After Orion ended his conversation with Tiohr-nam, he returned to his room.

He had new goals, and he acquired a powerful ally, Karteira.

What he had to do from now on was straightforward, but still incredibly difficult.

Following his father's advice on the ring's new purpose, it will be useful for finding the highest amount of corruption closest to his location.

With the ring in hand, it will be easier to locate the Apostles and help avoid unnecessary blood from being spilled.

He remembered the offer an Apostle named Florian spoke about before. The matter will be resolved the moment Orion gets close to the cities in question.

If there were no traces of corruption, maybe he could slightly depend on these people.

There was a lot to think about, but after hearing Tiohr-nam speak about not making harsh decisions, he decided to contain his cautiousness.

Finding new allies, killing Apostles, and hunting down the corruption that plagued the continent.

Finding his mother's ring, improving his 'Overdrive' ability, and watching over Amelia's growth. There were so many things to do.

After moving out of the fairies' realm, Orion still had to move around the continent to find the arachnea and the elemental factions, which he had no idea where to look for this time.

During the night, Orion brought the artifact he received from the merchant a few months ago.

The branch with the jewels, the silk, and the beetle. After remembering what happened before he entered the realm, he deduced that, perhaps, the only lead he had was this.

The beetle was obviously referring to the fairies. The jewels would most likely represent the elementals, and the silk would be the arachnea.

But how is it that such an artifact as convenient as this exists in the first place? Why did a middle-aged merchant woman possess such a thing? Why did she give it to Orion out of all people? Who was this person?

There were many questions that would remain unanswered.

In the end, Orion stopped thinking about them as he carefully placed the branch in its cloth.

When doing that, he realized that looking for these hidden factions was in no way related to his hunts. It was only for his own benefit. As a lover of history, he had to find them and learn more about them.

With no real destination in mind, once he moved out of the realm, his father's ring and the artifact would be the two items that would lead his steps.

And that was it for his last day of rest. He enjoyed his dinner with Amelia and ended the night talking about his plans with her.

~

The day finally arrived.

Orion opened his eyes slowly. He slept well, but there was something that bothered him in his core.

His energy was overflowing. He couldn't wait any longer; he had to move his body. He had to train, try new things, and sweat.

Taking a break was great. It gave him the opportunity to acquire more knowledge about the fairy faction, and he enjoyed his time relaxing.

But that was enough.

Orion stood up, eager to get back to his training session. He put his hunter clothes on, his black pants, his gray shirt, and even his black cape on, and without a sound, he exited the room.

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Without waking Amelia, his feet carried him outside the mansion.

The sun was slightly over the horizon. This morning was refreshing for Orion.

After exiting the mansion and pondering where to go, there was a chance he could find Karteira in the training arena, but he wanted to train alone this morning.

Orion tried something he hadn't done until now because there was no need to. He enhanced his own speed and activated the 'First Gear'.

Since Amelia was not with him, he was only able to use his left leg's 'First Gear'. Nothing crazy would happen this morning.

Feeling the light element flowing through his magical veins, he left the place at the same speed the 'Second Gear' could carry him.

He arrived at the rocks a few kilometers away from the village in five minutes, completely drenched in sweat.

"Ah..."

*Cough*

"I might have gone overboard right off the bat."

Catching his breath, he wiped the sweat from his forehead and removed his cape.

"Using an enhancement and the 'First Gear' is too much for me right now. That's something I will have to get used to."

With renewed determination, he placed this on the list of many things to improve.

After only two minutes, his body was already back in perfect shape. The cold morning cooled his body, and he caught his breath almost instantly.

'What do I do now?'

Orion thought about his morning training. In the end, what he chose was:

'Let's go for a difficult shooting session today.'

Extending his left hand to the side, a white orb flashed in the palm of his hand.

"Alcyone."

His dependable crossbow made of light energy appeared in his hands.

Orion closed his eyes and imagined having the 'Corrupted Lord of Earth' as an opponent. Since he fought it using daggers, a type of weapon he wasn't accustomed to, this training would help him greatly.

He remembered the movement of his enemy, its attack patterns, and its characteristics. The rest was his own skill.

During the simulated fights, Orion lost four times out of the ten tries. He had no excuses for that, besides the difficulty of fighting a close-quarter enemy with a crossbow.

During those simulations, he couldn't maintain the distance with the centipede, leading to his defeat.

"I'm glad I made it out alive. Now that I can reflect on my own performance retrospectively, I realize how scary it might have been for them to see that. I was badly injured too. I don't understand how I was able to win."

Sheer willpower won this fight. He pushed his body to the limit, pressured by death, as he broke down before the fight had even begun.

His mind was determined to win, and his body carried him through it. There was no luck involved, only Orion's resiliency.

"I am sure to lose if I were to repeat this fight. If I'm losing 40 percent of my fights against it, I have a lot more to improve. Let's bring the simulations to a different difficulty."

Orion closed his eyes, activated the light enhancement on his body, and used the 'First Gear' in his next simulation.

The ghost centipede stood no chance this time. Orion only lost when his stamina couldn't follow his use of both abilities.

As he crumbled to the ground, exhausted, he fell on his back and looked at the blue sky.

*Cough*

"How am I supposed to avenge you if I can't even do that? There's excessively much to do, but Elliott's release is upon us."

Thoughts of his parents entered his mind. He imagined them smiling at him and saying that it was fine to continue at his own pace. He then thought of Amelia and Karteira.

Orion wasn't the only one pursuing impossible goals. Even if he was a monster in terms of strength and wits, Amelia was able to follow closely behind that same monster, and she was a human.

So much potential was as rare as an individual like Orion.

Karteira, too, was putting in way more effort than she should in her training. She even improved during her first training session with him.

When he realized that, all his depressing thoughts left him, and he continued his training.

'What am I doing thinking like that? I should avoid exhausting myself too much... I don't like feeling depressed at all.'

'To begin with, the point of me doing this training is to get better. What am I thinking? Obviously, it's going to take time.'

He slapped his cheeks and pushed himself until noon.

...

"I can't believe the first thing you've done was train as soon as the day started. Though, that's just like you to do that."

Amelia had waited for him to come back when she went to check on him but saw the word 'training' written on a piece of paper in his room.

"It's what I usually do. It was far too uncomfortable for me to contain that building energy. Now, I feel better and completely refreshed."

Orion appeared to have truly enjoyed that morning session.

"I can see it. Your smile is proof of that."

Training was relaxing for Orion. Unless he completely exhausted himself, it was his hobby.

"Did you want something from me?"

He sat on the bed while looking at Amelia.

"I had no particular reason to bother you. I just wanted to talk about what I should do in my training. You know, I can't use water or wind right now. Should I work with my earth, lightning, or fire element?"

Orion brought his left hand to his chin.

"The ones you seem to be lacking control over are lightning and fire, right?"

"That's right. I should work on them then."

Following a simple nod, he smiled.

"Yes, I'd say that's the best thing to do for now."

"Alright. I need to master their dagger form."

She had her training in mind, but Orion stopped her thoughts and proposed something else.

"Amelia, I want to try using other elemental crossbows. The moment you master your other two elements, could I ask for that?"

Her face cramped up.

"Every time you ask me this, I feel like slapping my past self for agreeing once to your absurd requests."

"That's not fair, and you know it. I made you use my elements, but I can't use yours."

Amelia stopped and looked at him with a perplexing stare.

"Since when do you act like a child?"

"I thought it would work... I guess it won't."

They looked at each other before laughing.

"Fine, I have no reason to say no. Just don't go destroying half the realm with them."

"I'll do my best not to go overboard."

With another type of training planned, a long month of training went on for the three companions.