We walk through the dark, densely grown forest. The girls take the narrow path of the mountains, where the sun shines in full, while Milo and I traverse the forest in a relaxed manner.
I get the idea that I might train him a little as well. Then he can become a bit stronger, since he was relatively nimble when he dodged the orcs earlier. I take out two more daggers. Standard daggers, worn by simple Hop-goblins; they are already worn out from my training back then. I place them in his hand.
"What are you giving them to me for?" Milo asks with a questioning voice and face. I point to a goblin currently approaching us.
"I am going to train you," I say determinedly, while the goblin approaches us with its small knife.
Milo hesitantly enters a poor fighting stance. I can spare one day for this, maybe even two, since the girls need at least three days to arrive in Lagoon. With Teleport, we will be there very quickly. The goblin is now standing right in front of us and wants to attack Milo directly. Since I figured out the Status back then, I can simply look at the status of others. I wonder, though, how this table works; so I really am the only one with a real Status that also tells my exact power. His status is fundamentally quite weak:
STATUS
Level: 1 Phy.: 20 Def.: 15 Spd.: 50 Magic: 5 Mana: 15
This status is, well, pretty bad. Only the speed is completely extraordinary for the rest of the values. He moves a bit faster than the goblin, but not really much faster. He tries stiffly to hit the goblin with the right dagger, but the goblin dodges.
The goblin hits him lightly on the arm. He starts to bleed. By reflex, he turns in such a way that the left dagger grazes the side of the goblin. The goblin jumps back with two leaps to gain distance. Milo does the same.
I watch tensely. Milo runs at the goblin, who does the same. Whoever reacts first now is the winner. The goblin is just about to strike when Milo parries the blow and cuts him in two. A double "LEVEL-UP" appears in front of him. That should make him level three now. After each day, I will look at his level and his stats.
Meanwhile, Suri is racking her brain over who I might be, as the name sounds familiar to her. Luna looks at her with concern, noticing Suri's uncertainty.
"Everything okay, Suri?" Luna asks with a concerned face and voice. Suri is snapped out of her thoughts while Luna and Mia come to a stop. Suri looks briefly into the air.
"Yes, everything is fine," Suri says with a forced smile. Mia and Luna notice it, but they don't push it further so as not to annoy Suri too much.
Milo and I are still standing where he defeated the goblin. In his eyes appears a strange joy of uncertainty and the thrill of victory.
"Well done, Milo," I say with a relaxed voice while patting him on the shoulder. Milo nods gratefully for the praise. I sit down cross-legged on the ground. Milo does the same. It's a good thing I got supplies before I followed the girls; I have an extra 10 soup noodles, 20 YumYum noodles, and 5 apples.
I take out 2 apples. I give one to Milo. I bite into the apple, which tastes slightly sour. Milo also bites off a large piece of the apple. The apple tastes so good to him that you can tell by his face, which perfectly reflects the taste of the apple.
The sun begins to set. The girls climb from the narrow path up the giant rocks where I fell down with the grizzly. They arrive at the top. They sit down and Luna takes the backpack off her back, which contains various foods: noodles, bread, apples, bananas, berries, and much more. Mia takes out blueberries, Luna takes out bread, and Suri takes out noodles, which she softens with water she specifically packed. They begin to eat while the orange-yellow light shines on the rocks and mountains.
I finish my apple. Milo finishes his as well. I stand up and start to stretch. Milo does the same and begins to stretch. I close my dimension hole again, from which I took the apples. I will do 30 minutes of normal combat training and 2 hours of fighting monsters with Milo every day. That should be enough. He will reach level 20 in 2 days and take the training boosts with him. Through that, I can make him as strong as the three girls are.
I look around. A few meters away is an open space where I can set up magical targets. I point to the spot where the setting sun shines, a large area. Milo follows my finger.
"Let's train there," I say as I lower my hand. Milo nods with a joyful smile, while I also try to smile. Then I remember again that it's not possible. But I don't want to tell him.
We go to the place where the sun shines perfectly. We arrive there and stop. I raise my hand. Wood-like, shimmering targets spray out of my hand while Milo looks at me in amazement. I point to one of the targets.
"There is a protection magic cast on it. Once you destroy one with the daggers, then move to the second, which you should destroy with magic," I say.
Milo nods with a determined look. He takes the two standard daggers from the dagger pouches hanging on his right and left hips. I showed him the correct position beforehand; he can already replicate it well, though he is still a little tense. He runs toward the target with a good speed, but he can still be followed relatively well. He is not fast enough yet. Perhaps, if my plan works out, I will let the girls and him fight against each other.
I watch him as he starts the first strike combo with 10 hits, which inflicts scratches on the target, but doesn't break it even a little; not even the corners break off. He starts the second strike combo, which continues with 20 hits. I watch him with interest. His fighting style is designed for speed. The first corner breaks off. The cracks get deeper and deeper. With the last hit of the strike combo, the target shatters into 50 small pieces. I clap as the pieces fall to the ground.
"Well done. Now the target with magic," I say with a commanding voice, pointing to the second target. Milo nods and moves back to a distance. His hand glows green. I specifically used a slightly lower resistance for this target.
Wind comes out of his hand. I look at it. It's a normal Wind Slash, a weak beginner wind magic. Slowly, many wind slashes come out of his hand. He aims his hand straight forward. With his left, he holds his right hand, where the magic is being cast, steady so he doesn't slip. A blade of wind forms in front of him. He takes a short breath. The blade is at its maximum size. He looks determinedly at the target and fires the blade. The blade hisses through the air. In a very short time, this wind slash hits the target. With a bang, the target is split in two. I start clapping again while Milo rejoices.
