In place of being startled, like many were when they first saw Klyran’s true appearance, the Yakard looked more curiously at this new person. It took a step forward and its branches stretched out to inspect the Ryan. The Yakard touched his face briefly, then went to his horns and wings. Not even Klyran’s tail escaped the fate. Throughout the inspection, the tree-man was gentle. It felt even ticklish to the raven-haired young man.

Once it finished its task. The Yakard took a step back and gently spoke again. To Klyran, the sound was similar to that of trees moving in the wind. It made him curious, if the trees that surrounded him were also alive and that was the way they talked.

Unable to help himself, Klyran inspected his new friend and gasped.

[Character Information] Name: ?? Race: Yakard Occupation: ?? Strength ?? Vitality ?? Magic ?? Agility ?? Physical Defence ?? Accuracy ?? Magical Defence ?? Luck ??

Once Klyran was done with the inspection, the Yakard talked to him again. Its voice this time seemed more angry and its eyes were set in what could only be a frown.

“I’m sorry”, the young Ryan said automatically, “Could it be?….Did you felt that I used my skill on you?” he asked it, only to receive a nod in reply.

Klyran wasn’t sure what he should be more surprised about. The fact that the Yakard could actually understand him, or that it could feel when the skill was used.

“The Kenman”, he then said, “He also felt when I used the skill and his status was also just like yours”, he explained.

“How do you do this?” he then asked the Yakard, but didn’t receive a reply.

“The Kenman was the one who send me here”, Klyra then said and sat down on the ground.

Seeing this, the Yakard followed suit and also took a seat on the grass. With the knowledge that it understood him, he begun explaining it how he wanted to become stronger and received a sort-of-promise from the Kenman that he would train him. He also told the Yakard how he heard that day about the Trial of Courage and asked if he knew what it was.

“Well…” Klyran then said embarrassed, “Even if you knew I doubt you could tell me”

Then, the Yakard suddenly grabbed him and threw him up in the air, surprising Klyran. He was thrown toward the forest, where trees could break his fall. In fright, the Ryan rapidly used his wings and stayed in the air.

'Luckily this is part of the forest where I can actually use them' he sighed, remembering the more dense parts where even if he unfolded his wings, he would not be able to fly because of all the roots and branches.

“Hey”, he yelled at the Yakard and flew back toward him, “What’s your problem?” he asked it and frowned.

In reply, the Yakard simply groaned again and made a gesture. On of its hand stretched up in the air, surprising Klyran. The branch stretched up, lengthening, and nearly reached the Ryan. He then made a motion of suddenly dropping it in the trees. The Yakard then groaned again and pointed behind Klyran, who turned around and noticed a cliff far away.

“That’s the test?” the black-haired man asked and landed back on the ground.

With a nod, the Yakard made another motion. It seemed to apologize for suddenly throwing the Ryan.

“It’s okay”, he reassured it, “Thank you for telling me” he said.

After that, the Yakard stretched its branches and grabbed the sword laying on the ground. He gave it back to Klyran and the suddenly swung another branch at his legs. Swiftly dodging, the Ryan looked at the tree-man again. When he noticed that the hit didn’t land, the Yakard made a happy noise and tried again.

“You want to play?” Klyran asked with a smirk and set his sword back on the ground.

He then rushed at the Yakard and tried to hit him. Since the status displayed as ??, the Ryan was sure that he was much stronger than him. Which meant that his hits, even if landed, wouldn’t do much harm. He would dodge the branches that were swung at him and even sometimes would jump on them, only for the action to be followed by a backflip.

The Yakard clearly enjoyed their little game and even Klyran found it fun. The tree-man would make noise akin to laughter whenever Klyran would dodge and the other would smile in triumph. The two of them spend a good part of the night like that.

When it got too late, the Yakard looked up in the sky and then waved its branches at Klyran, before turning around and going back into the forest. While the Ryan was tired, he only sat down to catch his breath and then stood back up taking his sword again. Once alone, the raven-haired man started again his sword training.

He continued it for a few more hours and when his hand-watch displayed 3:34 in the morning, he stopped. Yesterday, Ranya woke him up at 7:33 for their training. He didn’t doubt that she would do it this time as well. He checked his status and was happy to see that in a single night, he managed to improve by himself.

[Character Information] Name: Klyran Race: Ryan Occupation: Swordsman (Level 5), Combat (Level 3). Strength 17 Vitality 22 Magic 18 Agility 18 Physical Defence 23 Accuracy 7 Magical Defence 20 Luck 9

By doing those basic moved, his swordmanship increased by one level. Klyran also happily noted that his Defence increased by two points, his Vitality by one point and his Agility by another two points.

It was an amazing result for him. He knew that many humans trained for years just to get one point, so his development was considered extremely fast. The Ryan then shifted his form and noticed that his status increased by the same points in his true form. His defence, vitality and agility improved in both forms. Happy with the result, Klyran put on again his human skin, but kept his wings out. With a powerful flap he rushed into the forest. When he was near the trees, he quickly hid his wings and landed on the ground and ran, never once stopping. While it would have been much easier to fly above the trees, he didn’t want to startle any Greenyard, plus it might take more time to find a way for him to land. He also hoped that by dodging trees at his speed, his status would increase again.

In the village, Klyran quickly ran around it until he reached Zevram’s house. He entered the guest room and laid down. He quickly fell asleep and didn’t even bother to take off his clothes. The few hours of sleep that he could get would be more than enough for him.

He woke up again when Midryl knocked on his door in the morning.

“Can you wake up?” he asked and opened the door, peeking inside.

“Yeah” Klyran replied and lifted his body off the bed.

“Zevram said that he heard you coming back home in the early hours of the morning, so Ranya said to let you sleep a bit more”, the boy explained.

Those words caused the Ryan to glance at his watch and notice that it was 9:36 in the morning. It surprised Klyran, who though that he would wake by himself around 7 or 8. He then got up and noticed that his muscles were sore and even winced a bit when he tried to stretch.

“I’m not sure how early you came, but if you want to continue training with us, its best if you wake up now” he said and then left the room.

Quickly, Klyran went to the bathroom that was next to the room, he got familiar with it the previous day and quickly washed his face. He took off his jacket and decided that a few more minutes will do not harm. Turning on the water, he washed the leather, since it begun to smell of sweat. The Ryan wondered for a bit if Midryl would mind borrowing him a pair of his pants so that he can wash his own. With a nod, he went back to the room and put on the cloak. He made sure to button it up and then went downstairs.