"Captain, I have the new recruits with me ready for evaluation." Said the sergeant who had led Dave and the other new recruits out into the square in front of the barracks.
"Well well, let's look at them, what do we have to work with?" Asked the captain, casting a critical glance at the new troops. "We have 73 people, 15 dwarves, 10 wolf-kin and 15 elves." The sergeant replied loudly as he saluted.
"So total 113 individuals it is one more than I asked why have I got one too many and have they been tested yet?" Asked the captain as he began to study the nearest of the new recruits.
“No sir they are completely freshly collected, not even have they got their armor yet. You have one too much due to the noble advice decided that he should join this team of recruits "Sergeant replied a little nervous, he was in doubt whether he should have had it with the test passed before he came with them here.
"Well, it's important that they have their potential checked before we give them all kinds of armor." The captain answered casually. "Sergeant, get a priest so we can have this show along the way." Said the captain before moving on to the next recruit in line. "Yes, sir" replied the sergeant before saluting and heading towards the barracks.
“Well now that the shouting head is gone, we can get started properly. I'm Captain Fatan and I'm going to be your top leader. During the next few months of basic training, I will appoint 10 individuals who will be promoted to corporals, who will be responsible for groups of approx. five individuals and a further 2 who will be promoted to sergeant, who corresponds directly to me, who will be in charge of the 10 corporals. ” He started by saying out loud before starting to wander down between the rows of people.
"While we wait, I can hear, are there any who can tell me why you are here? Let's see you there between the two dwarves, name and why we are here today. ” He shouted loudly so his victim could hear him.
"The name is Dave no last name, and I'm here because of our highly respected noble decided it was an appropriate punishment to send me out in front of the monsters, for thefts I know nothing about." Dave replied coldly.
"Okay Dave, so we have a convict between us, that's one thing we should probably get knocked out of you, but what was this you said with monsters." Asked Fatan.
“I say sir we are being sent out in front of the monsters. Our army in this country is being trained to go out and fight the battle against the creatures of darkness. ” Dave replied, turning his gaze straight to the captain, as if in a challenge to speak out against him.
“The little nameless here says is true enough, but let me ask nameless. Why are we fighting against the darkness, it's out there on the other side of the wall? ” Asked Fatan.
"The problem, sir, is that they will not stay out there if we do not keep fighting and try to beat them back. Their strength grows and at some point the wall will not be able to protect us anymore" Dave replied coldly.
"Good answer, if you prove to have as much strength as you have the will and knowledge, we will probably get you on the right keel again" Finished the captain before turning to another recruit.
"You there, name" he asked as he walked to one of the elves.
"I'm called idrasil," replied the elf as he looked down at the captain. "Okay idrasil, why are there no women between you" he asked angrily as he did his best to steer down the elf, which is quite difficult when they are on average 20 cm. higher than humans.
"Because they are weaker than us men," replied the elf scornfully, with a big buttery smile. Before anyone could grasp what was happening, the elf had curled up on the ground and clung to his stomach.
“I hate high-key fools like you. And elves are always the worst, I do not know what is wrong with you, but I can say that that attitude has no place here in my company. " Roared the captain. “Someone who can give me a better answer. "
Without a word, one of the dwarves stepped forward and saluted.
Sir there are no women here as it is our finest task to take care of them, a woman can be as strong as any man but she has a more important task in taking care of children and home. We can not risk losing our women to the dark, so therefore all men with a little honor put in his body everything he has in him, to ensure that his wife will never have to pick up a weapon ”shouted the dwarf while staring straight forward.
"Good answer dwarf, your name?" asked Fatan. "Sir the name is Gimbert U'talig" replied the dwarf proudly. "Well greeted U'talig, as far as I remember it is not long since your family moved here." Commented Fatan.
"Correct sir, my father moved us here 10 years ago" Gimbert replied. “Well well, think that was the most important thing for now, can see that the pastor is ready for you now. You will go into the tent there one at a time and have your dice called out so we can see your potential. ” inished Fatan as he pointed over to a tent where they could see the priest standing by.
Quietly people went in and had their dice called out, on the other hand all sorts of reactions came. Some were happy with the dice that had been given to them, others hated them, a few feared for their future and others trembled at their foundation. When it was Dave's turn, he went into the tent of the priest with an incredible calm.
"Let's see who we have." Asked the priest as he turned to dave. "Hello, my name is Dave" Dave replied calmly, he already knew what was going to happen, but did not know exactly how it would go. The pastor stopped briefly and looked up from his papers and looked at Dave.
