10 Loss of Control

"Widen your stance a bit," I nudged the young man's leg and moved it that fraction of an inch required for the basic grounding stance when using staves. He took to the weapon like a fish to water but had a lot of bad habits that all children developed that I needed to grind away. He was one of five F-rank Adventurers that I had been given to help train as a punishment by the actual Instructors. Kale, I think, was his name. I just numbered them. The walking time bomb of a girl was also in my group. I had no doubt the 'adults' knew the troubles she'd have in the near future because of her talents and decided being forced onto someone with so much Martial Potential like myself would help her survive.

The young girl had much the same idea and had used every possible opportunity to try and develop a friendship or grow closer in some manner to me. I even admired that determination and will to survive, no matter what.

That will and determination was no doubt a product of a violent and dangerous world where most children were forced to grow up quickly. Be that due to being orphaned, as most of these kids were, sold into slavery as sex slaves, laborers, or fodder. Raped, ravaged, used as disposable tools. Not unlike the Creatures on the farm.

I felt for them, in the sense that they were likely fucked. In the week since I had been here I'd paid attention to the conversations of the older Adventurers when they weren't out killing as many Goblins as they could before the real effects of this 'Tide' came about. The survival rate upon reaching F-rank was about thirty percent. Not because they sent them into the wilds hunting Creatures, but because even the most simple missions were dangerous and could easily grow far more dangerous depending on the ranging territories of those wild beasts.

I sighed while whacking Kale on top of his head when he took a step back and whined about being 'uncomfortable.' Just another reason to not grow close to these kids. Perhaps my own version of training would help these five survive. More so since it went a bit overboard on basics, foundations, and fighting without relying on this world's odd magical enhancements that some gear could apparently acquire.

Not a single one of my five liked that. They were mocked by the other groups as well. The Instructors had a different take on it, of course, and tried to blend the methods I used with what was the norm. It was failing, but they were too proud to ask me about it and I was far too much of a dick to help them improve it. Instead, I stole their methods and learned slowly on self-experimentation regarding what hurt more than helped my young and developing body. In a month or so I'd see about adding it in.

The main point of contention with three of my group, the sneering little bastards, was that I was younger than them and a commoner. Apparently, they were brothers and sons of this town Mayor. I wasn't sure why I'd been stuck with them, but I had my own thoughts about that. Likely no one else wanted to deal with their ego.

"Hey, Creep, you're teaching us wrong!" There it was, the daily annoyance that was my current life. It was the youngest of the sneering trio. I think his name was Bob or something. No one liked a Bob. I turned to eye the annoying little shit, often goaded into this by his elder siblings.

Creep was the latest in their attempts at getting a rise out of me. It never worked of course. They continued to try nonetheless though. "You are being trained properly. If you dislike it I can put you on your ass again."

He scoffed at me. "Like you really could do that if we used magic against you, Creep." Ah, perhaps that was the rub? Being taught by a magicless commoner? It didn't matter. They were children, noble or not, in a far-flung town. I doubted that they had any real formal training. At least not in practical combat use of their magic.

"Fine," I said. "Come at me with your magic. I'll put you on your ass, all the same, then you will run thirty laps around the training field." He seemed smug for some reason. Ah, alright, yeah. He would likely pretend it wasn't actual fact without someone he 'respected' forcing the issue. "I'll have Claw take a moment to witness our little wager. If I lose, you're free of my training."

His triumphant look wilted as worry battled with his undeserved confidence. I was even half tempted to lose on purpose, but that would likely ruin what little credence I had managed to develop with the Instructors. I sighed, calling out for Claw. "Claw!" I yelled. "Can you be a witness to something for a moment?"

He looked over from his own trainees with a sigh. In the last week, this had become semi-regular. Though previously it had actually been the other Instructors. Primarily Jessica. She wanted constant rematches. My arms couldn't continue keeping up with it. Less so when she continued to strike that same fucking spot on my arm.

He said a few words to his five and then trotted over toward us. "What is it now, kid? Did Jessica decide it was time to do some real harm or something?" I explained the situation to him and he rounded on the trio in question like he was about to rail at them. He paused a moment before shouting as if he thought better of it. Good, this needed to be done.

"Alright, no killing blows though." I found it a bit biased that he looked at me when he said that. He was correct, but I wasn't the one that would be throwing fire of some sort like this little shit would be.

"Don't worry Claw, I won't kill him." I raised a brow at the kid and turned to regard Claw for a moment. He let loose a breath of air in a dramatic sigh and bade us get our weapons ready. I ignored the snide comments still coming from the kid, one of his brothers joining in. I grabbed my wooden Scythe for training and hefted it a bit. It was ten pounds heavier than I liked. That was by design of course. It allowed me to increase my own muscle strength a bit easier as well.

