"Hmmm. Where should we go first?" (Sai)

After leaving the Central Base Camp, Sai was walking in the road, until he remembered that he has no destination to go. He didn't even know where to start, so here he is at the side of the road, thinking of where to go. And when he was in deep thinking, a melodious voice chimed in.

{Then, how about going to the Sealed Forest?} (?????? ?????????)

"Chisato." (Sai)

{Yes, your Navigator, Chisato Shirasagi.} (?????? ?????????  Chisato Shirasagi)

"Why did you suggest that?" (Sai)

{There are two reasons. First, majority of monsters in the subjugation missions that has been accepted by Sayo-chan, lives in the Sealed Forest. Since, Sai-san's objective is to gather currencies at a fast rate by completing missions and killing monsters, going to the Sealed Forest is a good choice. Second, with regards to hidden treasure count, the Sealed Forest has the highest count. Although the risks are high. An examinee can enter the forest, but once they do, they cannot go back. It's not that they will be killed immediately once they enter, but there will be a barrier blocking their way, that is the seal. The only way to go back is to break the seal from the inside. To do that, you must find the seal that is hidden inside the forest. However, this is where things will go difficult. There a countless obstacle inside that forest. One, is that the monsters are high level. And two is, there are many plants and things similar to plants that have high-ranked mental interference effects and poisons.} (Chisato)

"Umu. Indeed, there are so many risks. Not to mention that there might be something that is guarding the seal. However, I cannot deny that I'm tempted by the rewards, especially in a forest with high-chances of death. High-risk, high-return." (Sai)

{So, what will you do?} (Chisato)

"Advantages and disadvantages come hand in hand. That is inevitable." (Sai)

"Sealed Forest, you will be my second stepping stone." (Sai)

"It looks like a normal forest; you will never expect that a forest like this is a place with 100% death chance." (Sai)

After he decided where he will go, Sai immediately started to travel to reach the Sealed Forest. In order to reach the Sealed Forest, he rushed to the point he is eating Chocolates of Refreshment while moving at high speeds. And in front of him is an ordinary looking forest.

{I think that the way it looks is just to lure examinees. Still, to think that you have shorten the 6 hours travel time to 1 hour, as expected of the Godspeed skill.} (Chisato)

"This is still not it. My control of the skill is lacking. A few battles might help me grasp it properly. Chisato, just in case the area doesn't have the map available, do the mapping the moment I step into the forest." (Sai)

{Understood.} (Chisato)

Sai summoned his Nameless Ancestral Kanata and he hold it in his left hand. He walks towards the forest with his alertness raised to the highest. The moment he entered the Sealed Forest the atmosphere has changed and it became heavy. He saw a golden lion walking slowly with its back in front of Sai.

(Since it will be the first monster to be killed, it should be a special moment, right? I must make this a memorable moment. That's right, I will do a reference here.) Sai thought.

He walks slowly not for the purpose of concealing himself but for making things dramatic. Sai is beside the lion, and the lion is still not aware of Sai's presence. If someone who saw this, they will notice that Sai's sky-blue colored eyes are glowing menacingly.

"The Evening Bell hath tolled thy head." Sai declared this with a chilling voice and the lion's head fell in the ground.

"I did it." (Sai)

{It was amazing, Sai!} (Saaya)

{Congratulations.} (Sayo)

{What a wonderful execution!} (Chisato)

"Umu, thank you for the praises." (Sai)

After being satisfied with the praises showered upon him, he approached the lion's corpse to examine it.

"How is it, Sayo?" (Sai)

{Subjugation of the Sun Lion, complete. The rewards are 1,000,000 gold coins.} (Sayo)

"Eh? This lion is worth 1,000,000 gold? No way. It's so weak that it only took one slash." (Sai)

{Look at this, Sai.} (Yukina)

{Aren't that 500 levels above Sai?!} (Saaya)

{That is still a small fry here. This forest is a death zone with a reason.} (Chisato)

"I guess Chisato is right. If the examinations proceeded as expected, the casualties here will raise quickly."

*Finger Snap SFX*

[Name: Sai Kaiku

Level: 1001

Age: 18

Gender: Male

Race: Enigma

King of Night

9th Head of the Kaiku Clan

Beta Tester

Buffs:

Top-class Examinee's Manna (Permanent)

Lady Luck's Favor (Permanent)

Authority of the Beta Tester (Permanent)

Stats:

STR: 100,010

AGI: 100,010

DEX: 100,010

INT: 100,010

MP: N/A

QI: N/A

Equipment:

Head: None

Upper Body: School Uniform: Blazer

Lower Body: School Uniform: Pants

Feet: Black Leather Shoes

Accessories: None

Weapon: Nameless Ancestral Katana]

[Unassigned Stat Points: 1,001,000

Unassigned Skill Points: 100,010]

"Stingy beast, at least give me enough EXP to level fifty times." Sai complained while kicking the pitiful beast's corpse. After receiving 25 kicks, the lion corpse disappeared.

{The Sun Lion drop items has been sent to the Inventory. It also dropped 500,000 gold coins multiplied by Golden Rule.} (Sayo)

"Never sell the materials." (Sai)

{Understood.} (Sayo)

"Now then, after I level a few times, I will slaughter them like pigs and collect the treasure while I'm at it, then it's goodbye to this forest." (Sai)

Sai explored the forest for the whole day. If he saw a monster, he will kill it. If they're in a pack he will kill them one by one. And thanks to Golden Rule (EX) and Collector (EX), he found multitudes of treasure in just a whole day of exploration. By the time he was satisfied in exploring, it was already night. And when he asked Chisato about the exploration progress, her answer is:

{We already explored the whole forest. The remaining place to go to is the temple in the center of the forest.} (Chisato)

"As I thought, no wonder the monsters around there are so menacing. If I don't have stealth skills I would be finished here." (Sai)

{It's better if you rest tonight. Even though, you are replenishing yourself with those chocolates, it is better to refresh yourself naturally.} (Yukina)

"I guess I should postpone the exploration tonight. It would be boring if I finished this forest in one day."

Fifth Day

7:30 AM

Sealed Forest

"One, two, one, two, one, two..." (Sai)

After waking up, Sai began warming up.

"Now, I'm ready or should I say Ready Perfectly ( English pronunciation) or something similar to that?" (Sai)

Sai runs while wondering on what awaits him in the temple.

{The temple is 100 meters ahead.} (Chisato)

"Sotto hiraita doa no mukou

Koware sou na sekai sekai wa aru

Asa ga kuru no ka

Yoru ni naru ko na

Mayoi nagara hikari wa hokorobite..." As you can see, Sai is enjoying singing one of his favorite songs while running towards the temple of the Sealed Forest.

When he arrived at the temple's entrance, he stopped and observed the temple in front of him.

(This temple has different presence, different from the places in the Sealed Forest. Just standing here and thinking what it is does not change anything. I need to go inside and see what it is myself.) (Sai)

Sai stepped in to the temple and he heard an announcement.

[You have entered the Temple of Martial Pursuit, the home of people who pursuit the Martial Way.]

"I have a hunch that this will be the case. In that case...…"

He looked around to see if there are any enemies in the vicinity, and no one is there. Sai give up searching for the enemy. Instead, he stopped concealing his existence and he exposed his killing intent to the entire temple.

What Sai did just now is blatant provocation! Unlike sword rattling that has the intent of dueling, Sai's provocation intent is to declare that he will slaughter everything and anything inside the temple. Whether they show up or not didn't matter to him, the fact that all of them will die will not change.

Sai is just standing there motionlessly, with his usual bored expression. Suddenly, a sword is about to decapitate him. There's no change in Sai, he calmly blocked the kodachi with his katana hidden on its sheath.

*Sword Deflection SFX*

After blocking the sudden assault, Sai saw a middle-aged man appear in front of him. The middle-aged man wore a yukata and holds a kodachi on his right hand.

"Oho, I didn't expect that you will be able to sense me. Not only that, your head is still on your shoulders." (Middle-Aged Man)

"Please don't think that an avid researcher of my caliber is on the same level of the likes of you." (Sai)

"To think that youngsters these days are so arrogant. Hubris is the cause of a man's downfall. You should remember that well, young man." (Middle-Aged Man)

"Are you done spouting empty threats? If so, I want to get this started, though. Or are you just going to spout nonsense all day? And you dare to claim to pursuit the Martial Way?" (Sai)

"Such impudence!" (Middle-Aged Man)

The middle-aged man is enraged and charged. Sai unsheathed his katana and prepared to intercept the middle-aged man's assault.

The middle-aged man suddenly throwed three kunais that he got from the sleeve of his yukata. Sai who saw it coming, deflected it with his katana. When Sai deflected the kunais the middle-aged man disappeared. Suddenly, the middle-aged man appeared at his back on his attacking stance. Sai didn't look back, instead he took breath and….

"Breath of Water, Sixth Form: Whirlpool." (Sai)

Unlike last time, Sai didn't parry the blade. This time, he sent the katana flying from the middle-aged man's hands.

"Petty tricks will not work against me." (Sai)

"Tch." (Middle-Aged Man)

Sai is only looking at the middle-aged man. He should be able to initiate a counter-attack but he didn't. Even when the middle-aged man distanced himself from Sai and retrieved his katana, Sai only observed him.

"What are trying to do?" (Middle-Aged Man)

"If you have so much time asking a stupid question like that, try using it to think some strategy." (Sai)

"It seems that have some ability. I shall get a little serious." (Middle-Aged Man)

When the middle-aged man finished speaking, four copies of the middle-aged man appeared.

"I will let you know my name before I kill you. I'm Kagerou, the Guardian of the First Floor of the Temple of Martial Pursuit." (Middle-Aged Man  Kagerou)

After he introduced himself, Kagerou charged again with his clones.

(The copies of this guy are afterimages. I guess even if go all out I will not get that much data, huh. I don't want to waste my time with this guy.) (Sai)

Sai decided to end this fight. Using Reduced Earth, he appeared behind the Real Kagerou.

"Wha?!" (Kagerou)

"Breath of Water, Seventh Form: Drop Ripple Thrust Curve." (Sai)

Kagerou vomited blood. He was stabbed in the heart and will die any moments.

"Senjutsu...…who in the...world...are you?!" (Kagerou)

"I'm just a mere researcher." (Sai)