"SAM MOVE!" Sarah screamed.

"Damn, I was careless," Sam thought as he dove to his right as a club crashed down where he once stood. Coupling his dive with a shoulder roll, he then jumped back up to his feet as he drew his sword as he spun back to face his new target. "It seems my luck isn't any better in this life."

Snarling before him was a large figure much more intimidating than the ogres he had faced previously. It stood about two feet taller, and instead of the flabby looking torsos previously this one looked completely muscular. It had two black horns coming out from its forehead and curving upward with a head of long messy black hair. It still wielded a large club, but this one was larger, and looked like it had roughly worked the shape to improve its functionality.

"I knew there had to be a deviant form around here, but who would have guessed it would come to me?" Sam thought to himself as the Ogre General lifted his club from the ground where he once stood.

Sam took a deep breath and his world slowed. This was a technique he learned in his previous life called Insight. It increased the level of his senses and his brain's processing speed, allowing him to take in everything in far greater detail and improve his reaction time. He couldn't maintain this state for long, but it was long enough to gather all the information and formulate a plan. He looked out of the corner of his eye, his father was coming, but the Ogre General would have time for one more swing before he would need to focus on him.

"Well, I am one who always wants to test how things work, so let's see if I can apply what I learned from my father earlier."

His hyper focused state ended and the world around him appeared to move at its original pace again. Sam adjusted his stance and position of his sword as he began to circulate his aura like he saw. He could hear his mother screaming for him to run, but he wasn't going anywhere. He never had much of a desire to fight in his previous life, but he knew why he did now, what man wouldn't want to slay a monster.

The ogre General was almost in range to attack, and had already raised its club. Needing more time to get the new aura flow right, Sam used another technique from his previous life, Intimidation. The idea behind it was to induce a state of fear in an opponent during battle. This was a mandatory technique all soldiers learned but in the special forces they were taught on a more advanced level.

While the soldiers were trained to only use it, in special forces they were trained to focus it on a specific target. In his past life he never reached that level, mostly because he didn't care to since he always was surrounded by the rest of his team who were more capable. With that said, even though he couldn't focus it on a specific target, his intimidation technique was more potent than most.

Channeling his aura in the specific manner he activated intimidation, causing the ogre General to falter. As the ogre shook almost frozen, his own father stumbled, and his mother fell to her knees.

"How in the hell can a child have such a powerful bloodlust?" John questioned as a chill ran down his spine.

As everyone stumbled from the psychological attack, Sam put the time to good use.

"Starting from my core, circulate the aura up to my arms, then... no, I need more than just my arms. Even though my father only circulated his aura through his arm, in a battle like this the whole body is used. Circulate down to my legs, then up through my arms, then all the way to the tip of my sword. I have to also ensure it completely moves through my torso and head so I don't injure myself as I swing."

It wasn't perfectly like how John did it, but Sam was able to get close enough to feel good about it. And he couldn't have completed at a better time, the effects of intimidation had worn off on the Ogre General, and it was on the move again. The ogre General took a final step closer as it raised its club high over its head, but Sam held firm and didn't move as he waited for the right moment. It then swung down with the club.

As the club came down Sam activated Insight again, and the world around him slowed. The club was definitely on track to crush him, but there was no way it was going to happen now. Sam winced as it felt like a nail had been driven into his skull, then jumped back out of the way. The biggest downside of insight was the eventual sensory overload, which would leave a person completely incapacitated for a few minutes or even knock them out for even longer. In his previous life he almost never pushed it past the early stages which was just a headache, but he was also more used to it and older then so he could last longer.

As to prevent a worst case scenario, a second after his feet touched back down, he canceled insight. The club passed by so closely that Sam could feel the rush of wind it created as it passed him. As the club crashed down into the ground he charged forward. With his first step he was atop the club sprinting towards the Ogre General with his wooden sword pulled back with aura circulating through, making it look as though it were covered with blue flames.

His aura was strengthening every cell in his body, from the muscles in his legs that were moving him faster than he had ever run, to his eyes that were locked on the Ogre's throat with sharpened vision. The Ogre started to raise its club, but it was too late. Sam jumped, pushing off its forearm, sending him right towards the monster's head.

