The shaman seemed shocked. She swallowed dry and let her eyes travel towards the big orc standing at a corner of the room. His eyes were sparkling with some kind of unfounded hope— a foolish thought had crossed his head, perhaps. Still, she could not tell him to be calm, and that was because her heart was fluttering as well.

Orcs were not beings of powerful magic. Strictly, there were many times in which they would be born with just enough to survive. Their strength was based, mainly, on their massive frames and their raw physical prowess. Orcs produced so little magic that even as an organized society, none of their members could have a name.

The leader of their tribe, which was usually capable of using magic, did not possess the capacity of naming even a single orc either. This was because, compared to the insignificant humans that needed a mere fifth of an estone to be named, orcs usually needed between ten to fifteen times more energy.

In the case of a huge hunter like the orc behind them, he would probably take even five estones to be named. An amount of energy that no mage was willing to spend, not a human, not any other species.

Naming every orc in this village? That was an extremely ridiculous notion.

"But well, if you cannot trust that..." Thom said, placing his hand on his cheek, showing a grin. "I have heard that your people appreciate strength contests, hmm?"

Erina smiled behind Thom's back. She looked at the massive orc in front of her, who raised his eyebrow to show a confused expression. The shaman was equally as confused about their intention, shifting her eyes between the man and the girl behind him.

"What do you say about a rock-splitting contest? Does that sound good?"

"What are you doing, kar Thom?" The shaman shook her head. "Whatever it is that you're trying, are you setting yourself to lose? A human... No, whatever you are, someone like you would never be able to win against our champion in strength."

"Who said I was competing?" Thom leaned back and placed his hands together. Erina plucked out her tongue with a smile, the orc pushing his head back and lifting his lip.

The competition was accepted, regardless, perhaps only to prove the arrogant man how strong the beastly orcs actually were.

Two massive boulders were placed in front of the cliff at the borders of the village, and the two competitors were given the exact same iron scimitar. The small girl Erina against the biggest monster of the tribe, but people were not against it. As what they desired was to see the orc triumph over the small and meek human, the rest of the village had quickly gathered around the competition and chanted "Big Hunt! Big Hunt!" repeatedly.

One meter in diameter, the two boulders seemed to be extremely heavy. Too much for the orcs to move it, even with their size. It was absurd for anyone to think that a regular person could use a scimitar to break those massive rocks in half.

In truth, the rock-splitting competition was a famous event between the orcish tribes, which Thom was aware of. The one to propose this specific test was Clung, who had studied the orcs beforehand. Thom didn't know, however, that the rock was never actually split.

The competition was to see who could bury the sword deeper into the rock, and it usually went from five to ten centimeters from the top of the boulder. The actual record was Big Hunt's, who had somehow managed to bury his blade twenty centimeters into the rock.

So, Thom had spent one week training Erina after giving her the power of Skill Master. Since his skill [Super Trainer] was always active, the girl had advanced at quite the fast pace, even a lot for someone who was using Skill Master.

To begin with, Erina's job-class skill was something that Thom had never heard about. He was, at the moment, a [Swordsman Expert], and had gone through [Swordsman] and [Swordsman Adept]. At the moment, his bonus was only 500%.

Erina, however, with her imposing [Sword Emperor], had a 25,000% bonus to every sword art skill she possessed.

Although Thom could not deny his extreme jealousy, he was also glad that Erina was by his side, and not against him. Her job class skill was terrifying on its own, that was more than enough. However, it was something else when she had obtained Thom's same skill, [Torrential Slash], which made the impact of her downwards cleave five times stronger.

Her unusual strength had also been given a reason, together with her lack of endurance and her worrying brittleness. [Ashkszar's Curse], which increased her physical strength five times while decreasing everything else five times over. And, although she had not told Thom anything about it, she had also obtained [Ashkzar's Liberation].

Erina sighed. The sword on her hand felt extremely light compared to her titite blade. Two months was a long time, but it was not nearly enough to forget the feeling of the same greatsword she had used ever since she was a small girl.

