“Unicorn? You mean 'that' Unicorn which created Royal Road and since then became the biggest and greatest cooperation in human history?” asked Hina hearing the name.

“Yep, and that Unicorn in which I am...well kinda employed at or at least work with” replied Eden.

“And...Unicorn ordered us to school?” wondered Ian.

“No no” Eden shook his hands denying that, “I'm the one who wants to. I just used Unicorn to get you somewhere where I can at least see you safe. They...don't dare want to make me as an enemy.”

Eden made a smile with complete and utter confidence in his words. It was like he knew a lot more than he let on to make it so that even Unicorn would not want him as an enemy.

“Anyway, there were many many different proceedings on getting you in..there is an extremely long waiting list and I actually needed to 'talk' and 'persuade' a couple of people to be pushed back a bit to move you lot in” explained Eden.

'Why does it feel like that Eden threatened them....?' thought the group.

“Another thing was that I needed to find you lot first” Eden smiled a bit shyly seeing that he didn't even know where they were without Unicorn helping him again on this case.

“Find us? When did you start searching?” asked Peter wanting to know.

“Hmm...it was just after you guys met your masters, those apprentices of mine. Therefore another name you can call me as is 'Grand Master!' hahahaha!”

“....”

“Right...never going to say that again” said Eden awkwardly.

In the end, Maria asked, “So it took...2 and a half months to find us?” to Eden.

“Yep, searching through all those logs was a pain in the ass...though even getting access to those logs were trouble enough. I had to push most of the work to Unicorn in the end to find you guys and even with most minimum amount completely filled up my office like you saw when you first came to the guild building all those months in game ago.”

“....”

The group all thought about when Eden guided them around the place at the guild. His office DID spill out of paper then...though he burnt them all in the end. They could not believe there wasn't a negative impact on Eden due to that careless act...though it was all digital in the end and he could easily get it back later.

Peter than went to ask, “Why did you find us?” to Eden.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

“Buy a carriage and bull right lad? That will come to a total of 150 gold” said an energetic old man with a tank top on and with a towel wrapped on his forhead.

Viv handed over the gold coins to the old man without a smile and then thanked him with his service. The old man led out a young and yet powerful bull with lots of muscles on the legs. It was pure black and had a noble look as it stood there ready to pull the carriage behind it.

“For paying full price without trying to bargain, I'll give you my best bull! This one may be young but has the most strength and vigour of all of them!”

“Thank you. I'll take care of him for the rest of my trip” replied Viv politely.

“Haha I know you will. You're heading for Freelily City right? That place that connects the central and western continent together?”

“That's right.”

“In that case, give old Bobby a shout from me to let him know I'm not dead yet!”

Sain felt that Viv got a quest then.

“If I can, then I will” Viv smiled in return and took the bull to the group where he ordered, “Get on, we're leaving” with a completely different attitude to with the old man.

“....”

The group nodded and one by one got on the carriage that was kinda cramped since it was too small to handle six people. The carriage was the type that didn't have a top on it and was the cheap kind which had two wheels and had to be lifted and dragged by the bull. The only good thing was that it could fit 10 people on it so the group had a lot of room to sit on even with the extra stuff being placed around.

Viv sat at the front and led the bull forward and went straight to the road south where they would come to the main road that went a bit further south and then finally east.

An hour later when they were clear of anything and everything except for this road with nothing around it, Viv spoke up.

“The first stage of your training with me has been completed” he said. Sain thought it had to do with the survival skills that Viv pounded in them off screen from the eyes of the viewers while this narrator enjoyed thinking about it.

To sum it up, there were days where you had a high chance to die from poisoning from what you eat and other days where what you want to eat tries to eat you instead. Because of this and other reasons...Sain and Serena both learnt the skill 'Poison Removal' which while technically a spell for a cleric can be used by Druids and Shamans as well.

As such, this skill below was now in the hands of the group as well.

Poison Removal Beginner Level 1

Extracts the poison from the body and expels it out. This method is slow but does the job done and can be more effective and quicker with training. This skill only requires a proportionate amount of mana to be used against the amount and lethally of the poison.

Basically what this spell does is directly counters the poison from the body by using mana to repel the poison from without and take it out of the body. If the poison does 5 health damage per second than you needed to pump at least 5 mana per second using this spell to counter it and more to remove it.

It was quite inefficient but like all skills and spells, it would become much stronger as it levelled up and especially when it moved to the intermediate and advance levels.

