Ari woke up the next morning feeling pretty good. Ari washed his face a little with the water he had and then proceeded to have a little breakfast using biscuits and pickles.

Ari then tidied up his bedding and put back on his armor and shield. Ari had a little trouble putting on his armor because there was no comfortable place for him to wear armor in the forest.

After finishing wearing his armor properly, Ari raised his shield and began to walk in a random direction. Ari had no clue where the magic animal called Orthus was last seen. Ari was so excited to enjoy himself wearing the armor that he forgot to look for information related to his target.

"One more stupid thing you shouldn't do again Ari."

Ari could only scold himself while continuing to walk without any real direction. occasionally Ari saw common small animals passing by while looking at Ari curiously. Ari just looked back at the wild animals and ignored them.

Ari walked on for several hours until the sun finally reached its highest point. the sunlight that infiltrated through the gaps in the leaves gave Ari a beautiful and magical view, but all of that didn't feel very helpful to Ari because right now his mind was only focused on his task.

"is this going to be another day with no progress?"

annoyed at not being able to find his target, Ari deliberately chewed his lunch roughly, trying to get a little revenge on his little bland target. after finishing his meager lunch, Ari then continued the day by practicing alone.

Once again due to his overzealousness, Ari forgot to try and familiarize himself with his new weapon. Ari who was used to using a training sword and shield should have familiarized himself with the new, heavier sword and shield, first before taking it on the journey.

"I'd better practice a bit before trying to go further into the forest. "

Ari stripped off all his armor and left with only his sword and shield. With practiced movements, the result of Master Lee's detailed and strict upbringing, Ari began to perform a series of sword slashes and shield blows.

Ari repeats all the steps of the slash and shield stroke taught by Master Lee, one by one with discipline and without exception. each slash and blow was followed to the minute details as if Teacher Lee himself was present and watching Ari's every movement. Ari can even feel Teacher Lee's strict words reminding him in his mind every time he performs a move.

After an hour of practicing against empty air, Ari got an interesting idea to make his training feel more challenging. Ari took out some parts of his armor, namely the helmet, breastplate, vambrace, and greave. Ari put on his armor, making his body a bit more heavier. Ari thought that he not only had to familiarize himself with his new weapon but also with his new armor.

Ari repeated all the steps of the exercise he had just completed all over again. Ari could feel his body struggling to move quite a bit while wearing his thick armor, so he started looking for ways to move better while in the armor.

Ari tried to move his arms a little bit higher, his leg a little bit wider, and much more. most of the time, Ari's little experiment on his movement will put him in a lot more difficulties which means he needs to alter it a bit more.

After some time passed, Ari was finally able to find the right position to swing his sword and shield effectively without being distracted. Ari then repeated the same position several more times to accustom his body to the new way of movement.

After his body had gotten used to the new weapons and armor, Ari began trying to swing his sword with full strength.

whooosshhh!! whoooosshhh!!!

Ari swung his sword twice in a horizontal and diagonal direction, each swing of his sword produced a strong gust of wind. Several dry leaves were blown off the forest floor filled with grass and leaves while the bushes around Ari lost some of their leaves due to the force of the wind Ari produced.

"hmmm good. it is more or less the same as during training at the academy."

Ari was quite satisfied with the results of his training and decided to end his training today. Ari then took a short break and grabbed some dried meat to celebrate the success of his training.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

after a little eating and drinking, Ari decided to immediately move in search of the magic animal that was his target. but unfortunately even that day Ari did not manage to find any clues about magic animals or other types of animals. it seems that this forest is completely empty of animals with sizes larger than mice until Ari could not find anything after two days of walking.

"Hmmm did other normal animals flee because of the presence of magic beasts like Orthos here?"

Ari could only guess wildly without having enough evidence to support his theory. At least he would have an excuse if he had to return empty-handed, Ari think.

*****

On the third day, Ari started the day with a light breakfast and practiced until noon. Ari repeated all the moves he had been taught without exception, producing strong and powerful gusts of wind that sent leaves and branches flying. Ari deliberately practiced with full strength so that he could be ready for anything that happened in the future and not unintentionally weaken his strength.

