The very next day Gojo prepared to venture out. He had long prepared for this. He had collected a large number of pebbles and a slingshot in case of an emergency.
Not far away from the temple, there was a stream. Most of the villagers used water from that stream. Gojo decided to train near the stream.
He started by using lapse blue on small stones lying on the river bank. At first he only pull one stone at a time, but gradually he started pulling more and more stones.
Since he didn't acquire six eyes, he could only practice lapse blue five times. He was reminded of the time when he used it against Toji Fushiguro in order to protect Riko. Would he ever be able reach that level ?
Day after day, week after week he trained, growing his lapse blue technique. At present he could use it to hurl dozens of stones at a time. He had reached level 2 in lapse blue and his infinity had leveled up to 2 due to the proficiency at which he used cursed energy.
As the level of his techniques increased, he started to use them on the monsters. He managed to kill dozens of rats and horned rabbits.
As weeks turned to months, he kept on leveling up his cursed techniques. He also started using his physical prowess to kill monsters. He also used lapse to catch falling leaves.
Although, his did not go completely unnoticed.
For the past few weeks Grisella saw Gojo enter the forests all by himself at morning and then coming back before lunch looking pretty tired. She also heard a lot of villagers talking about corpses of monsters found in the nearby forests while going to collect water.
Grisella wanted to confirm her suspicions about Gojo. So she decided to lay in wait when Gojo went inside the woods and follow him quietly to see what he was doing there.
Just as every other day, Gojo went to the woods as he planned. He had to acquire six eyes in order to carry his ventures further. As he was practicing, he heard the rustle of leaves behind him. He turned around and saw a movement in the bushes just behind him.
He rushed forward at the bushes and put his hands inside to grab whatever it was. To his surprise, it turned out to be Grisella who had followed him into the forests.
Never had he thought that this would happen. " How much she see of my cursed techniques ?" with this question in his mind he asked
" What are you doing here Grisella ? Don't you know this place is dangerous ?"
" Well I wanted to clear my suspicions about you. Everyday you went inside the forest and came back tired. So, this is where you practice your magic and hunt monsters ?" said Grisella with her voice filled with excitement.
So she saw me, Gojo thought to himself and nervously said, " Um, Grisella can you please keep this secret ? I don't want to worry Sister Isabel but I want to continue practicing my magic. In return I will do whatever you want. "
" I will keep this secret, in return let I want to practice my sword over here and kill monsters with you. Okay ?" asked Grisella eagerly.
" Well that you can. But please don't get hurt when you practice here. We cannot let the sisters suspect us. " replied Gojo.
Many adventurers used to stop at Seldis for time to time. It was from them that Grisella learned her swordsmandhip. She learnt the basics fom the adventurers and soon started to practice swordsmanship on her own. She also wanted to level up herself like Gojo.
She also started by first slashing tree trunks and then fighting monsters. Like the Honoured One she also managed to kill countless rats and horned rabbits.
One day as Gojo and Grisella were making their way to spot were they trained they heard loud grunts coming from that spot. They peeked through the bushes to see a large woodboar with a broken tusk standing there.
Woodboars did not usually come there. They lived deeper inside the forests and only came out to drink. This one was a male tusker that was rejected by the herd. Tuskers were very aggressive and unpredictable in nature.
The two friends tried to retreat quietly but Grisella stepped in a twig snapping it which alerted the boar. It charged through the bushes towards them.
Gojo used his lapse blue and hurled several stones at it but it did nothing to the boar. They had to run fast to avoid it. While running they spotted to trees growing very close to each other.
Gojo and Grisella through the space in between the trees closely followed by the boar. Thankfully the beast got caught between the trees and Gojo used lapse blue to twist it's neck. It struggled a lot to free itself but ultimately went silent.
Gojo heaved a sigh of relief. His memory about the time he spent Riko Amanai came to his mind. Will he be able to protect his new friends unlike her. These thoughts flooded his mind.