*Axel's POV*
Three weeks have gone by since Silvara and I had started travelling together. She has really opened my eyes about this world. They had technology comparable to earth but instead of fossil fuels and electricity to run the infrastructure of the world. They use mana, cars cell phones, lights, and everything in between. They had found ways to do it all, truly mind blowing.
To make things a bit easier Silvara even started telling me about the power scale of the world. She even went as far as saying that there was probably higher realms then what she knew and Sylph even agreed with her but wouldn't tell me.
The power scale for the world stated with Body Refining Realm. The body refining realm is one of the most specific realms because it is literally making the body adaptable to mana and grown stronger. The better the foundation you lay with your body in this realm the farther you theoretically can go down the path of cultivation.
The fact that I had basically skipped this realm worried me for a second until Sylph explained that because I got an overload of cultivation she had made sure to optimize my Body Refining Realm to the absolute to give me the strongest foundation for my future cultivation.
The next few realms are kind of self explanatory but I will just give small explanations and the names for now. The first realm after Body Refining is the Gathering Realm. It is exactly as it seems, you gather mana in your body and permeate your body with it in layers strengthen yourself further and learning to store the mana in your body in larger quantities.
After you have reached the peak of the Gathering Realm you apparently use the mana that you have stored in you body to build the second foundation of your cultivation path in the realm called the Foundation Realm. The Foundation Realm is just as important at the Body Refining realm in that the better the foundation the farther you can go down the path of cultivation.
Next is the Core Formation Realm. Silvara didn't know much about this realm which is understandable when she said that the strongest person she knew of in the city she was from was in the realm just after the Core Formation Realm being in the Nascent Soul Realm.
The kingdom we are in is the Libertine Kingdom. A kingdom that is known as a free nation. The kingdom is quite large being a few hundred thousand square miles conquered as their territory. They were constantly at odds with the neighboring Blazing Empire. The empire was known for their deceit and complete lack of morals in every sense of the word.
Walking down the side of the river I glanced at Silvara. This woman and I had become quite close in the last bit of time since we have been travelling together. I could not deny that I had a strong attraction to the woman and I felt that I had seen the same from her. I have not made any kind of moves on her because I don't want to come off as creepy.
I want to get to know her better before I make any decisions on if I want to try and have something more with her. She is smart, pretty, and kind. She is also quite strong from what I could tell as well. She had been taking the time with me to train and we have been pushing each other this entire time. She even said that the bottleneck for her to advance has been loosening since we have been training together.
"Just wait Axel as soon as I reach the Gathering Realm we can really train then. Although I really think you need to start cultivating. I haven't seen you sit down to meditate once." Silvara said continuing our conversation from earlier.
I smiled at her and shook my head. "No, not yet I will wait till I get to the city so I can concetrate on cultivation and not have to worry about being attacked while I am cultivating. I have no trouble with waiting. I am still training and getting stronger everyday. Not to mention I can keep watch better when you cultivate. I want you to catch up just like you said."
She blushed slightly. I did not understand why but I didn't mind. She was really charming and cute when she showed me this side of her.
"So when we get to the city the first thing that we have to do is notify my sister so she doesn't burn the forest down looking for me. After that what are your plans?" Silvara asked with a glint flashing through her eyes.
"To be honest, after I make sure your safely at home I will try and find some lodging for myself in the city and if I cant it'll be back to with woods for me so I can build a safe area. After securing shelter though I think I will sign up as an adventurer. I have to make some money so I can survive. I mean I have the beast parts and meat I can sell but I doubt that I will be able to survive off of what I hunted." I did not think much of money but I knew it was a necessity. I still put a smile on my face and kept my head held high as I said my plans knowing they sounded quite lackluster.
Silvara's brow furrowed like she was confused about something.
"Axel, tell me honestly what do you need from me when we get to the city?"
Not understanding what she was asking I said what I truly wanted from her when we got to the city.
"Silvara, honestly all I want from you is for you to get home safely. That is it I have nothing else besides maybe having a good friendship with you."
With a contemplative look on her face she spoke quietly.
"A friendship huh..." Without saying anymore she turned and kept walking.
I thought she may be mad at me and I opened my mouth to ask if something was the matter but the despondent look she had made me bite my tongue and close my mouth. It was at this point that Lozen spoke up.
"Master there is a large group of humans starting to surround us."
I did not even get a chance to respond before I heard a shout.
"SURROUND HIM!"
"ATTACK HIM!"
"PROTECT THE GUILD MASTERS SISTER!"
Silvara startled by the shouts jumped behind me for protection. That seemed to be the wrong thing to do because the next thing I knew Lozen was standing in front of me getting shot with over twenty arrows that where headed for me.
Silvara holding onto my wrist in terror shook hard when she saw Lozen taking the arrows for us.
***
*Silvara POV*
The last three weeks with Axel had been some of the best times of my life. We trained, hunted, cooked, and ate together. Axel would always make sure that I was comfortable by going the extra mile to build my own room inside of our shelter every night. With my wolves and Lozen by our sides we could both sleep and not worry about being ambushed.
