Chapter 4:Becoming a Mage
Ray’s second birthday was neigh and he was more excited than ever.
Why?
It was because every child at the age of two could be tested if they had the ability to become a Mage.
As the son of an Adventurer and a Mage. It was understandable that Ray’s talents needed to be tested if the adage that a tiger father does not beget a dog son is true. Ray’s parents took him to the City Centre of the Alure Kingdom.
Their hometown was quite small and it did not have the necessary equipment to test his magical capabilities, so his parents decided to take him to the closest city to undergo the test.
It turned out that if one of your parents was a mage, then you had a pretty high chance of becoming a mage too! Although the chance wasn’t 100%. It was still better than nothing. In fact, a good number of Mages in the current times came from the bloodline of previous mages.
Of course, Ray had no doubt that he could become a Mage. He was previously a dragon. Dragons were rulers of magic. He had more magic power than any human being could ever hope to. However, it was a lie to say that he didn’t feel insecure.
After all, he may have been a dragon in his previous life but now he was a human being. He wasn’t so complacent as to think that he didn’t have any chances of failure.
Ray and his parents finally arrived at the City Centre and he immediately noticed some differences.
There seemed to be a higher number of Adventurers and Mages here. A lot of people were walking with magical tools around, but at the same time, Ray was saddened when he noticed the gap between the poor and the rich.
The rich and the powerful received clout and attention, but the poor and the beggars received nothing but disdain. He was saddened and frustrated by the fact that humans didn’t seem to help those that were weaker than them.
Instead, they disdained and mocked them as lower beings than them even though they were all human beings the same.
Ray had once made it his obligation to protect the weak but despite his best efforts.
He had failed.
After walking through the City Centre while holding his mother’s hand, they had finally reached their destination. Ray was tired from all the walking; his small body couldn’t take much more. And gave out a small yawn.
‘These beings when they are born they can’t even fend for themselves and now this dreaded curse.’
It seemed like Ray;s father had something to do, and left the two as he made his way back home first before the others.
He looked at the cathedral-like building in front of him and discovered that it was bigger than four adult-sized dragons combined.
Nevertheless, it was a magnificent sight.
Scarlett, Ray’s mother, was quick to explain that the building was a school called Roland Academy and that it had a strict policy wherein it only accepted Mages. This was the school that she attended when she was younger, and she hoped that Ray could also become its student.
They walked away from the school building and arrived into an adjacent building. This building seemed less impressive when compared to the main building, but one could easily see that the building wasn’t made with less impressive materials.
The number of people inside the building was astounding. There was hardly any space to move.
Most of the people inside were parents with their children. They sat down and waited patiently in the reception room. Every so often, someone would come into the reception room, holding a list in their hand and they would call out someone’s name.
The parents and the child would go into the room where the test was being held and after five minutes or so…
They would come out.
Most of the time, crying…
A few minutes later, the woman came out carrying that list again.
“Ray Talen, your turn for testing…” She announced as she swept her gaze across the crowd.
Ray jumped out of his seat and smiled.
He followed his mother and walked with the woman.
Along the way, Ray walked past a child who was furiously crying.
Apart from pity, Ray could only shake his head and scoff.
The world was unfair.
Always had been.
Ray followed the woman into the room that he had caught a glimpse of earlier and discovered that there was a table and two chairs on either side of that table. On top of the table was a big crystal orb and sitting in front of that orb was an old-looking man dressed in a white robe.
The other seat was empty.
Scarlett sat on that empty seat and she carried Ray over onto her lap.
He felt embarrassed that he had to be helped over onto his feet by a mere human.
He wanted to talk to himself, but the old-looking man was already talking.
“Please have your son put both of his hands onto the orb in front of you. The orb will emit light if he has any magical ability. The corresponding colour of the light will show what element he excels in.”
Ray inwardly scoffed.
A single sentence was enough…
Ray closed his eyes, raised both of his hands into the air and grabbed the crystal ball from the sides.
“Ga… Ga… Gaaa!”
Ray inwardly laughed, expecting a grand result.
Then, he heard someone’s stifled sobbing.
The voice was familiar, it seemed to have come from his mother?
Ray was pleasantly surprised.
Was his talent so awesome that his mother couldn’t hold herself back any longer and started crying tears of joy?
