As Rayne goes from left and swings his sword 3 times Bolard dodges 2 of them and deflects the third one with a swing of his own sword , "Thaaaaank" , Rayne rolls on the ground just as Bolard tought him before and began slashing as fast as he can , though that wasn't fast enough for Bolard as he deflects all of them , "thaaaank , Thuuunk , Thuunk" , Rayne slashes him from downwards to upwards but Bolard dodges both while still maintaining his own spot , Rayne steps back for a moment and rushes towards Bolard , this time from right and slashes sideways , this actually made Bolard step backward , he slashes 2 times one from left and one from right which made Bolard step back again while holding his sword up in a defenseless manner , “Gotcha now!!” , Rayne says and jumps towards Bolard , Bolard smiled and said , “Hehe you are still keeping yourself wide open Boy.” , saying this he rushes forward and grabs Rayne's leg while he was still in midair and hangs him upside down just by grabbing Rayne's left leg .

“Ahhhhhhhh , this sucks just how do you always know what I'm gonna do , it's like you are cheating.” , all this took just 3 seconds to happen while Rayne was training with Bolard at the first day of the week before the test , “Hehehe the accusation of cheating on the first day! Thought it will take at least 3 days hahahaha though you made me step back this time that's an accomplishment for you hahahaha.” Bolard began to laugh while letting Rayne fall on his head.

“Baddam..”

“Ouch oof….” Rayne screams , “Okay guys eat your breakfast first.” Alice shouts from the cottage , “Let's go boy let's eat first then we'll start again.” , saying this he gave Rayne a hand , grabbing that hand Rayne stood up again . Both went to the cottage and began to eat , “I'm going up mom gotta go write some stuff in my diary…” , saying this Rayne went up , he took out his diary and began to write .

“So the Key of Artorius looks quite weird , it's completely black in color and has nothing that resembles a key , the blade itself is quite easy to handle even for me who has only used wooden swords till now , and it has a weird structure too as near the hilt it's cut off quite a bit maybe to lighten the blade , I've never seen any sword of this sort in Symphonia Online though , as for the ability of the sword I haven't used it even once but I'm gonna try it out soon , I tried Sonic Slash though and it was quite disappointing as it turns out be a class skill for freelancers it's not very useful as it lacks the range , and the requirements make me only put my points on strength , I have to get better skills in future . Also it seems magical skills are quite strong as while I was practicing pouring my Mana into an inanimate object yesterday while Mom was teaching me I learned a skill called Mana bomb it's a common skill and unlocks by itself if anyone tries to use his or her Mana for more than 1 minute , it has quite the range of 4 meters and it can be upgraded too , it does really good damage too . But the best thing that I came to know is that mom is an Arch mage , which is one of the 20 legendary classes , I was shocked that she is so strong but when I asked about it she said that she's been an adventurer for most of her life , and uncle Bolard too , he is a Force Monk which is also one of the legendary classes , they were in the same team back in the day with many other adventurers . I was surprised even living with her for 5 years I'd no idea about it , to be honest I didn't care as i only wanted to meet Maria.....”

Rayne stops writing for a moment and thought of his mom , “But now I have a mom who loves me more than anything and I'll do anything to protect her , even though she is way to strong to be needing protection , anyway I'm going to train hard from now on not because I have to find Maria , because I want to protect those who love me and those whome I love.” 

“Heey boy I'm going out come on , time for training .” , Bolard shouts , “Coming boss.” , Rayne replies , “Bo…boss? Well that's better I guess I'm not that old to be called uncle.” 

After this Rayne trained the whole day with Bolard learning from his mistakes , time passed by easily while training…..

“Huh….huh…huh I'm quite tired right now , well training for 6 hours is strong in itself but uncle Bolard is way to good , I couldn't break his defense even once , but it seems this training is paying off.” 

As Rayne thinking about that 3 notifications are saying 

<For training for 2 hours without rest Str has increased by 1>

<For training for 4 hours without rest Str has increased by 1>

<For training for 6 hours without rest Str has increased by 1>

“Free stats are always good but I'm really tired , it's not just that I think I'm tired even my status window is saying that my condition is tired , as far as condition goes it's like a permanent debuff or buff that can't be negated they go away when I sleep though , as once i was sick and when I slept well it went away in just one day…..” , as Rayne was thinking all this…

“Hey boy you are not even trying and it's almost evening as well , say what if you can make me lose my weapon in this one try ? I'll give you a gift if you can , what bout it ready?” Bolard shouts , “Gift? Oh well why not.” , Rayne shouts back , “Then come at me.” , as soon as Bolard says that Rayne began to rush towards him , he rolls on the ground going left while trying to deceive Bolard showing him that he is going right , Rayne looked at Bolard and it seems it actually worked as he is guarding his right , “Okay I've to do it now.” , Rayne thought and slashes upwards , Bolard stumbles a little but back up his guard once again , “Hehe good trick but not gonna work on me kid.” , Bolard said , Rayne didn't listened to it and rolls on the ground again to go to the right this time he slashes upwards again , but again Bolard deflects it , “Same trick twice ain't gonna work kid.” he said , “Who told you this is the same trick?” Rayne said , he quickly went behind and swinged the sword right but Bolard rolled on the ground and went ahead so he misses but rayne didn't stopped as he went ahead again and began to slash , “Faster , faster , faster , faster….” , he began to think , 

