It had been a few days since Kai had made his contract with Reo.

No training had begun because Kai had been busy securing his food source, water source, and shelter. They had travelled deeper into Darkwood Forest until there were various beasts living in the area, there were giant mountains, and a huge lake.

Since Kai already had the power of an F-class, fifth step; he was able to smoothly pass through to the center of Darkwood Forest. Darkwood Forest was the largest forest in the country, but it was not as dangerous as some of the other forests in the country.

Darkwood Forest is famous for its extensive land and tough wood. The wood in this forest is the most preferred material for building wooden houses. But because of this, a large variety of beasts also live here. Though most of them aren't above C-class, there are beast leaders at A-class.

Beasts have a tougher body than humans so an A-class beast should be enough to give an S-class trouble. The beasts in this place aren't as wild as other beasts so this has mostly been a place where humans dwell the outer parts and beasts dwell the inner parts.

Since Kai had ventured near the center, there were no humans in the vicinity. It was the perfect place to hole up for a few months.

"This place should do."

Kai went inside a cave and found a large rock to cover the outside.

He went out to get some firewood and built a campfire inside the cave.

"I'll make this place my shelter for now, I can sleep on the floor at night with the warmth of the fire."

Kai went outside once more and stretched.

"Time to hunt for tonight's dinner."

Kai took a pose that he was about to run and then suddenly sprinted. His speed comparable to the fastest athletes from his previous world.

Kai had not noticed the pendant that was hanging around his neck, because in the past; this pendant had always been on him. It was his grandfather's heirloom, passed on to his father, and finally unto him.

He knows the pendant like the back of his hand but he never tried to use magic on it.

Reo had told him that he should gather food physically without magic so that his body could eventually contain Reo's spiritual powers. Kai's mana storage was already ten times that of his peers because of the technique Reo had taught him.

(A/N: I had mentioned this before but never really said why, it was about harnessing external power and turning it into one's own. Refer to chapter 11.)

He quickly acquired some meat from a boar that was killed by his physical attacks. Even in this world, normal beasts still existed; they co-existed with the monsters. A normal boar wouldn't be able to stand up against Kai's physical body of an F-class.

As Kai was cooking the boar on his fire, Reo wasn't anywhere in sight.

"Reo?"

Kai called out but what met him was silence.

"Ah, I suppose I can try that."

Kai closed his eyes and tried to feel Reo's presence.

"[Spirit Sense]."

Lines connected in Kai's mind and he immediately found Reo's location.

"There he is."

[Spirit Sense] is a skill that came with Reo's contract. It had the ability to sense one's own contracted spirit.

Kai went outside the cave after making sure that the boar was cooking on top of the fire.

Kai walked for a bit and saw Reo floating in front of a piece of paper.

"Kai."

Reo called out Kai's name when he saw Kai approach.

"What are you doing?"

Kai tilted his head as he looked at the paper floating in front of Reo.

"Remember when I told you about the blank scroll that they'll give you after the exam?"

Kai looked up and nodded.

"Yeah."

"Since we had to flee, you couldn't use the scroll. Hence, I made a substitute."

The piece of paper flew into Kai's hand, it was not soft. It was as hard as a card from his previous world.

(A/N: Credit card, IDs, and etc not cards as in poker, blackjack, and stuff.)

"So I just pour my magic in?"

"Nn."

The scroll shone for an instant before words started carving themselves into the paper.

-------------------------

Name: Kuroshi Kai

Age: 7

Magic Power: 138

F-class, 1st step

-------------------------

"That's it...?"

"Yeah, though don't rely on these too much. They aren't fool-proof and can be easily faked. The name can't be faked but age and magic power can easily be altered with the right methods. They mostly use this for identity."

"I see."

Kai hid the card in his pocket.

"So Reo, what should I do now?"

"Training. We'll start tomorrow morning, you better get some rest."

"Alright."

Kai felt some uneasiness when Reo said 'you better get some rest' but he didn't question any further and went back to the cave. He ate the boar and drifted into sleep. It was a lot easier to go to sleep than the first nights that Kai had, he was a child in body but an adult in mind. He didn't have much trouble adapting to sleeping without another person near, besides Reo was also there to accompany him.

Kai's sleep was peaceful, until he had been woken up by force.

