Having spent 2 years in the castle training, Avian didn’t just hole himself inside the library but also participated in the combat training the king put them through, knowing what kind of world Avian had gotten himself into Avian knew that fighting was going to be a crucial skill he had to master no matter what, at the time he didn’t know what kind of blessing he was going to get, but regardless of what it was going to be he needed to know how to fight if he didn’t want to get killed the moment he stepped out of the castle doors.

Predictably Avian was the slowest out of all the young hero candidates when it came to combat training, he was barely able to keep up through effort alone, but even then he was the lowest amongst everyone and couldn’t even defeat the [Sage] Mary who arguably should have been the weakest in close combat as in return of being able to use all forms of magic the [Sage] was simply abysmal in close quarter combat.

The kingdom officials and instructor knights were pretty regretful when they saw Avian, even though he was putting in so much effort forcing them to be delicate when speaking about his progress.

Normally something like this would have put an average kid in a very depressive state, but Avian still kept going choosing the spear as it was the easiest and most effective weapon to use while not being affected by any of these things no matter how unsuited and slow he was as he knew this was unavoidable when compared to everyone else and also because he had experienced worse things than this, in the end it was not like his goal was to become the strongest, for Avian it was enough if he didn’t get murdered by an average joe and could somewhat compete with above average opponents.

Killing that bandit was the first real combat experience Avian had ever gotten, being not one to usually use violence Avian still recognized how important violence was in this world and how it would likely decide everything which is why he trained so hard for the past 2 years.

Avian wasn’t able to learn many advanced techniques, but he was able to perfect all the basics as he easily avoided the blows from a low level Bandit before using his [Blood Reinforcement] on his spear and kill him in one strike penetrating his chainmail and leather armor like a hot knife through butter making fights much easier.

[Blood Reinforcement] was a sub-ability Avian figured out how to use when he considered the many ways of using [Blood Control], he at first focused on creating objects like weapons with his blood, but as he progressed Avian realized that creating weapons with his blood while effective expended too much of his biological power or BP.

Avian from early on knew that his [Hemomancer] blessing didn’t use magic power or MP to work, but instead used something akin to his stamina but not quite the same to accomplish the same goal causing him to dub this power biological power since it came from his own flesh and body, while he didn’t know the difference between his biological power and magic power, he did know that his biological power was more easier to replenish since he merely needed to eat food to quickly recover while magic users needed to meditate or sleep to recover their magic power.

Creating an object out of blood required a lot more blood and BP compared to just coating the object in his blood, this action also wasn’t too different when it came down it, with the only downside being that the object Avian was “reinforcing” with his blood being fixed when it came to shape other than that once he used [Blood Reinforcement] on an object like his spear he basically just choose a specific place he wanted to coat in this case being his spear head using less of his own blood and BP while increase the effectiveness of his weapon ludicrously as he was able to easily penetrate chainmail plus leather armor with just his spear head being covered in his hardened blood, in emergency situations Avian was also capable of covering an area of his body with [Blood Reinforcement] basically giving his body a layer of armor in case he was struck, but Avian couldn’t keep it up constantly as he would need to divide his focus which is why he didn’t want to even try using this technique in fear of getting killed through his own experiments.

This being the whole reason why Avian joined this fight in the first place, ever since he discovered this sub-ability of his Avian had almost no chance to effectively use it, seeing the battle raging right beside him made Avian see the perfect opportunity to use his new ability while also honing his fighting skill in a real fight to the death.

But to be very honest, it wasn’t as if Avian wasn’t scared, in all actually Avian was beyond scared out of his mind about getting killed with his life being forfeit in a foreign world he didn’t want to be in, but out of all people, as a businessman Avian knew exactly that a businessmen had to take risks if he wanted to earn big, if one didn’t take risks or catch opportunities when they came along one would never move anywhere, this mentality was what immediately convinced Avian even with his fears as he weighted the pros and cons before stepping in.

Watching the bandits before engaging Avian instantly figured out that none of these bandits could even hold a candle to the knights he sparred day in and day out for the past 2 years, and while the bodily attributes of these bandits compared to him were drastically different from each other because of their blessings growth direction, Avian still wasn’t too far behind as he had trained his body everyday while these bandits clearly indulged in all sorts of harmful activities like drinking, whoring and usage of drugs, his spear was all Avian needed to defeat the majority of these lame bandits with a single stab, but if they talked about using no weapons even Avian would be troubled as his whole fighting skills only worked when he had his spear while he himself only had high constitution and charisma from his [Hemomancer] and [Monster Tamer] blessing respectively.

