Apollo remained at the library for roughly 2 hours before leaving, they left the quiet library and basked in the glory of the sun, breathing in the nice freshness of the atmosphere, it was quite contrasting to the ‘old-book smell’ that permeated the lonesome library, “Alfredo, should we visit Count Tyranir?”,

“I believe your mother would be reassured if you do so”,

“Im sure she would, besides I haven’t seen him at all this week”

“His lordship is a very hard working man, you must understand”, there was a hint of respect in Alfreds words.

Apollo’s father, Count Tyranir Heimarch was a popular ruler in the eyes of his subjects, he governed the County of Nassau which consisted of 2 cities: Hollevin & Salem and a single developing town close to the Heimarch estate called Trim. It was a pretty sizable fiefdom bestowed unto him by the monarch, King Caesar due to his personal military achievements.

The streets on the way to the Keep of Hollevin where the count stayed were littered with people of different races, primarily humans but there were elves and Faunaid present too. As a matter of fact most races were intertwined in Redania including the hostile orcs and the rarely seen immortals. You would see a few dwarves here and there but they mostly remained in their mainland due to the vast mountain ranges that contained the various minerals that they all seem to love.

Only the presence of the Elves and the Faunaid were common on human territory due to friendly relationships. The Faunaid were a race of ‘animal-like’ bipedals that specialised in close quarters combat due to their strong, bulky physiques. They had an innate ability to undergo “Rage” in times of extreme stress and that made them a menace on the battlefields.

“Rage of Anubis: Harness the contained rage of the devourer, increasing all damage dealt by 5%, attack speed by 10% and reaction speed by 7%”.

Apollo found this unique race naturally intimidating due to their god-like physique, an average male of Faunaid descent stood at around 7 feet tall, they had thick broad shoulders and were usually packed with very defined musculature, the females were usually slimmer. A tall Faunaid stood 8 feet from the ground. Their most defining feature being their “animal-like” appearances which varied depending on lineage and bloodlines for example the ferocious Wolfvin bloodline which had similarities to wolves possessed thick furry coats, sharp threatening claws, ferocious teeth, upright pointy ears, protruding snouts and arms the size of tree trunks. Apollo found it particularly interesting that different Faunaid bloodlines could be mixed with one another thus creating a different bloodline, however, the book titled, “Children of Anubis” stated that the chance of producing an offspring as a result of different bloodlines was infinitely close to 0% but it was not impossible as shown throughout the years.

“The furries would probably be all over her”, muttered Apollo, it would be interesting to see their reactions on seeing the Faunaids for the first time.

“What are furries?”, Alfred followed Apollo’s line of sight until he saw a ‘fox-like’ female Faunaid warrior that was walking in the opposite direction.

“Nothing important”, he raised his brows upon hearing his young master’s response, truthfully, he would catch moments such as these where Apollo would say a strange term whenever he saw something interesting. It did not occur to him that Apollo was simply referencing his home planet.

Apollo stopped in his tracks as he stood before a sturdy building that had a signboard above its doors reading, “Warrior Guild of Hollevin”, he peered through a nearby window and saw many interesting characters interacting with one another. He saw groups of individuals, male or female sharing several rounds of drinks, talking as if they were makeshift bards who bragged about over-exaggerated tales of conflict, romantic escapes or brave triumphs. It looked quite fun, these people must be great comrades who have fought through tooth and nail, great friends it seemed like.

I wonder how John is doing, he’s probably still being harassed by Jane, you know, I never got the chance to say farewell to him and everyone else now that I think about it. It’s pretty lonely having no friends of this world, those arrogant noble kids just piss me off, I guess it’s true what they say about children of high status, always the same narcissistic brain-dead half-wits who blames everyone about their own mistakes. A particular boy came to mind whenever he thought of the trope, his mother introduced to him a young brat of a similar background about the same age as he was in order to build future social relationships. Let’s just say that it didn’t end too well since he disliked the boy’s arrogant vibe.

“Interested in the warrior’s guild?” asked Alfred, “Your father was once a member of the guild when he was still in his youth”

“I know, after all Hermes always brags about father’s achievements, Im just curious about the ways of the swords”

“Is that so? then you are looking in the wrong area, come follow me, It’s best that you see first hand, the abilities of warriors”

Intrigued, Apollo followed behind Alfred as he led him towards the back of the building following it’s perimeter where a large courtyard was situated. There he saw several individuals training with earthen dolls that seemed to recover itself as it was being damaged. It was another earth spell cast by high-level mages,

“Solid Earth Puppet: A stationary earthen construct specifically used for training purposes. Has the ability to regenerate itself after it has been damaged, cannot recover once all 6 magnetic cores have been destroyed simultaneously.”