I twirled it a bit over my head and to the side, getting used to the heft again before taking up a position across from the kid. He stood with a short sword hanging loosely in his hand and no stance of any kind. I rolled my eyes at him and Claw said one last tidbit before starting the match. "Keep your great big beast from attacking him if he lands a hit." That wasn't an issue, she was out with Siddnie and her father while he hunted some game near town. I'd taken to loaning her to him to prevent incidents where she might take training as an actual assault. Again.

"Go!" Claw shouted, and off I went. From my observations during all the training each of the kids was getting they took time. They had to split their focus between their surroundings and actually casting which seemed more like a type of split focus training. No need to give him the time at all.

I ran head first at him and he laughed while raising a hand, flames already flickering at the end of each finger. I paused a second at that, when had the kid managed to get the flame out that fast? Training outside of my sight. Not surprising. I hit the ground in a rolling dive to the left when I saw the flickering flames grow suddenly. A gout of searing heat flew by where I had been a moment before and then I was back on my feet. I was also a great deal closer now.

He tried firing off another blast but he was frustrated and nervous. It made him sloppy and fuck it up. Basically, he caught the sleeve on that arm on fire. Idiot shouldn't have worn something that long. He started screaming 'time out' and other such idiocy when he realized I was still moving. I didn't stop and rammed the end of my Sytche, that point just above the blade, into his gut. He bent forward while grunting and I saw a bit of vomit fly free. While he was bent over I closed the distance fully and brought my knee into his face.

The crunch of bone and cry of pain told me I'd likely broken it. He fell forward after that, far to dazed to stay on his feet. I rolled him onto his back, placed my foot on his sword hand, hard, and pressed the back of the wooden scythe blade against his neck. "You are a pathetically cocky child. Now you get to run thirty laps and you will no longer bitch about my training. If you do, we can repeat this."

I heard a soft curse and looked at Claw who was looking at the sniveling ball of stupidity that was Bob and then me. "Bit overkill, ain't it?" He actually seemed worried. I shrugged at him and ignored the unintelligible babbling of the kid below me.

I was even about to respond when I saw his eye widen in shock and horror and I felt the little hairs on the back of my neck start standing on end. Instinct told me something bad was going to happen so I hit the ground, hard, and rolled to the right as quickly as I could.

I heard a strange crackling sound. It reminded me of water popping for some reason. When I managed to stop the wild roll and get back on my feet I saw the oldest of the siblings, Yale, with his hand outstretched and water dripping from his fingers. He clicked his tongue and put his hand back at his side like it meant nothing. The middle sibling, Hal, was the one I'd dealt with before and he was actively looking around. Likely seeing if Saga was anywhere nearby.

"What the fuck was that Yale!" Claw shouted, and the idiot shrugged.

"Just testing my 'Instructor.'"

Testing my ass, that had been water boiling hot enough when launched it actually could have caused serious damage to me.

"Bull shit, I don't care who your daddy is, boy. You're here as an Adventurer Trainee. If you do something like that again I will kick your ass out on the street and tell your daddy exactly why!"

The kid paled a bit at that. His father seemed to be fairly discipline oriented. How they all turned out this way was beyond me. It didn't matter. I hefted my little wooden scythe and threw the damn thing like a javelin right at the kid. I took off running at him right after. Either no one expected me to do that, or he felt he could bat the projectile away. He did try that, with a wooden ax, but he failed spectacularly my weapon struck him in the sternum. I heard a crack. Just the thud of connection, it shouldn't have broken the fragile bone.

I reached him before he'd had time to gather himself again and moved into his curled position while placing one hand on the back of his head and using my own body weight to force him down, face first, into the ground. He cried out in pain and I decided to smack his face three more times off the ground for good measure.

Before I could do it again, Claw grabbed my hand and yanked me off the kid bodily. I struggled a moment before stopping. The kid had actively tried to cause me immense harm, if not kill me, while my back was turned. I couldn't trust him anymore. Beyond that I was pissed. Livid. I spat at the groaning boy and glared at Claw.

"Ease up kid, ease up. You can't kill a noble, no matter the reason." I glared harder and he spoke calmly while making sure he used his superior strength, as an adult, to keep me pinned and immobile. Mother fucker. I took another deep breath and let the anger and tension out of my body. I ate it up and put it away. I couldn't kill the kid, for a lot more reasons than him being a Noble. Primarily because I didn't want to kill children if I could help it.

"I'm calm," I said, my voice devoid of any emotion. I knew Claw didn't believe it. He even seemed disturbed at my reaction. He did put me down at least, though he placed himself between me and the kid, kids since they were all in that direction.

"Take them to someone else. I'm done training them." I stated in as calm a manner as I could. Claw just nodded and sent me away. I was done for the day after that. If I continued I'd likely lose my temper completely and cause more harm than I cared to contemplate.