Another thing to note was that the group in total gained roughly 5 levels each with vary with certain people getting more kills and some with less kills. Miriel and Shadow gained 7 levels each while Raven and Lyndis only gained 4 levels while Sain and Serena stood at a steady 5 levels each as well. They were on their way to the level 90 and soon the level 100 point as well.

Next Viv, explained what was going to happen next in the future, “The second part of your training will be directly related to your skills. During these next 5 months...I will make sure that most of your skills are in the intermediate level.”

“But you sealed some of our skills from before” said Lyndis.

“When the time comes, I'll switch the skills you can use so you can train them as well” replied Viv.

“I see.”

“Any other questions? I want to start this skill training as fast as possible to give you as much time to screw up and redo things” asked Viv with a soft gentle tone though his words were anything but that.

“Actually, how are me, Raven and Lyndis going to train? I mean, we can't exactly do stuff while riding this” asked Shadow.

Viv grinned and said, “That's simple. You'll be doing all of that while running along side us.”

“....”

Shadow was speechless but so was Lyndis and even more so for Raven. To run and train...it was like killing two birds with one stone...but....

“That's near impossible isn't it?!” said Shadow shocked that anyone would even suggest such a method.

“Well Al did this kind of sword training back when we were only flesh in the game as well and Eden did the same with his magic training at the same time” replied Viv, “It's not that hard. Rather than directly train your attack skills, this kind of training will help level up your other passive skills. Your stance skills will improve greatly with this. Shadow, your stealth skills as well and Raven depending might get a good passive foot skill from this as well. Now off you go.”

“But-”

Shadow and Lyndis tried to make Viv reconsider since this kind of thing was going to be hell for them but suddenly from the side came tree roots...no they were small enough to be called vines; and grabbed onto the three and threw them off.

Thud!

All three of them landed on their backs a bit dizzy from the throw. They looked at the carriage that was slowly getting further and further away from them....

“Hurry up and keep up! I won't wait for you!” shouted Viv actually leaving them behind.

“....”

The three looked at each other and them immediately thought together that the first thing was to be lose them and started running after them while thinking on what to do.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

Lyndis was on her own now since Raven decided to jump into the side of the road while Raven was on the other side as well doing his own thing. This meant that Lyndis could do her own training without interference from the others as well. She was still running and could see the carriage with the others into the distance as well.

First of all she checked the skill that she wanted to train.

Power Stance Beginner Level 5

Leaning forward aggressively will increase the power of attacks in exchange for more danger to the user as they charge head first into battle knowing they will be hit. A stance that will increase the power of attacks by 50% and defence by 14%

Speed Stance Beginner Level 4

Moving side to side will cause enemies to be confused about the directions of the attacks to them and may seem to look like the blade is as fast as always but is actually faster than normal. A stance that will increase the speed of attacks by 50% and evasion by 13%

Precision Stance Beginner Level 4

Staying back and observing the flow of the battle without being in the heat of it, blows will be more likely to be precise and critically damaging to enemies. A stance that will increase the accuracy of attacks by 50% and critical hit chance by 13%

These skills were by far some of the most useful ones she had besides her fire skills which edged on the level of being overpowered a bit. The first thing was that the main effect would not change until she reached the intermediate level for this skill. This meant that she would always get this level of boost for now.

However the other sub effect which were defence, evasion and critical hit chance would increase every time she levelled this skill up. All of these were important as well and hard to get besides defence which also came with armour. But like the main effects, these sub effects would only come when the skill was 'active'; namely when she set up the stance.

'Power Stance' mainly focused the power of the body to the sword. This meant that she took strength from other parts of her body to her arms and wrist mostly and keeping some in the legs to increase power as well. Because of this, it made escaping or evading attacks more difficult when using this stance.

'Speed Stance' was the exact opposite focusing on leaning the body and strength to the legs and lower half to the body instead especially the ankles and knees. Leaning forward was only there to make it harder for foes to hit her but also boosted her speed and range as well. Using this stance meant that she no longer could completely focus on attacking.

Finally 'Precision Stance' was...unusual. Unlike the other two stances, Lyndis had to remove all strength and focus on observing the enemy instead. Out of the three stances, this was far the most passive one yet leaving her with little power to attack or evade. Because of this, she had the most difficult time with this stance. However she felt that her sword moved better and more like the way she wanted and envisioned it to be. Because of this, she trained it as much as the other two stances as well.

“Now....which one to focus on...” muttered Lyndis to herself.

