Not seeming to have learnt his lesson, Ace once again clashed head-on with the wild-horned hippo, and once more, even with his [haki] to strengthen his attacks, he was sent retreating.

Nevertheless, his smile grew with enthusiasm as he felt his blood boil with excitement. For as long as he could remember, Ace had always had a chip on his shoulder. It was as if he always had something to prove to somebody.

And even if that chip hadn't disappeared, in a world where no one knew the tales of Gol D. Roger, the king of the pirates, he didn't feel anywhere near as burdened. That allowed more of his true personality to come to light.

'Hahaha, I never knew fighting could be so…

Fun!'

Ace had never been one to shy away from a battle, and the whole of his previous world could attest to him having always been strong, but never in his previous life had he truly enjoyed the thrill of battle. Not like this anyway.

There was no one he felt he had to prove anything to. There was no part of him worrying about living up to anyone's expectations. Other than the enemy before him, everything else seemed to disappear!

"HAHAHA. AGAIN…

COME AGAIN!

AGAIN!"

Ace would constantly swing his glaive with all the power he could summon as if he genuinely believed he was strong enough to end the fight with one attack, but every clash would end with him being the one pushed back.

His arms had long gone numb and were covered in bruises, but his smile only widened with every clash!

The hippo, who had been steadily dominating its opponent this whole battle, felt fear for the first time. Genuine fear.

Every time it pushed this little ape back, the aura he emitted increased. And now, the aura Ace was subconsciously emitting was almost suffocating.

Ace could almost smell the hippo's fear at that point, and when he saw its beady little eyes looking for a direction to escape, his interest in continuing this battle disappeared.

Whilst the hippo was still in a daze, unsure how to proceed, It didn't even notice the black blade of Ace's closing in on it until it was too late. The wild hippo didn't even manage to squeal in fear before Ace thrust his glaive through its ear, piercing its brain.

In the sky, Wukong sat cross-legged on the back of a large pitch-black eagle staring down at Ace with a hint of a smile.

"Ok, let's go back, and then this king promises to let you go!" Wukong said, glancing down at the eagle he had mounted.

.

.

.

"That…

That's a Horned Hippo! Ace, did you hunt that yourself?" Lance was the first to notice Ace return as he dragged the semi-decapitated beast along the floor.

"A Horned Hippo is a Magical Beast of the third rank… How did you defeat a rank three magical beast by yourself?" Alissa asked as she ran over to examine the corpse.

"Are you okay?" Killian asked, not seeming to have even noticed the beast.

"Haha, I'm fine. How could a stupid overgrown pig best me?!" As if to prove it, Ace tried to raise his arms to flex them. But between his fight and then having to drag his dinner over a mile back to the campsite, Ace's arms were far too sore to be raised that high.

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"Ace, your arms… They're completely bruised and swollen!" Milianna, who'd rushed over from the carriage, worriedly held her son's arms to examine them. "Where's Mr. Wukong? He prom…"

"Mom, it's fine. It's only some light swelling. It's no different from when I do intense training." Ace said in an attempt to calm his overprotective mother.

Milianna knew he was right. After a particularly hard training session, both Ace and Killian would struggle to walk as their bodies were too sore. Seeing them like that was bad enough, but she could deal with it as it was done to themselves by themselves when training, but this was caused by a powerful magical beast that had been trying to kill him.

Even though she, as a loving mother, didn't like it, she knew full well that the path Ace chose for himself was a dangerous one. All she could do was be there to support him. "Come take a seat; let me rub some ointment on your arms to ease the swelling."

Understanding that arguing would be a pointless endeavour at this point, Ace followed his mother's directions and took a seat on one of the many chopped-down logs that littered the campsite.

"I still don't understand how you killed it. First of all, Magical Beasts tend to be stronger than humans of the same rank. Secondly, it was a whole rank higher than you, and finally, when a magical beast breaks through to the third rank, they form their magicite cores." Alissa tossed over a small spherical crystal that was tinted blue.

"A horned hippo of the third rank would've developed its magical ability – water bullet. It's a fast and deadly ability even to warriors of the same rank, let alone those weaker than it." Alissa studied Ace's body curiously as if she was looking to see if he was hiding any other injuries. "So, how did you do it?"

Ace, who had now gotten used to Alissa's presence, shrugged. "It didn't use any magical abilities; it just kept charging at me…"

Alissa looked deeply at Ace as if to see if he was lying. "Even if it decided you were too little of a threat to waste energy using its magical ability, it's still a genuine rank three beasts. Physically, you should've been outmatched in every way."

"The abilities of a genius aren't something that can be understood by mere mortals like you." Ace shamelessly replied.

It was at that moment they noticed Wukong returning dragging two giant silver-scaled crocodiles. Tossing them over to one side as if they were nothing.

"Those are Dragonscaled Crocodiles. A fully mature one can grow to Rank eight." Alissa, who'd become something of a walking dictionary, said in awe as she looked at the two elephant-sized beasts Wukong tossed.

Wukong didn't seem to notice what Alissa had said as he smiled playfully, looking at Ace. "Your meal looks a bit… small."

Ace rolled his eyes, not bothering to reply. He had long since gotten used to Wukong's teasing. Every day after he got back from his hunt, Wukong would come back from his hunt with a couple of beasts of at least the seventh rank, sometimes eighth. He'd then cook it and share a small amount with Lance and an even smaller amount with Milianna.

It wasn't that he was selfish; it's just that the amount of calories in higher-ranked beasts is astronomical.

Take the crocodile for example. Lance, despite being a warrior of the fourth rank, would only be able to eat a leg by himself before getting full.

Milianna, as someone who'd neither stepped onto the path of a warrior or mage, would be lucky to be able to finish a whole bite.

The worst part was that Ace, Killian, and Alissa would be forced to smell the adult's meals but were only allowed to eat the food Ace brought back. It wasn't like they ever went hungry, but when they smelt the incredible aroma coming from the other meal, each of their mouths would water uncontrollably.

The only good thing was that Ace noticed that by eating fresh magical beast meat every day, his training speed more than doubled. That was especially true for lance, who got to eat the meat of such high-ranking beasts on a daily basis.

After eating, everyone returned to the carriage to carry on with their journey. As usual, Lance and Milianna sat at the back with Killian and Alissa, who carried on with their mage training, whilst Ace got on the front with Wukong.

"How did you find it?"

Hearing his recruiter's question, Ace knew he was referring to his first battle against a rank three beast.

"They're definitely a lot stronger than rank two beasts. I was lucky to win as easily as I did."

Wukong nodded appreciatively, hearing Ace's honest reply. "Did you notice any mistakes you made during your fight?"

"It wasn't really a mistake, but I'd say my ability with the glaive is far from passable, but I guess that'll improve with time the more I fight." Ace said, clearly haven given it some thought.

"This king admits that your technique with the glaive is genuinely horrible, but there is more to it than that.

Your fight was horrible to watch. This king hadn't noticed as much when you were fighting the weaker beasts because you were able to easily dominate them, but your attack pattern is too predictable, and quite frankly, it doesn't suit you!"

Ace was taken aback when he heard that. "How did you even see my fights? I didn't sen…"

"Sense me?" Wukong finished Ace's sentence with a knowing smile.

"You know?" Ace asked in surprise when he saw Wukong's face.

"Of course. Every night when you'd go in and meditate, this king could feel an odd spiritual presence. It wasn't hard to guess it came from you after a few nights of it repeating. This king guesses that ability of yours is why your spiritual essence is so ridiculous for your age."

"I guess so…" Ace said, unsure of what he should even say at this point.