Skill Creation in the Fantasy World

"Hey Steve, are you there inside?"

He didn\'t know whether Steve had been completely healed or not, so he came to check on him.

There was no response from inside the room, so he knocked a few more times and called out to him until the door of the next room opened up.

"Can you stop shouting Felix? I\'m trying to concentrate on meditating here....."

A dishevelled curly brown-haired boy poked his head out of the door, showing an annoyed expression.

"Oh Eric, it\'s you. Sorry to disturb you, but is Steve not in his room? I\'ve wanted to check on his condition after what had happened yesterday...."

Felix said as he walked over to Eric\'s room and sneaked a peek inside, finding the room clean and tidy except for many books thrown all over the bed.

Eric quickly shut the door as he walked out of his room with an awkward face and replied unsurely.

"Cough-, if it\'s about Steve, then you don\'t have to worry about anything. That guy jumped back into the training room as soon he woke up and got healed."

He sounded tired for some reason as if he had tried stopping the boy, but had failed to convince him to take a rest.

But seeing Steve\'s attitude, even Eric got motivated because of which he was meditating really hard to grow stronger right now.

"Are you serious? Sigh....he is Steve, so maybe I should\'ve seen this coming."

Felix raised a brow hearing that and shook his head with a wry smile.

Eric just shrugged helplessly.

"Alright, I won\'t take your time then. I\'ll check him out and see for myself if he\'s right in the head or something.", Felix waved at him and walked away towards the stairs.

Eric went back inside his room after sending Felix off and busied himself with meditating and learning on his path of a mage.

Meanwhile, Felix went upstairs to the second floor where the training rooms were and saw one of those rooms had a red stand at the door.

\'He should be here.\'

Grabbing the knob of the door, Felix pushed open the door and entered inside.

"Boom!"

A sudden shockwave spread from the middle of the room as soon he walked in, making him narrow his eyes.

"What the-!"

Felix widened his eyes in shock, witnessing the strange scene in front of him.

"Bang! Bang!"

A crazy Steve was recklessly smashing his sword all over the walls and the floor of the room, his face contorted in agitation as if he had lost his mind.

"Steve, what the fuck is-", Felix called out in confusion.

But it seemed that the boy didn\'t like the interruption as he raised his sword and rushed at him without any mercy in his moves.

Felix quickly grabbed his shortsword that he had fortunately brought, his lips raising upwards with a hint of anticipation.

"A fight? Bring it on then...."

He shut the door, kicking off the ground, and met his sword with Steve\'s bizarre attacks.

There was no way he would shy away from a good fight, especially when he was just about to advance.

The training room was then engulfed with metallic clangs as the two of them dived themselves into a frenzy battle.

*****

Wuller Town.

In the middle of the town, the bandit\'s hideout.

The once magnificent town building had turned into debris and dust, all of its past splendor reduced to nothing.

Corpses littered the ground, their blood still fresh and warm as it flowed into the streets like streams connecting to a river.

A group of four stood amidst the destruction, their sight fixed upon a man leaning against a broken wall who was the supposed leader of the bandits.

The man coughed out blood, his eyes trembling in fear as he muttered.

".....p-please...spare my life. I\'ve never ordered....my men to attack any....four boys."

The previous haughty and overbearing bandit leader who had conquered the Wuller town and ruled over it like a dirty dictator was no more as he begged pitifully.

He had no idea where these four powerful men, who had killed all of his men and ravaged his base, had come from.

The only thing he knew was that they were here to punish him and his group of bandits for hurting some boys.

One among the four men walked forward, his steps bold and confident, and if Felix was here, he would recognize this person as Hector whom he had seen in the guild.

"I\'m not here to hear any excuses. Your people hurted my precious guildmates, and that reason alone is enough for us to destroy everything you care about."

Hector put his leg on the bandit leader\'s chest and spoke with his narrowed eyes.

There was no image of a kind person that he had displayed in the guild previously, instead he looked more like an executioner right now.

"...n-no. This is....just so unfair....", the man grit his teeth in indignation.

"That\'s what you get for being a bandit. And dont worry, we\'ll also get the ones who were behind you."

Hector kept a straight face as he put more strength in his legs, crushing down onto the bandit\'s chest as he gasped for breath.

"Farewell."

A sickening crunch sounded, cracking the bandit\'s ribcage and heart, and the man lost the light in his terrified eyes.

Hector turned around after killing the bandit\'s leader, his expression growing more serious.

"This matter is more complicated then I expected. The four of them were lucky to have escaped from this place, or else they would\'ve been dead by now."

His teammates nodded and one of them asked with a tense face.

"If I\'m not wrong, then the ones behind these bandits must be....the dark guilds, right?"

Hector nodded as he replied.

"Hmm, the dark guilds are truly a devious force to be reckoned. This town was already under their control without anybody\'s knowledge."

He started walking out from the bandit\'s previous hideout, the other three following behind.

"We must report everything back to the guild. There\'s no way we can allow the dark guilds do whatever they want."

The four of them left the place, leaving behind the bandit\'s building where there was no one alive except for some slaves and workers.

*****

In the Twilight Chaos guild building, the training room.

Two boys gasped for breath as they supported themselves on their weapons.

Steve seemed to have gotten back to his senses as he grinned tiredly.

"Thanks for that, Felix. I guess I went a bit out of control there."

Felix shook his head calmly.

"It\'s alright. I understand what you\'re going through right now."

Steve gave a forced smile and sat down on the floor as he sighed in exhaustion.

"It\'s terrible, you know. The feeling when you lose without even putting up a fight....."

Felix nodded, his thoughts going back to when the Rank 4 man had effortlessly caught him within his grasp.

"The guild wars will be in a few days, and I don\'t know how strong opponents we\'ll be facing. There\'s a possibility that we won\'t even be of any use in the war. Just cannon fodder."

He continued with a grieved expression while clenching his fists.

"I....I don\'t want this....I want to grow stronger. So strong that no one would be able to look down on me again. So strong that no one can harm my friends again. And...and..."

Felix walked over to Steve and patted his shoulder, giving the boy a encouraging smile.

"I get you, Steve. Even I want to grow stronger until there is no one who can defeat me. There\'s a long road ahead of us, so don\'t be worried. We\'ll definitely reach a level where nobody has ever reached."

His words made Steve breathless, whose eyes turned brighter and brighter, as if something deep inside of him was waking up.

The words \'a level where nobody has ever reached\' made his heart skip a beat, imagining himself standing above everyone else where nobody could be at the same level as him.

Felix widened his smile and pulled Steve up, standing together as both of them held each others hand tightly.

"You sure we can do it?", Steve asked unsurely as he knew how hard of a goal they had set of themselves.

"Well, I don\'t doubt myself but I can\'t say for you."

Steve twitched his lips and gave a light kick to Felix\'s side, prompting the boy to break out in laughter.

"Haha stop stop, I was just kidding.", Felix rubbed his paining side and said with a chuckle.

"Remember, as long as we live, there\'s nothing stopping us from growing stronger."

Steve looked taken aback as he nodded with an excited face.

"...as long as we live, there\'s nothing stopping us from growing stronger....", he repeated as the words sinked inside his mind, raising his desire to train and survive in this cruel world.

Felix let go of Steve\'s hand, picking up his sword as he waved at him and walked out of the training room.

"See you later, Steve. I got something important to do now."

Steve nodded and continued to stare at the boy\'s back, his face turning determined as he muttered under his breath.

"Don\'t worry, Felix. I\'ll soon grow stronger and even surpass you...."

*****