“To be able to catch destiny’s tail, it is definitely necessary to give it a regular try.”

Including Qai himself, a total of 14 armored children marched uniformly in two lines towards the north gate of the walls carrying shields and spears.

Mak, who was at the very front with his tower shield leading the way, had his chin high up sweeping his glance at every spectator. He appeared so mighty that younger children, to Mak’s delight, were staring at him as if they saw an immortal.

When the people from the nameless village saw them, they were all dumbfounded. They marveled with their jaws dropped at the sight of the group. In their minds, they couldn’t figure out how the village had an elite squad all of a sudden.

The reserve squad was truly imposing.

From the gates, Qai saw the river from where he was saved some years ago. And when the group passed through the fields filled with grains and crops, he took a deep breath.

It will be the farthest place Qai would step into after coming into the foreign world.

He had not forgotten all the legends he learned from reading, all those things about Spirit Beasts and Immortals. He wanted to explore, but not at that moment. Apparently, he is sill convinced that the world is bigger than the nameless villagers really believed.

Fortunately or unfortunately for him, the group would not venture deep into the forests. Their main goal was to earn experience, and at the same time, take home some hunt.

When they reached a clear path, Qai instructed them to stop.

“Alright, we have already studied the map given to us by the Hunter Squad. We just need to follow their usual trail and we’ll be fine.”

Even if they had been training for few years, the first is always filled with nervousness. And Qai could feel it from everyone, including himself.

“Form a Beeline with Mak at the very front. Everyone be careful and focus. Keep your senses alert. When we encounter rabbits, deers, boars, or whatever, everyone should surround it and we’ll pick one from among us and let him engage with it one on one. Any beast bigger that those should be dealt with by the squad.”

Qai’s intention of course was to first observe caution so reminding everyone to highten their senses to the maximum is understandable. He had been in very very tough situation before, perhaps not only once. And he wouldn’t want any casualty on their first trip to the forest. He would not allow to make the same mistake—especially when in past he put premium on defense and still died.

It only took a time to burn an incense before the squad encountered its first prey—a wild ram. And according to their arrangement, the group immediately surrounded it and one of them bravely volunteered to take it head on.

Apparently, all the members of the reserve squad already gained a certain level of mastery of all three moves of the ‘Fundamentals of Spearmanship.’ And anyone of them can take on such kind of beast.

‘Spear Thrust!’

Baam.

“One hit!”

“Well done!”

After killing the wild ram, the group went on to trace the old path and hunted for more wild beasts. The outcome of their years of training was on full display.

‘Spear Dance!’

‘Double Slash!’

When the sun was about to set, the squad had already collected more than a dozen dead bodies of wild beasts. In the end, apart from the wild ram they have killed a couple of snakes, a deer, plus some rabbits.

But the biggest was a wild boar which Mak volunteered to take care of. And as a trophy for its first kill, Mak hanged one of its large teeth on his neck.

“Hah, my father should have seen how powerful am I,” he said proudly. “I’m already itching to get back here tomorrow.”

“Alright enough for that,” Qai interrupted. “It’s time for us to get home and have a feast with our prey. And as part of our agreement, we will surrender half of our hunt to the treasury. Big sis Song, I hope you can take care of it. You can bring three of us to help you.”

“Don’t worry, I already have in mind which beasts to send to the treasury. Just be sure you wait for us when its time for the meal.”

“Alright, tomorrow we’ll head to the east side of the trail.”

The beast meat has been proven that it helps give the body some kind of power when coupled with right amount of training. So their kills, as knights, were prized treasures.

The following day, Qai took note of a medium sized waterfalls they spotted during their trip. Although it was a little far from the walls, it is obviously connected to the river near the nameless village.

Back in the empire, a lot of knights made use of the pressure of the waterfall current to train their bodies. And upon seeing the waterfalls, an inspiration suddenly kicked in Qai’s mind.

But just as when the group was about to head in further, a loud roar boomed all of sudden.

‘A bear!’

It was standing about 7 feet tall and, undoubtedly, had a ton of strength. Just from its roar, it can already inspire fear to anyone who wish to fight it.

Panic suddenly conquered the hearts of the group. But Qai was done with the unnecessary fear in such dangerous times.

“Encircle the area several meters away from the beast, I will take it head on. Just don’t let it escape.”

As he suddenly commanded, Qai then took a deep breath.

“Mak, lead a group to one side. Big sis Song will lead the rest.”

Right there and then, he speeded up towards the direction of the bear using the full strength of a Bronze rank Knight.

When the large wild bear saw him, it also darted with its paws towards his direction.

Seeing this as he neared, Qai jumped into the air and unleashed a powerful strike as he landed towards the very front of the wild bear.

‘Double Slash!’

Baam. Baam.

The wild bear was stunned. Its head was hit hard and it was pushed a meter backwards. Its face twitched. It never imagined that such power could come from a single human hunter.

The beast roared even louder and raised its forearms to hit Qai with its claws.

But Qai was all prepared to fight. He suddenly twisted his body as if to avoid the assault but it was all feint as he shifted his position to counter.

‘Spear Dance!’

Baam. Baam. Baam.

Qai was not done. When the bear was once again pushed backwards, its torso suddenly became wide open.

An opportunity!

Qai quickly pulled a large blade he carried from his back and leaned forward as hacked the blade using all of his might across the body of the bear. The attack was so powerful that a streak of light emerged from the blade as it landed on its target.

‘Baaaaam!’

The members of the reserve squad was stunned. They knew Qai was strong, but only now they realized that perhaps Qai is already the strongest even among the adults.

At the same time, strong air of energy right there and then burst forth from the entire body of Qai.

Silver rank!

‘Finally,’ Qai thought in excitement. ‘I knew I just needed a battle to make a breakthrough.’

As the dust cleared, the wild bear was already lying on the floor gasping for air.

Qai was still lingering at his newfound strength when all of sudden an a arrow streaked beside him.

‘Swooosh.’

“Arrrghhh.”

The still gasping wild bear was suddenly cut off from its breath as its neck dripped with blood.

"Who..!?"

Everyone was surprised by the sudden turn of events and each of their gaze immediately traced the line where the arrow came from. There they saw Big sis Song holding her bow still in an aiming stance.

“I’m just making myself sure it's dead!” she yelled from a distance.