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First, it was but the light in the darkness, then it was the figures. Sounds and tastes ran through its head as figures worked. Some of those it could see was threatening though, but its siblings helped, it as well would participate in defending itself. It was a bit more special than the rest though. It could understand more than they could, and would often go on its own in the vast cave system they had burrowed and lived in for months.

It would examine the creatures that lived with them closely, focusing on their strengths, making solutions so as not to have his siblings and mother be the beast's prey. It would devise strategies when defending itself against rival factions, using its environment to its advantage by crushing the weaker footsoldiers with rocks and the like.

If a stronger beast were to find their place of living and the young one couldn't come up with a strategy to prevent its descent on their camp, he'd call for them to move base. The mother trusted this child and as the young one suggested, they would move.

First, it was flesh, it ate the flesh of something new. The others followed, growing larger and becoming stronger, the queen is one of those who had become stronger from such a discovery. The young one was praised and the royals treated him as their own even though he was weaker than the bunch in comparison.

One day one of the royals died. This was unprecedented and morale was shot. The young one made another suggestion.

"How about we dig underground more, so far that no one can reach us?"

So they dug, then they ate, they dug, then they ate. At some point they didn't need to feast on flesh or plant, they could feast on the rocks themselves, though it would not last them long, it was only a temporary measure after all.

Another royal had died, but instead of letting its body go to waste, the youngest ate his corpse and evolved.

The youngest wasn't quite there yet, he hadn't reached his finale, he wanted to continue on.

A major problem was raised suddenly though which led to the youngest's death. They were saddened, bringing his corpse to the mother, who ate and ate. By the time they had reached their goal, it was only a few workers and their mother.

The mother wept as it laid the last of its eggs before falling into a deep slumber.

When the mother woke once more, she was met by more children. More children who could give her more children.

One hasn't hatched though... one egg, larger than the rest. One day it will hatch, and one day it'll be the strongest to ever exist. That is what the mother thought, that is what they all thought. They all had expected the youngest to return as a Prince stronger than any Prince.

A monster above all monsters.

A King.

*****

The first round was won by Stolt. I managed to make it quite far but in the end, I was taken out of the running due to a major injury, but not dying was a major plus.

The second round started almost immediately, all of my injuries being healed, me and Stolt separated, and the others have probably already come back to life. The greater distance makes this a bit irritating but I'll push through.

Stolt specified that each kill has its own point system to it.

Small animals are 1 point, medium animals are 2 points, and large animals are 3 points. Monsters are 4 points, medium-leveled monsters are 5, and high levels are 6. All of us though, the participants, are around 10 points. Apparently, there are even more points that could be gained from even stronger foes after that but I've yet to meet any.

I managed to have a moment to myself, staring out at the forest below -- me and Stolt finding an even higher point to sit up on compared to a few days ago.

I almost started crying then and there, missing my time at the school, only realizing now how long it has been since I've been gone, the only positive being that by the time I get back, not much time might've passed for them.

It hurts though, constantly trying to survive, dying and coming back, over and over again replaying in dreams, getting constant deja vu. Honestly, I've never been so stressed in my life until now... I believe.

I might've gone through worse, Stolt implied it and his whole creation was due to that event but... is it truly better now?

I feel like I also don't have the right mentality regarding all of this.

I'm exhausted and just want to sleep on a bed. Lay down flat on my back and stare at my ceiling until I pass out.

For me, all of this has lasted 3 months and 10 days.

That is a lot for me.

Before I went to bed on the first day of the second round I decided to have the Captain as my companion. It doesn't take much mana to summon him anymore and the only time I'd lose mana by having him around is if he gets damaged. Plus, we can hunt together.

It'd be nice not to be carried by someone for once.

At some point, I decided to start having sparring matches with Captain every once and a while, have him teach me some techniques before we move out, and hunt some things once and a while.

It seems to be every ten days when a round ends and whoever wins gets some sort of buff each round.

I'm sure the points are reset too so everyone has to go from the very bottom to the top over and over again.

I forgot how many times it took but at a certain point, the difficulty of the area overall is gonna get worse if I don't win a set amount of rounds.

The Captain's techniques were hard to learn and I still barely have them down, but most of his training revolves around stretching, fighting, and what we've already been doing essentially.

