"If you're asking me to train you, then I have no issues with that so long as you make it worth my time," said Li. He pet the wyrm again, and she gave a curious glance to Azhar. "It's true that I don't exactly know how to raise her. She listens to me and is smart enough that I figure she won't get into trouble growing up, but I still owe it to her to raise her right.

For that, you'll be useful."

"You're sayin' yes?" said Azhar.

Li saw the surprise on his face. "You're surprised, are you? There's no need to be. Before, when you asked for my help, you were talking to me like I was a magic wand you could wave to have all your problems solved just like that." Li snapped his fingers. "That annoyed me, to be honest. But asking me for help to improve yourself? That, I'm far less opposed to."

After all, Li had also agreed to train Sylvie. He did not mind so much helping others grow. Strange, too, considering he had not felt much of this in his past life, when competitiveness and a drive to succeed beyond all else dominated him.

Although, in a sense, he supposed he had a soft spot considering how he treated his parents, and maybe now that he started farming, he knew the value of nurturing a seed to its full potential.

A broad smile formed on Azhar's face.

"Of course," said Li. "My time is limited. I'm only free in the evenings after working the fields or the stall, and some evenings, I'm busy foraging for herbs." Of course, this was just an excuse to cover for the fact that he was attuning himself with his spiritual powers with Iona. "I'll think about what I want to do with you while I work. Come back at sunset."

______________________

Li, Azhar, and the wyrm gathered in the depths of the Winterwoods right after the sun set, hiding its golden rays away and letting the night emerge in its stead. Wispy clouds covered the moon, so visibility was low.

But that was not so much an issue. Li had perfect night vision, the wyrm's gleaming yellow eyes could pierce through the dark, and Azhar could toggle [Ranger's Sight] to gain night vision.

While they had walked here, Li had gotten Azhar to tell him about raising a wyrm. According to the ranger, young dragonkin were supremely adaptable to their environments, growing and molding to it. As a result, unless they were consistently pushed to their limits through high-intensity environments such as combat, their growth both physical and mental stunted.

Azhar had suggested that Li take the wyrm hunting every few days, preferably every single day, and to actually leave her alone to promote a stronger will. Li knew she did not do well separated from him, so he would consider whether to keep her alone while hunting later.

"Here's how things are going to go," said Li as he addressed Azhar. "I've given some thought about how I want to train you, and the best I could come up with is to improve what you already have. You're a ranger who specs equally into magic and physical damage because of your shamanism. I can help you learn skills in both fields."

Although Li had played through Elden World as a mage, as a high tier player, he necessarily had knowledge of all other classes and specializations and a functional knowledge of their best spells, skills, and ways to attain them. Due to the sheer breadth of possibilities in the game, he did not have a perfect knowledge of abilities outside his class as a mage, but he knew what generally worked and what did not.

"Ya got skill with the bow? Didn't take ya for a ranger," commented Azhar.

"No, but I know about it and the martial path you need to take to improve yourself in it," said Li. "And that brings us to why we're here. You're going to learn a skill called [Scattershot] that lets you shoot multiple phantom arrows with each real arrow you loose."

"Now that'd be mighty useful," said Azhar, no doubt remembering his relative uselessness in the Chattering Forests where swarms of enemies confounded his single target damage.

"To do this, you're going to have to fight and kill groups of enemies until you learn it," said Li.

Li actually did not have a good idea as to whether this would work. He knew that in Elden World, most skills and spells were unlocked firstly through a stat and level requirement and then through mini quests involving killing certain types of enemies under certain conditions or consuming a specific item.

Would this work the same way in this world? There was no real reason for it not to. Sylvie's scrolls that acted as guides to learn certain class skills showed that these mini quest requirements were still much the same, but there were things about learning martial philosophies or getting into the right mindset that Li had little idea about.

Regardless, Li figured this was a great way to experiment to see how learning skills worked in this world. And even if this did not work, then at least Azhar got some combat experience.

"I ain't got my bow," said Azhar as his left hand instinctively reached behind his back where the familiar weight of his bow would sit.

"You've got a dagger, don't you?"

"Guess so, but it ain't much, and I ain't cut for fightin' up close." Azhar looked down to his belt and at the sheathed hunting dagger at his hip.

"I never said this would be easy." Li shrugged. "You're going to fight with that dagger. It'll be hard, I'm certain of it. You'll have to fight tooth and nail to survive, use up all your magic and every bit of your strength, but nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?"

"Hells yeah, I got this," said Azhar as he smiled into the dark of the woods, hand at his dagger.

Li thought Azhar would feel maybe just a little more nervous about fighting monsters without a bow and with one arm, but it was evident the hinterlander was ready to push himself to death to get stronger.

Strong conviction. Li could appreciate that.

"I've tracked a few hosts of monsters for you to fight," said Li. Earlier, he had discretely summoned a Shadowfly and sent it to scout the woods and keep tabs on weaker groups of monsters. For now, he had pinpointed a group of giant spiders and a trio of rootbeasts. Level wise, they were around 25, and would provide a solid challenge for Azhar as even if the ranger was level 42, he had quite a few handicaps to deal with.

"Let me know where they're at, and I'll be at em'." Azhar unsheathed his dagger, twirling it around his fingers before grasping the worn leather handle in his palm.

"I wanted to say this to lower your worries a little, but looks like you have none." Li shrugged. "In any case, it's still relevant information. If I send you out alone, there's a good chance you might die, and I'm here to train you, not bury you. I'll be following you through your hunt."

Azhar perked up. "Gonna' help me out?"

Li shook his head. "Don't expect me to lift even a finger to help you. I'm following you for her sake."

Li pointed to the wyrm standing in front of him, her snout flaring as she smelled so many potential little creatures to hunt. When she sensed Li pointing at her, she let out her throaty purr of contentment. "She'll be hunting with you. This way, I get to train the two of you at once."

"Ain't got no problem with that." Azhar nodded to the wyrm. "In fact, I feel a hells of a lot better knowin' that a mighty dragonkin's fightin' by my side."