Limitless Power

Arthur's tracking abilities prove even more incredible than Draven had expected.

In fact, even Arthur is surprised by the ease with which he follows the trail of the trio of ruffians, even after they leave the road and stop leaving behind drops of blood.

Even within the dense forest and in the darkness, Arthur notices the slightest traces everywhere with his eyes as sharp as Aria's, a characteristic clearly inherited from her.

His keen eyes, combined with Liam's experience in tracking targets, allow the father-son duo to quickly catch up to the trio.

Arthur can tell when their targets are about a mile ahead, so he and Draven slow down and start moving carefully and as silently as possible.

The full moon is almost completely visible in the sky, indicating that it is not yet midnight.

But Arthur still checks an analog magic-powered clock he always keeps in his backpack, a device made by Aria, naturally.

"It's been two hours since the tavern incident," Arthur reports to Draven. "Don't these guys need to stop for a rest?"

Draven wonders about that. "They do seem to be in quite a hurry indeed."

The duo converse while continuing to follow the trio, which leads them dozens of miles beyond the village into a part of the great forest that borders a major stone road connecting kingdoms.

But the bandits keep heading deeper into the forest until Arthur and his father reach a small path, a trail, to be more precise.

"I don't remember this," Draven thinks out loud as he looks around.

He has been to this region several times before, hunting dangerous beasts that threatened the village and dealing with bandits as well.

But despite being familiar with the area, this part of the forest is so extensive that he can't be certain that this trail has been there for a long time.

Arthur analyzes the trail and quickly comes to a conclusion. "It was made about a week ago… many people pass through here regularly, with animals and carts as well…"

"Many people?" Draven can see just a few wheel and hoof marks on the ground, but he trusts his son's tracking abilities and is just surprised.

"Groups of five, ten, even twenty, and more…" Arthur starts to report what he sees on the trail.

"Got it, many, right?" Draven can't help but become more concerned. "I feared they were part of a larger group, but I didn't expect such a big gang."

Arthur doesn't know much about the region beyond the village; in fact, he knows almost nothing beyond what he has read in Aria's books, usually about the general history of the continent of Eldoria.

"Is it unusual for groups that size?" He asks his father.

"In this area, it is," Draven explains. "There's only this damn forest and the barren mountain in this region; also, our village is unknown as there are no riches in it, so it doesn't attract the attention of such groups."

Arthur wonders about that. "So they must be traveling along the main road, but…"

He can't help but notice something. "The trio will tell the gang about our village!"

"Yes," Draven nods. "That's probably why they're in such a hurry."

"We have to stop them!" Arthur wastes no time before running along the trail in the direction the trio went.

He doesn't want more bandits heading to the village and harming its people, so eliminating the trio seems like the most efficient action right now.

"Arthur!" Draven runs after his son; he understands how killing the trio might seem like the best option, but he can't sympathize with the idea of cold-blooded murder.

Draven quickly catches up to his son, but they both enter the forest and hide behind some trees upon seeing several people holding torches about half a mile ahead on the trail.

The father-son duo sees three individuals approaching several others who appear to be led by a man mounted on a horse.

Arthur has seen many horses in the village, and these creatures are similar to those in Liam's world, also used as mounts.

But ordinary horses like the farmers have can't run as fast as Arthur and Draven, so they're only useful for very long journeys, which Arthur and his family don't make.

Arthur has also read in Aria's books that there are many types of horses in the world, and depending on the breed, they can be much better than ordinary horses, just as people can be due to the power of lineage.

Seeing the man mounted on a large brown horse under the moonlight, Arthur can already tell that the creature is different from those in the village, almost a third bigger.

"Their camp must be near," Draven comments. "And that could be their leader."

"Damn," Arthur can't help but curse. "We're too late; they might already know about the village."

"We need to get closer," they both say at the same time.

Using the forest to conceal their presence, the duo gets closer to the bandits.

Thanks to their heightened senses, they quickly begin to overhear the conversation of the bandits.

It's indeed the trio that Arthur beat up in the tavern, and now they're reporting various details about the village to the man on the horse.

"Few farms spread out over large areas... crops... livestock... and no soldiers or castle…"

Two members of the trio describe the village in detail, while the third, the man who touched Margaret, can barely speak due to his injuries.

"And who did this to you?" The man on the horse asks with a deep voice; it's evident that the trio got severely beaten.

"It was a bo-" One member of the trio almost tells the truth.

But then he realizes that saying the three were defeated by a boy who didn't seem older than sixteen would make them the joke of the group.

