Encountering An Earth Groundworm

"Arrg, what...what...where am I" Felix stammered as he jumped up from the ground and observed his surroundings, he realized that he was exactly where he slept for the night.

"Didn't I just die?, how am I still alive?" Felix asked in confusion as he touched his chest in horror.

"Yes you did die but not in reality, that was a dreamworld" James said calmly as he appeared from behind him.

"What?, I don't even understand what you are saying, could you say it in English" Felix said with more confusion as sweat trickled down his face, he was still scared after remembering that he was killed.

"That's normal, after all you just died, it's normal for you to be disoriented" James said as he picked up a stone.

"Okay first explain what a dreamworld is" Felix said after calming down and taking a seat.

"A dreamworld is a manifestation of one's will to create a realistic independent dimension that is under the control of the one who created it" James explained calmly then glanced at Felix.

"What?" Felix asked with more confusion.

"Sorry, what I mean is that when you reach a certain level of strength, you are to create a type of energy called 'will', this energy can be used for several uses such as creating a dreamworld which you experienced" James explained carefully so that Felix could understand.

"Oh okay, I think I get it, so the dreamworld is not actually real but somehow operates through the use of consciousness, which means that my consciousness was what was in the dreamworld and not my physical body" Felix said with understanding.

"Yes, Wow you understood it this fast, you really are something" James said with praise.

"I have a question, who was it that killed me, I felt like the face was very familiar but I couldn't recognize it" Felix said curiously.

"You will know in due time, firstly how do you feel mentally?" James asked with a smile.

"I feel that my thinking has somewhat become clearer, I guess after feeling so close to death, I was able to push my mental capacity to the limit, that's why I was able to understand the concept of a dreamworld easily" Felix answered as he noticed the changes to his thinking.

"Yes, this type of training regiment trains the mind while the one I do with you trains your body, so at the end of our training, I expect you to be strong physically and mentally" James said with a grin.

"At first I didn't believe you but now my trust in you has increased, for the remaining 9 days I would like you to train me the way you see fit" Felix said with determination.

"Okay, let's start today's training" James said with a smile.

'It seems the dreamworld really helped him' James thought to himself.

"Wear these and follow me" James said as he threw some weights to Felix.

"More weights" Felix said but didn't complain as he put them on and followed him.

"Okay in the dreamworld what did you notice about the battle?" James asked as they jumped into a tree.

"Well, I noticed that even though I was up against several weaker opponents, I was the one suppressed at the beginning due to the unique formation and strategy, their co-operation was top-notch which further increased the pressure on me, it seemed like they had a solution for everything, if one person died then they would immediately change strategies" Felix recounted his experience in the dreamworld.

"Good, your observations are on the spot but do you truly understand the concept within?" James asked with an air of mysteriousness.

"Well from my observation, I would say that the concept within is that with a good enough strategy and teamwork, anything is possible" Felix said with a thoughtful expression.

"Yes and no, yes because it's part of it and no because without the proper skill, how is it possible to execute a flawless strategy, to truly understand a concept, deep thinking is required but sometimes looking at the surface of things is the proper way to go about it" James said with such calmness that it made Felix feel stupid.

'On the surface, he may seem like a person who loves joking and playing pranks but underneath he is actually a smart and thoughtful person, who knew he could actually say such enlightening words' Felix thought with wonder as he stared at James who was looking around.

"Okay enough fooling around, today is the second aspect of the 'Intense Training' regiment, you will be training your physical body but not with me but with strong beasts such as that one without using any abilities" James said as he pointed at a Spiked Hedgehog which was a E+ rank beast which was asleep.

"Is this even a challenge" Felix smirked as he stared at the Spiked Hedgehog.

"Have you forgotten that you are wearing two sets of weights" James said which caused Felix to almost fall down.

'I almost forgot about that, I really need to be serious' Felix thought with furrowed brows, if he was wearing the first set of weights, he could defeat the beast with some effort but now that he was wearing two sets, he had to be careful because he had learned in the dreamworld that every mistake could end your life.

"Go on, we don't have much time and remember to always keep your guard up" James said as he pushed Felix off the tree which caused him to fall to the ground with a bang.

"Ouch, I totally forgot how much of an idiot this guy is" Felix muttered under his breath as he got up from the ground.

