Ding!
With the familiar system notifications, Hope's consciousness was once again drawn into the Slumberveil Realm.
Tung Tung Sahur stood waiting, arms crossed.
"Welcome, little one, instead of swinging your Sekiryu today, you're going to hunt the beasts here.
Beasts are classified based on their strength. The beasts themselves are known as Tier 1.
Above the beasts, there are more wild and powerful creatures called danger beasts. While regular beasts can sense danger and fear, danger beasts are more mindless. They tend to attack any human or settlement they encounter without hesitation.
Danger beasts are divided into Low, Mid, and High classes, corresponding to Tier 2, 3, and 4, respectively, but there are even stronger ones. These rare danger beasts are called Special-Class Beasts. They are the raw material for Teigus.
However, the most powerful creatures are Tyrant-Class danger beasts, and there are no more than the number of fingers on a hand of them across the entire world
Your ancestor defended the empire 1000 years ago against a Tyrant-Class danger beast...
Anyway, starting today, you'll be hunting Tier 1 beasts and gaining real combat experience. Your goal is to move 1 kilometer ahead and enter the forested area. Start advancing, little one..."
Hope started walking. After a while, he left the stone square and took his first step onto the grass. As soon as he stepped onto the grassy area, countless white lights flashed around the area, the color spectrum expanded, and a variety of beasts transformed.
The beasts near the stone square were smaller and harmless, but as one moved further away from the stone square, the danger increased...
Right next to the stone square, there were one-horned, red-eyed, pure white rabbits, half a meter in size, hopping around. For 100 meters, only these one-horned rabbits were present. Further on, there were orange-colored squirrels, 60 cm in size, with massive claws. 100 meters ahead, there were spiny white caterpillars, and further beyond, blue poisonous frogs...
Every 100 meters, the type of beasts changed, and their size increased by about 10 cm.
...
"SQUEEEE!"
A Unicorn Rabbit a few meters away dashed toward me, trying to stab its horn into my head.
It was so fast that the horn was already in my skull before I could even react!
...
"Huff! Huff!"
I woke up drenched in sweat. Even though I hadn't felt any pain, it was like I'd just had a nightmare... a really bad one.
Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through my forehead. Right in the center. That must've been where the horn pierced my skull.
I wrapped my arms around my head and "Ughh..." somehow, i stopped myself from screaming...
The intense shock and pain I had experienced drove away all sleep, so I got out of bed. Mother was in the kitchen preparing food, and after a while Father came as well. As we ate together, I began to think.
What if everything I experienced had been real? What if I had truly died? What if Father had died while hunting danger beasts?
"Son, what's wrong? Fallen in love or something? HAHAHAH!"
I snapped out of my thoughts at Father's teasing.
With a self-deprecating smile, I muttered, "As if I even could... No one in the village talks to me. It feels like they're avoiding me..." My mind drifted again.
Daigo gestured toward Hope with his head.
"What can we do, honey?"
He smiled meaningfully.
Ding!
I opened my eyes in the same spot again.
Tung Tung Sahur:"Always stay alert, little one. Even though unicorn rabbits within the first 100 meters are the weakest beasts at this size, they possess high speed and sharp horns. It's much easier to block sharp objects like this with the broad side of your sword. After blocking the unicorn rabbit, don't let them jump and attack again, finish them off quickly! Block first, then strike."
I stepped onto the grass again, and beasts started appearing.A unicorn rabbit, just a few meters away, dashed toward me. This time, despite its incredible speed, I was ready. After successfully blocking, I swung my sword at the spot where the rabbit landed, crushing it and killing it.
"SCREEE!"
At that moment, the other unicorn rabbits around me noticed.About 10 of them were charging toward me.Two of them were much faster, jumping directly at my head.Since both were aiming for my head and coming from the same direction, I held my sword horizontally and blocked both rabbits with the broad side. Then "smashed" one with my sword.
The other rabbit quickly attacked again, and I blocked once more. Just as I was about to strike-
Thud!
I was pierced through the back and my head by horns. I had forgotten about the other rabbits!
...
I woke up again, terrified, and after a few seconds, unbearable pain covered the spots where I had been pierced...
I "Ugh" once more...
...
"Sigh... Little one, your mobility, steps, dodge skills and movement speed are really poor, just like mine. But for a warrior, speed, endurance, strength, technique... they are all crucial! You trained with me on the Sword (well, with a staff technique), but now you need to train your speed as well. You'll take a break from training with me for a while, but you must continue practicing in real life."
Ding!
[ Assigning Trainer... ]