Sapphire trained with Kurai for the next two months as the two travelled westwards together, which delayed her journey a great bit, but it was still worthwhile. Being with Kurai she got to use carts to travel faster and without much stopping. It didn't stop her practice either as Kurai taught her new things whenever they reached a new town, or whenever he took a commission from the Assassin's Guild or Adventurer's Guild.
One of the first things Kurai taught her were breathing techniques, which were one of the fundamentals to growing stronger according to him. She quickly mastered them in the first month of her training, breath control and capacity both. She could have mastered in a week if Kurai didn't wait a few days between teaching her new things, giving her type to improve what she already learnt. She was already on the way of creating her own breathing technique which suited her just as he told her to, though she did not progress much in that so far.
She created one, but Kurai said it still wasn't the best one for her. 'Dark Breathing', as she named it, was actually quite alright for her, she only needed to improve it slightly. While she didn't plan it, as Kurai told her, the meaning of his name was also dark, which he found quite funny since she isn't supposed to have known the language his name is from.
Along with that, it took her an even shorter amount of time to master the hand-to-hand combat style, called Taijutsu, and the sword combat style, called Kenjutsu. She mastered the basics of both in one week, and completely mastered both the next week with ease. Though Kurai said that having learnt something, and having mastered something, isn't quite the same.
Still, Kurai was very surprised at the speed she learns new things at, even saying she was the second fastest learner he ever met. It was mostly because Sapphire liked to learn new things, her curiosity and willingness to try new things having proved very useful to her. Her life in the forest was slightly boring to her as well. It was always the same things every day, and while the rainforest was always full of surprises, they usually weren't the kind Sapphire could be near safely. And so, every new thing she encountered in the journey was welcomed happily by Sapphire.
Her life since leaving the forest was the kind of life she sometimes wanted, except that she didn't expect all the hardship that came along with it. Being with Kurai was one of the best things to have happened to her. He was experienced in nearly every matter, frighteningly so considering he did not look that old. She was taught everything she needed to know to survive on her own as well, in case he couldn't travel with her.
He told her which plants can be used to treat which type of injuries, and even as painkillers, along with some other uses. Such as which plants can be used for making toxins, which she can use to coat her throwing knives in making them all the more lethal. He even taught her what everything was called and what their use was, so she can use them if she ever needed to, since she knew close to nothing about what all the objects made by humans were.
One of the most useful things he taught her probably was how to hide her weapons, since carried weapons can in many places get her in trouble, except her katana. Carrying a sword was usually a sign of authority, and so it would be more preferable for her to keep it in view of others. He taught her how to hide her throwing knives in her coat still, somewhere she can easily pull them out from, and also one inside each of her sleeve, so she can deliver a surprise attack, similar to the one he did on her and the inn keeper.
"Are you certain you wish to part ways here?" Kurai asked her as they stood on a three way road.
The two ways led to complete opposite directions, one straight to the mountains she needed to head to, and one straight away from them. Kurai didn't mind accompanying her even if it meant going off his course, but she insisted that she travel ahead by herself the entire way, even though Kurai was worried she might not be prepared enough to survive by herself.
"Yes, I can do this, you have already done a lot more than I could ever ask for," Sapphire insisted.
Which he did indeed, even having procured some food items that will last Sapphire a couple days out in the wild, the time which she can use to search for other types of food and get used to travelling alone. Along with that he even got her a traveler's license of her own, which looked very similar to the one she picked from the guy she had killed before Kurai found her.
Kurai explained to her that it verifies the identity of a traveler by authority of the adventurer's guild, which is present in every nation, and hence, she can freely travel to and from any nation without restriction or extra cost. A very useful item and necessary item for a traveller.
He taught her how to read and write as well, which did not take her long since Midnight Wolves did have their own writings, which she knew how to read and write already. The human language will come in handy still as she won't be able to ask anyone what something meant without giving herself away. While most species spoke inthe common language, their way of writing it was very different, and the writing of Midnight Wolves could not even be spoken as the letters carried no pronunciation.
"I did teach you many things but I saved one for when we part ways." Kurai informed pulling out a pitch black card from his pocket.
