They continued this way for a couple more hours, Donny moving through the forest trying to get better at killing and trying to find Mark, and Mark going behind him evaluating Donny and looking in his memory for the best exercises to quickly get the boy up to an acceptable level of competence while training with moving the energy around his body.

There was one moment when he sent the energy into the soles of his feet, and not only did he feel lighter and faster, but he also felt his feet ‘connect’ with the earth beneath him, he started feeling the forest around him, the energy in the trees, the moss around him, how the earth was slowly absorbing the small energy pockets in the leaves carpeting the forest floor.

At the start, it was very faint, almost negligible, but as he continued to send more and more energy into his soles, and the longer he tried to feel the energy around him the more distinct it was becoming. At one point he could feel a faint connection to the energy in the branches around him. Not only could he feel it, but he could also interact with it, talk to it, and make it move.

At that time he knew, he found the Forest Stride Skill. It was so much more than he thought it was in the beginning. Not only did it help you move efficiently through the forest. You were becoming its closest kin, he could tell that with a high enough level of this skill, you could even feed on the energy of the forest around you. Potentially making the skill not only free to use but also able to rapidly recover your stamina inside.

With this, he decided to spend more time experimenting with Stamina, who knew how many other hidden skills you could muster with this power?

They continued on their extermination mission. They found another six goblin scouting squads in that time, with Donny getting better and better with every passing encounter. There was one close call with a stray hungry wolf jumping at Donny from behind where it hid to ambush him when he was preoccupied with the goblins in front, but surprisingly he managed to win.

He quickly dodged the wolf’s attack as if he instinctively knew it was coming. Mark guessed Forest Stride did more than just move the branches out of your way. Donny drew his sword and this time managed much better than before, quickly stabbing the sword into the wolf’s side, he must have hit its heart, as the wolf jerked a little and then just limply fell forward. During that time the last remaining goblin was already on the boy, but without the numerical advantage, goblins are practically defenseless in front of even a half-decent fighter.

Mark was starting to see the potential in the boy, and he was satisfied. Of course, he could make an expert even from a total talentless bum, as long as the person in question had enough perseverance, but it was much easier to teach talented people, as long as their ego wasn’t too high.

They could reach the other person's ceiling much faster and could even go further beyond that, mastering more skills than the other person ever could.

This way the evening was slowly encroaching on them, during that time Donny was never able to find Mark following him, but he managed to kill many goblins, with this Mark thought it should be enough for the boy to gain a class, at least for Mark it would be enough. He still wasn’t entirely certain how exactly experience and levels worked in this world.

It was about time to go back, Mark still had to explain all the mistakes the boy did to him, give him the exercises to do, and tell him the do’s and don'ts in their coming apprenticeship. He would make the boy regret wanting to work for him, but would also make him a ranger who could stand toe to toe with the strongest beings of this world.

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Mark appeared next to Donny, scaring the living hell out of him.

“We are going back, we still have a lot to do today, there is too little time, and the goblins became sparser in the last two hours. It seems the goblins stopped sending their scouts out. We will come back tomorrow.”

“Ok, boss”

The boy was very quiet, not looking Mark in the eyes, it would seem that he was still self-conscious about today’s performance, even if he was doing much better in the latter part of the evaluation. He was still scared that they would go back to Pharia only for him to hear that he would be staying there alone, Mark leaving him for his atrocious performance.

They went back in silence, Mark was not intending on alleviating the boy’s fears, for the time being, it would make the evaluation and shame much more impactful, making the boy remember it better. It would make teaching him much easier and faster too.

They arrived at the Dancing Goblin and Mark had the boy eat a full warm meal, he would need it for what was coming next. They ate and Mark led Donny into the familiar backyard. It was empty at this time. Mark stood before the boy, looking stern and serious.

“Your performance was atrocious, I won’t even talk about your combat tactics and ability, but I won’t let go of the usage of Forest Stride from the very beginning, and losing all your Stamina before you even encountered an enemy is unacceptable. It was the first time you did that in front of me and that is the only reason we are still here. But it will not be tolerated a second time.

The second thing is tunnel vision. It doesn’t matter that you are fighting someone, you may never stop paying attention to your surroundings. Were it not for me being there to save you, you would be dead right there and then. How do you want to avenge your family from the grave, boy?”

Donny was happy at first, no matter how harsh the words, it seemed that Mark wasn’t intending on abandoning him, and would still train him in the end, but he was once again ashamed at the latter part. Mark was right and he had no right to retort, were it not for his boss protecting him he would forever stay there in the forest with a goblin’s dagger in his back. Probably eaten by them.

This way Mark pointed out every single mistake the boy committed during the evaluation and presented to him the correct choices and actions to take in the event they happened again, he kept chewing the boy out for another forty minutes before he touched up on everything. He knew the boy would forget most of this before the next evaluation came, but that was supposed to happen. What Mark wanted to know next was how fast Donny could adapt to information and assimilate it.

It was another important aspect of training after all. With the instructions done, he had the boy follow a regimen of exercises he had set up for him during their escapade into the forest.

In the beginning, Donny was fairly optimistic, seeing as most of the exercises he already knew, and was using regularly, but very quickly, he was proven wrong. Somehow Mark always found fault with the way he did the exercises, having him repeat certain sets until he was satisfied. Very quickly Donny was running out of strength but Mark didn't seem like he was intending on ending the training anytime soon.

He continued belting out instructions one after another, and soon Donny was doing exercises he had never heard of before.

He was exhausted, his vision going blurry, he couldn’t feel his extremities and every time he closed his eyes he felt as if he was swimming.,

Soon in the windows of the inn leading to the backyard, Mark could see more and more onlookers gathering, watching him ‘torture’ the boy. They were growing visibly concerned and Mark could swear if he didn’t stop soon, some of them were ready to come out and argue with him.

He could only sigh, he already knew Donny’s physical capabilities like the back of his hand, he was perfectly aware the boy could go on for another fifteen minutes, without losing consciousness. That said, he decided to end here for today, he wasn’t like the people training him, he wouldn’t lead the boy to the verge of death before stopping.

“Ok, that’s enough you can stop, wash up and go to sleep, we still have another test tomorrow.”

Hearing that Donnybent over at the waist holding his knees, he tried to breathe in the oxygen but nothing came in, he struggled a little but in the end, he couldn’t hold it in, his stomach revolted and he threw up. After throwing up his previous meal he was finally able to fill his lungs a little.

He walked over to the well, rinsed his mouth, and then started gulping down water until he almost exploded. That done, he turned to the inn and started walking toward his room.

It was the first time the boy considered whether following Mark was a good idea.