But regardless Avian only needed to take care not to lose his spear, with his spear in hand Avian was confident he wouldn’t lose to any of these bandits, furthermore he wasn’t alone either as he fought Avian had a reliable meat shield called Markus who was a member of the Black Shield mercenaries that was hired by one of the merchant groups here, Markus wasn’t very skilled, but he was more skilled then most of the bandit’s present and most importantly Markus didn’t really need to do a whole lot to be useful, Avian simply needed Markus to keep a bandit busy while he himself dealt the killing blow, Markus too instantly understood his role while they fought, Avian didn’t know his opinion or what he thought of the way he used him, but Markus seemed to be completely fine with it and as they fought their team work quickly advanced, before they knew it the duo had left a trail of bodies behind them as they advanced into the main area of the battle, people also started to notice how many bodies those two had racked up together forcing quite a lot of people to come and fight them as they advanced.

Avian not being nearly as tired because of his high constitution was easily able to endure, what he was worried about though was his partner Markus who always took the brunt of each encounter, for a moment Avian thought about retreating and taking some space to give Markus some air to breathe, but just as he was thinking about it a person suddenly shouted at them.

-Markus! Take your friend and come here!

It was the voice of a huge and rough man that called out to Markus while also addressing him, not even considering it for a moment Markus immediately followed the man’s orders as he looked at Avian and told him to come before jogging towards that man.

Avian instantly knew that he was likely the leader of their mercenary crew after seeing how the man was basically the center piece and the one leading the mercenaries, Avian himself wasn’t sure what to do, but he didn’t think that going along would be a bad thing which is why he followed.

Even though they had killed over 10 bandits the battle was still raging on, Avian never imagined he would encounter such a big Bandit group, luckily the mercenaries and guards here were just enough to combat these Bandits if not they would have long since been overwhelmed.

-Boss! I am here!

-Glad to see you’re still alive Markus, wouldn’t want to see someone as young as you haunting my dreams.

-Yes! But actually its Lukas here who allowed me stand here and talk to you boss, Lukas is one of the passengers on the carriage, he is also a superb fighter!

-Yes, I saw, the amount of bodies the two of you racked up together created a whole line, good job by the way, you may have intimidated those bandits a whole lot through your clean executions, currently we are basically equal when it comes to manpower and strength, this little show you just created could tip the scales in our favor, by the way sorry for not introducing myself first, my name is Arvid, I am the leader of the black shield mercenary group, thanks for saving our little rookie here we owe you one.

Lukas nodded at the gruff who on closer inspection had a rough scar going down his face making him look even more intimidating then he was, but overall Luka’s didn’t have any bad impression of Arvid as he didn’t seem to be a muscle-head even though he looked like one.

-As Markus said, my name is Lukas, I just came to assist a little bit and if you don’t mind me asking, how is the current situation? Seeing that a good part of you isn’t fighting but holding the line, this fight is actually more difficult than I imagined isn’t it?

Hearing Avian say that, Avrid’s eyes momentarily flashed as he couldn’t help but notice Avian’s insightfulness, he was right after all they were indeed holding back at the moment and fighting defensively because of a problem they currently faced or rather an individual.

-You have some good eyes on you kid, and looking at closer you look younger then even Markus here, coupled with your fighting skills, I wouldn’t mind it if you joined our mercenary group if we survive this, how about it? I’ll make it worthwhile for you.

Markus and some of the other mercenaries were slightly surprised hearing this from their boss as he normally never personally recruited anyone and just let his close aides do those things, the offer itself was also very tempting too as their mercenary group black shield was actually pretty famous around these parts getting clients from all over ranging from wealthy merchants to even nobles coupled with their high survival rate a lot of aspiring mercenaries wanted to join this group, but Avian knew none of that, and even if he did know he still wouldn’t have changed his mind as a life of a mercenary was not for him.

-Sorry, but my dreams call for somewhere else, and honestly I am not suited for fighting as my blessing isn’t compatible for fighting.

Avrid was both disappointed and surprised after hearing Avian’s reply, disappointed for obvious reasons and surprised that Avian didn’t have a combat blessing, he momentarily wondered what kind of blessing he could have as he did see how Avian fought watching how he was easily able to pierce armored bandits with his bloodied spear which should normally be extremely difficult considering the quality of the spear itself that only looked sturdy and nothing else, not even guessing that the blood on the spear was Avian’s ability at work.

Ultimately, Avrid had no idea, asking was also not an option as asking someone what their blessing was, was considered extremely rude to the point people could get hostile over it, ultimately forcing Avrid to give up on this line of thought as he sighed.

-Very well, I can’t force anyone, but since you replied to me, I also tell you whats going on right now, as you guessed we are actually in a pretty awkward situation, this being that this bandit group ain’t just your run off the mill bandit group, they are called the gray wolves and their leader is called Bennet who is a formidable rank 2 [Warrior], in fact he is standing over there.

