Chapter 5 : Welcome to the truth 3

***YAWN***

I stretched and yawned as sunlight flooded the room from the window overlooking the bustling street in Mirage, the capital of the Middle World.

"It's really weird to sleep in a new place, in the home of some people I knew only yesterday, my parents will be devastated if they hear this," I mumbled, rubbing my eyes.

I spent my first night in the True Realm at Hans's restaurant, which had a few rooms upstairs, after returning with my teacher yesterday, and we got to know each other properly this time as the first time we didn't know what the other was saying.

After getting out of bed, I took a shower before heading downstairs.

"Good Morning Mr. Hans," I said with a smile as I saw the man cooking and it seemed his restaurant didn't have many customers at this time.

"Morning, young Ali, have you slept well?" greeted the cook with a wide smile.

"Yes, thank you. Has my teacher arrived yet?" I asked.

"Yes, he's over there at table sixteen. He entered with a friend ten minutes before you walked down," he replied.

"A friend?"

"Just go there and you will meet her."

"Alright."

I was wondering who is this woman he mentioned.

I walked through the long yellow carpeted hallway, noticing the table numbers on both sides of the path, until I reached table sixteen.

'Hmm? Who's this?' 

A strange woman was talking to Adam. Both were sitting facing each other and engaged in a conversation.

"I can't do it," the woman said coldly.

"Come on Carol, aren't we friends? Why are you rejecting my request now?"

"No means no."

As I reached out more towards them they both turned their faces towards me, my teacher had a relaxed smile while this woman Carol, gave me a cold stare like she was judging me.

her sharp blue eyes emitted a strong aura that made me kind of scared, and her short black hair made her pretty and the glasses made her seem smarter, this was what one called the ice queen.

I nervously turned to Adam.

"G-Good morning, teacher."

"Good morning," Adam said, while Carol kept looking at me with extreme coldness.

"Is this the student you were talking about?" Carol asked, looking expressionlessly back at Adam.

My teacher smiled proudly and said, "Yes, what do you think?"

I was excited he was proud of me, but.... what was he proud about?

"Nothing special about him," Carol replied as she took a sip from her coffee cup.

I felt frustrated by this cold arrogant woman but I kept silent.

"Wow, you're still as cold as ever, I don't understand how you married," Adam shrugged.

"What did you say?" There was no apparent change in her facial expression, but her tone suggested she was annoyed by Adam's words.

"Sorry, sorry, I was joking okay?"

"Hmph," the woman finished her cup of coffee and then got up from her seat.

She stood before me, her gaze frozen on me for moments that made me feel intimidated, then looked away like I was nothing and she said, "If that's all, then I'll leave now."

My teacher sighed and said, "Alright, go no one wanted your help, I am here after all."

Carol just continued walking away and bowed to Hans before she left the building, while Hans smiled back and said, "See you soon."

After a moment, I sat where she was sitting facing Adam and said, "Isn't there anyone normal in the True Realm ever?"

"you are lucky she didn't hear you," my teacher said with a sigh mixed with a joking tone.

"Anyway, where did you go after leaving me here yesterday?"

"I went to look for that lady to discuss something about you," he replied.

"Me?!"

"Yes, actually... the Ordinaries aren't very welcomed in the true Realm," Adam said with difficulty.

"I know, Amber told me some things yesterday."

"You knew? That'll make some things easier." Adam put a serious look on his face and continued, "I asked her to register you as a citizen in the middle world, at least you will have the right to be protected as a human being, because now if someone wants to murder you in the street in front of the public legally no one can do anything."

I take a deep breath as I remember all the horrible stuff Amber said to me, "So, does that mean Carol didn't agree?"

"yeah," Adam replied with a sigh.

"Will I spend my days scared of being attacked because of my identity?"

"Not really, you can register in a normal way if you live a year in the true realm. Then you'll have all the rights of any normal warrior, it's like a cheap way to say you passed the unofficial rule to be a warrior."

"what do you mean?"

"It's like how Carol is trying to stop the racism against the ordinaries, she started with this one-year law because we can't expect her to just remove racism all at once right?"

"Understandable, thank god it's one year."

"Don't worry, no one will dare to mess with you with me around," Adam said with his usual grin, "Because messing with you means messing with someone else's property since you're now less than human."

".... You know how much I want to punch you right?" I said tightening my fist.

"Hahaha, good luck my dear student."

After finishing breakfast and leaving the restaurant, Adam took me, not telling me anything about our destination. As we walked down the street, an overcrowded place with a lot of warriors, a place filled with different shops, normal shops like clothes and groceries to weapons and items.

