Klaus laid on the ground for a few more minutes taking in the pain. And while he was on the ground, he had time to think about what had happened during the session.
"Was I really thinking of doing it?" he asked himself as he revised the occurrence at the final moments of the training session. What he was talking about was the sudden burst of energy and will to fight and end it all. It was exactly what he had felt the previous day. A sudden burst of energy as the fight got deadly intense. And just like the previous day, he did enjoy getting hit while that strange energy coursed through his body. It was like an adrenaline rush but on a different level entirely.
"I was actually contemplating using this on him" Klaus said as he looked at the chain not too far from where he was laying. The knife at the hilt of it still stuck out and looking at him made him shiver in realization of what he contemplated doing. The thought that he was in an actual argument in his body the whole time while he had his father wrapped up baffled him. He reasoned that there wasn't anything to think about. Yet for some reason he remembered then that for a moment he thought about slitting his father's throat.
Apparently, his father left the door open which gave room for some light to penetrate through thereby illuminating the surroundings around him.
Other than how weirdly he was suddenly acting, he also noticed he had gotten a lot faster than usual and even stronger too. The gratitude belonged to none other than the system but still his mind wandered back to what he could only describe as some kind of "buff" each time he was engaged in combat.
He was all himself the whole time but his thoughts were scrambled. The moment he got hit on the chest, his mind automatically switched gears and he was in another state he couldn't explain. But ultimately as fast as it came, it began to die down and his father effectively put an end to it with that menacing back fist.
"He was ...aggressive" Klaus could only say when thinking back to how his father acted as well. Notably, he wasn't the only one who was having a switch in moods. And although he didn't understand how his came about, he found his father's own terrifyingly weird.
"Is this the new attitude he is bringing to training because we are in a new stage?" Klaus thought as he didn't quite understand what was happening clearly. The aggressive talks during training and the incredibly hard hits were never part of the training package he remembered. If anything, his father was more of the calm and patient teacher but the new one he was being introduced to, he had no idea of where he originated from.
"Thank goodness I filled up my EP. With all those punches he was swinging at me, I would have definitely passed out for sure" Klaus thought and then it occurred to him that he had seen quite the huge amount of HP loss displayed during the session. So he pulled his profile display up by simply thinking about it.
.....
[Host's profile]
-Name: Klaus Dean Jackson.
-Level - 2
-[250 Exp needed to level up]
•Exp status - [0%]
-Nether Gene - Shadow
-HP - 50
-Ep - 100
-Race: ???
-Class: ???
Stat attributes.
-Strength - 14
-Agility - 9
-Speed - 9
- Durability - 8
- Perception - 10
...
"Fifty?. He really did go hard on me. Four hits and he has taken out half of my HP. And it doesn't look like its going to get any better as we move forward. I need to take his advice and get stronger if not training might get more painful, quickly!!" Klaus resolved in his mind. He got up from the wooden floor of the dark room and proceeded for the exit. But as he approached the door, he stopped and went back inside. Later, he stepped out and went into the main house to get refreshed.
His mother noticed a light swell on his jaw but didn't bother to ask how it had happened because she knew what it was. The feeling of pain having to watch her boy go through all this without being able to help was hurting her in ways she couldn't imagine.
She watched as Klaus had his lunch quietly without saying a word. She knew her son not to be much of the talker but right now, he was being extra quiet. And as soon as he was done, he stood up and when he met eyes with his mother, she gave him a warm smile and he reciprocated with one of his own. They communicated pain through their stares. And while Mrs Angie felt more pain staring at her son and pretending she knew nothing and that all was well, Klaus on the other hand felt consoled. It felt like a huge burden had been lifted off him. It was a simple stare and a warm smile that accompanied it, yet it felt like he had explained it all to her and that she understood. All this happened in the absence of Mr Zen as he was somewhere else entirely.
But even as they were only two of them alone, they failed to produce any words out from their mouths and simply stood there smiling at one another.
"I haven't seen Ash in a while, would it be okay if I go to check on her?" Klaus finally asked his mother.
"It's fine honey. Stay out of trouble though" she said with her eyes full of love. She watched as Klaus stepped out of the house and immediately he was out of sight, tears began to flow down from her eyes unto her cheeks.
Mr Zen walked in with a frown to only meet his wife crying and immediately the frown was replaced with that of worry.
"What happened?" He asked as he didn't quite understand the situation.
"It's nothing. It's ..it's just that...that boy is going through a lot" she said and began to weep again.
