Chapter 4
Eric watched as number 1 attacked and dogged, he then looked at the sword and saw nothing around it, and as he saw this, he grew less interested in watching 1 fight and just watched the beast that they call a monster and the reason why he looked at the sword was because he once asked an old warrior instructor who appeared drunk about this so called power and was told, "If you enter the top 3 in the orphanage warrior training camp, you get to learn the concepts part that regular warriors learn, but in the end, it was all concepts and only 6 people know how to use it in the tribe and they are the strongest warriors and pillars of the tribe, anyway, it appears like an aura, a vauge white arua, and it can appear around the body or the weapon, but it's not always white, and you can see others using it differently" and as Eric leared that, he guessed if anyone showed this Aura thing, even if they were a nobody, they would have been treated differently as they would have appeared useful.
Eric became lost in thought as he thought of how they were gonna teach the concept of power, and as he heard a scream, he looked at number 1 and saw him get torn apart by the monster, and soon the monster ripped through his shield and ate him, and as the warrior saw this, he said out loud "Pathetic, you must stay calm at all times, have you learned nothing" he then looked at 2 and said "I'll give you a chance, you can fight this monster, look, it's a bit injured and should be tired, I'm being nice here" and as 2 heard this, he looked in fear as he watched his long time friend die, and he knew he was weaker than him and wasn't feeling well due to the monster meat he ate yesterday, so he said "I don't want to" and as the man heard that, he started laughing as he said "You wanna become a slave and that's only if someone buys you, if not, you'll be forced to mine till your death, ahahahaha, you sure boy? Well I know a guy that's interested in a boys body like yours..." and as 2 heard that, he looked at the monster, then at the guy, and as he did, he shook his head and as he did, the man kicked the boy in the stomach and sent him flying as he said "Now, you'll be treated like dirt for the rest of your life, ....cowards are a disgrace" and after he said that, he looked at the rest and said "Anyone wanna challenge?" And as he saw nobody answering, he said "Well, if you can't even kill this weakling, you can't call yourself a warrior"
Eric watched as the man entered the cage and as he did, he thought "Is gonna kill it to show off his strength" but that didn't happen, he saw the man walk up to the beast and dodge its pounce and as it flew, he grabbed its tail and threw it to its cage, and the man closed the it's gate after that and as Eric saw this, he thought, "Well...that's conservative" he then looked around and saw kids looking at the warrior in amazement and as he did, he thought "Really? You're amazed by that? That's sad" and as the man came out, he said, "You know your new ranks now yes?" And as he said that, he went and grabbed the knocked out kid and said "Start your training until I come back" and left after that.
Eric started stretching before he started doing some physical training and as he did, soon enough the Warrior came back and as he did, he started training them, and as he looked at Eric and saw he was the smallest in the group at the front, he thought he was just short and had a babyface as he looked at the rest of the kids around him, and so he trained them and soon enough, it became food time.
Eric looked at his new plate of food and saw it looked just a bit newer than what he was used to and more grains stuffed in the somewhat old bread, but he ignored it as he ate the fresher than usual monster meat due to his ranking and as he did, he felt the warmth becoming a bit stronger, but not by much, so he then ate the food, and got Alva's piece of meat as well, and as he finished eating he heard the warrior calling out his number, and so he stayed with 1 and Alva as the rest headed back and as he stayed, the warrior looked at 1 and said "You should already know the basics for training power, so you can sleep early today" and as 1 heard that, he left.
The instructor basically said "You have to focus the energy or strength in your body to where you need it, to be able to you strength or power yourself and that was basically it" and as Eric heard the man talk for 30 minutes trying to explain this bullshit, he then said "How do you do that?" And the man looked at the Eric and appeared curious about him, so he asked: "How old are you?" And as he did, he guessed 14 or 15. but he heard "I turned 12 a month ago" and as he heard that, he looked at Eric in surprise, he then remembered he stood behind 1 so he was the second strongest in the group no? And as he looked at Eric, he then said "Well, everybody is different, but unless you hear it from those who are able to use it, then don't listen to us, as we will give you nothing but logic, and for me, I heard our greatest warrior say 'Everybody is different, and the power can also respond differently, maybe from anger, grief, loss, desire and much more' so basically kid, it's luck or some shit like that, like I can't use it, but even now, I'm still trying, we learn the concept and try to put it in work, to get stronger requires dedication" and as Eric heard that, he looked at Alva who looked inspired, he then thought " Ok, these people are all retarded..., making me hopeful and shit" and so he questioned "What happens if and when I kill the beast?" And as the man heard that, he said, "Well, it's corpse would belong to you, and you could sell it, to gain enough money to buy a small hut that's better than what we offer you after you pass the orphanage warrior test, or save it that money from selling, then you could join the warrior camp and keep training and have a stable future or you could hunt monsters for a living, but that is dangerous, even I don't wanna do that, and I hate it when I'm forced to join the warrior subjugation squad as I could die at any moment, but the pay is good....hmm you should know