A lad took a sword just for fun,

But thrilled when he saw how it spun.

The clash and the clang,

The swift, ringing sang—

His journey of steel had begun!

Goldie Honorhide.

Kevin was quite talented with the sword. When you have a knack for something, you learn it faster and gain levels in it faster. Yoboc tried to teach him the shield to go with it, but our big, heavy shields just weighed him down. Yoboc tried getting him a small hand buckler in a passing town, and that worked better, but we were forgetting his main strengths. His main strengths were not physical but mental.

He had skills like Sharp Mind and Enhanced Recall. His Mental Agility attribute was almost double mine. Once he improved his Physical Agility, he learned dual-wielding and fought with a sword and knife combination. He was slow and clumsy at first, but he definitely had a knack for it.

I was aware that we had a Lightsteel sword and parrying knife set in the crate next to the Blacksteel war knife, which may or may not belong to the Black Butcher of Jern. Kevin could never afford to buy it from us, and he was several years away from being able to use it expertly. Training with random Mercenaries does not make you an expert in just a few weeks. He needs training from experts.

A few weeks of training is not enough to give you the Swordsman Class either. He is certainly heading that way, though.

Swordsman is actually a Specialisation Class, the same as Goldie's Axeman Class. I could specialise from my Guard Class either way, but Yoboc could not become a Swordsman from his Hunter Class. Other basic Classes could specialise in Swordsman, like Warrior, Fighter, etc.

Kevin couldn't hope to get the Warrior Class, as the requirements were high. Apparently, it was the basic Class that the Kirghiz Army taught its soldiers, and its specialisations were mapped out. A simpler Fighter Class was an option, though. It was a general class that could be taken in many different directions.

The Warrior Class was a five-point class like Guard. Fighter was a four-point class like Hunter Scavenger. The only thing he could learn in a few weeks was the equivalent of my original Scavenger Class, like the Militia Class. He is very focused on swords and knives, though. Classes like Militia enable a variety of weapons, usually simple weapons that farmers might find, such as staves, axes, and spears. My knowledge of classes is simple. I am sure Kevin knows much more.

The Warriors among the caravan guards were ex-military. A number of others started with the Fighter Class. When I got to know my fellow guards, we had a wide variety of skills, including Archers, Rogues, and Brawlers. The Guard Class was the majority, but not by much.

All in all, the first five weeks were generally boring. The night watch chased off some thieves, but I was not on the watch that night. Villages and towns were the worst for thieves. The most I got to do was scare some drunk teenagers away.

Yoboc said my height and bulk worked to intimidate, and if I worked at it, I might gain a skill like that. Those sorts of skills were mental skills, though I was not very good at them. Yoboc thought I might be gifted in this particular skill.

The countryside between these places was mostly farmed, with some wilderness. The occasional wild beast was sent packing with a few arrows chasing it.

Even though it was boring, what I did was enough to level the Guard Class once. This puts it mid-Apprentice. It also boosted my free attribute points to three. I was tempted to put all three into Spiritual Strength. This would bump it to 30, and while multiples of 5 are not always key milestones, often they are.

Spiritual Strength boosts Cosmic Aura, Frigid Void and Death Strike, so why not? Well, it also boosts Solar Flare, but I have been avoiding that one.

Now we are stocking up at the last town before Jern. We will have three weeks of wilderness travel ahead of us. The gate station at Fordberg Heights checks with all incoming travellers on issues they had and monsters they had seen. If there is trouble, a patrol will be sent out, but it is usually way too late.

Every six months, the army sends out a platoon to clear any monster dens near the road. The local Mercenary Guild deals with anything in between with varied results.

"The road is reported clear," Yoboc said after returning from a meeting about that.

"That's great," said Kevin.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

We all looked at him. "That actually means very little," Yoboc said. "The last caravan to arrive was two weeks ago, so the information is a month out of date."

Kevin had certainly changed. He used to be a skinny kid with hunched shoulders. Now, he is standing straight with confidence and filled-out muscles. He is still skinny, but his movements are smooth and sure. He has a short sword and knife on his belt and looks like he knows how to use them. He also makes good use of Keensight and Enhanced Recall to watch his surroundings.

He also has Darksight, which he got, so he doesn't need to spend money on candles to read at night. His first perception ability was Farsight, which surprised me as he had no ranged abilities. He said he used it to read book titles across the Lore Society and read over people's shoulders from a distance away.

