“Yuki, you need to be careful. That brother of mine is vengeful. I think I might have caused you more problems. I am sorry.” Ai lowered her head. She did not mean to cause more problems for Yuki.

Yuki reached out and placed her hand on top of Ai’s head and began moving it back and forth. In a soft voice, she replied: “It’s fine. Will just kill….”

Nana, who stood next to her, nodded her head. She also felt this was the proper way to handle it. Why deal with someone who is unreasonable when you can just kill them? Nana never did care too much about the people around her. To her, all humans were people she could not trust. But she trusted Yuki. Yuki was her solace. Just being with someone of a different race, other than a human, made her feel more at ease.

“Wait… Please leave the killing part out. If it comes down to it, I will do it myself….” Ai hated to admit it. No matter what, he was still her brother. She would rather do the killing than have someone else do it.

“Will see…” Yuki replied softly. It would depend on the situation for her. If Kenji really tried to do something bad to her, she would not let it off.

“Umm….” A voice came from the side. All three turned their heads to see Ami standing there. “May I join your group?”

Nana furrowed her brows a bit but relaxed them after sensing nothing wrong with Ami. Ai stood there, unsure of what to answer. She did not know if the two next to her would say a word. “Ummm…” She looked at Nana and Yuki, who nodded their heads, both of whom wondered when they started a group, to begin with.

“Thank you! I thought I was going to have to go solo….” Ami let out a relieved sigh as she turned to look at the others. At some point, many groups were formed. Ranging from four to six people, each with a few smaller groups here and there.

“Good, you understand the purpose of this training already.” The old man nodded his head. This was what needed to be done. This was not solo training. Of course, you could do it solo, but there was no way for most of these new disciples to last that long out in the forest with demonic beasts, especially since not many of them had left their nest to even see what a real demonic beast even looked like. “Alright, let’s get going! We need to reach the forest before dark.”

The trip was done on foot, and took almost the entire day to reach the destination. Many of the more wealthy disciples had issues keeping up and ended up trailing behind, but the instructor and the elders watching over this training did not even stop to wait for them. It was their own fault if they could not keep up.

Everything from the moment the training was announced could be considered part of the training. The entire process was to promote not only survival instincts but also teamwork among the new disciples, which would then be more useful later on in the coming days of the outer sect.

As the new disciples all stood outside the forest that they were about to enter, the sounds of demonic beasts could be heard off in the distance. As the sun was setting, the main predators were coming out to begin their hunting. Just the sound of these demonic beasts made many of the disciples’ faces go pale.

“Alright. I will not say much more of anything. Right now, you all need to head out. Stop wasting my time!” The old instructor barked out his orders before going over to the fire that was just started and sitting down. It seemed now everything was on the disciples.

“Shall we get going?” Ami asked. Her eyes were lit up with excitement, unlike the other girls who did not seem to really want to go out into the forest. For some, the thought of having to stay in a forest for three months with no way to bathe or go to the bathroom properly was not ideal. Many whined while others almost outright refused to go, but when glared at by the old instructor, they had no choice.

“Let’s get going.” Ai took the lead while Yuki, Nana, and Ami followed suit. Ai and Ami hit it off pretty fast because they really only had each other to talk to. Of course, it might be different if the silent duo would speak more than a few words every hour.

Because it was already getting dark, the girls' first action at this point was to find a secluded spot to rest for the night. Surprisingly to the others, Ami seemed quite adept at this. Of course, no one knew her true backstory as they could not see her illusion during the bridge of destiny trial.

“What do you think of this place? It should be far enough away from the others.” Ami asked. They had come to an area densely packed with trees.

“Mmm… Thick branches…” Yuki replied before nimbly climbing up a tree to one of the biggest limbs. Nana followed after her. And took the limb on the opposite side. The other tree limbs were too small to hold a person. Seeing this, Ai pouted slightly before climbing the tree next to it and finding a sturdy limb to make camp on. Ami climbed up another tree. “I will take the first watch with Ai,” Ami announced.

“Mmm…” Yuki nodded her head and gave a look to Nana, who laid down on her branch and closed her eyes. Both girls were very much used to only being half asleep in such situations, so even if there was no one on watch, they could easily react if something were to happen.

Ai watched as Nana and Yuki fell asleep almost immediately. This was not something she had expected. “How can they sleep so easily?”

Ami giggled as she answered: “They are only half asleep. It is a trait of those who have lived in forests like this. You will too by the time this training is over. I suggest calming your nerves for the time being and getting proper rest. Tomorrow we hunt and search for food.”