9 years ago ( 1 year after the events of chapter 4. )

Within the Great forest a deer grazing on grass looked up ears twitching feeling an obtuse sense of danger.

Two pairs of eyes watched from within the shadows of the bushes, they stared intently and without movement as the deer moved.

Carl glanced at Yuri beside him, " Yuri this is your chance remember what a taught you. " Yuri continued staring at the deer nervous excitement showing in his eyes while nodding.

He then drew the wooden bow given to him a year ago which marked the start of the bandits archery training. Carl had shown him how to use the bow through months of target practice, this provided Yuri with the technique and skill required to hit moving targets with relatively decent accuracy.

The last half of his training included hunting skills which required the silent movement, tracking, and the resolve to kill.

Yuri's arrow sprang from the bow like lightning lodging into the deers skull with surprising force for a 10 year old.

Yuri in the past year managed to increase to a 6 star warrior during the years training, to the surprise of Rose and Carl they had mentioned that at this point in the training recruits would only have around 5 stars maybe less.

Rose and Carl were very happy that Yuri showed a decent talent and comprehension for the warrior arts, Carl also expanded on Rose's explanation of the strength system.

Carl explained the many ways in which power could be gained either temporarily or permanently.

Temporary methods included potions, scrolls, and runes. These methods can improve a users strength but larger improvements can cause a backlash when the benefits end, Carl really drilled into him to be careful when deciding to use such items.

Permanent methods can be found in training or dangerous situations, Carl explained that the more life threatening a situation when overcome the warrior/mage will more likely grasp certain knowledge or power otherwise unavailable at that point to them.

At least that's how most people gain strength naturally, items enchanted with runes can also permanently increase power while wielding that item. However the rarest method lay in artifacts and other oddities found in dungeons and other dangerous places.

These artifacts are said to increase powers dramatically and provide entirely new power, Carl even mentioned that a warrior with no magical talent was able to become a Mage due to such an artifact.

Carl and Yuri walked over to the deer's corpse, " well done Yuri your first kill sigh... I remember the first time that I got my first kill when hunting, those were the days. "

" Anyway let's get back to camp soon you will be able to start the test to become a fully fledged bandit, Yuri I'm really proud " Carl gazed at Yuri warmly.

' soon I will be able to start adventuring in earnest, Mum, Dad I will make you proud. '