Chapter 7: The Proof of Worth

Xeno – “Next!”

A seahorse entered the room in which Xeno currently was and floated over the bed. It seemed quite tired and covered in dirt all over its body. It seemed to barely be able to keep itself afloat because of the extra weight of the dirt…

Xeno took a clean cloth and began to groom and clean the seahorse, removing the dirt from every inch of its body. After a few minutes, the seahorse was clean but Xeno took a little more time in order to fully inspect the seahorse. It still seemed quite weak even though it was now a bit more energetic thanks to the grooming…

Xeno finished examining the seahorse and took out some fruits from his inventory and made sure the seahorse ate them all. There was no reason to make sure of this as once the seahorse started eating it didn’t seem capable of stopping; whether this was because it had been some time since it last ate or because they were just that delicious, it was unknown.

Once the seahorse finished the food Xeno had given it, he stealthily took out a needle and injected the bloated seahorse with some vitamins. The seahorse seemed shocked and a bit in pain from the sudden sting of the needle, but allowed itself be injected.

After this, Xeno checked the seahorse’s condition which seemed a lot better than when it had entered the room. Satisfied that the seahorse was healthy, Xeno allowed it to leave and called out for the next patient.

After the seaweeds went out of control and started growing exponentially, plenty of dirt and stones were blown through the water. These became projectiles that hurt plenty of the animals and even Maomer in the area. The projectiles reached all the way into the village!

Facing a large number of wounded, the Doc scurried back to the clinic to attend the patients. Feeling quite guilty over this event, Xeno began to help move the wounded towards the clinic while Mc Neel and Mr. Rupert tried to figure out a way to stop the still growing seaweeds. The first he brought to the clinic were naturally Josh and Phio who were right next to him when the seaweeds began to grow. While they were mostly protected by the debris from him and the others, the strong current had still left them quite unsettled.

With those two waiting in the clinic, he proceeded to help the other animals. Once he made sure that no more animals seemed to be in need of assistance to get to the clinic, he went over to the clinic with the intent to help out however he could.

The Doc seeing his resolve to help out gave him the task of handling the animals. He was tasked with cleaning and tending to their wounds as well as feeding them and injecting them with vitamins. However, cases where the animal seemed to be greatly injured were taken by the Doc himself. Luckily these cases seemed to be very few.

The Doc, Xeno, and the Doc’s apprentice continued to tend to the wounded till late at night, at which point the Doc insisted that Xeno needed to rest as well. While reluctant to do so as he still felt quite guilty over the incident, Xeno listened to his advice and went back to his room to sleep.

That night, Mc Neel was still trying to figure out how to make the growth of the seaweeds stop. So far he hadn’t have much luck as the seaweeds seemed immune to common poisons and were much harder to cut than usual to the point that several of their scissors and machetes had their blades dull due to the stress of trying to cut the seaweed…

Mc Neel sighed as he continued to ponder over his next course of action when he felt a presence behind him. The presence was very familiar to him as it felt like a living forest was grazing over his neck ready to pull him to the depths, but at the same time carry him towards a bed to rest and recover. This unique combination of auras could only belong to one person Mc Neel knew…

He turned around and saw an aging female Maomer. Her hair was seaweed green and her skin seemed to glimmer even with the occasional “beauty mark”. White spots covered several parts of the visible skin, a true testament to her age. Her deep eyes a testament of the wisdom that had seen generations of life come and go.

“M-mam…” – Mc Neel stuttered.

The wise old woman looked at Mc Neel with disdain before saying – “What have you done now, son? Can you tell me why over half the populace had to go to the clinic today?”

Mc Neel nervously thought of how to answer her – “Well… See… I got this new apprentice…”

“Blaming your apprentice?” – she asked with even more disdain in her voice.

“NO MAM! THAT’S NOT IT AT ALL!” – answered Mc Neel greatly embarrassed. Blaming an apprentice for his actions was ridiculous as what the apprentice does is the master’s responsibility.

“Then hurry it up and explain…”

Mc Neel sighed and began to explain how he had given the new apprentice the tasks to test him and his skills and having been shown the great diligence of the boy he had decided to give him a nearly impossible task to test him. He proceeded to explain that the boy would have to level the plot of land and prepare it for plantation of seeds in three days.

As the woman listened to her son’s discourse, she began to understand her son’s point of view, but the moment he mentioned the seeds he had given the boy and his reasons for doing so, she exploded:

“HOW DARE YOU!? I CLEARLY TOLD YOU THOSE SEEDS WERE NOT TO BE PLANTED UNLESS THE VILLAGE WAS GOING THROUGH A FAMINE OR ELSE THE SEAWEED FIELDS DIED DUE TO ILLNESS OR A SIMILAR EVENT! AND YET YOU GIVE THEM TO A BOY TO PLANT OUT OF PITY OF THE TASK YOU YOURSELF GAVE HIM!?!”

“M-mam, it wasn’t like that at all…”

“DON’T BACK-TALK TO ME WHEN…” – the woman continued to yell a sermon at Mc Neel for several hours whilst all he could do was shrink with every word that was yelled at him. Mc Neel’s guilt increased with every moment…

Later, the woman was catching her breath as yelling for so long had left her breathless. Mc Neel on the other hand did not dare to rise from the floor or utter a single word. Sometime during the sermon, Mc Neel had kneeled on the floor asking for forgiveness and finally simply placed his forehead upon the floor in penance as his mother continued her spiel.

“Anyways, it was you who caused this mess so you are going to pay for it, got it?” – said the woman when she caught her breath.

“Yes, Mam…”

“Though this apprentice of yours seems to be quite knowledgeable and hard working in order to fully prepare a plot of land in such a short amount of time…” – she said in a tone that revealed her curiosity – “You said that this was a pre-test so that you could determine what to give him for a final test?”

“Yes, Mam…”

“And now that you saw his resolve, what kind of test are you planning to give him?”

Mc Neel raised his head from the floor and looked at the woman – “No idea, Mam…”

The woman quickly stepped on her idiotic son’s head with all her strength. She could not believe that this was her son, not because it was unlike him, but because it embarrassed her to think that her descendant was him! Why Doc couldn’t be her son, she wondered sometimes... While Mc Neel could sort of guess her thoughts, he couldn’t raise himself to complain. On one hand he had messed up quite badly, on the other hand he considered Doc a brother already…

The woman removed her foot from her son’s head and looked over to the seaweeds the apprentice had planted. They were still growing even now and if her sight wasn’t lying to her it was growing around 10 meters per minute. These seaweeds must’ve long breached the surface of the water and were very far into the sky. Considering that a single individual was responsible for this, she could sort of understand her son’s problem with determining a final test for this apprentice…

But she had an idea of her own…

“Let the boy proof his worth…”

Day 8

Xeno woke up due to his alarm and started to do his daily necessities as he began to think about the earlier day. His consciousness still felt guilty and perplexed about the growth of the seaweeds, he could still not understand what had caused them to grow so much so fast… He went over to his corals and started to pick up the berries that had sprouted today, and then went down to see Mc Neel. If possible, he wanted the day off to continue to help the injured at the clinic…

Once he was at his office, he knocked the door but the voice that answered him was one he had not heard before – “Come in!”

