Epoch: A Berserker's Rise

Adam tilted his head and looked back at the girl. She was still in the same position, not daring to move a muscle, or maybe she was unable too. He took his sword off her neck and took back his savage aura. As soon as he did the girl's muscles softened and she fell on the ground, breathing haggardly. Thankfully she didn't piss herself.

But she froze once again when she felt the cold metal of the sword against her skin, but then realized Adam was simply lifting her hood, revealing her beautiful face.

Adam had a strong will, and he had seen even more astonishing beauties, but he had to admit this girl looked really good. Her fiery scarlet hair matched well with her blue eyes, and her skin was rather pale.

Adam asked "Are you sure it's her?" Breyn didn't answer and instead ran in front of the girl and crouched in front of her. He asked "Jude, are you okay?"

Jude awoke from her stupor and looked at Breyn, lost. After a moment she asked unbelievably "Breyn… Is is really you?" She couldn't help but doubt, she had barely seen his face when she was on top of him, before she could even process the face she saw her instincts had flared up against Adam.

Breyn took her in his arms and said "It's me."

She was stunned for a moment before accepting his hug and hugging him back. As she tried to hug him though she realized both her wrists were broken, probably from Adam's first attack.

As she remembered the monster she just met she looked at him and said "I… I…" She found herself unable to talk, the terror of near death had terrorized her. Adam rolled his eyes and said "It's fine, I won't kill Breyn's girlfriend, as long as you stop trying to kill me."

He may have sounded dismissive, in reality he was ready to chop her head off at any moment. She looked genuinely scared, but she was an assassin, she would soon overcome it.

Breyn back off a little, and as she saw his face Jude exclaimed "Breyn! Your nose, I'm sorry!" He smirked and said "It's alright, I'm sorry for your kidneys."

Jude smiled a little, but winced from the pain. Breyn looked back at his group and said "Louisa, could you heal us up please?"

The Islander girl nodded and approached them as she began healing their wounds. At the same time they took out health potions and their bodies began healing up. Most of the time, as long as one gets to full HP their injuries would disappear.

There were some exceptions though, such as the loss of a limb that wouldn't grow back or a deep cut which would leave a scar, or a bone so badly broken it can't be healed. Those type of injuries could only be healed by strong healers or expensive potions.

Thankfully none of the two had such injuries, the only injury that would leave a mark would probably be the stab wound at Jude's kidney.

Once she was fully healed Adam approached her, scaring her, and said "Now I would rather not kill you, so would you abandon the contract?"

She hurriedly nodded and said "Of course I wouldn't dare keep on trying!" Adam nodded and walked back to the group while Breyn sat next to his girlfriend and said "You said you wouldn't pick any contract."

Jude lowered her head and replied "I was greedy." Breyn sighed and said "What if I hadn't been here… nevermind, it's in the past now. Could you please avoid taking any contract until we both get promoted."

Jude nodded "I promise. But… can you tell me who that Northman is?"

Breyn raised an eyebrow "What, should I be jealous? Did he beat you so much you fell in love? Or is it because he is human?" Jude hit his shoulder, making him yelp in pain.

A few meters from them, Adam said "I can present myself if you want. I am an adventurer who goes by the name of Valiant Heart, but my friends call me Adam."

Jude nodded and said "My name is Judith Skyward, thank you for what you did." Adam shrugged and said "Don't thank me, you brokethrough on your own. How does it feel?"

Jude stopped for a second, as if she was thinking, and said "Wonderful. I never felt so free and unfettered in my life. Is this the rumored Gate of Opening?"

Adam nodded as some envy passed by his eyes before disappearing just as quickly as it appeared. He said "You have indeed opened the Gate of Opening, enhancing all your senses."

Jude tilted her head and asked "Senior, I know it's not my place to ask, but why do you feel so… strange? I felt like I was facing someone who opened multiple gates, but at the same time not really…"

Adam sighed and said "It's complicated and I don't want to speak about it. But your situation is more important, you just brokethrough, and as the saying goes, you should strike while the iron is hot. I can spar with you if you want."

Jude instantly became excited and bowed toward Adam "Thank you for your guidance, senior."

Adam waved his hand dismissively, but inside he felt sour. The gates… those were terms he heard for the last time in Old Adam's memories.

Although there didn't exist any Qi within old Adam's world, baring him from becoming a cultivator, the lack of Qi was actually a blessing for the Martial Artists who focused on the path of Martial Arts, and eventually discovered the Gates.

The Gates are one of the greatest wonders of the human body, and are also called Limiters by some. The Gates do not grant any additional power, but instead allows one to perfectly master and exploit the power they already had.

They were inside the human body, but weren't physical objects, no one was 100% sure of what they were exactly, but the most accepted hypothesis was that they were locks hidden within the human genome, and opening those locks allowed one to master their body.

The first of those gates was the Gate of Opening, and it allowed one's senses to go into a state similar to hyper stimulation, except that it was permanent.

For Old Adam, back in his past life, the best experts had unlocked up to the 7th Gate, while he himself had opened the 5th Gate, which was really good for a 50 years old man who started Martial Arts after 10 and never really had a master.

Unfortunately for Adam, when he had gotten Old Adam's memories he didn't open his gates, because his body was different from Old Adam's, on several levels.

The fact they weren't from the same reality made them have some slight differences in their bodies, but even if they were from the same world he still wouldn't have opened them directly because everyone's body was different, even in the same reality.

Of course, Adam still had a huge advantage over others, and even though he knew people in this world also had discovered the Gates, they didn't seem very advanced in them.

The only ones he crossed and who had opened their Gates were the Elite members of the First Tier Guild with whom he fought against the Evil Abomination, along with King Slayer.

Back then he didn't say anything though, as they had only opened the Gate of Opening. For an expert it wasn't that hard to detect whether someone had opened their Gates or not, at that time Adam had been able to fake himself having opened the Gate of Opening, but that was only to explain his martial art prowess.

However, the truth was that he hadn't opened any, and was still trying to open the first one. Thanks to Old Adam's experience, although he wasn't as good as Old Adam, he was still ahead of most people and was able to emulate the Gates in other people's perspective.

Through pure martial arts alone he was able to fight as good as someone who opened the second Gate, the Gate of Healing, but that was his limit. If he crossed a martial artist who opened the Third Gate, then even though his martial arts would be better, he wouldn't be able to win because of the other side's advantages.