There was also an Uncommon-Grade fox beside him, it was a Stone Scaled Fox, just like the name implies most of its body parts like it's back and arms shoulders were covered in stone scales.
Kale reached out his hand under his jacket and held a knife then let it go, he thought 'The habit won't go easily' He raised his palm in the direction of the Uncommon-Grade Stone Scaled Fox '‹Wooden Thorn›'
A magic circle appeared in front of his palm, then a green sharp-pointed spike shot out from it and headed at the Stone Scaled Fox's left eye.
The Stone Scaled Fox was suppressing the Fiery Fox and because of that it slightly moved its head down when the attacks were targeted at its left eyes, as a result, it hit the area slightly above the eye. Blood gushed out of the wound and hindered its vision, the fox was startled and started to madly run around.
After the attack landed, the green thorn disintegrated into small energy particles and disappeared without a trace.
Kale to a step and jumped in the air, he fired one more shot at the Uncommon-Grade fox while drawing the «Fallen Sakura» long knife from behind his waist.
Gale Fox was the leader of the group so he didn't escape but gave out an angry cry searching for the attacker. Kale expected it that's exactly why he decided to remove the greatest difficulty in subduing Gale Fox.
The second green thorn struck on the hind leg of the Stone Scaled Fox, the injuries weren't lethal but it made the fox panic-stricken, foxes were a cunning creature, they will, of course, place their survival first compared to loyalty towards others. It retreated to the side behind the other three normal foxes and angrily howled at Kale like it was going to attack any movement now.
When Kale landed on the ground, he ignored the Uncommon-Grade Fox and dashed at the Gale Fox.
The other three foxes were about to rush and intercept him but just at this time two Earth Measuring Foxes jumped out of the bushes and intercepted them with Fiery Wolf.
Gale Fox was confident in his speed, his confidence made him confront Kale head-on.
Kale remained unbothered by it, when he was just a meter away from the fox, he executed his ‹Illusion Phantom Walk› without using Battle Qi, this was more than enough to evade the charge of the Gale Fox, the dagger in his hand moved into an arc.
The Gale Fox passed by his side, when he stopped, he lost his balance and almost fell to his left, the fox turned his head and saw a knife cut on both his front left and back left which severed his ligament.
'There goes your speed advantage,' Kale turned and rushed at the fox, this time the Gale Fox lost his tiny pride and tried to run but the wound made him almost incapable of moving in a straight line.
Kale didn't cast a spell to save mana and attacked with his knife.
The fox had no choice but to confront him again, albeit the result was the same, just the legs attacked this time we're on the right side.
The Gale Fox realized he had no chance against Kale, he raised his head and tried to howl asking for help from his group but they were already being intercepted by the three Uncommon-Grade Foxes.
When the Stone Scaled Fox was standing behind the three Common-Grade Foxes they still had the chance but after it saw the pathetic state of the Gale Fox, it turned around and fled without any hesitation.
"Leave him to me," Layla shouted while hiding on a tree. When she said that, she raised her hand and a magic circle appeared above her palm, a tiny ray of light shot out from the magic circle and headed in the direction of the Gale Fox.
The Gale Fox was in no condition to dodge, he clenched his teeth and waited for his death, the light struck him but instead of harming him, it entered his body without inflicting any wound in his body.
His body slightly jolted, he then looked at Layla with a serious expression, he then frowned, he appeared to be struggling inside, Layla was in the same condition as him.
Kale stopped attacking, he gave one last look to the fox then rushed towards the other three foxes to finish the battle faster and reduce the casualties.
Right now it was a battle of will between Layla and the Gale Fox. If Layla wins then the Gale Fox will become her battle beast if she lost then she would likely suffer a backlash, if Kale interferes in any way like attacking Gale Fox at this time then Layla will also suffer together with him, this is the most venerable condition of a Beast Tamer.
Finished off Common-Grade Foxes was a piece of cake for him, Kale quickly took care of them and looked back at Layla.
She had won the battle.
Layla was slightly panting as she gently rubbed the head of the Gale Fox, the fox didn't resist in any way. It wasn't like he was brainwashed, the Gale Fox still had all his memories and his nature, he just chooses to submit to Layla as a result he cannot betray her and have to follow every single one of her command.
If her affinity with the Gale Fox increases then she can use other spells when fighting with him just like how she used ‹Vision Share› with Fiery Fox.
Layla took out a small bottle from the leather bag on her waist and applied the white cream inside it on his wounds. The cream was just like a health potion to the beast, it was just cheaper and have the same effect but it was meant for beasts so humans cannot use it.
"Hehehe... Now that I have three Uncommon-Grade Foxes and one Rare-Grade Fox I can finally train them to use ‹Charging Arrow Formation›," Layla couldn't hide the excitement in her tone, she then turned to Kale "Tell me the truth, does your family is made of expert Support Class Veterans born to become golden finger of Beast Tamers,"
Kale's lips slightly twitched, he said "I have just done some research to find their weaknesses, nothing else,"
Kale had helped her many times in searching and enslaving battle beast in those two weeks, moreover, he never failed in catching a targeted beast until now, as a Beast Tamer her achievements were clearly above her peers in class.
Whenever she saw him hunting, it was like he could figure out all the weakness of his opponents at a glance.
Layla just scoffed at his answer and focused on butchering their loot.
After a few minutes, they loaded all the goods on the big mount Foxes, preparing to head back.
