For a moment, I had forgotten this was a forest.

What was a forest, after all? A place full of lush trees, plants, and animals. A treasure trove of life, where all kinds of flora and fauna lived in balance.

Rain was perfectly natural in a place like that. The problem was that sometimes, there was far more of it than expected.

SHHHHHHH!

The downpour outside my cave was a perfect example.

I had spent the hours before dawn circulating my qi and regulating my breathing, then taken a short nap. In that brief interval, a hole seemed to have opened in the sky. Rain was pouring down.

"... Wait, wait, wait, wait!"

Seeing rain for the first time in ages left me dazed, but only for a moment. Then I belatedly realized I was in trouble.

First there was the smoked meat, then the charcoal. And finally, all the laundry I had hung out to dry.

I hadn't gone to all that trouble collecting charcoal just to lose it to a single rainfall. The same went for the smoked meat. If the rain washed off the salt, I'd have a serious problem.

"Whew."

Somehow, I managed to retrieve the charcoal container, smoked meat, and laundry. The rain couldn't have started long ago, because they weren't too wet.

'Guess I'll make do with smoked meat for breakfast.'

I could eat fish inside the cave, but cleaning up afterward would be a hassle.

Going outside was out of the question anyway. Even after the rain stopped, getting around would be difficult. The ground would obviously turn to mud, and the river would rise.

The rising river was the biggest problem. I might have to change my plans.

Forced Secluded Training Starts Now

Wild Grylls

(Video of rain outside the cave)

Woke up this morning to a shitload of rain, so I'm being forced into secluded training.

Anyone know how you actually do that? Honestly, I've only heard the term somewhere. Don't really know what it involves.

└Heavenly Demon Secluded training... Now that is a familiar term.

└Wild Grylls Got any handy tips?

└Heavenly Demon You cut off all means of communication, including the forum, and devote yourself solely to martial arts.

└Wild Grylls That sounds tough. How many days did you do it for?

└Heavenly Demon A month. I fell into qi deviation midway through and faced a crisis, but survived thanks to your kindness, my honored friend.

└Wild Grylls Anyway, giving up the forum might be a little hard for me :/

└Heavenly Demon There is no reason you cannot, if you focus.

└Sword Masta Secluded training isn't a bad idea. The problem is giving up the forum, like Heavenly Demon said.

└Wild Grylls Have you ever done it?

└Sword Masta No? Apart from back when I was a sword user, I've never hit a wall in my advancement. I just breezed through every stage.

└Wild Grylls ... :/

└Heavenly Demon How amusing. Then what realm have you reached now?

└Sword Masta A high one, but I don't really feel any need to break through to the next stage.

└Heavenly Demon Tsk, tsk. Arrogant fool. You will regret that.

└Sword Masta I doubt I'll have anything to regret. Nobody's stronger than me, lol.

└Heavenly Demon You know neither the height of the heavens nor the fearsome power of nature. Even I, who stand in the heavens, revere nature.

└Sword Masta You really are a martial arts boomer. I have no idea what you're talking about.

└Heavenly Demon I mean that you will never get married at this rate.

└Sword Masta What the f*ck did you just say?

└Wild Grylls Teachers, please :/

└Damn, that truth bomb hit hard.

└That's a sharp tongue honed by years of experience :/

└So is Heavenly Demon married?

└Heavenly Demon I have taken no partner. Nor do I particularly intend to.

└Sword Masta How old are you?

└Heavenly Demon I entered the flowering age a year ago.

└What's the flowering age?

└The capping age means twenty for men, and the flowering age means twenty for women.

└Bullshit lmao. Twenty, talking like that? Lmaooo.

└She's just saying that to mess with Sword Masta lmao.

└The Profound Realm at that age? What a joke. Even the talented ones only reach the Transformation Realm in their mid-thirties.

└Heavenly Demon That is because I possess heaven-given talent.

└Sword Masta It's not impossible. I became a swordmaster in my early twenties too.

└Seriously, can both of you cut the bullshit? :/

The comments suddenly descended into chaos. Sword Masta must have been stung, because the replies were full of shouting.

Things were going to get weird at this rate. I needed to put a stop to it, fast.

└Wild Grylls That's enough, please. Anyway, you're saying a short stint of secluded training is pointless?