Mr Zen drew her closer to himself and said.."Trust me, I'm hurting just as much as you are. I have been the cause of his misery probably since he was a child. It hurts to know he hates me but because of the fear he has for me, he can't say" Mr Zen said holding his wife tightly.
"He doesn't hate you. He is a sweet boy and loves his father" Mrs Angie said in reply to his claims.
"Now what was the report all about" Mrs Angie said cleaning her eyes and trying to put the sad situation all away.
"It's not good I'm afraid" Mr Zen replied.
"How bad?" She asked.
"Apparently they are extending their territory dangerously close to the outskirts of the forest. I and the other men will be gone for three days" Mr Zen said. A frown appeared on her face but Mr Zen seeing this quickly established with a smile...
..."You don't have to worry. Its nothing I can't handle" he said reassuringly.
....
Meanwhile Klaus walked through the streets of the settlement with his hoodie on and with long strides that conveyed purpose.
Apparently he had lied once again as he wasn't exactly heading over to Arsha's place. He kept it at the back of his mind to check on her later. Just that he had some pressing issues to attend to. Precisely beast issues.
"This is going to be a tough one. The only chance I might get to encounter a beast is if I go deep inside. And that's not really a good idea considering I might meet one at a higher tier beyond my scope and then things could get ugly" Klaus thought weighing his options as he stood in between trees in the place marked as beast territory.
This place in particular was by no chance out of control. In fact it was desired that a place like this be kept for the purpose of hunting. In a way, they were preserving the lives of the beast that they once couldn't wait to get rid of. The world heavily depended on the core crystals gotten from them to run their operations. so the area Klaus was stepping into right now could be referred to as a game reserve, only beasts were the prey this time.
The idea to push them out of their territory in the first place wasn't the best because at the end of it all, they felt the beasts would eventually find a place to settle. And this could very well mean human settlements where the result would turn out to be very unprecedented.
The only problem with this strategy is that like most creatures, beast were known to multiply. How it was done was still unknown as they weren't known to physically mate. But what happened when they multiplied was that there was the tendency for them to spread apart looking for larger territories which could also mean human territory as well.
Klaus by now had spent almost an hour walking around with little to no progress. The forest was dead silent. He just didn't see himself ever getting a beast with how things were going so he proceeded to turn back. But that's when he heard a rumbling sound up ahead and quickly he knew it could either be someone as crazy as him stepping foot into beast territory all alone or an actual beast. So he crept to the direction he heard the sound and laid in wait.
After several minutes, the sound of ruffling leaves was now apparent. And the cause of the sound appeared from what looked like a burrow.
"A rabbit?" Klaus said in astonishment. There were very few of them left as most of them were perceived to have either mutated into other monsters or killed off by hungry predators. He never for once thought he would see one in his lifetime . And now the thought of it being there instead of an actual beast became somewhat an issue.
"How can you present yourself of all times right now?. Now I don't know if you fit into the category of the beast I'm tasked to hunt. And if I let you go, who knows when I'd see another opportunity like this?" Klaus debated in his mind. After what he considered as a hard decision, he had finally decided.
"There are very few of you left. I can't possibly kill you. If I do that,then I've reduced the chance of your species ever recovering it's numbers" Klaus said to himself as he stood up from the position he laid at the top of a rock watching the rabbit to leave.
It was a hard decision for him but he felt he made the right one. He just couldn't bring himself to harm something that innocent. But just as he was walking back to the settlement a thought crossed his mind.
"Oh no, you fool!!... Leaving it there is as good as killing it. Sure it might survive today but sooner or later it would end up being a bigger beast's food. I have to go back and capture it" Klaus thought and turned to his heels hoping he would meet the rabbit before it moved from that location.
As he got closer to the exact location he quietened his steps as he didn't want to scare it off because they were known to be quite elusive themselves.
*kree!!!!!!!!!* A loud squealing sound came from the location he last saw the rabbit. Klaus immediately bolted towards the source and as he approached he needed not to guess any further what had happened. Right there in front of him was the rabbit but apparently it was in another animals mouth about to be swallowed, a beast's mouth precisely.
*Bing*
[Blood wolf recognized]
•Tier - Inter-feral beast.
[Quest is now active]
•Take down the Blood wolf.
*******
###shameless author's tears******* ....
Gift meeee...
Abuse me with your gifts...
Finish me with your golden ticketssssss....
my life depends on it