"We have arrived to the Ebonguard!" said the sailor. There was two passengers here who had bought a passage to the Ebonguard.

A young man who was in fur drags woke up, groaning with annoyance. He  had fur rags on him and his uncivilized appearance made him look like a caveman.

If a beggar saw him he would think that he himself who begged for food and slept on rocks was actually lucky and was living in luxury! In other words, his appearance would elicit pity even from beggars!

His hair long black hair that had touched to his waist had covered one of his grey eyes that had the look of being absolutely tired, his eyes were like eyes of someone who did not sleep for a week at least. His height was 210 centimeters and he had a lean build.

If he had armor, he would think he was a fellow veteran from Aryas, tired after fighting thousand skirmishes. But this man was actually not a warrior, but a martial artist.

Though they bought a ticket he came to Ebonguard swimming, keeping up with the ship, how he did that even he did not know. He himself was a veteran from front lines and had once led hundred man. But the training this youth did sent shivers down his spine.

But if he had not done that kind of harsh he would not be able to do this! Maybe this young man was someone who came to the Empire of Sun to enter the Blazing Sun Academy! If he could not join then he would dare say nobody could.

Seeing his hard work everyone on the ship admired this youth. Even though they themselves could call themselves people who worked hard and improved at life and death situations in battlefield, they had not worked as hard as this seemingly weak youth.

In fact some of the sailors, who were ashamed of a youth doing far more work than them, began to do his training too. Except for swimming in the river filled with carnivorous fishes. They would not dare to.

But this youth would dare and would swim in the river under training of his grandfather. They actually pitied youth, though he was rich and very likely had many potions or pills, thus was in no real danger.

But that did not change the fact the training he did was simply inhuman! Beyond enduring even for them who had boasted of nerves of steel and iron wills!

The sailor then went on to warn other people who had bought a ticket to the Ebonguard.

"Grandfather! We have arrived!" said the young man to the older man with gray hair as he shook him. He was taller than the boy with a muscular build and scars on his skin.

He painted a contrast to the boy who wore leather rags, he was wearing fine silk instead. He looked like a noble other looked like caveman.

"Got it, just 5 minutes more" murmured the old man. Young man grinned showing his sharp canine and premolar teeth. His eyes were narrowed and a bulge appeared on his forehead. A black aura swept forth filled with anger.

He thrust a punch to man's solar plexus and then pulled his blanket causing him to fall to the ground. Older man had a coughing fit which ended with one big cough then he began to complain.

"Aeron, what you are doing is not supposed to be done to an older person! I even took care of you these past few months! To think you would become so ungrateful! Learn something about filial piety and respect to one's elders!" said Xander with indignation.

"I even put all my time to it and taught you all that I knew! Is this how you are going to repay me for my undivided attention during your training?" said Xander again with an expression that told he was disappointed.

Looking at that disappointed expression Aeron simply felt like fainting that instant. He wanted to beat his chest until he threw up blood and ask heaven how can such a lie go without a thunderbolt!

If there was a way to return to the day that I said I wanted grandfather to teach me, I think I would not be able to resist the urge to slap myself until my cheeks became like the cheeks of my rear end!

You are saying you trained me? You called THAT training? If that was training death is just a light exercise akin to doing one sit up! Fuck your training! Take your training and shove it up your ass!

Aeron screamed inside his heart indignantly. He really felt like coughing to death then and there. He really did not know how to express this grievance!

Should he laugh? Should he cry? Should he swear all the swear words under heaven? Should he just find some valley and scream curses at Xander?

His heart boiled with rage that he was not able to get rid of! He felt like stabbing himself or jumping into the river and get a free express to the bottom of an ocean! Then he looked to Xander and sighed in regret.

Damn it, I missed my chance! I should have used his blanket to tie him up and then throw him into the river so that he may taste the pain he gave me! Now it is too late!

"Hehehe" Aeron laughed with corner of his mouth twitching and eyes empty as he remembered the past few months.

*****

"Fuck you! Fuck you sideways!" screamed Aeron who was running away from the golden vultures. Which was the name he himself gave to these creatures who were shrieking with their ugly voices after him.

He just dodged a talon that was aimed at his neck and was furious since it dared to attack him, but he could do nothing but swear at him since he was putting all his strength to his legs.

Under the desert sun, he was running away with each of his feet buried into sand with every step. The cause was the heavy armor on him. He ran at the speed as fast as a normal human.

He was running and avoiding the incoming talon strikes of these vultures at the same time. There were five or ten of them when he stopped he would be overwhelmed even if these vultures were not higher level than him.

Like vultures back on Earth, these creatures were feasting on an animal's corpse when he was running and had finished it. Then they saw him and were going after him now.

