3 Leaving the City

Even though some 9th Grade Apprentices had a strength higher than 1,000 Kg, but they still did not qualify as a Practitioner. That was because there was a qualitative change once a 9th Grade Apprentice evolves their genes once again. But due to the lack of information, Marvin could only make a few speculations. It was said that the first nine times a person evolves their genes were known as minor evolutions, only the tenth time was a major evolution to their genes. As for what the major evolution did, the common people were not privy of the information.

The school only gave out the most basic level of information, the only way to get more information about Practitioners, were from either dojos, Practitioner organizations or Practitioner families. An aristocrat family was a highly influential Practitioner family, only large Practitioner families that owned their own cities were qualified to be called an aristocrat family. Even though Marvin was the 3rd child of an aristocrat family's family head. He did not have the privilege to learn about Practitioners due to his special status...

As it was quite late already, Marvin took the train back home, after riding the train for an hour, he reached the city.

As usual, people were talking behind his back, showing mocking faces as they pointed fingers at Marvin, but he had already gotten used to it. Marvin, without giving a look at the surrounding servants, navigated familiarly to his room in the servant house.

"Mom, I'm back!" Marvin saw his mother folding sheets in his room. There were several lunchboxes stacked on his table, they were for lunch and dinner for tomorrow.

"Welcome home!" Jenny turned around and smiled upon seeing Marvin walk into the room. She stopped folding the sheets, walked up to Marvin and gave him a warm hug.

Although the pair of mother and son did not have much, they had each other, it was only with each others' support that they can still smile when they look at each other.

Marvin made a few excuses, saying he would be staying over with a friend for a few days. He did not want his mother to worry about him leaving the city to fight monsters. His mother was just happy to know Marvin had good friends, she nodded her head in understanding, without the slightest objection.

Jenny finished folding the sheets and left Marvin's room. Marvin picked up the R6 Energy Cell, confirming the Cell was fully charged before putting it back down.

Marvin was only allowed to learn the lowest-grade Thunder Spark battle technique, the only reason he was allowed to learn it was because of its low grade, all the servants were free to learn it.

The Thunder Spark battle technique wasn't a Practitioner level battle technique instead, it was just an Apprentice battle technique. The Thunder Spark battle technique's destructibility was really low, even weapon techniques were better than it. But what it's really used for, was for servants to get proficient with Thunder-type battle techniques. Only those with good Thunder Affinity and talents would be allowed to learn higher grade Thunder-type battle techniques in Marvin's family.

Marvin only knew that Practitioner could refine elements and store them inside their bodies, even though he had learned the Thunder Spark battle technique, he as an Apprentice was unable to do the same. But there was always some workarounds, during the 3 years he spent training in the Thunder Spark battle technique, he had modified an R6 Energy Cell, using the knowledge he had learned from school, to be capable of storing the thunder element he refined.

Because Marvin was incapable of refining thunder to be like normal electricity, he could not just simply charge the modified R6 Energy Cell with high voltage electricity. Marvin could only control his own refined thunder element, maybe in the future when he got more proficient in handling Thunder elements, he would be capable of controlling electricity from generators.

Marvin had lived in the Thunder Blade Aristocrat family for 15 years now, he had seen quite a few things over the years, as such, it was quite normal for Marvin to learn that some high level Practitioner was able to even borrow all the electricity in Thunder Blade City to defeat some incredibly strong monsters.

During a monster horde invasion 40 years ago, while the family head and several elders were away on a meeting with other aristocrat families. Elder Seigfried had once flown up above the city, held his blade high up, pointing to the sky, drew in all electricity in Thunder Blade city into his blade, then with a single chop, performed the Thunder Blade battle technique and cut down half the monster horde, including the leader that had commanded all the monsters to charge at the city. With the amazing might of killing more than 10,000 monsters, including the incredibly strong leader, the rest of the monsters in the monster horde scattered away in fear.

At that time, Elder Siegfried was still just a Practitioner being nurtured in Thunder Blade family's elite group. His actions of defeating the monster horde earned him many benefits, one of them was to promote him to an elder of their family. This was due to the fact that even though the family head would be able to make it back in time to get rid of the monster horde, the city would have suffered many casualties and loss of their defensive buildings.

