It was their fifth day training, and they had become accustomed to some extent to their rigid schedule and training. Due to Eve's love for Carrots, she was able to get to Carrot Magic Level 4 by both farming carrots and just using her abilities during her Reflex Training, as the old man told them to start to incorporate all of their abilities into their training.
For example, in Reflex Training, Eve has to hold her scythe as well as activating her [Carrot Magic] Skill, which is now Level 4 so she can fluently change the look of the carrots, although they always resemble carrots by their colour and the green stem on top of the carrot. The only problem was that she literally cannot hold her Scythe for longer than 3 hours, her only solution to this is the Carrot Scythe, but of course her [Carrot Magic] is nowhere near where it can create something like that, sure in theory she'll be able to create a Carrot Scythe when she gets her ability to Level 5, but how the hell could a carrot compare to the sharpness of steel, her only hope is that she finds something to sharpen her magic with, but then again that was a wild shot. Whenever she got angry or conflicted, she went straight back to farming, since that was something she genuinely enjoyed, and it always relieved her stress. Although only 5 days had passed, with her rigid schedule and pure amount of physical exercise she did, she was now much stronger than previously before, and she even got [Mana Meditation] to Level 3! Although she couldn't use a Scythe properly, she was able to get [Scythe Efficiency] to Level 3, but it seemed like no matter how much she tried she couldn't overcome this hurdle.
On the other hand, Ivan was feeling pretty good with himself. He was now able to incorporate mana to his branches, meaning he learned [Branch Magic] instead of [Branch Manipulation]. Because of this, the branches are now more sturdier, and he was able to get to Level 5, two days before the deadline. He's literally done everything he was asked, and now he honestly wanted to get to Level 10 so he can get his Spirit Beasts.
"Sir, please can we go kill Beasts now? I think us both combined we'd be able to level up!". Ivan was filled with passion. He really wanted his butterflies.
"I actually have something planned anyways. In Tian theres a small forest which is compact with monsters which is why security is so tight there. I spoke to some guards there yesterday and they said they were okay with you staying in their for a week. I won't be watching over you so don't die!".
The devilish smile was making it's appearance again, and Eve was not thrilled. Because of the essence of her class and abilities, she's a frontliner unlike Ivan, meaning she plays a heavy role in taking down these monsters, and she was truly nervous, although she never said anything, she just went with the motions.
And like that, they were shuffled through by the one armed man and the guards seemed pretty worried too. They essentially saw two young children go into a Forest compact with ferocious monsters, it's basically a death sentence. Although he didn't say anything, because he couldn't. The man who was shoving them in the Forest were way above their league, his talent was not comparable to that of themselves, so instead they gave solemn looks to the two children, and let them through.
As soon as they were inside the forest, almost instantly Eve got her scythe out of a backpack, although the backpack was strange, it seemed like an endless void, some form of magic was making it bigger than it actually was.
"So, what do we do now?". Eve urgently asked Ivan.
"We hunt". As he said this, a smile broke from Ivan's face. This is what he wanted.
As they ventured further, they came across a boar, although it didn't really look intimidating, it definitely was hostile.
As they made eye contact, Eve went infront of Ivan, waiting for his branches to appear from the ground.
Honestly, they knew eachothers abilities quite well, it's just that they don't have experience, they literally have none.
The boar charged towards Eve, and a few seconds later, three branches came from the ground and tried to encapsulate the boar, however it didn't really work as the boar just jumped over the branches. Ivan's control over the branches was pretty basic, however he was limited by his own skill level, which made saddened him, however he had no time to dwell, so instead he retracted the branches, and instead of the branches being malleable and not that sturdy, he did the opposite. The branches had sharpened edges and they came from directly under the boar.
With that, three branches were poking out of the boars belly, but of course, the boar didn't roll over and die, instead he charged faster at Eve, and the boar didn't even understand where the branches came from, since Ivan was standing behind Eve.
Eve took a big breath and charged at the boar too. She was praying she was capable of doing some form of damage to it. She held her scythe behind her, preparing to make impact.
And as soon as she did, she made a deep wound to the boar, however as soon as she hit the boar, the scythe went directly into the ground because Eve's body is literally not made for a scythe. Although the stick itself isn't a problem, it's the metal blade. It's simply too heavy for her childlike body.
Ivan's limit was twelve branches in a row without Mana Meditation, so he still had six branches left, and as soon as Eve made impact with the boar, he again casted branches underneath the boar, once again piercing the boar's fresh skin due to the branches being impaled in different area of it's underbelly, and with that. The boar keeled over and slowly died, until Eve came along and slashed it, finishing off the boar.
[You have levelled up!]
[You have levelled up!]
Both Eve and Ivan heard a ding sound which was followed up by a Levelling up notification. This was the fruit of their hardwork. Their goal for the entire week was to get to Level 10, and currently they're both Level 2.
'This is amazing, with this, I can actually defend myself, and I can cast in the air if I want to, meaning these branches can be used offensively too'. Ivan thought of the possibilities of his abilities and continued along the Tian Forest.
The following two days consisted of killing boars, lone wolves and they even managed to kill one poisonous snake, although Eve was bit, but it was fine due to medicine in their never ending supplies in their backpack. They were both currently Level 5, their levelling speed was going smoothly, and to them it felt quite slow, but overall it was fine.
The reason they were levelling up so quickly anyways is because they're bodies have accustomed to their training so they only sleep for 4 hours in a small tent that they were supplied with.
Their skills were also levelling up smoothly. For Eve, her [Scythe Efficiency] hit Level 4. She felt like experiencing actual combat helps with her scythe ability, but she was still at Level 4 with her [Carrot Magic] since she has barely used it since she entered the Forest.
Whereas Ivan was not making much progress in Skills either, however he was becoming much more accustomed to combat, and he finally was able to entrap some animals with his malleable branches, and the fact that he found a way to defend himself is great aswell.
As they got deeper in the forest, boars were becoming less common and wolves became a common enemy, although they only tried to take on two at a time, and that resulted in Eve having to take multiple bites from the wolves, which wasn't ideal since she had to wait for an hour before hunting again, so they stuck to one.
However, they came across something very dangerous: a pack of wolves. There were 5 adult wolves and 2 babies, which means these wolves are going to be ferocious.
Both Eve and Ivan flinched and pretty much ran on instinct, however, they weren't fast enough and the wolves saw them.
This battle isn't simple especially since there's another wolf tending to the cubs, but this wolf was different. They had reddish fur and were bigger than these grey wolves.
All alarms were going off in Ivan's head.
They had to fight. Running wasn't an option.