"I don't get Ivan, Hero. He treats me like I'm some fragile glass. And a bonus is, he's as bossy as my mum."

Hero shook his head and chuckled. He turned to Dianne, who was swinging her axe at a tree, relieving her annoyance. He went back to collecting berries and replied, "He wants you to be like his daughter. Pretty, prim, proper... All that stuff."

Dianne dropped her axe and dropped to her knees, groaning loudly. "What about you? He gives you training, teaches you how to fight, hunt and build."

Hero tossed a rotten berry at his friend, hitting her square on her forehead. Dianne crawled over to him and leaned on his shoulder, reaching out to comb her fingers through the boy's long and soft hair. Hero gave her a bag of berries and asked, "What about Markus? He doesn't teach him what he does to me. He's the brains of the cabin, ya know."

Dianne stuffed a handful of berries before saying while chewing, "Aye fant tho bee like you, Bffero."

She swallowed. "You're so cool, standing on a hill after shooting an arrow at some bear or something, hair flowing in the wind."

Dianne grabbed locks of her friend's hair and waved it around. Hero played along and raised his chin, taking his bow and aiming it on an apple that hung heavy from a tree nearby. Dianne stopped and grinned, whispering, "Shoot it down."

Hero looked at her and sighed before steadying his bow, taking deep breaths. Dianne's eyes switched from the apple to Hero constantly, watching with excitement.

Hero released.

And the apple was in the tree no more.

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As Hero and Dianne entered the cabin, Ivan looked up from teaching Markus and gasped at the sight of them. Their clothes and were torn and ragged, their brown cloak was all stained with mud, their hair was in a mess and they left mud prints on the floor with their boots.

"Clean up at once! Dianne, you need to look more presentable. Moya Roza, assemble the targets, we need to work on your sword fighting skills," Ivan ordered all in a single breath.

Dianne rolled her eyes and muttered, "Presentable? Presentable to who? We live alone."

Hero jabbed her with his elbow and went to the lounge to clean his armor.

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A spider crawled after the two friends as they returned, absolutely mesmerized by the male of the two. The spider stopped when they left the forest and walked to a clearing, with a cozy cabin.

The spider shook its head and concentrated hard on its form and felt its muscles shift and change painfully. And he then stood as a human, leaning on a tree and watching the boy enter the cabin.

The nineteen year old had came up with his very first mission in his life after he escaped the scientists.

The boy had an... Allure of some sort. It didn't look like it affected the girl, only him. The spider-hybrid caught the boy's scent and followed him all the way here, and he now knew where he lived in.

He had a mission now.

One day, at least one, he will try to talk to the boy.

The spider felt his heart flutter in his chest as he gazed at the cabin. He then shifted back to a cave spider, and ran back into the forest.

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Ivan inspected the torn up dummy, nodding his head in approval. He turned back to Hero, who was sprawled on the sandy clearing, panting heavily. The boy sat up, waiting for his mentor's feedback.

"You sliced 'em up pretty good, moya Roza. I need to get Dianne stitching again," commented Ivan thoughtfully.

Hero shook his head and sighed, "I don't think Dianne would want to do that.."

Ivan didn't even turn from putting the dummies away. He yelled over his shoulder, "Why?"

Hero drew patterns on the sand, mind traveling somewhere else as he replied lazily, "She doesn't like being taught those things... She likes action, adventure, not sitting around to please a man."

Ivan froze for a moment, taking his student's words in. He nodded, understanding and said, "Alright then, I'll speak to her. You go and do whatever you want now, just be back by supper and make sure no one sees you."

Hero stood up, dusting dirt off his knees. He reached out for his satchel resting on the wall and left the clearing, heading straight for the sea.

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Hero loved the view of the ocean.

Sitting on a rock, with legs dangling over the edge, his leather notebook sat in his lap, nibbling the tip of his quill...

It was just so relaxing.

His eyes gazed over the ocean, which was quiet that day. Usually the tides were high and wild, but now the tides were low and calm. Dozens of shells and seaweed littered the shore, and the boy could see the trail of swept up shells stretch for a long, long way.

He dropped his quill on his knee and stretched, groaning when he felt his tired muscles pull and stretch. He stopped and gasped when his legs bucked up, and the quill fell to the sea. He slammed a fist on the ground in anger. He was continuing his mob studies and that was his eleventh quill that month. The previous ones were either mauled by Markus, stolen by Dianne, thrown away by Ivan 'accidentally' or lost in the woods, while fleeing from mobs.

Power: 24%

"Hey, did you drop this?"

Hero's eyes strayed down below his feet, and was locked with a pair of dazzling purple reptile-like eyes.

Whoever was staring back at him was beautiful. The woman had long, wavy and wet grey hair, that fell right under her chest. Her bright eyes and cherry lips stood out from her pale complexion. In her delicate fingers was Hero's grey quill, which was quite drenched from the water. The girl looked much older than him, with her size. Her upper half was completely naked, while her waist and below was underwater.

Hero slowly took the quill from her, their fingers brushing ever so slightly.

"You are quite the small one, for our lord..."

Hero shook his head, cursing himself for staring too much. This woman had some sort of seduction, and it was powerful, being completely bare of clothes.

"Sorry, what? Lord? I'm not small."

The woman laughed, and Hero loved her silky voice.

She held out her hand and said, "My name is Melanie Coralle. Awkward name, I know. Who are you, young one?"

Hero tried to find his words as he slowly grabbed Melanie's hands, but only pulled back when he felt something slimy touch in between his fingers.

He shook his hands and said, "I-I... My name i-is... Um..."

Melanie cocked her head and rolled her eyes. "So sorry, my lord. Us mermaids have an allure to attract humans onto our platters, whatever you call it. What you feel right now is not good for your head, so please focus. I have no attraction to human as food, so don't worry."

Hero seemed to snap back to reality.

"Mermaids?!"

Before you ask, no this would not be some sick heterosexual love story.

It will be sorta a love story, just not between... Melanie and Hero...