The Scholars Guide, Ch 1.
“A warm morning today.”
Slow but steady footsteps could be heard throughout the small forest. The leaves rustled as a breeze disturbed the world around the two children walking down a path. They stared intently at the green that seemed to try and swallow them, clutching their weapons. One a boy with a sword and shield, the other, a girl wielding a spear. Their breathing was heavy and their fear palpable. Both twisted their heads at any noise and the girl had resorted to poking the large bushes with her spear.
He continued to watch their annoyingly slow approach as sweat dripped down his face. His body had a hard time handling heat even when he was younger and the leaves around him did him no favors. Yet, he stayed still, he knew these kids didn’t stand a chance but he needed to see…
See if they listened…
“WAH!”
“ “AHh!” ”
The kids had reacted very poorly and hadn't seen the clues… They hadn’t listened to the class and their grades would reflect that, ‘Although, what should I expect from some five-year-olds?’ A quick pat on the head calmed them down as they stopped crying but looked down depressed. The sweets were far out of their reach once again…
The village held hunter training for young children every year and this year was possibly the largest influx of new blood they'd ever seen. Although, ever since the population started increasing, that happened every year. Now with nearly 100,000 residents, Arrels small backwater village had become one of the largest and most developed in the kingdom. They probably should be considered a town at this point, but that would mean making Arrel a noble, and he was just happy they didn't hunt him down after he "quit" the army.
‘The old man will rue the day he got in our way!’ Arrel watched as the kids were led away with fury in their eyes. Their instructor gave him a worried glance but just received a smile from him. Any reason to train was a good one in his eyes.
“The next kid is ready!”
“SEND HIM OVER!”
Arrel chuckled to himself as he watched a small black-haired boy starting to climb up the path. Quickly going back to his hiding spot he double-checked the clues he left before resting against the branch once again. Waiting, looking down the road, and ready to observe the kids' logical reasoning. They were all taught what to look out for in the wild, small monsters like the Micraal loved stealth and one always had to be on guard in the forest. In order to be ready for monster ambushes one had to; look for disturbed gravel near a bush, a broken branch, or the uncanny stillness of a small brush. Anything could be hiding in the trees and greenery... Something like an old man that likes to scare kids.
However, after a few minutes of waiting, Arrel was confused, “Where is this kid?”
The walk should be just a minute from the starting point and there wasn’t anything else to track… when in the corner of his eye he saw movement. The kid had seen him, not hard to do considering the clues, but still impressive for a kid his age. He also apparently had enough of a head to try and sneak up on him.
“He’s already passed the exercise, but, let's see how he approaches a sneak attack.”
The sword in the kid's hand was relaxed but ready, placed in front of him as he kept his back to the tree, in place to defend or to attack. A quick movement to his right and Arrel snapped his head towards it. The exercise could be done with or without teams and if the kid already found him his team was probably hiding as well.
*Swish*
Right at that moment, the kid made his attack, jumping up and kicking off the tree for stability as he swung, forcing Arrel off the branch. Landing on the ground the kid pushed forward once again as his sword broke through the air. Once again impressing Arrel, such sword technique at such a young age, but all of it was simply dodged by the more experienced old man. This spindly grandpa waited, waiting for the kids team to show up. One minute and then another followed as the kid in front of him slowly ran out of stamina. Then, finally, another rustle was heard from the brush to his left and once again the kid rushed in with a roar!
“AHH!”
But was swiftly tripped and grabbed.
“Sneaky Sneaky boy! What is your name?”
‘Being able to use trap magic at such an age and with such a good mind!’
The kid had placed the simplest of ‘shake’ runes on some of the trees around the area before approaching but that was enough to create the illusion that he had teammates. If Arrel hadn’t given himself handicaps on mana usage he would’ve found them easily, but even then, “It was brilliant”. The distraction tactic was executed perfectly and by using himself as bait the kid was able to get closer than normal.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“A genius."
The kid just looked up at him with annoyed eyes as his face formed a pout. Quite cute but nothing more.
"That supposed to scare me? Now introduce yourself child, it's bad manners to keep an elder waiti-"
*WUOOONG*
The air shook as a loud horn reverberated throughout the village. The kid quickly covered his ears in pain but Arrel simply listened.
“Lower horn... played once… The north wall is under attack by a monster horde. Get inside kid.”
Dropping the tiny genius Arrel ran through the forest to the center of the village, face twisted in worry. 'There shouldn't be a horde for a while, we cleared the forest just a few years ago and the last wave happened only a decade ago… Something is in the forest...'
The ground underneath him burst and a shockwave followed as he suddenly picked up speed, his view temporarily obstructed by his long beard. Running full sprint he quickly saw the crown of Gen, the giant tree at the center of the village as well as the origin of the village's name. He had founded Gen village with his bare hands all those years ago and he wasn't letting it fall today.
Rushing forward he found the clearing and his small house right next to Gen. The house was an old, simple, 1-floor wooden house that held nothing but an entrance, a room, and a kitchen. Bursting inside he whispered, "Khah", and approached the giant set of armor on the back wall. A heavy and worn set of Drall scale armor, its earthy stone scales covered in runes. It didn't look to fit him, as big as he already was at 6' 5", but that soon changed as his body rippled. His muscles and bones cracked as he slowly became taller and beefier with each step until he reached nearly 7 and a half feet.
The helmet was placed on his head as he finally finished putting on the armor, a little less than 3 minutes for the experienced warrior, and he looked north out the window through the small slits of his helmet. Giving the straps a quick look over he approached the opposite wall that hung his weapons. Two hatchets, which he strapped to his sides, and a large war hammer he simply carried in one hand.
