... Spark stared at the white ball in his hands.
Casting infiltrating gazes from each side, Spark tried to contrive where exactly the danger of it lurked.
He did so with careful scrutiny, until the point his eyes ceased to endlessly stab the ball, letting a humorous groan escape his lips instead.
In the end he realized that he was just stalling for time.
Powering off his faculties for a split second, Spark turned stern and threw his palm on his mouth. The marble ball slid down his gullet with a gulp.
For a moment he cursed himself for not bringing any water to wash it down, but luckily the pill slid into the depths of his body with relative ease. It felt like more like a liquid than a solid.
A warm, fuzzy feeling enveloped his inner organs and he felt like he was being embraced by a warm blanket. It was similar to the experience he made with the Mean Three-Leaf soup, leaving him positively surprised.
"It's not that bad?..."
But sadly, common sense escaped him yet again when he uttered such a careless jinx.
As if meting out punishment on a blasphemic disbeliever, Spark's bones started creaking with uncanny sounds, jolting him out of his misconception. He felt his firmness buckle under a strange pressure and dull and sharp pains rose up in his body in a harrowing litany, enhancing their graveness with each iteration.
'I messed up, didn't I...' Spark lampooned inwardly as he grit his teeth with careless force.
Low groans escaped his lips as he didn't dare to move about in fear of being met with unexplored sorrows and he endured as best as he could.
The creakings reached a cacophony of goosebumping echoes, listened to by only the swaying beech leafs and the bypassing gusts of wind, drowning his misfortunes out into the distance.
Urging himself to stay strong under the torturous development, he felt his bones and muscles being garbled around his body. They were quickly leaving their original places in rebellious whims. His innards shifted uncontrollably, so much so, that even they themselves buckled under pressure. Small fissures appeared on his bones in quick succession, just to mend themelves slowly into a new, subtler form.
Pleading cries and whines left his throat in pure instinct when he couldn't hold them back any further. The pain needed a vent, an outlet to not corrupt and destroy his mind to irreversible states, and his body automatically continued let out ear-piercing screams.
'Just how much longer do I have to endure?' Spark was flabbergasted. The small percentage of his faculties that were still allowed to harbor free thought, were incredulous of how much longer his mind had to drown in these waves of undulating terror.
It really was pain from every kind and when he had somewhat adapted to the current level of the bad stimuli, another flood of more horrifying pains washed over his entire body.
Muscles that tore apart and wove themselves back together immediately, just to repeat that process endlessly, Merdians there were calzined with bursts of immolating heat, prodding at the cordoned off sections to ruthlessly break the clogged junctions apart. Bones that creaked and croaked, accentuating the strain that came upon them.
The sensations came to a point, where the mending process proved to be slower than the destruction and horrible feelings stacked upon another to unbearable heights.
Spark felt he had to do something to not die a gruesome death.
Like a worm, he croached to the leather pouch that was just a mere meter away and pulled out a crystalline stone, coruscating innocently in the light rays of the golden sun.
Then Spark slammed it against his chest in pure desperation.
His brain, currently being smouldered in his skull, somehow pulled off to recall the information needed.
The Clearing Cloud Circulation Arts.
He didn't know it by heart yet, but his extraordinary recalling technique served him well his entire life and he could easily memorize anything he had read once or twice before. The key points always stuck in his subconscious, orderly tabulated, ready to be remembered with methods he had unceaselessly trained in his last life.
...Well, under normal circumstances, that would be the case.
Under the grueling bombardment of stimuli he had to withstand at the moment, thinking about an anything at all proved to be a more difficult task than he could have ever imagined.
Somehow, though, he could still somewhat recall a simple process that was described in the Arts. He didn't care how efficient the absorption would be as a result. He just wanted the smother the pain with the enhancing, curative qualities of Mana.
He bet his well-being on the unfamiliar energy.
With a groggy breath, he focussed and drew in the inherent energy of the crystalline stone. It started to emanate an azure light, which was sucked into Spark's inner with unstoppable greed, like water into a dark deep current of the ocean.
Feeling a wondrous power filling him from the inside, he let out a deep whimper of gratitude. Finally something different than relentless and excruciating pains.
He started a basic circulation to sloppily make the wonderful Element reach every nook and cranny of his body. It instinctly started mending the broken parts of his body and Spark even thought that the process went a lot smoother and more efficient from then on.
But mainly, he was happy... to not have his brain feel like breaking down and folding in itself.
The dull and sharp pains became more tolerable and slowly, but surely they resided into faint echoes of what they had been.
He didn't know when exactly the crystal in his hands turned into nothing but insipid dust particles, but when he opened his tightly grasped fist, the contents were blown away with the wind.
Spark let out a last low sounding groan before composing himself and adopting some semblance of a bearing. He moved his joints and muscles and to his surprise, they felt renewed and revitalized. When the pains completely stopped, what fillled him instead was a deep euphoria and the feeling of his body being perfectly in order.
