6
Ace was backtracking his traces as he was looking for the hopefully by now dead bear lord, except for the loot from the three trainee's corpses he found was Mina's body, and as an ether hunter she was sure to have something of value.
In the end only two ether rocks and some meat was what Ace could find, he wasn't disappointed with the two ether rocks, but he had still hoped for some kind of weapon.
It was very easy to find the bear since all the trees had been mowed down around it, making for a giant bull's eye. At first Ace assumed the bear had suddenly grown even bigger in death, but as cold sweat broke down on his back, he recognized the giant figure of the illusive beast.
For the first time he had a clear view of the beast, it didn't look anything like any undead beast he had ever seen before. A giant colorful tiger with each stripe being a different color, the beast seemed to be bursting with vigor.
There was nothing corpse like about this beast, compared to the undead beasts who all looked like dead monsters.
Ace realized that the illusive beast was devouring the bear lord, and it made his heart break, but he also knew just how lucky he was to even be alive right now, although he was not certain for how long.
He wanted to get a better view of the beast and tiptoed towards the unknowing creature as it was busy eating. He knew it was dangerous, but the exotic beast fascinated him, he didn't get far before he stepped on a branch and the sound alerted the creature.
As it looked over at Ace it started to disappear, turning into white mist and soon it was like it had never been there in the first place, save for the new mist covering the area and the half-eaten corpse of the bear lord.
Ace stopped and clung to a nearby fallen tree as soon as the illusive beast was gone, his head felt dizzy and he could barely remember what had just happened. It was like he had been in a trance and was just waking up, a truly dangerous beast thought Ace.
With one of his new knives in hand Ace went over to the remains of the bear lord, he wanted to see the damage and get as much of the skin as possible. It was very durable skin and would make for much better armor than the skins he was currently wearing.
The bear lord's corpse was thankfully not too maimed after its encounter with the illusive beast, except for a big hole in it stomach.
It took a lot of work to skin the bear, it was very durable and tough as well as an enormous beast, and by the time Ace had finished he was drenched in sweat.
The meat and bones of undead and magical beasts were full of ether and eating it was a great way to strengthen your body, if you prepared it properly that is.
Ace had learned from the tribe that eating pure meat from an undead beast was like poison and the marrow would be certain death, the only way to consume it was to use it as ingredients and turn it into medicine or extract the ether.
Ace set for the second option like almost all other trainees or warriors would do, extracting the ether could be done simply by burning it and removing the crystalized ether after. The waist of ether was huge when just burning it, but anything more advanced was also much more difficult and only the tribe's shaman had the skills or knowledge to succeed.
The core of the beast was long gone thanks to the illusive beast, but the head was still intact, and Ace cut it off before he set the remains ablaze.
The head would make for an excellent trophy and proof of kill to the tribe "if that ether hunter doesn't make a scene that is…" Ace thought to himself, as he clenched his fists in anger over the fact that he didn't manage to kill him before the warrior arrived.
Ace wasn't very worried about any creatures sneaking up on him when he was burning the bear remains, after such a loud and intense fight with the bear lord, any animals would have fled long ago. Not to speak of the illusive beast that was still the master of this the area, and lucky for Ace it didn't seem to have any intention of fighting him.
As the flames got a proper hold of the carcass it surged in intensity and the heat radiated out to all sides, warming the exhausted Ace's body like a comfortable blanket.
He was so incredibly tired he could barely hold his eyes open, the sky was starting to turn dark and the soothing sound of rustling leaves made for the final straw, he found the nearest tree still standing and crawled up to a big branch and sat down comfortably, leaning against the trunk and fell asleep.
Ace woke as he lost his balance on the branch and fell on the ground, it hurt, and he had landed on top of a wound causing Ace even more pain. It was morning and the fire was long gone, only a big pile of black ashes was left in its place. He ran over and started digging through the pile of ash, using his fingers to filter the ashes.
He finally found what he was looking for and a big smile broke out on his face "ether!" Ace exclaimed loudly as he started laughing.
He was holding shining small rocks the size of pebbles and to the other trainees it would have been rather unimpressive, but to Ace they were truly an incredible fortune. Since he couldn't complete his baptism, he had to figure out other ways to acquire ether, and pure ether was one of the ways he had thought off.
The only problem had been that he needed the body of an undead beast and they weren't exactly easy to come by...
He also had the ether rocks, but they where much too potent for ace to try and absorb them yet, even the ether hunters would be at risk of severe harm if they tried.
He quickly swallowed the pebbles and waited for a reaction, the scars on his body started to shine, as a warm feeling spread all around inside of him. He was just about to think it had worked, when the warm feeling became a blazing inferno.
Ace screamed in pain and rolled around the ground trying to put out a fire that wasn't there, it was all happening inside his body.
The heat was climbing rapidly and Ace was certain he was going to die when it all abruptly stopped. The ether had disappeared after burning itself out, and Ace was severally hurt from the encounter, he was terrified and sad at the same time.
On one hand was the fact that he almost died, and on the other the fact that his body just couldn't handle ether no matter how he tried.
It was a severe blow to Ace, and he felt it was ten times more painful than all the wounds he had gotten yesterday combined, especially since this one wouldn't heal.