Cole felt irritated. If it wasn’t for a dead person’s request, he wouldn’t think further about joining a group. There was a saying that wherever the water flowed, a rock would stand in the way, and it was true for his situation right now.

He drew a deep air into his mouth and asked, “May I know your reason? Other people can testify to my power.”

“That’s right. You are being unreasonable here, Mark,” the wizard said.

“But how can you replace the leader just like that? He may be strong, but we don’t know his capability of leading a team,” Mark, the melee fighter, said.

That person acted too much. Cole could ignore him, but he wouldn’t allow himself to be insulted further. “That’s enough. I won’t join the team….”

“Wait, Mr. Cole. This is a misunderstanding.” Lisa pushed down Mark’s head into bowing. “Please apologize to Mr. Cole.”

“It’s fine. No matter what he says, I won’t change my mind, but a promise is a promise. I won’t join the team, but I will help your team to get stronger.” Cole took out the experience card he had got from the Frost Wolf Brat and absorbed it.

Name: Experience Card

Grade: Perfect

Gives 500 experience points

The card glowed and disappeared. Cole’s experience increased, and he leveled up.

……

Name: Cole Xander (Level: 7 [225/875])

Currency Point: 160

Race: Human (Bronze)

Class: -

Strength: 17

Vitality: 16

Agility: 15

Intelligent: 14

Wisdom: 14

Free Points: 1

……

“There is a saying teaching someone how to fish is more valuable than giving him a fish. I owe your team two things. Firstly, the request of the dead. Secondly, the experience card I’ve got from our cooperation hunt. I will help you four reach level 8, and….” Cole pointed at Mark and Lisa. “You two are melee fighters. I will help you get stronger. That’s my deal.”

“Help us get stronger? Are you even stro—” Before Mark could finish his words, Jeff had approached him and punched his gut.

“Oi, you aren’t the face of the entire alliance. If you can’t shut your mouth, I will slit your belly and dry your inside. Do you understand?” Jeff whispered in Mark’s ear.

Mark might not respect Cole, but Jeff was another story. His face paled as the man threatened him, and he nodded weakly.

Jeff patted Mark’s shoulder. “I can vouch for Cole’s strength. Training under him will benefit you guys. Okay?”

Mark could only nod and looked at Cole grudgingly.

……

Lisa and Mark waited in the backyard. It was an open field facing the river. There was no Frenzy Rabbit here, so it was a suitable place for training.

Cole came to the place carrying a big log on his shoulder. Those two opened their jaws wide at the sight. The man carried such a big log, but his face showed no pain and tiredness.

Cole looked fine on the surface, but he was enduring the pain of carrying a big log. Even with his skill, [Raging Strength], Cole barely could lift the log, but he was used to enduring pain.

He threw the log to the ground, summoned a great sword from his inventory ring, and chopped the log into half with one swing. Looking at his clean-cut, he nodded in satisfaction.

Those two had witnessed Cole’s clean-cut too, and they gulped. They couldn’t deny Cole’s swordsmanship.

Looking at their shocked expression, he grinned and muttered, “According to the plan.” Showing his might to his pupils was a technique he had learned from his combat mentor. One day, two people had ridiculed his mentor, and the mentor had shown them his might to shut them off. From then, Cole had learned about humans’ judging nature. If he wanted to be respected, he needed to show he was worth respect through his actions.

Thinking about that person, he smiled. He hoped the man was still alive. Cole owed many things to him, and if he was in this world, he wanted to have an adventure with him.

While he was pondering, Cole still concentrated on his work. Under their gazes, Cole scrapped the bark with his greatsword. He shaped the wood into a carving that he’d imagined in his mind. After an hour, he made three wooden swords with a thick grip and a big blunt top. He gave each of those two a wooden sword.

“Um, because you have enhancement of stats, I guess you have no difficulty swinging this wooden sword around.” Or so Cole thought. Those two had a quite hard time swinging the swords. He picked up his own wooden sword and swung it with one hand several times. It was easy, and his sword had a longer blunt top similar to his greatsword’s length.

Cole couldn’t understand them, so he asked, “What’s the matter?”

“What’s the matter, you say? The grip is too wide and smooth. We can’t even grip the sword properly because of that,” Mark complained.

“Ah, I am used to that, so I didn’t consider that, but please deal with it. We start our training now. First, I want to see your shadow swordplay using the wooden sword.”

Lisa made the first move. Her footwork was nimble. She was tiptoeing forward and piercing the air with her wooden sword. It was like a mix of ballet and fencing. She hadn’t done yet. She was pivoting her waist and slashing 360 degrees.

Cole admired the show and applauded when she was done. “Where did you learn that move?”

“I made it. I called it the Dance of Swan Sword Style.”

“You are not wrong. It was a beautiful dance, but it was not suitable for fighting. Dance is a dance. Your sword style lacks practicality. You next, Mark.”

Cole ignored Lisa’s complaint and focused on Mark. Mark’s move was fine. His footwork was just fine, and his arm movements were swordplay text-graded, but this was his flaw. He had the basics, but he lacked variety. It was the complete opposite of Lisa who lacked practicality.

Cole immediately discussed their flaws with them. After that, he instructed them to train again and fix their flaws. Even with his guidance, those two couldn’t improve in a short time. Furthermore, they were the backbone of the entire group and couldn’t stop their hunt just because of their training.

