Jacob did not want to drag this out any longer and it definitely was not safe any longer after the battle that happened here. He stored Flowing Water back into his ring before, he shouted at the three still cowering.
“Hey! Trent and Marsha you guys are safe now! You too Corym you are safe now!” For the elf, Jacob spoke in their most commonly spoken language. Their ears including the ears of the woodland elf’s perked at the mention of their name and they finally stopped their squirming. They slowly turned around to look at Jacob, giving them and Jacob a proper look at each other.
Trent looked like a handsome hispanic with light brown skin and he even came with a full circle beard that highlighted his dark brown eyes and sharp nose, his hair was a mess but it did not detract from his handsomeness. It gave him a vulnerable look that actually made him look even better in Jacob’s eyes. Jacob looked at Marsha, she looked like the typical typical blonde Jacob would see in the movies. However, she did not have an upturned nose nor a derisive sneer seeing as she was down on the ground. Her eyes were like the man’s, full of shock and fear.
The woodland elf look’s gave Jacob the shock of his life when he got a good look at him, there was no beauty to be had in his widely separated eyes. His nose was intrusively large to the point that Jacob felt the elf could keep a hidden weapon there. However, the most upsetting thing to Jacob was the contrast with the elf’s mouth from the other facial features. It was way too small and thin, instead of a beautiful elf that he was always shown in various media, it felt like the elf was a randomly drawn horror from a kid’s colouring book. The only thing that identified Corym as an elf was the distinct and sharp ears on his sides.
Jacob kept his thoughts to himself as he offered Corym a hand to get up, giving the best smile he could muster. Jacob made sure that no blood splattered anywhere near him this time, he remembered the look of horror given by Riley when he smiled at her with a blood soaked face.
The elf instead of reaching out to grab Jacob’s hand, just stared at Jacob’s face for one awkward moment, two awkward moment before it could get any weirder. Jacob moved forward and grabbed the shoulders of the elf with both of his hand and pulled him up by force, he coughed before he moved to the front of Marsha with both her’s and Trent’s head following after him. He then offered his hand to Marsha who took his proffered hand and muttered what Jacob would assumed to be words of thanks under her breath. Jacob took a short glimpse at Marsha’s chest and compared it with Riley’s, while he pulled her up to her feet.
‘It’s definitely smaller’ With those rude thoughts, He repeated the same action for Trent.
“Thank you uhh...What’s your name and how did you know ours?” Asked Trent as he got up on his feet with Jacob’s help. Jacob put up his hand while Trent was mid-way through his question.
“First off, you’re welcome. But let me ask you lot some questions first.” Jacob had to repeat the same sentence twice. Once for the two humans the second time for the somewhat disappointing looking woodland elf. Jacob then went on to ask the trio about what happened to their own first week within the tutorial and the reason for their abyssmal levels, for Trent. He managed to arrive in an area which was mainly infested with rats, that were easy to kill and 2 days later someone made the region he was in. Into a safe area where upon he and most of the other survivors spent the remaining 5 days living off of the assorted food they were able to forage from their surroundings.
Marsha had it even easier, apparently one of the women she was teleported in with led the group to safety with a sword that glowed red and the safe zone was created within a day. Allowing Marsha and the others a safe refuge, while there were others who went out to forage for food. As she did not have to face the harsh reality of a giant chasing tiger nor sentient stone hands, even her food were taken from the hands of others. She was basically a leech in this new world.
Corym had the most difficult time of the three, his race of wood elves were really into survival of the fittest even before the System was introduced and anyone that did not fit their definition of beauty was shunned. When he was teleported into the tutorial, the other wood elves enslaved him as soon as they saw him. He was forced to degrade himself in numerous way, a few examples that Corym gave made Jacob’s stomach turned. Corym was forced to walk on all fours and whenever a reply was expected, he was forced to imitate their version of a pig. If the reply was not to the satisfaction of the other elves, he would be whipped across his palms and knees forcing his open wounds to fester as he used them to move around on all fours. The entire description given by Corym gave Jacob frightful flashbacks of easier but no less humilating actions, Jacob had undertaken under the coercion of bullies before he met Morg,Bedi and Donny.
Before he dragged himself deeper into dark reflection, Jacob took a proper look at Corym’s knees and asked to see his palms. The still open wounds were covered in yellowish pus and some parts of it was even blackening, Jacob really wished that he held onto the jar of golden honey now or at least a healing spell would be found within the novice water/wood mastery but there were none to be found.
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Jacob assured the trio that they would be safe while Jacob was around and he distributed some food that he kept in the knapsack before he was teleported to collect on his achievements. He left the three to eat the food, Trent was kind enough to offer to feed Corym. Which Jacob communicated to the elf before he left the three of them to their own devices while he went to collect whichever wolf corpse that was whole, while also giving himself time to think about what to do with his three new acquaintances.
He did not want to abandon Corym at the least since the elf’s story resonated deeply with Jacob’s own story before he was saved by his best friends. How the two humans were able to continue with the mindset that life would still continue to be peachy. After the first few days of the tutorial even within the safe zone, made Jacob feel like someone was taking a nail to his head and constantly hammering it in.