For a moment, Xeno thought he had confused the office, but quickly realized this was indeed Mc Neel’s office. He entered the room and saw that Mc Neel was standing straight beside the desk he usually sat in. At the seat that Xeno usually found Mc Neel was a lady that he considered to be around her late 60’s.

“Why hello! You must be the new my son’s new apprentice?” – said the lady in an amicable tone.

“Errr… Yes, I am.” – answered Xeno a bit confused. What was Mc Neel’s mother doing here?

“Good! My name is Sanctarcia del Güiona and am the Elder of this village. Just call me Elder as I understand that my name can be quite hard to pronounce.” – she presented herself with a smile – “Now, I’d like to excuse ourselves for yesterday’s incident…”

“Huh? But…” – said Xeno confused.

“Ah, right! You may not know, but it seems that there was a mistake with the seeds that were given to you to plant yesterday. Instead of grade 1 seeds that should’ve been given to you, you received grade 20!”

Xeno sucked his breath as he began to think. According to his knowledge, the grade of an item greatly affects what it can become when utilized. For example, a Grade 1 food item could restore Health by 5, but if the same item existed at Grade 5 it could restore 80 Health. The difference between Grade was multiplicative, with every grade being twice as effective as the previous grade.

The highest Grade currently recorded by the players was a Grade 25 Dragon Meat Meal which raised the stats of the players who ate that meal by hundreds of points! It was speculated that there were greater Grade items in the world, but these were quite rare. As a matter of fact, there were less than a dozen of recorded items with a Grade of 20 or higher. Xeno was flabbergasted that he had actually planted 300 Grade 20 seeds…

“Ooooh! By your expression, I’m guessing you understood what I meant when I mentioned the Grades of the seeds!” – said the Elder joyfully – “So, no need to feel guilty anymore, kay? It was mostly our fault this time.” – she said as she discreetly gave Mc Neel a look.

Xeno suddenly felt that a large portion of his guilt was lifted off his shoulders. While he still felt bad over his part in the incident, he now didn’t felt that the incident was completely his fault.

“Now, you still have three days of apprenticeship… Son?” – the Elder probed her son.

“Right!” – Answered Mc Neel with more energy and discipline than Xeno had ever seen in him – “For the next two days you shall prepare yourself for the final test. The test may require some combat skills; as such you will be training with the cadets of the village, under the command of Sir Sion. After those two days have passed, you will report here to be briefed about the final test. That is all!”

Xeno was a bit taken back because of the extremely formal way that Mc Neel was talking to him, but put it off as being forced to give orders while in the presence of his mother and the village’s elder. Xeno said his goodbyes and exited the room…

“Ah, wait!” – said Mc Neel out of a sudden. He walked over to Xeno with a bag in his hands – “I forgot to give you the recompense for the work of the previous days, here!”

Xeno thanked him and left the place as he checked the contents of the bag, 15 Gold coins. He was a bit surprised at the quantity, but surmised it as an apology for the problem caused as well as the speed and quality of his work, ever-growing seaweed not-withstanding… The first place Xeno decided to visit now was the market area at the center of the town, the plaza. There, he went to a store called Martha’s Depot which sold useful items.

“Hello, what can I do for you today?” – said the smiling clerk.

“Right, I’d like some bags to carry large quantities of herbs; around 20. Also some rope in possible.”

“Sure, that will be 10 Gold and 20 Silvers!”

Xeno coughed the coins from the bag he had just received; he had not bought the bags previously because their cost was 50 Silvers each. With the money he had collected previously, minus the money he had spent on milk and coral chips, he could at most buy 3 bags; as such he had decided to wait till later to buy the bags.

Next, he went back to his room as started to place the seeds and plants in their own bags. After he had collected all the seeds and plants, he placed the bags in his inventory. Then, he went over to the corals and picked three of them, the ones he had observed gave the largest amount of berries as well as the ones with the best quality. He placed these three in his inventory as well.

Once done, he exited his room and searched for Dio for a bit. He found him walking over to Mc Neel’s office. He asked him if he could find someone to pick up the berries from the corals in his room and take care of them while he was absent. Dio complied and said he’d find someone to do so and that they’d probably accept some berries as payment. Xeno told him that they could take 20 berries each as daily payment and left towards the Southern Gate.

Xeno entered the Guards’ Building to search for Sir Sion, but immediately found him training the cadets within. They were practicing stabbing and defending with their spears while giving a high yell with each movement. While they seemed to be well practiced at first glance, Xeno noticed that many of them tumbled slightly as they swung their weapons.

Sir Sion must’ve seen the same as well as he gave those particular individual pointers with his trident. Xeno realized that Sir Sion had already replaced the one he gave him long ago with a newer one.

Seeing that Sir Sion was occupied at the moment, Xeno decided to start practicing on his own for the moment. However, it did not take many swings for Xeno to realize that his muscles were a bit stiff, which in turn made his movements slightly stiffer as well.

Realizing that he needed to warm up his body before starting to train it, Xeno decided to swim around the practice area. He swung his arms and legs repeatedly as he swam round after round around the entire premise. Once he finished his fifthteenth round, he stopped to catch his breath for a moment.

At this time, he was approached by Sir Sion – “Ah, good to see you Xeno! I see that you decided to warm up a bit?”

Xeno quickly caught his breath and answered – “Yep, I felt a bit stiff when I tried to train with the trident…”

“That’s understandable, after all you spent the entire day yesterday either working on the fields or helping out at the clinic. After all that, it’s little wonder your body’s stiff!”

“Yeah…”

“Anyways, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit? I thought you were under the apprenticeship of Mc Neel?” – He asked curiously.

“Right, but he ordered me to come here to train my combat skills before my final test.”

“OHO! So he did, did he?” – said Sir Sion slightly surprised – “In that case, what do you wish to train with?”

Xeno took out the weapons he possessed: the coral knife, the silver trident, and the rope he had bought previously – “I wish to train Close-Range Dagger Combat, Mid-Range Spear Combat, as well as some rope techniques if possible…”

“I understand that you wish to train your Spear Mastery as your primary way of fighting and your Dagger Mastery as a secondary fighting method in order to fend off enemies who get too close for the trident’s effective range. However, I’m afraid the only “rope-like” technique that can be taught here is Net Throwing…” – said Sir Sion slightly embarrassed.

Xeno smiled – “No problem, I just need a place to train an old skill of mine.”

“Oh, so you actually KNOW something about ropes? Well, this isn’t much surprising considering the manner in which you tied that crab… Very well, which do you wish to train first?”

“I want to train my with my weapons today, then tomorrow try out my old rope skills.” – answered Xeno succinctly.

