Thank you all for the support thus far. I'm sorry the shortness of the chpaters. I'll try to get them longer

The strange group continued to travel across the plains. Until they arrived at a river. This strange group consisted of a blind man, a white haired man, and two golden and white foxes. This group was Aleqe, Abrum, Tella, and Bella. The foxes tended to wander off and bring back rabbits. Aleqe tried to cook the rabbits at first, but after the foxes nearly choked to death after eating his cooking, Abrum took over. Through the journey he got a new skill. The cooking skill got to beginner 9 and was stuck at 99.9%. This was due to the fact the foxes were ravenous. Abrum couldn't really complain because of two reasons.

1: The foxes caught the parties food

2: How could he resist those cute green eyes

Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill ExperienceCookingBeginner999.9%This skill enhances the taste and buffs that your dishes provide. The higher level the skill, the more delicious the food and the easier cooking becomes.

The foxes and Aleqe alike seemed to enjoy the cooking though.

The foxes still wouldn’t come close to him after he hugged them. Abrum assumed they still held bitter hatred towards the humans, and were grieving. He understood. He understood what it was like to lose one’s parents. He had experienced it. The hopelessness that welled up inside of him when all he could do was just watch as the tragedy unfolded, unable to do anything. Oh, he knew what it was like, the long, agonizing, sleepless nights occupied with his thoughts revolving around a single thing

‘If I had only been a little faster. A little stronger. Why wasn’t I? Why couldn’t I be?’

That incident had kindled inside him the desire to become strong. Strong enough to protect those he loved. He trained. He tried hard in school. Although, all his efforts just fell into that deep dark pit in his soul, but he kept trying. Eventually, he found that no matter how much he tried, he would never be strong enough. He was broken. He was lost.

And then.

He was saved, in more ways than one, by his pastor. He was more like the father that he once had than anyone else. His pastor gave him support, and offered kindness that no one else would. Through the traumatizing events that led to him being orphaned, and then the heartwarming events that saved him from his depression and saved him spiritually, two things were kindled inside of him. These two things became closely knit.

First and foremost: To emulate the kindness and generosity that his pastor showed him, in his darkest hour.

Second: To be strong to have the ability to show kindness in any situation.

These two fires in his soul were what he was based around. Somehow, these drives, which would be considered virtuous and righteous, got him into the current situation.

The surroundings were very picturesque. The river bent around a hill with a single, low hanging tree, at the pinnacle. This tree provided large amounts of shade from the oppressive sun. Aleqe sat under the tree leisurely eating an apple, enjoying himself thoroughly. The scene would be beautiful, if not for the situation that Abrum was in. He wasn’t sitting up under the tree enjoying a delicious piece of fruit, noooo. He was lying face down on the river bank coughing up lungs of water while Bella and Tella were nipping at his ears. He was blue in the face and seemed like he was on the verge of death. Aleqe was just leisurely observing, happily crunching on his apple.

“What are you doing boy? That was only a minute and a half! Get back in there! You still have a few hundred more swings”

Abrum staggered to his feet, water trickling out of his mouth. Any sane would scream profanities at Aleqe and run the other way as fast as they could. Abrum wasn’t a normal person though. Those two purposes drove him to go back into the river with his swords, and stand at the bottom of the river.

Aleqe laid back and continued to eat his apple, the juice dribbling down his chin. He just sat and watched him as Bella and Tella went off to go hunt some food. Aleqe was frankly surprised at the boy’s perseverance. Many would have given up or run screaming. But not Abrum…

Meanwhile, Abrum was practicing his sword form underneath the river. The silver cuffs on his ankles were enough to keep him on the bottom. His usual sword form required adjustment to cope with the flow of water. A normal slash was countered by the current, so he adjusted his movements until he seemed almost like the water that surrounded him. Flowing and fluid were his strikes, he almost looked like a snake. Of course, the awe inspiring sight was a bit less awe inspiring when Abrum was purple in the face or whenever he messed up his swing, and the current caught his arm of sword and threw him down the river bed.

After repeating this action for 8 days, yet again, only stopping for food, and two hours of rest per day, he was a different man, (now with a light fear of water). After the 8 days, Aleqe and he sparred for a one day together.

The blows that were exchange were no less forceful than the ones before, yet something was different. Whenever he parried against Aleqe, he would always deflect his attack by turning his sword at the right moment, and then have his other sword snake in for a counter attack. Aleqe was honestly impressed, though one couldn’t see it on his face scrunched up in concentration.