The reason they promoted Elder Siegfried to an elder was due to his talent, even the other elders were unable to draw the electricity from the city and use it in an attack. Siegfried was much weaker than the elders, but for them to handle the monster horde, they would require several elders cooperating to defeat the monster horde. It would require a group of elders fighting for several hours to slowly dwindle their numbers. There was also the leader, the monster that was strong enough to make over 20,000 monsters follow it, one could imagine it's power.

Yet, Siegfried alone, with the help of all the electricity in the city, could unleash an attack stronger than the elders working in cooperation, a single slash cut down 10,000 monsters, including the monster leader. This told showcased his incredible Thunder Affinity and talent.

Marvin's eyes shone like stars, when he thought of Elder Siegfried's achievements. Siegfried came from a commoner family, due to his great talents, he was recruited into Thunder Blade dojo's elite group and nurtured. Elder Siegfried managed to rise from a commoner to an elder of an aristocrat family who held great influence in Thunder Blade city. He was the role model of all commoner Apprentices, Marvin was also one of them, he greatly revered Elder Siegfried.

Marvin packed his lunchboxes and the modified R6 Energy Cell in his backpack. Opening the inner pocket, he found all the savings he had saved for 2 years inside.

Marvin had saved the money from part-time jobs, his family did not give him any, so he had earned all the money by himself. It wasn't that time-consuming, as Marvin made good use of the part-time work to train his body as well.

The two jobs Marvin had were helping transport monster carcasses and to dismantle them. The scales, feather, teeth, horns, hide, bones and claws were the most commonly known important materials to harvest. The meat of some monsters wasn't edible, but most were still edible to Practitioners due to their enhanced genes and bodies, their tolerance increased as well.

The monster meat was highly nutritious for a Practitioner, it could increase the speed they improved their strength, but naturally, it did not help Practitioners overcome their strength limit.

The pay was quite good, but it was a job that had high demand on your physical strength, the stronger you were, the stronger the monster's carcasses you can dismantle, the more you earn. But naturally, the Practitioner who killed the monsters and sells these carcasses earned many times more than these dismantlers.

Marvin went to bed with a slightly excited mind, it was still quite early, but he planned to wake up early. There were still many items he needed to buy for his trip outside the city.

Early in the morning, Marvin woke up with great vigor. He quickly at breakfast, put on his backpack and left home.

One hour later, Marvin walked out from a store. Opening his backpack, he saw several items inside, there were two bundles of E1 Fiber ropes, a compressed water bottle, two military rations, a tent, a flashlight, a raincoat, a firestarter, a compass, and also the two lunchboxes and the modified R6 Energy Cell he packed yesterday. These items cost Marvin a fortune, opening the inner pocket, he saw only a few hundred GC(Genesis Currency) left.

"Sigh... But these are necessary." Marvin felt heartache from spending almost all his money, the E1 fiber ropes cost most, it was made from monster materials and were extremely sturdy and flexible, the compressed water bottle was capable of storing 10 L water in this half liter sized bottle, the military rations held a week worths of food in each ration, and it was capable of being preserved for years without going bad. The tent was also made of monster materials, these 3 items was what cost Marvin almost all his 2 years savings. He had 10,000 GC just an hour ago, now only a few hundred GC left.

"Next is weapon and shield." Marvin couldn't afford weapons or shields, but he had a plan. He walked to the dismantling site where he did his part-time job.

Many monster carcasses and dismantled monster parts stacked up several mountains, several Apprentices were busy dismantling monster carcasses. A few looked up and greeted Marvin, they were all familiar with each other after working in the same place for so long.

"Hey, Marvin! Are you here to make some bucks?" A brawny guy walked up to Marvin, and greeted.

"Johnson! I'm here to borrow a few things, I plan to go hunting a few Apprentice level monsters." Marvin smiled. Johnson was in his 30s, he had started dismantling much earlier than Marvin, he was quite kind and taught Marvin how to dismantle when he had just gotten the job.

