Meat roasted over an open flame, sizzling and dripping with juices. The creatures that attacked Warren may not have looked like any animal from Earth, but their flesh still tasted pretty good. It tasted a little like beef, but it was leaner and sweeter, with a strange smoky undertone.
For him, eating didn’t just restore his stamina and fill him up; it also took his mind off of everything else that had happened. In the short time since he had come to this realm, he had done great and terrible things; things that weighed heavily on his soul. It was one thing to steal from bandits, but it was quite another to slaughter them as he did. He may not have done something wrong, but it wasn’t exactly right either, at least according to the morals of his old world.
Yet while he could accept those actions as being necessary, what could never be forgiven was the taking of an innocent life. Draining that woman of her life force was something that had irrevocably marred his soul. It wasn’t as though he couldn’t have saved her. With some difficulty, he might have been able to reverse the flow of energy and save her life instead of his. But he never even tried.
He made the choice to put his life above hers, and that was something he would have to live with. When he thought about it, it was really quite ridiculous. For years he had logged in to Royal Road and did much worse things with a similar degree of realism. He had slaughtered men and women by the tens of thousands, and not all of them were evil villains.
This world had more in common with Royal Road than it did with his old one. Yet for all of its fantasy-like elements, there was an undeniable, unexplainable feeling of reality that Royal Road never had. This was real, those deaths were real. His sins were very much real.
As he stared at the flickering flames, his vision began to blur. How pathetic was it that he started to cry at the thought of his actions? It was useless and pointless. Tears weren’t going to erase his mistakes, especially when there was a good chance that he would have to do things just as bad, if not worse than this in the future.
He furiously wiped away his tears and made a resolution to himself. He wasn’t going to cry or second-guess himself. If he wanted to survive in this cruel untamed world, there would be no place for weakness. He wouldn’t become cold and unfeeling, but he would become hard. He needed the resolution to do terrible things, so long as they served a purpose. Unfortunately, this meant that he wouldn’t always be able to uphold the promise to protect the innocent.
The meat he had been eating no longer tasted so sweet; instead it went down bitterly, devoid of its flavour. You don’t need to be quite so depressed or guilty. As far as I can see, you didn’t do anything wrong.
Nothing wrong? Putting aside the bandits, what I did to that woman was unforgivable. I don’t see how you can possibly justify it.
Have you forgotten what kind of goddess I am? To me, death is part of the natural order of things, and so is surviving. You wanted to live, so you did what you had to. If on the other hand you chose to be noble and self-sacrificing, then perhaps the woman would have lived, but you still would have died. Your story, your fate, it would have all ended at that moment. Everything you could have done or been would have been erased.
Just because I’m an immortal being, it doesn’t mean that I don’t understand the concept of mortality. I understand that all life is sacred, but that means that your life is worth just as much as hers. More so in fact, since you have the potential to change the world. And not to speak ill of the dead, but that woman wouldn’t have done much in the world, assuming she even survived after you died. You made the best out of a bad situation, so there’s no need to feel remorse.
Warren smiled bitterly to himself. Thanks Yana. I know you’re just trying to make me feel better, but I’m afraid that this is just something I’ll have to learn to live with.
I understand. For what it’s worth, I’m glad you chose to live. Warren felt her presence disappear from his mind, as she left him to sort out his feelings.
He mulled over what Yana had told him as he finished butchering and packing up the animal corpses into the back of a wagon. He chose the biggest one there, and filled it with the most valuable things from the other wagons. He couldn’t take all the wagons back with him, so he only packed the most important things.
With all the women gone, he was left to travel alone in silence. His only company were his dark, dreary thoughts.
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After a long trek, the city finally came into view. Warren had made good time, stopping only to eat and give his horses some time to rest. As he got closer to the city, he could make out its features and buildings. It was a tidy city, with buildings made of wood and stone. It could best be described as medieval-style construction, each structure painstakingly built and carved by hand. Yet for all its simple down-to-earth designs, there was a touch of magic in the buildings.
All in all, it appeared to be a relatively advanced society. Instead of technology, they relied on magic. Fortunately, Warren had a lot of experience with this sort of world. As he approached the city, he noticed that there wasn’t any real sort of defence. Besides a small wall that barely came to the top of his head and a pair of guardsmen on the main road, the city looked woefully under guarded.
It wasn’t until he saw the runes and symbols cut into the wall and the shimmering air around the city that he realized that it did have some protection. It was a magical barrier of unknown strength, which likely formed a dome over the city. The reason there were only two guards out was because any more were unnecessary.
