Three years later. Helgahvall Village.
"What do you mean you can't go? Aren't you suppose to be the next Chief? How can you be a chief with that little strength. Lets go, it has been three months since we did a task".
" Sorry Rahz, leading a village is more than just being the strongest. There are problems every day that need to be resolve and I can't be outside the village for too long otherwise I'll fall behind in my duties. Why don't you ask Blaire to go"
"Sigh... Ever since the elder has been teaching her the art of using Spirit Herbs in cooking, It is all she likes to do".
" Maybe next week".
"Damn it Bhirl, you said that last week".
After three years after its formation, The Elite Team pretty much consisted of Rahz doing task by himself. Bhirl had been abducted by the leaders of the village and his day to day consisted in solving domestic problems and learning about the foreign affairs with the surrounding villages.
Despite having a very hectic schedule, Bhirl still manage to keep up with the training maniac that was Rhaz. Blaire became the successor to Elder Bear and spent a lot of her time learning about the different spirit herbs and their properties. As such her Level was not as high as the other two.
The events that happened three years before left a big impression on the members of the Elite Team and each of them swore to protect their love ones and Helgahvall.
Three years before, there was a strange attack during the new recruits test and Bhirl was almost killed by an arrow. At the beginning, the Leaders of the village thought that it was an attack by a bordering clan of Orcs known as the Frostwolfs. They figured that maybe they wanted to start a War. Thanks to the vast experience during their time as adventures, Rahz's parents suggested to the village chief Cerdic the involvement of a third party. The insidious attack was extremely uncharacteristic of the Orcs and something just didn't smell right.
In their attempts to smoke out their enemies and confirm the involvement of the Frostwolfs in the assassination attempt on their Young Lord, the village formed a delegation. Their mission was to seek an audience with Frostwolf Chief Mogho and clear any confusion regarding the shady events happening around the area.
During their journey, the delegation discovered the involvement of an Evil alignment adventurer group lead by a couple of Dark Elves. Thanks to Rahz's father the threat was suppressed but it cost the village dearly. Three warriors lost their lives and the first Elder of the village was heavily injured. Even though Rahz's mother was a powerful Templar (second evolution Cleric) and she managed to heal the elder back to perfect health, it took various healing sessions and almost two months.
There were many things left unclear. Adventurers would not risk their lives unless the profit was greater than the risk. However, there was nothing in the body of the enemies that could indicated why they took a chance. According to Aya, there was one person missing from the group they fought and killed. It was a young assassin that managed to kill her comrade.
When Rahz saw the state of the corpse the delegation group brought back after their fight, he couldn't help but throw up. Rahz had never seen something so horrific and the fact that it was a living person a few days back was too chocking to say the least.
The last blow to Rhaz's psyche was the fact that his dad was a member of the returning group. What would of happened if instead of Rhea, it was his dad the one that returned as a mummy. From that day forward Rahz training became even more intense.
In almost 4 years since his awakening, he had reach Level 9. It was an achievement to be proud of. Besides Bhirl, the Majority of Rahz's awoken class was starting level 8 and some were still in their 7's.
Ever since Rahz Level up, he had been looking forward to go with the village to sell their wares at the nearest town. Rahz never forgot the time Bhirl told him about it and had made it one of his goals. The main reason why he had been unsuccessful, was due to the task being a group task. Since the members of the Elite Team were always busy the only person applying was Rahz.
Desperate to get on the Caravan, Rhaz had no other option than to seek advised from his mother. Seeing her son down and out about not being able to travel to the nearest town filled her with grieve but she was the main reason why he had been unable to go.
Rhaen and Etta had discussed the events that happened 3 years before many times and not wiping all the members from that evil adventurer team filled them with dread. They didn't want Rahz to be involved in an act of revenge against the village since he was still too weak in his parent's eyes.
Rahz obsession with the trip was of the charts, specially after his teammates started to bail on tasks outside the village. In order to placate her son, Etta told him that they will join the caravan for his birthday. In that way, he could expend all the money he had saved so far and his dad could go with him to avoid somebody ripping him up and causing a disaster.
With a new goal in mind, Rahz left from time to time to the outskirts of the village to hunt more powerful beast that could sell for more.
" I guess is you and me again Mr. Choppy"
Rahz thought about were to go and settle on a quick trip to the mines to get some Ore. It had been 4 months since he had clear the outside camps of Kobolds and by his calculations the vacant territories should have been re-occupied by the weakest group.
Level 7 and Level 9 were special watersheds in which the fighters acquired skills. It was not different for Rahz. At level 7 he learned Resolute strike and at level 9 he learned leaping strike. Resolute strike was a chain Combat Art to devastating blow that increased the damage of the weapon even more. Leaping Strike was a finishing move that could be used on enemies that were knock down. The skill allowed Rahz to leap a distance of 10 feet towards the enemy and impale them to the ground.
The God of War had being very good to Rahz each level. One of the graces of being a follower of Fadall was the shear amount of Strength and toughness gain every time he went up a level. Rahz strength was starting to go into the scary category. He was not too thrill about the fact that after level 7 there were no more changes to his height but beggars can't be choosers. He was almost average for his age with respect to his peers but he still saw himself as being too short.
Nobody knew if it was the blessing of the God of War or the Elf blood but he never seem to bulk up. Because of the lack of muscle mass, some of the other trainees made fun of him like old times but soon found out their mistakes after a thorough beating.
Rahz's intelligence had improved way faster than the Barbarians but the most important aspect of his character was his dedication and perseverance.
Rahz left the village due west and very quickly reach the outside of the mines. Just like he had predicted there were a few groups already mining and looking for shinnies. the majority of the Kobolds were level 6 and even if Rahz went inside the mine for about half a mile there would be no problem.
Level 6 Kobolds no longer gave evolution energy to his rune, but the copper ore he could get was always welcome. His Birthday was a month away and so was the trip. He didn't know what the money he had saved for more than 3.5 years could get him but he couldn't go wrong with having more.
Killing the groups of Kobolds was extremely easy for Rahz now. Grabbing Mr. Choppy with both hands Rhaz made a bee line towards the first group. He target the Rock thrower first and then the close combat ones. With a swing of his Axe the Rock thrower was divided in 2 and when the other Kobolds reached him all he had to do was use cyclone. At this point in time, he only needed one spin.
Every time he came to the mines, he remember the first time they came and how scared they were.
As blood blossoms flew into the air, Rahz could not help but reminisce of the good old times with his friends.