The other two in my little group of kids, Kale and Riley, watched me go with wide eyes. They were trying to understand exactly what had happened beyond that surprise attack from the bloody idiot I damn near killed. When I made it to the stables I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.

I hated losing control like that. I had spent decades mastering my emotions. I had no idea why that hard-earned control was so pathetic now. Being reborn as a child shouldn't have affected it, not this badly at least. The cause was ultimately a moot point though. I needed to control it, one way or another. Meditation would start becoming a very real activity of mine from now on.

One of the few good things that had happened over the last week was that I'd actually been officially allowed to live in the stables. I was more at home in this place anyway. It also prevented me from doing something stupid to the kids at night, like slit a throat or two. I bit down onto my tongue as hard as I could, drawing blood. Thoughts like those were becoming an issue. They happened every time I lost my fucking temper like this. I reminded myself I was not the petulant little child my age and body depicted but a full grown fucking man.

It took a few more moments and to stop myself from devolving back into that nasty little spiral I decided to pull up the System menu. It had been a month as of yesterday so my 'chances' were renewed. I wanted to see what I could do to the massive Minotaur I had won from Sab with the Improvement.

I'd learned the hard way that removing the collar was a good way to piss someone off. Namely Stewart. He had seen me attempt it and told me that if I did such a foolish thing again he'd kill him. That was fine, I could wait until my little break and he was brought back to the family farm.

For the time being, I'd see about actually improving him, or what I could do. His potential was pretty piss poor for it.

{Minotaur

Level - 15

Male

Str - 8

End - 9

Spd - 3

Int - 1 (restrained)

Skill - Charge, Gore

Improvement Success Chance - 21%

Description - A powerful and rare specimen of hybridization techniques. Minotaurs are amazing shock-and-awe troops that rely on their brute strength. Often enslaved to make controlling them easier.}

Yeah, it was really shitty. Even if I happened to use that little Goblin Orb I managed to obtain it wouldn't even be a drop in the bucket. I clicked my tongue absently and fiddled with the idea of going out with Saga to attempt to gain more somehow. The problem with that was I had no actual weapon.

Beyond that little complication, the System had proven oddly sentient. It added that Improvement Chance to the Minotaur after I won the little spar with Sab and 'claimed' him. I wondered at the rules involved with the damn thing. Did it only work with Creatures that were classified as mine, or close enough to being mine? Like those on my parents' farm.

I'd need to capture wild Creatures, or rather observe them. Something for later as well. For now, time to see what I can give the big guy when I managed to increase that percentage.

{Skill - Requirement

Axe Mastery - Str 6

Ironhide - End 8

Basic Understanding - Int 5

Average Understanding - 9

Advanced Understanding - 14

Stomp - Str 15

Ice - End/Int 12}

I frowned at the Int requirements for him to gain those understandings. Was it because Minotaurs were not known for their intelligence? Something I'd look into more when I managed to get ahold of a compendium of creatures of some sort.

It was interesting that the Minotaur was able to gain something involving my gained trait, Ice. I might try that sometime. Likely not with the big guy, but another if it was available. Axe Mastery seemed more like a natural affinity than a skill but who was I to judge that. Ironhide dealt with a stronger defense, something I'd get for him in the future. Stomp seemed to be a kind of area of effect stun, based on the strength requirement. Either that or I was overthinking it and it was just that. A stomp attack to smash skulls.

I frowned a bit at it as a whole before nodding and hoping for a chance to improve him and rid him of that fucking collar. I wanted to check Saga's stat page but she was with Saddie and I couldn't do it with her gone. Same with the Swift Horror. I'd sent her with Saga to hunt insects and maybe grow more.

I went about making sure that the Minotaur was properly cared for while deciding if I would go hunting tonight when everyone was asleep and try my like, or just create a new Creature. It would have to wait until after the 'weekly' call I'd been forced to promise my mother.

Stewart had been good on his word a week ago and contacted them through his B-rank team at the farm. Turns out mother was not pleased, not at all, to hear about the complications of my arrival. Father even sported a black eye. Apparently, she'd decided to slug him for 'putting me in danger.'

So, after a long conversation, I'd been forced to agree to contact her once a week. Stewart was to enforce it. I was baffled about why the old man gave in to that demand, but I'd accept it. I had no doubt mother would come and drag me back with force now.

I shook my head and was happy to realize my emotions were fully under control again. Scoffing a bit I took notice of the fact it took me a fucking hour to do that. The sun was beginning to sink in the horizon and Saga and Saddie was walking back into the training area with Derek. Good, I needed my pooch for tonight when I went hunting. That did mean Stewart was coming soon as well though. I was not looking forward to that as much. I would do what I needed too and keep my word, however.