"Take care of yourself, visit us as often as possible. Eat your meal on time, don't forget to brush your teeth twice a day........" Aiko Ishida was very worried as Renji had never been out without them, so she couldn't stop giving Renji bits of advice. Renji's parents were both fine now, if anyone saw them now no one would be able to guess they were bedridden just a few days ago.
'Ahhhh…..How could I have agreed to such a ridiculous demand.' Thought Aiko as she was looking at Renji who was preparing his bag for the journey towards the forest once again. She looked sad and at the same time worried, at first, she had rejected Renji outright. But after Renji spoke and made them understand, Ichiro Ishida couldn't say no. Aiko didn't have a choice after even Ichiro agreed, but there was still a little relief for Aiko as Renji explained just how powerful the couple from the forest was.
"Yes, of course, I'll visit from time to time. You should take care of yourselves too, you don't need to go hunting anymore as there are a lot of things you can do in the academy. If there is anything urgent just let the dean know, he will let me know." Said Renji trying to console his mother, he didn't want them to be worried while he was there.
"Big bwather, where are you going, are you going far? Can I come as well?" asked Hana as she sat on Renji's lap.
"I am not going far, I am just going to study. I can't take you now but after you grow up I will take you with me ok?" asked Renji, he was a little sad inside because he wouldn't be able to see his sister that often for a while.
"Ok promise?" said Hana with a cute little smile on her face.
Renji promised Hana and gave her some chocolates that he brought and continued his packing. A few hours later after talking to his family some more, he bid his family goodbye. He also visited Edward to let him know of his departure. Edward and his family came to see him off, and while they watched he went away to the distance while flying on a griffin. Little did anyone know at that time, this was the beginning of his journey.
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10 years later
"Humm hummm…." Renji who looked like he was between the age of 18-19 years old. He had a toothpick in his mouth while his eyes were completely shut, it looked like he was enjoying the shade of the tree. He was resting on a branch of a tree while wearing earphones in his ears, he was listening to his favorite some from The Dandelion. Dandelion was the name of his favorite girl band, he felt their songs were soothing so he would listen to them whenever he got a chance.
"Got something…." Renji who was resting peacefully suddenly woke up from his nap when he suddenly heard a beeping noise coming from his phone. That was the signal that he got from the traps he had placed, currently, he was out hunting some beast around the vicinity of the cottage.
This was the normal routine for most of the days during his stay here, he would place traps and rest while the traps did their work. Once one of the traps goes off he gets notice and goes to hunt the creature that activated the trap. It took a few years but he could now kill 2 shard monsters. Anything above that would be instantly killed by the trap itself, this was done so that Renji wouldn't get confronted by any strong monsters.
'I want to hunt a 3-shard monster, I think I can do it now. No, I am sure I can do it, if the monster doesn't have any magic skill I can surely kill just one, right?' Renji asked himself as he fought with the 2 shard monster that triggered the trap, he very quickly and swiftly took care of the monster. The way he fought the monster made it look so easy, he had mastered the basics of many weapons, swords, daggers, spheres…etc.
'If only I was an awakened, even after these many years I couldn't become an awakened.' With a heavy blow with his mace Renji finished off the 2 shard monster, he was angry when he swung the mace down towards the monster. He lamented the fact that he was unable to awaken, he was stuck at the basics of everything combat related because he couldn't use any mana.
If he wanted to learn intermediate or higher-level of sword techniques he would have to be able to feel and control the mana within his body. Although he was lacking mana in these few years he had mastered a lot of ancient languages and gained a lot of important information about the world and dungeons. He loved learning and fighting, he would spend most of his days studying or killing monsters.
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"Grandma I am back!" said Renji as he entered the cottage, immediately after he entered the cottage he could smell something very tasty being cooked. His stomach started rumbling as he entered.
"Welcome back sweet pie, go ahead and wash up the dinner is almost ready. Can you please also call that old fool too?" asked Clara as she cooked, she had a very big smile on her face as she saw Renji return.
"Okay." Said Renji as he went straight towards the bathroom to take a bath, he was covered in blood so he took his time bathing.
"Thank you for the meal!" said everyone at once as all three started to eat the food. Renji had a very wide grin on his face as the food was very delicious.
"Oh, I got a call from your mother today, she asked me why you didn't pick your phone up." Asked Clara.
"Oh! My phone must have been on silent, I didn't notice sorry. What did mom say, did something urgent come up?" asked Renji with a surprised face, he usually kept his phone on silent whenever he waited for the trap to go off. If the phone isn't silent it might alert other stronger monsters in the vicinity, so he is always careful of that.
"Yes she mentioned a tournament which will take place after 2 months, she wants you to come and help your sister get motivated for the competition." Said Clara with a smile on her face.
"Then I'll leave tomorrow in the morning, Hana must be missing me," said Renji as he continued eating with a smile on his face.
"Of course, the poor thing will miss you haven't been home for 1 month now. This competition will be a very big opportunity for her as the winning team will be able to enter a dungeon with the supervision of a teacher. She must be under a lot of pressure right now." Said Clara with a gentle smile, going to a dungeon for the first time was a big deal among the students in the academy. Those who become the winner of the competition will get preferential treatment in their class for the whole year.