Ding!
With the familiar system notifications, Hope's consciousness was once again drawn into the Slumberveil Realm.
Tung Tung Sahur stood waiting, arms crossed.
"Welcome, little one, instead of swinging your Sekiryu today, you're going to hunt the beasts here.
Beasts are classified based on their strength. The beasts themselves are known as Tier 1.
Above the beasts, there are more wild and powerful creatures called danger beasts. While regular beasts can sense danger and fear, danger beasts are more mindless. They tend to attack any human or settlement they encounter without hesitation.
Danger beasts are divided into Low, Mid, and High classes, corresponding to Tier 2, 3, and 4, respectively, but there are even stronger ones. These rare danger beasts are called Special-Class Beasts. They are the raw material for Teigus.
However, the most powerful creatures are Tyrant-Class danger beasts, and there are no more than the number of fingers on a hand of them across the entire world
Your ancestor, Guts Redleaf, defended the empire 1000 years ago against a Tyrant-Class danger beast...
Anyway, starting today, you'll be hunting Tier 1 beasts and gaining real combat experience. Your goal is to move 1 kilometer ahead and enter the forested area. Start advancing, little one..."
Hope started walking. After a while, he left the stone square and took his first step onto the grass. As soon as he stepped onto the grassy area, countless white lights flashed around the area, the color spectrum expanded, and a variety of beasts transformed.
The beasts near the stone square were smaller and harmless, but as one moved further away from the stone square, the danger increased...
Right next to the stone square, there were one-horned, red-eyed, pure white rabbits, half a meter in size, hopping around. For 100 meters, only these one-horned rabbits were present. Further on, there were orange-colored squirrels, 60 cm in size, with massive claws. 100 meters ahead, there were spiny white caterpillars, and further beyond, blue poisonous frogs...
Every 100 meters, the type of beasts changed, and their size increased by about 10 cm.
...
"SQUEEEE!"
A Unicorn Rabbit a few meters away dashed toward me, trying to stab its horn into my head.
It was so fast that the horn was already in my skull before I could even react!
...
"Huff! Huff!"
"Huff! Huff!"I woke up drenched in sweat. Even though I hadn't felt any pain, it was like I'd just had a nightmare... a really bad one.
Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through my forehead. Right in the center. That must've been where the horn pierced my skull.
"Uwaaah(crying voice)... sniffle sniffle..."
I wrapped my arms around my head and curled into a ball while crying—when my mom burst into the room.
"Sweetie! What's wrong? Are you hurt?" she asked, her voice full of worry.
I'd just finished training with Kato and had been taking a nap. Well... until I woke up. She probably thought I got hurt during training. I could see a flicker of anger in her eyes. Dad's in trouble for sure.
As she came closer, I threw myself into her arms and started crying again."Mommy, i d-died in my dream! Sniffle sniffle A horned bunny stabbed me in the head!"
My voice trembled from the pain, and I clung to her even tighter. She hugged me tight and kissed my forehead. When she realized I wasn't actually hurt, she let out a relieved sigh. She picked me up and carried me to the living room.
Before heading to the kitchen to make lunch, she leaned down and said seriously "If I ever see that rabbit, I'll make sure it regrets hurting my baby!"
Then she went to the kitchen. Not long after, my dad walked through the door.
"Dad!" Tears still in my eyes, i ran to him. He was so tall I could only wrap my arms around his legs. He knelt down and lifted me into his arms.
"What's this, Hope? Did Elsa turn down your love confession? AHAHAHAHAH!"
Elsa was our next-door neighbor—a single woman. Once, she cut her hand while cooking, and i healed it. She was Mom's best friend and came over often. Sometimes, if I was awake when Mom went to visit her, I got to tag along. Once, she even said she might marry me when I grew up.
Yeah... I like Elsa. And somehow, Dad knows that!
I gave him a cold glare, then wriggled out of his arms."Hmph." I turned my back on him, pouting.
"Alright, alright. What's wrong then? You were all smiles after training a few hours ago. Did you get hurt? Want me to talk to Kato about easing up a bit?" he asked with a mix of concern and curiosity.
Mom made dinner, and at the table, I told Dad about the rabbit. He comforted me, saying it was just a dream and that I wouldn't actually be harmed. I was calmer now, and after dinner, I was getting sleepy. Dad tucked me into bed, and I drifted off to sleep while he was talking about his battles with Kato against the beasts.
Ding!
I opened my eyes in the same spot again.Tung Tung Sahur:"Always stay alert, little one. Even though unicorn rabbits within the first 100 meters are the weakest beasts at this size, they possess high speed and sharp horns. It's much easier to block sharp objects like this with the broad side of your sword. After blocking the unicorn rabbit, don't let them jump and attack again—finish them off quickly. Block first, then strike."
I stepped onto the grass again, and beasts started appearing.A unicorn rabbit, just a few meters away, dashed toward me. This time, despite its incredible speed, I was ready. After successfully blocking, I swung my sword at the spot where the rabbit landed, crushing it and killing it.
"SCREEE!"
At that moment, the other unicorn rabbits around me noticed.About 10 of them were charging toward me.Two of them were much faster, jumping directly at my head.Since both were aiming for my head and coming from the same direction, I held my sword horizontally and blocked both rabbits with the broad side. I then "smashed" one with my sword.
The other rabbit quickly attacked again, and I blocked once more. Just as I was about to strike—
Thud!
I was pierced through the back and my head by horns. I had forgotten about the other rabbits!
...
I woke up again, terrified, and after a few seconds, unbearable pain covered the spots where I had been pierced...
I cried once more...
Mom and Dad came into my room. It was evening, and they seemed to be preparing for bed.
This time, I told them I'd been attacked by not just one, but ten horned rabbits. Mom gave Dad a sharp look.
"It's always your hunting stories! How many more times do I have to tell you to stick to normal stories? You're ruining our child's psychology..." She had shifted into full-on scolding mode.
Mom and Dad stayed with me for about half an hour, and then I went back to sleep.
...
"Sigh... Little one, your mobility, steps, dodge skills and movement speed are really poor, just like mine. But for a warrior, speed, endurance, strength, technique... they are all crucial! You trained with me on the Sword (well, the staff technique), but now you need to train your speed as well. You'll take a break from training with me for a while, but you must continue practicing in real life."
Ding!
[ Assigning Trainer... ]
[ Velocity Trained Assigned: Tralalero Tralala! ]
Note:
I want to write this fanfic from the first-person perspective, but the character is currently very young, and there hasn't been any reincarnation or anything. It's just a regular child/baby. It's hard to think like a baby, and the dialogues I wrote are a little bit weird. The reason for this situation is that I'm a beginner at writing and i don't want to write from the third person because it would make it harder to connect with our mc. Right now, I'm planning to switch between the two, but I think eventually, it could be completely in the first person.
I've written down the titles of the first 150 chapters, and mc won't leave his village/clan/tribe (I'm still not sure which one to use. 'Clan' makes more sense to me, but I've been using 'tribe' since the beginning of my fanfic) for the first 30-40 chapters, but I hope it won't be boring.
I said i would write two chapters a day, but I haven't posted a chapter for a week. Writing is hard and I've been procrastinating. Each chapter almost takes me 2 hours, and they're only 1000-1200 words long. Agk! We won't get into the actual plot for 100 chapters, and filling this part in to match the Agk! universe is really challenging.
From now on, i'll try to keep my promise. 2 chap/day.