It was already evening when we were out of the forest. That's considered fast so I suppose I didn't have any problems with it. I thought there was more of a splendid scenery than the inside of the forest but well, it's just plains of snow isn't it? How disappointing. The sunset is very nice though. Kuma also seemed to agree with me as he's beaming with energy. At least I think that's the cause.

"Let's hurry up. It's getting dark. We need to set up camp at a suitable place. Thank goodness I have packed lots of food." Kuma slightly sighed, worrying about our stock of food. I wouldn't worry much about that.

I'll tell him that I can make food later on.

I just gave Kuma a small nod and we proceeded right away to find a suitable place to set up camp. We chose a place where the snow wasn't piling up too much and wasn't too far from the forest. I was assigned to build the tent while Kuma searched for firewood back in the forest. I had offered my help to just create the firewood but Kuma asked me to save my magic. Probably in case of emergency. Not sure if I can help since I only have a binding magic. 

I should make a magic tonight. A magic that can be used for attacking.

I finished setting up the tent and a couple of minutes after that, Kuma came back with the promised firewood in his arms. I used my Creation Magic to start up a fire since it was really getting dark. The fire was obviously used for providing light and most importantly, warmth.

Knowing that both of us were getting pretty hungry, Kuma quickly reached for his bag that he brought from his house and searched for the food he stocked. He took out two big pieces of dried meat. It's not much but I guess as long as it's food and is edible, I'll gladly eat it. At least we had food to eat right?

But I wonder, did he hunt the meat from one of the animals in the forest? Of course it wouldn't be weird for a bear to do so but since Kuma has intelligence the animals seemed like his friends or acquaintances, doesn't he feel guilty at all? Well, no use in wondering about something like this.

He also took out two plates and placed the dried meat there. There didn't seem to be any spoon or fork so I suppose I'll need to eat it with my hands. He then proceeded to pass the plate with the dried meat in it to me.

"Thanks." I took it and said my thanks. 

"You're welcome." Kuma simply said and began his meal.

We sat on the ground near the fire even if the ground is cold to eat our meal. Well, the fire kind of helped with that.

"By the way Kuma. You shouldn't worry about hunting for food since I could just make them. Sorry I didn't tell you earlier."

"Hell, you can really create almost anything huh? I should have guessed since you were able to create magic. But well, you shouldn't just rely on your magic alone." Kuma stopped his meal momentarily and looked at me. "A person who only rely magic like you will surely die sooner or later in the battlefield."

"Is it because if my enemies forced me into close combat, I'd die?"

"Yep." Kuma's answer was so simple yet meant a lot to me.

When that time comes, will I die? Again, for the second time?

I shudder at the thought. I suddenly lost my appetite to eat.

"That's why I'm going to teach you how to fight. Tomorrow, I'm going to start by teaching you how to hunt. It's always good to have basic survival skills no matter where you are." 

"Why are you doing this just for the sake of someone you just met?" I asked him that. Normally, acquaintances wouldn't even care that much for each other. It's a fact.

"Don't get me wrong. I dislike seeing my companion, new or not, die. Now, you should eat your meal that I gave to you. Or else." Kuma eyed me.

"Uh, thanks. Itadakimasu~ (Thank you for the food)." I thanked Kuma for the talk and am truly grateful that he cares for me. Even for just a bit.

I better start eating or he would keep staring at me. I had regain a little bit of my appetite because of the talk with Kuma. Somewhat, I think our friendship has gotten a bit better.

After finishing our meals, Kuma took the plates and washed it with a little bit of the water that he had in store. He then put the plates back in his bag.

We decided to sleep early to wake up early tomorrow morning so that Kuma can teach me hunting right away. I suppose the faster the better. We also have determined that each of us needs to watch the night in turn and change the shift every two hours. I guess it's a necessity. I've read about this quite a lot in adventure novels.

Kuma was the first one to watch the night so I went to the tent and slept for two hours. After that, Kuma changed shifts with me. Whenever it's my shift, I didn't spent the hours doing nothing. I made a magic skill, a metal sword with its scabbard and a waist pack. The magic that I made was an attack magic like I planned to make earlier.

The magic was a long-range type of magic. It's a fire magic. How it works was that two spheres of black flames would manifest in each one of my hands this time, making it four in total and well, throw it. It's like one of those beginner magic fireball but a lot stronger and much, much hotter. Way hotter than the  blue flame on Earth. I tested the said magic on a dummy I created beforehand. Thank goodness I managed to put the fire off before it spreads to the tent and other belongings. That'd make Kuma real mad. I made the sword later on in the night because my magic was low caused by the making of my magic.

I checked my platinum plate and then confirmed that the magic was registered. It's name is 'Ancient Magic: Flame of Corruption (Dark Magic)'.

For the rest of the night, I tried to practice swinging using my newly made sword but it was really hard. It's to be expected since I have never wield a real sword before. Despite that, I'm not giving up in hopes to get better at it. It was a tiring yet fruitful night watch. 

The night watch was ended by Kuma. I then, slept like a log till morning.

The next morning, I woke up alone in the tent. I went out of the tent and saw Kuma fully dressed in light armor with a sword hanged to the side of his waist. He even brought those? That's understandable though. It's probably for future fighting I suppose. He also seems like he's in full spirits today.

"You're slow!" Kuma yelled at me.

Sheesh, don't yell so early in the morning.

"Here, wear these. These were originally mine but I'll give them to you. Hurry up and wear them." Kuma gave me the light armor that was in his hands. These clothing were also quite similar to his.

