Macebearer Of The Magus World Chapter 1 Glowing Blade

Within a small forest, near a small little village that was close to a rocky mountain was a young man with black eyes and long black hair.

The height of this young man was approximately 195 cms tall, his physique bulky and explosive, the fine lines of his body showing through even with his baggy linen clothes, his hair reaching down all the way to his waist.

The face of this young man was obscured by his long hair only showing the visage of his eyes peeking through the slits of his hair as he stood in place repetitively swinging his hands up and down holding a huge wooden club half his size hammering a big boulder beneath him which caused quite the ruckus within that small forest.

This young man was called Philip, a generic name, without a surname indicating his common descent, fitting for a villager living inside a poor little village out in the sticks.

At the current moment the day had just begun, it was early morning, the sun had just risen with the air outside still cold as ever even though it was midsummer.

Normally people would be shivering at this temperature, but not him, Philip was already used to this, he had experienced worse and found this to be quite enjoyable, even though it didn’t quite look like it, Philip was very content and unusually excited that day as today was a very special day indeed.

-97…98…99 !

Philip shouted, sweat coursing down his body drenching his tunic as he swung his wooden club onto the big boulder, each strike of his was ferocious and full of unrelenting force, each time the boulder was struck by this unrelenting force the boulder got smaller and smaller, shards of rocks splashing everywhere with each strike.

-Hisss…Now one last time…

Philip thought, breathing in sharply as he felt the cold morning air within his lungs, his arms were shaking, his legs were tired and his hands were sore, but Philip wasn’t bothered, looking down onto the small boulder he raised his wooden club one more time before he put all of his remaining strength into his arms and then…

-100 !

He cried, his last strike hitting as the ground shook beneath his feet and the boulder finally giving in, splitting into countless pieces flying into all directions from the powerful strike.

Philip now finally having finishing his daily regime dropped the wooden club abruptly and collapsed onto the ground, panting heavily and painfully as he looked up into the sky staring at the clouds up above.

He whispered.

-Today I am turning 16, I am finally a adult, which means I can also finally make the first step towards my dream…

Philip imagined, dreamed as he looked into the sky, he thought about all that has happened for the past 6 years ever since he started doing this and couldn’t help but recall his memories of that day when he finally decided what he wanted to do.

6 years ago Philip was just like any other normal village boy his age, full of vigor and playful attitude he lived a normal village life together with his family and siblings, most of the time working out in the fields day in and day out but sometimes also gathering with the other village children to play and have fun.

Philip was never really exceptional or talented in anything, he also never really had any type of ambition, being a villager, the only things he knew for certain were the fields he tended to and the borders of his small village he lived in, he sometimes did wonder about what laid beyond those borders, but he never really dared to go and find out for himself and instead simply opted to learn those things from the villagers who did go outside or even just listen to the stories of the occasional rare travelers that came by once per month.

Out of everyone, the village chief was the most informed about the outside world, he was after all responsible of managing the village making him the smartest individual, whenever the tax collectors from the lords castle came he would always be the one to receive and talk to them.

Most of the knowledge Philip had came from the old village chief, and through the words of the old man Philip came to know that the world outside was full of things that he couldn’t have even imagined just by living in his small village that was as big as a world to him.

The world that Philip resided in was known as the magus world, magus meaning (Mag)ic (us)ers sometimes also referred to as Magi.

When Philip first ever heard of the term Magus he already had a certain idea of who they were, he had already heard stories about them when he was smaller, myths and tales of their great accomplishments and supernatural powers were wide spread, all children actually knew of these stories but up until then he always believed them to be mere fairy tales and nothing more, some adults also shared this skepticism, but that was only because most of the adults never left the village and the people who did leave rarely came back while the people who did come back had never mentioned to have encountered these Magi who could call storms or summon spheres of fire.

Such narrow mindedness was common amongst villagers which wasn’t anything rare, the village chief also, while clearly knowing a lot of things, never tried to completely convince everyone of his knowledge as he seemed to think that ignorance was better for the people then knowing what really lurked outside, and Philip, he didn’t really care, he found the idea of Magi interesting, but he wasn’t drawn enough to seek or even try to become one of them.

