Leo, the Mercenary (3)

Fantasy… this word has more association to everything around more than Leon could admit the past half month. It was everywhere around him yet he was absorbed into his grim and dark reality.

The moment he stepped out of the city for the first time, his perception of the world changed… almost forever.

Where to even begin?

What he walked out from was a city surrounded by walls, filled with stone buildings and plazas, with a sky that outlined the edges of the horizon as if they are the walls of a well. Nothing unusual compared to a world he knew.

But as the mercenary convoy passed through the walls and the suburban area around the city, they found themselves on a hill overlooking… the World.

It was as if vision became endless and all the known colors became vibrant and clear with an overflow of warm lights and a completely alien nature.

I am not Earth!

It was as if the world was declaring its identity to Leon. Its uniqueness and color.

Along the warm green ridges and the unique grassland with its bizarre and sharp rocky terrain which surrounded the travel roads, the strange flora which looked like mushroom trees dotting the landscape with an endless amount of farmlands all added more vividness to the green and greatness to the scene.

"Man!"

But it was when the pure wind came by and rushed across the carts did Leon exclaim as he was being cleansed from the filth of the world.

It took his mind off things, all the stress and anxiety, especially what happened not long ago with that woman from the Mercenary Hall.

Her spell was a Mark spell, the same as the one he found on himself. Yet at the same time she cast it, her magic sensitivity was so high to the point where she detected him doing something to her spell. The woman didn't panic but she directed to him some strange words and then started to panic.

Those particular words made him almost question his sanity. The bizarre thing was the fact that even the man who was standing next to him didn't hear her say anything… nothing at all.

It was then when that woman changed the spell to the one the other guild clerks were using and cast it on him and Titus.

"Those who live today will die tomorrow. Those who die tomorrow will be born again. Those who live True will not die."

Something happened! Something Leon couldn't sense or expect just crossed his mind. No one heard that woman's words except him and he is sure of two things.

First, they were said in a language he never knew about but he still could understand.

Second, he could swear he heard those words somewhere before. It felt like something came out in his dreams and he heard every night. It was one of those moments when no matter how much he tried to recall something, he can't just bring it up even if he put his whole arm in the fire this time around.

Those who live today will die tomorrow.

Those who die tomorrow will be born again.

Those who live True will not die.

Death, Rebirth, Immortality.

He can't recall the exact words or the language now but these meanings became carved on his brain. He is a reincarnator, maybe she figured something about him. Even worse, she may know something about him. Even way worse, she is probably the one who was tracking him in the first place.

It happened after he left the Mercenary Hall for the first time and that was when he met that tall Elf lady. Despite not trusting her all, Leon tried to dismiss any foreign Mana from himself except that one about the [Mystic Link] spell as he kept confirming that it is not tracking him.

Mystic Link, also known as Soul Link, is a new spell cast on him and added to his arsenal now. In terms of utility, this spell has a whole ton of it. For example, Leon is linked to Titus who by his part is linked to the other three members of the company. Due to that, the five people can sense each other's locations even if they are unaware of their surroundings or tell which direction the other members of the team are in. Also, they can sense if someone is experiencing any state of stress thus becoming aware if one of the team is in a pickle or anything. The utility factor of the spell is sharing some of the Experience Points with the team.

It is very useful all in all but Leon doesn't think he can cast it with his humble understanding of the Mysticism Magic despite knowing a lot about it in theory.

Still, the stress storm Leon was in made the rest of the company feel a little bit anxious.

"Being in your head sucks, man." Huxley said.

Those words pulled Leon back from his daydreaming and responded.

"What?"

"Your worries… you have a lot of stress. Cunning little spell, ain't it?" Huxley said.

"Don't listen to him." Edrick interrupted, "It is normal for a newcomer. First time that the wimp saw a goblin almost felt like the world was crumbling on his head."

"Yeah, yeah, I was ten, you goddamn morons!" Huxley replied brushing off the shame of his past.

"Flimsy city boys!" Cenric laughed, "You're a city boy too, Leo?"

"Heh!" Leon smiled wryly, "I've been to all kinds of places. Monster hunting is new but… it has to be done one day if I want to rely on myself out there."

"See? That's the mentality." Edrick pointed at Leon, "I can tell you have a future if you are willing to watch and learn so stop worrying and get your head straight. Nothing too bad will happen where we're heading."

"It is not the destination that is worrying me." Leon said, "It is the journey."

Leon's reply came with a deep distant sigh which made the other men with him on the cart chuckle from a kid being so deep.

"Neither the destination nor the journey shall be a problem." Titus spoke, "Nothing will hinder the Sons of Virgins!"

"""THE SONS OF VIRGINS!"""

