Chapter 10: First Blood

In the midst of everyone's improvement, a year has passed. Marco, now 10 years old, has grown a little taller, grown his hair a little, with bangs sweeping his forehead, and losing some of his baby fat. He had developed a fit body, which improved due to hunting, and consistent body cultivation.

Sitting in his house, Marco exhaled copious amounts of turbid air, as he stood up. 'My body cultivation technique is already having a bottleneck. I'm still stuck in the heart refining stage. I'm not sure where to develop my technique yet.' He donned a thick fur coat, as it was winter, he went outside and saw Hans, preparing some firewood

"Hey, need help?" Marco said, as he approached Hans. "Yeah, thanks kid. Oh by the way, you know where the others are?" Hans asked, since he hasn't seen them all morning, and the sun was about to set in a couple hours.

"No idea, those guys can hunt all by themselves now... You think they got in trouble?" Marco suddenly asked, since through the year that passed, news that villages in the Forsaken Realm were unfortunately attacked by Diamond Kingdom's forces spread around. Luckily their village was not attacked, but that doesn't mean it will not happen.

"Hmm... alright le-"

Before Hans could finish, he saw Marco push him away, as he soon saw a spear made entirely of bronze, stabbed on the ground at his previous position.

"Hide!" They immediately hid in their house, taking cover. ["I'll go out first, wait for my signal."] Hans heard Marco's voice, seemingly near him. Though they were hiding in different houses. This is Marco's developed spell, through sheer mana control, Sound Transmission. This was his first basic spell that he developed in the year that passed. This showcased his comprehension about "sound" and "magic", and his enlightened soul also gave him the ability to finely control mana.

Marco went out his house, headed straight to the woods. Soon he heard the sound of breathing, and grimoires pages flapping. He then dodged as he immediately hears the air whistling, indicating that there's a projectile headed toward him.

Whoosh!

He then saw a Bronze Spear deeply stabbed to the tree near him. He looked toward the direction it came from, and immediately rushed there, while sensing the enemy's position.

"Bronze Creation Magic: Bronze Spear!"

"Found you!" Marco grinned as he soon saw a hooded person standing on a tree branch. He dodged the incoming Bronze Spear, and jumped up, climbing the trees. 'This guy has already fired 3 spears... As for his allies... He's alone, that either means, this guy is skilled or they are lacking personnel.'

As soon as Marco got on the branch, he threw his iron dagger toward the opponent. It flew at a very fast speed, but the enemy blocked it off by crossing his arms equipped with bronze armguards.

Bang!

Although the enemy avoided a fatal wound, the force behind the dagger, pushed him back making him fall off the branch he was standing on. When he readjusted himself he saw Marco about to stab his neck.

"Huh?" A confused breathe escaped his mouth, as he was stunned. He didn't even hear him going close, was the kid a ghost?, but before he could think too much, his neck was already stabbed.

A swift, yet an emotionally painful death for him.

Marco sighed as he looked at the corpse of the enemy, then looking at his hands in thought, '...My first blood, the battle was exhilarating though, so I appreciate this.' He clenched his hands, as he recalled, and reflected from the battle. He soon called for Hans to come with Sound Transmission.

After a while, Hans appeared and looked at Marco, then the corpse as he sighed. "So it's happening huh?"

Marco nodded with a solemn expression. "Let's go then." Hans calmly stated, as he was already prepared for this.

They then tracked the trails of the Mage Warrior that attacked them. As they tracked the trails Marco widened his eyes, as he looked at Hans: "Old Hans, I forgot to call for Sir Randall, I'm just gonna assume you called him."

Randall nodded, "Don't worry, I left a note back there, I just hope Sir Randall visits today hehe" He let out a depreciating laugh as he reassured Marco, since it was not a foolproof method, and Randall may not even go to their house to visit.

"Sigh... Let's just finish up, we have a couple more hours before sundown, and eat some dinner."

...

A couple kilometers away from Marco, and Hans, a Diamond Kingdom outpost was currently busy, utilizing every warrior they have available. Some guarded the perimeter, guarded the prisoners, scouting the area, and infiltrating enemy kingdoms.

In the prison area, A muscular man, with a visible scar on his face was chained to the wall, along with his companions. "Ugh... Shit, Those Diamond Fuckers, had us outnumbered, now we miss Hans' dinner, Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" He screamed which made the guards beat him to shut him up.

"Calm down, Marshall. I'm sure Sir Randall, and the others are coming for us."

"Fucking hell Chris, the thought of missing dinner made by Hans just got me mad. Don't you agree Ali?"

"It is a depressing thought, but I'm not going batshit crazy just because of that."

The three continued to banter inside, trying to stay calm. Their chatter got interrupted as the guards came in, and brought new prisoners, and left with a grimoire that had a heart at the center. 'Oh? someone from Heart Kingdom?' Marshall noticed a young boy, seemingly 16-17 years old, opposite from their prison cell.

"Hmm? Hey kid!"

The boy looked at him, which revealed his spiky black hair, wearing a sleeveless, light purple robe with a deep v-cut neck and a navy center section on the front. "What is it?" he muttered.

"You from Heart Kingdom?"

"Yes... are you also from Heart Kingdom?"

"Well n-" Before Marshall could reply back, a soft voice interrupted them.

"They are not from our Kingdom Sir Gadjah." Marshall looked for the owner of the voice, to which he found belonged to a bespectacled girl seemingly aged between 9-10 years old, with short black hair, and a small beauty mark under the right corner of her mouth.

"!" Gadjah looked at girl hiding behind him, "Lady Lolopechka, please don't casually reveal yourself." he reprimanded her, then suddenly looked at Marshall et al. Since she said they weren't from Heart Kingdom, he became wary.

The girl looked at Gadjah, then at Marshall across their prison cell. She smiled at them, while Marshall and the others also sheepishly smiled, expressing their helplessness to their situation as well.