The night was about to fall, the stars had begun to show, a strong wind was blowing and Cromi was about to fall asleep inside his backpack of Teras, the 2 of them were traveling across a big forest with little to no idea of what's the environment is like, Teras was overly cautious about every sound he heard, the sound the leaves made, the sound of the branches hitting one another, he didn't leave anything unchecked, he was always using mana vision, so his mana was about to run out, he was feeling like he was being watched so he settled down as nothing happened, he took out his camping tent and started building it, about 4 minutes later he was done, he then placed his backpack and Cromi inside the tent and decided to scout out for danger. He searched around for a bit but he couldn't seem to see anything suspicious but he could feel something was off, annoyed he screamed
"COME OUT I'M NOT AFRAID OF YOU!!!"
There was no answer, it was like he was talking to a wall
'I have to stop and take a rest I can't stay up all night scouting something that might not even be there' Teras thought to himself so he decided to go back to sleep
As soon as he turned around a man appeared from the abyss of the night
"So that's where you were hiding" Said the unknown voice coming from a really tall man
The man scared Teras
"Who are you? Do I know you?" Teras asked
But the man didn't reply, he just stared at Teras, this action brought back the feeling he had when he saw the dark figure at Thrisk, without a moment to spare Teras took out his blade and slashed at the man, the blade passed through him like there was nothing there
"This isn't going to work on me, I'm already dead" The man said
Teras was confused, Tokkou didn't mention any walking dead that lived in the forest
"Then what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be buried in a grave?"
Teras asked the man ironically, but the man ignored him and kept staring at him, Teras then stroked again and again but no attack could damage the man, he gave up on attacking him and asked
"Why are you watching me? Don't you have anything better to do?"
The man ignored him again, Teras then got mad, he quickly broke down the tent and picked up his things and Cromi and enhanced his legs with mana, Teras then began to run in Prodo's direction
Teras was moving fast and closing the distance between him and the town fast, he looked behind him and the man was left behind, he couldn't keep up with the speed Teras was going, in fact, the man didn't even move, he just kept on looking at Teras from afar. Not long after Teras stopped, he finally ran low on mana, he was also exhausted from running so he mindlessly lay down on the floor, with his head facing the stars, it was peaceful, Teras took some deep breaths and got up, once he got up he spotted a man looking at him, the man seemed armed and was completely different than the ghost before he looked more like a thief
"Can't you just leave me alone?" Teras asked him
"I'm afraid I can't, so for your greater good hand me your money and you are free to go!"
Teras then laughed
He was so angry that his natural response was to laugh, the thief found it strange but didn't hesitate to attack him, Teras blocked him with his blade and kicked him away, the thief didn't seem like he took any damage, he then retried to attack Teras, Teras dodge but only barely, he received a scratch on his arm, the scratch wasn't that deep so he gripped the sword with his 2 hands and decided to counter-attack
SLASH SLASH SLASH!
Everything was happening so fast, Teras was disarmed and the thief got wounded on his stomach, Teras was in a disadvantage
"There is still time for you to hand over your stuff, do it fast before I change my mind"
"What? Don't tell me you are chickening out now? Are you afraid of losing your life?" Teras mockingly asked him
"I guess you leave me no choice"
Said the thief as he pulled a potion out of his back, it was a crimson-red poison, he quickly drank it, and the wound on his stomach began to close, Teras was amazed by the effects of the potion
"Do these potions do anything else aside from healing?" Teras asked
"Yes, but why do you care? You will die anyway!" Said the thief as he ran towards Teras
In a attempt to blind Teras the thief threw a sphere like object at him, the object flashed a blinding light, the thief had mastered the timing of the flash so he closed his eyes at the perfect time
Teras on the other hand enhanced his eyes with mana and was able to keep his eyes open while the thief was closing his to avoid the effect of the object, it was a graves mistake for him since Teras enhanced his foot and jumped into attacking range of the thief, he then enhanced his fist with every singe drop of mana he had and punched the thief on his neck, the strike stroke a vital point of his neck so he couldn't breath
The thief was down on the ground trying to catch his breath while his eyes were teary, he begged Teras for mercy but Teras took advantage of the situation, he grabbed his sword and stabbed the thief multiple time until he passed from blood loss, Teras then collected the thief's loot, he had money, food, some blue and red potions and a bunch of the objects that flashed light, Teras then went up to a tree and fell asleep from exhaustion
The next morning he woke up to the rotten smell of a dead body, the tall man was staring at Teras
"When did you get here!!!?" Teras asked surprised
The man didn't reply to his question but said one thing
"That's your true nature, don't ever forget that"
Teras felt a feeling of sadness, he didn't know how to react, the man pointed his finger in a random direction
"Go there, so you don't cause any more trouble"
He said to Teras, Teras didn't really react, he took his stuff and walked away from the body
'So that's how it feels to kill somebody? What will Tokkou think of me now? Am I a bad person? Do I deserve punishment?'
