Dungeon Prowler : One Man Army

Chapter 2: Past of the heart

Yunan made his way to the dormitories and filled in the request for a room, he was lodged in with another. He then went to the administrative building and got some supplies, set up his bed and desk, then he made his to the only orphanage in the city.

It may be Yunan's last time in the place he grew up in, with that thought in mind he spent the road reminiscing about his few years there, thought about how his life was both fortunate and unfortunate at the same time, it was like the realisation of the idiom 'blessing in disguise'.

If we go back a few years. Yunan arrived at the orphanage at age 2 after his parents died in an accident, soon after he arrived almost all the kids were either adopted or moved to the church or other places, and so, as one of a handful children in the orphanage, he got his fair share of love and attention from the sisters.

Yunan does not remember a single hard day in his short life, no hunger, cold, or sickness, he was fortunate enough to be the charge of a well-educated sister that taught him how to read early, nursed his mental health as well as his physical health. Sister Theresa would take him to the church's library to read and spend time almost every day, from the day he turned 4.

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During that time he had read all the fables about the heroes of the ages, he was so fascinated by their tales and lives that he made sister Theresa explain to him the stories, how could they do what no man could do, and her explanation was always the same 'Tartarus' and that sparked his interest in the dungeon.

After sharing his interest with sister Theresa; who was by now more of a mother to him than Yunan would admit, Theresa helped him collect all the books she could find about the dungeon Tartarus and the guild, as well as adventurers and other publicly available resources. When Yunan reached age 7, sister Theresa took him to watch the knights of the church train, eventually, he was able to join them and train with them in his own capacity. Thanks to that he learned numerous basic skills and techniques, as well as body enhancing activities that helped him max out his stats and unlocked his dormant potential; the perfect all-rounder.

Yunan found himself outside the orphanage, he took a moment to sort out his feelings and steel his heart. He had the feeling he will never see this place again, even though he called it home, he could not shake the feeling that once he left it would not be his home anymore. Yunan knew he would miss this place, miss the sisters most of all, after all, they were his family, even if it was a borrowed time, they did treat him warmly and took him in as one of them.

Taking a deep breath, Yunan walked through the door and headed for the room where Sister Theresa usually spent her free time. He knocked on the door announcing himself and requested to see his caretaker. Theresa momentarily invited him in, once he walked in the room and closed the door, they stayed silent for a moment. Theresa was sitting on a recliner chair, she had her robes on but not her head veil, she was young, in her late thirties, hair still smooth and shining like obsidian, eyes deep and calm golden honey lakes.

Yunan was looking at her with complex emotions, she was his mother when she did not have her veil on, at least she acted that way, just like now, the way she looked at him was not very different from the looks he has seen parents give their children, she probably took him as a son the moment he was put under her charge all those years ago.

Without breaking the silence Theresa beckoned Yunan, sat him on her lap and hugged his head to her chest, she kissed his forehead and tousled his hair, words were not needed between a mother and her child, it took a few minutes for Yunans heart to calm down. He then stood up beside sister Theresa and bowed deeply to her.

"It is time for you to spread your wings my child", said Theresa with a proud tone, she was truly proud of him. "You can come back home when you feel too full of the world outside, I will be here if you ever come by again" she spoke while her eyes grew misty and she forced her tears back, Yunan could not help but let his tears flow and said with a cracking voice "I'll be going away mother, pray for the day we meet again". He then took a step forward and hugged Theresa with all the force a 10-year-old child could muster.

Although Yunan had tears streaming across his face and sobs were threatening to escape his lips, he had a happy grin on him, he was so happy Theresa did not reject him calling her mother, she was his family, it was the first time he said the word 'mother' to her and he hoped it would not be the last. After a few heart-stirring moments Yunan took his leave with a promise that he will make her proud of him.

Yunan left the room and made rounds around the orphanage, said his goodbyes to the other sisters and the kids left there, then went to his bunk bed and packed a small bag with some clothes, then hurriedly left the place he once called home, trying not to look back lest he returns and forgets about the dreams that occupied both his waking and sleep. As Yunan made his way to the adventurers' academy grounds, he passed by familiar streets and familiar people, each with a memory that reminded him of his home.

Once back in the dormitories Yunan took the whole afternoon to plan out his week and study subjects, the schedule he came up with was as follows: knowledge and theorems on the mornings and combat-related practice in the afternoon. Knowledge was separated as magic, chanting, planning, strategy and general studies. Magic class was about the understanding and use of magic as well as visualisation of its constructs. Chanting was a class about the magical chants and their types. Planning is the class that ensure survival by teaching the student how to take all possible outcomes into all plans. The strategy class is about the deployment and distribution of troops and party members to gain the advantage in any situation, while general studies taught mathematics, engineering, physics and other fields that ordinary folk used in their daily lives.

As for the afternoon classes Yunan chose unarmed or armed combat basic skills, basic footwork and reaction training. Just as it sounds basic combat only teaches the lowest level of offensive and defensive moves, footwork is for dodging and escaping, while reaction training is for increasing battle awareness in Yunan. In this way, Yunan would have a broader outlook on all the basics, and when it came to advanced and higher level skills, there will always be skill books and grimoires for sale in the guild.

Once Yunan finished planing his school time he started thinking about how to spend his free time, he decided upon body enhancement between dawn and first class, then reading complementary skills and techniques after second class till dusk. He chose this so as to keep his body in optimum shape and also not lose any possible enlightenment that he might trigger during class, as for after dinner he chose to meditate or simply sleep and rest his body.

With all he needed to be done and over with, Yunan went to the logistics department of the academy to retrieve some training armour as well as fill in the request for permission to use the training field outside of the allotted time. After he was done, he went to the academy diner for dinner then went back to his room to rest for the long morning to come.

You might ask how can a ten year old plan this meticulously? Well, the answer is obvious really, he had a wonderful caretaker; who taught him and built him up to be better than most children his age, after all failing to plan is planning for failure.