During the few minutes she had to think to herself, she decided to train so she could auto use these stances which were actually really powerful if you could use them properly. Think about it, you suddenly could move 50% faster or have 50% more powerful blows or even have 50% more accurate blows as well.

While Lyndis knew she could use them, it takes for around a second even with training to reduce the amount of time to use one of these stances. That is fatal to her. She needed to do it as short as time as possible.

However she wanted to do something else with this as well.

Namely to use it while moving.

The stances worked as Lyndis stopped, paused and then attacked with the stance set up. She wanted to remove the first two steps, the stopping and pause to set up the attack and move directly to the attack motion.

But doing so meant that her body needed to be in battle mode completely which was harder than you think. It's not standing there that is hard but to perceive everything that might attack or hurt you constantly that tires your mind.

“Right! Need to be able to use at least one of these stances while running till tonight!”

Lyndis was not worried in the slightest and was extremely patient concerning these kinds of things. Like communicating with other people...you need to take it slow else something may break in the process.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

“Time to get started at last...” said Shadow to himself removing himself from Lyndis and Raven. If they were here, then his training would be half as effective. As a rogue which is definitely not an assassin or thief but a job that required both skill sets; acting alone was the best choice.

He was fast and has strength to fight one on one against enemies directly as well. This was the strongest point for a rogue. However many other classes could do this and better. So really, his speed and ability to suddenly attack was the most important thing to him.

As such the combination of the skills 'Stealth', 'Climbing' and 'Burst Speed' were the core of his skills. He needed them as strong as possible...

“Stealth reduces the noise I make...but getting an actual skill for that would be best as well...I should try to reduce the amount of noise I make from now on....” he said with resolve.

If he also got a sound reducing skill, the chances of enemies sensing where he was drastically decreased and combined this with his quick pace and lack of a presence to begin with, he would be a silent killer on the battlefield.

“But speed should be the first priority.”

Stealth was useless if the enemy saw you. Therefore you needed to be fast and to be fast means the enemy can't see you. As such you need to be fast to be stealthy as well and was the most important thing.

Shadow looked ahead and saw the carriage that was slowly getting further away from him. He decided to use 'Burst Speed' at least a large number of time...but along with a skill to reduce the sound he made, he also wanted a passive speed increase skill as well and therefore shouldn't use 'Burst Speed' that much.

“Or...I can continuously use it and perhaps that may....”

Shadow had an idea on what could work. If he randomly increased his speed once in a while, his body would be adapt well enough to the speed which was the sense of slowness after each time he used 'Burst Speed'. Therefore he should use it until his body 'normal' state is the speed in which he travels with using 'Burst Speed'.

The cool down of the skill was fine...the only problem was the mana cost. It was 100 mana per use so he could only use it 6 time max each time.

“Looks like I need to increase my mana to make training more efficient. But that means I can train my stealth and climbing skills otherwise” he said optimality.

Shadow looked around and there were a couple of trees around the place. While not as dense as a forest, there were sometime lines...no a bunch of trees together as if someone forgot about chopping them down. He could use that for a bit of training at least.

“Right, let's do this.”

[p=center]xXx[/p]

With Lyndis and Shadow doing their own thing, Raven was left alone with only his own training to do. It was something that was good and bad at the same time for Raven. For starters, he could improve in an area if he pleased but at the same time he had no advise at all.

'What should I do now....?' he thought to himself.

While not speaking a lot, he often spoke to himself inside his head which made things much easier for him at least.

There was really only one direction he could take with training right now. He needed to increase his skills with the shield and also his dodging skills as well. However his dodging skills weren't completely required per say but with his current shield...one that specialise in parrying rather than blocking direct blows, he really had no choice.

He had two shield skills; 'Shield Bash' and 'Shield Parry', no three if you include 'Ram' which can be used with a shield or rather has to be used with a shield in order to be effective as well. Other than that, right now he also had 'Footwork' which increased his mobility by a bit and 'Body Reinforcement' which was a defence increase based on how much damage he took overall.

'Body Reinforcement' was impossible to train effectively without another to attack him so he wrote that skill off that list to train right now. The same was with 'Shield Parry' as well.

This meant that he could train 'Shield Bash', 'Ram' or 'Footwork' right now.

But he decided not to.

The reason was simply out of everyone, he had the least skills to use and therefore the least options in doing things. He could charge, block and attack but nothing else but that. The others had options that made Raven envy them.

As such he thought of two things he wanted to use as well that would make things easier for him. The first was a 'Taunt' skill and the second was a passive 'Marching' skill.

