Weapons of Mass Destruction

After dinner, I take Kim, Lily, and Kevin to the side and continue to teach them a bit. We still have around one hour until the sun disappears, so why not spend it trying to learn something new from the way they use their skills?

I already nearly gave up trying to learn Lily's two starting skills. I really want her [Rejuvenation] as it sounds super useful, but even she can't use it that well, which makes it even harder. Her other skill, well, it sounds terrifying: [Disintegration]. She wasn't even able to activate it, so we can only guess what it does. But judging from the name… damn, it sounds cool.

I keep my [Focus] up and running as well as my [Mana Perception] and continue to watch Kim move stones with his mind and mana and throw them at Kevin, who reflects them back at the younger boy. Kim catches them with his skill and the cycle repeats.

I wish they would go a bit harder. Reflecting it with more strength or using telekinesis with a bit more power to get more from Kevin. But they are holding back a little.

Obviously, they don't hold back when they are practicing with me. They use so much power that it looks like they are fighting for their lives.

That's because of my excellent teaching skills!

Old school ways, if you know what I mean.

I am resting against the wall inside the cave, and Lily is sitting near me, both of us watching the boys practice. While doing so, Lily keeps making tiny cuts with my knife into her arm and then healing them with her skill.

Once again, I wish she would cut more deeply, but that might be my dimmed feelings talking. Cutting yourself with ease isn't something people usually do.

"You remind me of my cat," Lily says quietly out of nowhere. Quiet enough so only I can hear it.

Huh?

Is she dissing me?

There is a smile on her face when I turn to her.

"The way you quietly watch everything around you with curious eyes," her smile becomes a bit more longing.

Thank you?

"Grumpy also likes to just sit there and watch people, but he becomes really annoyed when someone tries to pet him. Most of the time, he just ignores people as they try to be friendly with him," she quietly laughs. "He just ignores it, but sometimes he gets his little acts of revenge. Once, I found a dead mouse in my bed after I kept making him try on some cat clothes."

Damn, I think I would like Grumpy a lot.

"But once in a while, he likes to come to people he trusts and snuggle with them, to share some warmth and spend time together," her big eyes look at me. "But only for a while. After just a moment, he leaves and stays on his own."

Her face is so serious as if she's talking to me about the truths of the universe.

But somehow, I don't mind it that much.

Not knowing why, I just open my mouth slightly and let out a very quiet sound.

"Meow."

Her face is amazing to look at.

From pure shock to confusion, and then a giant smile appears on her face, quickly followed by a loud laugh.

She's laughing even as Kim and Kevin turn to her; she's laughing like she really needed to do so.

The darkness comes once again. As always, right after the change, the monsters and animals become much more aggressive.

Kevin charges up the stone with his [Combustion] and throws it at the troll. The stone flies through the air while letting out heat and shining in bright orange color. Soon enough, it explodes, and the monster staggers back while covering its face with one hand.

A terrifying whistling noise sounds in the surroundings, and Tess's spear comes flying, stabbing the troll right in its belly with brutal force, nearly coming out on the other side.

ROAR.

It seems to be going pretty well, so I ignore the rest of the fight and turn to look at my opponent.

Well, well, well, if it isn't the well-known small green jerk.

[Goblin Warrior - lvl 5]

He is slightly wounded. We spotted a fight between a group of goblins and a lone troll, so obviously, we decided to interrupt it.

I dodge to the side and quickly kick at the goblin. To my surprise, the green monster blocks it with the palm of his hand and leaves deep scratches on my shin as I pull it back.

Right after, he rushes at me with his mouth wide open. I dodge to the side, but he throws a knife where I went and then, with amazing speed, dashes at me on all fours while using his arms to move faster.

Instead of dodging, I deflect the knife with my sword and swing it at the goblin, who ducks right under it.

What the hell, is he some martial arts master?

I hit him with my knee, but he blocks it and lets the force of my kick send him backward while leaving more scratches, this time around my knee.

Okay, this is getting ridiculous.

I let mana flow through my body, and I dash at the same time he does. He also pulls out another knife, this one a bit shorter than the one before.

This time I grab his forearm, and while strengthening my body, I turn around and throw him against a tree. He hits it with a loud crack. Before he gets a chance to catch his breath, I dash at him once more and slash with my sword.

Unbelievably, he ducks by letting himself fall on his backside.

But this time, I expect it, and my left knee hits the side of his head. While he's trying to get up from the ground, I stab my blade through his chest.

[You have defeated a Goblin Warrior - lvl 5]

Maybe I should invest some points into my dexterity and strength. It's pretty hard to deal with opponents like this without using mana to strengthen myself.

Or should I continue this way and invest most of my points into mana and constitution? Up until now, I did that with this logic - the more mana, the better. I can use it to strengthen myself and my other skills too. In the future, I will get more of them, so a huge mana pool would be amazing.

And the stats I used for constitution helped me get a stronger body able to handle wounds even without a healing skill and strong enough to handle mana in my body.

But damn, it's kind of annoying seeing how troublesome it is to deal with a slightly skilled opponent when I'm not using mana.

I'll have to rethink it later.

When I turn back to the group, the troll, and the remaining normal goblins are already dead, so they take all of the useful weapons and move back, while Tess and I continue deeper into the forest.

Our goal this time is to get Tess to level ten. She should be fairly close, so we look for more opponents to defeat.

I feel a pulse of mana from her right hand, quickly followed by a pulse from her chest and then a weaker one from both of her legs.

To my right, enemy, strong, maybe run? I translate it as such and continue towards my right.

Tess is sometimes a bit too careful for my taste, so it's up to me to push and put us in some danger with hopefully good rewards.

What we find is a massive white-furred wolf. Its eyes are red and look right at us.

Somehow, it looks almost bored.

[CrimsonWolf - lvl 12]

This time, I don't hold back and let mana flow through my circuit, strengthening my entire body.

[Focus] makes colors less vibrant, and the sounds of the wind, leaves, and trees cracking disappear somewhere into the back of my head.

Breathe in, breathe out.

I point towards the ground with three of my fingers and rush at the wolf. I run straight at him while Tess stays behind me, ready.

One second.

The wolf still seems to be bored and only turns to me; there is an almost curious look on its face.

Two seconds.

It changes its stance and shows us its teeth. Its eyes instantly go from curious to dangerous, and a wave of mana hits my body, slightly slowing me down. To counter it, I let more mana flow through my circuit and continue shortening the distance.

Three seconds.

I dodge to the side and immediately after that, the spear hurtles through the air with terrifying speed, its flight enhanced by her skill. As it slices through the air, it emits a spine-chilling pitched sound.

The wolf easily dodges.

Damn.

Right after, a wave of mana sends me flying backward and right against a tree. The air escapes my chest, and I let go of the sword in my hand.

When I look up, the wolf is still standing there.

The massive, majestic-looking white wolf stands out even more in the darkness, lit only by pink, green, and blue aurora-like lights. Mana pulses from the wolf's body flow into the surroundings, making smaller trees and branches bend and lean away from it. Its eyes look at us with something I can't explain as anything other than amusement.

The red eyes seem to be burning with an inner fire.

I feel the wolf's mana move.

Not good.

I stop focusing on efficiency and let the entirety of my mana roar through my body as I dash.

The ground around the wolf shakes as it uses the same skill it used to throw me away to propel itself forward, giving itself an insane boost.

This time, its target is Tess.