111 ASOIAF - Chapter 1 Part 4

- Aragorn - ( Check paragraph comments for image )

'One must learn to walk before they can run.' A very accurate statement to describe Aragorn's current situation. In the four hours he spent trying to imitate [Empower], it became crystal clear to him that it was a foolish endeavor to do so with the level of control he has over Aura.

Thankfully, he was not stubborn when faced with facts, opting to change his tactic instead of doing the same thing over and over again and hoping for a miraculous success. [Empower] worked by focusing his aura on a single part of his body, increasing his physical traits dramatically for that particular region. But it relied on a fundamental idea, from his conclusions, that the aura must be kept perfectly still with no variations. When trying to replicate it now, his aura never ceases to oscillate in the single area it is focused on, creating discontinuities within its area of effect, and inflicting damage upon himself instead. Thankfully, he was smart enough to draw the bare minimum and avoided any significant damage, limiting it to a simple pain similar to an itch.

Aura does not originate from a particular part of his body it is present in every fiber of his being. The difficulty lies in molding its flow to suit his needs. But now, he was trying to establish a deeper connection to that energy, circulating it around his body in a meditative state. It was not going smoothly for him. He discovered that the aura he could constantly feel was in an inactive state, therefore it was not harmful to himself as long as it stayed that way.

He spent two days in the same cave, eating the bare minimum and using all his time to train his aura, the one advantage he would have compared to the rest of the world.

< [Aura Manipulation] has leveled up! >

< 20 EXP Gained! >

Aragorn was well aware that a single level up did not mean much, for a very simple reason. He was under a meditative state, aided by the system, and yet he could still feel how hard it was for him to manipulate Aura. He can only imagine how difficult it would be without it, or even worse, he wondered if he could call upon it at all whilst in combat.

"I can see them..." He heard whispers, very close to the wooden cave he was currently in. The accent used was foreign to him, but that's to be expected. He was grateful it was a language he could recognize at all since he was in a different world. He used [Detect Presence] immediately to sense a radius of forty meters around him. He picked up eight nearby men. From their demeanor, he quickly concluded what they were up to: an ambush. Furthermore, from their observed silhouettes thanks to the skill, he could tell three of them had drawn their bows, having seen that form many times over his months at Motherbase. Subsequently, he could tell the general direction of their would-be victims, but could not detect them as they were out of his range.

He tried to be as quiet as possible, putting everything that shouldn't be visible in his inventory and arranging everything else in his wildling-styled backpack. He also equipped his light throwing knives along with his leg and forearm sheaths. He already knew how he would explain his possessions, so he wasn't worried about it.

He waited patiently for the action to start. He wasn't inclined to help either party in this conflict. It was not his fight, he had nothing to gain from it, ergo it was none of his business. He only hoped he wouldn't be dragged in it.

* WHOOSH *

He heard sounds of arrows being shot, signifying the beginning of their ambush. He waited for a bit to see any further development before he heard a war cry and noticed the others have started charging forward thanks to his skill.

Aragorn slowly crept out of his cave, hiding behind the abnormally large tree, observing how the fight would evolve. The group of older men rushed towards another group of younger men and a woman, who was at the front of her group surprisingly enough. He was observing them through his binoculars, and could easily remark how ridiculously primitive their weapons were. No armor was worn, so the question of how advanced their weapons were was moot.

He was unsure of how the wooden shields would hold against the onslaught of weapons, but it was deceivingly hard. The ambushed group got the shorter end of the stick mostly because of the element of surprise, but also because of the overwhelming experience of the older men. Eventually, they were all down, reduced to a single woman standing, looking at the group of four bigger men defiantly, not a trace of fear to be seen.

Aragorn was surprised by the whole scene, especially the lack of fear from either party throughout the fight. Which is how they've managed to take down four of them and injure two. Funnily enough, the woman killed three of them by herself. Seeing her biting his throat sent chills down his spine, as he never expected anyone to do that. It was certainly an effective tactic, one he'd keep in mind for desperate situations.

But now the deck was stacked against her. Try as she might, she cannot fend off when four men attacked her simultaneously. She managed to hold them off for a few seconds, but they eventually scored a hit against her, before one of them pounced on her, and was joined by his companions, each pinning her limbs to the ground.

Aragorn frowned at the scene. It was clear to him where it was headed, the men were obviously trying to rape her, which is why they didn't kill her in the first place. But would he try to save her? Certainly not. To survive this new world, he made a promise to himself to drop his morals and start looking out for his interests instead. And saving her would hardly benefit him at all. At most, she would be grateful for him.

'On second thought, gratitude can be useful as well...' He mused to himself. He was considering asking for direction, asking for a place to stay, a group to join. And the group of men that just mercilessly slaughter them did not seem the helpful kind at all. But the woman's group did not seem as hostile as them. Worst case scenario, if she refuses to help him, he'd just kill her after saving her. A win-win scenario for him regardless, as it would mean free EXP.

Despite Aragorn's claims that he was doing this out of cold pragmatism, it was far from the truth. Deep down, he was not comfortable with a woman getting raped in front of his eyes, which is what led him to that train of thought even if he deemed them somewhat justified.

Aragorn took out his throwing knives, and walked furtively toward the rapists, doing his best not to make any noise. The sound of screaming and resistance was helping him tremendously in his endeavor, as the assailants were failing at undressing her.

"... we'll see how tame you become once my cock's inside ya!" He heard the bald man speak menacingly, unaware that he had just dug his own grave, as Aragorn decided to off him first. The latter waited until he was within a satisfactory distance before he took aim.

The bald man was too lost in his rape attempt to know that he was drawing his last breaths. He hardly felt anything as a metallic knife buried itself in the back of his skull, making him fall lifeless on top of Lagertha.

While the others were processing their comrade's lack of movements, Aragorn did not dally and shot another knife at another, hitting him straight to the throat, pouring a fountain of blood over everyone nearby. The last two finally understood what was going on, and reached for their weapons and shields.

One of them grunted in pain, having been hit by a knife to the back. Thankfully, the layers of clothing provided protection to some extent. But he did not let it stop him from reaching for his weapons, for it is only a painful death that awaits him otherwise.

Aragorn shot another knife at the other man, but it was blocked by his ironwood oval shield. So he decided to charge at them now, activating [Sprint] to build his momentum. His opponent was severely injured both from the previous battle and from Aragorn's knife, so he was in no position to retaliate, and chose to hold his ground against Aragorn's charge. A terrible mistake on his part, as he was thrown to the ground from the impact of Aragorn's kick through his shield. But when he went for the finish, his companion blocked him, swinging his wooden club to ward him off.

But Aragorn merely backed off, taking out a knife as he did, before he threw it at the man struggling to get up straight to the eye with deadly precision. The other man could only raise his shield, thinking he was the target. He was enraged when he found out he'd been duped and rushed at him, trying his best to close the distance. Aragorn smirked at him and bolted out of range of his swings, taunting him in the process with his gestures, a tactic that seemed to work on the barbaric buffoon.

Little did he know that Aragorn was only buying time for the person everyone else seemed to forget about even though they were trying to rape her moments ago. Lagertha rushed at him from behind, stabbing her sword to his back, while he could only look at Aragorn helplessly. But he was only met with a cold look through his pale blue eyes. Aragorn raised his axe and brought it down on his head, splitting it in half, before kicking his corpse off to release its grip over his weapon.

< 10 EXP Gained! >

< 10 EXP Gained! >

< 10 EXP Gained! >

< 10 EXP Gained! >