A Warlock's Ascent

After having the most awful drink of his life, Dave and Grump started to make their way out of the bar. While they were drinking, they received a message from the old Grego saying that the escort mission will take place one week from now. And till that time he requested them to stay low and not get into trouble…

After getting out of there, both of them were lost. They had no place to go. Most of the buildings of the city were destroyed. The ones that were still standing were occupied. And they didn't have confidence that they would be able to get into any of them. So now stuck outside, Grump grumbled under his breath and said that they should 'wing it like they were in their youth'. They traveled through the dark alleys of the destroyed houses until they found a half-destroyed shed located on the outskirts of the city.

Previously, Dave had taken pillows and bed sheets from the tower. He figured as they will be camping outside they might need something like this as they don't have sleeping bags. When Grump the pillows, he hugged him, then snatched a pillow and a sheet and quickly fell asleep.

As he was not feeling particularly sleepy at that time he started planning what to do with the week's worth of time that he had. He then planned that in the week's time, he would try to familiarize himself with his weapons. Also, he would try to get Grump to teach him a few tricks.

Then he started thinking about whether it would be safe to work with Grump and the old man Grego. He had just met them recently and don't know whether they could be trusted or not.

For now, he has a feeling that he could trust Grump. He may be a dick, but in the end, he did agree to help out all these people who lost their homes in the beast tide. And he did that for free. He may not know much about the people of this world, but what he does knows is that selflessness is a virtue that is only found in a few selective people. And usually, they are good people.

Still, there was a chance that he could be wrong. And the old man would betray him in some way in the future. That is why he had decided that he would be more vigilant around the old man. And he would try to increase his strength as fast as he can. According to Carlin, Earthians grow strong at an incredible speed. In the past few days since he had come here, he was able to raise his Level from 3 to 7.

And he did all of that, without even trying to raise his level. That is why from tomorrow onwards he would try to level up as fast as he could…

***

Dave was sleeping peacefully under the half-destroyed shed. But it was then he felt someone poking at him. At first, it was a normal poke, which only made him shift his position. But it was then someone slammed a big wooden stick into his stomach, which made him open his eyes immediately. He then looked at the shadow of people that were standing above him.

"What the fuck do you think you are doing here punk?" said the middle age man with the stick.

"Wha.." he mumbled, still confused about what was happening.

"Do you really think that you could sleep on my property without me knowing? Get up!" the middle-aged man said and then he swung his wooden staff and hit Dave on his shoulder…

BAAM

"FUCK!" he yelled in pain, then he rolled away from the middle age man, and then he hurriedly stood up.

"What is the matter with you?" he asked while rubbing his shoulder.

"What is that matter with me? You are sleeping on my property. Get the fuck out of here or pay the fine" the middle-aged man said. And then the men with him also started agreeing with him.

He looked at the bunch that woke him up. The compound that they slept in was completely destroyed. The only thing that survived the beast tide was a small shed which was empty when they came last night.

And he remembers very clearly, there was no one around this compound when they came here. It is precisely because of this reason, Grump, choose to spend the night in this place, he didn't like to be disturbed when he was sleeping.

And now these people came here asking for compensation. He understood that these people were just a bunch of scammers. The chances are they don't even own the property, they just thought that they could scam the two persons that are sleeping peacefully here. And this made him very angry…

"Listen you mother fucker. Turn around and take all the people that you brought with you into the same hole that you crawled out of. Because I am very angry. And you don't want to be near me when I lose control." he said while glaring at the middle-aged man.

"Is that so? What you gonna do boy?" the leader said while walking towards Dave while waving the stick in his hands.

The leader may have been confident because of the stick. But as soon as he came close to him, the hell went loose. He grabbed the stick with his hands. He didn't try to steal it from him. He just held it in its position. Then he slammed his head on the leader's nose.

The leader of the scammers got his nose broken from the sudden attack. He staggered backward, but he was done yet, soon he launched a spartan kick which made the leader fall to the ground.

Seeing that their leader have been beaten up, the rest of his followers came running toward him. One of them jumped in the air and kicked him. But it only him stagger backward. But it was then he started receiving volleys of kicks and punches from all directions.

He endured the kicks and punches, but still, he didn't lose sight of his goal. He crouched down and then made a fist. And then he let out all of his anger at the groins of men that were beating him up.

AHH!

Two of the men that were assaulting him, fell down on the ground while screaming in pain. The rest of the men sense what he was doing and quickly backed away before he could have any more nut shots.

He wasn't done yet. He quickly moved toward the man that was closest to him. With great momentum, he charged at him, as he got close to him, he jumped in the air and performed a superman punch that landed straight on the man's nose.

BAAM!

The man fell to the ground. Till then the leader of the gang has also gotten up. And he grouped himself with the remaining two men. Dave turned around and saw their trio. The leader's nose was broken and had blood all over his face, he looked quite angry. He was looking at Dave with a murderous gaze. It was pretty clear that he wanted to bury him alive.