Of course not everyone was like Philip, some kids who believed in the wisdom of the village chief would ask lots and lots about the mysterious Magi and how to become one, most of these children were in fact the dreamy sort who had a lot of wild ambition, the village chief wasn’t bothered by it as he was kind enough to entertain the thoughts of those children seeing no harm in them trying to pursue something like this even if it was borderline impossible to accomplish, he believed the experience to be the most important aspect and even if those children wouldn’t be able to accomplish their goals at least they could make something out of themselves using their motivation as fuel to guide them forward.

And as such life went on, Philip being his usual self spend his days like he always did tending to his fields with his family and playing around, content with what he had, he never once thought about leaving the safety of his village or even entertained the thought of becoming something bigger, though it wasn’t as if he didn’t want to, it was just that Philip never had a good or clear reason to pursue strength or wealth, and love was the farthest thing he thought of when he considered the future.

Of course all of that came crashing down when he was 10 years old, that day was a very nightmare inducing day indeed for most of the villagers at the time, but not for Philip, as what he saw that day was the direction he would finally be pursuing his life to give him meaning.

That day a group of goblins were about to attack the village.

Goblins are ugly childlike looking green skinned little creatures who have long ears bald heads, long nails, long noses and red eyes, their faces look extremely ferocious with their mouths almost always open showing their jagged yellow brown teeth while also making weird shrieking cries.

The goblins usually lived deep within the forests, possessing a small degree of intelligence the goblins formed little tribes all over the place and within those tribes they all usually did the same thing scouring their surroundings, hunting or gathering for food all the time so they could satiate their stomachs all day to fill their desires.

Goblins usually never attacked the villages around them, as goblins by nature were extremely cowardly, they sought other goblins to bulk up their numbers to increase their courage, goblins knew that humans were strong even when alone which is why goblins only ever attacked villages when they had close to 100 goblins gathered and only when the village was small like Philips.

Which makes you wonder, what gave the goblins who only had 20 of them the confidence to storm the small village in the first place if they really were so cowardly ?

The answer was.

A Goblin Shaman.

Normally even the old hunters of the village could take care of these small creatures on their own, as the goblins weren’t really all that powerful even weaker then a human child, but even goblins had different ranks among them such as goblins warriors and archers with the most physically powerful being goblin champions who rivaled the strength of orcs and had the same height as adults, it was even questionable whether or not the hunters could defeat goblin warriors much less goblins champions who could rip them into shreds.

Then what is a Goblin Shaman then ?

Well goblin shamans are actually not that different from normal goblins, they had the same physique and strength of a normal goblin, but what made them special instead was their high amount of intellect and spirit which allowed them to cast powerful spells just like the human magi from the stories to devastate their enemies.

And what made it worse was the fact that Goblin Shamans were incredibly rare in the first place, the chance of them being born was 1 in every 100.000 goblins.

There was virtually nothing ordinary villagers could do to such foe, it was literally a disaster coming to the village, it was like a gun wielding man from the future going up against a group of cavemen from the stone age, the result would a be obvious one sided slaughter, the gap was simply too big.

Knowing this the village chief made the most sensible decision at the time and decided to have everyone in the village flee as best as they could before the goblins arrived, the next closest human settlement at the time was another small village like theirs that was 150 kilometers away from them, with their speed the village chief estimated that it would take a total of 2 to 3 days for them to reach that settlement and ask for help, but at the same time it could also be that the goblins would continue chasing them which at that point nobody knew what the outcome would be.

Goblins were voracious creatures after all, they ate almost anything even their own kin, they would most probably kill all the males for food and enslave the females for reproduction and pleasure once they were caught, there was simply no reasoning with these monsters making the village chief extremely troubled about what to do as the goblins got closer, the villagers were already scared out of their minds, and while some of them had experienced similar incidents such as this in the past, those incidents were always small and more isolated then this, nobody knew for certain what to do making everyone quiver within their boots.

If no intervention would have occured that day, this poor little village would have probably been erased from the face of the planet along side its inhabitants who would suffer.

But Miraculously such thing did not happen.

-What is happening ? Why are you all so unnerved ?

Out of nowhere a mysterious stranger appeared, a traveler from a foreign land wearing a big gray cloak hiding his silhouette only his face was visible which was not handsome or ugly, the man seemed good nature and well intended when he asked a random villager, and while usually villagers were guarded against outsiders, this man had a particular swaying air about him that made the villager unconsciously trust him for some reason.