Before he got to the guards, he quickly used his ice magic to create a visor that would hide his eyes. He had experimented with this magic on the ride over and found out most of its limits and capabilities. The first thing he realized was that it wasn’t really ice. It was more like a solid state of energy, appearing almost crystalline in nature, and evaporating away instead of melting.
He learned that he could control the temperature of this ice to some extent and make it relatively cool to the touch. It wasn’t perfect and wouldn’t last forever, but it would do for the moment. He quickly slipped it onto his face before the guards noticed his strange eyes and questioned him about it.
The guardsmen were dressed in a red uniform and wore a metal helm and chainmail. They were typical of men in their post, being two big, bulky men. “Halt! State your business here,” one of them cried out to Warren.
“I’m just a traveller looking for a place to live and work.”
“What’s in the wagon?”
“Just some junk from back home that I’m looking to sell, some weapons, armour, and jewelry.”
“Ridge, take a look and make sure there’s nothing dangerous in there.”
Ridge was the younger of the two, and had bright red hair. Unlike his partner, his face was smooth and unlined. He stepped through the invisible force field and went around so he could inspect Warren’s wagon.
“Holy crap! He killed three gurens!” Ridge exclaimed excitedly and looked at Warren with awe and respect.
“I don’t care if he killed a dragon, pay attention and do your job properly!” The older guardsman snapped at Ridge and quickly got him in line.
A flushing Ridge immediately dropped his head and went back to looking over Warren’s possessions. “Yes sir! Sorry sir!”
The older guard grunted in response and peered at Warren questioningly. “So you really killed three of em’?”
“If you mean the large cat-like animals, then yes.”
The guardsman grunted again at Warren’s response, this time seemingly impressed. “Not bad, they tend to get more than a few unsuspectin’ travellers on the road.” He looked back at Warren and squinted at his visor. “What’s with the headgear?”
Warren had time to carefully come up with a suitable story to explain his eyes away, but he was still slightly apprehensive at actually presenting it. “It’s to cover up my eyes. A wizard was casting a spell and it went bad. I can see just fine, but it looks quite unnerving.”
The guard nodded in sympathy, “I’ve got a cousin that messed up once and turned his skin blue. There are some decent wizards in the city, so you might be able to get some help from them.”
The younger guard then came around to the front of the wagon and reported to this superior. “Nothing suspicious in the wagon sir.”
“Alright then, come on through.” The guard activated a disk on the side of a post and made a hole for Warren to go through.
“Thanks, and do you mind telling me where I can sell these things, and where the library is?”
“The shopping district is in the east quarter. Just go down the main road and you’ll see a sign. The library’s on the other side, in the west quarter. Just head towards the green spire and you’ll get there.”
“Thanks again.” Warren led his wagon down the main road and headed towards the east quarter.
It was a large city, so it had many types of stores, from general ones to specialty stores. He managed to sell off the wagon, the horses, and everything inside it. He made a tidy bit of profit from it all, and now he had about thirty gold nobles on hand. From what he saw in the marketplace, the average citizen could probably make do with about half a silver noble each month.
Then again, that was for the bare essentials. Realistically, it was closer to one silver noble a month. It was actually quite a remarkable amount for the size and strength of the bandit camp. They must have been more successful than he initially thought. Warren felt a slight pang of guilt at not returning it to its rightful owners, but he needed the money right now.
After everything was sold, he decided to buy some new gear. What he had looted from the bandits was passable, but it wasn’t in the best condition or quality. He didn’t want anything extravagant; instead he desired simple, well-built items that would be of use to him.
The first place he went to was the blacksmith. He found one shop that had high-quality weapons, and decided to buy from them. He purchased a two-handed sword, two daggers, and a few throwing knives. They were all balanced weapons, made from some sort of strange, exotic alloy. They were much stronger and lighter than steel, and the craftsmanship was incomparable to what was expected in the medieval era.
For armour, he decided to go with leather reinforced by metal. It was light and durable, and helped him maximise his natural abilities. While plate armour would offer more protection, it was also heavy, clunky, and dampened his senses. For Warren, light armour was the best option.
He wandered down the streets, checking out the different stores. Typically, the stores fell into two categories: overpriced and of good quality, or moderately priced and of bad quality. Many of the higher-end stores had armour that emphasized style over function.
It was only due to blind luck that he found a store that looked half-way decent. Unlike the other stores in the area, this one looked sort of run-down. The wood was worn and chipping away, the paint was peeling, and the windows had a thin coat of dirt and grime. From the faded lettering on the sign, Warren could make out the words ‘Tobias’ Leathers’.
The reason he chose this store over all the others, was that something drew him towards it. It seemed his instincts were right, since despite the store’s condition, the wares were well-taken care of and of exquisite design. Warren was fairly skilled at tailoring himself, though that was back when some of it was supplemented by the skill-system. Even so, to his eye, it was a master craftsman that created the various armours, accessories and other wares.
