[27 April 2023, 09:00 AM]
[Underground Training Area]
"Let's stop here for today," Chloe said as she helped me get up.
It had been three days since I first started training seriously, and in that meantime, Chloe always beat me up in the spar. My eye had also turned to normal, so the eyepatch had been lying in my magic bag since then.
'But I made progress. Now I can fight her for five minutes straight before she knocks me down.'
From five seconds to five minutes. It was a significant improvement if I needed to say so myself.
Some part of this happened to be because of Smith's guidance. For three days, he taught me how to face a single opponent and how to hold a sword.
He didn't teach me some grand technique yet, but I managed to guide the Mana, as Chloe said, instead of controlling it. The effect was different, so I understood what she was talking about three days ago.
"Yeah. Good idea." I smiled at her and put my wooden sword back into my magic bag.
After that, I cracked my back, which was sore from being thrashed around by Chloe. As I did so, Chloe put a towel around my neck.
"Thanks," I said, wiping the sweat dripping off my body. She nodded and put her hand on my shoulder.
"You are bruised all over. Stay still. Let me heal it." Mana began to appear around her hand, and I felt it covering my body, healing the bruise that I got all over my body.
"You don't need to do that. It will heal in a few hours." I chuckled wryly as I continued to wipe my body with the towel she gave me.
"It's better to heal it right now rather than later. Anyway, I will make some meals after this. I will also prepare Tina's part so she can eat it when she wakes up."
"Please do that."
Tina had been investigating the Demon in the Academy for the last three days. At first, I expected her to return when the Academy was over to rest and eat with us, but no. Instead, she stayed around the Academy for the past three days to collect information.
She just returned this morning and groggily said she was tired before going upstairs to her room to sleep.
Of course, Chloe asked me where Tina was, but all I could say was she had returned to the Orphanage to help Pops with something.
Because she found out that Pops was the Darkest Secret when we visited the Orphanage, she didn't question further because she knew all things related to the Darkest Secret must be kept a secret.
"Alright, it's done," Chloe said, looking at my healed body.
The healing was amazing. I had experienced it for the last three days, and I must say it helped a lot.
Although my wounds heal fast because I was an Awakener, healing them with Healing Magic was way faster. I could heal it myself, but I was not too good at Healing Magic for some reason. I was only subpar.
I could see my wounds began to heal each time she used her Healing Magic because I was shirtless when I trained or had a spar with her.
"Thanks, Chloe."
"Un. Good luck with your training. I will prepare some snacks like usual."
"Yeah."
Chloe went upstairs, and then I continued my training like usual, finishing the menu Smith gave me.
"Let's do this. I still need to wait for Tina for any information she has about the Demon. And… I should visit that guy too. According to Lisa, he had been discharged from the hospital. It's been a while since I have sparred with him." I smirked, thinking about Zaiden.
After a week, he was finally discharged from the hospital and made a full recovery. The doctor of the hospital couldn't use the advanced Healing Magic similar to Chloe, so his recovery was a bit slow.
Even though they could connect his bones like usual and kept them together with Magic, he still needed some rest to fully recover.
Even so, having a full recovery in just a week after getting a few broken ribs and a leg was still amazing. It would be unthinkable and would be considered a miracle if it happened on my Earth.
'Well, I will visit that guy's house after I finish my training with Smith.'
Thinking so, I continued my training to finish today's quota.
***
[12:35 PM]
[Goblin Dungeon]
Inside the cave-like dungeon, a black-haired boy with blue eyes could be seen exchanging blows with two goblins. That boy was Zaiden, and he was hunting to get his body back in shape.
He wore leather armor covering her left chest area on top of his white shirt. His black pants looked comfortable to wear, and his black combat military boots were perfect for a place like a cave.
He pointed his Mana-clad iron sword at the goblins, and his face had a serious expression. He spared no opening for his opponents from his stance alone, unlike what he foolishly did in his first dungeon attack.
Because of the previous incident where he was injured badly, he had learned that he shouldn't face his opponent lightly, even if his opponents were just F-Rank monsters.
The goblins were charging at the boy with their wooden club, trying to attack Zaiden from both sides. They swung their clubs horizontally simultaneously, leaving no room for Zaiden to dodge.
However, he didn't intend to dodge all of the attacks in the first place. Because the goblins came from a different direction, he decided to take care of one goblin first before dealing with the other one.
His sword moved at a fast speed, leaving a faint trail of blue light as it pierced the head of the goblin in his right while he ducked to dodge the second goblin's club. The club passed right on top of his head.
"Graaa!" Seeing that its attack failed, the goblin raised a war cry and tried to attack Zaiden again.
But, he had seen it coming from his experience. A grin plastered on his face as he quickly pulled his sword and swung it horizontally, slicing the second goblin in two before it could swing its club.
Satisfied with the result, Zaiden stopped his supply of Mana to the sword, and the blue glow disappeared.
"Fuu–" He sighed as he looked at the corpses of the goblins that he just slew. "That makes it twenty." He said as he crouched, picking the goblin's fangs that could be sold for money.
"Even so, hunting in the dungeon alone is tiring. Is it because I am only an F Rank Awakener, or was I only discharged from the hospital yesterday?" Zaiden muttered to himself as he put the goblin's fangs inside the magic bag on his waist.
