#33 Ruby's training

"But before we start training we must get you normal clothes, you can't train in those rags" Ren said when he noticed what Ruby was wearing.

With this said, both went back to the capital to buy some clothes.

'Hopefully, I won't meet Esdeath or it would be too awkward' Ren thought when he was buying some casual clothes for Ruby while she was taking a shower. He also bought spices and herbs for roasting meat and dark clothes with a cloak for the time when Ruby will start her revenge. He was experienced assassin so he could sneak past those gangs even if he was shining like a Christmas tree plus he had the Death energy that could make him almost invisible at night, however, Ruby was different, she had no experience and 1 month of training won't make her into god-like assassin even if she is trained by Ren.

After Ruby cleaned herself and dressed up, they went back to the deeper parts of the forest.

Now Ruby no longer looked like a girl from slums and even though she was wearing casual clothes she had noble and graceful aura radiating from her, it was apparent that she will become very beautiful once she grows up.

"Master what should I do now?" Ruby asked in an excited voice

"Don't call me master, I have yet to accept you as my disciple, after all, you might die without accomplishing your revenge. You will start with simple stretching exercises and running. As for how much... let's start at 8 km per day and add 2 more each day." Ren replied

Ruby was startled and had a bit confused expression. Ren could already see what was on her mind.

"You can't start training without a solid foundation!" Ren explained.

Ruby nodded and started with stretching exercises with Ren's help. After 1 hour of stretching, she started running, first 2 km were quite easy for her since she had to run a lot in slums, however, she had small problems with third km. At 5th km, she had to grit her teeth to continue any further. Ultimately, she was able to run 7 km but was unable to complete 8th km.

Ren was watching her entire time and although she didn't complete his demand, he was still impressed by her will. He didn't even expect her to complete his demand, he expected her performance to be around 5 km.

"Rest here, I will go find a dinner" Ren said while looking at Ruby who was out of breath leaning onto a tree.

Ruby could only nod in response.

"Are you really planning to take her as a disciple?" Shadow asked when they were all alone and from Shell's and Hawke's expression, it was apparent that they were also curious.

"It still depends on her performance but until now I am satisfied with her. By the way, why are you talking so little? You used to annoy me more often, especially Shell." Ren explained and asked all 3 of them a question.

After a few minutes of silence, Shadow sighed and said: "We are spirits but we can also turn into a weapon once you master required energy, however, ultimately we are slowly fusing with you which means that we are becoming your eyes, ears and etc. In short, we are slowly losing interest in the outside world and we focus more on observing you."

When Ren heard this he was a bit startled and couldn't help to say: "Does it make you-"

But before he could finish he was interrupted by Shadow's laugh "HAHA... It is natural plus we aren't sad or depressed by it. You are our owner in the first place so we were aware of the consequences of following you."

Ren had a special connection with 3 of them so he could feel that what Shadow said was true so he didn't feel bad for making them following him.

'Well it's not like they won't be able to talk, they just won't take initiative to talk on their own. I should just focus on finding strong enough Danger Beast' Ren thought, he closed his eyes and released his powered sense by Death energy to scout area all around him.

After a little while, he was able to find Class 2 Danger Beast which should be strong enough or more like it's meat should be nutritious enough for Ruby to recover her strength. She needed to eat a lot because her training will only get harder each day. Ren was able to kill the beast with ease that even himself was a bit surprised how strong he became.

After coming back to Ruby, he built a camp fire and roasted meat for Ruby.

Ruby who was resting with her closed eyes instantly smelled the scent of roasted meat and her mouth immediately started drooling. She instantly appeared next to Ren and was silently watching meat above the camp fire.

"Hmm, now you were actually faster than before. Maybe if I will run before you with the meat you might be able to run more than 8 km" Ren said with a cold smile that sent Ruby chills down her spine.

"Nonono! haha, master, you must have imagined the things, I definitely wasn't faster than before" Ruby said with a forced laugh while chaotically shaking her hands before her.