She must’ve been so happy to see me become a Mage. Maybe I had awakened the Fire Element, same as my mother. Ray opened his eyes and realised that the crystal ball had no reaction at all whatsoever.
No light, no colour, nothing…
What?
“Condolences, but your son has no magical aptitude.”
The old man said while shaking his head and stroking his beard.
Preposterous!
A dragon with no magic?
He must be wrong!
Ray hopped onto the table, careful that he wouldn’t accidentally topple the crystal ball over onto the ground. He started walking towards the old man and mumbled.
“Don’t wie…”
“I have mawic…”
Ray glared angrily at the old man while pointing to himself.
“I am sorry young man, but there is nothing that I can do.”
The old-looking man let out a sigh and apologized. But Ray was unconvinced. He grabbed the old man’s beard for he was so frustrated.
He was a dragon!
He was the Great Dragon Sen!
How could he not have any magic aptitude?
This old man must be lying and he’s trying to hide my great powers from my mother in order to scam us!
Ray yanked harder on the old man’s beard as he became angrier at the outcome of the test.
Scarlett latched onto his arm, trying to yank it away from the old man’s beard. But since Ray was resisting hard, her efforts made it so that a few strands of the old man’s beard came loose.
As the hair came falling down onto the ground, Ray was so amused that he started laughing.
“Ga, ga, gaaa…”
The old man was finally able to remove my hold from him as he stood up and shouted.
“Get these two out of my sight, right now!”
Ray stayed silent the whole trip back to their hometown. His mother was still quite annoyed for what he had done to the old man. The son and mother pair gave each other the cold shoulder as Scarlett eventually fell asleep.
But Ray was still wide awake.
What was going on?
‘Was the world punishing me for the number of humans that I have killed back then?’
‘That doesn’t make sense…’
‘Otherwise, why would I have gotten this second chance? If the world decided that I deserved some punishment, then it wouldn’t have let me reincarnate.’ Ray nodded to himself. He reckoned that the world must be testing me.
‘If I am unable to become a Mage, then I must find another way to get my revenge.’
Ray reaffirmed his resolve.
He then thought about his father.
When they eventually got home, Scarlett told Jack about the unfortunate news. Jack was understandably upset, but it wasn’t as serious as Scarlett.
The next morning, the family sat in front of the dinner table. Having finally grasped the ways of the spoon and fork, Ray realised that these items made the eating experience significantly better than before and there was no need to clean himself and the mess that he made after.
Once the breakfast was done, Ray decisively placed down his spoon and fork onto the table and stared straight into his father’s eyes.
“Dad… Cwn you teweach me how to figwht?”
Silence descended.
But at the very next moment, Jack’s eyes started shining in an excited light.
It seemed that his dream was going to come true after all.
Chapter 5:Becoming A Swordsman
Four years had passed since then, and Ray, the reincarnation of the Great Dragon Sen had grown bigger in the past few years. He was now about 3-foot and 5-inches. His hair was red and spikey, though the combination was a bit strange for this day and age…
Ray had decided to change his hairstyle into this, for he missed his scales that would travel along his back. This was the closest thing that he could do so that he would still resemble a dragon.
Standing in front of Ray was a man wearing a full suit armour made out of leather. He held a sword in his hand and he had no headgear. This set was an optimal choice of equipment that enabled him to move at fast speeds while still being significantly protected.
The man in front of Ray… was his father.
Their stance made it obvious that they were about to go into battle.
Ray watched his father carefully with his eyes.
From an outsider’s point of view, he looked incomparably relaxed. But Ray who was now familiar with his father knew that he was ready to attack at any moment. Since Ray turned four, every day at noon, he would battle against his father at lunch.
Not even once did he manage to beat him in the way of the sword.
But today…
Ray planned on changing that.
He made the first move. His father also moved in at the same time.
Before, Ray could barely follow his father’s movements. But now he was able to follow his father’s each and every action. Then, before his father could reach Ray’s striking distance, he leapt into the air and decisively closed the gap between him and Ray.
Ray lifted a smile on his face.
Just how many times had he seen this scene?
Even he couldn’t count just how many times his father used this move against him.
Now that he was prepared with what was about to happen.
He was ready.
