Another two months pa.s.sed, during the time Mars and 78 trained 78"s swordsmans.h.i.+p every day and she improved at a rapid pace, especially after Mars made her a two-handed sword out of bone of course, currently the two of them were training on the jungle floor, Mars blocked 78"s slashes with his claws and acted rather leisurely but a faint trace of sweat on his forehead showed 78 ma.s.sive improvement over the last two months. While Mars blocked another fierce overhead slash his thoughts drifted for a moment, after spending two months with 78 he had learned more about her temperament, basically she was like a big dog that thought it was still a puppy, she would cling to Mars for no apparent reason and act like a spoiled child at other times, but who could really blame her lack of social skills, she had after all been put into a tank at age five and experimented on for about 20 years before Kerbal collapsed, after that she spent who knows how many years alone in the tank"You"re open Mars!"
Mars snapped out of his thoughts and dogged to the side before she closed in on 78 and gave her a small flick on the forehead
"Naive"
"Ouch! Mars it hurts!"
78 kneeled down and held her forehead where Mars had flicked her with tears in the corner of her eyes
"Yeah yeah, sorry... Come on how long are you going to sulk?"
"I"m not sulking!"
78 sent out a slash from her kneeling position and almost hit Mars" legs, Mars gave a sigh and sat down on the jungle floorÂ
"Let"s take a break"
"Humph..."
78 turned her head away with a pout on her face, Mars gave a sigh he knew that when 78 got like this it was best just to wait a little bit and watch an amusing sight in the meantime, it all usually started with 78"s tail that would begin to move a little before eventually the pout on her face would disappear and be replaced with a distressed expression as she thought
"Oh no... what if he hates me now?"
gradually the thought grew in her head and eventually she turned around and looked at Mars with a teary face and asked in a shaking voice
"Mars... Do you hate me now?"
"hmm..."
Mars looked like he was thinking really hard which only made 78 more distressed before eventually he made it look like he just arrive at an important conclusion before he spoke
"no I don"t hate you 78"
78"s face gradually turned more teary before she quickly crawled over and clung to him for sometime until she calmed down again
"She really is just like a child... Well I guess that what would happen when you put a five year old into a tank, their emotional development halts..."
Mars silently shook his head before suddenly he looked to his right for a few moments and gave a smile, he had detected a group of people trekking through the jungle, they looked like high cla.s.s hunters. They each carried at least one weapon and were of all the three main races, the group consisted of two elves, one human, two beastmen and one demon a total of six
"Well would you look at that... looks like we need to sleep outside tonight"
78 looked up at Mars before she wiped her tears and asked
"Why do we need to sleep outside?"
"Because we are following a group of hunters, hopefully they can show us the way to civilization"
"...Are we leaving the jungle Mars?"
"Yeah we need to start our long journey home"
78 looked at him with wonder for a few seconds before she asked
"Can I come too?"
Mars looked down and saw a pair of uneasy eyes and gave a sigh before he patted 78 on the head
"Of course you can"
78 gave a big smile before she once again hugged Mars tight and so for the next few days Mars and 78 discreetly followed after the group of hunters that were blissfully unaware that a living G.o.d and a former human experiment was using them as a GPS to find some semblance of civilization. For the first three days the group of hunters moved further into the jungle but after they made a kill on a relatively high cla.s.s magic beast they turned around caring as much of the materials and of course the magic beast core with them out of the jungle, but after walking for 5 days they still were not out of the jungle and that"s when their luck ran out as they ran into a pack of wolves like the ones Mars had fought when he first arrived in the jungle
"s.h.i.+t, Johan you got any mana left!?"
"No, I"m all out!"
the parties tank, a middle aged demon blocked one of the wolves" charges with his tower s.h.i.+eld and was sent sliding back almost ten meters before he yelled out in frustration
"f.u.c.k what are thesse things!?"
The pair of elves quickly arrived and helped tank on his feet after they repelled the giant wolf before they quickly turned around and faced death as a wolf with its giant maw open had managed to sneak up on them and now was less than three meters away, but suddenly something shot out from the tops of the trees and collided with the wolf"s head sending it flying over ten meters before it flipped and landed on its feet like a cat and growled at the figure that had appeared. The figure was clad in beast hides and furs with a big boardsword over his shoulder as he floated mid air and looked at the giant wolf with a calm expression before he gave the wolf thumbs down and calmly said
"bad dog, run along now or I"ll turn you into dinner"
the group of six hunters stopped and looked at the figure that had appeared with excitement in their eyes, they didn"t know why but they all felt like they were safe now and all breathed a sigh of relief before the leader of the party, a human middle aged man yelled
"Keep your guard up! It"s not over yet!"
"""""Yes captain!"""""
"Oh it"s over, they just don"t know it yet"
"Eh..?"
The party leader looked at the youth that still was floating in the air a few meters off the ground and spoke
"If you can a.s.sist us we will be in your debt"
"Sure thing"
Mars put both hands on his adamant.i.te broadsword and swung it through the air sending out a sword light that lit up the dim jungle before it crashed into one of the wolves cutting it in half, then Mars disappeared from view and reappeared in front of another wolf and swung down his boardsword with lightning speed cutting right through the wolf before the sword smashed into the ground, or at least it looked like it did as it stopped a few millimeters off the ground before Mars suddenly disappeared from view again and reappeared right in front of another wolf and slashed it in half. The remaining wolves let out a howl and turned tail before they ran away and disappeared into the undergrowth, Mars gave a slight smile, since he had level up a lot his strength naturally could not compare with when he first entered the jungle, thus handling the wolves this time was very easy for him. he gave a nod before he looked over at the party leader that still had trouble picking his jaw up from the jungle floor and spoke
"Wait here for me, I"ll bring my traveling companion"
"...Okay"
The party leader gave a nod and watched as Mars flew into the jungle and disappeared from view, soon his companions gathered around him, one of the elves asked
"Captain, who... What was that?"
The captain gave a sigh before he spoke
"I don"t know... But one thing I do know is that he is our saviour and thus we must treat him with respect, regardless of his strengh"
The elf gave a nod and looked off into the distance where Mars had flown off
Mars flew over to where 78 was waiting and landed in front of her with a calm smile on his face before he asked
"are you ready to go?"
"erm... wait for a bit"
Mars gave a nod as 78 closed her eyes and asked
"Which one of the three main races do you prefer Mars?"
"Hmm... I don"t know?"
"Just pick one will you?"
"Okay then the beastmen"
78 gave a nod with her eyes still closed and soon a faint light shone out from the magic beast core that was embedded in her chest, although the light was fiant it still shone through her dress and then a magical change happened, 78 horns and long ears shrank and disappeared before a pair of fluffy ears appeared on the top of her head. Then she opened her eyes again and her pupils that were triangle shaped before had turned round, Mars gave a nod with a smile on his face before he spoke
"Well would you look at that..."