The Brother

Just after dark, in a small thatch-roofed house on a little hill, the sound of a door creaking can be heard. From the kids' bedroom, Roger steps out quickly but smoothly and quietly shuts the door before listening for movement around the house. As soon as he leaves, the floorboard he rests his weight onto creaks loudly. He freezes. Cold sweat drips down his neck, thinking about what his mother would do if she caught him. He looks towards the dining room. On the table he sees the dishes still on the table. He sighs, and then picks them up and places them aside, along with the other dishes from earlier that day.

He looks around the room. A small table sits in the center, with three worn wooden chairs surrounding it. Along the walls are cabinets that are used to store food and dishes. He walks towards the front door, and proceeds to open a very small opening, just enough for him to squeeze through, before shutting it. He remembers the scene from earlier today, Phillip the banker, and his wife, as well as the neighbors had come to make sure that Rena was alright. He pulls up his scarf, smiling softly underneath thinking about Phillip's funny round belly bouncing as he ran towards the house.

He looks towards the moon, and it is full. Bright blue light illuminates a path directly in front of their home. Often times wagons full of harvest would pass through, making the path devoid of plant life. He remembers fondly how often his mother had asked him to help repair the farmer's wheel when they broke at the rough spot a few meters from their home. He walks to his right down the path. When he approaches the rough spot at the foot of the hill, he looks left, and finds his hand made path. Barely wide enough for Roger to pass through the tall grass, he departs onto his handmade trail, which leads to the outskirts of the woods.

He walks quickly and softly, careful not to slip on the slightly muddy path, covered in an cold evening moisture. The distant trees begin getting larger as he approaches the edge of the forest. Here the trail ends. Roger's eyes glow with a soft brown light and the ground beneath him raises about a meter off of the ground. He stands atop his stone pillar and observes his surroundings carefully, to his right he sees a patch off thin grass, torn apart by something. 'Boars!' he thinks.

They appear to be gone for now, so he moves a distance away from them and remembers their position. Although he can control earth fairly well, he is still a kid, so he doesn't know any magic skills, or circles which can focus his power. If he did, he would probably be hunting much deeper in the woods.

Roger takes a wide stance, then stomps his foot on the ground hard. A short, rocky platform juts out of the ground, just enough to clear a small area of plants. Roger moves to the center of this now barren patch, and swipes his hand from the floor towards the air. Each time he does, a brittle stone pillar shoots out from the ground, around a meter tall each time. Roger stops for a short time to catch his breath, before examining his own status card.

[Name:] Roger

[Race:] Human

[Titles:] Inhuman Will

[Rank:] 2, 14/500 (3%)

[HP:] 20/20

[MP:] 7/30

[SP:] 19/50

[Affinities:] Earth, Body

[Attributes:]

[STR:] 5

[DEX:] 2

[AGI:] 3

[INT:] 2

[WIS:] 2

[PER:] 4

[LUC:] 1

[CHA:] 2

[VIT:] 7

[Cards:] N/A

[Unique Skills:] Inhuman Will: By consistently, and painfully gaining attributes without ranking up you have shown the strength of your will. In order to reach your goal, pain has become a doorway to walk through, instead of a wall to climb over. Gain an affinity for your body.

'That description doesn't get less embarrassing,' he thinks. 'I won't tell mom about this until I'm older.' He stands up, reinvigorated. 'Alright, it's training time.' he thinks. He walks towards one of his ten pillars, before swinging a punch into its side. 'CRACK' "Urgh." Roger can't help but groan and hold his hand, but the crack did not come from his hand, it came from the pillar. He shakes his hand, and turns towards the next pillar, as the first pillar begins to crumble.

He stands in front of the next pillar like David beneath Goliath, and swings his right leg onto the side of the pillar. 'THUD' his leg hits the pillar, this time the pillar does not break as quickly. He made each pillar stronger than the last. The difference is minor, but for Roger, it is worlds apart. He kicks his left leg onto the other side, there is a 'THUD,' and a 'CRACK,' and the second pillar crumbles.

Roger wipes the sweat from his forehead, before wrapping black scarf around his forehead, to keep sweat from running into his eyes. He repeats the same maneuvers for the next two pillars before turning to the fifth pillar. This is the furthest he has gotten in his "handmade trial". He uses all of his strength to his the pillar, every part of his body that he can throw, he throws at this pillar. He stops for a moment, 'I am not getting anywhere with just strength,' he thinks, 'Maybe if I go faster?'

He looks for a spot on the pillar to focus on, and decides on the very center, where most of his previous punches have landed. Instead of using just his strength, he focuses on one spot and punches as fast and as strong as he can. "ARGH", he yells as his bones begin to creak, and his knuckles become even more bloody than they were before. Then, like the light at the end of the tunnel, the fifth pillar cracks and falls apart.

[SP:] 1/50

[+1 AGI]

Roger collapses back onto the ground, smiling brightly, his hands throbbing in pain, but he doesn't care. 'I've only just begun' he thinks, before realizing he can't move. 'I guess I'll rest a bit longer.'

After about ten minutes of panting, Roger stands again and prepares to move on to the next pillar, before hearing a squeal far to his right. 'The boars are back!' he thinks, as he returns the pillars to the ground, crouches in the grass, and makes his way towards the boars.

"SQUEAL," he hears the sound of the boars yet again, this time it was almost right in front of his face. He channels mana and his eyes begin to glow in a soft brown light again, he slaps his hand on the ground while crouching, and a plateau-like pillar raises about two and a half meters off of the ground, with him on top of it. He raises another pillar, the same size directly next to his.

[MP:] 4/30

'Can't make any more pillars' he thinks. Roger then looks below him. Around the base of the pillar is one large boar. The grass has been trampled so it is fairly easy to see it, especially with the help of the full moon. Roger looks towards his second pillar, separating a slab about ten centimeters thick, he lifts it up, aims for the clueless boar, and lets go of the slab right above the boar.

The slab falls for what feels like an eternity before falling on the grazing boar. 'SLAM' as the boar falls over from the stun of the impact, Roger cuts another slab that he raises again, and drops it onto the boar.

SLAM

[+310 XP]

This time the boar did not move, and lay still on the ground. Roger watched carefully for several minutes, and waited for the other boars to leave the area before descending. When Roger reached the ground he looked at the fallen boar. "Thank you" he whispered, before lifting the boar onto his back and carrying it back to his home.

When he arrived he set the boar down inside, and went up to his bed. He took the note off of his pillow and set it inside the chest at the foot of the bed, in case he had to use it later. He looked at his sister to make sure she was still sleeping, and then hopped into bed, falling asleep instantly.

When he began to snore, the little girl opened her eyes. 'He reeks' she thinks.