“Not many people come to my shop nowadays.” The owner of the store was a slender old man. His hair had gone completely gray and his face was lined with deep wrinkles. Yet although he looked old and frail, there was a quiet strength about him. It was in the way he stood tall and proud.
From what Warren could tell, he wasn’t just the owner, but the craftsman that created the armour. The smell of leather and tanning chemicals hung around him strongly, and he had the supple muscular frame of someone who did this all their life. Warren took all this in and assessed the man and his store before speaking.
“Truth be told, I nearly walked past it.”
“Oh? And why did you decide to come in?”
“It’s because no matter how bad it looked on the outside, your wares were made with care, skill…and magic.”
The older man, who he assumed to be Tobias, grinned at him. “Well, well, I’m impressed. You have quite a pair of eyes on you. Most people walk right on by without ever noticing this place.”
“I find that hard to believe. Even if the store itself is pretty run-down, it would still merit a look around. It doesn’t seem possible that a store like this would go unnoticed.”
Tobias’ smile grew broader. “You’re a sharp one. You’re right that the appearance alone wouldn’t turn people away, but the spell on this place would. They’re supposed to think that there’s nothing important about it and press on.”
“That’s odd, since I had the opposite reaction to it.”
“Well, you’re strong enough to ignore the spell, and instead be alarmed by it. I don’t usually get new clients, so I’m assuming that you’re from out of town?”
“I just got in today. I’m pretty new to this sort of thing, but I’m looking to join a guild here.”
“Hence the need for new gear,” guessed Tobias. “If I get your measurements, I can have some armour modified for you in about six hours or so. I’ll warn you, it won’t come cheap.”
“What’ll you charge for a full set of light armour?”
“For you it’ll come to…fifteen gold nobles.”
“Fifteen?!” Warren sputtered in shock. “I know you’re good, but no armour’s worth that much.”
“Normal armour isn’t,” Tobias agreed. “But then again, what I make isn’t normal. I only make enchanted gear, and it’s much more special than anything else on the market. Besides, this is after I gave you a large discount. If this wasn’t your first purchase, you’d be paying the normal rate. Tell you what, I’ll even enchant all your weapons for one gold.”
Warren ground his teeth in frustration. If he bought the armour, then he would have to part with most of the money he had on hand. Then again, if what Tobias said was true, then he really was getting a great deal here. It was an investment that would pay off in the future, when his life depended on it. He sighed regretfully, since it looked like there was only one real option.
“Alright, make me a set of armour.”
“First there’s the matter of the five gold deposit, then we can head back and decide on the details.”
After Warren paid the deposit, he let Tobias take his measurements. Then they spent fifteen minutes going over the particulars of his armour, designing it to mesh well with his fighting style and offer maximum protection, while maintaining speed and mobility.
“Alright, that’s all the important stuff taken care of. You can come back later to pick it up.” Tobias sent Warren on his way while he worked on the armour.
Since he had quite a bit of time on his hands, Warren decided to go to the library. Since he didn’t have the luxury of horses anymore, it took a bit longer to get where he wanted to go. Heeding the guard’s advice, he headed towards the west, while keeping the tall green spire in sight.
When he finally got there, he was a bit surprised by the size of the library. It was a tremendously tall building that was four stories high. He didn’t expect there to be so many books in one place given the lack of technology.
After paying a copper for the entry fee, Warren headed straight towards the section with history, geography and the natural sciences. Since he was in a completely new world, he needed to know basic world history and geography so that he could fit in and navigate the world.
With the help of his implants, he breezed through the books. His memory and comprehension had increased dramatically, so it took less than fifteen minutes to absorb the material from the books. He couldn’t memorize the contents, but what he was looking for was a generalized knowledge of the world. He could sit down and read the books properly some other time.
After flipping through the history books, he spent a bit more effort on geography. That was something that would be extremely useful to him, so he made sure to study it properly. His implants were especially useful here, since it had a mapping ability built in. With the help of the books, he managed to construct a fairly reliable mental map.
With those areas covered, he moved on to the natural sciences, which in this world included magic. His old world-s knowledge wouldn’t be all that useful here. Besides the alterations to the laws of physics, there would be a whole host of new plants and animals, as well as different metals and minerals. He couldn’t even be sure that the natural phenomena that existed in his old world would be the same in this one.
He spent almost four hours leafing through those books, taking in books on geology, magic, biology and ecology. He learned a great deal about the different species of animals, plants and monsters that populated the world, as well as the sentient races. Surprisingly enough, there wasn’t that big a difference between this world and Royal Road.
