The Copy Mage

The journey was an hour-long to reach the village and throughout the journey, Damian and Milo were chatting between themselves.

Both were curious about each other's pasts and identities, but both didn't want to make each other feel uncomfortable and pry into each other's lives and pasts.

They both hinted at pasts that both had hardship and good moments, but the thing that they both agreed on and was a big reason they were instantly friends was their drive and ambition.

Despite Milo's outwards uncaring and lazy attitude, his carer's dying wish was always on his mind and he was working towards it constantly.

They had spoken so much about everything, but Damian intentionally kept avoiding Milo's constant questions about his solution to his problem and Milo was beginning to doubt whether Damian actually could help him.

After an hour the carriage reached a halt and looking out of the window of the small carriage, they saw a small village that would have a population of at most 1000 people that was on the edge of a small forest.

"We have arrived" announced the driver.

Damian and Milo both exited the carriage and prepared to investigate the whereabouts of the boar beast.

"We appreciate your service and we should be back with a few hours after we have complete our mission" stated Damian to the driver.

"Okay you will find me within the village and it isn't that large so I should be easy to find" stated the driver.

Bidding the driver farewell, Damian and Milo headed into the village.

It was still quite early and there weren't many people awake, but there were still a few people that were opening their shops.

"May I ask where the boar beast was last seen" enquired Damian to a middle-aged man who was opening up his butchers nearby.

At first, the man was about to shoo off the two children that he saw as nuisances, but after looking at their uniforms and recognising the sigil, he became slightly respectful towards them.

"The last time that damned boar beast was seen, was on the edge of the village that was closest to the forest and he would run into people and buildings and eat all our food. But now he is becoming more and more wild and has severely injured a few villagers who were trying to defend their homes" answered the villager respectfully.

Although he didn't believe that Milo and Damian were strong from their size and age, cultivators were rare in the Gobe Country and were all respected.

Damian had spent his entire life in places where there was an abundance of cultivators, but he had never realised that only the top 10% of people were cultivators and the other 90% were ordinary people who were mostly poorer and of lower status.

"How long ago was that," asked Damian who had sort of became the leader and representative of the duo.

"It was 3 days ago now, but just a piece of advice, you should go back and get more people" answered the villager.

Milo was slightly annoyed by the villager, who wasn't even a cultivator, underestimating them, but he stayed quiet after his mouth had gotten him into trouble quite a few times.

"I appreciate your warning, but just a piece of advice, you should watch who you underestimate and disrespect" replied Damian as he walked off with Milo leaving the butcher shocked and worried that he may have disrespected somebody that he shouldn't have.

It was obvious to Damian that they were only being respected because of their uniform and they were being looked down upon, which was what he hated most.

"That was so cool, I have taught you well" whispered Milo as the duo began chuckling between themselves.

They went towards the edge of the village that was closest to the forest and reached it within a few minutes.

Gobe Country was quite large and covered quite a large piece of land, but it hadn't expanded for years and many people had resorted to forming their own villages on the edge of the country or even outside the country.

But the problem with that was that they wouldn't have any nearby cultivators to protect them and that was why the closer to the centre you wanted to stay at, the more expensive the cost of living was.

Reaching the area, it was wrecked and was in repair.

The buildings were all smashed and all the farms were devoured by the boar beast that was becoming more and more aggressive.

[Utsusu what does this behaviour tell you about the beast] asked Damian to the knowledgable spirit within his mind.

{Hmmm, this beast is a boar beast and from what I have copied, boar beasts do not like eating humans and would prefer to eat plants, small beasts and almost anything that has energy within it. But it seems it is very hungry currently, as shown by its wild and desperate behaviours, so we can assume it is on the verge of breaking through} analysed Utsusu.

Damian had a similar idea and it seemed that the mission would be harder than they thought.

{The beast will continue to be desperate until it has no choice but to resort to eating the people in this village and it is already aggressive towards the villagers that are getting in its way} estimated Utsusu.

With that in mind, Damian was weighing his options.

He wanted to improve himself and complete his mission, but he wasn't willing to allow the villagers to get hurt and his main priority would be to protect them, despite any disrespect that a few villagers may have shown him.

"Milo we need to evacuate the villagers before the wild and desperate beast returns and as I told you, a desperate beast is the most dangerous thing you could go up against," said Damian.

"They won't listen to us and we also don't have time" replied Milo believing that Damian's plan wasn't achievable.

But before they could think of a plan there was a sudden rumbling as a large boar beast charged towards the village from the forest.