-Ahh…how unfortunate, good man you should better leave this place at once, a group of goblins are soon going to attack this village and even though there are only 20 of them, the hunters had reported that a goblin shaman was amongst them, this place is soon going to turn in no mans land or even worse a scorching hell.

The villager was already packing his belongings when he talked to the stranger, giving him his last warnings, the villager soon didn’t bother anymore and quickly left the stranger by himself leaving together with his family for a chance to live.

The mysterious stranger didn’t say anything to the villager and simply watched as the villager ran for his life, a contemplating expression on his face as he stood and thought about something with his eyebrows furrowed.

Luckily his thoughts didn’t last long having made some sort of decision, the stranger started walking again, but instead of heeding the warnings of the villager to leave that place, he instead started walking towards the direction from where the villagers where fleeing from, the place from which the goblin shaman would appear.

Philip at the time of the crisis was also packing up hastily together with his family, because Philip was just a child at the time and also never saw a goblin before up until this point.

He didn’t feel as scared as the other adults though, he was uneasy about the whole situation because his parents and other adults were influencing him with their fear, but he also understood that it was a matter of life and death out here in sticks and that there was no time to think other than try help his parents and siblings pack up.

But as he was packing and stuffing his bag, Philip saw the mysterious stranger passing by his house from his window.

The stranger was walking leisurely down the dirt path, countless villagers passing him by as they fled away into the opposite direction, only the stranger was calm, looking weird but also sort of tranquil amongst the panicked crowd as he slowly made his way towards the forest from where the goblins would appear, some of the villagers also noticed the stranger and tried to warn him, but he didn’t care nor did he bother to respond to them, because the situation was dire and everyone needed to care for their own lives, the villagers didn’t try to warn the stranger anymore after attempting once, soon enough there was only the lone stranger on top of the dirt path about the enter the forest.

-Who is he ? What is he doing ?

Philip thought at the time extremely intrigued of what he had just seen, the curiosity within him welling and rearing its ugly head as it urged him to see for himself, never did he once show this sort of urge to see or wanting to know something like that day, and even though he was still packing, his mind was not into it as he constantly thought about the weird stranger who entered the forest.

-Maybe…maybe I should go check on him…

Such thoughts whirled inside the boy’s head, he knew it was a insane thought that could get him potentially killed, but for some reason he was still willing to take that risk, there was something he really wanted to see, his gut was telling him to go and see, it was a urge he couldn’t control and just as he finished packing up his belongings, he swiftly got out glancing towards his parents and siblings who were still packing.

He whispering.

-I’ll be back soon, don’t wait for me…

And as such, Philip sprinted out of his home, carrying nothing more then his clothes behind his back, this scrawny, malnourished, 100 cm little boy ran towards the forest after the mysterious stranger, there was nobody to stop him as almost everyone had already at this point fled or were still packing their belongings, the boy without being noticed entered the now dangerous forest looking for the tracks of the stranger and where he went.

It was midday that time, the sun was still up high getting ready to set, the forest didn’t look any different from its usual self, birds were chirping and leafs were rustling by the wind, and even though nothing was different, the atmosphere had noticeably undergone a huge change, no wild animals could be seen, it seemed as if it weren’t only the villagers who had decided to flee, most of the wildlife had also noticed the presence of a powerful creature within the forest choosing to abandon their homes just like the villagers to survive.

Philip was disturbed, he even started to second guess himself and blamed his impulsive decision making, what he was attempting at the moment was nothing short of suicide and he knew that as well, but even then, Philip steeled himself taking a deep breath he tried to calm his beating and fearful heart and gather courage in himself.

-I am just going to take a peek, after that one peek I will immediately leave and run away, its only going to be a second nothing more and nothing less…

Those words seemed to have a good amount of impact in them as Philip regained his motivation, he still didn’t know what he exactly wanted to see, but that didn’t matter anymore the only thing that was important was the fact that he knew that there was something to see and even though he didn’t know where it was yet, he would soon know.

(BOOM!)

A loud explosion rattled the forest, the smell of burned wood drifted within the air carried by the wind, a tower of black smoke appeared not too far away, Philip seeing that knew where to go now and sprinted forth towards the smoke.

-Haa !

-Griihhh!

