Sunlight filtered through the tree hole and fell onto a sleeping Drake. He drowsily opened his eyes while covering his face with his uninjured arm.

‘’Damn it this sure hurts, good thing I learned medicine from grandpa otherwise it would have got infected and even left hidden injuries which would affect my training’’

Drake analysed the wound and found it was already healing at a fast pace at this rate he would be fully healed in 3 days. Even though he knew his injuries healed quickly this was very surprising as it should have taken him longer to heal.

After bandaging the wound he did not move in his current condition even the weakest of beasts could kill him. With nothing to do he looked at the Apollo ring with a longing gaze before tears welled up in his eyes as his thoughts drifted towards his grandpa-

‘’Grandpa I miss you where have you gone and why did you leave me I trained so hard I even got hurt badly and am being chased by bandits. Grandpa I don’t know whether I will survive but I will not give up. I still remember your words-

Drake always remember a person of a lower stage will not necessarily lose to higher stage . Depending on how you use that strength a person in body tempering stage is not necessarily unable to contend with someone in the warrior stage it is the belief that you cannot beat someone of a higher stage that will make you lose if you want to become a truly strong warrior have unwavering faith in yourself now start with swings once more…..’’

After snapping out of his thoughts he took out some dried rations and started eating. After that he sat down and started training by making a hand seal. He was in the 7th stage of body tempering. In this phase the person started tempering the bones and tendons to make them stronger and more tensile. It is a very painful process leading to people generally stopping after minimally tempering their bones as it took a long time to temper them unless some treasure fruit was used and directly condensing the force into aura and become warrior. As drake was not able to move for the next three days he started training while gritting his teeth. He trained for 3 hours before stopping to answer natures call. And then went to sleep once more. During this recovery period he did not go out for hunting or went far from the tree hole.

Three days later, 28th the of the month of the war sovereign.

Drake fully kitted out in his regular clothes with both is swords at his waist. He did a few simple stretches before taking out the violet body fruit and the golden fruit known as the Dragon Fruit. This fruit individually did not have an effect much different from violet body fruit. According to his grandpas teaching when both of them were consumed together their potency was multiplied and they had the additional property of boosting the 5 senses. He directly swallowed the both of them as the medical potency burst out and started spreading in the body most of it was absorbed by the bones which started getting a crystalline glow like white jade without any impurity.

2 hours later…..

Drake took some leaves and crushed and smeared the juice on his face and stuck leaves on his hood and clothes before climbing up the tree and started moving back the way he came he knew that it was the best chance for him to take revenge he moved in the shadows of the trees while trying to conceal his presence as best as possible. He heard voices ahead and found 5 men walking while talking to each other drake listened eagerly to find information about them.

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‘’boss that bandit sure is generous in his rewards we just need to kill a brat and we get 5 gold each’’

‘’shhhh. …we cannot let this matter spread if someone finds out we cooperated with bandits we will be in deep trouble which we cannot escape from’’

Drake immediately understood that these men had been hired by that bandit. As they got closer he got ready to attack. He waited for them to pass him before coming behind them and attacking.

Infinite Sword Style -Quick Draw

He killed 4 of them quickly while the leader a man in his 40’s barley dodged with cold sweat streaming down his face. Drake did not give him a chance to catch his breath and threw his sword at him and immediately swept his legs with a kick as the man was dodging the thrown sword. Drake succeeded and the man fell to the floor drake pulled out his other sword and shortened it to the length of a dagger. And held the man with the knife to the throat-

‘’now tell me all the information you know about your group and their current locations’’

The man being scared immediately answered all of drakes questions after which he started begging for his life. Drake just slid the dagger across his throat and killed him then hid their bodies in the bushes and cleaned up the traces of the battle.

After getting to know their positions drake sneaked up to them and killed them it was a very challenging task as they were quite alert. He got closer to the camp. The camp was very empty except for a few tents and 2 men. Drake was lucky as he had come here when all the others were gone searching. The two men were guarding a tent in which Drake felt that that old man must be recuperating he quickly ran out of the bushes and threw one of the swords which he shortened into a dagger at one of them while killing the other with his sword with a slash across the chest.

As Drake had guessed the old man rushed out he was bandaged in the chest. Brat I didn’t think that you would hand yourself to me on a platter. He brandished his scimitar as he came rushing at drake, drakes left eye started flashing as the world slowed down his hands tightened on his swords as he took a defensive stance he had tempered his bones completely and his strength had also increased greatly he focused on the movements of the old. The old man move in a ghostly manner which made it hard to predict where he would strike but Drake was able to read him and was able to dodge the man’s attacks nimbly while defending. Drake saw an opportunity and attacked with his right hand sword but it missed as the old man dodged to the side the old man slashed drake in the back which drake barely avoided but he still got a shallow slash across his back . He fell forward due to the pain controlled his fall and rolled on the ground but before he could get up the old man was above him. Drake blocked the mans scimitar with his swords and kicked the man in the stomach before getting up. Drake then moved towards the old man and the weapons of both of them started clashing with both of them getting cuts on their bodies. The old man was gradually being suppressed by drakes ever changing swift sword moves . Drake was getting worried as his body was covered in cuts as blood poured out of them and was feeling tired. He knew he had to finish this quickly. Hence he decided to trade injury for a kill he left an opening and allowed the old man’s scimitar to pierce his shoulder while he with a ruthless glint in his eyes thrust his sword through the oldman's neck. The old man could not even dodge and died while drake pulled out the scmitar and took out the storage ring off the old man’s hand and used his sword to stand up. At this point he heard he heard other voices and footsteps rushing toward the area. Drake was injured and could only use his right arm minimally he turned and ran without hesitation.