"There was a very big and muscular guy…" The second member of the group describes Draven to the leader. "He looked very strong, and there was another guy with him, a younger one but also quite strong."

"What's their power rank?" The man on the horse quickly asks.

The two ruffians look at each other while trying to think of an answer.

They were quite drunk and swear that Arthur moved as fast as light at one point and attacked the third member of the trio with the strength of a thirty men.

But of course, they think that was the effect of the alcohol and Arthur wasn't that powerful in the end.

"He looked like a Novice swordsman," one of the ruffians says, but there's no confidence in his tone, and the leader notices this.

"Maybe he was already a Fighter swordsman?" The second member of the trio seems even more confused. "He was certainly faster than a Novice, but we still managed to wound him."

"Yeah, we cut that stupid boy!" The first member of the group gains more confidence and accidentally lets slip that Arthur was just a boy.

"A boy???" The leader seems both annoyed and curious.

"Ahem!" The poor ruffian tries to sound sincere. "He was quite grown up, and we cut his arm!"

"Yes, yes!" The other member of the group exclaims. "He's at most a Fighter swordsman, a noble raised with the best resources and equipment but without real talent."

The leader can see that the two ruffians are trying to hide their humiliation at all costs, making it difficult for them to give an accurate description of Arthur's power.

"And the other guy?" He asks.

"The other?" The ruffian tries to recall Draven, but he only saw him when he and Arthur entered the tavern before things got messy.

"He looked like a giant," the guy speaks honestly. "But I have no idea about his power rank."

"Probably a Fighter, too," the other member of the trio adds. "But if his son is a Fighter, he might be an Elite swordsman."

"An Elite?" The leader becomes even more puzzled. "Didn't you say there was nothing special about the damn village? What would an Elite be doing there?"

The two ruffians start to stammer and blurt out anything that comes to their minds.

Meanwhile, from behind the trees about a hundred meters away, Arthur and Draven listen to the bandits' conversation thanks to their sharp senses.

Arthur can't stop thinking about the power ranks the bandit leader is asking the trio about.

Since he started training with his father three years ago, he has become more curious about such a subject, mainly because there are many types of power in this world.

Warriors and Mages use different techniques to become stronger, and since he was not born with a high magical aptitude to control mana in Its raw form, Arthur focused more on the training of the Warriors like his father.

Draven didn't give Arthur too many advanced details but rather taught him basic training techniques, starting with exercises and then moving on to sparring with swords and other weapons.

As his strength, agility, and senses increased, his father explained more about power ranks to him.

The first rank is Novice, when a person has only slightly more strength than a simple person who has never trained or used any cultivation method.

That is the first step, where Arthur started at eleven years old. And with training, he was improving, going through the initial stages of the Novice rank as he became stronger and faster.

With each sub-stage completed, Draven demanded more effort and more progress from Arthur to consider that he could move on to the next sub-rank.

So Arthur went from the first grade of the Novice Rank to the eighth, which was his father's last analysis a few weeks ago.

In the early days of training, he could barely lift half his weight, but in a year he could lift something of the same weight as him, twice as much the following year, and right now a little more than three times his weight.

That's why he could hit the drunk trio so easily; his strength is already a few times greater than Liam's at his peak on Earth.

But Arthur only has an idea of what the strength of a Novice Warrior up to grade eight is, as his father always holds back a lot during the sparring sessions.

He read in Aria's books that Warriors of the Fighter rank could lift dozens of times their weights and cover a mile in a minute.

But when it comes to the third Rank, the Elites, such Warriors are described as being able to cut down dozens of trees with the force wave generated by a sword swing.

Those three ranks form the Foundation, and it is the basis for becoming even more powerful Warriors, but even at such stages, the power difference is unbelievable.

Arthur also read about even higher ranks, and the things described as being able to bring down entire villages and cut mountains with strikes seemed crazy.

But now he wonders how amazing people can be in this world, especially his parents, whose power always seems so mysterious.

Right now, Arthur casts a curious look at Draven. "How I've never seen my father using his full strength? He is certainly above the Elite Rank, but which rank could it be?"

"Yes, he must already be a Master, but which rank?" Arthur remembers the descriptions from the books. "Maybe a Champion, which can destroy half a village with a swing of a sword?"

"Or stronger... maybe a Hero? Could he bring down an entire village in a second?"

"Damn," Arthur gets frustrated because he has no idea of Draven's power. "He could even be a Great Hero, able to cut a mountain with his sword!"