After inspecting himself for a brief moment, Rahz was pretty stoked about his changes. Not only was he stronger than before, he was also a bit taller as well and that meant the world to him. Ever since he could remember, Rahz was always the smallest kid among his peers and the 3 inches that he had gain during the ceremony was a step forward towards his goal of normal height.
Just as he was leaving the the town's square, Rahz felt a sharp pain in his right arm and screamed "Ahhhhh! What the Hel..." Right before he finished his sentence BAMMM!! he felt another sharp pain but this time was his left arm.
Rahz wailed again, " Ahhhhh!! you sucker punch me ! What kind of warrior does that?"
"This kind" Said Bhirl towering over the sorry looking Rahz. " I didn't manage to hear right, Who farted during the ceremony?"
Realizing what was all about, Rahz struggled to place a smile on his face and said " Let's not dwell on the pass mate. What you said, what I said, what the elder said is not important. What is important right now is that I am 3 inches taller and finally a warrior. Lets just do our best from now on and become the strongest warriors in Helgahvall" Without being aware of it, Bhilr nodded his head and got caught up in the rhythm of the conversation forgetting for a second about his revenge.
Rahz saw his chance to escape and very quietly disappeared within the crowd of people that move out of his way thanks to the foul smell coming from his body. The effect of his body odor was better than ambulance lights as he managed to navigate the crowds effortlessly and just after a short walk, he was able to get home and proceeded to take a bath in the back of his hut.
It was the perfect opportunity to check his new skills and find out how awesome they were. The first thing Rahz discovered was that the majority of the skills were passive in nature and that the most important one was definitely the ability to absorb energy from heaven and earth as well as the life force of vanquished foes in order to evolve.
This Ability was granted by the Rune of the Awakened that physically appeared in his body and would evolve with the warrior throughout his lifetime. This ability was the bread and butter of the whole system granted by the gods and the reason why people were able to use supernatural abilities to defend themselves against unknown dangers.
The second ability of the rune was to use the energy of the realm to change the body of a person and with each level up he or she moved one step closer to divinity so they could soar to the higher planes of the Gods they followed.
The last of the passive skills was just a slight increased resistance to the elements used in detrimental magic such as Fire, Ice, Disease, Poison, etc.
Apart from the passive skills, Rahz learned two abilities. The first was an offensive skill called Devastating Blow that allowed the warrior to cover his weapon with Energy increasing the sharpness of the weapon causing 50% more damage to the enemy. The second ability was the utilization of energy for defensive purposes and it was called Strengthen Defense. The ability allowed the warrior to strengthen his own defense or the defensive value of weapons by using a portion of his energy to cushion the blow.
Once Rahz read this two skills he could not wait to start practicing. He got out of the bath, got dress and started practicing with a stick nearby.
Rahz hit a tree with his made up weapon and found out that there was not even a scratch left on it even after a few tries. It was important to establish a baseline in order to determine the changes after using Devastating Blow and now he had one, the weapon in his hand could not cut through.
Rahz activated Devastation Blow and as he stroke towards the tree, the stick in his hands glowed with energy and left a big scratch on it. Rahz was pretty amazed about the power of the ability; however, he quickly realized there was a huge problem. Every time he used the skill, he felt tired, like he had exercise all day long until he was unable to move anymore and dropped to the floor.
This experiment thought him that he could only use this ability sporadically in a fight as after using it 5 times he was completely exhausted. Rahz's Rune of the Awakened absorbed the energy of the realm to nourish his body back to normal and after about an hour he felt great once more so he decided to try the defensive ability.
The moment Strengthen Defense was activated, Rahz's body was surrounded by a thin layer of energy and he felt that his skin and bones were strengthen by a small margin. It was a great skill but the cost was even greater than the offensive skill and after using it 2 times he felt that he could not move a muscle.
"Looks like it takes about an hour for the Rune of the Awakened to replenish my energy so I better be extremely careful when I fight" thought Rahz.
Rahz was learning a ton of things related to the skills and this pushed him to continue with his experiments that yield yet another pleasant surprise. He discovered that he could use his energy to only strengthen his weapon, and that using it that way allowed him to spend a lot less energy increasing the quantity of uses to 4 times before collapse. While absorbing energy for the fifth time, Rahz felt that even though he was absorbing energy his body still felt weak and he was light headed. In that precise moment he felt a sharp pain coming from his stomach and felt extremely hungry. After recuperating for a while he quickly went to his house and gorge in whatever food he could find.
When his mom came back to the house and saw him eating food like a famine demon she smiled and asked " Did you use your class skills?" Rahz nodded and kept stuffing his face.
" Now that you are starting your training as a warrior you got to understand your limits. If you run out of stamina in a life and death battle it would be devastating. Rahz, it is very important that you give 110 percent during the special training of the village that is coming up, It may save your life someday".
While talking to her son about safety, Etta started making dinner.
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Rahz's father was a very special existence for the village due to the fact that he had been in the great city of Silverwind and learned the art of Forging. Even though, Rhaen's skills were not superb, He was still an intermediate blacksmith. As far as the village was concern his skills were Godlike and since Barbarians hunted for living, they knew the value of having excellent weapons granting Rahz's father a special place in their hearts.
The ceremony held during the day signified the need for 10 sets of weapons. Rhaen had been working extra hours lately to finish the orders from the parents of the new awakened children and was amazed that he was able to finish all the orders on time including the one for his son.
With a smile on his face, Rhaen wiped the sweat from his forehead and took a look at his latest work. It was a two handed axe.
Rhaen looked at the copper axe with pride in his eyes because he knew it was his greatest work to date and the weapon will never let his son down. The axe was 4 ft long, had a 2 sided head, and a spike at the top of the handle. The edge on each side was 8 inches long and the whole axe weighted about 90 lbs.
The axe was quite heavy for Rahz to wield comfortably from the get go, however, it was a training tool as well as weapon that could increase his strength and stamina in the long run.
By the time Rahz's father got home it was pretty dark outside. Rahz had not seen his dad since early in the morning, and he was very eager to show him the amazing changes that had happened to him.
As Rhaen got close to the house, he was able to smell his wife's wonderful cooking but most importantly he was able to see Rahz using his 2 new skills in order to increase his experience towards the next level. It was a very heartwarming scene for Rhaen that couldn't wait to call his son over for a little bonding.
"Rahz, come see what your dad got you".
Rahz stop what he was doing and ran to his dad's side.
As he was getting closer he saw a massive looking axe that was radiating a sharpness that made his hairs stood up and he subconsciously slowed down to a crawl.
His dad was a veteran mercenary so he understood what was happening and with a grin on his face said, "This is your new partner. Congrats on awakening."