4 - TRAINING

Since he had basically an endless supply of energy, Tehom was rarely tired, but today was clearly an exception, it's been just half an hour since he arrived and those two were already discussing, seeing how the goddess was acting, he sneered.

'A god, one that abandoned my world, here... Acting like a teenager in love. Well, that's infuriating.' Being tired of their weird discussion he left the basement room and sat in meditative position near the altar in the middle of the church.

Why meditate, you may be asking yourself, well, it was a habit he got used to. Imagine how it feels to be a soldier in the midst of interplanetary-scale war, each battle was the end of countless lives, and a single mistake could end yours.

Soldiers were constantly under pressure, the psychological impact it had on them was immeasurable. So, the question arose as to how to ensure that the soldiers continued to fight and not go crazy over time?

The answer was meditation. Inner peace was an underrated weapon, it had many benefits in the form of a calmer, sharper, and more efficient mind.

After a while, he heard the door slam, and Hestia walked hurriedly dressed in an ordinary coat. Soon after Bell came running after her, he stopped in the middle of the church while murmuring.

"Why... what did I do?"

"Really annoying, right?" Hearing this deep voice so suddenly, Bell back's shuddered as he hurriedly turned to look at Tehom.

"W-what do you mean?"

Tehom drew his sword and stuck it on the marble floor. "The gods, the vast majority are annoying, arrogant, self-centered, and hypocrites."

Hearing his words Bell frowned and replied. "What are you saying!? How could they be as you describe!? If it wasn't for the gods we-"

"We would be pretty damn well!"

Bell was shocked by the rage on his voice, he could see the deep disdain on Tehom's eyes.

"You know, it hasn't been long since I arrived here. But in this little span of time, I learned many things about this place and its history. Way before the gods descended, mankind was still capable of defending themselves against the threat that existed inside the Dungeon."

"We have gone through many tribulations and never did the gods came to help us, but suddenly, they grew tired of their world and descended to use us as their source of entertainment!" Tehom bit his lip as he said.

"That girl might have deep feelings for you, but If were you, I would reject her, independent of how useful the Falna is, gods aren't trustful and they are equal when it comes to their greed and objective, they only think of themselves."

Bell observed him with his mouth agape, he couldn't understand this man's opinion of the gods, this was truly a first for him, but this made him remember that shocking scene that happened a few moments ago. A true hero, a living legend, doesn't the status and abilities of someone reflected their experience? Didn't that mean, that one of those heroes whose accomplishments he had read about on the old books was actually in front of him? Just what did this man go through to have such an opinion about the gods...

Seeing Bell confused eyes, he sighed and shook his head, why did he bother to try to enlighten this young man? He is too naive and pure, it is unlikely that he would understand his words without experiencing what he went through.

"Bell, that is your name, right?"

"U-uh? R-right! That's my name."

"Tomorrow, at 5 am, I'll be waiting for you at the dungeon's entrance, you should rest as much as you can, this entire week will be hell for you since I can't have a burden following me around. I'll make sure to make you someone capable, I can easily see that you have no training at all." He pointed to the sword stuck on the marble floor. "You can take it, forget about using daggers, you're not an assassin specialized in killing and sneak attacks, you are wasting your time using that kind of weapon to kill mindless beasts. Now go do whatever you have to."

"Y-yes captain!" He made a salute and ran to the street.

Seeing that Bell went on his way, he took his spare sword, a backpack and went to the dungeon, he had no need to sleep, so he might as well train as much as he can and see if he can get some money until morning came.

...

It has been an hour since he arrived at the dungeon, there were 10 more hours till morning, he was leisurely killing some monster on the second floor when he saw someone from the corner of his eyes, it was Bell he was killing monsters and crying at the same time.

Seeing this he frowned and went towards him.

"Bell." He called, but the boy didn't listen.

He tried three more times and seeing that the boys still didn't listen he lost patience and slapped him.

"Wake up kid!"

"W-what!?" He glared at Tehom from the ground.

