Black Onyx - Forgotten Magic

The tension in the back room of the Warriors Guild was high. Looking at Gerald's depressed face, Luna and Sera didn't know what to say.

"Aren't you going to try and comfort me?" Gerald asked after a long minute of silence. He was completely fine and smiling.

"Wait, what? You were just pretending!?" Sera couldn't believe her eyes. Gerald was obviously in a really dark state of mind just a second ago.

"So what were all these tests about? What are the results?" Gerald just laughed it off and turned to Luna and forced her brain to start working again.

"Hmph!" Sera was not happy getting put to the side in a conversation.

"Ah yes, the test." Luna glanced over the notes she took during the testing phase. "Your physical strength is rank Bronze 9, your Mana capacity is 7 LIS, and there are no signs of any mental or physical abnormality. Apart from the scratches on your left arm, you seem pretty healthy," she quickly told him.

"What's that strength rank? What does it mean? " Gerald continued with his questions.

"That's basically an old way of measuring strength. It has an average 10-year-old as a base unit. Every next sub-rank up is a multiplier of the base." Luna explained.

"As you go to the higher ranks you get it all multiplied by ten for each higher rank you go. Ranks are as follows: Bronze, Iron, Silver, and Gold. Bronze has a multiplier of 1, Iron is 10, Silver 100, and Gold is 1000."

"Wait, hold on. You said the base is a 10-year-old child?" Gerald asked her in confusion.

"Yes."

"So… let me think," Gerald muttered to himself and sank deep in thought. 'A 10-year-old can lift approximately 10kg, right? And if I'm rank 9 that means my strength is about 90kg?' Gerald nodded to himself and said, "This seems about right. As I'm around 80kg and I can lift a bit over my body weight. This primitive system is quite interesting."

Gerald lifted his head and again turned to Luna for more information. "So how does my strength compare to my peers?"

"Actually you are quite a bit below average," Luna said. "Males of your age are around Iron 2-3."

When Gerald heard that it was like someone punched him in the gut. It was a massive blow to his self-esteem. 'People below twenty could already lift 200-300kg? That was the same as some extremely dedicated bodybuilders or maybe young strongmen.'

"I am also at a lower side at Bronze 7, however, Sera is…"

"I'm mid-Iron 1!" Sara cut her off and enthusiastically yelled her rank, full of pride.

Gerald looked at her in disbelief, 'She is stronger than me?' He started to feel sick. 'No wonder she was able to run so fast that the bandits had to shoot at her,' he thought to himself. Those thugs didn't seem to be all that bright either.

Now it was time to quickly change to some other, less embarrassing topic, so Gerald quickly said, "So are we done with all of these tests or is there something more?"

"No, we are done," Luna responded. "Now all there is left is to make you a personal ring with this Etherium Crystal. Since everyone has a different magical signature, we use it for identification." She held the black piece of Etherium in her hand and explained it to Gerald.

It was similar to a retinal scan, or maybe DNA identification. Gerald was actually not surprised to hear that. It just intrigued his interest in magic even more.

"Just come tomorrow around noon, and it should be ready," Luna added before they left the testing chamber.

"So where are we going today?" Sera asked as soon as they came out.

"What do you mean where?" Gerald didn't understand her.

"What job are we going to take? I'm so bored. Let's do something! "

Gerald rolled his eyes and said, "Oh give me a break. Do I look like I'm ready to just go and pick a random job? Let me at least get some new clothes and maybe a few potions."

He was still wearing his clothes from Earth, apart from a leather shirt. And it was not comfortable at all. It was constantly scratching his upper part of the body. Also, his pants were full of blood and dirt from all the fighting and he wanted to change into something clean.

"You should be familiar with the shops in the city. Take me somewhere where I can get geared up," Gerald ordered.

"Ugh, you are becoming less and less fun to be around," Sera complained.

Gerald just shrugged his shoulders. It was she who insisted on going along with him.

In the end, she still guided him to the best store for warriors to buy all the necessary equipment.

First, he bought a nice comfortable cloth shirt, a pair of leather pants, and high-quality leather boots. Walking around in sneakers would eventually probably bring him some unwanted attention. Besides, they were not really made for long walks in nature.

He quickly changed into his new attire, before continuing on the shopping spree. He got some bandages, some dried meat, a waterskin, and some healing powder, just in case.

Although he wanted to try and brew potions himself, it was not yet the time to do so. First, he would need to get a permanent residence or at least something more private than an Inn.

After he got all that he wanted, he went outside and waited for Sera to finish buying the stuff she needed.

Gerald was watching people walk by. They were all wearing similar greyish-brown cloth or leather clothes, with minimal metal armor. Just a few middle-aged men, that looked to be more used to the harsh life, sometimes wore full plated armor that had many small dents and scratches, evidence of old battles.

Gerald was just soaking in all the riff-raff around him, trying to remember and adapt to the new environment while trying not to stand out too much.

Ultimately, he failed at the last part.

Four tall, cloaked figures walked past, when the one that looked to be the leader of the group, stopped and glanced at Gerald. When their eyes meet, Gerald suddenly felt uncomfortable.

The cloaked male lightly smiled, stepped closer, and spoke to Gerald, "Hey there brother. The sun is high and shining bright, full of life and flaming might!"

Gerald looked confused when he blurted out, "Excuse me, what?"

Immediately the cloaked man's visage darkened. He just jerked with his head and the other three cloaked figures quickly surrounded Gerald.

"Let's take a walk," the leader said with an icy voice. It was not a suggestion, but an order that didn't leave any space for negotiation. They forced Gerald to walk away from the shops on the main street and away from the eyes of the people, into the side alleys.

One of them stayed on guard, while the other three surrounded Gerald, making him be with his back to the wall. He felt really nervous and uncomfortable.

"Where did you get that nice sword, huh?" the leader asked. His gaze was on the sword, that Gerald picked from the bandit and now had positioned on his hip.

"I…bought it from a weapon's shop," Gerald quickly answered. He knew he was in trouble, immediately, after the first eye contact.

"Hehe…" the leader chuckled and then pointed at the handle of the sword. "See this?" He was pointing at a small mark on the hilt. It looked like a snake coiling around the sun.

"That's a mark of the Blood Sun Viper. If anyone was selling that sword in public, they would get in trouble," the leader explained and his wicked smile was growing bigger.

"You know what that means, right boy?" the leader mockingly smiled. "I means that you are lying! I hate it when people lie to me." His expression turned sinister. "Maybe we should try another approach."

Gerald felt his body tense in fright.