Two weeks go by of this rigorous training.

  Will and Alea are sitting around the table eating dinner and discussing the lightning element, trying to brainstorm different technique ideas for him, when Amos and Taleya come in from outside.

  “We’re leaving for a little while.” Amos says. “Taleya and I have to handle some business. We won’t be gone long, but try not to get into any trouble.”

  Will looks at him skeptically. “How much trouble could we possibly get into? We’re in the middle of no where.”

  “Oh, is back talking your master how you decided to die? Not the wisest choice, but I’ve seen more foolish ones than that before.”

  Will smiles, lowering his head in what Will hoped was a good impersonation of shame, hoping the old man didn’t see his grin.

  “I’m sorry master.”

  Amos just hums noncommittally, ignoring his apprentice’s horrible attempt to appear humble and stopped himself from smiling himself.

  He would never say it out loud, but it felt good to see the boy finally starting to come out of his shell. It warmed his heart to see him start to grow from the scared and flinching boy he had met 6 months ago.

  “Not to agree with the grouch,” Taleya threw a thumb at Amos. “But he’s right. Stay safe, we’ll see you soon.”

  Amos glares at Taleya but didn’t say another word as he turns on his heel and walks out the door. Taleya has a teasing smile on her face as she winks at the kids and follows him out.

  The second the door closes and Alea feels their presences disappear she speaks.

  “Finally! I thought those two would never give us some breathing room. Bunch of mother hens I swear.” Alea said exasperatedly.

  “Breathing room? Breathing room for what? All we’ve been doing is training, and it’s not like there’s a town or city near by that we can go check out.” Will scratches the back of his head. “I don’t know if I’d want to even if there were. The way Amos talks, it sounds like there’s monstrously strong cultivators wherever you turn. I’d rather get strong enough to defend myself.”

  Alea rolls her eyes. “Oh please. The percentage of the population who actually cultivate seriously is much smaller compared to those who only passively cultivate throughout their life. And of those who do, not many make it very far. Every tier in power you ascend, the smaller and smaller the amount of people who can challenge you.”

  “Are you saying those who don’t accumulate at least a small amount of power don’t lord it over those who have none?”

  Alea paused. “Fair point. But still.”

  “It’s not like I don’t get what you’re saying, but I’d still feel better being stronger. I want to at least get to the Mind Realm.”

  Alea looks at him askance. “Just like that? You think it’s so easy to reach the Mind Realm? Didn’t you reach the Spirit Realm the same day I got here?”

  “I get it may take a while.” Will said as he shrugs. “But what else do I have to do?”

  “Well anyway, since you’re so committed to getting stronger, do you want to get stronger faster? I can’t be the only one getting frustrated at the this slow grind.”

  Will looks at her inquisitively. “What did you have in mind?”

  “This forest, there’s a reason Amos made his domain here.”

  “Which is…?”

  She looks at him weirdly. “You don’t know? This forest is pretty well known.”

  “I’m not from around here.” It was a simple and easy answer. Uncomplicated and straight forward. It’s what Amos told him to say if anyone ever asked him specific questions.

  Alea looked like she wanted to ask more, but seems to change her mind at the last second.

  “Well this forest is known for its high level monsters. It’s a perfect training ground.”

  “And you want to what? Find one of these insanely strong monsters and defeat it? If this is a good training ground for those at our master’s level, then what chance do we have?”

  “We’re not very deep into the forest. At least not by cultivator standards. The monsters and beasts around here might be a little stronger than us but if we travel back east a little then we could find some around our strength.”

  “I don’t know. They literally just told us not to do anything stupid.”

  “This isn’t stupid. This is training. We won’t attack anything we can’t take down, and we’ll do it together.”

  Will thought about it for a moment.

  Why not? They’ve been training hard. And he would be lying if he said he hadn’t been itching to test himself against a new opponent.

  “Ok deal. Let’s do it.” Alea grins at him. Her two dimples flashing as she smiles wide. “We’ll have to be quick, I have no idea how long ‘a little while’ is in Amos terms.” Will said.

  They didn’t waste any time and left the cabin.

  They checked the position of the sun and started traveling east.

