Time passed quickly, and 2 and half a month passed in the blink of an eye.

During those times, Juan has achieved 1000 pounds of strength reaching low-level warrior rank. At the same time, He holed himself in his house and the school sent Pedro to look for him a few times. For this, Juan had no choice but to applaud his perseverance.

After all, he spent almost 3 months holing himself in his house to train. However, he was surprised himself as the 3 high stones' energy was abundant and it took him almost 1 month to fully absorb one.

On this day, Juan held his steel sword with his hands. Then with all his strength he slashed the big rock in front of him and sliced it in two.

He was satisfied by his current strength but shook his head as it was only the beginning because outside the city he is only a bigger Ant.

He had learned about it in the sixth grade of elementary school. The power level of the whole world was: Apprentice Warrior, Warrior, Iron-Blooded Warrior, Sky Warrior, and Warrior God.

Each level was divided into three levels: upper, middle, and lower.

(I changed it and here are the official power levels)

Iron-blooded warrior's cultivation methods are blood tempering using source energy from the universe. One can complete and achieve the rate of perfection after you've infused source energy with your blood. You can tell by your blood changing into the color of iron that's why this realm is called iron-blooded warriors.

As for Sky warrior, there were dragons of men Juan heard that they were strong and had the ability to fly. He didn't know much about that realm as he was only a commoner and just learned from the legends and rumors.

“Sigh, the world is unpredictable. Although the city is a safe zone for humans, It is not an absolute one. Only by getting stronger yourself can you protect yourself and live well” Juan said to himself.

After saying that, Juan decided that later on, he will take on another task from the mission hall in school for more resources and fight stronger monsters to gain more battle experience.

...

On the mission hall of Daling High School.

(finally got a name for the school xd)

In the center of the mission hall was a place where countless tasks and missions were posted by the school. All the people who wanted to gain battle experience or were in need of resources were here to take on tasks.

There were serious looks on their childish faces.

Juan walked inside and looked for the most suitable task for him.

When he was about to search, he found a familiar face and it was Maria who lost to Meg in the ranking match 3 months ago.

He looked at her while she found Juan too and looked at him.

She took the initiative to approach and greeted Juan.

Juan was surprised to find her here because she was a noble and didn't lack strengthening stones or any resources. He joked "Maria, aren't you a noble? is your family lacking resources?"

Maria rolled her eyes at his joked and said "The school announced a week ago that we have to at least complete one mission before we can graduate to gain experience and also help the school in something because there are only 3 months left before the end of school"

Juan knew this from Pedro when he was training a week ago, but he didn't really pay attention as he already completed his first mission perfectly.

Then he invited and asked Maria if she's interested in completing a hard mission together.

Maria accepted the invitation and said, "I was about to invite you to complete a mission together because with you around it would be easier." then she went around to look for a suitable mission for themselves.

It took her 10 minutes to find a suitable mission for both of them because there were so many missions to choose from. She then took the task from the mission board and handed it to Juan for him to see the content of the mission.

According to the monster pedia, Power ants is numerous and has nest everywhere. They were strong as they had the strength of middle apprentice warriors but their weakness was that they are too slow.

Juan didn't think that this was a dangerous mission but it was only tiring clearing out the whole nest of power ants but the mission gave out generous rewards so he decided to accept it.

Anyway having a beautiful companion is better than having to travel alone.

"When are we going to start?" Juan asked her as the mission this time was located a bit far away from the city.

"Tomorrow" she replied as she still need to prepare all the stuff they need for the long journey and tell her family that she was going out to accept a task.

Juan nodded and went to the counter with her and passed the mission to Aira for confirmation that they accepted the task and will start tomorrow. Then Aira gave them a mission pass card so they don't have to waste time getting checked by the guards at the gate.

After that, Juan said goodbye to Maria and went home to prepare.

...

A day later,

After finishing his daily morning training,

Juan stretched his tense muscles and changed his wet clothes.

He went to his room and took his huge storage bag and went out to the place where they were supposed to meet before going out.

At the place near the city gates,

Juan went there and found Maria waving at him.

"Are you ready? Did you prepare everything?" Maria asked him a barrage of questions.

"I was born ready" Juan ignored her barrage of questions and said confidently. (always wanted to say this xdd)

Maria rolled her eyes at him then went to the city gates while Juan followed her quickly.

They went to the City gates to get checked and record his information by the guards. While they were checked, the guards on duty asked them some simple questions.

"What's your reason for going out?" one of the guards asked. Maria didn't answer but she handed the mission pass card Aira gave them yesterday. When the guard checked and confirmed that it was real they immediately let them pass.

Juan nodded to Maria then left the city once again,

Outside the city,

Maria took out her map and looked in the direction where the place a power ant nest was located.

Neigh!

There was a neighing sound and a beautiful white horned horse appeared out of nowhere.

The surprised Juan reacted quickly and pulled out his steel sword but when he was about to slash it he found Maria seated at the back of the horse. He was shocked and looked at Maria.

Maria looked at him too and found his reaction funny she asked, "What? never seen a mount before?"

It was Juan's first time seeing a low-level transformed monster as a mount. Because It was hard to tame monsters as a mount and only nobles could afford to buy one. Maria was obviously a noble and wouldn't walk straight for 3 days so she asked her father for a mount.

He looked at her beautiful mount enviously and reminded himself to work hard and buy one for himself in the future when he can afford it as they were expensive.

Then Maria lead the way while Juan followed behind.

At the same time, a man dressed in black robes held his dagger and followed them quickly while maintaining a distance.

- End of chapter 5 -