You're my friend now

Breathing deeply, hands on knees, and sweating like he hadn't stopped moving for days, Jason felt like shit.

It must have something to do with the fact they have indeed been running for hours without stopping, leaving the village grounds a good hours ago. Or the burned-down surroundings of said village.

Jason cringed slightly at the memory. He wasn't kidding before, he really accidentally committed arson, and the forest was the collateral damage.

Not only were the villagers finally fed up with all the nonsense that the infamous duo managed to cook up, the surrounding forest which contained most of the wildlife and game for hunters had been burned to the ground.

So of course they took the most sensible answer; they got the pikes and torches out and banished the foul demons of their land.

That honestly had a long time coming, Jason was surprised it took them three years to do it.

Thank goodness that they are not that far away from a nearby Magic Knight Headquarters, getting in contact and asking for a Healing or Recovery Mage to rejuvenate the surrounding woods shouldn't be that much of a problem.

Glancing a bit to the side where an equally tense breathing was occurring, Gideon had his back against one of the trees, his own clothes wet with sweat.

Letting himself fall on his ass Jason sighed in relief.

At least they left everything behind, there is literally nothing for them in that village holding them back now!

Yeah…nothing was left behind…

…his fucking equipment!

Throwing his head back, it collided roughly with the ground, and an agonizing groan from his throat soon followed it.

"What's up?" Gideon had recovered slightly, in response to Jason's sudden jerk he simply raised an eyebrow.

"All my things! I completely forgot to swing by and get my tools." Dammit, it always took a few weeks to rebuild everything and set up a semi-decent laboratory. And now it's all lost in the village he will probably never return to!

At least he still got his money-

…the money.

"My fucking Money!"

Rapidly patting down his long overcoat, Jason almost screamed in relief when he found a small pouch in the inner right breast pocket.

Always remember the money kids!

While his main stash was hidden away in some part of the forest, Jason always carries with him at least twenty golden coins, never know when they might come in handy.

On another note, later on, he might have to come back here to get back all the money he put together in the three years of working odd jobs.

Jason gazed at the large amounts of dark smoke rising in the distance.

Yeah on a much later note. Preferably when all the villagers forgot about his existence.

A small laugh brought him out of his musings. It also reminded him that he had a one-man audience, who was currently giggling away at his expanse.

"Yeah, laugh it up jackass."

"You do realize that even if you went back your equipment would be destroyed anyways right?"

Jason opened his mouth, only to click it shut afterward. He completely forgot about the experiment gone wrong which broke down his temporary house.

He resolved to maturely send Gideon the bird while power-walking away.

A snort was the dark mage's only response, before getting up and catching up with him.

"Right, what's the plan now?"

"Now? We follow the trail, don't get into any more trouble, reach the capital and sign up for the entrance exam."

"When you say it like that it sounds pretty simple."

"Yeah, except it's anything but." shaking his head a bit, Jason lowered his center of mass and raised his clenched fists, comfortably getting into his stance.

"Was beginning to think you didn't notice." Getting into a different stance, palms open and one leg forward.

"Don't belittle me!"

He let out a sharp laugh, the shadows beginning to flow around his body. "Get out, all of you, the ruse is up."

There was no response in the forest, but in both of the rookie's eyes, they could see as plain as day.

Three bandits, hidden amongst the fauna. It was easy to see their profession with what they were wearing, dark clothes with straps around their bodies in places that it didn't fit. Rusty daggers and swords around their waists, and the odor of someone that hasn't been washed in weeks.

God, this was kind of embarrassing, Gideon and Jason throughoutly trained themselves to be proficient in several different skills. In particular, one of their activities was to wrap a cloth around their head and search for the other in the forest.

It was a great perception and stealth exercise, allowing for the training of the other senses, on top of augmenting their insight towards Mana.

These bandits might as well be shining lights on a field of grey.

"How disappointing, then I guess I'll go first." The least those bandits could do was get out of their hiding place and place themselves in an advanceable position, not only have they lost their element of surprise, they are in no position to protect themselves.

There was no time for the bandits to react, one second their targets were cautiously on stances, the next, the larger young mage was already upon one of them twisting around a large tree with great athletics and bridging the sole of his feet right on one of the bandits head.

There was a cry of pain before the bandit's face made contact with the earth and was buried. Jason stomped on it again just for good measure.

