Ryan was walking through the desert, bags starting to form under his eyes. He has been traveling for 2 weeks now but hasn't found a single village or city.
[I should've bought a map.]
He kept walking for hours, constantly using wind magic to cool himself off. Ever since the incident, he had been practicing using magic for long periods of time.
Even when nightfall came, the boy kept walking. Wandering through the desert aimlessly until he finally passed out.
The next day, he continued the cycle, only stopping for a lunch break or when he eventually passed out.
Days flew by in the blink of an eye, now Ryan had been traveling for 3 weeks. Then the 4th week–then a 5th week–then a 6th. By the 6th week, he had completely run out of food and water, even though he had rationed his portions. He was completely exhausted, it seemed like things couldn't get much worse for him.
Suddenly, a ring of blue light formed around him after taking another step. Before he could question what was going on, a sinkhole formed, dragging him under the sand.
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He woke up in a pitch-black room, he wasn't sure where he was. He slowly stood back up, using his hands to try and feel out his surroundings until,
Click!
The room began to light up, revealing an 8-meter-tall stone werewolf statue.
Ryan slowly walked up to the statue, placing his hand on one of the legs.
When he did that, the stone statue began to crack, startling him.
He quickly backed away from the statue as the stone casing began breaking off, the giant black-furred werewolf howled loudly, blowing Ryan into a wall. Its white mane flowed with the wind emanating from the howl.
The monster glanced at the boy leaning on the wall who looked back calmly, mainly because he was too exhausted to care.
"Are you the one who disturbed my slumber?" The monster asked.
"Yeah, I am."
The monster examined the boy, sensing a certain aura familiar to him coming from the boy. The werewolf knelt before Ryan.
"Welcome back, Master Leon."
Ryan blankly stared at the werewolf, pointing at himself confused.
"Do you mean me?"
The werewolf nodded.
"Who else would I be talking about, master."
Ryan shook his head.
"My name's Ryan, not Leon."
The werewolf looked shocked for a moment, but soon that shock turned into anger.
"What did you do to my master!"
Ryan began suffocating due to the aura released from the angry monster, clutching his chest.
"I don't know who your master is, I had nothing to do with him!"
The werewolf glared at the blonde boy for a few seconds before subsiding his aura, allowing him to breathe again.
The werewolf sat down, getting another good look at the boy.
"Your aura is very similar to my master, you even look similar to him" the monster commented.
"What the hell is aura?"
The werewolf rolled his eyes.
"I'm not going to waste my time explaining that to someone who isn't my master."
Ryan was a bit annoyed but kept his neutral expression. The monster smiled when it sensed his annoyance.
"You seem annoyed, did I hurt your pride kid?"
Ryan was surprised.
"How did you know?"
"If you want to know how you're going to have to prove to me that you're worthy."
"How do I do that then?"
The monster stood up, cracking its fists.
"Since your aura's similar to my master, if you can impress me with your strength, I'll become your familiar."
Ryan thought for a moment before standing back up.
"Sure why not?" He said while stretching.
The werewolf took the time to estimate the boy's strength, taking into account the boy's mana reserve and physical strength.
Once Ryan finished stretching, the werewolf immediately threw a punch at the boy, who barely dodged out of the way.
"Your trial begins now, show me what you've got boy."
The attacks from the monster weren't too difficult to avoid, since they were mostly pretty slow. Although he was exhausted, he still had quite a bit of stamina left.
After a couple of minutes, the werewolf stepped up the challenge. The monster began using glowy orbs of wind energy, which moved much faster than its fists.
In response, Ryan took out his spear. Coating the spear with wind, he used the long range of the spear to swat away the balls of wind before they could get close to him, impressing the werewolf.
The boy continued slashing and dodging the wind orbs relatively easily for a few more minutes, prompting the monster to step up the challenge again.
The werewolf started releasing a tiny bit of its aura, adding pressure onto Ryan which made it harder for the boy to move.
The monster then ramped up the speed of its attacks, incorporating punches, and kicks on top of the wind orbs in his attacks.
Ryan had to rely on using his wind magic to maneuver around the monster's punches and kicks, and his spear to destroy the many orbs of wind sent towards him every few seconds.
The monster stomped his foot in front of Ryan, then immediately threw another punch at Ryan, forcing the boy to block the attack.
Ryan tries to guard against the attack, getting blown right into a wall. The werewolf didn't give him any breathing room, forcing the boy to propel himself away with a strong gust of wind.
Landing on his feet, the boy started throwing wind slashes at the werewolf, who didn't even feel the boy's attacks.
Before the boy could dodge another punch, the boy suddenly started coughing up blood, getting slammed right into a wall.
After the monster released its fist from the wall, a bloodied-up Ryan fell to the ground, unconscious.
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The boy woke up a few minutes later leaning against a wall, unable to move due to all of his broken bones. The werewolf sat in front of the boy, planning to tell the boy his result.
"You passed the test."
The boy just looked at the werewolf surprised.
"What do you mean, I lost though?"
The werewolf just sighed.
"You didn't stand a chance against me in this form."
The werewolf held out its hand.
"All you need to do is touch my hand, young boy."
Ryan just blankly stared at the monster.
"I can't move my hand."
The werewolf sweatdropped a bit before tapping its sharp fingernail on Ryan's chest. The monster was enveloped in a blue aura, being absorbed into the boy's body.
Ryan didn't feel anything different at first. That is until he is struck with an extreme burning sensation in his chest. Pain then surged from all throughout his body, making him scream in pain.
He had never felt pain this bad in his life. Blood started flowing from the boy's eyes, he began violently coughing up blood. His veins were bulging all around his body as he tried to handle the pain.
This extreme pain went on for what felt like an eternity until it suddenly vanished. A few seconds after the pain vanished, the boy passed out, lying in a puddle of his own blood, unconscious.
The ground around the boy began to collapse, bringing the unconscious boy down deep into the darkness.