CelestialShadow
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Chapter 10 - First hunt
🕑 Added 2023-11-22 15:05:08 +0000 UTCA whole six months passed in this manner, and by the end of it, Adion had managed to reach the middle Iron stage. Making for an incredibly fast process, much thanks to the plentiful space mana surrounding him and his ever-increasing space mana control and lack of any bottlenecks a weak Will would have resulted in.
The good times were coming to an end, though. Adion hadn’t found any food sources for a long time now, and the food he had found was soon running out. No beasts had shown up during this entire time, and Adion was now sure that there was something about this mountain keeping the beasts away.
But unfortunately, he couldn’t stay much longer in this safe haven. Not only was food running out, but winter was approaching. Adion was certainly not prepared for that. Even if he could avoid the beasts if he went further from the mountain, he wouldn’t. There would be no fruit to be found. He would need to start hunting for food. He would also need the beasts' fur to keep warm during winter.
He would still manage to keep somewhat warm even without the fur, though. See, Adion had greatly increased his strength and fire mana control, and now he could conjure up a fire the size of his fist, compared to the small candle flame that was his limit earlier. And while it still took a lot of effort to do so, thanks to the pill of the Fire Phoenix, Adion could keep that flame burning with minimal effort. Larger than that, he would start feeling the Will of the world fighting him. But it was good enough to not freeze to death.
Adion was also certain all his training during this time had tempered his Will greatly. Most people join the Outskirts Guild and fight the beasts in the Endless Forest mainly because it's one of the few known ways to temper one's Will. Almost everyone who encounters a bottleneck would head for the Outskirts. And Adion had now lived in the deep of the Endless Forest for half a year. Sure, he hadn’t actually fought any beasts, but it was still an environment where he had to constantly keep his wits about him.
Adion knew he was still weak, very weak. But the increase in strength had at least given him a small boost in confidence.
Hopefully, the first area of beasts will only have weak ones, as beasts seem to keep away from this area. I doubt any strong beasts would get stuck ruling an area this close to the mountain.
So, the plan is to begin moving out to hunt tomorrow. I still have a few fruits left that should make it a while longer, so I can come back to eat and sleep if needed. My priority should be to get used to fighting beasts. Then I need to make some kind of backpack to carry the food with me. It will also help when I leave and need to bring the pills and elixirs with me. It’s going to be a harsh winter, but I’ll push through. I can’t die yet.
The following day, Adion got up early, and after eating a few apples for breakfast, he headed into the forest. After two hours of walking, he was deeper than ever before and entirely focused on his surroundings. A large amount of his space mana had been released from his core and into the surrounding space. He now had a clear image of everything around him in a sphere reaching about 30 feet in all directions, with Adion at the center.
Suddenly, Adion heard a loud cry in front of him. He immediately unsheathed his sword and looked towards the direction of the sound. On a branch about 120 feet in front of him, he saw a Fiery Monkey staring at him.
Dammit, it could notice me way before I could. I can’t feel its strength from here, but luckily, Fiery Monkeys aren’t very strong beasts. I just hope that applies to this one as well.
Suddenly, another monkey of the same kind jumped down on the branch next to the other monkey. They seemed to be communicating, and Adion didn’t like his chances against two Fiery Monkeys, even if they were only Iron like him. He slowly tried to back away, but unfortunately, the monkeys didn’t seem to want to let him escape.
They jumped down on the ground and ran on all fours, almost as nimble as cats, and as they approached, Adion could feel their strength. They were low and middle Bronze beasts.
They are too strong! And I have no way of running. What should I do?
Adion quickly tried to think of a solution to survive as the monkeys were fast approaching.
I’ll just try to hurt them enough to get away.
Adion took his stance as the first monkey came flying towards him. They were now in Adion's sphere of influenced space, so he felt their movement clearly, but everything was happening too fast for Adion to make any real use of what he felt.
He raised his sword to strike at the flying monkey, but the monkey's claws easily swiped his sword away. It swiped at Adion with its other hand, and he had to block it with his arm. The claws bit deep into his flesh, and Adion yelled out pain.