As soon as he arrived on scene Philip could hear the cry of a man and a creature, the sound startled him, but Philip got himself together and stopped running, now opting to be sneaky he crouched towards a pair of bushes next to a tall tree, as he got closer, Philip could smell the vivid stench of blood entering his nostrils, the smell made him freeze for a bit, but he didn’t entirely stop finally getting into a good vantage point Philip peeked through the bushes now finally being able to see what he wanted to see.

And what he saw, made his eyes go wide.

Carnage.

It was pure and utter carnage, blood and organs scattered across everywhere with bodies sliced in half and heads rolling on the ground, the scene was too much for the boy, Philip wanted to scream, but out of fear of being discovered he cupped his hands and closed his mouth and nose shut subduing his voice within the bushes shivering.

It took a few moments to adjust, but after observing for a few more moments Philip started to understand that the bodies on the ground weren’t of human origin, they were all green and ugly monsters, having heard of their appearance Philip was quickly able to discern that those creatures were the infamous goblins Philip had heard of from the villagers.

They were all cut down and amongst those bodies stood one lone man holding a ordinary iron long sword that dripped blood, the gray cloak that was once neat and tidy was now covered in grime and blood as well, nothing was untouched by that stinking blood, but even then the calm and tranquil figure of the stranger didn’t change, he stood peacefully amongst the heaps of blood and flesh as if there was nothing wrong about it.

For a moment Philip thought that maybe everything was now over and that the stranger had already taken care of everything, but he was wrong, because the stranger back facing towards Philip. Philip couldn’t see what was exactly in front of the hulking figure of the mysterious stranger.

Only after he heard a shrieking voice of another creature did Philip know that it wasn’t over yet.

-GRRR ! KRIEEEK! YOOU HUMAN ! YOU PAY FOR THIS ! I WILL EAT YOU ALIVE !

-…

The stranger moved, faster then Philips eye could see charging towards the shrieking voice, now finally out of the way, Philip could see who the stranger was fighting against and when he did Philip instantly knew what it was.

The Goblin Shaman.

Comparing the Goblin Shaman to the ordinary goblins, Philip couldn’t see any physical difference, other then wearing a robe and holding a staff, the goblin wasn’t very different from the rest, but even then Philip did notice that the aura or air around the Goblin Shaman was totally different from the normal goblins sprawled on the ground, its eyes were shinier and more sinister making him feel cold.

But that wasn’t the only exceptional thing about the goblin, soon enough Philip came understand why he was called the “Shaman” because as soon as the stranger started to approach, the goblin made a vicious grin, chanting something underneath its breath and moving its staff in a circle, strange light started to gather on the tip of the staff, until finally a globe of fire the size of a football started to condense on top of the staff.

Philip gasped the moment he saw the globe of fire, the stories told by the old village chief came to mind when he saw the globe of fire making him petrified.

The stranger on the other hand immediately stopped his charge the moment he saw the globe of fire, he didn’t freeze like Philip didn’t and instead watched carefully as the Goblin Shaman threw the globe of fire with his staff, the speed of the globe wasn’t very fast, even Philip could see its trajectory, but even then it didn’t make the ball of fire any less dangerous then it looked.

The stranger obviously dodged the ball of fire stepping away from it he distanced himself for about 10 meters from it for some reason which made Philip confused, but very quickly he understood why he did as the moment the ball of fire missed and hit the ground a large explosion occurred with flames spewing everywhere around the blast.

(BOOM!)

Once again a tower of smoke rose into the air, a 4 meter long crater appeared in the place the ball of fire exploded the remnants of the attack still scorching area around the crater with raging flames.

-!?

Only now Philip could truly start to understand the horror of Goblin Shamans and Magi in general, a mere single attack of such a condensed ball of flames was enough to create such a big crater and even leave behind lasting flames, he could also now understand why the stranger distanced himself so much, if he hadn’t even if he didn’t get hit by the ball the aftershock of the explosion would have gotten him and potentially even devastated him.

Philip now started to get idea that he wasn’t meant to be here, his mind started to logically tell him that this was way beyond his capabilities and that he should leave as quickly as possible, but even then Philip still didn’t run, not because I wasn’t scared or anything but because there was still something he hadn’t see yet that he wanted to see, any normal person would have already left at this point, hell any normal person wouldn’t even be there in first place.

