Two days passed with nothing happening. Both the days had the same rhythm helping set up tents, and staying with Rico, Mira, and Sylas because they weren't allowed to not be in a group. Luis had just spent the last two days using his aura disk and trying to advance to the new tier.
On the second day, he was almost there. Luis was able to split his two cores into four cores but he was not able to keep them stabilised. When the core increased in size after splitting it took too much concentration from Luis to keep their shape. It felt like the aura was going against him not wanting to become a core. In the end, Luis was able to keep the four cores for five minutes but after that, they broke apart. Luis wasn't able to try again as when the cores broke the aura dissipated outside of his body.
Luis planned to also practice today as he felt that he was almost there, he felt that he needed a tiny step more. However. today Luis could feel anticipation for something in the air, he realized what it was when he overheard two adults having a conversation.
He heard them talking about finally leaving the place tomorrow morning. Luis was excited to finally leave the place. The realization placed a sense of urgency on him but it also felt uneasy to leave there, it felt like it was a calm before the storm.
Luis was looking at the glowing crystals on the wall while moving a small box to the temporary cooking area set up when someone lifted up the box from his hands from beside him.
Luis looked to his side realising it was his dad. "Let me help you move this kiddo." His dad said as he grabbed the box with a smile on his face.
"I could have done it myself," Luis said to express that it wasn't tiring to lift it.
"Yeah yeah I know you can Luis, I came over for a different reason. I saw how hard you have been practicing the last two days and how you were so close yesterday. So I came to ask if you wanted to try something different today for practice."
Luis nodded in excitement "I can do it right now" he said because of how monotonous he was feeling the past two days.
"Well, kiddo it will be a bit challenging. We are gonna have some first-hand experience fighting a low-tier creature. Are you sure you're up to it?" Noah said in a serious tone.
Luis tensed up a bit because his thoughts went to the last time he had fought but he still said with a small pause "Yes I can do it"
Noah not speaking seriously anymore replied in a kind tone while smiling "Okay let's drop this off first and on the way I'll tell you what we are gonna be fighting."
Luis nodded in agreement.
"We are gonna go after Sand Strikers. They are the same shape as sand rats the ones that were near the villages but these are more agile and smart. They only move in groups and can launch sand multiple times in succession instead of just once in a few seconds. And there's something special about their sand. Their sand attacks can pierce the skin. So you're gonna have to have great aura control to move your sure to guard against the attacks. Their attacks are not strong enough to go through your golem blessing but they all start targeting the same place if they can't pierce the skin of a creature. So you're gonna have to move the aura in your body to make your skin more durable where they are attacking. The fight is gonna test your reaction time and some practical experience for your fight. So you ready?"
Luis didn't immediately respond he felt anxious at the thought of fighting again but he also felt a strange sense of excitement to be able to finally have some practical experience instead of just training. Looking at his dad's calm demeanour he got the confidence boost he needed. "They don't sound too strong I can do it" Luis replied.
"Okay let's go then."
Luis had expected to walk out of the caverns but after he and his dad took the box to the cooking area his dad told him to stand still. Which is when they were engulfed by shadows and teleported outside the caverns to the middle of a forest. The sun shone brightly through the leaves above them.
Luis had expected the area to be surrounded by jagged rocks like where the golems were but to his surprise the area was lush with greenery.
Taking Luis out of his thoughts Noah started explaining about the surroundings. "I know it's surprising but all the caverns are below this forest. There are small caves that lead to the caverns all around this forest. This forest is also dangerous it mainly has mid-tier creatures or tier two creatures depending on what you call them."
"The sand strikers are one of the only low-tier creatures here and that's only because they hunt in groups. There are even some high-tier creatures that roam around in the forest. Well you don't have to worry about that Aunt Sera said she will pull any creatures higher than tier one away from here so you don't have to worry about encountering them."
Luis replied by nodding as he was still taking in the surroundings.