Dark Lord Saga : The Blood Mage

Chapter 1 : What is a Hero?

A vast land of turmoil and grace, a land large enough to be called its own world, the Endless Continent, encompassed all of the known human race, a population of nearly fifteen billion people. Here, where mankind was as numerous as the grains on the earth, there was a small village on the outskirts of one of its most prominent kingdoms. The village of Gil was erected on a cliff face of the Great Yamato Mountain. A yellow crest river ran through the village center, and like that the sun rose high above the mountain peak, signaling the start of a new day.

In the early morning, there peeked a young boy with a truffle of hair, sitting on a wooden chair in the garden. His eyes were glued to a leather bound book in his hand. Around him were children ages 3 to 8 running around playing a game of tag.

"Grey come play with us!" asked Elise. A gentle hand came to rest upon his shoulders. Her eyes were as bright as the sunlight behind her golden hair. "It's more fun with more people."

Grey looked at her strangely and shook his head.

"No, it's okay." He said quietly, "I want to finish this book."

Elise gave Grey a weird look but shrugged and went off to play.

Ever since Grey was young he had loved books. The adventure! The pain! The love! Books were a window to another place and time. In them he could be anything he wanted! A hero, a monster, or even a girl! The possibilities were endless, and this book he was currently reading, described the adventures of the famous Dungeon Seeker Abel who scoured the 138 Dungeon Worlds, and single handedly created the Iserian Ranking Chart, which ranked each dungeon by their difficulty. 

Primitive, Cursed, Hidden, Ancient, Chaos. The world was never the same. Now adventurers, who previously were all equal in the eyes of the common folk, could now compare their achievements with one another for glory and fame, and the most coveted recognition as Hero.

Grey sighed inwardly as he read Abel's adventures. A Hero? What a lofty title, a person recognized by all the world as a guardian of mankind. If not for the Iserian Ranking Chart, who could tell how powerful an individual was? Previously, anyone who could walk into a dungeon and come out in one piece was recognized as true adventurer. Now, if one could venture into a Chaos Dungeon, they would come back showered in praise and glory as an insurmountable genius. Grey wondered if he too would one day be able to venture out in the world and receive such praises. But before that could happen he would have to train his body and soul in one of the heroic paths.

The heroic paths, the five paths to ultimate power, the warrior the embodiment of physical strength, the priest the embodiment of health, the mage the embodiment of mental fortitude, the rogue the embodiment of dexterity, and the ranger the embodiment of agility. Five paths, one goal! To the strongest in the land, to be a herald of mankind, a Hero! Grey sat there in his chair and thought to himself. On this day, Grey would be five years old. Heroes came of age in their thirties or forties if at all. There are instances of some past geniuses reaching the title in their teens, but even so, if he wanted to set his goals he had only a few years to do so before the window of opportunity would be closed to him forever.

After all in the last three thousand years, there hadn't been a single hero in the Endless Continent. Fifteen billion people and not one was capable of reaching the level of skill required to venture into a Chaos Dungeon, not since Avarice the Fast, whose arrows reputable moved as fast as the wind.