A few hours later, they arrived at a sort of training grounds near the main city gates.
Walking inside, Cyrus notices that most people are wearing either leather armour or simple cloth clothing However, there is one group standing apart from everyone else.
They're all dressed differently, mostly in full plate armour with various types of swords strapped to their backs. Most of them are young men with facial hair and wild expressions on their faces.
Cyrus stares in wonderment. "Who are those guys?"
Hannah looks towards the group respectfully. "Those men are members of the Royal Guard, they train daily to protect the kingdom from harm. You should get used to them as they will probably see you often during your year here."
Cyrus blinks surprised by the news. "Royal guard huh.." He thinks aloud.
"Now let us begin." A voice calls out from within the crowd of guardsmen.
Everyone immediately gets quiet and turns to look at whoever spoke.
Standing amongst the others is a tall muscular man with pale skin and red tattoos covering his body. His face is covered by a thick beard and a pair of sunglasses covers his eyes completely.
His outfit consists of a sleeveless shirt and pants made of light brown material with a large belt around his waist containing many tools and weapons. On top of his head rests a helmet that appears to be fashioned from a large skull with two horns protruding from it.
Behind him stand three other individuals also clad in armour. Two of them wear matching green cloaks whilst the third wears a white cloak that hangs loosely off his shoulders. the three of them carry similar swords sheathed to their waist.
The leader steps forward and addresses the gathered soldiers. "Alright, today we shall be testing any new recruits who wish to contribute to tour nation. If anyone wishes to prove themselves worthy enough to join our ranks show yourselves so we can begin.
Several men step forward raising their arms into the air.
One after another, they take positions in front of the commander who examines each one individually. Once satisfied, he gives them permission to continue.
Cyrus watches quietly before being nudged by Hannah.
"This is perfect, go ahead and head over there. You only have a year to make as much progress as everyone who appeared two years ago had. There's no better option then rising through the ranks and training with the best." She encourages him.
Taking her advice, Cyrus enters the line of volunteers and waits for his turn to see the commander.
While he waited, he noticed a number of others exiting the room that the test was being held in. Most came out of the room with heavy injuries while some had even been carried out while unconscious.
Some of the injured ones looked like they might die at any moment while some seemed fine despite having suffered serious wounds.
Eventually his turn comes and he approaches the Commander.
Taking a quick glance at the weaponless young man approaching him, he smirks."What brings you here boy?" He questions coldly.
Cyrus takes a deep breath before speaking. "My name is Cyrus, I am training to benefit my nation and wish to become part of your team." He answers confidently.
The man narrows his eyes at the answer. "you say you want to serve your country but you lack proper equipment to fight. Do you really believe that you can survive in battle without protection?" He asks rhetorically.
Cyrus bows slightly in response. "yes sir, I understand your concern however I assure you that I am well prepared." He assures him showing him the rod at his side.
The man glares at him for a brief moment before pointing to the rod. "are you proficient in magic boy?" He asks curiously.
"no Sir" Cyrus replies quickly. "This is my blade"
"then why do you possess such an inferior weapon compared to these others?" The man asks angrily.
"I assure you, This weapon is in now way inferior to the others." Cyrus explains. "One I am allowed into the testing room, you will see."
At this, the man looks doubtful but eventually relents. "Very well, follow me." He orders.
Leading him away from the others, the man leads him deeper into the building. They pass through several rooms filled with different types of weaponry and armour before finally arriving at a large room. The walls and floors were a mess of scratches, gouges and dented metal plates.
Closing the door behind him, the commander began to explain the rules of the test.
"You will be given a single opponent. Your task is simple. All you have to do is defeat said person. If you fail, you will not receive any title and will be barred from participating in any selections until the next year. Any attempt to cheat will result in immediate disqualification. Are there any further questions?" He asked sternly.
There were none.
"Good! Then get ready, your opponent will be brought in shortly." With that command, the commander walks out of the room leaving Cyrus alone.
Forcing himself to calm down, Cyrus focuses on his breathing as he waits. After a minute or so, a man wearing a set of chain mail emerges from the door
Upon closer inspection, he notices that the man was one of the people who had volunteered to take part in the test alongside him.
he had a large sword slung across his back.
Seeing that Cyrus isn't moving, he slowly approaches while removing the sword from his back and holding in tightly within his hands.
