Arnolds Past

"Don't try this, Arnold."

But Arnold was already running at him with his massive full body shield surrounded with spikes. 'Damn, I wish I had Gul. this would be over in an instant.'

Zeeth dashed over to the other side of the shield, leaving Arnold's vision, and tried to push it aside but Arnold was surprisingly strong. He held on and didn't budge the shield nearly as far so he swung out a dagger to scare him. He channeled some mana into a circle and the dagger extended into a sword that reached for Arnold's face. Arnold hit something on his chest plate, a new one from the one in his store, and a helmet was formed around his head, covering him in full body armor.

"I don't have time for this, man. If you want to have Cina, ask her already. I don't think she likes me anyway."

"Don't be ridiculous." the shield spun around and he was too close to avoid it, hitting him in the face.

"Lions Roar!" Arnold shouted. A loud, threatening roar reverberated through the armor and he noticed Arnold's stats increasing. He took this time during his transformation to stab him but there was a dominating aura that prevented him from getting too close. When he was done, his stats were almost twice as much as before, only his intelligence decreased to 5. His movements were far faster and stronger, but wilder and less accurate. The aura had disappeared but Zeeth was jumping around far more to avoid his attacks. Although judging from the stats, his attacks should mean almost nothing to Zeeth. After all, he spent so long trying to handle all those slimes.

During this time, Arnold fell asleep and was reminiscing about something from his past.

Years ago, Arnold was a simple child of a moderately powerful noble in charge of Hilbar County, a small and predominantly farming county. Because his father looked after this land, he also lived there, amongst the farmers, and made friends with children there. He went to a school in Hilbar County and was the most well-known child in his class. His connections and riches, which surpassed any child in his class, meant he was always surrounded by people who wanted to become friends. It allowed him to be arrogant and act however he wanted.

"Bilfur," he shouted to a small boy who had grown close to him over time, "give me your book."

"Okay, Arnold." he squeaked.

"Children," his teacher said, an old woman who looked past anything he did for fear of her job, "we have a new class member today, introduce yourself."

A young girl with long orange hair brushed some hair behind her ear and mumbled, "hi, my name is Ina."

At first glance, he was entranced. Perhaps it was because she was the first girl he met with the same colored hair as him but her smooth skin and slightly pink cheeks instantly took his heart. A few days later, he approached her in the empty classroom, "Ina, hi."

She glanced at him, smiled, and said, "Hi, Arnold."

"Hey, do you want to come to my father's place?"

"Sure! What do you want to play this time?"

"Hide and seek?"

"We did that last time. Let's play house!"

House was boring, but with her, nothing seemed boring. Everything was new and wondrous so he quickly said, "Yeah, sure."

Weeks later, he had been playing with her and ignoring most others all this time. 'Today's the day.' he told himself, 'today, I will ask her out!'

Zeeth took the shield in his hand, wrenched it away from Arnold's arm, and tore apart the leather holding it together. He used the sword to pry away at the armor but the metal was incredibly resilient. His sword began bending before the armor did.

'Stupid sword.' he tossed the sword away and analyzed the armor, trying to look for any weak points or how to open it. [Gazal's armor. User wanted information: can only be opened from the inside. Stats...]

He didn't bother reading the rest, he only needed to know about the open function but that was on the inside?

'I don't want to destroy such nice armor, I would feel bad for Gasal. But he should've made it easier to open from the outside!' and he shoved his hand through the joint in the nape, ripping off the helmet and ruining the backside of the armor. Arnold's hair had grown twice its original length and his teeth had all turned into fangs. From there, he continued to disassemble his armor while Arnold tried to fight him off, finally crashing into the ground with a loud thud. On Arnold's chest, he had a large pink scar from his shoulder down to his ribs. When he fell to the ground, he also lost the duration of Lion's Roar and his stats returned to normal, although all his muscles were red and sore.

"Arnold, what is that scar?"

He shook his head, looking around the area. "How are you still alive? Did you survive my Lions Roar? My armor! What have you done?!"

