Jiyoung sat down on the chair placed near my bed.

“How are you now?” she asked with worry laced in her voice.

Cocking my head in her direction, I responded, “as you can see, I’m not dead.”

I joked as I inclined my head and leaned back in the bed. My brows knit, as I held back the impulse to groan.

Jiyoung's face remained expressionless, and my humour had not reached her.

She glared at me with her icy eyes and spoke with her cold voice, “you almost died and you want to make jokes?”

I turned my gaze away from her and tried to avoid that topic. Even if I didn’t know the Saber Tiger was a mutant, I should still have been able to defeat it with ease.

She crossed her arms and I looked at her face, which had a scary expression.

“You could have died Jiwoo.” Her voice was stern and serious. “Thanks to the protection suit, the attack of the Saber Tiger didn’t reach your spine. But... you still had considerable damage inflicted onto you.”

Jiyoung was mad. Her eyes were cold and voice stern, but there was worry laced in each of her words. I could tell.

I had only seen her angry once—when I went to the mall. But right now, she looked scary. The way Jihoon had described her to me.

I looked at her and rubbed the back of my neck with my hand as I responded. “I’m sorry. I’ll be more careful next time.”

Her brows eased and she looked at me with her lips tucked into something hardly a smile.

“I know you are strong and capable...," she looked straight into my eyes and continued,“... but such strength is useless, if you can’t even protect yourself.”

Well I was at a loss for words. I was—at this point—used to getting hurt. Not even serious injuries—like getting impaled in the chest by a certain demon— could shake me that much.

I sighed and avoided looking at Jiyoung. In no way was I a masochist, who enjoyed getting hurt.

But the physical pain I had experienced in my past life had made my tolerance against pain stronger than most humans. But nonetheless, I still felt pain.

“Jiwoo, I don’t care how you fight... but please, remember to take care of yourself,” her eyes and tone softened.

With a short pause she opened her mouth and spoke again, “and you might give Jihye a heart attack if you keep doing stuff like this.”

Pffftt—!

I chuckled hard as I heard her.

“You’re right,” I said with a smile.

But my heart said otherwise. I had never once considered my safety in front of my loved one's.

Jiyoung had become a dear friend to me. I liked her personality and her will to move forward without letting her slumps get to her.

But seeing her like this was a new for me. I mean, when she gave me a watch as gift was also a surprise.

With a soft smile over my face, I looked at Jiyoung, who was leaning back in her seat.

“Thanks for worrying about me.”

I was really grateful to have a friend like her.

Suddenly Jiyoung’s watch vibrated and she tapped over it. After looking at her watch for a few seconds, she tapped over it again and turned her gaze in my direction.

“I think you should get some rest,” she said as she got up from her seat. “I only came here to check on you. And you seem fine now.”

“Okay, see ya,” I waved my hand, and soon she left the room.

The tournament was still ongoing.

I felt my eyes getting heavier and soon I fell asleep.

***

“Please come again,” I heard the cashier’s voice, as I exited the convenience store.

I brought my hand close to my eyes and covered them from the blazing light of the sun.

“Damn it’s hot,” I said whilst taking a popsicle out from the plastic bag I held in my hand.

I unwrapped the popsicle and started eating it. “Huaaa... that feels better.”

The summertime was not my favourite time of the year. The hot environment made every task hard to perform.

I stepped forward and started walking along the wide street.

Few cars and pedestrians passed by, as I walked home.

I felt a trickle of sweat run down my side. “Why does it get so hot around this time of the year?” I said.

The heat was really getting to me. But the worst thing about this heat was that Master had increased my training schedule.

‘And that quack-head is also coming today to help me with my mana control training.'

My brows furrowed as I slowed down my pace.

Training with Master was already hard enough for me, but now, I had to start training with his quack-head friend.

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I felt like a sheep, who was held hostage by lions.

But still, despite their teaching methods being really strange, they were nonetheless efficient.

I had been training under Master for three and a half years now. And if I were to compare my past-self, with the Me from today, I most definitely knew, I could easily beat the me from the past a hundred times without breaking a sweat.

But still, those two are nut-jobs of the same kind, when it comes to teaching.

Just as I took another step forward, I felt cold sweat on the back of my neck, as I felt the mana in the air ripple, and get heavier with each passing second.

“A dungeon break,” I said in a whisper. A dungeon break had occurred nearby.

When a dungeon breaks, depending on the mana and rank of the dungeon, the surrounding area gets affected. And the mana in the atmosphere near the dungeon gate goes into a frenzy. Which allows the monsters to break through the dungeon gate.

And the mana around me had gotten quite heavier, meaning a high ranked dungeon had broke.

Ahaaaa—!

A hoarse scream jolted me out of my thoughts and as I snapped my head in all directions and focused to find where that scream had come from.

Ahaaaa—!

I dashed forward and entered a park which was forty metres away from where I was.

I saw a wolf monster, attacking a group of children, which were inside the park.

The black furred wolf had locked it’s eyes on the children and was ready to attack.

Soon it propelled forward and tried to attack a young girl who had brown braided hair and round cheeks. But without even thinking, I lunged forward with mana reinforcing my legs.

I covered the distance in an instant, and kicked the monster with my leg on its right side.

It stumbled a few steps to the side, by my sudden assault.

I grabbed the girl and dashed towards the other kids.

“All of you get out of here,” I shouted whilst grabbing a wooden stick which was laying on the ground.

I extended the wooden stick forward and took a stance, “better than having nothing.”

With a frown over my face I locked eyes with the wolf and again shouted. “Get out of here. Go!”

The children hurried towards the park gate. The wolf lunged towards the kids, but I interfered, and attacked it from the side with a nimble movement.