Ray whispered to himself as he talked through the actions in his head.
‘A strike from above, then a side step at the last second, a spin and attack him on his side!’
But…
Whack!
Ray’s vision went black.
He passed out.
Moments later, he woke up and found himself back inside the house.
He could hear his mother scolding his father.
“Couldn’t you have gone easy on him? He’s only four-years-old!”
Ray could imagine his father sweating buckets as he tried to explain everything to his mother and the thought made him smile.
“It’s only a year until the examination! I can’t go easy on him… If he continues to be like this, then he won’t be able to pass the entrance exam.”
Ray was eavesdropping on his parents’ conversation. They had no idea that he was already awake. But his mother’s senses were far sharper than his expectations.
She saw him in the corner of her eyes.
She then rushed over and placed both of her hands on the side of his cheeks.
“Ray, are you alright? You really don’t have to force yourself to do this. You don’t have to follow our footsteps! There’s a lot of noble jobs out there that you can do other than this!” Scarlett said in a worried tone of voice.
Ray could see as clear as day that Scarlett was indeed worried about him.
‘She must’ve seen how depressed I was every time after our fights.’
Ray thought to himself.
But Ray wasn’t upset because he lost against his father.
He was upset because he not only didn’t have any talent as a Mage. He also has no talent for sword fighting. If he couldn’t even beat an average Adventurer like his father, then how was he supposed to destroy the human race?
Ray’s father came over and said with a smile on his face.
“We still have a year, Ray… Mind over matter. If you really want to, I know that you can do it.”
‘One year…’
‘Was it enough time for me to improve?’
In a year’s time, the Avrion Knight Academy Selection Process would begin.
It was the same school that his father had gone to.
At the age of five, any children were allowed to take the entrance exam and possibly receive the qualifications to enter the academy. Roland Academy was now out of the equation since Ray obviously didn’t have any qualifications to become a Mage.
In short, his only choice right now at this moment was Avrion Academy.
Ray took a deep breath and stared at his parents.
“I’ll do it…”
“I’ll become the strongest that anyone has ever seen…”
Both Scarlett and Jack looked at each other with worried faces.
Chapter 6:Special Training
With more determination to succeed than ever before, Ray decided to double the amount of training that he was previously doing. His stamina and strength may have been above that of an average four-year-old, but his problem was his control when using the sword.
It felt as if his brain was far faster than his body and his hands were clumsy.
Whenever his brain ordered his body to do something, he could feel a significant enough lag causing him problems. However, there was one thing that Ray knew that he had to do in order to become even stronger.
It was to acquire real fighting experience in the field.
This would allow him to become a stronger fighter for it would enable him to move out of instincts instead of focusing on fine movements. After all, sometimes, instinctual movements were far better than deliberate movements based on controls.
Ray nodded to himself as he thought of this idea.
He then went outside and started looking for his father who had gone out a few minutes earlier.
He caught up to him somewhere on the road, walking on the trail out of town with a bag on his back.
“Dad, where are you going?” He asked.
“I got called to do a Quest. The Kingdom really needs my help, so I’m sorry Ray, but I am going to be gone for a few days, or maybe even longer…” Jack let out a sigh.
“But what about my training?” Ray shouted.
“No worries, I didn’t forget about that. When you are ready, check out the barn. I’m sure you’ll find a pleasant surprise, there.” Jack said while walking towards the carriage that was already waiting for him.
Ray walked back into the house and slammed the door shut behind him.
‘What was so important that he had to leave on such short notice?’
Ray took a deep breath and calmed down. He knew that getting angry wasn’t going to get him anywhere.
He decided to go into the barn to check out the mystery and to his surprise.
The barn had been cleared out.
The barn was completely empty apart from one thing. In the middle of the barn stood a human-sized wooden doll. The doll had a sword and a shield in its hands. He walked up to the doll and noticed a note attached to its body.
The note read…
“Ray… I hope that you like my gift. Standing in front of you is a doll inscribed with magic. They use them on all recruits at the knight academy. Daddy had to pull some strings and use some of my connections and influences to get one…”
“To use this, just place your hand on the magic circle inscribed on the back of the doll and say the word, ‘Level One.’. This doll can go up to level ten. You only need to pass level 1 to get into the knight academy. Don’t even try anything past level 1 for it wouldn’t be a pleasant experience.”
