A series of flashbacks and past scenes about his brother and his mother flash quickly through Michael's mind, briefly taking him back to the past, until he woke with a start as Thalud kept calling him: "Michael!"
Michael opens his eyes and sees Thalud sitting on the ground next to him.
"You're finally awake. About an hour has passed. I've spread some ointment for superficial wounds and bruises on you; you weren't hurt too badly."
"I have a terrible headache, damn it. You could treat me a little more gently," Michael retorted.
Thalud looked at him, slightly disappointed, and said, "The enemy's name was Gork, he was a low-level bounty hunter. A rather easy enemy, I'd say."
He said, pointing to Gork's bleeding corpse. "I'm surprised you were knocked out so easily, boy."
Said Thalud as he got up.
"Frankly, I expected you to be more powerful than this, I hope you will show me your true 'Valor' in the future..." Thalud said seriously.
Michael tried to speak but Thalud immediately interrupted him. "So I'll give you your first lesson right away: by 'Valor' I mean a kind of mark that appears on a part of your body when you use your power. This mark indicates that you have control over your power, whatever it may be, but you don't have it when you use the Mana of Will; this means that you use your power almost unconsciously, but you don't master it in the slightest, you even have pretty crappy fundamentals. What you need to do is try to think of your power as something more concrete,
at the beginning, try to think of anything that can embody your power for you."
Michael looked at him, slightly confused, but rather angry. "...That's useful advice, but do you think it's appropriate to also insult me about my weakness, old man?"
"But you saved me..." Michael paused briefly and said a sincere word that hadn't left his mouth in years: "Thanks..." "Know that next time, you'll be the one thanking me, old man."
Thalud looked at him, satisfied, and said: "Now don't get too cocky, but I'm confident you can become stronger soon."
"Come on, let's get out of here before anyone else arrives, if someone stronger and in greater numbers came, I wouldn't be able to win easily, after all, I left my Weapon of Destiny at the order."
Michael looked at Thalud with a questioning expression. The latter looked at him, sighed, and said briefly: "In short, they are special weapons of the order to increase our power, mine is called Volunta Meister. I'll explain everything later at the headquarters of the Order of the Redeemed."
Thalud started running and told Michael to use the Mana of Will on his legs to follow him in a run to the order's headquarters.
As they ran, Michael managed to keep up well enough, but it wouldn't last much longer.
A few minutes later, some low-level bandits chased them, so Thalud picked Michael up on his shoulders and increased the flow of Mana in his legs, increasing his speed.
Thalud finally managed to shake off the bandits and got closer and closer to the great obsidian walls, adorned with golden veins, which separated the slums from the real city.
Starting with the 'low' district of Logron: Tucker. These are the Walls of Sacrifice, so-called because of a great past extermination carried out in the slums by the Royal Guard.
Thalud arrived in front of the gate of the Walls of Sacrifice and took Michael off his shoulders, putting him back on the ground rather abruptly, as if he were a heavy sack of potatoes.
"Are you okay, Michael?" "I could have made it on my own, you didn't have to carry me, old man," Michael replied.
"You're not strong enough to keep up with me now, and I didn't have time to teach you the basics, so don't complain," Thalud said in a kind tone.
Michael huffed but didn't retort. Thalud approached the wall's gate and showed a golden plaque to the guards.
"Thalud, who is the boy next to you?" said the guard defensively.
"He's the new recruit, he's not dangerous, you can rest easy, Jim." "Alright, come in. Open the gate!"
The guard replied while shouting to his subordinates.
"Why did the guards seem so alert and suspicious?" Michael asked.
"The Order of the Redeemed is not yet well known and has yet to gain prestige and trust from the population of Logron, which is why people see the members almost as unreliable or as decently educated slum dwellers."
"Don't worry, if you show that you are strong, polite, and reliable, things will improve, after all, the order was the idea of our leader and the Emperor himself."
Michael felt surprised and almost proud to have changed his life so suddenly.
They passed through the gate and entered the 'low' district, called Tucker.
Even though it was considered low, it is so alive, bright, and elegant that it was almost like seeing a star compared to the slums, which are dark, dirty, and smelly.
"...It's beautiful..." said Michael with a surprised face.