However, there was nothing in the bush, it must have been a bird, at least that's what Anri thought. Out of nowhere the mutant jumped at Anri, who out of reflex flung it off him with a slap.
"Shit."
He was almost tempted to use magic but he didn't, if the training wasn't hard he would have no reason to do this one, he had to get through it now, quickly he ran away from the mutant as fast as he had ever run, he also ran past the sword, he briefly considered drawing it again but there was no time for that now. Anri ran and ran between the trees and managed again to get rid of the mutant, the rest of the night Anri did not sleep a wink.
The next day Anri spent thinking how he could draw the sword without having the strength to do so. He came to no conclusion, but then how would he be able to defeat the mutant. He had big bags under his eyes and went to sleep in the middle of the day, not in a tree like before, but just in a bush, he didn't give a fuck.
In the middle of the night he got up, it was already the last day of his training, at the latest he would have to draw the sword, he just went to the sword and pulled on it, he shook it and he kicked it, but absolutely nothing happened, he was pissed as hell, then when the mutant also came around the corner he had enough.
"Fuck off."
Anri had given a warning but the mutant didn't take it, just as he is about to jump at Anri, Anri took a swing with his right fist and punched him full in the open face, the mutant flew very far away and even flew through a tree, Anri himself didn't even know about the power but apparently he possessed it because the mutant was dead right after the punch.
A clap sounded from the tree, Thrakka couldn't help himself, he had expected many things, but not that the mage would one-hit the mutant with his fist. Anri noticed him by now too, and looked at him with big rings under his eyes.
"Are you actually enjoying this?"
He didn't get an answer, yet Anri wondered what that strength was that just came up in him, he felt it, he felt the power going through every part of his body and he wanted to use that power now, again he grabbed the sword.
As he pulled on it he noticed it, the little sleep must have given his body a signal that he was dying, and thus awakened an incredible amount of power in him, because as he pulled on it it went out like the floor was butter.
Again Thrakka clapped, pleased that Anri was learning so well himself.
"Fine, then we can break early."
He came down and handed Anri back his book, which he slowly took back and looked at Thrakka.
"What is this power?"
He was overwhelmed by the power, desperate to know where he got it, but Thrakka just shook his finger.
"That is a question only you can answer, for it has been within you all this time."
On the way back to the guild house Anri thought about the power, why was it inside him all the time, he had never noticed it, where did it come from? How long had he had it? Again he asked himself the many questions he would like to get answered by the Demon King.
("What do you say to that")
But the demon king was silent, or rather, he could not speak.
Anri, of course, did not know that the Demon King could not speak, but thought that he would remain silent because Anri had given the book out of his hand. Anri decided to go along with the silence.
When they arrived at the guild, Grak was already waiting for them.
"There?"
Asked Grak Thrakka who pressed his sword, which did not seem special, into Anri's hand as a farewell.
"Never trust magic, always trust your power, not magical power, but the power you have built for yourself."
These were the wise words of an old, yet young adventurer, who then turned and without waving, left the guild, still shouting goodbye to Anri.
"And you better win this thing! After all, I'm betting on you!"
Well, Anri wasn't too thrilled with Thrakka as a person, but he had helped him anyway and he had to accept that, because without Thrakka he wouldn't have gained that power, now he was supposed to train with Grak, but what could Grak teach him about becoming Strong? Anri had already learned that himself.
Grak sat at the table and looked at Anri closely with his eyes.
"You strong, but not use good."
He considered and then held his finger in the air because he had an idea, his idea led them both not to an assignment but to an empty field.
"Do this."
He slowly raised his hand and then struck the ground forcefully and quickly so that it was barely visible to Anri, which slowly created a long crack that stretched far across the field, Anri was confused, how is he supposed to do this, yes he had discovered his strength, but he wasn't that strong after all.
"You weak because food sucks."
Grak thought for a moment and then took Anri by the hand like a little child and then went to town.
"We buy food."
Slowly Grak, who looked like an orc, walked into town while the guards were already watching him, they weren't sure if it was a human or a monster they were looking at but they didn't say anything. Slowly the two walked through the market until they arrived at a butcher.
"Cow."
Grak said bluntly to the butcher, who stroked his long beard and raised his knife already to cut off a piece, he just looked at Grak who was staring at the cow.
"How much do you want, sir."
The butcher was a bit filled with fear, what was this man in front of him, were his parents orcs, should he get the guards, no, as long as he could make profit out of him he wouldn't report him, but when he asked Grak for a quantity he just scratched his head, not quite sure what to answer.
"Everything."
The butcher thought he wasn't hearing right at first, but then when he understood what the orc in front of him was saying, he yelled at him, thinking it was a ridiculous joke.
"Fuck off ... "
But Grak packed a bag of gold on the counter, with that changes, also the behavior of the butcher, who smiles at Grak and says only friendly.
