"I think it's time we increased the difficulty, what say you?" Lucas asked
"...".
I was silent for some time, mostly due to how sudden my seniors words were.
'so we could always increase the difficulty? If so, then why the hell was I told to only kill grade ten to seven monsters for almost eight hours now!" I thought, a bit pissed at my senior.
I originally just wanted to get a little stronger so I could survive in this
"Alright, let's". I said, trying to hide my irritation at his actions but my tone betrayed me.
"Hey, don't be like that. I was only doing that for your own good". Lucas said, he seemed to have sensed my irritation at his delaying my progress.
".....!" I didn't reply to him, not because I lacked words but because I didn't want to sour our relationship.
"Follow me".
I did as he said and followed him. We walked a few meters into the forest, making some turns along the way. We walked silently for a few minutes before Lucas said.
"Do you remember the explanation I gave you concerning the heirachy of monsters in this world?"
"Yes I do. You said that the ranks go from Grade ten to one, with ten being the weakest and one being the strongest". I answered, it was actually longer than that but I made it as brief as possible.
The truth was that even before Lucas told me about it, I had already received information concerning this same topic from Rem. But I decided to pretend I didn't know, so as to protect my facade of losing my memories.
"Good. The place we are going to right now is called a den".
"A den?" I asked.
"That's right, a den. A den is a place where monsters belonging to a certain species reside". Lucas breifly explained, he was probably trying to maintain the air of mystery surrounding this place called a den. But unfortunately for him, I wasn't a fan of surprises.
'Rem, what do you know about these dens?'. I asked inwardly, and almost immediately afterwards a system voice began speaking.
["A den is a habitat for a group of monsters of same, similar or supporting species. It can contain hundreds of beasts as long as they all fulfilled the conditions I mentioned previously. Due to the number of beasts in them, people hardly challenge them. In this particular world, even the martial artists brave enough to come to the outside think twice before entering one"]. Rem explained.
I now had a good idea of what these dens were. They were like the dungeons in most fantasy genre web novels. The only difference being that the monsters had to be related to each other.
'i see'. I thought inwardly.
We continued walking, Lucas continued giving me hints about what dens were at certain time intervals, but that was information I already had by now so I paid little attention to it and instead checked my status window.
[
Name: Carter Kim
Attributes: TRANSMIGRATOR(rating: rare ), Martial practicioner (rating: unique)
Karma points: 0
Coins possessed: 0
Understanding: 27
Skills( TRANSMIGRATOR): Transmigrate lv.1, Mass communication lv.1
Skills(Martial practicioner): basic Qi manipulation lv.4, Heavenly Tempest sword training lv.3, Heavenly tempest swordsmanship lv.4, Heavenly Tempest movement technique lv.2, Heavenly tempest ravaging sword dance lv.2, Heavenly tempest heavenward sword stab lv.2, Heavenly tempest rupturing sword slash lv.2, Heavenly tempest talon strike lv.2
Passive skills( TRANSMIGRATOR): Assistant lv.max, Adapt lv.2
Passive skills (Martial practicioner): Qi sensing lv.4
Stats: strength lv.26, agility lv.27, durability lv.20, stamina lv.25, intelligence( Qi) lv.28
]
'woah!' I thought as I saw my status window.
'so this is the difference between training and actual combat'.
All the main techniques of the Heavenly Tempest sword arts had leveled up and my swordsmanship and Qi sensing were now level four! Not to mention my physical stats that were nearing level thirty.
As far as I was concerned, my growth was pretty impressive. I studied my status window some more until we finally reached our destination.
"We're here!" Said Lucas.
I looked from my status window and forward into the scenary that lay before me. It was quite.......... disappointing. What I saw was just another part of the forest, but it's trees were much taller. I expected something more.........you know, ominous and scary, since it was supposed to be a place filled with monsters and all, but the trees present were not even a little bit frightening.
Lucas walked forward and stopped right before the area before stretching out his hand. He started waving his hands in thin air, as if he was searching for something and he seemed to be grumbling while doing it.
I stared blankly at him. I didn't know what he was doing but it was an extremely weird sight from my viewpoint.
After what seemed like a few minutes of searching. "Aha!" He shouted as though he had found something he was searching for.
He pressed something that seemed to be floating in thin air and a holographic barricade became visible. This barricade seemed to separate that part from the rest of the forest and a panel, a few centimeters smaller than that of my status window was floating in front of my senior.
[
Confirm your identity!
]
It read and Lucas placed his palm on it.
Was it some sort of security system? I didn't know.
[
Identity confirmed! Access granted!
]
The blue barricade disappeared, giving way for our entry. We walked in and as soon as we crossed the line between it's entrance and exit, the barricade reappeared, blocking all further intrusion.
As we walked into the area, I asked out of pure curiosity.
"What was that?"
"Hmm. Oh, that. Well, it's actually a security system placed here by the old man".
I was right.
"It only allows authorized personell to enter. And in this case, the authorized personell are staff and students of the Heavenly tempest sword school".
"...."
I was silent for a few seconds before asking inwardly.
'how is that even possible?'.
["There are specific attributes that possess such abilities such as; security master, fortress master and more"]. Rem explained.
'i see. So they probably paid someone with those attributes to do this. But why'.
["There are several possibilities. I advise that you ask him yourself, to confirm"].
Rem was right. There are several reasons why a person would seure his/her property, but a place like this was.........
"Hey senior Lucas, can I ask you a question?" I said, finally deciding to ask.
"Sure. Ask away". Lucas replied.
"Ok..... Why?" I asked.
"Excuse me".
"Why go through all the trouble of hiring someone, just to protect a place like this? I am asking what's in this place that's so important, you have to take measures to protect it".
There was a long silence, as neither me nor Lucas said anything for almost thirty seconds! Untill.
Lucas stopped walking and turned around to face me, he grinned slyly before opening his mouth.
"You see, in the entire forest, this place has the most monsters and dens".
.
.
.
.