Chapter 10: Forest

'That girl was loud' I thought as I killed my 8th beast since coming into the forest. It was now 2am and I was still not finding any challenges.

'I think I need to stop using my weapons all together if I want to get challenged and actually improve' I judged as I put my swords back into their sheaths after flicking the blood off them.

Walking passed the recently killed beast that looked like a red bear that was over 6 meters tall. I heard some movement to the east and started to head over there.

Spotting a weird tiger beast that had black and red fur and white wings I slowed my pace to study my soon to be prey. Unlike humans, beasts have beast cores and a different way to grow stronger however humans classified each stage by the number of stars 1-9 with 9 being the highest and most feared. It also corresponds to human realms and is a good but rough guideline on what level beast you should or shouldn't try and fight.

Beginner ———- 1 star

Apprentice ———- 2 star

Senior ———- 3 star

Cultivator ———- 4 star

Mage ———- 5 star

High Mage ——— 6 star

Mage lord ——— 7 star

Archmage ——- 8 star

Magus ———- 9 star

Supreme magus ———- ???

Beasts also have three stages in between realms named initial middle and peak based on how far or close they are to the next realm.

There has been no proof of any 10 stars alive but history says most elder dragons would be at least that if not much more powerful but dragons haven't been seen in thousands of years and have been thought to been extinct.

The weird looking red tiger I'm starring at now is a 4 star which is the highest level beast I've personally seen and also a full realm higher then myself. Not to mention beast are inherently more powerful than humans.

The best way to determine the strength/level of beasts are by their mana and natural aura they give off. This is also how I know it's just at the initial stage and most likely just broke through not long before I have arrived here.

'Although this won't be easy.. it's exactly the sort of thing that I was looking for' I thought, convincing myself to engage. Finishing my thought and hardening my conviction to grow stronger I dashed straight for the beast manipulating my ice mana to turn the ground around the beast into pure ice and also trapping it's four legs.

ROOAAARRRRRR

it roars locking it's predatory eyes on myself as I hurl ice spears at its direction.

The beast immediately retaliates flexing its muscles shattering my ice holding it still a small fire lights on the tip of its tail as it starts to fly up and hover off the ground. Sucking in a breath it does another mighty roar however this time imbued by fire mana. And strong reddish orange flame breath starts heading towards me at breakneck speeds.

"Fuck!" I gritted my teeth while I muttered this under my breath.

'How stupid am I?!? I literally studied the damn best before attacking and couldn't guess that it'd just use it's fucking wings when I try to restict it's movements on the ground?!?!? And once more I can't even remember if it's tail always had a flame at the end or not, even still the red fur should've been enough of a clue to at least create counter measures while fighting against one of the biggest weakness of my element!' I kept berating myself and my stupidity as I conjure multiple ice walls back to back trying to minimize the damage this flame breath will do as it's too big and moving too fast to dodge properly.

Three solid ice walls erected as I prepared for what was to come.

BOOM!

BOOM!

Instantly two of the three walls shattered as the remaining flame breath slammed into my third and final defence, the cracking of the ice is all I could hear as intense heat washed over me. In the last moment I circulated more of my ice mana through my body focusing on my vitals the most as my final defence shattered right in front of my eyes. Crossing my arms to cover my head and chest while bending down bracing for the last of the flame breath to engulf me.

Sound of sizzling and the smell of burnt flesh filled my nostrils as I got flown back 10 meters smashing into a think tree trunk. Trying to recover my bearings as soon as possible I forced myself onto my unstable burnt legs. My long black hair covered my face as the string tying it together got evaporated by the flames.

Starring up at the beast i cool almost feel the pride of it soaring while looking at my pitiful body. Anger filled my body but knowing that I need to stay calm and think clearly I once again force more ice throughout my body trying to sooth the almost unbearable pain i felt. Biting my lip until it bleed in order to stay conscious and in control I refocused and scanning the beasts body once more. Noting that the tip of its tail no longer had a flame ignited on it a small smirk found its way into my ash covered face. The whole area was now set ablaze.

'Time to get you out of the sky little cat' I thought as I charged towards the beast. While I got into range it let off another loud roar of intimidation. Feeling my ice mana noting what I have left I unleased my best counter for this situation.

Blizzard

Suddenly a chaotic blizzard started to form with me in the centre freezing the ground again lowering the visibility for both of us and making the temperature go below freezing. With the snow and winds coming full force the beast momentarily lost its balance in the sky as I willed a dozen foot long ice shards above my head and launched them targeting solely the wings.

Since the beast wanted to counter attack as soon as I used blizzard it was easy to locate it by finding the small flame on its tail. Thankfully the beast had to cancel its attack to try and regain its balance. A loud whimper could be heard along with a intense crash. Following the noise I didn't let up and willed my ice to contain it's legs once again as I sent three ice lances, two towards its body at first while a third targeting the head not too far behind them.

The beast reacted to the first two sheilding the first two with its battered wing however the third hit its mark pericing the skull then brain of this damned beast.

Walking towards the beast I made sure it was truley dead. Taking out a medium ranked healing pill from my storage ring that my mother had given me, I throw it into my mouth and take out a new set of clothing.

Removing my now burnt and tattered old outfit and replacing it with the exact same thing I let out a long exhale trying to recover my strength and lost mana while I used some water in my ring to try and wipe off the dirt, ash and burnt flesh still clinging to my body.

Realizing the sunrise is soon to come i put the beast into my ring as I have no idea what the worth could be. Making my way towards the city I run into some 2 star wolf packs, not slowing down I take this time to control and fight with minimal amount of mana to continue training.

"Fufu I knew I should've followed him" the shadowy figure standing on top of a tree softly said while starring at Xavier with a strange look.