“Daddy loves you, x.”
Ray furrowed his eyebrows as he hurled the note over towards the corner of a room.
“Really… How strong can a wooden doll be?”
Ray pulled out his sword and swung as hard as he could at the doll. A magic circle appeared where he was aiming and just before his sword could reach the doll. It was stopped by an invisible wall, his sword couldn’t move any further.
“So this is what magic can do? Pretty neat…”
“Damn it!”
Ray hacked at the doll once again and found his efforts to be futile as he shouted out of frustration.
Magic seemed to be far more powerful than Swordsmanship. ‘If only I had the talent…’ Ray lamented.
He then focused his attention back to the task at hand.
He went behind the doll, placed his hand on the magic circle and chanted the words, “Level one.”
The doll lit up in purple light from head to toe.
Ray jumped back and prepared for battle, but even after thirty seconds had passed.
Nothing happened.
Surely, it wasn’t broken?
‘Well, of course, that idiot father of mine probably didn’t check if the doll was working in the first place.’
Still…
Ray smiled and dashed towards the doll.
He sent a piercing thrust towards the body of the doll which was wide open.
*Clunk!*
The sound of his sword hitting the wooden shield was heard. Unbeknownst to Ray, the doll had moved its shield and blocked the sword. When Ray realised what had happened, the doll was already swinging its sword towards him.
Ray hurriedly leapt out of the way but he tripped over his other foot.
His body was moving slower than his mind again.
Before he knew it, he was now lying on the ground.
He closed his eyes bracing for pain, but after a few seconds had passed, he felt nothing.
Opening his eyes, he discovered that the doll had returned to its original position.
Ray scrunched his eyebrows. He ducked down and picked up a stone off the ground. Then, he threw it towards the doll. The doll reacted by blocking the stone with its shield and when the stone bounced, it struck it with its sword.
Ray was astonished, but he was also excited.
It seemed that the doll only reacted to attacks.
It didn’t seem to take the initiative in fights!
Ray nodded to himself before he decided to test his theory.
He walked towards the doll and got as close as possible to it, without entering its striking distance. But noticing no movement, Ray became bolder and entered the striking distance of the doll. However, there were still no movements whatsoever from the doll.
He decided to launch a surprise attack.
“Gotcha!” He exclaimed.
But this time, the wooden doll moved back and avoided his strike. Then the doll dashed towards Ray and struck him on his face from the side. Everything happened so fast that Ray didn’t have any chance to dodge. Although he could see the movements clearly, his body was lagging.
His reaction was slightly slower than the doll’s sword.
*Whack!*
Ray directly endured the attack of the doll on his face.
His head was violently flung towards the direction of the strike.
The taste of iron filled his mouth as his knees buckled down. He fell onto the ground and droplets of blood began to drench the ground where he was.
The purple light that covered the doll earlier shone once more, but this time, a mechanical voice could be heard…
“Level 1 Failed… System deactivated.”
Chapter 7:A Duel
Ray attempted to fight the doll four more times. Each time, it ended in his humiliating defeat.
However, by the fourth time. He was completely knocked out, unable to stand anymore. If not for the fact that his worried mother went out to find him and discovered him out cold on the cold and muddy ground of the barn, then he would’ve frozen right there and then.
Ray couldn’t even complain.
The wooden sword of the doll didn’t deal much damage to him.
But it was a painful experience fighting the doll, so he decided he needed a break. Furthermore, Ray also thought that it wasn’t that good to be hit repeatedly with his fragile body.
When he woke up, he went out for some fresh air to clear his head and try to figure out a way to defeat the training doll. The village was a nice quaint place, and Ray greatly appreciated the peace. The place was located near the border of the Alure Kingdom and the Crune Empire.
The village was a mining village that often traded with both parties. In order to keep the steady stream of natural resources, the two sides often sent soldiers to protect the village from monstrous creatures. But only along the border of the kingdom and empire.
Ray went out of his own so he could practice away from the prying eyes of anyone. He discovered a hilltop just outside the village. He rushed towards the top of the hill and went beneath the shade of a nearby tree.
After making sure that nobody was around, he took a deep breath and swept his gaze across the views in front of him. The whole village could be seen, the view was breathtaking.