It was completely black in color and possessed no features whatsoever, causing her to feel uneasy as if her mind remembered some bad experience but couldn't figure out exactly what. Sapphire took the card in her hands and flipped it around, hoping to see the more colorful side, but the other side looked the same as the first.
"It is the card of the assassin's guild," Kurai explained, "You can use this for a fair discount in inns affiliated with the assassin's guild, which increases along with your rank. Along with that, you can take missions as long as you have this card. Assassin missions are riskier than most adventurer's missions and hence reward more too. If you run low on money you can do whichever you see fit."
"But how will they know?" Sapphire complained, still inspecting the card.
"So not to be discovered, these cards are made from special materials. They only show what is written on them when exposed to water." Kurai explained as he poured a few drops of water on the card from his canteen. In an instant letters lit up on the card and showed many details about Sapphire, along with her rank, which was bronze.
"Bronze is the lowest rank, then silver, then gold, then platinum, then diamond, and lastly celestial. Those of the celestial rank can take quests issued by Celestia, a secretive organization even I know very little about," Kurai explained, "All I know is they issue a large array of peculiar commissions every now and then with unreasonably high rewards."
Sapphire nodded her understanding and pocketed the card safely. She walked in the direction of the mountains, turning around and waving to Kurai, who was still standing where he was, idly waving back to her. He seemed neither sad nor happy, his expression seemed very plain, again reminding of a certain experience she couldn't quite seem to remember.
Ignoring her thoughts, Sapphire walked towards the mountains at a steady pace. It occurred to her if running would be a better idea after the moutains seemed to not appear any closer when she felt like she walked for a couple hours, but Kurai warned that these mountains contain a lot stronger monsters than normal, and in a higher quantity as well. Encountering them was favorable for her after what Kurai told her once, but running into one unprepared would be troublesome and even she was well aware of it.
According to what Kurai told her, there was a way to get stronger fast, but it required a strong will and some level of ruthlessness. The way, was to kill, and a lot. By killing things she would slowly but surely 'level up' and get stronger. The stronger the enemy the faster the levelling, from what she remembers. While the details went over her head, she grasped the main point, which was to kill. She has to kill stronger monsters to level up fast and get stronger, and so, she chose to travel in the night. She did feel like her father also told her something along these lines long ago once, but she just didn't pay much attention to it or think much of it, afterall she never felt like she needed to be strong till now.
Sapphire overestimated the number of monsters by a great amount, expecting to have seen boards of monsters just scattered all over the place, but it wasn't quite like that.. When she first encountered some monsters it was night and the moon was covered by dark clouds. She would have quite easily missed them if they didn't make so much noise, which Sapphire found annoying. It was a small band of goblins, seemingly scouts from how they were searching the area.. She surveyed the group from atop a nearby tree before deciding on what to do.
Seven goblins, six carried daggers while one carried a wooden staff with a skull on its end. A small group of scouts and a shaman. While shaman goblins were capable of spells, they were only capable of low level spells, nothing capable of harming even her, which Sapphire cuz she was once hit by a goblin shaman's spell in the rainforest, an earth spell which was just the shaman creating a small ball of mud and shooting it at Sapphire, only ending up dirtying her fur.
Along with that, goblins were generally slow and weak, not capable of much unless they worked in large groups, even for Sapphire they were nothing more than easy prey if they didnt catch her off guard. Leaving them wasn't any good anyways, something Sapphire was taught by her father, and even Kurai told her to not ever spare goblins, they will just go around and hurt people and even seek revenge.
Pulling out a knife from inside her coat with her left hand Sapphire gripped her katana's handle with her right, calming her nerves and preparing to charge in. As the six goblins were busy poking around the surroundings Sapphire threw the dagger right at the shaman's heart and jumped out of the tree she was in. The shaman let out a shriek as it fell backwards. All the goblins turned to the shaman in alarm and confusion, and Sapphire took this opportunity to stab the one closest to her in his back. She slowly pulled her katana out and let the body drop to the ground as her hat landed on the ground not far, having been blown due to her jumping.
The remaining five goblins turned to her in alarm and anger and brandished their daggers. While they were very small, so was she. The goblins were barely half a feet shorter than her, a fact she didn't like. Even then, they were scrawny and Sapphire did not expect them capable of overpowering her with their crude daggers. Still, since this was pretty much her first hunt, she decided to enjoy it.