“It's good to see you again Dave…. from your face you do not remember me, I was a good friend of your father and stood to baptize you. ” Told the pastor when he saw Dave stiffen completely. After hearing what the pastor had to say, Dave relaxed again. "But let's get started, it's customary for me to explain things, but you know, as a Nobel, what's going to happen, so I want to hear your version of this." Asked the priest as he got up and picked up 2 dice.
Dave took a deep breath before starting to talk. “Everyone has two dice the god of light has thrown for them when they were born, these two dice are the same as the light used to create the world. One with the numbers 1 to 6 on, and one with 2 black traps 3 blank and 1 where the sacred light of light flows from. The dice then define one's potential.
A glossy 1’ter will probably never turn into anything other than simple bottoms or the like low. Whereas a blank 6 will be able to become a master blacksmith or elite heavyweight. The holy side means that you have the hidden spark needed to be able to extract monsters' cubes from them and use it to strengthen yourself. ” Started Dave. After taking a deep breath again, he continued.
“If you land your dice with a black side up, it means that you have a hidden side of yourself. It could be a curse that made you thirst for blood or you turned to stone every night, many know in advance if they have a black side, but otherwise it works like the holy side, with that you can gain strength from the monsters you win over.
The only thing is that you can never extract and pick up the cube from a higher level than your light cube ”Dave concluded. "Well well, you can remember your theory, let's see what the god of light has given you to work with." Asked the priest as he handed Dave the two dice he had in his hand.
"Yes, there is nothing else for. Should I just throw them away? ” He asked as he looked suspiciously at the two dice."Yes the dice are enchanted to bind to you as you throw them, and if all goes well they should show you what the light threw when you were born." Answered the priest before taking a step away from Dave.
Dave hesitated for a moment before throwing the two small dice down on the table. It felt to Dave like an eternity before they calmed down and revealed what his cast was. “Congratulations young dave. you have the greatest potential of all. A holy 6s. ” The priest laughed as he patted Dave on the shoulder.
"But let's see, the two of us are not quite done yet." Said the priest as he fished another cube out of his pocket. "You know what this dice are not?" He asked as he handed it to Dave. “Yes I do, it's the cube of darkness. But why should we use it? ” Dave asked.
“It's simple, your father shared with me some of your family's secret, he did not tell me how you do it, but he shared with me that you can do it. So Dave now I ask, do you want to show an old priest how strong the last Rue is ”Asked the priest as he struck his hand against the old table again.
"If my father trusted you so much, it does not matter to me to show it to you, but you must promise not to let anyone know what we can do." Answer Dave and keep his hand ready to throw. "You have my word, I'm not telling anyone about it." Replied the priest, waiting impatiently.
Without a word, Dave threw the dice of darkness, at the same time the dice hit the table, one side switched to brown and a large 2 was written on it. “Excellent Dave, a level 2 earth magic. Sure you do not want to share your family's secret. ” Asked the priest gently.
"My father would not tell you how we, unlike everyone else, can increase our numbers and I will not either." answer Dave.
“Well Dave see now if we could share that knowledge with everyone it would be over having to go out and bet his life against higher and higher levels of monsters to extract their dice so you can replace one of the 6 sides on one's dark Cube." begged the priest.
Dave could not care less, his family had cherished this secret for generations, and he had no intention of being the one who broke them.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
It was an amazing trick his ancestors had discovered. Usually people with that particular glow could go out and kill monsters and harvest their element and dice, this element the person could then use himself. It would take one of the 6 sides the person had on his dark cube.
If a person had killed more than 6 monsters he would then be able to choose to leave the monster without taking the dice, or replace one of he 6 existing sides on his own. Dave's ancestors had found a trick that allowed them to cheat around this. Through a special training methods, a Rue can raise his item value without having to kill a stronger monsters.
When dave was little, his father had killed a level 1 mole monsters and instead of taking the dice for himself, he had given it to Dave. Dave had been able to absorb the cube without any problems, and his father had immediately known that the light had given him the spark, he did not know if it was the cursed spark of darkness or the holy spark of light, but he had the spark.
then his father had made him read an ancient book, which described all the techniques that the Rue family had developed to be able to raise his element level, without having to go out and fight new and stronger monsters.
It was associated with great danger to fight against higher level monsters, but some took the chance. Queen Ingrid was a good example of this phenomenon. Throughout the war, she had been given the opportunity to do away with a storm bird. The cube from there had given her a level 5 wind element. When it came from a storm bird, the queen herself had learned a lot of storm related magic. A few months later she had been lucky enough to kill another bird of the same type. And now she had two level 5 wind elements. Along with her 2 level 4 water sides and two level 3 energy sides, she was able to make the storms and hurricanes that gave her her nickname storm eye.