"Fuck, get him!" Another one shouted, he was thinner than Jason's recent victim and pounced towards him springing from a bush he was hiding in, dagger on hand.

The bandit was on the ground before he could even react, with a foot on his arm holding the dagger, and a hand wrapped around his throat. The hand itself seemed to be monstrous, made up completely of shadows.

"Didn't forget about little old me right?" The smirk on his face told everyone how pleased Gideon was.

Damn that midget, did he genuinely kick the guy's arm to the ground and wrapped him in a chokehold with a single move?

What a show-off.

That was kind of cool though, not gonna lie.

"Don't play with your food, there is another morsel we need to hunt." Eyes shining with malice and a grin etched on his face, Jason turned towards the last Bandit, who was frozen in place, his grimoire floating little ways above his hand.

Hah, probably didn't even understand what happened. While bandits are dangerous to civilians, compared to properly trained fighters who are boosted by magic, they stand absolutely no chance.

Especially if they didn't give a second for the bandits to pull out their Grimoires.

The bandit seemed to get out of his frozen state, trembling a bit "M-mercy?"

Gideon didn't even look, simply socking the guy he was holding down on the face to make sure he stayed down.

"Yeah, we have no mercy for types like you."

The bandit let out a startled yelp, his grasp on the grimoire trembling "S-smoke Magic: Smokecreen!" with the man as a center point, a grey cloud spaced out, covering a large part of the area they were in.

"Oh god, it smells awful." Grasping at his nose Gideon gagged.

"Probably hit up Tacobell before coming here." The visits to the toilets were never the same after eating there, though the food mostly made up about it.

"Stop speaking gibberish, we still have a fight to finish."

Jason simply shrugged. He learned through the last few years that most things learned in the books of the library are completely unknown to everyone else. While that knowledge was beneficial most of the time, other times it was downright bizarre and funny.

So many references and jokes missed.

No one understood his genius!

"Why do I get the feeling you're mocking me?" Are you secretly a woman, what the hell is up with that sixth instinct of yours?!

"Just good things buddy." And now was not the time to get caught up in banter, they still got a bandit on the loose.

Mana sense is kind of useless now, the fog was a mana made construct, veiling the Bandit. He felt fluctuations around, but they didn't match what he felt in the fog, nor what the bandit was radiating from before.

A decoy? No, something else.

Reinforcements? Most likely, number of opposition is unknown. The fog still masked their presence.

Suddenly, the fog was gone, completely sucked back into a center point that it had at first been spat out of.

The Bandit was back on view, much more composed than before. The man was downright smirking at them smugly.

Probably had something to do with the other ten friends that surrounded him. Each with their grimoires out, and just as dirty as the next.

God, was being a bandit really that unhygienic?

One of them must have some type of water magic right?

Though this was a bit worrying, fortunately, nothing they couldn't deal with.

Reading his thoughts, his Grimoire flew and opened itself, golden light shining from within the pages, once again Jason felt his being become more.

Mana flowing through his body, and blood begging to boil in a familiar trance, Jason grinned

at the bandits.

In the end, however, it wasn't necessary

"Mind if I jump in?" A voice cut through the tension of the forest.

"Where did it come from? Is it another brat?!" Hey would you look at that, one of the enemies which seemed to be a bit larger than his allies, a scar running down his face, he had thick arms yet a small rotund belly, old age probably catching up with him.

And that is definitely the leader, just the way he was standing was a clue, coupled with how the smaller ones seemed to shrink from him, it wasn't that hard to deduct.

'Cover me?' he signs to Gideon, a simple move of the hand from across his chest, yet Gideon and he had been fighting together for years.

The other boy gave a small nod.

Time to spice things up, "Sure, we don't mind, jump in whenever you feel like it!"

Turning around, Jason slammed his feet on the floor shooting off towards a nearby large tree, using it as a springboard to jump even higher than before.

It occurred before the bandits could even react, now they were all simply gawking at him, the former unknown voice forgotten.

But it didn't stay like that for long, suddenly as if something was pushing them down, the bandits started falling to their knees one by one.

Jason didn't think much about it, this only helped him.

Raising his leg high, he brought it down with all the momentum of his flight on the top of the bandit that was on his knees, firmly planting his face against the earth, causing a slight tremor to ring out.

"W-what is going on? What did you do?!" One unimportant guy cried out. Poor guy, probably will be forgotten by the next chapter.