Standing her ground she allowed the goblins to surround her. All five of them circling her, waiting for an opportunity to strike. One of them charged at her after its patience ran out, not waiting for an opening any longer. As it swung its dagger at her she dodged by tilting her body to the side and kicked it in the abdomen. As the goblin groaned in pain she performed a roundhouse kick, hitting it again but with much more force, causing it to crash into a tree and fall to the ground.
Regaining her footing she allowed the other goblins to attack her, keeping her calm and not underestimating her opponents. This time, all of them attacked her at once, but the goblins failed to notice their disadvantage of weapon reach, all of them only carrying short daggers.
Throwing two knives at the two goblins furthest from her first she spun her katana in a wide arc and slashed the remaining three goblins with ease. Her katana reached them before their daggers were anywhere near striking distance, taking them out without receiving any damage. Sighing, she retrieved her throwing knives from the two goblins and went to retrieve the one from the shaman, though she realised that it wasn't where it should have been, having disappeared without a trace.
I misjudged the toughness of goblin hide, Sapphire realized as she turned to the other goblins. Unsheathing her katana she stabbed them all multiple times before flicking off the blood and sheathing it.
Sapphire inspected her arm, an object on her arm more precisely. Kurai had given her an item to see whether she leveled up or not a while before they parted ways, a bracelet with a certain type of gemstone that will glow when she levels up. It was a simple silver bracelet with a blue gemstone embedded in it, and it didn't glow even after killing six goblins.
A simple shaman isn't going to be much of a trouble, I will find stronger monsters along the way. Sapphire reassured herself as she placed the hat on top of her head.
While she wanted to think she was strong, her victory was simply because she learnt well from Kurai and only fought against a small group of goblins, which were very weak. She still wondered how strong that girl she met before Kurai is, Kesshō, the name Kurai informed Sapphire of. Sapphire doubted she will even run into her again, both of them having went in entirely different directions and a long time ago.
Just what I will give for someone like that to accompany me.
Sapphire turned back west and headed ahead. There was still some distance before she reached the mountains, and no monsters in sight the entire way, she was starting to doubt if Kurai lied to her about strong monsters being around here.
Just as she was thinking that a loud scream for help that tore through the silence caught her attention, making her jump slightly even due to the unexpected noise. She listened closely and ascertained the direction before heading in it at full speed, hoping to find something powerful, but not so powerful that even she won't be able to do anything. Some distance away from the location of the screaming she jumped onto a tree and spied on what was happening, making sure she doesn't threaten her own safety.
It was a human screaming for help, and a... weird looking monster standing in front of him. It stood on two legs and possessed a fairly long mouth with blunt teeth sneaking out the edges of its mouth. Both its eyes were bright red and two horns sat on top of its forehead. There were hooves on its legs and it carried a giant reddish-brown axe in its arm. It was also quite massive, being many times larger than Sapphire.
"Hand it over!" The beast ordered.
"Never!" The human exclaimed defiantly, his body shaking, "A skill of this caliber will never fall into your arms."
The beast raised its axe into the air. "This is your last chance, pest," he warned.
"HELP!" The human yelled in a final attempt.
"Very well then." The beast sighed as it brought its axe down, right towards the human.
In an instant Sapphire launched herself out of the tree, kicking the axe's blunt side with all her strength and barely managing to knock it to the side, just enough for it to land harmlessly to the side of the human. Pulling her hat slightly up she eyed the beast. Her left hand rested over her katana's saya, while her right hand was prepared to pull it out at any moment.
"What do you think you are doing?" The beast questioned.
"Helping?" Sapphire answered doubtfully, unsure herself as to why she risked her life to protect a human.
"You are helping the wrong here, this human stole a relic and must return it if he wishes to live, which he does not." The beast explained lifting its axe back up to strike again.
"This relic doesn't belong to you either, it's a relic bestowed upon our world by the gods," The human argued, "You monsters have possessed it far too long."
"If you wish to die, then feel free to help that human," The beast warned her, ignoring the human words.
"Perhaps I have a death wish," Sapphire smiled as she unsheathed her katana.