The first, a taunt skill was something that made enemies come to attack you. Literally impractical unless you are a tanky person. However it was a bonfire of all tanks since it allowed their jobs to be much easier with less time thinking on protecting comrades and more time enduring attacks.

The second was something he would like to go around a fight. While he had 'Footwork' it was in the end an active skill that would require mana to use and could fail him when he couldn't active it. Because of this, Raven wanted another skill that could compliment it and amplify his movements in the end.

The most frightening being was not one that was invincible and did not move but one that was seemed invincible and could move quickly.

'If I recall...there were things like breathing techniques right? I have to focus on my breathing to synch with my body in order to release more power....if I recall correctly...'

With this, Raven started his training as well focusing on breathing in a certain manner which allows him to be stronger this way.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

At the same time on the carriage...

“Since those three have started their own training, we should start your magic training as well” said Viv not looking at them since he was currently driving.

“....”

The three sat there silent waiting on Viv to continue.

“I'm not going to help you a lot during this since you need to do things on your own. But I will give you tips on how to gain greater control over your magic which in turn accelerates the rate in which your magic can improve. First Sain...”

Viv took one hand off the lease that was tied to the bull that was pulling the carriage. In it a small ball of light appeared and floated there.

“This will be your training” he said.

“Huh?” Unexpectedly, Sain let out a confused voice and asked, “What does that have to do with magic training?”

“This is one of the most basic spells in the game that is actually extremely useful in dark areas. A light element spell that cost little mana to cast and can be controlled easily. It is so simple that it doesn't even count as a spell if you train correctly” explained Viv.

“Plus I examined the skills you had and more or less know that you focus more on control than anything else. Because of this you need to improve your 'Mana Control' skill as fast as possible. Your 'Compressed Magic Mastery' skill is interesting in how it is normally useless unless you time when to use it. What's the length of time you need to spend to fully charge it?”

“Around a day worth of fighting” replied Sain.

“And how much is the bonus to your magic attack?” Viv asked again.

“Currently...40% at a minimum and up to 120% per day. If I only use it once a day, it's at it's maximum value, two times will lower it to 80% and any more than that to 5 times a day will reduce it down to 40%.”

“Hmm...your power can go at least double what normal mages can use but you can only use it a few times a day. Is it possible to store more for the next day?”

Sain shook his head, “There is a limit on the skill and it will only stay to it's maximum value until I use it.”

“....”

Viv was silent for a few seconds thinking about something that Sain did not know of but in the end he said, “What if I told you there was a method to use it as many times as you want?”

“Then I would take it depending” replied Sain honestly wanting to know this method now that Viv mentioned it.

“Well it's impossible for you to use right now. You need to get both “Compressed Magic Mastery' and 'Mana Control' to at least intermediate level each before you start. As such-”

Viv raised his hand for Sain to see and produced the ball of light in his hand again.

“Train using this method. Eden used it during his early days as well and even being highly skilled in the practise, his magic leaned towards power than anything else...well having any kind of control while using that amount of mana at the time was a miracle enough. Remember to use more powerful magic, you need to learn how to control it first. Power is something that can be easily gotten quickly but control is something that is slow to grow.”

Viv made the ball of light disappear and focused back the driving leaving Sain to do whatever he wanted.

“R-right” said Sain immediately starting on the training now. He opened his hand and tried to produce the ball of light to begin with.

Meanwhile while Sain was beginning his training, Viv moved onto Miriel who was next on his list.

“Miriel, on one hand you've learnt some of the skills that Jenny had but on the other hand, Eden taught you how to use Ice Magic which is the opposite of what Jenny does.”

“Basically I'm stuck with either having an attacking role or a support role.”

“Precisely. You already have Sain and Serena for all your support roles so why do you need to continue supporting while you can attack and make a larger contribution in the end?”

“Because my support spells are more powerful than Sain's. And while I'm at it, my attack spells are more powerful than his as well” replied Miriel not caring that Sain was hearing all of this.

“Miriel...” muttered Sain distracted.

“It is the truth though” pointed out Miriel.

“Yes while that is the truth, there is merit on Sain continuing his training since he can be stronger than you if you don't do things right. You got your first support spells from Jenny and Jenny was also trained by Eden which means...”

“Her spells are extremely powerful?”

Viv nodded to this.

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

“The spells Jenny use are percentage increases types. They increased based on percentage rather than actual numbers like the buffs I taught Sain recently. The stronger you get the stronger the effects of such spells.”

“Is there a problem with this?”

