The night breeze moved through the forest, the branches swaying to its rhythm, fallen leaves dancing to its tune.

Creatures of the night patrolled for a meal, a few halting their hunt as they stared at strange two-legged creatures circled around their kin.

Alaric stood at the centre, the three surrounding him.

As for Raika, she perched atop a branch, rolling a hard candy in her mouth.

The three exchanged glances between themselves, Alaric, and the psycho of a mother who had left her son to die.

When they realised they had been caught, they had expected a swift death like their comrade, but here they were, given the opportunity to claim their bounty.

They couldn’t help but halt their gazes on her, perplexed.

The way she sat nonchalantly, enjoying her candy, it was as if she were throwing her son into deep waters to see if he could swim.

"Are you sure?... If... If he dies, you can’t retaliate..." the bulky individual stammered as he addressed Raika.

He was the leader of the group, a third resonance mage of Earth, his brown hair a testament to his element.

Aren, a young lad in his twenties, that wished for a bit of glory and money.

Raika yawned dismissively.

"He wouldn’t die to a bunch of weaklings like you," she retorted.

The four involuntarily shook under her gaze.

"... She is looking down on us."

Aren bit his lips in frustration, his gaze lowered, afraid of Raika.

"What if we do kill him?" Dune, another Earth mage, asked, his tone resolute.

He was middle-aged, yet only at the second resonance.

Not due to negligence in training, just unfortunate to reach the end of his potential.

"..." Raika looked straight at the warrior, the latter’s gaze unwavering.

Maybe because he was older, or just experienced, he didn’t fear the thunder princess.

He needed to know whether she would let them go if they won.

True, her word was her bond, but anything could happen to them.

A grieving mother doesn’t really care about so-called vows.

"Son, will you lose?" Raika turned to Alaric.

"No!"

"Are you willing to stake your life if you do?" Raika added.

"Yes."

"You heard him, he is staking his own life. Though it will hurt to lose him, I won’t go against the wish of my son. If he dies, you go scot-free..."

"Swear on your family name," Dune pressed.

"..." Raika smiled as she looked at the middle-aged man. She liked the gutsy type.

"I swear on the name of the Raijin clan, if by a stroke of luck, you bunch kill my son, I won’t attack you, or try to harm you in any way..." Thunder clapped as the heavens accepted her vow.

"Alri..."

They all turned their attention to the cracking of dry leaves as someone closed in on them.

"Young master..." Philip appeared from behind the trees, awakened by the commotion.

"Stay back," Raika stopped him with a single sentence.

Philip immediately froze.

He scanned the place, understanding dawning in his gaze.

One might have feared for the seven-year-old facing such veterans, but he only had pity in his eyes.

Not for Alaric, but for the fools who didn’t know what they were getting themselves into.

"They are his live training dummies..." he thought, getting comfortable as he leaned on a tree.

"Are you really letting him fight alone?" one of the adventurers asked.

"Hmm." Raika nodded. "If he dies, he dies."

Alaric’s lips twitched at her words.

Even though he had grown accustomed to his mother’s personality, hearing those words still hurt.

He knew she had absolute confidence in his ability, but it still stung to throw your son into the den of hyenas no matter how much you trusted him.

"Begin..." Lightning descended, signalling the beginning of Alaric’s supposed real-life training, except if he lost, he would truly die.

Alaric acted swiftly.

He turned towards the rat hound, red eyes glowing with killing intent.

The rat hound lowered itself, growling at the steam surrounding Alaric.

Its instincts screamed danger. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

During the time they spoke with his mother, he had been scrutinising them, observing his environment and especially that strange creature he knew nothing of.

This was his first time seeing a rat hound, the ugly creature making his skin crawl, not out of fear but disgust, not to mention he didn’t know what it was capable of.

This was a fantasy world after all; he had seen dragons and phoenixes.

What if this was a mythical creature?

An unnecessary paranoia, as rat hounds were scavengers, feeding on the dead. Not to mention, they had no combat capabilities, but he didn’t know that.

To him, it was better to eradicate the unknown first.

And he did.

The steam shot out at tremendous speed, sizzling as it blew past the two Earth mages before striking the rat hound leashed to the last adventurer.

Rreee-arf!

The creature convulsed in pain, its body steaming alive.

The adventurers stood stunned silent.

All of this happened in an instant.

They couldn’t even see the steam pass by.

Just felt a passing heat wave and then, the screech of the rat hound.

"This boy isn’t that simple." Dune was the first to react, the ground beneath suddenly erupting, spikes made of soil bursting upwards, Alaric backflipping out of the way, his leg slightly scraped by the attack.

"Aren, attack, he isn’t just a kid!" Dune roared, his instincts screaming to him of the danger Alaric could pose.

Following Dune’s words, Aren conjured several smooth marbles around him. His fingers forming a gun, he pointed at Alaric, the marbles shooting with the jolt of his finger.

"A gun?" Alaric’s eyes widened in surprise.

He fell on his stomach, reducing the area of effect of the flying marbles.

But that seemed to be an awful idea as the soil underneath him once again erupted into spikes.

He barely rolled away from the impact, but another followed, then another, then another.

The whole field was made of soil and thus earth magic affected it.

He rolled out of the way, not without a few wounds.

"I need to get off the ground."