Kent was an ordinary boy from an ordinary town. He was born and raised in some no-name town where he grew up with his best friend and childhood sweetheart. He had friends in school and was very athletic. He enjoyed a decent life growing up. However he had always dreamed of being a hunter. One reason he was so athletic was to prepare his body. He practiced a lot with a pair of daggers. His grandfather had been a hunter and had a mystic art manual that he found in the attic of his grandparent's house.

When he got old enough he tamed a few bird type beats with wind affinity to get enough to practice the mystic art. It took him a month but he was finally able to learn a few of the basic techniques. When he first used them in a fight he had managed to kill a silver ranked bird type beast that had been harassing his own birds who were too weak to fight back. That was one reason he decided not to bring them back out.

When he had killed the beast he had been very excited after bringing in its feathers and finding out it was considered silver rank. He had planned to surprise his girlfriend who had come with him. However he was destined for heartbreak. That same day she declared to him that she was not actually his girlfriend. She had been using him to get to the city so she could give herself up to one of the many geniuses here to earn a better life. She didn’t want to scrape by with him.

He was obviously heartbroken. She had been quite pretty, too pretty for an average guy like him. Now he knew why she was so willing to accept his confession before he left. In the end she even got accepted by the main local genius who was a member of Howling Wulf who are known to especially like girls. Even worse she would rather be a member of some harem than be with him.

He oftentimes called out members of Howling Wulf and got into verbal confrontations with them. However other than slandering them further with the truth and allowing others to learn about said truth, he couldn’t do anything. He had managed to shift public perception in various parts of the city though. They hadn’t counted on how clever he was. He chose different points at different times. Like the hunter he was he stalked his prey and then went for the kill when he saw the opportunity.

It was on one of these days during one of these confrontations. He remembers those words that changed his life. “You have a problem with the Howling Wulf Agency?” When he first heard the words he had thought the person who said them was a part of the agency and looking to pick a fight. But the next words said were what really caught his attention. “I have a problem with them too. They’ve tried to kill me a few times. Of course they’re too weak to kill me so they failed. It’s quite embarrassing.”

Someone who had a target painted on his back by the same agency he had caused problems with. However he talked as if he was above the entire agency. But it didn’t feel like it was forced. It was as if he didn’t even put the agency in his eyes. When he saw the girl he was with he was even more sure he was someone special. When he saw the maid it finally cemented in his mind that these two were not normal.

Their names were Owari and Noel, and the maid was Morgana. They had very odd names to Kent, but it wasn’t like he hadn’t heard equally weird names since coming to the city. They were very abnormal people, not only were their ranks crazy high, especially Owari, but they had a very unusual method of training. He found that out first hand.

The first day was painful and mentally exhausting. First he had to use his mana up until the point collapse. Once he burned into his base reserves his body hurt like hell. It was like tearing up his muscles. Which was pretty accurate, after all mana was like a muscle. Pushing it too far would hurt greatly. However whenever the pain set in he would remember how he felt when his heart was broken and he would power through it. As for the mental exhaustion he would be forced to focus for hours on end. If he messed up he’d get his head tapped by a stick. It actually hurt quite a lot, but not enough to leave marks or leave any lasting sense of pain. It was just one sharp hit each time.

He would do this every other day for a week. Of eight days counting his first day he spent four doing this. It was to help him enhance his mana capacity. What did he do the other four days? The first of those four days was fine. It was scary as hell because he fought three different low silver ranks that day. But he made a mistake the next day by saying he could already feel the effects of the training. It was true, he could feel the effects and was definitely noticeably stronger. However the next time his fighting training came the day after saying that the difficulty was upped. He was forced to fight a mid silver ranked beast.

“I don’t think this is a good idea.” He said as soon as he heard the plan.

“Don’t worry about it. We’ll do our best to keep you from dying. Though there’s a high chance we fail so try your best.” Noel said from a tree branch. She was standing on the very edge of a branch that was impossibly small.

“You’re not even wearing your combat gear anymore.” He complained. He was right, Noel had started wearing a long-sleeved shirt and baggy pants. It was far less comforting than the military-style gear she was wearing originally.

“Unfortunately that’s how it is.” Owari spoke with a casual smile, as if it wasn’t his problem. Luckily the fact that he didn’t seem to wear combat gear ironically meant he was seemingly more prepared for a fight.

“But how am I supposed to fight something stronger than me?” He put up a last resistance.

“By getting stronger obviously.” The both of them said in tandem.

“See ya.” Owari jumped into the tree deftly and soon the two were gone.

After only a moment he heard a roar and soon a tiger appeared in his vision. It was looking around as if it sensed something off. It was then that it noticed Kent. It was a blue-colored tiger, its body was dark blue and it had black eyes. Kent’s mouth twitched as it started to snarl. This was likely his next ‘sparring partner’ to be.

The tiger rushed forward at Kent who tried to dodge to the side with his wind movement technique, however the tiger jumped and pushed off a tree and changed direction suddenly. Kent was shocked and barely managed to jump back to dodge. The tigers legs flashed blue and jets of water appeared to propel it forward causing it to reach Kent in an instant shocking him further. He could barely react by placing his daggers in the way when the tiger swiped its sharp claws at him.

He was sent flying back and smashed into a tree causing the wind to be knocked out of him. Despite this he was able to keep his eyes open and trained on the enemy in front of him. This was a result of his concentration and pain resistance training. This much was nothing compared to those things. A moment of focus is easier than hours of it. It was in this moment he realized the benefits of that training. But that didn’t make it anymore pleasant the next time.