So many questions went through Teras's mind but he couldn't answer any of them, he just kept walking with his head attached to the ground, he eventually reached the town of Prodo, it was a beautiful town filled with adventurers full of energy, Teras didn't want them to see him with blood on his hands so he went and hid under a bridge, he puked there, he was holding this feeling of disgust all night
"Are you okay kid?" A random guard patrolling the area asked Teras
"It's okay I just got a bit sick, there is nothing to worry about"
He lied, his hands were washed with the thief's blood, and he quickly tried to remove the blood, the guard could sense something was wrong so he got down to check on Teras, the guard saw the blood
"Does this blood belongs to an animal or.."
Before he could finish the sentence Teras threw a flash bomb at him and quickly ran away, he then blended himself into the crowd, and the guard lost him
'Now I have to get rid of that outfit before he spots me again'
He then tried to find a blacksmith so he can buy new gear or something to hide him, he quickly found one because he was in the center of the town, he quickly bought a new armor and sold his old one, his new armor included a brand new toolbelt he could use to hold his equipment
"Do you by any chance know where the quest center is?" He asked the owner of the smith
"Once you exit my shop turn to your right and walk until you see a big well, in this area are located the quest center a bathhouse, and a tavern/hotel for you to spend the night at"
"Thank you very much, have a great day"
Teras then followed the instructions of the smith and found himself at the well, the quest center was sticking out like land on the sea, he entered and saw a large number of people, they were mostly parties of travelers, all of them had a bracelet on their hand, there were a variety of different colors so naturally, Teras asked one of the girls working as a quest moderator
"Why do people wear different color bracelets?"
"It's because they are divided by rank, would you want to learn more about the ranks?"
"Oh sure"
"So the ranks are divided into 5 ranks bronze, silver, gold, diamond, and ranker, the ranks can accept different quests with different difficulties based on their rank, a bronze rank can accept only bronze quests and if they are in a party of bronzes they can accept silver quests but if you are for example silver you can't accept bronze quests, this goes for the higher ranks too"
The girl explained to Teras, Teras seemed to understand this system, Teras remembered Becka's advice so he asked
"Can I get a bracelet too?"
"Yea but you have to apply to the adventurers' exam, this exam has recently been created because of the sheer number of people that desire to become an adventurer, it's a test that tests a person's ability to fight and survive in the wild, it's more like a verification that, qualifies that you as an adventurer"
"Sweet then let me take the test" Teras said
"You see sir is not that easy, I will write you to the list but you have to wait for other people to gather so you can take the test because we can't afford to test individually every person so on some days you will take part on something like a school that teaches you the basics and in the end, your learnings will be put on a test" The girl replied
"Ok then I will take part so write my name on the list"
"What's your name sir?"
"it's Teras"
The girl wrote it down
"If possible please try to locate a guard tomorrow, the guard will possibly be around the area, since it's your first time giving this test we will give you this ticket, this should cover the hotel fee, and make sure you don't lose it, a lot of people try to steal it from newcomers nowadays"
Teras thanked the girl and took the ticket from her, he then exited the building and went to eat something, he eventually found a place to eat, he found a local place that made amazing food, and he fell in love with the food, he bought some food for Cromi too. Teras then spent all the other day walking around and discovering places to shop from, he also bought some explosive and smoke spheres, and to his surprise, they made different versions of them, the night was about to fall so he wanted to go to the hotel, on his way back he encountered a group of adventurers
"Is there a problem?"
He asked them, they didn't reply they just slowly walked in his direction
'Don't tell me they are the ones that steal newcomers' tickets?'
He wondered, his guess was right, they saved money from the hotel fee by stealing from the weak
"People like you piss me off! stealing tickets from solo adventures like me, can't you just do jobs so you don't have to steal?"
They laughed at him
"Hah, I'm tired of this" Teras mumbled to himself
He then grabbed a smoke bomb and threw it at them, quickly the whole street became clouded with fog, nobody could see anything, but Teras activated mana vision so he could see clear as day, he quickly used mana enhanced punches and stroke the robbers, they couldn't see anything so they were panicking and running into each other, Teras had them wrapped around his finger, no one could stop him, and as he was fighting them he recalled the thing the tall man told him
'What is my true nature? I don't have a single clue, from the moment I woke up I simply was sent to fight, so that's the only thing I know what to do now, nature? Talent? I simply see it as a forced habit and nothing more'
Teras was bothered by the words the tall man said but he didn't let them affect him in the battle, eventually, Teras beat them all to a pulp, he then took what they had on them and left, he thought it was alright since they planned to rob him too
Teras entered his room and took off his gear and placed it on the table then he took Cromi out of his backpack onto his thighs
"You must be feeling dizzy from all this movement right Cromi? I'm sorry I will be more careful from now on so you can rest"
Teras decide to check the outside and inside of the room he then went to sleep, he slept so peacefully, knowing he scanned the area, the only thing that his eyes couldn't see was the tall man staring at him through the window in this strange night