My eyes blast open. I'm in an empty space. Whispers that make no sense echo everywhere, suddenly I hear a howling I know all too well.

Roberts howl echoes for a while before fading into the endless whispers that get louder and louder, something is coming from afar. Moving in the darkness a figure appears and disappears, a scream of agony seemingly comes from every direction before fading to the sound of the endless whispers. 

The man disappears and something shines in front of me, the locket with the wolf engraving is on the dark ground before me. I try walking towards the locket and the whispers get louder but still don't make any sense. I stumble and flashes of Robert appear after I regain my balance the locket is gone and the whispers stop. A devilish set of teeth shine in the darkness before me. 

A demon some distance from me holds Robert in his right arm and is about to kill him as I start running at the demon a set of dark hands grab me from behind...

"DON´T THOUGH MY FKING DOG" I scream as I take a hold of something and press my tanto against its throat

Slight sniffling ensues. Im currently pressing my tantos blade against Ivy's small fragile throat, there is a scared look on Ivy's face and a tear on her left eye. I put the tanto away quickly and embraced Ivy.

"It's okay It's okay..I won't hurt you I'm sorry" I said to Ivy in the most comforting voice I could muster up after a while both Ivy and I calm down and I tell her to go back near Sylviel but Ivy seems hesitant and acts like she wants to tell me something.

I ignore her and lay her next to her mother and pat her head. 

I looked out of the window and I saw that the sun was just starting to rise. I decided to transfer the Kitsunes back into the Familiar space before exiting the room, Luckily It seems like neither Guld or Namwo had woken up to my yelling.

 I went outside of the house in their backyard to train and calm my mind. Guld and Namwo had a relatively large yard with a big brown tree in the middle with green leaves that were one by one gracefully falling to the ground. I focused on the area that surrounded me. I could feel the warm wind and the sensation in my feet as I stood on the grass. 

I started moving my body around, slowly making different fluid motions with my hands and feet after some time I had achieved a sort of freedom of mind, at that moment I opened my eyes and took a sharp 180 turn and started performing different kung fu drills and routines with explosive power. 

After a while of doing kungfu, I did a variety of box cutter kicks, kicking the leaves that were falling from the tree hitting each of the leaves with precision. As I landed from the successful flurry of box cutters I started the progress over again, going back to doing slow fluid motions and then performing kung fu drills and other martial arts drills.

Soon after that, I continued on with my daily meditation.

 The only reason I did all this was not just due to the fact that I wanted to “stay in good shape” or anything like that. It was to help me stay saner in this new environment that I had now arrived in.

In a world with all sorts of dangers and things I don’t know about, the most important thing is to try to keep your sanity and overall normal state of mind. By repeating my normal habits I would be able to more easily stay in a more peaceful state of mind.

 At the exact moment I was done with my meditation session conveniently Guld opened the houses back door dressed in light leather shorts and said to me.

"Leon we got breakfast!"

"Alrighty, then I'm coming!"

I started walking back to the house. I had seen of Gulds upper body when he came to yell at me, The old dwarf sure had a good physique for his age and taking in account the fact that he probably drank a lot of beer. His body had many scars most likely from his adventuring days. Also, I caught a glimpse of his steel leg. That seemed to be in a bit of a bad shape having some visible dents and scratches on the surface.

 I sat on the table with Guld and Namwo.

They or most likely just Namwo had prepared a colorful breakfast with all sorts of vegetables and different varieties of meat slices. Guld was drinking beer meanwhile I and Namwo had water.

"So Leon what are you planning to do now?"

"Well I think I would like to stay at this village for a while before continuing my journey and also getting to know the world a bit better as I really don’t know much about anything"

"Ahh, I see, well you are welcome to stay here with us for a while."

"What might this journey you are talking about me?"

"I guess I just want to get to know the world better and go on a bit of an adventure."

Obviously, that really isn’t my objective at the moment as I would like to find Robert as soon as possible then maybe a journey would be okay.

"By the way, this is most likely a weird question I'm asking but what is this language we are speaking?"

"Well that is a weird question but the language is Falloian it’s our nations common language spoken by most people that live here."

"Okay thanks, while I was living in nature and learned the language I was never told what the language was called."

"So your parents were probably Falloians then?"

"Well I’m not sure but they were human and I would appreciate if we didn’t really delve into my past as it’s not something I’m really comfortable talking about."

I hadn’ created a full backstory for myself and they seemed like people who wouldn’t pressure me to talk about myself so they will probably be fine with that kind of answer.