“Very well, then let’s start with that trident.”

Xeno placed the other items in his bag and followed Sir Sion to another room. Inside the room was a wooden dummy that wielded a spear with both its wooden hands – “This here is the basic training room in our facility. You’ll be fighting this wooden dummy while practicing your skills on it. The Dummy’s level of proficiency can be modified to fit the trainee and it can become stronger along with the trainee. For the time being, I’ll set it to the weakest possible and as you fight it it’ll go up to your combat level.”

Xeno approached the Dummy and looked at him, the Dummy spun around, seemingly sizing up Xeno as well. They attacked each other simultaneously, with Xeno’s trident defending against the attacking spear as well as scoring a point against the Dummy.

The two continued to attack and parry each other’s attacks for a while. Sometimes, Sir Sion would give Xeno some words of advice:

“Strengthen the hold over the trident when it’s about to collide, either attacking or defending, in order to increase its power while not reducing its swinging speed.”

“You are in the water, use it to your advantage to swim around the enemy to avoid or strike from any direction.”

“Don’t let down your guard; that just gives the enemy a chance to attack you. Though it can also give you an edge to purposely lower your guard in an area in order to make the enemy attack you when you are expecting it.”

“Okay, STOP!”

With that, Xeno jumped backwards for a moment, dodging the Dummy’s final stab while ending the first part of the practice. A breathless Xeno turned towards Sir Sion who looked both at him and the Dummy that seemed to be just a bit less tired than Xeno somehow...

“Hmmm… Not bad for a first time, just how high are your basic stats?” – asked Sir Sion

“No idea…” – answered Xeno while still trying to catch his breath.

“Huh? Why don’t you? Isn’t it as easy as simply opening your character window?” – asked Sir Sion slightly uncertain of Xeno’s meaning behind those words.

Xeno finally caught his breath and answered – “I kinda promised myself not to look at my Windows until I finished my Apprenticeship.”

“Ah, I see” – understanding suddenly dawned upon Sir Sion – “In other words, you are still uncertain of how strong or weak you are, correct?”

“Regardless of how strong or weak I am, without the necessary skills and abilities to back up those stats, it is useless…” – answered Xeno nonchalantly.

“Hahahahaha!” – laughed Sir Sion joyfully – “In that case, I’ll make sure to fully train that body of yours so that it fully memorizes the techniques you wish to learn! Now pick that knife of yours! You’ll be dual wielding for now on!”

That day, Xeno trained until the night descended using both his trident and dagger until he could use them naturally in combat. In addition, he was taught several skills such as Double Stab, Disarm, and Defense Circlet.

The first skill caused the target to suffer twice as much damage when struck by a stabbing weapon, which in Xeno’s case means either his Dagger or Trident. It is especially effective with his trident as his target would be affected by six different points of attack if it’s launched correctly.

Disarm on the other hand, was a simple skill which allowed one to disarm an opponent, causing their weapon to be launched far away. This skill was greatly affected by the actions of the user and the reaction of the target, so a target that’s expecting you to disarm him won’t be easy to disarm.

Finally, Defense Circlet was a skill that allowed one to defend oneself from several directions at once using a special spinning technique. This skill was easier to use in the water and would be nearly impossible to replicate out of it.

In addition to all of this, Sir Sion ingrained in Xeno a technique to rapidly equip weapons when surprised by attackers. Xeno was quite happy with today’s work, especially since he had managed to obtain his first few skills! All he had to show for nearly a month of play was a bunch of abilities which, while increasing his over-all performance, did not help him much in combat.

Xeno ate his snack of milk and berries while resting his body and watching the others being instructed by Sir Sion. Today’s training was over for him, but Sir Sion still had to train the other recruits. Once he finished eating, Xeno rose from the floor and went towards the room that was given to him for the next two days. He fell on the bed and fell to slumber.

Day 9

The next day, Xeno woke up early thanks to the alarm he had brought and went down to the training area. There was no one around at this time, which was quite surprising for Xeno. He had expected this place to be full at this time of the day…

Pushing these thoughts to the back of his mind, Xeno took out the rope he had bought the other day and started to tie knots. Before he could begin practicing, he needed to create the tools he was going to use while practicing.

Knowing the poor Dexterity of the Maomer this time around, Xeno took his sweet time tying each individual knot. Little did he know that thanks to the delicate jobs he had realized while working under Mc Neel, his Dexterity had increased quite a bit. The webs in his hands now retracted slightly when his hands prepared themselves to work on handicrafts such as this.

Around an hour after he started, Xeno had in his hands the prototype of his first tool: a net. The net was better built than the one he had used long ago to tie that crab’s pincers, with the rope being compressed within each knot to ensure the strength and durability of the net. Still, because of this the net was quite a bit heavier than that one. It would be harder to throw it upon an enemy, but the enemy would have a much harder time getting rid of the net…

Finished with his first tool, Xeno began to work on the second one, which was much trickier than this one due to the special knots required… The net did not require any special knot as long as it was well tied, but this tool does require concentration to make correctly or else it will fail at important moments…

Much later, Sir Sion arrived with the first batch of recruits to start training and saw Xeno over there, working on the ropes. He ordered the trainees to warm up with exercises and swam over to see what he was doing.

As he arrived he noticed that Xeno’s surroundings were filled with various ropes tools, out of which the only one he could ascertain was a rather heavy-looking net. He looked at the tool Xeno was working on now and realized what it was just as Xeno finished the final knot.

“A whip?”

Xeno turned his head sideways, not having realized that Sir Sion had arrived yet – “Ah, Sir Sion! Yes, it’s a type of whip, though the correct term would be Lazo.” – he said as he showed him that one of the ends was tied to the body of the whip – “See, if the Lazo snares the enemy with this end, then when one pulls the other end the lazo closes on the first end with great pressure.”

Sir Sion didn’t quite understand what he meant, so Xeno showed him by using it on the Dummy. Once it was snared, he pulled the Lazo causing the Dummy to fly towards them. Xeno quickly repelled the flying Dummy with his trident while excusing himself.

Sir Sion was interested about the Lazo, but decided to ask about the other things in the floor first. Xeno clearly indicated that those were failures he had created before he managed to create the Lazo. Once the one’s in the floor got entangled, it was no longer possible to release them without cutting them to pieces…

“But that’s the same for this Lazo as well, right?”

“Not at all, look.” – Xeno proceeded to relax the hold of the Lazo, which caused the grip on the Dummy to relax. He swung the Lazo upwards, which in turn caused the portion that ensnared the Dummy to be pulled upwards, freeing the dummy from the constriction.

After this, Xeno asked Sir Sion if there was somewhere he could practice throwing the net. He then guided Xeno to another room where some moving targets floated from one side of the room to the other.

“The speed of these targets modifies the same way that the Dummy modifies to you, so with each good throw you’ll need better precision in order to hit the target. I suggest you also practice throwing your trident and knife at them so that you can have an additional combat repertoire.”

