There were a lot of them. Weird purple... energy... men were just roaming the middle of the forest. Their arms drooped down in front of them as they waddled around hunched forward like a horde of zombies. I took a step forward only for Yusha to stop me by stretching her arm out.

"Their sole strength lies in numbers," she whispered while looking at me from over her shoulder. She then placed a finger over her lips. "Try to keep quiet. We don't want to take them all on at the same time."

Glad she stopped me. I was tempted to go in swinging. I guess my first encounter with those monsters got me too confident. I obeyed and took shelter behind the tree again. Yusha kept her head poked out, eyeing the horde as they wandered around aimlessly.

"What's the plan then?" I whispered to Yusha.

"We lure them away. One at a time."

I jutted my head from the cover of the tree and watched the closest Entity move. It lingered to the for a few moments before eventually turning around to merge back with the rest of the horde.

"How are we going to lure just one out?" I asked. "Looks like there's no rhyme or reason to how they move around."

"Patience," she said softly without moving her eyes away from the Entities. "Patience."

I should have figured. I've seen too many action, fantasy and even sci-fi movies to have not seen that one coming. I was a bit disappointed. I was really looking forward to having an all-out melee. But Yusha was in charge. She knew everything about the world, so it was best to let her give orders. But that still didn't squash my temptation.

"Okay. I can wait," I whispered. Notice how I didn't mention 'how long' I'd wait for. The fire to fight was burning inside of me. And all of the Entities just roaming around only added to the fuel. After a bit of waiting, Yusha popped out from her cover. She showed off just enough of herself to one of the monsters that wandered away from the rest of the pack. She waved her hand before jumping back behind the tree. I stayed hidden, only sticking my head out enough to watch the movement of the Entity.

Like a zombie from a video game, it took the bait. It waddled left and right, closing in the distance ever so slowly. As it took its sweet time to reach its inevitable demise, Yusha pulled me in close for a whisper.

"You want to take this one out?" she asked softly.

I nodded my head. "Yeah. If that's okay with you, of course. I know you're trying to get stronger too. I don't want to impede on your training or anything."

She placed her hand on my arm and gave me a gentle smile. "You are Govessa's Champion. You need all of the experience you can get. Besides, there's plenty of monsters for both of us to take down."

Right. That made sense. Always give novices the bulk of the XP... er AP in this case... so they can catch up. Makes perfect sense to me. But still, I didn't want to be an experience hog. Everyone who has played an MMO with a gang of friends knows that kind of player. "We can't take down that thing together?"

"It will split the [Aptitude Points] between the two of us. They're already worth very little. We'd just be wasting time doing that."

I punched the palm of my hand with my first. "Right. Makes sense. We just take turns. Sounds fair."

Yusha peeked pas the tree again. I stayed behind the tree trunk, but I could tell that the loud crackling and purple glow that the monster was getting closer.

"Try not to make too much noise," she whispered as she darted back down. I nodded in silence. Wasn't long before the Entity was right in front of the tree. And I learned my lesson about hesitating and letting your guard down. If I had been even a teeny bit more careful, I wouldn't even be in this crazy world. I step out to the side of the tree. I faced the Entity's back as it continued to wander in the direction away from the rest of its group. I noticed that its arms were dangling by its side.

Perfect.

It was in the perfect position for the first grapple I ever learned in my hapkido training. I seized the creature by its wrist and twisted it so that side was to my back. Held onto its wrist with both hands and maneuvered it so that the arm was over my shoulder. I was taken off guard by how light the thing was. Yeah, I know one jumped on me and pushed me to the ground when I first encountered these things, but I was caught off guard. Wasn't really paying attention to the weight.

But despite their size, the Entity wasn't very dense. Almost like lifting a plastic dummy in regards to weight. Managed to hoist it over with a single heave. I angled the grapple perfectly so that it landed behind the tree, away from the of the rest of its pack. It landed on the ground back first and let out an angry hiss that sounded like a deflating tire. I'm guessing the throw itself must have done some serious damage. Worried that the sound of the monster's anguish might attract its buds, I raised one fist and aimed for the chest.

The punch landed where the heart would have been if it had one. Made sure to cast [Volt Channel] the instant the edge of my fist made contact with the tingling exterior of the creature. Electricity sparked from the Entity's body as the projectile from the spell left the body and travelled in a straight line down the forest.

"Impressive." Yusha nodded her head. I stood upright and looked down at the body. The monster was motionless. But I gave it a kick in the head for good measure.

"You killed it, Adrien," Yusha said sarcastically. I gave her this confused look. My lips opened, ready to explain to her why it's always a good idea to make sure your enemy is thoroughly dead, but I decided against it. Knowing her, she was probably taught something about honoring fallen foes from her father. Or something like that."

"Oh yeah. Right."

"How do you feel? Any stronger?"

I shut my eyes too look at my stats.

Same levels. Just a smidge more AP. Nothing to really be impressed with. Even though I was a bit disappointed with the result and the realization that I would have to be killing a lot of these things to make any amount of substantial progress, Yusha seemed more than enthused by the result. She smiled from ear to ear and silently clapped her hands together.

"Congratulations!" she whispered.

I took another look at my stats. No, I didn't miss anything. Definitely didn't level up after taking the Entity down. "Uh... thanks? But think you could tell me what exactly it is that you are congratulating me?"

"This is the first step in your journey to becoming a powerful Champion for Govessa! You dispatched the entity with ease. I couldn't be more excited for you!"

It's safe to assume that poor Yusha doesn't get too many visitors or have too many friends. I assumed what I had just done was nothing special. An introductory hapkido grappled combined with a Level One spell.

"But I didn't do anything out of the ordinary. Anyone could have killed this thing without any effort!" I pointed at the body. It had already begun to dissipate into a fine purple mist and float up into the atmosphere.

"It is special. Every step in your journey is important."

Oh. She was going for the "kung-fu sensei" talk. I decided to play along. I nodded my head a few times. Then I interlocked my fingers almost like I was praying. "Ah. I get it now."

Yusha smiled and nodded back. "I am glad you understand. So many people just want to take shortcuts towards getting stronger. Back when my father ran the dojo, so many pupils would join during the new season, only for a diligent to remain during the rigorous training. Everyone wants the results. But very few are willing to put in the effort."

That's a good point. Although… Zahnte's army seems to do the opposite of that and they're winning this war, so maybe there is something to be said about that. I was tempted to bring it up to Yusha, but I looked at how excited she was and I didn't have the heart to ruin her special moment. I quietly nodded my head one more time before taking a peek towards the horde again.

Looked exactly the same as before. All of the Entities just wandering around with neither rhyme nor reason. Yusha stood by my side and analyzed the brainless mass with me.

"Ready to take on another?" she asked.

"Nah. It's your turn, remember? We agreed to alternate with each one we kill."

"I know but I'm thinking we could speed up the process a bit."

I turned to her, looking all confused myself. Not sure what she had in mind, but I'm down with speeding up the grind. "What's your plan?"

"We'll take on a lot more at once."