"Immortals?"
"Stop it, Eva, you know they were killed by the winged beings"
"No, Gustav, their bodies were never found, they COULD still be out there"
"Sorry, Eva here likes the 'Strange'"
"They're not Strange! They fought for us, yet we still look up to the winged ones that oppress us"
"Hush Child, I will not ask again! Anyways where were we...Right, I'll take this out of your sight-"
"I'll take it"
"You'll take it?"
"Yes, you see," I looked toward the woman who had piqued my interest, "I am also a fan of the strange"
"It's...not strange" The woman answered
"Anyways, what does the total come to?"
After a moment of brief silence, The man once again burst out laughing.
"Right! So in the year, it will take to forge the sword the price of materials will vary, however, I will only charge you the current price, That will be..." After what looked like him punching numbers into a magical calculator, "854, for the custom made sword, but I will only charge you 850 Gold, 50 for the pre-made sword, you can pay it in installments due to it being such a large amount"
"I'll pay it all now"
{1 Week Later}
I was stood In a large dome-like room, In the center was quite the muscular man with a bushy beard coated in black and sharp brown eyes wielding a wooden sword.
"Listen, Young Adventurers, Your aim is to successfully land a strike, if you can, I'll qualify you"
I looked around, there weren't many people but you wouldn't consider it small either.
"Wait!"
Of course...why did I not expect another one of these 'protagonists' A firey red-haired boy, with eyes of the same color to match
"What, Young one? Getting cold feet?"
"No, Isn't it unfair that also of us have to fight you? I rather fight you one on one"
"Oh, a Confident one? Do not worry, even if you use magic, as you are allowed, you won't be able to easily strike me"
"Isn't this Unfair on us?" This time a girl spoke up, she was young with a somewhat under-developed body, a twin-tail blonde hairstyle, and blue eyes.
"Oh? How so?"
"You are clearly a higher level than us, So how do you expect to even try you?"
"Well, you don't have to beat me just land a strike but anyways, I guess its time for a quick lesson...Level's don't determine everything, there are class compatibility and skills you have to be aware of, you must also remember, most classes give small amounts if barely any, increments, although every little help, the only real difference is made if there is a substantial level difference of at least of 100 or more and the average level of people is 50, the reason the queen's Guard and the Paladin of the Winged are so strong, is due to them being at least level 250 or higher... So you have nothing to worry about...since my level is only 25...Anyways....enough chatter, COME!"
The hall was filled with silence...no one wanted to make the first move.
"I will fight him alone" Making that confident declaration the red-headed boy shot of toward the muscular man, His speed was...Incredibly fast, he crossed the distance being us and the muscular man in less than 2 seconds.
"My name is Anson and I will beat you to become an adventurer like my father!"
Is he going to give us his entire backstory?
He aimed his wooden sword at the neck of the muscular man.
"I don't remember asking"
The muscular man leaned backward, the blade passed his neck using the momentum Anson spun his body changing into a reverse grip on his sword and pushing it behind him. The muscular man easily caught the blade with his fingers that seemed to be coated in...sword aura, this left a look of shock on Anson's face, in that second of him being confused the muscular man backhanded Anson with his free hand. He crashed into the ground, terribly, twice, his sword somehow still in his grasp.
"Is this it?"
Slowly, Anson stood up, using the sword as support.
"Of course not"
"HAHA, I like your spirit boy! My name is Aizen"
This time the muscular man rushed forward, not as fast as Anson but fast nonetheless. The training sword curved itself towards Anson even though he had yet to recover.
{Barrier}
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
{Heal}
The sword collided against the golden shield around Anson, bouncing off.
"I had it covered by myself, Mabel"
"Sure you did"
The twin-tailed hairstyle girl, Mabel stood behind the now full healed Anson.
"In that last attack, I felt it...Bloodthirst. He intended to seriously injure you, Anson, be careful, I'll support you"
Oh? So she can feel that sort of thing?
I looked around, none of the other participants were taking part. How ironic.
