Faruk's Relentless Training (Part 4)

"So, you wish to appraise my status, is that it?" Faruk asked.

"Heehee. Yeah! Is it okay?" Oria delightfully replied. Her palms buried under the clench of her fist, excited as she awaits the dragon's positive respond.

Faruk, however, is a bit concerned, unsure whether to allow the little child to do what she wants. "(I'm troubled with that abrupt upgrade to her [Appraisal] skill. Getting to level 2 requires at least 10 different analyses on targets. I didn't take my sights away from her long enough to allow her to use [Appraisal] under my nose. ...But still, I won't know unless I allow her. It might even have something to do with her [E-404] skill.)"

"F-Faruk...?" Oria looked at him, worried.

"...Hm. I will allow you this once. Do as you wish."

"Oooh... Please, Faruk, it's stressing me out whenever you suddenly give me a long silence like that!"

"What?" Faruk replied, surprised by her sudden and blaringly high voice.

"O-Oh...! I... I'm so sorry," she immediately apologized, realizing that she involuntarily let out such boisterous yell. "I-I didn't mean to shout..."

"...*sigh*... Oria, I thought I was the only one to burst out loud. It seems you are none the wiser..."

"A-Ahhhh! I'm really, REALLY sorry! I will not shout again! Promise!"

"Haha. Perish the thought. I also share the same fault. For you see, when I'm deep in thoughts, I wouldn't notice the time has already passed some period. After all, I was a Guardia. A Guardia is involved in heavy brain work and often spent too much time organizing ideas."

"I-Is that so...?" Oria said in a cowering stance.

"Hm," Faruk nodded.

"You're not angry, are you?"

"What, do you view me as some ignorant fussy and grumpy creature? No. You needn't fear me."

"(Uhh, I kinda agree that you ARE a fussy creature...) I... I see..." Oria lowered her fear, her arms calmed, and she blew out a relieved breath.

"...That aside, are you going to appraise me or not?"

"Wah! Uh, right..." Oria hurried to his side.

"For the love of Altria, you do love to get sidetracked, don't you?" Faruk grumbled.

"Ah-hahaha..."

"H-Here I go..."

As she said that, the Observer closes its eye.

"...Appraisal!"

Right away as she uses the appraisal skill, a screen pops up in front of her face.

<DRAGON FARUK ARGENTORA>

-- Desc: A dragon lord with silvery scales. Was a former Guardia. --

After reading the not-so-informative popup screen, Oria responds sighingly.

"Erm... It doesn't really show too much info, huh? It still shows pretty much all things you've told me about you..."

Faruk opens the Observer eye, "(Do you really want to know about me that much?) Well, that's what happened when you're still at a low level [Appraisal]. It can't be helped."

"Eh? But wait, there's SOMETHING new here!" Oria nearly yelled, excited as she noticed something in the description label.

"Dragon lord? Faruk, what's a dragon lord? Is it, like, the lord of all dragons or something like that?" she asked passionately, eager to know.

"Oh, I haven't told you, did I?" Faruk just remembered. "I am a dragon lord, yes. But a dragon lord, is, well, not quite the 'lord' of all dragons, mind you."

"Interesting! Can you tell me more about that, please? Please?"

Faruk can see stars in her cute jade eyes, pleading him to explain to her. That curiosity of hers is everlasting.

"(I'm glad she's very studious and has keen interest in the world around her, but...) No, I will not tell you now."

"Whaaat? Please...?"

"Did you not hear me quite well? I said I will not tell you now. I'd be glad to give a story about it if you can finish today's training until evening," Faruk said in a bossy voice.

"Really? You really will tell me?" she asked even much more energetically. Her face is already a centimeter away from the Observer ball.

"S-Sheesh, you're too close! ...*sigh*... Yes, that's what I said. Work hard, and I will tell you."

"Yaaaay!" she celebrated happily, jumping with delight. "I will work as hard as possible!"

"Don't get too pumped up, Oria, lest you lose your energy before the training session ends."

"Got it!"

With a promise Faruk made to her, she totally can't leave it out of her mind. But that is also the very thing that fuels her spirit to train harder. On the meadow, she once again searches for a monster, whether it is a slime or a horned rabbit, accompanied by her master.

"Oh... two rabbits..." she encountered two at once. Those creatures are unusually aggressive, willing to puncture anyone and anything with its sharp and long horn.

"Careful, Oria!" Faruk floated quickly to in front of her. "Those monsters are restless for some reason."

"What's wrong with them...?" she asked while keeping a safe distance. She and Faruk are practically on a higher plateau than the pair.

"Why not use the [Appraisal] ability? Who knows you might find something useful?" said Faruk shifting up and down in quick succession, as if he's shrugging.

"Good idea! But can it be done from this distance?"

"Just focus your attention on one of them. Lose it, you can't appraise them from a short distance like this. Now try."

Oria nods, "Mm. I'll try!"

She focuses her eyes to one of the agitated rabbits. One of them hops closer suddenly, making Oria lost her concentration as she flinched by the monster's movement.

Faruk notices this, "Don't worry. They may jump to attack their prey, but at their height, they can't reach us."

"Oooh... come on, I mustn't be scared by them... focus, Oria, focus!"

The young girl tries again. Shortly, she feels a strange sensation as her eyes can see the rabbit monster as if she's near it. Knowing this, she immediately uses the appraisal to see if it works.