Seeing this, Cyrus takes out his rod, unleashing his blade.
The man looks surprised at the weapon drawn by Cyrus but quickly regains his posture and raises his sword high above his head preparing to strike but before he has chance to swing, Cyrus moves swiftly towards him slashing downwards.
The man dodges the attack narrowly avoiding getting hit. Without hesitation, Cyrus follows up with another slash aimed directly at the man's chest but the man covers himself with his blade before deflecting the blow.
Sliding the blade down his own, the man kicks at Cyrus sending him a few steps back before swinging the heavy blade downward towards him.
Cyrus barely manages to dodge the incoming blade and lands heavily onto the ground.
Quickly recovering, he jumps up and blocks the next attack coming from the man.
However, the weight of the mans blade had been to much for him to hold up against causing him to lose his grim as his rod slipped from his grasp falling to the floor with a loud clang.
"Damnit!" He curses under his breath as he rolls to the side of the incoming sword.
Realizing what happened, the man charges towards him brandishing his sword menacingly.
Without thinking, Cyrus leaps backwards dodging the blade and landing on his feet.
Using his momentum, he spins around and launches a kick straight at the man's stomach knocking the wind out of him instantly.
Before he can recover, Cyrus swings his arm upwards and sends a punch flying towards the man's jaw.
In shock, the man falls to the ground clutching his mouth.
With a smile, Cyrus runs over to pick up his fallen rod before the man gets back up.
Picking it up, he holds it close to himself and reignites the blade.
Dashing towards the now standing man in front of him, he prepares to deliver a decisive blow.
Just before impact though, the man suddenly grabs Cyrus' wrist and slams him into the wall.
Scrambling to regain balance, Cyrus tries to counterattack but finds himself unable to move due to the grip placed upon him by the man.
Suddenly feeling a sharp pain shoot through his shoulder, he realizes that the man had stabs him with a small dagger.
"Ahh fuck!!" He screams in agony as he feels blood dripping down his arm.
Trying desperately to break free from the man's tight grip, Cyrus lashes out with a jab aiming for the man's throat but misses.
Instead, the man catches the fist in midair and throws Cyrus aside.
Falling to the ground, Cyrus groans in pain as he struggles to stand back up.
Noticing that the man had gone to pick up his large blade, Cyrus takes the time to retrieve his rod.
As soon as he picks it up again, he reignites it and uses his remaining strength to charge towards the man.
Seeing this, the man swings his blade to clash with Cyrus's.
Both blades collide violently with sparks erupting between them.
The man smiles seeing Cyrus struggling to hold his ground and begins to push even harder.
Smiling himself, Cyrus's blade dissipates as he slide past the mans blade placing his hand on the mans chest.
"Got you" Cyrus whispers before igniting the blade directly into the mans chest causing him to fall to the ground on top of Cyrus.
feeling exhausted, Cyrus looks down at the body lying unconscious on top of him.
Slowly he hears the sounds of the testing doors open to see the commander entering with a wide grin on his face.
"Well done young man, I didn't think you had it in you but you passed." He says happily. "I'm glad to know I was wrong about that skinny body of yours. Now come along, we'll escort you to where you can take a well needed to rest." He tells him while lifting the man off of Cyrus.
Looking down at the body, Cyrus lets out a sigh of relief.
After spending the rest of the day resting after getting his wounds patched up, Cyrus is awoken by someone shaking him awake.
He opens his eyes to find Hannah staring at him worriedly.
"Are you alright? Did anything happen?" She asks concerned.
shaking his head, Cyrus sits up rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "No nothing happened. Just got a little banged up during the test ." He informs her.
Hannah nods understanding. "That must've been rough." She comments sympathetically.
Nodding in agreement, Cyrus stands up and stretches out his tired muscles. "Yeah... but it was pretty fun." He admits with a slight smirk.
"So how did you fare?" Hannah asks curious.
Shrugging his shoulders, Cyrus responds "not too bad actually. I managed to beat my opponent and earned myself another meeting with the commander to determine my rank. Speaking of ranks. You've been in this city for quite a while. What rank are you?" He inquires curiously.
Hannah blushes lightly before answering. "well.. I don't exactly have one yet..." She confesses sheepishly. "My sister would never have allowed me to face any sort of danger. So I would always to wait till she left before training in secret."
