Havok slept for a whole day, being on edge while trailing the falcon was mentally and physically exhausting. The whole time he was around the falcon his muscles were taught and ready to fight at all times even when he slept it was not a deep sleep, so any sound would wake him up. The falcon's speed was ridiculous and if Havok relaxed too much and the falcon somehow happened to spot him, it would arrive before him in an instant.
"I need to train my 'Darkness Dash' to an even higher level if I want to have a chance against the falcons' speed. Right now, I can move about as fast as that bobcat while having 'Darkness Dash' active, but that will rapidly drain my mana, which is not an option. I need to reduce the amount of mana I use when the technique is active and use it at the most efficient times. I think that going around the forest and trying to catch the smaller mana beasts would be beneficial, they are quick and have great reflexes like the falcon. That takes care of that and now for the power part, the falcons wings are tough, if that bobcat had landed an attack like that on me it would definitely do major damage. Until now I have been increasing the accuracy of my techniques. I have never done anything about the level of damage they can do."
"I have an idea of how I can modify the 'Conductor of the Night' technique to add to the amount of damage I can cause, but I can't train it here, I don't want to damage my own home. Hmm… Oh, I got it! I can use the black widow's cave. There it won't matter the amount of damage I cause. There should be another mana beast that has taken up the mantle of being the ruler of the western region, but that won't be a problem because there is no way that it will be as strong as the black widow. Now onto my weapons, I lost several knives, the javelin and my axe. I need to make some new ones and I want to augment them with parts of the black widow's body. That should increase their durability. Having my weapon continuously breaking will be a pain in the ass, hopefully the black widow parts will last for a good while."
"Before I start training, I should go out and kill a few bigger mana beasts, so that I can have back up pelts just in case the one that I am wearing now gets damaged or completely destroyed. Also, it will supply me with meat, so that I can go all out during my training. Now that I have a plan, it's time to get started." Havok got off that bed, put on his pelt, activated 'Hidden Presence' and headed out to hunt down some of the bigger mana beasts for their meat and pelts.
Havok headed to the inner region and killed three mana beasts, there was a moose, an elk and a deer. They were bigger beasts, so he needed to make a trip to drop one off at the cave before he went back out to kill the next one. He chose animals that all had antlers, so that he could make some knives out of them and make a few new axes and hopefully some javelins.
Once Havok finished carrying them all to the cave, he grabbed what was left of the black widow meat and replenished the mana he used, killing the beast earlier in the day.
Havok finished cooking the spider meat a few minutes later and dug in. "This will never get old, although the three mana beasts I killed do not have affinities they will still be tasty. It's been a few months since mana arrived and yet, I still haven't seen any beasts with affinities. Right now, it is safe to assume that only the rulers have affinities and I know the falcon has a wind affinity. It's still unclear what affinities the leader of the coyotes and the black bear have." Havok was finishing off the meat wondering about beasts with affinities.
He absorbed the mana in the meat and healed the light injuries he received in the fights earlier after that he began to butcher the beasts with an axe made from the moose's antler. He was getting better at controlling the amount of mana he used when butchering beasts and speeding up the time it took. These were bigger than the beasts he usually butchered so although his control was better, just their sizes alone increased the time it took to finish.
"Finally finished," said Havok as he plopped down on the ground covered in sweat. "My control has gotten better, but these big beasts still take time and without using anything to replenish my mana it is exhausting." Havok took a few minutes to catch his breath and then walked over to where he kept the berries and the nuts and started snacking on them.
He brought a plate of nuts and berries over to the tub then placed them close enough that he could relax in the tub and eat at the same time. Havok took off his pelt that was no longer wearable and washed off the blood and dirt from his body and jumped in the bathtub.
While he was snacking, he began to replay the fights he had today in his head. He did this with every fight, so he could see where he could improve. "My control is getting better the more I fight, and I finally have an idea for an attack that can do enough damage to kill in one strike, but I still need to create and fine tune it before it is an attack I can use during a battle." He made mental notes of every mistake he saw as the three fights played in his mind. After a long soak in the tub, he finally went to bed.