Through his peripheral vision he saw the ogres left hand moving to intercept him, but something shot right passed his face and struck the beast's open hand. He couldn't tell what it was without diverting his attention, but the cold air he felt as it passed by told him it had to have been one of his mothers spells.

Due to the attack hitting its hand the Ogre was starting to move out of Sam's path, but it wasn't fast enough. As Sam started to pass the ogres head his sword stuck its neck, and was starting to cut through.

"Yes! Finally!" Sam cheered to himself as he felt his wooden sword cutting through the ogre's tough hyde.

Unfortunately a simple wooden sword could only handle so much strain, and this new method of circulating aura put an even greater strain than just channeling aura into it. The sword had cut through the Ogres windpipe when its limit was reached, and with a "pop" it exploded.

The force of the aura being released during the explosion sent Sam spinning out of control until he crashed into the ground. He hit hard and rolled several times before he came to a stop. When he regained his orientation he quickly looked for the ogre, and shuttered as he saw it still standing.

Sam looked at his splintered sword, it was nothing more than kindling now and would provide no help if the ogre were to try and attack him. However upon closer examination he could see it had released its club and both of its hands at its throat with an ice spear at its feet. He could see John off to the side with his sword and shield raised ready to attack, but he held back a few feet out of the monster's range of attack watching.

The Ogre turned towards Sam, almost as if to satisfy its own curiosity as to what happened to him. Dark red blood poured from its neck and around its fingers clasped over its wound. The ogre took one shaky step towards him with rage filled eyes before its expression faded and crashed down lifeless.

"SAM!" Sarah cried as she ran to him.

Sam finally breathed a sigh of relief as he dropped the remainder of his sword and leaned forward as he rested his hands on his knees for support.

"Talk about an adrenaline rush. Still, I can't believe I just did something that stupid! What the hell was I thinking?!"

Sarah arrived, dropping to her knees to finish closing the distance, and took him by the shoulders as she started to look him over.

"Where are you hurt? Tell me, mommy will take care of you," she said in a panic.

As she did this she was also jerking him around like a rag doll.

"At this rate you'll hurt me more than the Ogre General did," Sam replied with an amused tone.

"Sorry," she replied as she released him, her body shaking as she looked at him with tears welling up in her eyes from the fear.

"It's ok, and so am..." Sam started, but stopped as his vision became blurry he felt his balance slipping. "Actually, I'm feeling a bit tired. I think I'm going to take a nap now."

And with that he collapsed into his mothers arms.

"SAM!" Sarah screamed in panic.

She lowered him to the ground as she continued crying out his name while she gently slapped his cheek.

"Sarah calm down," John said with a commanding voice as he knelt down across from her.

She quickly backed up enough for John to get closer. "Is he..."

"Sarah. Calm. Down. Breath." He said slowly and more calmly. "Look, he's still breathing normal," he pointed out as he drew attention to the rise and fall of his chest. He then leaned down and put his ear to his son's chest. "And his heartbeat is strong."

"Then what's wrong with him?"

"If I had to guess, he wore himself out battling monsters," he said matter of factly. "Sarah, you need to stay calm and think in times like this. You panicking doesn't help anyone."

She nodded and started trying to take deep breaths.

"Good. For now we need to get back to the village," he scooped Sam up into his arms. "And take him to the temple so they can make sure he's ok."

"Right," Sarah replied as she stood back up, still clearly worried about Sam, but calmed enough to think a bit more clearly.

John stood up as well and looked down at the ogre General corpse. "What is going on here?" He thought, then took off running back to the village with Sarah running right behind him.

——————————————————————-

Sam started to crack his eyes open slowly, his vision blurry. He groaned as he raised his hands and began to rub his eyes.

"Father Michael, Sam's awake," a woman's voice called out.

"Huh?" Sam started to sit up, still groggy from passing out and his mind still in a fog. However he dropped down and pressed a hand against his temple as he was immediately overtaken by a splitting headache.

"Hey there Sam, how are you feeling?"

"Nail through my skull feeling," he replied through gnashed teeth.

He then felt a hand press gently against his forehead, followed by warmth as the pain disappeared.

