As the seasons began to pass, Dalin and I had continued our travels through the plains. For all this time, we had been keeping an eye out for any prospective candidates to join our small herd, yet none had appeared. At least, not until now.

Winter had just receded, and the biting cold could still be felt in the air. During these days, we traveled only as much as we needed in order to find food. Thankfully, my world ki allowed me to stay warm easily, even in the deepest cold. Dalin, however, was not so fortunate. When he trained his world ki, it was of a different type than mine. According to him, it was likely that the element his ki represented was water, as he was able to move in a fluid motion when using it.

Still, that water ki did nothing to protect him from the cold, and so he would often rely on his magic to create fire. Right now, he was doing just that, sitting down on the ground with his hands above a fire that floated in midair. It was at this time, while he was resting like this, that we heard a series of hooves falling in the distance.

Dalin and I glanced towards the source of the disturbance, and saw a pair of youths fleeing from a herd. One I was able to identify as a normal centaur, while the other had a distinct horn atop his head, marking his status as a unicorn. Judging by how the herd chasing them was firing arrows towards them, it seemed that they had a bit of a falling out.

“W-well.” Dalin said, shivering slightly as he stood up, the flame at his feet going out. “Looks like we have our first two candidates, finally.” He stated with a smile, and I could feel the world ki within him surging forth.

When Dalin moved, his hooves seemed to slide along the ground. Moving this way took him many weeks to master, but now that he could do so he had gained an advantage over anyone that dared to face him in close combat. Within a few moments, he had crossed the distance between us and the two fleeing centaurs.

Shaking my head, I began galloping over, not using my own ki to avoid wasting it. After all, Dalin was still faster than me, so I doubted that I would be of much assistance by the time I got there. “You there!” I called out to the two that had apparently not noticed us yet. When I did so, they looked in my direction. “This way!”

I could not see what kinds of faces that they were making as they looked at me, but they immediately turned to run towards me. As they did, they barely seemed to notice Dalin’s form slipping past them, arriving to stand behind them. I could hear his voice speaking up, and then a transparent barrier appeared around him to block the arrows that the herd had fired.

Seeing this, the herd was alarmed, and one even threw their spear at Dalin only for it to shatter on contact. It wasn’t until I was closer, the two others behind me, that I could clearly make out his voice while he addressed the herd.

“Send forth your greymane.” He declared. “We have no wish to fight, so long as we can speak peacefully.”

That’s not going to work… I thought to myself, taking a moment to get a better look at the two that were standing behind me, fearful expressions on their faces. The two of them looked remarkably similar, likely to be brothers. Both were young, no more than a year or two apart, with the unicorn being the younger.

They both had dark brown hair and fur, a slim build, and narrow features. And right now, both of them were staring in awe at Dalin as he effortlessly blocked the attacks of the herd’s weapons. Well, I wasn’t really that surprised, since Dalin himself had already explained that spell to me before. If one didn’t have a strong enough Power, or didn’t use one of the four energies, it was hard to break a barrier like that.

And soon enough, the herd noticed that as well. Given that Dalin was a variant, and one that knew how to handle his powers, they did not particularly want to get close to him. As such, they only sent one representative out from the herd, the greymane. While he approached closer to Dalin, so did we from the other side.

I noticed a few of the others from the herd drawing back their bows to take aim at the two behind me. Not that I had any intention of allowing them to be harmed, though… I readied my own ki, preparing to intercept any arrows that came our way, but before that…

“Why are you protecting these two criminals?” The greymane asked Dalin in a harsh voice, which only caused him to laugh at the herd’s elder.

“Oh? And exactly what crime did they commit that your entire herd wishes for their death?” As he spoke, Dalin had a wide smile on his face, as if he couldn’t be happier that things were playing out like they were.

“They…” The greymane’s face flushed red in anger, pointing to the unicorn behind me. “That one placed a curse upon our herd! We all saw it with our own eyes! And his brother tried to protect him!”

The person in question flinched slightly behind me at the accusation, but then loudly shouted out in his own defense. “I did not! I was only looking for medicine!” The outburst caused three arrows to be sent our way, though I was able to react in time and slap two of them out of the air, the third going over our heads. The two that I slapped burned with a yellow fire after hitting the ground, quickly turning to ashes.

“You…” The greymane looked at me in shock. “You are cursed as well?!”

