In the southwest of Eslar Continent, there is a place called "Dense Fog Town". It is named because the town is close to the largest "Hengduan Mountains" in Eslar Continent and is often shrouded in thick fog. Although there is the word "town" in the name, this place is actually not very big, with only more than 100 households and less than 500 residents.
The folk customs in the entire "Dense Fog Town" are simple, and most of the residents make a living by hunting, exchanging the magic cores and furs of the monsters they hunt for daily necessities. For hundreds of years, people in the town have been accustomed to this kind of life. Life day after day, year after year.
The rising sun in the morning hung diagonally in the sky, and the warm sunshine shone lazily on Ryan's body through the thick fog, making Ryan feel comfortable in his heart. The weather in July is pretty good, and today is almost the best weather of the year in Dense Fog Town. However, there are not many people in the town. At this time of year, Nongwu Town will have such good weather for a few days. The hunters in the town have already made an appointment to go into the depths of the Hengduan Mountains to hunt down a few large ones. Warcraft, get ready for the upcoming "Victory Day" celebration in Takli Town.
Takli Town is the closest city to Nongwu Town, but Takli is definitely not comparable to Nongwu Town. Not to mention, there are more than 10,000 permanent residents and two wide commercial streets in the center of the city. The streets are proof enough that Takri is prosperous.
The annual Victory Day celebration is to celebrate the great victory that the allied forces of humans, dwarves, and elves defeated the invading undead army in Sunrise City in the east of the continent 200 years ago. At the Victory Day celebration held in Takli Town, there will be merchants from all over the empire. They will bring products from various places, and they will also purchase the Warcraft cores, furs and other products that are abundant in Takli Town and its surrounding areas. . These merchants come from various places, some come to Fernando City, the northern imperial capital, some come to Yignas City, the largest commercial city in the south, and some even come to Seawind City, which has overseas trade routes. It is the hard work of these businessmen running around that has brought about the prosperity of Takli Town today.
The annual Victory Day celebration is also the happiest time for the residents of Dense Fog Town. The hard work of hunting over the past year has finally paid off. A large number of magic cores, furs, precious Warcraft cubs, etc. will be available during those days. If you sell it for a good price, you can also exchange it for various items that are usually difficult to buy. There are even young people who are planning to bite the bullet and buy the exquisite jewelry they saw last time made by outstanding craftsmen from Fernando City as a gift to their beloved girl.
But Ryan didn't think too much. He took a deep breath of fresh air and walked quickly to a wooden house outside the town as usual.
"Ryan~" As soon as he left the town, Ryan saw his former partner Nemo greeting him in the distance.
Ryan felt a little strange. He had only been hunting for two days, so why did Nemo come back? He stopped and looked at Nemo carefully. I saw that Nemo was still wearing the same gray clothes made of winter wolf fur that he had worn when hunting in the mountains two days ago, but by this time the clothes had long been torn, and there were still some blood stains on his chest and thighs. Nemo was carrying a fat wild boar on his shoulders, and he was also holding two living edelweiss rabbits in his hands. The edelweiss rabbits were still moving around.
Nemo slowly walked towards Ryan. He looked at Ryan looking at him and said braggingly: "Hey, the harvest this time is good. Look, Ryan, I killed a pigeon myself!"
Ryan was also happy for his friend when he saw that he was able to hunt back a pig. You must know that the skin of the wild boar is thick and strong. It is not easy for Nemo, who is only 16 years old, to hunt one alone.
"Are you injured?" Ryan asked with concern when he saw the blood on Nemo, "Do you want me to help?"
"Haha, thank you." Nemo puffed up his chest, "This is what men should do, hunt happily, drink happily..."
"I still want to be with the woman I love," Ryan said quickly before he could finish.
"Hey," Naimo smiled sheepishly after being told what was on his mind.
Ryan smiled and said, "You, you keep saying these words every time, and I'm tired of hearing them. Did you catch the live velvet rabbit specially to give it to her?"
