Seth had been at the healing place over night, since he was overheated, not sick, the healer advised him to just rest. Two people came to visit Seth this morning, the boss, Flan and a watcher, who acted like a bodyguard. Flan was interested in this kid, who did several quotas, which would be difficult for an adult to do one or two of. Flan remembered Seth said he was the son of adventurers, he was starting to believe him, even believing he was trained early, and he already had his first awakening. He might’ve been small, but it was possible for him to be five or older, but he might’ve already learned how to use aura.
“You said your name was Seth, right?”
“Seventeen nineteen”
“Its not a trick. You can speak normally around me, Seth”
“Seventeen nineteen.”
“I told you to speak normally”
“I know, but we’re not close enough to use each other’s first name. Especially since you want something from me.”
“You’re pretty sharp for a brat. How did you figure out?”
“Why else would the boss, come to see me? I showed my worth. Even if you have a thing for kids, you wouldn’t, come check on every kid. “
“You have a sharp tongue, if it weren’t for your size, I wouldn’t think you were a child. But since you’re smart. I’ll cut to the chase. Become a bodyguard. You get some freedom, training, and you have to worry about mining.”
“You just want a new dog for you to train? I don’t mine….hahahah… I mean mind. Just let me bring fourteen fifty-nine, the weapons you stole from me, and I don’t kill humans”
“That’s not difficult. The girl has no use here. She served her purpose. Those weapons are just farming tools, I could even supply you better weapons. I just need you to guard against some beasts.”
“If you can get me a good bow, a spear, an axe, a long sword, and throwing knives.”
“will you be able to use all of that? You’ll have to prove yourself. We have some beasts in captivity. I can see if you’re up to the task as well and you can see what you’re up against.”
“Okay. I’m ready”
Flan led Seth to what seemed like a training ground, it had weapons all around and it was a huge empty area. Flan signaled for someone to bring the two sickles, and they dropped them in front of Seth. Several Veteran Watchers, stood near Flan, and he told Seth to pick up the Sickles. A watcher brought along a shackled goblin. Goblins were weak, but they were notorious for killing new adventurers. They were so weak they were often underestimated, they were weak but cunning. The watcher gave the goblin a dagger, than released it from it’s shackles, at the same time, one of the veteran watchers around Flan kicked Seth towards the goblin.
“The winner, gains freedom, the loser gains death. Begin”
The goblin was originally scared, but seeing a kid being it’s opponent and that it would gain it’s freedom from kill it, he grew determined. The goblin crouched ground, then it ran towards Seth, keeping it’s body low, when it got close to Seth, it sprang up stabbing it’s dagger at him. Seth was shaken that the monster was humanoid, but he still managed to sidestep out of the way of the dagger. The moment Seth sidestepped, the goblin twisted it’s body, catching Seth off guard as the goblin swung the shackles, it was wearing earlier, and hit Seth on the side of his head, staggering him.
Seeing that it hit the kid, it returned it’s body to a low stance, and starting stabbing at Seth, vigorously. After Seth dodged the third stab, the goblin swung the shackles at Seth. Seth knocked the shackles away using one of the sickles in his hand. The goblin began stabbing at Seth again, then it stood up and swung the shackles, using all of it’s body weight, and Seth used a lot of strength to the deflect the shackles, but when he did, the goblin rotate it’s body with the shackles, using that momentum to spin it’s body, slicing slightly underneath Seth’s right eye, subsequently dropping the shackles, after stabilizing it’s momentum, it spun in the opposite direction, and stabbed the dagger towards Seth’s eye.
Seth was being cornered, and he had a lot of trouble dealing with such a humanoid enemy, mostly because it’s appearance. As the blood fell down his face, and the pain was lingering in his head, he finally realized it was life or death. Seth sidestepped the dagger, while holding both his arms straight out, as if he was a T, the bottom of the blades of the sickles were facing forward. Seth stepped forward and one of the blades of the sickles pressed against the goblin’s neck, subsequently, Seth pivoted behind it, keeping the blade pressed against the goblin’s neck, in one quick motion he brought the other sickle to the goblin’s neck. Seth took a deep breath, and without any more hesitation, he pulled the sickles to his side, and walked towards Flan, and the goblin’s head rolled on the floor. Seth was shivering as he continued his steps.