“Kinda...since Eden didn't like saving people, he made your masters as strong as he could meaning that all of their skills and spells were extremely powerful. Your 'Melody of Sound' spell increases in power by several percentage each time while normal similar spells only increase by a fraction of that.”

Miriel thought; was her spells really that powerful? It seemed to be in the normal levels though from what she knew. It was not on a level where everyone thought that it was too extreme or similar to a cheat in the game.

Just to make sure on this feeling, Miriel asked, “What's the normal increase for percentage based buff spells?”

“Around a tenth of the strength of your 'Melody of Sound' with the other strength buffs from 'Magic Mastery' and 'Sound Mastery' as well.”

“....”

“Honestly for Jenny to say that this kind of spell is basic means....people are being infected by the Eden disease” sighed Viv.

“Eden disease?”

“Yep, where people believe something that is extremely powerful is normal while something normal is weak. I fear that with Eden teaching more people means more people are believing that his level of power is only 'slightly' higher than normal.”

Viv had this profound look on his face as if the world became twisted due to this fact.

“Anyway” Viv snapped out of it, “Right now I want you to focus on your offence since Sain is focusing on support. Your training is also simple.”

Viv took out a bucket.

“Sain, full this up” he ordered giving the bucket to Sain.

“Right. Water Fill!” chanted Sain filling the bucket full of water. Next the bucket was passed to Miriel who was confused on what to do.

“Freeze this without using any spell and defrost it back to water. Keep on doing this and your 'Ice Magic Mastery' will increase quite well. Ice Magic does not simply mean freezing things and water to use but also the ability to reverse that as well. If you learn how to do that, you can take down other ice mages as well.”

“Okay.”

Miriel raised her hands over the water and started her training as well.

Meanwhile, Viv moved onto Serena now.

“Serena.”

“Y-yes!”

“....”

Viv paused for a bit making Serena feel like she did something wrong and was about to apologise to Viv immediately.

“You sound like me early on...when I began as well” said Viv which actually managed to caused Sain and Miriel at the same time to almost blurt out 'What?!' and also made the ball of light Sain was sustaining to disappear and Miriel to almost knock over the bucket of water.

“That slowly changed over the years....yes and I found a new way of 'expressing' myself due to those events.”

To the side, Sain and Miriel could see a smile on Viv's face. Both of them were frightened of this face; Miriel who knew of the 'expression' and Sain who experienced these 'expressions' with his body though not remembering them.

Ignoring Sain and Miriel, Viv continued.

“Serena, there are many things you are lacking now but that also gives you the potential to improve. So far you only have the skills to heal and use some nature magic as a druid. You still need to learn about taming, shape shifting and many other nature magic that includes blessings, status debuffs and even spirit contracts.”

“I see...” Serena looked down. She knew she had a lot to learn but didn't know there was that much that she was lacking.

“Don't worry” said Viv as if he was trying to cheer her up, “Sain is lacking even more than you in all sorts of magic, Miriel is trying out something idiotic by trying to master three types of magic at once, Lyndis was in the process of switching to a fire mage, Raven was acting like a warrior rather than a shield-man and Shadow...I have no idea what the hell he is trying to do with all those flashy acts.”

“....”

Once again, Sain and Miriel were shocked on the method that Viv was using to encourage Serena. It felt like they would take mental damage each time.

“Besides all of that, teaching you about shape shifting and spirit contracts are too early for you. However I can teach you about blessings which are important for druids to know about. Other than that, you need to learn how to use your vine attack better and improve your healing abilities as well. First I'll teach you about the blessings since you can train whenever you want.”

Viv took out a few books which were not skill books but rather something for Serena to read.

“These are some books on the subject. They outline what kind of blessing you can get but I recommend for you to get something that doesn't directly increase attack, defence or speed. You have Miriel and Sain for that. For example, a blessing with purifying effects is useful since you don't have a holy element user.”

Viv quickly flipped through the book to a page with a strange magic circle on it.

“Use this to obtain the blessing spell. It depends on whether the other side wants to allow you to use the blessing but since you're in this guild, no one will reject you learning their blessings...else I, Eden and Al have some 'blessings' to give them as well. Choose three and learn them later. For now, practise using 'Root Bind' since it is a weaker version of my 'Grow Roots' spell. There are actually many different ways to use it instead of simply binding someone to the ground.”

Serena nodded not fully understanding what Viv just said.

For now, she knew that she could be spells that were 'blessings' and up to three of them via the books he gave her. Another thing was to not do this right now and practise using her 'Root Bind' skill instead.

