Approaching Calamity

"You saw what?" Alaric inquired again.

"Footprints, a meter long paw prints to be exact."

"A meter-long paws' print?"

"Yes"

"Where did it come from?"

"We believe from deeper inside the woods."

"Is that the reason smaller animals have become scarce recently?"

"Either that or the opposite."

"So how do you plan on dealing with it?"

"Last time it was the elders that took care of it, this time, Justin along with others is headed to report to the nearest town's mayor about it and ask him to send someone strong enough."

"How strong is that beast likely to be?"

"Its strength is probably between muscle refinement's initial stage and middle stage."

Hearing his brother's word he remembered about this world's power system. It was fairly simple from what he gathered. It was a straightforward system that combined 'Body refining' and magic. The theory being, you'd have to refine your body with particles present in the atmosphere to make it strong enough so that it can withstand a magic core that would coax and collect mana from the atmosphere for you to use.

Due to the limited collection, he only knew the first three stages of Body Refining, which were, 'skeletal cleansing', 'muscle molding' and, 'organ tempering.'

Skeletal cleaning had to do with the cleansing of bones so that the framework and body's integrity aren't damaged during further breakthroughs. The particles from the atmosphere, also known as Aten strengthened the structural integrity and increased density and tensile strength.

Muscle molding had to do with tightening the muscles so that the body can utilize the power bones provided and have more powerful bursts of strength. At this stage, the muscles went through tearing and healing to renew their vigor and increase their flexibility. The bones which were previously cleansed also strengthen again.

Organ tempering had to do with making the organs more robust so they can handle the shocks and not rupture, this increased the durability of organs and survivability of people by quite a lot. Like before, bones and muscles received a boost in their respective performance.

Alaric saw a pattern here, from what he understood every stage of cultivation targeted a specific part of the human anatomy but the body as a whole got more raw power, flexibility, endurance, durability. An all-rounder upgrade so to say.

He wondered what sort of whacky conditions would he need to meet to be able to rise through the ranks. Try as he might he wasn't able to make his strength budge even an inch since he got here.

Not thinking about other things, he focused on his brother who had been sitting there for a while. "You have been away for a while brother, you should meet up with Vera and Zea, they were really worried about you, Vera is at her father's today for lunch and little Ryan and Zea are out at the village hall, Ryan has been helping Zea manage her receptionist's job there or so both of them say."

"I just got back from the village hall's storage and neither of them was there?" Gerard asked.

"Beats me what kind of mischief are those two up to now, but anyway, since you can't go and meet up with them, have something to eat and rest, once they get back I'd let them know that you came back in one piece."

"The fuck do you mean by 'in one piece' huh?" Gerard asked with displeasure clearly written on his face.

"Now you're acting all tough, who was shivering before he left as if he was going to be sacrificed? 'take care of others whilst I'm out' heh as if you were going to fight a war, freaking pussy." Alaric said with contempt written all over his face.

Gerard's face went red like cherry when he heard that, he wanted nothing more than to pummel that little fucker to death but he couldn't. Not to mention they were pretty similar when it came to strength, but the library will surely be harmed if they had a go at it here.

Noticing that his bother could do nothing to relieve his anger as long as he blocked the way out he didn't miss the opportunity and mocked him for a good while longer. At last, when he saw his brother jumping up and down from anger and roaring curses like there was no tomorrow did he stop.

Alaric went ahead and had a long hearty sleep. After waking up a couple of hours later he went ahead and checked on Gerard who was fast asleep, reasonably so after sounding under pressured circumstances for four days. Then we went to the library to continue his knowledge-hoarding sessions.

At dinner everyone was relieved and happy, Ryan even proudly boasted his achievements he stacked up during the time he was following his aunt Zea. Alaric ate in contentment as he watched a scene that would be hard for him to witness for the times ahead seemed trobled.

After dinner, all of them went ahead and slept, today aunt Zea made little Ryan accompany her to sleep on his elder brother's request. After all, all hard work should be rewarded.

The next couple of days Alaric spent in the library were solely dedicated to finding something about beasts and their counters, although he found some records most of them were useless since they only mentioned how to deal with first stage beasts or more widely known as tier one beasts. As for tier two beasts? Nothing of value could be found, he doubted that if such knowledge was available it must be hidden in his brother's secret collection.

Not thinking further he went up to find his brother to ask for permission, and also about the calamity that struck thirty years ago. Due to the hectic schedule and the looming threat of a beast that can kill him without much effort he had forgotten about inquiring about it earlier.

He found Gerard and asked him to accompany him back to the study.

"Brother, can you let me access the secret section of the library?"

"It's about the beast? Isn't it?" After receiving a nod for a response, Gerard continued, "I was about to talk to you about that today later after dinner. If you want to see the records for a potential weakness then it's no use, there's nothing there about it. But if you still want to go through them then I'll let you. Also about the calamity that happened thirty years ago, it's time you were let known what happened to make any of us that survived to tremble at the thought of it. The village was three times as large as it is now and had at least four times the population and five times the economy. Under our father's leadership, it was truly a prosperous age. But as all things should come to end-"

"Gerard! Justin has returned! Quick come!" Just as Gerard was about to continue, Vera burst opens the study's door and shouted in a hurried tone, seeing her anxious look both of them got up and rushed to the living room where Justing was sitting alone, all bloodied and missing an eye.