บท 87: Ryu's New Life part 1 (86)
Yellow City, Ruvan's Mansion.
It was barely five o'clock in the morning, the sun did not even give the slightest sign of appearing. Most of the lights are off and only a mere handful of guards were roaming the mansion as they made their surveillance rounds.
In the training camps that are usually deserted at this time, you can see a figure training hard. The silhouette was moving at high speed as it unleashed a flurry of attacks at one of the many training dummies that were on the training ground.
"Damn... I miss by inches" muttered a young man with some annoyance while examining the results of his attack. This young man was naturally Ryu, who as always was training hard from early.
If anyone saw the attack, they would certainly be impressed, after all it had hit full on the chest training dummy, but the young man did not seem at all satisfied with its result.
"I must keep trying again"
Ryu trained without stopping for almost four more hours until he finally fell down on the ground while breathing heavily.
"Hey... look"
"There's that boy again"
"You're right... he's always here from early"
"Seeing that kid training early makes me ashamed..." Some of the mercenaries who were beginning to arrive at the training ground couldn't help but comment on what had already become a common scenario for them.
"The guy trains hard but he doesn't seem to want to talk to anyone..."
"You're right... Wei was talking to him the other time and barely got a reply from him"
"Who knows what kind of childhood that poor boy suffered for him to behave that way..."
"And that you say it..."
"You're right, but that's enough talk for today. Let's get to training too before Lieutenant Lira sees us wasting time."
"Oh shit..."
Ryu who was lying completely exhausted on the ground couldn't help but look up at the sky while thinking about everything he had experienced during the past few months.
Ryu's childhood could be described as anything but happy…
He was born into a poor but relatively happy peasant family. He, along with his parents and his little sister, lived happily in the countryside until one fateful day all changed…
A group of armed soldiers belonging to the governor appeared in front of his humble house. The soldiers arrived with the excuse of conducting an inspection but this was nothing more than a mere excuse to assault and rape Ryu's mother. Ryu's father was mercilessly beaten while his little sister was held down by another group of men.
During the chaos Ruy took a small dagger that was his father's property and mercilessly stabbed one of the men lying on his mother.
The guards reacted violently and quickly murdered his father and mother while taking her little sister away. Ryu couldn't do anything but run out of one of the windows while the soldiers were furiously chasing him.
The little Ryu taking advantage of the darkness of the night was able to mislead the soldiers in the middle of a nearby forest. However, to his misfortune, he had gone so far into the forest that now he did not know how to get out of there.
Due to the long march, Ryu who was completely exhausted could not resist anymore and ended up collapsing on the ground waiting for some wild beast to devour him.
It was a week after he had been unconscious that he finally woke up. To his surprise he was not dead, but he would have wanted to be after discovering that he was inside a cage. In the cage there was also another group of men and boys who were in the same conditions as him. It didn't take a genius to know that he had become a 'slave'.
During that time Ryu learned from the other members inside the Cage that they were heading to a City to be auctioned at the next slave fair. Ryu could do nothing but resign himself to the unfortunate fate of life that lay ahead of him.
Ryu like all slaves was auctioned and later sold, however Ryu's good fortune had not yet been completely exhausted…
A kind soul had selected him out of all the slaves during that auction.
An old cultivator was the person who had bought Ryu during the auction. The old cultivator had no family and was mostly a retired cultivator who lived in solitude. Perhaps out of boredom or whim, this old man had decided to raise and train Ryu as his "heir".
Although the man was strict, he was also quite kind to Ryu, going so far that Ryu had come to regard him as a new father figure.
Ryu's later years were pretty good, after all his whole life consisted of training next to his "master" while helping him with some other household chores. This was certainly not a bad life.
However, Ryu's little bubble of happiness would be snatched away again…
His Master's house was surrounded by an army of heavily armed soldiers who blocked any possible escape route. Among that group of men emerged an evil-looking man who challenged his master to a fight to the death.
This man turned out to be an old political rival of his Master who had finally come to get him to settle old debts from the past. The identity of this man was that of governor of one of the largest provinces of the Kingdom where they lived.
Ironically the same governor who had sent his soldiers to loot the houses of Ryu's village years before.
His master fought valiantly, but the evil governor spread poison on his weapon, causing his master to collapse from the effects of the poison.
It was before his very eyes that Ryu watched as the man who had cared for him for the past five years had his throat cruelly slit by the governor's sword.
At such a sight Ryu did not hesitate and rushed straight towards the governor catching the latter completely unprepared. Ryu's short sword pierced the governor's left eye, but unfortunately not deep enough to end his life.
The guards quickly protected the governor and Ryu had no choice but to go on the run again just like he had done years ago
Fortunately for him he was now a second stage expert of the Elemental Core Realm so one way or another he was able to survive while fighting a guerrilla war against the Governor and his men.
It was during one of his many skirmishes that Ryu was finally captured and finally locked up. His fate? The execution, of course.
Just when Ryu was just coming to terms with his tragic fate, a completely veiled woman appeared in front of him as he got rid of all the prison guards as if they were simple rag dolls. This meant only one thing. The woman in front of him was a peerless expert.
The woman didn't say a word as she examined Ryu through her cold green eyes.
Before Ryu could realize it, he had woken up inside a cave with another group of men. Most of them seemed to be quite powerful experts who were in a state of captivity.
'Where the fuck am I? Why did that woman kidnap me?'Ryu's head asked itself thousands of questions while trying to figure out what the hell was going on.
That's when he met a young man with unmistakable golden eyes. This man seemed to practice some kind of demonic technique…
Every time the man placed his hand on one of the prisoners, they were sucked until their own life disappeared from their bodies.
'Shit... I was kidnapped by a sect of evil cultivators'' Ryu internally lamented as he watched as one by one the captured men were "devoured" to death by the golden-eyed man.
Just when Ryu thought he was dead something amazing happened…
To Ryu's surprise, the man in front of him said that he didn't want to kill him but that in return he should submit to him as his slave…
Anyone would have said yes, but the face of the man who had been taken the life of his loved ones twice prevented him from accepting the offer.
When Ryu refused, the man standing in front of him did not show any annoyance, but a curious look.
Ryu who had nothing to lose revealed the reason for his refusal while waiting for the man in front of him to quickly end his life so he could reincarnate in a less tragic life.
While Ryu was patiently waiting for his death, the young man in front of him again surprised him…
'I can't take revenge for you... but I can give you all the tools to take revenge yourself'
The words were too tempting for Ryu, however as his former Master well said:
'There is no free lunch in this world'
'And what do I have to give?' Asked Ryu for such a generous gift.
'Everything'
The young man's words did not surprise Ryu but rather gave him assurance that the man in front of him was willing to honor his word. Ryu did not hesitate and finally accept the terms offered...
Among them: The seal of slavery.
'Master Ruvan mentioned that my new master would arrive soon but it's been more than a month since master left and he still hasn't come' Ryu murmured with some anxiety.
The idea of being able to take revenge with his own hands haunted his head with an obsession. An obsession that made him get up and train like crazy every day, without rest.
It was at that moment that a voice took him out of his thoughts.
"Ryu! Move your ass over here" was the voice of the always energetic and wild Lieutenant Lira.
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