S.A.O Project Alicization - OC/Male Reader Insert

Project Alicization ----- Chapter One

July 372 HE, Underworld Human Realm
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Squeeze the ax handle.

Lift it up.

Swing it down.

Such simple actions, and yet the tiniest lapse of concentration would cause the ax to miss its mark, sending a tremendous jolt through the arms as the blade struck hard bark. Breathing, pulse, speed, shifting of weight-all these factors must be perfectly controlled for the heavy ax head to properly unleash its power into the tree and create the sound of its famed bite.

But understanding these things did not make them any easier to execute. It would soon be the second summer since Eugeo had been given this job, which was bestowed upon him in the spring of his tenth year. At best, even now, he could produce this perfect strike only one time in ten. Old Man Garitta, who had previously held this position and taught Eugeo the ropes, could strike true every single time. Garitta never looked tired, no matter how often he swung the heavy ax, but it took Eugeo only fifty swings for his hands to go numb, his shoulders to ache, and his arms to stop rising when he commanded them.

"Forty...three! Forty...four!"

He tried counting aloud the ax strikes against the tree as a means of encouragement, but sweat blurred his eyes, his palms slipped, and his accuracy fell further. He swung the tree cutter's ax around madly, putting his entire body into the rotation.

"Forty...nine! Fif...ty!!"

The last swing was wildly off base, hitting the bark far from the sharp, deep rut in the tree and producing an ugly ringing noise. The vibration nearly caused sparks to shoot from Eugeo's eyes; defeated, he dropped the ax, stumbled a few steps back, and plopped down onto the thick moss.

He sat there panting until he heard a joking voice off to his right. "I counted about three good sounds out of your fifty swings. That makes, what, forty-one in total? Looks like the siral water's on you today, Eugeo."

The voice belonged to another boy about his age, lying down a short distance away. Eugeo felt around for his leather canteen and lifted it to his lips. He gulped down the lukewarm water and tightened the cap again, feeling human at last.

"Hmph! Speak for yourself, only have fourty-three you know? We will catch up in no time. Right Eugeo?" A new voice spoke.

Similar age to Eugeo and the other boy, this new boy had just appeared from around the trees.

Eugeo laughed. "How'd your first day of your calling go Shi?"

The white haired boy jumped over some rocks and landed next to the boy, repling: "Incredible, Sensei is extremely cool"

"That good, thanks for coming to help us though" Eugeo looked at the other boy lying a short distance away. "It's your turn... Kirito."

"Yeah, yeah."

Kirito-Eugeo and Shi's closest, longtime friend and their partner in this gloomy "Calling" since last spring-brushed back his sweaty black bangs, lifted a leg straight up, then hopped to his feet. But rather than pick up the ax, he put his hands on his waist and looked up. Eugeo's gaze traveled to the sky with his.

The mid-July summer sky was astonishingly blue, and in the midst of it, the sun goddess, Solus, unleashed all her light. Yet the tree towering over them spread its branches so thick and wide that nearly none of the light reached Eugeo and Kirito on the ground.

With every passing moment, the great tree's leaves devoured the blessing of the sun goddess and its roots sucked up the favor of the earth goddess, Terraria, healing the damage that Eugeo, Kirito and Shi as were so painstakingly chopping into it. No matter how hard they tried on any given day, by the next morning the tree had refilled half the damage they'd cut into it. Eugeo sighed and returned his gaze to the tree.