└Heavenly Demon It only qualifies as meaningful secluded training after at least two weeks. But first, let me ask you one thing.

└Wild Grylls Go ahead.

└Heavenly Demon Even if you do begin secluded training, are you confident you can stay off the forum?

I gave that some thought.

For about three seconds.

└Wild Grylls No.

└Heavenly Demon That was quick.

└Lmaoooo.

└Of course lol. Can't resist the forum lmao.

└Not three visits to win a sage over, just three seconds to think it over lol.

└Anyone who does secluded training while browsing the forum is the real hardcore one lmao.

If secluded training meant giving up the forum, I'd rather just train normally.

I was already starting to miss human company, and I was supposed to give up the forum too? That was like taking a critical patient off a ventilator.

Apparently, secluded training was something you did when you had time and resources to spare. Time, maybe, but I certainly didn't have resources. Better not to bother.

'I don't even know when the rain will stop.'

It was still coming down endlessly. Judging by how heavy it was, it wouldn't stop anytime soon.

I might end up losing the entire morning.

"Roundfur, you're having this today."

"Kyuu!"

Roundfur's breakfast was monster meat I'd bought at the auction house. He ate just about anything, and this was no exception.

I settled for smoked meat, while the speed-sloth's staple was fasting pills.

As I ate, I gazed blankly out of the cave. It brought on a strange feeling.

'I used to like rainy days in the army.'

Indoor roll call, and duties that kept us indoors. Even training mostly meant watching videos.

Well, sometimes we did train outside in rain ponchos. That had felt pretty damn miserable. I'd even caught a cold.

Thankfully, our battalion commander was a generous man who gave me a day of leave. I'd been so happy when I got it. He really was a good man.

'I wonder if the military here is much the same.'

This was a world where people fought with swords and magic instead of guns and artillery. Military strength fluctuated with the power of individual fighters.

But I wasn't curious about each country's military strength. I wanted to know what life was like for the soldiers.

'There must be soldiers on the forum, right?'

I had nothing to do until the rain stopped. After finishing my internal energy cultivation practice, I opened the forum.

Any Soldiers Here?

Wild Grylls

What do soldiers do when it rains? Just have indoor roll call and do nothing?

└Usually train indoors, but what's this about work details? Why would soldiers do that?

└Wild Grylls You don't even shovel snow?

└Oh, cleaning up the garbage that falls from the sky? Sure, we do that. Or clear leaves from drains.

└Usually they hire people, but soldiers get sent in if it's bad enough.

└Why ask about soldiers, though?

└Wild Grylls Sitting around doing nothing because of the rain reminded me of the army.

└??? You were a soldier?

└Sword Masta I knew there was something unusual about you. Where did you serve?

└Wild Grylls The Republic of Korea.

└Sword Masta Never heard that name before. Some knightly order out in the sticks?

└Wild Grylls That's the name of my country. And I wasn't a knight. I enlisted, then got discharged.

└Sword Masta You're saying strange things again. But I'll believe you.

└Wild Grylls It's true, though.

└Grylls, then tell us your shittiest army experience.

└Wild Grylls An incident broke out the day before my leave, and it got canceled on the spot.

└Fair.

└Pfft, lmaooo.

└That'd piss anyone off lol.

└Sword Masta But how did you end up enlisting? Were you at war?

└Wild Grylls No. We were under an armistice. It was a divided country.

└Sword Masta Oh dear :/ Were you conscripted?

└No, hold the fuck on. Didn't you say you were an orphan? Why'd they conscript you?

└That is weird. Why would the army take an orphan...?

└Did you come here from a war? If they're conscripting orphans, things must be serious.

What were these people getting wrong?

Our military was pretty damn crazy, but I had enlisted voluntarily. Normally, someone like me would be exempt, but they were so short on manpower at the time that they waved me through.

I wasn't going to college and had been drifting aimlessly when I joined, so I had no complaints.

└Wild Grylls I just volunteered for active duty. Looking back, maybe I should've made a career of it.

└Don't Abandon the Hero Um... Hang in there!

└Wild Grylls Where'd that come from? :/

└How miserable does your life have to be for the admin to say that?

└No parents. Joins the army. Now the Forest of Four Seasons.

└Seriously, every possible hard mode rolled into one life lmao.

└If you think about it, isn't every one of those life-threatening?