From Arnold's perspective, Zeeth was an overbearing pressure, a dark figure standing over him. Even his strongest skill couldn't take him down and now he was immobilized and alone. This was a monster, a beast he had no way of possibly fighting. Sweat formed on his forehead and his hands shook with fear. He noticed the ruined armor, his strongest by far, scattered and his scar, his lifelong shame seen by the filthy boy he looked down on. Suddenly, all his memories of being rude and arrogant to him came flooding back, he was acting so prideful to someone so much more powerful. To him, Zeeth currently looked like a demon, holding a sword that was going to kill him.

The fear etched itself into his mind and he was desperately shouting internally, "please! Let me live! Someone, something, allow me to live! Push him away, no, kill him! No, give me power! The power to survive! Please! If there is any go out there hearing this, I will do anything, just keep him away!"

All of this felt like an eternity to Arnold but to Zeeth, not a second passed after asking him about the scar. This fear reminded him of something else in his life. Back then, that day when he prepared himself to ask Ina the big question, the most traumatic day of his life. His scar began to glow orange-yellow, slowly expanding all across his body.

"Arnold? What are you doing?" Zeeth yelled. But Arnold could no longer hear him, something was clearing his mind, removing the fear removing him from his current situation. He could no longer see anything other than a bright yellow glowing. Zeeth watched as Arnold fell to the ground again as his glow grew stronger. He went to hold his head up but Arnold was unconscious and the glowing became stronger than ever.

In Arnold's mind, he was still continuing the memory with Ina back those years ago and as Zeeth held his head, he was dragged in as well. He saw Arnold fixing up his hair and straightening a shirt in the mirror.

'Am I in Arnold's memory? Wow, look at how young he is.' Zeeth watched Arnold from his view, watching Arnold move from the mirror. He was already used to this sort of thing, having gone through his own memories so many times already.

Arnold left his house and ran up a grassy hill a short while away to be greeted by the large, orange, beautiful setting sun behind Ina, dressed in a white dress. She was waving her hand at him and he blushed, waving back. His heart thumping in his chest full of excitement and nervousness caused difficulty in his breathing. But suddenly, as if the sun was blotted out by a cloud, the sky and everything around them turned grey and dark. He didn't notice it but a large, gaping wound appeared from his shoulder down to his ribs and warm blood poured out onto his feet. Ina's head appeared to have gone missing, a straight line stopping at her neck.

He froze where he stood, the pain finally reaching his brain. He saw someone's back, a girl with orange hair who looked almost identical to Ina, standing beside her dead body, holding a massive sword in one hand and Inas missing head in the other, blood pouring out. Both the silhouettes looked like black figures against the setting sun. The girl turned over to look at him, her face splashed with the blood but almost undeniably Ina's face looking at him. At first, her eyes were wide with terror but her face twisted in an evil grin before she ran off, leaving Ina's head.

Days later, he was healed and patched up by the best hearts his parents could afford. He went to the hill, a tombstone set up for Ina rested there decorated with stones and sticks. He sat down, his mother hugging him and his father kneeling at the girl's grave in a large, decorative suit of armor made for funerals. "Son," his father growled in a deep, rumbling voice, "you don't want this to ever happen again, do you? ...Well?"

"No, father," Arnold cried through salty tears and sniffles.

"If you don't want to repeat this pain again, make yourself powerful and rich. Ensure that you are in a position of undeniable authority. Make friends with the powerful, surround yourself with allies. As long as people recognize your power, no one will ever dare to touch you or anything you cherish ever again! Let it be known, all through the world, through the galaxy, that you are not a man to be angered! Not a man to be annoyed for your wrath is more than they can imagine, make yourself the king of the world! Do you hear me? If you don't want to be hurt again, don't lose, to anyone, ever!"

"Yes, father!" Arnold cried, although his voice was firmer this time, more resolute. In his mind, he saw a future where he stood atop a mountain, wielding a golden sword that no one could even look at other than himself.