As Guld poured beer into his mug he said to me. "What if we went for a walk around the village at about 12 o’clock so I could show you around and maybe you would find something to do."

"Yeah, that sounds fine."

Like on earth they had the same way of measuring time here they also had 360 days in a year divided into 12 months. These months had around 30 days each but they weren’t divided into weeks or anything like that, just months.

The name of the village we were at was Selesk named by the first village leaders last name Selesksiar who died long ago while protecting the villagers.

"Alright here is a cape for you to wear we will be leaving in about 2 hours."

"Yeah thanks, old man."

He had thrown me a green cape that matched my druid robes that I was wearing on my lower body. The cape had a hood and white strings to tie it on the front also it had armholes.

I took the cape and went back into my room to put it and the bandages on, after that I went to lay on my bed and looked at the locket and tried to open it but to no result, it just wouldn't budge.

After a while of looking at the locket, I heard a whisper like the ones in my dreams I got startled and Immediately put the locket back into my inventory. 

Then I just spent some quality time in the room before it was time to leave.

Our first destination was the villages general marketplace which we had gone by when I first arrived here. There were lots of people talking and bartering in the marketplace. The people were mostly unphased by my presence though I did catch some gazes from the locals and could hear them talking about me, obviously not in a kind manner as I was an outsider and a human. 

Guld showed me around different stalls selling things like leathers, fruits, clothing, tools, and jewelry. The merchants and most people in the market greeted Guld with smiles and polite greetings, on the other hand only a few smiled and greeted me but I guess it’s better than nothing.

The clothing people wore were rather colorful differing from shades of green, yellow, brown and sometimes even blue. The clothes were mostly different full body robes and coats though some people did wear shirts, silk pants ect. A few people had a golden lining on their clothes and they clearly carried themselves in a more dignified manner than the average villager I had seen in my short time here.

There were some guards and what I think were adventures wearing light armor and carrying weapons like spears, swords, bows with them. What separated the Guards from the adventurers was a red insignia with a and arm grasping a greataxe. The guards were mostly Khorrans and Ratuus. Khorrans being the race with horns and Ratuus being the ones with cat ears. Occasionally I saw some of the people with bunny ears, they were called Tosians according to Guld.

We continued our tour by going along a stone road. Along this road, there were different more established stores and services.

Some children were playing in a small opening between two wooden stores running around in the grass and wrestling. Overall people here seemed to enjoy their life’s, from what I had seen there really weren’t any poor people here though some rascals tried stealing tools from a merchant in the marketplace earlier.

As we walked along the road we came across an armory built from smooth stone and wood.

"I was thinking about selling some goblin weapons I’ve found do you think I could sell them there?" I asked while pointing at the big armory.

"Yeah, sure we can go see if the owner Is interested in anything you have."

And so we walked towards the large front door and opened it.

Inside there was a large variety of different swords and weapons obviously there also was a good variety of different armors made from metals and leathers. Torches and windows were the primary light sources in the armory which had a few employees cleaning the place and checking the conditions of some of the weapons.

In the back, there was a horned man wearing leather armor and spinning a dark black knife skillfully in his right hand as he talked to a customer who was apparently buying some gear from the store. The man’s hair was grey and his eyes as black as the blade of the knife he was spinning.

Soon the transaction was over and the young customer with horns picked up the armor and axe he had purchased. As the man walked by me and Guld he hit his shoulder on mine and mumbled something under his breath about me.

Unphased by this me and guld went to the store owner and started chatting with him about how much he could pay for the gear I was willing to sell to him.

The man that had introduced himself as Jackal seemed rather uninterested by the goblin pikes and swords I showed to him and said something about giving me 4 silver and 5 copper for them. So I decided to pull out the Silversword which I had gotten from the bandits I slew. Immediately the old man’s eyes widened as he began appraising the sword he seemed to use Inspect on it too.

"Hmm this is a quite nice sword you have got here…..how about 7gold for this and the goblin weapons?"

Earlier Guld had told me that 20 copper coins equaled 1 silver and 50 silver equaled 1 gold. I whispered to guld asking him if he thought this was a good deal and he agreed that it was certainly an ok deal for such a sword.

"Yeah that sounds good we have a deal also could I get the money in 4 gold coins and 150 silver coins in separate pouches?"

"Of course that’s no problem, " He said obviously pleased by the transaction and further investigated the sword in front of him with appraising eyes.