Layla mounted her fox with the new Gale Fox in her hands and waited for Kale but he shook his head and said "I'm not coming back right now, I will be staying here for a while, as a Wood Mage I prefer to understand the essence of forest on my own,"
Layla hesitated then nodded "At least keep the fox with you, or it would be difficult to run all the way back to the academy before nightfall,"
Kale understood that however he refused "No need, I'm confident in my ability to head back safely, one more thing I have some business outside the academy so I will probably leave for today after going back, tell Arlo to not wait for me,"
Layla reluctantly nodded. She turned around and led the foxes away with her.
The wilderness in this world was different, the signals and radio waves cannot travel around freely in many places including Evergreen Fox Paradise meaning if something happened, Kale couldn't contact anyone using his phone. He could only use his phone to call when he is within a one-mile range of the academy.
It was the reason why every kingdom whether they are using science or not cannot contact each other or form a well-engineered transport route between them.
That's why when Riyan left, Kale was sure that he won't know what's happening here. As for the way of calling him, it was more like calling GHO and use their advanced means to send the message to him. It was like sending a Voice Letter that might take hours, days, or even weeks to go through but it was already a VIP treatment.
Kale waited until Layla disappeared from his sight, his lips curled upwards, he thought 'It's time for the real hunt,'
'Life Sense'
This time when the spell was cast, no magic circle appeared around Kale's body, at the same time, a tiny magic circle that was hiding deep inside showed itself, it absorbed the mana around it then gave out a brilliant green light.
A wave of mana jolted out from Kale's body and spread in all directions, it kept going until it was 200 meters away from him.
His eyes flickered and he could see many green illusory silhouettes moving in his range.
It was the effect of mastering a spell to Ethereal Level, being able to cast the spell instantly without even condensing the magic circle outside the body.
After using the spell, Kale climbed up the tree nearest to him and moved forward by using the branches as stepping stones.
He was like a monkey who was moving using the tree branches his whole life. Soon he found the Stone Scaled Fox that escaped earlier.
It was hunting a Common-Grade fox to devour its flesh and nurture itself to recover faster from its injuries.
Kale extended his hand at it.
'Wooden Thorn'
His palm emitted faint green light and a sharp green thorn was shot out with a 'swish' sound and made a hole in the Stone Scaled Fox's head.
Kale again used ‹Wooden Thorn› and slew the other fox in a single shot.
The power of ‹Wooden Thorn› at Ethereal Level was not something to be underestimated especially for Mortal-Rank foxes.
Kale jumped down the tree and dashed towards the dead foxes. He quickly took out a square paper slip with a complex red diagram on it and pressed it on the head of the Stone Scaled Fox, Kale's lips moved as if he was mumbling something.
Suddenly, the healthy body of the slightly dried up, a gloomy aura spread around it for a moment before it disappeared.
Kale put back the paper slip in his pocket then took out another one from the other pocked and did the same thing with the other fox.
Once he finished doing that, he took out the several other papers like that from his pocked and confirmed the count '24, Now I have 24 Foxes' soul essence, it should be enough for now,'
Kale then glanced at the dead foxes, he used his knife to make several unclean cuts on their body and completely erased the traces of the ‹Wooden Thorn› being used of on them. He could have used the knife to kill them but he wanted to practice his spells too.
After erasing his traces, he quickly left. Although as a student he was supposed to take care of the mess he made and burry or burn those foxes to not attract too many beasts but neither he had the means to burn them nor could he afford to waste his stamina in digging a hole when he was alone moving in such dangerous forest. The best outcome would be that some other fox ate them as free food.
Kale jumped from one tree to another, he was moving towards the inner regions of the forest.
'I need to find the right place, but where... Hmm,' When dashing through the trees Kale saw that the area in front of him was completely different from the forests until now.
Instead of young trees and lush grass, the forest before him was covered in gigantic big trees, they weren't only tall as a four-story building but also thicker than his room, their roots alone were so big that they covered most of the ground. Green fungi and algae were covering those roots coming out from the ground, it was hard to tell which roots belong to which tree as the roots of all the trees was jumbled together with each other.
Some of the only visible ground was covered in smelly water like a swamp.
Furthermore, there was a deathly silence among these woods.
Kale observed for few movements, he then cast ‹Life Sense› for once. After making sure there weren't any beast around, he sat on the tree branch and recovered his mana. Due to practicing «Star Constellation Body Lock», his body had twice the amount of origin energy compared to others, all he had to do was convert it into mana and fill his Origin Chasm, simply put he can recover mana in half the time compared to others but he could only do it once, if he wants to do it again then he had to use primary cultivation technique to fill origin energy in his body again.
Once his mana capacity was full, he again used ‹Life Sense› then ‹Camouflage›, and finally advanced.
Moving into these wood was a suicidal behaviour for a normal mortal, but Kale needed such a place to fulfill his motive, the beasts in this area were more dangerous but it also had a high density of original energy in the surrounding, if someone cultivated here then their cultivation speed would be without a doubt at least twice as fast as usual.
Kale was more cautious when moving this time, it wasn't just because of the beast, the green fungi on tree branches and their curvy structure made it easier for others to slip, he didn't have claws and nails like beasts so he had to be more cautious.
He had just moved for 15 minutes, he stopped at a big tree and looked at the broken nest of a bird at the place from where the branch was growing.
The nest had broken eggs shells inside, it seemed like some animal attacked and destroyed the inhabitants of this nest long ago, Kale moved further to observe the nest. The nest was big enough for him to sit inside, the feathers stuck in the twigs of the nest were like a high-quality soft blanket.