Big Brain and Little Brain

Clover Forest

The Clover Forest is home to many bizarre and strange magical things one of which is the orcs. Orcs are a brutish race that love the taste of battle and seek it out whenever they can. Their way of life has held strong even after the fall of the gods. They followed and respect the strong, but there is an inequality amongst orcs which is a problem that stems from their DNA. Not all orcs are born the same because of their genes some orcs are smart and strong while others are weak and stupid or a mix of the two.

During the afternoon nearby an orc stronghold deep inside the clover forests, an adult orc named Krug adventured alone. He went out seeking to increase his strength before the coming war. A few years ago an elf diplomat came to the orcs stronghold seeking to cooperate to take down Delmar City. But the leader of the orcs in Krug's stronghold wasn't stupid he knew full well the difficulty in overthrowing the current rulers of Delmar City.

Delmar City was jointly defended by 3 super clans the Eclipse Association, Black Cauldron, and the Order of Peth along with multiple large clans. To be recognized as a large clan a person not only needed the resources, forces, connections but also at least 1 member who is at rank 4. Unless someone at rank 4 builds their own guild convince someone at that level to do anything is extremely difficult because not only are they strong there are only around 15,000 known people who are at that level in the entire world.

Giving them the freedom to choose and do almost anything because they're, so few of them. Super clans are incomparable to large clans because to become a super clan 1 of their members has to be a rank 6 demigod. In the entire world, there are only 20 living known demigods and the amount of them who still even bother to interfere with the mortal world or bother to build a clan can be counted on 1 hand. The only clan in the entire history of Theotera who was globally recognized as a super clan despite their clan master only being a rank 5 messenger is Providence. A clan solely built by The Oracle from the ground up thousands of years ago.

The orc stronghold leader knew that information clearly, so he wasn't going to break the long standing neutrality pact he had with Delmar City and sacrifice his men for the elves ambitions. Krug on the other hand wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed the day he heard talk about war was one of the best days of his life. Krug was an adult, so he could make decisions for himself allowing him to leave and join in the war. He could hardly sleep at night as he waited in expectation for the war.

Krug believed war was a place for the strong and for the strong to become stronger, to be recognized, and feared. It was a place Krug believed he belonged because Krug believed he was not only strong but smart. Muscle is good, but muscle plus brain is better. All the strong in Krug's home showed that, so it was what Krug believed as well. The dumb die, the weak die just the same. Krug was still alive, so Krug must not have been dumb or weak. It was simple logic that's why Krug has big brain.

As Krug adventured into the depths of clover forests the sunrays that shined threw the treetops showed Krug's body clearly. His ash grey skin was smeared with green and brown paint that helped him blend in better with his surroundings and mask his smell. His yellow teeth gleamed like gold and had enough crust on them that could be spread on bread like butter. Enchanted leather armor with bits of metal covered the parts of Krug that weren't exposed. On his hip was his trusty ax that produced a cold aura when someone touched it and his shotgun gun. While on his back was a strong metallic bow with many different arrows inside of a quiver.

Krug carried with him a few magical means to hide, but it wasn't the first time Krug had hunted. He knew the danger of using more energy for something than necessary. Everywhere in Theotera was dangerous, so people prefer to conserve their energy as much as they can to not be defenseless when confronted with unexpected danger. Even amongst orcs, a quick and quiet kill is at times more respected than a loud and sloppy one.

Krug maneuvered threw the forests as stealthfully and as quickly as he could because he was on the hunt for creatures magical cores. But not every creature though because Krug knew he only had a strong elemental affinity to water, wind, and earth. Any creature that didn't correspond to those elements wasn't on his kill list.

Bushes and trees blurred past Krug's eyes as he made his way towards a different hunting ground than his usual spot. Ever since the announcement of war many more people have gone out hunting for resources to protect themselves with for later. The increase in people lead to many conflicts sprouting up all over. Even human apprentices have joined into the conflict of resources increasing the death toll on both sides. The competition was fierce, so Krug had to be fiercer.

As Krug maneuvered through the forest his footsteps came to a sudden stop. Krug had caught a whiff of something from his nose and a grinding sound made him pick up his ears.

"Beastie smell familiar, ground rumble, beastie bellow feet".

Krug put his ear to the ground and listened to the unknown creature move around.

"Beastie not deep, bestie stupid".