'Maybe both. But, this magic bag is convenient. It's like an inventory in RPG games. I should thank Lily for buying me this bag with her allowance.' He smiled.
Then, he stood up and looked around the area to ensure it was safe. After he was sure that no goblins came out from nowhere, he sighed and muttered.
"Let's head back."
He walked out of the dungeon. On his way back, he met a few Awakeners who went deeper into the dungeon. He greeted each one of them with a smile. He didn't care if they answered him or not. He just greeted them out of courtesy.
After walking for a while, he was finally outside of the dungeon.
Some Awakeners lined up to enter the goblin dungeon. Even though it was an F-Rank Dungeon, a lot of Awakeners wanted to hunt inside.
Considering it was the weekend, a lot of them were part-time Awakeners who had stable jobs and hunted only for fun. Hence, they only raided F-Rank Dungeon, which only had weak F-Rank monsters.
'I should go home. Mom must've prepared lunch by now.'
Thinking so, Zaiden put his sword inside his magic bag as he didn't need it anymore and began to walk in the direction of his home.
His home was near the Santa Monica Pier, a bit far from the Goblin Dungeon he was in earlier. On his way, he would need to pass the Academy, and Shina and Mirana stayed in the dorm even though it was the weekend.
Because Zaiden thought it would be awkward if he bumped into them, he decided to take a detour. In the last week, the only one who contacted him was Lily and Ao.
He was surprised when she contacted him to talk about his enlistment to the Sacred Relic guild. He never expected that Ao would tell him about her being the Sacred Relic guild master's daughter.
'I have changed the story and am close to her, so maybe she's just being honest with her friend? Ao seems to be focusing on taking over the guild, unlike in the novel. Should I be happy to have her backing, or should I be careful?'
Zaiden kept walking as he was lost in his thoughts.
'I should be careful, I think. I will be introduced to the others in the Sacred Relic guild in a week. I will climb into the rank without Ao's help as much as possible. I need to make use of the Sacred Relic's support to get stronger.'
He stopped and clenched his fists in determination as he thought about the future. He looked ahead on the road and got embarrassed when he saw many pedestrians watching him strangely when he suddenly stopped and clenched his fist.
In a panic, he scratched his head and laughed wryly. The pedestrians didn't care about him, though, as they continued walking without minding him anymore.
He shrugged his shoulders and thought, 'What did I do? I embarrass myself in public.'
At the same time as he thought that, he heard a voice calling out from behind.
"What are you doing, Zaiden? Do you have a stomach ache? Or do you need to take a piss? There is a good rock on the roadside. You can take a piss there, like what you did on the beach that time. Hahahaha."
The voice that sounded to be looking down at him was all too familiar. He hadn't heard that voice in a week, but it was still fresh in his mind.
He turned around and saw his friend standing there, all with his usual smirk that looked down on other people. He was wearing a casual white t-shirt and black denim pants.
"Vincent?" Zaiden said, a smile appearing on his face after meeting his friend.
"Yo. Looking at your clothes, it seems you just got back from a dungeon, huh?" Vincent said, looking at the dirty leather armor that Zaiden wore.
"Hahaha, yes. I just returned from the dungeon. What about you? What are you doing here?"
"I am about to visit my training center to have some training. In fact, we are right in front of it." Vincent said, pointing at a building in the alleyway, hidden behind some high building.
Zaiden turned to look at the building that Vincent pointed at. It was an old building that looked like it could collapse at any time. However, his eyes widened when he saw the sign on top of the building's door.
'Waterfall Training Facility?! Come to think of it, Ao said Vincent joined this training facility. Is he my replacement? Because I didn't join the training facility, the Sword Saint then took him as his disciple?' Zaiden's thoughts race at a fast speed.
He then turned to Vincent again, still with his surprised expression.
"What? Do you think the building is bad?" Vincent asked.
"N-no. It's just… I never thought that you would train in such a place."
'It's not strange if the Sword Saint took Vincent as his disciple, though. Vincent is strong, and he can beat me in Swordsmanship easily.' He thought as he tried to smile.
"Well, it's cheap, and the teacher is good. I don't mind as long as I can get stronger." Vincent replied.
"You're correct. The most important thing is to get stronger." Zaiden nodded. He agreed with Vincent's words.
The most important thing in this world was to get stronger to survive. The weak had almost no chance to survive, considering the future event that would happen with certainty.
"Right?" Vincent grinned. "So, why don't we have another spar? It's been a week since we sparred."
"Huh? But, I am now an Awakener." Zaiden answered, blinking in confusion.
He never thought that Vincent would ask him for a spar, even though he knew that he was an Awakener. He was afraid to hurt his friend, so he was about to refuse, but Vincent spoke first.
"So what? Are you scared that I will beat the shit out of you? It doesn't matter if you are an Awakener or not. You are still you, the one that never wins against me." Vincent provoked haughtily as he raised his chin, looking down at Zaiden.
Hearing Vincent's provocation, Zaiden's competitive spirit was lit. Even though he acted humble and kind, he was also a man. And he certainly didn't want to be looked down upon, even by his friend.
So he answered.
"Alright. Let's have a spar."
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