Chapter 13: Enhanced Sense

Gael and Fortis' training days inside the Willow Forest continue.

" stand up! " Gael said pointing a wooden sword at Fortis who fell on his buttocks, the two of them are sparring, it is Gael's way of assessing Fortis' progress in his swordsmanship.

Fortis stood up pointing his sword towards Gael in a fighting stance.

The moment Fortis stood up Gael dashed forward and delivered sword strike after sword strike which Fortis blocked with great difficulty, Fortis continuously retreated as he receive Gael's relentless attacks, every strike that Gael performed is filled with 30% of his power, for the small green Goblin, it is enough to break all his bones if the wooden sword hit him.

Despite the strong and relentless attacks of Gael, Fortis has no plans to yield, though they are just sparring he is determined to win, that is why even though he is at a disadvantage he is doing his best to dodge and block all of Gael's attack, there are times where he gets hit but Fortis doesn't mind such small scratches instead he is pouring all his focus on Gael's movements, as he put all his focus and attention towards Gael, he is slowly getting used to his movements, and to his surprise, Gael's movements started to appear slow, he can see the direction of the sword strike, seeing the slowed movement of Gael, Fortis started to dodge them one by one.

Gael saw how Fortis effortlessly dodged his attacks, at first he was shocked but it slowly turned into excitement, when he realized the reason behind Fortis' sudden improvement.

He grinned and he stopped his attacks, he stood straight and stared directly at Fortis.

" Congratulations, " Gael said with a smile on his face.

" kiik?" Fortis asked in confusion.

" you have learned Enhanced Sense so you should be happy, " Gael said still staring at the confused Goblin.

" Kiiiiik! Kiiiiik!" Fortis jumped around excitedly, he is extremely happy, knowing that he has already learned skill, but just to make sure, he tried to use the skill, he puts all his focus on his senses and the surrounding appear to be extremely clear this time, he can see the line of ants from ten meters away, he can hear the chirp of a bird from a three hundred meters away, everything seems to be slow when he used Enhanced Sense.

While Fortis is checking out his newly learned skill Gael felt pain in his head it is as if he is being stabbed by countless needles at the same time.

" Aaaaarrgghhh! " Gael shouted while clutching his head, he slowly knelt because of the pain, seeing Gael in pain, Fortis stopped marvelling at his new skill and immediately check up on Gael.

" kiiiik? Kiiiik? " Fortis is asking Gael if he's okay.

"arrrrrgghh! " Gael continues to scream in pain.

Fortis started to panic, he went towards Gael's bag, he started searching for something after a few seconds he went back to Gael's side.

" kiiiik" Fortis handed Gael something.

Gael looked at the thing in Fortis' hand, and he chuckled when he saw what it was.

" hahahaaaarrrrgh! " Gael laughed but is interrupted when he felt great pain in his head.

He laughed because the thing on Fortis' hand is a piece of meat, he is giving Gael his favourite food thinking that it would make him feel better.

Gael suffered for a few more minutes before the pain disappeared.

" huuuuuu" Gael breathed heavily as he lay down on the ground.

" hahahahahahahaha" he suddenly laughed like a crazy person.

"kiiiik?" Fortis asked him if he was okay.

" yup, never been better, I have read that learning a monster's skill will cause a 'slight pain' but I never imagined it was that painful, but it was all worth it, hahahahahaha" Gael is extremely happy because he just learned Enhance Sense the same skill that Fortis learned earlier.

Fortis didn't suffer any pain when he learned the skill since it is his skill, it is just staying in a dormant state in his body so when he managed to learn it he just felt the rush of information on his head, while Gael is a human and the skill is a foreign entity making it an invader, when the rush of the information entered his mind it caused him a great deal of pain. But despite the pain Gael has a wide smile on his face.

Gael stood up to try and test the skill he just painfully learned.

He put all his focus on his senses and the same spectacle happen to Gael when he activated the Enhanced Sense skill, the surrounding appeared to be slow and vivid, he can hear, see and smell things from a great distance.

Gael smiled when he managed to use the skill, after a few minutes of using and testing out the skill's capabilities he performed a few sword moves while the skill is in effect and his satisfaction grew more.

" what a great skill, my reaction speed will increase by leaps and bounds when I use this skill in a fight, it will increase my chances of winning when fighting a large number of enemies, no wonder Tamers are invincible on a normal battlefield, with just this skill alone I can run around a battlefield wildly without getting hurt " Gael is full of praises towards his newly learned skill.

When he realized the benefits of having a skill he decided to strike while the iron is hot.

" Fortis, let's train another skill " Gael grinned as he look towards the young small Goblin.

He leads Fortis towards the wide plains where he runs around a few laps every morning, carrying two small boulders with each hand, Gael's strength increases because of the increase in Fortis' strength from his continuous training, that is why carrying boulders barehanded is like nothing to Gael.

He placed the small boulders down and it made a thud sound and shook the ground a little, he also took something out of his pocket it is a white colored cloth. Gael gestured Fortis to come closer to him, he tied the small boulder to Fortis' ankle with the white cloth he took out from his pocket, he also did the same to Fortis' other leg.

After he finished tying Fortis to the boulders he walked in front of the small Goblin.

" now you will try to learn 'Dash' it is not an offensive skill but a movement skill, if you use this skill, you will be able to move forward with great speed that it will be hard to see you and if you combine this movement skill with the sword technique I taught you, your attack will be unstoppable, how about it? Neat skill right? " Gael describes the new skill to Fortis, hearing the effects of the skill, Fortis nodded heavily indicating that he wants to learn.

" you should be able to learn the Dash Skill when you managed to run a hundred meters with that boulder tied to your ankles in at least fifteen seconds, you think you can do that? " Gael asked.

" Kiiik! Kiiiik! " Fortis said with a serious face filled with dedication.

Gael smiled when he saw Fortis' expression.

" Kiiiiiiiiiik kiiiiiiiiiiik " Fortis tried to move his leg forward but the boulder won't budge, veins started to appear on Fortis' forehead as he use all his strength on his legs.

" Haaaaah, haaaaaah, haaaaah " Fortis started to breathe heavily after a few more tries, but the boulder still won't budge even a little.

Gael saw the panting Goblin but he didn't do anything instead he just walked towards the tree where he meditate to explore the Enhanced Sense skill that he just learned.

He closed his eyes and focused his ears to listen to his surrounding, he managed to hear things from a few hundred meters away, he also activated his sense of smell and just like his hearing, the range of his sense of smell can reach hundreds of meters, he tried to extend the range of his senses to learn their limit but as he was doing it he realized something.

" what if I use Enhanced Sense every time I meditate, will it increases the speed of my soul recovery? "

Immediately he started meditating and once he reach the meditative state he started to use Enhanced Sense, and to his surprise the skill caused the rate of his soul recovery increase by 50% as well as his soul gathering, since meditation is about being one with the nature to sense and absorb the spirit energy that lingers through the air, all living being have soul, and from their soul they can use or release spirit energy but not all living beings can control their spirit energy, those who can control and use their spirit energy at will are humans, animals, and monsters, mostly sentient beings, while those who cannot control their spirit energy are the trees and plants or the environment itself, they constantly release spirit energy for the humans, animals, and monsters to absorb and strengthen themselves, there are also sentient beings that releases their spirit energy for other beings, they are the nature fairies, they provide other monsters and creatures spirit energy that boost their growth and increases their strength, in return the creature who benefited from the nature fairies must protect them and their home from their enemies, it is like a symbiotic relationship between two wild creatures, and their relationship greatly resemble that of a Tamer and Familiar.