The first thing he heard when he opened his eyes were the sounds of Adam and Olivia arguing.

“You are wrong Adam, Rhax can easily kill a dragon. He killed a direwolf with a simple knife. So, if he has good equipment, he can kill a dragon.” Olivia’s voice carried from outside his door.

Rhax could hear Adam sigh as he answered. “Olivia, I’m not denying Rhax’s abilities, but a dragon is known to be the King of All Creatures for a reason. They are basically immortal if not hit in the right spot.”

“And?” Olivia’s voice started to get higher in pitch. “I will not be hearing anymore of this, Rhax can and will kill a dragon. Then he will take the dragon’s crystallized heart and make a ring or a necklace out of it then give it to me on our marriage night.”

Rhax decided to end the conversation here, he walked out of the door startling the two kids. “Well,” he started looking at the smiling Olivia and embarrassed Adam, “first of all, I will not marry you, Olivia.”

“Bu-” She started.

“No buts, you are a kid. Stop thinking about marriage and think about what you would do with your friends today. And Adam is correct, I can’t kill a dragon yet. Because I’m still too weak. But when I’m strong enough then maybe I will have a chance.” Rhax faked yawned to sell out the fact that he just woke up.

There was no more arguing, but Olivia looked in a bad mood. She basically lost an argument and was rejected by Rhax in a matter of seconds.

Rhax didn’t regret what he did, it was necessary. He already has Annie trying to prey on him in the real world. He does not want another one here.

They found Peter and Julia already sitting on the table waiting for them. “Good morning, had a good sleep?” Julia greeted him while she sipped on whatever she was drinking.

“Good morning to you too, and yes it was immaculate.” Rhax sat in the seat that was specifically set for him, he suspected it was either Olivia or Adam who set it, because it was in between the siblings' own chairs.

The moment Rhax put the food in his mouth Peter spoke, causing him to choke. “Remember that yesterday I told you that I would take care of the handle of your bayonet. Well, I forgot that I need to finish a project in a couple of days and I got to start today. So, you got to do it yourself.”

After a set of coughing, Rhax spoke. “But Peter, I don't know how to work with wood. How the hell am I supposed to do something I don’t know how to do?”

Peter laughed and shrugged. “Well, it will be a challenge for you. If you can do it without help then I would sell the bayonet personally and you would get all of the money.”

“No way!” Rhax exclaimed. “This is the first item I ever produce; I will never sell it. I already started thinking of names for it, because this is the bayonet, I will use to kill a dragon for Olivia.” He smiled and raised his eyebrow at Olivia who started cheering.

‘Good, I’m on her good side again.’ He really liked this kid, she was a pure soul, and he would never want her to feel sad if possible. He knew in his heart that he would leave one day, so he will enjoy his numbered days in Rlia.

Peter’s only response was: “Okay.” He then went back to his meal.

The rest of breakfast went on without anything happening. After finishing Adam, Peter and Rhax went to the smithy. Upon arrival, Peter took Rhax to the side and explained to him how to make a handle, it was a short process, and not very complicated if one is focused enough.

When Rhax went to the storage room to choose the wood he would use he was surprised to find it empty.

“Peter,” he walked out of the storage room and went to Peter who was giving Adam a mission.

“Yes?” Peter asked, looking puzzled.

“We don’t have any wood.” Rhax then told him about how the storage room was empty of wood and timber.

Peter started scratching the light stubble that grew in the past days. A light shot in his eyes and he smiled. Rhax didn’t like the smile. “I know what to do,” he said as he sprinted in a direction and then came back with a mean looking axe. “Take this axe and go chop some wood in the forest around Rlia. Don’t worry, the area of 5 km around the city is perfectly safe.” Peter was smiling like an idiot when he forcefully pushed the axe in Rhax’s arms.

Rhax surprisingly didn’t refute, because at this moment he thought of all the points he would get by chopping trees. So, he took the axe. It was longer than his forearm and on one side there was a blade, it looked good and shiny. There were no dents in it and the metal looked pretty well made. The wood too, it was dark brown and had a kind of cloth wrapped around the base of it as a handle. All in all, it was a pretty cool weapon in Rhax’s opinion.

“Also, take the wagon and the horse in the back with you, so it would make you bring even more wood.” Peter said on second thoughts.

Adam showed him the horse and how to control it, as this is the first time, he rides one.

“Do you want me to come with you? I don’t think you can control the horse.” Adam offered.

“Pfft, don’t worry, it can’t be that hard to control a horse.” Rhax rolled his eyes at the youngster.

…….

Rhax saw the tree getting closer and closer, he let out a scream. This was bad! He didn’t think that whipping the strap one time was the signal for the horse to gallop.

He closed his eye and covered his face. He was ready for the impact, but he was not ready to lose his only good eye. But surprisingly the impact never came, he shakingly opened his eye and saw the horse eating grass and the tree was a couple of meters in front of it.

He collapsed down in his seat and let out an unbelieving laugh. He really though he was going to get slammed into the tree with the wagon because of that dumb horse.

Taking a few breaths, he calmed himself, then in one swift motion he descended from the wagon and went to tie the horse to a tree nearby. Then with the axe in his hands he went to the tree he almost ran into. “Payback's a bitch, tree.” He smirked evilly then with one swing, embedded the axe inside the tree’s body.

It didn’t go very far in, but he took it out and did it again and again and again, until he reached the critical point. It was the last strike. His body was killing him, sweat was rolling off of him like a waterfall. His clothes were soaked. He discarded his shirt because it was restraining.

