A short period of time had passed but both me and Raiden were still unable to leave our thoughts.
Nevertheless, Raiden was the one to leave his thoughts as he spoke. "Time to train, my student!"
I was snapped out of my mind when I heard him talk. And I responded back after I remembered something. "Teacher.. About the duel.."
"Ah. Yes, we would still have a duel anyway! I wanted to see how much my student has grown after being trained by me! But you won't get the katana.." His tone of voice gradually changed from cheerfulness to a sudden sadness.
"I understand. Shall we begin training, teacher?" I quickly replied, not wanting to see him sadden by that.
"I'll let you use this for now." Raiden stopped being blue and immediately handed me a wooden katana after he had spoken. And I gladly accepted it with my hands out to get it.
"Thank you." I unsheathed the katana, gave it a try by swinging it a few times, though it didn't feel exactly the same without that black katana.
'Why am I missing a katana that stabbed me? ..must be because I kinda like that sword.' I pondered with a confused smile curved on my face.
"..JoonChul..?" Raiden expressed his perplexity by uttering my name in great astoundment as if he saw something unusual.
"Yes, teacher?" I immediately questioned him after hearing how he called me.
"What is that katana you're holding?" He pointed his finger nervously to the katana I was gripping.
For a second there, I wondered why he asked me that, when he was the one who gave the wooden katana to me, so I slowly looked to where he was pointing at while being obviously confused.
When my eyes arrived on the katana, they went wide open in pure shock.
The wooden katana that I wielded was no longer there. On the contrary, it was replaced by the black katana that once stabbed me.
Raiden narrowed his eyes when he said. "This.."
I interrupted him by asking. "But how..?"
"..I.. don't kn-" Raiden's words were cut off by a familiar person.
"Hey! What is wrong with your faces?" Mirai questioned as she was walking toward us.
When she got in between us, she discovered what we saw as well. "Nani..?!"
( ‹Nani›, Japanese word for 'What'. )
———
It had been 6 days since JoonChul's disappearance.
HwanGi had gone through the fourth stage and he was currently in the fifth stage.
The fourth stage wasn't as difficult as the fifth, since it only acquired the players to get a weapon they desire to use in their adventures.
However, for the fifth stage..
[You leveled up!]
[You leveled up!]
.
.
.
[You leveled up!]
Somewhere in a forest near the northern side of the 'Kingless' kingdom..
"Darn!" HwanGi was fighting against a group of goblins all by himself.
His sword that was being engulfed by his 'Divine Flame' now at Lv. 2, burned fiercely, setting any of his enemies to fire with every single attack he landed.
At this moment, a goblin sneaked behind him, almost striking HwanGi's back with its spear.
Luckily, the goblin gave away its surprise attack by its guttural yell which led HwanGi to discover the goblin in the last second, and he evaded its attack by stepping aside, but it wasn't a flawless evasion.
Blood could be seen dripping down from his waist as he flinched from the damages. And yet, he didn't succumb to the pain and decapitated the goblin's head off with no hesitation using his sword.
While he was dealing with that goblin, a bunch of goblins took this chance to rush in and surrounded him.
Filled with vengeance after seeing their fellow goblin get killed by a human, they chanted angrily, raising their spears and clubs before charging toward HwanGi.
HwanGi who was panting heavily, dispersed his 'Divine Flame' to circle around him, expanding it until it overreached the goblins.
Once a tiny speck of fire touched one of the goblin's foot, the fire began to burn through the fleshes of the goblin to prolong its flame along with using the goblin's sins as its fuel.
The goblins screeched from the agonizing pain of being burned alive and attempted to extinguish the flame with everything they got.
However...
HwanGi didn't give these goblins the opportunity to survive and went in for the kill. Slicing every part of their bodies with his powerful yet tiresome swings.
[You leveled up!]
[You leveled up!]
[You leveled up!]
After confirming the monsters were dead, HwanGi cancelled his flame which was still burning the bones of the goblin's corpses.
Fortunately, his flame didn't set fire to the forest, so he could use his skill to its fullest potential without worry.
With no further delay, HwanGi settled down beside a tree to finally catch his breath, because he was extremely exhausted from having to fight constantly for the past couple of days.
"Are the other players surviving this stage?" Despite not knowing the players, he was still a kind-hearted guy who cared about other people's lives and not his own.
He checked the stage's information by opening his status window, a panel appeared as expected, but with an extra panel on the right side corner, showing everything about the present stage he was in.
[Stage #5 : Defend The Kingdom.]
Stage Information: Not every kingdom is safe from the monsters outside the castle's walls. Moreover, after acquiring a weapon, this stage is made for players to practice using their desirable weapons by defeating minor monsters.
Stage Task: Defend the kingdom.
Time Limit: 74 Hours.
Reward: 200 coins and an upgraded weapon.
Failure: Death.
[Currently, 4 hours are left until this stage ends.]
A moment later, a belated message appeared in front of him.
[You had reached Level 10.]
[Someone had already taken this achievement.]
[You can't get this achievement.]
He had been using his hidden skill, 'Fast Leveling' to his advantage which led him to level up to level 11. In addition, 'Fast Leveling' and all his skills had increased to Lv. 2 after entering the fifth stage.
However, this was an unexpected message that caused HwanGi to be in a little bit of bewilderment after he finished reading it.
"Is there someone who has the same hidden skill as me?" He uttered with his words clearly being fueled with bafflement.