As a guard of Almes, he wasn´t paid very much.
John lived a normal life as a guard on minimal wage, having been stationed at the west gate of the packed port city. In his right hand, a scarcely used iron-tipped wooden spear rested. John had no complaints about this lifestyle, besides the pay. If one could look past how little he was paid, it was relatively peaceful. The reason for this is that the west gate was far away from the south side gate, which was near the port.
The port was attacked daily by huge sea monsters, leviathans, the like. It wasn't truly an Almes day at the port if at least one ship hadn´t come back with multiple holes, corpses, and a lot of scurvy. Hell, one time a ship had sailed back into port with half its planks missing! It was a miracle the thing even made it back all in one piece.
As such, John had no complaints about letting a poor boy walk out into the fields directly outside the city. Despite this, he still felt a little off. The boy was . . . disturbed. His grey eyes looked like they were brewing storms within them. It was the same look that a madman gave, but slightly more cunning and orderly. His hair was a common brown, messy, and uncut from his assumed poor living conditions.
Besides his eyes, what really put John was his body. He was so skinny, a paper cut could probably sever an artery, and one broken bone would most likely stick out of his body. This was normal for poor children during their growth phase, a sad thing really. However, even though he looked a day away from starvation, this boy wasted no time limping or walking. He jogged out into the fields, far beyond John´s sight.
That kid is strange . . .
John could not have been more on the dot with this one.
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The first thing Lazerus thought upon taking his steps into the plains was, but the gods, his feet felt absolutely wonderful. The sweet, sweet ground cushioned his feet like pillows, completely supporting them unlike the hard cobblestone streets of Almes. Despite himself, Lazerus was unable to resist a little sigh from escaping him. It was wonderful.
However, Lazarus came out here for a reason, and that reason was not to make himself feel good, take a morning jog, or even to journey to another town. He came here for one thing, and that was strength. Power was his goal, enough to dispose of the bastard who claimed his parent's life. As soon as Lazerus thought about that night, the relief from his feet disappeared, replaced by a calm, slow-burning furious anger.
How could I dare to be relieved . . . I'm sorry mother, father, for getting distracted.
Lazerus knew of many ways to gain power. He could train his body, technique, or become wealthy, however, none of these were fast enough. He needed strength now. The quickest way to gain strength was through Spirie gathering or in other terms, monster hunting. Few could claim to be a monster hunter, and even less could say they are good at it. Spirie rests in all creatures, however, it is impossible to harvest without the help of expensive magical tools, except for monsters. Monsters have a core, of which they generate Spirie. If one consumes this core, they gain the creatures Spirie, or atleast Lazerus had heard.
Lazerus knew he was weak, he knew that well. The only thing fueling his body was a fit of unbending, unquenchable anger. If he did not find something soon . . . well, he would starve to death before dying by a monsters hand. The first thing Lazerus did to find such a monster was exactly the opposite of what a normal person would do, and that was to wait. Lazerus knew that monsters were excellent hunters, so the best way to get a monster to fight him was to wait. This way, he would not waste any anger finding one, and be at his best when a monster found him. After walking for miles away from Almes, Lazerus sat down and waited, and gathered what little Spirie he had within himself, preparing a trap far above his head.
After what seemed like an hour, but was probably a few minutes, the sound of a stick snapping filled Lazerus's ears. Lazerus popped his eyes open and sprung up to his feet. In front of him, hidden within the brush, a ravenous rabbit could be seen. It was larger than a normal rabbit, with its only unique identification factor being its red stripes on white fur. Lazerus crouched low, preparing himself for its eventual attack.
From an outsider's view, this might seem silly. How could such an adorable bunny creature even get close to killing Lazerus? Surely such a thing was impossible . . . Right?
Luckily for Lazerus, he had been educated well in his upbringing as his parents had been wealthy merchants. Lazerus quickly moved on from this train of thought and focused on the fight. Ravenous Rabbits were extremely dangerous for two reasons, their unassuming appearance, and quick speed. This beast, despite being identical to a normal rabbit structurally, was a wolf in sheep's clothing. They used this appearance to hunt normal creatures like wolves, who often preyed upon rabbits. Just when the predator was cocky enough to pounce, the ravenous bunny would dispatch them with one quick kick to the neck, which delivered bone-shattering force.
