Three days later, Khourhatin leapt over Sorisana's thrusting blade. He flipped over it. Thrill rushed through Khourhatin's chest and spread a big smile on his face when he finally landed from the flip without stumbling or slipping a single inch. But as was necessary for the Inferno Decimation Form, he didn't stop to celebrate, he kept moving. He channelled the spinning momentum of his flip into a duck, letting Sorisana's blade slash over his head. He pushed his duck into a forward roll.

  But his head banged against the grass. His hand slipped. He slammed it back on the dirt and pushed on the ground to continue rolling. But he moved slowly. He lost momentum. He failed the form once again.

  Once Khourhatin dragged himself to his feet, Sorisana jabbed him with her blade, defeating him.

  He sighed and shook his head with frustration. But at least he managed to perform the first step. Only three more steps to master.

  "Aren't you gonna ask me if I met any F-rankers at Yeul's yesterday?" She asked.

  "You didn't meet any for the last few days," he said. "You would be jumping for joy if you succeeded."

  "You don't think I'll meet any, do you?"

  "You're right. Your time would be better spent meditating."

  She sighed. "Networking is important as well."

  "No one wants to network with an F-ranker. Not even other F-rankers. If we were F-rankers that came from wealthy and noble families, then maybe we'd be more successful. But unfortunately, both of us are nobodies from the middle of nowhere."

  "Thanks for the optimism. Really cheered me up."

  "Don't worry." Khourhatin fell into his beginning stance for the Inferno Decimation Form. "I'll fail my Inferno Decimation Form and let you whack me with your training sword enough to cheer you back up. I know how much you enjoy that."

  "You know me well," she said with a smirk as she fell into her stance.

  Six hours of sparring and attempting the Inferno Decimation Form again and again, he still couldn't complete the second step. He either slipped or performed the action in a way which resulted in him slowing down, losing the momentum he built up from the first step. Frustration furrowed his brows at the thought that they only had eleven days left.

  After heading to their homes in the F-rank residential area to eat their lunch, they entered the Mission Hall. They scanned the F-ranker job boards once again.

  His heart leapt. Sorisana bristled. After three days of seeing nothing promising, they found something. The job looked like it'd take three weeks to complete. There were three overall slots. One person signed up. They were an F-ranker.

  Khourhatin and Sorisana ran for it.

  The hall's doors opened behind them. He could hear another monster hunter walk inside. The thudding of his feet against the marble echoed through the hall. Khourhatin glanced back at him. His body blurred. He moved fast. Faster than him or Sorisana.

  But he entered the hall too late. Khourhatin reached the job board. He already had a pen in hand. He touched the nib of the pen to the paper. An orange glow shined behind him. Something squeezed his arm, pulled it away from the job board, and lifted him off his feet. The newcomer threw him away from the job board and sent him flying.

  Sorisana had her own pen in hand and shot her pen towards the job board. But the monster hunter with orange mana glared down at her. She froze. Her eyes bulged as she stared at him. A bead of sweat dripped down her temple.

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  The monster hunter snatched her pen out of her hands, wrote down his name, and chucked the pen on the floor as he stomped out of the hall.

  Anger oozed up his chest as he staggered up from the floor and picked Sorisana's pen up. He walked over to her and handed it back.

  "Sorry," she said whilst frowning down at her hands. "I could've written our names down, but…"

  "You couldn't," Khourhatin said, patting her shoulder. She had no reason to feel guilty. Their failure was that guy's fault for being a pathetic job scavenger, and the fault of the leader's of the Sect for putting into place such a stupid system. "Even if you tried, he would've stopped you either way."

  "But I didn't try." She turned away and sorrowfully gazed at the floor. "You would've tried. But I couldn't bring myself to do it. I was too afraid. Like always."

  "He would've beat us up, or worse if you tried. Especially if you succeeded." He raised her chin so she looked at him. He smiled at her. "You did nothing wrong. We'll get enough hunting tokens to become D-rankers in the future. And then we'll do the same to that scumbag."

  She smiled and nodded. "I hope you're right."

  They exited the Mission Hall.

  "You still gonna go to Yeul's today?" He asked.

  She opened her mouth to respond, but no sound came out. She turned to the lobby's exit doors. She stepped towards it. But she stopped. She grimaced at the floor. Her face hardened. Breathing in deep, she turned to him.

  "Let's go," she said as she walked towards the White Meditation Hall doors.

  Khourhatin smiled. "I'm glad," he said as he followed her to meditate.

  She meditated beside him for four hours. But it was more like three, because she'd regularly lose focus and get distracted. Once those four hours were up she got up to leave.

  "Four hours are up," she said with a relieved smile. "I remembered meditating to be boring, but this was ridiculous. Much worse than I expected."

  "Really?" Khourhatin said. "I find it relaxing. The first four hours at least."

  "Huh? The first four hours? Aren't you supposed to stop meditating after that?"

  "I don't. I keep going for an extra four hours."

  She nodded slowly. "Those kallminol wolves must've hit your head pretty hard."

  "You know what?" He chuckled. "You might be right."

  "I'm wrong about a lot of things, but I don't think I've ever been more right in my life."

  "I've made a lot of progress because of it, though." He patted the space next to him where she meditated. "Why don't yo-"

  "Don't you dare try and convince me to meditate longer than four hours." She turned away from him. "What I did today was already too much."

  He laughed. "Fine, fine, I won't."

  After Khourhatin flipped his sand timer over and continued to meditate again, she looked at him more puzzled than he ever saw her look, and left the hall in a hurry, desperate to get away from such a mad man.

  In fact, time was running out. Once he finished eight hours of meditation, he grabbed a two hour sand timer. He intended to meditate for two extra hours on top of his usual eight. Dread wormed up his stomach and rattled his heart as he picked up the two hour sand timer. Sweat dripped down his face from the agony he experienced in the eight hours of meditation he just suffered through.

  But he grit his teeth, counted down from three, flipped the two hour sand timer over, lit the mana flowers, breathed in the fumes, and slapped his palms together.

  The hellish experience ravaged him to the core. Why couldn't he get used to the pain? In fact, it felt even more painful than at the beginning. After approximately half of the sand fell from the two hour sand timer, he couldn't endure it anymore.

  He pulled his palms apart, uncrossed his legs, and punched the floor. He couldn't bring himself to do it. He failed to meditate for two extra hours. It had been a while since he felt so ashamed of himself. How could he fail that? How could he lack so much self control? But he took a deep breath to calm his heart. There was no need to get so angry. He could try again the next day. Maybe then he'd have the will to do it. One step at a time.

  To check his progress, he gazed at the mana that enveloped him. It was still white. Sparks of yellow still occasionally flashed amidst the white. But something changed. He smiled.

  The yellow sparks brightened. They were still tiny, but in comparison to the previous day, they were enlarged. Some of the strands of white mana would occasionally glow yellow, swirling around and melting with the white. He didn't just have white mana anymore.

  It was half white and half yellow. The rate of his breathing increased. Thrill ravaged his chest.

  So close, but so far.