The long and slow-moving wagon queue extended far beyond sight through the run-down dirty tunnel. Still, Elric made an effort not to give in to boredom and instead focused on the alien symbols written in the tattered book he held. Occasionally, the ashen-haired boy would take a bite out of a blue apple while adjusting his pace to match the almost stopping entourage. Learning Sylian was a basic requirement for spellcasting, unless one spoke Elvish or Draconian, which were far from basic. Therefore, he could only carry on with the study of the ancient magic dialect if he was to become anything close to a magicaster.
Sadly, the book was barely readable and challenged his comprehension ability at every sentence, even if it had cost half of his savings. Which had amounted to close to a bronze coin only a month ago, and now was cut short to a copper after paying for safe passage and buying the book. Like many of his peers, Elric had spent a lifetime of savings to access the underground tunnel that led to the glorious Seven Rings. The self-governed city was famed to hold enough power to rival any nation and Kingdom in their world. For many, it represented freedom from royal slavery and the opportunity of ascension in life. And for Elric, it was to be the beginning of his journey.
Amongst the travelers, one could easily tell apart three different groups. The hopeful and young, who could barely hide their expectations with glowing eyes and energetic bearings; the tired soldier class, which were evidently distinguishable through their worn uniforms; and all sorts of merchants guiding their carts or wagons according to their wealth. The last group would sometimes spare disdainful glances at the eager youngsters as if they knew something but wouldn’t waste their time explaining it to the naïve group.
Elric was part of the first group, with nothing to differentiate himself if not for the unusual self-crafted weapon strapped to his back and his inexplicably enticing hazel eyes. His tanned skin and slightly above average height could be found in most commoner’s households of any human Kingdom, and though the ashen hair color was rare outside the northern nations, it wasn’t to point of notice. So, the only oddities came from the unconventional long polearm and the eyes that were commonly colored but attracted attention nonetheless.
The weapon was made with a pale yellow staff of at least bronze quality, which didn’t match the shabby brown robe Elric was using. On its top, two humble waning blades were placed on each side of a greyish stone. Aside from having smaller blades than usual, the magical stone was too out of standard. Typically, crystals and magic stones on bladed weapons would go closer to the grip position where they could be hand activated. Such a disposition was common on magic staffs and wands used by magicasters, but they wouldn’t use blades.
Elric had his hand full with reading and eating while walking, so he couldn’t pay attention to the staring. Likewise, the others were more than happy to feint indifference. However, his tedious study was soon disturbed by a dancing faint brown line that sipped through the earth walls a few meters ahead. The unresponsiveness of his traveling companions indicated that the energy disruption could only be seen by his unique gift. It all happened in a couple of seconds, but he didn’t hesitate to shout and run forth.
“A beast is coming from the wall! Take cover!” His voice was shaking but commanding.
Before the soldiers could process the warning and react, the five meters wide tunnel started to tremor and a giant worm-like beast breached through the wall biting half of a wagon, but thankfully missing its driver by less than a meter. Desperate screaming broke loose as people tried to get away from the beast. A closer trembling soldier slashed at it, getting the beast’s attention out of the terrified driver but failing to cause significant damage. Panic spread through his face as he realized that his comrades were too far to help.
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The situation was the worst possible scenario when facing an earth beast. With the earth enhancement, the creature would become tough to slay but too slow to hurt a trained fighter, unless they were confined to a narrow space. In the tunnel, the huge and heavy being only needed to move towards a target, no fancy turns were required. The soldier continued slashing it nonetheless, buying time for the travelers to run. He had already come to terms with losing an arm or a leg to the beast before reinforcements reached them.
The man braced himself for the pain while trying to move as far away as he could, but the expected attack didn’t come, the beast stopped. It tried to turn back, further compromising the integrity of the tunnel while letting out agonizing sounds. On the other side, Elric was swinging his polearm, delivering cross overhead strikes to the beast’s back.
The boy’s first instinct had been to attack with straight thrusts causing substantially more damage to the reinforced creature, but he knew from experience that his weapon could easily get stuck inside the beast despite its blade design. Even if the strikes only left wounds, they were far from inconsequential. He was tracing and cutting the under-skin paths that delivered earth essence from its core to the skin. The beast was taking damage at every cut. Fortunately, the paths were superficial enough to be reachable by his blades.
Elric had never fought such an easy battle; the time that took for the massive beast to turn around had been enough to slice through its entire back. When the earthworm finally faced him, it decided to run instead of keeping fighting. But unfortunately for it, the other soldiers had arrived and were ready to attack. It could only die screaming.
The group of iron-tier soldiers armed with spears, swords, and shields, stared at the boy standing on the other side of the beast holding a strange-looking polearm/staff. They could only assume that he was an odd magicaster and had used a spell to weaken the beast since those superficial cuts couldn’t have done it. It wasn’t unheard of casters who develop antics, like carrying useless bladed staffs and dressing poorly, though they were usually older. Still, none of the soldiers would dare to mistreat a magicaster of an unknown tier.
“Sir, I’m sorry but our protocols don’t allow us to leave the core to you.” The squad leader offered an apology after directing his subordinates to extract the beast’s core and unblock the tunnel. The anxiety and discomfort were evident in his voice. He hoped the young man wouldn’t be unreasonable and insist on getting the core.
“Okay. Then, can I have a part of its skin?” Elric asked while trying to hide his excitement. He didn’t expect to get anything from it, nor an apology. It seemed that the soldiers had misjudged his abilities and stand. Of course, he wouldn’t bother correcting them.
“Of course, sir.” The leader answered awkwardly. He couldn’t fathom why the other party would be interested in such rough material. He even started wondering if the young man had passed the copper tier.
Elric, on the other hand, didn’t dwell on it and moved to collect his prize. Using a hidden dagger, he masterfully sliced through the rough skin following the line of one of his previous cuts. In less than a minute, he had already skinned a good two meters of the tough material. This would fetch him some copper coins or at least a nice base material for a soft suit of armor.
Both his skinning craft and willingness to do it, in the first place, made all people nearby uncomfortable. There was something strange about seeing someone they considered stronger doing menial tasks. Even so, Elric just stored the wrapped skin and moved on unconcerned. He knew better than missing opportunities on the account of others.