"Let's go," Adam entered one store as usual without telling me anything about it.

"Alright, it's not like I'm not going to enter," I stepped forward and entered the store.

As soon as I entered, I was surprised by the huge number of clothes inside. I couldn't find any of the clothes folded; they were all placed on plastic mannequins to make them look fabulous, and every piece of clothing seemed to glow brightly.

"Come forward, let's choose some normal clothes for you."

"Normal? What is wrong about mine?"

"Didn't you notice the difference?"

I look at the clothes and back to mine before I say, "It glows? and the colours are clearer."

"Colours? Fool, these aren't just some bright flashy colours, this is mana."

"Mana?"

"Yes, mana spreads in clothes through two ways, either from the maker, indicating their expertise, or from wearing them for a while by a warrior, which leads to the spread of some mana used on them, so now whoever sees you knows you are not a warrior."

"Wow, this small difference sounds huge when you explain it."

I got a black leather jacket and dark blue pants, it looked kind of fancy I liked it.

"Alright, now to the weapons store."

"Okay," I said dismissively before I realised.

'Wait a minute... Did he just say weapons?!'

"Weapons?!"

"Yes, you need a thing to hit people with after all."

We continued our way until we reached a huge ten-story building with a massive sign in the middle saying "Iron Mates Company."

"Wow! This is probably the tallest building in the city."

"Yeah, one of the biggest."

"so all of this...?"

"From here."

"...., at least listen to me for a second" I scoffed at his dismissive demeanour, his lack of consideration towards me was so frustrating.

Here, Adam stepped forward and then turned towards the side of the building.

"What?! Not again," I sighed as I recalled what happened when we went to James's Lab.

'I hope there won't be another old tavern here again.'

I followed the man to the side, but there was nothing there, the ground was empty, and this made me confused, I looked around us maybe there was a door or something.

"What are we doing here?" I asked.

Adam didn't care to reply and extended his hand towards the ground and then...

Kachang!!!

heavy annoying metal cracking noise spread around, as part of the floor began to move to the sides, revealing metal stairs heading downwards.

"Let's go," Adam said, moving downwards.

"Is there any place we can enter from the front door?" I sighed and just followed him.

This time, my teacher didn't move far from me, so I managed to catch up with him. As we advanced through the increasingly dark stairs, we heard a loud voice from all directions, "YOU BRAT!!! HOW MANY TIMES I TOLD YOU TO NEVER BREAK THE SECRET GATE?!!!"

"It seems that there are many people who don't welcome you in their properties," I said mockingly.

"Shut up Ali," he said to me then added in a clear voice, "Sorry Mr. Alvin, but this is the fastest way."

"What? Are you mocking me? Just continue your way here, I will show you!!!"

After the loud voice through the speakers stopped, we just continued our way casually like my teacher didn't care until we ended up in front of a huge gate.

Adam raised his hand towards it...

'Wait, is he going to do it again?!!'

"STOP YOU LITTLE BASTARD!!! I'll seriously kill you, I'll open the gate, don't you dare destroy it!!"

The loud voice said, then the huge gate opened in front of us. Adam stepped forward with a casual look, he didn't feel any guilt about destroying such expensive stuff, I shrugged and followed.

"What's all of this?!!! Wow!"

I was stunned, among all the places and things I'd seen so far, this place was the most luxurious, not to mention the weapons of various colours and shapes hanging on the walls; swords, spears, maces, huge scythes, shields, daggers, and there was at the forefront a statue of a man holding a hammer and raising it proudly. This statue was made of yellow metal, and I wouldn't be surprised if it is gold.

"here he comes."

Here, I felt something strange for a second, as Adam grabbed my shirt from behind and carried me between his arms to step aside quickly.

"W-What's happening...?!" I couldn't finish my words as something huge fell from above onto the spot where we were standing.

BAM!!

the metal in the ground made a deafening noise, everything happened so quickly but I knew if Adam hadn't moved me away I would have died.

I didn't fully comprehend what happened until I saw the thing that fell from above rushing towards us at a breakneck speed... It was... a man?!

"Ouch."

Here, my teacher dropped me to the ground and simply stopped the rushing person's hammer with his hand, with an indifferent look as if he hadn't done anything wrong.

"Adam, you little bastard," said the short man hanging from my teacher's hands as he refused to let go of the hammer.

"Hey, Mr. Alvin, haven't seen you in a while," my teacher said with a smile, almost mocking.

