25 Making new friends

"You are too young to challenge me. You do not know the immensity of the heavens and earth. I was killing beasts while you were still in your mother's womb. You think that your talent makes you qualified? Come, I will teach you a lesson." An elderly burly man lectured Leo.

Leo scoffed at the man across from him, "You are to old, and too weak to speak to me in that manner."

Leo sped towards his opponent with his bare hands. Within seconds the elderly man was pushed to the end of the rope by Leo. The squad leader realized that he made a mistake when he chose to not use a weapon in the fight. He wanted to give the young boy a fair chance. The power contained within Leo's fists are not something that someone at the peak of the kuwa realm should have.

It is not that the power Leo has is over bearing, it was that each hit came with a miniscule might, a feeling, fear, that made him feel inferior to Leo. Each hit, counter, or block is something he can deal with, but the feeling that came with his attacks lingered in his mind. Each attack continuously compounded on the ones before it, adding to the sensation that is already there.

If the older man was to know that Leo was only using eighty percent of his power and fine tuning his first skills, he would go mad. How many protegees in this world can fight someone in the third level of the kaholo realm? And why is one of them in this back-water city anyways?

The main topic of murmurs and whispers from those watching the fight is the current state that the older man is in. His face has begun to turn pale, the attacks in his power has dropped, and he has resorted to only defending and deflecting each attack.

"I admit defeat…." The burly man said, "I will now serve in your group. I hope you don't lead us down destruction."

"I thank senior for showing mercy against me. I will need help with leading those in my group, so do not put yourself underneath me." Leo spoke humbly. "Oh right, what is your name?"

His face twitched a small amount as Leo mentioned him showing mercy, "I am Dax. Please follow me..,"

"Leo."

"Follow me and I will introduce you to the pitiful group of thugs that you will be taking command of." Dax motioned for Leo to follow him towards the barracks.

"Leader, what is that Leo's backround? He is so young but, also so powerful." Another group leader asked The Mammoth.

"I am not sure, he just suddenly showed up today. I am sure that you heard about the ruckus he caused a while ago in the guild." The Mammoth answered.

"He just appeared? I don't that he is from any clan around here." The leader added, "Wait, wasn't there some other oddly powerful person that showed up and pummeled the Young Master from the Ti clan a while ago? Do you think that they are connect?"

"Do not dwell on it too much. If they are so be it. As we are part of the Mercenary Guild, our job is to help keep people safe. But our main goal is to make money. As long as neither of them cause any trouble, I could care less about what they do. Just keep an eye on Leo and make sure he does not do anything stupid." The Mammoth instructed.

"I hope he doesn't die prematurely.." The Mammoths thoughts drifted off as he lost sight of Leo.

…

"This is Gror, Grarv, and Grik. They are triplets, if you did not realize it already. The other two are Ithaa and Sozoth. They are…" Dax started to introduce everyone to Leo.

Gror, Grary, and Grik are identical triplets. Same plain face, chestnut brown hair, a lean muscular build, and standing slightly over five feet tall. Nothing sticks out about these three except that they are triplets. Each is wearing raggedy clothes and looks like they had just moved off the streets. All of them are between the sixth and seventh level of the kuwa realm.

Ithaa is wearing a colorful gown of reds, greens, blues, whites, and purples. A tall black pointed hat sits on top of her ashen hair that reaches the back of her neck. Her baby blue eyes draw more attention to her than her multi-colored gown. A couple of scars on her face signify that she has a lot of experience in battles. Her gentle smile combats her weathered face.

Sozoth looks like the messenger of death with a black outfit, black hair, black pupils, and a black snake coiled around her arm. Leo easily named her as the outcast of the group. She only gave a single glance towards Leo since Dax had started to introduce him.

"Senior Dax, is there a training ground that we could happen to use? Or will we have to go outside the city?" Leo mused after getting to know each person.

"The one we just used should be available. Why do you want to see them fight?" Dax asked.

"No, I want to fight all of them. At once." Leo cut straight to the point.

Sozoth attention was grabbed by this remark as she looked up and started to study Leo with her abyss filled eyes.

"Hey, who does this guy think he is?" Gror blurted out.

"Yay, he thinks that he can take on all of us at the same time?" Grik added.

"Let me at 'em first. I'll show him.." Grary chimed in.

Leo interrupted Grary with a simple, soft voice, "I would like to see you try. If you five can beat me by yourselves I will have an extremely generous prize for all of you."

"No take backs!" Ithaa beseeched with a sweet tender voice.

"Ok. But if you lose, you all with have to train with me for one month straight." Leo persuaded.

"Deal." The five said in unison.

Dax led the group towards the yard that he and Leo just fought on. When they arrived, they found that it was completely vacant of any people. The small mounds of dirt that the two had kicked up during their fight are still present, the blood has dried up, and the foot marks from the audience were still imprinted in the dirt.

"Actually, I change my mind. We are leaving the city. Lets go." Leo demanded as he turned and headed towards the same gate that Arbor, Sald, and Eos had left through.

…

Outside the city is the Gigleford Mountain. Separating the mountain and Eksu City is the Wamval Forest. Nothing about this forest stands out. Fully grown trees scattered around in areas, some places more dense than others, multiple streams and ponds rest under the canopies made by the trees.

In one particular section where the forest meets the mountain is a small crack on the face of the mountain just wide enough for one person to fit through. Arguing next to the crack are two humans and an animal.

"You go in first." A males voice nagged.

"No." The female standing next to him declared.

"Oh why not? Are you scared of the dark?" The male pleaded

"Ugh…no. I'm just not going in there. Stop trying." Protested the female.

"What about you? You think you are invincible." The male jested as he reached for the animal next to him.

The animal let out a squeak as it quickly moved and put the female between it and the male.

"I think that you deserve to go in first." The female said playfully as she pushed the male into the crack with the help of the animal.

"FUCK YOU!" Echoed in the crack.