"Shit, it woke up and it's ready to attack" Felix said with alarm as he stared at the Spiked Hedgehog which had rolled itself in a ball, it was getting ready to attack with it's spikes.

WHOOSH

WHOOSH

The sound of spikes could be heard as Felix tried his best to dodge all of it whilst under the pressure from the weights.

"Whew, that was close, If I was any slower then I would have been filled with spikes" Felix said as he wiped off cold sweat from his face and stared at the hedgehog which had gone back to it's normal form.

"You little.., shit" Felix was about to insult the hedgehog when he suddenly felt danger from behind him so he leapt into the air, as soon as he did, spikes suddenly appeared where he was previously standing.

"Shit, this is the second time I have been careless, I totally forgot that the Spiked Hedgehog always live in a pair of two's, how could I have forgotten this crucial information, if not for my senses being on high alert, I would have become a skewed piñata.

As he landed on a branch, Felix took a deep breath as he formulated a plan, but before he could, the first Spiked Hedgehog suddenly threw it's second wave of spikes at him, see this he only smiled as he leapt into the air once again while twisting his body and narrowly dodging the spikes, this time however, he grabbed onto two of two spikes then threw it at its head with full strength.

BOOM

"And that's how it's done" Felix said with a grin as he landed on the ground near the Spiked Hedgehog which had its head blown off by the spikes, he had made use of the Hedgehog's weakness which was like a cooldown because whenever it released it's spikes, it briefly went back to it's normal state to regenerate it's spikes, in this state it was vulnerable which was why they always travelled in packs of two's.

"Oh did I just kill your wife, I am sorry, didn't see her" Felix said to the other Spiked Hedgehog with a taunting smile.

WHOOSH

WHOOSH

"In response to Felix, it fired it's curled into a ball and rushed at Felix who was expecting this, this was it's second ability, 'Dash', it curls itself into a ball, straightens its spikes and dashed towards it's enemy.

Hoisting the corpse of the First Spiked Hedgehog, he tossed it towards the incoming Hedgehog which caused it them to crash against each other.

"Now for the finale" Felix laughed wickedly as he jumped into the air and dives towards the second Spiked Hedgehog's head, crushing it into pulp.

"Wow you almost cut me" Felix said as he wiped off the blood on his cheek where a spike had grazed him.

"Off to the next one" James said as he appeared next to Felix.

"What? right now?" Felix asked with surprise.

"Yeah, what did you expect?" James asked sarcastically as he walked away.

"What's with the attitude" Felix said with slight anger as he placed the beast corpses in his storage ring before following James, they continued training till nighttime before they stopped.

"I can't move...arrg, my body is in so much pain" Felix said with exhaustion as he collapsed onto the ground.

"Quit your laziness and prepare some food for us to eat" James rebuked as he ate an apple.

"What, in this state, I can't move" Felix grumbled.

"Okay then you can just sleep on an empty stomach" James said calmly as he continued eating his apple.

"Arrg, you..arrg..shit" Felix was so angry that he didn't know what to say so he just took out a beast corpse and was prepared to start cooking it when.

"Hey, don't even think of cooking this shit for us to eat, go get fresh meat" James said with disdain.

"What?" Felix was speechless, James was clearly trying to get on his nerves so if he continued arguing with him, he would be giving him what he wanted so he instead kept quiet and left.

"And make sure you don't die out there" James shouted with a grin.

"That little ass piece of shit, that pig headed sheep, that..." Felix continuously insulted James as he left, this was the only way for him to vent his anger.

"Ha, finally found you" Felix said as he glanced at a Scarlet Haired Hare.

After a few minutes, he was done with it and was about to leave when he suddenly felt the ground shaking.

"What is this, is it another beast horde?" Felix asked himself but later decided that it wasn't because he could sense that it was coming from below him.

"There is only one creature in this beast forest capable of making the ground tremble like this, but for it to appear at a time like this, is my luck this bad" Felix said to himself as he jumped into a tree with fear as the trembling intensified.

"It must be the king of this beast forest, the peak E+ rank capable of easily killing normal D ranks, it must be the 'Earth Groundworm'" Felix said with fear as the ground suddenly broke while a huge shadow flew out, from the dust he could see the huge shape of the Earth Groundworm.