Danmachi: Voyager of Worlds Ability

[5] : Forging Strength: Mika's Training Under Urokodaki

The next day, around noon, Mika and Tanjiro went up the mountain again under the guidance of Sakonji Urokodaki.

Feeling the thin air and thick fog around him, Mika's mind immediately recalled the tragic experience of the night before. Due to a lack of physical strength, he couldn't avoid many of the traps he discovered and had to physically endure them, leaving him covered in injuries by the time he returned yesterday.

Even with the special medicine Mr. Urokodaki gave him, he still felt slight pain in his body today.

"For today and for a long time to come, your training will involve repeatedly going up and down this mountain. Only if you can complete the descent without a scratch will you move on to the next stage," Urokodaki said before his figure disappeared into the mist.

"Coming down unscathed, huh?" Even though Mika had expected this, he couldn't help but smile bitterly. The descent had brought him his most painful memories so far. He didn't want to go through that pain again, but he knew it was inevitable. In order to learn the breathing techniques and the swordsmanship, Mika had to pass this test.

"Let's go, Tanjiro!"

"Yes, you be careful too, Mika!"

"Don't worry!" After exchanging a few words with Tanjiro, Mika ran resolutely into the fog ahead.

Unlike the previous day, Mika and Tanjiro did not take the same path downhill this time, which meant that no one could lead the way for Mika. Mika wasn't surprised by this, as Urokodaki had trained many swordsmen in the past, and it wasn't uncommon for several swordsmen to be trained at the same time.

Besides, without Tanjiro's guidance, Mika wasn't afraid. After all, he was here to train and improve himself. While Tanjiro had a strong sense of smell, Mika didn't have this ability. He had to develop his own sense of smell.

"Bam!" Struck by a flying log, Mika quickly got up and continued running. More and more mechanisms and traps followed. Unlike the traps from the night before, these were more hidden and perfect, making them difficult for Mika to detect quickly.

His experience was limited here and he felt targeted. Without Tanjiro's keen sense of smell, Mika could only detect the traps when they were close. The fog obscured his vision and made him feel like he was in the dark.

"I can't go on like this," Mika thought as he lay in a pit and looked at the darkening sky. "This test of descending through traps isn't just about training our strength, speed and agility, it's also about sharpening our perception of danger."

"Using the fog to obscure our vision is meant to train us to use other senses besides our eyes," Mika remembered Tanjiro's original training path and quickly understood everything.

Unlike Mika, Tanjiro didn't need to develop new senses because he had a natural sense of smell. His sense of smell was his perfect ability to perceive danger. He just had to improve it. But Mika was different; he was just an ordinary person without Tanjiro's talents. He needed to develop a new sense of danger perception.

"Among the five human senses, hearing is the most sensitive after sight. So I have to train my ability to locate through sound," Mika thought. "Can I do it?"

Looking at the stars above, Mika suddenly sat up and jumped out of the pit. "It's not about if I can, but if I do!" Climbing out of the pit, he closed his eyes and ran forward again. This time he fell even more miserably.

...

"Mika!" Seeing Mika crawling out of the forest again, Tanjiro, who was waiting in front of the house, quickly ran over to help him. "Mika, how did you get hurt so badly?" Tanjiro examined Mika's bruises and swelling. Even though there was no bleeding, it still looked terrible. In Tanjiro's opinion, Mika's injuries were worse than the ones he had received the night before.