Abrum was no longer one that was scared of the swings from his instructors. He had been half drowned approximately 7,040 times in the past eight days. The swords now seemed to be extensions of his body, the way he moved them, one would almost think he had been born with those swords in his hands. The arms snaked in and out gracefully, yet aggressively. He would not give the man a break. Not the one who had nearly drowned him 7,040 times.

Bella and Tella were watching the exchange attentively with their bright green eyes. They were sitting under the tree munching on the rabbits Abrum had cooked for them.

Abrum was smiling broadly when he saw Aleqe’s face scrunched up.

“Losing it old man?”

“Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr……..heh heh.”

The danger alarms in Abrum’s head immediately went off when he heard Aleqe’s strange laugh. He jumped back quickly to get as much distance as he could from Abrum. Whenever his teacher laughed like that, it was never a good sign.

Abrum stood in a ready stance, wary of what was to happen next. Aleqe just stood there, his head body bent over, his head was hanging down loosely upon his chest. His arms dangled holding his swords lightly.

Abrum who was using his Aura sense suddenly paled as he realized something. Aleqe’s aura. The outer was… dark dark green. Green with deep black mixed in to be precise. An immense amount of pressure was released.

At that moment, Aleqe rushed forward, body bent down nearly parallel to the ground. The speed was unimaginable. In a split second, Aleqe had covered 4 meters. If Abrum’s attack were a rapid river, then Aleqe’s attacks were a tsunami. Unfathomably dangerous, and inescapable, the blows rained down upon Abrum. He had no time to counter attack and was occupied with keeping himself alive.

The foxes perked up at this sudden development. They saw the one that had saved them in trouble….They

‘How faithful……’

Abrum jumped back yet again, to retreat from the onslaught of blows. Yet, this action offered no refuge from the onslaught of blow. Aleqe just dashed forward and renewed the attack.

Abrum was amazed at how his instructor had changed. His original speed had increased by threefold. The blows were more powerful as well. Abrum was being pushed back step by step, till his back was against the river.

At that point he got an idea. He kicked up some water into his instructors face. Aleqe didn’t see that coming and stepped back in surprise. Abrum wore a joyous smile while he performed a smooth, graceful strike. This strike hit Aleqe in the ribs and felled him! Not. In reality, Aleqe merely parried the blow, and then kicked Abrum back into the river.

With a splash, Abrum did a back hand spring and then sank into the water, waiting for his instructor. And waited. Then it dawned on him. His instructor wouldn’t jump in, there was no need to. Eventually Abrum would have to come up for air. He cursed himself for his impulsiveness and swam back to the surface. As soon as he came up for air, he was smacked hard, but not too hard on the crown of his head. He saw Aleqe squatting down in front of him.

Aleqe offered him a hand. Abrum took it and stood up, coughing up water. He looked up at his instructors face apprehensively, but his Aleqe was smiling.

“Nice tactic boy. If I was a couple of years younger, I would have followed you right in without thinking.”

“Thanks old man. What happened near the end? Your strikes became much more rapid!”

“A man has his secrets boy! I’m honestly flabbergasted at the amount of progress that you’ve made in the past few weeks. There is nothing left I’m willing to teach you.”

Abrum looked at Aleqe incredulously.

“Shouldn’t it be there is nothing more you CAN teach me? Not nothing more you want to teach me.”

“…Meh.”

“Hey!”

Aleqe began to walk towards the tree, ignoring Abrum. Abrum stumbled to catch up to him. They sat under the tree eating the apples.

“After today, I wanted to end your training, but I decided I have one more challenge for you.”

Abrum eyed Aleqe nervously, his deep blue eyes filled with apprehension.

“What would that be master?”

“Your final challenge will be to subjugate the Succubus that is causing trouble to the east of the city.”

Subjugation of the SuccubusType:TrainingDifficultyE+[tr]A succubus, a creature of seduction, has begun to plague the town to the east of Sefica, Hillshir. You are to go and subjugate the succubus. Quest cannot be declined.

Abrum just stared at the box, but then something registered.

‘My first quest!’

“Oh by the way, to help you on your little subjugation, I have a gift for you.”

Abrum looked excitedly at Aleqe… That was until Aleqe grabbed his face with his hand. Abrum was more than a bit scared when Aleqe’s hand started to glow. And then, the blinding flash of light.