Even if the Mission is turned out to showing me how hard this travel would be, it's doesn't really matter for me.
I am already setting my mind.
More importantly...
"So, System, about this Mission you gave me. From what did you counting these Difficulties?"
[Note: Of course it's counted from the surviving ability, skill, and potential of the Host while the Host running the mission.]
My brow a bit furrowed when I am hearing what System said.
As expected... It's not going to be easy.
I sharpening my eyes to the direction of thunderstorm afar.
I don't know what happened, but when this storm came, the System suddenly rise the difficulty of the Mission. It's mean, whatever brings this storm, it's dangerous. I should avoid doing something outside while a storm is rambling and showering.
Set an extra note in my mind, I turn around and walking back inside the cave.
I grabbed Sakura-no-shiroame and take a stance following the instruction from the Untitled book.
While I neither can unsheathing nor using this katana for real battle, use it for practice is perfect cause it giving me the real weight of katana while I am practicing.
I start with the basic movements for warming.
My left foot stepped forward, take a role to endure all my body's weight and the posture stabilizer for the next movement.
I grabbed the katana tightly with both hands, swing it from above my head down, shaping a normal vertical slash.
After that, I take a step back to my first position, taking the same stance as before.
I focusing my mind, feeling the weight of katana transfered from my grip to every part of my body.
Then, I swing again, again, and... Again.
Keep swinging along with the rumbles of thunder outside just like an noisy theater.
Sensei is right.
—You are already starting learning Sword technique.
—Don't you feel it, my disciple, how different your blood and mana circulation now, after all that trains?
Now, after I actually doing these swing, I can really felt the change of my body.
"Fiuh..."
Every time I swung my katana, my body reacting unconsciously, inhaling a much amount of air to my lungs, pumping my blood in rapid pace to strengthening every layer of muscles needed to swinging the katana.
Even my Mana, with it's sealed condition, is also circulated to strengthening my body even if it's just a bit.
This is change, this is the Evolution Sensei talking about.
Swoooshh!
My katana move in my control–along with my body, it's forming the first petal of Hitoe to Fugenzou-ryu.
From my basic stance, my body move in an unimaginable speed considering my stats now, doing an vertical instant-single slash down upward.
"Ha... Ha... Ha..."
Power leaving my body after I executed that movement, left me laying at the rocky cold floor.
"I failed..."
I let out an bitter laugh.
There's no even a petal of plum blossom appear when I swinging before...
I covering my sweated face with my right hand.
"I would need to keep training it..."
The Hitoe 5 petal of Hitoe to Fugenzou-ryu is an momentum gathering type sword technique.
Every single of 5 petals movement is not strong enough to giving any lethal damage to matched opponents.
But with every movements launched, from first petal to fifth petal, the damage is getting stronger and stronger.
After launch the fifth petal—Blossoming Heaven, you can activated the Fugenzou, unlimitedly getting stronger in every movements, reaching the 40 petals of Fugenzou—Rain of Fugenzou, Sakura river.
In this state, the slashes you launched won't disappear after, but remain as plum blossom petals that can also giving damage to enemy.
Hitoe is the momentum gathering movements, and Fugenzou is the final form of formless and unlimitedly Hitoe to Fugenzou-ryu.
I laying around, furrowing my brow while silently watching the campfire.
"Hitoe to Fugenzou-ryu..."
This sword technique somehow felt so nostalgic for me...
I feel like I am already hearing about this somewhere else and even know someone else than Sensei who using this technique and yet I still can't remember it at all.
I certain it is from the novel, but I don't have any impression of it...
I take a glance to outside the cave, noticing that the thunderstorm was stopped just now, giving me the permission to seeing the sunset.
Night is near.
I shouldn't roaming at night in a place like Dart Mountain Range.
Securing food and water, and other preparations for starting the travel is should wait until tomorrow.
"Lana... I really should've at least say goodbye to her, suriously. I wonder if she causing any commotion at the Mansion when she found me gone..."
With the roaming mind thinking everything that flashing afront, my vision slowly drowned by the gentle darkness of fatigue.
Dart Mountain Range is the collection of rocky, grassy, normal, and volcano mountains stretched all the way of this Carcassia Continent, cutting the border of the west and east in the same magma river.
Dart Mountain Range near Lilac County is the rocky one.
Here, any type of vegetation is minimum and somewhat tricky to find.
The vegetation of this area is dominated by mossy plants and small bushes that can only be found at the moisted areas full of or in small rivers scattered in every side of these rocky mountains.
You can also finding some type of magical vegetations here. After all, Dart Mountain Range is a place that rich of Mana with it's massive Dragon vein.
Here, rely on vegetations for food resources is inefficient.
Rather, with it's monster and magical beast rich populations, you should choose animal food recourses instead.
In other words, it's hunting time!
"The most manageable is, as expected, is the hydro faunas."
I squat at the side of a small river, washing my face.
"For water resource..."
River water is the most reachable, but the hygene level of it is unknown. I can't use fire to steriling it either.
The campfire in the cave is something that Sensei set before I am awake after all.
Besides, I am is neither have way to collecting woods or branches in this bunch of rocks nor having any way to lit up fire.
"Dew boom... I should rely on them for water resources."
I grabbed a green-ball-like gauze floating at the surface of water.
Before grabbed, this gauze-like ball looked so fragile.
But after you really touch them, their actual form is finally revealed.
Despite the fragile-like looks, these Dew booms is quite solid with it's round transparent membrane.
And these algae creatures, when you chewing them, their full of water body is easily crushed by teeths, squirting the freshing, akin to mint, cold and sterile water.
In this world, these Dew booms is usually to be found in any place where water gathered for a long time like in the river, pond, lake, and even sea.
They is practically everywhere, as long as water is there, and something of someone not killing them in any particular way.
I'll use them as my water recourses and storing them in a small bag I created from leafs and vines.
As long as I keep giving them water every 3 days, these Dew booms would kindly storing water for me forever until they died.
What an useful and benefical algae...!
And lastly, for food...
I take a glance at the river, the very small and shallow river.
"There's no any fish..."
Foods is gonna be challenging.
Either I should finding a more deep and bigger river or hunt down some small beast, It's not going to be an easy task to do in this place and with my current situation or skill.
With currently not-usable Sakura-no-shiroame tied at my back and a bag full of Dew booms, I began to carefully descending the sheer rocky mountain to finding the bigger river.
I need to somehow securing my food needs today before I am dying for starvation.
I am looking at the sheer and high surroundings, gulped.
"It's really gonna be challenging..."
If the original Arcide facing this, with his still childish gut and limited informations, I am sure he will died in starving in three days(if Sensei not showing up and help him).
Even me, after all the train I did and my somewhat vast raw informations from books I read, is still found it hard.
Well, it would be much more easier if I have at least a proper weapon for survive, but...
Sigh.
This is my reality.
"There is no use to complaining about what I don't have."
I should keep focusing at what I can and have to do instead.
With that, I began to roam all the way near the mountain which my cave is located, looking around for a bigger river.
But, after the sun rising to the top if the sky, I realized.
"There is no big river here..."
At least, in this area, any big river is seemed to not existed.