Chapter 11

Palatury Town had was surrounded by three separate types of terrain's, there was a reletevly small mountain to the north and vast forrest spanning from the towns northwest to the South and even spreading to the zone between the south to the southeast, southeast, in the southeast, east and northeast of the town were grassland planes with many hills across the land and a few sparse trees every here and there . The mines were to the north and there were few monsters there thus Vincent went to the southeast to try and hunt some monsters in the plains. To Vincent's misfortune he soon discovered that the beasts would escape the moment they noticed him, this alone wouldn't be so bad if the terrain was better but the lack of foliage made hiding very difficult for Vincent. He eventually decided that remaining in the planes was nothing more than a act of futility thus he headed to the forests. At first it was more of the same, the beasts would notice his presence and immediately escape until one did not. The problem is that the beast that didn't chose to escape hadn't yet been seen by Vincent. A Lone Wolf jumped out of the bushes leaping at Vincent, his reactions were slow but his reflexes had kicked in just in time to save his life. He slashed at the wolf who pelted itself onto the sword however Vincent failed to stop the wolfs momentum and its claws scratched his cheek.

Vincent touched his cheek seeing blood on his arm. He looked down at the dead wolf, it looked old and ragged and it seemed like it was starving and hadn't eaten in days. To Vincent's suprise he actually felt pity for it, even though it tried to kill him some part of him pitied the beast. Vincent had killed before but they were always bugs or possibly plants he'd never killed anything close to a wolf. He felt sad even disgusted with what he had done, but it was him or the wolf and even if it were to happen again he'd still kill the wolf. He also had to keep his promise to his father and he would nor let anything stand in his way. The next few hours were relatively uneventful with most creatures escaping, some attacked Vincent all dieing to his blade, each time he felt disgusted but what he didn't notice that each time he killed his shame and self disgust from doing so reduced each and every time.

Later on Vincent encountered his first monster. As Vincent walked on the forrest he stepped on a twig, at first he didn't even notice it but he soon did when he list his right foot. As he looked down at the strange twig he noticed it start to wriggle and soon a long thin orangey pink tube struck out from the ground. He managed to cut it in half with white blood spewing all-over. The blood truck to his sword like some sort of instantly hardening glue. Vincent asked the guard next to him.

""Norbert is this a Grubble worm?

Norbert (Family Guard): "Sorry but under your fathers orders i may not tell you."

Seeing the guards lackluster response Vincent looked down at his foot again and saw the twig he stepped on was a exposed part of the worm. It seemed his weight was sufficient to crush the worm and cause it to bleed sticking his Boot to the ground. Vincent had to waste over half an hour just to free himself from the disgusting creator and the ground. Vincent spoke to himself.

"I think i heard in rumors that Grubble worm blood is used in construction and now i have learnt why firsthand."

Norbert remained silent as he followed Vincent being diagonally behind him. The two continued Vincent even defeated a pack ot Jackals that thought he would make a tasty meal, aswell as a few monsters with most being Grubble Worms, as evening was about to come Vincent and Norbert started to head back to Palatury Town, however they return was halted with a loud roar. Norbert raised a arm to stop Vincent as he quickly moved to put himself between Vincent and the place the roar came from. Norbert raised his spear and awaited for the threat to arive, Vincent was about to ask about what made the noise but Norbert immediately shushed him. It seemed like Norbert knew what was the threat and he deemed it sufficiently dangerous to consider it as a real threat to Vincent's safety. Soon it emerged a Ogre. Orgers are a species that had originally started out as the offspring of ancient trolls and ancient orcs but with time evolved into multiple independent and sperate species aswell as sub species over time. They are larger than Orcs yet smaller than trolls, but they are also smarter than trolls yet Dumber than orcs wich weren't all that smart to begin with. While most orcs lived in groups some did live alone and this orcs seemed to be one of the latter. It looked at Vincent and Norbert with its three eyes as it roared again so loudly it would make a lion retreat without looking back. Its big sharp fangs visible in its open mouth. Each fang was as big as a banana and the 5 Meter tall Ogre was as big as a small tree and as tall as a giraffe. This ogre had a uncharacteristically high amount of arms as it had two arms on each side. Its bright Green skin looked unfitting when compared to the darker green Forrest around it. The Ogre stomped the ground and than charged at the two humans Infront of it. It was armed with four clubs each the size of a cupboard and with one for each hand. Vincent thought he would die at that moment then and there but a blue aura surrounded Norberet and his spear started to glow in the same dark blue light. He charged at the Ogre at a speeds far beyond what Vincent believed to be humanly possible. In a instant it was all over, with Norberts spear immediately followed by his whole body going straight through the Ogre who exploded into four chunks flying in separate directions and a rain of blood.

Vincent: *What was that‽"

Norbert: "It is a weapon art, in this case a spear art. Once you master a weapon to a certain degree you may learn or possibly even create a weapon art."

Vincent: "Wait so if i master the sword i could do stuff like that!"

Norbert: "Yes young master that is correct, however most warriors fail to achieve this ability, even in the most powerful nations only about one in ten warriors can achieve this and in the weaker states it may be one in a thousand or worse."

Vincent: "So i can learn magic by getting really good at the sword!"

Norbert: "No, Weapon arts are a force separate from magic, though there are similarities and some items may be effected or effect both forces they are still to sperate things. Magic and Weapon Arts are fundamental forces of our world few chose to try and master both and even fewer succeed."

Vincents eyes began to sparkle more and more as if a new world had opened before him. He had a new power he wanted to achieve a other goal to strive for and one that would help him achieve his other two goals, wich were Getting recognised by the king and being awarded land and defeating Wolf. Vincent thought for a second before he asked his next two questions.

"Which is harder to succeed in and wich is harder to train?"

Norbert: "its probably considerably easier to enter entry level magic as most people who try succeed in being able to use magic, although a tutor or the ability to read and self study are generally nessesary. Thus even if its not much l many magic users achieve the ability to use magic even if its only the weakest parts of magic. meanwhile even being able to use Weapon Arts is quite the achievement. Thought comparing both is unfair as that would be like comparing a novice spearman who's just started to use a spear to someone such as myself. Reaching the higher level of magic is far harder than unlocking the weapon Abilities but medium level magic should be a fair bit easier. My understanding of magic is rudimentary but i have worked with many magic users over the twenty years i have served as a guard for your family. The highest levels of magic far surpassed what can be done at the highest levels of weapon arts, atleast in the current era as no one knows what the future may hold, once when magic was just emerging Weapon arts rained supreme. But they have a major limitation, most can only use one to three weapon arts, mostly only in thier weapons of choice but some managed to do so in multiple weapons but weapon arts are generally weaker than magic and the amount of arts you can learn are fewer. A sage may know a thousand spells but even the most powerful weapon are user in the kingdom since its foundation had only 32 arts. There is no real limit to how many arts you can have but even having only one is rare and having more than ten is enough to make the bards sing songs of your greatness for atleast a three to four generations if not more."

Norbert stopped talking as the two returned to town. Vincent soon went to sleep with even more goals to achieve.