He quickly recovered from the attack and dodged as another swipe tore into the tree behind him ripping it to shreds. He looked down at his daggers and his face twitched. They were both scrap metal. What was he supposed to fight with now? He dodged another swipe by rolling forward under the pouncing tiger. When he finished the roll and looked back at the tiger suddenly a flash of silver was all he saw and the tigers head was separated from its body perfectly.

“Fail. 30 out of 100.” Noel said as she jumped down.

“I’d say 35, he did survive.” Owari walked over from nearby as he sheathed his sword.

“I knew I wasn’t ready.” Kent sighed.

“You are, you just messed up.” Owari chuckled. “You had good reactions, but you made a mistake by underestimating the enemies maneuverability.”

“So what do I do now? My weapons are trashed.” He showed the stumps of metal that used to be his daggers.

“I have these for you.” Owari took out a pair of daggers from his pack and tossed them down. “Next try.” He smiled.

Like this his hell continued. That day he attempted to beat three mid silver beasts. It wasn’t until the last one that he got a kill. As he dodged an attack from the small ferret that had a stupidly tough hide, he sliced it for the fifth time and managed to cut it in half. He laid on the ground breathing heavily and covered in small cuts here and there.

“I officially hate ferrets.” He declared.

Owari and Noel just laughed at his plight and thus continued his hell. That day it had been mid silver. As was the next one. But on the third day he fought a high silver. This time he was much more prepared to face a stronger enemy. As he stared down the large ape he held up his daggers and breathed deeply. He had picked up a bit on the fact that one’s breathing is important. When Owari noticed he praised him and taught him a few tricks. He had also learned a few new techniques during this time as he used them spontaneously while his life was at stake.

As the ape picked up a clump of dirt which hardened into stone and threw it. Kent suddenly stepped and rushed to the side and forward completely bypassing the attack in an instant. He then shot towards the ape while winds swirled around him. When he reached the ape he swung his dagger at it causing the vortex of wind surrounding him to slam into the ape's chest and sent it stumbling back while a small cut appeared on its chest.

After that he gave it no time to recover and used his other hand with a reverse grip to send a blade of wind at it before reversing his grip another time and slashing again. The first blade only nicked it, but the second pushed the first deeper and cut into the ape’s chest deeply leaving an X on its chest. At this moment the ape’s fist flashed brown and it tried to punch Kent, but he seemed to be pushed by the winds as he jumped back dodging.

The fist collided with the ground and kicked up debris, but it also caused spikes to raise from the ground rushing towards Kent. He dodged left and right getting nicked here and there, but it was all superficial. He calmly kept his eyes on the enemy and rushed forward the moment the spikes stopped. As he approached he pointed his dagger forward and stabbed forward sending a blast of piercing wind at the ape.

The ape trusted its hide and lifted its arm in between the attack and itself. However the wave of air stabbed into its hide and left a baseball-sized dent in its arm causing blood to rush out and making the ape roar in pain. However as it roared it left its chest wide open, a mistake Kent exploited. He crossed his daggers in an X and two wind blades shot out at high speeds straight into the already preexisting X on its chest.

The attack hit a bit off but it was still able to take advantage of the pre-existing wound and sliced deeply into the ape exposing bone. At this time the ape froze from the pain, which Kent again exploited. He spun in place and swung both daggers one after another creating a very powerful razor-sharp wind blade that sliced straight through the ape’s neck separating its head from its body.

“90 out of 100.” Noel’s voice came from above as the ape collapsed.

“Agreed.” For once Owari agreed with Noel’s usually harsh assessment.

“Do you think he’s ready for gold?” Noel asked curiously.

“Nah, he needs to blend his techniques together better first. He can barely handle high silver as he is.” Owari answered back much to Kent’s relief.

“Should we stay longer?” Noel asked once again.

“We’ve already delayed a bit. Do you want to stay longer? I don’t mind.” Owari chuckled.

“You guys are leaving soon?” Kent asked a bit surprised.

“We planned on leaving a few days ago but we got caught up training you. It was a fun vacation which was the whole point of our trip in the first place.” Owari replied.

“I delayed you?” Kent felt a little bad, but also a bit regretful that he couldn’t get out of the training sooner.

“Not by much. Plus it has been quite fun.” Noel answered this time.

“Right.” Owari nodded along.

“So what now?” Despite disliking the intensity of the training and the lack of rest outside of unconsciousness Kent was still unwilling to see them leave.

“We could stay another day to relax.” Owari decided.

“What should we do?” Noel asked curiously.

“How about a date? Kent here can finally take a day to rest after so much intense training.” Those words from Owari, aside from the beginning, were like words from heaven to Kent.

“Sounds good to me. I got a new sundress I wanted to show you.” Noel immediately went into date mode. Kent didn’t know how they could flirt in these dangerous woods. He didn’t even know where they found all these silver rank beasts.

“I wait with bated breath.” Owari joked. “As for you, now you know how to grow. I recommend you stick to those of your level though, it’s too dangerous to go above your level.”

“Definitely.” Kent agreed easily.

“Let’s go back and split then.” Owari clapped his hands.

Kent was sore the entire trip back and even after he crashed in bed. Despite having made a lot from all the silver ranked beasts he still didn’t dare upgrade his living quarters. He knew that as soon as Owari and Noel left he would slow down considerably. He realized that his rapid growth would now come to an end. He would have to train hard on his own like anyone else with no backup. Like that silver flash attack from Owari that saved him before.

Nothing like that exists from now on. He was a bit sad to see them go, but they reassured him that if he got gold rank before January of next year they would all meet again at the geniuses gathering. Hearing about the details of this meeting he was shocked. Mostly because it was a very real possibility that he could be considered one such genius if he was able to raise his rank. He meditated before going to bed as he did lately and woke up the next day feeling refreshed. It was time to take a day off and walk around town!