A few days later, inside the dark forest, a blue light glowed, illuminating the surroundings.
Theo was standing in the middle of his training area while raising his hand. The blue light ball on his hand was the one shining before it suddenly split into ten smaller size balls.
Suddenly, he opened his eyes, looking at the practice dummy in front of him.
"Magic Bullet."
The ten light balls flew toward the dummy and left a blue trail like how he usually did with Magic Bullet, making it look like it never moved and released energy like that of a bullet.
Bang.
Bang.
Bang.
A series of noises resounded in his ears, albeit not every bullet actually hit the target. "Ugh. It's still not possible."
"It's good enough for what I can see." His master appeared next to him while observing the damage he gave to the armor. "At least, you can use the Magic Bullet to its full potential. Do you know the time limit every time you use the Magic Bullet?"
"I'm not very sure myself, but it's around one to two minutes." Theo shook his head in disappointment. "Well, I can spread the bullet evenly, so I can aim to a wider area, preventing anyone from dodging these bullets."
"Indeed. But I will leave the judgment to your discretion." She nodded and explained. "For now, let us take a look at your training. First of all, Awareness… Although you now can sense the Awareness, it's still too early for you to control it, so we will work on it a bit later."
"Yes. It's truly my weakness." Theo sighed. "I feel that this is the hardest one among the others."
"Well, it's your problem." She shrugged. "I will continue to Breathing. You have already grasped the rhythm, so I won't say much about it since you will master it sooner or later as long as you keep practicing it.
"And the most important out of all will be your Control. Even though you have managed to summon all ten Magic Bullets, don't be too complacent. It's the first step you need to reach a broader area of study. For now, I'm planning to improve your accuracy first by spreading all ten dummies in a different area and asking you to shoot them."
"Oh? Now it's more practical training?" Theo widened his eyes in amazement.
"Yes. It also includes the technique. You have remembered the footwork, but you're still too green to even use it to the fullest potential. As for the way you're handling your spear, it sucks. The same applies to the sword. And I can't teach you anything other than fixing your form. Although I kind of understand the reason you choose these two weapons, I still believe that it's better for you to master one weapon only."
"I know that, but I need a powerful backing first. At least, I need to protect myself for the time being." He sighed.
She looked at him mysteriously as if she wanted to say something but chose not to. Shaking her head, she continued. "Last but not least, your mental endurance. How about it?"
"I can last longer," answered Theo with confidence, albeit his master hit his head with her spear. "Geh-!"
"You should fix your words, idiot."
"I talked like that because I'm with Master. It's not like you're going to act like a girl, right?" He sighed.
"Well, yes. But, you still need to watch your word to me, you brat. I'm your master." She then remembered something and asked, "That's right. How about your clone? How far have you gone to understand your clone?"
Theo thought for a moment and decided to summon his clone.
After observing it for a bit, he explained. "I think I can already split my vision into two. However, it's still beyond my ability to control it like my own body. Maybe in one or two weeks, I should be able to use this perfectly.
"And I will be able to fight with my own clone, turning it into my sparring partner." He gave a thumb up, telling her that everything was under control.
"Alright. I won't bother you again with your skills training." She waved her hand. "Anyway, today's training is done. You should go back and have another date with your little girlfriend."
"She is not." Theo remained calm as he truly thought that way.
"So, what is she to you?"
"A partner?" Theo thought for a moment before recalling the scene where he got the skill and material cards from her and said. "A money bag?"
"You better not tell her about the second one, okay?" She facepalmed and waved her hand, shooing him away. "Anyway, just return. I'm sure that you're going to be an Elite Rank Fighter tomorrow."
Theo nodded and left.
…
When he returned, he saw Alea waiting at the same spot like last week. Knowing that today was Saturday, she must be here to tell him about tomorrow's destination.
"How is your training?"
"What do you want?" Theo ignored her questions and asked what she wanted without wasting a single second.
Alea also understood that Theo was a person like this and answered him. "Tomorrow, I believe you're going to become an Elite Rank, and it's not like we need to restock our items, so I have a place I want to visit. It's near a cave, so it's perfect for your advancement to Elite Rank.
"After all, we can hide inside the cave if you need to face the trial. Next week, I will probably advance to Champion Rank as well, so we will be doing the same thing."
"I understand." Theo nodded and asked,
"The monsters in that area are the same level as the ones we faced last week. Hence, we are changing our meeting point."
"Give me the destination and our meeting location." Theo took out his Skylink and opened the map.
Alea agreed and set two coordinates. The closer one was obviously their meeting location, while the other was a bit far to the east.
They probably needed around one hour of running.
"Alright. We will meet again tomorrow. Same time?"
"Yep." Alea then waved her hand and turned around, leaving the forest first. "Ah, if you come first and wait for me, I will be giving you a present, you know. I'm sure you won't regret it."
"Well, if it's only thirty minutes, I can reluctantly wait for you." Theo nodded.
She stuck her tongue out and disappeared.
Meanwhile, Theo wondered what kind of present he would get. 'Skill or item? Whatever… Master, you told me not to say it, but she really looked like a money bag to me…'
He shook his head and left the forest.
Unbeknownst to them or anyone else in the training camp, an imminent danger had descended upon them. It all started from the Art Beats Castle.