Chapter 39: AOC [7] - The Shaman, Panther and Vice Lord

"Take care, Nena!" Rion said his farewell and darted towards the Redwood Den with Karhun in tow.They ran through the roads, climbed the rocky mountain and zipped past the trees.

After a few minutes, they reached the periphery of a clearing where Haria was having a spar with eight squad leaders.

They crouched behind a rock and watched her easily take care of eight squad leaders with no effort whatsoever.

Their punches and kicks met nothing but air, and their grapples were countered into slams as she easily threw them around like toys.

The spar didn’t look like it was between the experienced warriors of the Dhaevrak tribe; instead, it looked like an adult was bullying a couple of children.

Seeing that training, Rion shivered as the flashbacks of the time when she had trained him began to play in his head.

’She is just a sadist! A brute who likes hurting others!’ He shouted inwardly and continued to watch the spar with uttermost focus.

After becoming a trainee, he had learned more about the bloodlines, such as:

With time, bloodlines slowly reformed the body of the bloodline holder. It also moulded their thinking and talent to better use their abilities.

Like those of the bloodline of the God of War had their combat and commanding talent enhanced to the roof, while those of the God of Throne had their leadership and political qualities enhanced.

However, none of it came close to Rion’s God King bloodline, which made it possible for him to learn anything with an unimaginable speed.

While he watched, he wasn’t just doing it out of enjoyment; instead, he was learning how to fight and how not to fight. He wasn’t just learning from Haria, no. He was learning from all of them.

Haria, who had already sensed their presence, shook her head and thundered. "Just place it on the rock and get going."

Rion shivered. He quickly placed the leather pouch on the rock, grabbed Karhun’s hand and ran away.

Kahrun ran beside him with a confused look and asked, "Why are you acting like this?"

He didn’t answer; instead, he pivoted towards a nearby tree.

Swoosh!

Just in time to dodge a wild flying rock that blasted a tree a few steps away from them.

Boom-Thud!

Kahrun looked at the rock with ridiculously wide eyes and shouted, "What the fuck?!"

Rion took a few deep breaths to calm his rapidly beating heart and muttered with clenched fists, "Stupid brute!"

However, his face paled the next moment as Haria’s voice reached his ears.


"Tired already?"

He quickly stood up, grabbed Kahrun and dashed out of that place as fast as he could.

"Don’t you think it was too much?" Wukan, a squad leader, asked in a baffled tone.

Haria grinned and replied with a chuckle, "He can already beat each one of you. This is just a warm-up for him."

The squad leaders furrowed their brows at her words with a single thought in their minds: ’You just want to bully him.’

Yet, none of them dared to voice their thoughts. She may be a sadist, but none of them were masochists.

***

After climbing down the rocky mountain and reaching the periphery of Redwood Den.

"Huff... huff..." Kahrun breathed heavily with his hands on his knees as sweat glistened across his body.

He glanced at Rion and asked, "Why... why are you not tired?"

Rion simply shrugged and continued to walk towards the Vice lord’s hut.

"W-wait for me!" Karhun shouted and began to follow him once again.

A few minutes later, they reached the vice lord’s hut and saw that the door was already wide open.

He walked closer and peeked at the conversation.

"I don’t want to be in Zukah’s squad," Dora shouted darkly, her fists were clenched so tightly that they had gone pale.

Marin heaved a sigh and replied in a calm voice, "Squad member Dora, I understand that Zukah is not that good of a person but I can’t move you to another squad at the moment..."

Dora looked at him with a grave look and dashed out of the vice lord’s hut with tears welling up at the corners of her eyes.

Rion, who had already hidden himself from her vision, watched her run away and muttered in a cold tone, "Zukah..."

He didn’t know what had happened between him and Dora but it didn’t matter — not anymore, at least.

Kahrun placed his left hand on his shoulder and asked in a low, worried tone, "Are you good?"

The cold glint of his eyes vanished, and he turned his head towards Karhun and replied solemnly, "Yeah."

Kahrun stared at his face for a few moments before he nodded and mumbled, "Let’s go, we’ve got other things to do than this."

Rion took a deep breath and nodded.

Both of them stepped inside the vice lord’s hut, and Marin, who was already staring at the doorway, muttered, "Oh? What brings you two young warriors here?"

Kahrun opened his lips to answer, but before he could, Rion stepped forward and placed the leather pouch on the wooden table before Marin.

Marin looked at the leather pouch with understanding and mumbled, "Heh, what a pleasant surprise to think both of you have already finished your age of ceremony ritual."

Just like before, Rion didn’t reply.

Marin continued to stare at them with a warm smile, and beads of sweat began to roll down Karhun’s face.

Unable to take hold of this silence any longer, he stepped forward. "We have to end the age of ceremony ritual!" He said loudly and dragged Rion, who was staring at Marin with an expressionless face, out of there.

Marin placed his hands on his head and leaned back in his chair with closed eyes. He muttered, "Did he hear Dora’s words? I hope he doesn’t do anything stupid, hah... I can’t really believe that I am mentioning him and stupid together..."

Even after leaving the hut, Rion didn’t say anything, and Kahrun didn’t ask him anything either. Instead, he said, "Focus on the ritual."

Rion turned his head towards him and replied with a faint nod, "Yeah..."