There was no time left to think, Gideon flashed past him, his face as impassive as always. Twisting his waist, feets planted on the ground, the smaller boy slammed his elbow right on the unimportant bandit's gut, sending him flying into a tree.

Welp, there went his screen time. Poor Bandit-Kun

Something flashed in the corner of his eyes, and relying on his instincts he dropped to the floor, accomplishing a full split on the way.

That hurt! His thighs, he didn't warm up for this!

Thank goodness he did though, above him, a large pillar of earth had flown past where his head had been. Turning around, Jason watched as the leader of this ragtag clicked his tongue.

An Earth Magic user then? Weird, normally elemental Mages have a much easier time finding jobs and being accepted than others. Especially someone that can make that kind of pillar.

Not only are their magic much more efficient, but it's also just as easy to invest in Elemental mages for further growth.

No wait, the small drops of sweat on his face show exertion, even if he barely moved at all throughout the fight. I see, a small supply of mana then likely tried his shot at being a Magic Knight but wasn't enough, probably a commoner then.

Ha! Couldn't be me. [*Says the broke man]

"What's up Old Man? I see that age is finally catching up." Oh yeah, that's an angry face.

Keep mocking him! The guy hasn't even noticed Gideon flashing around his underlings, absolutely breaking their faces in with Gauntlets of darkness surrounding his hands.

He was having an incredibly fun time if his grin was anything to say. Mostly because

He really should start using Magic more often, the problem is that they were in an extremely flammable environment, and he would really like to not burn down any more forests today.

Not only that, but these people probably wouldn't be able to handle the heat.

Hehe, 'heat', god he was hilarious.

His musings were cut short however, when the Leader yelped in pain, his face now flushed as if he was doing a great effort.

Glazing at the ground beneath him Jason noted how the blades of grass were also flat against the ground. But there was no wind, he could feel the man around the leader, but it wasn't physically pushing him down.

It's more as if his weight increased.

Gravity?

Holy crap, an actual fundamental force type of Magic?

That's awesome!

Wonder how much force can be applied, or is it a multiplying factor? Can it just be used to push down or can the gravitational force be directed? Does it create its own Gravitational field or does it intercept the gravitational field of the world? What abou-

No! Focus, you got enemies, deal with them first, then experiment with magic.

Sweet, sweet experimentation.

Nothing left to think about, the large man was still stuck in place trying his best to move against the increased gravity, which gave Jason plenty of time to close the distance between them.

Right, let's try what Gideon taught.

First, elbow to the solar plexus, followed by a high knee strike on the leader's nose, a right hook to the temple just above the ears, and a strong twisting kick on the throat.

The large bandit didn't stand a chance, feeling like his body was imploding on itself, having lost all air in his lungs, and breaking his crooked nose even further, he couldn't even breathe as his throat was targeted.

His brain rattled within his head, blanking out from the sheer whiplash of the attacks.

Jason watched satisfied as the man fell to the ground, collapsing on his back.

Normally, he would just brawl without a second thought, sending haymakers and raw attacks without much technique. Honestly is still hard to get rid of that habit. When you have a hammer for your hands, everything becomes a nail.

Thankfully Gideon helped a lot in rectifying that. That guy knew a stupid amount of techniques and martial arts.

Speaking of the devil seems like he just finished off the last guys, jumping over some strange watery substances they were launching and slamming their heads against each other.

What a Sasuke wannabe.

Granted the stories of Naruto probably don't exist here, but who cares.

Slowly taking a look around the clearing, Jason let out a satisfied hum at the sound of groans and whines coming from the crumpled forms of bandits around them.

Gideon walked back to him in silence, his own eyes wandering around the forest, he was still on guard not having taken off his Dark Gauntlets.

Mostly because there was still someone left.

"Oi! Gravity user, come on out, we don't bite!" That is of course if the guy wasn't an enemy.

"Wow, already guessed my magic? I was right, I should have traveled with you guys!" the voice came from above them, further accentuated by the shadow lazily moving along the ground.

Blinking in confusion, Jason and Gideon both looked up and met the stare of a small grey-haired child.

…wait, that's the same kid from the tower, the one who he never saw before.

"The name is Alexander, future Magic Knight, and Master of Gravity!" opening his arms wide, his grin told all who watched how proud he was of those titles.

Jason honestly couldn't blame him, having a fundamental force at your beck and call? That was amazing firepower, and the kid was levitating himself, that had to be an additional constant flux of mana being used, the youngster didn't seem tired at all.

