Shin was on the floor, gasping for air after the many rough fights with Sol, he finally, in the 100th round, defeated him, however the pure skill and ability to strategies quickly made Sol a difficult opponent, the only reason his fight with Ember was hard was because he was to give Shin a good show
Sol got up, and offered a hand to Shin, to help him get up, Shin accepted, getting up and then brushing the dust on his clothes off "you're an impressive fighter, i was barely able to beat you at that last round" Shin told Sol, who responded with "well, no matter what, a win is a win, even if you lost before, you got a victory" he said, giving credit to Shin
Soon after, Sol, Ember, and Char, left galya, the town they were in, and Shin walked around, looking for the kid that helped him, but not being able to find them, he listened to some gossip and found out that a noble resting in the town left the day before, to a city named Roya, so if his guess was correct they should be there, so he went to different stores, brought some potions and items, and some books to learn skills, after getting so the necessary supplies, he left the town, by the time it was night, and whistled, and soon, a familiar phoenix came and and landed on his shoulder, before releasing a proud screech showing its superiority to other creatures
"Alright buddy, you're having you're fun, I get it, but we should go now" Shin told to the phoenix who's feathers shone slightly in the dark, making her seem like she was glowing
She nodded, as Shin started to think about something "what should I name her, let's see, it's night, so dark, and she's a light shining through it, the darkness being pierced by her light" he thought to himself, before saying "you are the light that pierces through the darkness, glowing forever bright in the night, never going out, therefore I have decided to name you 暗い光, or Kurai Hikari if you didn't understand" he said out loud, letting his phoenix friend hear him
Hikari got excited, she was finally her master named her, and it was such a grand name, fitting who she is, she nuzzled his cheek to show her affection, making Shin smile as he walked
He looked around, only seeing a vast desert, there wasn't even a cactus nearby, however it was windy, making the sand blow up to his ankles
Shin knowing that it was gonna be annoying to deal with, pulled some goggles he had on his head down, covering his eyes so they didn't get sand in them
He kept walking, feeling the breeze on his exposed arms, neither rushing or going slow, just enjoying the atmosphere, then he thought about his time after he arrived to this world
__________________________________
Shin was walking through plains, allowing him to see the world outside the forest, his eyes sparkled, sure he had seen all these things, but he never experienced them, and he was glad to be created like he was, because if he was born as a mortal, by the time he'd be old to appreciate it, he'd be so use to it that it doesn't feel like he should appreciate it
"Let's go Hikari" he told his phoenix companion, confusing her, which she showed by tilting her head, making Shin realize something "nevermind, let's just go little phoenix" he decided to say after thinking a bit, then he walked forward, holding Hikari in his arms
However, after taking a few steps he felt something metallic on the back of his neck "stop kid, and put down the bird" a gruff voice said, sounding threatening but Shin ignored it and just kept walking
"Who do you think you're messing with" said a different voice, sounding equivalent to fingernails scraping a chalkboard "stop and drop the damn bird before we force you to"
Shin seeing hearing that decided to stop drop and roll, confusing the first bandit and angering the second one, who shouted "what are you doing you b*tch"
"One, I'm a male so you can't use b*tch on me, two, I stopped dropped and rolled, after all my clothes are on fire" Shin replied, getting up, showing that Hikari is literally fire
"Why would, you know what, just capture him" she said angrily, while Shin thought 'task failed successfully' as he was trying to get her angry from what he did, but she got angry from her lack of understanding instead
The man along with five other bandits started to surround Shin, and one said "boss, can we have some fun with her after she's captured" to which the woman replied "sure, make sure to break her into two"
The man who said that jumped forward, it was clear how he has no style or technique in fighting, only going for brute force, although as this was Shins first real fight he was also relying on brute force, and when he thought it was the right time he punches the man in the guts, sending him flying back and landing on the ground, holding onto his stomach while in pain while gritting his teeth
"Useless" the woman said "not as useless as your ears" Shin replied to her, then said "let me repeat this to you, I am a male"
The man on the floor vomited, as his fantasies became nightmares in less then a second, and he fell unconscious
The other four bandits and their leader where surprised by this, and seeing the opportunity, Shin grabbed a rock and flicked it at one of the bandits, the tore through their head and blood gushed out, alerting the other bandits, but when they turned around another had been killed, this time their heart being torn, of them, and being held by Shin, they all felt instant fear but wondered something 'why the first and third but not but not second?'
What they didn't realize was that shin was using them as a test, after all these where the first humans he met, and he wanted to know what the stats are equivalent to, so he weakly punched one and sent them flying back, surprising him in how weak they where, then knowing the information he killed more bandits, after all, he has no morals, he never needed any
The leader turned back and ran for her life, trying to escape him, but before she could she was struck by a thick branch that grew from a tree, and fell forward, she was surprised as she was in the plains where there should be no trees, and her eyes widened when she heard Shin say behind her "Sh*t, I was suppose to make a sharp branch with thorns, guess this will have to do"
The other two bandits where paralyzed in fear, not knowing what they should do to escape, one of them ran and grabbed the unconscious one and threw him at Shin, trying to distract him and give himself time to escape, but learning from his mistake Shin made a tree surrounding the bandit, making it so he could never move or escape, then he slammed the unconscious bandit into the unmoving bandit, their bones broke and they bled internally, with their bones piercing their organs, the leader moved slowly, trying not to make noise hoping that Shin forgot about her when dealing with her bandits, but to her horror her body started burn with white and black flames
She was screaming, feeling excruciating pain, she tried to cry but her tears evaporated, but she was slightly happy, as burning would be a quick death, but to her shock she felt something warm, but the warmness was overpowered by the unimaginable pain, she looked at her body, regretting opening her eyes as they started to burn but quickly closed them to stop that, but from the brief flash she had her body was completely fine, then she felt it, her mind itself felt like it was in a raging inferno, not realising these were the consequences of her opening her eyes and allowing that opening, the inside of her body started to burn too, she would rather be in hell than live like this
Shin looked at Hikari surprised, he felt that this was her doing, he smiled while licking the blood off himself, and after he was clean he started walking again to wherever he felt like
__________________________________
Shin looked ahead in the sandy desert, seeing some humanoid figures and looked at his partner "let's enjoy this while we can" he said, making Hikari nod in agreement
Hikari flew to the sky, and she was high enough, she dived down, creating what seemed like a cut in reality itself, several organisms looked at that cut, intrigued