Arad opened his eyes inside a small wooden house in the middle of the vibrant emerald forest. His eyes slowly moved around, glancing at the walls, the table beside the bed, the frames on the walls, and the deep and rich smell of incense filling the air.

One of his incarnations was just getting on with Claug in the private quarter, but for this version of him, he needed to get to work quickly. The higher cultivator might’ve stopped harassing Tina for now, but she was still the last of her class, and the cost of her cultivation resources kept piling up.

He needed to get to work and earn some money, and the only way he could do that here without breaking the entire world’s economy was to cut trees and sell them. He looked around the room for a second; Tina had already left for the temple early this morning because they were going to explore a dungeon today.

In this world, dungeons are usually referred to as sacred dens because a lot of the world tree’s power condenses inside them through what they call leylines, and that power is what the cultivators need to grow stronger. In short, Tina and her class were going into the sacred den to harvest the ley lines so they could use those resources to cultivate and grow stronger.

Arad would’ve kept an eye on her, but he really didn’t need to now. Besides being with Noah and Peara, who are really powerful cultivators compared to their peers in the class, a fragment of Doma is always within Tina, keeping her safe and sending information back to Arad.

After washing his face, eating something just out of habit, he picked up his massive wood axe and walked out of the house. Standing over three meters tall, wearing a vest and pants with suspenders, Arad stood out among the trees like a sore thumb, because none of their trunks were thicker than his arms.

He’ll need to walk quite a distance to reach the part of the forest he is chopping down, but today, he seems to have a very strange guest. Right at the front gate of his house, an old man sat on the ground, smoking a pipe as he watched the birds drink from a puddle.

The old man wore a strange, dish-like hat, his clothes were made of pure white and black silk, decorated by gold threads, and he even smelled like herbs. But what drew Arad’s attention more was the man’s long, grey beard and moustaches that was over a meter long, his young and burning blue eyes, and the dense aura of magic around his seemingly frail frame.

As Arad took a step forward, he walked over the puddle and stood right in front of the old man, without disturbing the birds drinking there. "Welcome. If you want a drink, you can come inside." Arad looked down at the man, and the old man was busy staring at the birds with shocked eyes.

"Young one, do the birds not fear you?" He was more surprised that the birds didn’t fly away the moment Arad stomped beside them, and that would’ve been just the first of the surprises he would see today.

"If they did, they would’ve flown away." Arad squatted down and stared right at the man’s eyes. "You look old, but you have a well-trained body. You remind me of my grandma." Arad was talking about Nina’s grandmother, whom he considers part of his own family.

The old man smiled. "That’s a lot of praise coming from someone blessed with such a body as yours. Was your grandmother just big and strong?"

Arad shook his face. "She isn’t as big as I am, but she is definitely strong. She might’ve grown thin, her back might’ve hunched over, and her joints might not be holding as well as they did before. But I’ve seen her outrun a horse and kill more men than trained fighters could."

"I would love to meet her one day. Hopefully, your grandfather won’t mind." The old man chuckled and then finally looked at Arad’s face directly. "You’re huge, just as the rumors have stated."

"So, you came looking for me? I expected that someone like you would come." Arad rested the wood axe on his shoulder and looked at the old man, now with a sharp glare. "So, what would it be?"

"I came in peace. I just wanted to see if the rumors are true or not. A man as tall as a house and with limbs as thick as tree trunks, such strange tales are the essence of myths and legends." He pushed his hat back and leaned back. "But, the power I sense from you is strange."

"Hoo?" Arad smiled, "And, what would you do about that?"

Silence fell for a second as the wind howled, the leaves danced around them, and the birds at the tiny puddle flew away. The old man jumped into the air with the grace of a cat, spun several times, and suddenly he had two long, sharp swords in his hands, one with a black handle, and the other with a white one.

He landed on Arad’s fence, fixed his hat, and pointed both swords at Arad. "I am, but a mere traveling hermit, and I want to judge your worth with my own hands. Would you honor me with a duel, strong one?"

Arad stood, took a step back, and held his massive wood axe in one hand as he took a stance. "Nice swords, grandpa. Where did you get them?"

"Two tai chi swords, The Resonating Edge Ying and the Ringing Blade Yang, I forged one, my late wife forged the other." He smiled, "What of your axe, strong one?"

"The biggest, cheapest wood axe the local drunkard smith could forge, at a steep discount since I hauled charcoal for him." Arad took a single step forward and swung the axe directly at the Hermit’s neck.

The Hermit moved at an incredible speed, lifted one sword up to deflect Arad’s axe as he leapt over his arm, swinging the other blade at Arad’s face. "You’re slow, strong one."

Arad shifted his head to the side, but still got his cheek cut, and then got kicked in the face as the Hermit jumped back, and landed right on the fence.

"You’ll never hit me with such slow and obvious attacks, strong one." As the old man smiled, Arad stood there with a passive face. Even if the Hermit was smiling, he was confused as Arad’s skin didn’t feel like human flesh, and the wound had already stopped bleeding.

"Ho?" Arad smiled, "I’ll never hit you? Who decided that? You?"

The Hermit looked down and noticed that half of his beard and mustache were missing, alongside a large cut on his chest. He wasn’t wounded, but his expensive robe was damaged.

"You... cut my hair and clothes, with that heavy, dull axe?" The Hermit gasped, but the real surprise was just coming. Arad dropped his axe and took a slow step forward. It was so natural and non-threatening that the Hermit didn’t react for a second, and by the time he noticed that Arad had closed the distance, it was already over.

Arad reached forward with his hand, grabbed one of the Hermit’s swords, and gave him a passive stare. "Think fast, old man." Arad was grabbing the deadly and sharp sword with his bare hand, and yet, the Hermit couldn’t pull it back.

In the next fraction of a second, Arad smacked the old man in the face with his other palm. The hit was so hard that the shockwave burst forward, and the old man’s body was flung back like a rag doll, leaving the sword firmly in Arad’s hand. The Hermit had flown back so fast, in fact, that he broke a tree in half with his body, and only stopped at the second.

"Your mind is slow, don’t lose focus." Arad looked at the sword that was still in his hand, and then back at the Hermit who was just standing back.

"Ah, it takes me back." The old man ripped his robe open to remain shirtless, showing what could only be described as a withered body made of absolute steel and riddled with scars and old wounds. "Fighting the unknown, the world is indeed bigger than anyone could ever fathom."

He took a stance, waved his hand, and Arad could feel a strange pull on the sword he was still gripping, so he let it go and return to the Hermit. "Strong one, would join me on my mission to save the sacred trees? Nightmarish creatures are gnawing on its divine roots."

"I am a lumberjack, I don’t save trees, I cut them for firewood." Arad picked up his wood axe again.

"Father, you dare go ahead without me?" A tall and beautiful woman with white hair, an emotionless stare, and a sword in her hand stood behind Arad, pointing the tip of her blade at Arad’s back. "Don’t move, big guy. We’re only here to ask for your help. Strange monsters are eating the World Tree roots. We’ll pay you to help us fight them."

She pushed her sword a bit into his back. "Of course, you can’t say no. So calm down, or I’ll stab you right through the heart."

Arad smiled, "Think fast, backstabbing lady." Then, in the blink of an eye, his body spun around, and the back of his large palm gave her face a kiss, sending her spinning with most of her teeth flying everywhere.