But there he was, Philip needed to see this through, staring at the stranger, Philip felt a type of expectation well inside of his when he saw the sword and the blood covering his body, it made his blood boil and his cheeks flush and his eyes glow intently.

-What are you going to do ?

Philip thought, continuing to observe the battle between swordsman and magi with his fists clenched tight and his mouth closed shut.

The fight raged on, the stranger and the goblin shaman fought aggressively, one shooting balls of fire while the other dodging the balls trying to close in on the opponent, sometimes the stranger would be able to get close enough to land a slash, but as soon as that was about to happen the goblin would strangely raise his other hand that was empty and raise some kind of invisible wall blocking, followed by a invisible projectile of energy forcing the stranger to take distance and evade, which was soon continued by another bout of balls of fire that exploded without giving the stranger a single inch or room to breath.

At this point the battlefield was already full of holes created by the balls of fire, both sides had expanded a lot of energy and while everyone felt as if the fight had been going for hours on end, in reality it was merely a few minutes since the fight had started, soon it would coming to a close as both sides were extremely exhausted by now, the goblin shaman in fact was started to woozy from all the magic he was using, but because it was a fight of life and death, the goblin shaman refused to back down as that would mean certain death for him.

The stranger on the other hand wasn’t faring any better, he looked fine on the outside holding his sword with both hands concentrating on the fight, but on closer inspection you could see the sweat that was pouring out of his body drenching him and few burned spots on the cloak already showed that he was near his limit too.

Philip could feel it, the next bout would be the last, in the next instant the victor would be decided.

Philip was already satisfied with what he had seen, he could have left by now and ran back to his family, but he still stayed and continue watching, for why that was he didn’t know anymore, but halfway through the fight Philip found himself silently cheering for the stranger and even idolizing him, the elegant and lethal swordsmanship he showed while fighting the goblin shaman was killer in his eyes, occasionally he would even see slight glows of light concentrating on different body parts of the stranger when he moved and sometimes that glow would on the sword as well giving it a divine feeling that Philip just couldn’t get enough of seeing.

People usually wouldn’t be able to notice such fine detail, in general only the moves of the goblin shaman were slow enough to see what exactly he was doing, whenever the stranger moved on the other hand, he accelerate so fast that eye of a commoner like Philip wouldn’t be able to catch much less notice the slight glow of his movements.

Naturally it was clear that Philip unbeknownst to him had a type of talent recognizing these sorts of things involving the glow of the stranger, this display in fact triggered something within the depths of Philips heart, a ripple appearing in his soul that made him want to pursue and acquire that glow..

-I also want to be like that…that glow I want it too !

And with that a seed of ambition formed within the heart of the boy, he still didn’t understand anything regarding the glow or on how to acquire it, but he knew that he wanted it and for him to have it he was willing to go through all lengths to get it.

With that in mind, outcome of this battle became 10 times more important to Philip then it normally should have, the reason being the person who already had acquired the glow could also tell Philip how to acquire it, if he died right here right now, Philip wouldn’t be able to ask him anything regarding the glow and even likely end up like him too as the goblin shaman would most likely kill him when he gets noticed.

Philip tried to think, he wasn’t a good fighter neither was he a good planner, no matter what he did, Philip knew the he couldn’t bring close to anything to tip the scales in the favor of the stranger, but at the same time Philip noticed that he didn’t really need to do much in the first place, observing the battle up until now Philip understood that the 2 still hadn’t noticed his existence since the beginning as they were too focused on each other to care for their surroundings, using this could be immensely advantageous if it was used correctly.

Philip didn’t even need to deal damage to the goblin, 1 moment was enough, if he was able to even give the stranger a single second, Philip was sure that he could win.

And with that in mind, Philip no longer hesitated and sneaked out of the bushes, he collected a few rocks from the ground and started to sprint around the battlefield keeping a slight distance so he wouldn’t be noticed, both the stranger and the goblin shaman were still in a stand off against each other, Philip didn’t know how much time he had left so using every ounce of strength he could muster, he ran as quickly as he could to reach behind the goblin shaman.

As he was doing so, the stranger and the goblin shaman were about to commence their final bout, both of them were probing each other out while glaring at each other to guess the intent of the opposing party, it was truly suffocating but both of them understood that neither of them would be backing off today and that one of them would be dead at the end of this.

