3. Training is over

All of these things made Kai feel like he was in a drama. His mouth was wide open, surprised by one thing after another, as if he was caught in a dramatic plot. He glanced at the object in Tommy's hand, and when Tommy removed the black towel, revealing a long silver dagger, Kai couldn't help but be amazed. As he touched the dagger, black particles from the towel swiftly moved into it.

"Wow! This is so cool, Uncle Tommy,"

Kai exclaimed in surprise.

"I've never seen or heard of anything like this before. Your skills are amazing!"

Tommy remained silent, equally astonished. Kai took the dagger, holding it up in the air with delight. His eyes widened as he observed its black color and the silver crystal embedded in it.

At that moment, Ervin showed up outside the Smithy. "Oh, you guys are already here!" he exclaimed. "So, Kai, do you like the dagger?"

Ervin wanted to let Kai know that he was aware of the situation. Kai showed the dagger to Ervin, but its color was unfamiliar to him, despite spending a lot of time in the Smithy with his father.

Ervin looked at Tommy, filled with confusion, and Tommy replied,

"I'll tell you about it later sometime. Since the show is over, get your ass out of here kids. I have some unfinished work here."

Ervin was shorter than Tommy, who was a tall guy with a muscular body. Despite his small stature, Ervin was indeed muscular. Both father and son were bald-headed, but Ervin was only half the size of Kai.

Afterward, Kai and Ervin left the Smithy. When they arrived in front of Ervin's house, they saw Eva doing her hair on the veranda. Eva looked different from her brother and father; she was taller than her brother with short blue hair and blue eyes. Ervin always said she resembled their mother. In a full view, she was almost fully grown, a truly beautiful girl.

Erin was walking ahead of Kai, and upon seeing her brother, she asked loudly,

"Hey you... Where is your friend? Is he ill or something? I've been waiting here for him for a while now. He never misses a day of training, and look at me putting all this makeup on my face for nothing. If this was going to happen, you should have men...!"

In that moment, she realized her brother wasn't alone... he was with her first love. Kai greeted her with a wave and a smile. Her face turned red, about to explode, so she covered her face with her hands and ran inside the house.

Ervin and Kai looked at each other for a moment and burst into laughter. They heard Eva's loud voice from inside the house. "Ervin, when did your friend come here?

While you were taking a shower, I guess."

Ervin replied, unsure of the answer himself,

"Did you hear what I said while taking the shower?"

"Loud and clear," Ervin responded with a chuckle.

Then Eva asked with a smooth voice, "Kai, did you hear that too?"

Kai took a moment to think and looked at Ervin, who shrugged his shoulders.

"Yeah, I guess,"

Kai finally replied.

At that moment, a scream came from inside the house, and a stick-like object flew out, hitting Ervin directly on the head.

"Ouch... that hurts, Eva!"

"Well, you deserve it," she retorted.

After that small incident, both Kai and Ervin were ready to catch up with their daily routine. Ervin ran towards Kai and jumped on his back. "Tada! The piggyback is ready to go."

Due to Ervin's small size, it was hard for him to keep up while running, so they resorted to the piggyback ride until they reached their training ground. Kai started running toward the forest, but after a while, he took a different route than usual.

"Hey, Kai, where are we going? The others will be waiting for us, and you're heading toward the forbidden forest area ,you know!. What is the meaning of this?" Ervin asked, visibly tense.

"What are you talking about? Let's go hunting. This is the best spot for it. Aren't you curious about what's inside? Why is it forbidden? Don't worry, I won't go too deep. Trust me, buddy," Kai said, running into the jungle with excitement.

However, this choice brought back some bad memories for Ervin.

Long ago, Ervin and Kai weren't this much close friends. They only met at the weekly meetings where all the villagers gathered. Ervin was a curious kid who loved admiring his father and his great works. He would often collect different types of rocks and hammer them until they broke into pieces.

One day, he discovered a sparkling light inside a small hole near the forest. In that moment, his eyes lit up. Without wasting any time, he reached his hand into the hole to grab the stone, but green gas started emanating from it. Suddenly, something clicked in Ervin's head. He remembered the photos and descriptions of a beast that produced poisonous gas, and this green gas matched that description. It meant that the beast was nearby, even if it was low-tier. Whether it was low-tier or high-tier, a beast is a beast, and it is dangerous.

In an instant, the beast appeared in front of Ervin. It resembled a mixture of a lizard and a snake, with legs and a snake-like tail. It was incredibly fast. Ervin realized his mistake. The sparkling object wasn't a stone but an egg belonging to this creature. The beast opened its mouth and hissed, displaying a ring-like pattern on its neck.

Ervin and the beast stood face to face, motionless. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a kid jumped in, his face covered in ash and his body adorned with various leaves. He swiftly grabbed the beast, bite off its head, and threw it away. Then, he approached Ervin, extending his hand.

"Come on, let's go," Kai said with excitement. However,Ervin was in shock. He was like. 'what just happened'

Ervin was about to grab Kai's hand, but then Kai collapsed to the ground. He had inhaled some of the green gas during his brief fight with the beast. Ervin panicked, his face covered in sweat, as he observed Kai's motionless body. His eyes caught sight of a specific leaf, the antidote for the gas. He took the leaf, mixed it with his own sweat in his hand, creating a juice-like mixture, and fed it to Kai.

After about ten minutes, Kai opened his eyes and looked at Ervin, who was anxiously looking down at him. "Hey, buddy, are you okay?"

Ervin was stunned to hear Kai's voice. Kai was already conscious. "But how? I know the poison wasn't going to kill you, but I was certain it would take a while to wear off. Just who are you?"

Kai smiled. "Don't worry about me. It's not my first time being poisoned, and I have quite some experience in hunting beasts, you know."

And that's how they met and started to go hunting and practicing together .