Hina's Dream
"What? Hina, do you have any idea what are you talking about? Do you know how dangerous it is to leave the village?" The Village Chief shouted at Hina.
But, Hina didn't even look at him. Her eyes were fixated on Shin, waiting for his answer.
Shin paused for a moment. He didn't know how to respond. Hearing such a thing from her, sounded like a confession.
To be fair, he wanted to accept it. After all, he was a single dog in his last life. But, it wasn't truly a confession as well.
Besides that, she didn't have any strength. If he took her out, she would be nothing but a burden for him.
Shin would never let the people close to him die when he is around. So, in the battle, she would only be a disadvantage to him.
Hina was quite clever. She already saw this through his emotions. Although she felt a bit sad, she didn't lose all of her hope.
To be fair, she truly wanted to leave this village. She wanted to go out. Just like Shin, she also had a dream.
It was to travel the world and brew the best wine in the entire world.
Unfortunately, she never had the strength or courage to go out. Thus, her dream remained stagnant until she finally got some courage to ask Shin.
She took a deep breath and clenched her fist. She replied while deeply looking into his eyes.
"Although I am weak right now, I will definitely train and get stronger. I will not be a liability to you. And, I…. I also have a dream."
"I want to brew the Best Wine in this world. But, I know if I stay here for the rest of my life, I will never be able to find a better way to brew wine."
"So, please take me with you! Just give me one opportunity to get stronger."
Hearing her words, Shin was surprised and suddenly came up with an idea for making her stronger.
Unlike before, he had a way that could help her get stronger. There were still fifteen days.
Even if she wouldn't get as strong as him in just fifteen days, she should be able to get strong enough to protect herself.
After thinking for a while, he nodded his head.
"Alright! I will spend the next fifteen days in the village. After that, we will leave together. But, since I am used to living in the forest, I will teach you something tonight."
"Once you follow it, you will surely get stronger."
Hearing his words, a smile bloomed on Hina's face as she rushed toward him and embraced him tightly.
"Thank you! Thank you so much, Shin!"
She was so happy that she was finally going to fulfill her dream. Although her dream was still far away, at least she took the first step toward her dream.
But, soon she realized that she did something too much. She quickly let go of him and ran toward the kitchen with a blushing face.
Shin got awkward. After all, this was the first time he was hugged by a lady who wasn't his mother. His instinct as a man truly kicked in.
But, he controlled himself.
"Shin, I'm sorry about Hina!"
Village Chief turned around and apologized but he slowly got to his knees.
"I know I am asking for too much. But, Hina has always been like a daughter to me. I know it will be difficult for you but Please keep her safe."
Shin was shocked by Village Chief's action but he quickly understood his mood.
As he said, she was like a daughter to him. It would naturally worry a father to see her daughter leaving into the unknown.
He quickly pulled him up and said.
"Village Chief, do not worry! Since I have decided to take her with me, I will never leave her alone in the face of danger. If one day, she can't come back, you can think of my death."
Hearing his words, Village Chief's body trembled and tears poured out of his eyes.
"Shin, I'm sorry! I'm really sorry."
At first, it sounded confused as to why Village Chief would apologize but Shin knew the reason.
Village Chief told this before. He didn't take care of Shin due to the fear of the Tyro Family. But now, he felt incredibly guilty for being a coward.
Shin shook his head and patted Village Chief's shoulder.
"Empty fearlessness is the reason for death. Village Chief, I was ignorant at my age. So, you don't need to be as courageous as an ignorant child."
"By following your heart, you protected the Village and that's more than enough. After all, this village did take care of me. I survived because of this village."
Hearing his words, Village Chief got even more guilty but this time, he was a bit relieved. Soon, he controlled his tears and finally showed a smile.
"Then, I will leave Hina in your hands, Shin."
Saying so, he turned around and left.
As for Hina, she was standing behind the door hearing every word of the Village Chief.
She was also crying. But when she heard Village Chief's last words, her tears slowly stopped and a blush appeared on her face.
Shin didn't immediately go in but rather sat on the chair and stared at his new status panel.
[Super Download System- 1.0
Host- Shin Tyro
Age- 17
Combat Power- (E) Rank
Body- (E) Rank
Martial Arts- Steel Flow Shin Body Art (Lv.1), Flame Qi Art (Lv.1)
Active Abilities- Fire Element (Lv.1)
Passive Abilities- Iron Body (Lv.4)
Talent- SuperHearing (Lv.1), Sword Hero (Lv.1)
Prestige Points (PP)- 150]
'Wow! It seems like my prestige has gone up by a lot. System, would I still be able to change the name of the Martial Arts or other abilities as I want in the future?'
[It is only possible if two similar kinds of martial arts are merged to create a similar yet new kind of martial art. And, the same goes for Abilities and talent.]
'Oh! That's good then. But, I never expected merging my Iron Body Art and his Moulding Iron Body Art would be this easy.'
'Sure enough, if you have the source of the power, you can easily replicate it through a certain level of understanding.'
'Anyway, System, help me raise Iron Body to Level 7.'
[Would you like to use 150PP to upgrade Iron Body to Lv.7?]
[Yes] [No]
Without any hesitation, he clicked on Yes. The next moment, he felt a powerful burst of energy through his body.
This kind of power was truly intoxicating. He felt every cell of his body screaming like a drum and the cool energy making his cells fly in the cool wind.
It felt extremely comfortable. This sensation remained for five minutes until he finally found his body had changed drastically.
If Lv.4 was the starting point of the middle stage of the Iron Body then Lv.7 was the starting point of the high stage of the Iron Body.
The difference between Middle and High was huge, almost as big as two decades of vigorous training.
Of course, it wasn't the strength that increased so much. But rather the quality of his Iron Body. That's why it was counted as a decade of experience.
Unlike strength that can be raised in just a few months of vigorous training, it takes decades of constant polishing to enhance one's abilities or talent.
That's why Kent was extremely surprised when he saw the level of Iron Body that Shin had.
Of course, strictly speaking, at that moment, his Iron Body wasn't exactly equal to that of Kent.
It's just that he had Flame Qi Art increased his Qi to a higher level and also had SuperHearing which gave him an advantage over him in strength.
Of course, the main reason why he won was because of that last attack; Finger Pistol.
So, Shin was extremely happy about the improvement in his Iron Body. After improving that, he once again checked his status window.
[Super Download System- 1.0
Host- Shin Tyro
Age- 17
Combat Power- (E+) Rank
Body- (E+) Rank
Martial Arts- Steel Flow Shin Body Art (Lv.1), One Sword Flow (Lv.1), Flame Qi Art (Lv.1)
Active Abilities- Fire Element (Lv.1)
Passive Abilities- Iron Body (Lv.7)
Talent- SuperHearing (Lv.1), Sword Hero (Lv.1)
Prestige Points (PP)- 0]
'Good! Now, I should be able to defeat Kent with ease. But, even so, I am surprised that I wasn't able to reach D-Rank after this massive improvement.'
Thinking about it, he stood up and cracked his fingers together.
"Sure enough, I still need to train a lot. From tomorrow, I will vigorously train my physical strength and Qi. As for swordsmanship, I will shorten its training time."
"Once I gain enough PP to raise Iron Body to lv. 10, I will start focusing on Flame Qi and Swordsmanship."
"After all, the Body is the main foundation."