The Forest

With excitement, Blaze started explaining to Leus how to sprint

"Focus your mana in your legs, All the way up until your hip"

"I can do that?"

"Of course, There was just no point in teaching you such things inside the house, You'll learn it in a second now, Just control the Mana in your body and focus all of it on your lower part."

Leus focused and did as he was instructed, and very quickly, he felt his legs fill up with Mana

'Hehe, I feel that I'll shatter rocks if I kick it'

Blaze pointed in a specific direction and said

"The forest is in the northwest, We'll be running for quite a while, Just run forward and I'll adjust my speed according to you"

Leus nodded

Leus exploded forward, or so he thought

At the beginning, There was no difference whatsoever

He turned to Blaze and shouted

"Dad, There's no difference!"

"Just wait for it!"

As time passed, Leus' speed slowly increased

It started at 10 kilometers per hour, And with every passing minute, it increased by 3 or 4 more

Until it reached 25 kilometers per hour after 5 minutes

Then his speed picked up.

It increased rapidly until it reached 70 kilometers per hour

Blaze was running behind Leus, He noticed his speed and thought

'Not bad, Pretty good actually'

Leus started using Boost while running, which increased his speed even more.

Blaze was impressed

'I'm quite certain that he's faster than any Knight I know of'

Leus was enjoying the experience

'It's amazing!'

'I'm so damn FAST!'

'It starts so slowly, So it isn't of any use in battles, and I can't use it to escape magical attacks'

'But if I want to run like this, It's so COOOOOL'

Leus enjoyed every moment of running, The air hitting his face made him feel exhilarated

The scene around him turned blurry, and he was only able to focus on what was in front of him

His heart was pounding faster, and his muscles were twitching, But he didn't feel any pain, he only felt adrenaline rushing through his veins.

Overall, the experience was a thrilling blend of astonishment, exhilaration, and FUN.

He enjoyed every moment of it.

After about two hours of running, Leus saw thick trees in the distance

He slowed down until he eventually stopped.

Blaze came behind him, took out two water bottles, and gave one to Leus.

After they both drank, Blaze spoke

"Let's start with the first mission

The Rhino should be in the southeast of the forest, Which means it's in this direction, Let's Sprint for a while more"

After running for about 40 minutes more, They reached the eastern edge of the forest, but it was already getting dark

Blaze asked

"You don't have problems with the darkness, Right Leus?"

"No"

Leus activated Mana Vision and the forest became as clear as day to him.

As for Blaze, He was able to sense any movement within his domain, so he didn't have problems with the darkness as well.

Blaze instructed

"Let's go then, We'll see it or hear it soon, Just move as lightly as possible and don't make sounds, If it's sleeping then that'll make the mission easier"

Leus nodded, and they both entered the forest.

The forest was vast, and it had tall trees and plants of various colors—red, green, blue, yellow, and purple.

Different kinds of plants filled Leus' view

'These must be the ingredients gathering missions ask for'

Leus took note of that and kept going forward

In the beginning, there were only regular animals, Deer, Foxes, Different birds, and owls.

But as they moved further inside, The forest became silent, and the animals became less and less.

Leus wondered

'Is that because it's night or is it because we went deeper, Or both?'

He asked Blaze, and Blaze explained 

"As we go deeper into the forest, the creatures get stronger.

Regular animals are near the edges, and deeper inside, there are magical beasts that are dangerous.

Knights usually have missions at the edges to deal with stray beasts. It's less risky there, but still, Keep your eyes open, Anything can happen."

"I'll be careful"

Leus kept scanning his surroundings all the time,

Often he'd see strange-looking magical beasts, Birds that seemed to be covered with rocks, Some Lizards that had their tails quite literally on fire, and Rabbits that were completely blue

'All these beasts are small, I'm sure it's easy to kill all of them, I wonder if they're edible tho'

While Leus was moving forward, He saw a huge hole in one of the trees, He got closer to it and whispered to Blaze

"This could be the Rhino's Horn?"

Blaze nodded and said

"Look for footsteps, Such a heavy beast should leave clues like footsteps or broken tree branches behind"

Leus did that, and he quickly noticed big footsteps and followed them a little deeper into the forest, but still on its eastern side.

As the mission said, Locating the Earth Rhino eas extremely easy

'It didn't try to conceal its existence in any way'

All over the place, there were destroyed trees and dead animals

'This thing was running rampant here'

About two minutes later, Leus' eyes gleamed

'Got you'

He stood behind a tree and inspected the sleeping rhino in front of him,

The Rhino was huge, It was sleeping in the middle of a clearing with 3 fallen trees beside it

The Rhino's weak parts were covered with rocks, Like its stomach, Chest, and sides, and it had a single brown horn that was approximately 120 centimeters long, The horn was thick and strong.

Leus took note of all the Rhino's characteristics

'It has rock shields around various parts of its body, I think that's why it's called Earth Rhino'

' ... And all it did with its body is ramming trees and knocking it down, But why?'

Leus didn't dwell on that thought for long

'Well, it doesn't matter'

Blaze whispered to Leus

"How will you attack?"

Leus replied instantly

"Many spears aimed at the body and 3 Hydraulics at the skull, Both its eyes and between them"

Blaze nodded and stepped back

Leus stepped forward as silently as possible

'The spears will have to penetrate its back to deal any useful damage since it's the only area that's not covered with the rocks.'

Based on that, Leus deducted

'My main attack should be the Hydraulics directed at its skull, and the spears are just an extra'

Leus took a deep breath and started casting

6 Spears, Each almost 1.5 meters long were horizontally hovering around him, And in front of him 3 Hydraulics aimed at full speed

'Unleash'