Alaric’s face lit up with triumph. It was nice to feel successful. Yes, the reality of having slept for six whole months was still weighing down on him but it appeared he was still gifted in some other ways.

That said, something bothered him about the men he’d just… ‘appraised.’ Why was it that they were still at Glass Rank? Alaric already suspected that jumping a whole rank would give him a biased outlook on the effort it took to climb up Temper Ranks but he didn’t know just how biased it was.

“How hard is it to advance your rank?” he turned to LionHeart.

“Took me two and half years to get to Wood Rank and once I was there, it got even harder to advance. Between my work and my normal life, getting to Stone Rank has started to look like a dream. It’s already hard enough to advance just one level,” LionHeart explained with a shrug.

“Oh,” Alaric’s excitement dimmed. There was a lot that he didn’t know, however, his determination to learn everything he needed didn’t waver. If anything, he was only that much more determined to figure this whole thing out. He’d already fallen behind by six months, which meant he had no time to waste. He had to catch up.

Luckily for him, LionHeart had read into the situation and was more than willing to expand his horizons. There were a lot of factors that determined one’s speed along the road to reaching higher ranks and Alaric would need to know all of this as he made decisions on the way forward.

“Increasing your Temper Rank depends on a lot of things but the one you should look out for most is your Guardian or rather the nature of your guardian.

If your guardian is the kind that requires a strong body, then you have to train your body as well to improve your Temper Rank. If your Guardian requires a sharp mind, then you must train your mind to make progress with your Body Tempering,” the man explained.

Alaric’s confused face prompted him to go on, “I’ll give you an example. Gunther is an archer with an affinity for storms. So for him, improving the accuracy and power behind his shots matters a lot. Once you’ve met the requirements for a higher Body Temper, then you can look for an alchemist to make the potion for you and advance.

Of course, the concepts get more advanced the higher up you go. Breaking through the lower Glass Ranks can depend on simple things like endurance and strength which can explain why you blew right through them.

The higher you go, however, the more specific your Guardian’s demands get,” the man explained.

Alaric could remember the number of times Alia had demanded Alaric to train harder and harder to improve his body’s strength. Could that really have gotten him to this point?

“What’s your guardian’s affinity, Alaric?” the man asked.

“Battle, I guess… She’s a powerful swordmaster,” Alaric replied.

“Battle?” Gunther wondered, “That’s odd. You don’t strike me as the strong type. Sure you fought Darth but that was because of your environment… and he cut you in half.”

Alaric furrowed his eyebrows, “I’m not weak. At least… I don’t think so.”

“Right right,” Gunther shook his head.

“Perhaps you’d like to spar with him, Gunther,” LionHeart suggested.

Gunther scoffed, “I don’t spar with inexperienced kids.”

“What?!” a voice came from the edge of the clearing. Looking back, Alaric noticed one of the men Gunther had been training with, a gaunt man with a heavy build. Not nearly as heavy as LionHeart but still above average. Alaric had sparred with him before and, at the time, lost by a close margin, “Master Gunther, try that kid out. He might give you more of a challenge than the three of us.”

Stolen story; please report.

Another man, who’d been chugging down a bottle of water, perked up, “Yes, Master Gunther! We youse to bet our money on those kids… Darla was good… but Alaric was a monster. They says Alaric’s guardian train em but we think they cheats.”

LionHeart chuckled, “You heard the man, Gunther.”

Gunther sighed with his palm on his face, “You know how much I like a bet… especially one that’s an obvious win. What are your terms?”

“One gold mark says Alaric can land five hits on you in five minutes,” LionHeart spoke.

Gunther’s eyes widened, “That’s free money.”

Alaric knew a bit about currency from his time in Jack’s Fall. Once in a while, he’d heard the word ‘mark’ which was synonymous with a ‘coin.’

One gold coin was worth a hundred silvers and one silver was worth a hundred coppers. A copper was sometimes divided into ten nickels. That said, a gold coin was the same as ten thousand coppers, which translated to 'A lot of money.’

With a single gold coin, anyone could live lavishly for a week, spending carelessly and still have a few coppers to spare.

“Should you be gambling that much money?” Alaric’s face paled. Why was this large fool betting so much money on him? He could barely move his limbs right.

LionHeart shook his head with the face a disappointed father gave his failure of a son, “Oh, Alaric, how young you are! You see, in gambling, the higher the stakes, the more exciting the game. Now, give it all you've got. Gunther is a professional so it’s fine to go for the eyes.”

Gunther facepalmed, “I question whoever taught you how to make a pep talk.”

“But we had come here so you could teach me how to control my new pow…” Alaric stopped when three men joined in and started placing their bets.

“Ten silver marks on Master Gunther,” one of them said.

“Ah, Billy! You always play it safe. I stake twenty silver marks on Alaric,” another added.

“Idiots! This is free money. Master Gunther is not losing to that rookie. Fifty silver marks on Master Gunther’s victory,” the third yelled out.

Gunther shook his head, then said calmly, “Then I’ll place a gold mark on my victory as well.”

Alaric’s eyes went wide with shock.

LionHeart’s eyes had turned greedy as he counted the money he stood to make from this victory. Since most of them were staking their money on Gunther’s victory, there was a lot to gain from Alaric’s win. “The money from the losing side will be split evenly among the winning side.”

The spectators had their eyes on a pad of paper LionHeart had drawn from his storage item, staring at the numbers he’d scribbled onto the page. “Alaric, are you in?”

Alaric looked himself up and down, “I don’t know how much I have on me.”

“Your money is still safely where you left it. Well, what was left over after you gave some to Sister Marla,” LionHeart smirked.

“Right. Then a gold mark on my victory,” Alaric confirmed.

The three men went pale at the boy’s words, “Patronage must be nice.”

“I’m not jealous at all.”

“Kill him, Master Gunther,” another yelled.

……………….

The rules were clearly stated. The match would last five minutes and Gunther was going to be on the defensive. Of course, if Alaric pushed him far enough, then he was allowed to defend himself, however, in no way that would endanger Alaric’s life.

For Alaric to win, he was to land a hit on Gunther’s body at least five times. A hit qualified as a hit if Gunther was thrown off his feet or pushed back at least the distance of a meter.

Alaric wasn’t sure if he could achieve these results… but then again, he wasn’t fighting for his life here. So, he would give this battle his all. While this battle didn’t motivate him to work as hard as he had when fighting Darth, it would allow him to gauge just how much stronger he had gotten.

As he balled his fists and assumed a battle-ready stance, waiting for LionHeart’s signal, a voice whispered into his ear, [ Lose this fight… and I’ll make you work so many drills you won’t be able to walk for a week. ]

Forget the lack of motivation. Alaric was determined to kill Gunther by any means necessary. The world grew cold at the sudden change in mood. An encyclopedia of katas and forms rushed through Alaric’s mind as he revised the different principles of battle.

Breathing rate, a clear mind, listening to one’s senses, trusting one’s reflexes, adapting to the situation at hand. Gunther sucked in a deep breath when he sensed the change in the air. The boy standing five meters from him was actually serious.

‘Foolish child,’ he sighed, ‘I do like that look on his face though.’

“Start,” LionHeart started the magic timer floating above the training grounds… and in the next second, Alaric was above the man, his fist reeled back for an attack that was strong enough to shatter a giant boulder.