That day, Xeno listened to his advice and practiced his throwing techniques. While it took some time to get used to the feel of throwing the weapons and net, after a few hours he managed to fully get the hang of the precision and accuracy he needed.

Just a few hours before night fell, Xeno was practicing once again with his Lazo and Trident, by catching the Dummy with the Lazo and pulling him towards him only to repel it with his trident. The repeated action had a sort of therapeutic effect of Xeno as he watched the annoyed Dummy try every action it could think of to try to smash against Xeno without getting repelled.

“It seems you are having quite a bit of fun with the Dummy, Xeno. Hahaha!” – said Sir Sion enjoying the show a bit.

“Hahaha, sorry! This was the best way I could think of to train with the Lazo…”

“I have a question though… Why did you make a Lazo instead of a common stinger whip?”

“Ah, that… Lazo’s provide coverage by restraining the enemy, something that stinger whips have a hard time coping with, especially underwater…” – Xeno explained.

“I see… Well, your two days of training are up, so tomorrow morn you’ll know what your final test is about, right?”

“Yep!”

“In that case here.” – he gave Xeno a silver coated knife – “That coral knife won’t be of much use in a real battle, since it’ll break soon enough.”

“Th-thank!”

“I wish you good luck!” – and with that, Sir Sion left him alone for the night.

Soon after, Xeno went to the room and lay on the bed. He began to wonder just what his final test would be as his consciousness began to fade away…

Day 10: Mc Neel

Mc Neel was looking over the documents he was supposed to fill out as he waited for the individuals he had called for today to arrive. While he was reading the reports on the last few days, his mind began to wander about. Suddenly, the door of his office was knocked.

“Come in…” – he said in a disinterested tone.

A tall Maomer in silver armor entered the room and said – “Why did you call for me, Mc Neel? I thought you would be giving your apprentice his final test today?”

“Indeed I will, Sion. But I’ll be having one of your guards be the boy’s guide for some time…”

“Guide?” – asked Sir Sion confused.

“Right, the boy will need to head beyond the Southern Gates for his test.” – explained Mc Neel.

“I figured as much, but why does he need a guide? His geographical knowledge of this area should be even better than that of my men according to Mr. Ruppert…”

“The old geezer can suck a lemon for all I care. The boy needs a guide and that’s it…” – answered Mc Neel unemotionally.

While Sir Sion found Mc Neel’s attitude to be a bit strange, he relented from commenting and instead began to think of which one of his men to send to aid Xeno… when the door was once again knocked.

“Come in…”

Dio entered the room and waited patiently for Mc Neel to address him. Sir Sion sometimes wondered how Mc Neel managed to get such a secretary… Then began to think about how his childhood friend, Dio, was when they were kids and realized that this was simply fate.

“Right, Dio. I need you to get me two items from the vault: Conch 34065 and Sphere 00000. Got it?” – said Mc Neel in an ambivalent tone.

“Conch 34065 and Sphere 00000. Would you like them immediately or later in the day?” – asked Dio seriously.

“Bring the conch immediately, but the sphere later…”

“Understood!” – and so he left the room.

Sir Sion was curious as to why Mc Neel used such codified terms to refer to items, but was wise enough not to ask him. If he did, he would know that this method had been devised by the Elder long ago and questioning her was out of the question…

A few minutes afterwards, the door was once again knocked and Mc Neel once again allowed the individual to enter. Sir Sion half expected it to be Dio back from wherever with the item that was asked of him, but was wrong… It was both Dio and Xeno entering the room.

“Ah, good. You’re here, boy. Dio, the conch please…” – Dio handed the conch over to Mc Neel and stood over in a corner of the room. – “This conch here holds an ability which you must utilize in order to pass the final test; the catch it that you must utilize it on a very specific monster. Dio will be giving you the details on that monster later on, for now just read this conch…”

Xeno picked the conch and began reading it. Sir Sion was curious as to what the conch was about, but decided to keep silent for the time being. – “Right, one of Sir Sion’s recruits will also be accompanying you on your test as a guide of sorts.”

“Ah, yes about that… Since you’ll be going with him, Dio, do you mind going to the Guards’ Building on your way out and telling Tyke to go with you guys?” – asked Sir Sion

“Of course…” – Answered Dio succinctly.

Xeno finished reading the conch and his forehead started to shine brightly, the sign of a learned ability through the use of books or conches. He gave the conch back to Mc Neel who placed it on his desk.

“Okay, that’ll be all for the time being boy. Make sure to pass this test, kay?” – said Mc Neel

“Hum… Okay…” – answered Xeno seemingly confused, but somehow happy. He soon left the room along with Dio, leaving only Sir Sion and Mc Neel. Making use of the opportunity, Sir Sion decided to relieve his curiosity.

“So, what monster did you send Xeno to fight?” – he began to think of the different monsters that lived over the Southern Gates. The large Crabbulates, the leech squids, the spearfish, the demonic clams, the poisonous urchins…

“Old Scrooge…”

Ah, yes there’s also… “WHAT?!” – Sir Sion quickly picked Mc Neel by the scruff of his neck and yelled at him – “WHY ARE YOU SENDING HIM TO HIM!? DO YOU WANT TO KILL HIM!?!”

Not reacting to the hand that’s holding his neck or the powerful LancerKnight that could kill him in his rage, he answered – “Mam’s idea…”

Sir Sion quickly released Mc Neel’s neck and started to pat down the neck-tie he had disorganized while looking around to see if the old witch was around. Seeing that she wasn’t, Sir Sion sighed in relief and sat down back in his chair. There was no way Mc Neel or anyone else would dare go against the Elder…

“Still, what can her plan be? Sending the youngling to fight off that monster…” – wondered Sir Sion.

As an answer, Mc Neel simply showed him the book he had given to Xeno before. As Sir Sion read the tittle of the book, he was filled with realization as well as incredible dread…

“She wants him to…”

Days 8-10: Tyke

Tyke was amongst the strongest in the Guard under the tutelage of Sir Sion. He had always been proud of his strength in combat and considered himself quite smart as well. And this was not simple narcissism as the others in the Guard also considered him the best in their generation and looked up to him as their second in command. That is until the incident last almost exactly one month ago…

In a battle against a Crabbulate, the squad was almost destroyed and he could do nothing. When placed under the pressure of having the lives of others in the hands of his orders, he could do nothing as he considered the consequences and the possible deaths of others. He could easily relinquish his life to have the others escape, but he could not have anyone else sacrifice themselves to bring down their enemy…

While in the middle of his doubts, his captain had sent an unknown individual to help them out. This individual easily turned the tides of the battle in their favor by completely incapacitating the enemy, both on his own account and by making use of the squad. He had shown an ability to command above that of Tyke and superb strategies that left the squad wanting to better themselves!

