Chapter 31: Going hunting

It has been a week since Garmond had started training his body, and he had made quite a lot of progress.

The masochistic training had been hard to handle in the beginning, but Garmond slowly got used to it, after literally ripping his muscles over and over again.

Ariana as well, was beginning to feel uneasy, seeing Garmond perform such training.

'At this rate, it might actually cause him more harm than good' The training was no easy one, and she was beginning to feel worried.

"Gar..." She started, but her voice died out. She couldn't bring herself to stop him. The fierce determination he held and the strong will to win, wasn't one she was ready to shatter.

After this much training, he had already began honing his sword skills under Chris tutelage. He was often strict, but somewhere deep down, Garmond was able to find a soft spot.

Thy interacted quite well, at least better than the others.

Garmond's body with each passing day was getting closer to what it once was.

"Mana" as they referred to it, made a huge difference in the speed of Garmond's improvement.

It became a daily routine.

Train.

Absorb mana from the surrounding.

Train again.

He could no longer keep count of how many times his muscle fibers had ripped apart.

He also made out time to be talking with Aliya from time to time, to gather more info on their current situation. Garmond divulged his identity and the two seemed to be partnering up quite well.

Garmond was about to continue the training. It was already his third time taking a break, but the low rumble from his stomach quickly made him halt.

"Hell, I'm hungry. I can't workout like this" Garmond said, his eyes darting around, as though searching for a source of food nearby.

"I can't keep relying on Hendrix as well. We won't eat much if I continue this way. I'm acting more like a burden....." Garmond pondered with his words.

"For a change, why don't I be the one to hunt today? What do you say, Ariana?" Garmond asked, as he stared off into the hunting area. The pale blue veil, could still be seen, covering the entirety of the fields.

"So this is actually part of the training I guess. They capture different beast and throw them inside there, so we can go hunt for them, then get a few plates of food in return"

"If I'm to say, it's a smart move. That way, after each training session, the students would be opportuned to have real battle experiences when taking on the beasts" Ariana casually explained.

"True, I guess I should've gone earlier then. I have to grasp what extent I can go with all the training so far. I should've leveled up significantly" Garmond somewhat contemplating.

"You should, we need to know the improvements you need and where you need them" Ariana urged, it was a perfect opportunity to see him off his training session. She had already grown too worried.

"Let's go then," Garmond said, as he walked up to the rest of his team. They all appeared to be doing their different training.

Stephen chose a metallic staff.

Aliya on the other hand, was learning a very rare weapon. A double chained reaper. Surprisingly, Chris had a really vast knowledge on several weapons and that included hers.

"Hey, I'll be heading to the hunting zone, want to go gather some crystals." He said as he got closer.

"So you finally decided to stop being a leech" Hendrix threw a glance at him, with a raised brow.

"He's no leech, if you had any problem helping him with little food, you should've told just told me, I'd be more than glad to help" Aliya cut him off, rolling her eyes at him.

"But you wouldn't do same for me, why are you so rude?" Hendrix asked.

"Well ..."

Seeing the two argue, Garmond smiled wryly.

"I'm off, I'll be back soon" Garmond said, as he walked away, leaving the two to continue.

"Hey, get back here!" Hendrix yelled as he saw Garmond's retreating figure.

"Talk about an idiot as a friend" Garmond muttered as he ignored the figure.

The distance from the training field to the hunting grounds wasn't much, and within a few minutes Garmond saw himself in front of the blue veil,

"Here goes nothing, hopefully all the training wouldn't be in vain" He sighed, and with a step, he passed through the veil.

He felt a tingling sensation all over his body as he passed. It felt as though he was passing through some kind of portal.

As he entered the new arena, the atmosphere took a drastic change. The air felt heavy and unsteady.

The canopy of trees was so much that the sunlight couldn't pierce through them, leaving everything in complete darkness.

"So I'm here now," Garmond said, his eyes darting round, observing his surrounding.

Thanks to the veil, the sunlight looked to be mirrored, like it was hitting on top the water surface.

Garmond threaded carefully into the thick bush walls. With his sword he slashed down on the tall grasses that blocked his path.

The sword had grown significantly after a while, It seemed to be growing along with Garmond. From a pocket knife, to a knife, then a medium-sized blade. Currently, it was the height of a normal blade. But it's transformation was yet to end.

"Be careful. The beast here aren't normal. They're all magical beast. With the noise you're making you can be traced in a matter of seconds." Ariana warned.

"I'm aware. If that wanted us to get crystals, they definitely can't put normal animals in here" Garmond replied back, nonchalantly. Continuing with his slashes.

"Then what are you planning to do you idiot?" Ariana angrily asked.

"Isn't it clear already, I'm trying to get their attention to me" Garmond said with a smirk.

"You seriously don't expect me to run around, looking for beasts. It'd be easier if they found their way to me" he briefly explained his reasoning.

"If you're fine with that, then I don't mind. I doubt any powerful beast will be here anyway. It's a school hunting ground. So they definitely can't put something too dangerous for the kids to fight"

"Exactly, so it simply means I'm safe" Garmond said, "If worst come to worst, I can simply run out of here" He added.

As he cleared the thick bush wall, he arrived at a secret area hidden by a hill. It had a sizeable pond in the middle. Reminding him of the stream back in the village.

Garmond looked around in awe, shocked that he could find such a beautiful place, within the boundaries of the hunting grounds.

"What's that?" His ears quickly picked up a sound, and he turned his head in an abrupt motion.

His eyes met with the glowing blue eyes of a large beast.

It was lying gracefully on top a boulder, quite close to the sides of the pond.

It looked similar to a panther, but no, this wasn't your average panther. Garmond could tell with just one look.

It was as large as a tiger! From the distance he could see the large build. From observations, it would weigh close to 220kg of weight. Not to talk about the deadly aura that it was emitting.

'How come I didn't see it when I arrived?' Garmond gulped. 'Or did it arrive just now?' the thought of it made his heart race slightly in fear.

There was no sound!

He didn't even hear the slightest sound, so how possible was that?

The panther jumped down from the large boulder, landing gracefully to the ground, it's eyes fixed on Garmond as it licked it's mouth in delight.

This time, Garmond had witnessed it himself, there was no freaking sound. Yet it jumped from up to a two metre height down to the earth.

"Garmond be careful, this is not a normal beast, it's a Sentinel rank beast!" Her voice was heavy with worry.

This was the first time he'd ever heard her talk like that. She had an idea of how powerful each level was. This was because she had once attained it herself.

For humans, it was referred to Echanter rank, but for beast it was called Sentinel.

A state where the beast could now master the use a certain ability.

"What's something like this doing here?" Garmond asked confusedly.

"I don't know, but this shouldn't be the best time to be asking such questions. You definitely can't think of turning your back on this creature. You'll be dead in a blink of an eye. Just...just find a way to survive"

'Find a way to survive?'

That definitely didn't sound like a solution to Garmond's current situation. It felt as though, Ariana was indirectly trying to tell him that the beast was far above his level.

"Then what was the need of all that body-wrecking exercise? I'm not backing out on this. There's either two possibilities now, either I die. Or the beast dies" Garmond's eyes narrowed into slits as a purple aura enveloped him.

He held tightly to his sword, and a buzzing sound was heard. A bright golden light escaped from the sword.

"Don't tell me he did it"

Witnessing the overly familiar reaction from the sword, Ariana's voice came out with shock, her voice merely a whisper.