The metals and minerals were largely the same, though this one had a few unique ones, but even the animals weren’t too different from what he was used to. Sure they all differed at least a little bit in terms of physical appearance, but by and large they seemed to share a common ancestry.
This eased one of the knots of tension inside Warren. He was afraid that his previous knowledge would basically be useless here, but it seemed that wasn’t the case. In some ways he was much better prepared than most normal people in this world.
After reading for several hours on end, Warren was ready to take a break. He looked out of one of the library’s windows and saw that the sun had come to hover just over the horizon. From his internal clock, he guessed that a little over six hours had passed since he first arrived at the library.
By now, Tobias had probably finished making his armour. Since it was so late, he decided to pick up the armour and then find a place to spend the night. The guild could wait until tomorrow. In any case, he needed to find out some more about that guild.
He already knew about guilds in general, and what purpose they served by reading history books, but he didn’t know anything about the White Crow guild in particular. In this world, guilds were considerably more important. They weren’t just societies for warriors to hang out and mingle in.
Instead, they were established to be a fusion of soldiers, mercenaries, adventurers, and explorers. In Royal Road, they were more like miniaturized independent governments and private armies. Obviously that sort of thing wouldn’t last long in this world, since the world would quickly devolve into chaos and war.
The reason for them being soldiers lay in the nature of combat in this world. In his old world, combat prowess always had an upper limit which wasn’t too far removed from the average person. Even the strongest person in that world couldn’t do much to the general public.
In this world, combat strength didn’t really have an upper limit. It was a world where a single person had the strength of an entire army, and where a handful of people could take over a country. For this reason, nations didn’t have a centralized army with hundreds of thousands of soldiers. They had guilds instead.
They were organizations of concentrated power that took requests and contracts from their respective government, yet still maintained some independence. Because they weren’t directly under a government’s control they could take requests from the general public as well, though there were certain rules that had to be followed.
Because they held so much power, it was easy for a guild to become corrupt and turn against the government. Even the ones that weren’t blatantly evil had a tendency towards darkness. Assassinations, thefts, murder, and kidnapping were all things that certain guilds would do for the right price. Warren needed to make sure that the White Crow guild didn’t fall into one of these groups.
Since it was getting dark, the streets didn’t have as many people on them, so Warren made it to Tobias’ relatively quickly.
“You’re right on time. I just finished up your armour.” Tobias had his sleeves rolled up and was wiping his hands on a piece of cloth.
Warren flashed a quick smile at him. “Well don’t keep me in suspense, let me see it for myself.” He was eager to see what fifteen gold nobles had bought him.
Tobias chuckled at Warren’s eagerness. He cocked his head towards the back of the store. “Come on, it’s right back there.”
It was stunning. Warren couldn’t believe that Tobias had pulled it off in such a short amount of time. It was a complete set, with bracers, a breastplate, greaves, leggings and boots. They were beautiful pieces, made of rich, dark brown leather. Tobias made them using softened leather as the base, then put in an inner lining to make it comfortable. For defence, he used hard leather pieces reinforced with metal.
It was made in such a way that the pieces all fit together and covered almost every inch of his body except his head and his hands. Unlike other leather armour, this was a real suit of armour. The fact that it looked amazing was just the icing on the cake.
When he wore the armour, he barely noticed it was there. His limbs bent smoothly, allowing full range of motion, and it wasn’t heavy at all. There were strips and bands of metal all throughout the armour, but it was focused on his vital areas. His greaves and the top of his bracers were made out of thin sheets of metal, as was part of his upper chest. It was an added weight, but also necessary. Like the rest of the armour, they were painted that same brown colour.
“This is an amazing set of armour,” Warren remarked in awe.
Tobias smirked at that. “Of course it is, but I hope you haven’t forgotten about the enchantments. I managed to work in four separate enchantments. There’s the basic strengthening spell to improve defense, a weight-reduction spell to make it lighter, a force dispersal spell to reduce the power behind any attacks you take, and the final one is something rather special; a restoration inlay.”
“Okay, I get the first three, but I’m totally lost on the restoration inlay.”
“Most people are. Basically, the restoration inlay is a primer that allows you restore the armour to optimal condition.” He tossed over a necklace to him. It was a simple silver chain with a smooth white stone set in a silver disc. “That’s the talisman you use. Just hold it over the piece of armour you want restored and channel some Mana into it, and it’s as good as new.”
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Warren was stunned by Tobias’ design. “That’s incredible. I’m-I’m speechless.”