The watchers was astonished at the kid’s victory, it went from him struggling to defeating it in a flash. The goblin was a mutation of a goblin soldier. It’s reflexes and intelligence surpassed most of the average watchers, so they believed they would have to step in and save him. No one paid attention to Seth’s shivering. When he reached Flan, Flan signaled a watcher to bring a bow, and a quiver full of arrows.
“Well, it’s time to prove yourself with a bow. This a black iron bow. Black iron is both elastic and a good conductor or mana, but it’s heavy. To make it easy to sell, it has a lightweight enchantment on it. Send out the next one”
Seth put down the sickles and grabbed the bow and only a single arrow from the quiver. The next monster to be brought in was a giant bat, it was slightly larger than Seth, but it never stopped moving. They figured the best way to test an archer is with a moving target, and the giant bat was harmless, it just stopped moving when it slept or when it was resting. The watcher released the shackles, and the giant circled around once in the air, before an arrow pierced it’s skull, and it fell down. Seth put the bow down next to sickles, and grabbed a random spear.
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Seeing that Seth was prepared, they brought out three wolves. They weren’t monsters, but it would still be enough to test him with a spear. The wolves started circling around Seth. The spear Seth picked was too long for him, but all the spears were the same length. Seth attempted to spin the spear in front of him, but the bottom of the spear hit the ground and rebound back. The wolf behind Seth, pounce towards him the moment that happened, but all that welcomed it, was the shaft of the spear to the side of it’s head. The other two wolves attacked Seth from his left and right. The wolf on attacking his right, was stabbed in it’s shoulder, and bit down on the shaft of the spear, while the other wolf bit Seth’s left arm. The third wolf gotten up, and it was pounced at Seth’s back.
Seth was trying his best to hide his mana reinforcement, because without an element, those who senses it, would notify whatever god or goddess they worshipped, when they got their next blessing. Seth released a current of lightning around his body, it stunned the wolf that bitten him, and shocked and stunned the wolf that pounced towards him. Seth twisted the spear, and pulled it free from the wolf’s shoulder then he pierced the same wolf’s skull.
“I’m sorry puppies.”
Seth whispered lowly, as he delivered the same fate to the two stunned wolves. The fight wasn’t supposed to be difficult, since they were just normal wolves, but wolves were intelligent animals and especially dangerous when in a group, where they could divide up roles and distract a prey and target them whenever they showed an opening. Tears rolled down Seth’s cheeks, guilty he took the lives of those doggies. He was more upset than when he faced the humanoid goblin, even though he said he wouldn’t fight humans. Seth sat down, disappointed he revealed a trump card so early, he had strongest mastery of fire, next was space, lightning was third, dark and metal was last, the other elements he didn’t have any practice with. He didn’t want to reveal his space attribute yet, and he didn’t use fire because he thought was the coolest, and at least if he showed it, it would increase his worth, as lightning was a higher tier element than fire, and he felt mastering lightning would benefit him more, as that core had three elements.
“That brat can use aura already? His parents must’ve been barbarians or something.”
“He even has lightning affinity, from his first awakening.”
“the aura seemed a little off, as if it was incomplete though almost like mana. It wasn’t compressed”
“You’re right, I thought it felt off. But he’s gonna be quite the monster when he created his aura”
“He’s already quite the monster, seeing as he defeated that goblin mutation, we were troubled just capturing it.”
“We should let Sherry teach him aura, since he warmed up to her, and she’s stronger than you lot.”
The watchers and veteran watchers was excited by the potential this kid just shown. They were chattering until Flan spoke up, and one of the watchers beside removed her cloak, and walked over to Seth, and helped his feet. Sherry had an advanced class the silent blade, it was a hybrid assassin and swordsman class. Sherry’s dad was a swordsman instructor and he taught her how use the sword, and later on, Flan took her in, and they raised her as an assassin.