The goblin shaman especially started to get nervous, being a goblin, cowardice was something he couldn’t entirely get rid off even with his high intellect, he constantly fought with his instincts and rational reasoning on why he shouldn’t run away, if it wasn’t for his cowardice effecting him the entire time, the goblin would have probably won by this point with his superior magic.

But now it didn’t have time, running away wasn’t a option anymore, the goblin shaman could only cast a few more spells before it completely dried out of energy and then would get cut down.

The Goblin Shaman contemplated, how could it win ? How could it kill that human ?

The goblin was crafty, it only thought for a few seconds before a light bulb flashed within its brain, it was a surprise that it didn’t think of this in the first place, considering how the stranger had fought until now there was an easy way to kill the stranger !

A vicious grin appeared on the goblin shaman, the stranger was disturbed by it and tried to guess what the goblin was scheming, to avail unfortunately.

-Looks like I have no other choice, I need to cut it down before it gets the opportunity to act, I shouldn’t avoid the spell anymore, getting hit once shouldn’t be a big deal as long as I concentrate my aura around my body I shouldn’t die with just one hit…

Having finally made his resolve, the stranger no longer stayed idle, making a huge leap the stranger once again charged at the goblin shaman, the goblin seeing this could only forcefully hold back its grin, chanting another spell under its breath, the stranger assumed that it would be once again either just a Fireball or a Arcane Missile, either one he could block forcefully with his body with the use of his aura, but would still heavily injure him even if he gets the opportunity to kill the goblin shaman.

Things seemed to be going well, it looked like the stranger was going to kill the goblin while also getting heavily injured himself, the only problem was the goblin, who still made the stranger uncomfortable with the way it was looking at him, his intuition honed by countless battles was also telling him that something was wrong, but because it was the crucial moment he simply subdued his gut feeling and concentrated on the fight.

-DIE !

And with that cry, the stranger slashed his sword, aiming at the goblins neck the stranger tried to decapitate it, all this time he was expecting some kind of lethal spell coming its way and devastating him but nothing came, assuming that the goblin forgot how to cast spell out of fear of its life, the stranger cheered in his heart watching as his long sword cut through the neck of the goblin.

But mysteriously enough no blood came out, feeling that something had gone terribly wrong the stranger watched as the goblin whose neck he thought slashed, slowly disappeared like smoke together with the rest of its body.

-Shit it was a Mirror Image !

The stranger realized what the spell the goblin was chanting this entire time, his face paling for a second as looked ahead where the real goblin shaman stood grinning at him victoriously as he showed his ugly teeth.

But that wasn’t what made the stranger truly frightened, no instead the thing he was scared of the most were the 2 balls of fire floating above the goblin shaman, having successfully duped the stranger, the goblin was able to cast 2 consecutive spells and holding them for the right moment.

-I can block one, but the second one…

He would without a doubt die from the second spell.

Even if he dodged at the last moment, the stranger knew that the aftershock was still enough to deal significant damage to him and kill him instantly, the only way for him to survive now was to abandon everything and go for one last push to kill the goblin shaman, if he was going to die then he would take that bastard together with him as well !

Luckily for him it was not going to happen.

Because out of nowhere a palm sized rock flew through the air, the rock wasn’t fast nor was it slow, flying directly behind the goblin shaman, it directly hit the head of the goblin shaman making it momentarily flinch from both the pain and the surprise it caused.

The two balls of fire that the goblin shaman had been holding this entire time immediately dispersed into thin air the moment the goblins concentration was severed.

Neither the stranger nor the goblin shaman could believe what just happened, but the stranger didn’t care using his last bit of strength he fueled his charge with desperation as he thrust’ed his blade towards the goblin shaman piercing its heart in one breath.

-GAHHH! (cough cough)…C…C..CURSE YOUUUUU HUMAN !

The goblin shaman cried venomously, giving the stranger one last death glare before the light within its eyes disappeared, now only a limp body remaining on the end of the sword that stuck to the goblin.

Even the sword started to lose its strength, the stranger collapsing onto the ground with all energy leaving his body.

The most he could do at this moment was stare in front of him, he was like a helpless pig ready to be slaughtered, if the person who helped him just now wanted to even if he was a ordinary mortal he could still take the life of the stranger right here and right then.

Which is why it came to a surprise when he discovered the identity of his savior or murderer when he finally revealed himself from thickets of the bushes standing right in front of the stranger showing a strange glint in his eyes.