“Well don’t be too impressed. This kind of spell is very unstable so you’ll get limited use from it, which is pretty fortunate since I wouldn’t have repeat customers otherwise. I’d say you have about twenty-five restorations before it wears out. But I’ll warn you, the greater the damage, the more the spell gets used up. Oh, I just remembered.” He went and brought back Warren’s weapons.
“The base craftsmanship is pretty good, so I was able to give it some decent enchantments. Your knives and swords all have two enchantments, one to make it strong enough that it’ll resist chipping, dulling and breaking from most attacks, and one to increase the sharpness of the blade. Your throwing knives have the same strengthening enchantment, but I added a stored charge enchantment as well. Just fill it up with Mana, and when it hits, it releases the energy as a pure explosion of force. You can refill it as many times as necessary. And take this too.” He handed over a whetstone. “It’s the only thing that’ll sharpen those knives so keep it safe.”
“Wow, this is all incredible. Thank you.”
“Well it’s not like I’m doing this for free.” Tobias held out a hand and looked pointedly at Warren.
Warren laughed ruefully at having to part with so much gold but…”you certainly earned it.” Feeling generous, he gave over a silver crown as a tip. A very expensive tip.
“Thank you for your business. By the way, if you don’t mind me asking, what’s with the eyewear?”
The ice-like crystal that Warren had on his head certainly did look odd. It would have melted several times over if he hadn’t constantly restored it with his magic. “Well it’s the only thing I had to cover my eyes. Most people would be pretty freaked out by it.”
“It doesn’t look very comfortable or easy to see out of.” He was right, it wasn’t easy to see through them. Since the ice was partially opaque, it severely limited his ability to see. Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything else available. “If you don’t mind, would you show them to me? I’ve seen a lot of things in my day, so I promise not to get freaked out.”
Warren debated whether or not he should show Tobias. He seemed like a decent, down-to-earth fellow, but one could never tell who would snap and run down the streets screaming. In the end, he decided to show them, if only to gauge the reaction that most people would have to it.
The second he took the glasses off and looked at Tobias, something strange started to happen. Tobias’ face started to flicker and morph. Other images seemed to superimpose themselves over his face. They were the faces of other people. Dozens, if not hundreds of faces flickered over him, that of men and women, both young and old, of every race imaginable.
Don’t be alarmed, I’ll explain it all later. Yana’s words came at just the right time, since he was halfway to believing that Tobias was a shapeshifter of some sort. However, he did calm himself down and tried to focus on Tobias’ face. The instant he did, the images melted away and he was looking upon his original face once more.
Tobias didn’t seem to notice his tension, and if he did he probably attributed it to revealing his eyes. “I’ve certainly seen a lot of strange things, but I haven’t ever seen something quite like this before. You’re right to keep it hidden, most people would assume that you’re a demon of some sort.”
Warren put his visor back on to prevent any other episodes. “So you don’t think that I’m a demon?”
“Honestly I don’t know and I couldn’t care less. As far as I’m concerned, you’re just a customer. Since I don’t want to see you lynched or run out of town, I’ll sell you this for only five silver nobles.” He pulled out something from a drawer. Incredibly, it was a pair of sunglasses, or at least something close to it. It was made out of one solid piece of black crystal. It was extremely thin, and would curve perfectly around his head. It was also incredibly bendy, so it wouldn’t snap when he put it on.
“This is just what I need, where did you get this?”
“I bought it when I was travelling through the desert, but that’s a long story in and of itself. Of course I made some modifications and improvements to it. It’s just been sitting in the store so I don’t mind selling it to you. Not only is it incredibly durable, but it lets you see clearly as well by reducing excess light.”
“I’ll take it.” It was perfect. Although it was a solid black on the outside, when he looked through it, it was transparent, without any tint or shade. “Thank you,” Warren said gratefully. He was humbled by Tobias’ ability and held him in great respect. “I don’t know how to repay you.”
Tobias raised an eyebrow at him. “Well you already repaid me in gold, but if you really want to do something nice for me, make sure you wear out that gear quickly and come back for more.”
Warren smiled. “I’ll see what I can do.” He turned around and then made to leave when Tobias’ voice stopped him.
“Hey kid! Catch.” He tossed a strip of leather to Warren.
Warren looked down at it, baffled by why Tobias would give it to him. “What’s this for?”
Tobias grinned wickedly at him. “Well kid, don’t get me wrong when I say this. If I had the hair you did I would flaunt my stunning silver locks as well, but wearing your hair like that would get pretty inconvenient in battle, wouldn’t it?”
Warren flushed in embarrassment. He wasn’t used to having hair that reached below his shoulder blades, so he forgot he even had it. “Ahh, thanks.”
“Come back soon,” Tobias chortled cheerfully.
