A man with shoulder-length blond hair jumped from a tree branch and landed next to me, his purple eyes squinted slightly as he smiled and said "The name's Samuel Bladeheart, but you can just call me Sam!" Lightning began to spark between his fingers as he drew his longsword and dashed toward the closest beast and decapitated it with one, well placed swing.
Samuel stopped and put his left index finger and thumb in his mouth before letting out a loud whistle. Nine other men sprang from the surrounding trees, with various weapons, and began to slaughter the beasts with ease. I furrowed my brows and slid my daggers back into their sheaths behind my back and watched as everyone, except Samuel, began to take out small knives and skin the beasts as well as pluck their feathers and take their claws.
Samuel walked over to me and raised his brow as he looked at the large tattoos on my body before asking "So, how many did you kill?" I cocked my head and said "Excuse me?" to which Samuel repeated "How many did you kill? The monsters, I mean." I squinted my eyes and began to wonder if I should tell him the truth or not.
What if a person my age was too weak to kill even one of these things, then it would be suspicious if I told him I had killed three of them. However, what if he was watching me the whole time and caught my bluff. It was risky either way. "Three. I killed three before you and your friends helped out. Thanks, by the way."
Samuel whistled and said "Damn! Looks like you've had some special training, most likely since you were able to walk. I can tell you're a little unrefined by the way you walk, but your reaction time must be pretty damn good if you're able to keep up with these nasty fellas at your age. Oh, don't mention it ahaha."
So it is unusual for someone my age to kill these creatures. "These monsters are called Ebonclaws, and they're in the middle of the D-tier. I'm honestly surprised that you were able to kill three of em. Good job staying alive." Samuel pat my back before moving over to a large, bald-headed man and telling him to skin three Ebonclaws and reserve their materials for me. Samuel started to walk over to the wagon that his men pulled out from the forest, but stopped midway and put his chin in his hand.
Samuel turned toward me and looked me in the eyes before asking "How would you like to join my team?" with a serious face. All of his men stopped what they were doing and looked over at him with their mouths open and shock evident on their faces. A skinny man with glasses, short brown hair, and a long blue robe stepped forward and said "Boss, he's just a kid...You haven't tried recruiting since-"
Samuel turned his gaze to the man and he immediately stopped talking and bowed his head in apology. "Since when have I ever made a decision that put anyone here in danger? I'm doing this because I have a gut feeling that this kid will end up being a powerful ally to have one day. If you can't respect my decision despite being with me for God knows how many years, then leave."
There was a long bout of silence before Samuel turned back to me and asked "So, what do you say? I'll give you a share for every monster you kill, as well as a bonus for every rare or precious item that you gather while we're out on a quest or even when we're just traveling for fun." The offer sounded pretty good, but I had more important things to worry about than earning money.
"Sorry, but I'll have to decline. I'm trying to head over to that large wall over in that direction..." I said as I pointed in the direction of where I was heading before continuing. "I'd like to get some directions to the Capitol as well while I'm there, so I can't really stay in this forest for too long." Samuel's eyes practically lit up as he said "Great! That big ass wall you're talking about is actually the Capitol of Vislax, Archven."
"We work for the Guild, if there's enough money involved, and are on a quest to find a large lizard or something like that. I'll tell you what, how about you travel with us and help out with the quest and then you can come with us to Archven. I'll give you the same pay that I usually give my men, so you won't have to worry about funds for a bit once you get in the city."
'Well damn...I can't really refuse this offer now can I?' I sighed and swept the hair from my face before saying "Fine. I'll join you for the duration of you quest and part ways once we get to Archven." Samuel pumped his fists in the air and said "Hell yeah!" before walking off toward the skinny man with a pep in his step.
"Hey, Phillip, I need you to prep a few potions for the newbie as well as take some of the talons from his kills and make some arrows from them. I'm sure he'll appreciate it." I furrowed my brows and said "I thought you said that those would be mine. Doesn't that mean I get a say on how they're used?"
Samuel turned his head and winked before continuing conversing with Philip. I felt my eye twitch in annoyance, but I decided to let the man do whatever he wanted since he did kind of save my ass earlier. I walked over toward a nearby tree and sat down before taking my daggers out and making sure that they were clean and still sharp.
