In the northern town of Togower.
A trio of shabbily dressed young men secretly trailed a small group of demigods around the town by pretending to be carrying large wooden boxes to an unknown destination. The boxes were empty and only being used as a prop to allow them to stay close to the demigods so they could eavesdrop on their conversations.
“… they popped up out of nowhere. Rumor is that the guild is now led by that crazy woman,” said a female demigod with short and spiky purple hair.
“That’s not the real problem here! I heard from another guild member that they all changed their… occupation. But that’s not all! Their bodies mutated to become part of the demon race!”
“If they continue to grow and recruit others, they will become a major sore for the big shots that are looking to capture the whole continent!”
“What are the big guilds doing allowing something like this to go on?”
“They have their hand’s full holding onto what they have right now. Plus those people are all noobs that are even weaker than you and me. What harm can they do right now?”
“I think we need to be proactive and make sure to stop their growth by blocking anyone who tries to travel south. That goes for both demigods and humans. Who knows if they can change them as well… that would be a disaster.”
Thunk!
One of the trio accidentally dropped the end of the wooden box on his foot in his shock at what he had heard. He hopped around on one foot as he cursed from the pain., even if it was empty it still hurt.
The commotion caused the demigods to stop talking and look at the group suspiciously.
“Let’s go somewhere else. We don’t need riff-raff listening in on our conversations,” said the purple hair demigod.
The trio of young men acted as if they did not hear the demigods and busied themselves with escaping down a side street.
When they were well out of sight and hearing range of the demigods, they dropped the wooden box on the ground and escaped to their normal corner of the dark tavern. The tavern had become more worn out and aged due to all the massive changes and fights constantly happening in the town.
Still, it was the only place that could offer alcoholic drinks even if it was some of the worst they had ever tasted. You could only manage to drink it by mixing in other ingredients to mask the worst of the ‘unique’ flavor.
This was the price they had to pay for such a luxury in a small town where the price of the bottles and barrels sold by the traveling merchants was way too expensive for them to even dream of wasting money on it.
“So, we’re all agreed that we will go…” said Whan only to be interrupted.
“Shhh! They’re listening,” hissed Tou in a quiet voice just barely audible to the other two.
“… to the market and offer our service?” said Whan, completing his sentence.
“You think they will allow us to join in on the activity?” asked Dree.
“Our bodies might not be compatible with the work they have. Even if we can’t join in on our first choice, maybe they have another place or task that we can fit in with our set of skills,” said Tou as took a large gulp from his cup and winced at the burning flavor.
“Then it is decided. We will go to the market!” said Whan.
***
“In order to properly train you, and in the future, put you in the proper positions during any future fights, I must know what skills you have along with your fighting style and the strength of your new bodies,” said Akira who stood in the open field that was next to the south fort.
“I’ll go first!” shouted the energetic Beater before Akira even had a chance to pick someone.
Akira stood ready with his newly forged sword. Just behind him Dolph, Vilkas, and Fluffball were all hovering protectively and were ready to jump in if the demigods tried to attack Akira and not spar.
Beater took up a fighting stance and took several deep breaths in and out to calm down before raising his morning star weapon high above his head.
Akira shifted from one foot to another to get into a better stance to block the coming attack…
… that did not come. Instead, Beater whacked himself in the head… once, twice, three times… the attacks hitting his body.
“Umm… what are you doing?” asked Akira as he watched the bizarre sight before him. As the seconds passed, bruises and small cuts started to appear all over Beater’s face.
“I’m powering up!” shouted Beater.
“Okay…” was all Akira said as he looked at the demigods behind Beater. They were all embarrassed and looking away from the sight in front of them.
“Why are all demigods so weird?” asked Dolph.
“Hey! Don’t lump us all in with this idiot!” shouted Rondie.
“Yeah, we don’t know him! Never seen him before in my life!” said Sweety, one of the high-level bodyguards standing next to Sister Teresa.
