Forest Expenditure

The next day, Shiro got up early and began preparing to head into the forest, he had told Yato and Shin of his plan the day before. Shin had expressed his will to join the expenditure alongside Eris who made a strong point of it.

"If Shiro is going, then so am I"

She said strongly after hearing about the expenditure

Hearing her statement, Yato knew that he couldn't do anything to dissuade her from going, he just entrusted her safety to Shiro and Shin and prayed that she made it back safely.

Once they were done preparing, Yato explained to Shiro that he would be leading a team of thirty children of the same age as him and their goal was to eliminate a grade three magic beast which had somehow found its way into the low level forest surrounding the village.

Yato wasn't stupid enough to let them just go into the forest with their low levels, even though the strongest monster in the forest should only be a realm higher than their base cultivation. It was common knowledge that monsters were more durable and stronger than cultivators so he had to send few of the village guards to go with the children to reduce casualties and make sure everyone returned safely.

When everything was done with, the children marched to the village gate in a single file, each person wore equipment that were below the advanced grade apart from Shiro, Shin, and Eris.

The three stood at the front of the group with the guards in tow, they had the best equipment and they were also the ones with the highest cultivation levels so it was no surprise for them to be at that position.

Seeing that everyone was ready, the guards proceeded to open the village gates for the group to pass. The villagers watched with admiration as they saw the kids who they had once pampered and fed walk into the unknown forest with courage and excitement, for them this was a moment of joy, it was a moment that showed them that their children were growing up in the right way, after watching their backs fade into the distance, the villagers went in different directions to do their own things.

*

Thirty minutes after they entered the forest, Shiro's group finally encountered their first magic beast, it was a grade 2 thunder hawk which as its name implied, used lightning element as its main source of power, the beast was two meters large with a beak so sharp and long that it could easily tear through a boulder.

Once the beast saw Shiro's group, it didn't even bother to act cautious as it instantly launched itself at them.

Seeing the beast initiate the attack, Shiro wasted no more time, he immediately drew his advanced grade sword which he had bought from the old man in the weapon shop and launched himself towards the beast.

*Clang!*

His blade met with the thunder hawk's claws as it tried to rip Shiro apart, seeing that its attack was blocked, the thunder hawk launched its head forward attempting to peck Shiro with its sharp beak.

Shiro quickly side stepped dodging the attack by only a hair's breadth, there was no need for any extravagant movement so Shiro didn't dodge too far, he parried and dodged the beast attacks while keeping it at the center of his attack range.

His attacks didn't cause the beast much damage as it defenses were high and mainly because Shiro didn't want to use his sword art, the art took too much stamina and energy so Shiro couldn't use them too often, he decided to save them for when it was really needed.

He tussling with the beast gave the others enough time to prepare, after learning the beasts attack patterns, Eris and Shin launched themselves forward to speed up the killing of the beast, damages began to pile up at a faster rate forcing the magic beast to spare some energy for defense.

Things became even worse for the beast when the other children joined the fray, in the end the beast gave a final struggle were it charged towards Shiro while ignoring the others, it was determined to kill that detestable human who had caused it so much pain.

It put its claws wrapped with lightning element forward as it used its wing to propel itself towards Shiro, the others saw the beast attempt but were too weak to do anything about it, they could only stand and watch as it sped towards its target.

Shiro remained calm despite the impending danger, he sheathed his sword as he watched the beast closed in on him, in his point of view, the beast was moving towards him in slow motion, although, his body remained slow, Shiro's mind was able to perceive things ten times faster than the normal human mind could, his perception of time made even a lightning strike appear extremely slow to him.

Watching carefully as the beast closed him on him, Shiro stretched his hand forward while putting all his fingers together, sword Ki gathered around his body as he made a slashing motion towards the beast while chanting;

[Sword Style: Second Form; Sword less]

The surrounding areas were torn apart as a white light headed towards the magic beast, the beast couldn't react as it watched the light pass through its body before triggering explosions.

*Boom!*

The other children were petrified as they watched the magic beast get thorn into oblivion.

They knew Shiro was strong since he had the highest cultivation amongst them but they didn't know just how strong, but now they were sure that apart from the guards, Shiro was probably the strongest person in their group, after recognizing his strength many of the children began walking close to Shiro as if asking for protection.

Shiro didn't mind this, if he could help keep them safe this way, he would do it.

Shiro walked towards the thunder hawk's body, after the beast died, its body faded away leaving behind some kind of crystal, Shiro stared at the crystal on the ground before bending over to pick it up, he didn't know what the crystal did, but since it looked valuable he decided to store it.

After checking around to see if the beast dropped any other thing, Shiro's group then continued on their expenditure.