Sitting down beside her, Cyrus places a comforting hand on hers reassuringly. "I'm sure your sister would be proud of how strong you've become without anyone's help."
She smiles warmly at his words. "Thank you. That means a lot to hear." She blushes before turning to the door leading outside. "I should probably go. Hanging out inside of an injured mans room probably isn't the best idea," She states nervously.
Cyrus chuckles to himself as he watches her leave.
Once she leaves, he turns his attention back to his room and sees that the other guy from earlier resting in the bed next to his.
Walking over to him, he kneels down and examines his wound.
"You proud of your handiwork?" The man suddenly says making Cyrus jump a little.
Surprised that the man could speak, he quickly recovers and replies. "Yes, very much so." He answers proudly.
The man grins knowingly and points to the bandage wrapped around his torso. "Good, I would have been disappointed in you if you weren't. The names Darius by the way." He introduces himself.
"Nice to meet you Darius." Cyrus replies politely.
"Likewise." The man replies with a wide smile. "So whats up with that blade you have there. That thing was amazing."
Chuckling softly, Cyrus replies "I haven't really though of a name for it yet but it basically just allows me to use my magic to form a blade at the top" He explains.
Darius tilts his head to the side curiously. "huh? How does something like that work?" He asks confused.
Grinning widely, Cyrus explains. "It's kind of hard to explain but essentially when I focus my magic into it, It becomes solid enough to use as a weapon."
"Wow! That's incredible!" Darius exclaims impressed. "Do you think they have one of those in my size," He laughs loudly while slapping Cyrus on the back.
Cyrus giggles at the sudden outburst. "Probably not. I think this is the only one in town" He jokes before suddenly being cut off by another patient.
'Can you two shut up please?' A voice yells from behind them startling both men.
Turning around, they see a tall woman glaring daggers at them.
"Oops. Sorry maam." Darius apologizes immediately.
The woman scoffs angrily before walking away muttering something under her breath.
Cyrus stares blankly after her wondering why she seemed angry.
A moment later, he spots the man from earlier sitting up in his bed looking embarrassed and ashamed.
"Sorry about that. My fault entirely. I always manage to get riled up when it comes to strong opponents." Darius says with a bow.
Cyrus puts his hand on Darius's shoulder in return before speaking. "Its fine. No harm done." He assures him.
"Anyway, its nice to meet you Darius. I hope our paths cross again sometime." Cyrus adds smiling brightly as he head out of the room.
The man smiles nodding in response.
***
Later that evening, Cyrus makes his way to meet with the commander.
Entering the building, he heads towards the counter to ask for directions to the commanders office. However, before he can do so, a guard stops him.
"What business do you have here?" He questions suspiciously.
"I was told to meet with your commander to determine my rank." Cyrus answers confidently.
The guards expression softens slightly as he looks down at Cyrus with pity. "Oh, you poor boy." he laments before leading Cyrus deeper into the complex.
Eventually reaching their destination, he leads Cyrus further into the building until they reach a large wooden door guarded by two soldiers.
One soldier unlocks the door and pushes it open allowing Cyrus to enter first.
Inside, he notices a table in the middle of the room with many papers stacked high upon it.
"Well are you just gonna stand there or are gonna take a seat already." The commander demands impatiently.
Taking a deep breath, Cyrus walks forward and sits down across from him.
"Alright then let's begin shall we?" The Commander starts.
Cyrus nods silently as the commander continues. "First things first I'm going to need some identification for you, I cant just give you a silence without knowing who you are." He tells him.
"Of course sir." Cyrus replies Telling him any information that is needed.
Pulling out a piece of paper and pen, the commander writes down his information and passes it to his side.
"Alright. It's about time i tell you where you stand in our company. As far as your rank goes, you're currently ranked as a novice which is fairly low considering what you showed me during that test." He explains with disappointment evident in his tone. "Unfortunately I cant get you any higher."
Cyrus frowns hearing this.
"Ahh but don't be too discouraged. I'm sure you will climb the ranks quickly with your skills. Here, take this token. This is proof that you were given a rank within the company. Keep it safe because that is your only form of identification as one of us." He instructs handing Cyrus a small bronze pendant.