But before any of them could make a move, the expression on the leader's face suddenly changed, and he fell down, it was then everyone saw a Kukuri knife stuck to the back of his forehead.

Grump who was trying to sleep till now was woken up by the commotion caused by the fighting. As soon as he woke up, he instantly threw his knife at the person which was closest to him…

"You fuckers have messed up with the wrong guy's sleep. Now die." Grump said slowly in a menacing voice.

Seeing their leader had died, the people who were still standing got frightened. They lost the will to fight. People who could move, all ran away. Surprisingly Grump didn't chase after them. Instead, he came towards the people who were on the ground and started kicking them on their asses.

"GET LOST MOTHER FUCKERS!" he yelled while kicking them. And soon everyone left. And now only Grump, Dave, and the dead body of the leader were left on the scene.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Grump asked when everyone had left.

"What?" Dave asked.

"Those people came to fight you. They started beating you up. But you didn't do anything in return. I know your strength. You could have easily killed off one or two of them and made them run for their money. But you instead fought with your fists. Why?"

"Because they… they are people. I mean… I can't just kill someone because one just woke me up from sleep."

"You are a bigger idiot than I thought you to be… Listen to me, Davy. I don't know what kind of place you came from. But this world is very different from your world. There is a word for people like you in our world. And that word is cowards…"

"Really? A coward? I am a coward, just because I refuse to kill someone?"

"Yeah, you are. People are these vicious beings that will come and spit on you till they bury you deep underground. But if you want to live in this world with your head high, you need to get your hands dirty. You need to show the people of this world what it means to mess with you. You want to me teach you, right? Take this as your first lesson."

"It's not easy for me you know. I can't just kill someone. I am not that kind of guy."

"See there showed your idiocracy again… Do you think that I was born a killer? No. I was a weak little boy like you, who thought that human life is precious. And because of my thinking, I was always bullied and beaten up in alleyways. But the day I changed my thinking, my life changed. And I don't regret a thing."

"I don't know what to say… I don't know what happened to you, but I cannot change my ways." Hearing this grump clicked his tongue in annoyance. He then kneeled down and picked his knife from the dead body.

"One day, you will be forced to change your ways. Because this world is like that. And based on what I have seen so far, I am 100% sure that you will change your ways." Grump said. Dave shook with annoyance at his remake…

After that Grump used water from his bottle to clean up his knife. While he went back under the shed to pick up their sheets and everything. He then put them back in his inventory. After cleaning the knife, the old man picked up the body of the leader with its leg. Then with his immense strength, he started spinning in its place. And as they have reached enough momentum, he let go of the body.

The body of the scammer flew away over some building, out of their sight. What Grump didn't think was that blood would start pouring out of the body, as he would spin it around. The blood spattered all over the place. Dave who was standing beside him got covered in blood.

Dave stood there shocked to see what he had witnessed. Before he could give he old man a piece of his mind, they heard someone running towards them.

Two soldiers came running toward them. Accompanying them, was one of the men that got punched in his nuts earlier. The soldiers came running towards them with their weapons out. Seeing this he thought that they might get in trouble, but something strange happened as the soldiers came to them…

"What the fuck do you guys want?" Grump grumbled as he saw the soldiers approaching them.

"Mr. Grump. It is good to see you, sir." One of the soldiers who recognized him greeted him kindly.

"So what do you want?" Grump asked again while staring at the soldiers. The soldiers in turn looked at the man that had brought them there. Both of them had a mental talk with each other and said…

"Sir, we heard that you return back to Ravenshade yesterday. And… our lordship, Lady Carlin wants to have a talk with you." The second soldier asked.

"What does she wants?"

"I am sorry sir, we don't know. But we would be happy to go and ask her of her wishes." The other one said.

"Sure why not… I wanted to go to Adventurer's Guild. So might as well I will go and talk with her." Grump said.

"Of course sir." The first soldier said while sighing with relief.

"And listen, boys, this is here is Davy. He is my nephew. And I would be very upset if something happens to him. Understood?" Grump said while gesturing towards Dave.

"Certainly Sir. Mr. Davy, you seem to have gotten injured. Why don't you go to the treatment camp and get yourself patch up." One of the soldiers offered.

"Not a bad idea. Davy go to the treatment camp. I will meet you there" Grump said. While Dave looked at the man as if he had gone insane.

'Did this stupid mother fucker forget that I am not supposed to show my face around Ravenshade?' he thought.

Before Dave could voice his opinion on the matter, the boat had already been sailed. One of the soldiers took Grump to the City Lord's Manor. While the other one volunteered to show Dave the way to the treatment camp.

He was not even able to protest because till that time Grump had already left. Begrudgingly he had to follow the soldier to the treatment camp. And while going there, he just prayed that no one would recognize him.