The mana spear was immediately flicked out of the air.

And the weird creature did it with his tongue.

That's one weird creature, it looked very old.

To think that it couldn't evolve past one year old was kind of pitiful.

The elders must have been absolutely certain that it couldn't evolve to let it live in the forest here without killing it.

I decided to give my strength a try with a fist thrown at it.

Its wary eyes got large as it just managed to dodge too the side.

It then scurried up into its cave and wouldn't come out again.

Looks like my speed got upgraded along with my strength.

I was deep in thought when the tongue came flying out of the den and struck me square between the eyes. It felt like someone had punched me. I fell flat on my back, my comrades stood up to help me. But apparently, no one was allowed to break into that creature's den.

It was part of the agreement they made with it in exchange for fighting newbies.

"Let's head back," My mana spear-wielding teammate said.

"I agree" said the other.

I just nodded my head. It had been a fun outing.

Apparently that lizard was the strongest heartbeast allowed in the forest.

If even he had to run away then there was no point to me going into this forest.

Training with the sword here was fun, but the sword dint really suit my combat style.

With sunspot I could blind my enemies, what I needed was a way to attack them when they were blinded.

I consulted with the training instructor.

"I suggest for the fighting style you want to achieve that you use kunai knives.

They were sharp throwing knives with a ring on the end.

"So you think I should become a ninja," I asked with a straight face.

"Your main ability is a flashbang. I'm saying that type of fighting would suit you best. And it would help you survive in the forest. Kunai are extremely versatile and are useful in many different situations."

That's true it did seem like the best fit for my current fighting style.

"Do you have any I can practice with?

"Yes take these" he handed me too of them that had a dark edge and a simply wrapped handle.

"These should do nicely, I thank senior for his guidance."

I had made an unexpected gain that I was grateful for.

I headed back to my room and read a book about the next tier of ability rings.

The day passed as I was reading and before I knew it I had entered the land of dreams again.

When the next day came I was ready.

A note had been slipped under my door

Did you enjoy the treasure soup? That was a real pain to get but you should be strong enough now to support two rings. The problem is the mythic ring you use to craft rings won't work for crafting anything beyond basic. So the process will be hard for you. It won't be as simple as dumping mana into the chest. But if it's you I'm sure there will be a way for you too craft at least a rare tier ring. Afterall you gave me flash step.

Regards

Grand Elder

That was interesting now I had another struggle to overcome.

I had been thinking about trying to use a legendary ring to make a grade above legendary.

The thing was the mythic ring only covered legendary rings meaning I would auto fail if I did that.

The next hurdle I had to get over was crafting a legendary ring for ability slot 2. And I couldn't just throw extra mana at the problem.

Thinking about mana I'd better check mine.

I looked at my arm I was up too 400 mana.

With 50 mana more I could make my looter squad and now that I had become strong enough to get a second ring all of my meals should have to do with mana regen.

I picked up my meal and went to the training ground. I wouldn't be venturing into the forest anymore but that didn't mean that I couldn't train.

First was my meal, It was a hundred-year-old apple pie and its effect was to increase regen.

With this, I should be able to make the looter squad tomorrow.

If that went well the outpost would have another useful thing and grand elder might reward me with another mana item.

I practiced with the instructor he seemed to know someone who was adept at using kunai because he always gave the best tips.

"With knives, it's more about movement then it is about strength."

He said as he slashed at me with the wooden sword.

In terms of raw physical strength were equal but every time his sword struck it felt like a boulder was descending on me.

I was getting better, the strikes were still heavy but I was able to divert some of the force by the end of the day.