Walking behind his Master, Sol soon reached the area in the forest where they were staying.
There was a simple house built from the surrounding forest trees. A small gate was around it while a clothesline could be seen next to the house.
Sol's limited number of clothes could be seen drying in the shimmering sunlight that seeped through the foliage of the tall forest trees above.
For the past few weeks, Sol had been living here. This house was built himself, and it was mostly for him. As for his Master, he seemed to not need sleep or food.
Sol had rarely even seen him change clothes, however, he never stank. Sol could never understand how that was possible.
The old man instead of heading towards the house, went to an empty area several meters away. As they reached, a green figure suddenly leaped out from the nearby forest towards Sol.
It was Little Zeel.
With a smile, Sol softly caught him.
"Oof, Little Zeel, you've been growing a lot recently."
Sol said as he raised Little Zeel into the air.
Little Zeel was around a foot big before but now he was almost three feet. He had indeed grown a bit.
His chubbiness had also faded away a bit.
Sol sighed sadly and said.
"How unfortunate, you looked so cute with your chubby appearance."
However, as Sol said that, Little Zeel suddenly had a curious look in his eyes. After a moment, his body suddenly released a green glow and he began to regain his original size and chubby appearance.
Sol's eyes widen at this.
"You can do that?!"
But Sol soon recovered before he smiled and said.
"Haha, of course you can, I shouldn't be surprised at this point."
Sol then began throwing Little Zeel in the air, his joy apparent.
From Little Zeel's perspective, he saw how happy Sol was, and an excited gleam also appeared in his eyes.
It appears that as long as this boy was happy, Little Zeel would be equally or even more happy.
However, Little Zeel suddenly looked at the bandages that covered the entirety of Sol's shirtless upper half with worry.
As he was thrown up by Sol and was about to be caught, Little Zeel suddenly twisted his body and landed on Sol's shoulder. He then began licking his cheek.
"You don't have to heal me every time Little Zeel."
Sol said while a green glow began shimmering on his body.
Little Zeel's licks had healing properties, strong ones at that. Each time Sol came from training, he would be healed by him with a few licks.
The old man turned and glared at the creature as he healed Sol.
It was obvious he disapproved of Little Zeel's healing because that would diminish the effect of Sol's training. But because of Sol's protection, the old man simply ignored the thing and worked around his healing.
As for chasing the thing away himself, the old man didn't dare do so because of his suspicions of its true origins.
He had explained to Sol that Ibbian Beasts like Little Zeel weren't normal. Its ability to manipulate the forest tree roots and even heal people meant it was likely a kin from a terrifying Ibbian Beast.
However, despite his Master's warnings of being around Little Zeel, Sol didn't mind. Little Zeel was Little Zeel.
Sol had practically grown up with Little Zeel like a brother. The last thing Little Zeel would do was harm him.
Upon reaching the clearing, the old man suddenly pointed to the ground
"Sit."
Sol hearing this did as he was told, meanwhile, Little Zeel leaped off him and ran off somewhere.
However, as Sol sat, his pants released a squishing sound. He was still completely drenched.
"Now, listening to what I'm about to tell-"
"Wait, Master! I need to go change first."
Sol was about to get up, but the old man's eyes twitched upon being interrupted. He immediately pointed a finger at Sol in annoyance.
"Damn brat, how many times do I have I tell you to not interrupt me!"
With a point of his Master finger, Sol suddenly felt his body freeze. At the same time, circular patterns appeared on the ground below his feet.
Runes.
BANG!
Before Sol could register what was happening, a pillar of flames burst from the circular pattern to cover his entire body.
Sol released a scream, thinking his Master had finally gone completely crazy and was planning to murder him, but before the scream could fully escape his lips, the pillar of flames suddenly vanished along with the circular patterns.
Sol felt his body regain movement, but his legs were so weak they gave out; causing him to fall onto his butt. His face was extremely pale, the shock of almost dying made him stare forward blankly.
"There, no need to get up since you're already dry. Now listen to what I'm about to tell you, brat."
Sol regained his composer at that, but he suddenly noticed a small fire on his pants and he hurriedly tried to put it out.
'He-He's definitely trying to kill me!'
Sol thought as he put out the small fire.
Ignoring Sol, the old man continued by saying.
"That energy inside of you asides from how strange it is, your body reacts to it weirdly as well."
Sol released a sigh before he fully focused on what his Master was saying.
Looking at Sol, the old man said seriously.
"I underestimated how peculiar you are brat. Each time you're injured in any way and then recovered, that energy seems to strengthen your body more. The graver the injury, the greater the strength you'll have when you recover."
"Then doesn't that mean…"
Sol hearing this began to say, but when he saw the twinkle in his Master's eyes, a cold shiver ran down his spine.
"That's right brat, from now on I'm not just going to train you to strengthen your body, but I'm going to tort-Ehem, I mean, I'll be injuring you in a control manner to further increase your strength."
"Master, you-you were definitely about to say torture, weren't you?!"
Sol's face went pale.
"Damn brat, what are you panicking for? It was just a slip of the tongue."
After saying this, the old man coughed in his fist and ignored Sol's pitiful expression.
"To be truthful brat, this is one of the few things I could gather about that energy within you. That, and the fact that the source of it seems to be coming from your bloodline."
"My bloodline?"
"Hm, it's rare but humans can also have special bloodlines like Magical Beasts, or Ibbian Beasts as you call them. And depending on what kind of bloodline you have, there are abilities that come with it. Similar to that Beast friend of yours, his power to manipulate trees and heal you likely stems from the bloodline it has. Brat, do have any abilities despite your innate strength?"
Sol hearing this paused, he was about to say he wasn't sure, but then he thought of something.
"I might have some sort of ability to see things up close, but I'm not entirely sure if it's an ability resulting from my bloodline."
"Show me."