Basic Training Complete

Two days passed before Hana allowed him to get out of bed, and during those two days, Kurai found himself becoming very worried about Lin, but he distracted himself by reading through the cultivation skill book, and he soon found that the practices in the book actually allowed him to boost his HP and Mana recovery rate.

It was also during that time that he realized that a new option had been unlocked in the game menu, which allowed him to accept the new levels that he'd gained as well as the rewards from each completed mission.

Rai's hidden quest turned out to be a chain quest, so Kurai received two XP rewards on top of the rewards from completing the quest itself.

After accepting the rewards, he gained seven levels while also unlocking the ability to view his stats:

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Avatar Name: Kurai Tachi

Class: Knight

Level: 7

Chosen Occupation: Cultivator

Guardian: Hozumi Sasaki

Main Story Quest: You are the last heir of a prestigious clan, and you have been tasked to discover the truth about the Missing Eons. Due to the danger of the quest, you will be accompanied by a guardian.

Quest Status: 1% complete

Clan Renown Status: 5 renown

Inheritance Status: Locked (8% progress made)

Avatar Statistics:

- Strength: 5 (?) > <

- Endurance: 7 (?) > <

- Agility: 8 (?) > <

- Intelligence: 7 (?) > <

- Vitality: 8 (?) > <

- Dexterity: 8 (?) > <

Points Available: 21

Passive Skills: -

Active Skills: Seraph's Blessing, Seraph's Form

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Unfortunately, Kurai didn't really know how to allocate the points in a way that would improve his chance of survival, so he decided to wait until Lin got back, and given that Kurai would be able to train again in the morning, he focused on learning as much about his Avatar as he could.

He then shifted his focus to 'Quest Status', though he ignored the inheritance and renown stats for now, and wondered how he could have progressed in the main quest without meaning to until he remembered the scroll that the Inn-owner, named Lee, had given him.

He carefully removed it from his inventory before slowly opening it, only to find that the entire scroll was blank.

Not that it phased him in the slightest as he moved over to the old lamp to warm the scroll, hoping that it was simply a hidden message, but nothing happened.

Kurai moved to place the scroll back into his inventory when the cultivation skill book caught his eye, and he frowned in thought.

'I need to remember that this is a game world, not real life. So what would a person do if they wanted to decode a message in a certain way?'

A small smirk formed on his lips as he carefully held the scroll in one hand and coated his other with chi before he slowly brought them together.

A feeling of excitement began to build as he saw how the chi caused a symbol to form on the paper, but before it fully appeared, a blue fire enveloped the scroll and burned it to ash.

Kurai barely had time to think as the fire enveloped his hands as well, but as he dropped the ashes, the fire disappeared, and he was surprised to see that the flames hadn't burnt his hands as well.

For a moment, he wondered whether he had destroyed his only lead, but a glance at the 'Quest Status' now showed that it was 1.2% complete.

Kurai gave a tired sigh and decided to get some sleep. Training would start early the next day, and he knew he needed to complete it as fast as possible before he fell even more behind.

He didn't notice that a small silver symbol had appeared in the middle of his back over his spine and that it looked identical to the one that had been on the scroll.

Kurai woke up bright and early the next morning, much to the amusement of the others. Though he still found it strange to see Hozumi so cheerful after she held a blade to his neck and threatened to roast him a few days prior.

During breakfast, he noticed that quite a few of the trainees had left and decided that they must have moved on to do their first quests after completing their basic training.

He didn't notice the apprehensive feeling that hung over the hall like a black cloud as most of the remaining trainees glanced between Ren and Rai in something akin to fear so he didn't struggle when each brother grabbed one of his arms to drag him to training.

The first day back at training was incredibly hard, but then the rest of the week seemed to fall into the pattern of completing morning training, doing some meditation, completing afternoon training, and then sparring with either Ren, Rai, or Hozumi.

By the end of the week, Kurai found that his strength and intelligence had risen by 2, while his agility, endurance, vitality, and dexterity had risen by 3, and he was happy to see that he was visibly getting stronger.

It was on the first day of the new week, after Kurai had finished another day of training and grabbed a shower, that Ren knocked at his door, though it didn't surprise him because the man had been deep in thought throughout the day.

"Hey, Kurai, can I talk to you for a bit?"

Kurai nodded as he pulled on a clean shirt and motioned to the small table near the window, "Sure, you seemed distracted today. Is everything alright?"

Ren's eyes widened in surprise for a moment, but then he smiled slightly and nodded, "Yes, I was just coming to inform you that your basic training is complete, so Hozumi and Hana are planning a feast tonight. They roped in quite a few other trainees as well."

Kurai grinned at the thought of finally completing the basic quest, but he could see that there was still something else on Ren's mind, "Thanks for the warning. You still seem to have a lot on your mind, though, and I doubt it's just that."

Ren laughed softly and took something from his pocket, "My father spoke to me for the first time in years this morning. It seems that nearly losing Rai like we lost my mother snapped him out of it. Naturally, he blames himself for not noticing it, but…I doubt any of us would have figured things out the way you did."

Kurai saw that Ren held a small box out to him, and he took it but didn't open it yet as he waited for Ren to explain.

He'd already received the rewards from the quest, so he didn't understand why he would receive another reward on top of that.

Ren took a deep breath as he seemed to get his thoughts in order before he spoke, "My father asked a bit about you while we spoke, and I told him how you managed to save both Rai and Hozumi. He then asked whether I knew your surname, and when I told him it was 'Tachi,' it almost seemed as if he was going to pass out."

Ren motioned for Kurai to open the box as he continued to speak, "My father then rushed to his room and returned with this box before saying that I should give it to you as both a thank you and a promise."

Both Ren and Kurai were confused by the cryptic words, but Kurai felt like he understood once he opened the box to find a familiar-looking scroll inside.