Going fast is an exciting thing, in theory. But when you go fast, you sometimes lose sight of what you're losing. And when that happens, you lose the ability to appreciate what you do have, and that can cause regret. This is what time is: the ability to shape a life and make important decisions in a way that can spin things in the direction you want them to turn.
***
'How can he already do what I told him a few minutes ago?' Jil thought as he saw his brother's swing speed up in an instant. 'Even though his movements are still clumsy, the fact that he almost managed to master it by just thinking about it it's extraordinary.
'How in the world did he live his whole life as trash? It doesn't make any sense. If he could learn things that fast, he would have even surpassed me already,' He gave a hand to Haste to help him stand up. "Are you alright? Did you get hurt?"
"No, I'm okay, thank you for your concern," Haste answered, and after taking the material orb from the monster, they continue walking until they finally arrived in the next zone.
Unlike the dense forest from earlier with trees as high as the eyes could see, this zone was a plain that went as far as they could see. The ground was flat with short green grass. There wasn't any rock one could use to hide or even any bushes.
The brothers could even see some people fighting what looked like a big tiger that was 2,50 meters long and 1,50 meters high. It was alone, but it looked so fierce and dangerous that Haste gulped down seeing it.
Moreover, it looked fast, unlike the black dogs that were very slow.
'Would I be able to fight such a monster on my own? They are a team of 5, and yet they have difficulties fighting against it,' Haste thought before strengthening his resolve. 'No, the question is not if I will be able to fight it, but how I will proceed to fight such a creature.'
Haste then took his phone and began to search for information about this zone. The monster here ranged from level 18 to 60. They were a lot of different monsters. Horses, zebras, lions, tigers, even giraffes, and much more. And as he would go further into the zone, he would face stronger monsters.
But instead of being scared or wary of the monsters, Haste had a smile on his face. He wasn't scared, no instead, he was excited. Excited to fight against stronger monsters, be stronger and finally be able to leave his family.
He couldn't do it now because even if he left it, he would have nowhere to go. But once he would be stronger and have some money, he will be able to rent a house and live in his home.
So he began to advance further, and not even after five minutes had passed, Haste could see a white horse-like monster coming to him. But unlike normal horses, this horse was a monster. So it was bigger, has more muscles, and its most prominent feature was its horn in the middle of its forehead.
'It looks like a unicorn,' Haste chuckled as he unsheathed his sword. He was ready to face the monster head-on, but its speed surprised him greatly.
So much that the horn almost pierced his chest.
Almost.
But he managed to dodge by rolling on the ground, and before the horse could come at him again, it was Haste who ran toward him.
He activated his Time Manipulation, and in no time, he managed to swing his sword toward the horse.
He thought that he killed it, but alas, it was just a thought.
*Cling*
The horse blocked Haste's sword with his corn, before pushing forward with such a force that Haste tripped backward.
But instead of letting the horse push him further, Haste used his Time manipulation to accelerate his arm movement so much that his swing looked like a blur. However, this swing wasn't aimed at the horse, but toward the air.
Haste knew that he didn't have a good mastery of his spell yet, so by using this knowledge, he used the momentum of his swing to follow his blade trajectory, thus dodging the horse's charge.
'Pheww, calm down Haste,' He took a deep breath after standing up. 'I don't have enough strength, and my weapon isn't sharp enough to cut the horn. So my only choice is my speed.'
Haste began to run, but instead of going toward the horse, he went in the opposite direction.
Seeing that, the horse chased after him, beginning the cat and mouse game. The horse was the cat, chasing after the mouse who was Haste.
Neither of them slowed down, and neither of them managed to further the gap or lessen it between them. It continued like this for a few more minutes before Haste was beginning to be tired of this game.
It exhausted him more than anything, so he decided to finish the fight now.
Haste suddenly turned around and rushed toward the horse who couldn't slow down. The latter was rushing toward Haste, defenseless with a lot of opening in its defense. It could only use its horn. But with the speed and all the momentum he had gained, it was hard to control it, especially when Haste was just a few meters away from him.
Haste swung his sword from right to left. And with all the momentum he had gained, he was very fast.
However, the horse was ready to block the blade once again. But before he even understood what had happened, its head flew in the air before falling to the ground.
Just before Haste's sword clashed with the horse, the former spun on himself while activating his Time Manipulation to fasten his movement as much as he could.
The next thing he knew, he had beheaded the horse but continued spinning even after deactivating the spell.
'GOD I'm going to puke at this rate,' Thankfully, Haste managed to stop himself spinning before it was too late.
Nonetheless, his head was spinning a lot, and he even felt his stomach turned upside down. But even with all of that, he still managed to see the kill notification.
[You killed a level 18 Horse-horn]
[+ 609 EXP]
"You fight was... special, to say the least," Jil said after coming by his side. "Nonetheless, you know where your advantages lie in, and you used them well. So great fight,"
"Thank you," Haste answered, but he seemed to have lost the colors of his face.
After resting for a moment, he recovered his lost colors and touched the horse.
And what appeared in the loot shocked him.
It was a skill-orb.