"Appraisal!"

<Horn Rabbit>

-- Desc: A monster in the shape of rabbit. It has a long horn to pierce predators. --

"Huh... it shows more info now..." Oria commented.

Then, suddenly...

<Conditions are met. Appraisal level 3 reached!>

"Whoa, Faruk! My [Appraisal] skill has reached level 3!"

"—EH!? What in Altria's name did you do!?" Faruk stormed in and joined her looking at the popup screen. "T-This is..."

Not long afterwards... another system voice is heard by her.

<Focused Eye Lv.1 achieved!>

"Sweet! I got a new skill!"

"What the... (This madness again!? Just what the heck happened? What's with this insanely rapid increase in her level!?) Oria, check the new skill you just obtained, quick."

"P-Pardon?" Oria got a bit flustered.

"It's in your status screen on the skill tree. You can check the description of every skill you obtained," said Faruk. He, however, is more stressed out.

"O-Okay... Display Self Status."

She inspects the newly obtained skill she got: the [Focused Eye].

<Focused Eye Lv.1>

"Desc: Allows greater focus to target. Able to follow fast-moving target."

Oria, being the inquisitive girl as she is, automatically rolls her eyes down, checking on more of her skills on the screen. There's her [Appraisal] skill below the [Focused Eye].

<Appraisal Lv.3>

"Desc: Grants small information of target's status. Can see target's HP and MP bar."

Then, the mana transfer ability.

<Mana Transfer Lv.1>

"Desc: Gives 3 points of user's mana to any target."

Lastly, the magical skill of hers:

<Weapon Witchcraft Lv.2>

"Desc: Allows user to design a temporary weapon using MP."

Faruk is stressing out by her quick growth, he's practically sweating right now, but in that Observer ball form, he didn't show any drop of sweat. Though, the Observer eyelid is twitching. The Silver Dragon can barely comprehend what's going on.

"(Getting [Appraisal] to level 3 requires at least five, FIVE more different targets to be scanned. B-But this... this is insane! It's like the system isn't syncing with her growth!)"

"So, this is how I check the description of my skills... this is so interesting!" said Oria merrily.

"(I'm sure now. It absolutely has something to do with that [E-404] skill of hers...)" Faruk's eye focused to that one defective skill. He closes his eyes, thinking: "(But... it can also be possible that it was...)"

"Heehee. If I work hard, I might be able to get more and more skills! I want to train more, Faruk!"

With a resigned voice, making a sound like he's releasing a long breath as if he's the one tired from training, he says to her. "...*sigh*... Fine. Let's battle against two rabbits at once!"

"Mm! I'll appraise them first, right?"

"You know the rules."

"Here I go...! Appraisal!"

As Oria focuses on getting information of those monsters, Faruk thinks in his mind:

"(Perhaps I should consult about it to him tonight...)"

For the time being, Faruk gives up about her unreasonably quick growth. He just keeps on training her and see how far her growth can take her. Oria learns how to fight two aggressive monsters at once. She can beat them in a bit of effort since her level is at level 2 while the monster is at level 1.

Continuously, she fights four more monsters, three of them are rabbits while one more is a slime.

As the sun falls beneath the horizon, the darkness attends the world, coloring the barely clouded sky in dark bluish hue. With that, Faruk calls off the training session, marking the end of their first day of training.

Oria and Faruk returns to camp. The dragon tells her to clean herself as there is a water spring not far from their location. There's a spare cloth that looks exactly the same as the ones she's wearing right now and a white towel in the equipment backpack.

Faruk teaches her how to light a torch. After that, he guides her to the water spring.

"Dux managed to convince this Miss Katze to make one more. I don't know how he did it, but he also managed to procure a towel. Go wash yourself there."

"O-Okay..."

The torch she brought along is hold in midair, thanks to Faruk lending some of his mana to make it float magically. With that, the child dips in the shallow water spring. Altogether, she washes the clothes she wore for the day, too, although she's only using water. Faruk, on the other hand, simply waited behind the wall of trees.

After she's done bathing, she comes out, dries herself and wears her new set of clothing. She meets Faruk again by the tree he's at while bringing a sack of her dirty clothes.

"Phew... it's so refreshing!"

"Hm. That spring is imbued with a recovery magic, after all. Hm, what's that on your hand?" Faruk asked curiously.

"Oh, ahaha... it's... it's my dirty clothes," she replied slowly, almost sounding reluctant. Her face is beet red.

"A-Ahem... uhh, let's head back to camp, shall we?"

Back at camp, Faruk allows her to hit the bed if she feels like it. Tired, she nods and immediately enters the tent she had set up in the morning. Lo and behold, she's already sleeping the moment her head lies down on a straw pillow—one that Dux bought.

"Next day, I should teach her how to stay alert even in her sleep..."

...

Suddenly, Faruk receives a popup screen, showing a name that isn't his and a circular wave motion.

"Hmph. Speak of the devil. I was just thinking about calling him..."

Faruk looks back to the tent, making sure the child is sleeping. With that, he hovers a bit far from camp and answers to that popup screen.

*beep*

"Hello, Dux, is it?"

A recognizable voice, shrilly and funny at the same time, sounded from that screen.

"Nyuhuhuhhuhu~! Hellllooo! Hell-OH! It's been quite some time, is it not?"