Chapter 47 - 47 - The Eagerness Of Youth

September 18th, 2018

Today was the tenth, and last day that Lucien and Sera could spend inside the sub-dimension, Eden-N03. As the first morning rays shone through the window's squared glass and cast its bright pillar of light, the room's resident was already up and about.

He had a light blue short towel on his lean, toned shoulders. His figure looked vastly different from that scrawny little kid that was taken to this safe place only ten days ago. Although it might have felt not that long, in these ten days, this young man matured a lot.

His mind was like a sponge, the hungry flames of the crackling bonfire, eager to eat up all the knowledge that was presented to him. His rate of growth was stupendously fast, hard to explain.

In these 240 hours, Lucien Shaw, the 'Wretched One' has turned from the weak, scrawny little young youth, into a full-fledged man.

Reaching for the doors, he opened the door and entered the bathroom, stopping in front of the mirror, taking a careful, scrutinizing look at his own body, just like he did every morning.

His hands trailed over the four claw marks that ran across his chest. It remained there, he refused to heal it, despite that Sera had the ability to do so. He asked her to leave it there, to serve as a reminder of the mistake that ultimately matured him into the man he is today.

As his eyes followed the trail of his fingers, the memories of that memorable hunt emerged in his mind once again.

He couldn't help but smile as he traveled back to that morning four days ago.

—

September 14, 2018 - Eden-N04

After finishing up his morning routine, Lucien met up with Sera who was already waiting for him at the porch. The bag she usually carried to their hunts was with her, filled to the brim with a variety of weapons.

The difference was that unlike before, now they were mostly a mixture of close combat arms, blades of varying length, metal- and steel-headed blunt objects, and a few exotic-looking strange-looking ones. Amidst them, even a pair of bracelets made its presence known with their bright silvery shine.

Looking at the big duffle bag, Lucien couldn't hide the expectant grin on his face. He was excited, they would finally move from the ranged weapons, into the territory that sounded much more interesting!

One could argue that their pace was way too fast and that learning the art of handling each weapon had a much longer path, and they would be normally right. Each weapon, be it something as simple-looking as bows had much more depth than what would be obvious from a first glance.

Still, they would be shocked to learn that this, for some reason, did not apply to this strange youngster. He seemed to be a natural at everything that was presented to him. After a few minutes of playing around, learning the ropes, he could handle all the firearms that Sera provided with ease.

Truth be told, the roots of aiming and shooting the target were similar in the case of all weapons, no matter if it was a rifle, a pistol, or even the different bows and crossbows he was shown.

Whilst he didn't see and practiced every possible weapon type, he still showcased quick wits and a fast learning rate. Although he couldn't be called a Master of any of them, he was at the very least now experienced and adept at handling many different forms.

Even Lucien himself was surprised at himself, but quickly put it behind him, realizing that all of this couldn't be contributed to him only, but to the System. The strange, alien-like organism that resided in him, assisted him, passively processing all the information that Sera has taught.

Anyway, whilst every day was fruitful in multiple ways, Lucien couldn't help but look forward to today. He always felt the hunger, the need to charge ahead and fight face-to-face. Killing the game from a distance felt lackluster, he felt empty. The excitement that he felt the first day was no longer there, at least not for the hunt itself.

He knew that what his blood ached, thirsted for was this day. To feel the blood of his enemy flowing in his own two hands, to tear through skin, flesh, and organs personally. He needed this…

Although he seemed to not realize it anymore, as time went on, and as his synchronization with the 'System', the 'other one' grew, he gradually changed, grew… evolved, not just in body but in mind and soul as well.

—

Looking at the boy, Sera smiled sweetly.

"How are you feeling, Lucien? Ready for today?"

Reaching for the large bag, Lucien nodded at her inquiry.

"Yes. We are going deeper today, right? I want some challenge… hunting rabbits, squirrels and whatnot are not too exciting…" He frowned, causing Sera to burst into a peal of light chuckle upon hearing his complaint.

"Ahahaha… Oh my!" She giggled, smiling at the black-haired boy. "Someone is growing confident! Well…" She sighed, looking over his much healthier physique. "I can understand why you are feeling like that, Lucien. Still, we have to stay in the outer regions, as you are just learning the ropes."

Lucien pondered at her words, but couldn't help but continue to frown. He really didn't want to stay in the same region again. What challenge, what excitement could he get from dispatching those helpless critters? Even if he were to battle a horde of them, he would barely get anything out of it, not to mention that even the system barely gave any reward for absorbing them anymore.

This was also a surprising revelation of the last couple of days of arduous training. There seemed to be an upper cap of the gains he could receive from hunting, killing, and absorbing the very same species of creatures over and over again. There was a hidden cap, that once he reached, the system would barely give any benefits. His initial gains were nowhere to be seen, he needed to absorb hundreds of those Forest Squirrels and Hares and still wouldn't get the same results as he gained from the first one.

He needed stronger opponents, preferably those that were above what the average man could possibly see. He needed those magical or mutated beasts, monsters.

Slowly, Sera's laughter faded, a serious look appeared on her face as she looked at the boy next to her.

"Listen, Lucien. I know you want something more… exciting to face…" She sighed, as she saw his nonchalant nod, reaching to rub the empty space between her brows as she offered.

"Let's agree to this: If you show good results in the morning, we will venture deeper in after lunch." Seeing how his eyes instantly lit up, she added with a stricter look. "Only if I can see that you are handling the weapons confidently! If you are just swaying around like an idiot, we will return!"

"Also, you shouldn't forget that you need to rest to absolve all the gains." She ended her makeshift speech with a smile, returning her gaze to the sparsely standing trees in the distance.

She didn't even need to wait for too long, as the boy's eager response came almost instantly.. He was way too eager and excited to jump into today's adventure, unaware of the dangers he was about to face due to his impatience.