When Ren saw her bad act, he just snorted and gave her meat when he was done with roasting. He didn't even bother to correct her calling him master.

"Eat and then go sleep there is still a whole month before you." Ren said indifferently and went to sleep on a branch of the tree.

The next day when Ruby woke up she felt much stronger, perhaps due to the nutritious meat or just because she never ate to full. This day she had to run 10 km, she was able to run 9 km which greatly surprised Ren. She missed 1 km again, however, improvement of 2 km after 1 night was really great. She was done with her running in the afternoon so Ren waited until she recovers. After eating a full meal and resting until late afternoon, she was able to train again and Ren taught her some footwork techniques to improve her balance and she practiced them until late evening and before she went sleep she voluntarily run 5 km.

For Ruby those 2 days were extremely hard however she was also excited, she could feel how she was getting slowly stronger.

'Master said that he will provide meals only for 1 week... What will I do then? I can't really hunt those Danger Beasts and if I won't be able to eat their meat then I won't get enough energy for training, not to say training will only get harder each day!' Ruby gritted her teeth since she couldn't find any solution.

'Forget it, I am too sleepy to think about it' This was Ruby's last thought before she fell asleep.

Like this entire week went by and Ruby learned various footwork techniques suitable for battle. Ren also taught her how to use a sword and daggers, however, she was still amateur. Currently Ruby was fighting Ren, well, more like getting beaten by Ren.

Ruby slashed with her dagger at Ren's right leg, it was a vicious slash that had a strange trajectory that could make it hard to block, however, it was still crudely done in Ren's eyes. He didn't even block and instead, he dodged an attack and drove elbow in Ruby's stomach which made her drop to the ground. Ruby coughed up a bit of blood before she got up with a bloody smile on her face.

"Let's continue master!" Ruby called out in a strong and determined voice.

"Hmph, I hope you will be able to smile like that by the end of the day." Ren snorted and formed a cold grin.

When it was late afternoon they had to stop or Ruby would have no strength to hunt beasts later for her dinner. With her strength now she would be able to kill Class 4 Danger Beast with a bit of difficulties but she was confident enough not to get injured. Ren had to go with her because she didn't have his strengthened senses, however, she would still be able to avoid most of the beasts thanks to her aura sensing. She was still too weak and could feel a lot of strong auras inside the forest.

After some time they found Class 4 Danger Beast so Ren went to the side to observe first Ruby's battle.

The beast seemed to be just a bit stronger wolf. Wolves were usually just wild animals but some of them could be born more powerful than their peers which made them the weakest Class 4 Danger Beasts.

Ren estimated that this fight shouldn't be difficult for Ruby, she was fortunate enough to meet the weakest of Class 4 for her first fight.

And as Ren estimated, wolf pounced on Ruby in a bit quicker speed than normal wolves, Ruby dodged with her new footwork at ease and even used the opportunity to counter-attack and slashed wolf's neck which made big wound and after few seconds wolf died with shock in his eyes. It wasn't just the weakest, it was probably even stupidest beast that wasn't able to sense how strong opponent was or maybe it was just arrogant since it was born a bit stronger.

Ruby sheathed her dagger and took the wolf's corpse and came back to Ren with a victorious smile.

"hihi How did I do master?" Ruby giggled and asked in anticipation of praise with a happy smile.

"You know that it was the weakest of the danger beasts? However, your timing in dodging was perfect and that slash was vicious and nicely executed to take a life in 1 hit." Ren poured cold water over her and when she heard the first part it made her expression turn a bit sad, however, when she heard the second part she immediately became happy again.

Ruby's training was getting more dangerous each day but this made her only stronger and even though she spent only a week with Ren, she still felt a sense of belonging. She perhaps already accepted saying she heard once: "Master for a day is a father for a lifetime."

"Let's go back, master!" Ruby shouted while happily running back with the 50 kg wolf on her small shoulder.

"This kid..." Ren could only sigh when he saw her act like that, he was aware that even though she was more intelligent and talented compared to her peers, she was ultimately still a kid