"The whole cow, coming right up."
Anri was confused, why would Grak need a whole cow, but what Anri believes didn't matter, because Grak took the cow that the butcher had brought to the counter with difficulty and lifted it on his shoulder with one hand, then the two went on, they bought some more vegetables and spices, in the process Grak spent more money than Anri had ever owned. Grak carried all the groceries alone, Anri carried nothing, he couldn't carry it either, because even with the strength he had achieved he couldn't manage to lift the huge bag.
"If well eaten, you strong."
When they arrived back at the meadow, Grak put down the goods, but then he noticed something, he had no idea how to cook the things without a fire and a pot. Anri breathed a little sigh of relief now and raised his hand to the sky.
"effahcsre"
A huge pot was created in front of them, then he used the spell again to create wood.
"effahcsre"
But of course that was not enough, fire and water were still missing for cooking, while Grak watched excitedly Anri flipping through the book for a water and a fire spell.
Anri found normal water, but no normal fire, so he had to improvise.
"ressaw"
Sounded from Anri who now filled the pot with water, then held his hand in the wood he had created under the pot and let it ignite, but not with normal fire.
"reuef seualb"
A blue fire appeared and in a short time the wood was burning ablaze, the fire Anri had created was fire of the underworld, this special fire would never go out unless the creator allowed it.
Grak clapped as sweat dripped from Anri's face, he had cast so many spells in a row so quickly that his mana reserve was depleted at least momentarily, then Grak took the cow with one and the sword of Thrakka that Anri had gotten with the other hand.
"Borrow, knife."
Anri didn't even have a chance to say he wasn't allowed to borrow the sword, he literally hooked the cow's head off with one blow, which flew meters away, his blow had been extremely powerful, that was going to happen again and Anri was already trying to stop Grak from wasting the good meat, then Grak sliced the cow to cubes within two seconds, he wasn't particularly gifted at using a sword, but he was able to regulate his power just enough to keep the meat from flying far away again. Anri was truly amazed, how had he managed to control his power like that? Anri wanted to be able to do it too.
But first it was time to cook, to Anri's wonder Grak was actually talented at cooking, as he cut the vegetables again, using the same technique as he had cut the cow, everything landed neatly in the pot. The two waited quietly for everything to be cooked through, so they could start eating.
Anri noticed that they had no bowls or cutlery and was already creating them, but Grak icily took the scalding hot pot and gulped down half of the soup.
"Taste good."
He now said. Anri thought that was pretty dangerous, but to become like Grak, he must also live like Grak, Anri took the bowl in his hand and burned both his hands, then he tipped the soup down his throat, he burned his tongue, but he would have to go through that, slowly he put the pot back down, he had swallowed it all, half a cow, he was about to puke, but didn't want to waste a piece of the food. Grak just smiles at Anri.
"Well eaten and tomorrow blow ground."
Grak just laid down on the grass and went straight to sleep, Anri was convinced, Grak was really special, but in a way Anri liked him, he was different from Thrakka who left Anri alone, Grak cared about him a bit, even if Anri didn't quite understand how food is supposed to increase his strength, but he just went along with it. Anri didn't sleep on the floor like Grak, he created a bed with his magic, he put out the fire before going to sleep without thinking about anything.
The next morning Grak was up early and had been training, then when Anri woke up as well he just waved at him before the two went back to the meadow, had the food really made him stronger? He would find out now, slowly he took a swing and hit the ground with all his strengh, but again the same result.
"Mhh, you not use good."
Anri was confused, what did Grak mean by that, but he just looked at him and demonstrated it again, slowly he went backwards, with his whole body weight, then he strikes, he presses his whole body weight into the blow, the whole meadow tears open, the earth shakes and the result is unbelievable, you really couldn't compare the blows.
But Anri didn't understand what made his punches different, but Grak slowly did it again and tried to show it with gestures, because he didn't know how he could have said it, he showed how he went along with his body, but Anri had absolutely no idea about martial arts and definitely not about Grak's martial arts.
"Controlling it."
Now Anri knew at least a little bit what Grak was asking of him, he should control his power, like Grak had cut the cow yesterday, but how did he do that, he still had no idea why Grak could control his body weight so well, so he thought about how he could achieve that, his first idea was simple, he tried to put all his power into the punch, it actually created a bigger crack, but Grak still shook his head.
"No, no, you don't understand. Everything."
Everything? What did Grak mean by that? He had put all his strength into the blow after all, what else could he do? Anri racked his brain while Grak was already walking off, where to Anri didn't know, but when he noticed, he quickly took the sword from Thrakka and ran after Grak.
"Where are we going?"
Grak smiled at him and points to the capital.
"We are going. Friend."