"Now that that's out of the way, let me just go over how you will be accepting your missions from now on. From this point onward, all new recruits start off with three months worth of training before they are assigned their first mission. After completing said assignment, you may choose whether to accept more assignments or remain idle until such time as you feel ready to continue. But do remember that if you remain idle, You will not be able to accept any benefits from us until you are active once more. Do you understand?" The commander asks sternly.
Nodding slowly, Cyrus replies. "yes sir."
The commander smiles approvingly. "Excellent. Now I'm going to have one of my men take you over to the mission hall to get you started. Normally the company would have tasks for you to complete but you will not be able to take on these requests until your training period is over, so for now you will have to make do with the request made by our citizens in need. Once you finish those you can move onto bigger and better jobs."
Smiling broadly, Cyrus agrees eagerly. "that sounds great sir!"
The commander smiles in return. "Very good. Then you'd best be on your way" Hes says as a soldier comes into the room to lead Cyrus away.
Arriving at the mission hall, Cyrus finds himself surrounded by several people conversing amongst themselves.
Following the soldier Cyrus heads over a bulletin board with various notes stuck to it. The soldier briefly explains what is needed to accept a request and guides Cyrus through the process. then he takes a note from the board and hands it to Cyrus so that he can try it out.
Taking the piece of paper, Cyrus reads over it to find that he still cant read.
He glances over at the soldier embarrassingly.
"You can't read? Oh that's a shame but there's nothing we can do about it for now, You'll just have to ask someone else to help you out when you need to take on a mission." The soldier states sadly.
The soldier then takes the paper and reads it to Cyrus.
"This is an order for a delivery. The person who requested it needs some herbs from outside the city walls delivered to them. They're located in a pharmacy near the south market district. Do you think you can handle this?" He asks.
Cyrus nods. "Yes sir. I'll be fine."
"Then sign here," The soldier instructs as he hands Cyrus a piece of parchment. "And here." He says pointing at another spot on the page.
Cyrus signs his name and puts his mark on the document, and as he does the paper shines brightly before binding itself to the palm of his hand.
"Alright. It seems like you got this." The soldier says happily. "I'll leave you to it then."
"Thanks!" Cyrus says gratefully.
After the soldier leaves, Cyrus turns his attention to the note on his palm to see what herbs the pharmacy needs. After looking at it for a while he decides to go see Hannah. "I really need to learn how to read this stuff" he thinks to himself.
***
Knocking on Hannah's door, Cyrus waits patiently for her to answer.
After a few moments the door opens to Hannah standing in front of him. "Hello, I didn't know you were coming by today." She remarks curiously.
"Yeah, sorry about this but i might need your help." He laughs nervously scratching the back of his neck.
Hannah tilts her head to the side curiously. "Why is that?"
Cyrus explains. "I picked up this request to deliver some herbs to the pharmacy in the south market district but I cant read what i actually need to collect. And even if I could read the names, I doubt I would be able to figure out what they look like. So I was hoping you could help me out with that."
"Ohhh I see." Hannah replies slowly. "Well I'm not exactly an herb expert or anything but I think I could probably help you out a little." She says.
"That would be wonderful." Cyrus says excitedly.
"Alright well first things first. the herbs you need are called "Asclepias", they grow wild in the outskirts of the forest the look like tiny yellow flowers with a blue center. Honestly you should be able to find them relatively easily just by looking around. The other herb is called "Coriander", you can usually find them growing in groups around most bodies of water. they look kind of like white-green plants with purple spots. "She explains.
"Thank you so much!" Cyrus exclaims gratefully.
"No problem, just let me know if you need any more help alright?"
"I will. Thanks again." Cyrus replies.
***
Leaving Hannah's room, Cyrus makes his way over to the city gate ready to start looking.
When he gets there, he finds a crowd of people gathered near the entrance. All of them seem to be arguing amongst each other and getting worked up.
Making his way through the crowd, Cyrus check out with the guard at the post and makes his way toward the vast woods that lie beyond the gates.
As he enters the forest, he notices that the area is full of small bushes and trees.
Walking around for a bit, Cyrus searches for anything that could possibly be a "asclepias".
After a few minutes of searching, he finds a plant that resembles how Hannah had described them.
"This must be it!" He exclaims in relief before heading over to it.