"Well, then Leon I think we should go now if you have no further business here."

I thought for a while "Wait I think I do have something"

Jackal raised his eyebrow as I pulled out my tanto out of my inventory and placed it on the table "Can you Identify this for me"

"Yeah, I don't think that will be a problem it will cost ya...15silver aight?"

"It's a deal"

Jackal unseathed the tanto and let out a small gasp before returning back to his normal cool composure. After a while, he said he was done and showed me the information on the weapon.

Blade of origin

Grade-Artifact

Enchantment-Mana flow

Info: A masterfully crafted "short sword" that is made out of Tritin which makes the weapon great for imbuing and amplifying spells. This quality is further enhanced due to the enchantment Mana flow which makes the weapon an even better conduit for spells and raises its toughness so it can be imbued with even the best spells with out taking too much damage from the flow of mana. The handle is fitted with a lightning amplifying gems that can also be used as a small storage for mana capable of holding 400mana.

 "Wow..so how good of a weapon do you think this is Jackal" "The fact that it said that it could handle high level spells sure was something but I'm, not the expert here so I definitely need his opinion in this."

Jackal let out a wide grin "It sure as hell is a fine specimen not only is Tritin a good material for weapons that are used by spellcasters it also is overall highly durable and the blade is in spectacular condition, The gem on the handle isn't really nothing too amazing but it suits a weapon like this well.

The weapon easily earns the Grade Artifact"

"Umm, to be honest, I have no idea how the grading system goes so do you mind explaining?"

"Sure the grading system goes like this Common

Jackal stretched his arms a bit and pulled out a small bag of gold from under his table "So mind selling that blade to me"

"Naah Id rather keep it" I said while putting the tanto back into my inventory"

With a disappointed look in his eyes, Jackal sighed and put the gold bag away "Well that's truly shame"

"Well goodbye, for now, Jackal" Guld and I said in unison while walking out of the door."

 "Come back if you have anything interesting to sell!"

"Yea!"

Guld and I chatted while we took a look at the other stores and what services they provided.

"Jackal seemed rather fine with the fact that I was a human ?"

Guld rubbed his beard and responded "Well Jackal is the type of man who doesn’t really care about what race his clients are if they don’t cause trouble and sell or buy good stuff in his shop, hell If a demon tribesman were to walk in to the village Jackal would welcome him with open arms to his shop.."

"(Gurrrr)" A loud sound coming from Gulds stomach interrupts his speech.

"ahah I guess I’m still hungry," Guld said while laughing merrily.

"Well I’m a bit hungry too so I guess we could go eat. It’s my treat since I just got some cash."

"Ohh boy you don’t have to!"

"Naah Guld I insist"

"Weeeeeel if you insist and I know just the place to go to!"

 And so I and Guld walked around finally coming across the place Guld had in mind. A large restaurant/bar built mostly of stone. It had a big wooden terrace with a few families and other villagers eating and drinking. The large double front door was decorated with animal bones and some beautiful yellow etchings of food. As we took a step inside we were greeted with a happy atmosphere of people eating and talking. Most people here didn’t seem to mind my presence as we came inside though there were some khorran and ratuu soldiers that looked at me down their noses as if they were inherently better than me.

Guld and I chose a spot near a window and sat down on the wooden stools. In front of us, there was a dark wooden table and some metal utensils. Guld yelled for a waitress to take our order and soon enough a bunny woman came to us wearing a well-tailored brown leather dress and black shoes. Her pink bangs dangled in front of her eyes.

"So Guld and ummmm.."

"Leon"

"uhm, So Guld and Leon what will you two be having?" She asked us with a smile while mainly looking at Guld

"Well, I guess I'll have the usual meat dish with 2 beers."

"Alrighty then...and you Leon?"

"Hmmm, I guess I'll have the same as him except with 1 beer and a glass of water if that is possible."

"Certainly..I'll soon be back with your orders."

And so the waitress with a rather plump bosom waddled of towards another table. As I and guld chatted it became painfully obvious that the soldiers that were eating were bothered by my presence here.

I constantly caught them glaring at me with rather serious faces even Guld easily noticed this too and told me not to worry about it.

 "So how did you exactly meet Namwo"

Guld looks out of the window with a happy face. "Well long ago when I was an adventurer I came across a huge pack of monsters with my friends. It was a grueling fight that left many of us with serious wounds including me. I took a rather hard blow from one of the enemies which crushed some of my ribs. My friends carried me and the other badly wounded comrades around searching for help, as at the time our group didn’t have a healer."

