Ch. 59 Forced Independence

Since scrolls and cultivation pills could be made just by knowing the circuit and having enough mana, the mountainous region around Last Heaven was the ideal training spot for a formations expert. The ambient mana within the forest was at least rank 1, and the one where Ethan wanted to reach was well within the second rank.

"This is nostalgic." said Ana while gazing at the lake where her magic training began.

"Yes…" Ethan's eyes were focused on the rock in the middle. Peak rank 2 mana was radiating out of it. "We'll be here for a while, so we need to dig down."

Staying exposed in this place was suicide. Ethan hoped Ana could make a big enough hole near the lake, but surprisingly, she opened a tunnel that went straight below it.

"Your goal is that rock, right?" Despite not even reaching the higher part of rank 0, the girl could already tell mana apart.

"Indeed." said Ethan pleased. Ana created a path beneath the lake, and then made a giant cave underneath it. The walls and ceiling were all made out of stone, so no water could enter.

"I'll make it bigger some other time." The room was already 100 feet long and wide. Although Ethan provided her with mana, the level of control Ana had developed in the past few weeks was quite something.

"I'll spend the next couple of weeks cultivating, so our levels will match once again. In the meantime, your job will be to make this cavern bigger, and most importantly, gather food and corpses."

"Corpses?" Ana didn't quite comprehend.

"I'm mostly interested in their pelts, so you can throw away the bodies after you skin them."

Though he had hundreds of scrolls, Ethan wanted to keep them for when he became more proficient. He had gathered a year's worth of formations knowledge in the past few weeks, but theory without practice would always be incomplete.

"Ethan…" Ana was slightly confused. "How do I do that?" She had hunted before, but she had never skinned anything. Heck, when her family had chickens, it was her father who cut and her mother who plucked them.

"Figure it out." said the boy before going straight into cultivation. 'I'm done babying you.'

Left alone in the dark cave, Ana could only suck it up and do as she was told. Unfortunately, she had no way of tracking down monsters, and she couldn't even hide from them. To somewhat solve the second problem, she threw a thick layer of dirt on her body.

'Should've brought scent hiding pills.' she muttered.

Ana left the cave and carefully made her way through the forest. She tried her best not to make a sound and to stay low, but it wasn't long until a monster saw her.

"Roar!"

It was a twelve feet tall bear. After smashing a few trees, it neared Ana's location and tried to run her over. With her hands kept firmly on her hips, she summoned a giant spike which pierced straight through its abdomen.

"You've messed with the wrong girl." said Ana in her superhero pose.

Soon after, the leaves rustled and another bear showed up out of nowhere. Then, another, and then, one more. Since the last one was slightly smaller, Ana could only assume the whole freaking family was coming after her.

'Was the third bear the uncle?' she thought after impaling her guests. 'Time to skin them, but… how do I do that?' Ana awkwardly took out a knife from her dimensional pocket and approached the bears.

Suddenly, she ducked. A stone axe flew above her head before hitting one of the trees in front of her. The assailant, a bipedal dog like creature, rushed towards Ana with its bare paws.

"Get lost!" She released a spear which impaled the creature and sent it flying through the bushes.

More rustling was heard. The girl was starting to get nasty flashbacks. Multiple kobolds appeared from behind the trees with more seemingly on their way.

Though initially startled, Ana took a deep breath and prepared for combat.

'Repeat misfortunes are lessons you have yet to learn.' For some reason, she remembered one of God's scriptures her mother used to say when she got sick.

After mana had spread to every nook and corner of her body, the girl began her assault.