5 Bravely Facing a Tiger

Oliver strapped on his Armor and took the small sword which didn't he like one bit by his hand and complained in his heart "Sigh, I am feeling something ominous is going to happen!"

"Shall we get going?" asked Drake.

"Yes" while he equipped his sword on the belt around his waists clumsily.

"Are you sure you can handle the sword?" questioned Drake while worrying for Oliver. It seemed Drake was a simple-minded person rather than the brute he came off as.

"Yes, I think, so how does this sword work, do I have to swing Right or Left and which hand should I use" inquired Oliver.

"Damn, you don't even know how to use a sword! It really is a wonder how you managed to escape from the Blood Sucking Bandits who are known for their fearsome nature." Exclaimed Drake.

"Here, Come and look," said Drake and showed Oliver a few Basic Strokes to familiarise himself with the sword.

For some reason Oliver who had for the first time in his life, seen a real long sword in action could actually follow its path with not much effort whatsoever.

He could even calmly asses Drake's pose while also watching his sword moves. Oliver instinctively felt that Drake's proud sword moves where a bit clumsy and that he could do better.

"Thanks, Drake."

"You have never used a sword before? What were you doing before you got taken away by the Blood Suckers" curiously asked Drake.

"I am a quite an established Farmer in my village, never had to have one of those swords" replied Oliver proudly.

At least he owned his own land and was not a serf slaving away in someone else's land for meagre income. Something his parents had blessed him with.

"Oh, You guys are sure lazy, while in our Gold Stone Village, even small kids are proficient in Basic Swordsmanship" said Drake shooting down Oliver's Prideful Look. "Well, it's as common as any other village in this country" He continued.

"So, I wanted to ask you this, why are all the people here always have a weapon with them regardless of age and gender, is crime rate so high that people can't protect themselves without weapons?" asked Oliver curiously.

"Hmph! what makes you think having weapons will reduce crime? The amount of bandit scum infesting this country has nothing to do with weapons among people "flared Drake.

"Everyone needs to wield a weapon to earn his and his family's right to live each Black moon won't you say?" Drake turned away with a nostalgic look to the skies.

'Earn your right to live? Black Moon? what's he going on about?' -But before he could interrupt with his questions something felt in his mind that he should not and let Drake finish his piece.

"Even if the powerful people in kingdom want to protect its people from the Demon invasion every year, It's still not possible for them to give their attention to every odd village in the world" Drake sounded sympathetic yet apologetic, as if he too shouldered some of the blame.

"As such people in this village, like the many others, have to learn to fight for their right live. If anything, You are the odd one Oliver, you say you are a farmer, a well-established one at that too, yet you don't know how to even wield a sword?" He ended with a question to Oliver.

Oliver could felt all his hairs standing upright when listening to such nonsense.

'Demon invasion? what in the F- is that? Has Satan entered the living world? If the pastors were right, Where are the angels when you need them? why do farmers need to fight demons, and well established ones especially??Do I have to fight cause I own land? should I just sell it? NO… that's not the problem here, did he just say demons? WTF?'

Oliver suddenly paled at the thought of Demon Invasion and having to fight against them and thought how he was going to survive in such a bloody place and contemplated whether he had to seriously start to Learn Self-Defence.

'I should just go and seek protection from the cities. They are sure to have guards stationed there!' - contemplated Oliver completely ignoring Drake who was eagerly awaiting his response.

Then reality hit him as Oliver was sure that other people would not help him since he had no practical use for them and in order to not die, although he somehow survived from that crazy kidnapping, he could not believe in luck and have to take things in his own hands.

May be the people who kidnapped him where the Demons Drake has spoken of.

A sudden thought flashed through his mind that may be these people are searching for him. Any captor would not want to let go of his prey. He for one would never let go of a turkey that he got his hands on!. Hell no. Although their intentions would be much different than having grilled turkey, the sentiments would be the same. He can't just hope that he is unimportant.

Oliver suddenly thought back to his miserable life on Earth and how he vowed himself that he will change once he got a chance.

Oliver wanted to become stronger.

-Being Dependent on himself rather than others.

-Be the person others depended on.

-Help people who couldn't help themselves.

-Fight against Criminal action and deliver Justice.

He felt that he should begin by finding other who survived with him through that horrible ordeal and join with them.

Drake could feel that Oliver had somewhat become Mature rather than his previous look.

"We had a Kind Lord who Protected his subjects. As such I never had to learn how to swing a sword, only wielded a hoe needed for farming. But not anymore, I wish to learn how to fight! So Please teach me Drake." Oliver requested Drake by bowing his entire upper body.

Drake's eyebrows flinched when he heard '-protect his subjects and Kind Lord' but hurriedly lifted Oliver from his bow and said "It's no problem, I will teach you some moves that I have mastered. Since you are starting late you many never have the chance to see the path to the peak of Sword hood, But you can definitely save yourself from random demons" assured Drake.

"Watch closely - Basic Sword Strike" Drake showed Oliver a couple of sword moves which were very basic but difficult to execute without having learnt the basic stance and have repeated the same thrust and strike moves for hundreds of thousands of times to perfect it to such a degree.

"Wow, it's so cool" Oliver wondered aloud.

His exclamation was a honest one as that was what he truly felt. Drakes new moves were not just a notch up. They were on a completely different level. But his remark was not for the sword move but for Drake himself. For something in his mind itched him that Drake was more than a dozen levels above his peers and was quite strong. What he displayed was not even quarter of his true capabilities.