"Let go of my hammer, you Brat!!!" the man exclaimed angrily.

"But I fear you might attack me again, Mr. Alvin."

"If I attack you, then you deserve it, you insolent brat! How dare you come back here after I warned you not to return?"

"I'm here today for my student."

"Huh?! Your student?!" The short man seemed to calm down a bit and looked at me.

The man let go of his hammer to come closer to me. He was about my height, meaning he was shorter than the average adult man. He had a thick white beard and hair of a dark brown colour, with yellow eyes. Despite his broad build that didn't match his height, he looked like the dwarves in fantasy stories.

The man's expression quickly changed after looking at me closely, and then he said with a smile, "Hello, young lad, I'm Alvin Ironfist, the best blacksmith in all of Mirage."

"Huh?!" Adam said, "Why this difference in treatment, Mr. Alvin?"

"Be quiet, you Brat! Do you deserve to be treated kindly? Do you know how much money you've caused me to lose by destroying my things?"

Here, Adam fell silent. It seems he didn't have any words to defend himself.

"H-Hello, my name is Ali, n-nice to meet you, sir," I said.

"Likewise here. So, are you looking for some armour or weapons?" Alvin asked with a smile again.

"In fact..." I didn't finish my sentence and looked towards Adam.

'Even if I wanted to choose a weapon, I don't know anything about weapons, I used to do muay-thai, I know nothing about weapons.'

"Yes, that's correct," Adam said and then looked at me, "by the way, what weapon would you like to use?"

"What? What do you mean by that?" Alvin was puzzled by the question.

"He's an ordinary."

"What? Why did you do such a thing?" said Alvin kind of disappointed.

"What do you mean? He's truly a talented boy. Remember my words," Adam replied with a proud grin.

'I'm talented?! In what, for example?!'

"You're someone I can't understand," the man sighed, then turned towards me and added, "Hey, lad, go and check out the weapons."

"....O-Okay."

'What do they expect me to do? How will I choose anything?'

Adam and I approached the displayed weapons, and I kept looking aimlessly before I thought to ask him something, I mean if he was going to be my teacher I should use the same weapon as him, right?

"Teacher, what type of weapon you can use?"

"Me? I can use all weapons."

'As I expected, no help... Wait a moment.'

"I mean, which weapon do you use most frequently?"

"None."

"What?! Are you messing with me now?"

"No, I seriously fight with my hands. Look here."

Adam raised his hand towards one of the swords, bringing it flying towards us. After catching it, he raised it in the air and then struck it with his left fist forcefully.

"What?!" 

The sword shattered into small pieces as soon as it touched his grip, with no sign of any scratch on his hands.

"H-How?!"

"By enhancing mana and we call it Aura, but it's a slightly advanced technique. With this, you can use your hands as weapons entirely."

"Then I guess I'll choose hand-to-hand combat as well."

this is so good for me as a muay-thai trainee.

Adam nodded and said, "Good choice."

"Adam!!!! What did you break again?!!!"

We looked behind to find Alvin rushing towards us again with his hammer in hand. Adam pushed me behind as he stood in front of me.

I shrugged and just enjoyed the fight.

After the battle that lasted five minutes of futile attacks from the blacksmith on Adam, Alvin brought me a pair of gloves that looked like they were made of some special leather that is used to make lightweight armour. seems this at least can't cover my hands from sword cuts or something.

"Get out of here normally, don't break anything, got it?"

"Okay, okay," Adam replied nonchalantly, then we ascended the stairs to exit again, but this time when we ascended and reached the top, we weren't outside but inside a room with a wooden floor and red walls, with some chairs and tables.

"Wait a minute, where are we?!"

"Don't worry about that, it's just a minor illusion of the second degree."

"Illusion?!" as expected he didn't answer me and continued walking towards the door.

When he opened the door, we entered a spacious and crowded place with a lot of people, and a woman wearing a flight attendant uniform bowed to us and said, "Visit us again soon."

I looked behind me towards the door to see a sign that read "VIPs."

"Let's get out of here," Adam said, and we continued our walk until we exited through the main gate. We were inside the Iron Mate company building.

"I guess I'll never get used to the strangeness of the True Realm," I said, we went back to Hans's restaurant. On the way, Adam told me, "Rest well tonight, because tomorrow we'll start real training."

"Okay," I said but I was hiding my excitement I was waiting for so long for this. 

'Finally, I'll start training to use mana tomorrow, and finally, I'll become a warrior.'