Chapter 12 - Durin

Gloomily, Fang recalled his promise to stay beside the dwarf until he was fine.

The dwarf’s eyes were wide and hazy as he shakily poked Fang’s nose. “Well, old man, I won’t lose to you again. Let’s drink!”

A dry cough interrupted the dwarf’s ramble. “My friend, you are not at home right now.”

Confused, the dwarf rubbed his eyes. “Where am I?”

Fang explained, “You drank too much last night and almost missed the departure. But you arrived just in time thanks to your father, and now we’re on our way to the intermediate school.”

“Ah?” Still a bit groggy, the dwarf shook his head.

Fang picked up a leather bag and handed it to him. “Drink this; it’ll help you sober up.”

Feeling thirsty and hungover, the dwarf gladly took the bag and gulped down at least half of the water. With the cold water in his empty stomach, his head cleared up. “How far from Cross City are we?”

“Probably hundreds of kilometers,” Fang said, estimating from the time and speed passed.

Springing up, the dwarf shouted, “What? I slept that long? I didn’t even get to say goodbye!”

Fang winced. Yelling like that, the dwarf was sure to offend people easily. “This won’t be the last time you’ll see your family. After all, you can visit them on vacation.”

“Yeah,” the dwarf whispered sadly. He turned his attention toward Fang. “Who are you?”

“Fang, from Victoria City!” Fang simply introduced himself and held out his hand.

The dwarf didn’t shake his hand. Instead, he spread out his arms and grabbed Fang in a bear hug. “I am Durin!”

The customs of the human race didn’t necessarily apply to the dwarves. To them, if they liked a person, they thought of them as instant friends. Perhaps the short time Fang had watched over him, or the water he had handed over, made a decent impression. Regardless, Fang was now Durin’s friend.

On Durin’s chest, a rising hammer was etched below the sword and shield; Durin was definitely a citizen from Glass City, one of the largest cities in the country. Often, these people looked down on small cities like Fang’s, but Durin was genuinely greeting him without any prejudice. Seeing his good nature, Fang laughed, “I already know; your father mentioned it in front of everyone.”

Then he pointed to the pretty beauty not far from him. “This is Mii, also from Victoria City and a mage.”

Durin didn’t try to embrace Mii—though customs were different, boundaries between men and women still existed. He gave a friendly nod.

Fully awake now, Durin talked on and on to Fang about various things, like how one time he drank so much that his mouth was foaming, or how he won a rare gem in a drinking competition, or how good the alcohol he had drunk was…

Although Fang listened patiently, it wasn’t purely out of courtesy—Durin's stories were actually interesting!

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Several hours later, the group arrived in the middle of the country, the location of the country’s headquarters. A distance away, in a small town, people had already gathered in preparation for the intermediate school. The rolling green plains, interrupted by endless rivers, made a sharp contrast to Victoria City, where the surroundings were jagged mountains filled with monsters.

As sunset approached, the escorts reduced the wind and tiredly descended to a large field. Wooden log houses were sparsely scattered around the area, full of activity. This seemed to be the intermediate school; it looked more like a camp than anything.

After making sure that all the members had arrived safely, the experts left, and some staff came over, dividing the martial arts and magic groups. Although the training camp was in the same place, the two disciplines were taught separately.

Given a cabin number, Fang tried to find his residence, but with the camp being as huge as it was, he became completely lost. He stared at the buildings as he walked when two people joking around ran into him, almost causing him to fall.

Angry, one of the boys looked at Fang’s shirt, only to curve his mouth and look down in disdain upon seeing his badge from a small city.

“Idiot, do you not have eyes?”

Fang frowned; he was just going his own way when they struck him. But to not even offer an apology and insult him? That was too rude.

“Yes, of course I have eyes unlike you. Just running into someone—does your family know that you’re an idiot?”

The juvenile didn’t expect Fang to talk back. Anger contorted his face. “Well, well, well. The bumpkin doesn’t seem to know his place. Let me, Garret, teach you a nice lesson about where the weak should belong!”

Sensing danger, Fang coated his body in energy.

Garret looked slightly surprised; the majority of people from small cities should be a 7th or perhaps an 8th-grade novice at most. However, this bumpkin was clearly a 9th-grade novice.

“That’s a nice bit of energy there, but with this, you dare to act so arrogantly?” Garret expanded his own energy, and unpredictably, the light left his body, hovering beyond the surface.

Intermediate level!

This was the defining characteristic of breaking past the novice rank—energy surrounding the body beyond its surface to provide higher defensive and offensive capabilities.

Although Garret entered this camp with an exorbitant amount of money and connections, he had some skill. After all, that much money wouldn’t be useless to anyone.

“See this, jerk? You didn’t even break into the intermediate level. What qualifications do you have to be in this training camp?” Garret sent out a punch with a lethal amount of power. Fang jumped back, dodging it completely and landing far from Garret.

Laughing, Garret held out his hand, condensing some energy, and then let it go.

1st-grade yellow skill – Energy Ball!

Once a person reached the intermediate stage, their energy was thick enough that they could detach some of it from their body and use it to attack.

The advantage of this new ability was self-explanatory; in a melee combat battle, if one side had a gun, there would be a distinct, unfair difference.

How could a man with a sword beat a man with a gun?

Accelerating, the sphere of energy flew towards Fang, who could only lift his arm and fill it with energy.

White skill – Sonic Cut!

A small explosion rang out as the energy ball broke into two halves upon contact, but the recoil caused Fang to skid back a meter.

Garret grimaced; he didn’t expect Fang to have a fighting skill, and on top of that, to output so much energy that it was able to intercept his yellow skill.

Well, maybe he was just lucky.

Not giving Fang any respite, Garret gathered a greater amount of energy before releasing a howling large ball.

Fang raised his arm again, mounting the energy and preparing to cut again. This was the only skill he knew from seeing Vincent use it. But it was enough to shock Garret, because novice-level users didn’t have a large reserve of energy, yet Fang was using Sonic Cut twice.

The energy sliced through the ball. Most of the energy dissipated, but a portion ricocheted and sped towards Fang’s chest.

Hey, this kid’s dead now!

Garret’s eyes flashed maliciously as he patiently awaited the outcome.

However, he didn’t expect what happened next.

Energy quickly converged at the spot where the fragment would’ve pierced through Fang.

Bang!

Pain ripped through Fang’s chest as he stumbled backward. Luckily, due to the defense he was able to put up, there were no internal injuries.

Was this… instant parry?!

Garret’s friend, who watched the fight between Fang and Garret, couldn’t believe his eyes. This was a very difficult defensive skill that even they were unable to practice.

How could this peasant from a small city use it?