Suddenly, a lot of people were pitying me. I wasn't sure what they had misunderstood, but whatever.

'Anyway, I guess people live pretty much the same way everywhere.'

The army being shitty seemed to be universal.

After chatting about this and that, I looked outside. The rain seemed to have eased ever so slightly, but it was still pouring.

'It's starting to get cold.'

Maybe because of the rain, the weather had gone beyond cool to downright chilly. I fetched some suitable wood and built a fire.

The spreading warmth began to make me drowsy. Roundfur and the speed-sloth crept closer to enjoy it too.

'Might as well train until the rain stops.'

Sitting around like this wasn't good for me. I got up. Training was essential if I wanted to handle my sword and shield more smoothly.

Just as I picked up Heavenly Demon's sword and the adaman-whatever shield, both of which I'd even oiled...

PITTER-PATTER!

Something small entered my cave.

At first I thought it was a rat, but no. Its tail was too thick.

"Kyoong."

"..."

A raccoon dog. Some raccoon dog had walked into my cave on two legs.

Once inside, it held its paws out to the fire.

It was so absurd that not only I, but Roundfur and the speed-sloth too, stared blankly at it.

"..."

"... Roundfur. No."

I quietly stopped Roundfur, who had started inching closer. Judging by that curious expression, he looked ready to hunt it if the opportunity arose.

Other animals were one thing, but raccoon dogs required caution. If I got careless and caught rabies, I'd be done for.

I didn't know whether Elixir could cure diseases too, but I couldn't take the chance.

'Speedy will step in if anything happens.'

I figured I should just focus on training. If Roundfur showed any signs of going after it, I'd stop him right away.

Still, where had that raccoon dog found the nerve to walk into my cave? Even after seeing us, it was comfortably warming itself by the fire.

'How long is it planning to stay?'

After a few glances at it, I began focusing on my training.

Learning through careful study of Sword Masta's posts was both easy and difficult.

The explanations were clear enough, but how should I put it? The limitations of the written word were obvious. Having a teacher beside me would be different, but that wasn't possible either, which made things awkward.

'Better than nothing.'

Besides, Sword Masta's posts were very well regarded. Just following them should produce significant results.

Above all, since I'd chosen the sword-and-shield warrior route, I could focus on the basics.

'The advanced section... No. Let's stick to the basics.'

I visualized combat as I practiced swordsmanship and shield techniques together, accelerating the mana inside my body as well. I could feel my breathing gradually growing labored.

'Make breathing absorb mana unconsciously.'

Gaining mana with every breath. That was the level I wanted to reach. That way, I could use mana endlessly as long as I was still breathing.

It was only a theory, but the Forest of Four Seasons' uniquely abundant mana would make it possible.

"Whew."

Despite the cave being chilly rather than merely cool, I was drenched in sweat. I wiped it off with my clothes and looked toward the fire.

"Huh? Where'd it go?"

It wasn't near the fire. I turned to see if it was elsewhere, and caught a very entertaining sight.

"Keeheehee."

"..."

There was a fasting pill skewered on the speed-sloth's claw. The raccoon dog plucked it right off and began running away with a gleeful little cackle.

It had been stolen right under the speed-sloth's nose.

PATTER-PATTER!

The raccoon dog fled outside at top speed. The rain had stopped without me noticing, making it the perfect moment to escape.

If things continued like this, I'd lose a fasting pill for nothing, but...

SWISH!

Who was the speed-sloth, again? A creature that took food seriously.

As though teleporting, it closed right in behind the raccoon dog.

SHUNK!

With the claws I'd personally groomed yesterday, it pierced the raccoon dog's back.

"Kweeeek!"

"..."

That's what you get for stealing someone else's food. I snorted inwardly.

It should have been grateful just to be allowed to warm itself by the fire. I hadn't expected it to resort to theft.

RIIIIP!

The speed-sloth must have been pretty angry too. Impaling it wasn't enough; it tore the raccoon dog to shreds.

The result was a body ripped into pieces, reduced to something worse than rags. The funny thing was, through all of that, the fasting pill remained perfectly intact.

"Om nom nom."

Roundfur enjoyed eating what remained of the raccoon dog's corpse.

Nature at its rawest. I shook my head and muttered inwardly.

'You brought that on yourself.'