After leaving Tobias’ shop, he set out to find an inn to spend the night. Fortunately there were several such places open, seeing as how it was a big city and all. He chose one of the smaller ones, since all he really needed was a bed and a meal.
The Roaring Bull was the inn he selected. After paying for a room, he headed to the common room to get some dinner. All in all it wasn’t a bad place. The furniture was old and dull, but they weren’t falling apart or hideously ugly. The room was clean and well-managed, and the food was alright.
He did receive some odd looks from the other patrons, since he stood out quite a bit. Fortunately they let him eat his meal in peace. While he was eating, he decided to see what Yana could tell him about his eyes. Yana, you promised to explain the deal with my new eyes.
Yes well, it’s not that big a deal. The reason your eyes are jet-black isn’t purely cosmetic. It lets you to see the shadows of death. On a living person, it shows the lives they’ve taken, and on a corpse, it occasionally lets you speak with the spirit before it passes on. It really isn’t very useful since most spirits pass immediately, and even on the living it does little but show all the lives taken. It doesn’t distinguish between necessary killings and acts of evil either.
Wait, so all those faces I saw were the people that Tobias had a hand in killing?
Yes. The act of taking someone’s life leaves a mark on the soul. You have the ability to see it.
It was a shocking statement. Not in what the ability did, but what it showed him. From what Yana was telling him, Tobias had killed hundreds of people in his life. It seemed like he wasn’t the only one with secrets.
Right after he ended his conversation with Yana, his meal was interrupted when someone came to his table. “I’ve never seen someone as odd-looking as you. So, who are you?” The woman slurred her words slightly, suggesting she had a few drinks. She was a couple of years older than him, with dark brown hair and hazel eyes. Unlike most women, she wore her hair short and had the musculature of a warrior. It wasn’t an unattractive look either.
“Warren, prospective guildsman. And you would be?”
“Aria, an actual guildswoman. So what’s with the hair and eyewear?”
“I was born with a unique coloring.” Aria waited for Warren to elaborate, but he kept silent. Taking the hint, she moved on from that topic.
“So have you got your license yet?”
Warren looked at her quizzically. “What license might that be?”
“Heh, so you’re completely new to this, huh? Anyone who wants to join a guild has to get licensed by the National Guilds Association. This city’s branch is in the north quarter. I was nineteen when I went to get ranked.”
“Ranked? So how exactly do they rank you?”
“Well, the ranking system is assessed by evaluating your different skills and experience. It also depends on your class; combat, support, auxiliary, or mixed. And of course there’s the matter of your specialization. If I had to guess, I’d say that you’re going for combat, specifically as a warrior. If you want, I can give you a few tips since that’s the path I went down on.”
Warming up to Aria, Warren smiled and nodded in gratitude. “I appreciate it. I don’t know a whole lot about this so I can use all the help I can get. But, why do you want to help me? I’m not exactly the most normal looking guy in here.”
Aria guffawed in laughter. “Normal? You’re so far from normal that you’d need a map to get back. Course if you were normal I wouldn’t have come over here. What can I say? You intrigue me and you seem to be a decent kid, so why shouldn’t I help you? Besides, with your appearance, you’ll probably scare away anyone else that can help. Fortunately you’ve got me, the kind and generous mentor who’s just tipsy enough to help you out.”
Warren looked at her wryly. “As sad as it may be, I can’t disagree with you. So tell me, how did you get into this business?”
She shrugged nonchalantly. “It’s no epic tale. I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life birthing babes on a farm like my mother and sisters so I came to the city to earn my keep. I worked a few odd jobs before I decided to give swordsmanship a try, and I fell in love with it. And the rest is history. What about you? How good’s your swordsmanship and Heavenly Fire technique?”
“My swordsmanship is pretty good, but I have no idea what you mean by Heavenly Fire technique.”
Aria frowned at him. “You mean you’ve never learned? If you want to be a serious warrior you should learn it quickly. The basics are pretty easy to pick up. Here, I’ll show you.” She held out a hand for him to look at. “It’s an ancient technique that was inspired by studying magical beasts. Basically, you use your energy to raise your physical abilities.” Warren saw her hand get covered in a dark blue glow. She placed a metal knife in it and squeezed tightly. Like paper, the metal crumpled up and folded in on itself.
Warren had to stifle a smile as he figured out what she was talking about. What she was talking about was something he already had experience with. Of course it was in Royal Road, but some of the principles had to be the same. “I see, that’s a very useful ability.”
“Yeah so although you can’t see it, what I just did was use my Mana to reinforce and strengthen my hand.”
Warren was a bit confused by this statement, but made sure that it didn’t show on his face. “So why can’t I see it exactly? I’d think that something like that would be at least a little bit visible.”