Lazerus knew of many stories where cocky children had been slaughtered by such a monster, and as a result, his hands shook ever so slightly with fear, but only slightly. Anger, rage, frustration at his own weakness, a torment of emotions rushed through him as the bunny looked at Lazerus with its big, adorable eyes.
After a few tense minutes, the rabbit got tired of waiting for Lazerus to attack it and leaped forwards faster than Lazerus could react. In a moment, Lazerus fell flat on his back from a kick to the chest, which luckily didn't break anything, but still knocked the wind out of him. Once the shock had gone away, the pain exploded into his body, starting from his chest and spreading to every inch of his being. Lazerus, despite his lack of air, quickly rolled to his right as the earth where his head had just been exploded, catapulting dirt in every direction. The rabbit turned to him, annoyed that he had dodged its attack. It thumped its foot onto the ground menacingly.
Lazerus knew that no matter what he did, he would not be able to hit this monster. It was too fast, so the only way he could win this fight was to immobilize it. Within half a second of getting up, the rabbit once again launched itself towards Lazerus, but he was ready this time. As it flew towards Lazerus, he grabbed it out of the air and held it in his hands, but before he could do anything, it broke his grip with a devastating blow to his forearm, instantly creating a black and blue bruise.
Lazerus stumbled backward while clutching his injured arm, and was once against knocked off his feet as the rabbit landed a blow on his stomach, making blood spill from Lazerus's mouth and nose like a waterfall. Lazerus pushed himself up from the ground and then stumbled backward away from the rabbit, who only hopped forwards slowly, seemingly enjoying Lazerus's suffering.
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"GET AWAY FROM ME!"
Lazerus screamed while stumbling even farther backward, however, the slightest of a smile tugged at his lower lip as the rabbit hopped forwards to the exact spot Lazerus wanted.
Solar Flare!
Lazerus had fooled the rabbit out of its socks.
The Spirie that Lazerus had gathered earlier could be seen directly above him, having already formed three circles high above in the air, each circle down smaller than the one above it. These circles directed and magnified the sun's rays, turning a gently warm day into a blistering heat that could shred metal in half. This spell was the one and only spell Lazerus could cast, as the power came from the sun itself, rather than consuming Spirie for an attack. The only part of the spell which Lazerus used Spirie for was the rings that magnified the sunlight. Lazarus's father had invented this spell himself and that is how he became such a successful merchant. It was an incredibly powerful spell with an extremely low cost that even he, a poor untrained orphan boy, could use.
The only problem was its extreme difficulty in actually casting. Sure, it took little to no Spirie, but one's control must be absolutely perfect, lest it fails spectatuarly. One's understanding of how sunlight can be refracted also plays a huge part in the mental picturing of the spell. In summary, you must maintain absolute control over your Spirie, while also having a perfect mental understanding of light waves and how they could refract given a certain situation.
Lazerus had never been successful in casting it, but finally, after almost 4 years of training, he had done it. Like a ray of light from God himself, the air began to heat up around the rabbit in an instant. The ravenous rabbit, completely sure of its victory, only glanced upwards in annoyance, completely unaware of what was to come. The spell heated the air up to such a degree that at the very center of the spell, plasma was able to form. That plasma came screaming down at the rabbit with frightening speed, drilling a hole directly through its brain to the ground, killing it instantly. All of its fur instantly burned off its body, leaving a slightly charred body behind.
Lazerus, completely exhausted from using even the weakest Spirie costing of spells, fell to the ground and gave a sigh of relief. Even though he had multiple cracked ribs, a nasty headache, bruised arm, and probably internal bleeding, he felt happier than he had in weeks, however, he did not pass out. If he was to survive his injuries, he had to consume the rabbit's core. He had heard tales of adventures surviving fatal wounds from consuming a monster's core, and thus he betted everything he had on such tales.
After crawling to the rabbit's corpse, he dug through the hot mess of a creature and quickly found a thumb-sized crystal that glowed a dim red. Lazerus grabbed it with a trembling hand and dropped it into his mouth, and then swallowed it whole.
Damn It, what the hell is this!
Lazerus felt his body begin to heat up and silently screamed in pain. He really tried to scream in pain, but no air would leave his lungs. His whole chest felt like it was on fire and being stabbed at the same time, but while in the pain, he noticed something. A crackling sound could be heard as his ribs fixed themselves inside him, as well as his bruise going away. His veins glowed red for a second as the rabbit's Spirie went haywire inside him, unwilling to submit to him.
