Alex hadn't expected a no for an answer.

"Then why did you ask about my coat?" he asked.

"To gauge your strength," the man said. "So, did you take out the Pest Cat yourself?"

Alex nodded. "I took out several. They are not my opponent."

This took the man by surprise.

He knew that Alex was strong since he was able to wield such a heavy sword in one hand, but he hadn't known how strong Alex was.

"They are not your opponents?" he asked. "What Stage are you?"

"Stage?" Alex asked, but then he remembered the Duke's words. "I should be in the Late First Realm."

"Late Soldier Stage?!" the man asked in shock. "And you're 15?!"

"Soldier Stage?" Alex asked in confusion. "I thought the First Realm was called Apprentice."

"That's for Mages only," the man said. "The First Realm for warriors is the Soldier Stage. That's because nearly all soldiers are in that Stage."

"Oh, okay," Alex said. "And yes, I'm at the Late Soldier Stage then."

The man looked far more surprised than Alex had assumed.

"Is that high?" he asked.

"Are you from a noble household?" the man asked in shock.

Alex snorted. "Do I look like I'm from a noble household?" he asked.

The man looked at Alex.

"So, is it strong?" Alex asked.

"Warriors in the Late Soldier Stage are generally considered elite warriors," the man answered. "They worked for years for their power."

"Elite soldiers?" Alex asked in surprise, "but the guards I met at that mountain were all more powerful than me."

"You can't compare normal soldiers to the soldiers working directly under the Duke," the man said. "The men under the Duke are all in the General Stage. That's the equivalent to the Adept Realm for Mages."

"Oh," Alex commented. "By the way, how do you know all these things?"

"When I was young, I worked as a smith in Warrior's Paradise," the man said.

'Knew it!' Alex thought. The guy just looked far too much like a smith.

"Back to the topic," the man said. "You said that Pest Cats are not your opponents, right?"

Alex nodded.

"Could you elaborate on your power? How would the fight go down?"

Alex answered immediately. "One strike, one kill," Alex said. "As long as they don't jump me from several different angles, I can take out a group of them with ease."

Alex had truly transformed in the last six months.

When he had just arrived, one Pest Cat had already nearly spelled his doom. If he hadn't been lucky, the Pest Cat would have killed him.

Then, Alex had been able to fight one equally.

Then, Alex found it easy to kill one of them.

And after the incident with the Ice Bear and the subsequent strengthening with the fruits, the Pest Cats were no longer a threat.

In fact, Alex could break a Pest Cat's neck with a single punch.

His body was far stronger than a Pest Cat's body.

When the man heard of Alex's power, he was taken aback once again.

The man quickly fell into thought.

"If you are truly that powerful, we might have a lucrative job for you," the man said.

When Alex heard that, he immediately perked up.

"A job? What job?" he asked.

The man turned around and gestured towards the middle of the village.

"Follow me. You should speak with the Elder," he said.

"Okay," Alex said with a smile as he followed behind the man.

As Alex walked through the village, he could see curious eyes glancing at him through the windows of the houses.

The villagers were still wary of him.

They probably had bad experiences with strangers.

Not everyone was as courageous as the old smith.

After a minute, the two of them arrived in front of a normal house.

It didn't look any different from any other house in the city.

Just like every other house, it was made out of grey stone.

The man knocked a couple of times on the door. "Elder, I think we have someone that can take on the Ice Wood Pest."

'Ice Wood Pest?' Alex repeated in his head.

After some seconds, the door opened, and an old man looked at Alex.

The man was probably in his fifties or sixties, but he looked like he was in his seventies.

His frame was small, and he seemed to not have much strength in his body anymore. The man also used a long cane in order to stand relatively straight.

However, when Alex saw the old man, he became a bit surprised.

A bit of Mana was swirling around the old man!

Was he a Mage?

Of course, the old man couldn't be compared to Duke Whirlwind. When put into comparison, the old man felt like an old weed while Duke Whirlwind felt like a towering, ancient oak.

Duke Whirlwind had pulled in an incredible amount of Mana like a whirlpool, while this old man only pulled in a bit of Mana, one teaspoon at a time.

The gap was just too vast.

"You're a Mage?" Alex asked.

The old smith was surprised by Alex's words, but the eyes of the old man didn't react.

It was like he had expected that.

The old man looked at Alex, and he could see that Alex was pulling in quite a bit of Mana, even more than the old man himself.

"Are you confident?" the old man asked Alex.

"No," Alex answered.

The old smith was surprised by Alex's answer.

The old man only smiled a bit.

"Smart," he said. "Come in."

'How could I be confident in defeating an enemy I don't even know?' Alex thought.

The old smith waited outside while Alex entered the old man's house.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ The house was very simple and quaint. It looked like a cozy house of a villager.

The old man gestured to a chair, and Alex sat down.

The old man got some water from a bucket and warmed it over the fire, and while the water was warming, the old man sat down in front of Alex.

"Have you fought a High-Rank Beast before?" the man asked.

Alex thought back to the Ice Spear Bear and nodded. According to Duke Whirlwind, that Ice Spear Bear had been a High-Rank Beast. Back then, Alex had probably been in the Mid Soldier Stage, which meant that Alex had basically jumped a Small Stage or Small Realm.

"Did you win?" the old man asked.

"I'm still alive, aren't I?" Alex asked.

"You could have fled."

"I didn't," Alex answered.

"So, did you win?" the old man asked again.

"Yes, I won," Alex answered.

The old man nodded.

"Would you be willing to fight another one?" the old man asked.

Alex immediately nodded.

"I'm warning you. This one isn't easy to deal with," the old man said.

Alex looked with a concerned look at the old man. "What separates this one from other High-Rank Beasts?"

"It's the descendant of a beast of the Second Realm," the man said. "This means that this beast can use its Elemental Affinity. In essence, it can create rudimentary spells."

Silence.

The man was a bit surprised when he saw Alex's expression.

Alex looked at the old man like he was waiting for more info.

When Alex saw that the old man had stopped talking, he raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Can't all High-Rank Beasts do that?" he asked.

The man was surprised by Alex's question. "No, they can't. Only the descendants from Beasts in the Second Realm can use their Element in the First Realm."

"Oh, okay," Alex answered like it was no big deal.

The old man was a bit confused by Alex's lack of reaction.

He had expected that Alex would reconsider after hearing about his target.

Beasts that could use their Elements in the First Realm were on the rare side, and they couldn't be compared to Beasts that reached maturity in the First Realm.

Meanwhile, Alex was confused why the old man made such a big deal out of that.

Basically all of Alex's past opponents, except for the Pest Cats, had had some form of Elemental Attack.

Was this supposed to be rare?

"Young man, if I may ask, what kind of High-Rank Beast have you fought?" the old man asked.

"A High-Rank Ice Spear Bear," Alex answered.

Silence.

The man seemingly froze.