Hearing Roland's whispers, Lowen's eyes perked up in curiosity.

(So that's what Benjamin's battle hammer looks like, It's taller than me by half a foot at least.)

Clovis examined the battle hammer in his hands and noticed the wolf's face on the hammers head, seeing it, he couldn't help but mumble a few words under his breath.

"Haha, on a mission to find wolves and we find a weapon with the image of a wolf on it. Is this the sign of a bad omen or luck?"

Clovis handed the battle hammer to his uncle Bren and his uncle took a closer look. Seeing nothing special with it, he quickly handed it back.

"Nephew, this hammer has a fine design and excellent balance, besides that though, there doesn't seem to be anything special about it."

Clovis nodded for a moment before placing the hammer down with a thud. Looking over the crowd of gathered soldiers, commander Clovis asked.

"Does anybody want this hammer? As you all know I use a sword and my uncle uses his metallic gloves, so this weapon doesn't suit us. It may look nice but in the end, its heavy weight makes it unpractical for anyone who can't even lift it. By my estimation, it's probably a good 700 pounds or so."

Everyone looked around for a moment, who could possibly wield such a weapon. Roland, Clovis and Bren's eyes, eventually all focused on Lowen. Lowen walked up and grabbed the end of the hammer, with a slight pull he easily lifted it. Shrugging his shoulders, he said.

"Guess I'll take it."

Seeing such a sight, nearly everyone was shocked. A few loud gasps escaped from some of the soldier's mouths before most of the soldiers began looking at one another to see if their comrades were witnessing the same event. Rubbing their eyes repeatedly, the soldiers grew loud with chatter. A few men had curiously asked about Lowen when he had first joined them, they had wondered if it was really ok to allow a 6-year-old boy to come along with danger lurking. Commander Clovis had simply brushed it aside though, simply saying the boy was a young earth Mage genius and for them not to worry. Seeing it now though, they really didn't need to worry, for a 6-year-old to so easily lift such a heavy object, many of them now wondered if Lowen was possibly stronger then their commander.

Clovis and Bren knew Lowen was strong but to see him lift the hammer with what seemed to be no effort, they now knew that their initial thoughts on his strength were far off. Clovis looked at Lowen before glancing at his uncle with a small whisper he said.

"Uncle, when this mission is over we should get him to join us. With his strength added to our ranks, who knows how far we could go?"

Although it was said in a whisper, with Lowen's sharp senses it was almost impossible for him to not hear Clovis. With a chuckle, Lowen threw the wolf hammer over his shoulder and began to head back for bed. Sitting down on the ground with the wolf hammer at his side, Lowen was just about to lay down when Roland walked over with a worried expression. Before Roland said anything though Lowen already spoke.

"I know already you don't have to tell me. This hammer, It's Benjamin's isn't it?"

Roland showed a surprised expression before regaining his cool. He was going to ask how Lowen knew but had already guessed how he did. With the main topic out of the way, Roland didn't have much else to say. releasing a small sigh Roland turned around and left.

(Since Lowen already knows whos hammer that is, then there's really nothing else to say. I guess this confirms it though, It's been more than a year since he went after those goblins, without his hammer, Benjamin...)

Roland shook his head, feeling a bit of pity in his heart.

*Sigh*

Lowen laid the wolf hammer down beside him and snuggled close to it. As he wondered how Nia and Ben would react when they saw this hammer, Lowen began to slowly drift off to sleep.

----------------------------------------------------

Several hours had now passed and as the night became deeper and darker, the nocturnal animals that would usually fill the forest with noise had now become eerily quiet.

"AAAHHHHHHHH!!"

A loud scream rippled through the camp awakening, everyone within. Lowen's eyes shot open and with a thought, he wrapped his sword around his arm, jumped up and raced off toward the cries of horror. A howl was heard in the dead of night deep within the forest, seemingly signaling an attack.

Lowen came to the edge of the camp where a battle was already happening. Bren again was already there and was attacking a wolf, wearing his metallic gloves he tore through a wolf but more and more gathered. Lowen looked at the situation and understood it immediately. The nearby patrolling guards had been attacked and were both lying dead on the ground in a pool of blood, one of them must have screamed with his dying breath. Looking at the wolves there were 30 at least but the presence of alpha was nowhere to be seen. Lowen using his shadow steps dove in to fight alongside Bren.

Unwrapping his sword from his arm he slashed forward with his sharp blade. Clovis and the others soon arrived and engaged the wolfs as well. Lowen Clovis and Bren were the main slayers, everyone else was basically there for defensive purposes and support. The men with their inferior strength could only gang up on individual wolves, in this way 5 men would surround a wolf and take it on together. Lowen sped through these wolfs with amazing speed and each time he swung his sword another wolf would fall dead. As Lowen did this he seemed to be completely relaxed. As he slew his 7th wolf, the surrounding wolves seemed to understand that there was nothing they could do about him and quickly backed off.

Another howl came from the forest and the wolves turned around for retreat.

Lowen couldn't help but grin at there weakness and raced after them, but before he even left the encampment, Clovis yelled after him.

"Lowen wait!"

Lowen hearing this sudden shout quickly stopped and gave Clovis a questioning stare. Clovis again shouted out.

