Chapter 16: Two years

Days passed after becoming Galdof's disciple. If Ray had to describe it in one word it's 'Hell'. While Galdof is a gentle old man that you find anywhere most of the time but when he started training under him. He was pushed to the brink but that didn't make him waver or think of quitting. Ray knew very well that with each move he makes whether he was climbing a mountain or training his sword skills it was another step closer to his revenge.

As for Flora, she was used to this training regime since she was a toddler so nothing changed. But the fact that she made the first friend of her life made her open up to Ray. They shared their life experiences trained and ate with each other, they were pretty much together the whole day except for when they are sleeping.

With days and weeks passing, their bond became stronger and stronger and at some point they unconsciously became inseparable but because these feelings were new to them they didn't know whether it was romantic love or just pure friendship that was built with each day passing.

And while the two children were having their relationship grow stronger, Galdof was also having a great time watching them. He quickly grew fond of Ray and now he's just like a grandson to him. But these days that made Ray smile again we're nearing their end and the wheel of fate started turning again.

***

After two years, somewhere where civilisation was none existing, a massive forest that covered thousands or maybe millions of kilometres.

"RAWWWWWRRRR!!!!!!!" A roar so strong that made the trees tremble and the animals hide while shaking of fear. There, appeared a huge tiger. It was 15 meters tall and had razor-sharp teeth that could cut through anything easily. This massive cat was called the Blue diamond tiger and it had this name because of its sky blue fur that looks like diamonds shining in the starless night. If you ignore its intimidating look, it was a very beautiful animal.

But it was totally angry, and the reason for that was just standing a few meters away. A young man with an extremely handsome face and short black hair covering his forehead was holding a sword with one hand while casually speaking with the other person. A girl a head shorter than the boy: she was also a feast to the eyed with her angelic face and long white hair that reached her waist. She was also holding a sword and ready for the enemies to jump on them. They were Ray and Flora who was 15 years old now and from one look you could see their growth. Ray was 175 I'm now (5 ft 8) and Flora was 164 I'm (5 ft 4). They were out to hunt for dinner and they stumbled upon this tiger's den who woke up and attacked them because they disturbed its sleep.

"Come on, Flora. I told you to be careful not to wake it up. Now we have to kill it. You could've got injured." scolded Ray with a worried tone.

"I'm sorry! I thought that It won't hear us from that far." Apologised Flora with a regretful look.

Even though it was a serious situation, Ray still found her sad face very cute that he unconsciously patted her on her head and then said with a gentle smile "Don't mind it. Now let's deal with this fluffy cat over there. We made it wait for too long."

Flora always liked it when Ray patted her head and so she giggled sheepishly with a small blush on her face. Then she just took her combat stance.

"Like we trained before. I will lure it and you just finish it off." Said Ray before disappearing the next instant. In these two years, Ray's power grew by leaps and bounds to the point where he didn't even recognize himself. He also mastered controlling his new mana core and now he could unconsciously use the accurate amount of mana for every situation.

Seeing its prey running towards it, the tiger roared again and slammed its paw down. The ground turned to dust with one hit of this monster but when it thought Ray died from that attack it felt a sharp pain on its abdomen and when it looked down there was a huge open wound. The blood gushed out like a torrent and sharp pain made the monster groan with a painful look.

But it was not dead yet, and so it stood up and looked left and right searching for the one who made it suffer like this.

"Up here kitty cat." A playful voice echoed in the forest and when the tiger looked up, Ray was standing on a tree branch looking at it with a smile. 'How could this human humiliate me like this!!!! I will cut you to pieces!' it probably thought and then it jumped ferociously on Ray who was still standing casually not bothering to even run away.

Then he muttered quietly "Flora, now." Within an instant, another silhouette emerged from nowhere and stabbed the tiger in the chest. The attack was quick, lethal and very precise hitting its vital point. The tiger couldn't believe that it got defeated by these two puny humans. Then as it looked at the boy who was still standing on the tree branch with fury but that didn't last long as Its eyes lost their sparkle and then faded away for eternity.

The next instant, Flora landed beside Ray.

"Nice work." He high fived his partner and she replied "You too" this was not their first time working together and it won't be the last either.