Red orbs immediately opened as the owner sat up with a gasp while gulping air rapidly. Alex's eyes darted across his room and realized he most likely had lost consciousness. Alex slowly sat up as his back was supported by the bed's headboard. His breathing rate slowed hence returning it to normal.
'The goblin I remember seeing it lay defeated at my feet.' Alex thought as he pushed back a couple of strands of hair that were clinging to his sweaty forehead.
'There is something, I am missing here.' Alex supported his chin between his thumb and index finger as he delved even further into his thoughts.
'Wait, the being on the throne summoned me and talked about having helped me for free.' Alex recalled the words of the being on the throne that kept appearing in his dreams.
Alex turned his head and saw that the sun was way up in the sky signifying it was noon. This prompted him to get off his bed and immediately knew that he was weak. This was most likely the consequence of being unconscious for a while. His body was denying him most of the normal functions as it was low in energy. He slowly dragged himself out outside his room and once outside he started feeling dizzy causing him to stumble and use the wall as his support. He slowly dragged himself towards the guild hall using the wall as support.
He reached the guild hall and he could not drag himself to the end of the hall where the table he and Zein usually sat. He had to settle for plopping himself down on the chair of the nearest table. He motioned for a waiter to come over to his table as he settled down. The waiter upon seeing the state of their customer rushed towards the table ready to take the order. The waiter's hand blurred as he rapidly wrote down Alex's order.
Alex's food arrived causing him to dig in with a lot of vigour leaving only empty plates in the wake of his hunger. Causing the eyebrows of almost every nearby waiter to simultaneously raise in shock. They were all surprised by the amount of food being quickly put away into the black hole of a stomach possessed by the young boy at the table before them. Food was continuously brought to the table as it was quickly put away the same way it arrived. It eventually reached the point where the whole staff was busy praying for him to stop. Eventually, Alex stopped causing the whole stuff to let out a sigh of relief.
"At least he stopped as he would have finished the stock of food if he decided to continue. We are lucky that most of the adventurers are gone or it would have been a catastrophe." On the same cue, all of the waiters, waitresses, and cooks let out a sigh of relief.
The sound of heavy boots hitting the hardwood floor with each step the owner took alerted everyone as the steps reverberated through the nearly empty hall. Everyone's head turned towards the entrance seeing Zein in his trademark cloak but the hood was let down his black hair fluttering due to the wind that was most likely outside.
Zein's eyes darted across the guild before settling at the table where Alex was located causing his eyes to momentarily widen before returning to normal. Zein took a bit more rapid steps and reached the table and silently stared at Alex.
"Huh." This was what Alex could let out as he was slung over Zein's shoulder.
Alex tried kicking and hitting Zein's back for him to let him go. Zein ignored the attempts and continued dragging him outside the guild. This scene was engraved within the minds of the staff and other members of the guild due to its comical nature. Zein continued to carry Alex towards the forest while ignoring the eyebrows he raised each time passed by someone and they saw the protesting Alex. Upon reaching the forest Zein immediately threw down Alex on the ground. In midair, Alex regained his balance by backflipping and landing in a crouching position.
"Today, I will train you how to be an assassin," Zein said while ignoring the scathing look that Alex sent him.
"When will you learn how to put me down softly?" Zein shrugged causing Alex's hand to clench and unclench as his body trembled.
Alex jumped while trying to deliver a punch at Zein's face causing Zein to bend out of the way and grab Alex by the scruff of his shirt. This effectively suspended Alex in the air as he tried to punch Zein who was holding him at a distance.
"Now that's the spirit. Come with the intent to kill," Zein immediately threw Alex across the field causing him to nearly collide with a tree.
Alex immediately backflipped and used the tree as a springboard as he tried to punch Zein who only ducked downwards. Alex seeing Zein had evaded the previous attack regained his balance and went to engage Zein in hand-to-hand combat. Zein threw a right hook which caused Alex to duck under it and deliver a punch to Zein's rib area. Zein smirked as he saw Alex jump up using the floor as a springboard to deliver a kick to his face. Alex delivered his kick causing him to smirk when it connected his smirk turned into one of confusion. His eyes slightly widened as he smelled the scent of sulphur signifying that Zein was about to use an explosive. Alex jumped quickly to get out of the compromising situation he had gotten himself into.
Immediately after jumping Alex saw Zein's body detonate like a bomb and smoke filled the area. Alex failed to sense Zein's presence causing him to fall slightly into the path of a punch that landed squarely on his cheek. This caused Alex to fall down and immediately he rolled to the side while narrowly dodging being stomped on by a boot. Zein was a bit surprised that Alex had dodged that attack causing him to decide to try and push him to his limits despite his full recovery.
"This the only advice I have for you. Every attack has an intent and when you can sense the intent you will be able to know the path of attack taken." Zein's words carried through the smoky field.
Alex's hearing picked up on Zein's words causing him to stop and close his eyes. His concentration causes a small amount of drool to trail from his lips and make its way to his chin before reaching the ground. Alex sensed Zein try to kick his head causing him to duck and deliver a sweep kick toward Zein's other ankle causing Zein to jump to evade the attack. Zein tried to deliver a punch toward Alex's head to which he immediately dodged and punched Zein's outstretched hand. Alex immediately saw an opportunity to attack Zein's gut causing Zein to turn while closing the window of opportunity on Alex's face.
Zein immediately sensed something was wrong when he felt he could no longer sense Alex's presence near him. He continued walking through the smoke as a punch landed on his head causing him to turn to where he felt the punch only to feel a kick strike his head seconds later.
'He learned how to mask his intent already. I wasn't going to teach him how to do this so soon.' Zein's surprise was seen on his face as his eyes widened significantly.
'Truly this child is a prodigy.' Zein thought while increasing his depth of sensing intent.
"There." Zein jumped out of the way of two legs aimed at his ribs.
Zein dodged another attack that Alex had aimed at his head. Alex was surprised to see that Zein was able to dodge his attacks as he was doing his level best to remain undetected. Alex lounged himself on a branch as he tried to sense the intent of Zein's attacks. He failed to realize the branch he was on was now falling. Causing him to land on his ass which he rubbed while groaning in pain.
"Left hook." Alex immediately sensed the punch while evading the punch causing Zein to send another punch which was a feint leading to a kick that Alex narrowly dodged.
Alex immediately jumped on another branch as lightly as he could to avoid detection. Alex sensed that Zein was below him and tried to deliver a punch to his shoulder. Zein sensed that Alex was above him and moved to the right to dodge the attack but he had unluckily jumped into where Alex wanted him. Alex immediately landed on Zein's shoulders after expertly maneuvering himself midair. He tried to deliver a strike towards Zein's carotid artery. Zein immediately threw Alex to the ground and put his knee on him to add weight on him causing Alex to groan out in pain.
"Yield." Zein increased the pressure causing Alex to groan out in even more pain.
"I yield." Alex's words caused Zein to lift his knee and help him up.
'I was to train him how to be an assassin but it seems he has the talent for that line of work.' Zein thought as he let out a nervous chuckle as he helped Alex to his feet.