Everything played as Roan mentioned. All the Stage One demon beasts were quickly cleared out from around the base. Not only that, but it was common to see three or four groups attacking the same demon beast. In the end, only one of those groups would be taking the final blow.
Rean's group spent some time circling around the place where most groups were gathered, which made their hunt start somewhat later. However, they had the demon beasts around free for themselves.
"Shadow Leopard, at your right, you guys, go ahead."
Malaka immediately rushed forward and blocked the demon beast's path. It was one good with speed. However, Malaka's defense was watertight, so it simply couldn't pass by her. Even though Malaka's weapon isn't good for killing, it was still a Low-Level Spiritual Equipment made by Rean. If Roan hadn't instructed her to only hold the Demon Beasts, she could totally finish this one.
Roan wanted Julio and Lenna to train as much as possible. Especially now that they just got his Death Style Manuals.
*Slash!*
Lenna's sword came from the side when the Shadow Leopard wasn't looking. However, she was quite off, so the Leopard still dodged. Julio tried to use that change to give a killing blow, but he ended hitting the side of the Leopard's shoulder.
Roan looked at that before sighing.
"Sure enough, it will take time for them to understand how to make use of all opportunities."
Rean smiled, though.
"You can't really expect them to learn your Death Style in a single night, right? I think that they already did quite well by grasping those opportunities."
Roan didn't like it anyway.
"It is okay now since there is only one Demon Beast. With Malaka there, they are not in danger. But even Malaka can't take care of two simultaneously. When that time comes, Julio and Lenna need to take care of one while Malaka takes care of another. It will be even worse if there are three or more."
Rean had to admit that Roan was right. But it would take time for them to understand those principles of the Death Style. All opportunities are killing opportunities; that's the path of Roan's weapons.
It didn't take long before the Shadow Leopard was killed. But it wasn't a single hit kill. Instead, it accumulated injuries until it finally fell.
Julio and Lenna were quite excited with their first demon beast down, but Roan quickly threw a bucket of cold water on them.
"What a terrible display. Without Malaka, would you even kill it? Stop wasting time and come here, I'll tell you everything that was wrong."
Julio and Lenna got a little embarrassed and angry at the same time. Sure enough, they are young, so controlling their emotions isn't something that they care about.
Roan didn't care, though. He went from top to bottom on everything that went wrong. He spoke so much that there was no way Julio and Lenna could remember everything.
"Alright, let's go to the next. We are going to use the first three days of the entire two weeks to make sure you will never forget what I say."
Malaka heard that and felt quite sorry for Julio and Lenna. How could she not understand that look on Roan's eyes? She was sure that the hellish training time was about to start.
They continued forward without stop. As soon as a Demon Beast died, Roan was already running to look for the next. However, he and Rean never intervened. He also made Malaka stay out of the battles quite a few times, leaving everything for Julio and Lenna to deal alone.
Fear? Inexperience? Injuries? Roan didn't care about any of that. Unless he saw that Julio or Lenna was about to be severely injured or die, he didn't let anyone intervene. Not only that, but he prohibited Rean from healing them too. They would need to move ahead with their injures open, or they could try to treat it themselves.
The demon beasts never stopped coming for Julio and Lenna. Roan even Rean bait more so that there would always be a new one as soon as they finished. During all this time, Roan kept shouting at them what was wrong, what they should improve, and what they should forget. Yes, forget. After all, they had been training with other styles so far. So there were a lot of things that Roan deemed useless in their abilities.
Back on the base, there was an enormous pillar inscribed with several types of formations. As long as one poured their Spiritual Sense inside, they could check the participating kids' ranking. Not only that, but you could even observe a kid in specific if you decided to do so. Hulian wasn't lying. The entire Demon Beast Forest was covered in a gigantic monitoring formation.
Rean's group was doing quite well. Their position was 37th. This position was acquired while they focused on Stage One demon beasts only, which was quite good. After all, there were over 200 teams in the Demon Forest at the moment.
However, Uncle Wen and Tanzon expressions didn't seem the least bit happy. Since they could monitor the participants through the monitoring formation, they could see how Julio and Lenna were doing. That kind of training... was beyond painful. There were several times that they thought that Julio or Lenna would die or receive a severe injury. But Roan would always appear at the key moment to save them. However, save was one thing; killing the demon beast was another. Roan would just deflect the attack, but wouldn't touch the demon beast at all.
Eventually, Lenna and Julio would end up killing it. But the time they spent doing so kept increasing more and more. That's because they were too exhausted! Not to mention the several other injuries that, although not severe, were still painful and made them lose blood.
