A few years earlier

A boy with fiery red hair, the same color as the surface of the sun, was fighting fiercely against three other boys.

"You're a bastard, the son of a bitch!" screamed the three Goblins.

The scarlet-haired boy was surrounded, covered with dirt and blood. He seemed to be losing, but his every move was precise and hit. He was making all three of them regret insulting him.

His elbow hit the biggest one in the nose and a knee hit the back of another's head.

Even though the three Goblins were bigger than him, the boy fought like a madman. His limbs seemed to have been molded by the god of war, as the others fell one at a time under his blows.

His attacks weren't strong enough to break any of their bones and seriously injure them, but one thing was certain: they would remember that pain forever and they would never dare to target him again.

What the boy knew for sure was that the next day others would come to insult and beat him, and that he would react every time, even if the one to hit him would be the descendant of the Sect of the Worthy himself. And he kept beating like a madman, lost in oblivion even when other kids, older than himself, joined him. He knew he would be reprimanded, punished by the big shots of the Merchants' Guild, but he didn't care, as he threw a very violent headbutt at yet another opponent.

He could hear the Mana bubbling inside his undeveloped meridians, roaring to get out.

The boy had a mouth full of blood, but eyes filled with pride.

Fighting to defend one's mother's honor can be considered a childish gesture, even before it is honorable. But in this case it was another matter: Vlad was half Goblin and half Human. All the insults he received every day were nothing more than a tonic to him.

He loved to fight, he loved to train, he loved to be the strongest and to lay down his enemies as if they were straw dummies in the training yard.

He did a split mid-air, as if there were strings attached to his limbs and a very skilled puppeteer had just thrown him upward. And who could stop him anymore?

The answer soon came as a hand grabbed him by the tunic in mid-air before he could set foot on the ground. A muscular and massive Goblin looked down on him, ready to tear him to pieces.

"Uncle Big?" Vlad said with a cheeky smile on his face.

“Brat, why the fuck do you keep doing damage? We promised your mom that we would take care of you, but you keep creating problems. What the fuck is your brain telling you? " Big was exasperated. The little Goblin covered in blood and sweat replicated such scenes on a daily basis.

"They insulted my mother," he said calmly and measuredly, as if absolutely certain he was right.

"So you have well thought of beating the shit out of ten students?" Big said in exasperation.

Nodding with an absolutely straight and pious air, Vlad added, putting a hand on his heart: “It is the duty of the strongest warrior in Orma to punish cowards like them. If I weren't that powerful they would continue bullying without restraint. Someone has to teach them a lesson! "

Big looked at the young men lying all around his grandson, deciding that they had already been punished sufficiently. He already had a big headache just thinking about how many parents would come to demand exemplary punishment for his grandson. Yet the terrifying talent Vlad had displayed, even greater than what his daughter Circe had at her age, always made him gasp.

"Punish such a genius?" Big thought to himself. For what? To give a sop to those four retards who had children so mean they insulted Vlad because his mother was a Human? Pffff.

Big slapped Vlad on the head, then throw him into the air with a kick in the ass.

"Remember not to always make such a mess," he grumbled, before turning his heel and pretending not to have seen anything. "And don't try to use tricks to heal!"

Vlad was wiping off the blood on his face with a damp cloth. But every time the cloth touched the bruised areas, he let out a grunt of pain. It was true that Big hadn't punished him, but he had also forbidden him from using potions or healing herbs. Those bruises would have to heal naturally.

Not even being at the First Phase yet, it would take at least a couple of days and in the meantime he would be in excruciating pain.

“Bah, it's not the first time and true heroes never feel pain. True heroes are always resolute, decisive and never hesitate to make the craziest of choices! "

Immediately after cleaning himself, he went to his favorite spot in all Orma. It was the branch of a tree, where he enjoyed watching the Royal Academy recruits perform their training exercises. One day he too would be among them. He would train like a madman to become the strongest of all, a true hero and a true warrior.

As he moved to find a position that would not make him weep with pain, he heard the sound of broken branches within the woods behind him.

Intrigued, he jumped off the branch he was standing on and decided to go have a look.

As he went deeper and deeper into the woods, the noises grew in intensity. Judging by the details, it looked like someone was attacking the trees with sharp objects.

"Probably someone training," Vlad muttered, immediately losing most of his interest. He hoped he could meet some undercover hero or a fugitive he could beat up and defeat.

However, he remained hidden in the darkness of the foliage, trying to see the face of those who were training. Besides, he was curious, what could he possibly do about it? One look and he would go back to his dear tree to watch the training.

It was at this point that a slender, petite figure entered his sight. it was at least three inches shorter than him, at least. And not only that, its grip on the two daggers in its hands, clearly too large for its size, was uncertain and unstable. Zero almost scoffed. Although the face of the figure was completely covered by a shirt that reached almost to the nose, from the clothes that adhered to the body due to the sweat it was easy to assume that it was a girl. Two small protrusions at chest level were more than enough to draw such a conclusion.

Vlad stood there, hidden among the leaves, watching the awkward girl drop one stab after another against the trees. Vlad was frowning. There was so little force in her blows that she could barely leave marks on the bark.

Judging by the workmanship of the daggers, exquisite to say the least, she could not be just any girl. Still, she fucking sucked! He did not have a shred of talent or even of technique and continued to torture the bark of trees even if she rarely managed to score.

Vlad couldn't remain silent anymore. At the umpteenth terrible movement, so terrible that the boy thought she would break her wrists shortly, he threw himself towards her: "But how are you holding those daggers?"

The girl was scared to death and immediately threw the daggers at him, in a moment of pure terror.

Seeing the two deadly sharp blades flying towards him, the young Goblin cursed brutally, before lunging to the side and dodging them for a breath.

"You find your aim in the least opportune moments!" Vlad exclaimed, exasperated. "I'm not at the First Phase yet, if you kill me I'm gone forever!"

He had decided to come out to help her and had been rewarded with a stab!

It was really true: in this world, kindness was never rewarded.