The training of Alexander continued arduously; for him, time was already a concept of the past. He had been in the same moonlit night and in that same place with a moss-covered rocky floor for so long that he no longer cared. He only cared about defeating the tengu who fought so fiercely.
He no longer fought like a human or as a warrior from the elf kingdom; he no longer needed both feet on the ground for minimal precision and strength. Now, with just a light touch on the ground, he attacked with more ferocity than a hungry, enraged tiger. Both Alexander and Hakuri fought frenetically; their bodies moved faster than a human eye could follow, their strikes carrying more power than the unstoppable charge of an elephant. The sound of their swords colliding was equivalent to the firing of high-caliber bullets. For just a single moment, they touched the ground, using the tips of their toes, and in the blink of an eye, they were back in the air to deliver devastating blows. Between the jumps, only the sound of their blades cutting through the air and the sparks from the clash of metal could be seen; otherwise, they were just shadows.
"Very good, young Shura! You look more like a tengu than a human," Hakuri said enthusiastically.
Alexander said nothing, but he had a big smile on his face. Perhaps fighting all the time had indeed done something to him. His aura was still blood-red but no longer as intense as furious flames; it extended a few centimeters from his body like a true translucent mantle.
After a few more minutes of exchanged blows, a system message appeared. [!!!The Player has leveled up!!!] [!!!You have gained 15(fifteen) attribute points!!!] This made them stop.
"I leveled up once again; this is the third time since we've been here," Alexander said. "That's good, remember that the more exercises and tasks related to your attributes, the more XP you gain." "It's strange for you to say that as if you know the system, knowledge that I don't have." "The system that makes you evolve is created by the gods; I have full knowledge of it." "So far, this mysterious system doesn't make me very relaxed; I don't even know why I was chosen by it." "Calm down, young grasshopper, everything will be revealed in due time. For now, our training is over; we've been in this time-isolated area for five days. This time was meant to be distributed during the nights of your march to Urazaki. But I got carried away during our training," Hakuri explained. He then snapped his fingers.
A strange shiver ran through Alexander's body. Suddenly, the silent forest came back to life; the sound of birds and other animals made the forest come alive again. The clouds that had been static in the dark sky finally started to move again.
"I don't know when I'll see you next, young Shura, but remember everything I taught you," said the Tengu. "No system message appeared to notify the end of the Warrior's Path Quest," Alexander said, a little worried. "That's because it hasn't ended yet, but it's close. Your lessons with me are over for now. The quest will continue in Urazaki," Hakuri explained. He snapped his fingers again, and both his sword and Alexander's sword disappeared, dissipating like vapor. "There you will learn more things, but that is where you must go." Something strange began to happen to Hakuri as if he were disappearing like the swords, slowly dissipating into vapor. "I will be watching you from the heavenly realm; I want to see your growth. One day we will meet again, so this is just a temporary goodbye. Continue cultivating and training, young Shura. I hope to see you soon."
He said this just before completely disappearing, leaving Alexander alone. An incredibly bad feeling took over his body, the fatigue, the exhaustion of five days of training. "I guess I should finally get some sleep," he muttered, finally returning to where the rest of the men were sleeping, snuggling into the grassy ground and falling asleep.
The sun rose, and the march continued. A few minutes after waking up, they were back on the road, crossing kilometers of forests, narrow valleys, and some rivers. Days and nights passed; more and more men joined the march to the fortress in the north. During the journey, Alexander cultivated and practiced strikes with the soldier who said he would help him, Naruse. After another day, they reached Urazaki.
The region was very mountainous and difficult to traverse. Although the entire country had a very pleasant and warm climate, the mountain tops were covered in snow. The march stopped when they reached a red Torii gate just before a visible but distant village. The messenger who had led them there stopped, and so did the march. "Gentlemen! This is Urazaki. This is where you will begin your training to become warriors and honor the land you tread and the lord you serve!" announced the messenger Norikiyo, and the march continued.
Climbing the mountainous region, and crossing a large village full of wooden and straw houses, something stood out, the emperor of Shindo's banner. The image of a crane in an orange river with a very light blue background. Crossing the village, it was possible to see on top of one of the lower mountains, but it was evident that it was among the only available passages through those cruel mountains. Incredibly high walls, truly in the figure of a traditional Japanese castle, with two immense towers extending for dozens and dozens of meters. Alexander was used to the architecture of European fantasy castles, but that was generally impressive, the fortress of Urazaki.
After another hour of walking, they finally reached the gate of the fortress. There, several soldiers were waiting for them, all wearing orange armor and blue clothes like the emperor's banner. The men of the march gathered in a crowd in front of the immense orange-painted wooden gate, and a figure appeared on top of the wall.
A tall man, certainly over two meters tall, wore an impressive samurai armor even from a distance. The several orange steel plates shone differently in the sunlight, and the helmet was also different. With the image of a crane molded in gold, the same as the emperor's banner, decorating the front of his helmet that covered his entire head. A face with many wrinkles and scars mixed into a work of war art, a square jaw as well as the face, brown eyes but fierce like those of a wolf, a black mustache resembling two knives descending by the nose. There was no doubt; that it was the lord of the fortress, Genichiro Hidesue. "Finally," Alexander said, a smile of admiration on his face, mixed with satisfaction for finally reaching the destination he had longed for. Lord Genichiro took a step forward, and everyone fell silent. "Men!" he shouted, his voice sounding like the roar of a lion, echoing through the entire valley. "Here you will begin your training. I will forge you, mold you, sculpt you in the image of a true warrior. Here you will enter as farmers, craftsmen, fishermen, a thousand different and equally noble professions in their own right, but you will leave here as equals, as brothers in battle, as soldiers!" He caught his breath, a huge smile appearing on his face. "Gentlemen! Welcome to Urazaki!"