Given the important task of spreading the word of the Entity, I, Retian Drough, swore an oath that I would complete it no matter what awaited me beyond the borders of our settlement.
However, there was one problem. I had never left this place in my entire life, and the stories about the dangers lurking beyond our familiar lands did little to strengthen my confidence.
There were tales of beasts capable of tearing through entire groups of warriors, monsters that wandered through the wilderness without fear, and lands where travelers could disappear without leaving even a trace behind.
Then I remembered the Daggers of Divinity.
The weapon had been given to me by the Entity itself, a gift that supposedly carried a fragment of its divine power. I had carried it with me ever since receiving it, yet I had never actually tested what it could do.
Perhaps I had been afraid of discovering that I was not worthy of wielding something so extraordinary.
With that thought lingering in my mind, I gathered my belongings and decided to travel toward the nearby mountains. I needed somewhere isolated where I could train without putting the settlement in danger, and more importantly, I needed to understand the true potential of the weapon before beginning my journey across the world.
The moment people noticed me preparing for departure, questions quickly followed.
"Retian, where are you going?"
I stopped packing and turned toward them. For a moment, I considered keeping the truth to myself, but there was no reason to hide it anymore. If I was truly going to spread the Entity’s name throughout the world, then the people closest to me deserved to know why I was leaving.
"The Entity gave me a task," I told them. "I have been chosen to spread his name throughout the entire world."
The words left my mouth with far more confidence than I actually possessed.
"Then let us help."
Another person immediately agreed.
"We will prepare everything you need."
Before I could even respond, the entire settlement seemed to come alive. People gathered supplies, prepared food, repaired equipment, and helped organize everything I would need for the journey.
What I had expected to be a quiet departure somehow transformed into a celebration.
A festival was held in my honor. Even now, I still find it difficult to describe how I felt that day. It was perhaps the happiest day of my entire existence.
Everyone treated me with kindness. There was no discrimination, no suspicion, and no distance between us. They laughed with me, shared food with me, and spoke as though I were a member of their own family. I had never experienced such warmth before, and for a moment, I almost forgot that I was supposed to leave them behind.
Then came the title ceremony.
Someone placed a ceremonial ornament upon me while the crowd gathered around, their voices rising together as they called my name.
"Retian the Chosen!"
My face immediately became hot.
I wanted to disappear.
I had barely begun my journey, yet they were already calling me the Chosen One as though I had accomplished something worthy of legend. I had not defeated a monster or even traveled beyond the mountains surrounding our settlement.
What if I was a fraud?
Those thoughts continued to gnaw at me throughout the celebration, hidden beneath the smiles I forced onto my face.
Yet whenever my confidence began to crumble, the Daggers of Divinity would glow faintly at my side.
I would look down at them, watching the strange light flicker across their blades.
It felt almost as though they were reminding me of something.
You were chosen for a reason.
The entire settlement gathered around the gates as I prepared to leave. I looked back one final time, memorizing the faces of everyone who had come to see me off.
They waved.
I raised my hand toward them before turning around and beginning my journey toward the mountains.
That was the moment my life truly changed.
I was Retian Drough, an ordinary man who had never ventured beyond his settlement.
But from that day onward, I was also Retian the Chosen.
And my journey had finally begun.
Multiple weeks had passed since I began training. The Daggers of Divinity were far more terrifying than I had initially anticipated.
My first attempt at testing their strength had nearly killed me.
I remember standing before a large tree, holding one of the daggers tightly in my hand while wondering how much power it actually contained. I decided to start with something simple.
I thrust the blade forward.
The instant it touched the tree, an overwhelming force erupted from its surface.
The tree didn’t merely crack. It was violently torn apart.
The trunk snapped in half, and the force continued beyond it, tearing through the trees standing behind it as though they were nothing more than blades of grass.
I stood there in complete silence.
Then my knees gave out.
My entire body felt as though it had been struck by an invisible hammer. My muscles screamed, my bones felt ready to break apart, and I could barely breathe after releasing a single attack.
The weapon possessed unimaginable power.
Unfortunately, my body did not. One attack was enough to push me to the edge of collapse.
Yet I refused to give up.
If the Daggers of Divinity were going to be my weapons, then I needed a body capable of wielding them.
So I began training myself. Every morning, I climbed the mountains.
I went up and down, over and over again.
I repeated the process until my legs trembled so badly that I could barely stand. When my body could no longer continue, I rested for a short while before forcing myself back onto the mountain.
Eventually, even the dwarves living nearby began noticing my training.
Some of them were astonished by the physical strength I developed. They had also heard about my revelation and the task given to me by the Entity, and rather than treating me as a stranger, they began offering their assistance whenever they encountered me.
Whenever they saw me training, they would leave food and water nearby.
At first, I felt embarrassed accepting their generosity. Eventually, I stopped refusing.
Weeks turned into months. My appearance gradually changed.
My hair grew longer, my body became broader, and the muscles that had once been hidden beneath my frail frame slowly became refined through endless training. Sometimes I would look at my reflection in a pool of water and struggle to recognize the person staring back at me.
If the person I had been before this journey could somehow see me now, I doubt he would believe we were the same person.
Yet despite all those changes, I knew I was still nowhere near strong enough.
The Daggers of Divinity demanded far more from me than physical strength alone.
I had finally reached the point where I could use their power several times without immediately collapsing, but even then, I could only perform five consecutive attacks before my body reached its limit.