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Authers note - Chapter 10!! yayyyyy *fires the party crackers* as promised this chapter is a bit longer then my others :) no furry fun though i'm afraid :( maybe in the next one =3

Rise Of The Maou

Chapter

010

"Hey you!"

Kael took in a breath when the hand landed on his shoulder, He stopped and turned around, putting on the best smile he could. "Yes sir? Is there something I can do for you?" A knot formed in Kael's chest as the gate guard looked him over with somewhat ridiculing gaze.

The guards gaze locked with his own and while Kael would have liked nothing more than to defiantly stare straight back at the man he let his gaze drop to the ground, a simple sign of submission he'd picked up during his days of being bullied. "I don't think I've ever seen you come past here before boy, first time visiting Cayten?"

Kael gave a light nod to the guards question "Yes sir, I was blessed not long ago with a morph and so I set out to come here hoping to join the guild." He motioned to his shoulder where Dee sat, the guard looking to the little slime curiously as though he had only just now noticed he was there.

"Hmm, so you're nothing more than a country bumpkin that thinks he can become a hero huh?" He scowls "Tsk, why does some random peasant boy get a morph when there's so many others more deserving."

Kael frowns at the guard's retorts and muttered under his breath "Probably means they aren't so deserving after all then don't it."

The guard stared daggers at Kael as he was close enough to hear the muttering "God damm peasants." The guard was about to raise his hand to backhand Kael when a sudden neigh from an approaching horse stopped him.

"Guardsman you're not about to strike one of those that have been chosen by god because your jealous now are you?" The voice sounded somewhat noble but also carried that tint of arrogance that most noble types had. Both Kael and the guard turned to face the new arrival.

Before him sitting up on a white horse was what could only be described as your typical 'hero' Golden locks of hair, shining well polished armor, a face that would make women swoon just at sight of him, and on his shoulder sat what Kael guessed to be his morph in the shape of a golden eagle. <Wouldn't that just be a waste of a morph slot? ....> He then recalled his walking stick <Yeah.... We all make mistakes though.>

The 'Hero' looked to be about in his mid twenties, he dismounted and stepped over to Kael with a smile, waving off the guard who then backed away with a muffled apology and turned back to inspecting other arrivals.

"Hello there my friend! Always good to see new arrivals coming to join the guild." He stopped before Kael and offered his hand "My name is Justin, I'm an A rank member of the adventures guild and currently undertaking the hero trials which I shall soon finish and be the first hero to arise in the world for a thousand years."

Kael was dumbstruck by the arrogant self introduction of the man, reaching out and shaking the offered hand "Uh.. mm.. I'm Kael.. nice to meet you."

Justin's eyes seemed to narrow at Kael at his reply "Dear me, you really must be a country bumpkin like the guard was saying to have that kind of reaction when being greeted by the top adventurer in the guild."

Kael gave a mental sigh "N..no sir Justin, I'm sorry, I'm simply in awe that it's left me rather speechless."

Justin seemed to accept the excuse with a wave of his hand "Ah, that's quite understandable. You're here to join the guild no? Come I'll show you where it is."

Kael had mixed feelings as he walked through the city with Justin, he was walking along side probably the greatest murderer of monster kind and the one that would quite possibly become his greatest enemy in future <I should fish for info while I can...he seems to enjoy boasting so it shouldn't be too hard.> "So being the top in the guild your level must be really high."

As he thought Justin gave a grin at the chance to boast some "I just reached 98 on my last trip, I'm still far off from my goal though, I need to reach 120 as one of the hero trials, but what I'm aiming for is 200, it's said the last great hero died from old age at level 199, I'm going to beat him and become a legend for all time." He grins

"Wow, that's a big goal, so does that mean there's no limit to what level we can reach?"

Justin chuckles "Ah right, your new to all this aren't you, yes, as far as we know there's no limit to how strong we chosen can become, but weather we are able to live long enough to reach such heights is the real question, most adventurers die in battle before reaching even level 20, the lucky ones that die of old age usually reach around my level, but of course since I've been blessed with a morph of epic rank I started with a greater advantage over everyone else and I've been able to hunt stronger monsters to gain GP faster."

Kael listened to every word intently, Justin got the impression he was simply in awe of his boasts but it was the information he was truly soaking up. "I'm sorry, what's these morph ranks you mentioned?"