that the men that aren't warriors are at the bottom in the hierarchy of the tribe, unless your a hunter, then your still considered a warrior, but as you are an orphan, your choices aren't much other than 5 things, and those are one, Pass the test and become a Warrior and go to Warrior training, two, pass the test and become a hunter and live on your own as you get no training for that, three, don't take the test and become a slave as you saw today, four, Die during the test with that monster as you saw today as well, or five, and that is to leave the tribe, and be a deserter...but why would we let you? We'd rather use you then ket you leave..." and as Eric heard that, he nodded to the man, indicating he understood, the man then told Eric, "Your still young, and you 5 more years left until you have to make a choice" and so Eric asked, "Are there any children my age able to kill a monster of that strength?" and as the man heard that, he was a bit surprised at the question as he thought the kid was ambitious, so he then said "To kill that weakling, well there are a few your age and younger than you that could kill it, but they are from the main families in bigger tribes and we have a few in this tribe, so don't sweat it too much, and hey, if you can achieve power, you can be at the top as you'd be the seventh person to do so in this village and would be treated with respect, and be taught by the great warrior himself" and as he said that, he stood up getting ready to leave, but before he did, he got asked by Eric "What happens if I kill the monster at...my age?" and as the man heard that, he looked surprised, he then said "Well the rewards are better I suppose...especially if you join the Warrior camp after words, as you'd be taught by the best and treated differently from the rest" and as Eric heard that he smiled as he said his thanks, he then saw the Warrior watching him and as he did, he heard the man say "Are you going to challenge it soon?" and as the man said that, Alva looked at the warrior strangely as if he was questioning on why would he say that as Eric is 12, but he then heard Eric reply "Yup" and so he looked at him flabergastered as he thought "The fuck just happened?".
Eric thought about how weaker the warmth of the tier 1 meat was getting with giving him strength, so he said "Tomorrow I will" and as the man heard that, he looked at Eric with a dead look, he then said "Why didn't you challenge it today then?" and Eric smiled as he said "Because I wanted to learn about the concept of power, but knowing now, there's no need to stay, as I can practice somewhere else" and as the man heard this, he said "Are your confident you can win, why didn't you just challenge any of the higher ranks and just take there place to learn it earlier?" and as Eric heard that, he looked at the man staring at him seriously, so he playfully said, "Well, I didn't know how strong they were until now" and as the man heard that, he said as he smiled creepily, "And how strong were they?" and Eric gave him a creepy smile as well, he then said "Pathetic, no?" and as the warrior heard that, he started laughing as he said "Pathetic indeed..., kid, I'm coming tomorrow just for you, and if you die, well, I'll save you before you do and make you into a slave for making my hopes get up for nothing" and as he said that, he saw Eric just shrug at him and so he smiled as he left.
Alva just kept moving his head left and right as he watched the conversation between the two and wondered how it got here, he then tied to persuade Eric out of it, but he heard Eric say "Oh, but I don't wanna be here any longer though? 5 years? No thanks, and Alva, didn't you hear him? He said even a kid younger than me could kill that thing, do you understand what that means?" and as he said that, he heard Alva say no, so he told him "Even though he said a few could do that, but in the end I'm 12, so it's understandable, but think of this, what happens, if you pass when your 17 and join the Warrior camp huh? You'll be treated as a weakling, because in a sense, a warrior older than me should be able to kill that thing, and you as a 17-year-old could only kill that now...do you understand it's better to do so when your young" and as he heard that, Alva made excuses about them being orphans and that the kids his age or younger than him that could kill those monsters because they belong to high-class families, and as he said that, Eric said "But in the end, you think staying here will make us stronger, I'm getting bored doing the same thing this past month, and staying here won't do me any good soon enough, so I might as well leave" and as he said that, he left without waiting for his reply.
Eric went back to his room and grabbed a random rock and lightly squeezed it from the center, and as he did, it broke in two easily, he then looked at it and thought of the concept of strength or power as they call it, and he knew they associate it with a visible aura, and his body wasn't showing anything as he used his strength right now, so it wasn't that and as he thought of this, he tried to visualize power into his hand as saw nothing happen, he then thought of the warmth and tried that...but failed, he then tried visualizing that warmth into his hand and as he did, he felt his arm warming up but nothing afterwards, so he then did the same thing, while concentrating around the warmth going out of his hands and thinking about power and as he did, he heard a glass breaking sound and this black aura appeared around his hand and as he saw it, he looked amazed at it, he then thought "I was...expecting more work…, months of trying ... fuck, they keep overeating shit" and so he grabbed the rock with that hand and squeezed it but as he saw the rock break easily, he then thought "I need something stronger" and as he looked around, he thought about leaving the matter for later as nothing was really in this room other than hay and rocks, so he looked at his hand and tried canceling the power and as he did, he succeeded on his second try, he then practiced using it for an hour before he slept.
To Be Continued.