“It’s just the way we’re born. Normally it’s only possible to see your own energy as you use it. Of course there are a few people that can see everyone’s energy, but most of them are part of the magical races. Even then they’re quite rare. It’s a bit of a challenge to teach people because of it, but it can be worked around. Just practice visualizing energy flow into your muscles and bones. After a while it’ll come easily to you. It isn’t that hard to find someone that’ll teach this to you.”
“So then why don’t you teach it to me?”
She smirked at him. “There’s no doubt that I can teach it to you, but unfortunately my guild isn’t in this city. I’m just here to finish a job.”
As she was talking, a man approached the table. He was another warrior type, with a large broadsword slung over his shoulder and wearing high quality heavy armour. “Ma’am, the guild send word to us, they want us to be on our way back today.”
Aria looked annoyed. “Fine,” she grumbled. “Tell everyone to get their stuff and saddle up in four hours.” She turned back to Warren and grinned at him. “It’s been nice talking to you kid. If you ever receive your license, come and apply to the Azure Tiger guild. I have an eye for talent and I think you could make a name for yourself. Good luck,” she wished him as she left the common room.
At Aria’s words, the warrior glared at Warren before moving away himself. Warren took a few moments to consider Aria’s advice before leaving the common room himself. He needed to clear his mind and get some fresh air. He walked out onto the street, now deserted after sundown.
A good long walk was what he needed to sort out and organize his thoughts. From what Aria told him, using energy or Mana to empower a warrior’s attacks was a necessity. While he had the memories and the skills to use it properly, he didn’t exactly have the training to handle it in this world. He didn’t know if it was like a physical ability that needed to be practiced, like how a baby has to learn to crawl before it can walk.
Since there was no time like the present to test it out, he ducked into an alleyway. After looking around, he picked up a thick metal bar. Although it was warped, twisted and had a patina of rust, it was strong enough that it wouldn’t bend despite Warren’s enhanced strength. Satisfied with the metal, Warren went about trying to replicate the technique Aria showed him.
He closed his eyes and pulled out Mana from within himself. He then harnessed that energy and sent it directly into his body, until they came to rest in his hands. He visualized the tendrils of energy seep into his tissues and wrap around the cells themselves. When he opened his eyes, his hands glowed with energy. It wasn’t the same solid glow of Aria’s.
His was muddled and dull, even flickering in some places. He supposed this was the difference that training could make. Although it wasn’t anything close to what Aria managed, Warren decided to test it out anyway. He grasped the bar once more by both ends and pushed hard. Where before he couldn’t even get it to budge, now the bar bent with ease.
Satisfied with the result, he mentally took some notes on how to improve the efficiency of the technique he was currently using. Thanks to his implants, learning new skills was a hundredfold easier for him. He was confident that with a little bit of practice, he could easily reach or surpass Aria’s level.
He was happy that he had learned this new technique, but this sense of elation was quickly dampened when his senses flared into awareness. He had been so focused on mastering this new technique that he only now sensed the hostile presences that were creeping towards him.
Wordlessly, five bodies stepped out of the shadows and surrounded him. They were all male warriors who glared furiously at him. His first thought was that Camilla or Kiyalah had found out that he had survived and sent these thugs after him. This was quickly banished from his mind when he recognized one of his attackers.
The tall, golden-haired warrior who seemed to be the leader of this group was the same one that had approached Aria. Suddenly the pieces started to fit together. This wasn’t an assassination or a kidnapping, this wasn’t even a mugging. It was merely the impassioned actions of a man with too much rage and too little intelligence.
Warren smirked at the ring of attackers and directed his gaze at the leader. “How pathetically cliché of you. Your mistress or boss shows some interest in someone else, and you feel the need to gang up on him. I don’t suppose we can work this out peacefully, or are you set on killing me?”
“I wouldn’t kill a mangy cur, I’d just teach him a lesson and make sure he knew his place,” the warrior spat out at him. Hearing this, Warren relaxed slightly. As long as they weren’t planning on using their swords and killing him, things might just work out alright.
From studying their demeanor and mannerisms with his honed sensed, Warren knew that no matter what he said, they weren’t about to back down. All he could do was make them madder. In that case, there was only one thing he could do. He invoked his life-draining skill and dampened it, only keeping the bare minimum active. He was pretty sure that they wouldn’t be able to see his skill in action so he didn’t have to worry about revealing his secrets. Then he waited silently for them to act.
Just as he suspected, they attacked him en masse, kicking and punching at him. For his part Warren did…nothing. He took their blows silently, only turning and moving ever so slightly to reduce the damage they did to him.
