CelestialShadow
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Chapter 14 - White
🕑 Added 2023-11-22 16:02:26 +0000 UTCFor an entire week, Adion continued his journey through the forest. He mainly went uninterrupted, except for a few failed attacks by Iron Gray Wolves at night.
Adion almost thought he would have to start looking for food as the supply of fruits and meat he had brought was beginning to run out. Fortunately or unfortunately, he felt a beast approach on the tenth day since leaving. It was a middle Bronze Gray Wolf, but Adion didn’t panic. He defeated a low Bronze Gray Wolf while only being peak Iron. And he thought he would have a much more significant advantage in this fight.
He applied his usual tactic, which was to continue walking as he hadn’t noticed the beast, while releasing some of his space mana from his core and gathering it between him and the beast. Like always, the wolf continued slowly approaching him until it sprung into action and jumped toward him in what the wolf thought was a sneak attack. But Adion was ready as he swung around with his sword, freezing the space around the wolf and cutting deep into its right front leg. Adion didn’t even try to go directly for the throat or head, as he simply aimed at injuring the wolf and limiting its ability to move. He noticed he could hold it in space longer than he used to.
Maybe I would have been able to finish it before it could move. Let’s think about it later and follow the plan for now.
As soon as he had struck the wolf, he let go of the space he had frozen and ran off. He heard the wolf let out a pained howl and run after him, not as fast with its injured leg, though. Before it could catch up, Adion had conjured up a small flame that he threw in the face of the wolf, causing it to cry in pain again as Adion ran off and Willed the fire to burn just like he had the last time he fought a Bronze Gray Wolf. This time, Adion had his plan in his mind from the beginning, which made him avoid any injury, and he was a stage stronger as well, making it a fairly easy fight as it didn’t even take a minute before the wolf lay on the ground, dead.
Hmm, it worked without issue, but if I can kill it by only freezing space and finishing it directly, I won’t waste nearly as much of my Will as I did now. It’s risky, but I feel like I will have enough time. And it might be even more dangerous to exhaust my Will too much. I’ll cook some of its meat and fill my back up before moving again.
Adion then took a quick rest as he filled his stomach and then moved on ahead. The rest of the day passed in peace, and Adion managed to avoid any additional fights.
The next day passed, with Adion avoiding any beasts once again. But in the night, he was woken up by the feeling of an approaching beast, and this time it was a low Bronze beast.
And even if Adion guessed it could tell that Adion had woken up, it didn’t run off like the Iron wolves did. It simply sprung into action and attacked. Adion was ready, though, and quickly stood up and filled the space in front of him with his space mana. Just as the wolf was in front of him, he froze the space around it and took two quick steps to reach its head with his sword. In one powerful thrust, he pierced the wolf’s brain from underneath its jaw. The beast died instantly, and Adion felt great relief that he was able to freeze the space long enough to attack. He figured that he could hold it for at least 3 seconds. This made him think that should he meet a middle Bronze Gray Wolf, he could probably apply the same tactic, but should a high Bronze one appear, he would apply the tactic where he injured its leg and then conjured his fire to attack. He didn’t know how long he would be able to hold on to a high Bronze beast and didn’t want to risk it.
The following two weeks were more troublesome for Adion. Most days, he would be left alone, but almost every night, a low or middle Bronze Gray Wolf would try to sneak up on him. Fortunately, he hadn’t encountered anything stronger yet. But it was not an environment for peaceful sleep.
As he continued his journey of almost a month, he suddenly heard a fight ahead of him. He wasn’t sure how strong the beasts that were fighting were, but Adion didn’t want to risk it. It sounded like a big fight.
Adion decided to change direction in order to move around the fight, but it seemed that the sound of the battle followed along in the direction Adion went. Adion decided to simply climb a tree and wait it out. Maybe he could feel the beasts' strength if they got close enough.
And sure enough, after a few minutes, Adion could not only hear them better, but he could also see them through his space mana sense. He couldn’t feel exactly how strong they were, but the two beasts fighting were definitely both Silver. And one of the beasts was even a Gray Wolf.
