Dawn Architect

Chapter 26: actual experience

The next morning, I got up early and gathered everyone together.

"As you know, we have come here to continue the training and make you stronger," I began by giving instructions. I also taught them about what to keep in mind when it came to dealing with beasts.

First we would all walk together in the forest. I would be at the front, locating the weaker beasts and giving instructions accordingly. This forest is still part of the forest that starts west of the capital, so it gets more dangerous the further west you go.

We have traveled in a southerly direction. This place still maintains the characteristic that the deeper you go, the more dangerous it is. So it is also a good place to train.

Walking in the thick forest, beasts began to appear due to our numbers. The more cunning ones avoided us, but there are some that are herded or reckless and attacked us.

I started instructing them to deal with the beasts and as soon as they were able to fight them I also made sure they could deal with them in my absence and the basics when it came to hunting like differentiating their strength and of course killing them. I also made sure to keep them alive, but I didn't stop them from getting hurt, that was part of their growth. The routine continued and we kept going deeper into the forest.

By the time the day was over, most had killed at least one beast. I chose a spot that would be our base of operations for the next month. It was elevated like a small hill, could be seen in all directions and the top was flat, convenient for pitching tents.

 Although everyone was exhausted from the journey and the fighting, they set about clearing the site and setting up the tents that I took from my inventory.

For my part, I set about creating a barrier large enough to cover the entire camp. It consisted of multiple cloaking runes joined together to form a larger array. All of this was powered by the dark core I had purchased earlier. When I finished, Lili, who was helping me, said.

[It's a good barrier. As long as a beast higher than four stars doesn't get through, we'll never be discovered].

"Hey Lili, don't raise flags," I scolded her, as she was raising a flag. Honestly, I too believe that a beast of that rank will not appear in this area, but after listening to her, I got a little paranoid and started to set up some more security measures. Lili looked at me with a ridiculous look on her face, but I want to reproach her.

"...hey Lili, did you forget that things never go the way you want them to? Haven't we experienced that firsthand?" When she heard me, she seemed to remember a few things, so she started helping me again. We took a while longer than planned. When we got back to camp, the tents were already set up, and I smelled the smell of food. It seemed that they had already started cooking.

Eirlys had already asked to sleep in the same tent and I couldn't refuse, so I didn't have to set up my own. After eating, everyone sat around a big campfire and I started pointing out what they could improve on and what to do in dangerous situations.

Also, based on what I saw, I divided them into teams of five to seven people. The reason is because I noticed that some found it easy to kill the beasts, while others were so nervous that they got hurt, and they were just beasts without rank. So I joined the better ones with the ones that were having trouble to balance things out. Once I finished, I went to sleep.

The next morning, after a quick breakfast, everyone went their own way. On the other hand, besides Clayton and Eirlys' group, I didn't appoint a leader in the other four groups.

For the first three days I asked them not to stray too far from the base and I decided to keep an eye on them. Although the 6 groups took different paths, they still came within the range of my detection spell. So three days passed and the kids were getting used to hunting and creating their own strategies. The first day I had to intervene and save some groups that could not handle the situation and almost lost one of their members.

The second day they were more organized and experienced. Four groups even managed to hunt one-star beasts. All the children were taught basic sword and shield handling. Everyone had a game, and I hope this hunt will be a good experience to discover themselves. 

They may even change the weapon to one that suits them. I myself can handle many types of weapons, but my main weapons are swords or double daggers and spear, to which in my previous life I had reached the top of the domain.

As for others, I am not as good as in the spear and daggers, but my mastery is enough to be a master. As for the weapons the kids used, they were common weapons I bought from the store that cost 5 (SP) per unit, but I made some small upgrades to them that classified them into one-star weapons (initial elemental stellar). 

They even have the ability to kill two-star beasts. By the third day, everything was smoother and they no longer needed my intervention, so, at the end of the third day, I said to them:

"From now on you are on your own. If you are in mortal danger, run to the base and don't go any deeper than you have done. There are more dangerous beasts beyond. On the other hand, the group that has hunted the most beasts will receive a prize."

When I told them they would be on their own, they got a little nervous. But when I mentioned the possibility of a prize and that they could ask for anything within my reach. I could see that some were anxious at the possibility. I'm going to ignore the fact that I thought I saw Eirlys' eyes literally sparkle and assume it was because of the bonfire.

The next morning, I headed west to hunt on my own. My (SP) due to all the expenses was in double digits and I needed to replenish it. The last time I hunted on my own it was only a one-star desperado, so now I have an easier time hunting beasts up to three stars more easily.

As for the four-star ones, it's a bit risky, as the difference between a three-star beast and a four-star beast is too much. But it's not impossible, but difficult and even risky, but necessary for my rapid growth. With that resolution, I went into the forest. I was killing beasts and collecting their blood for later use.

I made sure not to stray too far from the base, a matter that I can return in an hour. An hour with my maximum speed is a long distance, so in case of emergency, I could get back quickly with the combination of speed and teleportation. So I killed a lot of two- and three-star beasts.

As for the four-star ones, I decided to take on some of them, but if the battle dragged on, I ran away. Some I was able to kill because they had weak points that were easy to exploit, so I defeated them with difficulty.

When it was about to get dark, I returned to the base. This routine was repeated for a week. On this day, when I was returning, I noticed that 8 children had reached the point of moving up in rank, including Clayton and Eirlys. Although a bit tired, I led them one by one in the creation of their vessel and their first star.