Rewards

Everyone was excited at the mention of rewards. "Come forward, brat!" With that tone, everyone knew who he was referring to. Sophia moved ahead and Lyod placed two strange-looking fruits to her. Ryu had never seen that fruit and it could only mean that it was a Yuva. It had green skin and was of the size similar to a newborn baby's fist. It was shaped much like an unripe mango from his previous world, just one-third of its size. Ryu can feel all his body hairs stand at their ends. This is the one thing he required the most right now.

"Although you didn't perform as well as expected from you and even getting help from a junior to pick a random flower, anyhow since Mrs. Emily had decided it this way then I don't..." Lyod had been ranting to himself as when he paid attention, the girl had already left leaving him talking to himself. He was so mad that he wanted to pull on his hair, had he not been in presence of his juniors. "Ahem.. ahem.. Then let's move on to the next one." This time he didn't call anyone, instead of moving closer to Jake and handing him a Yuva of his own.

"Your performance was up to the mark Jake. I got nothing to add. Just keep going like this. You got the perfect mix of quick thinking and explosive firepower. Still, if I had to nitpick then I will suggest trying to concentrate your spells. Right now your spells are spread over a large area and that is not a problem if you are fighting against an enemy but let's say if you need to help out a friend who is engaged in combat, in those situations your spells are likely to cause damage to both your friend and his opponent in case you try to help out. Hope that helps out." Jake immediately bowed his head in reverence. His words were enlightening. "Thank you master Lyod. I will make sure to work on my shortcomings and strive to improve." Lyod's face had a big smile.

Why can't his daughter be like this? She was talented but had to act like a jerk towards him all the time. With grievances in his heart, he moved to Kyro next and handed him a Yuva too. "Although your performance was not up to the mark, Mrs. Emily still believes that you can improve in the future. So work hard and prove to her that she didn't display her confidence in you, in vain." Kyro was ready to listen to an earful of complaints from this grumpy old man but instead what he got was an unexpected trust placed on him. He was greatly humbled. Conviction flashed in his eyes as he bowed down. "Thank you so much for your words master. I will try to improve to the best of my ability. Lyod patted him on his shoulder "Good. Moving on to our little lady here."

Kira put her head down. She was a bit embarrassed, being the only teammate that ended up getting herself injured and holding her team back. "No need to be shy about that little Kira. Actually, you are the one who had surprised me the most. Haven't you realized how much you have improved already? Do you think that you from a month back could even think of standing against a magical beast in support of your friends? You have come a long way." He patted her head in affection. Her eyes became wet but she hurriedly wiped them away. "Thank you so much master Lyod. Please tell this junior how I can improve myself."

"Hmm.. let me think. Firstly, you need to work on your confidence a bit more. I know you have improved a lot but it still requires improvement. What counts is not how many victories you have under your belt but rather if you have the guts to take the hit, yet stand back and continue fighting. Secondly, right now you are using your abilities in defensive mode. I want you to have a dual ability. Attack when you get the chance and defend when the opponent tries to overwhelm you. Your water ability can easily fill in both roles. Mrs. Emily had asked me to inform you that she will be available if you want to have some of your doubts cleared with her." Kira had literal butterflies in her stomach. She can't wait to reach home and tell the good news to her mother.

"I am confident that all of you will be able to get admitted to a magic school in the capital during next year. That's why I want you to work even harder. The way you are right now, none of the schools will accept you but if you try hard enough in the next 4 months you can get to that level." Everyone had a wide smile in response. "I am sure all of you would like to join a school together. So work hard lest you get left behind." This brought Kyro and Kira back to the ground. Both of them knew that the old man was referring to them.

Lyod handed a Yuva to Kira before moving onto Ryu. He patted the green-haired boy's shoulders. "You performed even better than I expected brat. I got only a single piece of advice for you, don't de indecisive in battle. Lack of decisiveness can literally be the reason that can take your life or worse you can lose your friends. But I think you have already learned that lesson so I won't take any more of your time. Here, you fully deserve these." Ryu was surprised that the old man gave him two Yuvas but he wouldn't mind the extra benefits.

"Good luck brats. You only got 4 months in your hands from this point onwards. Because that is the time when all the major schools in the capital will open up to take in students. As far as I know, none of you are backed by any great powers in the capital so you have to depend on your abilities to get in. Let me tell you one thing, it isn't going to be easy. They don't accept mediocre mages. All of them want the best of the best. So give it your best shot if you want a bright future for yourselves. With that, all of you except Ryu is dismissed." One by one the rookies bowed and took their leave.