This trip has been good for him. Now comes the hard part. I agree with Yoboc that he should stop here and work a caravan back, but of course, he won't. "I haven't seen a Monster yet!" He is still young, and he is over twice my physical age. Beast-kin mature fast. Humans are slow.

Interestingly, these towns and villages don't inspect the caravan as Becov did. They only seem interested in the goods that are going to stay here. Jern is the end stop, so I am betting we have an inspection then.

It was raining again when we rolled out of Fordberg Heights. I really wanted to get rid of these wet clothes and go naked, but, of course, I couldn't. I watched Kevin run up the line of caravans. He had the Dash skill and was still levelling it. He had also learned something I was envious of: Reliable Footing. It kept him steady in all sorts of terrain and was terrific when used in his spars. He always seemed to have the right footing for whatever he needed.

Gravity is better with more Spiritual strength. I have the strength to actually affect it a little. It passes through my Cosmic Aura, and I can just sort of slow it down a little. I worked on it a lot as I was so close.

That is how I missed the warning signal. We were about three days out from Fordberg. Fortunately, everybody drawing weapons was a big clue that something was wrong. My Hearing Aid soon filled in the gap.

"Close the wagons up! Stampede from the left! Protect the animals."

The track was in a wider space, so we could fit three wagons across, so we did that. I started hearing a rumble of a massive number of hooves. I grabbed a spear and shield, moved to the incoming side and stood in front of the horses. The scout's warning didn't leave much time, or we would have unhitched the horses and corralled them.

Makara and a human guard joined me. The human had a spear and shield like me, while Makara only had a spear.

Kevin came running, "Make a space between the wagons. Make a space to funnel them through! One, two, one, two!" He kept running, shouting the instructions.

The wagon drivers knew what to do and instructed those who didn't. They threaded the horses from one wagon between the two wagons ahead and formed a gap every second wagon where the stampeding beasts could run. Our job was to funnel them through the gaps if we could and stop them from damaging the beasts or wagons if we couldn't. The Caravan Master was very smart, or experienced, or both.

I still didn't know what was coming at us. Prey animals stampede, and Hearing Aid said they were definitely hooves. That still left a lot of choices. The ground was shaking.

I didn't have to wait long. Caribou are a large deer species. The males have antlers, and they were stampeding wildly. It was a very large herd. I stationed myself next to the draft houses and pushed them as far sideways as they would go to widen the gap between the wagons. The horses were starting to panic, and my presence didn't do anything to calm them. They are also prey animals and are uncomfortable around a predator like me.

I planted my spear in the ground behind me. I would not need it for this, and I would need both hands bracing my shield. Makara was beside me with her spear, and the human was at the back of the wagon ahead with his shield. I didn't think that was a good place, as the wagons are harder to damage than the horses. The poor drivers are desperately trying to control and calm the horses. You can tell the ones who have the skills for it.

The first Caribou was in a blind panic and crashed into the wagon's side near Makara. It broke rather than the wagon, and Makara put it out of its misery with a single spear thrust.

Then we were too busy. I was constantly taking hits on my shield, trying to direct the caribou into the gap and protect the horses. It helped that I was heavier than they were, but they were hitting with the momentum of a full charge.

Makara had no shield, but she was using her water in short bursts to shift the caribou, and she killed what wouldn't move. It was getting wet underfoot.

Then, one stuck the wrong angle, pushing me back against the horses. I slipped out a bear growl in frustration, which panicked the caribou in front of me and the horses behind me. Fortunately, the driver was one of the ones with animal-calming skills, but they still bucked against their harnesses.

I got back to my feet and bashed a caribou into the gap. However, this got me thinking. Can I focus my growl and scare them into the gap? If I could use my Cosmic Aura to shape it. My Cosmic Aura didn't block sound, though.

Then, my thoughts went back to the drunk teens. I want to intimidate the caribou into the gap. I focused on the bear's growl and tried to shape that with my Mental Strength. I am not good with mental stuff, but I knew how to intimidate prey, and these caribou were prey.

With a mental growl of anger and danger, I declare that I am the apex predator here. Yeah, I know how to do this. Fear me, you prey.

It didn't take long for the Skill Dread to be added to my status, and as my Mental Strength controlled it, my aura could shape it. It worked better with a physical stimulus like my growl, but that wasn't strictly necessary.

It was not that strong, as my Mental Strength is quite low, and it had a weakened effect on the panicked caribou's minds, but it still worked. More funnelled through the gap that did before.

The skill powered its way up to apprentice the fastest I had ever seen, and each level increased its effectiveness.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.