Every day, I would make Fox train with wooden poles. Her balance improved rather quickly. After all, she was much stronger now, compared to me in the past. I was green at that time, and had no idea what I was doing. A few days passed since she started her training. All was peaceful, but I already knew peace didn't last long. While we walked through the forest towards North, a few people suddenly appeared in my view, and rushed our way. 'I wonder what do these guys want?' I asked myself.
Fox also noticed them after a while, and asked "What should we do?". I replied "Nothing. If they attack, I will fight. If not, they are free to leave. This forest doesn't belong to me". There were four people in the group, all males. They were heading towards us, even after they saw us. I already prepared myself, and waited. They didn't stop, or took out their weapons. They simply ran past, while one of them had a smirk on his face. 'I wonder what was that all about?' I thought.
I soon got my answers. They were running away, this much was evident. Why the guy smirked? Because they thought that thing chasing them, would go after us first. What appeared in front of us, was a large cat like animal. It wasn't a cat, because it was much bigger. It was also grey in colour. I never saw that creature before, and where they encountered it, was a mystery to me.
The grey cat like creature ran towards us as well. It's strength was beyond anything an animal at the Outer Limits could do. This was no longer shocking to me, I learned from Irwin that some animals were called Beasts. Those things could be much stronger than Humans. The problem was, encountering them. Irwin was a sort of Beast Slayer, a person who takes on dangerous Beasts, for their rare hide, meat or whatever the Beast is made out of really. Although I didn't know which Beast Irwin killed to make my bandages, but it was this sort of thing. Rare and very strong. I always wondered why he brought back so little material?
The Beast rushed at us, and tried attacking. I decided to test out something not even the three masters were aware of. I released my Domineering Aura, but then added the Bloodlust Aura on top. I learned that I was able to do this accidentally, when fighting against Irwin. He didn't realise at that time, but I knew I could combine my Auras. The effects were devastating. Even Fox who stood next to me, shivered and backed off. The Beast on the other hand, completely stopped. My Auras enveloped it, and held it in place.
I said "If you want those four guys, go ahead I will not stop you. If you want to try me out, then you can die. Your choice". Beasts usually possessed high intelligence. Although most of them couldn't speak, they understood Human language. I retrieved my Auras, and waited. The Beast looked at me with fear in its eyes. With the tail behind its legs, it walked around us, then chased after the other group. Fox woke up from her thoughts, and asked "Why did you let it go?".
I replied "The other four must've done something to it. I'm not a Beast Slayer. I don't hunt these type of creatures for trophies or other stuff. As long as they don't attack me, they can live". She asked, "But you kill wolves, bears and whatnot". I replied "Yes, for food. Wolves and bears are common. These types of Beasts are not. Killing ten wolves will change nothing, but if I kill this one, there may actually be none left around. These things are quite rare, which is why I don't really approve of Beast Slayers".
She asked "What, or who are those Beast Slayers?". I said "Just like the name suggests, they slay Beasts. One of the three masters was a sort of Beast Slayer. The difference between him, and a normal Beast Slayer, was that he fought the Beasts only. In other words, challenged them to a duel. It was rare for him to kill a Beast, at least that is what he said". She asked curious "Could I be one as well?". I replied "No. Before you ask why, I will tell you that I would always root for the Beast... Besides, I have no idea how you become one. I'm not interested in that".
She said "But wouldn't it be cool to encounter such Beasts? Perhaps even get some rare materials". I replied "And that is exactly why I don't like Beast Slayers. When I'm not hungry, I don't look at a wolf and see a piping hot roasted meal. It's still an animal. Some wolves are actually friendly, did you know that?". She replied "Wolves? Friendly? You are pulling my leg".
I replied "Not at all. Wolves like strong leaders. They attack as a pack, but need a leader for the pack to work well. If the leader is bad, the wolves will be bad. I killed a leader from a pack of wolves a few years back, and the others dispersed. But then some returned, and tried to get close to me. Not to eat me, they actually tried to make me their leader. They still live at the place of my teacher, they are quite friendly to people they know. Wolves are attracted to strong leaders, and some of them wouldn't mind a Human".
I continued "You have those guys who ride around atop some animals, right? How do you know, these animals were not aggressive at first?". She replied "I don't". I nodded, and said "With time, they learned that under Human leadership, the food is no longer an issue. Some of them are treated better than Humans themselves. So why wouldn't they follow a Human? Of course, not every animal or Beast would be like that. That is why I said, "some of them" are friendly". Fox said "I never realised you like animals. So there is a soft side to you as well?".
I smiled, and said "Call it however you like. But I think you forgot about something?". She asked curiously "What's that?". I replied with a smirk, "Your Training!". She exclaimed "You are doing this on purpose! Is this your revenge?". "Less talking, more fallin… I mean training!" I said. Her training resumed. I wouldn't give it a rest, until her balance was perfect.
Two weeks passed. Although we didn't make much progress towards the North, Fox finally managed to traverse all the wooden poles. I said "Still wobbly sometimes, but great job nevertheless. We could move onto the next exercise, but we can't". She asked a bit happy "Oh, what a shame. What would the next exercise be then?". I replied "You will find out, when we arrive to the North. For now, you can keep practicing this. If I may add, try to figure out a movement technique. All you have is your Aura. You have a foot technique I saw before, but it's too basic. Improve it, or try to find something else".
She asked "And how do I do this?". I replied "It's up to you. Try to get inspired by the stuff around you. Excluding me, of course". She shook her head, and said "You are not inspiring, you are just a walking monster. Alright, I will try". With that, our pace increased a bit. The North would welcome us in a few weeks at most.