Justin let out a sigh "Geeze, you really must be from the middle of know where to not even know this much about morphs, well, I'm generous so I'll tell you otherwise you'll never get anywhere with the initiation training at the guild. When you receive your morph it has a rank that represents the adventurers potential I guess you could say, the higher the rank the better the perks, though with higher rank the GP for each level is also higher so it does even out a little. There's four ranks that are known." He lists them off along with their bonuses.

"Common ranks starts with 8 points in starting stats and gain 5 stat points per level up, then Uncommon, they starts with 9 and gain 7 each level, they also have 1 morph point. Rare ranks start with 12 points and gain 10 per level and start with 2 morph points and then finally Epic, my rank with a lovely 15 point start and 15 points per level along with 4 morph points." Kael made a mental note of all the information.

"Wow, there's a really big difference between the first and last isn't there, you said that's the ranks that are known, does that mean there's still higher ones?"

Justin just shrugged "It's not something that can be ruled out but I highly doubt it, I would have gotten it if there was." He smirks and Kael had to fight to keep his eyes from rolling at the arrogance of the man. "Aside from the point advantage as you level the higher ranks will get access to more unique skills to pick from then the lower ranks, so what rank are you by the way?" He looks to Kael curiously.

Kael opened his mouth about to say his rank but paused just in time <Crap.. better say one of the lower ranks... he wouldn't believe me anyway if I told him I'm a higher rank then him.> "Ah, mmm, I only got uncommon." He gave a light shrug "I'm probably not cut out for this kind of thing but if I can train enough and get strong enough I can return home and help ward off any attacks at least." Justin nodded at this and seemed to approve.

"Ah, that's a good goal then, it's not good to aspire to far above your abilities after all, you came right here once you got your morph right? Manage to gain any levels on your way? Most arrive here with at least a few levels up their sleeves."

Kael had to do a quick calculation in his head, his stats currently sat at 30 each making a total of 150, taking away 9 for the starting stats then divide the rest by 7 which brought his current stats being equal to a level 20 uncommon rank adventurer <Wow.. I'm actually quiet strong compared to others... but that's too high to be believable..> "Ah.. only level 10."

Justin quirked a brow "Ten? That's quiet high for a having only just gotten a morph."

"Uh.. Well the trip here did take several months, I ended up helping out a lot of people with odd jobs along the way, it seemed to give me some GP when I did that so I took my time with doing things like that.. oh and I did come across an otter monster along the river once, I managed to beat it with a large stick." <Well... almost true... kind of.> He chuckles in his mind.

Justin seemed to accept his words "Ah, you would have picked up the blunt skill from that then yes?" Kael nodded "I don't need to do much explaining about that then, suffice to say, by using weapons or certain items you'll gain mastery skills for them, keep using the weapon or items and you skill will get better, at certain levels of skill rank you'll get various bonuses relating to the weapon or item. But skill levels don't matter much when you get as many stat points as I do to play with."

"I haven't actually used my points yet, I wanted more information before using them, I don't want to waste them after all, do you have any advice on what to put them in?"

Justin grinned "Ah, now that would be telling a bit too much I think, but I will say this, when a stat reaches a certain point you'll gain abilities and bonuses that pertain to that stat, just think about what weapon you want to focus on and then think about what stats are most suited to it. You can probably find plenty of information about it in the guild library to, once you join and pass the initiation you'll get full access to it."

Justin came to a stop before a set of large gates "Well here we are then." He waved to a guard who opened the gates giving a good view of the guild.

Kael could think of no better description then that it looked like some kind of school, a large main building towered before them while to the left and right of it were several blocks of what seemed to be dorm rooms, the grounds before the main building was littered with various training areas, swords, spears, bows, hand to hand, clubs and maces, training with weapons of all kinds was going on as well as people running laps around the grounds and doing other physical fitness training. "Wow...."

Justin chuckled and gave Kael a slap on the back "Welcome to your new home.. well if you pass that is." He chuckles again at the look Kael gave him "Ah, don't worry, with your level you'll have no trouble."

"Ah... thanks.."

Justin nodded "Just head into the main building, you're in luck today to, it just happens to be this month's recruitment day, head in and tell them you want to join, they'll show you the way after that. Ah! you may want to use some of those points though before the initiation starts." He grins as he gives Kael a small hint before heading off his own way.