In the middle of inspecting my daggers, a husky voice came from off to the side along with a short knife that Samuel's team used to skin the beasts. I moved my head to the side and let the knife fly past as I continued inspecting my dagger's edge. I heard someone click their tongue in annoyance before moving off to resume whatever it was they were doing before.
I could already tell that I wouldn't be getting along with any of these people.
After slipping my blades back into their scabbards, I stood and stretched my stiff joints before climbing up the tree I was under. I found a large branch not too high up but not too low to the ground either. I perched myself on this branch and watched Samuel's men go along with their work before eventually unpacking tents from their wagon and getting some sleep.
I was surprised to see that no one was keeping watch as torches lines the vicinity of the temporary campsite. 'Well, at least I don't need to sleep...although it would be nice if I could...' I thought as I let out a sigh and leaned back on the tree's hard bark. The sounds of random howls echoing in the distance, and the sounds of bugs making their noise throughout the night were the only things reminding me that I was actually in a forest, for it was so damn dark that I couldn't even see my hands in front of my face.
"Yo." I jumped a little as I instinctually reached for my daggers and held them at the throat, or at least I think it was their throat, of whoever snuck up on me. "Woah there kid, it's me Sam. Geez, who would've thought that you got scared so easily, ahaha!" Samuel moved to a branch underneath me and asked "What do you plan on doing once you get to the Capitol?"
"Why should I tell you?" I said as I relaxed my muscles. Samuel laughed and asked "What, do you wanna go to the Academy there? I mean, a kid with your talent should have no damn problem getting entry. If you want, I can even put in a good word for you..." I furrowed my brows and began to wonder how in the hell this man would be able to even slightly influence the top Academy in Vislax to let me, a commoner adopted by nobility, enter.
"Ah, but I won't tell you how I have so much influence, if that's what you're thinking." Samuel turned his head up toward me and gave a wink before jumping down from his perch and waving me off as he walked back to his tent. I was left alone for the rest of the night, and it gave me ample time to think about the many things on my mind.
The one thing that was puzzling me the most, however, was Nalia's last words to me before I left. "Half..." I muttered as I racked my brain to find out the words hidden meaning. It could be referring to my half-heritage, being a Half-Demon and all, or it could be referring to my hair. Either way I was still completely stuck on what she meant.
I swept my hair out from my face and let out a heavy sigh before climbing down from the tree. I moved a little farther out into the woods and began to go through a series of short exercises I picked up from watching Syn train. Just a few minutes into the exercises, however, I found myself sweating bullets and struggling for breath.
'Just how the hell can he do this for hours a day and not break a sweat...?' I thought as I was leaning over with my hands on my knees. I wiped the sweat off of my face and took my vest off before trying the exercises again. I felt my muscles begin to strain as I punched, kicked, and dodged imaginary enemies, but I didn't stop.
Besides, what's a little pain to me?
My hands and feet began to turn a sickly purple as the veins in my body bulged, and some even burst open from the strain, but the one thing that surprised me the most was how quickly they regenerated. Pain assaulted my body as it tore down and regenerated constantly, but I had the widest smile on my face.
I repeated the exercises over and over again as my body constantly broke apart and put itself back together. I could tell that I was slowly getting used to the exercises, but I also knew that I couldn't just continuously repeat this process for days on days. I knew the limits of my own consciousness, and I knew how much it would take for it to break.
The sun broke through the trees and I had already donned my vest once more and returned to the campsite before Samuel and his men had woke. I watched as they packed up their tents and began to eat a light breakfast before Samuel moved to stand atop the wagon. "Alright boys, we'll be hunting down a "big lizard" today, and we have a temporary newbie tagging along for the ride! Remember, be nice to...to..."
Samuel looked at me with his headed cocked to the side and everyone else followed his gaze. I sighed and said "Take. My name is Take...Wakizawa..." My eyes were wide open and I couldn't hear what Samuel was saying anymore. The only thing I heard was the name "Wakizawa" repeating over and over in my head.
I remembered. I remembered it all. I used to live in the East with my parents before we moved to Azmarin. We were poor in the East and moved due to the various Clans fighting for more land, but we soon found out that, no matter where we moved, it would be the same. I clenched my fists as my resolve to change the world for the better burned brighter than ever.
My eyes began to shine brightly as I muttered "I'll start with that bastard...the one who forced my family into debt, and the one who tortured me for all of those years...I'll kill him...!"