Being told what was on his mind, Nemo showed a shy expression and quickly defended: "No, actually I just caught this casually."
Ryan was secretly amused, and then said: "Okay, I won't delay you anymore. I know why you came back halfway, so go find Mei Fu."
"Okay." Nemo walked into the town in a hurry, and he didn't forget to turn around and say: "Ryan, come and have a drink together tonight, grilling this pork is really good."
"I know," Ryan agreed, and then teased: "It's Maeve's craftsmanship, right?"
"Haha" Nemo's laughter echoed from the town, "You must come, today is my coming-of-age ceremony."
Coming of age ceremony, yes, time flies so fast, I am almost 16 years old. Ryan was a little melancholy. Nemo could spend his coming-of-age ceremony with Maeve, but what about him? Could he also go into the mountains to hunt a few prey and treat his friends in town to eat them
Ryan shook his head and pushed the thought to the back of his mind. Slowly walked towards the wooden house outside the town.
As soon as he arrived outside the hut, Ryan shouted: "Teacher Ghalib, I'm here."
"Well, kid, you're here," a loud voice replied.
The door opened, and a strong figure appeared in front of Ryan. I saw that he was wearing clothes made of some kind of light yellow monster fur, with spots the size of gold coins on the clothes, a blood-red belt tied around his waist, and a pair of black leather boots on his feet. Isn't it the teacher Jialib who taught him martial arts for nine years
Of course Ryan knew that the light yellow clothes on Mr. Ghalib's body were made from the fur peeled off from a lightning cheetah that wreaked havoc on the town of Dense Fog, and that the belt was made from leopard sinews mixed with several Tariq antelopes. Made of tendons. If I only heard these two things from my parents, then I clearly remember the origin of the black leather boots on Jialibu's feet.
About five years ago, Ryan followed Teacher Ghalib into the depths of the Hengduan Mountains for an adventure. It was said to be an adventure, but it was just that Ghalib took Ryan to learn some survival skills in the wild and impart some experience.
Young Ryan accidentally disturbed a sleeping earth bear. The earth bear was very angry after being awakened. It slapped Ryan hard with its huge bear paw. At that time, Ryan only learned some basic things from Ghalib, mainly to train his physical fitness. There was no time to escape, and he was about to die under the claws of the earth bear.
At this time, in order to protect Ryan, Ghalib who was standing next to him made a real move in front of Ryan for the first time. This incident shocked Ryan very much. To kill this earth bear, which was classified as level seven in the Warcraft books, Jialib only used three moves!
Ghalib held the Earth Bear with his left hand and slapped Ryan's paw, then kicked the heavy Earth Bear back with one kick. Finally, with a volley, his right fist directly smashed the Earth Bear's head. The huge Earth Bear The bear just fell down softly.
Afterwards, Ryan asked Teacher Ghalib why the Earth Bear could be killed in three moves. Teacher Jhalib said meaningfully: "Strong enough to hit the enemy's vital point with flexible and clever use, it's that simple."
Of course, the outcome of this matter was that Ghalib asked Ryan to drag the Earth Bear back alone as punishment for him. It took Ryan several days and a lot of effort to finally drag the bulky guy back.
Ryan still remembers the surprised scene in everyone's eyes when his short figure carrying the huge Earth Bear entered the town. This made Ryan, who was being watched, feel a little proud. Maybe the reason why Nemo Kangpige entered the town today was also affected by that incident.
"Lian, come in with me," Teacher Galib said calmly when he saw Ryan staring at his shoes.
"Oh, okay." Ryan was interrupted from his musing by Teacher Ghalib's voice. He quickly agreed and followed the teacher into the wooden house.
As soon as the two entered the wooden house, Ryan heard an old voice saying: "Lian, you are here."
Ryan followed the sound and said, "Ah, it's Mr. Delanai. Why are you here too?"
