The watch with Leif had been rather quiet after the man’s display of his inner power and the advice he had offered. The feeling of that internal power was intense, and thanks to his time before he could tell that Leif wasn’t anything to scoff at. Though, without his own internal power again, there was no real way to sense the true strength of the man.

  After that, the night went by uneventfully and so did the next week or so as every day was the same. Yin felt that he really had made the right choice in focusing on his endurance and strength before setting out. He was sure he wouldn’t have made it with all the walking for the caravan.

  A week into the trip, he noticed their surroundings were beginning to change gradually as they left the relatively safe lands of outer Myra and made their way further into the interior. While still far from the largest city of Valecroft, more villages and towns would begin appearing, which meant more people and that would eventually mean more bandits.

  “Don’t worry new guy. This area is still relatively safe compared to when we get closer to Valecroft. Flat lands, no true energy beats out here and are poor enough that most bandits out here are relatively few.”

  Yin looked at the caravan guard speaking, he hadn’t really caught the man’s name yet, but he seemed a few years older than him, and during the trip it had been relatively quiet, so it caught him off guard that he had spoken first.

  “Thank you for the insight. Though feel free to call me Yin if you wish and I’ve never caught your name.”

  “Call me Liú. Sorry for not catching your name, but some of us wondered how long you would last on the road with us. Either because the traveling and marching got too hard or because you would just run off.”

  That caught Yin by surprise, it didn’t make sense for him to just run off and be by himself leaving the safety of numbers in the Caravan.

  “Does such a thing happen often then? People joining up in the caravan just to run off in a few days? That seems rather dumb if you ask me.”

  Liú shrugged at the question. “Don’t ask me the why, I just know that they do. It’s more likely though, that they drop out because they can’t handle the walk and don’t have the coin to pay to ride on one of the carts. Though between you and me I’ll take the walking, those carts are just bumpy and uncomfortable.”

  “Really? I wouldn’t have thought that.” Liú looked at him with a nod. “Oh yeah, a few years ago, I broke my ankle and they had me lay in one until we got to the nearest apothecary. Got lucky on that, an Alchemist was there and whatever he gave me fixed me up and he didn’t charge a fortune.”

  Yin nodded along at the story, eyes widening a bit in surprise that an actual Alchemist helped them out. Even he knew that those who could use their internal energy to form and make pills and other medicines were a valuable resource for any Sect or Kingdom. He had little dealings with him on his quick rise, so he had to assume it was possible there were those out here who just wanted to help people.

  “Seems you really did encounter a good stroke of luck. Let’s hope it carries with us now on to Valecroft. Though…when I heard that I would be a guard on this Caravan I would get some practice fighting.”

  Liú studied him for a moment, before smirking slightly. “Well, you don’t have the first watch tonight so you should come spar with a few of us. I don’t know if it will help you with your sect ambitions but it couldn't hurt, I’d wager.”

  Yin smiled at that, now that got him excited. He needed to train, and this was a perfect opportunity. Also, he didn’t know when, but he had come to enjoy battle while he climbed to the peak last time. “Thank you. I’ll gladly take you up on that offer”

  After that the two marched in silence once more, though Yin’s mind turned inwards. He had begun to enjoy battle that was for sure, but he also realized he had become so much more arrogant over time. Had someone like the farmer back in the tavern talked at him like that before he would have perhaps just killed him.

  His thoughts turned sour as he thought about himself right now and how he was at the peak. Something unsettling was chilling him as he thought of how much he had changed from the top and then how he was almost immediately after the System had left him.

  It made him want to throw up, to purge himself once more as he felt ill. His personality had been slowly shifted by the System. Of course it had, it had been subsuming him from the inside the entire time. He really was almost just a husk having to regrow him.

  When the Caravan stopped, Yin had to go off and throw up, needing to just empty himself again as if his mind and body were desperate to rid itself of any lasting vestiges of the city. When he finally finished and drank down enough water to clear the taste out, he felt drained and angry.

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Everything…everything that it could take and change it did.” He wanted to laugh; cry and punch something until his knuckles bled. He had accepted the name of Yin when the system had taken his name and face from him. Now he didn’t even know if how he was right now was the same as before he encountered the System and if it wasn’t-who was he now?

  Walking back to camp, that question swirled in his brain and didn’t let go. He thought he had made peace by becoming Yin. He just didn’t understand that he was also going to have to decide who Yin was, or more than likely having to grow into who Yin would be.

  Walking to the area where Liú had suggested he found a group of caravan guards laughing and talking. Spotting Yin, Liú made his way over with a grin. “Good, you’re here. Now most of us use a spear, so we can’t help using a sword. Well, the Captain probably could, but let’s not bother him too much.”