  As they are traveling Will is amazed at the difference since he had traveled from this direction six months ago. He was faster, stronger, his stamina was much better, and he actually knew how to fight. He was able to run at what used to be a sprint for him but now only consumed enough energy and exertion of what used to be a slow jog. And of course Alea had no issues keeping up. They ate up the miles as they searched for their challenge.

  Will decided to leave his spear at the cabin. Opting instead to keep the double long knives that he felt more comfortable with. He holds onto their hilts as he runs.

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  Alea emulated her master by wearing her sword on her back. Unlike her master who seemed to use a long and slim sword Will could have sworn he’d seen in a few kun-fu movies, Alea used a hand-and-a-half sword.

  After a few hours of running Alea signals him to stop. He still hadn’t figured out how to utilize his aura yet so he had a hard time sensing others. Alea excelled at using hers however.

  “What do you feel?” Will asked.

  “I think I feel something a little further south. Around our level. Wanna take it down?”

  “Let’s scope it out first. See what we can figure out about it. Make sure we don’t get in over our heads.”

  Alea rolls her eyes. “Have some more confidence in your abilities. We’ll be fine.”

  Will didn’t respond, just nodded his head and motioned her to lead the way.

  They ran for another half hour or so before Alea signals him to stop again. “It’s close. Shouldn’t be too much farther ahead.”

  “How do you want to handle this?”

  “I got a solid feel for it now. It’s a similar strength to us. With two against one we got this. I say we just rush it, use the element of surprise and take it down. Then maybe see if we can find another before heading back.”

  Will frowns. He wanted to take the more cautious route. See if they could lay eyes on it at least. Maybe even get a gauge on any strengths or weaknesses it may have. He was starting to get a bad feeling about this.

  “Alea maybe we should-“

  “Let’s do this!”

  She rushes out. Clearly hyped up and letting adrenalin take the lead.

  Will sighs and follows. Who knows, maybe they can catch the beast by surprise and take it down fast.

  They burst out into a clearing. Alea’s senses telling her it should be right in front of them. They stop dead and look around. Will with his long knives out, Alea with her sword in both hands. Both of them furiously cycling their Qi, ready for a fight.

  “Where is it?” Will whispers.

  “It should be right here! I can feel it. What’s going on?”

  Their breathing is heavy as adrenalin and Qi pumped through their veins. They look around furiously, back to back, trying to find the beast.

  A few tense and quiet seconds pass.

  “Alea maybe we should-“

  Her head snaps up a millisecond before a massive spider drops from above them. All Will sees are black beady eyes fixed on them as he feels Alea blast him to the side with a low temperature burst of flame. The move violently flinging both of them in opposite directions.

  In terms of reflexes and evasion the move was amazing. In terms of what would have been the best move for the situation, Will wasn’t sure. He gets up from the ground, slightly disoriented.

  Alea is already on her feet, in an athletic stance, her sword held toward the giant spider.

  It was glancing back and forth at both of them, trying to figure out who to attack first.

  Will got the distinct impression that this beast didn’t consider itself surrounded. It was trying to figure out who to eat first.

  This is bad. Was this thing suppressing its aura? Can monsters do that? Or is it just strong for its realm?

  Thought after panicked thought run through Will’s head. He can feel his heart pumping faster and faster, panic starting to set in. Are we going to die?

  “Will! Calm down. This thing is strong but if we work together we can take it down!”

  Will was more thinking if they worked together they could escape. He sighs, takes a deep breath and firms his resolve. He didn’t train all this time to die by a spider!

  “Let’s do this!” Will yells.

  Alea keeps her eyes on the spider but her full lips spread in a wide smile.

  “Together then!” She yells back.

  Will and Alea start circling the beast. Trying to keep it off balance and force an opening. They didn’t account for something though.

  The monster was fast.

  It goes after Alea first, probably, and accurately, assuming she is the bigger threat.

  She blocks the first few initial strikes it makes with it’s legs, which appear to be harder then steel and sharper then a blade.

  One thing quickly becomes clear though. It’s faster than them.

