Percy was surprised about how openly Tarlek spoke about their past, but he listened quietly.
“The Monster Rampage bulldozed our village easily. The two retired Adventurers living in the village tried to stall the monster masses, but they weren’t strong enough to do anything. Our mother…she tried to protect us as well. She was caught by a pack of wolves right before our eyes and…torn apart. We saw her die not even ten meters before us. I can still hear her screams whenever I fall asleep when I didn’t give training to grow stronger in everything…”
Tarlek was a little shocked, but his expression remained stoic. Erik cursed the Monster Rampage quietly, but he didn’t interrupt his brother.
“Our father died protecting us as well. We…managed to escape into the nearby forest but didn’t have a direction to flee. There were no nearby settlements to seek protection from. We were alone in a forest full of monsters, and we only stopped running from the Monster Rampage when we could move no more.
I don’t remember how many days passed in the forest, but the monsters there attacked us often. We were easy prey and, thus, a preferential target for most monsters. A malnourished, elderly wolf attacked us. The elderly wolf must have been exiled by its pack as it was old and dying. It was alone but still strong enough to defeat two unarmed Normies.”
Erik cleared his throat at this moment and smiled brightly, “We killed it!”
“I was just about to get to that part,” Tarlek scoffed, “Like Erik said, we managed to kill the elderly wolf. It wasn’t easy, and Erik sustained some serious injuries, but we were lucky to awaken our Egos after the fight. As you should already know, some Egos require specific triggers and conditions to manifest. We think I had to defeat a monster while being a Normie, while Erik had to sustain a severe injury. It could have been something different, but the exact conditions don’t matter. We manifested our Egos, and Erik, with Bloodweaver, learned to control his blood. If not for that, he would have bled to death given the severity of his injury.”
Bloodweaver? Is that Erik’s Ego? That doesn’t sound like Ego-enhancing physical abilities. So, he is much stronger than this when he goes all out. Erik could crush me easily.
Percy’s Ego was strong, but it didn’t directly enhance his combat prowess. He could use it to create and enhance his Artifacts or power up his Monster Card, but that was it.
“After awakening our Egos, we spent several weeks in the forest, forced to fight countless monsters. I don’t remember everything of our time in the forest, but ranking up our Tier is the sole reason we survived. The mana waves of every rank-up kept us alive. We grew stronger quickly, forced to use our Egos as often as needed to defeat our enemies. I’m not sure how many moons it must have been, but reinforcement reached the village or what was left of it to eradicate the Monster Rampage. We were found by the Adventurers deployed to kill the monsters and picked up.”
Erik chuckled in irony, “Two children, 13 and 14 years old, covered in countless layers of old and fresh blood, were all that was left of our beautiful, peaceful village.”
Tarlek shrugged nonchalantly, but the sadness in his eyes couldn’t be hidden, “Either way, we were brought to a nearby town, tested, and the Guildhall must have recommended us for the Imperial training after we told them that we wanted to grow strong enough to take care of the Monster Rampages long before they can reach villages who cannot protect themselves.”
Percy nodded slowly. If they wanted to get as strong as possible, becoming Imperials was probably the best way to achieve that. The Imperials were the strongest, but they were also influential. Even if they couldn’t be everywhere, the Imperials could deploy forces, hire Adventurers, or support the development of Guildhalls in smaller villages.
My reason for growing stronger is ridiculous compared to the responsibilities they’re carrying. Erik and Tarlek are not even nobles, yet they carry such a burden…
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Their commitment to the task impressed him. Percy might not have expected to have to listen to their background story after a simple spar, but he was glad that the brothers were so open about their ambitions and desires.
I’m glad he told me about their story, but why does he look so confused? Did he not want to tell me about their past?
Erik was still all smiley, however, Tarlek looked different. His features distorted into utter confusion. He turned to his brother, who was still smiling.
“I don’t care,” Erik said lightly, which pulled Tarlek back to his senses.
“Sorry about that. I don’t usually tell strangers about our story, and I will hate you if you start pitying us,” Tarlek declared in a more serious tone.
“Don’t worry, I won’t pity you. Instead, I will bombard you with questions until you hate me,” Percy teased Tarlek, which caused Erik to laugh until he realized that Percy was serious.
“Are you for real? How about we fight instead…please?” Erik asked, but Percy and Tarlek weren’t listening anymore. They turned around and walked to the brother’s tent, where they chatted for hours. Percy learned a lot about the Imperial prospects, their Egos, Monster Cards, and most importantly, their strength and growth.
**
Percy didn’t know how late it was, but he fell asleep at some point. He woke up in the brothers’ tent, only to see they were missing.
“Ah, right. They went back to the mansion to train,” Percy sighed deeply.
The Imperial training is better than expected. If I could improve my mana control by a few levels by spending two months in the Wintermoon mansion, my foundation would grow a lot stronger.
Unfortunately, he was not allowed into the Wintermoon mansion.
Should I go out to hunt again? No. Erik and the others said they would come out again today. I can focus on my workout and leave the estate if they don’t step out of the mansion until after lunch.
Percy would have loved to talk more to Tarlek and Erik, maybe even train with them – it was boring to train alone all day or be the sole victim of the Glacia Knight’s torturous training – but he would also make it without them.
He started with a run around the edges of the Wintermoon estate’s edges. He circulated mana through his entire body to cool him, loosen his muscles, and retain as much stamina as possible. Every circle around the Wintermoon estate took Percy a few minutes, but he didn’t stop running until his legs caved in. He breathed heavily, his chest heaving up and down, and his mana reserves had been used up. His legs quivered terribly, but a faint grin blossomed.
Two more laps than yesterday. Fighting strong people and learning about your weaknesses is much better than being around the Glacia Knights all day.
Meeting Erik and Tarlek motivated Percy. He was weaker than them and wanted to change that. He didn’t want to give Erik an easy time the next time they fought. After resting for a few minutes, Percy chuckled lightly and got up. His pores opened to absorb the surrounding mana, but filling his mana reserves to the brim would take a while.
Thus, he changed his tactic and walked up to the Wintermoon mansion, where the guards blocked the entrance. Percy didn’t even think about entering the mansion and nodded respectfully to the guards while sliding down the mansion wall next to one of them. He was as close to the mansion as possible and closed his eyes to sense the surrounding mana.
This is much better. Now….create mana tendrils and release them into the surroundings to pull more motes of mana to me…
Percy recited a few things he’d learned over the last few things and experimented a little. He used his mana reserves to create a few tendrils of mana, which he released through his wide-open pores. The accumulated masses of mana pulled the surrounding mana motes closer like a magnet. The motes were absorbed and annexed quickly, filling Percy’s reserves much faster than usual.
His perception of time twisted as he absorbed more and more of the surrounding mana. The guards didn’t pay much attention to Percy because he didn’t make a move to enter the mansion, but their attention drifted to him occasionally, their eyes narrowed to tiny slits.
Percy was clueless and continued absorbing mana until he was forcefully dragged out of meditation as two firm hands pulled him to his feet.
He opened his eyes and saw Erik’s vibrantly smiling face – beaten black and blue – before him.
“Hey, Percy! Let’s go hunting!”