Tyke was amongst those who trained hard from that point onwards in order to be someone who could fight on equal terms with that individual. For weeks he trained not only his physical body, but also his mind by practicing mock battles between teams. His strategies were in his opinion not very subtle and very easy to grasp by the enemy, but they were effective. He had a long way to go in his opinion before he could reach the level of strategy shown by that individual…

Then, three days ago, that individual came to the Guards’ Building and started to swing his Trident, the symbol of being recognized by a Captain. His swings started sloppily, but gradually became more precise. Still, with an expression of discontent in his ability, he placed the trident back in his inventory and began to swim around the building.

Tyke was confused as to the individual’s aim with swimming, but continued to train his spear-wielding as he watched him swim. Slowly, Tyke noticed the speed of the individual increasing with each course around the building. Tyke was surprised to notice that the last couple of rounds he managed to finish before a full minute was up, something compounded by the fact that the area he was swimming in was a perimeter of around 80 feet. It wasn’t the fastest swim Tyke had seen, but it was much faster than the speed he knew he and the other Guards could achieve right now…

When the individual finished his 15thcourse, he stopped breathless. Tyke sighed, relieved as the individual was still Maomer and not undead or any of the sort. He watched as Sir Sion went to talk to the individual and called him Xeno (Hmmm? Quite a strange name… is it Outworlder?). Immediately, he asked about his warm-up exercise (so that’s what he was doing swimming…) as well as what he was doing here. It turned out that his master, Mc Neel, had sent him here to train for his final test.

Now, Tyke didn’t know Mc Neel personally, but he heard the rumors. He was a Maomer who supposedly loved exploiting the abilities of his workers, forcing them to achieve difficult quotas that required them to work almost constantly in order to receive their paychecks. And if they didn’t complete their quotas, it was deducted from their pay! For Maomer, this idea was quite controversial. Suddenly, Tyke felt a bit of solitude for the young hero against the Crabbulate…

Sir Sion then brought Xeno to the room with the Dummy. The Dummy was quite an enemy that all the guards had fought at least once. It was quite hard, particularly because the longer you stand against it, the stronger he becomes. Tyke figured that Sir Sion wanted to see Xeno’s potential and would be out in a while. However, an hour went by and he saw no sign of them coming out.

Curious, Tyke took a break and swam over to the room to take a peek. He was surprised to see Xeno fighting the Dummy which was attacking with greater speed, strength and vigor than Tyke had ever seen. The two parried each other’s attacks and quickly launched counterattacks with their respective weapons. From the looks of Xeno’s expression, the only thing that existed right now for him was his enemy. He was fully, completely concentrated on the task at hand.

Suddenly, Sir Sion asked him to stop and Tyke scurried away to continue his training while keeping the image of the ultra-concentration of Xeno in his mind. He began to diligently swing his spear and train with even more vigor than before!

The next day, he arrived alongside Sir Sion, determined to use every possible moment to reach Xeno who became his goal. However, Xeno was already there… and he seemed to be tying knots? Tyke remembered the way he tied that Crabbulate and wondered if he was practicing to repeat that strategy or another similar one in the future, but was further surprised when he saw the net he had weaved. Just by looking at it, he could tell it was much, MUCH heavier than the silver coated armor he wore, let alone his net.

However, this surprise did not compare to when Xeno pulled out his Lazo, ensnared the Dummy, pulled it towards him at great speeds, and then counterattacked with his trident. Tyke’s eyes weren’t the only ones popping out after that…

Soon after, Sir Sion brought Xeno to a room only a few of the guards had visited before, Tyke included. It was a room to train your aim when throwing weapon and nets. Tyke figured Xeno wanted to try out throwing that ultra-heavy net as well as his trident and knife, so he decided to continue training as harshly as he could.

Nearing the time when he usually went back home, Xeno exited the room. For a moment, Tyke thought he was calling it quits as well, but then he started playing see-saw with the Dummy again. To Tyke’s surprise, the Dummy appeared to be completely at Xeno’s mercy thanks to the Lazo, which allowed him to control the Dummy’s flying trajectory and completely destroy the Dummy’s balance. Even from the distance, Tyke could feel the fury emanating from the wooden doll…

Soon afterwards, Sir Sion came and off-handily gave Xeno a Silver Coated Knife, the mark of having passed the Basic Training. Deep within Tyke’s heart, he felt that Xeno deserved the prize for the Primary Training at least, but knew that only those who have trained at minimum a week within this building were eligible to obtain that prize. He himself had only been able to pass the Basic Training after a full week, so he had felt that that rule was just, but now he thought it a hindrance…

Tyke sighed as Xeno left the place and he left towards his own home.

Today, neither Xeno nor Sir Sion was anywhere to be seen. Tyke could guess that Xeno was back at Mc Neel’s to deal with his final test whilst Sir Sion was probably dealing with some official matter, so he put the thought behind him as he continued to train. The others gossiped a bit about it, but seeing him training spurred their competitive spirit and soon enough they were working just as hard as he.

This did not last long as the doors to the building opened and a certain individual no one here expected to enter entered, Dio. The Guards here knew Dio primarily because he was in a very strange and delicate position, he was considered subordinate and superior to almost every Maomer in a position of power. He was an ultra-secretary who worked directly under the Elder, someone no one wanted to mess around with.

However, he likes being a secretary to most people and has sometimes been confused by outsiders as a community butler. Tyke laughed at the idea once upon a time, until Dio confirmed that he indeed had that class up to the Intermediate level…

Dio walked over to him as he deliberated what he could be doing here. Seeing that Dio did not speak, Tyke remembered that unless directed he usually disliked starting conversations. Even when directed to tell someone something he would usually wait for the second party to ask before giving the information.

“Yes, Dio? Is something up?”

Dio looked upwards and said – “Other than the roof, nothing.” – before lowering his sights back at Tyke. Cold sweat dripped down Tyke’s back as he was about to try again – “That was a joke by the way…”

Tyke was barely able to keep himself from falling over, but from the sounds around him he could guess that many of the others weren’t able to stop themselves. This guy’s sense of humor can be quite strange sometimes…

“So, is there something you need of me?” – asked Tyke nervously now.

“Indeed.”

“…” – silence

“…”

“…” – silence

“…” – awkward…

“…” – silence

“So what is it?” – asked Tyke as the silence went on to an awkward amount of time.

“By order of Sir Sion, you are to accompany Mc Neel’s Apprentice as a guide as he completes his mission.” – said Dio mechanically.

“Mission? You mean his final test?” – asked Tyke in slight doubt.

“Correct.”

Tyke began quickly began to think about the requirements for a test to become a mission. If he was correct, the test should solve a great problem that the village had had since long ago and the idea for the giving of this task to Xeno should have been from the Elder… Tyke wasn’t too worried about it for the time being.

“Very well, let’s go!”

“Please follow…” – Dio left the building with Tyke following behind. Outside, Dio stood by the opened gate and waited. Seeing that Xeno was not here yet, he asked Dio:

“Where is he?”

“Xeno is currently purchasing items he deems might be necessary.”

