Reon , Raya, Gole, Spryta, Roland, and Richard arrived at the edge of the Apple Forest, and got off the carriage.
They would have the carriage waiting for them to return, but there was no set time limit. They had rations, and could hunt creatures for food, and even get fruit from the many apple trees the forest was named for.
The original goal of this trip was to have the Inferno boys hunt some 1-Star and possibly 2-Star creatures, but now the boys were only excited to learn from Reon.
Because of that fact, the escort team agreed that Gole and Spryta would stay behind and guard the carriage while Raya and Reon took the boys into the forest.
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They had been walking for a few minutes and were a good ways into the forest by now.
"So what should we do first, Master?" Richard asked Reon.
"First things first, I've never seen someone use magic before, so I need you guys to show me what you two can do." said Reon.
"Alright, I will demonstrate it for you, but we can only do basic flame magic right now so it's nothing too impressive," said Richard.
Richard put his hand forward and scrunched his face focusing on something.
Using Kinshi Sense, Reon could see that loose white particles of mana in the air were being absorbed into Richard's body.
A few moments later, mana stopped drawing into his body, but the mana that had already been drawn in, began to circulate wildly through Richard's body in a peculiar pattern.
The white colored fluid mana within Richard, transformed into a crimson colored mana that traveled from his core, to and out of, his arm.
The crimson mana bursted out, resulting in a flame blast spanning 3 meters in front of Richard, that died down slowly after.
Richard, who was taking a few deep breaths, looked quite proud of himself.
Reon thought that this was quite impressive.
It was partially true to think that a mage was more powerful than a warrior at the same level.
Only 3-Star warriors could imbue elemental energy into their attacks, and only 4-Star warriors could emit that energy outward, while Richard could emit an elemental blast at 1-Star.
Still there were serious issues if this was truly the best Richard and Roland could do.
An experienced fighter would never get hit by that blast.
It took too long to charge, and once it was fired Richard seemed slightly drained, so it wasn't something he could do over and over again.
"Ok, now Roland, do the same thing that Richard just did but do it faster." ordered Reon.
"Yes, Master!" said Roland.
Roland did the same thing as his brother, but his blast was a bit smaller as he took less time drawing mana in.
"I'm starting to see a pattern, when they draw in mana, it's clear that it's from the atmosphere but they only draw it in, in small amounts, most likely because that is all they can do." Reon thought.
"I don't know about the process for transforming their mana into Flame Magic, but I don't think they can control it too well."
"Assuming they are better at magic than fighting with weapons and martial arts, then their overall fighting capabilities are very low. They would probably lose against even a 1-Star creature."
"I'm going to build them up from square one." thought Reon.
Reon told Raya to head back to the carriage and leave the boys to him.
He told him not to worry and he was going to need complete freedom to turn them into proper warriors.
Raya conceded and left, as he trusted Reon more than ever.
Reon told Roland and Richard to come stand in front of him.
"There is no easy way to put it. You guys are weak. Terribly weak. Especially for the sons of a noble house." Reon said to both of them.
"Shame on you guys, for having ever been proud of yourselves. You guys are such trash that you should never look down on anyone ever again." Reon scolded.
"How dare you speak to us that way, aren't you a kid just like us? I'm not weak and I bet I can burn you!" said Roland eyes red with anger.
"I told you Roland, once we start there is no going back. Have you already forgotten your discipline?" Reon said.
"If you think so highly of yourself, then watch how easily I can beat both of you at the same time," said Reon.
"Be ready to defend yourselves, I'm going to start attacking you in five seconds," said Reon.
Reon saw them both start to draw in mana from the atmosphere.
He immediately ran up to Richard too fast for him to back away and kicked him in the stomach, making him fall down and throw up on the floor.
Pulling out one of his new twin blades, he slashed toward Rolands face who desperately flinched to block the slash and closed his eyes.
"I'm dead!" thought Roland.
A few seconds passed and he slowly opened his eyes, seeing his arms still up trying to black something that wasn't there.
He also saw Reon who was crouched down tapping on Richard's back to help him throw up the rest of it.
Once Richard was done, Reon told both of the boys to sit on the ground by him, as Reon sat on a large rock.
"As you both saw, it took me about 3 seconds to deal with both of you. If I was an enemy warrior who wanted you dead, you would be dead right now." Reon said.
"Well of course! You're an elite member of the Flyers guild you must be a 3-Sta-" Roland's sentence was cut off by Reon unsheathing one of his blades.
"From now on you will only speak when I say to, understood? Nod your head if you understand, don't talk." said Reon.
Roland and Richard nodded their heads.
"To answer your question, no, I'm not a 3-Star warrior, I'm only a 2-Star." said Reon.
Roland and Richards eye's slightly widened but they didn't risk expressing their surprise with words.
"But that really doesn't matter, with enough training and skills you can offset the difference of pure power in a real battle." Reon lectured.
"To be frank with you, although I'm no mage I could tell there were some major flaws in the way you guys use your magic. When it comes to fighting skills you're both at zero as well, which is why I could handle you guys so easily." said Reon.
"Do you guys want to keep being that weak or do you want to be able to protect yourselves at least?" Reon asked.
They didn't reply.
"You can speak."
"We don't want to be that weak ever again Master." said Richard.
"Alright then…"
…
…
1 and a half months later…
Raya, Gole, and Spryta were still camping out by the carriage by the forest.
Raya believed Reon could handle anything in Apple Forest so he wasn't too worried about Richard and Roland.
Gole and Spryta had been wanting to check up on them, but Raya told them they couldn't, as it would interrupt Reon's training.
Gole and Spryta didn't care about that, and wanted to check anyway so Raya stopped and launched a lightning slash at their feet with his new blade.
They realized that Raya was at the 4-Star level, so they didn't really have a choice but to obey him. This was confusing to them as they had known Raya, and knew he was only at the 3-Star level when they left Crux.
In the meantime while they waited for Reon to come back, Raya had also continued to practice until he became a true 4-Star warrior.
He could now feel and control his energy to a greater amount than before, and use energy emission even without the help of his blade.
Back in Apple Forest…
Roland and Richard had just finished a spar, showcasing all of their new abilities, which Reon put to a stop before it got too intense.
Reon was satisfied with their growth.
"Roland, Richard, you guys grew a lot, and your training is over," said Reon.
Disappointed looks grew on Roland and Richard.
"You still have one final test though, but from here on out you guys are free to speak whenever you wish, and can treat me as your equal." said Reon.
Roland and Richard looked at each other and laughed.
"No we can't," said Richard.
"What is our final test, master?" asked Roland.
"Well that's up to you guys." said Reon.
"We were originally supposed to come to Apple Forest for you guys to hunt for 1 and 2-Star creatures, but I think you guys are a bit beyond that now, so I wan't you to hunt a 3-Star creature I discovered in the forest," said Reon.
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One night while Richard and Roland were asleep, Reon went hunting for low-tier creatures for food.
At one point he saw a creature the size of a large dog that matched the description of a sap badger that Raya had told him when he asked about the creatures of Apple Forest.
Reon snuck behind some bushes, and saw the sap badger was carrying a rabbit somewhere.
Reon tracked the sap badger to a cave and waited.
He expected the same badger to come back out, to which he would then sneak attack it. Instead he saw a sap badger the size of a bear with a horn on its forehead come out.
Reon quickly ran away knowing it must have been a 3-Star creature.
It usually took multiple warriors of the same level as the creature to handle it, or one warrior of the tier above.
Since Reon wasn't a 3-Star yet it would be a difficult task to handle the beast alone.