The trees had disharmonious leaves. Some were thin and long, like the blades of a knife, while others were short and wide. The colors likewise varied.
Even under the protection of layers of leaves, the sun bothered Dante's vision. The strange thing was that, while they were in class, he didn't even notice the intensity of the sunlight. He suspected that there was some protection, even from trivial things, at the base of the Sapphire Sect.
Dante looked ahead and saw that his new team was walking far ahead. To try to catch up with them, he tried to circulate his Qi and strengthen his legs. However, what he found was, again, a distracting feeling.
As a practitioner of a path that used fire-based Qi, he was used to feeling a slight warming up while circulating his Qi. A few months ago, when he finished his core and finally became a silver, the pain was more palpable, as his Qi began to circulate in his channels as well.
The pain he was feeling now was something new. If he had to describe it, Dante would say that it was as if someone had injected liquid metal into his veins.
So, circulating a minimal amount, just enough to keep him from falling further behind his colleagues, Dante started walking again.
When he returned from his new mission, he would ask nurse Amelia. The woman seemed to mean well, and showed skill in healing. She had certainly mistaken the initial diagnosis.
When Dante got close to his colleagues, he broke the harsh silence that had hovered since they had entered the forest.
"So, we need to defeat an F, E and D class monster, right?" he said, as he looked intently at his teammates in search of a reaction. From Sabrina, all he got was an indifferent look. Rim, on the other hand, seemed lost in her thoughts.
"That's right. Since they are relatively low-class monsters, we shouldn't have much difficulty," said Hector, trying hard not to leave Dante unanswered. Dante seemed to Hector like a good-hearted boy. He just lacked experience. And a lot of it.
After a simple exchange of words, they walked back into the forest. It was strange that they had found no monster until then. From the professor's description, several monsters had been placed on the forest premises.
When they reached a clearing, which led to a region with more open trees, again the silence was broken. No. Unlike Dante, Sabrina did not break the silence. She murdered him with a blind knife.
"That's it for me. I think you guys also realize, but there's no point in us going on like this. I'm going to try the northern path, while you guys go in other directions."
Before there could be any protest, the black-haired girl had left.
"What does she mean by that?" asked Dante, innocently. He knew that not all cultivators would be willing to work as a team, but Sabrina's behavior was very strange. From what Dante was understanding, after all, working in a team was not a choice, but a necessity.
Sabrina's departure from the group seemed to wake Rim. "Since we entered the forest, we have passed close to several monsters. However, whenever we were close to bumping into them, they would back off."
"Sorry, guys. I think I'd better head east," said Hector, as he started walking in the other direction.
Dante was missing something. Still not understanding, he tried again.
"What do you mean, what's going on?" he said, apprehensively.
"In terms of raw power, we are certainly among the strongest in our class. Sabrina, Rim and I are not far from gold. The monsters, being weaker individually than us, sense our presence and run off. So the only viable strategy is to split up and find our own way," Hector added, while looking at Dante, hoping to console him.
In fact, although Rim didn't show it, she was also apprehensive about the situation. Not for her, of course. There was probably nothing in the forest that would be able to push her over the edge. However, she doubted that Dante could handle a Class F or E monster on his own.
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Trying to make a quick choice, hoping to shorten her indecision, Rim set off on a path to the southeast, to re-enter the forest of variant leaves.
With no option, Dante headed toward something that sounded like the sound of running water. For Dante, the whole situation was a bucket of cold water. First his Qi instability, and now, why had he been put on a team where he was by far the weakest?
It made little sense.
He just did not know what would become of him if he encountered some powerful monster. With his normal cultivation, he didn't know if he would be able to defeat them. Now, with whatever trouble was going on, the certainty of failure was even more frightening.
--
It didn't take long for the theory to prove true. After only a few minutes of walking alone, Dante heard the sound of sticks breaking on his left.
Turning around, he saw two goblins running towards him, armed with small clubs. They were walking unsteadily, as if they were going to stumble at any moment.
However, Dante had learned not to underestimate any monster. Even a normal person without a monster core could be killed by a knife or something similar in a slip up.
Dante prepared his stance for the impending combat. Spreading his legs a little to keep his center of gravity steady, he focused first on the goblin on the left, who was running faster than the other. Dodging the first blow, he grabbed the monster's hand with his left, and with his right, delivered a precise punch to the monster's face.
With a guttural sound, the monster fell to the ground, while holding its nose.
Dante barely managed to dodge the blow of the other goblin, who took advantage of the distraction provided by his equal and aimed his club at Dante's back.
Dante threw his body to the side in time to get out of Goblin's reach. Taking a deep breath and preparing himself for the pain, he circulated his Qi, focusing on his hands.
Since he had advanced to the silver level, Dante had trained mainly in two techniques. The first was the concentrated punch he had used, unsuccessfully, in the entrance test to the Sapphires. The second was a simple strengthening, directed at the region of the fists, so that his normal attacks would carry more force.
Not giving the first goblin time to recover, Dante took a deep breath and attacked.
Using the technique he had trained countless times, he landed two punches on the monster's belly and finished with an uppercut. This time, the fallen globin seemed to be truly defeated, showing no signs of life.
Just in time, Dante heard leaves rustling behind him. Turning around, he again encountered the first goblin, who had gotten up and was now preparing an unknown attack.
Varying slightly this time, Dante focused only on the monster's head. Two precise blows did the job.
Soon after the fight was over, Dante stopped the circulation of Qi. Although the pain seemed to have subsided somewhat, it was still extremely uncomfortable compared to how it should feel. He felt that his body was moving faster, as if the Qi running through his channels was more efficient than before.
After finishing the fight, he removed his Harvester, an object that Fig has given to the students by Fig before they entered the forest.
According to the professor, this was an artifact common to slayers. Its function was to collect the monsters' cores, in order to later convert them into Qi so that the students could cultivate and become stronger. This method would not preserve a core for a fusion, for example, and was used only when the Core was to be converted into materials for cultivation.
One of Dante's greatest curiosities was to visualize the workings of a core maker. Core makers specialized in preserving the cores of dead monsters so that they could be used to make monster equipment or to bond with a human.
Well, it wouldn't be this time. Bringing the harvester closer to one goblin, Dante watched as the object pulled spiritual energy from the monsters. By the looks of it, the weak creature's energy was automatically converted into Qi by the device. After all, a goblin core wouldn't be good for anything.
After he finished, he tucked the object that looked like a canteen into his clothes. Holding it steady to make sure it wouldn't fall off if he fought again, Dante stood up.
Before he could leave the battle scene, however, he noticed something strange. On the goblins' body, in the area where he had hit them, there were burn marks. Although his Qi was of the fire type, Dante had not yet managed to externalize it consecutively in his blows. Normally, red Qi would only serve to strengthen his blows, but the bodies of the goblins exposed there put that claim to the test.
Looking at his hands, Dante couldn't help but feel uncomfortable. First the fainting in the testing phase, now extra complications were arising. He didn't even have the courage to think about his first conversation with the gemstone.
By God, he had been approved by pity! Surely there were others who deserved it more than he did.
Shaking his head as if the act would send the bad thoughts away, Dante started walking again. There was no one who deserved the opportunity more than he did. For years, he had trained dutifully. If he had the resources, he was sure he would be on high-silver by now. After so long, it would not be now that his will to grow stronger and bring pride to his family would waver.
Thinking he saw some shadows up ahead, he started walking again.
He still needed to collect class E and class D monsters.