Kane blinked twice in quick succession. Puzzled by Bokar’s answer, he uttered a single word. “Why?”

“With just a glance, I can know immediately that you’re not fit to handle physical work, let alone become a blacksmith. You’re too frail,” Bokar laughed.

Kane furrowed. “You won’t know that until I try.”

“I agree with you too, but I don’t want to waste my time teaching someone that will be easily tired. There’s one more reason why I refused.”

Curious, he asked, “What’s the reason?”

Bokar opened his mouth without producing any voices. He tried to hold back but then decided to say it. “When you entered my shop yesterday, you looked down at my creations. You even refused to look at them. And I don’t want an apprentice like that.”

Kane clicked his tongue. For some reason, Bokar could read his mind by just observing. He must be more careful in the future. He then said, “You got me. So I’m not qualified then?” His intuition told him that denying the statement would only make the situation worse.

Bokar raised his eyebrows and said, “You know, I didn’t expect that reaction. Still, I must tell you that I only have two conditions. They either must be strong or have respect toward myself and my work. You failed both of them.”

Kane sighed. He couldn’t disagree with Bokar as he could relate. When he was in his prime, thousands of blacksmiths would flock to him, asking him to be his apprentice many, many times. Annoyed by their incompetence and stubbornness, he imposed many strict qualifications. As a result, nobody could become one despite being a top tier blacksmith, except for one person. Is this karma for refusing them? He doubted that but now he knew how they felt.

“Unless…” Bokar grinned. “If you can prove yourself, I will reconsider your application.” He walked to the counter as he talked.

“Alright, I’ll bite. What is it?” Kane’s eyes twinkled. It didn’t matter to him whether he got accepted or not, however. He could become an apprentice somewhere else, even though it would be inconvenient.

“Before that, are you literate, Kane?” asked Bokar.

“Yeah, my dad taught me,” he answered. In his previous life, he wasn’t fluent in foreign characters other than his native language and the common one. Now he could read and speak oni language at ease thanks to this child’s memory.

“Impressive. Most of the folks in this town can’t even read. You’re lucky to have Ezar as your father.” Bokar took a small piece of paper and an inked feather from his desk. He began writing.

Kane nodded. “Yeah, I know.”

“Mm. Here you go. The time limit is two days from now.” Bokar handed the piece of paper.

Kane took the paper and read it. A small list of monster’s names including their gatherable resources was written. Most of them were unranked. When he read the last monster from the list, Kane exhaled from his nose — finally, a monster that could prove too challenging. For the sake of keeping his identity secret, he darkened his expression, “A high rank 1 monster? Are you for real?”

“I didn’t say you must hunt it alone. You could ask somebody to help, though it’ll affect my decision.” Bokar shrugged.

Kane rolled his eyes and said, “Fine, I’ll bring them to you.”

“Good. Be careful out there. Don’t overestimate yourself, ok? Just run away if you’re in danger.” Bokar smiled as he tapped Kane’s shoulder.

Kane left the weapon shop and went back to his home. By the time he arrived, it was almost noon.

At home, Kane prepared before venturing into the deciduous forest. With his ax tied on his back, he then followed the dirt path that led to the forest where the monsters that he needed to hunt roamed. Without further ado, he stepped forward, entering the cluster of trees.

---

“Aha! I found another one. This forest is quite resource-rich,” said the half-oni. Kane plucked a spotted white flower that grew near the root of the tree. The stem bled yellow liquid when it was cut clean with his dagger. He cleaned the substance before putting it in his bag.

He had been searching and gathering for the ingredients of the strength potion. As he ventured further, he scratched the trees to prevent getting lost. He must because he had strayed far from the designated dirt path. While doing so, he was reminded of his first lesson with his father. The memory caused him to chop random trees. Maintaining a convincing expression during the lesson was stressful for him. Still, the act was necessary to not let his father become suspicious. Kane believed that he must remain patient until the time was right, when he could show his real skill.

Admittedly, his father was a bit skillful when using an ax — still, he was nothing more than a toddler in Kane’s eyes. Other than that, he gained some knowledge regarding his current body. Since he was mixed-race, Kane had inherited the oni racial talent that made him equal to an ordinary adult human in terms of raw strength. This fact was one of the reasons behind Kane’s confidence.

“The ingredients of the potion are abundant in this forest’s outskirts. I could even make 10 of them!” Kane said as he counted the plants he had collected. They were more than enough. If he kept continuing the activity, it would be too dark to do his task.

“Time to hunt these monsters.” Kane opened the folded piece of paper and read it again.

Long after he left the spot, a shadowy figure not too far from him moved from its hiding spot.

Kane ventured into the deeper part of the forest. Now, there were less Black Bloodwood trees and many large trees, but it was less dense. It was said that magical monsters and beasts roamed around this area. Ezar once forbade previous Kane from going too deep into the forest because of its dangers. Many careless and unprepared people from the village had fallen victim to the monsters.

*Crackle*

His ears caught an unusual noise. He turned to the direction where the sound had come from. Approaching at a steady pace, he spotted something on the distance. A walking skeleton.

Its mossy bones crackled as it ambled. It had nothing but a rusty short sword and a broken wooden shield. Its skull had a pair of red horns, resembling an oni’s. The body proportion stroke resemblance with them too. Inside its ribs, a tiny bluish stone glowed a faint light.

“A lesser skeleton, just what I need,” Kane muttered. Bokar had asked him to bring some weapons from them. He needed at least three swords. Kane was confident that he could beat it because it was an unranked monster.

Kane untied the rope and grabbed the large ax. His form turned into a fighting stance, ready to charge. All of a sudden, an idea popped into his mind. He should test whether he could unleash his battle techniques or not. And thus, he changed his form again and swung the ax onto the ground.

“Earth-splitting Cleave!”

Alas, nothing happened. The skeleton, however, noticed the loud thud coming from Kane’s ax. It charged toward him.

Kane lifted his ax, ready to defend the incoming attack. The skeleton tried to stab him, but Kane deflected it with the ax handle, redirecting the momentum. It missed him, and the skeleton almost tripped due to its clumsiness. The opponent revealed an opening! He slashed both of its legs with a quick and precise swing, right at the knee joints, which was the weak spot. The crippled skeleton fell and slid across the ground with its ribs. Not giving up, it crawled toward Kane.

The skeleton now had no defense or resistance whatsoever so Kane was able to attack with ease. Instead of slashing the skull by using the edged part, he chose to bash it with the head because the ax might be too dull to penetrate the bone. The heavy blow slammed into the skull with a satisfying crunch, creating an explosion of bone dust and shrapnel. As the skeleton ceased moving, the glow from the stone had faded away. The entire ligaments of its bones then shambled, leaving a pile of bones.

“Phew, that was close,” said Kane as he took all the loot, including the tiny blue stone.

The stone was called a mana core. Similar to weapons and monsters, they had rankings too though a different naming system. The stone that Kane held was a petty mana core, the lowest rank. They were basically found anywhere for a very cheap price. Many mages sought mana core because they were useful in various magic expertise, including alchemy.

“I forgot I couldn’t even use my vis yet...” Kane still hadn’t managed to feel his inner strength, which was also called vis. Almost all physical techniques required vis to release their full power. It also increased overall strength depending on how much vis was in one’s body.

Could it be that he had no vis? That was possible, but he also considered that he might have it but was just unable to feel it because of his current body. He was a bit strong for a child despite being weaker than his oni peers.

With those thoughts, as soon as Kane stepped forward, a howling scream echoed throughout the forest.