Emil lay in his bathtub, his body steaming and his throat dry.
Another gruelling night came to an end.
His original plan for the day was to head out to the Monster Forest and finish his hunt, but his resolve was wavering now.
He'd been training nonstop ever since he got into the academy.
Didn't he deserve a little break? The Scorching Serpents weren't gonna run away. Besides, today was Friday. He had the entire day to himself. A little nap wouldn't kill would it?
Emil grew accustomed to pushing himself each and every day, so much so that he felt guilty at the prospects of a break.
Everything came with a price. Emil had to make a sacrifice in exchange for power.
And that sacrifice, was losing the privilege of enjoying a normal life.
That's why he always found it in himself to work his way to exhaustion. He knew his powers came at a cost, he knew it too well courtesy of his illness.
The same illness that tortured him from night to morning for almost fourteen years.
The same illness that turned taking a small nap into his most fun activity.
Finally, giving in to the temptation, he took a few sips of wine to relax and fall asleep.
Emil considered a nap a guilty pleasure, a taboo for himself. Because it was time he could be spending getting stronger.
To him, it was the highest form of reward he could grant himself.
However, anyone seeing his state would feel sad for him, even the cold blooded students of the Royal Academy who thought of nothing but tearing each other's throats everyday.
A life where a nap was the highest form of enjoyment one could experience, was too miserable for any human being, let alone a young kid like Emil, one with a good heart at that.
The boy in question wasn't aware of these facts.
He was having the time of his life sleeping and relaxing.
Emil felt refreshed once his nap was over.
He ended up sleeping til noon, but he didn't regret it. It was well worth his time.
Not wasting a second longer, he grabbed lunch before heading out for the Monster Forest.
***
The trip to the Volcanic Mountains was uneventful.
Emil had already treaded this path before, so he knew how to avoid its dangers and get to his destination safely.
One such danger was the Earth Bear, which he made sure to avoid this time.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
His hunt was wrapped up in a few hours.
He hunted two more Scorching Serpents and completed his mission, getting away with only a few small burns from the snakes' flame attack.
Emil was now running along the clustered woods, the Earth Bear's territory, with apprehension in his eyes.
The last thing he wanted was to run into the bear again, or another creature of similar magnitude for that matter.
Thankfully, nothing happened during his march and he made it to the river safely.
It was at this moment where he stopped in his tracks, his eyes filled with trepidation.
Not too far away from him was a brown bear about 2.5 meters in height, drinking water from the river.
The bear was missing an eye, but that wasn't the worst of it.
A large bald patch was palstered on its back, showcasing a fresh wound that ran across its shoulder blades to its waist.
The creature was the same Earth Bear from yesterday, and it looked like it lost a lot of blood from the freshly closed wound, judging by its weak aura and fragile state of body.
Emil's mind flashed back to yesterday.
'the Magical Beasts fighting yesterday... the Earth Bear was one of them after all.'
Regardless of its condition, Emil was not planning to fight it.
He wouldn't lose his life if they fought now, the beast had only a fraction of its original power.
But he wouldn't win the fight either, the creature was still strong enough to toy with the likes of him.
Emil wanted to fight it by all means, who wouldn't want to when the opponent was at their weakest? But he knew the risks outweighed the losses, so he suppressed his fighting spirit and let the bear leave before passing through the river.
Some time later, Emil could be seen inside the Merit Hall, handing over his kills and receiving his Merit points.
His balance increased to 200. He was now able to buy another Fire Spell with his points and expand his arsenal.
Completing missions was sure to become easier when he gets a new spell.
Before leaving for the Magic Library, something crossed Emil's mind.
Walking to the mission board, he opened a tab and started checking the B rank missions category, searching for something suitable as his next target.
Nothing seemed good enough in the B rank missions, so he moved to the A ranks despite knowing he probably wasn't gonna find anything useful there.
His eyes widened in disbelief though, as he caught sight of something imoprobable.
"Hunt a Second-Stage Scarlet Rank Earth Bear.
A Rank. Type: Solo. Time Limit: 1 Week.
Reward: 500 Merit Points."
Emil started running simulations in his head.
'Would i be able to hunt the injured Earth Bear?
No, it'd smack me to smithereens.
But I'm gonna get a new spell, I'm sure it'd work against it!
No, a spell alone can't make up for the power difference.
What if consumed one of my Potions? That coupled with my Elemental Advantage and the fact that the Bear's injured would certainly give me a chance.
Yeah that could work, but is it even worth the risk?
It's 500 points, this is as high as it gets for an A rank mission, i could totally purchase an Armor with this. Hunting would become so much safer and easier.
There's not much time left to the competition and I'm still far from the second stage, i need to speed things up, this is my opportunity.'
He needed to deliberate for only a few seconds to make a decision.
Without further hesitation, he snatched the mission for himself before anyone else could do it.
He knew his chances were real, but that was only the case if he acted quick.
He had to hunt it within the next three days. The more time he gives it the more it'll recover and the harder killing it will become.
With a goal in mind, Emil sprinted towards the Magic Library and went straight to the spell he wanted to purchase.
He'd already seen all the spells and made his choice.
The Fire Sword that Arne used on him.
Teachers were not allowed to teach students their own spells outside of academic purposes, so all Emil could do was purchase it from the library himself.
Now that he had it, he needed to get working in order to master it as soon as possible.
The spell was High-Grade First Rank, meaning it was among the most powerful ones within its rank.
And the more powerful a spell the more complicated it was, hence harder to learn.
After a few hours of nonstop trial and error, Emil finally got the hang of the spell and cast it for the first time successfully.
"Attash Shamshir."
A series of flames bursted into life within his hand as soon as those words left his mouth, taking the shape of a sword.