“Oh?” – Tyke was interested, perhaps he could guess the nature of the quest by what he wanted to buy – “And those items would be?”

“If my projections are correct, his reserves of whale milk should be running dry, so he should be buying a dozen or two.”

Tyke waited for a moment, expecting Dio to say he was joking again, but seeing that he was serious he continued digging for information – “That’s it?”

“Negative, due to the waste of rope he did the previous day, his reserves of that material are also low.”

Tyke seriously wanted to just ask what the mission was about, but considered that would be bad manners… You just don’t ask about another’s mission when that person isn’t even there and the mission is still ongoing!

About half an hour later, Xeno arrived carrying a rather large backpack. The backpack seemed to be rather empty though and didn’t reduce his swimming speed at all.

“Thanks for the backpack, Dio. This will make the journey much easier.”

“You’re welcome…”

“Oh, you must be Tyke! Pleasure to meet you!”

“Haha… Yeah, though we already met…”

“Ha?” – he began to think – “Ah, right! You’re the one who also tried to tie the crab’s pincers!”

Tyke laughed dryly as he remembered the thing that was left unsaid… How it did not even occur to him to use his net as a rope… - “Right… hehehe… Anyways, it’s been almost a month since then and those Crabbulates are easy pickings for the Guards now! We can even take one individually!” – he told Xeno proudly, though he was sure the other one could take two at the same time if necessary with his Lazo.

“Oh, great! Then we can cover more ground more quickly!” – said Xeno with a hint of relief. I can’t really complain about it since I did show a bad side of me that day…

“By the way, what’s the mission about?”

“Ah! Well… I need to find a certain monster that appears a bit far off from the Southern Gate…”

“Okay… Which monster is it?”

“Dio says I’ll know when I see it and if I don’t THEN he will tell me…”

Tyke could only hold his silence as he thought about the harshness of the mission. After all, telling one to find a very specific monster without telling one anything ABOUT said monster is truly like finding a needle within a field of urchins…

Regardless of the mission’s dubiousness, Xeno exited the gates with both Dio and Tyke on tow.

Day 10: Dio

The trio walked outside for a bit, but not by much before encountering a Crabbulate. An average sized Crabbulate of 5 feet tall – thought Dio – well, let’s see if Xeno is ready for this mission?

Seeming to read his mind or for some other reason, Xeno prepared himself to fight the Crabbulate, but the guard, Tyke, held him off with his spear – “I’ll go first since I have more experience fighting them individually now, you can take on the next one, ok?” – Xeno merely nodded and complied with Tyke, so Dio decided to simply wait and see.

Tyke rushed off to fight the giant crab. In Dio’s opinion it was a rather brute way to confront the enemy, but effective never the less… The Crabbulate confronted the charge with one of its own. As the two were about to collide, Tyke slipped backwards.

The Crabbulate, unable to stop it’s charge, continued running over Tyke without damaging him at all. Making use of the opportunity, Tyke stabbed his spear on the underbelly of the crab with such force that the spear became completely impaled upon the smooth underbelly. The Crabbulate resisted for a few moments before dying off…

Dio was pleased that the direction of the battle went towards ingenuity rather than physical prowess, though he supposed such tactic would not be as successful without the physical strength of the guard.

Xeno seemed a bit surprised, though Dio supposed this was understandable as according to what he had been told he had seen the guards unable to handle even one Crabbulate last month. To see the same guard kill off another Crabbulate with such ease must be a bit astonishing for him.

He recovered quickly though and thanked Tyke for the show and asked to be allowed the next one. Tyke complied with a smile, seemingly happy to have redeemed himself, and started walking.

Xeno asked him to stop for a moment and began to cut up the Crabbulate in pieces. Dio recognized the Butchering ability Xeno possessed as he finely cut out the meat from the crab and placed it within the backpack he had given him.

Seeing him at work, Dio decided to give him some pointers on how to best remove the meat without damaging the shell which could be sold as materials to craftsmen in the village. Xeno listened intently to Dio’s advice and replicated what he was being taught with some ease. Meanwhile, Tyke patiently waited for the two to finish the crab.

Once Xeno finished Dismantling the Crab for its materials, he thanked Dio for the help and they continued their journey… for a few feet before seeing yet another Crabbulate. Dio began to ponder if the Crabbulate population was increasing as they usually dislike being so close to one another without fighting each other. However, he assumed that the reason for this behavior was something unrelated to their numbers…

Xeno swam over to the Crabbulate, but took his time by making sure he was not yet seen by it. Once he was close enough, he equipped his Lazo and snared the Crab’s left pincer. The surprised monster finally detected him and began to charge at him, but Xeno swam upwards as fast as he could and began to pull the Lazo.

Soon, the Crab’s charge was stopped and his left side was left hanging above the ground. The Crab was obviously infuriated at being played with like a puppet, but Xeno ignored its glare and pulled the Lazo with greater strength as he swam downwards to the monster’s right.

The end result of this maneuver, the crab was upside down trying in futility to get off it’s back… Xeno placed the Lazo back in his inventory and took out his Knife and began to cut open the crab’s underbelly and butcher its meat… Tyke was a bit appalled right now whilst Dio was duly impressed; the crab continued to struggle desperately as its insides were being harvested…

“What’s he doing? That’s just… cruel!” – murmured Tyke as he held himself from vomiting.

“It seems that Xeno realizes the importance of the quality of the ingredients.” – Dio answered dismissively.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Materials harvested from the living will always be of higher quality than those harvested from the dead. This is why Seaweeds are usually harvested but kept alive after being cut down.” – said Dio in a tone that gave the impression of “a matter of fact”.

Tyke seemed a bit revolted by this discovery, but decided to keep silent. Dio guessed he was trying to keep composed in the presence of a junior (Xeno) after having redeemed himself.

Just as they finished conversing, Xeno stopped cutting and placed the materials in the backpack; the Crabbulate no longer existed… Dio smirked a bit as he now had a some grasp of Xeno’s abilities – Perhaps he could just complete this mission? Though maybe he could use some warm up first… Let’s have him kill some more monsters before going THERE.

Having made his decision, Dio allowed Tyke to continue leading the group and fought off against monster after monster…

It was around midday when Xeno finally found an enemy that gave him trouble. The Crabbulates were a joke to him thanks to his Lazo, they could only give up as they were turned topsy-turvy and harvested alive.

So where the Spearfishes, if he managed to snare them though that in itself was quite difficult as they swam much faster than Xeno… After taking a few stabs from them, Xeno had decided to keep his Lazo next to him and placed it in the spearfish’s trajectory when it rammed towards him. When he dodged and the Spearfish passed harmlessly next to him, he tightened the Lazo. After that, it was a matter of him swinging the Lazo and smashing the Spearfish against the ground, stunning it long enough for Xeno to incapacitate it by cutting off its fins and tail. Later on, he would instead keep his net handy and throw it in the spearfish’s way to easily capture it without much resistance…

While the Leech Squid’s technique of blinding with their ink before binding their enemies with their tentacles and sucking out their fluids were grotesque and hard to counter, Xeno’s vigilance and instincts in that battle paid off and his enemy could not get too close to him without him reacting. Once the squid was captured by his lazo, it was subjected to torture as he continuously milked it for its ink, placing it in the empty bottles that had accumulated in his inventory.