I saw an old man wearing a magic robe, sitting on a chair to the right of Ryan. The passage of time had made his face full of wrinkles. The old man's clothes were very simple. Except for a magic badge on his chest that symbolized the identity of a magician, he did not bring any magic items or any decorations.
There is a table next to the old man. In addition to the chair where the old man sits, there are two chairs beside the table. The tables and chairs are made of the most ordinary white birch wood, and the workmanship is very rough, and even the bark has not been peeled off. There is a large bucket and two wooden drinking glasses on the table, both of which were carved by Ryan himself on the golden thorn log with a dagger.
Ryan was really surprised to see Teacher Delanai appear in front of him. Teacher Delanai, who originally left last month because of something, came back in less than a month. Didn't he say that something was troublesome when he left last time? Should we deal with the matter and resolve it so quickly
Seeing that Ryan was a little surprised by his appearance, Delanai didn't think there was anything wrong. He said slowly: "Lian, don't think so much about it now. Galib and I want to tell you something important today." matter."
After Ghalib and Ryan sat down around the table, Delanai said slowly: "Lian, you are 16 years old this year. On the continent of Islar, when a child reaches the age of 16, it means death. Usually, Under certain circumstances, the child's parents or teachers will assign a question to the child and let the child complete it through his or her own efforts. This is the coming-of-age ceremony test. Have you ever thought about how to conduct your own coming-of-age ceremony test?"
Hearing Teacher Delanai's words, Ryan couldn't help but deeply recall his past:
Ryan was born in an ordinary Orion family in Nongwu Town. Because the family was not well-off, his parents only had one child. When Ryan was 5 years old, a full-grown Lightning Cheetah came to the mountains outside the town. Listed as Level 6 in the Warcraft Book, the Lightning Cheetah is fast, moves like the wind, has sharp claws and teeth, has a bad temper, and is extremely aggressive. When the hunters in Dense Fog Town went into the mountains to hunt, many people were attacked by this lightning cheetah, and several people died.
Just when the whole town was at a loss, Ghalib passed by. When he learned about the difficulties faced by the town, he took action to get rid of the Lightning Cheetah. The residents of the town were very grateful to Ghalib. Ghalib also liked the simple folk customs here, so he built a wooden house outside the town and settled down. So Ghalib lived in Dense Fog Town.
Gradually everyone became familiar with him, and the residents of the town got used to having such an extra neighbor. The children in the town worshiped the hero and gathered around Galib who removed the Lightning Cheetah. Although Ghalib was indifferent to people, he was fond of children. Later, he could not withstand the children's entreaties and accepted seven or eight children to teach them some basic martial arts skills. Ryan and Nemo are the better ones among this group of children.
After several years of basic training, the children who learned martial arts from Ghalib have greatly improved their skills compared to their peers. Once, Ghalib asked the children why they followed him to learn martial arts. Some of the other children said they wanted to learn some martial arts to show off in front of their friends, and some planned to learn more martial arts to support their families when they grow up. Only Ryan said he wanted to protect those around him. Man, this sentence touched Jialib, so he paid more attention to Ryan's teachings, and Ryan's skills far exceeded those of Nemo and others.
Five years ago, the year when Ryan entered the town carrying the Earth Bear, Delanai came to Dense Fog Town and found Ghalib. In the western mountainous area of the mainland where Dense Fog Town is located, it is very difficult to capture an Earth Bear. Under normal circumstances, it takes a lot of effort to form a hunting team of more than twenty people, and the captured Earth Bears are also scarred. However, Ghalib and Ryan only went to the Hengduan Mountains for a few days and killed an earth bear. Moreover, the fur of the one they killed was almost undamaged. How could they not cause a sensation
This incident soon spread throughout the surrounding towns and became the talk of many people. Delanai heard others talking about this matter when he stopped in Takli Town, so they decided to come to Dense Fog Town to visit adventurers who could capture the Earth Bear, and thus found Ghalib.
