An ordinary looking spear whistled through the air with messy trajectory repeatedly. The shaft was made out of wood, and it had a metal handle in the end, and a pointy blade on the other end of the spear.
It was Levi who was thrusting with the spear. It had only been a day since they had arrived into this weird world, and he had decided to begin training almost immediately. There was a guidebook on how to use the spear effectively, however he still had a long way to go.
His form and footwork was messy, the thrusts were erratic and totally off their trajectory.
One of the reasons to this was his inexperience in wielding weapons. In his life as a student, Levi had rarely gotten into any serious fights, and even if there was a fight, they did not wield weapons but simply fists or kicks.
The other reasons was his smaller body. Unlike his older self, he was rather unfit as a teenager. He would need to train his body alongside his spear wielding skills.
'Can't I have my old body back, please?'
The Traveler had recommended them to train for a few years inside the protective barriers of the house. Which was what they were going to do.
Outside, the house had a big garden that was surrounded by small fences. However, beyond that it was surrounded by an invisible barrier that made it impossible to see or sense the house. If you crossed the barrier, you would not be able to return back.
During their time here, the barrier would provide their bodies with necessary amount of nutrients and vitamins with mana. This also meant that they did not have to eat or drink.
Which was a weird experience, not being able to eat or drink...
Levi caught a glimpse of Saranda as he stopped to take a breather.
She was performing downward slashes with a sword. The guide book had said that its name was a longsword. Even if it was her first time picking up a medieval weapon, to Levi it seemed like her slashes were well performed.
And she seemed unusually determined.
'Most likely her racial ability... [Will] increased determination and the will to live.'
But it was not written down that it would increase her talent in swords. Perhaps the talent was Saranda's own.
But she had ultimately chosen archery as her main weapon. She was only practicing the sword because it would be hard to shoot an arrow in the middle of the woods.
While the both of them seemed to have accepted the situation somewhat, the same could not be said about Mattie.
She was still struggling to accept the situation, Levi could tell just from looking at her expression. She was physically stronger than them, and had a much more vast mana pool than them. However it seemed that her god blood did not strengthen her mental strength.
She was doing bodily exercises. Fortunately, The Traveler was smart enough to put some training equipment behind for them.
Not that Levi doubted a god's intelligence.
Or did he? After all he did not know what gods could do. Back on earth, the god was rumored to create the whole universe.
Not that he believed in it. However the existence of gods was real in this world.
The suns were setting, the sky was becoming darker too. It was only then Levi decided to finally drop training with the spear and looked upwards to the sky...
"The view still amazes me. This is so much different from out planet." Saranda spoke up as she walked toward Levi.
This planet had four different moons orbiting it. One of the four moons was shattered, a large chunk of it was floating nearby the moon, kept there by the powerful gravity of this world.
Which did not apply to real physics at all.
Unlike back in earth, there was no light pollution either, they could see the stars clearly.
It was a breathtaking sight.
Levi then looked towards Mattie, who was already entering the house without waiting for them. Saranda and Levi followed her into the house, however it seemed that Mattie was tired, so she immediately went to her bedroom and closed the door.
Or simply she was not in the mood to talk.
"Weird to see someone who is always cheerful be so moody." Saranda stated as she crossed her arms. Although she seemed nonchalant about it, Levi could tell she was worried about Mattie.
"Lets give her time, she will eventually begin to accept the fact."
"What if she never does?"
"Then there is nothing we can do." Levi replied with a somber tone, then continued. "Mediate before going to sleep, it will help you circulate your mana better. You are an elemental, you will need it."
"Will do." She said as she headed back to her bedroom.
Levi himself was the last to head back to his bedroom. Once he sat on his bed, he crossed his legs and closed his eyes. Trying to gather the meager amount of mana all around his body into his chest. The feeling was weird, unlike how the web novels he read described it, this world's mana felt like an alien presence inside his body that he could somewhat control.
He circulated the mana in circles inside his chest, the process took a lot of mental power. However he was willing to do it because this purified the mana inside his body and somewhat readied his mental power to use his mind innates.
But...
After just a minute Levi was left gasping for air. He was feeling utterly exhausted as he clutched his chest and breathed in and out. His body felt extremely hot too as the mana he had gathered around his chest suddenly was spread out all over his body once again.
'This is.. harder than I thought..'
And seriously painful.
***
The trio spent their incoming long days training their body, mind and magical abilities.
Levi's progress was gradual but powerful.
His focus was on his spear wielding skills, because his other abilities required him vast amounts of mana he did not have. Even his racial ability was locked behind a high expenditure of mana. Using it would drain his fuel in a matter of a minute. So he focused on his body.