“What? But you’re my sister!” said Beater, not pausing his powering up as he looked over to his sister.
“That makes it worse!”
Akira waited for a little more time to pass by before asking, “Are you ready?”
Beater who looked like he was ready to fall over dead from beating himself up, activated a skill that covered his morning star in a dark gray light. The light grew brighter and brighter as he stood still swinging the morning star above his head.
“Behold my true power after unlocking the ancient gate that was holding it back!”
“OOOOOO,” said Dolph and Vilkas dryly as they clapped for him.
“Quit encouraging him!” screamed the embarrassed Sweety.
With all his strength, he swung down his morning star which was blazing like a gray shooting star as it crashed into Akira’s shield!
BOOM!
The dark gray light exploded out blinding those who were not ready for it.
When the light disappeared they looked toward Akira and his shield to see what the damage was.
…, not a scratch. And Akira still stood like a statue not moving one hair’s width from the attack. Overall, it was little more than a visual distraction when used against Akira.
“Interesting, I am sure with more strength and more practice with that skill, you will be a force to reckon with in the future. Right now we could use you as a disrupter. But why do you need to beat yourself up?”
“It’s part of my berserk occupation! The more damage I receive the more enraged I can get which buffs my attacks!” said Beater proudly.
“I see, is that all you have to show?”
“For now. When I get stronger I will be able to unlock new and more ancient powerful skills! With them, I will be able to show you my true form!”
“Next person!” shouted Dolph ignoring Beater who was still talking mindlessly about unlocking new gates of power.
Sister Teresa stepped forward and quickly chanted off a few words and pointed towards Beater who had been dragged to the side by his sister.
A gray light, almost white, enveloped him and in only a few seconds Akira could see the bumps and cuts on his face quickly heal.
She used several chants on him making it so Beater was able to jump around full of energy once again looking as if he had not just spent several minutes beating himself up.
“Would you like me to demonstrate the skills on you?” asked Sister Teresa.
Akira fearlessly nodded while those behind him grew tense.
Again sister Teresa chanted off several skills sending different gray lights shooting towards him entering his body as well as covering him in a soft glow.
Ding!
-
Health regeneration doubled!
Stamina usage halved!
Mana regeneration doubled!
…
None of the skills affected him negatively allowing everyone next to him to let out sighs of relief.
“Beater, come over here and use this to prick your finger,” said Akira.
Beater took the small dagger that glinted in the sunlight and poked his finger. Akira dabbed a few drops of a red potion on the wound and saw it was far slower to heal than a normal wound.
“So you all have received our weakness to silver as well,” said Akira looking at the wound and then back at the silver dagger.
“We knew the risks when we decided to go through with the ceremony,” said Beater, full of bravado.
“Can you heal this?” asked Akira, turning to sister Teresa.
She silently cast a few healing skills but they had similar results of healing the wound at a slow pace. It would take a much longer time to fully heal.
After sister Teresa’s demonstration, Rondie stepped forward.
“Let’s do this!” she said banging her large metal fist together.
She activated a skill to make her body larger and tougher and then charged toward Akira like a bull.
She activated another skill while running forward, which sent several gray metal fist phantoms toward Akira and slamming into his shield blowing up when they landed.
Her constant ranged attacks did cause Akira to move half a fraction of an inch before she rammed into him with her large body and all her forward momentum was halted instantly.
The impact from the ramming attack shook the ground and those nearby.
She continued to try and pummel Akira’s shield with multiple types of gray fist skills.
After showing off her skills Sweety showed off her skills using a bow.
One by one the others came forward and showed their various skills: fire, wind, water, swords, and bows.
When everyone had shown off the best of their skills, Akira was quite happy with everything he had seen.
“Alright! With all the testing out of the way, we should get to the main purpose of having you all here!”
Everyone other than sister Teresa looked at Akira wondering what it was.
“… and that would be… The first phase of Hell training!” said Akira, giving everyone a wolfish grin.
