Once the surprise on the city lord’s face faded, an uncomfortable expression appeared on his face. The task of convincing a man to take the children of his enemy as students, was an awful one.

It took a moment for him to muster the courage and say “Master Kye.. I have heard from many within the city that..” He paused slightly, before continuning with embarrassment growing in his voice “You haven’t taken any student yet.. Well, except for that young man you’ve mentioned. The fact is, the master of the School of Everlasting Fury asked the governor to put a good word with you, into accepting the young masters as direct students. Would it be possible?”

A faint smirk grew on the face of the old master-at-arms. He then put his empty cup on the small table, and said while looked back at the city lord. “There has been a misunderstanding. I haven’t started a school. What I own is a building.. I’ve taken all these brats in just to keep me company.” His voice suddenly turned serious and continued “They are free to come live here, as tenants. But like any other here, I won’t take them as students unless I want to.”

“Master.. I feel extremely uncomfortable by doing this, but the governor asked me to remind you about your duty towards the direct disciples of the major sects and sc-” His sentence was abruptly interrupted by the old master-at-arms voice.

“I am not the master-at-arms anymore. I won’t pass down any skill that I don’t want to. So there is no need to worry about me.” Said the old man. “If they want to learn martial skills, they can go to the current master-at-arms”

The city lord nodded his head in accordance, then with a matter-of-fact tone he added “Between us, Master Kye, we all know what skill the School of Everlasting Fury wants from you.. And the new master-at-arms cannot teach it to them..”

The corner of the old man’s mouth lowered in anger. He wasn’t angry at the city lord, as he had simply said the truth. Who he was angry to, was the master of the School of Everlasting Fury.

One had to know that, in the past, both Mea’s father Der, and the master, at the time disciple of the School of Everlasting Fury, were in competition to become the next student of the master-at-arm.

In the end, Mea’s father had been chosen.

That had started the hate between the master of the School of Everlasting Fury, and the master of the Rulin family. Which, after the disappearance of their master, had culminated in the extermination of the Rulin family.

The old master-at-arms regained his calm attitude after a few moments, then said “I have no obligations to teach that skill to them. I wasn’t the master-at-arms when the thirteen master of the School of Everlasting Fury passed it to me. That skill is mine to pass down to whoever I wish, and my choice doesn’t reside within the new generations of that school.” His tone serious and determined.

“I understand.” Said the city lord. He then got back on his feet, and after a deep bow towards the old man, he bid farewell, and left.

—–

Streets of Phyrri, Commoner’s section. 22:12

Daniel, Mea, Reila and the rest, were walking back from the restaurant they had just eaten to.

Miri and Riri were walking behind, and seemed to be talking with each other. Miri looked embarrassed, while Riri seemed to be convincing her to do something.

Nilo and Finn were joking around with the extroverted Reila, while Daniel and Mea were walking quietly in the front.

The streets they were walking into was full of life, and many stalls were placed one next the other in the lively street.

Suddenly, shouting sounds, along with noise of wooden furniture being destroyed, could be heard coming from a place not too far away from them. The noises came from the direction they were going, so they decided to take a look of what was happening.

As they arrived, they saw a small crowd spectating a scene in circle. Everyone in the crowd was either chattering in a low voice, or shouting in a horrified manner.

Daniel and Finn were the first to push their way through the large amount of people, and when they saw what was happening, blood started boiling in their veins.

At the entrance of a restaurant, a group of people wearing the same type of martial attire was occupying three different tables. Two tables had five people each, while the third, only had two young men and a young woman. These last three people wore clothes of the same style, but their attire was much more refined when compared to the others.

On each of these people’s tight fitting clothes, a symbol appeared evidently. It was a red closed fist, surrounded by a yellow sun.

The table occupied by the better dressed martial artists had a flipped bowl on it, and soup was dripping down the edge of the table.

Two of the lower level martial artists were standing near the tables, and at their feet, was a young girl which didn’t seem to be older than twelve years old. Near her, her mother was begging for forgiveness, while covering her daughter’s body with her own.

Her daughter’s screams were the ones that had attracted Daniel and the rest.

Daniel and Finn had immediately noticed the copious amounts of blood on the ground, and when they looked at the young girl, they noticed something that made their faces contort in anger.

On the ground, next to the little girl, a pale small hand rested on the ground within a small pool of blood, and separated from the rest of her thin and pale arm.

The voice of one of the martial artist resounded in the air “What are you begging for! I won’t kill her! I just want to take the other hand! He he he” He then pushed the little girl’s mother away.

—–

*Primary Quest started: Just a Wandering Hero*

-Description: Save those in need.