“Sherry! You came, so I could sit in your lap?”
“You were really impressive. Shouldn’t you speak more mature? Trying to get back in my lap.”
“Nooooooope. I’m just fo…five. Hehehehe. I kinda forgot I had a birthday recently.”
“You’re only five, and can alright use incomplete aura. I will train you to use aura, and afterwards you will go on your first mission. I’ll grant you a reward for completing your aura.”
“Yay, I will get a reward from Sherry.”
Seth almost slipped up, if he revealed he was four, it would mean he hadn’t had his first awakening, which happens on your fifth birthday. Sherry was surprised by Seth’s attitude, he acted like he was older than he actually was, but he still seemed like a kid to her. Sherry was about lead Seth to her personal training ground, but she noticed Seth’s skin and clothes were singed. This was one of the reasons people compress mana, it’s natural form was too volatile, by compressing it, it lowers the deadliness of element and makes it closer to a mana state with an element affinity. Aura was based off the mana reinforcement, but since the gods got polluted the mana, and made it impossible for an mana core to be created again, this was next best option.
Sherry picked up Seth, and carried him to healing area. Since Seth didn’t released the lightning current for too long, it didn’t take too long to heal him. The Healer wasn’t happy seeing Seth brought back the same day, this has been his third time here in less than month. No one was happy for Seth returning, except Emily, who hadn’t left, as her leg was healed, but the bone was difficult for the healer to heal, so it had to heal naturally. Emily thought this was fate, he risked himself to protect her, he collapsed for her, she hurt herself for him, he was trying to free her, and he returned back to her side.
“Y’all are overworking this poor kid. He’s collapsed with fatigue, body overheated, and now he’s even burnt. I advise you let him rest before you continue whatever what you were doing.”
“I understand, we’ll begin training tomorrow. So rest easily here.”
“But I wanted to sleep with Sherry.”
“Aren’t you too young to be this perverted?”
“ow…you just remind me of my aunt….”
“oh I’m sorry…”
“Can I train with you too?!?”
“Who are you?”
“Fourteen fifty-nine. He asked for me to come along, so if I train with you, I can at least protect myself.”
“That makes since, but since you’re still recovering, your training will be different from his.”
“Thank you!”
Sherry had flicked Seth on the forehead because of his comment, but Seth seemed sad after he mentioned his aunt. Emily grew uncomfortable with the way Seth was speaking with Sherry. She didn’t know why, but she didn’t like it, and she wanted a reason to spend some time together with Seth. So she was happy they could train together. Emily wanted to speak to Seth, but he seemed real depressed, but he still seemed cool, she didn’t know how to talk to him.
Seth was so lost in thought, that he didn’t even notice Emily when she spoke. After thinking about Abyss, he started thinking about the mana reinforcement technique. He wasn’t going to learn aura, but try to use the aura training method to figure out how to incorporate the element into the mana reinforcement, like abyss told him he would have to learn eventually. Seth waited until the healer left, and started cycling in his mana throughout his body, to help his body get used to it, as well as to drain his mana, so and let his body recover the mana naturally, in hopes another increase would happen, like when he exhausted himself the first time. He also attempted to alter the areas he already cycled mana through. Cycling mana through specific parts was more difficult than cycling mana through your whole body at once, he wanted to see if he could alter the output of mana, in certain areas, to increase his attack or defense at the last moment. If he could do this, he would feel safer, not having to worry about another wolf attack. He forgotten, he wasn’t using mana reinforcement at that time, but he felt like his way of thinking was the right choice. It was more difficult than Seth thought it would be to strengthen his left arm, while already using the full body mana reinforcement technique. It caused him a lot of strain, that it didn’t seem worth it. Seth wanted to attempt releasing lightning currents, while the mana reinforcement was active, but he was worried if he failed, he would singe or even burn the bed if he failed, and he didn’t feel like getting out of bed. Seth and Emily fell asleep both enthusiastic about the training.