The stranger gulped, his guard slightly lowered after witness the person who came out of the bushes, he also couldn’t help but smile for a second thinking of how comical this was before asking the small boy in front of with a ragged tone.

-Hahh…You…What’s your name kid ?

-My name is Philip..I live in the village you just saw…I saw you enter the forest and came see what you were up to

-I see..Philip huh…you’re rather courageous for a kid your age…though I don’t know what you want…I still thank you for saving my life there…oh also where have my manners gone to, I haven’t even introduced myself yet…Well my name is Tolvir Watersprout

-Tolvir Watersprout…

Philip silently repeated that name, staring intently towards the stranger or rather Tolvir who also stared back at him with a wondering expression, for a few seconds these two simply stared at each other just like that, silence overruling this area as they did so it was only after another 60 seconds had passed when Tolvir finally couldn’t take in anymore and smiled wryly towards the little boy.

-Kid…I don’t mean to pry or anything but you obviously want something from me, and since you saved my life I won’t feel offended if you tell me what you want, as long as its within my capabilities I will give whatever you want…now come on tell me..

Tolvir urged, being a upright and righteous individual Tolvir thought very highly when it came to repaying back his dept’s and even though person in front of him was just a kid, he still the person who Tolvirs life and for that he would be forever grateful.

Listening to Tolvir, Philip for a second about what to say, Philip at this moment knew exactly what he wanted, looking down at the sword that was pierced into the Goblin Shaman’s heart he went beside it and pulled the sword out of the corpse.

Blood gushed out the moment he pulled the sword that was way heavier then he imagined, the stinking blood spraying his face red but Philip wasn’t bothered by it anymore, even though it had only just been a few minutes since he got exposed to blood and gore he felt as if had already used to it making him wonder whether or not he really had talent for these sorts of things.

Tolvir on the other hand wasn’t as calm or collected as Philip when he watched him silently pull the sword out of the goblin shamans corpse, he was especially frightened when the kid still continued to pull the sword unflinchingly even though his entire face was sprayed with blood, for a moment Tolvir thought that he was still going to die under the hands of some ruthless kid but after watching him for a few more seconds, Tolvir realized that Philip pull the sword to murder or anything but instead pulled it out so he observe it.

-You..do you want the sword ? You can have it if you want to rather its a really cheap piece the only thing it has going for it is its sturdiness so I wouldn’t recommend it if I were you rather if you want a sword I could give you money so you could…

-How did you make the sword glow ?

Philip interrupted Tolvir abruptly, the entire time Philip was trying to see whether the sword was special in anyway, he thought of directly asking Tolvir himself about the glow but after thinking about it he was also very interested in the sword itself which he could barely hold with his small statue.

Hearing Philips abrupt question made Tolvir quite dumbfounded for a second, he slowly tried to remember again what he meant by making the sword “glow” until he finally realized something and looked at Philip in surprise before asking.

-Wait…you saw a glow ? No, you mean you saw my Aura ? Wait could it be ? You want to learn how to use Aura ?

Philip, being completely clues about the concept of “Aura” simply nodded towards Tolvir, placing the sword back beside him while speaking.

-Yes, I want to know about that glow or rather this thing you call “Aura” I want to know how to acquire it ! Please mister Tolvir teach me how to use the glow !

-…

It took a while for Tolvir to fully understand the request of the little boy that stood in front of him, with his face entirely color red from the blood the boy seriously looked at Tolvir and patiently waited for his response, Tolvir on the other hand tried to understand what boy was intending and whether or not he was hiding something, but after looking at him he came to understand that there really wasn’t anything the boy was hiding, there was only yearning within the eyes of this youth, the yearning for the thing he called “glow” that he so badly wanted to acquire.

-Hehe…hehehahahah…

Tolvir laughed.

Tolvir didn’t know why he was laughing, he just suddenly felt like laughing and that he did, Philip on the other hand was confused, he didn’t what to expect, he really wanted to learn how to acquire that “glow” or what Tolvir called “Aura” and for that he would do anything which is why he helped Tolvir in the first place which was to learn “Aura” from him.

-Alright…hehe…Kid I will teach you “Aura” since you saved my life teaching you seems to be an extremely fair deal indeed but first of all there is something I need you to do before we can start your lessons..

