Max came to his house and took a bath. He wore a black shirt with a black pant along with leather boots. He came out of the house and took one last look at the place where he lived for almost seven years.
He walked to the clan main gate which is the only entry and exit in the huge Thunder Lion Mansion.
"Little brother, please stop. Where are you going. Do you have any permission to leave the clan?"
The guards at the gate stopped Max. Max showed the token that his mother had left him. During this six months he also went to the library regularly. He finally knew what this token was. This token represents the patriarch of the clan. Although having the token does not mean one can order the clan members to do anything they want, it represents the authority of the patriarch.
Leonhardt previously gifted this token to his wife who left it to Max after her death. Even Leonhardt does not know that the token is with Max.
The guards saluted him respectfully and lifted the massive gate up with the mechanism present at the bottom.
Max came out of the gate as he saw a huge plank with massive letters on the gate that read 'Thunder Lion Mansion.'
He walked out of the clan without any nostalgia. He knew that his journey has just begun.
"Master Max!"
Back at the house where Max lived, Rin entered the door when she did not get any response. She saw a cloth bag along with a piece of paper placed on the wooden table.
She picked up the paper and tears flowed out of her eyes.
'Dear Rin, thank you for your care all these years. May we meet again if fate permits.'
"I am sorry Mistress Elora, I could not take care of Master Max properly."
She opened the bag which contained a few golden coins which were enough for a family of three to live for years without any problem. These gold coins were last of the things left by his mother along with the token and the space ring. Max kept ten coins for him and gave the remaining ones to Rin.
But Rin did not show any joy on seeing these gold coins. She was worried about Max's future. She has followed Elora for almost twenty ears ever since Elora rescued her from the bandits. So, she pledged her allegiance to serve her for life. Even though Elora died, she wanted to take care of Max as a repayment to Elora.
Max reached the town nearest to clan by evening. He wanted to build a set of darts and daggers. Max learned Blacksmithing during his days he worked as the assassin of the mercenary guild. Although he does not know how to build pistols and huge guns, he can make streamlined darts, daggers and knives.
He inquired for the black smithing shop in the town. He worked towards the location he got from the local people.
He saw a building with a single floor. It looked like the building was out of maintenance for months.
As he opened the door he saw eighteen to nineteen year old young man sleeping with his head on the table. Max knocked the table hard three times.
"Who dared to disturb my sleep!"
The young man yawned lazily. He looked a bit sloppy with beard. He had strong muscles. Max could see that he was not a Star Knight.
"Oh, it's a guest. Little brother what do you want?"
The sloppy young man questioned Max with a smile that he thought was gentle, but the smile was a bit wretched.
Max shook his head and asked.
"Can you provide a forge for me?"
"Little brother, stop joking. What do you want a forge for?"
"I want to forge something."
"You?"
The sloppy young man looked like he did not believe Max said, but as it was a request of the customer he complied.
"Here, this is the only forge in my shop. Even though it has been out of use for some months, it works perfectly well."
Max walked to the forge and picked up the hammer and started striking iron. The hammer sounded in rhythm as he kept striking the iron. The sloppy man had an unbelievable expression on his face. He was amazed that a young child can strike iron, that too with a perfect technique. He watched the entire process during which Max was trying to build the darts.
He really admired Max for his skills as a blacksmith. In this continent blacksmithing was also one of the two main professions along with alchemists who create potion. Although blacksmiths like him who are not Star Knights or low level Star Knights are dispensable, high ranked blacksmiths are very much respected. When he saw Max's skills and power he immediately guessed that he is a Star Knight. He felt that Max should become a high ranked blacksmith in the future. So he treated Max with respect and admiration.
Max finished building the darts. Actually it is better to say that those are needled than darts. Each of the silver needle was very thin with a streamlined structure with a tip that shone with cold light. The base of needle was a little bit thicker than the remaining part. Max packed the bunch of needles into his space ring and prepared to leave.
"How much?"
"No! No! Master Star Knight, how can I take money from you. Watching your striking technique was already a great gift to me."
The sloppy young man waved his hands and shook his head.
Max did not care about his attitude and put two gold coins on the table and left without giving him any room to speak.
For the past seven years, although Max has been doing his exercises, his strength increase was not that significant. The only way to increase strength quickly was on the verge of life and death. He, who wandered at the edge of death in the wilderness knew that only in the face of death can one stimulate his potential. So he decided to train himself by fighting Star beasts in a forest for the upcoming few years.
The best choice was The Ever Green forest which is one of the three forests present in the continent. The Ever Green forest cannot be even compared to quarter of the Star Beast forest whether it is based on area, population or strength of the Star beasts.
One of the reasons Max chose this forest was because the forest did not have any Star beast above Rank 6, which ensures his safety. Also the Star beast forest is way too far from Red Lotus empire compared to the Ever Green forest.
The Ever Green forest is situated in the north of the Red Lotus Empire almost running up to half of the border between Red Lotus Empire and Storm Wind Empire.
He bought all the necessities for living in the forest. He also bought a horse in the town, as travelling all the way to beast forest by walk would take time.
After travelling for two days he reached the periphery of the Ever Green forest.