It was around dusk in Dark Moon Forest and the forest began to shine with a translucent silver color. There were two people’s shadows running through the forest together. Occasionally they would stop to pick up some type of plant and then continue their journey. One had shiny silver hair while that went down to her waist and the other had golden blond hair that reached her shoulders.

These two were Maria and Mira. They have been running for almost half a day now after they met. They have already reached their destination, but want to find a cave somewhere to make a temporary base.

“Found one. Over there about 500 meters away.” Mira told Maria

“Finally! You didn’t even let me rest at all during that journey and we ran like 400 miles through the forest.” Maria complained

“Well hurry up and rest because you will be fighting what’s inside there. I don’t believe that we made it this far into the forest and there is a cave as big as this that is not currently occupied.”

“W-What?! You are going to make me fight it?! Why??”

“Because you lack experience. This is a good experience.”

“Y-Yeah but… can’t you just walk in there and kill it? You killed that Moon Bear when I couldn’t, plus we could have a base much faster.”

“I could do that, but you are actually stronger than me. Quite a bit stronger too. Now hurry up and go. I don’t know much about the sword, but I can at least give you some pointers. I’ll jump in and help if you are in trouble.” Mira said without budging. She didn’t want someone that she was going to be with for some time to be so weak that they can’t even utilize their strength.

“Ughh… Fine, I will do my best.” Maria muttered under her breath.

She walked over to the cave with her sword in hand. It was strangely quiet, but then a blur suddenly came out from inside the cave and attacked Maria. She was able to block the attack in time and got a good look at her attacker.

“An Earth-Snake!” Maria Exclaimed. An adult Earth Snake is a Late-Stage Rank 1 magical beast. They have a hard earth-like outer layer of skin and are pretty much solid brown. This one was about 10 meters long.

Maria swung down her sword on the snake’s head, but it only left a scratch. The snake then attacked back trying to bite Maria. Maria was barely able to block it in time, but lost her footing and started to tumble back. The snake didn’t lose this chance to attack and dove right in, but Mira dashed in and pushed the snake back.

“What the hell are you doing?! Is this your first time wielding a sword?! Get up and focus!” Mira yelled at Maria.

Maria wasn’t sure what to think right now. She was getting scolded by a girl that’s barely 8 years old on how to fight. She got back up and got back in her stance and charged towards the snake and went to slash down on the base of its neck with more power and ferocity than before. She was able to cut about 2 centimeters into the rock-like skin.

“I forbid you from attacking any other spots other than that gash that you left on the base of its neck!” Mira ordered

“Eh?!?! That’s impossible! I can barely survive, how am I supposed to hit the exact same spot over and over again?!” Maria complained back

“I guess you’ll die then. I told you that you need to fend for yourself! Now do it!” Mira said with an ice-cold tone. Like it didn’t matter whether Maria lived or died.

Maria heard her before but didn’t think it’d be like this. How could she believe an 8-year-old so quickly? She focused her eyes and prepared to do what she said.

The snake went back to attack Maria, but Maria blocked it and rotated immediately to strike the same spot she did before. She slashed down but missed the gash by a centimeter.

“Are you blind!? Open your eyes and focus!” Mira yelled again like some kind of demonic instructor.

Maria repositioned herself and took in a deep breath and breathed out slowly then focused her eyes once again. The difference now is that it actually started to look like she was ready for battle.

The snake went to attack, but this time Maria dodged and swung down with all of her strength on its neck. This time it hit the gash that she made earlier. Her sword tore through the rock-like skin and hit the snake’s spinal cord. The sword kept going and severed its head from the spinal cord. She wasn’t able to decapitate it but did end up killing it with that strike.

Maria fell on her butt afterward and let out a long sigh. She raised her fists and yelled, “I did it!!”

Mira came walking into the cave.

“Congrats. You almost died to something that should’ve taken 1 hit from you to kill at most a couple of hits. Well, at least you killed it in the end, but I do see a cut that wasn’t from the gash that you made; plus I had to step in to block it. We will discuss punishment later. Right now, skin this thing and cook it. It will be our dinner.”