He hurriedly focused on the space around him and gathered all the space mana under his control around the monkey. The amount of space Adion had Authority over was about the size of a grown man, much bigger than the monkey. He focused on the space and Willed it to freeze the monkey as he swung his sword again.
It seemed to work, to Adion's great relief, but not even for a full second could he hold the monkey still. A living being was different than empty air, after all. And this was a Bronze beast nonetheless. So as Adion Willed the space to freeze, he quickly felt the Will of the world work against him and the monkey struggling to break free, making for a quick release from Adion's grip.
But in a fight this close, everything counted, and the monkey seemed shocked at what had just happened, so as Adion was already in mid-swing, he managed to make a deep cut across the monkey's chest.
Unfortunately, there was not only one monkey attacking him. The other one had arrived and managed to strike at Adion while he had just hit the other monkey. The uninjured monkey got a clean strike right at Adion's stomach, its claws almost digging all the way through his body. In a panic, Adion screamed in pain and focused all his Will to freeze the monkey and swing his sword. This time, Adion didn’t want to let go of the space until he had a clean cut.
And even though it was a real struggle, Adion pushed through, exhausting his Will greatly as he struck down with his sword. At the last moment, the monkey unfortunately managed to slip away from Adion's hold and move its body slightly. However, Adion still got a good strike in, as the monkey's arm was severed clean off.
He quickly attacked again, his Will too exhausted to try freezing space again, but the monkey was disoriented from losing a limb, so Adion caught it unprepared as it attempted to block with the claws on its feet this time. It wasn’t a block with much strength behind it, so Adion managed to cut a deep gash on the leg.
But just then, the monkey whom Adion had cut across the chest earlier came to its companions' defense and swung its sharp claws at Adion's face. He quickly tried to pull away, but the claws still cut up a large part of his chest.
Adion stumbled backward and clenched his teeth as the pain almost overwhelmed him. Fortunately, the monkey that had just struck him seemed worried about the monkey that had lost its arm and didn’t immediately attack again.
I need to run. Adion thought as he grabbed the pill called the Supreme Healing Pill of Mesana that had been lying in Adion's pocket for months. That was the only reason Adion hadn’t completely given up, even after getting an otherwise lethal wound in his stomach. He swallowed the pill and immediately felt an immense power rushing through him, and he could see his wounds closing up at an incredible speed.
As expected from a healing pill made by a goddess. Had it been a healing pill of this Age, I don’t think I could survive, and if I did, I would need to take a lot of them and spend weeks in bed.
Adion felt all his wounds close up, and the energy continued to course through him.
Should I just attack? I feel like even if I get a new wound, it will immediately heal right now. Adion quickly dismissed the thought, though. No. My Will is exhausted. I won’t be able to fight them even if they are injured. They can just tire me out until the pill’s effect wears off. My only chance is to run and hope they can’t keep up with their injuries and that they won’t want to approach the mountain.
Adion immediately took off, releasing some of his space mana to get a sense behind him if the monkeys managed to catch up. Fortunately, the monkey that lost its arm seemed too injured to run, and the other monkey did not want to leave the other one behind.
Adion didn’t relax, though. He kept running all the way back to his precious apple tree. The pill seemed to immediately fill Adion with energy as he spent it. And even when he had run for hours, he felt completely rested and energetic. At least his physical body did. His Will was still exhausted, making Adion feel like lying down to sleep.
He ate a few apples as he felt the healing pill slowly lose its effect.
Thank the gods for those pills. I wouldn’t have survived without it. I should climb back up tomorrow to grab another one. I don’t want to be caught injured without it.
The next day, Adion did just that. As he climbed up the steep mountain, he was somewhat afraid that he would have to make this journey many times in the coming months. But he still didn’t think carrying the pills down with him would be a good idea until it was time to leave.
Hopefully, the healing pills will last long enough for me to get out of here. Using them like this seems like such a waste, but I don’t have any other option. I can only hope I won’t run into beasts as strong as those in the near future. And that I can continue to advance this quickly. I should definitely not slack in my meditation.