"How did you learn those spells, Ryu?" Ryu knew Sophia must have provided him a detailed report of their performance. So it was futile to say otherwise. "From the book grandma provided." Lyod nodded in understanding. "Ohh.. can you cast that clone spell once in front of me?" Lyod had a hard time believing that a junior realm brat was able to cast a cloning spell. That was a high-level spell that can be cast only by the mages in earth's realm.

Ryu nodded and placed his hands on the earthen ground. "Wooden clones!!" His call made the earth around his feet simmer before two human-sized wooden puppets revealed themselves. Lyod was pleasantly surprised. Although, at this level, they can't be called real clones but just the fact that Ryu managed to cast this complicated spell spoke volumes about his aptitude. "Send them to attack me. Don't hold back."

Ryu nodded and did as the old guy told him. *Swish* *Swish* Both puppets transformed their heads into sharp spears before lunging at Lyod. They were quite agile and considering the size of this hut, it should have been rather difficult for him to dodge both of them at once. But the old man proved him wrong. He didn't retaliate against the puppets instead choosing to keep his hands behind his back and moving nimbly, all the while sidestepping them without much effort. "Hmm... Impressive! Then let's check how durable they are." Saying that he sent a single punch flying towards the marionette, sending it crashing to the wall. The next one faced a similar fate, being punched into the ground leaving it dysfunctional.

"Whatever you achieved till now is impressive but although these clones are agile but they need to be a little more durable. Try to work on that." He didn't want to shower too many praises on the boy to avoid getting him too conceited of his skills. "Thanks master for the advice. I will work on it." Lyod waved his hands "Dismissed. All of you can return to your patrols."

***

Ryu and joined back with his friends who were curious as to why he was stopped. He didn't hide anything and told them everything in detail. "What do you think Ryu, will grandma give me a spellbook too?" Ryu shook his head without caring for Kyro's feelings. "Nope. She only put that effort into me because I am a personal disciple of her's as well as my abilities are quite rare. You got none." Kyro was aggrieved. "You need not be this harsh, man." Everyone chucked as the boy slumped on the ground in despair.

It was afternoon already so the group decided to have their lunch together. Mid conversation Ryu extended his hands. "I want all of you to pay me with the rewards you got." They thought the guy was joking at first but as time passed they realized he was serious. "You want our fruits, Ryu?" Jake confirmed, to which Ryu nodded his head. "Okay. But you better have a good reason why we should pay you up." Jake believed in him and knew he won't bring this matter up if he didn't have anything substantial to add.

"I am going to share with you a better cultivation technique. I can guarantee that it will be better than whatever you're using currently but I have two conditions for that." They were in a rather isolated part of the plantation so Ryu can talk freely. Kyro was a bit skeptical but the other two looked interested. He already had the technique that is directly from his grandmother. How can Ryu come up with something better than that?

"Speak. We are listening." Jake had no problem at least hearing the proposal. "First, you can't speak about it with anyone. I mean no one except you should know about it otherwise you will get all of us in trouble." This part even made even Kyro's ears twitch. Who won't be interested in a little 'secret' technique? Did Ryu get his hands on something incredible? He was missing for three days in the caves after all, so it was not impossible. Similar, thoughts were going in through everyone's mind.

"Second, as I told you already. You will have to part with your rewards if you want it." Jake mulled over the matter. The price of a single Yuva was dirt in front of a superior cultivation technique. "How confident are you about its effectiveness?" Ryu answered with a certain face. "A hundred percent." Jake didn't wait any longer, pulling his Yuva out of his pocket and throwing it towards Ryu. "I accept." His decision-making abilities had always amazed him. "Here. I believe in brother Ryu." Kira too handed her's. All three of them turned to the last guy who was still hesitating.

"Well, I thought maybe we can at least take a look at the technique before..." Kyro stopped speaking as Jake's gaze hardened. "Ahh.. take it." Ryu didn't blame the guy. Both cousins had action never tasted a Yuva before. He can only laugh at his childish behavior.

"Good. Now relax your bodies. I will make the mana circulate in your body. You already know the drill after that." Ryu started with Jake and ended up on Kyro. It took him half an hour to make all of the dragon's cultivation techniques by heart. Jake was the first one who can easily realize the benefit. "If you don't mind me asking Ryu, where did you get your hands on this technique. It's not even been 5 minutes since I started cultivating and I can already see the benefits." Ryu had the same idea as all of them so he blamed it on some memory transfer he received while he was lost in the cave system. Since he didn't go into detail, the group didn't ask any further questions. "Ryu, my brother." Just then he was thrown to the ground by an overly excited Kyro. To the amazement of Ryu, the guy even had tears in his eyes as he rubbed his face in his chest.