Kael let out a sigh as Justin left <I really can't get along with guys like that.. I have to make sure that he doesn't come to think of me as a threat of any sort otherwise it's going to end up like school all over again, I can't afford that here....but I did get some nice info at least from him.>

Taking a deep breath to calm himself he heads towards the main building, it was only now though that he noticed as he passed people the gazes they gave him seemed to be filled with mixtures of fear, anger or timidness at his presence. <Damm... this must be the Demonic aura at work, I was too busy listening to Justin but I'd wager the towns people would have been giving me the same look, though Justin didn't seem to be affected by it.. perhaps it's because of the level gap that he felt no threat from It.> He sighs <Well, at least not everyone is going to be affected by it.. just the low level guys... and the towns people.... And the guards... yeah.. I'm screwed...>

He grumbled under his breath at what he was going to have to deal with as he pushed the main door open perhaps a bit too hard, causing it to wing wide open and smack against the wall with a loud thud, this caused the people at the count to startle and look his way "Ah! .. oops sorry!" He flushed in embarrassment as he approached the main counter where a young women stood "Heh.. sorry about that, umm, I'd like to join the guild please?"

The women gave him a glance over and obviously didn't like what she saw as she gave a light scoff "Humph, another boy from the outer lands thinking he can become a hero huh? We'll see how long you last wont we." She smirked and held her hand out "Fine then, show me your morph ID."

Kael blinked "Id?"

The women gave an exasperated sigh "Ugh, why do I get the ones like this, look open your morphs index and select the ID button and show it to me, it holds an image of you on it confirming that your its owner, and yes you have to open the page, other people can't use another person's morph or even read what it says except for what's on the Id page." She rattled off answers to questions she seems to have gotten a lot.

Kael would have ask a few additional questions but he really didn't want to annoy the girl anymore then she obviously already was, he had Dee shift into the tablet and spotted the ID button <Come to think of it I never did check this one out...> He shrugged lightly as he pressed the button and a window opened showing a static rotating image of himself in his current clothes, thankfully the only details it gave was his name, age the date he'd received Dee on.

He turned the screen around to show the girl who scanned it over carefully, looking back to him several times almost as though she was hoping she could point out some flaw in the resemblance, but sure enough she let out another sigh "Ok, it checks out. Head through the door on the left with the other newbies and wait for instructions." She waved him off.

Kael nodded "Thank you miss..." She didn't seem to respond to his words as she went back to sorting paper work. Kael sighed and headed through the door into what looked like a waiting room, rows of chairs filled the room and he could count about twenty other people gathered around, chatting and waving their morphs about excitedly.

Kael took a seat in a quiet corner away from the bustle and simply observed, most of the conversations were about where each other had come from and what their hopes and goals now we're since they'd gotten a morph and of course others were simply boasting about what level they had reached already and what rank there morphs were, though somehow Kael doubted there really was that many above uncommon as there seemed to be claims of.

During the wait Kael was thankful for being ignore for the most part, he did receive the occasional wary glance though it only took a return glance to have them turn away and go back with what they were doing.

It felt like it had been several hours at least as he sat there idly toying with Dee as he waited, heavy steps approaching the opposite door he had entered from got everyone's attention though, the doors burst open as a large men stepped in, if Kael had to describe his first impression of the man he would use two words, Drill Sergeant.

"All right meat get up and get your asses out here, your assessment starts now." He booted the door open once more so it would swing outwards and hit some sort of latch that locked it open to reveal a long hallway beyond "Head down the hall to the door at the very end, you'll come out in one of our training rooms, last one inside gets a penalty." He smirked as everyone in the room now had a worried expression on their faces "Well!? Don't just stand there get moving!" Everyone jumped into action and raced down the hall, Kael included.

The hall wasn't that wide unfortunately and several of the other newbies got smart and decided to run side by side to block the hall completely leaving only Kael and a few others blocked behind them <Dammit, I ran a bit slower so I wouldn't stand out but this is messed up.> He tried to push past the wall but it turned out there was actually another team in front of them doing the same thing, reinforcing both of them. "Damm, fine ill have to get serious...ugh.." Something hit him from behind causing him to fall and twist around just in time to see the smirking face of another newbie holding a candle stand before blacking out.

About ten minutes later he came to, rubbing his head as he slowly sat up "Ugh.. damm bastard clipping me from behind like that." Blinking he looked up to see the 'Drill Sergeant' standing before him.

"Awake now farm boy?" He smirks "Seems your sorry ass was the last to arrive, now get up." He gave a light kick to Kael feet.

"I was hit from behind by some bastard, isn't that cheating?" Kael growled as he stood up.

"Ha! Whoever did it is a smart lad, I'm not here to hold your hand, it's my job to weed out the weaklings with not potential, so far you're not doing too well farm boy." He chuckles "And because your last we ran out of weapons to, you'll have to make do with whatever you've got on hand." He chuckles again and turns back the rest of the crowed who all looked at Kael with a smirk, each of them were now carrying various weapons and light armour.