It had been a long time since Ray felt such peace and saw such a view. This was all that he wanted back then. Unfortunately, all of his peaceful days in the past?would always be interrupted. Though, those interruptions reminded him of why he had to train painstakingly every day.
Ray stood up and took out his sword. He closed his eyes and visualised the doll. In his mind, he knew what to do, he could see all the steps that he needed to take for victory. Ray opened his eyes and started swinging hard. His movements were fast, but it felt lacking for Ray.
He could feel that his body couldn’t keep up with his brain.
Ray trained for a few hours until he felt drained. Covered in sweat, he sat beneath the shade of the tree and closed his eyes.
When he opened his eyes once more, he was surprised to see a little girl looking at him. He was so startled that he stood up, but ended up hitting the back of his head against the tree.
“Are you okay?” The girl said in a worried voice.
“You startled me! What was that for?”
Ray said while rubbing his head that collided against the tree.
Ray looked straight at the girl, she seemed to be around the same age as Ray. Wearing a little red dress with a basket in her hand. She had blue eyes and her blonde hair reached up to her collarbone.
She pointed towards the village.
“It is getting late and the sun is starting to set. I think it’s better if we return to the village now. I was just thinking of how to wake you up, and that’s why I was staring at you. Surprisingly, you woke up before I could even do anything.” A smile was plastered across her face.
Ray looked up to the sky and discovered that the sun was already setting.
‘I must’ve fallen asleep without realising it.’
“How did you know that I was here?” Ray asked.
“What are you talking about? I was here the whole time.”
Noticing Ray’s confusion, she pointed to the other side of the wide tree where Ray laid down earlier. An embarrassed smile appeared on Ray’s face as he couldn’t help but feel awkward realising that he wasn’t able to detect her presence.
“My name is Amy… This is my spot. I come here all the time.”
“My name’s Ray…”
She smiled at Ray upon hearing his name.
“I know… You are quite a famous one around the village.”
Ray knew too well what she meant.
It was because of the so-called curse of the Talen family brought upon by the sudden appearance of his red hair.
Just as Ray was starting to walk with Amy down the hill. A group of boys appeared in front of them. One of them was nearly identical to Amy. Apart from the clothes and short hair, there was nothing that one could use to differentiate the two from each other.
“Get away from my sister!” That boy shouted.
“He didn’t do anything to me, Gary!” Amy jumped in, realising that an argument may blow up.
Gary proceeded to check if Amy was all right, he even checked if Amy’s hair colour was starting to change which was a clear insult to Ray, “If I see you come near my sister again, then you are dead!”
He glared.
The two other boys chimed in, “Just do us a favour and leave the village, please…”
“Cursed boy…”
“Your mother and father should leave the village as well, they are just as much to blame for having?a cursed child like you.”
Ray was greatly incensed. Blood started to rush over to his head. He wouldn’t bother doing anything against them if their insults only targeted him, but they had touched his reverse scale…
Furthermore, his father and mother clearly protected the village in the past few years. These idiots clearly knew nothing about what his parents had done for the village. Yet, they dared to insult his mother and father? They dare insult his new family.
‘These boys need to learn how hard life can be.’
Ray rushed towards the boy who said those final words. Ray directly sent a punch towards the boy’s startled face, but it was blocked by Gary. However, Gary clearly didn’t expect the power behind the punch, so he staggered backwards and lifted his other hand to support his hand.
“Why did you stop my punch? I only wish to hit the one that insulted my parents.’
Ray said.
“If you want to fight, I will humour you…” Gary declared.
“I don’t care, all of you…can come fight me together.”
This was what Ray needed, real life fighting experience, and against a bunch of kids his age it would be a good measure to see where his skills were at.
Ray scoffed and raised both of his arms in preparation to fight.
Chapter 8:A New Idea
The two boys standing next to Gary came forward. But as soon as they did he held out his hand to stop them.
“I can take him out on my own.” He said.
Gary removed the sword attached around his waist and threw it down onto the ground.
“No weapons.”
“Fine…” Ray replied.
Ray did the same as Gary. To be honest, he was delighted that Gary suggested that they would use no weapons. It was because he had made it his policy to never kill children. Children were innocent, blank slates for Ray. It was the adults that made them go down the wrong path.