I went inside the tent and quickly changed my clothes into the light armor. I folded my precious clothes that I wore neatly and left it inside the tent. I put the plants that I picked into the waist pack that I created last night. I brought along my empty slang bag and went out of the tent. As for why I'm bringing along my bag, it's to put the hunting ingredient or anything that's valuable that I may find during the hunt. I don't think it's really needed since Kuma also brought his bag.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

I also equipped my metal sword and hanged it to the left side of my waist.

"Are you ready? You didn't forget to bring anything else that you needed?" Kuma asked, confirming one last time.

"I've got everything I needed so I'm ready to go." I answered and nodded to his question.

"Okay, let's roll!"

Like that, I headed out to hunt for the first time.

~~~~~~

"Awooo..."

I watched Kuma as he used his sharp sword to slash the wolf to death. Prior to its death, the poor thing cried its last cry.  I felt pitiful for the animal but this was the way of the life. It's either you kill or be killed. This was of the norm. 

Kuma's cut was beautiful and clean. There was almost no unnecessary move in the swordsmanship he displayed. He regained some of my respect because of that. Was this because of the large pool of experience as he had live and trained his swordsmanship for a long time? Maybe that's it.

"Did you see that? That's how you hunt. You slowly approach your target without making too much noise that attracts its attention and strike when it lets its guard down." Kuma explained diligently to me. He showed me the exact same way to hunt earlier.

"I definitely saw it. I even paid extra attention when you slashed that wolf down! Your swordsmanship was beautiful! Can you teach me that later?" I complimented Kuma honestly. He looked like an expert at that time after all. If it weren't because of his perversity, I would have made him my role model.

"Haha! Sure, when I think that you're good enough." 

He somehow sounds like an old master and I'm the young apprentice. He's older by a large margin so I'm way younger than he is..... Wait, isn't this exactly like that? 

I could only curse a bit under my breath.

"Now, it's your turn. Wolves in this part of the forest doesn't have intelligence and they don't move in a pack. You must not use your weird magic skills or anything. There's a wolf just right there. Kill it with your sword. Beware of its fast movements." Kuma reminded me and pointed his finger in a direction. 

It was also natural for him to forbid me from using magic since it would destroy the purpose of this hunt, this training.

The current hunting location was the same as the Akasha Forest that we exited yesterday except that we're in a different part of the forest. Kuma said that the wolves here doesn't have any intelligence as to tell me to not hold back. It doesn't really make me feel less guilty about killing an animal. I'm was after all, a former citizen living in peace.

I turned to the direction. There was indeed a wolf there. Crap, I'm getting a bit nervous here. I approached slowly as to not make too much noise. I also bent my body a bit to the front in order to stay out of the wolf's sight.

I was able to go near enough to be in a position to ambush the wolf without a problem. Hiding behind a bush, I put my right hand on the handle of my blade and my left on the scabbard of the sword, ready to unsheathe my sword. 

Gulping, I jumped out of the bush and ran towards the wolf. While its still surprised, I unsheathe my sword, performing an Iai Strike (an action of striking the opponent while unsheathing the sheathed sword. I can't explain too well), inflicting a deep wound to the surprised wolf. Even though the wound inflicted was deep, it didn't die in that one strike.

I guess it's not possible for me to one hit K.O a wolf right now huh.

"Grrrr.... Awooo!"

The wounded wolf who was enraged by my ambush, charged at me. Wow, it still had that much power left even after receiving a critical damage. While the wolf's charge was fast, its speed was significantly dropped therefore allowing me to dodge it relatively easy.

While the wolf was struggling to decelerate, I took the chance and counterattacked. I kicked the ground to add a boost to my speed and thrust my sword into its opened wound that I made, putting an end to its miserable life. I pulled my sword out of the dead wolf. I pushed my sword into the not-so-hard ground and pulled it back to clean the blood off of it. I then put it back into its scabbard.

Kuma, who saw my fight from the distance came to me after confirming that the fight was over. I was congratulated and surprisingly got complimented by him.

"What the hell, you do know how to fight after all, you bastard. Or should I say that you have a very sharp reaction time. Use that talent of yours wisely. If you practice, you will surely be better. Now, let's skin and dismember it. I already did the last one that I killed." Kuma smiled broadly, seeing the success of today's hunting.

"By the way, how come you could skin and dismember the wolf that fast?!" I said that, watching the skillful hands of Kuma skinning the wolf and dismembering it. It doesn't seem that Kuma is listening to what I said just now. Just how excited are you, seeing meat?

....I suppose it's as expected of a bear.

After a couple of minutes of skinning and dismembering the body parts of a wolf, Kuma drained the blood that was dripping from the parts. He also removed the entrails of the said animal. It's kind of disgusting and I felt a bit nauseous  seeing that as I'm not used to it.

When the blood was completely drained, Kuma just stuffed them into his bag, which was quite big. Some parts that weren't able to fit in was put into my bag instead. My bag's gonna reeked of blood.

As we have spent quite a lot of time finding and hunting the wolves, we decided to head back to our camping site. Thank goodness it was still intact. Seems like no monsters or any animals had been at our camp.

Along the way, I heard Kuma mumbling something.

"Natural talent or not, it's his first time hunting. He should have not been uninjured...."

I couldn't quite hear what he kept mumbling about.

Hmm... Whatever. Anyways, today's hunt was successful and Kuma complimented me on fighting. Even if it's just a little, I think I finally know how to fight.

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A/N: Another chapter! With each chapter, I'm lengthening the amount of words there are. This chapter, I managed to lengthened it to 2000+ words. Well that's that. As always, your feedback is highly demanded and thank you for reading the chapter ^-^ .