Mira’s words were like lightning hitting her head. Indeed, this isn’t something to be proud of. She barely beat this thing and still needed outside help. She should’ve been able to fend off the Moon Bear from earlier. Maybe not kill it, but she would be able to fight it to a standstill and run away. She dropped her head in shame then realized what she said. Punishment? Skin? Cook? Also, why is she making me do these things?

“U-Umm, what do you mean punishment? Also, why do I have to skin and cook this thing!? It’ll take me forever! I’ve never done this before!” Maria yelled back at her

“You suck with the sword, almost like it’s your first time wielding one. What better motivation to get better than punishment for failure? Regarding skinning and cooking the snake, I did it to the bear earlier. Besides, you need to learn these skills if you want to follow me. I’m not going to do everything for you. Now get to it so we can rest!

“Ugghhh!” Maria groaned but decided not to complain.

It took her nearly 5 hours to skin and cook the whole snake. Mira finished her dinner a while ago and has been meditating ever since. Mira opened her eyes.

“You’re done?”

“Yeah finally and no thanks to you!” Mira sighed and dropped down on the ground and lied down.

“Good, now let’s go to sleep and begin training tomorrow.” Mira said as she closed her eyes to sleep.

Maria groaned, but didn’t complain and went to sleep.

Sometime in the night Mira felt something at the entrance of the cave and immediately woke up and took out her scythe. Maria also sensed something at the entrance and awoke. She readied her sword and the both of them slowly walked towards the front, but what they saw shocked them a bit. It was a large blonde-haired man. He had his sword ready just in case.

“Dad?” Maria said dumbfounded

“Maria is that you?!” the man hurriedly asked

Maria ran to the man and hugged him. “Yeah, it’s me Dad. What are you doing here? I thought that Rineheart young master would’ve told you that I’m dead.” Maria asked with a big smile on her face and her eyes were getting watery.

“They did say that, but how could I believe those assholes so easily. I came here to see for myself and investigate what happened.” He said with a bit of killing intent leaking.

“Anyways, why are you still here? If you are alive you should’ve come back home to tell us that you’re safe!”

“I know, but I wanted to follow my benefactor! She’s the one that saved me from the Moon Bear after I got used as bait to distract it! I wanted to come home, but she was about to leave so I just went ahead and made that decision.”

“Follow? Benefactor? Who?” He kept asking. Mira pointed at Mira and Mira stepped forward.

“A little girl?” He was confused, how was this little girl related.

“My name is Mira.”

“Mira is the one that saved me, dad! Plus I want to follow her to gather experience!” Maria exclaimed

“I don’t think I know you from anywhere. Where are you from?” he asked a little suspiciously.

“A small village on the outskirts of the forest.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Training.”

“Why did you leave your village?”

“It was destroyed.”

“Why didn’t you try to reach a city? Being so young surely makes it hard to survive.”

“I didn’t go to a city because I didn’t want to become a sex slave.”

That answer shocked him. He tried to come up with something to say to deny that, but the words got stuck in his throat. It also didn’t help that this girl looked like a goddess even while wearing animal pelts. There’s no doubt people would capture her.

“Well, I can’t deny that. Anyways, how old are you? You look way too young to start training.”

“I’m 8 years old.”

“What?! Don’t you know it’s dangerous to be doing that!? Plus you don’t even have a teacher to make sure you’re doing it right!.” He yelled at her and at the same time scolding her.

“You don’t need to concern yourself with that. Also, this is my choice. Even if I were to die doing this, I would have no regrets. At least I wouldn’t have to die by being abused and taken advantage of by someone else.” Mira said with resolve and determination.

Cole could see it in her eyes. The determination and will to stick with her decisions no matter if they are good or bad. He couldn’t help but sigh at how mature this little girl is.

“Well, Maria do you want to go back home with me?” Cole asked

“No, I want to stick with her for a bit and see where it leads me.” Maria said with an excited look in her eye.

“I see. Well, I’m glad you’re safe. Your mother and I were worried, but now I can rest easy knowing you are still alive. Here is a talisman just in case though. If you are ever in trouble or want me to pick you up then just use it and I will head to your location immediately. Be safe and come back alive.” Cole hugged Maria.

“Thanks, Dad, and I love you. I’ll be sure to be careful.”

Cole looked at his daughter one last time then looked at Mira and nodded. He then left to go back to Lunar Fox City to tell his wife about the news and to also plan to get revenge on the Rineheart family.