Alfred inspected the training individuals before placing his eyes on a young man, then he instructed Apollo to look at that specific warrior, “Watch him carefully” he pointed. Following the given direction, Apollo sees what seems to be a young man in his late teens standing 3 meters in front of an earthen doll, he had his feet spread apart, right foot in front of the left standing in a specific stance, his upper body upright with both his hands gripping the handle of an iron longsword holding it in front of him.

Oddly enough, he had his eyes closed seemingly focused on something, suddenly, Apollo saw him slowly breathe in, then moving both hands to the right side above his head, he took a step forward instantly slashing diagonally down with the sword as he exhaled out with a loud shout, “Hah”. Unexpectedly, the earth puppets upper body, which was roughly 3 meters away from the teen, slid down to the ground with a muffled thud, the sword didn’t even make physical contact with its body. The humanoid puppet had been split apart in two from its right shoulder down to its left pelvis. After a brief few seconds however, the fallen upper body of the puppet floated upwards connecting to its lower half becoming whole once again. On the other hand, the teen took a step backwards resuming his previous stance once again.

Apollo opened his mouth in bewilderment, “Alfredo what the fuck was that?”, he couldn’t help but clear his eyes, “The sword didn’t even touch the doll, but he still split it into two”, he was visibly confused.

Amused by the young boy’s outrage, he chuckled and said ,“That is the ability of a warrior, you simply do not have the sufficient skill required to ‘see’ what he had done to the puppet”.

Unlike his young master, Alfred saw the teen emitting a flash of light which struck through the earth puppet slicing it into two separate parts. This was called the ‘Sword domain’ which allowed warriors to attack anything around him at a certain distance depending on mastery. This was one of the reasons why Tribunates could easily kill grand mages as their effective melee domains is at least a kilometre wide, unless the mage can teleport instantly out of range then he stands no chance.

“Teach me” asked Apollo,

“It will be hard, are you still willing to learn?”

“If I can do what that man has done then of course, I am willing to”

“Good, but before you can train under the sword, you must build up your body first”

That was true for in fact he still had the physique of a frail 6-year-old, he probably could not even lift up a proper sword above his head, never mind swinging one. Apollo pondered for a minute, he thought of ways that could quickly result in effective muscle mass gain and concluded that nutrition was the key. Protein supplements had crossed his mind but he was sure that it did not exist in Greiss, he wasn’t even sure if the people of this world understood the concept of protein and its effects. It’s more than likely that the body builders of this world are already ingesting food rich in protein without knowing that those types of food are what makes them bulkier.

“Alright I will do that, come let’s not waste any more time here” beckoned Apollo.

They continued their journey towards the keep and eventually came upon the inner district of Hollevin which was surrounded by another set of magic resistant walls and unlike the entrance to the city ; the entrance to the inner sanctum was much more heavily guarded, Apollo estimated that there were at least 5,000 archers patrolling the top of the walls whilst another 30,000 troops resided within the inner district (15,000 patrolled the outer districts) where the barracks was situated.

Alfred walked towards the gate with Apollo in tow, there they were greeted by an officer donning the Hollevin guard attire which consisted of an iron full body armour with a short purple cape that had a crest depicting an open-palm hand with a cross in the middle, it was Hollevin’s insignia. Both presented their noble stamps and eventually passed the customs and given access to the enclosed area.

Once inside the inner district, they walked for at least 10 minutes until they reached the castle keep, here they were greeted yet again by an officer at the entrance but this time they were recognised almost instantly since the officer and the nearby troops were Heimarch guards who immediately bowed once they saw Apollo and his butler Alfred,

“Young Master” shouted all the nearby guards in unison.

“Please rise, ill be going ahead” said Apollo as he walked past the respectful guard.

“Of course,”

Apollo then ascended the steps to the floor his father worked at, on the way there he kept witnessing guards bowing to him as he walked by, the entire keep was filled with Heimarch guards he wasn’t even bothered replying after the first two floors. The keep had a total of 10 floors and Alfred only accompanied Apollo until the ninth, then on the tenth floor, Apollo stood before a door and knocked on it.

“Father, it’s me Apollo”.