Kilian rested in the shade of a tall apple tree, bit into a sweet fruit he had just picked, and examined the contents of three magical artefacts while the pure Qi from the fruit flowed gently through his body.

  “Qi-stones, potions, and what is this?” He muttered, throwing the nibbled apple core into the tall grass around him and pulling out a leathery piece of skin, “I-is this human skin?”

  It was a document on which various names and their corresponding descriptions were neatly written.

  Next to each paragraph was a small portrait of the person mentioned, and at the very top, he discovered his own name.

  Slowly, he began to read:

  “Kilian Arian, human, member of the Inner Academy of the Kong Clan, fights with a staff and wears a two-colored robe, highest priority, greatest danger, and must die at all costs!

  Li Kong, apeman, grandson of Wu Kong, danger high,…

  Thrym Kong, halfgiant, danger great,...

  Belana, giantess, danger great,...

  Edana, Kong Clan, danger medium,...

  Lilja, granddaughter of the Guardian of the Forest, danger great,...

  …”

  It was a long list, consisting of names, some familiar, some unfamiliar, and he quietly pondered to himself, "Edana, Thrym, so you two have also made it into the ruins, and Lilja belongs to the royal family of the elves? I hope you're well. Now at least I know who my allies are! But where does the Enclave get so much information? They must have high-ranking spies in every realm..."

  Over the next few days, Kilian slowly fought his way from a scrubby hilly landscape into a high mountain range, fending off attacks from mountain cats, bears, and various large birds, climbing one peak after another.

  Soon, he was wearing the dismembered furs of the magical beasts he had slain over his already torn clothing to protect himself from the icy wind as he trudged through a snowy glacier, supported by his first self-forged staff.

  The weapon was too light for him to fight, but he had no other alternative than to use it for a little more grip in the snow-covered, icy landscape, enabling him to crawl forward at a snail's pace.

  "I need to find a replacement quickly! If my opponent is too strong, I'm lost without a good staff!" A soft voice murmured for the hundredth time through lips chapped by the cold, and his breath turned into a small cloud of mist, "A normal winter doesn't bother me, but the high amount of Ice-Qi in the air cuts through every exposed piece of skin!"

  If a mere mortal, or even most Qi-Gatherers of the small or medium circle, were to take this path, they would be immediately frozen into a pillar of ice before the wild energy in the air could rip their lungs apart.

  Only his blood, strengthened by Qi and the three dragon scales, together with an iron will, enabled him to make slow progress.

  One Qi-stone after another crumbled in Kilian's hand as he tried to protect himself with the energy stored within, repeatedly channelling a small portion into his blood and his dantian.

  His training never stopped, even under these conditions!

  It had long since become an obsession that slowly shaped his character in other areas as well.

  “I need to find a replacement quickly!” He whispered again, frantically, dreaming about the various metals he had read about in his studies and the embers of the forge to keep himself from losing his mind, “I hope I can find everything I need somewhere in these ruins…”

  Countless hours later, he reached the summit of a smaller mountain in the range and looked around.

  Not far away, at the top of the highest mountain, he spotted a shimmering silver portal and laughed, "Hopefully, the next level lies beyond that and has a warmer climate! I'm sick of all this ice and snow!"

  Panting loudly, he reached his destination after an unknown amount of time, stepped through the portal, and left only the whistling, icy wind behind him.

  "Enough worms have already escaped behind these gates! Humans, halfbreeds, elves, and beastmen! Now even giants want to defile the old capital? The treasures of the old dragonlords and necromancers belong in the hands of the orcs!" Barked a two-meter-tall, green-skinned orc warrior, and with a single blow of his thick club, he threw a weakly built human to the ground while glaring venomously at an even larger than him giant, "Fighting is forbidden in the city, but here, outside of the gates, you are nothing more than cattle on your way to the butcher!"

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  "We'll see who slaughters whom!" Barked the giant's deep voice, and in his hand, with the flash of a magical amulet, a gigantic club appeared, "Retreat, Connor, and protect Edana! You beast tamers aren't built for these rough fights!"

  The Qi-Gatherer lying on the ground quickly got up, took a few steps back, and stood in front of a pretty young girl who, with tears in her eyes, was treating an injured wolf lying trembling on the ground.

  “I will protect you!” Connor said grimly while opening a small pouch hanging from his belt, and a mighty stone golem soon stood before the two humans and the injured animal.

  "A giant and a pile of stones are trying to stop me? How naive! You seem to have forgotten that I'm not alone here! Hahaha!" Laughed the orc, pointing at the small group with his outstretched index finger and shouting, "Get them, men!"

  Ten armed warriors slowly surrounded the two beast tamers and their magical creatures and approached them with raised weapons.

  With a scream, Connor's golem shot toward the approaching orcs and engaged five of them in a bloody fight.

  While metal blades and axe heads scraped across the stone body with a goosebump-inducing clatter, the golem's fists struck the orcs' heavy armour with dull thuds.

  "A weakling, an injured mutt, and a little girl! I wouldn't call this a glorious battle! Hahaha!" Laughed one of the other five warriors as he raised a mace for the attack, only to become serious again the next moment, "But you're both on our blacklist! The girl, even quite high up...for whatever reason, but that's enough for me to crush you! Hahaha!"