As such, all three of them started their magic training on the carriage while Viv simply sat there driving the entire time.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

Three days had passed and there had been some progress.

To be precise, there was only a bit of progress in skill level in which everyone gained around 1 level in their mastery or otherwise. Compared to learning a new skill or spell, this was minor but would slowly build up later on. The group knew this and continued with their repetitive training.

As always; Shadow, Lyndis and Raven did their own thing running just behind the carriage to further back to improve their skills while running and the other three; Miriel, Sain and Serena did their magic training that could be said to be basic but difficult for new players like them.

During this time, Sain could somewhat control one ball of light made from his mana and moved onto to try and produce two at once. Miriel was still on the bucket of water but was steadily decreasing the amount of time to freeze and defrost it. Finally Serena was manipulating a small vine around the place and had it try to lift a small rock from the ground in mid air.

Because they were quite focused on their training and nothing happened, no monster attacks, the group was quite shocked when the carriage suddenly stopped.

(Crrrrrrrecccccck!)

The sudden stop knocked over the bucket that was half frozen while Sain and Serena's magic were dispelled due to the shock.

“What's going on?” asked Miriel picking up the bucket ignoring the amounts of water spilled. Sain looked around and saw nothing.

However Viv said, “Bandits. Lots of them” which caused all three of them to shiver.

Soon enough, the other three noticing that the carriage stopped caught up to them. Lyndis who was sweating due to constantly running asked, “What happened?” while looking around as well.

Viv answered again with, “They'll be here soon enough.”

And they did.

Armed men with a couple of women mixed in appeared in ragged clothes but with swords and other weapons. There were a few archers and mages in the group as well. They totalled 30 in all which was a bad thing.

“Bandits?!” said Lyndis shocked, seeing them.

Hearing this shocked voice, the bandits all laughed and started to grumble about something generic. Something like if you don't do this you will die. Either way it was interrupted by Viv in the end.

“Ah, you guys fight them” ordered Viv cutting off a conversation that this narrator rather not write.

“Huh?”

The group was kinda shocked to this statement.

“There are 30 of them!” shouted Miriel.

“They're only around level 100 each at most. Some of them are even lower” replied Viv calmly.

“We're not even level 90 yet! Plus they have five times our number and can simply overwhelm us and kill us as well” retorted Miriel once again.

Sain nodded glancing at the bandits that wasn't expecting this to happen and said, “She is correct. We will die at this rate against these numbers.”

“Then die.”

“That's....cruel isn't it?” said Sain depressed that this trip was going to end like this.

“If you lot cannot deal with a mere 30 bandits with the training you had, then you don't deserve to be part of the guild.”

“Then..the seals you placed on the others?” asked Sain hopeful that Viv wouldn't let them fight handicapped.

“Deal with it” replied Viv. There was a strange light in his eyes as he looked at the bandits with amusement. Eventually the bandits were tired of waiting which was honestly not even 20 seconds and attacked.

An arrow flew to Viv and was about to pierce through and kill him in one shot...who would suspect such a young looking child would be a monster.

“Ahhhh!”

Party Member: Shadow killed a bandit

At the moment the arrow was shot at Viv, a scream from the bandit side was heard. Someone was killed just as Viv caught the arrow with his hand.

“Ahhhh!”

Party Member: Shadow killed a bandit

“Ahhhh!”

Party Member: Shadow killed a bandit

Two more screams were heard. Sain looked around and found that Shadow was gone. Staring blankly on what was happening, Viv shouted to them, “What are you doing?! Are you going to let Shadow fight alone?!”

“O-of course not!” said Sain with resolve, “Wolf Summoning!”

Against great numbers, having even one more comrade was important. Luna appeared next to Sain and looked around to see conflict.

[Master, shall I kill them?]

Luna asked that question and then Sain replied with, “Yes, go with Lyndis and Raven to help out Shadow. They should be tracking his movements now.”

With this, a wolf, human and elf went to charge at the bandits as well. By this time, Shadow killed another two bandits but in the end, they surrounded him only half paying attention to the group.

“Ice Bolts!” Miriel shot several ice bolts at the bandits as well to make way for the three near the bandits.

“Ah, ice mage!” one of the bandits shouted turning their attention to the group now.

The last thing that bandit saw was a flash of light from a sword.

“Speed Strike!”

Lyndis accelerated her slash and cut through the bandit in one go through the waist while moving low to the ground.