“This is no curse.” Dalin spoke, his voice no longer carrying its previous tone. “And I would advise you not to try attacking my friend again.”

“Oh?” The greymane looked at Dalin with a sneer. “We outnumber you, boy. Even if you are cursed, we aren’t afraid of you. So you can hide inside that little light of yours, and we’ll take care of our business.”

However, Dalin simply smiled again. “I’m not the one that you should be worried about.” He laughed calmly as he finished, but I was already moving. Yellow flames wrapped around my hands as I sped forward, my brows knit together tightly.

These people were willing to kill not one, but two members of their herd. All because one of them used some magic to try to find medicine? As far as I was concerned, that was inexcusable no matter whether they were a variant or not. It went against everything that Tryval taught, and there was only one punishment for that.

As they saw me charging, several of the herd began firing their arrows at me, though it did not slow my progress. Pushing more ki out to my skin, my entire body seemed to turn golden as I advanced. Although arrows could still pierce me, the damage was reduced significantly, and the arrows themselves burned up shortly after touching my body.

“He’s cursed!” The greymane shouted in alarm, though he obviously did not know what he was talking about. I had learned much over these months with Dalin, things that I had never known. True strength did not simply come from these sticks and bones that flew through the air, but from the people using them. Although they may become strong, their weapons limit them. My weapon is my body.

By the time I arrived in front of the herd, I was covered in tiny wounds, though my bar of life had not reduced by much. With my fingers curled like claws, I swiped at the two nearest men, yellow lines forming in the air just behind my hand. With a cry of pain, the attack landed on the pair of them, where it spread out along their sides in the form of yellow flames.

This was the attacking method of fire ki that Dalin and I had discovered. Once hit by my fire ki, the enemy would continue to burn for a while depending on how much energy I used. Of course, when we tested it on Dalin, he was able to put it out immediately by using his own ki or mana. But against people that did not have access to either, it was terrifyingly effective.

The two I hit fell to the ground, screaming in pain as I moved on to the rest. Judging by their reactions to my speed and attack power, it was obvious that they did not have any monks in their herd. That made sense, as I had never heard of this Power before, but it also made it easier for me to walk through the herd. Wherever I passed, people would fall down and begin screaming in agony.

When I first approached the herd, they numbered almost two dozen, but by the time my ki had run out there were less than five remaining, the rest laid out on the ground trying to recover from their injuries. However, the fact that I had run out of energy was also obvious to the rest of the herd, as the flames surrounding my body quickly vanished.

This naturally did not escape the notice of the greymane, as he pulled his own bow out. “He’s out of curse power! Kill him!” As he spoke, he drew an arrow and nocked it, until a cold voice sounded from behind him.

“I think you’re forgetting about someone.” Dalin said, leaving his barrier spell and appearing in a single movement directly behind the greymane. His hand was covered in a blue light as it gently slapped down on the man’s lower back, causing his face to distort in shock and pain. The bar of his life emptied in a flash, and thick blood spilled out from his mouth as he fell to the ground.

This was the attack technique for water ki, which crushed the insides of the target. Although I had only killed a few of the people that my fire ki hit, that was all dependant on where I attacked them. Dalin’s ki only required a hit, and it would crush the weak points on its own. However, it took more energy to do so.

After dealing with the greymane, Dalin lifted his arm to point it at the five remaining men and women of the herd who were trying to decide who they wanted to attack. Red light formed around his hand, turning into a series of glowing circles and patterns that floated in the air. “Guided Flame.”

Once again casting the same spell that he used when I first met him, I saw a series of five fireballs shoot out and strike the five people directly in the head. Each one let out a scream of pain as they rose up on their back legs, clawing at their own faces to try and pull the fire off. At the same time, their bars of life were quickly diminishing, showing how much damage they were taking under this attack.

Before the flames could be put out, their screams slowly died down, and they fell to the ground shortly before those red bars finally emptied. Now, there were only a dozen living members of the herd left. Each of those were the ones that had been lucky enough to avoid any fatal damage from my ki, but at the same time they were too weak to fight now.

Seeing this, Dalin seemed to think to himself for a few moments before turning back towards the two that we had rescued. “Well?” He asked, in a curious tone. With his attention on them, the two flinched back, almost looking like they would take off running again. I couldn’t really blame them, after seeing what they just saw. “Do you think we should kill them, or leave them be? They can’t really harm you anymore.”

