Faruk's Relentless Training (Part 2)

"W-Whaaaaaaaat? (H-He's jesting, isn't he? Please tell me he is...!)"

Faruk shouts from the mouthless Observer ball. His voice is deafening, almost like a drill sergeant.

"Come on, no 'whaaaaaaaaaaaat?' Oria! We're not done here, yet!"

Another physical training lasted for another hour. Ultimately, she accidentally drops her knife, and she falls flat to the ground, basking under the shining sun in the sky above her head, huffing in an endless fatigue all over her body.

"Haah... haah... (Dear Master Dux, respectfully, I am in tears... please come save me...!)"

"Is that all you got?" Faruk flied above her head, gazing at her eyes. "My protege shouldn't be weak."

"P-Please... it's been three hours of non-stop training, Faruk. Haaah... C-Can't we... can't we rest for a moment...? Haah..."

Faruk looks over the valley, thinking for a few seconds.

"Hmm... I suppose a five-minute rest will be enough, no?"

"W-What...? You can't be... serious, right?"

"Hmph, I thought you are fully ready for my training."

"I... I did. But... I didn't think it'll be this tough..."

"Heh, are you going to cry again?"

"(I already did... it's mixed with my sweat, that is.)"

Eventually, the unforgiving and annoying session of training comes to a halt... for a few minutes. Faruk turns his attention towards the plateau in the far distance, seeing scenery of nothing but plains and mountains.

For the next five minutes, he's just silently stares at that beautiful view. Gusts of wind ensues, rustling thousands of meters of grass in the region. The top of the Raskiel mountains isn't visible from their level, although the extremely large portion of the mountain itself towers behind them.

The breeze of wind has cooled down the tension of her rough training. Faruk initiatively asks her something.

"...Tell me, Oria. Have you checked your level?"

Oria, having her sweat already dry and a significant amount of fatigue drawn out from her as she cooled down, replies to her master's question.

"Level...? I don't really get it, but I've heard nothing except the knife level rising..." she said absentmindedly.

"Hmph. Figures."

"What do you mean?" Oria sat up.

"You'll see. Well, we've enough lazing now. Shall we continue our training?"

"HAH?! I-It's been five minutes? Oh, come on... I'm still tired right now..."

"I told you I only allow five minutes of resting. Are you not listening?"

"I... I did. It's just that... time sure flies quick. Uh..."

The dragon can see how tired she is. And he knows very well that her stamina is in its lowest state. He intends to push her to her limit, but seeing how well she progressed in her leveling, Faruk decides to lower the difficulty by giving a lenient training.

"...*sigh*... fine, I allow you use [Weapon Witchcraft] and use your art. And this time, use it to kill one more horned rabbit."

"R-Really? B-But that doesn't really help at all..."

"Hmph. I'm pushing myself to be generous and allow you to use a skill that relies on your veritable stats: your MP. If you don't do it, you're not allowed to have lunch."

"Whaa... (...*hic*... please make him stop...) uugh... all right."

She's so fed up with his annoying words. But she knows she must not resent his actions, since she believes what he told her to do is all part of the training. Still... no matter how Faruk wishes to strain her capabilities, Oria is still a child that can easily exhaust herself.

"(...uuugh, come on... don't cry, Oria... this is still far better than the ones back at that scary camp... Faruk has allowed me to use my wand... which means... I can do this quickly!)"

With one last ounce of her energy, she pulls out her wand, changing it into the radiant knife. This time, her stance is far refined than the last time she held her magic knife, which looked like a kid holding a tree stick. She looks for a horned rabbit, which heavily infested the valley.

Three seconds, and she found one not far from her location.

"Alright... let's take it down..." Oria mumbled as she approached the rabbit. "Take care not to let it attack you first, Oria..." she said to herself.

The rabbit monster—which currently feeds on an overripe fruit—instantly turns its red eyes to Oria, responding to her presence.

"Must I strike from this distance...?" she asked herself, unsure when to attack.

The pointy horn of the monster is pointed right at her pair of legs. The horned rabbit screeches, running quickly, shorting its distance to Oria.

"Oh, no! I alarmed it..." Oria stepped back once. "Gaahhh! Don't fear it! I've killed seven of them already!"

Oria readies herself.

"Pull your right feet back, tighten your grip on the knife handle, pull it back... and wait till it jumps at you... and slice it in one powerful blow..."