Krug was an advanced rank apprentice that walked the path of a cultivator. Since Krug was an orc he nationally had superior strength compared to a human. Despite Krug being a similar size as an average human Krug could easily break a tree in half when he was only a beginner rank apprentice. Ever since Krug became an advanced apprentice he could do, so much more.

Krug grabbed the ax hanging from his hip, took in deep breathes, and channeled a large amount of his chi into the ax. What Krug was doing was similar to what Desmond had commonly done before, but much more advanced. As Krug's weapon glowed the glow took form around the ax making the ax appear larger in size. Krug had long ago accidentally created his own special skill. The skill was similar to a summoner spell called [bound weapon] which creates the form of a weapon that the user wants to battle with.

Despite Krug not knowing the spell Krug created a powerful enhancement skill that gives the user all the benefits of using 2 of the same weapon in 1 hand. Krug beautifully named that skill [two ax] and it was key to many of Krug's victories.

Using his powerful muscular legs Krug jumped 20 feet into the air and came down like a meteor. Krug's landing caved in the ground and almost completely uprooted some of the surrounding trees. Krug stood inside of the crater he made with an ugly smirk on his face from the wonderful surprise attack he landed on the creature. But soon the smile vanished from Krug's face because he realized that the mysterious creature was a rock worm.

Rock worms were notorious for being difficult to deal with. Those creatures have a hard rock like shell and can burrow underground allowing them to hide for as long as they want. The rock worm before Krug was just a young one that reached advanced apprentice rank. Krug knew that because adult rock worms are as wide as houses and as long as a train.

Krug saw that he gravely injured the rock worm, but didn't stay next to it or attack it again. Instead, Krug ran toward a tree that wasn't destroyed and stayed up there. The rock worm wasn't happy about what Krug did in its furry it rampaged. Tearing up the ground far more than Krug did. As the rock worm rampage, Krug saw that the rock worm was actually about 50 meters long and the spot Krug struck before was near its butt clearly explaining why it was, so pissed.

The rock worm's mouth had hundreds of teeth spinning in different directions. Its mouth was like an industrial grinder perfectly designed for crushing rack and Krug's body.

Krug looked at the fearsome rock worm, but not with fear just excitement for the hunt. It was well known that rock worms are sensitive to movement on the ground, but have extremely poor eyesight. Using that information to his advantage Krug switched to his bow and then knocked back a red arrow that was aimed at the rock worm's mouth. The bow Krug used was sturdy and strong to fully pully back the string took over 1000 pounds of force Once Krug released it the arrow screeched through the air directly into the rock worm's mouth.

The arrow exploded inside the rock worm's mouth causing it to sway its head back and forth but did minimal damage. After being struck by the arrow the rock worm burrowed underground and advanced towards Krug's location. Krug saw the rock worm coming towards him, but could do nothing to it since it was underground, so he chose to move towards a different tree.

The rock worm rammed the tree Krug was once on sending it Flying into the air. At that same time, Krug sent 2 more red arrows flying into the back of the rock worm's head. Bits of the rock worms armor fell off yet it wasn't enough to reveal the meaty layer underneath.

Krug knew killing the rock warm was going to be a long grind just by seeing how little damage it took. Krug was mentally preparing himself for a long fight when something the rock worm did caught his eye. The area where Krug last attached was being repaired at a visible rate. That sight completely killed Krug's desire to fight the rock worm.

Krug originally believed he could win against the rock worm as long as he kept his distance and whittled it down. But the truth was different if Krug stayed and fought the rock worm Krug would end up losing all of his things. Things that he needed for the coming war while the rock worm would barely suffer any loss at all.

"Stupid bestie, stubborn bestie, bestie make Krug strong not weak. Why not die quickly stupid bestie?". Krug fumed in rage as he slandered the rock worm from the treetop.

The rock worm as if understanding Krug's words retaliated by dragging its whole body above ground and doing a long tail sweep that destroyed every tree within 40 meters of the rock worm.

Krug fell heavily on the ground when the tree fell, yet managed to roll himself back up like nothing happened. In time before the rock worm's next attack. With his tree destroyed and no tree for support within 40 meters, Krug was forced to face the rock worm on its turf. As the battle began to heat up Krug unknowingly had a spectator in the distance. It was a singular red eye crow that would witness Krug's fall or victory.