“I should be able to do this.” Ray convinced himself. He had never won a match against his father, but this was the first time that he would be fighting against someone his age. This was a good chance to test himself.
Ray decided to attack first. He threw his fist towards Gary’s face. Gary leaned back and avoided the punch. He then grabbed Ray’s hand and pulled his body over to him.
His movements were so fluid that by the time Ray realised what just happened, Gary had already planted his knee in his face.
The two boys behind Gary started to laugh. Ray made a sidelong glance to Amy’s direction and discovered that there was a saddened look on her face. She was blaming herself for what was happening, but she did nothing wrong.
All of this happened, because of human nature.
Gary was waiting for Ray to make another move.
He started to remind him of that damned training doll that he wanted to defeat.
The battle continued and Ray threw a feint.
Seeing this, Gary leaned back once more to avoid the punch, but since it was a feint…
Ray used the momentum of his punch to turn around and send a kick directly towards Gary.
Unfortunately, Gary lifting both his arms in a cross shape above his head blocked the kick with his forearms on time.
Then, he disappeared from Ray’s view.
When he reappeared, Ray found himself staring at the sky.
Gary had moved beneath him and sent a sweeping kick across his ankles, making him lose his balance. The battle was then over right there and then.
Gary took his belongings and began to walk away with his friends and sister.
But before he could even go far away, he turned around and left some final words to Ray.
“You have your father’s training and you’re still this useless. You should stick to doing something you’re already good at.”
Ray stayed there lying on the ground, the pain had gone away but he couldn’t help but think about Gary’s final words. Eventually, something clicked in Ray’s head as he stood up, wanting to try his theories out straight away.
…
Gary and Amy arrived home safely, and Amy started to rant at her brother. She protested, saying that Ray had done nothing wrong and she was the one that approached him.
“I was just looking out for you, Amy… Nothing ever good comes out from someone who has that red curse.” Gary explained.
“I hate you…” Amy scoffed.
Amy cried and slammed the door behind her as she went into her room. inside his own room Gary started to take off his clothes. He was wearing a light set of leather armour. He noticed that something was strange around his forearms.
He took out the pads inside the armour that surrounded and protected his forearm. There, he realized that the metal pads had been completely ruined. Two huge dents, the size of a baseball could be seen.
“This must be the result of blocking that kick… That fight… It was closer than I thought.”
Gary was correct in his thought. If he wasn’t wearing the pads, then that kick would’ve broken his arms. Ray would’ve won that fight. What Ray wasn’t aware of was that he actually fought good in that fight.
If he had fought against anyone else in his age in the village apart from Gary, he would’ve won quite easily.
It was an overstatement to say that he was an incredibly good fighter, but he was someone that couldn’t be trifled with. Gary had been training to be a knight ever since he had the capacity to think about it.
He had a dream in his heart that one day, he would be able to get him and his family out of the poor situation that they were in.
…
Ray decided to go straight back home after his fight.
After losing against someone who was at the same age as him, Ray finally made a decision.
In order for change to happen, something must be changed. He couldn’t keep doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results.
Remembering Gary’s words, Ray decided that he should probably follow what the boy had said and focus on what he was good at first and improve upon it. Ray thought long and hard after that fight as to just what aspect of fighting he was definitely good at.
Until finally, Ray discovered what he was looking for.
A couple of weeks had passed since the fight.
Ray had been going up the hilltop for several days already just to practice his new idea.
Every time he went up the hill, Amy would always be in her spot.
The two of them often talked together and Amy reassured him that her brother wouldn’t do anything bad against him anymore.
However, Ray was suspicious if this was the truth since whenever they were about to go down the hill. She would always go ahead and check if there were people waiting for them in ambush.
Finally, Ray was back at the barn.
After weeks of effort, it was finally time for him to test his new idea and see if it would work against the training doll. He went up to the doll and said the words, “Level one.”.
The purple light surrounded the doll once more and the battle finally began.
A few seconds later, the same purple light surrounded the doll once more. This time, the mechanical voice that accompanied its appearance said the words, “Level one. Passed.”
Ray huffed and puffed.
He was sweating.