He became more flexible, agile and even stronger. His bones and muscles emanated an indescribable firmness, that didn't let up in any way. His back straightened out and he effortlessly statured into flawless posture.
'I think... I might have reached the Body Foundation Realm!'
Spark wasn't sure and honestly not very convinced... He lampooned the book that described how to reach the Body Foundation Stage in 7 days... and it took him only 3?
That was simply outrageous... At first, he thought it might be him experiencing a placebo-effect, of finally feeling like a normal person after the undulations of limitless pain that weighed upon him were finally hoisted away.
It truly was the most disturbing event he had to overcome. Facing Mad Dog Celas or the blonde-haired giant Alesso were a walk in the park, hell... he would rather fight them, than to do this all over again!
To be beaten black and blue would be a blessing compared to this!
Of course, now that it was over he was glad that he did it.
Because it slowly dawned upon him, that his sensations probably didn't lie to him. He strongly doubted that any other Lesser Body Foundation Realm felt the sense of unity and firmness he did. It is hard to describe in words, but he felt like he burst a boulder asunder with just his fists.
... Not that he would try.
For now he had another pressing matter to deal with, as he observed a big problem. A foul, putrid stench made his expression contort in disdain. The same black, slimy substance that left Joey was now forced out of his own pores and he couldn't hide his disgust.
He quickly pulled himself together and was about to pick up the swords and the leather pouch when he suddenly shuddered.
In the periphery of his eye he saw something moving toward his direction at thunderlike speeds. A dark shadow darted across the grassy meadow and gapped the distance between them considerably fast.
"What the hell is this?" Spark uttered in shock.
There shouldn't be any monsters in the Pluvial Grasslands– not where he headed at least– as it was quite near a bastion of humanity, near Monsoon City and even closer to the populace of the outskirts.
Spark then remembered the countless traces of battle in the outer parts of the slums.
'...I haven't gone out too far, have I?'
As the illusory shadow elucidated with every stride it took, the silhouette became more clear and contoured.
... But Spark wouldn't wait until it came face to face to inspect its characteristics in detail... He grabbed the Iron sword with the short dagger and tied his leather pouch to himself while spurting away.
The bad thing was that he was still deep into the Pluvial Grasslands. Here was nothing but a green expanse, decorated with lonesome deciduous trees.
And suddenly, the skies turned dark and obscure to let him realize the why the Pluvial Grasslands were called what they were called. The clouds which were nothing but innocent white flocks some moments ago, turned into frigid behemoths and showered the ground beneath in countless droplets of water.
'Damnit... Why now?'
Not being happy about receiving the richly-deserved shower to free him from his filth, he continuously tilted his head to the right and left and of course to his back in search of a plan.
The shadow didn't let him off and persistenly clutched onto his trails.
'Did it hear my screams or why the hell is it so adamant on trampling me over... fuck!'
Realizing he was nowhere near the outskirts,no... not even close to it, he stopped at the tree with the thickest girth his surroundings, unsheathed the Iron Sword and brandished it in the air.
He had to fight now!
...Only because flight was not an option.
Spark gritted his teeth in resentment.
"Why does this happen only to me... Can't I have a peaceful day on this planet?"
He cast his gaze on the shadow that was approaching him straight forwardly in despicable speeds. Finally he could take a good look, which abominable creature decided to randomly jeopardize his life...
If it's an Awakened Beast this was going to be bad... very, very bad.
He glanced at the Iron sword in his hand and the Jambiya which he tucked into his wet trousers and twisted his face in grim apprehension. He really didn't want to do this. What kind of dirt luck was this?
He had no skills, only now entered the Body Foundation Realm and had miniscule experience in fighting.
...Well, to be exact. He had absolutely no experience in fighting, not against Beasts!
His mind raced at unprecedented speeds, as he thought about what his first move should be and then finally caught a glimpse of the creature.
Thousand curses echoed in his head already.
Its head resembled a boar with two blotchy marble tusks protruding out of its foul mouth. It's sole height must have almost reached Spark's own, making it a gargantuan beast in it's length with a weight that Spark wouldn't want to feel squashing him from above.
The mottled brown and black fur gave it a dark and feral appearance, but its most salient characteristic were surely the pair of enormous ears on each side of its skull. They resembled an elephant's, with their languid lobate skin hanging downward.
Spark threw his mouth agape, his face twisted in incredulity.
'Did it really hear me screaming?'
Cursing himself for being such a loudmouth, and the beast even more for its strange chimeric evoltion, he prepared for impact.
The Elephant-Boar chimera rampaged to him in a straight line, sinking the grass wherever it stomped.
30 meters
20 meters
10 meters
The beast still rushed at him with lethal speed. Spark could discern all of its grueling details at this range.
The yellowish hue of its tusk, the rabid saliva slearing down its dirty mouth, the unbridled aggression burning in the bloodshot, unfeeling eyes and big limp earlobes flattering in the wind.
Well if you can call them earlobes. The disparate sizes messed up all sense of proportion and made the boar look frightengly wrong.