-A rank 2 [Warrior]…

Hearing this Avian immediately understood what was going on as he looked over to where Avrid was point, seeing a similar situation like the one they were in as the bandits fought against the guards plus black shield mercenaries, way back there stood a man with a great sword behind his back watching the battlefield just like Avrid more specifically watching them as they looked at him, this man compared to Avrid wasn’t as gruff or huge as Avrid, but just looking at him made it clear that he wasn’t someone easily messed with, most importantly this bandit leader by the name of Bennet was a rank 2 [Warrior] meaning he was one of the strongest people on this battlefield right next to Avrid who too likely was at rank 2 with his own blessing.

Having intimately studied the blessings of this world for the past 2 years, Avian was thoroughly aware of every little thing regarding blessings that was made public.

Ranks.

Also one of the mechanics of the blessings which were separate from the rarity of the blessing itself and more integral to its strength, it was also one of the only things an individual had control over and the main way of awakening new abilities from their blessings once a person advances in rank with their blessing.

The way a person advances Is simply through using their blessing a lot until they naturally advance, in a sense this was similar to how you do normal training with long and repetitive practice.

The ranks go between unranked to rank 9 which is known as the limit of this world and the strongest a person can be with their blessing, Avian himself currently was unranked not even rank 1 which was already a point where someone could with a bit of effort squash a unranked individual who had a blessing of equal rarity, Bennet the bandit leader was a rank 2 [Warrior] a slap from him alone would enough to break Avian’s neck, but that is only because Bennet had a physical combat blessing which was the [Warrior] blessing that give him a lot of strength, if a rank 2 [Wizard] did the same thing Avian would be undoubtedly still be launched away a couple meters but he would live which still demonstrates how powerful of an attribute boost a rank up can provide even to blessings that didn’t focus on such things as strength.

There are many other things to consider as well such as qualitative cut off points where a blessing would truly show its might, but those weren’t important as no one could possibly be that strong here, rank 3 individuals were already the heads of minor organizations with over 300 people one can imagine what the position of people above rank 3 was like just from this alone making it not worth mentioning it right now.

Avian also understood now why both Avrid and Bennet weren’t fighting, with their power they could easily end this battle as all the people fighting were either unranked or rank 1, but they didn’t because the true opponent weren’t these grunts but each other.

The person who stepped up first to fight would immediately be on the disadvantage since they would need to waste precious energy to deal with the grunts which could be enough to give the opponent an edge if the battle continued for a long time.

After figuring all this out it made Avian truly want to sigh as he once again was reminded how truly weak he was at the moment, only a few seconds ago he was proud of how he easily decimated a few unranked bandits with the help of Markus when truly his strength didn’t even matter in this battle between rank 2 fighters, but this dismay was only temporary as Avian immediately started to think about what to do with this information.

He never thought that he would encounter a rank 2 fighter so soon, furthermore looking over the state of the battlefield it was hard for Avian with his limited combat experience to predict who was going to win as they looked equally matched, because of this Avian felt tempted to just turn around and get out before it was too late, but if he did that Avian would face a lot of other problems such as being far away from the next closest settlement and also needing to survive in the wild for a couple of days which could be dangerous in on itself with the kind of beasts that would be roaming around, Avian possessed some survival training that he received back in the castle, but knowing the theory and being able to execute in practice were 2 completely different things, the reason he joined this battle was precisely because Avian wanted to acquired said combat practice in an environment where he could easily pick his battles, but if he landed in the wild and was told to survive even he couldn’t tell if would be able to, for all he knew Avian could meet a pack of wolves or a spiked bear both options equally as terrifying as Avian would immediately be killed if he met them.

Considering all of this, Avian immediately knew what his option was.

-Looks like we have no other choice but to win this fight.

Avrid nodded, he too didn’t actually want to fight this battle as it would risk his and the lives of his men considering how equal their strength was which could go either way, but running simply was suicide considering this was enemy territory, they had no other choice but to stand their ground and fight, Avrid was worried at the beginning, but seeing Avian and his performance a bit of hope started to blossom within Avrid, he now only needed to find a way to break this stalemate and win the battle, if he could just do that Avrid would feel confident about his fight against Bennet.

Truly there was no easy way to solve this other than to pray and see who wins, but Avian was not one to just sit down and bite his thumb, opportunity came to those who looked for it, while Avian was not a combat expert he was a good thinker and as he observed the battlefield he couldn’t help but notice a carriage that belonged to a merchant that was loaded with barrels of some kind, looking at the label he instantly knew what It was making him for a moment as idea had just sprouted into his mind.

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