"Wake up!"

Kai was suddenly flipped over, his face hit the hard ground.

"Ughh..."

Kai stood up and rubbed his face that had hit the floor.

"Reo...? What is it...?"

Kai was swaying and swaying obviously still half-asleep.

"Training."

"Training? Give me three more hours..."

Kai rubbed his eyes and began to yawn.

"We're starting now!"

"Why are you so insistent? Actually, what time is it?"

"About midnight."

"I barely slept!"

Kai protested but Reo had dragged him outside by force, a translucent hand made of Reo's darkness magic was dragging him by his legs.

"Noooo!"

Kai tried to hold onto the floor with his nails but it didn't work.

"Let me sleeeep!"

"It's time for training, this'll repeat every morning until you can wake up at three!"

"Noooo!"

Kai looked like a kid that was being dragged to school against his will.

Reo sighed.

"I guess it can't be helped."

Reo let go of Kai as Kai had stood up.

"Eh?"

He began to run at full sprint after a slight hesitation.

Reo smirked and Kai got shocked by purple lightning.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Kai screamed as the lightning hit his body.

Kai was charred black after only a few seconds as he was on the floor; smoking.

"W...why did you just..."

"Training. Now."

"B-but..."

Sparks emitted from Reo's eyes and Kai immediately shuddered.

"A-alright!"

Kai stood up. He wasn't too injured but the pain of lightning passing through your body wasn't easy to deal with.

"So...what should I do?"

Kai sighed and accepted his fate.

"Follow me."

Kai walked for a few minutes whilst following Reo into a pit.

"What's this giant pit doing here?"

"Training."

Kai was suddenly pushed by Reo into the pit.

"Eh? AHHHH!"

Kai fell into the pit without much resistance.

"W-what're you doing?!"

Kai yelled back at Reo while pointing at him.

"Training. You have to lift up those boulders and get them to the other side, use anything at your disposal."

"That's it...?"

Kai was confused because that seemed to be an easy task.

"Those boulders are also included."

"Eh?"

Kai turned around and saw boulders that were at least twice the size of the others.

"Eeeehhh?"

"By the way, I'm gonna use an artifact to increase your training!"

Reo exclaimed in a joyful tone.

"What is it...?"

A tiny orb flew to the top of the pit and the surrounding area was covered in a translucent barrier.

"What's that?"

"Four times."

Kai was suddenly forced down on one knee.

"Ugh!"

"For every third hour that you stay here, I will increase it by two. I'll get you back at the end of the day and throw you back in here after you eat. And, did you know this?"

Reo smirked.

"A human body can withstand two to three times the world's gravity no problem but... four times gravity would definitely be a bit of trouble. Though that's for a regular human body, your body is fortified by strength and magic. So, how much can you withstand? Also, no food until you finish the task."

Kai looked into Reo's face and one word immediately flew into his mind.

"You devil!"

Reo had a devilish smirk and disappeared.

"Dammit, I'll definitely punish him one day. For now, I'd better do as he says."

Kai tried to stand up but the floor cracked and he fell down on one knee once more.

"Ugh, it's really impossible for the current me. Then, I'll just have to use it."

Kai activated [Body Enhancement] to its limit and stood up.

"Phew, looks like my mana can withstand this much."

Kai began to walk towards the small boulders, every step he took made the floor crack.

"Can I really lift those...?"

Kai managed to walk to the front of the small boulders and began to lift it up.

"Ugh..."

Kai got it to about his knee before it fell down, he managed to swiftly retrieve his hands before they were crushed.

"This is impossible..."

Kai didn't know whether to laugh or cry when he looked at those large boulders.

"But the gravity will increase for every third hour... I need to do this!"

Kai tried to lift up the small boulder once more and got it up to his stomach; veins were appearing on his body as the gravity and [Body Enhancement] had strained him. He was trembling as he turned around and finally took a single step with the boulder.

"HAAA!"

Kai stepped forward once more.

"HAAA!"

One more step.

Kai yelled at the top of his lungs for every step he took, his pace got faster and faster until he finally got the small boulder to the other side.

"Haaa...haa..."

Kai was panting and sweating, it took him nearly three hours for a single small boulder; there were at least a few dozen boulders.

"I won't die... right?"