"You're right Karl, that's what I should do! But every time I get close to her, I feel like a scared bunny…" Dag said while Karl giggled at his words.

In the meanwhile, Freydis concluded her training and walked towards the rack, to put her weapons away, exactly where Dag and Karl were chatting.

"Look, she's coming! Hahaha!" Karl replied, keeping on laughing.

After those words, Dag felt embarrassed and turn his head in the opposite direction, looking upwards and pretending not to see her coming.

"Hi, brother… hi, Dag" Freydis exclaimed nonchalantly.

"H… hi!" he answered, in a trembling voice, continuing to look at her also when she passed before them, turning her back to them.

Dag was turning 18 years old and his hormones were up and explosive.

Her body seemed to be perfect: her curves were smooth and proportioned, her legs were long at the right point and she had a perfect, rounded, firm booty.

"Wowowo, brother… your cock got all hard! Hahaha, what are you, a kind of pervert?" Karl continued, dying laughing.

A visible swelling appeared on Dag's trousers, causing him to put a hand on it while his face blushed.

"Did anybody tell you to stop your training session? Let's move!" Taya yelled, looking to them, stationary to do anything.

Dag still felt embarrassed, but after hearing Taya's voice, his erection abated.

Fortunately, nobody except Karl noticed it, especially Freydis.

"Anyway, you're getting stronger day by day, Dag! You've beaten me again!" Karl said, breaking the silence.

"Y… yes, I'm concentrated. But there are a lot of warriors stronger than me, I've to reach that power…" he answered, trying to remove that image from his mind.

"Of course there are, but you know, they can learn skills in their Clans and you don't have one yet. On the subject, when will you choose yours?" Karl asked back, investigating his best friend's intentions.

"I will be 18 next month, May 27th, X138. That will be my moment… what about you?"

"I'm still 16 years old… my time is farther than yours. But I'm certain I will join the Horns Of Heimdallr Clan. I heard they can move as fast as the wind and teleport themselves! I can't wait!" he stated, with bells on.

They resumed their training, but this time, Dag faced another guy, while His mind was still on Freydis: he couldn't stop to look at her, even because she never looked him back, being focused on combat.

And that character trait attracted him even more.

When the next fight started, he was so deep in thought, that the other boy hit him with a kick on the stomach. 

Dag wasn't able to dodge it, and bent from pain, losing his breath.

"Your mind is somewhere else, brother… I'll kick your ass!" the boy yelled, getting ready to strike again his opponent while Dag stood up and picked back his sword from the ground. 

The boy tried to kick him a second time, but Dag parried the kick using his hand, then tried to counterattack with the sword pointing his hip.

The boy replied dodging the sword swing and punching Dag on his face, hitting his nose, accurately with his knuckles.

Dag felt an unsustainable pain, screaming and touching it with both of his hands, that filled up with blood, making him figure out that it must've been broken.

Without complaining and with tears in his eyes, Dag deftly stood up and charged the boy with all his strength: the opponent raised his sword to parry Dag's hit, but after the two swords touched, Dag fired an uppercut right in the boy's belly, causing him to spit blood.

Right after that unexpected move, he managed to disarm him and punch him again in the stomach, letting him fall onto the ground. 

He rode the enemy warrior on the top and punched him again and again on his face, while he tried to protect his face with his hands, without success.

The guy gradually lost his senses when Taya lifted Dag grabbing him by his top armor and threw him a few feet away.

"Enough, Dag. There's no need to punch him to death. This is a training, in this Arena, you must follow my rules. And my rule is that you can't kill each other! Hahaha" Taya laughed, sadistically.

Dag knelt on the ground. 

His nose was still bleeding, and so his knuckles: some unexpected rage came from the inside of his body and his mind didn't cooperate.

Although he wanted to stop punching, something stronger than his will prevented him to do that.

Everybody in the Arena witnessed at the scene, including Freydis, who, for the first time, noticed him but probably for the wrong reason.

Dag aching stood up after that Taya threw him so high and his back stomped hard on the flat ground surface.

He walked to the rack and left his sword, walking on his way out right after, being his daily training session over, because of the wound.

Dag just felt his nose crooked, but he had no idea of how to fix it.

"Perhaps, the best option is to go back home… my mom will help me out" he thought, keeping on walking toward the ascent to the farmhouse, holding his bleeding nose with both hands and thinking that also if Taya hed offered him some help, he would have refused it, feeling judged by his comrades, in whose eyes, he would look weak, losing his credibility as a promising warrior.

Step by step, blood drops marked his path when a voice from behind called him loudly: "Hey! Hey, you! Dag!"

He kept walking, unwilling to talk to anybody.

"Heeey! Are you deaf? Stop!"

A hand touched his shoulder, making him turn in that direction: the voice was that of Freydis, that after watching the scene, ran towards him, calling his name.

Dag was speechless, but his nose hurt him so much so he couldn't stop moaning.

"Come here, let me help you" she replied, pulling Dag towards a big boulder on the side of the main road.

"Let me see…" 

When she moved Dag's hand from his face, found out that the nose was cracked for real.

"Hey, speak to me… you are Karl's best friend, aren't you?" Freydis continued, trying to distract him from pain. 

"Ye… eaaaaaahhh!" 

*crack*

Just a second before Dag could answer, with a quick motion, Freydis straightened his nose, that sounded like a shattering piece of wood.

"Ohi…oh! It hurts!" he complained, trying to hold the tears that flowed out of his eyes out of control.

"I know, I know. Now it's okay, don't worry…"

She drew a red cloth veil from her belt and bonded Dag's nose tight, tying the veil behind his head and looking him in the eye, and passing a hand on them, drying the tears.

Dag was surprised: from being complete strangers, now they were close enough to feel each other's breath.