Chapter 20: How It All Started

"Well, then let's start." He then started his training. He performed Mountain Tiger Claw, and with every move he became even more familiar with it.

And thanks to his skill, he was able to familiarize himself with all forms of the first stage of the technique.

Not to mention, in the past week, he tried all the many functions of the VIP room and made use of them. An example of it is the recording function, where he learned quickly what errors he had made and corrected them with the application of his skill.

He also saw how his performance was rated in terms of its overall use of the technique. This also helps him compare himself to other users and find differences and mistakes to avoid.

There is also a function where one can see other users ways of execution, which helped him a lot, although it did cost money to look at those videos.

"This function might also be the reason for the increase in my credits from those tutorials that I have made."

And what he liked the most was the dummy function, where he could spar with a dummy who could perform the technique in a perfect manner.

And after performing all the exercises, he then turned to his AI assistant, Orb.

"So, Orb, how did I do this time?"

[You have made the moves with 80% mastery, and the execution has an 85% effect on the target. It is a great record master; it is much better than most Hunters on this server.]

"I see, that's good. I need to rest now."

[Wait Master.]

"What is it?"

[Seeing as you are right now, you are almost qualified to become a user a little more Since now you have reached the peak of the Third level of mana guidance. And looking at the speed of your growth, it won't be long until you finally reach the Mana user stage and master the fourth level of mana guidance.]

"I improved that fast."

[Yes, and once you reach the Mana User Stage, a function will then become available for your use. And that is Arena.]

Hearing that Jayven was intrigued

"Does that mean I can fight other users?"

[Yes, and not only that, you could also fight different species of monsters.]

"That's great; that means I can familiarize myself with monsters recorded in the Hunter Alliance database."

[But there are still requirements to access certain enemies, so the monsters are limited.]

"I guess so, but it is still better than nothing. Anyway,  I need to rest now and see you again tomorrow."

[Yes, master, goodnight.]

"Good night, Orb. Jayven left as he said good night to Orb."

------------------- 

Weeks passed by, and Jayven Juggled between School and training. It was hard at first, but he got the hang of it quite quickly.

"We all know how we were invaded by the Demon Race and how this brought the existence of dungeons that released monsters to our world, directly changing our biodiversity."

The teacher said as the holographic images of the demon race, dungeons, and monsters were portrayed for the students to see.

"But do you know the sacrifices that our human race had to make to achieve freedom from the demon race?"

Right now, Jayven and his classmates are listening to the class. And the lesson is about the history of the Demon invasion and how it affected their world.

"At the cost of many lives, we defeated the demon king and pushed his race back, and along with it, we reclaimed our freedom."

Then she showed twelve towers with different structures, along with six symbols that the whole world knows about.

"The world was then united under the leadership of the Twelve Pillars, which were made by the six heroes."

"Ma'am." Then a girl raised her arm to ask a question.

" What is?"

"I heard many debates on the Net about the seven heroes and how the seventh hero was killed in battle or how he left this place to rule the demon realm due to his demon blood. There are other speculations as well, but what is the true reason for the Seventh Hero's Absence?"

"Good question, but before that, let me explain some of the content to which we had to pay attention that led to the victory of our race."

Everyone turned silent, as they seemed curious as well. And wants to know more about the seventh hero.

"Before the seven heroes were even born, it was the era of the demon race's invasion. At that time, our world experienced a rapid decline. We used everything in our resources to defeat them, resulting in the loss of our lands and decline of our race."

She then showed images of the destruction during the previous era as well as short videos concerning that time.

"Then the great hero arrived and supported the battle with the demon race. He was said to have come from another world, like the demons. But unlike them, he was sent here to guide us in our battle with the invaders."

Two circles representing the opposing sides were then shown by the teacher to make it easier to explain to her students.

"The battle between the demon king and us ended in our victory, but at the same time it resulted in a grave injury to the Great Hero. And this brought the era of the sage and saint, the children of the great hero."

Another two circles were shown below one of the existing ones, representing the side of the great hero.

"But this also came with a positive and negative outcome for our world. The two sisters held great power, and combined, they were almost comparable to the great hero. But that was still not enough, and in the end, they had to sacrifice themselves to give all of humanity a chance to survive, and you all know it as this."

She then released her status board, but because she didn't give them permission, the students couldn't see what her status was.

"They gave us the ability to see our weaknesses and strengths so that we could improve ourselves. And they also made sure that the forces of the demon race would be the last to come by resealing our world. But this came at a cost of 4 out of the 27 great artifacts of the great hero."

She told the story with great emotion, and somehow it worked for all the students who already knew the story and were still engrossed with it.

"Though that doesn't mean it is accessable to all. we need a ritual to activate our status panels hence the coming of age ceremony. It was possible thanks to two of the 23 artifacts that were still left, and this has now begun the era of the chosen users of those artifacts.

"The two artifacts were the holy staff and the book Grimoir, were passed down to the descendants of the sister's other siblings, meaning the descendants of the hero. As for the reaminning 21 they were given to the suture hope of humans who has great stats since of their coming of age."

She paused and took out a mana crystal from her bag. She raised her arms and released the mana stones to spread them out on the table.

"But that didn't last long as they were scattered as time passes everytime they were given to the many supposed users that could defeat the demon race. The 23 artifacts vanished throughout the world, and then came the era of the seven heroes."

With that as the signal, everyone who was hyped started to lean forward as they tried to learn more about it.

"The emergence of the seven heroes was coincidental, and what was even more coincidental is that they each hold three artifacts. And with the guidance of the descendants of the great hero, the seven heroes helped each other fight the demon king."

The seemingly climactic moment was coming, and everyone was on edge.

"And as you know from this outcome, the seven heroes won. Returning to the previous question."

She said this, looking at one of the female students who asked the question.

"The seventh hero didn't betray us, and it was told to us before by the six heroes. Some may not have believed it, though, since there were still people who felt skeptical about it during that time."

Hearing that all of them were confused after all that historical moment was distorted with time. And now a lot of negative speculation has happened.

"It is said at an orginal recorded documents from a certain file, that the seventh hero proposed for the twelve pillars existance. Meaning instead of twelve, it should have been fourteen pillars. But an accident happened, and he is now not here in this world."

"Ma'am why did the six heroes insisted on creating the twelve pillars and it doesn't seem to have members from any of the six families?"

"There is a reason for that. The seven heroes don't want dictatorship to rule our world, and they want us, the normal citizens, to have the power to choose who our leaders should be."