"Now! Observe our brother and our greatest hunter, our Big Hunter, as he splits this rock and humiliates this meek little human! Now, brother, cleave down and split the heavens with your blade!"

"Woaaaah!!"

As the cheering died down, the gigantic orc smiled and rolled his arms. He lifted his arm above his head, holding the grip of the sword with both hands. He buried his blade down into the rock after a hoarse cry, making a deep dent into the boulder as cracks started to spread. Pieces crumbled and fell as the blade finally stopped, and the orcs surrounding them cheered with excitement.

"This?! I cannot believe it! Our orc brother, he did it! It's a new record! Two parts of a spear, my people!"

"Woahhh!!"

There was a sort of hypeman by the big man's side, calling him brother repeatedly. Erina was smiling bitterly and sort of laughing by their side, but was clearly only trying to show some kind of manners.

People began to mock her small figure, telling her in overweening tones how little she was compared to the great orc, that she wouldn't make a to the rock. She simply groaned lowly as she looked at Thom, who shrugged and gave her a thumbs up. Although frustrated from the surrounding bustle, she relaxed and stretched a little before raising her arms.

The girl completely skipped the part in which she was thrown stones by the mob.

Honing her body in the power of [Golem's Strenght] and the flow of her overbearing aura, Erina centered her eyes on the top of the boulder. The ground quacked as she breathed in and prepared herself for the swing of her arm, her muscles tensing up and doubling in size. Everyone was suddenly silenced and their eyes glued to the girl, and, just as she was about to swing down, her voice sounded.

"Should I just say it as I do it...?" Her face went slightly red for a second. "That's pretty embarrassing but... Ehm... I guess I should do it. The name is... [Torrential Slash]."

BANG!

With a single cleave, the rock was perfectly split in half and sent pulverized shards exploding everywhere. The earth cracked and trembled all around, a split on the earth extending towards the base of the mountain and crawling up its wall, finally breaking off a portion and making it fall like a landslide over the edge of the village. Erina covered her face as a cloud of dust washed over and the screams were deafened by the sound of the crumbling rock.

Erina fell to her knees as her hand searched for the way to hold onto the grip. Her world was suddenly spinning in place and every muscle in her body had turned stingingly sore. The veil of fog covering her eyes was indistinct to the cloud of dust that surrounded her, and the lack of strength on her wobbly limbs produced her the feeling of being rocked by a boat in a storm. What a terrible feeling.

"What is this..."

She thought she had pronounced those words, but in truth, they had been unintelligible blabber. Her tongue was way too tired to move the way she wanted.

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The girl had practiced with Thom before, and knew the enormous amount of energy that each of Skill Master's skills took to use. But she had never felt this much exhaustion. She had never been so devoid of any life before. Just when she was about to fall, Thom's delicate hands caught her back. They were soft, too soft for someone who worked the field. When she thought back to Suu's callous hands, it just seemed out of place.

"Are you okay?" A masculine voice sounded, however.

"You're such a bad person, Thom..." She whispered, trying not to immediately fall asleep. That man returned a smirk, and lifted her from the ground. Having her hanging from his arms, he looked at the dissipating cloud of dust, and spoke sincerely with a smile.

"I needed them to be impressed. I thought you wouldn't agree to this if you knew how tiring it was."

"You..." Erina squinted her eyes, but not on purpose. She was simply gathering strength to stay awake. "Are really mean..."

The girl passed out in his arms, but Thom couldn't contain his excitement and content. He stood in the center of the smoke curtain, the debris floating away and disappearing from the face of the mountain soon enough. 

When clarity resumed, he was able to notice that a small portion of the cliff had been broken off, and the boulder in front of him had been reduced to smithereens. The crack that extended from under his feet to the fallen portion of the mountain was terrifying albeit not wide, simply because it was not made by a natural force but by a small girl with an iron sword on her hand. It was even more terrifying to Thom, however, because it hadn't been solely the girl's power that had broken off the cliff. 