A Silver Gray Wolf? I thought they couldn’t get that strong. They are known as weak beasts, with most adults only reaching Iron and only a few making it to Bronze. But I guess I should know better than anyone that anything is possible. I certainly wouldn’t have given up at Bronze if I were born a Gray Wolf.
The other beast also seemed to be some kind of wolf. Adion couldn’t see them yet, only feel them from his space mana, and that only gave a rough outline of their shape and how they felt to a small degree.
After a couple more minutes, they finally came into view. They were big, taller than Adion standing on all fours. And Adion had grown a lot during the past year. The beast fighting the Gray Wolf was indeed some type of wolf as well, but it had white fur, incredible white. Adion noticed how it conjured snow at times to attack with.
Snow element? I have never heard of that before, but I guess it makes sense if water and ice have their own mana. Can’t be easy fighting in this heat. It should be incredibly dangerous during winter, though.
The two wolves were both bleeding heavily and seemed to almost collapse from exhaustion and blood loss, but they kept fighting. Finally, the Gray Wolf suffered a lethal strike and died. The white wolf lay down and breathed heavily in exhaustion. Adion was trying to figure out what he should do. He had planned to fight Bronze beasts and approach Silver beasts. But if it was this injured, he might have a chance against it.
No, that won’t do me any good. I should either approach it or leave. Hm. I might not get a chance like this again.
Adion felt the pills in his pocket and came to a decision.
Screw it, let's give it a shot.
Adion climbed down from the tree and slowly approached the injured wolf. He got noticed immediately, and the wolf let out a low growl.
“Don’t worry. I don’t want to hurt you. Here, this will help you.” Adion said as he placed one of the few healing pills he had left a few feet from the wolf. He knew that even a Silver beast probably wouldn’t have any idea of what he was saying, but he knew beasts were very good at feeling intentions. So he hoped the wolf would pick up on his intention to help.
Adion was a little sad losing a precious pill like this, but it was an excellent opportunity to earn the powerful wolf’s goodwill. If it could help him get out of the forest, he would happily give it a few more. However, he wasn’t planning on revealing more than the soul pill he had.
The wolf looked at Adion as he backed away from the pill on the ground, and then it walked towards the pill on shaky legs. It sniffed the pill a little before swallowing it, and Adion noticed how all the wounds closed up, and the previously shaky legs got stable. He even thought he could feel the joy in the wolf through its eyes.
“I hope it feels better. I’m Adion, by the way. I have been lost in this forest for a while and am simply looking for a way back home. Do you know where the sapi live? Could you maybe take me there?”
Adion was shocked as the white wolf gave off what he heard as a happy bark, ran up to him full of energy, and licked him in his face.
I don’t speak the language of beasts, but I’m pretty sure that means he likes me, right?
“Hehe, I found that pill here in the forest. And I have another pill I could give you if you lead me out of here. Could you do that? Help? Sapi? Lead?”
Adion tried as best as he could to get his intention across. The wolf gave off another happy bark before running off full of energy. Fortunately, it stopped some distance away, turning back to Adion as if urging him to follow.
“Oh? Thank you. You are leading me to sapi, right? Humans or elves?” Adion tried to be sure he wasn’t simply led anywhere.
The wolf simply gave another bark in response, and Adion had no clue what the wolf meant. But he didn’t have much choice but to follow.
They weren’t moving south anymore but east. There was, of course, a good chance that the sapi part of the continent was to the east, but he still wanted to make sure, so he spoke to the wolf again.
“Humans? You will take me to others like me, right? No forest. People.”
“Woof!”
The wolf gave what Adion thought of as an affirmative bark. Adion decided not to question it anymore; the wolf should know more about the forest than him, and Adion didn’t get a deceptive feeling from the wolf. On the contrary, he felt the naivete and helpfulness of a child.
As they were walking, they didn’t encounter any beast for the first few hours. But he did stumble upon something he hadn’t expected. He found a tree with what he thought were Meleha mangos.
Meleha mangos are only produced in Iitha, as far as I know. Then again, I guess the Endless Forest would have everything we have and more. Anyway, it's an expensive delicacy I have only tried three or four times, so I should grab as many as possible. It will quench my thirst as well.
Adion called out to stop the wolf and explained that he wanted some fruit. He then climbed the tree, filled his backpack, and took some in his hands to feed the wolf. He didn’t know if it only ate meat, but luckily, the wolf happily gobbled down the Meleha mangoes. Adion decided to strike up a conversation as they walked.
“So, do you have a name? I don’t know what to call you besides wolf.”
“Woof!” the wolf happily barked back at him.
“Is that your name, or did you just answer me yes or no?”
“Woof!”
“This is going nowhere.” Adion was a little excited to talk to someone for the first time in over a year. He wasn’t that social back home, but all this time alone had made Adion crave a conversation, even if that conversation was with a beast he couldn’t understand.
I’ll just pretend to know what it is saying.
“I’ll just call you White, like your fur. So, White, do you have a family? Where do you live?”
"Woof, Woof!"
“Is that so? I also had a great family, but some bad people killed them—other humans. I still have a sister, brother, and granddad though. Hopefully, they’re alright. I haven’t seen them for a long time.”
“Woof!”
“You think so? I don’t know if anyone has ever told you this, but you are quite positive.”
Adion continued to journey with the wolf for a few days, occasionally talking with the beast. He slowly got used to the nuances in the wolf's feelings. At least, he thought he did. The wolf never wavered in its energetic and happy-go-lucky approach.
Adion wasn’t in as good a mood as the wolf, though. They had been traveling for almost a week now and hadn’t encountered any other beasts. But for the last couple of hours, Adion could feel the presence of strong beasts around him. Silver beasts were definitely among them, and Adion was getting really nervous.
“Hey, White. Do you know these beasts? Do you know where we are?”
“Woof!” The wolf gave the same response as always.
Well, White seems excited, but I get the feeling that even if he thinks we are on the right track, that doesn’t mean we actually are.
“Are we really heading to humans? Are you-”
Suddenly, Adion felt a great presence, something approaching rapidly. Adion stopped in his tracks and pulled out his sword. “White, something dangerous is com-”
Before he could finish, a large orangutan jumped down in front of them. It was at least 10 feet tall, and its eyes showed curiosity but also incredible confidence and strength. Adion felt cold sweat running down his back.
Diamond. That is a Diamond beast.
The orangutan-like beast that Adion had never heard about turned its eyes from Adion to White, its orange fur somehow glistening with power. It made a few grunts, to which White responded with some happy barks. The orangutan looked towards Adion again. This time, it felt like a much deeper look, as if all of Adion laid bare for it to see.
The orangutan nodded, jumped up to a tree again, and disappeared as quickly as it arrived.
“White…What the hell was that? Where have you taken me? Is this like the monkey area of the forest? Do we need to pass here to get back to the humans? You could have just gone around, you know. I’m not in that much of a hurry.”
White looked at Adion, gave off a happy bark as always, and continued walking.
I guess there’s no going back now. I just have to trust White. He managed to get rid of a Diamond beast after all. Maybe I haven’t given him enough credit.
“Well, anyway, you did a good job getting rid of that orangutan.” Adion patted White's head and gave a small smile. He found himself treating White as more of a pet as time went on. Even though the white wolf was stronger, Adion had only seen beasts as subordinate to humans before coming here, and with White’s childlike character, it became a natural development. And the wolf only seemed happy with the praise and head pats.
As they continued their journey, the presence of the strong beasts didn’t go away. It somehow got even stronger. Adion was sure he felt a Gold stage beast not too far away from him. He felt as if he was being watched constantly.
“White, are you really, really sure this is the right way? I think it-”
“The Deep Snow Wolf didn’t guide you to others such as yourself, human. He was leading you to me.” Suddenly, a deep and old voice sounded in Adion's head. And before him now stood the most powerful beast he had ever seen or heard of.
