XIII

After turning in for the night, Dylan awoke to the sound of a knock at his door.

Wiping the sleep from his eyes, he noticed the warm light entering through his window. Based on the intensity, he assumed it was around six in the morning. After donning a black shirt and pants, he crossed the small room and opened the door.

He was surprised to see a beautiful woman on the other side. Her long blonde hair, cascading down her high cheek bones, and defined jawline. Her emerald eyes, showed a look of surprise as they locked gazes.

"M...m...my name is Emily," she said. "I was tasked with showing you around HQ today. I hope I'm not intruding, but breakfast is served around this time, and I figured it was a perfect opportunity to start the tour!"

Emily's progressive attitude was not lost on Dylan. He could tell she was the type to treat everyone like this. Very professional, but also a hint of deception. Maybe he was to paranoid, but he figured it was best to play it safe.

'Judgement'

-SYSTEM DATA_

(Jewel of Honor detects no falsehood near the host)

(Jewel of Honor detects secrets near host)

'Well  fuck,' he thought. 'What does it mean by secrets near me? It said she's telling the truth, so are the secrets pertaining her or maybe this room? It could even be detecting secrets of the Dawn Guard in general, which wouldn't be surprising. An organization of this level couldn't have reached this height without a few secrets.'

After a few seconds of silence Emily spoke again.

"You're Grain right? Just making sure 'cause if not, that would be awkward."

"Yes I am." Dylan replied plainly.

"Okay good, how 'bout it? We can get some food and I'll answer any questions you have."

Dylan only nodded and closed the door. He had to put on his armor and retrieve his weapon after all.

A few minutes later, Dylan emerged fully geared, and they both departed without words. Emily had a feeling, that her current companion wasn't into speaking much.

-

After having breakfast and seeing most of the Dawn Guards facilities, Emily led Dylan to the marketplace.

They arrived in front of a giant building, this could easily be the largest one other than the main castle.

This building house the store houses and market. All of the valuable merchandise owned by the guard was stored here. Most of the large building was just rows and rows of storage, but a small portion in the front held a waiting area and sales counter.

Emily and Dylan entered through the costumer entrance, and walked towards the counter.

"Hello!" a dwarf with bright-red hair and a thick beard called. "How may I help you?"

"This is a new recruit Morthan," Emily replied. "His name is Grain, and I've brought him here, so he could purchase materials for his entrance mission."

"Well lucky for you I've just finished another order." Morthan said turning towards Dylan. "You can only purchase level one items young man."

"These are the most basic things we store here at Dawn Distributions. They can range from, weak recovery potions to basic weapons." 

"We only accept mana stones. However, you can also exchange beast materials for in-store credit.

This is the only instance a purchase can be made with anything other than mana stones. If we accepted all the materials soldiers gain on the job, we'd have a larger stock than we could sell."

"Other than that, you're welcome to view this list of items, or ask for something in specific."

Dylan accepted the list and looked it over.

There were tons of things.

Weapons, potions, magic scrolls, body enhancement pills, armor, and even low-tier enchanted accessories.

Dylan currently had around five thousand mana stones. This was a small fortune compared to ten year old him, but small change to nobles and high-ranking soldiers. Even adventures would sooner give that amount up, than fight for their lives.

Even still, a lot of the items on the list he could afford.

He decided to purchase a magic scroll, five health potions, a few different elemental bombs, and a ration ring.

The magic scroll was for a new skill. Usually the scroll would teach a mage to manipulate the specific element and its mana. For Dylan, he could just register the scroll in the system and learn the skill.

This would teach him the skill Berserk. 

This skill was similar to Braver. The main difference was, this skill would exchange a huge portion of his mana to boost his strength, i.e. his strength stat.

Along with the mana regeneration from the Jewel of Honor and the boost from Braver, this would double his power, and then some.

His four-fold strength combining with his two-fold intelligence, would make his Focus Burst reach insane levels. On top of that, even after the single powered-up attack, his strength would stay boosted for thirty minutes.

The potions and bombs were for emergencies, and the ration ring was an item that would perfectly preserve a months worth of food.

This put a huge dent in his funds at forty-five hundred mana stones.

It was worth it because, this meant he was now prepared for an extended solo mission.

After exchanging pleasantries, they left the marketplace and headed towards the cafeteria.

The tour had lasted a few hours and the purchase took nearly an hour, so it was now time for lunch. 

Emily gave Dylan a black ring she called a space ring.

"Why give me this?" he asked. "This can hold over a hundred kilograms of inanimate objects. It has to be expensive."

"Well," she smiled before continuing. "I have a feeling you wont have any trouble passing the entrance mission. Plus, you'll owe me one when you officially become one of us."

Dylan at first became very weary of her due to the term 'owe', but that feeling quickly subsided after he felt a slight tug on his arm.

"Lets go," Emily said with a smile. "A growing boy's needs to eat."

With that they sped towards the cafeteria, Dylan being dragged along by his arm, and Emily skipping merrily.

-

Dylan dreamed of Lila that night in his room.

Well, at least he thought he did. 

He definitely dreamed of someone, but Lila's features had long blurred after the many years.

On the outside he appeared as a young man, but in truth he had lived nearly fifty years.

He wasn't aware that the trial of Valor lasted nearly ten years, but his soul definitely felt it. His mind was a well oiled machine, he was no longer the young naïve boy.

He lived nearly three decades on Earth, but he never truly matured. After experiencing a life shut away from the world, he had become a boy in a mans body.

Now the opposite was true.

He was a wise middle-aged man in a young mans body. His potential was insane, and if anyone knew his true capabilities, they would probably kill him.

No one had seen this level of power at such a young age. Any one who learned of his unique powers would deem him a threat. Resulting in the kingdom stifling him, to keep him from growing in strength. 

Even then, he could realistically fight until he gained enough EXP, to level up to an insane degree.

At first his enemies would most likely be fodder, and he could just soak up their power. This meant that the entire kingdom turning on him, might actually be the quickest way to the peak.

Dylan hadn't quite pieced this together himself, but he might only realize it after reaching a level where his opponents wouldn't take him lightly.

Then he would just be slaughtered.

His paranoia was at a insane level, but he hadn't thought that far ahead. His main goal was become powerful enough to just ignore this whole war. If no one could beat him, he couldn't be forced to participate. 

He still had his introvert tendencies and wanted to seek power in solitude. 

-

Dylan spent the day before his mission just training, and getting to know the grounds. He didn't plan on spending that long here, but he wanted to know the lay out incase he needed to sneak out, or in.

He knew that eventually he would be forced to bow down to the authority of the Kingdom of Crane, or become their enemy.

He wouldn't take vengeance on a kingdom that helped him grow powerful, but one that held him down and forced him to work for them, would easily make his list of targets. 

Before ascending to take on the Gods, he would just obliterate the entire kingdom.

He didn't know how he would do it, but he knew in his heart he was capable.

He remained humble on the outside, but inside his mind, he knew no one was his equal.

Not even the Gods.