Taking the small flower between his thumb and index finger, he brings it closer to his face before smelling it.
It smells sweet and spicy.
holding on to the flower he tries to look for some more. however, he soon realizes that there are no more nearby.
"Ahh shit." He says with disappointment.
Looking around he notices a small stream running through the woods.
"Maybe I can find some Coriander's there?" He suggests to himself.
Before making his way over to the stream, he looks back one last time to make sure he doesn't miss any of the herbs.
After checking, Cyrus decides to follow the stream upstream until he reaches the place where it joins another river.
Walking along the bank he notices a number of tall grasses growing there.
"This is perfect, there's bound to be plenty around here! This was way easier than i thought it would be." Cyrus exclaims in relief.
Rummaging through the grass, he soon comes across a bunch of green leaves with purple spots on them.
"Oh good! Here's one!" He exclaims picking up the leaf. Putting it in his pocket, Cyrus begins to look for more.
Finding what seems like a large group of them, he grabs a few more before continuing to walk upstream.
For quite some time he continues to search for herbs, until he hears a loud roar in the distance.
Turning towards it, he sees a large creature that reminds him of a bear, standing on its hind legs.
Suddenly, it lets out another roar, causing Cyrus to jump out of the way in fear.
After taking a second to compose himself, he takes a good look at the bear like animal and sure enough, the giant animal is charging right for him.
Cyrus panics and runs away as fast as he can.
Running through the woods with the bear close behind him, Cyrus soon finds himself lost.
Panicking slightly, he fumbles to unhook his rod from his belt, only to realize that he forgot to bring it with him.
"Great! How did I even manage that?" He mutters under his breath.
Without the rod, he tries to fly upwards to escape but hes unable to fly long enough to reach safety before running out of steam.
Landing on the ground, he quickly turns around to see the bear bearing down on him with its claws raised.
Looking up at the beast, Cyrus feels his heart sink.
There's no way out of this situation.
He knew how dangerous real bears were. And now his life was literally in the paws of this giant monster from another world.
Breathing hard, he prepares himself.
The bear raises its clawed paw up high above its head, before bringing it crashing down on top of him.
Cyrus is thrown forward, landing on his back next to the stream.
Rolling over, he looks up to see the bear rushing straight at him.
managing to get on his feet he tries to retreat but the bear grabs hold of his leg with both of its paws.
Cyrus falls to the ground in pain as the bear starts dragging him along the ground.
Gathering energy in his hands, Cyrus releases a blast towards the bears face, Hitting it in they eye.
The bear screams in pain as its eyes begin to glow red.
The bear lets go of Cyrus' legs and thrashes around at him with it's paws.
Cyrus dodges the attacks, causing the bear to crash into some trees. But it still doesn't let up. Throwing itself around dangerously in an attempt to crush Cyrus.
"Damn, it's strong!" He curses under his breath.
Suddenly, out of nowhere a beam of light strikes the bear from behind.
The bear screams in surprise, before falling unconscious onto the ground with its head twisted awkwardly.
Cyrus watches in shock as the massive beast lays motionless.
"Wow! Who was that?" He asks in wonder.
Looking up, he sees a woman with blonde hair walking towards him.
"What happened?" She asks."
"I found myself in a bit of trouble. There was this huge bear chasing me."
"Is that truly all?" The woman asks with her blade still drawn
Nodding, Cyrus adds. "It knocked me down and started dragging me along the ground. I was lucky enough to get away though."
The woman stares at him for a moment before sighing and shaking her head. "You should stay out of these woods from now on." She says.
Soon a few other people come out through woods, including a man wearing green armour and wielding staff
"How many time do I have to tell you." You cant just run off and leave us behind like that." The man yells pointing to the woman.
"Sorry about that, but this boy here was in danger." The woman replies.
"We were in danger too!" The other man shouts back in tears. "You could have helped us first instead of leaving us to die."
"If you can't handle yourself then don't go in the woods alone." The woman replies angrily.
"But... we were in danger! We had no idea what to do." The man cries.
"Well, how is that my fault. Maybe I should start tripling your training," She states bitterly.
Both men bow their heads in shame at being lectured by her.
Turning her attention back to Cyrus who had been enjoying the show she asks. "Did you find what you needed?"
