Chapter 3
Ryder walks further into the passage to find the source of the disturbance. Deeper in, he turns a corner and sees a typical cliché. A beautiful and well-dressed girl is roughly the same age as him, surrounded by five rough-looking men.
He lets out a sigh and conjures a pale blue flame. The fire grows around him, but he alters it so that it does not damage the building.
"What the! What is that?" One of the thugs shouts. All of them turn and stare at the boy in black shrouded in flame. Yet, to them, all they could see was a red-eyed shadow surrounded by a wall of fire.
Another one of the men shouts, with wide eyes, "It's… it's a demon!" The men run away like frightened children. The girl looked at him nervously and collapsed to the ground. The flame disperses, and a gust of wind blows through the alley, causing her to look away. When she raises her head, he is gone.
Ryder's body had reacted without thinking, and he had jumped up the walls onto the roof of the two-story building.
"Thank you." He hears from the ground below, followed by the sound of clanking armor. He glances down and sees a few knights. They seem to know her, proving that his assumption of her being some type of nobility was correct.
He wonders how he had gotten on top of the two-story building as he looks off the side. He sees that the girl and soldiers had left the alley.
~I used magic to increase your strength and reaction time and had you jump up here. It is physical enhancement.~
He lies down, looking up at the sky. The world he finds himself in continues to get more natural the more he learns about it.
He stands up and leaps down to the ground below him. He exits the alley and continues to wander the city streets.
After several minutes of aimless walking, he finds himself in the city square, a large open area with many shops around. The site is hectic and boisterous, with people putting up decorations and playing music.
"What is all the commotion about?" Ryder asks a man who is putting up banners and other decorations.
"You must not be from around here," the man climbs down from the ladder and places his hand on Ryder's shoulder, and point to the middle of the square. "Every five years, we have a festival for that sword over there. Legend has it that a hero will arrive one day, and he will pull that sword. But in the country's history, the blade has never left that spot. So the name of the festival is the sword festival."
A sword in the stone sounds similar to a legend from Earth. The story is about the legendary sword Excalibur that Arthur, who later became king, had pulled out of the rock and anvil.
Once Ryder laid eyes on the blade sticking out of the ground. His ears started rings tuning out the uproar, and he could only hear the pounding of his heart. His vision began to darken, his focus narrowing on the sword like a spotlight in a dark room. It was as if it calling to him, exacting his full attention.
The man patted him on the back really hard, saying, "You okay, my boy. Does the sword interest you."
Ryder departs, giving a slight nob, and the man gives him a huge grin and gets back to his decorating.
~Did you feel that Ryder, that sword? I need it! From the carefree voice, ~ Rai demands the most severe tone he has heard from her.
'I know I felt it too, that blade, it was calling me. Could it be that I came here for a reason? Not just because it was the closest, maybe it was the reason why this city was the closest.' He continues walking and overhears many people talking about the festival.
He has learned that the festival begins the following day from his information. There will be a ceremony starting at noon. During this ceremony, the Royal family will start by pulling the sword, then are the nobles, and last the commoners. After that, they have a feast, party and play music.
He plans to attend that ceremony and obtain that sword, but he first needs to register and the adventures guild. He sees the guild building at the end of the street and enters upon arriving.
He walks to the front desk. "Welcome to the Adventurer's Guild. Are you here to register?" The lady at the counter greets him.
"Yeah," he says. He hands The clerk the paper id that the soldiers at the gate gave him. She gave the paper a quick look through and went to the back.
After a minute or two, she returns and has a black card in hand. She passes it to Ryder. "Here you go, you are all set. Like all new adventurers, you will start at rank G, and by completing quests, you can increase your rank. The higher your rank, the harder quests you can take and the more rewards you can earn."
"Thanks," he says. He walks over to the board and picks an herb-picking quest. The quest paper has a location where the specified herbs can be found. A tall buff man stops Ryder on his way out before he exits.
"Move out of my way," He says gruffly, a bit agitated, not wanting to be bothered. Especially by guys like this, Ryder knew from one glance that this guy was going to be a problem.
"You should respect your betters, kid. I'm a D-rank adventurer. So you should know your place." The guy points to his necklace to signify his rank and grabs Ryder's shoulder.
Ryder loathes it when people touch him and those who act arrogantly and mighty, intimidating those they think are weaker than them.
Ryder grabs the man's arm. The man says, "huh," and then faster than the human eye can see, Ryder puts the man face down with his arm against his back and says, "Don't touch me." Ryder gets up and walks out the door.
He heads to the main gate when he sees the knights, pulls his guild card out of his pocket, and hands it to them. The knight nods, and he exits the city. The guild quest suggests a place roughly five miles to the east, deep inside the forest.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone