My Beast Evolution System

A knock on the door pulled Aaron from his thoughts and he turned towards his bedroom door to see Luna entering his room while carrying a tray with bread and soup on it.

Her soft smile also eased some of the tension in his chest. "Good morning, big brother," She greeted him before setting the tray down on a nearby table.  

"This is for you, big brother, I thought you might be hungry."

"Thanks, Luna," Aaron thanked her and motioned for her to sit beside him, which she accepted with a smile on her face.

"So, how are things outside?"

Luna's smile faltered as she replied. "People are scared about when the beasts might attack again. Besides, the town is running out of food and people are thinking about leaving town."

"And you, Luna? What do you think?"

"I don't think the other nobles will allow any of us to come to their towns. They've heard about the farmlands being overrun by beasts and they believe that it's only a matter of time before the dark energy corrupts us as well."

There seemed to be rumors that the demonic beasts attacking everyone weren't originally demonic in nature, that they were simply magical beasts capable of manipulating the elements around them. But then an unknown dark energy corrupted them, forcing them to mutate and transform into more feral and deadly creatures with only one thought in mind… Feed.

However, there had been reports of ordinary people being corrupted by this dark energy as well, which turned them into dangerous individuals. But the transformation into deadly humans wasn't as instantaneous as it was for magical beasts.

This was why other towns were wary of allowing the people of El Dorado into their town. After all, they wouldn't want to risk the safety of their people.

And if the other towns did not let the people of El Dorado in, one way or another, everyone in the town would either be killed by the demonic beasts or consumed by the unknown dark energy.

"Big brother?"

"Hmm?" Aaron responded when he noticed Luna grab the edge of his shirt with trembling hands.

"Will Luna also..."

Luna was scared and wondered if she, too, would be eaten by the demonic beasts or become affected by the unknown dark energy, but Aaron smiled and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"It's okay, Luna. Nothing bad is going to happen to us."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

Although Luna didn't want to believe the words of her big brother because a part of her felt that Aaron would abandon her just as he did with their late father, since she had no one else to trust, she decided to believe in her big brother. So she tried her best to smile at Aaron to show that she trusted him.

However, this only ignited Aaron's desire to protect her more than ever before.

With that out of the way, Aaron began to eat and the moment he was done with his food, he made his way to the training room once again. The wooden sword in his hand felt slightly more familiar after yesterday's training session with Diana and his swings were a lot sharper than they had been the previous day as well.

His movements were a lot better as well, but deep down, Aaron knew that it wasn't enough and he needed to train harder.

"You've improved, but that doesn't mean much when your starting point was so low," Diana's voice emerged from the doorway and she stepped into the room with an unreadable expression on her face, just like yesterday.

"I know and I really want to improve."

"It's good that you know how weak you are. It helps to keep your mind sharp and alert when you finally go out there. Try this," Diana tossed a real sword to him and Aaron tried to catch it, but he noticed that the weight of the sword was far heavier than that of the wooden sword.

"Why are you giving this to me?" 

"You'll need to familiarize yourself with  a real sword if you truly want to survive out there."

"But–" Aaron tried to say something but Diana interrupted him while maintaining her neutral expression.

"If you're not interested in having me here with you, just tell me to fuck off and I'll leave right now."

"..." Aaron didn't say anything else.

Unlike him, Diana had a lot of experience in swordsmanship and she was by far the strongest knight in the barony right now. Therefore, this made her the best candidate to teach him how to fight.

He would be a fool to reject the personal training of the strongest knight in the barony.

Noticing that he had no intention of rejecting her help to teach him, Diana's lips twitched into a mini smile and she grabbed a wooden sword, ready to begin their sparring lessons.

"Let us begin."

"Any tip I need to know before we begin?"

"Don't die," Diana said flatly before vanishing from the spot she previously stood in and reappearing right in front of Aaron.

Aaron adjusted his grip on his sword and swiftly moved his arms to block Diana's attack before moving a few steps away from where Diana stood.

His military instincts kicked in, the moment Diana tried to attack him.

If he hadn't undergone a series of military training drills back on Earth, he definitely wouldn't have been able to evade her attack just now.

However, a smirk appeared on Diana's lips when she noticed how quick his reflexes had been in response to her attack, but the look on her face was the most sinister look he had ever seen on anyone in this world.

The training continued, but the session was grueling.

Diana's strikes were precise and unrelenting and they forced Aaron to be on the defense.

Throughout the session, his body ached, but he kept pushing, and the more intense the training became, the more Aaron's mind flashed back to his previous life's grueling military training, and this helped him feel more comfortable during their sparring as his body gradually adapted to Diana's tedious training.

By the end of the training session, Aaron was on the floor, gasping for breath.