The next morning, Keiman went to the adventurer guild.
And as usual, he accepted a herb gathering quest.

Keiman changed the quest that he accepted between herb gathering and as a supporter.
Because yesterday he accepted a supporter quest, today he accepted two herb gathering quests.

After being approved by the receptionist lady, Keiman went to Takari Forest.
It was located on the opposite of Kuriya Forest, east of the Jahne Town.

That forest was famous for its herb and there were no strong monsters there.
At most there were only slimes.

It was the suitable forest for herb gathering.

"Their number increase again."

After walking for approximately one hour, Keiman finally arrived.
There were many others' adventurer here.
About ten of them.

They were all newbie.
As a newbie adventurer, they needed to do quest like herb gathering or as a supporter to obtained merit.
With that merit, they could increase their rank.

Without minding the other adventurers, Keiman went deeper to the forest.
He had done this quest for three years, so he knew which place had what herbs.

What Keiman was searching for the first quest was Eute Grass.
It was the ingredient to made Low Potion.
A healing item.

Even though the effect wasn't that great, it was still better than nothing.
But the most important thing was that it was cheap.
Only 5 Rapia.

Compared to Potion which was 25 Rapia, 5 Rapia was nothing.
If it was only to dealt with orc or goblin, Low Potion was enough.
Of course an orcs horde or a goblins horde were a different story.

After walking for a while, Keiman arrived at a cave.
Eute Grass was a plant that live in a dark place.
So inside the cave was a suitable place for it.

"One."

Not long after, Keiman found what he wanted.
A plant that was glowing.

Picking it carefully, he put the grass inside his a small bag.
For this quest, Keiman didn't bring his backpack as that was unnecessary.

The same with the other herbs, one must carefully picked the plant.
As with just one mistake, the plant would lose its essence.

Keiman needed 30 Eute Grass to complete this quest.
He continued to explore this cave to searched for Eute Grass.

*****

"Huuuh."

Two hours later, Keiman finally gathered the last Eute Grass.
He had gone deep into the cave that he needed almost an hour to returned to the entrance.

After that, Keiman headed to the next place.
He was searching for Osta Mushroom.

It was a mushroom that could be used as an ingredient to make Antidotes.
It could detox low-level poison.
Antidotes were sold for the same price as Low Potion, 5 Rapia.

Osta Mushroom usually lived on dead trees.
It could live anywhere as long as there was a dead tree, so it could be found anywhere.

"Finally done."

After exploring the forest for another two hours, he finally completed his quest.

But Keiman didn't return just like that.

"It's time for training."

He knew that he lacked talent.
He knew that he wouldn't be able to became stronger if he just trained like the other peoples.

That's why Keiman trained like a madman.
He even built a training ground in this forest.

Deep in the forest, hidden behind thick bushes.
That's where Keiman built his training ground.

At first, it was just a flat earth surrounded by trees.
But little by little, the trees surrounding it was destroyed.

Keiman had trained his martial art here by kicking or punching the trees.
After two years of hard work, he could finally break the trees with only his fist and kick.

Keiman even hid an old sword here which he found in this forest.
He also trained his sword skills.

But those two weren't what Keiman most good at.
What Keiman most good at was archery.

Keiman had polished his archery using a simple bow created from an ordinary branch.
With this bow he could hit the target from 500 meters.

Keiman also had few weapon hidden beneath his bed in the inn.
He bought all that using his saving from these three years.

Archery for long range attack, use a sword if it was close quarter combat, and in the event that he lost his sword, he would use his martial arts
A perfect combination.
That was what Keiman thought when he chose to train those three.

First he trained his martial arts by stretching his body then do some kick and punch while imagining his fight with the orc horde before.

Then he trained his sword skill by swinging it and imagining he was fighting the orcs horde yesterday using a sword.
How he could kill all the orcs using sword.

And lastly, he trained his archery by hitting the target.
At first the target was only 100 meters then the distance increase little by little.

While training, he also used his mana to enhanced his body or his weapon.
Mana was a spiritual energy that everyone had.

But the amount was different each person.
However, there was a way to increased it.

That was by emptying your mana, then the mana would increase by itself.
That was what Keiman did every day.
He emptied his mana every day while training or when doing a supporter job by using body enhancement.

Even yesterday, Keiman was using mana to enhanced his body while fighting the orcs horde.
If he didn't use mana to enhanced his body, there was no way his body would last fighting against 25 orcs.

Keiman could also enhance his weapon.
But he could only enhance weapon that he held.
For example his sword or his bow.

If he enhanced his arrow, then the mana inside it would dissipate quickly.
But if it was for short range target, then his arrow could be enhanced because the arrow would hit the target first before the mana inside it gone.

There were also those who could materialize that mana.
They made that mana into fire, water, thunder, or even ice.
They were called mage.

Time passed by quickly.
Without Keiman noticed it, the sky had became bright red.

"What is that?"

At that time, when Keiman was preparing himself.
Keiman could see a firework in the distance.

However, that was not a firework that was used when there was festival.
That was a firework used when a town was in danger.
A signal for help.

".....!"

Seeing that, Keiman ran with all his might.