Thom was fully aware that the condition of that particular wall of the cliff wasn't strong, to begin with, and that cracks were already extending all throughout the brittle formation. Not only that, but surely recent rains and erosion might have weakened several spots of the rock. If Erina hadn't destroyed it, it would have fallen by itself in a few days. Such a thing was a very common happening in steep cliffs like that one.

In the end, it had been sheer luck to have caused a show like this. That was scary to him— the fact that his relationship with the orcs from now onwards would depend on an impression of strength that he would not be able to easily replicate.

So that mysterious skill of mine... [Luckiest], as the guide named it, actually does it's trick. Hmph. Well... Erina's show must have been enough to convince them of something. So...

As Thom turned around to look at the crowd, his bare feet kicking away the bits of rock scattered along the ground, what he found was hundreds of orcs kneeling down in front of him.

Their massive bodies prostrated in reverence painted an impressive picture, one that made Thom squint his eyes in disbelief. He looked at the biggest hunter of the village only to find him trembling and kneeling on the ground, his head tilted downwards as if to show reverence. Even by doing so, however, he was still just close to Thom's height. The man was glad, however, that he did not need to raise his eyes.

"What a brutal display of power... And to think that you are a master to this human!"

"Hmph." Thom scoffed. "Master is too short. I am this woman's teacher, her benefactor, her protector, and her reason to live! I have trained her ever since she was a small child, but she still doesn't even near a fraction of my power! I have allowed you to witness what a fraction of my power can do, so you can choose! Choose! Between destruction by my hand and joining the cause for which I am certain you will be necessary, I want you to choose!"

"Yes!!"

The crowds raised their voices and lowered their heads, respectfully showing Thom their subservience. Even if intelligent, they were still simple-minded. Raw power was all that fit in their heads. Thom was glad that was the case.

"Grandma...!"

The big hunter turned and looked at the shaman that walked between the crowd, supported on a skull-and-bone cane that kept her on her feet.

Thom felt an immense sense of gratification as he saw the old woman's frustrated look, and felt the praising looks coming from all directions. Pleasure, what he felt was pleasure at being revered. He was not sure why the knees of the orcs hitting the dirt and their humiliation were so gratifying, but he was certainly sure that it had been worth the trip and the bargain.

Ultimately, the surrender on the shaman's weak frown was a delicious treat.

"You... Have proved yourself. But please... Don't be angered at our disbelief. Tell me what it is that you need, what you want, and in exchange, please do not bring the red cliff down on our village."

She lowered her head, which seemed harder to do in her hunched position. Thom understood at that moment where their fear came from— the absolute destruction of their village by the fall of the massive rock beside it. 

So this is what they were thinking about... He smirked.

"Kekeke..." He let out a malevolous chuckle. "So you have finally understood, shaman. But don't worry. I am merciful, and I don't seek the perishing of useful servants. I ask for naught but for servants, warriors to reign over! If you can join the goblins in brethren, I shall leave you alone!"

Thom declared, unleashing strands of his aura on purpose to establish his dominance. The shaman, however, simply shook her head.

"Kar Thom... It might be possible for us to work alongside, but the orcs will never accept savages as brothers."

"Hm." Thom clicked his tongue. "Then I will accept it as long as there's peace."

"Yes." The shaman nodded.

"Then, I will uphold my end of the bargain as well. I told you I would name every single one of you orcs, did I not?"

"But such a thing...!"

Thom aggressively shook his head before the shaman could continue. He controlled his aura and gathered all of it inside his body, beginning to separate a minute strand from the rest. Like moving a finger, he extended part of his aura carefully in an impressive control, also feeling the origin of the shaman's own aura. 

The orc seemed impressed as she felt something strange pierce her stomach, as if her body had stopped belonging to herself and was connected to the string of a puppet master.

Her body started shaking as Thom's concentrated gaze pierced through the woman's aura and laced to the deepest part of her soul, pulling from it in a soft current similar to a moving river. 

As if a sinkhole had been opened and the shaman had fallen inside, her soul seemed to have been pulled by Thom's small string of power, and laced to it like a ribbon. 