The next morning Havok left the cave with some of the beast meat in his backpack and his weapons. He was excited to get started, it was actually not the training part that excited him, it was the result. He liked the feeling of getting stronger. He went to the cave that the black widow used to live in and sat down all of his things and went back out. He wanted to look around the area to see if there were any changes.
"The number of mana beasts has grown by quite a large amount. I guess that is to be expected since it's been 5 months since mana has arrived. Everything in the forest should get stronger as the mana becomes here. I need to increase my strength before more mana beasts like that damn black bear start popping up all over the place. Now let's see who the new ruler of the western region is." Havok headed towards the direction where he could feel the highest concentration of mana was.
He arrived at his destination but decided to stay off in the distance and just find out what type of mana beast the new ruler is. "Wow, it looks cool as hell. I can feel mana radiating off of it from here. It is certainly stronger than the black widow and it should be on par with the falcon. As long as it does not bother me while I am training there is no need to antagonize it until I have the ability to kill it." Havok said as he stared in admiration at a massive jaguar with dark orange skin and black spots and bright red eyes as it was currently messily devouring a deer.
Havok got the information that he needed and went back to the cave to begin training.
He would alternate between chasing the smaller faster mana beasts trying to catch them to train his 'Darkness Dash' and creating a new technique with more power.
Havok sat down with about twenty throwing knives in front of him, he picked one up and got started "Now I need to fill it with enough mana to where it only needs a touch more mana before it explodes, but not so much mana that it explodes as soon as it moves. I want these to be able to fly around without having to worry about them exploding at an inopportune time. These knives are stronger than the elk antlers I first used to practice butchering, so I need to find the proper amount first."
Havok started to inject mana into the knife and even though he did it slowly.
Boom!
Havok wasn't deterred, he just picked up the next one and tried again. The sounds of explosions happened a few more times before Havok found the right amount. Now he was making sure that it would not explode if he waved it around or if it made contact with anything else. Havok threw the knife with all his might at the cave wall.
Boom!
"Looks like I need to add a little less mana in there. Hah… Luckily, I brought enough knives because this seems like it is going to take a while." Havok continued doing this for a few hours. He was close, but he still had yet to find the right amount of mana.
Boom!
"Fuck this! I need to go practice my 'Darkness Dash' before I lose my fucking mind." Havok said as he grabbed two axes from the pile of weapons he brought. He brought them just for protection as he didn't need them for this portion of his training. He never went anywhere without some type of weapon.
The reason that smaller mana beasts were his choice was because the weaker mana beasts must have excellent reflexes to avoid being eaten by the strong. They might not be strong, but they make up for it with speed and agility. Also, if he went after the faster mana beasts it would likely lead to a life-or-death battle which was not his current goal. Once he was able to catch the small ones, then he would move on to hunting the bigger and stronger beasts that have great agility.
It didn't take him long to find them, they made a majority of the population. The smaller weaker mana beasts seem to have babies at a rapid pace and in bulk. He made his way over to one of the beasts and activated 'Darkness Dash' and lunged for it. Before he even got in arm's length the beasts sped away. "How did it know? I have 'Hidden Presence' activated, so I know it can't feel any mana coming from me and it also wasn't looking in my direction… Aha!" Havok smacked his forehead because it was obvious.
"Mana beasts have a better sense of smell and sound than humans do. I usually creep around in the shadows or am up in the trees, so it never really mattered that they could hear and smell me. The description did say that if I increase my mastery of the technique that I can increase the abilities of it. So, I should be able to hide my smell and any sounds I make. Hahahaha!" Havok looked like a lunatic cackling in an open field.
Havok decided to train all three techniques at the same time, but he was frustrated about the progress from his new technique, so he only trained 'Hidden Presence' for the rest of the day.
