(Arc: origin) Contest

The tension in the room was almost unbearable, Drago was the epitome of power in the village, no one could go against his word. The world was completely still like it was frozen in time, no one moved an inch. You could cut the air with a knife.

However, the village chief was someone with an indescribable ego, so he did not want to let the captain do as he pleased, but a simple glance from Drago changed his mind. The room was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.

"I have two reputable witnesses who testify that Joshua was the one who instigated the incident," he said.

"Understood, we will be conducting our investigation," the village chief replied.

Everyone understood what the reply meant, the chief had backed off and I was declared innocent. The village head grinded his teeth out of sheer frustration but he dared not say anything more or else the hall would be painted red! On our way out of the room, Drago turned to me and after a deep sigh mumbled,

"You have a knack for pissing people off, don't you."

I looked straight ahead and smiled while saying,

"Strength does not come to those who are not daring."

"You speak a lot about strength for someone who's still wet behind the ears," he replied while bursting out laughing.

In the blink of an eye, three months had gone by and just as time passed quickly, so did my strength. I had reached the lower second stage in energy circulation and serpent slash allowed me to break through to the second stage of swordsmanship. Moreover, I had now almost reached the skill level of my master after a couple of months of training, a fact that I had a lot of pleasure mentioning to him.

The guards held a monthly contest in the village center for the rankings within the unit and the ranking for the top 3 was as follows,

1. Captain Drago

2. Vice-Captain Gerald

3. Rohan

All of those thoughts were now meaningless and I opened my eyes to the crowd of onlookers cheering like a pack of hyenas around a stone arena. It was one of the semi-finals of the contest, the much anticipated duel between Gerald and I. The percussive sound of drums resonated throughout the village and the ear-splitting chanting of the spectators filled the entire arena.

"Ladies and gentlemen please welcome our two fighters."

I stood up and made my way up the steps to the fighting area, master was in sight with his usual grin. We stood a couple of meters away from each other carefully analyzing each other's body language. The noise of the crowd seemed to fade away the more I concentrated, I only had one thing in mind now, beating master.

We drew our swords and got into our stance ready for the brutal battle ahead. As the signal was given, we both leapt forward from our initial positions and in the blink of an eye, we clashed swords in the middle of the arena.

Sparks were produced on impact and none of us were pushed back, we were on equal footing! We untangled our swords and retreated to prepare for our next attack. This time, I would take the initiative. I arrived in front of Gerald and unloaded a flurry of attacks. The spectators were in awe of our swordsmanship as they could only see our afterimage.

Gerald as expected did a good job of defending and counter attacking. We were both piling on cuts and bruises but nothing that was decisive. Our swords had been coated with a viscous red liquid that amplified the smell of iron.

"Serpent slash."

I activated my skill and slashed towards Gerald. The strike seemed to cut through the air as it made it's way to my opponent.

"Nova slash."

Gerald has activated his own B-rank skill. He knew serpent slash well and also knew how to counter it. The two attacks met head-on with a deafening creaking noise that made the crowd yell in pain. The attacks seemed to be equal to one another and seemed to be weakening.

"Give up, I know your attacks and I can read you like an open book," Gerald said.

All of a sudden, a roaring boom along with an explosion towards master was produced. Gerald had not expected that I would modify the skill to add an explosion at the end. Granted even I was surprised when I pulled it off as improving skills were mainly done by experienced fighters.

Gerald had to squint and back away from the explosion. I took advantage of the diversion I had created and sprinted towards him, I slashed his exposed torso and a stream of blood oozed out of the wound. I grabbed his shoulders and tackled him to the ground and thrusted my sword into the ground next to his head. It was my victory!

The crowd stayed silent for a moment, no one wanted to believe what they saw, even Drago couldn't keep his mouth closed. Suddenly the crowd got their life back and started cheering for me, beating someone a level above you was an unprecedented feat.

"I guess you'll be calling me master from now on," I said with a grin.

"I'd rather die," he replied seemingly not amused by my sense of humor.

As I was too injured to fight in the final against Drago, the duel was postponed to next week. After such an exhausting fight, I went to the nearby tavern to grab a bite to eat. I had become a regular customer and gotten well acquainted with the staff and owner.

I walked into the tavern through the old wooden archway and I was immediately met by the pungent smell of alcohol. The structure was supported by several stone beams on the sides of which were placed torches to illuminate the building and give off a cozy vibe. The sounds of cheerful conversations and laughter were the only thing I could hear.

One of the bartenders, Julia immediately saw me and waved at me. She is a charismatic and hardworking young lady of my age, I secretly have a crush on her but keep it a secret from her... She came over to chat and take my order and hurried over to the kitchen. I was looking around the place trying to find a familiar face when a man draped in black clothes sat opposite of me.

The man had a mysterious aura around him and when I tried to gauge his strength level, I couldn't. The man in front of me was as strong if not stronger than the captain.

"You need to go to the Anderson clan as soon as possible to find out about your parents," the man said in a deep voice before leaving.

The continent we were on was divided into six parts each belonging to a clan. The Anderson clan governed the region Bliss village was in. Currently, only one thought ran through my head.

'What is my connection to the Anderson clan.'