<You have been exhausted

Atk down 10% , Def down 10%>

A notification came , “Yeah whatever I have to do it I don't care if I'm exhausted.” Rayne thinks , “But the damage reduction what should I........that's right the ability” as soon as he thought of that an outer layer of blue Mana began to form on the blade ,

<Ability used>

The notification didn't bother him as he could see the confusion on Bolard's face , “This is my chance!!!” , he thought and slashes upwards , “Ahhhhhhhh” , Rayne shouts , “Thaaankkkk” , with that sound Bolard's iron sword broke and the broken part flunked across the field and when it came down it went straight into the ground .

“Woooaaahhh kid what was that?” , Bolard asks , “I think it's the ability of this sword that I accidentally used.” , Rayne says , Rayne stops the ability , “Well that will be good to say can't let him get too suspicious.” , he thinks , “Wow that's great you should try to get used to using that ability it's very strong , man I'm jealous of you now kid hehehehe…” , Bolard began to laugh , “This ability is way to strong , even being level 0 I could sense the increase in power.”

As Rayne was thinking Bolard came closer , “Here I did promised you a gift right.” Bolard gave Rayne a potion .

<Obtained Keen Eyes>

“I see you want to Excel in speed , this potion will help you with that.” , “Wow I've read about it , it increases one's speed significantly thanks uncle Bolard.” Rayne took the potion and began to look at it closely and opens it's description which said , 

[Name - Keen Eyes 

Type - Potion

Description - increase user's Dex and Spe by 20 for 5 minutes]

“Woah not only speed but also dexterity!!!” Rayne screams , “Wha….what?” , Bolard asks , “Ohhh no…no..nothing just nothing at all.” , Rayne says , “You are weird kid.” , as Bolard said that Rayne put the potion in his pockets , “Hey kid there's still time…so wanna go somewhere?” , Bolard asks , “Sure.” , Rayne replies , “Then let's go.” Bolard stood up and began to walk , Rayne began to walk behind him.

“Hmm the exhaustion is taking it's effect but it's okay I guess.” Rayne thought , when Bolard and Rayne get to the place the sun was just starting to set .

[Place - Long pear forest , Time - 6:02 PM]

“This is it , you know me and a friend of mine used to train here all day , there are many Long pear here too if you find one and eat one it even cures poison so it's a great place .” , Rayne began to examine the area , “Can we go inside the forest it's just the outside area right ?” Rayne asks , “ahhh yeah but it's almost….” Bolard says , “It's okay I'll tell Mom that we were having a good spar.” , Rayne says while stopping him  , “Hehehe you little….very well let's go inside but don't go by yourself there are those nasty Shadow nymph wolves here , very nasty can confuse you too.” Bolard exclaims while walking towards the forest , “Well you are with me so why be scared?” , Rayne says while looking around , “Hehehe that's right no matter what happened your uncle Bolard will always protect you hahahaha…” he began to laugh once again .

After almost 20 minutes of walking they came to a clearing , “Hmm this place is awfully quite for some reason how bout we go back kid?” , as he looks back all he could see was a thick fog covering the entire area , “wha…what Rayne heey rayyyynneee can you heeeeaaar meeee..” he began to scream , “Damn it I shouldn't have brought him here ahhhhh if anything happens to him alice will die , I can't let that happen she loves the boy way to much she can't live without him , specially if something like that happens….” , he punches a tree and began to think , “No no no no no I've to find him no matter what , raaayyynnneeee heeey raaayyynneeee caaan youuu heearr meeee…” he began to scream again.

[Place - Long pear forest central area , Time - 6:23]

“Huh! Man I shouldn't have come here like that…..well how would I know that this f*cking fog will appear from nowhere . Well whatever I have to go back , but which way..” as Rayne was thinking a grunting sound began to emerge . 

“Grrrrrrrrrrrr” , “Hmm ?” Rayne looked behind and what stands in front of him is a wolf like creature with bright red fur on the back while having pitch black fur everywhere else , it's eyes are glowing with a yellowish aura and on every leg there is something that looks like a gem which is glowing red so brightly that there is no doubt even in the pitch black forest it can be seen from far away.

“Crap!” Rayne thinks while looking at it's head , there was a red arrow pointing at it and as well as a name written in red which said

[Shadow Nymph Ravager]

“Crap it has it's own name that means it is hella strong there is no way I can beat it even in my full strength and I'm already exhausted .” , Rayne began to think but just in a blink of an eye the wolf was gone , “Wait what? Where....wait uncle Bolard said they can confuse so this maybe a trick…”

As soon as he thought of that several other grunting sounds began to emerge and 4 more wolves came out of the fog but these were looking quite normal than the other they had a little red fur on there back but no gems on each leg , their size were also pretty smaller than the other one .