{Strengthen}
Mabel cast a buff on Anson. He once again shot forward, clearly much faster than before and as he seemed to be used to the new speed he either is talented or has practiced with the buff before. This time he aimed at the chest of Aizen, Aizen parried the sword blow, pushing it to the right and then immediately following with a roundhouse kick, Anson body curled around the leg due to the impact, there seemed to be a small golden glow around where he was struck...A barrier again? When did she even cast? Did she quietly cast it? Anson went flying backward but not nearly as injured as he previously was. Seeing this a chance where the muscular guy, Aizen would be distracted, other participants ran at him. A downward strike to the shoulder, took out one guy, a knee to the stomach took out another, he quickly cleaned the participants whether they were male or female.
He finally turned towards Anson and ran at him, a barrier was placed around him again but instead of attacking it, he quickly went past it and towards Mabel.
"Quick Mabel! Get rid of this barrier!"
It seemed you couldn't get through the barrier with it still up even if you were an ally, Mabel did so quickly but even with Anson being faster...He wouldn't be able to help her in time. Anson had caught up with Aizen but his sword was already closing in on her. Anson aimed his sword at the instructor. If this order of events took place, Anson would probably be qualified but Mabel would receive a serious injury and be disqualified. This is incredibly entertaining to watch.
Before the sword could strike Mabel, she was pushed out the way a young black-haired boy with hair covering one eye. The strike closed in on his back, forcing him to yell out in pain before slowly collapsing onto Mabel's lap. Anson's strike had connected against Aizen. Seriously though, who the hell is this new guy?
"ORIN!"
Ah, so that's who he is.
Mabel started to break down...crying?
Anson started to angrily strike Aizen, who was now taking the defensive and smiling.
"HOW DARE YOU!"
"You've already passed, are you that eager to be beaten again?"
{Heal}
{Heal}
{Heal}
Mabel now regained her sense of self and frantically healed this Orin guy, who had still yet to regain consciousness.
Seriously, who is he?
"Don't say I didn't warn you"
Aizen now shifted to the offensive, he started to strike at Anson, but he actually managed to block this time.
{Blaze}
Mabel started to now use magic to attack Aizen.
"Guess I should be more serious against you Young ones..."
A grey aura started to rise from his body
"I WILL MAKE YOU PAY AIZEN"
Despite saying that, he was now seriously being pushed back, but if the muscular guy Aizen is being serious how is Anson still holding on and not being broken? Through the power of friendship?
It looked cool though, the grey aura engulfing him. Problem was...the fight just became so boring and repetitive to watch, they are just speaking angry words and going back and forth now...At least do something new.
"That grey aura...It has to be...Aizen the Mad, a man only focused on raising his skils and not his level, becoming a sword trainee at the tender age of 10" Some of the participants too scared to fight started to speak.
Aizen struck the leg of Anson and then threw his sword towards Mabel. Anson quickly turned in order to run after it but his legs were grabbed tightly by Aizen,
"Now watch her" The muscular Aizen cynically remarked.
{Barrier}
The wooden sword, which was also engulfed in the grey aura, seamlessly passed through the barrier, which was now shattered. Inches away from her face a hand embued in the same aura, only a different color, a deep shade of red.
"Hey now, I can't let you just destroy a romantic story that the Orin guy sacrificed himself for"
"W-who are you?"
"Names aren't really important in this context miss Mabel"
I turned to face Aizen, who was looking at me with a smile on his face as if he had found a new toy, Anson was still struggling and kicking at the hand that was holding onto him. Quickly, Aizen just flung Anson like a rag doll to the side.
Guess it's my turn.
"I'll support you..."
"Hey now you've had your turn, I'm bored right now, so please don't get in the way...or I might have to...kill you"
I gave my warmest smile as I said that but it seemed to only further increase the fear etched on her face.
"Come Young one, Show me your spirit!"
"Said the senile old man"
"Senile? me?"
"Oh sorry, did I say that out loud? my bad I almost called you an old pervert right now, that would've been awkward"
He just stopped speaking and engulfed himself in his aura again.
I wonder if I should use some of my class abilities? Eh. why not.