Friend? Anri wondered what kind that would be, Anri was eager to see what would await him in the capital and rightly so. They walked through the huge gate again, but instead of going to the guild they took a path to the city center, the further they went in the direction they were going the street became more and more narrow and the people on the street more bizarre.
"So where does your friend live?"
Grak walked through the street with now a deep facial expression, he reacted this way to people to scare them off, he wanted to avoid conflicts as much as possible and then answered Anri.
"Soon there."
They went deeper inside and came to a big house, at which Grak knocked 4 times, a sign? A small goblin opened the door a bit, a chain still locked the door, despite his appearance he seemed very old, but when he saw Grak he removed the latch and let Grak in, who entered the house with Anri and closed the door behind him.
"What brings me your visit?"
The goblin seemed to be intelligent, that fascinated Anri more than the fact that he lived in the capital, because normally goblins belonged more to the races hated by humans, because they were mostly stupid and attacked villages, but this goblin was different. Anri had been staring at him for a while, which was uncomfortable for the goblin itself.
"Never seen a goblin before? My name is Xar, yours is?"
He asked Anri who himself was just a bit sidelined by all the questions he was once again asking himself, the goblin extended his hand to Anri who returned the gesture, while the two shook hands Anri introduced himself.
"Anri."
But Grak also had something to say and so interrupted the conversation.
"He not right use power."
The goblin scratched his chin and looked at Anri, then slightly raised the latter's right arm, and then looked at Anri's back some more.
"Yes, without question, you are truly strong, and you cannot use your power.... Mhh, you have strong mana too, do you put your mana in your punch then? Follow me boy and you Grak, stay up here and keep watch, sone guys have been trying to get in here for weeks, sort it out."
The goblin ran down to the basement of the house where there was a whole gym, a punching bag and more, but first Anri was to go to the punching bag.
"For now, hit it like you normally would."
Asked the goblin Anri to hit the punching bag and he did, slowly taking out his fist and hitting it with all his might.
The goblin caught Anri's hand ice cold.
"Right just not like that, way too weak."
He demonstrated, even though the goblin was more of small stature, he took a long swing and put all his mana into his hand, then he punched, the punching bag ripped from its moorings. The goblin then picked up the debris and placed it on its side before moving on to the next punching bag.
"You must direct your mana into your hand at the exact moment your fist hits the punching bag, to do this you must put all your weight into the punch, this will make your punch fast and strong."
Anri took a breath, direct the mana into his hand, he remembered that, he lashed out and put all his weight into it and then struck, the moment his hand hit the punching bag his mana flowed into his hand, but instead of ripping out the anchoring like the Goblin did, the blow destroyed the entire basement, that single blow spread out across the room and broke everything open, like a snake taking everything in its path with it before it dissipated.
The Goblin stood there looking at the destruction and then looked at Anri, he wasn't mad because he knew he could ask for more money from Grak now, he was planning on leaving the dark alleys of the capital anyway so why not.
"Just so."
Anri was over excited, he hadn't known he could, yet he wondered why the demon king still didn't say anything. Together they walked up the stairs to Grak who by now had taken a seat at the top of 4 unconscious burglars, he had knocked them all unconscious and then sat on them.
"Thank much. got done."
The goblin had thus also gotten the problem with the burglars solved, he just rubbed his hands as Grak was already leaving.
"Then we come to the bill..... Service ... Repair ... Minus your help ... Only 90 gold!"
He smiled at Grak who just handed over the 90 gold and smiled at him, Anri on the other hand wondered why Grak was doing this, he had certainly made minus with it, never would the assignment bring in that much money. He just looked at him as they left the building and the goblin just saw them off before locking the door completely.
"Do come and see me again soon Grak."
He was set for now. Now Anri and Grak went back to the market, Anri now became so much stronger even without casting spells, his hands truly became weapons, but was that enough to split the meadow just like Grak? He wasn't sure.
"You understand?"
Grak asked Anri as they walked through the market and he bought food for dinner on the side.
"Yes, I think I understand, but why are you going to so much trouble for me anyway?"
Anri was still confused and looked at Grak, who was even more confused than Anri, because to him it seemed normal.
"Order, order will be done."
What he meant by that was that he either does every job all the way or not at all, and that the money was just a formality in that, because he was much more concerned with getting the job done.
Anri was already in the arena in his mind when they went back to the meadow where Grak started cooking, there was again the same as the day before, dinner the two also spent together in silence until Grak broke the silence, it was already late.
"Sleep, strength, tomorrow split meadow."
Anri understood the message, while he wished Grak a good night and the latter simply lay down on the floor, he lay down in his bed, where he thought about the arena, had Vaelus also developed as quickly as he, after all, he was trained by the best teachers that Exist at the Hero Academy. In the arena, he would eventually become the only adventurer with practical experience, would that do him any good?
Slowly, he just fell asleep.