Alanda looked at all of that and couldn't but laugh.
"Hahaha! It seems like Roan like those two quite a lot. To think he would make them pass through his Death Style Training."
Tanzon looked at Alanda with a shocked expression.
"He... likes them? Just what kind of training you offer in your tribe?"
Alanda shrugged his shoulders after hearing that.
"That is not our tribe's training. This is something that Roan devised himself. Don't worry, though. Nothing will happen to your kids as long as he is overseeing it. Of course, they will have to experience quite some pain in the next few days."
Although Tanzon was angry, the kids had started the test already. There was no way he could intervene anymore.
The day passed in a flash. Finally, Roan called an end for Julio and Lenna's training. As soon as those two heard that, they collapsed on the ground. Their clothes were almost destroyed. There were cuts and bruises everywhere too. If not that they thought that Roan might abandon them right there and them, they would have collapsed much earlier.
Malaka wasn't injured, but she too was drained. She participated in at least two-thirds of the battles together with Julio and Lenna. Still, he felt quite happy to see that she now has some friends who understand the pain she experienced in the past.
Roan then looked at Rean before asking.
"Well, it's your part now. Make sure Julio and Lenna are as good as new for tomorrow."
Rean couldn't help but laugh.
"Sure. It is always good to have some new Roan victim friends."
"What Roan victim? Did you forget that I also applied the same training for myself? I dare say that I went even further on my own practice."
Rean smiled but didn't answer. Roan was simply too crazy when it came to these things. He would definitely draw the last bit of energy of their bodies before calling it. However, Rean understood that Malaka and his own progress so far were all thanks to this 'I-rather-die' training of his.
He quickly called forward the Light Element and began to treat their injuries. There weren't just cuts and bruises, but even a few cracked bones too. Those two didn't notice it only because of the adrenaline that never stopped. As he healed them, Julio and Lenna slowly regained their consciousness.
But they didn't even have time to think when the pain in their bodies took over! Immediately, they began to contort in pain.
"Hahaha! Don't worry, you two. By tomorrow, your bodies will be 100% ready for another day of happy training with your big brother Roan."
Hearing that name made Julio and Lenna's hearts skip for a second. They looked at Roan's direction and could see a faint smile. He looked at them as if he was looking at his prey.
Because there were many more injuries this time, Rean took almost an entire hour to heal both of them. Finally, the pain disappeared, and only the fatigue of their body remained. But before they could even get up, Roan grabbed both their arms and threw them inside a river nearby.
*Splash!*
"You two stinky! Take off your clothes and wash yourselves. I have a set of clothes for you already."
Roan was really prepared for everything. He put his hand inside his own bag, and from inside the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm, two sets of clothes appeared on it.
*Splash!*
Malaka didn't even wait for Roan. The moment he looked at her, she knew that she had to go too. She might not have got injured, but she sweated rivers! The only difference was that Roan told her to wash her own clothes instead of throwing them away. Since they were not destroyed, so why should they dispose of it?
The only ones that were completely fine were Rean and Roan. Stage One demon beasts couldn't make them even sweat anymore, so they were as clean as when they first arrived in the forest.
Lenna felt a little embarrassed when she heard that she had to take off her clothes. Although she is only eleven and basically a kid, she is still a woman. However, after seeing Roan's dark expression, Lenna quickly threw those thoughts away. What if Roan decides to increase her training in the next day because she refused? Some embarrassment was definitely not worth the risk!
Rean didn't even care about the kids washing themselves. Instead, he went around to select the beast who seemed to have the best meat to cook. Back on Earth, he was a 31 years old adult who lived alone, so he had to learn how to cook. Although he doesn't have the utensils from Earth here anymore, he still could more or less manage to cook something edible.
As for Roan? The last thing he could care about is a woman's naked body. Souls have no clothes to start with, so just how many women naked souls had he seen in his previous life (or death)? He didn't even dare try to count. One must remember that a Soul takes the shape of the body when it is brought outside. Back then, the same happened with Rean as well. Not to mention that there were countless instances where the women who died were naked to start with. For Roan, such things were utterly worthless and didn't entice him at all!
The kids quickly finished washing themselves and took Roan's set of clothes. After they finished eating the food prepared by Rean, they immediately collapsed once more. This time, they fell into a deep sleep. Roan was satisfied with that sight, though. If they hadn't slept straight away, that meant that his first day of training was not harsh enough.
"Alright, same thing as always. You keep an eye for the first half of the night while I look the next half."
Rean didn't mind and sat above a boulder close to them. Roan then checked every one to see if everything was in order and went to sleep as well. The next day, he would push those two new recruits even harder!