Aeron thought it was likely because he already looked like a half dead corpse as a result of running for ten minutes already. Maybe because they saw him running like this they believed he would be an easy prey.

Actually they were fairly smart, they attacked at him after a minute has passed from the previous attack. Normally, like now, they were circling him, waiting for him to become weak.

"Best way to practice is running, Aeron! Take this armor and begin to run! Running in sand will improve your speed, stamina and carrying that armor will improve your strength! Carrying on this exercise is hard, but this will also improve your willpower to endure!" murmured Aeron saying Xander's words with a mocking voice taking a few deep breaths.

"I don't know grandfather, I read that there were strong creatures here!" murmured Aeron now with an innocent tone.

"Oh I am sure there won't be that many! HAHAHAH!" murmured Aeron again with a mocking voice. Then he whispered:"Why did I even listen!" with an expression of rage.

"ASSHOLE!" screamed Aeron from top of his lungs, which echoed in the empty desert and began to run even faster involuntarily.

He looked at his armor, sure it looked light but he was fairly sure it was at least five times heavier than his body, which due to being 210 centimeters, was more than hundred kilogram!

The whole thing was metal and had a very excellent conductivity! He could bet that he would be able to grill meat and have a BBQ with this! Why did he accept to run the desert with a metal from the start?

He wanted to face palm and beat himself up. Maybe he had became too trusting... Either way he was tricked!

Xander had said that they would go to the Granite Bay passing the Silent Expanse. He would train himself at the Granite Bay a location well known for being an excellent spot for training young disciples.

He bought one three humped camel so he imagined they would ride on it together, animal was large enough to carry four people. But he told him he would go on foot to train.

Then he ordered him to take off his clothes and his shoe. Then ordered him to don this armor and run to improve. He found it logical and began to run. He felt stupid now, who would know this was attempted murder?

As for why he did not protect him, the moment he attracted the vultures Xander had disappeared like a wizard! Looking at the vultures and seeing that he was not going to come he began to run like hell.

"I am dying! I cannot feel my feet!" said Aeron, He was about to fall over because his feet stopped hurting, now they were not responding right, causing him to slow down and collapse.

"GRANDFATHER!" screamed Aeron who fell looking at the Vultures who now were getting ready to attack. Then the leading vulture was hit by a pebble in the head and exploded, scattering brain and blood everywhere.

Other vultures who now noticed Xander quickly ran away, seeing that Xander was strong enough to kill all of them.

"Take this and start running again!" said Xander and threw him a magical beast core. Aeron ate it and felt a terrible pain all over his body, like insects were eating him inside out, as he was restored to peak condition. He looked at the sky and released his breath and relaxed a bit.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Don't stand there looking at sky dumbass! RUN!" said Xander. Aeron looked on himself, his armor was stained with blood. He then understood what was happening and began running with everything he had.

"DAMN IT ALL!" screamed Aeron running for his life as a pack of jackals who had smelled blood came. Most were eating vulture's corpse and a few of them decided to go after him.

*****

"Damned vultures, damned dogs, damned lizards, damned desert!" said Aeron shivering under the blanket he had made out of fur and his fur rags for clothing. His silk clothes had already could not handle the abuse and fell apart.

"It is blazing in the day and freezing in the night! There is not even one plant to burn! In the novels they always had fire in this kind of situation, how did they even find it!" said Aeron complaining in grunts and shivered under the fur he used as a blanket.

Then he stopped shivering and speaking, started breathing very subtly and looked around cautiously. Is it this time? What is the magical beast this time around?

He had been in this desert for a long time. By his estimate it was about 20 days. At the day Xander would force him to don an armor, that always seemed to grow heavier and heavier, and would make him run.

Then at night he would be forced to remove his armor, he would give him a few fur rags that he himself had made and he would shiver trying to sleep without being interrupted by wild beasts.

One could say that this was an arena. Until sun rises beasts would be sent one by one or perhaps many weaker beasts at once. Barely giving him any time to sleep eat or replenish his injuries.

He looked into the darkness alert against every shadow. Moon was a weak source of light but still it was a source of light. For better or for worse most magical beasts would not hide, so he was watching to see it.

Being ambushed was a certain way to lose. If he was bitten in even one of his limbs then he would not be able to put up much of a fight. They did not call these beasts deadly for nothing.

His eyes captured a glow in the dark. He smiled beasts had night vision, but this night vision also revealed them. He was watching the beast. Then the beast slowly started to approach, revealing himself.

A golden stripe jackal! Jackals would not work without one other jackal at least. For now he could not see the other ones but if there are any reinforcements they would not arrive at the same time. They were probably was right behind him.

Jackal slowly approached at Aeron who faked sleeping until it got near reluctantly to bite his throat. Then Aeron with lightning speed held the jackals jaws and turned back.