I used Lightning-Clad and coiled lightning around my body. I shot forward, sticking my legs into the ground at an angle after I passed him to stop myself, I spun and aimed my sword towards his nape. He rolled forward, not bad dodging something so fast, but I assumed he would. I embued my sword with my aura, I couldn't coil lightning around it as it was wooden and not conductive. He once again rolled, instead of picking up the sword, I coiled lightning around my leg and kicked him, strongly. He managed to grab my foot, although he was pushed back quite a bit, I started to channel electricity into him, but he was...fine? Does he have electrical resistance? He followed through with a punch at me, I curved my body to dodge it, pushing off of it after it passed me, Creak! I could hear the bones in my leg that he was holding on to, make unnatural noises. I struck part of my bone making it break in a weird angle, with it being broken I could lean closer to him. My bone had stabbed through my skin but I was close enough to him now. I punched toward his jaw, he leaned back dodging it but I had other plans. {Blood Bullet} A small drop of blood solidified and shot toward him lining the arm he quickly used to defend his face with holes. I flipped backward creating distance, landing on one foot. Slowly my leg and bones quickly twisted into its correct position. I was having so much fun.
"I'm going to...hurt...you" Aizen seemed to be trying to control his anger
"Wow, do you speak with all the boys like this...or just me?"
That seemed to tip him more towards the edge, He ran...in the opposite direction. Wait, what? He ran towards his sword, quickly grabbed it and started running toward me. Using this chance, I should probably test more of my class skills. I no longer had my sword, so you could consider me defenseless, I bit into my hand like a madman.
{3rd Person Point Of View}
"Mabel...I need to help him" Anson had finally regained consciousness, he hobbled over to Mabel who had Orin on her lap, they inseparable since childhood, although Orin was the weakest, he could also be the bravest when he wanted to be. The young warrior Anson who thought Axle was fighting on their behalf, believed he should take responsibility for his arrogance and help the stranger. He started to make his way towards Axle before a small pair of hands quickly grabbed his trousers with a firm grip.
"An, D-don't, you can't see and haven't seen what I have"
"What? Either way, it's my duty to help fix a mess I may have caused"
"It isn't your fault but you know how I can see peoples emotions in the form of aura around them...I could see the light red bloodthirst around the old guy...but the O-other man, It was a F-flood of deep red...it was a flood of bloodlust"
{Axle P.o.V}
He was still rushing at me like a wild bull, I flicked my bloodied hand at him, he seemed to be easily able to dodge the drops of blood, thinking he had bested me...
{Archaic Blood Binding}
Chain emerged from the blood, they had solidified and moved quickly as they had each been embued with my lightning the salt in my blood allowed it to be conductive. They wrapped around him and stopped his charge...or so I thought.
{Enrage}
{Strengthen}
{Feathered Feet}
After I let him buff himself, since it was entertaining to watch, he broke off the chains.
"What are your weak chains going to do now coward!?"
With newfound vigor, he charged at me.
"GO ON! SPILL MORE OF YOUR BLOOD"
He seemed slightly too cocky now.
He was only a meter away from my body now.
Drip! His charge slowed down. Coming to a stop.
"You know, it's quite annoying since I don't know if the blood is going to return and completely cause my traps to fail or will my would close and leave my traps in place...it is annoying."
Aizen looked down, to see the pool of blood I had slowly let accumulate, under his feet.
The final class ability I gained at level 0,
{Bloodied Swords}
Blood solidified into multiple spikes and stabbed him in various places across his body, infesting it with holes.
I slowly walked towards the man that was now on his knees, still alive. The spikes had returned to the pool they came from.
Drip, Drip Drip. Blood slowly fell onto his body from the newly opened would on my thumb.
"You know, I can control which directions my blood bullets shoot in or my swords stab in"
The man continued looking downwards, his eyes didn't meet mine.
"So tell me, I have yet to die...How does it feel to know you feeble lifespan can now be ended by my hands, you can't escape, you will die as soon as I so choose, how does it feel? Do tell, I'm quite interested you see"
The man only slowly uttered 2 words.
"I concede"