But the monster’s movements were faster than I had predicted. It dodged and hacked at me with its sharp claws.

I brought the wooden stick forward to intercept it’s claws, but upon impact the stick broke and I went flying into a nearby tree.

“Uek—!”

I groaned in pain, as I spat a mouthful of blood.

I tried to maneuver my body, but I felt a sharp pain on my left side. I brought my right hand close to my left ribcage and felt a big cut through which blood was spewing out.

My body felt heavy and a weird warmth started enshrouding my being.

I felt weird. Like death had put it’s hand over me, but I didn’t feel afraid. I couldn’t hear anything except the growling of the wolf, and the loud thumbing of my heart.

I saw the wolf monster turn it’s scarlet eyes from me towards the children, who were hurriedly making their way towards the gate.

I saw some pebbles—almost the size of my palm—laying a few inches away from me.

I grabbed one of the pebbles, and with a swift movement I shot up to my feet.

I forcefully circulated the mana towards my arm and launched the pebble with great precision and accuracy into the monster's direction. My arm went numb momentarily.

Ahaaaa—!

The pebble hit the monster in it’s left eye, and with a hoarse scream it turned its gaze from the children and looked at me with it’s single scarlet eye.

Without a second to spare, it made its way in my direction and opened its mouth to attack with its sharp teeth.

It bit hard on my right shoulder and I painfully screamed. I bit my lips and propelled my left hand into its single remaining eye.

The monster released it’s grip from my shoulder, as I plummeted on the ground.

The excruciating pain on my side and shoulder made me almost lose consciousness. I felt the edges of my eyes get heavier as I gasped hard for air.

I was losing blood, and losing consciousness won’t do me any good in this situation.

I didn't have a weapon nor any potions on me.

I looked towards the gate and the children had escaped safely.

Ahaaaa—!

The now blinded wolf, went into a feat of frenzy.

A smile crept up my lips as I saw the wolf in such a state. “You get what you deserve.”

But a second later I felt the hair at the back of my head stand and a frown threatened to emerge over my face, as I saw three more wolves, who had appeared from no where and were cornering a little girl, who had tripped on the ground.

“Damn it,” I muttered, as I weakly got up on my feet.

I channelled my mana, all of it, towards my legs, and pulled my left leg backwards.

With a painful groan, I felt the cut on my left side and the many bite wounds on my shoulder ache, sending a sharp pain throughout my body.

My mind blanked from the pain, as my legs wobbled. I felt like my body could drop down on its own weight at any moment.

I took a deep breath, and lunged forward. The mana circulated towards my feet, bursted, and in a blink of an eye, I covered the fifteen metre distance in three steps.

My left leg almost gave out from the sudden increase in tension over my muscles.

I grabbed the girl and embraced her little body, whilst rolling on the hard ground.

After rolling five times, I regained balance, somehow, and let go off her. “G-Go, run a-way.”

She nodded her head with tears trickling down her round cheeks. She got up from the ground and ran towards the gate.

One of the wolves tried to attack her, but I shot towards the wolf and slammed my body against its side. The wolf was pushed a few steps to the side and I plummeted down on the ground.

“Big Brother, “ she shouted with her weepy voice.

“Go,” I shouted back.

Following my shout, she ran out of the park.

Then getting up from the ground, I looked at the three wolves standing in front of me.

I felt a sharp pain in my legs, as I almost stumbled on the ground again.

‘The muscle tissues of my legs are ruptured,’ I inwardly said as I bit my lips till they bled. The burst of mana had allowed me to increase my speed temporarily, but, the backlash was freaking painful.

I learnt to do that movement, by learning the basic movements of the Crescent Moon Style.

Precise speed and the outmost use of one's muscles are required to perform that movement, and by now I had mastered the basics.

I placed my hand over my shoulder, as I felt warm tears trickle down my cheeks. And blood drip from my mouth.

Everything hurt.

But just as the wolfs took a step forward, they stopped in their tracks and I saw their fur stand as all of them took a full step backwards.

Upon their sudden change in behaviour, I snapped my head backwards and saw Master standing behind me.

“What took you s-so... long?” I stuttered, as I spoke with a slight pause. He really knew how to make an appearance last minute.

But Master’s face was solemn. Unlike his usual solemnness. In his eyes I saw a rage, which was destructive. He locked his eyes on the wolves before looking at me, and the state I was in.

“I'm sorry I’m late,” Master said with an apologetic voice.

I tried to take a step backwards, but stumbled, and crashed into Master.

He softly wrapped his arm around me and pulled me close to his body.

I saw Master extending his right arm forward, from the corner of my blurred eyes.

The air rippled and the mana in the atmosphere started converging above the wolves.

Soon many greenish-translucent swords came to life above the monsters. The air around Master’s arm rippled and I saw a beautiful white aura emanating from the tip of his fingers.

My eyes landed on the swords, which floated above the wolves. It looked like they were ready to rip through anything in their way. A bright shine emanated from the swords, and the air around the swords fluttered.

With a wave from Master’s hand, the swords launched towards the monsters—like some heavenly judgment—creating heavy shockwaves as they started slicing through their body.

In only a few seconds, all that was left of the wolves were pieces. Their body cut into hundreds of pieces which laid on the ground.

Master lowered his arm and lifted me off the ground.

“I’m sorry Shun. I’m sorry that I couldn’t come to save you sooner.” Master said.

I leaned my head against his shoulder and spoke with a weak, almost inaudible voice, “it isn’t like you to a-apologise so much, h-huh Old Man?”

Master turned around and stepped out of the park. “Come, let’s go home.”