*Thud* *Thud* *Thud. The sound of strong impacts on wood could be heard continuously in a large courtyard. A lanky youth can be seen hitting a large wooden pole with extrusions that are mimicking arms. He was 5’7 which was quite tall for a 13 year teenager and had long, straight, dark blue hair. It was in the afternoon and the sun was beating down heavily so the youth was sweating quite a bit. Luckily there were a lot of trees and a sizable pond in the courtyard cooling down the surrounding.

As the sun reached the peak, a couple entered the courtyard. The man was fairly tall at 5’11 and had long black hair. He wore a casual military uniform that was a mix of training outfit with a t-shirt and an official uniform with a few pins for rank and achievements that made him look stoic but allowed him to walk around the hot sun without sweating. The woman was 5’6 with long blue hair and wore a casual yellow sundress.

Marie: Come on sweetie, you have been training for hours, you should take a break

Ivan: Nonsense Marie, William is the first born son of our Li clan, this much work is expected

Marie: I don’t care about anything about your clan Ivan! William is my baby and I say he needs to rest.

Chuckling, William stopped hitting the wooden post and greeted his parents.

William: Good afternoon, Mother and Father. This much work isn’t too much. I’ll take a break before doing some more. After all, I can’t hunt yet to increase my aura reserves, so I have to work hard through physical training and meditation.

Ivan: Great mindset son. I am proud of your hard work! We need more people like you after the emergence. After all those manifestations started appearing, humanity has been put in the back seat in this world. It is our duty to regain our ancestral lands from them

William: Yes, father, I will drive the manifestations back and follow your lead to become a valiant soldier for the Federation.

Marie: No you will not Will! I know you awakened last year but I will not have you galavanting into those bloody battlefields. I expect 7 grandkids from you and your brother Edward. Why can’t you be more like him? He’s relaxing and hangs out with his friends. You need to have more fun and enjoy your childhood

Ivan: Honey, I understand how you feel but Will here awakened at 12 which is remarkably fast. Normal people would awaken at 14 during a Battle Academy. He is well above average and should be able to carve out a grand destiny for himself. He is so much better than Ed who frolics about and doesn’t have a single ambition to his name

William: Now now father, Ed is his own person and you should not compare us. Now that we have all gathered we should eat lunch together. Let me go get him

Edward!?

Edward!?

Edward!?

Wake up Edward!

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Captain: WAKE UP ED!!!!!!!! I know it's your last day with us but get your ass up and get ready for our mission!

Ed: Alright, alright, Captain, you don’t have to be so loud. I’ll get to camp HQ in 10 minutes

I wonder why I dreamed of my past. it's been so long since my last dream...maybe its because i’m applying for Ares college soon

Edward quickly got up and put his usual cloth mask that covered his face from his chin to his nose. The mask didn’t hide his sharp eyes and Ed didn’t bother to maintain his hair so he had short black hair like a crew cut. Edward just turned 16 but stands at a 5’10 with a stringy build. One would say he looked exceedingly normal or even a bit weak, but his comrades would say otherwise. Ed could produce a surprisingly strong force for his size and is extremely agile and fast. He got his equipment together and started walking out of his tent.

Ed quickly reached the camp HQ. The camp wasn’t too big since the Dire Wolves are only a mid size mercenary crew with 8 people, 15 if you include the support staff. In fact, one could even argue that they were closer to a small mercenary crew. He only had to pass two tents to arrive at his destination. Inside he could see Captain standing in front of a table. Captain was a tall and muscular man that was 6’2 and seemed to be a 250 pound machine designed to destroy.

Captain: Alright, now that Ed has joined us, we can start the mission briefing. This will be a typical hunting mission with 18 mannies (slang for manifestation) in the northeast part of the forest. This was commissioned by the town of farmers in the area. Recon has identified mainly mammal type mannies such as bear, wolves, and birds. We did not discover any specially colored mannies (black and white are default with colors for special ones). The highest ranking manny is a C-Class bear which will be handled by me. Specific formations will be determined after we do one final recon when we arrive.If there are no other questions we will head out in 15 minutes.

The briefing ended and a few of the mercenaries gathered around Ed.