"Yes, ma'am" He says bowing his head
"Good. Now go back home before you get yourself into anymore trouble. It's too dangerous for you to be wandering around here alone."
"Yes ma'am." Cyrus replies.
"Well, I hope you learned a lesson today. Next time you go exploring, try to be a little more careful. or at least bring an escort with you." She says sternly.
"I will." Cyrus says nodding before turning around.
Looking back at her, he smiles. "Thanks." He says before heading back.
***
Cyrus makes his way back to the city gates, eager to take his finding to the pharmacy.
Reaching the guards at the entrance, He is checked before entering and making his way to the south side market district.
Once inside he begins to look around for the pharmacy and after a few minutes of searching, he locates an old building with a sign outside that reads: "Lorina Pharmacy"
Entering the establishment, he notices that it has a very rustic feel to it. The floors are made of wood and the walls are lined with shelves filled with various herbs and medicines.
In the centre of the room is a counter with a single person working behind it.
"Can I help you?" The woman asks.
"Yes, I'm here to deliver the herbs from your post." Cyrus says showing her the note on his palm
"Alright, put them up there." She directs pointing to the shelf behind her.
Cyrus places the herbs on the shelf and waits patiently for the pharmacist to finish processing the order.
After a minute or two, the woman finishes writing down the orders and hands 3 silver coins to Cyrus
"Here you go."
"Thank you." Cyrus says taking the money
"One more thing now" The woman says taking his palm in her hands and pressing her thumb into it.
Soon the note that had been binding to him fades away.
"And with this our contract has ended. Thank you for your hard work, It was probably boring but with the increase of monsters outside the walls, It been a bit of a hassle to head out their myself.
"No problem, I enjoyed helping." Cyrus replies smiling.
"Well, aren't you a good guy." She says giving him a friendly pat on the back before turning around to resume her work.
***
Rebecca sighs heavily while looking through the globe.
"Felled by a simple bear?!" She says in anger. Standing up from her seat, she makes her way outside to a balcony overlooking the the town. Looking down she watches over Cyrus's home. It is still covered by her smoke. But she also notices a few hooded figures around the home.
Sighing again she stands on the railing of the balcony before launching herself towards them.
Landing on the ground, she immediately rushes towards the closest one.
"What!?" The man shouts in fury.
Grabbing him by the throat she pushes him against a wall while gripping him tightly.
"Let go of me!" He yells struggling against her grip but failing to get free.
Rebecca holds the man firmly while staring into his face before crushing his throat in her hands and moving her attention to the other three.
Appearing behind one of the men, she quickly slams her palm through his chest.
seeing this the other two begin to flee but Rebecca quickly catches up to them with her blade in hand.
Changing the swords form into that of a whip, She latches on to the two men and restrains them together.
The men scream as the whip slowly tightens around them. Before long the men's bodies were split in half due to the pressure.
Looking down at the dead men, she grins evilly before returning to the home.
"I guess I should reinforce this barrier a bit more. Wouldn't want anymore bugs crawling around, why my darling is asleep." She says with a sinister tone before clapping her hands together and vanishing from the home.
***
As Cyrus approaches the the inn, he notices a large group of people gathered around something in the middle of the road.
Looking closer he sees that they are gathered around a body.
The crowd keeps pushing forward, eventually forcing Cyrus to stop and watch as well.
As he stands there he notices that the man's head is missing from his neck.
A dark aura surrounds the head, as if it is glowing with unnatural light.
The whole scene seems to disturb Cyrus greatly, causing him to lose his train of thought. He stares at the corpse for a few minutes before a group of guards force there way through the crowd. Once they are clear of the crowd they approach the body and place a white cloth over the head.
"Looks like another victim of that damn witch." A guard mutters while looking at the body.
"That wench has been causing way too much trouble recently. I don't see how hard it is for those precious royal guards to catch one woman," another guard says with a scowl.
"Yeah, we need to get rid of her before she causes any more harm." One of the guards says. "This is the fourth incident this week."
"Well what do you expect us to do about it? None of the higher up will even acknowledge the problems down here." Another says.
"I don't know." One of the guards replies. "But we need to do something before things get worse."
They continue talking among themselves for a while until their voices fade.
After watching the guards go about their business, Cyrus is able to walk past and head inside.