Chapter 28 - Mana cultivator

Day 33 - 42

Mike's POV:

"Good morning Mike, from what I've seen of your training over the last days, you're serious about becoming an adventurer. I don't know what happened in the woods, when you were out there, but I'm not stupid. Your cryptic remarks about more business for a blacksmith, I know you're hiding something. I talked with your sister about it, and we decided to support you. Hell, after chief visited us, we even started to use this mana cultivation technique you brought home. We didn't have as much success as you up to now, but the increased lifespan convinced us that it is a good investment of our time. Back to the topic of you wanting to become an adventurer. At the moment you only have your bow and that crappy spear, so I decided to forge a high steel sword for you, otherwise you would embarrass our village when you join the guild."

Mike's eyes became wet and he hugged Gunthar and his sister.

"Thanks, your support means a lot for me. I can tell you more in ten days, I've sworn an magical oath not to reveal information about the topic I'm hiding. Your support really means a lot for me."

"You've said that twice. Don't start to become a softy, that's probably not a wise choice for an adventurer. Come on take the sword, unfortunately Gunthar didn't have the time to spare to make you a shield. A plate armor would've been cool too."

"Anna, do you know how much work it is to create a plate armor?"

"Isn't a girl allowed to dream? It's my brother, the more armor he has, the better."

"If I'm scolding her, she always uses the 'I'm just a girl excuse'. You sound very different, when you tell me what to do." Gunthar mumbled, but Anna just decided to ignore him.

"Anyway, both of you should cultivate as much as you can for the next three weeks. Gunthar if you break through to E rank, you could use dad's old mana forging books and bring your smithery to a whole new level. If you're worried about the daily expenses, don't. Take these one hundred silver coins for it. I'm sure I will manage to earn some more. But now I want to visit the chief, I want my rematch, maybe I can manage to land a hit this time."

"Haha, stop dreaming. Just because you can use a little mana now, don't think about having a chance against the chief. I watched some of your last fights, at first I felt bad for you with all the injuries and so. But seeing you getting healed and stand up again and again, was looking kind of funny after a while."

"Thanks for compassion, I'm really grateful for it."

"Come one, big brother don't cry! A life as an adventurer will be hard and painful. If this exercising can make you feel bad about fighting, you should probably forget about it and become a farmer."

"You're right. Thanks for the sword, I'll visit the chief now."

So Mike did, he grabbed the sword with its scabbard and made his way to the chief's house.

"You're early today boy, don't you do your running at this time?"

"I broke through and want a rematch."

"And you got yourself a sword. Good, let me get my own, you won't learn much about sword fighting if I beat you with a kitchen knife."

Then their next fight started. At first, Mike tried to use the earthen 'tough body' technique, only to find out that the chief was even without using any technique far stronger than him. The increased mana from his C rank had improved the chief's body as a whole, even without to use any technique.

"Not bad, using a warrior technique on your first day. But if this is all you can do, you're in for a world of hurt again."

Mike noticed the chief disappearing in front of him, even with the crippled knee, he was far faster than Mike had thought. He tried to counter, but his tough body was still active and he didn't manage to activate haste at the same time. The feedback from the conflicting techniques, shocked him for a short time and he sank to his knees. The chief just put his blade on Mike's shoulder.

"You've lost boy. Don't get to ambitious in the wrong situation. I can tell that you've never tried to use your techniques together. That requires a lot of practice. I was already at the E7 rank, when first I managed to do that. You've cultivated to the E rank in two days, I think you are a lot more talented than me, but it will still take some time. Even now, in the C rank, the most techniques I've ever managed to use together where four. I've heard about some A ranks who were managing six at the same time, but this will take you years. Come on, get your shit together, we start again!"

So they did, for the next days he sparred with the chief for three hours every morning. In the afternoon he cultivated his mana. Mike decided to keep on one of his techniques all the time. He wanted to improve his skill with it, but he noticed very fast that using a technique in a spar, brought him much more insights than using it at home.

When the day came, where he needed to travel to the dungeon to go to his meeting with Neo, he was already at the E1 rank. He said goodbye to his family and friends, and informed them that he would be back in a few days. Then he grabbed his bag pack, his quiver, his bow and his new sword and started to make his way to the dungeon. Using his haste technique, he was a lot faster than before.

When he stepped out of the forest onto the new glade, he thought for a moment that he moved to the wrong destination. Then he looked around and saw the dungeon entrance. More than four hectare (1 ha = 100x100m) of forest were missing. Normally, when you fell trees, the stumps remain, but he didn't see any of them. There was only this huge glade with the one meter high grass. He shook his head and murmured while he made his way to the dungeon entrance.

"What the hell?"