Delanai and Ghalib were separated for a long time, and they were very happy to see each other again. They each talked about their experiences after separation, and they talked for a whole night.
The next day, when Delanai saw Ryan who came to learn martial arts from Ghalib, he unexpectedly discovered that Ryan had a good magic talent, and offered to teach Ryan to learn magic.
In this way, Ryan had another lesson every day, learning magic. After more than 4 years of learning magic, Ryan has gradually mastered many magic skills and can easily release multiple magics, which makes Delanai very satisfied.
There was a cry of Feng Peng outside the cabin, which woke Ryan up from his memories and returned to reality. He organized his thoughts and said to Delanai: "Teacher Delanai, what kind of adulthood do you think I should do?" What about the ritual trial?”
Delanai seemed to have known that Ryan would say this. He and Ghalib looked at each other, with a smile on their faces, which made the wrinkles on his forehead more prominent.
Delanai said slowly: "Ryan, it will be your sixteenth birthday in a few days. As far as I know, the custom in Dense Fog Town is to hunt a monster alone and then invite good friends to join you." As a gift, of course the hunted monster will become a delicious meal for everyone."
"Yes, Teacher Delanai." Ryan nodded. Suddenly he remembered something and added: "I just met Nemo, and he asked me to go at night. This is the trial of Nemo's coming-of-age ceremony. Already practiced.”
"You have been studying martial arts with me for nine years, right? You have been studying magic with Della for more than four years." Ghalib took over the topic and said: "If it is just a simple hunting of wild beasts, with your ability, Ryan, Coupled with careful arrangements, even if you really hunt a level seven earth bear independently, you can still do it, so I don’t recommend you celebrate your adulthood in this way.”
Ryan nodded and agreed. He had studied with two teachers for many years and had really suffered a lot. This kind of ordinary trial really didn't appeal to him.
Jialibu continued: "I still remember that one time I asked everyone why you want to learn martial arts from me. Your answer was to protect the people around you." Speaking of this, Jialibu looked at He looked at Ryan's eyes and said word by word: "Why do you say that?"
Ryan didn't expect that his words many years ago would still be fresh in Ghalib's memory. He thought for a while and said: "Teacher Ghalib, I remember that one time when I was very young, my father took me and my My mother went into the Hengduan Mountains to hunt monsters. My father had a good harvest that day and shot a few jungle pheasants. However, in order to protect my mother who was holding me, my father was hit by a wild boar's tusks and his body was covered in blood.
Beside the bonfire where we camped that night, my father asked my mother to wrap up her wounds, and said to me sitting next to me, my child, remember that as a man, you must protect yourself and the people around you, and don’t let them be harmed. Hurt, even if you pay for it with scars all over your body. "
Speaking of this, Ryan seemed a little emotional. He stood up and said excitedly: "Teacher Ghalib, Teacher Delanai, do you know? My father is a very ordinary hunter. He usually remains silent even if he is wronged. He spoke softly and did not argue with others. But at that moment when the safety of his loved ones was threatened, he blocked his mother's body with his body and stabbed a rampaging wild boar to the ground with his hunting fork. What a feeling it was. Huge power.”
"That time had such a profound impact on me. Although I was still young, I secretly vowed that I, Ryan, would be like my father, learn martial arts well, and do my best to protect my family and friends around me!"
Ghalib and Delanai listened to Ryan's story quietly. Looking at the excited Ryan, Ghalib said: "Lian, please relax and drink some water first. I believe you can fulfill your promise."
Ryan reached out and picked up the water glass carved from wood on the table, and drank the water in one gulp.
After Ryan calmed down, Ghalib motioned for Ryan to sit down and continued: "In addition to learning martial arts and magic, Ryan, Delanai and I also taught you a lot of knowledge about the continent of Eslar. It can be seen that you yearn for the vast world outside, so have you ever thought about getting out of this small town?"