After practicing, Ari ate lunch for a while before continuing the search by going further into the forest. at this moment Ari himself did not remember where the way home was. Ari was a bit worried that he couldn't get home, but he decided to think about going home later and focus on his search first.

Ari walked for a few hours until he finally found something new. Ari saw that the trees and leaves in front of him were different from the view of the forest behind him. the trees in front of Ari looked dry and blackened, with some parts crumbling into ashes while the one behind him looked healthy and thriving. this was a sign that someone or something had burned a part of the forest.

This burnt area spread quite far, although not as wide as Ari had expected. maybe only a few hundred meters of the forest were burned and charred, while the rest seemed to be slightly affected by the fire even though it did not burn. Ari could see that some of the trees on the edge of the burned area seemed to be drying and damaged by the intense heat, although they were not burned. at most, the trees on the edge of the burned area only looked like they were roasted.

"How can they roast the trees without setting them on fire?"

Ari was quite confused by the condition of the burning forest, but he could not see any clues that could tell him who caused this forest fire and how the arsonist could limit the burning area to only a few hundred meters.

Ari decided to continue moving further into the forest, crossing the burned forest area with caution, until finally Ari arrived at the other side of the burned area and found a clue in the form of burned animal footprints.

Based on its shape and claw marks, these footprints probably belonged to a creature shaped like a dog or a wolf, although Ari couldn't really tell the difference between the two since he had almost no experience with animals other than Woolcow. The footprints of this creature appeared to be burnt, either because the animal that had these footprints suffered burns while running away or because these were the footprints of a magical animal with fire-burnt feet.

Ari followed the direction of the footprints further into the forest. the footprints took several turns but Ari could still clearly see the burn marks left behind.

After two hours of following the footprints, Ari realized that the sky was starting to get dark. Ari decided to stop the search for magic beasts and look for the nearest shelter. Luckily for Ari, there was a fairly large cave not far from where he was standing. This cave was quite unique because the mouth of this cave seemed to be sticking out of the ground as if the mouth of this cave was pushed out to appear above the ground.

Ari didn't want to bother too much with the origin of the cave and decided to approach the mouth of the cave. Ari tried to look inside the cave, trying to make sure that this cave was empty and safe for him to occupy. unfortunately, Ari couldn't see anything from the outside. The cave was too dark and there seemed to be something at the mouth of the cave that prevented anyone from seeing inside even when Ari could not see what that thing was.

"What a strange place. "

Ari's curiosity was provoked. forgetting about his own safety, Ari decided to enter the cave. with slightly hesitant steps, Ari slowly entered through the boundary of the cave mouth.

Shushhh~

Ari could feel that he had just passed through something invisible. like a kind of thin skin that can be penetrated easily but not become damaged. Ari looked back and saw that whatever it was that he had just passed seemed to be blocking the moonlight and stars from entering. Ari couldn't see anything behind him, everything seemed dark and pitch black.

Ari looked back into the cave and was surprised to find a passageway with walls made of faded blue stone. along the passageway, there were torches stuck into the walls with uniform and neat spacing. Ari couldn't understand what he was experiencing and decided it was better to turn around to exit the cave right now.

But then, a flash of memory appeared in Ari's head.

in the memory, a young man seemed to be engrossed in playing video games. beside him was a novel book that told the story of a superhero character who had to face a lot of enemies to save the world. on the wall of the young man's room, there were a lot of posters with pictures of antagonists or villains from various video games, movies, or novels.

"fuu~ fu~ dungeon~ I'll clear one more dungeon~"

On the screen the young man was looking at, the character he was using appeared to be walking into a cave, which then displayed a place with a castle-like appearance filled with monsters and treasures.

The memory stopped there. Ari then realized that he had just stayed stunned for some time, doing nothing and drowning in the memories that suddenly appeared in his head.

Ari's eyes then focused once more on the passageway in front of him and he quickly understood where he was standing right now.

"Dungeon... Very interesting hehe. "