The hammer had a flat face on one side and a war pick on the other. It too was covered in runes all over the handle, but on its head, it held only one. It had been on many hunts in the past and it will continue to crush skulls until he dies and possibly further. He hadn't found an inheritor yet but, thinking about that child, maybe he will.
The ground shook and he focused on the battle at hand. Quickly he sprinted out, seemingly unhindered by the heavy armor. As he made his way through the village proper he slowed down and looked around at the many hunters riding their mounts over to the north gate.
“Elder!”
Looking over he saw one of his old students, a woman wielding a spear and riding a great wolf beast, approaching his side.
“Treya! Have you heard anything from the scouts yet!”
“There seems to be a mixed horde outside the walls! We suspect something is out in the forest but we haven’t seen anything yet and it’s impossible for the scouts to get any further in due to the sheer amount of monsters!”
An explosion ripped both of them out of their discussion. The clearing between the walls and forest was filled with monsters climbing over one another in their wild run. On the 50 foot stone wall mages and archers had begun to fire upon the speedily encroaching wave. Fireballs, rocks, and arrows were shot in turns while others worked on reinforcing the walls with traps, small obstacles, and a moat filled with viscous, burning, poison. As well, ballistae and cannons were aimed and fired at any flying monsters they could see.
Hundreds of hunters worked together to cut down the horde from afar, thousands of small monsters started to fall, ensnared in traps, burned alive, or falling from an arrow in the head. But the larger monsters were simply slowed, few of them falling, as many of the forest monsters were filled with tenacity. As well, many had come into range to retaliate. Bone and wooden spears, magics, rock, and blasts of energy were sent tumbling towards the wall before being blocked by barriers or shot down by archers.
It took a good minute but a Leafed Ursor was the first to approach the moat and its horrifying cries damaged the ears of many hunters on the wall. Its body melted as its wooden, armor-like, scales burned away. However, more, and more monsters survived the run across the clearing. The first to actually get across the moat was a large lizard-like monster called Gillivere. Using its strong legs and long claws it had jumped and attempted to climb the stone wall.
“Humph!”
Arrel, now on top of the wall, threw one of his hatchets at the Gillivere. A second later and blood sprayed over the wall as the force at which the hatchet was thrown allowed it to, not only cut, but crush its skull. Holding his hand to the side the hatchet suddenly flew back, ripping the muscle and bone, into his outstretched hand. Treya helped as well to beat back any climbing monsters by stabbing them with her spear. Every so often one could hear her whisper before a strike as monsters seemed to be blown away.
“Captain! I want strips of walls built behind the gate! Get some spikes and other traps down there as well. On my mark open the gate, get all melee ready warriors to line the walls!”
“ ” YES ELDER! ” ”
Quickly the many earth and life mages rushed to the gate upon receiving their orders. A funnel shape was made and easily defendable openings on both sides were opened where warriors stood ready. Arrel joined in as well, he hadn’t built with his magic in a long time so he was a bit rusty, but a little extra mana was all he needed to become faster than those around him.
At this point, the wave had finally hit the wall, hundreds of small and tens of large monsters died in the moat. But soon enough it was overflowing with corpses that the monsters used to climb the wall. All throughout this 5-minute battle few hunters had been injured and none had been killed, but now… Arren watched as a man was struck in the chest by a bone spear, the others too preoccupied with a climbing monster to block it.
“OPEN THE GATE!”
The bulging gate burst open as the warriors readied themselves. A large amount of the pressure was lifted off of the walls defenders stopping more injuries from occurring, now, however, the monsters had to be stemmed at the gate. Trap runes flared up all along the doorway of the gate as explosions ripped through the first few. A few of the mages had stayed as well and shot rocks or entangling vines in order to trip up and injure the larger monsters while the warriors cut down the few that slipped by.
Arrel stood in the center of the funnel rapidly throwing his hatchets and swinging his hammer at anything that came close enough. Small or large he killed with efficiency, two swings at most before they died. Another Ursor came charging in and past all the traps. Its wooden armor protected it as it simply stumbled before continuing. This one was different, however, bigger, a 3rd tier Ursor.
Walking forward Arrel started, one hatchet thrown and 1 eye blinded. Following that Arrel quickly covered the distance and swung wide and hard as it stepped back in pain, its left foot crushed, and with another swing, another step back. 3 more hits and another hatchet left it bloodied and close to death, its ribs and legs broken. More blood spurted out and the Ursor screamed trying a last-ditch effort in a wild charge forward. The wood on its body seemed to come alive and shot forward like tentacles at Arrel who jumped back. Not far enough, however, as he took the full-speed tackle.
“Drall.”
All the warriors and mages behind him watched in awe as the Elder of the village grappled with the bear and won.
Hammer on the ground, Arrel held the Ursor in a chokehold, the stone tile of the streets breaking completely under his weight. His skin, now stone gray and rough like rock, cracked and bled as his muscles flexed and held the Ursors mouth closed. The wooden spears continued to try and find a way through his armor and claws tried to rip through his chest plate as they grappled at each other.
“AHHRG!”
*CRUNCH*
Letting the dead Ursor fall to the side, its neck crushed, he grabbed both his hammer and hatchets, ready to kill the next beast that gets through. His eyes narrowed as he watched the next few monsters running at him before, “GET DOWN!”, an explosion on the wall. People's charred corpses fell around him as thick magma sprayed and scalded the hunters around the blast.
“DRAAAAAKE!”