A short, green-eyed teen with dark hair and a relatively good build can be seen injured and limping in the middle of the forest. Having walked away from an already abandoned battlefield, he used his spear as a makeshift crutch to trudge on.
He soon reached a cave, when he finally decided that it was safe enough to rest. He pulled out what appears to be some kind of rations, a small piece of dried meat along with a water-skin. With a bite and a gulp he let out a sigh of relief. He took a deep breath before stating. "Status"
A blue screen appeared in front of him.
Name: Hektor
Title(s): Young Soldier
Mana: 130/1,500
Aura: 72/2,300
Personal Skill: [Requires 50 souls to Unlock]
Skill(s): Markluzian Spear Art, Mana Barrier, Mana Bolt
Souls: 67
He looked at the number of souls he collected and chuckled, the only positive that came from the mission.
---
"Sold! 15,000 coins per soldier for Batch G!"
An auction, the buyers? Generals, Politicians and the nobles.
Of use either for their personal armies or simply as guards. Done in a legal setting, the production of soldiers is the main draw of those who run the orphanage. At the ripe age of 13 they sell the children in batches to the highest bidder to use as fodder in the war against the forces that threaten humanity.
Batch G, a batch consisting of 30 boys each with at least 2,000 in their Aura. For 15,000 coins each the buyer got the batch for a deal considering the standard for a regular batch would be at the upwards of 18 thousand or more.
"Here are the files Commander Wallace." A representative of the seller stated. Handing over a few pieces of paper.
"There's a few with some defects, that's why they sold for so cheap. All right send them to the battle of Fernthur." Wallace said as he skimmed through the list of soldiers.
It was as simple as that, Hektor's batch was sent to the frontlines to die at the hands of their opposition. In his mind they were used as bait while the main forces captured the castle. Whatever it was, Hektor was simply happy to be alive. He smiled lightly as chuckling began to cause pain to swell up on his chest.
---
"A defective soldier, let me guess you'll be defective too." Dubbed defective due to his small stature, standing at roughly 5 foot 3 he is far shorter than the average soldier.
He pressed the yellow button asking him if he would like to use the souls on unlocking his personal skill.
[Manifest Minion]
At the cost of all of your mana along with 10 Souls, a minion based on one of 3 presets will be created. More presets can be unlocked through the use of souls.
Caution: You will be unable to regain mana in any way after the activation of this skill for the next 48 hours after use.
With 17 souls left and depleted mana reserves he decided that he'd do it at a later time. Hektor also needed to rest for the next few hours to recuperate from his wounds.
After recovering at least half of his Aura he decided to scout the area.
"Fernthur Forest... from what they taught us this is one of the largest forests in the Central regions. I just have to keep moving, they'll think I'm dead if they don't find me." Hektor is convinced that they were used as bait.
"They probably expect the survivors to wait by the battlefield." He reasoned with himself as he continued his journey. It would be a couple of hours later at a nearby river, where he would finally stop in his tracks. A body of water is a good place to stay especially since he needs the refill along with the access to fish.
He cooked some of the fish he caught on an open fire. He hoped that by tomorrow morning he could finally test out his Personal Skill.
The night was peaceful, it was his first night as a free person after all. While his body was still recovering from the injuries he incurred, he felt happy to know that he no longer needed to follow the whims of others. The forest was quiet, all he could hear that night was the flow of water.
He looked at his status screen the moment he woke up and upon seeing that his mana was back to full he activated his skill.
[Manifest Minion]
[Three presets are available: Terrestrial Predator, Avian Scout, Insect Soldier]
With the three presets available and his limited knowledge he chose the Terrestrial Predator. "Predator huh, that's what they call those strong monsters right?"
As someone who was raised as a soldier he had minimal knowledge when it came to anything regarding literature or general knowledge. He felt all of his mana leave his body, in just a few seconds he went from energetic to groggy and in need of a bucket to vomit on.
While he was used to exhausting his mana, having it done in such a quick manner caught him off guard.
A white ball appeared in front of him eventually taking shape in the form of a Quadrupedal creature. Jet-black scaled skin, with a body similar to that of a tiger, the head is in the shape of some sort of reptile. It was fanged, one could mistake it for a dragon without wings. The tail is long and at the end of it is some sort of club-like appendage. It was a monster by multiple definitions of the word. Hektor on the other hand thought that it was just a relatively large lizard.
Upon closer inspection, the quadruped was not like anything he expected. He wished for something that was around the same size as a horse, but the creature came out as something more akin to a fairly large dog.
"Tak. Tak." It flicked its tongue as if to ask him for orders.
There was an innate feeling in Hektor's mind that this creature would be willing to do whatever he asked of it. "Do you want commands?"
"To be honest… This thing has been killing me for a while now." The young man pointed to his right leg. While his Aura had recovered his injuries were still fresh from the day prior.
Hektor was just small enough to ride the lizard.
"48 hours without mana… I hope we can avoid most of the threats in this forest when we head out."
He was headed south, downstream of the river. The lizard by his side has helped tremendously. Acting as a mount, he was traveling at a respectable pace.
"Status."
Name: Hektor
Title(s): Young Soldier
Mana: 0/1,500
Aura: 2,117/2,300
Personal Skill: [Manifest Minion]
Skill(s): Markluzian Spear Art, Mana Barrier, Mana Bolt
Souls: 7
"We'll rest here for now."
"No Mana… but it doesn't mean that I can't fight." He looked to his worn out spear and wooden shield.
"They said that there would be monsters in this forest… yet I haven't seen a single one." He had a bad feeling about what was going on.
"For now, we need food. Come, help me catch some fish."
"So orcs and other humans have souls, but only certain animals have souls that can be gathered by my ability." He deduced while he filleted some fish and fed them to his companion.
---
A man in his 30s, 6 feet tall with bulky armor. Behind him the soldiers cheered his name. The bald man was Wallace, a Commander who currently has around 2 thousand men under him.
With a wave of his hand the cheering stopped.
"Lieutenant, Give me a status report." He asked a tall lanky soldier.
"Sir Wallace, there are minimal casualties from our standing army. Only the mercenaries and the child soldiers you bought were the collateral." The Lieutenant reported.
"Ha? Collateral. Hahahaha." He jeered. "They merely served their purpose, tell them that we will be needing another batch. We march my people, the North is for humanity to conquer."
He motioned to the scene of the battlefield. "This is only just the beginning of our conquest, let the greenskins know that the Markluzian Empire is out for blood!"