It took Adion most of the day to get back up the mountain, and he decided to spend the night inside the collapsed grand hall. There was no reason to go down again this late except to get his night snack, but he could skip it just for one night.
He took out another healing pill and realized he only had seven left. While he had thought them plenty before, he now started to think differently. Because even if seven pills indeed were a lot, he didn’t think he could get another pill close to this powerful, no matter what. And seven healing pills for the rest of his life didn’t seem so much anymore.
What if my sister, brother, or grandpa gets injured in the future, and I have used all my healing pills that could have otherwise saved them? I would never forgive myself. I need to be more careful. If I get injured, and it's not lethal or crippling, I will just heal naturally. That way, I won’t have any regrets in the future.
With his mind made up, Adion sat down and meditated for a few hours before falling asleep.
The next day, he made his way down the mountain again and felt ready to head out in search of beasts. Even if it were dangerous, sitting still and doing nothing would be even more dangerous.
He took a slightly different path this time as he didn’t want to run into any more Fiery Monkeys, and Adion's luck showed when he, after a few hours of walking, felt the presence of a beast sneaking up on him. Luckily, he felt it before it was too late, and even more lucky, he could feel that it was only high Iron. One minor step stronger than he was. Adion had just fought a low and middle Bronze beast and survived, so he felt confident.
Adion acted as if he hadn’t felt the beast's presence as he continued walking, and as the beast got closer, he got a good look at it from his space mana sense. He could feel space mana easy to grasp all around him except in the beast, where everything was blurry and where Adions Will stood no chance of gaining control of anything. But this contrast made it easy for Adion to feel the beast's shape, and it looked like a wolf-like beast.
Hopefully, it's an ordinary Gray Wolf. They never get stronger than Bronze, and if they are around this area, it would be a perfect hunting spot for me.
Adion controlled the space mana he had had under his control ever since he began his journey for the day and pushed out even more space mana from his core and focused it to gather in the direction he felt that the beast would attack from.
It took a few more minutes before the beast jumped out in a leap attack, a Gray Wolf indeed, its jaws wide open, heading for Adion's throat. Luckily, Adion was ready, and the wolf jumped straight into Adion's space of influence. As the Wolf was just a few feet from reaching him, Adion froze the space around the wolf midair, strengthened his body with mana, and swung, aiming straight for the wolf's neck.
It had happened extremely fast, but even though Adion could barely hold on to a Bronze beast for a second, an Iron beast like this Wolf didn’t have the same Will to fight him, so Adion thought he could hold it for about 2 seconds. And that seemed to be the case, so it was more than enough for Adion to kill the beast.
A large gash appeared on the wolf's neck, almost cutting all the way through. Adion could feel the life of the wolf slipping away as the Will required to freeze the wolf in space rapidly decreased until it was almost entirely gone.
Adion looked at the now-dead wolf, still frozen in midair under Adion's control. Even if a living being was hard to affect, the same wasn’t true for cadavers, which was the current state of the wolf.
And Adion decided not to unfreeze the space just yet.
It only takes a small effort to keep this volume of space under my control when no active Will contends me. If I want the meat, I would need to butcher it here since I have no way of carrying something so big. But the smell of blood could attract other beasts, and it seems like a dumb idea to fight another beast before my Will is fully recharged.
So Adion simply turned around and headed back to his safe mountain. Appearing to be floating behind him, the dead body of the wolf.
It was something Adion had only tested out on small rocks earlier. It turns out that even if the wolf was dead, it was a lot harder to keep space frozen and manipulate it to follow him than to simply let the space mana under his control follow him like he always did when looking out for threats.
But thanks to the wisdom pill he had taken, as long as the space was only a certain volume, Adion could do much more with a minimum amount of Will. It would still take a lot of effort to keep it up while running back to the mountain, but Adion thought it would be worthwhile. One thing motivated Adion greatly. His first successful hunt. He was elated and felt that his chances weren’t so bleak after all. And he was looking forward to his reward for this successful hunt: fresh meat.
