Stealing...

*Breath in, Breath out*

Keeping his eyes closed as he calmly breaths, Ackley stood at the edge of a mountain with the sound of a large waterfall echoing through his ears. He remained in this position for a while without making a single motion... pretty impressive.

A shadowy figure rapidly leaps from one tree to another and is heading towards Ackley's location while holding on to what seems to be a sword. Unknown to this individual, Ackley was always aware of his presence, and a smirk appeared on his lips.

*Swoosh!!*

Ambrose came out of his hiding while flipping on the air...

*KaBaaammm!!*

Pulling out his wooden sword, he dives in the air and charges at his father. With little to no effort, Ackley held on to the wooden sword with his left hand, but the impact that came from it surprised him.

"You are a lot stronger than you look," says Ackley with a gentle smile.

"Do I look weak?"

"No, not for someone your age. However, there are few kids who could unleash such a powerful display as you did," said Ackley.

Ackley arrived just a day after Ambrose's birthday, so he missed all the merriment that had occurred. He had promised to mend his mistakes and one way he did this is, of course, helping his son become a better Mage by teaching him the use of swords and his fist in martial arts.

This idea pleased Ambrose. After all, it's all he's been trying to improve on but has no one better to guide him.

Very early, Ackley and his son traveled a few miles away. This is an area where mountainous regions are a very common sight compare to the city of Skyrock. They are currently at one of the tallest mountains, which was divided into two places with a waterfall passing down in-between them.

Spiritual energy is a lot denser in this area, and that makes it the perfect place to train. Anyone would agree to that.

"Now, let's begin. Let me see how far you've gotten with your training until now," Ackley puts on a battle stance with a wooden sword In his possession. His KI became visible for a second as he does this.

Ackley is a perfect battle partner, someone who is way stronger than he is. He doesn't even possess Mana, but solely depends on KI, but that doesn't make him inferior, not in the slightest.

"Here goes nothing," Ambrose mumbles as he steels himself for his next move.

With his quick motion, Ambrose got close enough to Ackley, and they both exchange strikes in an Impressive display with Ackley occasionally giving a few pointers to Ambrose's flaws. The longer this took, the better Ambrose became as he gains more insight on how, where, and when to go for an offense.

According to his dad's instructions, the priority should be on defense while offense comes second. This is quite challenging, since Ambrose is usually the outgoing type. However, after getting trashed many times by Ackley without retaliating, his teaching is making more sense.

Young Ambrose still has an advantage, which is his superior perception. However, even his perception was of no use once against his dad.

*Bang!!*

Both swords clashed and released an impressive impact...

"Have Dexter been training you while I was away?" Ackley asked.

"No, I haven't seen him and he made it clear we would meet once I'm 6 years of age," says Ambrose in reply.

"Well, that's a surprise cause you seem pretty skilled for someone who hadn't gone through any kind of tutoring,"

Well, yeah, this is a new martial art skill he gained which ended with slaughtering those assassins days ago, but that's not something he could say out.

"Well, I've been practicing by myself," Ambrose said, and Ackley believed.

.

.

.

Rumors had been spreading like wildfire due to the corpses that were found a while ago. They all seem to be killed by a very dangerous individual, though nobody knows who the killer is. Nevertheless, it is still very worrisome.

This news also got to the ears of the Chief, and as expected, he became very conscious. Whoever this person might be, hopefully, he isn't here to cause any more troubles... He has nothing to be worried about, though.

"Ackley! It's been a while, like always," Chief Barden warmly welcomes Ackley with open arms.

"And who may we have here?" says Barden as he sets his eyes on Ambrose.

"This is my son, Ambrose," Ackley said.

"Oh, if it isn't the second man of the house," says Barden with a wide smile.

It's been two years since the last time he's seen the little kid. He looks a lot healthier now and Barden nodded in satisfaction.

"Whatever you must have to speak with me about, it seems quite important," Ackley went straight to the point.

"Yes indeed, it is of great importance," says Barden in reply. "Perhaps, we can do this in private," he said while giving Ambrose a meaningful look.

"Make yourself at home son, I have something important to talk about with_"

"I understand," Ambrose said and then walks away to a random location in the building.

"That boy is one of a kind,"

"He sure is,"

.

.

.

With no idea where he is headed, Ambrose lost his sense of direction...

"I think I'm lost," he mumbles.

Little_Blue the squirrel pops his head out of Ambrose's pocket and began sniffing pretty obviously.

"Stay in boy," says Ambrose.

However, Little_Blue jumps out and ran off in a direction...

"Damn it!" Ambrose cursed and chased after it.

"Stop running, boy, this is not the place for that," Ambrose said, as he tried to catch up.

Their journey continued until it got to a very spacious kitchen filled with several cooks.

"Oh, man God!!"

"Aaaaaaaaahhhh!!"

An uproar broke out as the little creature leaps from one pot to another, looking for a meal to steal with it.

"Give that to me," an older woman said as she grabs a pan to smack Mr. Little_Blue.

*Bam!! Bang!! Bam!!*

Repeatedly, she tried to hit the little creature but just got played around, unable to make contact.

Little_Blue finally got its hands on a piece of bread and leaps out of the kitchen...

"Damn creature!!" she cursed in anger.

'Serious? all of this for a bread?' Ambrose thought and then silently follows the direction in which his pet had left.

"Someone needs to get that creature out of this house, now!" the elderly cook said at the top of her voice.

. . .

The little creature somehow finds its way outside but is still on the premises. There, it is greedily chewing on its catch.

Unknown to it, there is a young boy slowly walking behind it with a net in his hands.

"Got you!" he said when he successfully traps the blue squirrel.

"I do not know where you come from, but my sister will love to have you as a pet," he said with an elevated countenance.

"It is already taken," Ambrose said from behind. "Give it back," he added.

"Who the hell are you?" says the other kid who goes by the name; Ace.

"That's a question for another time. Just give him back to me," Ambrose said.

"But I caught him first," the 10-year-old boy called Ace said in reluctance.

"Don't play that game with me,"

"I'm not giving it back," Ace said.

He felt annoyed due to the manner Ambrose was addressing him.

"Now leave or I'll kick you out myself,"

"I'll break your jaw if you try it,"

"How dare you?!!" Ace fumes in anger.

"Hey Blue!" Ambrose called out, on which the blue squirrel replies in its way.

"Attack!"

Following Ambrose's instructions, the blue squirrel jumps out of the net and smacks Ace right on the jaw. It was hard enough to knock the boy off.

"You should get that treated," Ambrose said and walks away with Little_Blue on his shoulders.

Ace stands up with tears in his eyes. It is not clear if he's angry or just crying... maybe a little of both.

"You're going to pay for this!" he yelled.

He is already bleeding a bit on his lips... Well, he just got his ass handed to him by a squirrel who is secretly a magical creature.

"You probably shouldn't have done that," Ambrose said in regret, "Who knows what that crybaby would say once asked,"

The young boy is still trying to navigate his way in this mazelike building, but there's no luck.

"Where is it?"

"Are you asking me?"

Two cooks are still viciously searching for the little creature, especially the elderly one among them. She probably hates rodents more than ever, and of course, one that can steal.

"Crap!"

Ambrose caught sight of them and quickly runs in a different direction to avoid any problems that may arise.

"Did you hear that?"

"Yeah, that must be the petty thief,"

Ambrose's footsteps, while he was running, came to their hearing, and they immediately thought it must be that tiny creature. Needless to say, they followed it with their separate instrument that would be used to take that thing down.