Hillfront

The next day Hamon found himself being dragged into the castle yard. There he found multiple kids, teens, and a single instructor. Somehow Theo’s idea of ‘safe hunting grounds’ got turned into ‘hunting training team’ by Suri. Later it was understood as a training team for kids by the person requested to arrange.

“Oh, no. I didn’t sign for that.” Hamon started sweating. Yesterday had been fun. He had been goofing around all day with the pretty friend of Suri’s. This was looking like a mix of hellish training and school. Hamon disliked both of those.

“Relax, all of them are your age. They will be nice to you.” The person who was guiding him walked forward. “Please, don’t make this complicated for me.”

Hamon grumbled as he walked forward. The man talked briefly with the instructor and left.

“This is Hamon, he will be with us from now on.” The instructor said, a tall man of pure muscles. “Today, due to the circumstances, we will be doing some light practicing with blessings.” He turned to Hamon and said in a lower voice. “I know you just arrived, but try to practice with your blessing by yourself for a while; it should be instinctive. I will help you shortly.”

Everyone started practicing one thing or another. There were those practicing moving objects, jumping, sneaking around, or even trying things Hamon couldn’t quite comprehend. He soon found himself isolated as he didn’t know what to do. Theo had said his blessings were passives, and he didn’t have to worry about them.

A girl his age came flying from behind and poked Hamon on his right elbow. As he turned in that direction, she blew on his left ear and flew away, giggling. He didn’t know how to react but soon started laughing in embarrassment while scratching the back of his head.

“Hey, new kid. Don’t you have a blessing?” She smirked, levitating in front of him. Her long blonde hair waved with the wind as she moved around, bringing the nicest smell. There was a pink scarf around her neck over a sleeveless shirt that Hamon thought gave her an incredible charm. Loose harem pants flowed with the wind completed the outfit; Hamon thought she was like a wind fairy.

A few moments later, after she had no response. “Are you ok, new kid?”

Hamon blinked a few times, coming back to reality. “Yes, yes… yes.”

She laughed. “So… do you have a blessing?”

“Yeah, I do. I’m super strong.” Hamon smiled and flexed his muscles, trying to show off.

The girl ended up laughing, which made him blush. “Go practice them, strong kid.”

The way she called him kid bothered him, but she was a bit taller than him; he thought there was nothing he could say. “It’s passive, so there’s nothing to practice.” Hamon shrugged, trying to act cool.

“There are no passives.”

“Yes, there is.” Hamon frowned.

“No, there are not. You just want to skip practice.” She was about to stick out her tongue but quickly contained himself as the instructor appeared.

“Stop bothering Hamon, Sally.”

“I was just answering his questions, Instructor Shmuel.” Sally stopped levitating.

“Yes, I bet you were.” Shmuel snorted. “What is your blessing Hamon?”

“Enhanced strength, instructor.” Hamon didn’t want to disclose his blessings, even if he understood little about them. Theo had told him to keep this kind of information a secret. Whenever asked about, he always said to not care much since it was passive. Experience, however, had taught him that adults wouldn’t accept no as an answer; especially not this kind of adult. It was better to talk about his common blessing so he could protect his unique one.

“Let’s first test it out so I can see what I can do for you.” Instructor Shmuel waved with his hand for Hamon to come.

“What?”

“Come, hit me.”

“Are you serious?” Hamon frowned.

“Just do it,” Shmuel smirked. “Are you underestimating me?”

“You going to hit me back?” Hamon pressed his eyes in suspicion. He had seen that ploy way too many times with Theo, and he wasn’t prepared mentally to take a beating today.

“Don’t worry, just come.” Shmuel rolled his eyes. “It’s just to measure your strength.

Hamon shrugged, immediately jumping into a knee-kick at Shmuel’s right ribs. He felt something give in with his knees but shook it off as his imagination, the instructor’s face was still stoic. Hamon didn’t let up as he followed up by supporting his body with his left hand on the ground and spinning to hit the Shmuel with a kick in the same area. He felt something crack but was too into the movement to stop now as he pushed himself into the air with his hands and kicked Shmuel on the sternum, his body being shoved backward from the inertia.

Hamon was worried, but Instructor Shmuel’s face was reassuring. He didn’t break a sweat, nor he left his initial position, just smirking. “You have good kicks and instincts, Hamon. It seems I will have to prepare something a bit more special for your training.”

The surrounding kids all became impressed; some even envious of the treatment Instructor Shmuel was giving Hamon. The older ones just smirked, believing Hamon was getting this kind of attention just because he was young. Everyone got more impressed when you did something mundane while you were young, and the abyss didn’t care about your age when giving you powers.

Sally was startled, Hamon moved too fast when attacking Instructor Shmuel again and again. She was proud of her speed, and that made her jealous. That was the only thing she was the best at, and the new kid just surpassed her on it. The others may not have noticed, but Sally knew that the way he moved was beyond all of the others, she was watching his every move intently.

“Hey! Hamon, come with me.” Sally dragged Hamon’s by the arm after Instructor Shmuel had walked away.

“What is it?” Hamon asked, distracted by the hands touching his arms.

“A bet. Let’s see who can run faster.”

Sally challenged him, and Hamon wasn’t one to lose on purpose. After lots of rounds of both running to their fullest, Sally using every drop of her blessing she could, they were panting on the ground.

“How can you run faster than me?” Sally said, out of breath. She was always the fastest, before or after the abyss. Losing in that category made her feel bad.

Hamon moved his head to the side to respond to her but got distracted. Her sweaty hair was covering her forehead, giving her a wild appearance. This time, he managed to answer before she noticed something wrong. “It’s your foot.” He looked towards the sky to focus on his answer. “You don’t know how to properly step.”

Sally looked at her feet but could see nothing wrong with them. Before she could ask more, her girl friends started calling her from afar. “That isn’t over. I will try again next lesson.” She smirked. “Don’t forget to teach me about the feet thing next time.”

“Yeah.” Hamon smiled.

“See you in the dorm?”

“Yeah.” Hamon said once again, even if he had no idea what was this ‘dorm’.

Sally bolted away, waving goodbye as Hamon did the same while smiling. Her friends kept teasing her as they walked away, and Hamon kept waving goodbye even after they left, lost in thought. His life in the abyss has gotten a lot better. Maybe facing the canyon to reach this town wasn’t a bad idea, after all. There were people his age, he didn’t have to spar with Theo, the food was good, and he didn’t have to hunt every day.