"Better?"

Sam looked up to see a man in his early thirties with a little less than shoulder length wavy blonde hair and blue eyes, wearing a white and blue robe with gold edging.

"Yes, thank you Father Michael," Sam replied, identifying the man.

"Good to hear. Rose, can you please get a snack for Sam?"

"Yes Father," a woman wearing blue and white robes replied and left the room.

Father Michael was a priest for the goddess life Atune. Normally a small village like this one wouldn't get a temple, but the lord of the territory was a devout follower, and paid a hefty sum to the Pope for one to be built in every village in his territory. Even though nobles were firmer followers of the religion, commoners were not. The biggest way the church made money was not through donations, but from the priests using their holy power of healing. For nobles the amount was little more than pocket change, but for commoners the amount could mean less food on the table.

Commoners saw the temple and priests more like greedy leaches than holy people. Father Michael and sister Rose however were seen differently. When they came to the village instead of complaining about anything Father Michael removed his robes, rolled up his sleeves, and helped the workers build homes, even though the construction of the temple hadn't even begun yet. As for Sister Rose, she helped prepare meals for the workers and watched over the few children there while the parents worked.

As for the cost for healing, Father Michael worked more on a curved scale. He accepted what they could afford, and if they didn't have money he also worked on a bartering system, accepting goods or food as payment as well. The people of the village saw them both not as leeches, but as people to truly help their common man as the religion preached.

"Considering I'm in the temple infirmary I'm guessing I'm guessing my parents made it back ok?" Sam asked as he looked around the plain room.

"Yes," Father Michael replied as he took a seat next to the bed Sam was in. "but they had to leave to make sure there weren't any more ogres. They left a little over two hours ago."

"Two hours?"

"Yup. Your mother was very adamant about staying with you, but with more ogres potentially running around they wanted her at least on the wall."

"I can't believe she just left me," Sam commented casually.

"Oh it wasn't easy. I had to confirm for her twice that you were fine, and then promise to send Sister Rose to get her if anything changed."

"I see...well, I hope they're ok."

"I'm sure they are." Father Michael gave a knowing smile. "I mean you fought ogres and came back ok."

Sam gave a fake laugh. "Come on Father, you know I can't fight ogres."

"You know it's not nice to lie. I healed you after your parents brought you here, and used my holy power to essentially look for injuries." He leaned forward a little bit with a knowing smirk. "What do you think I saw?"

Sam's fake expressions ended and he became nervous. "You won't be sharing that information with anyone will you?"

"Only your parents, though they seem to already know. Your father asked me not to say a word about your condition or anything I saw."

Sam breathed a sigh of relief. Despite his thoughts on religion, he knew Father Michael was a good man and was trustworthy.

"So how long have you been at the second stages?"

Sam opened his mouth to answer but paused. "Why aren't you asking when I awoke?"

"Do you remember that day a few years ago when I healed you after you fell out of a tree?"

"A little bit?" Sam replied, suspecting a normal child wouldn't remember much from that age.

"That day I was confident I felt your aura, and thought I sensed a mana circle. But I was so focused on healing you that I didn't pay them any mind. Later after I had a chance to relax and let my mind wander, I remembered it again, but wasn't confident about it. Aura wouldn't be too surprising, but the mana would be."

"Why wouldn't feeling I had aura be surprising?"

"An aura core can form on its own when a person feels their life is in danger, essentially a near death experience. Even though the idea of a child that young forming a core is pretty much unheard of, it would at least make some sense."

"I see, so It's probably a surge of adrenaline and some other factor that causes a core to quickly form under those circumstances."

"Anyway, since I wasn't confident I decided to just keep quiet since I was probably wrong. And seeing as you're a child, I expected your parents would bring you back with some kind of injury eventually so I could check." The Father's eyes widened a little as he tilted his head a bit. "Who would have thought it would be near three years before you graced me with your presence again."

Sam gave a smug smirk. "Well, you know aura does make the body stronger."

Sister Rose now returned, and placed a plate of apple silvers and a roll on the bed beside him.

"Thank you sister," Sam said with a kind smile.

"You're welcome. So Father, how is he?"

