three days of traveling, now with a mount Hektor managed to finish a few of the tasks that he set out for himself. The imps have done well netting him a total of 37 souls on their own, Hektor would pause on his ride for a bit to gather souls from the monsters nearby to round the total number of souls up to 50. Just enough to give him a full Earth Sprite. It had the ability to displace parts of the ground, while also sending out sharpened rocks and the like.

A good addition to his growing group of bird-shaped spirits. He now commanded almost thirty birds, with three sprites molding themselves mimicking the creatures. The two red-glowing with flames around them were the flame sprites while the earth sprite simply had brown feathers.

The cities that were in front of Teblez fell during the last few weeks leaving Teblez as one of the last bastions of the north. Aid from all over the kingdom arrived, with both the first and the fourth prince present in the city. Most civilians in the central plains of the kingdom have evacuated from their respective regions, the town of Belugrass also had a massive wave of evacuations sending most of their people into Lumont Territory.

Hektor watched from the sidelines as three of the kingdom's five legions defended the city. Each of the three legions were commanded by a high ranking official, with the smallest legion having a number of 10,000 soldiers. Added to them are the personal troops of the two royals and the reinforcements coming in from all over the land. With the loss of most of the northern forts, the Kingdom itself has grown desperate.

Hektor moved to one of the open gates and presented his silver plaque, still wearing the garments from the Blue Tiger Dojo a few of the guards saluted him upon entry.

Souls: 0 -> 15

The imps were hard at work, providing him 15 souls just that morning. Hektor wasted no time in traveling to the dojo, most of the civilians have already evacuated the area with only those that are still running their businesses currently present. The tourists that often visited the dojos and the museums were nowhere to be found and the streets were filled with soldiers and mercenaries.

Hektor placed the horse by the entrance and gave a bow to the only instructor left in the dojo. Instructor Samont, there were familiar faces all around but he noticed a whole new line of disciples at the courtyard of the dojo.

"It is great to know that you are still alive, Hektor."

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Samont was a well-built man. Someone that would likely make a great soldier even without the teachings of a dojo. Tanned, with long black hair tied in a knot. Samont was one of the best swordsmen in their dojo, said to only be rivalled by the blindingly fast Nakt.

Hektor bowed once more. "Instructor Samont, I don't see Garnesh or Tarik anywhere... are they?"

"Dead? No, not at all." The instructor confirmed. "With only a handful of combat-ready disciples the two of them are currently tasked with leading the troops that we send out to aid the city's defense."

"I see, I assume that I will be tasked with the same thing." Hektor concluded.

"Indeed, with small breaks in between to help me in teaching the new batch of disciples."

The newer disciples have already heard of him, along with the rest of the direct disciples. They were talents that deserved the praise. Hektor gave the newer disciples a bow before excusing himself to his room.

Everything was just as he left them, while he did carry most of his savings with him he still had a small box filled with money hidden in one of his drawers. "I'll need new armor and a new spear for the battles ahead."

He spent the rest of the day at the local forge, where a blacksmith welcomed his trade.

He now wore dark leather boots, an entirely black outfit but this time around he threw away the cloak. Enough leather to patch his body but not so much as to restrict his movements, a new iron spear that would be a better fit for his more explosive strikes. He looked much more like a soldier now, having grown taller over the past few months Hektor now stands at 5 foot 7. Toned muscles with a paler complexion than most. While he still carried a buckler shield on his left arm, it was much smaller now compared to his old one.

His overgrown hair from the past two weeks has mostly been chopped off as well, giving him a cut that is more common among soldiers.

He got back to the dojo at around nightfall, welcomed by the instructor and the two that he was waiting for. Garnesh gave the spearman a nod while Tarik gave a toothy smile. The direct disciples were here, though one of their members is still out there journeying the world on his own.

"After dinner, the squads that Tarik and I are leading will be in a briefing." Garnesh began their discussion. "Now that you're here we can bring in a third squad from our dojo."

"I see."

"With your name spreading around, I wouldn't be surprised if they send you to the side of the elites." Tarik commented.

"As long as they don't force me under one of the royals, then it should be fine."

The dojo could only provide so many soldiers to the current military, recovering from the loss that they suffered was a tall task even if they started taking civilians to the dojo. If anything, it was now worse since the disciples that they were currently housing are no longer ones that were being evaluated upon entry.

With 10 instructors and a master, now down to just 1 instructor with only three of the four original direct disciples the dojo was barely functioning. It would be a cruel joke to even compare their current form to the dojo from four months ago.

The direct disciples were now under pressure, as soon enough their responsibilities will increase. From training themselves to guiding the newer students in the ways of their dojo.