"Traveling on the road we came across a caravan that was willing to take us to the next village for some cash. They also had a skilled priest traveling along them. One of the people who took care of me was Namwo. She and the priest took good care of our healing and treating our wounds.

The priest said it was a miracle that my lung hadn’t been punctured by the broken bones. The whole time Namwo took care of me and the other men. I quickly fell in love with her because of her kind personality. We also got along extremely well to the point that we shared a kiss after we parted our ways"

"Later on I visited Namwo in her home village many times as we took a detour through there often. Soon we fell even deeper in love and got married. After that I continued adventuring for a while and then finally me and Namwo decided to move into this village to live the rest of our days together."

 "a bit cliche but still a better love story than twilight"

I-Excuse me? Guld raised his hairy left eyebrow.

"Ah, nothing...but yeah nice story."

 After a while of bantering the waitress brought the food which we began instantly devouring.

 "This is some good meat…. (munching)..is it some beasts meat…(munching)"

"Yeah…(burp)"

 While we were happily eating minding our own business a few soldiers started approaching us looking proud of themselves.

 "I smell trouble…" Guld said while rolling his eyes.

 "You don’t fucking say" I sighed while taking a huge mouthful of beer.

 There were 2 soldiers coming at us one was a tall khorran man probably around 6.4 tall. He had short brown hair and had a very muscular figure and was wearing light chainmail and padded leather pants. The other one was a Ratuu woman with yellow eyes that were fixated on me. She had a way more lean and small figure compared to the man. And was wearing full leather armor and had a knife strapped to her waist while the man, on the other hand, was unarmed.

 "Huh so how are you enjoying the food..human."

The khoran mam was closer to me trying to intimidate me with his muscles as the female was some distance behind him leaning on a wooden pillar twirling her knife in her fingers.

 "Well, I would say its pre…."

 Before I could end my sentence the man took my plate and threw it at me. I easily deflected it and the plate fell on the table not getting on anyone’s clothes.

 "Aww man, why did ya have to do that? that was some good food you know?" I said while letting out a slight grin expressing my amusement at the man.

 "Look here you piece of shit we don’t like your (burp) kind here so you better get your ass out of here! "

 Now, most of the people in the restaurant had stopped eating and silently watched us from their seats. Most people either looked too scared to do anything or just didn’t care.

 I let out a deep sigh. "Man there is no need to get rowdy we were just about to leave after a while anyway so could you leave us alone."

 Visibly annoyed by the fact that I sighed he says "I don’t think you get it you should just get the fuck out of here right now." (burp)

 "Could we do this another time I'm really not in the mood for your threats."

 At that moment he visibly lost his cool and as I anticipating a punch I quickly stood up from the chair, By this point, he was just launching a clean left straight at me. I then took a step back and palmed his hand upwards continuing to grab and twist his arm inwards, after that I slid closer to him pushing my arm forward. With my arm now in front of his throat, I tied my hand around his neck and placed my foot behind his foot and started bending him down with my arm that was around his neck. I also cast Entangle at him as all of this was happening so he was now in a twisting headlock and trapped by vines that had grown out of the floor.

 I tried forcing him on the ground but as I was doing this his body started to glow with yellow light and with monstrous strength he began straightening his body up with a grin on his angry face. He was still slightly entangled by the vines although most of them had snapped due to his monstrous strength and the aura he was emitting which seemed to melt the vines.

Right after that, he grabbed my neck with his free hand and instantly threw me across the room. I activated air twist and managed to perform a clean landing and avoid injury. Just as I had caught my breath and eyeballed the man someone quickly took me in a sleeper chokehold from behind and tried dragging me on to the ground.

I put my hand behind my head taking a hold of the attackers head then continued to throw the female attacker over my shoulder. After I completed the throw the female attacker landed on the ground gracefully.

As all this was happening a man started walking towards them which was not seen by any of the people fighting so they continued on.

Leon began charging towards his opponent with his left arm imbued with lightning, his opponent did the same and charged at him while still glowing with yellow light. Just as the two men were about to meet in the middle and punch each other a man stepped in between them and pointed his left hand at Leon and his right arm at the khorran making both of them collapse under his sheer fighting spirit which formed cracks in the floor.

Leon and the Khorran were both now laying on the floor. The khorran took a look at the man's face as he continued emitting his monstrous fighting spirit and with a surprised face said.

"sergeant???"