Quite honestly, Dio was astonished with Xeno’s technique with the whip. So far, he had only used that item in battle and his dagger to harvest his enemies. Curious as to this, Dio had previously inspected the whip and was pleasantly surprised to see that it was a below average whip. This confirmed his suspicions that Xeno had had previous experience wielding such weapons before… Perhaps a Past Life?

As he pondered about Xeno’s abilities, he continued to watch as Xeno and Tyke worked together to fight off their latest enemy, a Demonic Clam. It was quite a large one to Dio’s knowledge, having around 6 feet in width alone. It was a monster infamous for having a very tough shell as well as its tactics… The body within those shells, while is usually quite tender and weak in most clams, is actually quite hard to cut or stab. It used it harder than usual body to capture its enemies and pull them between its shells, where the enemy would be squashed and become an ingredient for its blood pearls. Given its size, Dio calculated that it should contain a Medium sized Blood Pearl…

Both Xeno and Tyke were now defending themselves from the clam’s slaughter, trying to stab its flesh while dodging, which wasn’t going too well. Whenever they tried to get too close to it, the clam immediately retracted its body within and snapped its shell. Like this, they would never be able to defeat it…

“Hey, Tyke!”

“Huff… Yeah, Xeno?”

“I may have an idea.”

“Good, I was hoping you had one!”

“Really… Just how do you guys usually defeat these clams?”

“Hahaha… Usually, the majority opens up the clam’s shells while the others stab its interior. Not exactly a good technique to fight this type of enemy, but it gets the job done!” – said Tyke in a self-depreciating tone.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself, this thing is VERY hard!” – Xeno comforted him noticing his tone of voice.

“Anyways, about that idea…” – Tyke quickly changed the theme while keeping an eye on the clam.

“Right, I’ll try to get the clam to be on guard from closing its shell!”

“How will you manage that?” – asked Tyke doubtfully.

“Just get its attention for a bit…” – said Xeno dismissively as the clam once again opened its shell and continued its attack.

Tyke moved forward and started to counter the Clam’s attacks. Behind him, Xeno prepared himself by taking out his Lazo again. Previously, he had tried to use it on the clam, but its shell was too heavy to move with it… the Lazo almost snapped then! Dio didn’t know what Xeno was planning to do now, but was patiently waiting for the resolution.

Xeno snared a portion of the clam’s body as it was repelled by Tyke – “Okay, now get close to it!” – to which Tyke complied by dashing over. Seeing the enemy closing in, the clam retracted its body and started to snap shut. At that moment, Xeno pulled his Lazo and a portion of the clam was left outside as it snapped with astounding power.

A second later a guttural wail resounded around the area as the clam opened its shell once again in a hurry. Tyke took the chance and skewered the clam right then as it tried to make heads or tails of what had happened…

Tyke thanked and congratulated Xeno for the idea as he caught his breath from all the exercise he had done just now against this clam. Xeno on the other hand simply said it was teamwork and began to harvest the clam. It seemed Dio’s deliberation was correct, as he found a Medium sized Blood Pearl within.

Dio – “Alright, a lunch-break seems appropriate right about now?”

“Yeah, lunch would be nice!” – said Tyke expectantly.

Xeno also seemed to want to rest for a while, but he simply smiled at Dio’s question. However that smile turned into a doubtful expression as Dio took out a portable cooking pot from his inventory and asked Xeno for some of the harvested meat. While he gave Dio some from the Crabbulate and the Spearfish, he asked if he was going to cook.

“Of course he is going to cook!” – said Tyke salivating – “He has the Cook class in the advanced levels!”

“Really?!” – asked Xeno in surprise, which was understandable as getting that class to the advanced levels was quite a hard struggle. Never the less, Dio plainly answered:

“Not at all, I’ve never possessed the Cook class, so I naturally don’t have it in the Advanced levels” – with a smile.

“Oh, really?” – asked Tyke with an expression of obvious doubt – “Then how come the food you make tastes better than the food the restaurants in the village make?”

“That would be because I possess the class of Chef, though it’s still in the Intermediate levels.” – answered Dio still smiling as he continued to work on the food.

Tyke’s expression clearly showed his opinion of the matter: “what’s the difference?”, but Xeno’s showed even greater awe than when he heard he had the Cook class in the Advanced level. Dio inferred that Xeno knew of the usual hardships a Cook had to go through to become a Chef, which usually can only be done when one has the Cook class fully mastered.

However, Dio had not lied when he said he had never had the Cook class, which means he had obtained the Chef class on his own. This could only be done by preparing some dish which greatly exceeded the quality of a dish of another Chef.

Once done with the cooking, Dio served the food and gave it to the others to eat. Within the minute, his pot was empty. Afterwards, Xeno shared some of his Whale Milk with the others, which was also one of Dio’s favorite drinks as it was cheap, rich, tasty, and nutritious. Tyke, who had never tasted the milk before, quickly developed a taste for it as he chugged down the contents of his bottle.

Seeing the others enjoying their time here hunting, Dio decided that Xeno was as ready as he could be today to handle the target. He would’ve preferred that he had a chance to fight off against the Urchins, but there hadn’t been any in the area. Oh, well! He’s ready enough…

Day 10: Xeno

The day had been a long one for Xeno, as he had been hunting monster after monster every few minutes while also harvesting their bodies. He had made quite a good haul with the materials he had now, which pleased him as he would be able to get some extra income for later. Though he had also planned to sell the meat at the Butchery in the village, he managed to extract a promise from Dio to teach him to cook at least some basic meals. He would have to review some conches in order to determine the best way to preserve the meat for later usage, but extra studying was always welcomed!

The condition of his weapons as good, with the exception of his Lazo… its durability was in the single digits after a few more fights with other clams. He decided he wouldn’t use it anymore until he met with the creature he targeted as he wasn’t sure he would be able to do much if it broke… As it is, he noticed that most of his tactics had used his Lazo as the primary weapon even though it was of a much worse quality than his other weapons… Only in niche situations had he been forced to use his net or trident.

Xeno sighed as he considered doing some re-training in order to get the hang of his other weapons else he might end up playing with just a whip… As much as the whip gave him variability, it left him open to many types of enemies if he wasn’t careful.

Xeno followed Dio who had decided to take the lead around noon and guided them towards a different direction than Tyke had before. So far, the enemies in this new area as the same as the ones in the other one… With his Lazo in reserve, Tyke handled the Crabbulates while Xeno captured the Spearfish and Squids within his net. They steered clear out of the way of the remaining Demonic Clams…

After some time, Xeno saw something that caught his gaze. Loitering around the field were large craters that seemed to have been created through force rather than digging. He began to consider what could make craters a foot deep when Dio stopped walking.