Gravity Magic + Large Mana reserves = Strong af Mage, please don't nerf.

How exciting, he could feel his blood boiling, a grin overturning his face.

A genuine proficient Magic user, someone who could very well become a magic knight. God he wanted to fight him, he wanted to match the boy's Gravity against his Fire so badly, to experiment on what the kid's magic could do.

Calm down Jason, experiment later, and deal with the kid now.

"So I take it to you been following us?" The way the kid phrased his statement meant he saw them leaving the village. Meeting him on the way to the knight's entrance exam? The boy definitely followed them.

"Yeah, kind of difficult not to, you kind of left a trail of ash on the way." Ugh, please don't remind him about the accidental arson, at least he restricted himself in this forest to not make a repeat.

This time Gideon was the one to talk, "Speak what you want already, with each passing moment we could be going to the exam." he seemed quite disinterested in the kid, allowing the magic forming his gauntlets to dissipate.

Wow, super emo of you Gideon, how cringe.

"Right, I should probably start with that." coughing slightly into his fists, he pointed one finger at us, his face utmost serious.

"Please help me get down!"

…

…

"...Wat?"

"Well, I know how to float myself, but not how to stop, and it was honestly luck that brought me to the same path as you guys, please help!" Sheepishly scratching the back of his head, Alexander finally acted a bit like the young kid he seemed to be.

Seriously, is Alexander twelve or something, a kid like that definitely should not be flying around unattended.

Of course, while Jason was rummaging through his head, Gideon stared blankly at the kid.

Currently, Alexander wasn't that much higher than the ground, just above their heads, Gideon jumped a bit, and pushed the feet of the kid, making him go spinning through the air.

He then turned around and walked away. Jason shrugged and followed him, strolling away from the kid.

"Eh?" the gray-haired boy watched them leave, a smile frozen on his face.

Surely they wouldn't leave a child alone, right? Not while he couldn't properly move by himself right?

"P-please wait! I promise to repay you guys as soon as I can!" He was ignored.

"What do you want? I got some food with me!" Gideon rolled his eyes, this kid wanted to become a Magic Knight? Save yourself, dumbass.

Jason, on the other hand, was simply following to see what kind of rewards the kid would spew out.

Hey, he never portrayed himself as the pinnacle of altruism.

Tears slowly appearing in the corners of his eyes, Alexander shouted "What about money? Now, I don't have much, but I can definitely pay you back!"

Jason stopped, Gideon sighed in response, he knew how this would pan out.

On the other hand, the child grasped at it as if his life depend on it "Not only that, but it would be with interest."

Oh yeah, there are the magic words.

Grabbing Gideon and throwing him over his shoulder Jason walked back toward the upside-down floating child.

"Alrighty, you're my friend now."

Grabbing the back of the kid's neck, the positioned the child on his shoulders so he would have a good grasp.

Gideon became acutely aware of how he was the same size as Alexander, who looked like a twelve-year-old since they could both comfortably fit on Jason's shoulder.

The dark magic user sighed in exasperation 'He's doing it again' of course, he was talking about Jason's unhealthy mindset of helping anyone he sees.

A partial hero syndrome.

The large half-elf wouldn't actively look for troubled people, but if they entered his field of vision he would definitely at least give them a helping hand.

It had helped them quite a bit in the past, but more often than not it just invited trouble to kick them in the balls when they least expect it.

The kid had gotten a hold of himself and was firmly planted on Jason's other shoulder, giving the tall teen another view.

Alexander soon grinned, "What are we waiting for? The exam is in a few days, we got to go!"

His response was a feral grin from the blonde, his pointy ears twitching a bit. "I knew there was something I liked in you squirt."

Getting in position, Jason skipped from the earth and dashed forward at rapid speeds.

And while the kid screamed in excitement, Gideon felt a smile beginning to form on his lips.

These next few years will at least prove themselves to be quite interesting if nothing else.

======================================================================

Sorry, took a while to upload, class is stressful.

Also, the fight was much quicker here than it was in Dnd, mostly because it is turn-based on the game, while here you don't wait for your opponent to make a move.

And yes, Alexander is another character from one of us Players, pretty sure he is the last one as well.

The bandits are here to show the level of power they currently have. That is literally the pinnacle of their existence in this fic.

Might actually do an Non Cannon Omake on how meeting up with Alexander actually went

Thanks for reading, see ya!