When they stopped their training at night, those two had pale complexions, and their breathings were rough. Luckily, Jeff bought some magical food from the store so they could recover again. The man even treated Cole to a few meals and drinks too. Cole didn’t have a reason to refuse, and they enjoyed dinner together.

Hours had passed. A quarter of the sun emerged in the East, dying a spare of the sky orange and leaving the rest dark. Cole and the team had gotten out of the building and breathed cool air into their lungs. After doing light exercise, they began their adventure in the forest.

They followed the safe area they had mapped. Even if it was marked as ‘safe’, everyone but Cole was nervous, eyes darting back and forth. They even reacted to the swaying bush. They really couldn’t help it. The death of their former team leader carved a trauma into their hearts.

Keeping up guard was good, but they needed to learn how to keep cool in a dangerous situation. With their condition, they couldn’t manage it, so Cole decided to break the ice. “What kind of person your team leader was?”

And he asked the wrong question. Everyone put on sad expressions when they heard his question.

Lisa drew a deep breath and replied, “He was a busybody, always minding people’s business, but that’s why we never felt alone with him around.”

Mark looked up and said weakly, “I owe many things to him. I wish he’s good on another side.”

Cole could feel sympathy for them. He only knew their former team leader from their cooperation to fight Frost Wolf Brat, but he could judge a person’s personality by their fighting style. The man had a noble heart.

Cole respected their former team leader, and he was sure their former leader wouldn’t want to see them sulking over his death, so he tried to cheer them up. “Keep living. Don’t let his sacrifice be in vain. Become stronger. We don’t have a luxury of time, so you will train as you fight monsters.”

Cole explained his idea as they passed through the bush and arrived at an open area with many ponds. On there, Sloth Bullfrogs idled everywhere, but they mostly bathed in the ponds.

Everyone walked into different areas and lured those monsters. After that, they fought these creatures alone.

Fighting as an individual was Cole’s strategy to train them. In a dire situation, they could only depend on themselves, so personal experience in survival was very important.

Cole took his time by sitting from afar. He wanted to observe them first, especially the melee fighters. He forbade them to use skills, and they had to fight those frogs with their swordplay.

Lisa fought a frog. She evaded the frog’s tongue shot to the side. After that, she poked a small hole into the frog’s surface skin and then spun it to its rear. As usual, the female fighter had grace but lacked practicality.

Cole shouted and reminded her to use her power. Lisa tried to practice his instruction, widening her legs into a firm stance and swinging down her sword with all her might. However, the frog leaped forward, evading her attack.

“Try to combine your grace and power together!” Cole said loudly, but his words only panicked her and lagged her thinking. As a result, the frog landed a tongue shot on her belly and made her fall on her back.

Cole sighed in disappointment, but he realized she was just a normal person until immortals had teleported people into this world. It was normal for her to not master everything he had taught in a short time. However, she needed to adapt to this world. If she wanted to survive and get stronger, she had to break through her limit.

Cole believed in her and focused on Mark. The man was fighting two frogs at once. He had jumped to evade a tongue attack toward his foot. Swinging his upper body downward, he stabbed the first frog in the head. He pulled his sword again and charged toward the second frog.

Mark suddenly planted his feet into a deep stance and parried a tongue shot with the flat side of his sword. After that, he cut the tongue and advanced forward. As he arrived in front of it, he slashed the frog into two halves.

Mark perfectly combined grace and power. His sudden breakthrough amazed Cole. He suddenly remembered that geniuses existed.

Cole walked to his side and applauded. “Bravo, Mark. You have passed the test. Now, you can hunt frogs with your skills.”

Hearing Cole’s praise, Mark scratched his nape and smile awkwardly. He bowed to Cole and charged to the pond, luring two frogs.

Cole smiled proudly. Not only he had been successful as a teacher, but he had also changed someone’s opinion about him. He knew Mark was growing respect for him. This was the first time he achieved something that was not fighting and killing, and he felt fulfilled.

“This Feeling is not bad. I like this.” Cole muttered.

A feminine cry snapped him to reality, and he looked at the source of the voice. Near him, Lisa fell to the ground again after a frog had attacked her. It was not a life-threatening situation, so he looked away.

Everyone aside from Lisa was doing fine at hunting as an individual. He believed they would improve more without his observation, so he decided to hunt too. After all, they weren’t the only ones who needed to get stronger.

Summoning his sword from his inventory ring, Cole jumped straight into a pond, splashing waves of muddy water onto the frogs. The frogs immediately noticed his presence and attacked him at once. A barrage of tongues hit his body, decreasing his [HP]. His skin turned red.

An attack triggered his [Ruin Gust], summoning a red helix around his body and hitting nearby enemies. While the passive skill was still active, Cole used the chance to run around, exposing the helix to enemies. Limbs and mutilated body parts scattered about as frogs were getting slaughtered. Some frogs survived with one or two losing limbs, but he immediately killed them all with his greatsword.

In just a few minutes, Cole slaughtered them all. He walked through the murky, red puddle and swept aside mutilated body parts in his way to collect floating cards in the vicinity. He got out of the puddle after he had finished looting.

Cole had killed eleven frogs and looted eleven cards. Those cards were two level-seven experience cards of low and normal grades, five level-six experience cards, and four low-grade point cards. He immediately absorbed level seven experience cards and point cards.

Name: Cole Xander (Level: 7 [375/875])

Currency Point: 200