"Ah? Did you manage to find a Practitioner going out to hunt a few weak monsters?" Sometimes, newer Practitioners would try out their new strength on weaker monsters in the surroundings. Not many monsters were willing to live near cities, although few monsters were as intelligent as humans, many understood the dangers of the cities. Not to mention, the humans regularly sweep up the nearby monsters to keep the cities safe, as such, there were normally only a few Practitioner level monsters in the vicinity of a city.

When a new Practitioner is looking for some weaker monsters, he would let Apprentices follow him when they meet weak Apprentice level monsters, he would let the Apprentices handle it. The Practitioner would only look for peak Apprentice level monsters or Practitioner level monsters to try their new abilities on. That was because even a new Practitioner was capable of killing weak Apprentice level monsters in one or two moves.

Marvin simply smiled without replying. He had to keep a lowkey profile. If he were to go around looking for a Practitioner to help him, he was certain his family members would suppress him, they were, after all, living here in Thunder Blade city, where his family had the greatest influence.

Marvin borrowed a 1 meter long single edge Dismantler Sword, this was the blade he used on his part-time job. The quality of the sword was quite good, it was very sharp and durable, but it wasn't shaped for slashing, but for cutting and dismantling monster parts. As such, it wasn't the ideal weapon for Marvin to use in battle, but it was still very sharp and good at cutting low level monsters.

Because Marvin was only a 1st Grade Apprentice, his strength was lacking, and he was unable to dismantle higher level monsters. Marvin was only able to cut up low level monsters, and that was with great effort, even with the sharp Dismantler Sword he had. As for higher quality Dismantler Swords, Marvin was not qualified to even touch one, maybe if he manages to evolve a few more times and become stronger, he would be able to cut up higher leveled monsters and be allowed to borrow a better sword.

He had his weapon, what he lacked were shield and armor. But there were plenty of monster materials here. Marvin's part-time job simply required him to report in once a month, there were cameras recording everyone, so there was no way to embezzle a few materials. His pay depended on how much he managed to dismantle in a month, the quality of the dismantle handwork was also important, if he ruined the material, the pay would be lowered, or he might even need to pay a fee.

Thankfully, Johnson had shown him the ropes when he just began working here. Marvin picked up a few pieces of hide and scales from the pile of monster parts that belonged to him. Marvin took out the two bundles of E1 Fiber ropes and tied them together with the monster parts. A few moments later, Marvin held onto a shield-shaped object and upper armor-shaped object, only the inside was tied together by the ropes. He wasn't really allowed to take these monster parts away, but as long as he were to bring them back before the end of the month, he would not be punished.

Johnson's eyes twitched, it was true that armor made of monster hide had better protection and was much more durable, but they were also very expensive. Since Marvin worked here, it was obvious he was not rich. But if he were to ruin these monster parts, he would be held responsible and have to pay for its' worth.

"Marvin, I know you can't afford real equipment, but you should rent some old ones instead." Johnson suggested, he and Marvin, despite the age gap, were friends after spending so much time working in the same workspace.

"It's fine, I'll return them by the end of the month." Marvin shook his head. So what if these cost more, his life was important. Those old equipment that he could afford to rent, they would not offer much protection, he would rather use these monster parts. Although it was impossible for him to return these in perfect condition, he was ready to pay for the damages done to them.

With his Dismantle Sword, he had no trouble cutting apart those old equipment, but for him to cut up one of these monster parts, it was much harder. Without exploiting the gaps and creases of the scales and hide, it was almost impossible for him to cut them apart.

"Alright. Marvin, take care! Be careful, don't ever relax your guard, once you're outside the city!" Johnson knew how stubborn Marvin can be, he gave up dissuading Marvin and patted his shoulder and reminded him.

Marvin arrived at the gate leading to the outside, the security was high, everyone had to show their identities when they enter or leave. But no one cared if there were a few crazy Apprentices going out to experience life and death battles.

The walls surrounding the city was over 100 meter tall, made of very sturdy materials, even for invading monster hordes, they would require some time to break apart the walls. The suburbs surrounding the city on the outside were also inside the walls, no one would dare to live outside these walls protecting them from the monsters.

Marvin easily passed through the gate and walked out of the walls that had protected him for 15 years of his life, with determined steps.