So he also mediated. Unfortunately, mediation caused a lot of pain, and was the worst and slowest way to climb up in ladders. There were other ways too, such as elemental herbs and killing infected or other magicians. However those were not available at the moment.
As for Saranda, her progress was great. She soon learned the basics of wielding a sword, however her progress stalled after that. Because The Traveler had only left the basics of everything.
She also practiced archery, but did not focus on it as much. Due to her bodily innates, she was already extremely talented in archery.
And now...
Wood clashed against wood in the otherwise silent garden.
Levi and Saranda were exchanging blows with their weapons that were made for practice. While Levi held a wooden shaft, the latter held a wooden sword.
Saranda dodged incoming thrusts of the wooden shaft. Each whistled past her, and when she was unable to dodge the incoming attack, she brought her sword forward and parried the attack.
Then immediately closed the distance between them to slash her sword downwards towards Levi's shoulder.
But her attack simply cut through the air. Levi stepped to the left, spinning his shaft alongside his body to slash it in a wide arc against her side.
The incoming slash was too fast for a simple human to ignore, however Saranda was not one. She bended her body backwards in an unnatural angle and dodge the slash completely thanks to her [agility] trait.
Fixing her stance, she conjured a ball of water in her palm at the same time and sent it flying towards Levi. The water ball splashed against his face, making him take a step backwards. Saranda lunged forward and thrust her blade against his chest, and stopped once the tip was close to his heart.
Simultaneously, the shaft was close to her neck, if it had a blade it would had pierced through her.
Both stepped away from each other, it seemed that they were evenly matched for now.
"Your magic has improved. That ball of liquid formed faster than before."
Saranda gave a brief nod and then looked towards Mattie who started clapping.
"You both have gotten really good! I am almost envious!"
The last remark caused both to narrow their eyes, because Mattie was already stronger than both of them due to her blood.
Two years had now passed since they came here. Not much had changed other than their appearances and strengths.
Levi's hair now grown longer, falling down his shoulders. His facial structure was sharper and now his body was not as weak as it was before. His presence had grown more eerie, and he was on the last stages of the first ladder.
Mediation was a slow process, so it took him two years to get to the last stages of it.
He was also physically 15 now. It honestly sucked to be hormonal teenager.
He was 15 once again, although instead of preparing homework he was now preparing to venture out into the woods that was infested with monsters.
Saranda was also on the last stages of the first ladder. She could now do simple magic such as creating small balls of water. Something more complex than that would require a lot of mana.
Levi could not exactly tell, but her pupils looked like a calm see to him.
As for Mattie...
Well she had grown too. She was also in the last stages of first ladder, almost in the breakthrough towards the second ladder.
She had learned how to use twin sabers, and she was exceptionally skilled in using them in practice against Saranda and Levi. Her all around enhancement gave her a big boost in physical abilities, overpowering the others.
She had also learned how to use her magic, although it was not powerful. The only thing she could do with it was to cause distractions with light.
Her tomboyish hair had grown longer too.
As of now, Mattie was the most powerful out of the three.
"So... are we leaving tomorrow?"
"Yes. We learned everything The Traveler has left behind, I think we are wasting our lives in this place." Levi replied as he put the shaft into its place.
"But... have you ever thought what the world beyond this place looks like? What if it is dangerous? There is a high chance that we will not survive, The Traveler has written so too." Mattie was the one who spoke up.
Levi looked at her calmly.
"Would you like to rot here then? Sure it is safe, sure you do not have any worried about eating, you are living in the company of your two close friends. What more could you want?"
"I do not think we are meant to live our lives this way. Stuck inside a protective barrier that simply strips us from what makes us human. Some of us are not even human anymore..." Saranda continued instead of Levi. "So, lets get out of here. Perhaps we could find a way back home."
Saranda calmly walked up to Mattie and hugged her gently. Mattie hugged her back, burying her face into her shoulder, trying not to cry.
Levi simply crossed his arms and watched them, he would have made a snarky comment about them being cringe, but it was not the time.
When they finally let go of each other, Mattie turned towards Levi and smiled.
"Tell me when you need a hug too."
Levi snorted in response. "As if I would ever ask for that."
"Whatever you say tough guy."
That night they decided to gather around the fireplace like the last time they had done in the lighthouse, and slept peacefully in each others company.
***
In the early morning, while the suns had not risen from the horizon, the three youths gathered in front of the exit. Each was wearing a tunic, a bag on their backs and their weapons in their hands on in their sheaths.
"Here we go!"
At the same time, all three of them stepped out of the garden, and the scenery changed almost immediately.
Now in front of them the forest was covered in white. The snow was falling down fast and heavily, the air was freezing.
And once they looked backwards, the house that had protected them for two years was now gone.
They left the gods' protection, and stepped into a fate written by the sinners.