He was right there were others. He would not take the initiative because he did not have gloves, shoes or any kind of protection, exposing his limbs to the jackals sharp teeth.

He could not bend down enough to punch and if he kicked it that was just asking for the jackal to bite his legs. He really wanted to wear the armor he wore during the day right now.

Also these creatures were a pain in the ass to deal with. If they were sure their prey had more life in him than what they expected they often would withdraw. But these jackals were driven here by Xander who probably blocked their way out, fleeing from him they probably would not think about running.

Aeron sighed jackals most often attacked by biting their prey and withdrew to look for the damage they gave before attacking again, if necessary. It was such a pain to deal with.

Also these were beasts who were a pack. He would fight other beasts so he could not use much of his mana and energy while fighting them. If he did, then he would end up very miserable against the next beast.

Xander had made an arena. He probably would bring beasts over and over again until the first ray of sun, barely giving him any chance to sleep.

Jackals were more of a scavengers, but when he first came to a desert they were a serious threat. Most of them had level of 8. He only needed level 2 to fight one of them. three to fight two or three. He was level 5 now.

They had a low position in the food chain but in large numbers they were dangerous. There probably was at least a dozen or more of them right now or they would not present a challenge.

Their cowardly nature served him well or they would be a bigger threat. If he fought back jackals would hesitate to attack they would circle him trying to size him up.

Aeron immediately removed his hand from the upper jaw of the jackal and struck the jackal at the base of its neck breaking its spinal cord and killing him in an instant.

This intimidated the approaching jackals who did not think human who appeared weaker than them could give them a challenge. This sudden surprise made them back away.

They formed a circle watching their prey with wary eyes. Aeron sighed in his heart. Longer this battle would take shorter his time for rest would be. He had to activate their hunting instinct.

Aeron stepped back, acting cautious and panicked. This gave jackals a burst of morale and they moved towards him. Aeron made more agitated movements as the jackals drew near with every step.

One of the pack, attacked trying to bite Aeron's legs, but when he opened his eyes legs were gone. Then Aeron struck it in the back of his head to stun him and then stomped on his neck to kill it.

Golden stripped jackals were the most powerful kind of jackal. In all actuality none of the magical beasts he encountered were very fast or dangerous. All of them were lower level than 10, without any special ability or any kind of magic, considered more like animals.

Also he would often get in a dangerous situation he had to escape with all his might during day. He suspected it was because of Xander. But all of the dangers he encountered were not capable of catching him if he ran at full speed.

If he was not in danger he could not strain himself to fullest extent, his body would not allow it. It was like trying to stab oneself with a knife your hand would shake and you would find yourself unable to.

Most basic forms of instinct was self preservation. Unless his preservation was in danger his body would not release adrenaline which allowed him to strain himself to his fullest!

Aeron now did not have any patience he could not try his trick again too. He could not let the mana out of his body and because of that he could not use most of his fighting techniques.

If he could use [Divine Dragon Art] he would swatter them all like bugs. If he had just one percent of his previous power he could do this without any effort.

He closed his eyes and drew a deep breath. When he opened his eyes he let out a howl that startled the surrounding jackals. Howl as feral, fierce, more like an animal than a human.

Aerons grey eyes gleamed with a strange light, he was showing his canines and and growling like an animal. Inh is body mana wildly coursed.

"Here he goes again!" said Xander with an excited look. Aeron's howl could even send shiver down his spine, let alone those jackals.

Xander guessed that his divine body would be the type considered sinister in Holy Union. It was either demonic or primal, it even might be both primal and demonic type. Right now Aeron who did not know how to infuse his body with mana was freely using it without even being aware of it.

If he asked him to do it when he was not in this... "asura form" as Aeron called it, he could not do it good and would not be able to use mana effectively, wasting a lot of his mana.

After all, he was a beginner at handling mana. But when he was in wrath form he could show even most advanced mana manipulation techniques, purely by instinct.

He could not stop him when he got like this too. He would not attack his allies, but he would attack those who did not allow him to attack his "prey".

It seemed Aeron very much liked battle and adversity. He looked at Aeron who was charging at the jackals. Often laughing out of joy as he slaughtered his foes or screaming "Yee-haw!" or "Olei!" with excitement.

Aeron did not need much time to slaughter all of them and fell on his bottom breathing heavily. He began to eat a jackal alive, these kinds of beasts did not have magical cores yet.

He often ate their hearts as it was the best place to eat. And then he began eating. So long as he ate he would recover his mana after all. he ate to his heart's content before passing out.

______________________________________

I was originally planning to make this chapter really long. But then I got sick could barely open my eyes and slept all day. Now I am better.

Sorry for lack of releases! I try to release with 3 days at most between releases, but this time I could not. :boworpushups: