The life-threatening chasing game began. Lev started running into the forest while the Jäger chased him. He wanted to test out his new plan if it would work against the wolf, so he started running in a zigzag manner.
At first, Lev took small quick turns to check if his tactic worked, but the Jäger remained on his tail. Then, he tried to do a sharp right, then another sharp right, as if he did a sharp u-turn but by leaping. It was a huge stress on his left leg muscles because the sudden explosive movement costed his muscle fibers to tear apart, but the result was better than he expected.
Due to Lev's quick turn, the Jäger needed to slow down its momentum to turn its body around, but it was the same for Lev too.
After leaping two times, he lost his momentum, so he needed to pick up his pace all over again. His strategy worked by creating a small window between them, but it was quickly back to square one because the wolf quickly caught up to him again.
It actually worked! Lev inwardly exclaimed. Now what he needed to do was to practice more with his newfound strategy.
The second time he decided to try it again, it miserably failed. The Jäger was not a stupid hunter, so when Lev did it to him the first time, he quickly adapted to it.
When Lev was about to leap on his left side, the Jäger read his movement and quickly pounced on him midair.
Its huge paw was above Lev's back, stepping on him.
"I give up! I give up! You win!" The whole weight of the Jäger's body was at Lev's back, suffocating him and pressing his body to the ground, disabling him to gasp in the fresh air.
The Jäger got off his back and sat on the ground, with his tongue hanging out of its mouth. A sense of victory could be read on his stature.
"Let's call it a day. I think you broke some of my ribs," Lev jokingly said while pressing his left hand to his ribs.
The Jäger tilted its head to the right, making his right ear droop down, and curiously looked at Lev.
"What? I still have more than a month to outrun you, so I definitely need some rest days too, you know," Lev tried to explain his excuse to the Jäger.
The Jäger barked in response.
"Why am I talking to this 3-meter wolf," Lev sighed as he took off his backpack and checked on its condition. It was still in a 'good' condition, the threads and the horrible leather was still usable for maybe quite a time, Lev guessed.
"Speaking of rest, I think the stock of herbs and firewood are completely full. How about I use this day to exercise and rest? What say you, wolfy?" Lev wore his backpack and looked at the Jäger that was sitting on the front of him.
The Jäger silently yapped in discontentment as its huge body turned around and started to walk to the direction of the cave.
Lev smiled and followed the Jäger on its behind.
Back on the river shore, Lev was doing side-to-side leaps to strengthen his legs and to let his body be familiarized with the movement. It was different from running because he wasn't using his legs to move forward, but to move sideways.
I still have a lot of time... If I completely master this movement then maybe I could outrun that wolf... Lev motivated himself while sweat dripped down from his forehead, sideburns, neck, and his body.
After training his legs, he started to climb the cliff to sharpen his climbing skills.
Half of the day passed, and Lev was lying inside the cave, he wanted to take the rest of the day by resting.
He recalled the weird dream he had last night, "Darkness and a voice, that's new."
"What's new?" Ezio overheard Lev's mumbling voice.
"I heard a voice in my dream. Do you think I'm starting to regain my memories?"
Silence.
It took Ezio a few seconds before answering him, "It's not for me to decide whether it is or isn't."
Rude... A simple 'I don't know' wouldn't hurt... Lev closed his eyes once more and started to go adrift.
.....
Lance was amazed at Kaz's dedication to learn more about this world. He completely buried his head under a lot of books, figuratively, of course, and spent all of his days just reading and learning. He took a break whenever he ate and whenever he slept.
"Notify me when you've finished reading all of these books. I will examine you if you learned everything on what you have read," Lance left Kaz alone in his room and went back in his own room to meditate.
From what Kaz read, there were a lot of new things that he learned that were not from earth. Herbs that instantly healed a wound, crystals that were needed for brewing the herbs, monsters that crawl on the face of this world, and swordsmanship.
Huh? He didn't give me a book regarding the Elemental powers... I'll ask him later about it... Kaz went back to reading all the books.
I wish Lev was in a better place now... Kaz sadly thought. It was still heartbreaking for him to think that Lev was gone.
After a couple of hours, while he was reading a book about sycophants, he learned that sycophants had only one way of dying. He silently murmured as his eyes read the text on the book:
"Sycophants' way of dying is unknown. They personally know how but they wouldn't divulge it to others. If they are killed in a battle, they would later revive in the 'Sycophant's Land.'
"If their Dominus still lives, then they would return back to them, but if they were also killed, then the contract between them is broken."
Kaz's eyes widened. Then it meant that Glib was still alive! But how could he enter the Sycophant's Land? First, he needed to join the Defenders of Fate, and after reaching high rank, then he would later explore that land to search for Glib.
It boosted his motivation more to study and join the Knights. If he could find Glib, then he would be happy to see someone familiar in this world.
And if I'm strong enough, I can make a contract between him and me... Kaz inwardly mumbled.
And just like what Glib said, there were a lot of races in this world. He hasn't personally seen one but it was stated in the books that Elves and Dwarves also partook in fighting against monsters. They were part of the Order of Fate but they had their own ranking, but they were also welcomed if they decided to partake in the Defenders of Fate.
A war between these races was very low because they had no reason to fight against each other. They shared their resources to help each other's economy grow. But if a war broke out, then it wouldn't be against each other, rather, they would team up and fight against the danger, just like the time where they helped the Ancient Kingdom to hold off the monsters while the humans, elves, and dwarves escaped.
These 3 races were the most common, but there were also different races. Some were hostiles, and some were neutral.