"Wow, with one attack," I say with a joyful voice and a cold face. He looks at me in confusion because my face doesn't match my voice. It's good that he hasn't said anything yet.
We approach him. The sun is already almost completely down. Moonlight comes from the other side onto the open space. The girls are finished eating and lie down to sleep. More monsters appear at night than usual.
"Good, we will kill 10 more monsters, then we sleep," I say, patting him on the shoulder. His eyes are hesitant, but he desperately wants to become stronger, which is why he will go along with it anyway.
A growl comes from the forest behind us. A Dark Wolf comes into view. It is only a weak monster, but slightly stronger than a goblin. Milo should be able to handle this alone. Milo takes his daggers in hand. He enters his fighting stance. This time not as tense as before, but still slightly cramped. I watch him while sitting cross-legged on the ground.
The Dark Wolf runs toward Milo. It seems to see nothing more than found prey in him. It is likely minimally stronger than Milo, but still: he can do it. You don't always have to be strong to win; sometimes it's enough to defend yourself. The Dark Wolf is right in front of Milo. The wolf is just about to snap its jaws when Milo just barely dodges, causing the wolf to bite at thin air. Milo is about to strike with the daggers, first left, then right. On both strikes, the wolf jumps back perfectly so that it isn't even hit on its fur.
I watch with increasing concentration. Milo starts with the strike combo he already used on the target. You can only do something like that if you are fast enough to exert the power needed for it. The faster you are, the more you can strike at once. He manages the double-strike combo with 10 and 20 hits, while I manage 200 and 500. The first combo with 10 hits only hits the wolf 4 times, which means the second only works with 5 hits, otherwise you are too easy a target. The second strike combo hits every single strike. All five strikes are precisely aimed at it. The wolf howls just before it falls lifeless to the ground.
4 more Dark Wolfs approach Milo. A screen with "LEVEL-UP" appears before his eyes, just like with the goblin earlier, but this time only once. That means he is at Level 4. He is making really good and fast progress. I am about to help him when he holds his hand out defensively in my direction.
"I want to do this alone," Milo says with a determined voice and a determined look. I simply stand there with my hands in my cloak pockets. Milo looks at the wolves.
"Come here, doggies, I want to play with you."
He clenches his teeth after saying that. His fighting stance is now perfect, just like mine when I get serious. That would be five of them in total in just one day; for someone weak, that is impressive. After this, we will sleep. The sun has completely set by now, while the moon stands high in the sky, shimmering in beautiful white light. The round full moon shines perfectly on the round space where we are standing, as if it were a spotlight.
I watch with interest to see how Milo will fare. The wolves stand only a few steps away from him. The growling Dark Wolfs do not take their eyes off Milo. This time, Milo takes the first step and runs toward the wolves. A good pace, barely followable for normal humans.
"Wow, he's developing quickly," I say, while Milo is already starting his attack combo. He lands the first 7 hits on the first wolf, which serves only as a sacrificial pawn so the other wolves can attack. But Milo reacts so quickly that he can dodge immediately when the wolves jump at him, wanting to tear him apart. He jumps into the air to dodge. The wolves collide. While the wolves are just picking themselves up, he has already landed in front of another wolf and starts the combo from the beginning. Again, 7 hits on the wolf. The other wolves stay at a distance, but that doesn't interest Milo. He runs to the next wolf and does exactly as he did with the other two wolves. He repeats this once more against the last wolf.
I look at him in surprise, while he sees "LEVEL-UP" twice before him. I am already interested in what his status looks like. By now, he is already Level 6. That's enough for today.
"That was impressive. Go to sleep, I'll keep watch," I say with a joyful voice.
Milo nods. I take out a sleeping bag and set it in front of Milo, who lies right in. I look at his status. My eyes widen at the sight:
STATUS: MILO
Level: 6 Phy.: 120 Def.: 70 Spd.: 230 Magic: 65 Mana: 80
These stats are incredible for someone at Level 6. I never looked at the girls' status. My face remains cold, only my eyes change. I close his status again and walk away without him noticing. To check the girls' status, I have to be near them. I go in the direction of the narrow path. I can only speculate where they are, but in this time they can at most be on the rock by the narrow path.
I arrive at this rock. I try to open the Status. It works, however. My red hair sparkles in the moonlight. I leap with one jump onto the rock where the girls are sleeping. I look at them and notice that this time is really not something to be taken for granted.
LUNA'S STATUS
Level: 30 Phy.: 1300 Def.: 920 Spd.: 5400 Magic: 3120 Mana: 1200
I freeze at Luna's status. These stats are really good. With that, she can fight eight orcs at once. "Wow, what does it look like for Suri?" I say quietly to myself.
SURI'S STATUS
Level: 29 Phy.: 400 Def.: 500 Spd.: 1900 Magic: 6120 Mana: 5410
Suri's status also leaves me frozen, but her stats are very unbalanced. It's a good thing I gave her a bow.
MIA'S STATUS
Level: 24 Phy.: 2010 Def.: 1810 Spd.: 4100 Magic: 1200 Mana: 690
All these values, they are truly incredible. I close Mia's status. I look at them for a moment longer, then into the sky, and finally, I take off from there before they notice me. I go back through the forest to Milo, who is sound asleep. I look at him and remember the time when I trained myself.