Third objective set: Save the little girl and her mother from certain death.

Optional: Use one of the group’s healing pills to restore the little girl’s hand.

Optional: Exterminate the group of cultivators.

Reward: Karma +500(+500)(+25,000 / School of Everlasting Fury -75%)

Time Limit: 1 minute, 30 seconds.

—–

With an extremely small amount of time to act, Daniel looked at Finn and asked “What does a healing pill look like?!”

Finn was too furious to respond, but fortunately, Nilo wasn’t. “The size of a pearl, white, slightly transparent. No shine”

“Don’t move from here, all of you.” Daniel said, before taking a dashing position, and bursting towards the martial artist which was about to punch a hole through the little girl’s body.

The young man didn’t hold back any of his strength. In fact, he put so much force into the punch, that his shoulder kept going even after his entire arm was cut clean off his shoulder.

The young man didn’t even have the time to shout, as a strong hand grabbed the back of his neck with a steel grip, and a kick on the back of his knee forced him on his to kneel.

Daniel had planned to demand a healing pill from one of the tree better dressed martial artists, so he couldn’t afford not to appear serious. On his face, a thin stone mask hid his identity.

The rest of the group’s attention had been caught. With immovable eyes, Daniel looked at the one of the three with slightly dirty clothes, and said “Healing pill, now.”

The one with the dirty clothes sprung up on his feet, fury filled his eyes. He was about to attack, but as the girl cleared her throat, he calmed down immediately. The girl looked at Daniel, and with a smile on her face, she said “We don’t have healing p-”

But before she could finish, Daniel’s hand, which was still holding his bloody sword, moved once more. This time, the right ear of the young man had fallen off.

“Healing pill.” Daniel repeated.

The smile on the girl’s face disappeared. She then said “You are making a mistake.. Even if yo-”

Once again, Daniel’s hand moved, and the young man’s remaining hand fell on the ground with a slow *thud*

“You are thirteen.. Taking into account arms and ears.. I count fiftytwo chances to change your answer into a ‘yes’.. And if not, i’ll start killing.”

A pearl-sized white pill suddenly approached Daniel at high speed. He released the young man’s neck just in time to catch the pill in mid air, and the moment he did, the young man’s screams started to resound in a deafening volume.

Daniel inspected the pill, and after confirming that it was, in fact, as Nilo had described, he walked towards the little girl, and gave it to her. He then picked her little hand up, and moved it close to her injured arm.

Not any random healing pill was able to reattach a limb, but since the system had told Daniel that the one in the group’s possession would have been able to restore the little girl’s arm, then he knew that this one was.

The cells within the girl’s arm started to regenerate thanks to the healing essence within the pill. The healing essence moved through the little girl’s blood vessels, and when it reached her wrist, it jumped out of her arm and went straight towards her hand. It then seeped into the injured part of the hand, and pulled the severed hand back towards it.

The whole scene was unreal. It looked like someone was using a white thread to reattach a the girl’s arm to her hand. The grievous cries of the injured young man were cut off, the moment he himself ingested two healing pills. Like the little girl, white essence started to reconnect his limbs and ear.

The third and last well dressed martial artist, which was the one who had thrown the healing pill to Daniel, stood up on his feet and simply ordered to the rest. “Let’s go.”

With no intention of disobeying, every one of them, including the injured young man whose body parts were still only half reattached, followed him quietly.

The girl took a good look at Daniel, then turning around and left with the rest.

Daniel had no intention of allowing anyone within the crowd to see him reunite with his sister and friends, so he made his way through the crowd, and left by himself.

Nilo and Finn immediately picked up on Daniel’s action, and took the others with them before leaving. Amongst the group, excitement, pride, shock and admiration could be seen in all of their eyes, except for Mea, whose face was contorted in fear and anxiousness, as she was on the verge of crying.

Luckily, thanks to the collective state of mind of the rest of the group, her expression had managed to go unnoticed until the moment she calmed herself down.

It was right after she calmed herself, that Daniel, now devoid of his stone mask, approached them from behind and joined the rest of the group as if nothing had happened.

Before anyone could say anything, a sound series of slaps landed heavily against Daniel’s arm.

“You idiot! What the hell were you thinking?! Didn’t you see how many of them there were!?!?..” Reila shouted while hitting him repeatedly.

Daniel tried to parry a few of his sister’s hits, but he still let most of them hit him. He knew that his sister was worried sick, and she needed a way to vent her anxiousness.

Just as the thirtieth slap fell heavily on Daniel’s shoulder, a small window appeared within his mind, reminding him of the completed objective.

—–

*Just a Wandering Hero*

Third objective completed.

Reward: 1000 Karma Points

—–