Chapter 25. Training 2

"You can only imagine what will happen to those who will dare mess with me in the future, including you," Alaric teased but Sarah did not reply. " Don't tell me that that scared you?" Alaric spoke as he waited for her reply.

' I should never have expected you to change,' Sarah spoke unconsciously.

"What do you mean?" Alaric asked.

'Nothing that concerns you yet,' Sarah replied.

"You should at least speak to me about what is bothering you. Am I not your master, I could promise to seek revenge for you from them," Alaric said still looking for a beast. He soon came to a river and he decided to get rid of the ant's residue from his body.

'I know you will one day,' Sarah said and with that she went silent again.

It was not normal for Sarah to be so tamed like she was. He always liked her reprimand him over things he had no control of. But that soon disappeared from his mind. He dived into the water and started cleaning body. He found his long hair tedious and decided to trim it such that it only reached the back of his head. He then proceeded to create new clothes and it was slightly faster than the previous times. It seemed his speed had improved. Now that he thought of it, maybe the reason he had been distracted during his cultivation was because he could not be distracted by the hyena. He had to thank his guiding light for that.

In the woods of Origin forest, one could see a guy 6' tall walking aimlessly in the woods. On his back was a backpack and from it stuck two handles of a a shorthand weapon. He was wearing a red t-shirt and black sweatpants and his foot wearing black rubber shoes. His hair seemed to have been recently trimed as it only reached the back of his head. He seemed to be headed deeper in the forest. He appeared like a normal human without any cultivation. One would be tempted to out of goodwill try to tell him to head back. He did not seem to be pertubed when he saw a snake appear twenty meters before him.

The snake appeared to be twelve meters long and almost half a meter wide. It stuck out its red tongue which appeared to have been cut like a 'V'. The snake released the aura of the second stage of the Cryptic Plane. Its green scales appeared to be tough and the tip of its tail was sharp. One could see the almost thirty centimeter fangs on its upper jaws. One could wonder what the boy without cultivation was doing there. It was like he was seeking out his death. The snake seemed enraged to see that a human boy without cultivation not cowering away. It hissed again hoping he would run away but the boy just seemed to raise his head and look at the snake towering almost a meter above him. This boy was Alaric.

Alaric only yawned as he saw the intimidation. Was that supposed to scare him? He watched the snake hiss again. He wondered if he should just attack or allow the snake to display some skill. He decided on the latter. He stood still as he watched the snake slither towards him fast. It stopped around five meters away and swung its tail at him. He could only shake his head as he jumped and the tail just missed him. If that was the skill the snake had, then it was definitely not worth his time.

He was still angered by the core he crushed. He even regretted giving the snake a chance to attack. The more beasts cores he found the higher the points he would gain. That was when an idea struck him. As poor as he was, he would search for as many beasts cores as possible and sell them to the students in the academy at one bloodstone each. Especially to those who were in the early stages of the Cryptic Plane who would do anything to get these cores and gain the 100 points. The snake was angered to see its opponent distracted mid battle and tried to swing its tail again but the boy flashed again and with one super punch at its head, he caused a hole and the snake fell down dead.

Alaric took one of the axes and opened the snake up and removed the core. It was brown as he realized that the beast was earth affiliated. It was of the second stage and that would be worth two bloodstones. He decided to conquer more. The second was an ant that appeared to be red in colour but he used his legs alone to kill this ant. The next was a rat. The rat did not even stand a chance as he had decided on instant kill. These beasts were too weak for him. One could not beleive that he was the same guy who was running from a first stage two days ago.

Alaric realized that it was getting too easy to kill them and he decided to look for those of the third stage. On his way, he killed every beast that stood infront of him and making sure to get the core. At the moment, he had almost thirty cores. Of all beasts he had killed, none had fought back. He finally came to a quiet zone that spanned around 100 meters. He was sure that he would be crossing to beasts of the third stage in an instance. He waited for the beasts to attack him but non appeared.

'They probably think that you are not a threat and are not worth their time,' Sarah spoke understanding Alaric's plight.

"Very good of them trying to act smart," Alaric said as he released the aura of a third stage of the Cryptic Plane. It just took a minute and a gazelle appeared infront of him.

The gazelle had brown fur with white patches on its neck and its leg were around two meters long and it body a meter long. Its head seemed to rise another meter high from the body. Its head had four long horns that were around half a meter. Its small ears twitching now and then. It stood infront of Alaric and looked down on him. Its intention clear. It was only one of them that would leave alive. The only mistakes these third stages beasts of the Cryptic Plane had done was underestimate him and then appear now. Someone who could hide their aura from them of the same stage was definitely trouble to them. But how could they know that. They just acted smart but were actally fools like those other beasts he had killed.

Alaric first had to allow the opponent to attack first so he would be able to gauge their power and whether or not they required him to allow them show off some power or not. Since the gazelle seemed stronger, he was going to use his weapons and practice with them.

"Don't make draw my weapons for nothing," Alaric said pointing the axe at the gazelle. It's black eyes slightly showed a white line as its battle intent rose. All martial beast were carnivores. Though some ate grass, they all could not shy away from meat. Especially human meat.

Alaric was also thinking about the gazelle. This beast would definitely bring a sweet after taste after the first bite. He was so lost that in his mind, he was already cooking it. Their eyes met and both with the same thought. Food. Alaric realized that he had had a change in mind many times that day. He had planned on letting the gazelle attack first but the thought of eating it filled him with ecstasy. He had thought of going all out but he decided to fight first and test how much he had improved with the axe. They charged at each other. Alaric swung his axe and the gazelle attacked with its horns. The axe met the horn and Alaric was pushed back as he slid on the ground.

The gazelle had a pleased looked but when saw its horn broken and fall, it roared in anger. Those horns were its prodigy. How could he casually cut them off? It roared and released an elemental attack. The gazelle was water affiliated. Alaric watched as the beast released it attack. At first, it appeared to be a ball of water bit it then crystalized to form a water sword. Alaric commended it attack as he evaded the hundreds of swords that came at him. He commended it's accuracy as he noted all the attacks aimed at a vital organ. One came directly for his heart. He was busy evading that he did not notice the deer preparing a spear. Alaric evaded the last of the sword bit was shocked by the spear that came at a blinding speed.

He had decided to not use his lightning but it seemed that he had to. He covered his body with lightning as he flashed. The spear came slashing at where his neck stood. This beast really was intelligent to have pulled that off. But that was its end for forcing him use his lightning element. Since it had been revealed, there was no point hiding it anymore. He flashed again and appeared on its hind legs. He decided to inflict it pain rather than kill it first. He appeared behind it and before it could react, he had his axe deep inside its right hind leg's thigh. The gazelle turned to look at him but he was gone. He appeared behind and dipped the axe into its left hind leg.

Alaric was even impressed when he saw the gazelle create a defensive barrier around its body. Now it was time to test it. He flashed in a zigzag manner appearing in the air and sometimes on the left but he appeared on its right side and struck. The axe passed easily at the bewilderment of the gazelle. That was definitely a strong defensive technique but it had been cut through like it was nothing. It felt a stinging pain in it's stomach as it realized that it was being toyed with. He definitely would have killed it by now but he had not. It was evident to all that none of his attack failed to cut through. The gazelle suddenly felt a weight on its head. It felt its eyes blocked as it tried shake its head and push him away. It was then that it felt a stinging pain as it felt one of its four horns get disconnected by a sharp pain. It was the broken one. There was a second, third and fourth as all its four horns were dropped to the ground.

This was definitely humiliation. The boy hopped and stood infront of it. It opened its mouth to roar but it was silenced by the axe that got into its mouth and stuck on its throat...