1 Prologue

Three cargo trucks rattled down a narrow road, surrounded by a dense, dark wood. This was the Treant's belly, a forest that separated the Kingdom of Zalem's northern border from the valley known as the Black Wyvern's Horns. The Black wyvern's horn was a natural chokepoint, but unlike its counterpart—The Black wyvern's tail —far to the south, it was located several days' travel from the Zalemite border. There was a good reason for this, of course: The forest between the border and the valley was infested with monsters and abominations.Many years ago, the sky goddess ordered a wall to be built to the south in order to keep those creatures from wandering into its territory, a measure that dramatically reduced its spending on monster extermination. Largely neglected, the forest remained home to vicious monsters…as well as thieves and bandits.It was really a risky path most suppliers never take, but some take the risk in pursuit of profit.

Carlos, The owner of the cargo trucks was one of these blinded by greed men, He always had a thing for merchandising and commerce. In the little town he lived down south he did all the work himself protecting and transporting his precious merchandise. He learnt how harsh the real world is after losing some of his merchandise to bandits and monster attacks , he realized couldn't do it by himself again. Luckily he could afford to hire mercenaries and adventurers to do all the guard duty. Just like he did during all his travels, he hired a cohort 6 of promising mercenaries rising quickly up the ranks. Shepherd flock, they weren't exactly cheap but they were affordable. He also had 6 passengers he accounted for. Five were young swordsmen of the same school , and one gloomy young boy.

The boy was clothed in leather armor made from a deer's hide, strings were used to fasten his leader boots and other pieces of metal plates strapped to his light armor. He looked no older than 15 or 13, and had dark brown hair with pale blue eyes, he was lean and short, just having enough fat and muscle a mercenary needed. His countenance was dirty, with dry mud smeared on his cheeks and he had a small jewel that hung on a string around his neck.

Jasmine, The leader of the shepherd flock,was worried about how a young boy became a mercenary. She approached the back of the truck to confront him.

He looked up and saw a woman in her late twenties, she had black lustrous hair and yellow coloured pupils. she greeted him with a smile.

"Hello, my name is jasmine could you tell me yours"

"Is it necessary?"

"Uh no, but I thought it would be easier for me to converse with you if I knew your name"

he paused then replied

"finn.... it's finn"

she stifled a laugh "finn? as in finn meaning THE END"

he clearly wasn't as amused as she was

"of course, or perhaps you know any other meaning"

"I'm sorry if I offended you , but you have a lovely name .Did your mom give you that name? she must have been very poetic"

" I don't have a mom and I never met her, I'm an orphan"

"oh ... sorry, but what is a boy no less than 13 doing as a mercenary, where are the rest of your cohort? You aren't a solo mercenary now are you?"

"I'm sorry miss, but I don't need to answer these questions do I? it's not like they'll affect how much I earn from this job, now please don't disturb me"

With that the boy faced away from the older woman.

She didn't give up though she kept trying to talk with boy. she said all sorts of things,

Sometimes saying her party and her can act as a guide for the boy to properly introduce him into the mercenary trade.

After an hour and a half she gave up and went back to the corner her cohort was located. They started conversing with the group of young swordsmen.

'such a noisy bunch why can't they just leave me in peace'

The boy thought before crossing his arms and falling into a light sleep.

The trucks came to a sudden stop, the disturbance was enough to wake finn from his light slumber. He glanced on the jewel on his neck, it's pearly white color had changed to dark red.

'shit, dammit all why can't there a job without any incidents'

He jumped to his feet and grabbed his sword resting on the wall, it was still in it's scabbard.

The others had already left to assess what is going on outside.

Dashing as fast as his feet could carry him, he was met with a messy snow covered battle field with snow wolves corpses littered in many places.

Shepherd's flock were engaged in battle with a young ice drake while the 5 swords men in a fight with a pack of snow wolves trying to scavenge anything from the carnage. Quickly assessing the situation , shepherd flock were at a disadvantage against the drake while the swordsmen were doing fine. He decided to help the rising cohort. Unfortunately 2 wolves slipped passed the swordsmen and were heading towards the truck holding food produce. Finn dashed towards them simultaneously drawing his scabbard open. It revealed a gold colored sword. It must have been to countless battles considering the numerous knicks on its blade, with some appearing on the cross guard and handle. He drew his sword and although his swordsmanship was mediocre at best, he delivered two swift cuts that took down the wolves.

Quickly dashing to his side, he joined shepherd flock in the heat of battle.

They had a composition of 4 close combat specialist and 2 long range attackers.

one of the long range attackers damaged it's wings, But it's strong limbs and heavily armoured scales were giving them lots of issues. Finn knew his skill was lesser than any of the members of shepherd flock, so he had to be the bait. He glanced at Jasmine and one of the attackers. She seemed to understand what he had planned but wasn't comfortable with it, but nonetheless she went along with it. She withdrew from her assault and turned to face finn.

"kid don't die on me, it'll leave a sour taste"

he had a dark grin on his face and replied.

"like I'm that easy to kill"

Shifting his concentration to the drake, he rammed it with his momentum. But the force generated was greater than expected and the beast was pushed back. The beast couldn't believe such a tiny creature could produce such a force, before it could get itself to a better position it felt a hot searing pain in one of it's hind limbs, it was one of the attackers from before. He wore a heavy bronze metal armor and a bronze axe with intricate designs engraved in it. The axe was currently red hot and was deep in it's leg.The next moment He was sent flying by its tail, the drake must have swatted him with it. A crackling sound resounded from it's front, drawing it's attention to its source, finn.

Finn held his blade with both arms, it was charged with enough electricity, that sparks formed on the tip of the blade. Suddenly he became as light as a feather and started dashing sideways dodging a barrage of ice breath attacks from the beast. He changed directions and was directly under the beast running to severe it's other hind leg. The beast guessing what Finn was about to do, dropped its body hoping to squash him. However it was already too late in the last second Finn gained triple his normal weight, with his speed and the blade red hot with enough charge. He completely severed and cauterized the leg.

The tail of the beast hit him, with his current momentum he was sent crashing into a nearby tree. But Finn's job was done, because Jasmine and the other 2 long range attackers had charged up their attacks. The combined force was enough to send the beast to hell.

Some seconds later Jasmine and her cohort walked over to the knocked over tree.

"You alright kid?"

The fallen tree gave way and the Finn sat up

"Never been better miss."