Wilderness

October 23, 883

After sleeping in the woods the other night Lucas went home and learned some other shifting abilities from Hercine. She taught him how to keep his size smaller when shifted, since he insisted on staying shifted. He asked her about this when he noticed a couple of wolfs in the city weren't nearly as big as they were supposed to be. After two whole days of training his control over the shift he finally had gotten the hang of it. It was similar to concealing his Aura in a way like when swinging a sword you can control how hard your strike will be.

With this being done he headed to tell his father of that he intended to train in the woods for the next two months. He would spend as much time as possible learning from the Dire wolfs in the forest to learn the best way to use his body in combat. Dire wolfs were wild wolfs who were just as large as them when shifted more than a few even had intelligence. Lucas planned on returning a few days before he was supposed to leave for the Capital. He intended to come back challenge his father again hopefully come out on top, at the very least injure him then, leave for the city after resting from the match.

The conversation with his dad went smoothly and he was given permission to do as he pleased. Lucas went to his room to store his possessions seeing as he wouldn't need them himself for a while. Once he got to the room he saw a stack of letters on the bed and felt immediate guilt. Lucas had been so caught up in everything that he hadn't had the time to write her back much less read them.

Lucas set to work reading the letters and afterwards began replying to each one one by one. He told her that the Ceremony went smoothly and how he was attending the university in the capital and hoped she would do the same. He left out details about his shift so he could surprise her. He learned from her that she was an almost all white extremely light blue color. He pictured her wolf and smiled thinking it fit her innocence. Finally he told her he would be gone training for two months before leaving for the capital.

With that he left his room dropping the letters off to Matty and asked her to send them then hugged her bye. Lucas ran to the edge of the forest and shifted to a smaller sized wolf form he was now only about 4.5 feet (1 meter) tall. With that he left into the forest disappearing from view.

During the first month Lucas managed to join a pack of Dire wolfs. He was able to speak and understand them instantly. He started at the bottom of the pack and had to work his way up not only for more food but also for a better position in the pack. The only way to move up was a match. Lucas used these to strengthen his body as well as learn the most comfortable way for him to fight. The pack did everything together they also would get into fights with other packs entering their territory and stealing prey. To wolves this was a serious offense.

After Lucas got bored of it and felt strong enough he challenged the beta the match was over quickly Lucas had used his enhanced strength and higher intelligence to win. Dire wolves weren't stupid even the dumbest of them had enough intelligence to be self aware. After the match he left the pack and decided on being a lone wolf.

November 26, 880

On his own he learned many things about the forest and studied nature to better understand his power. A little after the first month he caught two familiar scents but, he couldn't place how he knew them. His curiosity got the better of him. So he tracked the scents, and crouched low staying quiet as he got closer.

From his hiding spot Lucas could see 2 wolves sparring. One wolf was almost all black with a white patch on his chest while the other was a ginger color. Seeing this he remembered seeing these two at the Ceremony. He could tell they were sparring playfully by how they used quick nips instead of actually biting as well as how they showed no killing intent.

After watching for a while he got bored and decided to show himself. He stepped out from behind the tree, where he was hiding and trotted into the clearing. The two stopped sparring and looked at the approaching Lucas. Lucas greeted them saying in his head to theirs " My name is Lucas what's yours?"

The black wolf was the first to reply, " My name is Troy ." When he spoke Lucas could sense hostility obviously their was something wrong but before he got a chance to ask the ginger wolf nipped his ear before saying " Troy be nice he hasn't wronged you in any way." She then turned and spoke to Lucas, " Hi sorry about that my name is Sasha". Lucas just nodded his head before saying " It's fine have I done something to upset you?" Lucas turned and looked at Troy as he spoke to them. Troy simply looked away ignoring him. Sasha quickly explained the situation and as she did Troy trotted off leaving Sasha and Lucas behind.

Sasha told Lucas how Troys family had racked up a debt to some noble and had been sold into slavery. Even though they paid off the debt and we're back free he still held some grudges against nobles because of that experience. Hearing Lucas was at first sad and felt bad but he then began to feel anger rise at how most Nobles acted. To Lucas it was extremely shameful how Nobles who had power abused it so regularly.

After a while of Lucas and Sasha talking Troy eventually came back and apologized. Lucas still somewhat aggravated from the thought of how Nobles acted accepted his apology before saying. "No I'm sorry you faced such hardships and me or my father weren't able to do anything." Troy replied curtly " It wasn't in your territory so y'all wouldn't of been able to anything regardless." Lucas asked them, "Is this common in most territories?" They both nodded their head yes.

Sasha began explaining how most Nobles did and those who didn't were very outnumbered and out powered to do anything about it. This made Lucas feel like a fool for living such a pampered life while his people suffered. Lucas felt immense guilt for being blind to the reality. Lucas looked at Troy and said, "Allow me to make this up to you. I'll track down whichever nobles did this and will humiliate their relative in duel one at a time. This may not seem like much but all me to explain. Nobles pride themselves at being the best. I mean we all do but from what I do know about other Nobles is that they only care about power.

I start at the university of Knight at the beginning of the year coming up. One month away, the university always hold a tournament for everyone from schools all over Namor to participate in. Which ever Nobles I discover to use people's debts as an excuse to take in slaves and what not I'll Humiliate their Family by mopping the floor with them. I will completely defeat them without mercy and make fun of their weaknesses on stage.

This will be a huge embarrassment to their family and hurt their pride. Hearing this both Troy and Susan were shocked, they had never thought anyone would dare belittle a Noble much less almost all of them. Yet here Lucas was offering to do it all for them and his people. This proved that Lucas was different from other Nobles after all.

After their discussion came to a close Lucas told them something else that shocked them. " You two will be attending the University with me. It's always nice to have familiar faces around. After hearing this Sasha and Troy looked at each other doubtful. Lucas explained, " At the Ceremony yalls power wasn't far behind mine and I'm sure you've been training since then same as me. So theirs no reason that y'all shouldn't be able to pass the entrance exam. Hearing this both of them accepted Lucas' invitation. The three of them began training for the rest of the remaining time they had left to.