Chapter 3
"The rain seemed to last for a good while."
Dark clouds blotched the last rays of the moon, weeping into the earth as it sustains all life of the world. There is a natural order of things; life will meet death, monsters, and mortals shall fight, and a predator hunts the prey. All, even the gods that descended, follows the laws of nature.
The petrichor welcomes all life, the dawn after the rain. Gazing from the east, the bright sun starts rising to wake up the world and telling them to continue on with their lives. An inevitability, a constant that is not minded at all by everyone, even by him.
Shouri is a very shy child. Smart beyond his age, the little man can do anything he is told without failure. Tasks that take years of practice comes natural to his hands, movements, and stunts fluidly executed, information from entire books memorized by his mind all in a single glance. He seems to be more than human, a perfect one, yet he is not.
"He still has his kindness."
Looking at the boy with his sharp eye, 'Hiroki' could see that the boy is still lacking at being a warrior. After 'adopting' the kid from his previous 'family', Hiroki took it upon himself to raise and train him to become a formidable swordsman. Yet, it seems there is something holding back his growth, "It's as if he purposely limits himself."
Hiroki frowned at the thought, he might not be a saint or a hero, but his mercenary group only ever took jobs that does not include harming civilians or children. He knows that there are people out there that does not have the same morals as him.
"Do it, brat. Stab the throat, lungs, heart, liver, and brain." He ordered. Though his voice is calm and steady, the boy still flinched at his glare, even after being trained by him for almost half a year. "We've lost sleep tracking him down, we've drenched ourselves with rain and mud, and most of all, I spent a lot of time and effort training you to become a warrior and warriors does not spare their opponents."
After following the tracks of bandits from the campsite of the merchant they were hired to guard, Hiroki excused himself from his mercenary group to train the boy to kill. Spending the entire night hunting down the remaining bastards that cowardly escaped after attacking the caravan. A decent killer would see the hesitation of their opponent during combat which can lead to fatal injuries and death, he himself knows that first hand, and he was not willing to subject the boy to do the same mistake.
That is why Hiroki taught the boy why killing is necessary, why the life of another person is second to one's own.
"I've already killed half a dozen of the bandits, and your opponent is the last one alive. Finish it or he will."
The boy looked at him as he crossed his arms and judged that he will not move nor assist, and if he has to watch his student fail and die, then so be it. Seeing his student gathering his resolve, Hiroki could feel that this was it. The limiters that the boy placed upon himself are about to get released, unlocking his full potential.
At the edge of the Ryumilua forest, there was blood, a silent scream, and a nightmare for a young man.
"Very good."
---
This 'freedom' he acquired really takes getting used to. For all his bleak and short life, Shouri was used to getting kicked waking up, to get thrown rags for clothes, and to eat rotten fruits for meals. Not any of this. This new lifestyle that he has now, it's something new to him but very much welcome.
It has been a week after his hide was saved by the captain of the Astraea familia from his owner and her goons. Living in a cheap and dilapidated apartment in the south-west section of the city may be hard, but at the very least, it was his own choice to live here and not by just following orders around.
Registration for dungeon-delving is another case entirely. Going down without a blessing and familia is taboo, but not prohibited. Him, on the other hand, has a blessing but doesn't have a familia. After all, even he doesn't know how his blessing came to be. His previous owners would always flaunt that his blessing was something he was born of, not given by any god.
Of course, because his parents are unknown to them, the gods that can find out the truth could not verify if that is actually real, or they were only led to believe that it is.
But after figuring out a compromise with the Guild Head, he was eventually allowed to delve into the dungeon and be given an advisor.
"Just another day of listening to that elf's ramblings about the dungeon." Sighing at the inevitable, he laments the fact that her ramblings are indeed educational. "I wonder how they would know that I leveled up? Eh, not my problem to worry about, I guess."
Although his falna does not need the blessing of a god, the status that he has seems to update on its own after few hours of sleep. "Maybe I can ask her if she can put a paper on my back so we could see my status? But only if she is trustworthy of seeing that."
Leaving the thinking of details to his advisor for later, Shouri began preparing for spending the day into diving deep beneath the bloodthirsty dungeon.