  Yin nodded, his thoughts thankfully pulled away from spiraling in on themselves and he could focus on enjoying a good sparring session. Liú walked him over to meet the other guards, who were different ages and sizes but seemed more than happy to have some new blood for the sparring.

  “Alright, alright.” Liú said and smiled at the group. “Now this is Yin and he is going to try and join a Sect.” That comment earned some snickers, but Liú pushed on ignoring them. “And he needs some training so which one of you wants to give our young hopeful some pointers?”

  That got some looks, and then finally a man that appeared to be the same age as Yin though taller and sturdier built and with a gleam in his eye that Yin couldn’t quite place. “I’ll give him some pointers.”

  Liú had a knowing smile on his face and nodded as the group quieted down and the man waved Yin to follow him to an open area. “Don’t worry, I won’t accidentally kill you with my spear. So, I hope you can learn something.”

  Something in the man’s voice and the look in his eyes was making Yin’s skin crawl. Yet he couldn’t back down now. He needed to know what he could and hopefully even surprise himself.

  “I look forward to your teaching then.” With that he pulled the old sword he had, holding it in one hand as he remembered doing with the system. Yet, he could feel it, his body didn’t remember anything nor did his mind. It all just felt off to him, and he wanted to wince, but he had to see this through.

  “Start!” Came the sharp voice of Liú.

  Yin barely had time to react as the other man was already bearing down at him with just a quick and simple stab of the spear. Yin barely twisted his body to the side but that wouldn’t stop his opponent who with a quick twist and flick he sent the spear swooshing right to the sigh at Yin.

  His sword came up blocking the blow of the shaft of the spear, but it sent vibrations right through his body and felt like it rattled his teeth sending him back a few steps. His second hand came down to grip the sword as he nearly lost a hold of it with one grip.

  “I can tell you don’t have what it takes. I went to those sect tryouts, and I saw some of those monsters. I thought I knew how to spear, but when you see the true prodigies, you’ll collapse and run away. But I’ll make sure to show you your arrogance for thinking you could do something even I couldn’t.”

  Yin wanted to open his mouth to say something, to protest but there was no time as he was quickly trying to dodge and block as best he could. Each smack rattled his blade and vibrated his body. There wasn’t anything he could do other than defense, and he could tell the man was toying with him.

  Soon smacks of the flat side of the blade or shaft started hitting different parts of his body at first. Bruises starting to appear, the man making sure not to knock him down and forcing him to defend to the point he couldn’t even try to surrender.

  Finally, he desperately tried to attack and swing his sword but with a quick step and swing the spear caught him flushing in the stomach hard. Yin dropped to his knees emptying out his stomach again though only bile was left there from earlier.

  The kick crashed into his cheek and knocked him onto his back. His lip busted open from the hit as he laid there, the other man standing over him with a sneer. “Now you know your place. “

  He hissed down at Yin, none of the other guards moving to intervene or stop the man as he pressed the butt of his spear into Yin’s stomach. “Give up and go back to that backwater you came out of. You’re pathetic. “

  Yin croaked in pain, seeing stars from the impact of the kick and his stomach was in agony from the hit and now the digging in of the butt of the spear. He could feel things about to escalate further when the smell of a thunderstorm invades his nostrils and everyone else there.

  The guard who was beating him gulped and the rest of the group quickly popped up, and Yin could see the tall form of Leif above him. The man went to say something but before he could a heavy fist smashed his head and he went flying and crashed into the dirt not moving.

  “Lucky, I need you all or I would kill you all for this. Now go.” He commanded and the group quickly dispersed, a few, grabbing the man from the ground who seemed to be alive.

  Leif looked down at Yin and reached down, grabbing his arm and hauling him right up to his feet. He looked at Yin over once before asking him simply. “Are you going to give up?”

  Yin looked at the man and reached up, wiping the blood away from his face, body still aching but the raw fury dulled it. “No. Never.” He stated, as he looked back into those sharp blue eyes.

  Leif let the silence carry on before smiling. “Good. Losing happens, but you can’t let it stop you. That’s almost as bad as dying. Well then, these next few weeks you’re with me. I can’t promise to make you as ready as you need to be, but I’ll make you better than you are now.”

  Leif turned and tossed a red pill over his shoulder to Yin who caught it. “It’ll help you quicker and tomorrow morning come up to the front of the Caravan that’s where you’ll be with me and don’t worry about that group, they’ll be hating life for quite a while.”

  With that Yin couldn’t help smiling just a bit before heading back to his tent to take the medicine and sleep. After tonight, he needed it.