As the monster is just a few feet away, it unexpectedly jumps earlier than Oria expected.

"H-Huh—Now! Argent Slash!"

The attack she lands with her art conjures an instantaneous flashing light, followed by blood squirting out of the rabbit monster as it got sliced in half in midair, killing it outright. An exact 20 CP is depleted from Oria as she successfully performed the art. It's a clean kill.

But...

"Haah... oooh..."

Oria's stamina is totally wiped out. She falls to the ground; her light knife drops from her right hand and returns shape to wand. As her body meets the grass, soiling her already dirty dress, she's congratulated by no other than her master.

"Well done. So... how are you feeling?" he asked somewhat rhetorically.

"T-Tired..." Oria answered short.

Shortly after that, a pop-up screen shows up in front of her eyes, followed by the voice of the system.

<Experience points has reached a required amount. You have reached level 2! Status increased significantly.>

<ORIA ARGENTORA>

LV: 1 => 2

HP: 404 => 554

MP: 10,000==#!*&

ATK: 40 => 47

DEF: 24 => 30

MAT: 78 => 86

MDF: 55 => 65

SPD: 11 => 12

Followingly, her body rinsed in a faint radiance.

"W-Whoa... what's happening...?"

Those light fades shortly thereafter. ...And somehow, she feels all fatigue within her has disappeared. It's like she's energized as if she just took a comfortable full night sleep.

"Faruk... why do I feel so... refreshed...?" she asked, bewitched by the sudden energy flow.

"That's you leveling up," Faruk said as he joined her watching her status screen. "The sudden energy you feel right now is the effect of leveling up. Your stamina, your Health Poitns, and your Mana Points are all restored. It is a function of the system that allows you to get out of trouble."

"Coooool!" Oria stated amazedly. "Does this mean I'm much stronger?"

"In system, yeah. You may give it a try if you want. After all, your energy is back."

"Heehee. Alrighty!" Oria takes herself to run around. "You're right! I feel like I'm full of energy again! I don't feel tired anymore! Wheeee!"

"Haha. That's the spirit. Take care not to jump into monsters, will you?"

"Hahaha~! Hm, oookaaay! (Is this the reason why Faruk is so intense in his training? To bring my level up? I thought he's going to slowly kill me with tiresome training. It turns out I feel so alive again after leveling up!)"

After ten minutes of playing with the wind, running and jumping around, Oria stops by the tent with an incredibly excited expression.

"Oh, you look happy," Faruk pointed out.

"Heehee. I am. Umm... thank you, Faruk!"

"What for?"

"For training me."

"I did nothing. It is you who managed to reach your current state now. But do remember that this training is far from over. I hope you're ready for that."

Faruk's one-eyed Observer ball squinted, gazing at her sharply, almost threatening. But the child simply smiles at him, still euphoric.

"Hm! I will."

"It will be tougher than before, you know?"

"Right. I will do my best!"

"...*sigh*... not long ago, you were wailing, crying mixed in your tears for how tiresome my training was. Look at you now, all eager to run across the world in just one day's time."

"Heee!? Y-You noticed that I cry?"

"Well, I'd consider you a monster if you didn't. After all, nobody can get out of my training without at least shedding a tear once."

"Ooooh... I'm so sorry."

"Enough with that. Come sit, I'll teach you how to cook. That load of energy you obtained was also meant for this, by the way. Too tired will have you no time to make food for yourself."

"I-Is that so? Uhhh... can I cook properly?"

"Of course. As long as you dedicate yourself to train, you'll be a master at it eventually. Just... be consistent. That's all."

"But Master Dux's cooking was burning like a tower of fire back then..."

"Hmph. That squid fool paid no attention to his foods. His cooking level is below average, although he's lived for over a century long!"

"Huh... well, Master Dux admitted he's not good at cooking... what about you?"

"Hm. Unlike him, I know quite well how to properly do it. Since I do not have the required body to do so, I again will instruct you how to do it, Oria."

"Okay. I'll do my best."

When the sun is directly above their heads, Faruk taught the child how to use ingredients and make an acceptable dish while in the open with limited supplies. Despite being a dragon with no humanoid body, and now currently only in the shell of an iron ball, he's really knowledgeable in culinary skills, almost chef-like.

After some time, Oria enjoyed her very first self-cooked food. Meanwhile, there's Faruk, who can only watch his protege eat off from the straw plate on her own.