"Why are you like this? What happened? I thought I was clear when I said you should rest as much as you could, so what are you doing inside the dungeon."

Bell looked at him with a strange gaze, it didn't even cross his mind that Tehom would be inside the dungeon at this hour. Besides, he wasn't in the best mindset to make rational decisions right now.

Bell told him everything that happened, which in turn made Tehom's gaze become increasingly dark, Bell could even swear that right now this man's eyes were no different than that of the monster who only seek to kill.

Who was Tehom after all? He values his comrades at the same level he values his friends, he wouldn't allow his underling to go through such humiliation without vengeance, but now wasn't the right time, the opportunity would come sooner or later.

"Since you are here, I will begin your training, but know that our objective today is to gather enough <Magic Stones> to exchange for 150.000 Valis, tomorrow we will be buying new equipment and two oversized bags."

Nodding Bell cleaned his eyes and asked curiously. "Why the bags though?"

"Are you stupid?"

Unfortunately, the boy only looked at him in confusion. "Of course the objective is to carry more items around, besides, those things will be useful to train our bodily strength due to their weight."

Bell could only nod at his words.

Tehom looked at Bell's waist and noticed that he was carrying the sword he gave him, it was the one with the emblem of two hammers crossed with a flame at the center engraved on the blade. Seeing this he unsheathed his sword and said.

"For now I want you to observe the way I wield the sword and use it to fight against those monsters since this is a training session, I won't be using the shield nor advanced sword techniques, but make sure to follow every detail you can notice, from my body's position to the way I move." Seeing that the kid understood his words, he nodded.

They went back to the first floor and started to hunt every single monster there before going to the second floor then the third, and so on. He wanted Bell to see how he faced every enemy, how he should move, and how to properly control the flow of the battle.

They would occasionally switch their roles, at some time he was gathering the <Magic Stones>, at others he was fighting. And when he was observing Tehom would pinpoint his mistakes and flaws, telling Bell where he needed to improve.

At some point, they arrived at the sixth floor, usually, Bell would be really tired at this moment since they were here for quite a few hours, but Tehom's domain was really useful, not only he was full of energy, most of the injuries he got during this time inside the dungeon were already healed, quite miraculous.

At some point, the wall next to their side was broken and from inside came a humanoid monster, it had quite a tall body, with thin limbs and its fingers were like claws, a <War Shadow>, the strongest monster on the 6th floor. Soon after the sound of a wall breaking resounded again, again, and again...

In total, there were 6 of those monsters, it was basically a trap, seeing this, Tehom took off his backpack and left it at the ground.

"Bell, you take care of two, while I take care of the other four."

Bell could only nod at his words, there was no other choice in this situation, luckily for him, Tehom was here, otherwise, he would be dead in case he got to this floor in his previous state.

The <War Shadows> were powerful creatures, their strength and speed were at the peak of a level 1, many rookies would fall victim to this monster. Taking the initiative he started running around them, he was using themselves as a cover, one would not be able to attack if its companion was in front of him.

The monster attack would come like the speed of an arrow, but he had no intention to dodge or to block, he simply faced his enemy attack with an attack of his own, cutting off its arm, he lightly changed the angle of his body to avoid the attack of another shadow and finished the first one by decapitating it.

Seeing how two of the monster tried to make a pincer attack, he smiled and jumped into the air, with a spin he cut with his sword in 360° degree which was enough to finish them as well, as, for the last one, he simply avoided its attacks and pierced its head.

The moment he finished the four of them, Bell had also managed to deal with the two that he was fighting.

"It should be almost 5 am by now, let's go, we have more than enough resources." He took the backpack once again.

"Yes, captain!"

However as they turned back and went back to the entrance of the floor, numerous monsters appeared out of nowhere. Seeing those red eyes filled with killing intent, Tehom smiled and said to Bell. "Let's make a little competition, whoever kills more wins!"

Before Bell could answer he jumped at the sea of monster and started slaughtering them, he could only smile wryly at this scene and follow his lead.