He used his shirt to dry himself, it seems the priests from the Terran Church were wrong and right, his injuries were healed. But she didn’t mention that they will leave some pretty amazing scars. His body was filled with scars of claw marks and teeth. It was glorious. He reckoned if he was a little bit more jacked, then he would look like a badass.

“Okay, last strike.” He prepared his mind and body, then putting all of his strength into the swing he went through the last bit of the tree. It was a thick tree, he probably should've taken down the smaller trees, but if he cut the thick ones then he would have more wood in less time.

The log fell down with a heavy momentum, it knocked a couple of trees around it. “Hell yeah, more wood without working.” Rhax said while he sat down on the fallen log.

His arms were sore from the work of yesterday and today. He has never worked this hard in his life. He kinda liked it, it was nice to connect to your heritage. As a historian he knows a lot about how people lived in ancient times, he knows how they cut down wood and how they used steel for their weapons. After all, they didn’t have the machines humans have today that makes their job easier than it was. But they had to chop every tree with their own hands and strike every piece of metal and not relying on machines.

And seeing how tiring the work they did was made him respect humans and humanity even more. Because they were not the best race in the world, they were physically weak, couldn't run fast, and died pretty easily. But humans didn’t give up, they worked and worked until finally they became the unquestioned ruler of their planet.

A scream cut through his thoughts; it was a feminine scream. The sound was coming closer and closer to him, he really didn’t want to get involved in whatever the hell was happening. But it seems that his wish was refused as the woman came into the clear and when she saw him immediately ran behind him and hid.

“Please, save me, they killed everyone and they want to kidnap me.” The woman was crying and clinging on to his arms. She was a short woman, the same height as Julia, her blonde hair was messy and it had some leaves clinging to it. Her pale face was scratched, probably by the trees, her green eyes were filled with fear and tears. Her once white dress was now in a mess, some of it was torn up, dirt and grime were evident in multiple places around the finally made dress. With all of that happening to her, she looked very beautiful. Rhax was not a woman’s man and he was not affected by the looks. But he has to admit that this woman is a beauty.

Her state didn’t make her less beautiful, but in fact it gave her a vulnerable beauty like a princess waiting to be rescued.

But no matter how pretty she was, Rhax was not going to put himself into danger for some woman he just met, just because she was pretty.

He planned to take only the horse and get the hell out of here fast, but it seems that his wish was refused again as three people came from the way the woman came from.

There were 2 men and one woman. They were dirty, their teeth were missing and their clothes were shabby. One man was holding a traditional warhammer, one was holding what appeared to be a sword. And the woman was holding a bow. Rhax had only one word in his mind: Bandits.

The one with the warhammer smiled showing his missing teeth. “Here you are, Lady. Why don’t you come willingly and let me take care of you.” He then licked his lips in a very disgusting manner.

“Well, it seems the Lady has found someone, look at all of those scars, I like dangerous men, why don’t you come here and entrain me.” The woman was looking at Rhax in a manner similar to a predator looking at a prey. It made Rhax shudder, the woman was the definition of ugly. Her teeth were messed up, some were missing and some were growing atop each other. Her nose was big and looked like a downward hook. Her small gray eyes were filled with malice and lust. Her body was pale and this, Rhax could see the joints in her arms because of how thin she was.

“Hi, Matilda, don’t lose your focus, you too Shiv.” The man with the scimitar commanded, he was the most well kept out of the group. Which honestly was not that high, he still looked like complete shit but his clothes were arranged and weren’t messy and shabby like the other two. His black eyes held contempt and killing intent when he looked at Rhax.

Rhax glared back but he screamed inside his mind. ‘Bitch, what did I do?’

The obvious leader of the group, the guy with the scimitar spat on the ground and lazily looked at Rhax when he spoke. “So, are you going to give us the Lady and be a good boy, or do you want to die like the rest?”

Rhax could feel the woman trembling behind him, if he was a lesser man he would have run, and in fact he is a lesser man and would have run. But he knew that he would die because he saw what happened today. So, he stood his ground and held his axe in his right hand. “You forgot a third option.” He spoke with confidence. He heard the woman behind him gasp and cling to him more tightly. “Let go of me, I need to move fast, go hide behind the wagon.” He whispered to her.

“But…they will kill you.” Her voice cracked and tears were running down her cheeks. The image would make thousands of people cry in sympathy and sadness.

Rhax gave her a smile full of confidence, even though he wasn’t feeling any. “Don’t worry, I killed a Direwolf with only a knife. Now I have an axe, I can maybe kill a griffin.” The woman’s face went pale in fear and she immediately went back behind the wagon to take cover.

‘I scared another one, I’m one a streak honestly.’ He rolled his eyes mentally.

“Ah, what is that, One-Eye?” The voice of the bandit's leader entered his ear taking him out of his thoughts.

Rhax thought about how he would give the next line best and make himself look like a major badass. After a few seconds he got it.

He smiled his best evil lopsided smile with a little bit of teeth. Then moved the axe to rest on his bare shoulder and tilted his head to the left while dragging it back to make it look like he was looking down on them. He inhaled and used the diaphragm technique to make his voice more intimidating. “The third option is easy; it is me embedding this axe in your skulls. I wonder if killing a human is easier than killing a direwolf?” He touched his chin in thought. But in his mind, he was celebrating, he absolutely looked like a badass.