  Will rushes it, determined to give Alea some breathing room by distracting it. The thing must of been waiting for just that, because the second Will gets close it strikes out and hits him right in the chest with a leg.

  Will’s able to get his knives up just in time to block but is sent flying back, faster than when Alea had kicked him with a flame enhanced leg, and sent him right into a tree. Will hits hard; so hard he finds it difficult to get back up.

  He looks up, struggling to catch his breath after it was knocked out of him. Alea is fighting for all she’s worth. She takes advantage of the microsecond Will had won her to activate her flame. But even with the added strength and speed it awards her, she can’t keep up.

  Because of the beasts speed, she isn’t able to fully leverage her flame into a full power attack. The spider is always able to keep her on her back foot. Swiping forward with a clawed leg, then surging forward with sudden bursts of insane speed to try and bite her with its absolutely massive mandibles.

  Will triesto think of what to do. This thing was about 30 feet tall, and a little more wide and long with its eight legs.

  I’m not strong enough. I have to use it. No matter what the cost. I refuse to let Alea die!

  With a determined finality, and with Alea keeping the beast distracted, Will summons his lightning.

  He wasn’t as fast at summoning his element as Alea is at summoning hers, but he has just enough time because of how fiercely she fighting.

  Will stands up. He feels no nervousness, no hesitation. All he sees was that his friend is in danger and he would walk through the flames of hell before he let her die.

  He winces in pain as he lets his gold lightning cover his legs. He can’t cover his entire body yet, but he’d been practicing switching his lightning to empower one limb and then another to compensate.

  He dashes forward, his body a blur even to himself. Taleya said that downside would resolve eventually.

  Right as he gets to the spider’s body, as smoothly as he can, he switches his lighting to his right arm and blade. Right as he is about to slash down with it and hopefully sever the beast in half, the spider strikes again. It doesn’t knock him back as far, his lighting empowering him just enough to only get slammed back ten feet or so.

  The time it took to transition his lightning from his legs to his arm just wasn’t fast enough.

  He was faster than the spider when he used his lightning in his legs, but the lag time when he tries to switch limbs gives it enough time to attack him again.

  Will growls to himself. There’s only one way.

  He sighs once more and gives a look of regret and goodbye to Alea.

  He might not of been in this world long, but he had enjoyed every second that he was here.

  Alea glances at him nervously, wondering what he is planning.

  He drops his knives and bends his knees, bracing himself. Left leg forward, right leg back, right arm semi tucked against him. He pumps all of his lightning, every ounce of it, every single drop he can accumulate, into his right arm.

  His soul, which had already been aching, cries out in pain. The more lightning he gathers the more he can feel his soul being torn apart.

  He doesn’t care. He would save Alea if it was the last thing he did.

  The golden lightning surges, crackling and arcing all along his right arm. A few seconds later it’s ready.

  “Alea! When I say now jump back! I can barely control this!”

  Alea keeps glancing back between the spider and him with fear in her eyes as she uses everything she has to keep the spider at bay for just a few more seconds.

  “NOW!”

  She leaps back, propelled by the orange flames she had pushed down into her feet.

  The same second she blasts back, Will releases a burst of pure golden lightning from his right arm and hand directly at the spider.

  The attack is too fast and too strong for it. It didn’t even have time to turn before the bolt is sent right through it.

  Will isn’t sure if it’s dead or not, but either way it soon would be.

  Will suddenly starts to fall as he can feel his soul on the verge of collapsing all together. The pain was unbearable. Like a giant sword spitting him from head to groin, while being run through with several more.

  Alea appears next to him, catching him right before he hits the ground.

  “You fool! You didn’t have to do that!” Tears were falling down her face as she has him braced against her, both on their knees. “We could have won! You didn’t need to put everything into your attack like that! We could have found a way!”

  Alea can feel it. She can feel his soul crumbling away, almost to nothing.

  “Couldn’t take a chance…on you not making it.”

  They hear a sound, and both lookup and see the impossible. The spider is shakily getting to its feet. There’s no way it could last much longer but for whatever reason it was somehow still alive.

  “Alea..run.” Then all Will knew was darkness.

  And as always, thank you so much for reading!