"SCOUTS ON ME!"

Very quickly a small group of seven men dressed all in black ran over and kneeled down in front of Clovis. Saluting Clovis they all said in unison.

"Sir."

Clovis wasted no time and quickly handed down his command.

"Stealthily follow them back to their den, I need their location and I need to know how many, now go."

The men all stood and saluted, once more they all spoke in unison.

"Sir Yes Sir."

Dashing off into the forest, their silhouettes all disappeared into the darkness. Lowen now understood what was going on, this was still a mission. If he had raced after them and killed them all, then they'd be left without a clue but now that Clovis sent his men to follow them, then the mission would continue forward. Clovis walked over toward Lowen with a smile.

"Good job, you sure don't disappoint do you?"

With a thought, Lowen's sword coiled itself around his arm. Lowen laughed and said.

"Maybe, maybe not, had you not stopped me I would have killed them all, then we'd have to waste more time looking for clues."

Clovis admired Lowen's honesty.

"Haha right, right."

Looking at Lowen's kills and the blade that wrapped around his arm, Clovis became curious but didn't want to pry too much, instead, he just said a few words of praise.

"I saw how you killed those wolves, such precision and efficiency, whoever taught you must be quite amazing."

Lowen stared at Clovis trying to see through his thought but after a few seconds gave up. Thinking how funny it'd be if Clovis knew the person who taught him was he himself, Lowen smugly laughed.

"Haha, he is quite amazing."

Bren walked over and looked at Lowen with intrigue, he could count on one hand the number of youths that were so talented in the nearby kingdoms, but they were all princes and princess's or high ranking noble children who had the best teachers and the greatest resources, Lowen however, what did he have.

After a bit, Roland walked over and the conversation between the four turned serious fast.

"Uncle and I were just talking and we both came to the same conclusion. The wolves, that was clearly not their main force, so why then would they attack this large group of ours out in the open?"

Lowen and Roland both thought about it for a bit before they both came to the same conclusion. Lowen Looked at the three and confirmed their thoughts.

"They were testing us."

Clovis nodded his head.

"No doubt you're a genius. Since they were testing us, then they clearly know we're here, which means we can't surprise them. Not only that, they now know our number and since we three fought they know most of our true strength. Most likely when we attack, they'll already be waiting for us."

Some of the soldiers listening in showed signs of worry but Clovis was actually the opposite, with a grin on his face, he confidently said.

"Since they know all this, they won't be expecting are 2 trump cards."

A few of the soldier's ears perked up.

"In the morning our reinforcements should be arriving here from Jizhen. My third in command will be leading 50 soldiers and around another 50 recruits to meet up with us. With them, we'll be effectively doubling our strength but that's not all. The second trump card is this man right here.

Clovis pointed at Roland.

"They know about us three but I especially ordered Roland to hang back and not fight. A fire Mage at the 3rd Circle, that'll be the last thing they'll be expecting."

The surrounding men looked over dumbfounded, Roland truly hadn't fought yet. Once he unleashes a 3rd circle spell, he could single-handedly turn the tide and crush the wolfs in one fell swoop. The soldiers couldn't help but become excited at their all but certain victory. Clovis, however, wasn't celebrating, looking at the stupid expressions of glee his en had, he quickly roared at them.

"Shut up! everyone shut up. Our victory is far from certain, look around."

With those words, everyone grew silent and looked around. On the ground were the bodies of 12 of their fellow soldiers. Seeing this, reality hit them, people had died and tomorrow more people would die. Nothing was certain, at least not on the battlefield and the sooner they realize this, the sooner they can prepare themselves for whatever may come. The atmosphere took on a somber tone and Clovis looked over at Roland.

"Roland please go rest for the day, we'll need you at your strongest tomorrow."

Roland stood up and asked.

"What about the bodies, if they're not burned and a beast consumes them, you know what will happen."

Clovis shook his head.

"No need, my men will burn them."

Clovis turned to a soldier and ordered.

"You there, have some men gather our fallen and then burn them to ash."

The soldier saluted and said

"Sir Yes Sir."

Before quickly leaving to carry out his orders.

Lowen looked at this exchange and found it quite strange he glanced over at Roland questioningly and Roland quickly explained.

"Ah, we've never covered this subject have we."

Roland rubbed his chin before he continued.

"Well, this is something that always happens. If a human dies and is consumed by a beast, then that beast will then become a Magic Beast. Their strength suddenly rises at a rapid rate and they gain the power of an element. Why it happens though, no one knows for sure."

Clovis looked over in interest and thought.

(He doesn't know about Magic Beast, how is that possible. He's obviously brilliant and he seems to be well in depth when it comes to magic but when it comes to a basic knowledge surrounding magic he doesn't know it, what backwater place did this kid come from?)

After listening to Roland about Magic Beast, Lowen again found another thing he was interested in. For now, though, he decided to sleep, although he could go days without it, for him, it was more of a way to relax and sharpen his mind. Once more Lowen laid down close to this wolf hammer and while men ran about to and fro creating all kinds of noise and while bodies burned and he smelled the flesh of burning people, Lowen slowly drifted off to sleep.