In front of them was a cave made mostly out of stone, but with pieces of coral growing from random locations. The insides of the cave were pitch black, impossible to see within, which made Xeno feel uncomfortable.

“Is the target within?” – He confirmed with Dio who simply nodded. Dio then walked off in a direction and sat on a rock, then took out his notepad and began to scribble furiously. Most likely, he would wait here for him to finish his business…

“Okay, you can stay here too Tyke…”

“You sure? The enemy is unknown.”

“Yeah, the test is for me so it’d be bad if someone else completed it for me…” – Xeno said as he began to walk towards the cave.

“Then I won’t help you!” – Tyke answered as he continued to follow Xeno inside the cave. Xeno sighed at Tyke’s actions, but let it go as having some company would be better than having none. Then wandered within the cave which grew in size the longer they walked. It was mostly empty, though some strange flowers illuminated the caverns; Xeno took this chance to collect some of them but left their identification for later…

After what seemed to the two as an hour, they finally reached the end of the cave. There, a pile of large, flat stones formed a tower. And sitting on that tower of stones was…

Tyke – “A crab? They sent you here for a crab?”

Xeno sighed internally at his comrade’s ignorance, but was unable to correct him as the seemingly asleep creature immediately rose from the tower and swam over to Tyke. Before either of them could react, the creature sent him flying off against the wall! As Tyke recovered from the sudden attack, the creature spoke:

“By the blood of my ancestors, those who insult them shall be punished! Buku!”

It stood stretched in all its glory atop its eight feet, a ten inches tall. It’s dull, red scales glimmered upon its body and tail. Three pairs of completely different claws extended ready to continue fighting: two were shaped roughly like clubs, two were much longer and sleek giving off a feeling that they could slice you with sight alone, and the last two were very peculiar as they remained retracted but showed a gleam that showed the sharpness of their tips. The creature’s eyes gazed upon Tyke, eyes that, while seemingly half-closed in a way similar to old monks, were actually composed of three segments each.

“A… Bermudean Mantis Shrimp!” – yelled Xeno in surprise once he recognized the creature. It was a dangerous variation of the mantis shrimp species. While being half the size of most others, it was actually much more violent and possessed the weapons all of its cousins possessed… A tiny predator capable of fending off against enemies many times its size with sheer strength.

“Buku, at least one of you is knowledgeable.” – said the Mantis Shrimp as he turned his gaze upon Xeno. – “Why have thee invaded mine home, buku?”

Xeno wasn’t sure how to answer the creature’s inquisition, but he wasn’t allowed a chance to:

“Oww! Damned Crab hits very hard! Be careful Xeno!” – Tyke warned him… only to be pummeled against the wall once more.

“Thou DARE to continue to insult mine Ancestors?! Thee must have a DEATH WISH! BUKU!” – yelled the Mantis Shrimp as he forgot about Xeno.

Xeno took this chance that Tyke had stupidly provided in order to calm his nerves and think. Considering the creature’s attitude, he guessed that it had a relevant amount of pride in its species. Maybe he could use it against him? Having made a decision, Xeno began to formulate a plan.

Meanwhile, Tyke was trying to run away from the Mantis Shrimp who seemed intent on ending his life. Tyke was extremely scared now, as his spear was snapped in his hands because of the creature’s pincers and the piece with the tip was shattered because of the hit it had taken from another claw! He was seriously wondering whether they’d be able to escape here alive when…

“Wait, Shrimp-gojo! Please listen to me before you continue your justified rage!”

Tyke was surprised to see that the creature had stopped harassing him and had swum over to Xeno. He really did not expect such a malhumored creature to simply listen to what Xeno was saying. Tyke decided to keep himself quiet and hidden for the time being as this was Xeno’s mission and he was greatly outclassed…

“What is it, Maomer-buku? What does thee have to say about being here, buku?” – asked the Mantis Shrimp in an exasperated tone.

“I have come here to witness the prowess of the powerful creature that was said to inhabit this area and confirm my worthiness in battle with it.” – answered Xeno without missing a beat.

The Mantis Shrimp seemed a bit taken aback as he was rarely challenged and even less for such reason, but he answered – “And why pray tell does thee wish to duel myself, buku?”

“To prove my worth.”

“To who, buku?”

“Myself.”

The Mantis Shrimp remained silent as he considered the Maomer who so easily challenged him. Using his great vision skills and abilities, he could easily determine that while this one’s level was below that of the one he had been chasing before, he was actually far stronger in many other categories…

The auras of multitude of colors unknown to human-kind clashed about within the area that he stood waiting for his decision. Almost as if multiple strong beings stood together at the same time in the same location. It had been some time since Colonel had seen such combination of auras and he could easily count the number of beings he had met as such…

While he did not yet know the reason for such auras, he knew them to be the potential strength of the future. And most of the time, the wielders of such auras knew of their own potential… So why does this child wish to proof his own worth to himself? Colonel was skeptical, but he would accept the challenge if only to determine the child’s true strength.

“Very well, Maomer child, buku. I, Colonel, son of Fallorme, descendant of the Trianadesna Blood-Line, shall accept thine challenge, buku.” – saying so, he retracted two pairs of claws within his body leaving only his club-like claws ready for battle – “Prepare thyself! Buku!”

Xeno seeing that Colonel had accepted, took out his Trident and Lazo and prepared a stance that Sir Sion had taught him to do when initiating a duel with someone. Seeing the weapons in Xeno’s hands, Colonel smirked are readied a stance of his own. The two looked at each other for some time…

“Let the duel BEGIN! BUKU!”

Chapter 6: The Nature of Nature

Perhaps some of you wondered just how strong Xeno truly was, and some of you actually ask about the reason behind Xeno’s ability to learn abilities so easily. Well, whilst one of the secrets behind this was already revealed, the second most important half of the secret is still in mystery, though I made sure to allude about it in this chapter from the perspective of other characters. Xeno himself is unaware of this particular notion about The Helix and will remain in ignorance for some time in the future.

This chapter I gave further emphasis on the change of perspective by telling the story from the point of view from several characters: Sir Sion, Tyke the Guard, Dio the secretary and our main protagonist Xeno. Not to mention ol’ Colonel’s thoughts in the final scene.

Mantis Shrimps possess three known weapons. First are the club pincers with which they can punch their enemies and create catatonic bubbles. The second are the sharp claws that they can use to easily cut off the limbs of others. The third one is a set of retractable claws which they can extend forwards and use as spears. While every one of them possesses the second weapon, the first and third one are found in either some or another type of Mantis Shrimp, not both in a single species. In addition, they possess the best vision of every single discovered animal in existence. It’s one of my favorite animals, that much is certain! I wonder if Xeno will be able to win against one of my favorite animals… Decisions, decisions!

:P

This chapter is 33 pages and nearly 12,000 words long. Hope you enjoy it!