Zeeth was propelled out of his memory along with Arnold, whose glowing had stopped. Dives leaped back out the moment Zeeth came back.

"Zenith what is going- Arnold? What happened? Why is he here?"

"I'm not sure, I was fighting him and then he started glowing and I was pulled into his memory."

"Glowing? Did he gain his talent? What happened?"

"Talent?"

"Yes, when someone suddenly glows and falls unconscious, it usually means they have earned their talent. The longer the glow lasts and the longer they are unconscious, usually the stronger the talent. I wonder what it is, this is usually a celebratory moment for people."

"His pants are soiled."

"Yes. Unfortunately, this is a common side effect of gaining a talent as well, something like a fake, first death."

"Death?"

"Yes, did you not know? When someone dies, they cleanse their body of all excrement and such."

"Why is earning a talent so close to a death?"

"I don't know. We are still in the learning process of talents but we have a new wave of talent awakeners a few years ago that we are testing on. Oh, we need to deal with the elves and the stolen things."

"What about Arnold?" Zeeth pointed out.

"Uum. I think we can leave him, he should be safe."

"You don't sound too sure."

"Just keep the elves away and he should be fine." Dives leaped back into the hole.

Someone wearing a mask for the black market auction ran in and saw Zeeth standing next to an unconscious Arnold with no one else.

"Hey, did you take out that soldier?" he asked.

"Um, yeah."

"Awesome, thanks for protecting the auction, man."

"Your welcome. Also, head to the south side, there will be some Abandoned Elves appearing there to steal some things."

"Thank you, kind member, of the black Auction, I will remember your kindness!" he yelled, running away, "I hope we meet again!"

Zeeth watched him run a little more and hopped into the hole. Below was a myriad of tunnels linking to the hole they had fallen through. Dives ran ahead while behind them were the shouts of excited Abandoned Elves and ruffians. They ran for a few minutes and found Nadaho talking to a few Abandoned Elves, pointing to them and gesturing wildly. Dives rushed in and firmly stated, "Peace!"

The Elves fell to the ground and any weapons they were wielding clattered. Dives held a black and white bow in his hand, admiring the handiwork. "Whoever made this is a pro, the bow is made from a green spirit tree and adapts over time to fit its wielded, this item could go for millions had it not been so contaminated by this elf."

Zeeth looked at the bow and it read [Green Spirit Bow. Made from the wood of a Green Spirit Tree, the material takes in the mana emanated from its surroundings at a very slow rate, which means it will usually adapt to its owner's constant and sufficient mana over many years. Current ability, Arrows fired from this bow can either be full of explosive or contractive wind power depending on the angle released. Durability: 1020/1200]

"Where did you get this?" Zeeth asked. 'And what do those even mean? It doesn't seem to have any circles, so all its magical ability comes from the material? What kind of tree allows such abilities? I really want to use it…' he sounded like he was mentally drooling over the bow to learn how it works.

"From a Goddess calling herself Luck or something."

"Luik?" Zeeth asked.

"Yeah, yeah, her! How'd you know?"

"We have her as well. Don't tell me you were part of the tribe?"

"Tribe? No, we just toss sacrifices into this pit and she gives us artifacts in exchange." Nadaho shrugged.

"Kids, we can discuss this later as much as you want, first let's get those stolen artifacts." Dives chimed in. "where do we head from here?"

"It's just straight down. Oh, be careful, we set a few traps and bombs in place and I don't know where they are."

"You don't know how to navigate them?" Dives asked, bewildered at someone who didn't know where their own bombs were placed.

"No, I didn't watch them put them all in but I know how to get in just follow me." Nadaho hopped into another tunnel, Dives sighing and Zeeth following along.

It wasn't too long until they reached the center of the tunnels where all the elves kept dumping the stolen artifacts. The room was overcrowded with stolen items. Most of it was low-grade stuff they didn't plan on guarding too well and anything high grade was taken by the Elves for themselves but there was still quite a stack of stolen things. He wanted to analyze them all but Nadaho was packing things up, trying to store it all in a spatial bag.