Leon sighed and covered his face in embarrassment. Sure as hell, the next brothel he comes across, he will graduate no matter what.

***

On the other side of the forest where the road continues through the thick trees, a convoy of fine carriages drove in accompanied by a large number of knights in each direction as if a small battalion was dispatched.

Those were without a doubt the students of the Royal Academy taking the empty road from the Western District out of the Capital rather than going through the Northern District.

Many of the students were excited and felt safe about the field training they were about to be subjected to thus a vision of chivalry and glory spread between the male and female students as if they were going to walk out of this forest as the heroes of their generation.

And that wasn't just a whim or a lie, that was something they were looking forward to for a while now.

The training of knights and mages differed from the norm as they always preferred to hone their skills and ability scores rather than going directly to leveling up. Of course, they had to go through some levels in order to fit certain criteria but they usually stop when they hit the first Leveling Bottleneck

"What is a Leveling Bottleneck?" One may ask.

The answer is that every 10 levels comes a very tough requirement to break through the limits of the mortal shackles. It may be similar to some monastic ideas about energies and similar things but this was true here as well. To Level 10, which most of the academy students are stuck at, this is the peak a human can reach. After that, one must hunt bigger game in order to gain more levels and grow further in strength.

As Aristocrats, the students were taught to kill weak monsters and beasts when they were of age but these combats were supervised and in a safe friendly space. Now, this is the real thing… yet still supervised and all.

To break the first 10 levels bottleneck, one must kill enough creatures and gain a high amount of what is called Experience. If the kill count falls short, the Experience starts to decrease once again.

In history, the phenomenon of the System was something that appeared in the Mystical Age when heroes battled demons and the Holy Mother established the Commandments of the Holy Way, the rules by which magic and combat skills are endowed in the Races of Men, Beasts, and even some of the Allied Demonic Races. These commandments were set upon the very world itself and established the System which altered the way which people use and control magic into a much more acquirable and easy to read method.

According to the old texts, the Commandment of the Holy Way releases the soul of the dead back to the Afterlife so no undead can be naturally formed by the Demonic Intervention but the Commandments strip the dead souls away from bits and pieces of their Mana and give them to the one who caused their demise. There is no unit of measurement for this Mana and so it is called Experience from the phrase "Gaining Experience". The Talent percentage dictates the amount of Mana taken. If 100%, it takes all of the Mana from the dead soul which grants a substantial growth; if less than 100%, the Soul may keep some of its Mana and regain some of its power as undead in the realms of the Afterlife; and if more than 100%, the soul may get damaged and take even more time to regenerate in the Afterlife.

Those with talent more than 100% are called the Terminators, the Exterminators, or the Slayers depending on which word they prefer. It is said whenever they kill a creature, they affect the circle of reincarnation causing more souls to be stuck in eternal damnation.

"So, I think Leon is a Slayer." Erielle said.

"Just based on the fact that he saw through your magic?" Eleanor asked with a glare.

"You know more than anyone that if one is to intercept a spell that way, it is because they possess higher Talent." Erielle slapped her seat.

"Than you?" Eleanor asked, "You know very well that there has to be not just a substantial but an overwhelming difference in Talent to do such a thing. You are a monster the way you are already and you think Leon has more talent than you?"

"Explain it to me then." Erielle closed her eyes and dropped her thin shoulders, "A kid, no idea what happened to him, lost his memory as if he is someone else completely and proved more ability than squadrons of knights sent after him, has weird magic we don't know about and did all this and that? Why are you not accepting the fact that Leon is different?"

"Because the amount of change you are pointing at is further than anything we know. It is like… it is like you are talking about a different person altogether." Eleanor said not angry but rather calm and understanding.

"Yes… about that." Erielle said.

"What?"

"I had a vision."

"I'm sorry?" Eleanor blinked twice, "I thought you stopped having those."

"Me too…" Erielle's eyes looked distant as she stared into nothing before turning to Eleanor again and nodding in confirmation that she is sure of what she saw.

"Is it about Leon?"

Erielle shrugged her shoulders. She took a breath in and out then started saying what she could remember from her encounter with Leon to the fact that his interference in her magic triggered a vision.

"It is about a grey sky filled with smoke, a grey land as if made with ash and bones, an endless desert rocky of this land. I saw statues of strange people, well crafted and unique in their style, these statues were sunk in the grey sand. The place felt as it was felt with death and gloom but…"

"But what?" Eleanor asked.

"There was a tree. It wasn't alive but it still bore fruits. Each fruit was akin to a dry withered head and they could speak. They said words I… I didn't understand and I mindlessly just recited them." Erielle said, "When the words were said, the vision was over and Leon looked pale as a sheet of paper."