---
The session with Miss Sophie at the guild did not last as long as his second day, after he foolishly ventured deeper than he could handle. Although he was trained by a mercenary when he was younger, it was such as long time ago he last faced combat that his senses and body have been dulled due to being unused.
His sword, 3 feet and a half in length, is gripped tightly in his hand as he carved the magic stone of a kobold in the fourth floor. His innate strength helped him dispatch multiple ones with only scratches as injuries, something that his body seemed to heal quickly. "It might just be every adventurer's ability, but I'm not going to complain."
Finishing up on taking the magic stones, he went deeper into the dungeon, before he finally met a challenge for his strength, narrowing his eyes from just at another corner. "Three Killer Ants. Along with the War Shadow, they're said to be the newbie killers. With how easy those Shadows were, this might be the same."
Breathing deeply to lessen his exhaustion for today's excursion, Shouri readied his sword and leapt into the fray with the Killer Ants with surging excitement. After all, the ants he encountered before were somehow always alone or with other monsters, this is the first time he gets to fight multiple of them at the same time. New experiences are always a treat to his psyche, giving him a rush of energy and emotions that he could not discern nor understand, and yet he knows that it's a normal thing for warriors, if the lessons from the old man were to go by.
With explosive speed, he aims his sword into stabbing at the head of the closest ant, it feels like a puppet at his sword with the fatal blow, its carapace failed to protect its brain. The other two ants, converged immediately into his position, aiming at his outstretched sword arm. "The carapace was harder than I thought it would be, but nothing that could cause trouble." He blocked the jaws of one ant with his sword as he kicked the ground at the other to get airborne, then hitting the side of its head using the momentum of legs for another kick, staggering back the ant and giving him space to dodge backward before his low-quality sword gave out from the strength of the ants' jaws.
"Miss Sophie said that these ants can call for backup using pheromones when they're in a pinch, seeing as they outnumber me 2 to 1 and not particularly injured, they don't have a need for that yet. Isolating and killing each one would be difficult because of that ability, then my only option is…"
After finalizing his plan of attack, Shouri weaved through the attacks of the two ants, not minding to counter and block the attacks that could compromise his advantage and break his weapon, even at the cost of some cuts and scratches, but still looking for the right moment for his attack. After jumping backwards, a couple of times and then seeing the two ants rush at him at the same time, he knew that now is the right time.
Strengthening his legs for a high jump into the ceiling of the dungeon. He leapt and rotated his body upside down quickly in order to position himself correctly, landing at the ceiling on his legs, and before gravity could drag him back down, he kicked down into the direction of the two ants, still close to each other and heads quickly turning in his direction.
Like a comet falling down, his sword flashing with cold energy, delivered a strong slash that severs both their heads from the bodies. Their carapace, cracking from being frozen, held no resistance to his sword that is enchanted by his skill, Jas Gelida Tivra, which converts his mind into frost energy that can enhance his body and weapon. Although with his low Magic stat, it couldn't be active for long.
"Maybe the eighth floor is the limit for today."
After taking out the magic stones of the monsters he killed, Shouri quickly went back to the surface, killing more monsters on his way back up.
---
Arriving at the guild building and meeting up with his advisor once more for a quick summary of his adventure, Shouri netted a total of 16,000 valis after exchanging the magic crystals and drops he looted from the monsters he defeated, which is higher than his earnings during his last dungeon delve.
Leaving out of the building and walking at the crowded streets of Orario, he decided that buying cheap takeout food from a nearby restaurant would be his way of patting himself in the back for a hard day's work.
Yet, Shouri couldn't help but feel inadequate with his strength without resorting to his skill. As a newly awakened skill, there were still a lot of details to be discovered and understand in order to make use of the power in its fullest potential. His ability may be powerful, but it consumes a lot of mind, which can lead to weakness in prolonged fights, rectifying that vulnerability as soon as possible is his number one priority.
Looking up at the bright full moon in the sky, his heart and mind began feeling at peace, content swelling in his chest at the new life he now has, free from his captors and masters, and free of suffering and abuse. But his past is also an unforgettable reminder for him to grow stronger, so that when people that would like to take advantage of him comes, he would have the means and ability to protect his freedom.
Sighing away the negative thoughts, Shouri dragged his body back into his apartment to get the much-needed rest in order to dive back into the dungeon again tomorrow. "But for now, life is not so bad."