Her dark cube was a beautiful sight when she occasionally made it visible. With its 2 transparent sides, 2 deep blue sides and 2 yellow sides, it created an amazing sight when in motion. In her youth she was often seen sitting and stringing it around on a table. Rumor has it that it was this beautiful sight the king had seen the first time he had cast his eyes on her.
"No matter what you offer me as a priest, I do not sell my family's secret." Dave finished before stepping out of the tent. On the way out, one of the pastor's helpers handed Dave a new cube. As easy as nothing, Dave opened his necklace and put the new cube in place.
Around Dave’s neck now hung his dark cube, as it had always done, with its one side completely brown with a black 2 number engraved and next to it now hung a golden cube with the number 6 written on all sides.
Dave went quietly to where the company was quietly reunited. After just over 2 hours, everyone had been checked and reassembled. "Well priest what do you have to tell me?" Captain Fatan asked calmly as the priest came walking out of his tent.
“It looks like you have 30 with the spark, the 25 of them well enough with the dark spark, but it is there. you then also have a light spark bearing which already has a level 2 ground side. ” The pastor answered calmly.
"Everyone who carries the spark, take a step forward." Shouted the captain. Without a word, 20 people, 4 dwarves, 1 wolfkin and 5 elves stepped forward. "Well well, then we just had to have our earth magician to step one step forward." Shouted the captain. Dave could not see any way around it, so he took another step forward, so he ended up standing in front.
The captain stood for some time studying the new series he had produced. “Good folks, as you can see we have a nice mixed bunch. Now earth magician, turn around and look at your friends. ” Ordered Fatan calmly. Dave obeyed without any hesitation. "Can you see the faces looking back at you, what do you see?" Asked the Captain calmly.
"I see a lot of young people with the spark that I hope will grow with me on our hunt for our potential, and I see even more blanks who could win over me without any problems." Dave replied.
"As said by a true Rue." Shouted the captain so he was sure everyone could hear him. "Yeah, do not think I did not immediately know who you were." Said the captain as he stared at Dave.
"Our young Rue." Begin Fatan but was interrupted.
“Sorry sir, but I would prefer that you used Dave or nameless, right now I am not a Nobel and the Noble Council has taken both name and title from me. Only when I one day return from the front line with a full dice. where I can force them to give me my name back, only that day should that name be used about me, again sorry sir ”The captain stood for a while staring at Dave before shrugging.
"You know what, I refuse to call you that, so from now on you are Private Dave Durue" Fatan said aloud before looking at the privates again.
“As I said when I was interrupted, our young Durue said it well. Even though he has magic, he is not immortal or much stronger than any of you shiny in the back row, no matter how strong his magic becomes, a knife to the heart or a hammer to the head will probably still kill him. ” Finished the captain before giving Dave a push in the back. "Well in line again all of us, we must have you over and found some armor that suits you." Shouted the captain before he began to show where they were going.
Inside the barracks, they quickly found a lot of armor and shields that they could try on. Dave went for a long time and looked at the different armor, no matter what he picked up it seemed clumsy. it was not long before everyone else had found an armor that suited them, but Dave still could not adjust to any of what was ahead. When he was about to give up, a dwarf came walking in the door.
"Well, I arrived on time." Started the dwarf “Dave came over here, I have something for you. you thought you probably would not like any of the types of armor I usually supply here. ” Commented on the dwarf before coming to light so Dave could see him properly. "Master threw Ur'ga it's good to see you, I'm sorry my work for you was so short-lived." Dave apologized quickly as he bowed deeply to the dwarf.
"How many times do I have to ask you to call my Thomas?" grumbled the dwarf.
"At least a hundred more times after you took me in like you did" Dave replied cheerfully.
"When yes, I have to do it 100 times more, but that was not why I came, I have something for you here, try it here, think more it's your style." Said the dwarf as he handed Dave a package. With great caution, Dave opened the package and took out the contents. "Don't just stand there and stare let me look at it" Thomas wondered.
Slowly and methodically, Dave put on this mysterious armor. Over a pair of leather pants that were so black that it looked like Dave's legs disappeared into the shadow he was standing in, there were stapled lots of small metal rails that were clearly designed to stop blades from cutting into his legs and knee. Dave immediately discovered that almost all the small metal parts also functioned as pockets he could store things in.
On his body he again had this deep dark leather, upholstered with wool on the inside and reinforced with lots of small iron plates on his chest and back. On the sleeves were again fastened lots of small metal plates crosswise. With the pants and sweater came a pair of weird boots. Simple reinforced boots, with metal down around dave's foot to protect his ankle and heel from blows and stabs, but then they became weird. Five straps had to be tied around Dave's toes, where by that he could bend it, outermost of the boots more than usual. the boot was built so it looked like he had a glove on his foot. Furthermore, there were no soles in the boot.