Philip was excited, beaming with a smile he looked Tolvir and asked.

-What is it ! I will do anything as long as you teach me how to use “Aura”

-Well it ain’t actually that difficult…you see…I can’t get up…I may need your shoulder

And just like that, Philip acquired a teacher who could help him learn to use the power called “Aura”.

It took quite sometime for the weak and small Philip to drag the big and heavy Tolvir back to the village, luckily the villagers hadn’t all left yet, his family in fact was still there looking for him, and the village chief was also present making it extremely easy to explain what had happened and that the goblins including the goblin shaman were exterminated.

The old Village chief was quite surprised by this turn of events, he at first couldn’t believe it but after showing him proof in the form of a goblin head he could finally feel relieved, thanking Tolvir who saved the village from destruction while also calling back the villagers who fled, back to the village.

Tolvir was celebrated heavily by the villagers, having defeated the goblin shaman the old village chief made Tolvir a guest of honor and let him live inside his home until he could fully recover, after all that was the best he could do as the old village chief simply did not have enough money to really pay Tolvir for his accomplishments.

Tolvir in fact didn’t ask for money, he was thankful enough for shelter he got so he could recover, he also wanted to disclose the fact that Philip had also played a major role in saving the village but was silenced by Philip himself who didn’t feel the need for people knowing his minor move of saving Tolvir from death.

Philip wasn’t keen of attention, he really didn’t care about it, the only thing Philip wanted was to learn how to use Aura and nothing else.

Tolvir while taken aback by such decision still silently accepted Philips decision and kept quite about it, he even somewhat admired Philips actions though he never stated them out loud.

Since then Tolvir kept his promise, after recovering well enough to be able to walk again the first thing Tolvir did was call Philip and finally officially start his training on how to use Aura.

Though before he would do that there was something very crucial Tolvir needed to check first before teaching Philip about “Aura” and everything related to it.

Philip listened to it, not understanding everything but getting the basic gist of it, he repeated what he understood back to Tolvir just to be clear.

-You want to check my “Aura Ring” to see whether or not I have the ability to use “Aura” is it ?

-Yes, Philip as it stands I know that I promised you that I would teach you on how to use Aura but you also have to understand that not everyone is capable of using it, Aura is an ability that people have to have talent for before they are able to use it, if you don’t have the talent, no matter what you do or how much you train you can never use Aura, the Aura Ring I have just told you about is the one crucial aspect that allows ordinary mortals like us to use and harness Aura, through the use of the Aura Ring we can increase and strengthen our Aura which is both beneficial to us mentally and physically.

Tolvir continued to explain, showing Philip where exactly the Aura Ring is located and what he had to do for Tolvir to check whether or not he had the talent.

Overall it was very simple, both Tolvir and Philip simply needed to touch each others stomachs where the Aura Ring was located and close their eyes, since Philip didn’t how to do this, Tolvir had to everything by himself, using his own Aura he injected it into Philips body and used that Aura to act like “Eyes” for him and observe the Aura Ring Philip had to see if he had the talent or not.

To be completely honest, Philip was extremely nervous at this juncture, he didn’t want to be told that he didn’t have talent for something he yearned for the first of his life, the only thing he could do was pray that he the talent and be able to continue with this path so he could reach his goal.

Luckily or unluckily as Tolvir looked at Philips Life Ring he discovered that Philip indeed did have the talent to use Aura and in fact he also discovered that Philips Aura Ring produced 3 times the amount of Aura a normal person does explaining how he was able to see the Aura on Tolvirs body when he was fighting against the Goblin Shaman back then.

This Discovery baffled Tolvir for a moment as he never seen something like this before, momentarily he had believed that he had come across a rare genius that was born once every millennium or something and was ready to take him back to his clan and bring him before his clan leader so he could be properly taught and groomed but just as he cheered, he discovered another fact about Philips Aura Ring that put cold water over his celebrating spirit.

-Oh no…Philip your Aura Ring…It has cracks…you are able to use Aura but you can’t entirely control it…

Tolvir was solemn, conveying the bad news with a sigh he looked at Philip as he felt bad for the kid for being born with such misfortune.

Philip on the other hand wasn’t quite sure what face to make, he thought about the solemn word Tolvir just spoke and simply smiled before asking him.

-But I can still use Aura right ?