"Are you sure you saw a Dire Wolf? And a level 5 at that?"

A young lady with a round face, dressed in an ankle-to-floor length gown belted at the waist, asked in a questioning tone. An old man came early in the morning to the Adventurer Guild today and made a surprising claim to have killed a level 5 Dire Wolf in the nearby woods of Elmer City.

"Of course, it's true," replied the old man calmly, not offended by the young lady.

An old man and a young woman were talking over a counter in an old building, which belonged to the Adventurer's Guild. As it was early hours, not many people were present there, allowing the conversation to continue in peace.

"Hmm, okay." She was still unconvinced but her job required her to listen to people. "Describe everything that you saw." She adjusted her glasses and started jotting down something on a piece of paper.

"Like I said, yesterday evening, me and my son…"

Naturally, the old man was Morgan.

Shaken by yesterday's events, he came today to the local Adventurer's Guild to report the appearance of a beast near a human city. This was the first time a level 5 beast had appeared so close to his farmhouse in the last 20 years. And at this moment, he was describing yesterday's incident to the Guild's receptionist.

While he was recounting the incident, he saw her raised eyebrows. 'Well, you can't blame her for still not believing me, it was an unusual occurrence.'

To assure her of his claim, he decided to take out a token and slowly put it on the table. The token had a beautiful 'stag' carved on it. Noticing some activity from the old man, the young lady looked up and her eyes glanced towards a token on the table.

'Oh, it's a token. Why did he take it out though?,' she thought, but soon she noticed an insignia of a 'stag' on the token.

"E-Esteemed guest, you should have introduced yourself from the start." She trembled as she said that, sweating.

The 'stag' insignia belonged to the royal family of the Aston Kingdom, only awarded to renowned people and one in the possession of this old man meant that he had a high authority.

"I just thought there was no need for that." Morgan was surprised by the change in the attitude of the opposite person.

"I see."

Elsa had been working in the Adventurer Guild's local branch for over 4 years now. When she awakened at the age of 12, she chose to be a warrior in the beginning but as time passed, she decided to become a receptionist after witnessing the dangers in the wild.

However, Elmer City was a long distance away from the Capital, thus, meeting someone with the royal token came as a surprise to him. It provided credibility to this old man's story.

"Excuse me, Sir, May I inquire about your name?" She meekly asked.

"Oh certainly. This old man is Morgan," Morgan said smilingly.

After completing the necessary formalities, Morgan came out of the guild. The sun was already high by the time he was finished.

He looked towards the guild and sighed. 'I really shouldn't expect anything from them, given how inefficient they usually are.'

Even after reporting the incident, he didn't have any expectations from the guild to act on it, given it was a once-in-a-decade unusual occurrence coupled with the low number of adventurers here.

"I should go now. Vance must be awake by now," he mumbled, looking towards the farmhouse and made his way towards the hill.

* * *

"I am home."

Just as he opened the main door, a gloomy hall awaited him, and a young boy was sitting in the middle. Vance raised his head to see who had come and put his head down again after noticing Morgan.

"What's with this depressing mood? What happened?" Morgan inquired. This was an odd sight to him.

"Nothing."

"Have you been crying, Vance?" Morgan asked as he made his way toward Vance.

"Crying? Me? Why do you ask?" He asked back as he subconsciously touched his face, feeling dried tear streams. "... I guess maybe." He listlessly replied.

Morgan approached Vance and took the opposite chair to him.

"But why?" Concern was written all over his face.

"Be-Because I feel pathetic… wo-worthless… in-incompetent."

Vance started sobbing, tears once again rolling down his eyes. Witnessing his son in such a state, Morgan slowly put his hand on Vance's shoulder, embraced him, and started stroking his back, "Sushhhh, it's okay. Calm down. Let it all out."

They both stayed in this state for some time and finally Vance stopped, retracting away and wiping his tears.

"Are you okay now?"

"Yes, father." After venting out, Vance felt like his heart was a bit lighter.

"Good," Morgan was relieved to see his son normal now. "So, tell me, what happened? Why were you like that?"

"I am sorry father. I should have listened to you yesterday. I didn't realize my limits and got myself nearly killed. I was so pathetic that I couldn't even protect myself and you had to intervene to protect me. I am just a worthless person. I couldn't even bring you the rabbit meat that I promised."

It felt like a dam was opened and Vance kept on going, saying everything that was in his heart. Morgan also decided not to interrupt him, seeing how serious he was.

"So you were like this, all for something so trivial." At last, Morgan finally said.

"It's not something trivial, father. It means very much to me. It means that I can't even protect myself properly." He was hurt by his father's remark.

"Okay. Let's go for a walk. It's time to talk." Morgan said as he stood up and went towards the door. Opening the door, he beckoned Vance to come along.

The sun was high in the sky, spreading its warmth all around. The birds chirped and sat from one tree to another. The spring breeze cooled everything and brought a fresh scent with it.

An old man and a young boy were walking on the mountainous path.

"When I was your age, I worked on farms too." Morgan suddenly said. 'Hahh, a long time has passed since then,' Morgan reminisced, thinking back to his childhood.

"I was like you too. But you see how strong I am now. You will become strong too when the time comes."

"But when?"

"Soon. Pretty soon."

"You know, the beast from yesterday was a level 5 Dire Wolf. A lot of grown adults can't defeat him. So, you shouldn't kick yourself down."

"Level 5? What does that mean? Is it different from normal wolves? It did look vicious to me."

This was new information to Vance. He had never heard about this before, not even in the history book he had read before.

"Oh. I guess you don't know about it yet. It was a mutated beast, something we call a 'monster'." Morgan explained.

"Monster? How are they different from normal animals?" Vance was confused. He had never heard of it before.

"You must have already read about world energy. When a normal animal succeeds in absorbing the energy, his body evolves into that of a beast. He would gain increased speed, strength and sense of smell." Morgan started explaining.

"However, one day, the pure world energy started getting corrupted. When that happened, some animals started mutating into monsters instead of the normal evolution to beasts. It was chaotic at first, but we slowly adjusted to it. The monsters were more vicious than the normal beasts, thus the people started calling them 'spawns of demons'."

"Although, it is weird they came so near a human city."

"D-Demons? They sound like bad guys." Vance's face paled at the mention of demons and Morgan chuckled at it.

"Yeah, they are really bad. So you should be wary of them." Morgan said jokingly.

They continued to walk for some time before they reached the stream. It was a long walk and Vance seemed to feel better now with a change in the environment.

"Alright, let me ask you, do you want to be stronger?" Morgan questioned with a serious face. "Do you want to be capable enough to keep yourself safe?"

Vance was surprised by his father's change in attitude. He had never seen his father so serious before. But that didn't matter. He knew the answer to that question.

"Yes." His eyes were filled with confidence.

"Good. We will start your training tomorrow." Morgan agreed.

They spent a few hours near the water stream, and made their way home when evening approached.

* * *

The next morning, Vance woke up before dawn. The desire to become stronger didn't let him sleep. Yawning, he made his way to the hall but was surprised to see his father already there.

"You are an early chicken, aren't you?" Sitting on a chair in the hall, Morgan teased.

"Let's start. Don't expect me to go easy on you." Morgan declared as he stood up.