Brian and Riley were quick on the uptake, sought to grow stronger. Even the two fiends despite their betrayal, wanted to grow stronger. While, Jacob was hurt by the betrayal he did not fault the two for their actions. They did what they thought would give them the best chance of survival, but since Jacob was alive. The two fiends would eventually learn to regret their actions, if they were not dead already.
But what he could not abide the most was sloth, they had their world changed forever. But instead of trying to improve on themselves, both of them was comfortable with their own circumstances. If Jacob was not around, the two of them and unfortunately Corym too would have been striped down to the bones by the wolves and rabbits. Jacob ruminated over his current situation and decided to give the two humans a chance.
He walked back to the trio who finished their meal while they sat down grouped together, the two humans were staring blankly into space. While, Corym was actively looking around his surrounding with his all too wide-eyes most likely for danger from all his life spent being bullied.
Jacob addressed the two humans, He kept an even tone and spoke as calm as he could.
“Trent and Marsha, the two of you can follow me and I will give you my protection. BUT, only if both of you are able to follow a few conditions. I will only speak about the conditions after you guys accept the offer. If the two of you chooses to go off on your own, I will provide enough food for the both of you to survive for a day.” Marsha was the first one to speak up first.
“I’ll do anything you ask even if its...” She trailed off as she looked at Jacob’s crotch alluding to what she would be willing to do. Jacob disgusted by the offer, almost turned around on his heels to walk away from the woman. At that single moment, Jacob really wished it was either of the fiend in front of him even if it was Alexander.
“I can guarantee that it would not be related to anything sexual. I have more important things to worry about then getting off on sexual pleasure.” Jacob kept his boiling rage in check as he rejected Marsha’s offer up front but Corym seemed like he could sense the anger from within Jacob as his already uneasy eyes were locked onto Jacob as the elf slowly backed away. Jacob seeing the action taken by Corym immediately switched to the elf’s language to relay the short conversation between Jacob and the other two. Corym instead of nodding his head, constantly bowed in Jacob’s direction and apologised incessantly. It would seemed apart from the ears, his voice was as melodious as Jacob had imagined an elf’s would be.
Jacob rubbed his temple as he felt the headache mounting again, he quickly demanded a reply from the two humans. He feared that he might have a burst blood vessel, if he continued staying here. Although Jacob was not sure if he was even capable of having a burst blood vessel anymore, but the aneurysm induced by Corym’s slave mentality and his disgust with Marsha definitely felt real enough. Jacob really hoped the two rejected his offer of help, as looks and words were exchanged between the two humans.
“We accept you offer, please tell us what to do.” The both of them replied in unision, Jacob resisted the urge to smack his own forehead as he started listing out his conditions.
“First, the both of you will be hunting for your own food from now on. I will assist the both of you but the person who will be killing and skinning your own food will be yourself. Second, every day that you guys are with me. Two hours will be spent improving your combat abilities separate from whatever fights we may encounter, one hour after waking and another hour before you sleep. Lastly, the both of you are free to leave anytime. I will not force either of you to stay, should either of you choose to leave. I will give you one day worth of food. In return, whatever danger we would be facing I will try my best to keep the both of you alive.” Jacob then switched to Corym’s language though the words were vastly different from the one given to the two humans
“Corym for the next few days, if you are fine with it. I will be bringing you along and helping you get better. Once you level up a few more times and put some stats into your vigor, you should be able to heal on your own even through the decay. While we are together for the next few days, until you recover I will clean your wounds with water at least 3 times a day. In return, please do not apologise needlessly anymore. While you are with me, you are a companion. Not a slave, not a beast and definitely not a lesser being. Once you have recovered over the next few days, you are free to do what you want. Would you be agreeable to my suggestion?” Jacob spoke as gently as possible, trying to give the poor elf a sense of safety and comfort that he had not felt at least for the last 7 days.
Corym nodded this time and expressed his thanks, Jacob could see Corym’s body tensing up fighting against it’s own urge to bow and apologise. Jacob shook his head a little at the damage a week of endless torture could wrought. He got the trio to stand up as it was time to go before, any danger could get over here. When Trent, Marsha and Corym stood up, Jacob took note of their height.
Despite his non-elvish looks Corym stood at a height of 2 metres basically looming over the rest of the group, Trent was about 1.85 metres and even Marsha stood taller than Jacob at an even 1.8 metres or so. As Trent looked down at Jacob, Jacob saw a look of defiance from the man. Jacob quickly flared his essence and converted it into a wind blade shooting it at Trent’s head, before the man could even blink or dodge the wind blade took a generous chunk of his hair off his head.
“I will give your first warning. You can try and kill me, but if you don’t succeed on your first try. I will make sure you regret it for the rest of your life. 2 men bigger and stronger than you have tried and failed, one of them was even better at controlling essence compared to me.” Jacob warned Trent as the man quickly squat down as he saw his own black hair falling off his head after the gust of wind shot past him. Jacob neglected to mention Aurelius, was definitely witholding his power when he tried to swipe at Jacob’s head. He led the trio towards the mountain that stood much taller than its surroundings.