He would train 'Darkness Dash' and 'Hidden Presence' during the day, so that he would know its power when he doesn't have the increase that comes from fighting when it's dark outside.
….
A month flew by and Havok had made tremendous progress with his training. He increased his mastery of 'Hidden Presence'. He was now able to be completely silent and was able to conceal his scent. His new attack was effective and powerful. 'Darkness Dash' and 'Hidden Presence' were techniques that worked together in tandem. Each time he increased his mastery of one, the other one would benefit as well.
A while ago Havok made the decision to kill the jaguar. He watched the jaguar kill a few times before. However, the jaguar was so strong that it overwhelmed its opponents instantly. He never got the chance to see its true power, so Havok was not able to properly gauge his opponent's strength or find out its affinity because it was never forced to use it.
He used 'Darkness Dash' and unfortunately, he found out firsthand that the jaguar had an earth affinity. It was able to shift the ground under its opponent as well as shift the ground under itself to increase its speed and maneuverability.
At the beginning of the fight, Havok launched a sneak attack, and the jaguar didn't even have a chance to react. He leapt out of a tree that was above where the jaguar was currently grooming itself. His execution was perfect. He had an axe in each hand, both of them were coated in darkness and swung both of them downward as hard as he could.
The result was anything, but perfect. The jaguar was the toughest thing he had ever hit. Upon impact both axes vibrated fiercely as small cracks spread on both of them and the recoil from the attack sent a shock up both of his arms. The ground was indented from the force of the attack and yet the jaguar's skin was perfectly fine. He didn't know whether it activated some sort of defense right before the attack landed or if its skin was just this hard due to its affinity. Either way, both of his arms were numb from the shock and before he could dodge the jaguar swiped at his chest.
After that, a fight with his strongest and most physically toughest opponent began.
Although it could not fly like the falcon, its speed was just as ridiculous, and it used its earth abilities to slow down its opponent which only furthered the gap in their speed. Havok's body was currently covered in bloody claw marks. The pelt that he was wearing was already shredded and discarded.
The jaguar on the other hand was also injured just about the same amount, it was covered in lashes and cuts. Havok knew that getting up close was not a smart idea given the jaguars abilities, so he tried to keep his distance and use 'Licks from the Devil' holding the whips to get the most power he could out of them.
The two were currently staring at each other and panting. Both of them were exhausted even though the fight had not gone on that long they had both been running at full speed the whole fight and using several techniques which consumed mana at a rapid rate.
"Hah… Hah… Hah… Fuck me, I chose the jaguar over the falcon because it couldn't fly thinking it would be a slightly easier opponent, clearly I was wrong." Said Havok with his hands on his knees gasping for air.
Havok had yet to use the new ability he created because it drained mana at an insane rate and he has been using 'Darkness Dash' since this fight started and his mana core was half empty already. If he used the technique and failed to kill the jaguar, then he would have to try to run for his life and he didn't like his chances of escaping with no mana.
Grrrr!
The jaguar growled, eyeing Havok, clearly about to attack.
Havok threw caution to the wind as he saw that the jaguar would not just end the fight and both of them go their separate ways.
"Conductor of the Night, Myriad," said Havok as three knives coated in darkness flew off his hip and headed towards the cougar that was dashing towards him. It was similar to the original except the knives were at the tip and instead of whips, it was three jets of darkness that he didn't need to physically hold. He acted as a power source as the three jets of darkness remained tethered to him like octopus tentacles.
Havok kept backing away, trying to increase the gap between them to make sure that he was not injured by his own technique. The cougar was using its ability to shift the earth beneath Havok trying to slow him down. While Havok continuously used 'Darkness Dash' to counter, jumping and trying his best to stay off of the ground as much as possible.
Havok's mana core was draining rapidly as the knives were striking the hardened body of the jaguar, while he was moving his hands like a conductor, controlling where the knives landed. He was mainly aiming for the eyes to slow the jaguar down as he increased the gap between them.
