Xan's journey to the forest was short and uneventful, but he couldn't shake the feeling that someone was following him the whole time.

Maybe he was becoming paranoid because of Rad's words, but because of that feeling, he decided to start running through the vegetation as soon as he entered the forest to lose any potential stalker.

But sadly, because of the sparse vegetation, Xan's efforts to hide became useless, as anyone could see him going from tree to tree.

After completing his evasive maneuver, he continued walking through the woods for a few minutes while looking for any dying tree from where he could get more mushrooms.

"It seems like no one else has followed you, so we can start our fighting lessons as soon as you get deeper into the forest." Rad's voice said from Xan's back.

Hearing a voice from behind, Xan released a small cry before turning around with his knife ready.

"How the hell do you always appear behind me? I made sure no one was following me." Xan said while pointing his weapon at Rad with his trembling hand.

"The difference in skill and power between us is just too big. If I did my best to hide, I could leave you naked before you even realize I started stealing your clothes." Rad replied while laughing as he pushed Xan's knife away with a finger.

Realizing he was not in danger, Xan put his knife away before looking at Rad again.

"And why the hell are you here? Didn't you say we still had to wait a few more days before starting the battle training?" Xan said, confused.

"I changed my mind. You are advancing at a good pace, so it is better that you learn how to use some techniques before you become too powerful. If not, you will rely on your superior capacities to use them instead of carefully learning each of them, which may result in flaws in your combat techniques later on." Rad explained." Also, giving you something to focus on besides cultivation may help you not be recluded in your room the whole day."

"I guess I'm not getting the remaining mushrooms today, then," Xan said while laughing.

"There are a lot of them in the inner area of the forest, so when we end today's lesson, you can continue with your harvest." Rad explained before pointing with his cane in a direction." I will go ahead and wait for you in a cave near the center of the forest. You shouldn't encounter anything too dangerous, but if you find yourself in trouble, cry for help. Don't be late."

As he said that, Rad's figure turned into a dark mist and disappeared without a trace, making Xan doubt if he was hallucinating or if the encounter had been real. But he managed to confirm that Rad had indeed come when he realized there were footsteps where he had been standing just a few seconds ago.

Without losing more time, Xan began to walk in the direction his master had instructed him.

Until that moment, he had evaded entering too deeply into the forest because of the possible dangers he could find there, but now Xan began to advance toward there as fast as he could.

The more he entered the forest, the more he realized something weird was happening. One would expect the vegetation to become denser the more one neared the center, but instead, Xan found out that the deeper he went, the less healthy vegetation there was, and the more mushrooms grew.

As he inspected those trees, he realized the pale purple mushrooms had spread to them and were growing in large numbers.

'What the hell? If I get this many mushrooms, I could get a fortune. Or maybe not. Maybe they are interested in just twenty-five.' Xan thought as he inspected his surroundings.

Realizing he was losing his focus, Xan continued walking toward the center of the forest to meet Rad again, as right now, that was his top priority.

But Xan couldn't help but to realized something was off. The more he advanced, the more numerous those mushrooms were as if they were an infestation. He even saw the corpse of a huge boar covered in mushrooms lying on the ground.

Luckily, it didn't take long for him to reach the cave Rad told him. At first look, it wasn't more than a hole in the ground, not more profound than a few meters. Still, after he stepped into it, he saw how the back wall disappeared as if it were an illusion, revealing a sizeable underground area where Rad was sitting on a chair while reading a notebook.

"Oh, you arrived. That was faster than I was expecting." Rad said surprisedly." Well, let's start with the lessons then.