What aare you doing? Why aren’t you fighting back?! Yana was furious, but not at him. She was enraged and hurt on his behalf.
Well Yana, this is what I’d call a no-win situation. I can certainly beat them up and flay them open with my sword, but that’s more trouble than it’s worth. I know the type of man that the leader is. He’s someone that’ll return even the slightest humiliation, and if I were to kill them all, then I’d likely have an entire guild after me. In this case, taking a beating is the simplest solution. Surprisingly, it wasn’t all that difficult to have a proper conversation in one’s head even as five men were beating the crap out of him.
I understand. This is something I’ve never had before, I’ve been a goddess of death, but this is the first time that I’ve actually desired a mortal’s soul. Although it was in his head, Warren could have sworn that he heard Yana grind her teeth in rage. It seemed she wasn’t quite as emotionless as one might think.
His train of thought was suddenly disturbed by a glancing blow to his head. He had brought his arms up to protect it, but a kick had snuck through his guard. The warriors had been pounding on him for almost five minutes, but thanks to Warren’s life draining ability, their strength had slowly been sapped away.
“That’s enough,” the leader said. He and the others were tired and decided to leave before they got in trouble. Even if guilds had much more power than normal people, they still weren’t allowed to go around attacking people without cause. “And you, if you know what’s good for you, you’ll stay away from Miss Aria and the Azure Tiger.”
After they had left, Warren picked himself up and dusted himself off. His armour had held up well under the barrage of blows he received and was completely undamaged by attacks of that degree. He however could not say the same thing. While some of the force behind the attacks was dispersed and the armor protected him well, he was still in bad shape. The life he had drained from his attackers helped a little, but come morning, he would be covered head to toe in purple bruises.
He limped back to the inn, each step sending pain shooting up his body. He grimaced at his condition. He could ignore the pain and power through it, but it was still quite annoying. He needed to fix himself up as soon as possible. He was wondering what he could do about it when he came across a bustling tavern.
As quickly and quietly as he can, he slipped into the tavern, trying not to draw attention to himself. Fortunately, the customers were too preoccupied with their drunken revelry to pay him any heed. Warren surreptitiously brushed up against them, drawing a touch of life force from each person in the room. After going through only a handful of people, his body was restored to full health, and no one was any the wiser. Even the people Warren drew from felt nothing more than a sudden tiredness and light-headedness, which they attributed to the alcohol.
Warren was about to leave when a thought struck him. If he could take life energy until he was fully healed, what would happen if he took just a little bit more? Since there would be no harm in trying, he brushed up against the other occupants in the room, siphoning off a bit of energy for himself. To his shock and delight, he could feel the excess energy get stored up inside himself. It didn’t dissipate or drain away, but stayed there as a wellspring of energy.
He kept going until he drew energy from every single person in the room, and then left the tavern immediately. Though he had only meant to test out his theory carefully, he went a bit overboard. It was nothing short of a miracle that no one noticed him. He raced back to the inn as fast as he could and went to his room so he could have some privacy.
After making himself comfortable and shedding his armour, weapons and his glasses, he decided to learn a bit more about this energy. He pulled out a dagger and held it before himself. He was about to go through with another experiment when something caught his eye; his eyes.
From the reflection on the flat of the blade, he could see that they were no longer black. Instead they held the slightest glow and colored with a tinge of blue. Warren marvelled at it and realized something. They were becoming close to the same shade of colour as pure life energy. This meant that if he kept collecting energy and filled himself to the brim, his eyes would be two orbs of bright blue flames. Unfortunately his glasses were still needed, since in the end they would look even more frightening than they already did.
Since this piece of information wasn’t of any immediate use to him, he put it out of his mind and went back to experimenting. He used the dagger he held in his hand and cut his left palm with a long shallow slice. The instant the blade left his flesh, Warren willed the excess life energy into the wound, and watched as it closed up immediately.
This was a rather interesting effect, and one that would prove quite useful in battle. Pleased by the result, he tried some other things and managed to convert the life energy into Mana and stamina. Since the energy was pure life force, the best application was for regeneration and healing. If he really needed it, he could use it for magic or to invigorate himself, but it resulted in a great deal of wasted energy. Another aspect of it was its use in the Heavenly Fire technique. By mixing life energy with Mana, that technique was several times more effective, powerful and efficient.
He had learned quite a bit that day, and all in all it was a very productive one. After practicing a bit more with life energy and the Heavenly Fire technique, Warren decided to call it a night and crawled into bed. If this was in Royal Road, his skills would have gone up by several levels. In the space of several hours he learned what it would take most people several months. He had expended all his energy and was exhausted enough to fall asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.