"Warrior Swordsman, please save my son!"
"Please! Please!!!" Maximo, the wealthy merchant pleaded with Rex as he looked nothing like his dignified self at the moment.
After recovering in the hospital and after listening to the conversations by the nurses and patients in the hospital, Rex finally got the news about what happened in the Dragon Horn village just after Maximo left with his crew.
Apparently, the village suffered another major raid from a notorious criminal group that dominated the badlands, the Desert Cowboy Gang.
The Desert Cowboy Gang were well-known for a lot of nefarious and criminal acts that they engage in, but they were known more for their slave trading.
Though humanity was already at an advanced state in terms of development, some inherent criminal parts of humanity could not be erased over the years.
After the age of awakening and as the shelters were finally built, the first great gulf between humans was created in the form of the Great and Small shelters.
The territory of the Small Shelters were the less mineral-filled and resourceful territories and these parts were called the earth rim, while the resource-filled and rich territories were occupied by the Great Shelters.
These rich territories of the earth became known as mid-earth.
Only the really rich and powerful could live in the Great Shelters, the lower levels of human society lived in the small shelters.
As the years grew by and as the superiority of the Great Shelter dwellers grew, they also began to develop ambitions. The limit was finally hit when the idea of slave trading came again in the age of awakening.
Once the idea came, no one really suppressed it and it grew. The Great Shelter dwellers started seeking the low lives to serve as their slaves.
Over the years, different types and levels of slave trading were introduced and the type that the Desert Cowboy Gang engaged in was juvenile slave trade.
By trading children to the scions of the Great Shelters for astronomical prices, they get rich while these unfortunate children are trained by their masters to become perfect robots to perform tedious and time-consuming tasks.
In the mystic world, there was a quote that once you became sold to the Great Shelters as a slave, it takes the intervention of a Legendary Mystic Warrior to save you. This was an indication of how dire the situation of the children was.
For a long time, the Desert Cowboy Gang harassed the Dragon Horn village as they barely resisted their slave-trading actions.
All the villages in this region hated the notorious gang of criminals, but they could never be completely annihilated because of their powerful leader.
While Maximo went on his trip, the notorious gang attacked again, and this time in large numbers. A lot of children were taken and unfortunately, Maximo's household was among those that were raided as his only son was taken.
Once Maximo heard the news, his world fell apart.
By now, the wealthy merchant already tried pulling all strings and connections that he had but no one could stand up against the notorious Gang.
Left with no choice, he could only come to Rex but like the others, Rex was not about to throw his life away and politely declined the request.
Rex received a mission notification after Maximo asked but after understanding the strength of this notorious gang, he refused to put his life to the test. He loathed them but he also had to admit that they were a powerful bunch.
[System Mission: Maximo's Mission of Trust!]
[Mission Details: Maxime, Maximo's son has been taken by the Desert Cowboy Gang and is to be sold to the Great Shelters.]
[Main Mission: Help him to rescue and save his son.]
[Mission Rewards: 2000 Skill Points and Maximo's lifetime trust!]
[Do you want to accept mission?]
Rex was undecided because of the danger involved, so he neither accepted nor rejected the mission, he just left it hanging.
"Please, Warrior Swordsman, I'm willing to be your servant so long as my son can be saved from the hands of the criminals".
"I'll think about it". This was the best reply that Rex could give.
…
After leaving the wealthy merchant's mansion, Rex located a local restaurant in the village as he sat to eat a hot plate of the local specialty.
Originally, after suffering that ambush by the Jaguars, Rex learned a great lesson through blood as he decided to slow down a bit and recover completely.
After arriving at this village, Rex intended to rest for at least 2 days after treatment to recover. He was determined to get power, but he also needed to carter for his mental health as cautioned by Cassandra.
If he was so fixated on getting power without caring about anything else, it would be too easy for him to be lured into the darker ways of getting power.
Rex's original intention was to rest in the village, then go search for his transformed beast before continuing his journey in the Great Forest of Elias.
His plan though was affected a bit after hearing of Maximo's desperate request. As he already learned through experience, training the normal way was good, but the fastest way to amass strength was through his system.
Instead of spending months or even years learning a new skill, he could just spend skill points to learn them and complete the work of years in seconds.
The risks were much but Rex was still tempted by the rewards.
Another reason why he hoped to help this merchant was that despite the tragedy that happened to him, Maximo was still faithful to his promise as he paid him for his services.
Rex received a storage ring containing 20,000 Dragon Horn Credits.
This did not make him friends with the merchant, but Rex felt that it was nice to pay good with good. And for some reason, he felt that doing more good would help him in his quest of trying not to join the dark side in search of power.
The only problem was that going solo against the Desert Cowboy Gang even with his Affection Necklace was suicide. The only way for this to work as if he had a helper that was at least as strong as him.
The mysterious archer in the forest would have been a great candidate, but Rex had no idea what his/her real identity was.
Left with no choice, he could only look in the village. After asking around, he heard of the only Intermediate warrior in the village who fit his requirements.
This candidate was a Mystic Mechanic.
Unlike mystic technicians, mystic mechanics were a greater profession with much more importance since only mystic warriors who awaken the extremely rare mechanic mystic ability could become mystic mechanics.
In the mystic world, despite the technological advancements of this era, cold weapons were the main weapons of mystic warriors because it was countless times harder for mystic energy to be channeled through complicated machinery.
Only mystic mechanics could create complicated machinery like guns, bikes, and cars that mystic warriors could channel their mystic energy through.
According to the information vendor, Aragorn was not a native of Dragon Horn Village. He settled in the village 3 months ago and he was one of the few mystic warriors who were not afraid of hunting down the Desert Cowboy Gang.
Maximo already tried to hire him but he declined for the same reason. He could go against individual criminals of the notorious gang, but he would not throw his life away by going against the full Desert Cowboy Gang.
Both of them had the same reason, but what if…
Rex made his decision instantly as he stood up and left for the well-recognized mechanic workshop of the only mystic mechanic in the village.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel