Back in the outskirts, Sunny had read webtoons to stave off his boredom. In them, the main character would train with a few exercises, maybe spar with a companion or two—then boom, time skip: "Two months later."
'where's my time skip dammit!' Sunny gritted his teeth
It was the second day of Silent's training camp, and the worst thing about it? He couldn't even sleep.
'More like a concentration camp!' He clenched his hands on the next rock.
"Hey, brother get a move on," Silence said from above him, "This is just a small hill, what's taking you so long?"
Sunny grunted in response, only a saint could call a lethal fall 'just a small hill'
His fingers had gone stiff, and he could no longer tell if he was holding the rock or if the rock was holding him. Each breath burned his lungs, and every gust of wind felt like a slap from the gods. Glamorous training arc, his ass.
Sunny strained all his muscles to pull himself up onto the ledge and by that point he would have much rather jumped than to do one more 'simple' training exercise.
"Honestly, I don't know why revel has taken such interest in you," She sat on a nearby rock, seeming unaffected by the biting cold of the mountain, "She usually stays all day in that cave only occasionally coming out to do assigned missions, but the time she does finally decide to have fun with Bin she comes back with a scrawny child"
He couldn't help but feel indignant, it's almost as if he was treated like a dumb puppy who couldn't understand a thing they said, she was insulting him while he was right there!
Then again, he couldn't do much even if he wanted to, such was the power of a saint.
Sunny looked at silent stalker, through all her complaining, grueling exercises and teachings he couldn't help but feel she was subtly enjoying his torment and inability to do anything.
'Insane bastards' he thought.
"Now then, Today's lesson as you have already guessed is about surviving in the mountains," She began her small lecture, all the while sunny was shivering in the cold.
Sunny listened intently as she explained the do's and don'ts of surviving in this weather, but he allowed his mind to wander a little bit.
He had been brought to a citadel within the territory of raven heart, the citadel itself looked like it had been carved from the bones of the mountain itself—jagged and ancient but there were quite a few people he saw in the citadel. The novelty of breathing the clean crisp air of the dream realm slowly wore off thanks to his training, still he couldn't help but admire the view and relish the feeling.
"As you probably have guessed, the biggest enemy in this environment is the weather," Silent continued, "Since you probably won't be alone in your first nightmare, you should look for sources of warmth whether it be caves or fires, if there isn't enough space then get rid of anyone in your way"
Sunny couldn't help but stop shivering and look directly at Stalker.
"What?" She laughed, "Never killed anyone before?"
Sunny shook his head, "It may be different for respected saints such as you, sister but we can't go around anyone who just annoys us slightly"
Silence nodded thoughtfully, "that is true I suppose, just think of them as a creation of the nightmare spell, it's better for you anyway."
Sunny pondered for a minute and nodded; it wasn't about if it was real or not, it was a matter of needing it to be fake; Silence then threw something at him.
He caught it, he felt it, it was cool, cylindrical and smooth, it was a... can? The can seemed to be entirely white with some text written on it in big bold letters.
"Today's drink," she said simply.
Sunny didn't even notice himself nodding off, they have been forcing him to drink caffeinated drinks in order for him to keep awake, yesterday it had been coffee, which was fine, he inspected the label of today's drink.
'Monster energy' he read, 'odd name but I wonder if it actually gives you the energy of one...'
It took him a second to figure out how to open it, he popped the cap and it let out a crisp sound.
Fsssss..
Sunny took a cautious sip, Sweet, mild and with a hint of vanilla? He drank more and more, pulled in by the addicting aroma and fizz. Before he knew it, the can was empty.
He felt energy flow through his body, all signs of sleep leaving him.
"This.. this is good," He admitted, almost in awe.
"Right?" Silent grinned, "just don't tell Revel i stole from her stash
"Wait wha-" He protested but was abruptly cut off.
"Back to our lesson, your task for today is to survive 6 hours here with no supplies given to you," She said cheerfully, as if handing him a gift "I have to run an errand at a nearby citadel, and don't worry I cleared this place of all nightmare creatures"
Sunny simply nodded, he knew complaining wouldn't do anything. In fact when he complained yesterday in the forest, she simply made it so that he had to survive 8 hours instead, just for fun but the forest was leagues easier than this, at least there he had easy access to wood and he didn't have to worry about his ears falling off.
Although sunny was grateful for the clan song, he knew that if he died, they wouldn't mourn nor care much. This clan had no use for the weak, hence the rigorous training.
Silent Stalker bid him Farewell and vanished without a trace.
Sunny watched her disappear.
Six hours alone.
No food.
No warmth.
No supplies.
Sunny hugged himself, the wind around him howling as even that wanted him dead.
Where's my damn time skip now?