39 Lionell (1/2)

Hoemis smiled at the man. ”Yes, are you interested by any chance?”

The man nodded, his magic disguise flickering a little. ”Yes. I asked around the city for a dojo, but they all said to either join the military or go to the city of the Lolleons as they focused more on close combat. I looked around and managed to find your dojo.”

”Hmm, I don't mind being your teacher.”

”That's wonderful!” the man said, overjoyed. ”When can I be taught.”

Hoemis put his hand out in front of himself. ”Wait for just a second, I have one condition. Get rid of whatever this disguise that you have cast on yourself.”

The man's eyes went wide as he realized that Hoemis knew he was wearing a disguise. ”What do you mean? I'm not wearing a disguise.” He pinched his fake skin trying to show it was real, but it made his disguise flicker a bit.

”Oh come on. Your disguise isn't even that good. Look.” Hoemis grabbed the man's hand and waved it around, making his disguise on his hand disappear for a second. ”I'm surprised you haven't been reported to the guards with how bad your disguise is.”

The man pulled his arm away. ”Fine, you got me. Can I take off my disguise inside?”

Hoemis nodded and moved out of the way so the man could enter. As the man entered the dojo, Hoemis closed the door behind him.

”Give me a second.” The man's appearance started glowing before disappearing, revealing his real appearance. He resembled the appearance of a human, with some differences here and there.

His skin was tan, and his arms, which were long and great for swinging on trees, had hair running along its topside. The man was shirtless and had a tuft of hair on his chest above his abs.

The man fixed his hair, which was blonde, and introduced himself, ”Hello! My name is Lionell and I'm a Samian.”

Hoemis looked at Lionell. ”That was quite a change. My name's Hoemis. Samians, isn't that the mysterious race that lives in the jungle below?”

Lionell nodded. ”Yes, we are. We evolved from monkeys and for some reason, our elders have made a law to not have contact with any other race.”

”Really? That's a weird law. Well, what are you doing here then?”

”That's what I thought too. As you can see, I've broken the law and have been exiled. They've deployed assassins to kill me, so I came here to become stronger and protect myself.”

”That is bad. Don't worry, you've come to the right place. Here, I'll make you as strong as the gods, well... Maybe not as strong as the gods, but the ones below them... And the ones below that... Whatever just know that I'll make you strong.”

Lionell bowed. ”Thank you, teacher.”

Just then, the door opened and Zeno came into the dojo. ”Teacher! I'm back.”

Hoemis turned to look at Zeno. ”Zeno, welcome back. I'd like to introduce you to your classmate, Lionell.”

Zeno looked at Lionell, looking him up and down. He had never seen Lionell's kind, so he was completely new to him. ”Umm, what are you? You aren't like teacher or me.”

Lionell laughed. ”I'm a Samian. We live down below in the jungle, living in the trees.”

”Samian? I still don't know what that is.”

Hoemis interrupted their conversation. ”Don't worry about it. Now, you need to do your daily exercises.”

Zeno nodded and got on the floor, starting with his pushups.