"You're Dajkavan." He said, speaking his own native language. "Because it means grandmother in your tongue."

A surge of power came from Thom's body, and the old woman gasped as her body convulsed backward. She let go of her cane and fell to her knees, her voice breaking and wailing with the feeling of something she had yearned for long and lost without remedy.

Wrinkles reversing and bones cracking back into place, her dried out skin returned to a healthy deep brown color that shone like a beautiful garnet, and was more according to her now youthful face. Her height seemed to return to what seemed like a regular orc's, and her fangs, chipped and worn, were reinforced by a new layer of bone. 

Her fat seemed to be turned into muscle, her excess skin into tighter leather. There was no mistake, she had suddenly gotten younger— no, she had maintained the passage of her time, but now she was another person entirely, because her advanced age was no longer advanced for her species.

In other words, this woman had stopped being at the end of her life, to be at it's younger stage.

Thom had managed to name a person, without the use of magic, without having the skill. He had simply done as Suu had instructed, he had linked his own soul with another, by a means that was different from magic.

「Learning successful. The passive skill [Grantor] has been acquired. By linking the user's soul to a subjects, the user is now capable of making their planar influence affect others, further accentuating their influence in exchange of originally losing a portion of a soul-tied substance or energy of their own. This will make tied subjects susceptible to physical changes in order to accommodate their new tie.

Learning successful. The passive skill [Aura Grantor] has been acquired. By using direct planar influence to link a soul, the user can now create a bond that will be affected by aura.

Learning successful. The passive skill [Grantor Efficiency] has been acquired. The user may use 5% less of the required component to link a soul each time.」

Thom couldn't help but smile. 

Dajkavan seemed shocked enough that she couldn't speak, and even Thom could feel that her aura had tripled by just linking her to his own. Now, he could feel the fluttering of her soul and the way he affected her. Like a heavy stone on a cloth attracting smaller stones, that was how it felt.

"It wouldn't be fair if I stopped here." He said, looking at the giant orc, who was petrified immediately. In his language, Thom spoke. "You'll be Djolk, since it means Big Hunter."

A similar veil enveloped the colossus, changing everything in his body, from the albedo of his skin to the proportion of his muscles. His fangs turned sharper and his image less ragged, an overall change that made him look now like a youngster instead of a middle-aged brute. One may have said that from afar he looked smaller now, but the presence he was emitting was several times stronger than before. 

The orc prostrated and yelled loudly his thanks, but Thom decided to brush it off. Having confirmed that it was now possible to easily link whoever he touched with his aura, he decided to make things quick.

"Listen up!"

He yelled, and his aura exploded to cover the entirety of the village. People trembled and quaked, fearsome of the sudden weight on their backs, until Thom showed a smile. One that showed certain contempt and delusion, but a smile nonetheless. 

"You can call yourselves whatever you want, but from now on, your souls are mine!"

Feeling drunk with power, he slammed the roots of his aura into every orc's heart. Women and men, children, and elders, they convulsed and shoved their bodies pro and fro, drilled by a mysterious pressure coming from Thom as the center. They felt as if they were pulled by his weight and trashed on the dirt, before finally kneeling in front of him and somehow chaining themselves to his feet. The orcs weren't aware that, although right now they felt immense joy, the one enjoying it the most was the man showing a vicious smile on his face. 

If Suu was there with him, wouldn't she have thought he was acting like a villain?

As the screams of the orcs fell and Thom felt an approximate of three hundred souls dancing like the leaves of his branches, he took in a deep breath and got washed over with a sense of satisfaction that he wasn't expecting to experience in the slightest at the start of his day.

"So this is it..." He whispered. "Being revered... Being a king."

「Learning successful. The skill [Grantor Efficiency] has been upgraded to [Grantor Efficiency III]. linking souls will now cost the user 15% less of the required component each time.」

He felt plenty enough to laugh loudly in the middle of revering warriors, calling him Lord, thanking him dearly for his sacrifice in their sake.