Lazerus slammed his fist into the ground while grinding his teeth, forcing its Spirie to settle down, but it was not so easy. Lazerus rolled around on the ground in pain for minutes on end, but it seemed like hours of torment to his mind. After what seemed like an eternity to him, Lazerus fainted onto the ground with a slightly healthier body, but only slightly. With the rabbits Spirie subjugated, it was just enough to keep him alive, however, the battle had attracted even more monsters.
Those many monsters came to his body, salivating at the mouth of this fresh, easy meal, however, fate did not favor them. Like yellow lightning, a flash lit up the forest, completely annihilating every monster in a fraction of a second. Above Lazerus's sleeping body was a woman with long blonde hair and a long sword in her right hand. She crouched down to Lazerus and chuckled.
"Good job kid, I was wondering if I had to step in for the rabbit too but . . . hell, didn't need to."
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Ann 'Yellow Lightning' Belle was a legend among legends, but her story is one for another time. As she was walking through the woods, she noticed something strange. A very controlled and orderly Spirie was floating in the air, remaining unmanifested into the physical world, but still ready at a moment's notice.
Hmm? A cloud spirit?
Spirits were creatures completely made up of Spirie, and had a lack of a body but could still make themselves seen if they wished to be, so this was the first thought that came to Ann's mind. However, she quickly dismissed this thought once she saw where the Spirie originated from. In the middle of a clearing, a small boy was having a desperate encounter with a cute bunny rabbit, a ravenous rabbit to be precise. It was such a weak monster that even an untrained adult could probably stop it with a well-aimed stab.
He was being beaten very badly and had many wounds covering his body, but he still fought anyways. It was obvious he would die at this rate, so Ann was prepared to intervene, but stopped when the sky suddenly opened up and blasted the rabbit straight between the eyes.
The spirie manifested . . . but such a tiny amount that couldn't even lift a pebble slew a monster? What kind of spell is this?
Ann's interest was peaked, so after she finished inspecting the spell, she decided she asked the boy himself, but realized he was fast asleep. Ann glanced at the monster's corpse and realized that he had eaten its core in desperation . . . without processing it first.
You damn moron . . . eating a monsters core without processing it first and surviving . . . one hell of willpower you got there kid
Before eating a monster core, you first process it so that it won't resist you, but if you consume it immediately, you then have to defeat the beast mentally. To do so as a child is. . . concerning. He shouldn't have such a strong will unless he went through what adults go through already as a kid. . . which is wrong.
After dealing with some annoying monsters that came to inspect the noise, Ann walked up to the boy and activated Inspection on him, and gave him a look over. Her eyes glowed blue with Spirie, and a moment later, she saw what he was made of.
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Inspection Completed:
Lazerus 'King' Wentson
Mental Summary
-Tenacious(5) . . . this individual is determined and will not back down easily.
-Cunning (2) . . . this individual is smart and resourceful.
-Mental Pain Resistance (6) . . . This individual has gone through emotional pain before.
Physical Summary
-Starved Body (2) . . . not eating slowly erodes the body and mind.
-Pain Resistance (1) . . . this individual has gone through pain recently, and it just starting to cope with it.
-Broken Bones (5) . . . this individual has many broken bones and cannot stand without assistance.
-Internal Bleeding (2) . . . bleeding not bad enough to kill, but not good either.
-Blood of The Ravenous Rabbit (1) . . . when one has consumed a Ravenous Rabbit core, they often gain some of its signature leg strength and agility.
Spirie Summary
-Spirie Exaughstion (MAX) . . . this individual has used all of their Spirie and is in a Spirie Coma.
-Spirie Control (6) . . . years of practice has led this individual to near-perfect Spirie control
-Tenacious Spirie (3) . . . this individual has a tenacious Spirie, leading to increased subjugation or resistance of foreign Spirie.
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Ann had a low Inspection level, but she could still see a lot of what made Lazerus, Lazerus. She now gazed at the young boy with a newfound sense of respect. He had some serious debuffs during the fight, as well as some seriously alarming skills. Mental Pain resistance that high in a child, starved body, and cunning. Ann was aware that crime and poverty were rampant in this world, but it still made her sad to see a child so obviously affected by it.
What led you to come out here? You poor thing. . .
Ann picked Lazerus up in her arms and began to walk back to her campsite.