Party Member: Lyndis killed a bandit

The blood from the attack poured over her but she continued to move ahead to Shadow who was leaping around at the trees dodging arrows and magic attacks.

Right now, half the remaining bandits turned their attention to the group.

“Let the body become harder than all other! Iron Skin!”

Party Member: Raven has been buffed with the spell 'Iron Skin'

Sain casted that spell onto Raven who was charging in with just a shield at hand.

“Ram.”

He smashed himself onto a bandit that was about to attack Lyndis.

“What the-hell the hell away!” the bandit that was suddenly attacked shouted before turning to attack Raven instead.

“Root Bind!” chanted Serena with the creating of her vines which she moved to the bandits just in time to restrain the arm of the bandit that was attacking Raven. The pause in the attack allowed Sain and Miriel to cast their spells as well.

“Magic Arrows!” “Ice Bolt!”

A string of several magical attacks flew and hit the bandit killing him easily with also several holes appearing. Sain and Miriel continued to attack the bandits with their spells while the others tanked the attacks as much as possible.

Sain checked onto Shadow's health and it was already reduced down to a third. Raven was in better shape with half his head but Lyndis was nearing critical point again. Luna was also extremely wounded with arrows stuck in him and was enduring burns at several places.

They had killed around half the bandits but couldn't handle the rest. This was their limit....

“....”

Sain had to accept that they lost due to their lack of strength.

But...

“Viv!” Sain called to the only person not doing anything.

“Hmm?”

“Please help us!” plead Sain while continuing to attack the bandits like mad with either 'Mana Bolts' or 'Magic Arrows'.

Viv looked to see that the group was in bad shape. Should he just kill off the bandits...? No, that would under mind their training...so should he heal them? No, that would do the same time to a lesser extent. They need to learn to be not dependant on others like Eden since that would only hurt them in the end.

In that case...

“Fine” replied Viv knowing what he had to do in this situation.

Sain could hear some strange language coming from Viv's mouth. It was strange since the game's auto-translator would be working so...this language came from the game then?

By the time Viv finished...no the exact moment he finished, there was a loud roar that consumed everything else.

“ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOARRRRRRRR!!!!!”

And the source of it...

“Luna....?” muttered Sain seeing the familiar wolf that was now 5 times it's original size and ripping apart the bandits like flies. The bandits didn't even have time to react. They were simply killed by Luna one by one with each attack that surpassed what they could see.

To Sain...it looked like Luna didn't even move as the bandits were killed.

But to a more powerful player...they could probably see how frighteningly powerful Luna was. Luna's black and white fur like stripes was very apparent and glowed with a different light each.

“....”

Seeing Sain in a shock state, Viv wanted to explain to him.

“This is what Luna will be one day.”

“Huh?” Sain could only be surprised by those words.

“To be precise, this is in the middle of it's growth period. I merely temporary made it happen now rather than later. Luna should be able to do this around the level 300 point I believe.”

When Viv finished his words, so did Luna with the bandits.

Wounded, the others returned with Serena having to heal them all with Sain assisting her with some of the more minor injuries. Luna also returned back to normal.

With curiosity in Luna's eyes, Luna asked:

[What happened to my body?]

At the same time, Sain realised that Viv could hear Luna talking unlike the others who could really say that Sain was one sidedly talking to Luna and not the other way around.

“I simply made it so that you could tap into your true abilities now for a while.”

[It felt like my body was burning with power]

“That is the feeling though temporary. When you grow up normally, you can access this kind of power any time you want. But until then, don't try to force power out else you will be cripple later on when you need strength” warned Viv.

Luna then looked at Sain and also asked him a question.

[Should I go now?]

“....”

[Master?]

“No, you should stay for now. I want to know more about your capabilities” said Sain, “We might be depending on you from now on even more so. Is there a limit on the time you can stay here?”

[No, this summoning only ends when either I die or you make me leave your side]

“In that case you can stay...it feels safer with you here now.”

“Are you only saying that seeing the power that Luna will have later on?” asked Viv.

Sain laughed, “More or less. A 20 level gap is hard to fill and only grows if I don't let Luna fight.”

[That is unnecessary. I am far more capable than any normal creature in battle. I won't let trash near master]

“That's reassuring.”

“Sain is speaking to himself again...” muttered Lyndis in fright.

“Eh?”

Sain looked over to see that the others were now fully healed and ready to go. However there was still something to talk about. Namely...about this.

“Sain! Please don't talk to yourself! Seeing you go crazy is a horrible experience” said Miriel. Shadow nodded and added, “When you talk to yourself...it sounds like when you switched personalities.”