However, that was not the only thing strange about the armor, a pair of gloves came with the armor. The gloves, like the boots, were very traditional at the top. they started in the middle of the forearm, with articulated split metal plates that gave his hands their full freedom of movement. The fingers were like his boots built up with straps instead of like a normally tight glove. and as with the boots, there was nothing to protect his palms, or fingers pointed. Dave stood for a long time admiring this strange armor, if it could be called that at all.
"It looks good on you, try to give it a jump and let's see a somersault" laughed Thomas loudly. Dave just glanced at Thomas as he hopped on the spot and gave the somersault as requested. "It looks good, I built it to give you all the flexibility it could and still a little defense in the most important places." Explained Thomas, while Dave kept writhing and trying to test his range.
"It's great, Thomas, but why are there no soles in the boots and no leather in the palms and out on the inside of the fingers?" Dave asked wondering.
"Thought you would like to be able to feel the ground under your feet, as you usually do, can not remember when I last saw you with shoes on, and your fingers are for you to feel whatever you climb on properly." Thomas replied complacently.
"And I'm not even done, try stretching your toes until you hear a very soft click." Started the dwarf while trying to suppress a laugh. dave took slowly and stretched his toes until a small click was heard. "Well, now squat them back and forth as if you were chopping them into the ground to get extra bites when you set off." commanded the proud dwarf.
Dave did as told, and got a shock without equal. From the tip of the metal on his toes, 5 metal claws sprang forward. "And then you do the same with your fingers, stretch them until you hear a click, and curl them together to claw in a hard motion." The master blacksmith now laughed eccentrically.
Dave did it without blinking, now that he could almost guess what was waiting for him he did it much faster. The fingers stretched completely and a slight click and then peeled them hard to the similar claws, just as with the boots, 5 claws sprang forward on each hand. “Now there is no increase you will find too difficult and I personally would not have those claws on my face. To pull them back, just stretch your toes and fingers again. ” said the incredibly smug master blacksmith. before being assaulted in a giant hug.
"Thank you so much Thomas, you do not know how much this means to me." Dave cried into Thomas' shoulder. “Calm down now kid, I just want you back in one piece, if you still had family fortune and power, you would have gotten an armor like this anyway, it's based on your father's old armor, his claws were just always promotion. ” Thomas interjected as he struggled to his feet again.
Only now did Dave look around and discover that all the other new recruits had left. "Where have the others gone?" He asked puzzled.
"They went into the adjoining room to look at weapons while you put on your armor." Answer Thomas. "Well, I have to get in there too, otherwise there will be trouble." Dave said quickly as he walked towards the door.
"Wait a minute," Thomas interjected quickly. "I'm not done with you, I have one more thing for you, or that is, I have 3 things but at the same time I only have one thing." Said Thomas as he found a small box out of a pocket. "Open it and tell me what you think." he said as he handed Dave the box.
Slowly Dave opened the box and immediately the tears began to run down his cheeks. In the box lay two large black knives side by side. One made with a large wooden handle, with a long blade where a hole was cut in the back, so that the blade itself became a hole. The other was made made of pure metal. It was not only that it was made of pure metal, which was strange, by blade number two. it was also that it resembled in design that it was built with barbs like a fishing hook, on the handle part of the metal.
"You repaired them" was all Dave could say as he stood admiring this beautiful piece of craftsmanship.
“Not quite, the ones your dad used were too damaged for me to fix, but I've been studying them for the last year. And have now made these two new ones for you. They are made of dwarf steel, just like your armor, so they are lighter and far more durable than the ones your dad used. And they accept mana better than the iron your father was cast in. ”
Dave stood for a long time looking at these two beautiful blades. "Try if they work as they should" Thomas said quietly, afraid of ruining a beautiful moment.
Slowly, Dave let his hands slide around in movements his father had worked into him before he died. Second by second, Dave moved faster and faster. After almost 30 seconds, a hiss from the knives begin to be heard. Suddenly, Dave spun around himself, making a big swing toward the air, whipping up a lot of dust.
when the dust had settled, Dave reappeared. Gone were the two large daggers, and in Dave's hand was a beautiful black katana. If you looked incredibly closely, you could just see where the two knives had slipped together like two puzzle pieces.
"They're perfect Thomas," Dave muttered quietly as he studied his new weapon.
“Glad you like them. Well I have to see to get going. there is room in your gloves for them under the metal, ”said Thomas before hurrying out the door.
Dave stood for a while studying this elegant weapon before disassembling it and going in to the other recruits. Now he felt he could handle anything, with his father's weapon in his sleeve, the world could just come on.