“No!! 4 more there is no way running away is possible now I have to fight them no matter what but I can't die like this think Rayne think….yeah!! As I read in the Bestiary of Bathos they are venerable near their head area , it even said a normal iron arrow if shot in the right area can kill these , then yeah I have to try no matter what I have to try….” , as Rayne was thinking one of the wolves attacked from right , Rayne's eye as soon as saw that he rolled on the ground and went ahead which made the other 3 run left , Rayne swinged his sword from right to left slashing in a circle which made his body go backwards too and that actually hit one which was trying to jump on him , "Khuuuch" , “It hit!! It actually hit , yeah try it rayne.” , another one jumped from left and as soon as Rayne saw that he rushes left slashing through that one's abdomen , blood began to pour out of it and it began to whimper , but it attackes again , seeing that Rayne rushes forward and slashed upwards , "khuuch" , “It hit!!!” , the wolf's head rolles on the ground while it's blood was stained in Rayne's face , “Huh…huh…huh I can do this.” , two of the wolves attacks togather Rayne blocks one by slashing in it's front legs but the other one attacks from behind and bit Rayne on his back , “Ahhhhhhh!” , he screams , he who had never even been bitten by a dog has been bitten by a wolf , the pain was way to much for him , but he didn't flinched as he took his sword and shoved the sword right into the wolf's head "Khaaach" ,

<Hp is below 50%>

The notification wasn't going to stop Rayne as he rushes forward once again while throwing the wolf which was stuck in his sword , the wolf's dead body came off easily and it was flown onto another one ,  being flinched the other one was confused but Rayne didn't gave it time to think as he jumps and shoves his sword right onto it's head , "khuuch" , two dead bodies were shoved at once .

“3 down one to go” , he said as he looked behind , the last one began whimpering in fear and couldn't control it's feeling of running away , as it ran away Rayne began to feel like his head is hurting , “Uggghhh this must be the effect of the confusion it's like a poison as the wolf bit me I've been infected by the confusion…” , but he didn't had chance to rest right away as what he began to see was a big monstrous being with glowing eyes coming towards him , “No….time….to rest , you……want to get beaten too huh…” , not even letting him finish his sentence the Ravager attacks Rayne rolls and was saved from the straight slash from the Ravager's sharp claws , “i have to be……cautious even one slash from that can kill me right away…..but this confusion is making it even harder…” the Ravager attacks once again jumping on him but he was able to dodge it by rolling towards right , “No dodging won't do I have to hit it , hit it , hit iiiiiiittttttt..” he began to scream and rushes forward with his sword's ability now used , 

“aaaagggghhhhhh” , he screams but the Ravager dodged it but he didn't stopped , “Mana bomb!!” , he shouted as a ball of Mana forms in his left hand and was thrown towards the Ravager , it didn't expect it and was hit head on , "Booom" , with a loud noise a cloud of dust formed around it , “It took 10 Mp I only have 38 now 12 more seconds I have to kill it in 12 seconds…” he thought and rushes forward but from the dust the Ravager rushes towards him too , it went and with a slash from its sharp claws blood from Rayne's left shoulder came out spouting everywhere , “aggghhhhhh you f*king piece of sh*t..” , he shouts .

<5% Hp remaining>

Even before Rayne could see the notification properly the Ravager attacks once again , “No no no no no no no no not like thiiiiiiiiiiiiisssssssss……” , Rayne closes his eyes but nothing happened , “What?” , as he opens his eyes his left eye turned purple and began to glow , 

<New skill acquired>

<Eye of the Night acquired>

“What?” , he looked at the ravager , it is in mid air , it is coming down , but very slowly as if the time has stopped for it , no not only for it as the time has stopped for everything except Rayne , as he quickly went away from the Ravager's attack range and saw the description of his new found skill it said ,

[Name - Eye of the Night (Upgradable)

  Type - Only unlockable by special condition

  Condition - Being confused , at night , being freelancer and HP below 5% for more than 5 seconds

  Description - for 10 seconds everything around user becomes slow , abilities of weapons and armours are slowed as well taking 2x lesser time]

To Rayne this was a God sent gift as without this he would have died , “It's your time to die now.” , Rayne says with a smirk in his face , he comes closer to the Ravager which is still in midair and slashes it's head off , "Khaaannch" , the blood from it scatters everywhere including Rayne's face and clothes but for him this wasn't disgusting , for him this was the first victory in this world .

[Leveled up]

Just like that 12 of the same notification came in front of Rayne he looks at them and sighs , he looks at the sky , the fog is going away the shining moon has bestowed it's beautiful silver light on the forest as he began to smile , “I won.” , he says.