"Sam's fine. In fact, you just took care of his last issue. An empty stomach."

Sam smiled as he took an apple slice and ate it. "Just a few months."

"Pardon?" Father Michael asked.

"Since I reached my second stages. I reached the second stage of my aura core about a week ago and my second circle two months ago."

"I have to admit, for your age that's nothing short of impressive."

"I actually could have done better with my circles, but I wanted to explore my limits completely as a first circle first."

"I might not be able to use mana, but even I know the limits of a first circle are pretty limited."

Sam looked away sheepishly. "Yeah, my limits weren't the same as normal first circles."

"What does that mean?" Father Michael asked. Sam just looked at his food and ate silently. "I understand, you don't need to answer."

"Thank you," he replied, taking another bite of an apple slice. "Since you asked me questions, can I ask you two a question?"

"Of course, what would you like to know?" Father Michael replied with a smile as he leaned forward.

"I can feel both of your holy magic, but why doesn't Sister Rose ever use it to heal anyone?"

Holy magic was different from mana and aura, even Sam could feel it. It is said that holy magic is a gift from the goddess, that only those she blesses are able to receive it. Sam of course didn't buy any of that. Organized religions were dissolved on earth several hundred years ago, being labeled as a farce created by people who wanted only money and power from those desperate to believe in a higher power. To Sam this holy magic was most likely just another energy some people were born with, and the "blessing" was just a way of awakening it so it could be used.

Father Michael immediately looked uncomfortable and looked up at Sister Rose, who now wore a sad expression, mixed with a little anger.

"Rose..."

"It's ok. He trusted us, the least I can do is answer his question." She then sat down on the bed by Sam's feet. "It's not like I'm embarrassed by it or it's a big secret. Though I do ask that you don't share this with anyone."

Sam nodded in agreement. If they kept his secret then he would keep hers.

"Unlike mana and aura, holy magic can be used as either depending on how the goddess decides to bless a person."

Sam tilted his head and raised an eyebrow in obvious confusion.

"For example, Father Michael can use his holy magic to heal and create large barriers, I however can't. I can instead use it to strengthen my body and equipment like aura can for you. You see Sam, I'm... well, I was what's called a Paladin."

"Kind of like a knight?"

"That's right."

"Then why are you here? I've never even seen you wield a sword or wear armor."

Rose but her lip. "A long time ago, I was a guard captain in the holy city. I once caught some merchants smuggling illegal goods and tried to arrest them. However they fought back, and I killed them. One of the bishops was furious, and had me stripped of my title and tried to have me thrown in prison. If not for Father Michael speaking on my behalf I would be there now. The only condition is that I must stay by his side and never use my holy power again."

Sam's right eye twitched. "But they were criminals, and they were resisting arrest. It's not like you were trying to kill them right?"

"Right. But the Bishop felt I overstepped my authority."

Sam balled his fists with anger. This was an open and shut case for him. "That bishop was no doubt corrupt and those merchants worked for him. He probably just punished her to discredit her in case she found anything incriminating on him. This is exactly why religions were banned on earth! And here she is biting her tongue refusing to bad mouth this horrible religion!"

Rose placed a hand on one of Sam's fists.

"Thank you for being angry for me, but nothing will change with your anger. I accepted long ago that there is nothing we can do about people in power. All we can do is take our small victories when we get them." Rose looked up to Father Michael. "If not for Father Michael I would no doubt be rotting in prison or would be dead by now. Instead I'm living a happy, fulfilling life here."

Sam was still frustrated, but he understood what she meant. There were corrupt nobles in his previous life as well, and commoners like himself couldn't do anything about them either.

"So does that mean Father Michael is someone very important?" Sam asked, looking up at him.

"I was someone with promise of becoming someone important. But I chose being here helping the people of this village to be more important."

"In other words this was his punishment for going against that bishop, and he just accepted it to avoid causing any more trouble."

Sam wanted to ask more questions, specifically about Holy Magic. Not only to satisfy his own curiosity, but to try and change the conversation to a more pleasant mood. However the talk was forced to end there.

The doors burst open and John and Hendrick burst in carrying a man with spiky blonde hair into the the room.

"We need help here!"