Not because of the few seconds of fighting, but because of mental pressure and stress. He genuinely wouldn’t know what to do if his new fighting style failed. However, savouring the fruits of his efforts, a smile appeared on Ray’s face.
He went back to the wooden doll and said, “Level 2.”
He felt that he was ready.
He felt that it was time.
Time to see how far he could push himself.
Chapter 9:Missing!
Ray had fought with the doll more times than he could count. He quickly became bored with fighting against the doll for he had realized that he reached the limit of what he was able to do with his new fighting style.
Spending more time fighting would just be wasting time.
Of course, Ray would still continue his training but he would rather continue it outside and savour the fresh air there, rather than stay inside the old barn.
He eventually decided to visit the hilltop once more. For some reason, it became his routine to visit the top of the hill and he looked forward to going there every day. As Ray climbed up to the top, there was already a smile on his face.
This was the usual routine that he had, there was a smile lifted on his lips for he was ready to tell Amy that he had finally defeated the training doll, but when he got there. He saw no one, not even a shadow of Amy was there.
“That’s strange, did I get the time wrong?” Ray was pretty sure that Amy should have been here at this very spot. Thinking hard about what was going on, Ray surmised that something must’ve happened. Maybe, she would just come later.
He proceeded to do his usual routine. Pushing his body to the very limit, Ray felt as if he was a madman addicted to physical training. Furthermore, he seemed to be enjoying it even more now that he knew he was making progress.
A couple of hours had passed, yet there was still no sign of Amy.
Ray felt that there was something strange going on, but he couldn’t quite grasp it. In the end, he decided that it must be because he was too excited to tell Amy about his recent achievement that he was starting to feel antsy.
Sensing the tiredness of his body, he leaned his head against the tree and closed his eyes. He hoped that when he opened his eyes once again, Amy would be there, standing in front of him and staring right into his face, startling him awake similar to that day.
Unfortunately, when Ray woke up a few hours later. Amy still wasn’t there.
Letting out a sigh, he went down the hill and returned to the village.
There, he heard a few gossips and murmurs.
“Did you hear what happened?”
“Someone must go out and try find them!”
“Oh no… They are still so young…”
As Ray got closer to the village centre, he noticed a couple of adults pleading with the other villagers for help.
“Has anyone seen our children? It’s already this dark, yet they still haven’t come home!”
“Please! If anyone has any answers, then please tell us!”
Ray didn’t recognize most of the adults that were asking for help, but two of the adults looked incredibly similar to Gary and Amy. PArents often looked quite similar to their kids. Had they gone missing? So this was the reason why Amy hadn’t appeared at her usual spot today?
After a few minutes, an old man came forward.
“The last time I saw them, they were buying some new weapons from my store…”
The old man’s words struck Ray like a horse carriage.
He remembered having a conversation with Amy the other day regarding her brother.
Gary had apparently been talking with her about going into the forest to hunt some beasts. Amy was obviously trying to talk him out of it. The forest mainly had basic-tier beasts, in short, anyone with decent skills should be able to make it out of there alive.
But even though the forest was generally safe due to the existence of humans. There was always a chance that a beast of a higher tier would arrive. Even though it was rare, a chance was still a chance. The worst could happen at any time.
The standard rule when it came to hunting was that one must never do it without the company of an Adventurer or a properly skilled guard.
The fact that Gary bought new equipment today meant that he was preparing for something and there was a good chance that he and his friends went out of the forest to hunt today. That explained why there were so many adults looking for their children.
These people had no one to ask for help.
Ray’s parents, the bastion of this place when it came to skills were still out. Ray’s father was still out on the quest that he received from the kingdom, while his mother was still in the city.
The town had a lot of skilled guards, but they had their jobs to do and they couldn’t possibly leave their post to do menial work.
Although Ray hated Gary and his friends, Amy was nice to him. He looked forward to talking with her every day.
‘Still, humans are the reason why I am suffering and why I suffered a lot back then. They deserve this, don’t they?’
‘This is just karma for what they had done to me…’
Ray was in the middle of his internal debate when he suddenly remembered the words that he said to Amy.
“That’s right… I remember. I promised Amy that I would find her and tell her that I defeated the doll after I succeeded!”
Ray then rushed into the forest as fast as he could, hoping that it still wasn’t too late.