“Wait a sec-”

“No need to talk. I am sure we can find a solution to the delusion of you talking to Luna all the time like you two are having a conversation” said Lyndis, she also glanced at Viv and added, “To think Sain could string even Viv into this kind of play.”

“Play?” wondered Viv before realising the meaning of those words.

A silent pressure went down on the three; Miriel, Shadow and Lyndis. Sain, Raven and Serena were spared this pressure thankfully to them.

“As a point.”

The silent pressure increased.

“Neither Sain nor I are having a 'play' with Luna here. Via his contract, Sain can communicate with Luna and I can as well for different reasons. Don't act like brats about this.”

The three were forced into a bowing position to Viv.

“That act just then...reminds me of how others treated you in the past. Taking advantage of a false weakness and using that to bully someone below you.”

“!”

The three bowing on the ground were filled with regret.

“Therefore what do you have to say about your actions?”

“““We're sorry!”””

All three of them latched themselves on Viv's leg leaving Sain a bit lonely. Seeing this actions, Viv went red with anger an hit them all in the head shouting:

“Why apologise to me! Say that to Sain over there!”

Sain chuckled a bit and said, “Don't worry so much. I understand that they were only teasing me a bit. In fact it makes me happy for them to try and hurt me that way.”

Everyone thought for a moment that Sain was a masochist...

“Happy since it shows we are quite close” he added letting everyone sigh in relief that Sain wasn't 'that' type of person...though he seemed too happy for some reason...

[p=center]xXx[/p]

Later the next night...

[Master there are many humans appearing and surrounded us]

Luna woke Sain up and told him of this.

“Good work...” muttered Sain patting Luna on the head. He immediately went to wake everyone else up as well. Looking around Viv was gone as usual while they slept in game so they don't have to bother with timing the amount spent in real life to the game time.

“Bandits? Again?” asked Miriel with a yawn.

Miriel went to wake up Serena who was sleeping next to her. Sain moved to where Shadow and Lyndis were who were on guard duty just in cast something decided to try to eat them while they were sleeping.

Both of them had blood shot eyes.

“Bandit! I can finally relieve some stress here” said Lyndis with a firm attitude to wreck the bandits as much as possible for her stress.

“....”

Shadow stood there silent and wasn't saying anything.

“Shadow?” asked Sain shaking him a bit. His eyes were open but...

“Wake up!”

Lyndis kicked Shadow immediately realising that he was fast asleep while she was awake the whole time.

“Ow!”

Shadow woke up immediately with the kick. Looking at Lyndis with an annoyed look and then Sain, he said, “Enemies?”

“Bandits.”

“Damn...wanted some sleep at least. Why couldn't you take my place with this...heck that Luna of your probably warned you of trouble didn't it.”

Sain nodded which caused Shadow to sigh. He activated his night vision skill and looked around the place while listening in on any sounds.

“They're not that close yet. Sensing enemies that far...that Luna has a really sensitive nose doesn't it” said Shadow in praise though he was still annoyed that his sleep was disturbed.

[Of course! My nose is ten times better than a lowly dog after all and my fangs are 100 times better then one as well!]

Although Luna said that to Shadow, only Sain could hear Luna speaking to begin with. It looked like Luna mistook Viv being able to understand it's speech as everyone else being able to as well even though past experience should have taught it that the others couldn't communicate with it.

“Luna, what level are you?” asked Sain.

[Level 76 master]

'That's around 15 levels below us right now...Luna seems to be catching up...but more to the point...what gender is Luna?' thought Sain not being able to tell via Luna's appearance nor it's speech patterns.

“Anyway, we better get to the others and prepare for a fight. How many bandits are there?”

[Around 10 at most and all weaker than master and friends]

Sain nodded and was relieved that this wouldn't be a too difficult fight.

A few minutes later, the group easily with Shadow attacking from the dark and Luna telling Sain where the enemies, wiped out the bandits that seemed to be a group that was sent to check up on the one that they fought earlier the previous day.

If only they knew that something extremely annoying was about to come up for the next month due to this.

Onwards?PreviousExitNext

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Author's Notes:

- Word Count: 8000~

- First half is about skill training which while I somewhat want to skip since it's slow is rather important for the rest of the series.

- The second half is a typical fight scene that really didn't take up much time to write.

- Wanted Luna to have a bigger impact onto the story rather than just some summon that appears once in a while. Therefore I will include Luna into the rest of the volume!