"Tsk... Dee be ready.." he spoke quietly to the black slime shaped morph on his shoulder who nodded.

The Drill Sergeant stepped over to a lever at the far end of the large arena like training room, not too far from the lever was a large set of metal grate drop bars blocking the way into a dark room beyond where various snarls and growls could be heard. "Right then meat, seems there's about twenty of you today, so it should be an even fight, you survive this and you pass, rather simple isn't it." He chuckles and pulls the leaver, the grate lifting up slowly.

Kael really didn't like where this was going, even more so as he saw what looked to be wild wolf men stepping out of the dark room, the sergeant already having retreated into a small safety cage of his own "Good luck boys." He chuckled "And you to farm boy." He smirks at Kael who had no weapon.

<This is messed up, surely the big guy knew there was this kind of test when he gave me the quest right?> Kael looked over the wolf men, they looked half starved and hardly in proper fighting condition, but a starved opponent could be a danger on its own, the other thing of note was their eyes. "They look... dead.. their eyes."

A laugh came from the cage the sergeant stood in "Ha! Good observation farm boy, this pack of wolf beasts have been starved and tortured for months, they've lost all sense of who they are now and simply crave meat.. luckily we brought in a fresh supply for them today now didn't we." He laughs as the group of newbies all look to one another worriedly, readying their weapons.

Slowly Kael side stepped away from the main group of the other newbies, while normally doing so would be a bad idea since it's a wolfs natural instinct to single out those that stray from the pack of prey but he was relying on his aura to hopefully mask him a bit from there sight, and it seemed to work, a few of the wolf men glanced his way but then turned back to the main group, as the sergeant had said there was about twenty of them, one for each newbie.

The sergeant then grinned "FEEDING TIME!" he roared out and smacked the bars of his safety cage to clang out into the room causing the wolfs to leap into action, charging at the group of raw steaks before them. One of the newbies let out a cry to try and rally the others and charged towards the wolves.

Kael stood there and watched in horror as the two groups collided, several wolves falling to lucky thrusts from spears and blades, while other newbies fell as they were mauled by the ravenous and now soulless wolves.

"Dammit...Dee spear, I don't like this one bit... but killing them now is a mercy.." He gripped the black spear in his hands turning just in time to see a wolf had finally taken note of him and pounced in the air towards him, Kael slammed the base of his spear onto the ground and held it out in the wolfs direction, holding it firmly as the wolf unable to change its course landed on the spear with a yelp and whine, this tactic worked several more times and even some of the other newbies took note of it and did the same thing.

The floor was becoming littered with bodies, blood stained the dirt ground red, it made his head woozy but he shook it off "No, can't lose focus here." There was only five wolves left and about ten newbies still standing, though some others on the ground were still alive but just barely, the ones standing weren't that much better though, most of them covered in bites and scratches, their legs wobbling from either fear or lack of strength. As the remains wolves circled them slowly now.

Kael picked let Dee return to his shoulder and instead picked up a sword and spear off the ground that had been dropped by the newbies, racing towards the remaining group that now huddled together for protection he hurled the spear at one of the wolfs piercing it through the chest and closed the gap between another to slash it with the sword, leaving it to writhe on the ground and bleed out. The other three wolves now turned to him, marking him as a threat that needed to be dealt with before they could feast, this tough left an opening for some of the newbies in the group to thrust out with their spears, catching two of the three wolves as the last one leapt at Kael, the wolf was slow and weak now from the fight though and Kael had no trouble side stepping the leap and swinging his sword down quickly, beheading the wolf as it flopped lifeless to the ground.

With the last wolf down Kael's knees gave out and he collapsed to the ground, panting for breath as did most of the other surviving newbies, the clink of a gate could be heard then footsteps as the Sergeant walked over with a laugh "Well farm boy, seems you've got more talent than I thought." He then let out a loud yell "CLEAN UP!" The door they had arrived through opened up and a large group of people came in carrying various medical supplies to begin tending those that still lived and helping up the other to help them out of the arena.

"Hey furball! You can take care of this one, at least this is one you can't screw up with eh? Take him to his room and clean him up."

Kael looked up briefly to see a girl approaching him, a set of ears twitching atop her head and a long tail swishing behind her, around her neck wrists and ankles though was a seat of cuffs and collars. <A slave?....> He could see a pair of saddened eyes looking down at him before he passed out from exhaustion.