  The next moment, he shot at Connor, who parried the first blow with a black short sword.

  "Shadowsteel! Hmph! As expected from the Kong Clan! But you're too slow, and your technique is flawed!" Barked the attacker, delivering the next blow with such speed that the beast tamer couldn't parry it anymore.

  The light leather armour made from the skin of a magical beast that protected his body burst open, and the force of the blow almost brought the human to his knees.

  “You wanted it this way!” He exclaimed in response to the attack, and a second silver blade appeared in his left hand.

  Suddenly, all his movements changed!

  His breathing became faster, blood pumped wildly through his veins, and a fine film of sweat appeared on his forehead after just a few seconds.

  A light and a dark blade danced around him, and the previously laughing orc warrior found his life in danger with each new blow.

  “What’s happening here?” He panted, parrying one cut, but the next one injured his cheek, and just as he was about to call for support, the silver short sword pierced his armour and became lodged in his chest.

  Before he could say another word, the light vanished from his eyes, and he collapsed lifeless, with a bright silver and a black blade stuck deep between his ribs.

  But not only he, but also Conner slumped to the ground, breathing heavily, and murmured between several deep breaths, "Now I'm screwed! But at least I brought someone down with me! My life is not that cheap!"

  The axe blade of another orc warrior was already hurtling towards his skull in the next second, but instead of protecting himself, the young man turned his head towards Edana and simply smiled at her lovingly.

  “CONNOR!” She cried desperately and was about to rush to his aid with her sword when a gigantic club also appeared before her eyes.

  “You two can die together!” The attacking orc was already celebrating his victory when he felt his weapon hit something hard and muttered in confusion, “I have never seen such a sturdy human skull before!”

  Astonished, he looked ahead and saw that his club had struck a stone shield that seemed to be floating in the air, behind which a happily smiling girl sat on the ground with her eyes still wet from tears.

  “Brother!” she cried, feeling her heart warming as a figure, so familiar to her, appeared next to her.

  "Huff! Just made it! Luckily, the portal took me to the right place at the right time!" Kilian sighed inwardly, while an increasingly strong aura emanated from his body.

  Since entering the ruins of the dragonlords, not a day went by without him fighting for his survival, killing magical beasts, orcs, zombies, or even necromancers.

  The instinct of a true warrior had already formed within him, and a warrior was always ready to kill!

  His blood pulsed with the anticipation of a fight and boiled with rage at the thought that he had just almost lost his sister and a friend.

  “You have forfeited your life!” Said his rough voice, still parched by the cold, followed by the sound of a beating drum.

  With the first powerful heartbeat, all his wounds healed, and the dry skin on his lips fell off.

  With the second, the Qi flying around him began to become restless, as if a storm was brewing, and his finger began to write.

  At the third, the warrior, whose axe blade had just been broken into bits on another stone shield in an attempt to take Connor's life, looked back at Kilian and just as he was about to curse loudly, the now less harsh voice sounded again, "Aed!”

  Screams filled the square in front of the gates of the old capital as suddenly almost all the orcs began to burn at once, and even the flashes of the various enchantments on their armour could not extinguish the flames.

  Only their leader was still involved in the fight against Thrym and was spared from the spell.

  “He is yours!” Kilian called to his big brother, went to his sister to hug her, and as if on cue, the halfgiant began to laugh loudly, “Hahaha! Long time no see, but here you are at last, Kilian! I want to show you something! You are not the only one who made some progress!”

  The next moment, he grew another head taller, his muscles swelled so that every vein bulged outward, and Thym's club knocked his opponent's weapon aside.

  Immediately after the blow, a powerful punch followed, twisting the orc's head backwards by 180 degrees.

  His neck was broken.

  With an expression of disbelief still in his eyes, he too collapsed dead, and the fight was over.

  “You stink!” Edana cursed quietly, smiling contentedly as she searched for her brother among the various animal skins and gave him a trembling but tight hug, “Mother and father are fine!”

  "It's good that you came! We couldn't have lasted much longer!" Connor sighed, and his stone golem reluctantly disappeared back into the beast bag, with a belligerent look at Kilian, "He spends most of his time training to fight you again...unless it's a life-threatening situation, he rarely obeys my orders."

  "It really was the right time!" Grinned Thrym, gathering the orcs' magical artefacts, and added wearily, "If I use all my Qi, I can fight well above my level for about a minute, but after that, I'm useless for a while! Against so many opponents, that wouldn't have helped us, but with Connor, it's even worse! Hahaha! He's gotten stronger, but he runs out of breath after just a few seconds! Hahaha!"

  "Kilian, you need to wash up, and we need to rest!" Edana interrupted the conversation and explained, "Let's head into the city! Once we're inside, we can't get out, but fighting is forbidden, and there we'll find the way to the next level of the ruins. There's also a kind of market where we can replenish our supplies!"

  “A market…” Kilian murmured, lost in his thoughts, and added, as if possessed, “I must quickly find a replacement for my staff!”