Scale of Reality

Cave of the Vanquished: Final

Muji POV

"And someone wake Muji the hell up. He's been sleeping for way too long now."

I heard Ms Shinmon's voice as I slowly opened my eyes, seeing a head of white hair in front of me. I recognized said hair as Adjest's hair, she was carrying me on her back.

"You up?"

"Yeah..."

Adjest let me down as I stretched, my bones popping a bit and an aching pain coursing through my body. I stiffened up and retracted my arms, my everything still aching.

I looked around and seen the group, Mya and Jax were already up and about.

"You alright Muji? It's time to leave."

I blinked twice as I looked at Adjest. I was a bit confused by the sudden situation.

"If it's time to leave...then does that mean I slept the entire last day?"

Adjest nodded. "Mya and Jax did too. You guys were pretty banged up."

Adjest and I walked as we spoke, as to not hold up the group.

"How did you guys even find us?"

"We sensed your mana during your battle with the mage skeletons. Ms Shinmon sent us mages and Lapis to get you while everyone else rested. We flew back up from the giant hole that was made."

I hummed with a nod.

"Makes sense. Jax told you guys about the skeleton variations right?"

"Yeah, pretty scary. I'm glad we didn't run into any of them. Now that you're up though you should go talk to Ms Shinmon."

I nodded and walked away from Adjest, heading to the front of the group and meeting Ms Shinmon.

"Hey kiddo! I'm so glad you're alive." She said as she put me in a headlock. I wanted to complain about how my body was sore but I doubt she cared.

"I'm glad you care."

Ms Shinmon let me go and looked behind her to make sure there was a bit of distance in between us and the others before speaking.

"So tell me about this skeleton variations. Jax told me about them and Mya explained it too, but I want to hear your thoughts."

I nodded and began to think a bit. "The large skeletons weren't anything special, but they were very intelligent and adapted quickly. Although they were more physically powerful it wasn't anything note worthy."

Ms Shinmon nodded.

"They still died like normal skeletons though right? Shouldn't be too much trouble. What about the mages?"

"That's what surprised me, it was weird. They had mana but it was a very weird type of mana that didn't feel similar to ours in anyway. They also couldn't die by light magic, since Mya had hit one and it didn't die. The only way they died was by self destruction with the use of mana overtime, but it gets more interesting."

Ms Shinmon raised an eyebrow. "How so? What do they sprout wings or something?"

"No, but as time passes they got progressively stronger. Not only that but when it was one left it took on the mana traits of the other two fallen mages."

When I finished explaining I could see Ms Shinmon's face tighten up. "That could actually be bad...I so have to report this."

"Huh? Report to who?"

Ms Shinmon shook her head and ruffled my hair before smiling at me.

"Don't worry about it kiddo! Just grown up stuff. Alright everyone let's go! The carriage will be here shortly! Move your asses!"

Timeskip

"Alright everyone, you have all, once again, survived a hunt. Like usual some of you got into unexpected situations but it looks like god is on your side since you made it out alive. Again."

The group of hunter trainees all stood together in front of Shinmon, this time our number was 13 due to Shanna vanishing.

That still pissed me off.

"However, for the next few months there will be no hunts, or studying, or even joint exercises for all that matter. For the next few months, everyone will do independent training in preparation for the trainee tournament."

The air got heavy, most of us knew what the trainee tournament was and what it meant for the hunter career. The only person who didn't seem to know was Mya. She nudged me and squinted, a signal that mean she was confused.

"I'll explain later." I whispered.

"The trainee tournament will allow you to display your skills and abilities to not only guilds that could be scouting you in the future, but the leaders of all four kingdoms. I expect at least 5 of you to make it to the final round aka the official tournament. I can help you all with overall basic training but growing your powering, honing your techniques, and improving your skills is all up to you guys now. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes mam!!"

Ms Shinmon smiled and turned her hat around.

"Good luck."

With that, an intense solo training period started amongst everyone. Every now and then I would stop my personal training and spar with the others or even Ms Shinmon, but I would then quickly go back to my training.

Day in and day out without much rest, the training continued I pushed myself to the brink time and time again. I trained so hard I felt like my bones were about to shatter and my skin was about to peel off, but I still continued to train.

Eventually three months had went by, and the trainee tournament was right around the corner.