“No!” The older brother called out. “Don’t kill them. It’s not their fault.” He turned to look at the dead greymane. “It was him that told them to do it…” As he said that, there was a complicated expression on his face.

Dalin and I both knew that he was lying, but at the same time Dalin nodded. “Okay. Let’s go, I like you.” He said, smiling to them. “You’ll be safer traveling with us than by yourselves, after all.” As he said that, he turned and began walking away, completely ignoring the herd.

Stiffly, the two brothers followed along, seemingly not sure what they should be doing. They might be following him out of respect or fear, but they were following him nonetheless. Shaking my head, I ran to catch up with them, glancing to the bar above my head. I had lost a little over half of my health while fighting the herd, but it was something that should have been done.

As the message appeared in front of me, I caught up with the others in time to hear them talking. “Thank you for saving us…” The younger brother said, looking to Dalin, who simply shook his head.

“I’m not the one that saved you. He is.” As he said that, he pointed a thumb at me, causing their attentions to shift over to me. I was a bit surprised by this, but accepted it nonetheless. I had taken care of most of the herd, after all.

This was not the first time I had killed, but that did not mean I had enjoyed it. We had come across a few herds over the past months that had caused me to stain my hands in blood. Still, I never attacked unless provoked.

“Thank you.” The unicorn said to me, bowing his head.

“It’s alright.” I spoke with a smile, reaching out and patting him on the shoulder. The simple action caused him to flinch, likely remembering what Dalin had done to the greymane. “What’s your names?”

“I’m Hyumahn.” The unicorn answered, before looking to his brother. “This is my brother Drahman.”

I nodded my head, going ahead and introducing the two of us as well. “I am Ashur, and he is Dalin. Hopefully, we can all get along in the future.”

“Uhm…” Hyumahn looked at me, trying to figure out how to ask what he wanted. “Are you… cursed?”

I was a bit taken aback by the question, surprised to be asked that by a variant of all people. “No. I’m a normal centaur. But there’s no such thing as ‘cursed’.” I said, starting to explain the concept of variants that Dalin had taught me after we met.

My words seemed to surprise the two brothers, after which they looked at me curiously. When I was done explaining, it was Drahman that spoke up. “Then… how did you use that Power?”

I glanced over to Dalin, as if silently asking his permission to share the training that he had given me. While I did not want to covet this power only for myself, I was able to understand that handing it out to too many could instead prove dangerous. Seeing he give a small nod to me, I smiled as I turned back towards the brothers. “We’ll teach you.”

Unfortunately, due to the characteristics of our world ki, we probably couldn’t use the same easy method that Dalin had used to help me realize my own ki. Instead, we will have to try and teach them slowly. “Speaking of which, what Powers do the two of you have?” If we were to be traveling together, it was important to know what each of us were capable of.

Unsurprisingly, they both had the usual assortment of Scout, Archer, Scholar, and Hunter. To my knowledge, I had never met an adult that did not possess at least those four Powers. Like myself, both of them also had the Power of the Herbalist. However, Hyumahn also possessed three Powers that I had never heard of. As such, with each of these Powers that he listed, we had him give a brief description of what it allowed him to do.

Seeing our urging, he hesitated slightly, before letting out a sigh. “Well… the Power of the Alchemist allows me to take various herbs to make medicine. The Power of the Druid and Power of the Shaman let me ask the world around me for help… but I don’t really understand it.”

Hearing that, Dalin seemed to suddenly get an idea, smiling to Hyumahn. “Think we could get a demonstration?” He asked, glancing towards me. “There is someone here that could probably use some medicine.”

It took a moment for Hyumahn to process that, before he made a sound of exclamation. “Oh! I’m sorry, I didn’t even realize.”

After saying that, Hyumahn closed his eyes, focusing on something. As he did, I could feel a distinct change in the wind, as if it had responded to his call. “We need some medicine, please…” He asked, causing the wind to briefly accelerate, blowing my hair about while I struggled to keep it out of my face.

“Oh, good!” Hyumahn said, suddenly opening his eyes and smiling. “This way, there are some herbs I can use just a few hills away.” Saying so, he immediately turned and began to gallop away, his brother just behind him

Dalin and I exchanged a brief glance, before shrugging and joining them. At the very least, we had acquired some interesting company.