Once he decided he was far enough away, which was about thirty feet. He directed the knives to the head of the jaguar and right when they were about to make contact. He shouted, "Eruption!" The tentacle-like jets of darkness connected to him thickened as mana was pumped into the knives and overloaded them. Unlike when they exploded while he was butchering a beast this was on purpose and it took almost all of his remaining mana. The knives all blew up right in the jaguar's face and a giant wave of darkness blasted through the area.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Roar!
Havok had never used the full power of this technique before or even this much mana because he only trained it in the black widows' cave, and he didn't want to do too much damage to the cave because it was a great place to train in peace. Havok misjudged the range to which the explosion would damage. He also used most of his remaining mana which increased its damage. He made sure that he kept some mana even though there was only a sliver of mana left in his core just in case he needed to finish the jaguar off.
The ground and trees were blown apart and Havok was blasted backwards as a trail of blood painted the sky behind him as he crashed into a tree blowing it apart. He continued blasting through a few more before he finally crashed into the ground creating a small crater.
"Ughh, it better be dead, or I am going to die. I can feel several ribs cracked. Thankfully I shielded my chest with my arms, or my heart might have exploded. My arms got it the worst, the bones in both of them are shattered and I also probably have a concussion because my vision is really blurry, and my ears are ringing. I would check if they were bleeding, but my arms are all fucked up and I can't move them. I need to find a way to get over to the Jaguar to make sure that it's dead. If it is, I need to get its body and then get the hell out of here before other mana beasts show up." Havok said weakly as he really felt like he was about to die. He was having trouble seeing due to dizziness from his head slamming into several trees at a high rate of speed and blood was dripping down over his eyes making it even harder to see.
Havok with much effort finally managed to stand up. As soon as he did.
"Blaaagh!"
He threw up a tremendous amount of blood. With the amount he threw up he was shocked that he didn't pass out due to blood loss. He was already leaking blood from all of his injuries from the blast and fight, adding the amount he just spit up it truly was a marvel he was even conscious let alone up and moving.
He limped over as he dragged his severely injured body over the jaguar. "Well at least I got the job done, its beast core will help me deal with my injuries." Havok said with relief because if he did need to fight, he was not currently able to. Walking right now was about all he could manage to do, and he wouldn't even be able to do that for too long as he was running out of energy.
There was a large chunk missing from the jaguar's head and it was clearly dead, but its body was the same as it was before the blast. "Damn, it must have felt something was about to happen and hardened its skin even further to protect itself. Luckily the knives were all focused on its head and not its body because it would have failed to blast through its defense. I need a place to heal." Havok said as he scanned the area with much difficulty as the blood was still interfering with his vision.
All Havok could find was a small cave not too far away, he wrapped the jaguar's body in darkness and used the part of the 'Conductor of the Night, Myriad' technique where the tentacles of darkness attached to the cocoon of darkness around the jaguar's dead body. Although he left drag marks behind him as the cocoon of darkness connected to him trailed him, he was not in the condition to care. "It's just big enough to fit the jaguar and myself in here. I don't have any fruits or nuts to recover my mana, I need to dig out the beast core right now."
He was rushing as his mana core was seconds away from being completely empty. Those tentacles of darkness went through the jaguar's mouth and pulled a pale red core with brown streaks out through its mouth. He still needed to use his fingers to direct the tentacles and currently they were all missing skin and bones could be seen on all of them. The process was excruciating and seeing that the core was not bright red and full of mana was disappointing, but it was better than nothing.
He was worried about passing out, so he just placed the core, which was still covered in the jaguar's blood, in his mouth. At least if he did pass out the jaguar's core would still supply his core mana.
He guessed correctly. He passed out right after placing the core in his mouth. He fell backwards and stayed leaning against the wall as the mana from the core in his mouth made its way towards his core.