Axel never cultivated and I didn't understand why. When he told me his answer I thought that he didn't trust me but that didn't seem to be the case. So I asked him what his plans are after we get to the city. Part of me hoping that he would ask for my help if anything just so I could spend more time with him.
To my disappointment he didn't want to rely on me. He probably only sees me as someone he is helping anyways. I had to turn away from him. I am really starting to concern myself with how much I find myself liking this man, now it seems he will just drop me off and leave.
Out of the corner of my eye I caught Greta's signal that we were being surrounded and when I turned to Axel I saw him turning towards me to say something. Neither of us got our words out as yelling started coming from all around us.
It scared me so I jumped behind Axel on pure reflex. He stood tall before me like nothing could get past him. Then I saw the people raising their bows and firing right at Axel. I felt my heart jump into my throat as the arrows sped towards him but before anyone else could react Lozen shielded Axel behind her taking over 20 arrows to her side.
Slowly her body drooped and then heavily fell onto the ground. Axel's body started shaking and I could feel his aura becoming chaotic. Just as I thought I was going to watch Axel exploding in anger I heard a voice that normally brought me comfort and joy but right now it just made my stomach drop as I knew something had been grossly misunderstood.
"Kill the man and his beast that dared to kidnap my sister. This murdering scum has no place in our society."
***
*Tiana POV*
Just before my guild and I left to search for Silvara, an envoy of the Talon family arrived requesting a meeting with me. Being that it was one of the big families of Ruinton I couldn't turn him away.
He proceeded to tell me that Ethan Talon's Life Crystal had gone out. When they watched the footage of his last moments that were transmitted back to the family, they found that he had ruthlessly been murdered along with all of the other party members besides my sister. They believed that Ethan tried to protect Silvara because the man was lusting over her and trying to take her forcefully.
(Unbeknownst to her that they know that Ethan was the one trying to force her sister.)
I dismissed the envoy and set off quickly. We wasted no time in getting to the forest. After arriving we set up grid like patterns to search the entire forest.
After what seemed like an eternity but had only been 3 weeks or so we caught signs of them nearby. What puzzled me was that my scouts said that they were walking and talking with each other happily. Silvara even had all 5 of her Dire Wolves with her.
I knew that the man didn't worry about these wolves after I heard that a Black Fenrir walked by his side. Quickly I devised a plan to get the jump on them quickly and silently. Our objective is to take the man and beast down as quickly as possible before anything bad can happen to Silvara.
Silently we surrounded them. I watched as the man and Silvara turned towards each other about to say something. This is when my order was exacuted. in a flash we were charging my men and women shouting and cursing the man. I signaled for the first volley of arrows to fire. I saw when he roughly shoved Silvara behind him and it set me off. I am going to kill this man.
The arrows flew and before they could hit the man his beast stepped in the path and took all of the arrows in its side. The man looked on in disbelief. My attention was on Silvara who looked horrified that we were able to stop such a strong beast. With a confident smirk I stepped forward and ordered.
"Kill the man and his beast that dared to kidnap my sister. This murdering scum has no place in our society."
I glanced at Silvara as I ordered my guild expecting to see her gratitude and relief but what I saw puzzled me. She had dropped down next to the beast and was crying. I saw her holding the mans hand as his bloodlust started to leak.
Without a second thought I raised my sword and charged at the man.
"Get away from my sister you scum!"
***
*Axel's POV*
As I watched the arrows hit Lozen and I couldn't do anything, it was like my world turned black. everything besides Lozen turned invisible for me. I just saw her body crumpled to the ground, blood pooling around her body.
Something in me was crumbling at that moment. I could feel Silvara trying to reach me but my focus was still on Lozen. I couldn't tell if she was still breathing or not.
[Ho-]
I could feel and hear Sylph as she kept trying to get through to me. But I was snapping, my rationality was slipping very quickly.
[Host ple-]
How could someone just attack us like this. We didn't do anything.
I looked up at the woman who was charging at me with her sword raised. She looked similar to Silvara but different at the same time.
The woman was just about to hit me when a figure jumped up and between us. I noticed the woman tried to stop her attack but it just continued right for Silvara's neck.
With out thinking my hand lashed out and knocked the blade away from Silvara.
I looked at the woman and spoke in a deadly tone. "First you attack without any provocation. Second you have most likely killed my best friend in this world. Last, you just tried to kill the woman I risked my life to save and protect. Tell me what should I do with you because I have a few ideas."
I watched a the woman paled at my words. She gulped down the saliva in her mouth. She started stuttering and didn't seem to be able to form words. At this moment Silvara turned around and crashed into my chest.
"Axel please don't do anything. She is my sister, lets just worry about Lozen for now." I could hear the pleading tone in her voice. it seemed like the events were getting to her as well.
I turned back to Lozen and saw her looking weaker then ever but I tamped down on my bestial urge to destroy everything around me. Before I could get to far ahead I finally heard what Sylph was saying to me.
[Host you need to calm down you are activating your bloodline on instinct. If you activate it to fast again you will lose your human nature and go feral. Please learn to control your emotions better.]
'Right,' I thought,' because this is a situation that is so easy for me to control my emotions in.'