I think the stretching is the most important part though since a lot of his moves revolved around having a loose body and being all tense isn't exactly helpful for that. Hunting and sparring with him already give me a lot of the other needs I'd well... need to get stronger.

I'd say, after repeated sparring, I can accurately devise what his stats probably are.

His Strength is C-Rank, Intelligence is D-Rank, and his Dexterity is B-Rank, though his D-Rank can be more accurately described as E-Rank bordering on D due to him getting a debuff being summoned by me. Specifically, and this is just my guess, those that are summoned by another and once were living are slightly less strong than their living counterpart, so he when he was alive could've been even stronger than what I'd imagine him to be.

Even with this information, it seems that C-Rank strength combined with aura and technique is enough to take down an entire bear with one shot, but if he fails to get it in one shot, there isn't a way for him to get it as precise as the first again.

He could probably still square off with a bear after that but the bear could overpower him quickly if he doesn't act smart in such a fight, such as, luring the bear into a trap or using a weapon.

My guess is that he could fight a bear for a good couple of minutes before the bear fully gets its senses together and starts clobbering him to the ground and mauling him.

Luckily we haven't had a scenario like that happen.

He has his own mana reserves so taking down bears in one shot is a rarity anyways.

Recently I've been thinking that my current spot regarding my senses has been lacking recently.

I'm able to get feelings, hear things normal people can't, I can even see things certain people can't. Smell, et cetera, but the main problem is that I feel like I'm not expanding these properties to their fullest.

For example, I'm able to tell when I'm being followed and when an ambush might occur, but the hard part comes in actually acting through such a scenario.

I can sort of counter it but what if one thing goes wrong? I can only focus on one thing at a time and if another thing happens behind me, I'll barely be able to react to it and get hurt, then, if I'm surrounded? What then?

So... I need to find a way to counter such a limitation which I can only imagine can be countered with the use of mana.

But what do I do with this mana?

I can focus mana into separate parts of my body to amplify the senses there, or make my skin harder here, but that doesn't maximize my output and at most will be useful for noticing things that I'd never had noticed otherwise, basically things beyond human comprehension which is already somewhat natural, right? What I'm trying to get at is... I want to go beyond inhuman.

I want to be able to sense beyond what could be simply enhanced. I don't want enhancement, I want... a field. I want to see that of which either can't be seen yet or... damn. This is hard to put into words.

I want... yeah... that's the first step. I need a field.

I haven't meditated in a while, so this is a perfect opportunity to cultivate myself. Expand my mana reserves and focus completely on my senses.

The goal...

I have to memorize my environment to some degree. Focusing on the things around me, fighting in that environment with my eyes closed. I need to be able to predict it and feel it with my mana.

The Captain helped me with this, of course, being my sparring partner through this.

Even in hunting as well, I tried closing my eyes and imagining what was in front of me.

I lack it... I lack the ability to sense the mana of creatures. It isn't a lack of sensing a presence, no, I need to sense their life essence. Their very being.

I have to reach farther into an abyss and pull out whatever is inside. I need to be able to sense the mana of trees, grass, and the very ground I stand on, and then visualize it. First the very wood the tree is... a grid to give me a better idea on how to section off the environment. The grooves and ends of the tree come next, the bark, then up, and up, and then the leaves.

Focus on the leaves that fall down and are stuck onto the branches of that very tree.

Imagine each and every one of them and count.

I have to look at the very circuitry that makes up motion.

It was too much information in the end though, looking that far into it would only give me an aneurysm. But I was close. I just need to look at what is already visible to the naked eye... but make it so that not just the naked eye can see it, so I can see it even if my eyes are closed.

I placed my hand on a tree and then sent mana through it, to the roots and to the top of its very branches.

Surely I could do something like this but... it's ineffective.

What I want isn't sending mana through something to make something similar to a scanning effect... no... I want to be able to see everything at all times, like a bird's eye view. I want to be able to see what is behind me, in front of me... I want to see everything at all times.

But I can only get one stage of that... but that should be enough.

As I searched and trained more and more, I felt myself absorbing more, feeling more. At some point, I finally did it.

By doing that, I had reached the Third Stage in my development, mana welling up inside of me as my core expanded.

I did it.