This time to Oliver could follow Drakes movements just by instincts. More than being just instincts he could actually understand the mechanics of the sword move to extreme detail.

"Ha-ha" embarrassedly smiled Drake while saying, "My Master told me to practice these 3 moves repeatedly for the last 10 years without changing any other sword styles so as I can achieve the Legendary fabled Sword Intent. According to him I should reach it at least within another decade "

"Sword Intent, what is that?" curiously asked Oliver.

"Oh, since you have not practiced, you should not be aware of it." Drake gave an understanding nod and continued to explain

"Sword Intent is said to be the Purest form which contained belief of the sword. This power can be displayed through sheer Will to slash even through the void. When one had comprehended something similar to the Sword Intent, they would become the bane of all normal sword techniques"

"Sword intent may perhaps be the true meaning of sword Dao. A Perfected Sword Dao contains numerous types of sword intents. And when all the sword intents merged into one, that would then be the ultimate sword Dao".

"When one cultivated sword regardless of talent for a particular number of years, they reached the door of becoming' One With the Sword'. This type of form is called the quasi Sword Intent which means a person had successfully mastered the foundation of the sword and ready to dive into the upper levels of Intent".

"There is not only the Sword Intent available in this world, There is Saber Intent, Fist Intent, Guandao Intent, Halberd Intent, Dagger Intent and also each type of weapon had their own intent." Responded Drake while showing off his knowledge which was certainly above Hunter's level.

"Although you may not attain sword Dao, If you have enough conviction and work hard, you can reach 'Becoming One with the Sword' A much respected status among the sword practitioners. I can see that you brother Oliver, are a worthy man, as long as you work hard, it will definitely pay off. The world is vast and you will find a place for yourself " Encouraged Drake

'This World is so fascinating' thought Oliver while digesting all the information being thrown at him.

He wanted to explore the whole World and all the fascinating things that were available for him to explore.

"You should first learn some basic moves and then if you perhaps could achieve 'One with the Sword' Realm then I will recommend you to one of the 7 Clans, they are a major power in the Frost nation" Drake smiled mysteriously.

"Oh, you know someone from a major Clan, then why are you in a small village situated in the middle of nowhere? " Oliver asked curiously

"It's nothing, just a bad joke, I don't know anyone from the clans " evaded Drake.

He must have some unspoken problem, assumed Oliver.

They arrived at their destination. It was the end of Village and after crossing the river through a small boat placed conveniently at the pier of the fishing hut.

They embarked on the small boat which only had the place for 2 folks to sit and some space to store the fishes or other good hunted from the forest.

Both Drake and Oliver disembarked from the boat and enter the Gold Stone Forest.

which had lush vegetation and all types of trees ranging from small sizes to large size were found. squirrels and lizards and other such small insects can be found which reminded Oliver of Earth. There were broken logs, fallen trees, moss, thickets, ivy, berry bushes, pine cones, twigs which could be found all over and some deer and other such animals like foxes could be found running as soon as they entered the forest.

Drake had his Bow in one hand and another hand ready to grasp an arrow from the Quiver.

Oliver removed his sword from his sheath and stood near Drake.

"Be careful and stay silent, we don't want to alert the animals as they will run upon hearing small sounds and near the other edge of the forest is the hideout for the Blood Sucking Bandits, which we should stay clear from." Cautioned Drake.

Oliver tightened his grip of Sword.

They could hear some rustling noise from the bushed nearby and quickly readied themselves, while they saw a Tiger charging out from the bushes.

It looked ferocious pouncing on the both of them as though it has already considered both of them as prey.

Drake quickly shot arrows consecutively without any disruption and his movement fluid which showed he was cool-headed even during fighting big animals.

Oliver wanted to be useful for someone in his life and thus ran towards Tiger while swinging his sword crazily preventing the tiger from aproaching Drake and allow him to freely shoot his arrows.

"Aaarrrgghhhh" screamed Oliver loudly while distracting the Tiger so that Drake can quickly finish off the Tiger quickly.

But reality had different plans and the Tiger lifted it's paw and smacked Oliver in his head so hard that he flew over dozens of meters and fell head first on a sharp piece of Rock in the ground.

But within that period of distraction provided by Oliver, Drake quickly shot an arrow to the eye of the Tiger and wounded it badly as it turned around and sprinted away.

Oliver lay motionless on the ground while Drake quickly dashed towards Oliver and checked his Vitals to make sure Oliver was not dead.

Oliver was Lightly Injured while blood flew from his ears and where was scratch marks near his cheek.

"Wake up Oliver, you are so stupid, how could you have rushed towards the Tiger to injure yourself. You just got a new lease for life, you should cherish it" Drake felt so emotional that he already considered Oliver to be one of his friends.

Oliver slowly woke up from a daze while he felt his head hurt, but soon the pain started fading away and Oliver thought it was his adrenaline kicking in.

"Well someone had to hold its attention so you can fire your arrows without being disturbed. thanks to me we were saved from the tiger"

To Oliver, Tigers were ferocious monsters heroes would defeat in theatre plays. Surviving one was feat in itself.

Drake didn't know what to say as he scratched his head and sheepishly said. "You know I'm better at sword. If it came closer I would have just killed it with my sword".

Oliver raised his head with a dumb look in his eyes.

"We could have had tiger meat for dinner you know?" Drake continued.

Oliver could feel pain rushing to his head once more.