At this point, only one thought flashed through his mind.
'Please let it be as dumb as it looks...'
All distance was gapped. In the last second Spark tumbled to the right and rolled off the ground to dodge the run-up of the boar, which would have undoubtedly crushed him to a paste if it hit.
The beast crashed ruthlessly into the corpulent trunk of the three behind him.
A cracking noise resounded through the area, which sadly didn't sound like the cracking noise of a bones or its skull, which Spark now knew the exact sound of. No, it wasn't the skull, but rather the wood of the tree that slightly gave in to the bestial power of the headrush.
This was the single plan Spark could have implemented, and he put all his hopes on it.
Luckily it worked! The beast seemed to have a very little to no intelligence. It was a beast of pure instinct.
'...But how good has it worked?'
Throwing his eyes onto the beast to analyse the situation, he immediately noticed the dazed state of it. Shaking its head in confusion, the gargantuan boar swayed strongly and disorientedly staggered back.
It was now or never.
The Iron sword of the Mad Dog gripped tightly in his hand, he tensed up his entire body and took big strides to the boar. It took him much less time than he had imagined. He was not used to the state of his body at all. He completely underestimated the strength in his legs.
With no time to think, he recovered his balance as well as he could, and rammed the sharp edge right into its gargantuan left ear. It was the most obvious place to stab into and he hoped to kill it in a single strike.
The sharp edge bore into deep into the hole, slashing the outer walls of the ear canal until it hit more solid substance, which it also tore through like a famished wolf.
Stabbing through the ear drum and cochlea, it severed the connecting nerves like a morbid skewer which dug deep inside the skull until only the hilt of the sword protruded out of it's mottled ear.
A deafening cry resounded along with wild convulsing shakes of the beast, which threw Spark's back into the trunk of the tree with hateful force.
But even being striked down, he didn't allow himself to lose sight of the abomination.
'That should have easily reached the brain! Did I... kill it?'
The boar, which was already staggering by the collision with the tree trunk and which should be on death's door with Spark's precise attack, let out a furious shriek and ignited its unintelligent eyes with blind fury.
It turned its gaze to the culprit of the pain, its designated prey, trying to take charge with buckling legs.
Spark's eyes widened in horror, when he saw the beast's persistent attempt to further hunt him down.
'Even though I called you dumb, shouldn't you have a brain at the very least?!'
'...How are you still standing?'
Lampooning about its unrealistic tenacity, he lifted himself on his feet and ran around the stump to win some time. He hoped that the damage just needed to settle in properly. His longsword still stuck inside the brain of the beast– hopefully– and he drew the short jambiya. Carefully stepping from beside the trunk, he peeked around the right side to see where the beast was. It's gargantuan size couldn't be fully hidden by the thick tree, so he easily saw that it wanted to stagger around it.
He knew now that the sense of hearing of the boar was insanely developed, but didn't know if that was the case with his nose, or if its eyes were bad, similar to the boars on Earth. After all, it only looked similar to them. It was a completely different organism, and Spark couldn't make the blunder of assumption.
What he could assume, though, was that the left side of its hearing was totally impaired.
Circling around the, luckily really broad, tree he always made sure to stand opposite to the boar and have it as an obstacle between them while collecting his thoughts and brewing a feasible plan.
Labored shrieks and rugged breathing hit his ears with such fury, that every cell of his body focussed on the sole task of perfectly avoiding the beast.
The mottled abomination had streaks of blood dropping from it's left side, painting the lush green in a vicious dark red, which was then slowly washed into the soil by the showering rain.
Hellish screams continued to echo behind the beech and sent shudders through Spark's spine. He could feel the irritation and fury of the beast. It has been terribly wounded by the prey it chased and no matter which way it went, it wasn't able to reach him at all.
All this reflected into ear-piercing screams which mixed in painful elements. The long sword that latched deep inside it's head must be causing the muddy monster enormous anguish.
It started spitefully biting on the tree's bark in resentful annoyance. Spark could practically feel the wish of the boar, to not have this thing in the way of revenge.
This routine held on for at least two more minutes.
'Damnit, why don't you just go on your way. The sword will be a gift!'
He didn't fool himself into thinking that he stood any chance in a fair fight at all, not with just the Jambiya as a weapon, so he waited for it to leave or finally die!... Running away now would result into him being easy prey, therefore, he really had no other choice but to wait.
...
Spark peered around the corner once again and formed a malicious smile, when he saw that the boar's feet buckled and it lay on the ground in whimpers in whines. It seems that the feeling of weakness finally engulfed the massive body.
'Heh, a richly deserved outcome. Who told you to be so incessant!'
The whimpers, too, finally died down and the surrounding area turned strangely silence.
'How do I know that it is dead... If it plays any foul tricks and revitalized miraculously when I decide to come close... well, now that would be a fine play.'
'Altough it didn't strike me as secretly astute...'
When he hesitated to decide the next course of action, an unforeseeable, and furthermore impossible occurence unfurled directly in front of his eyes.
[You have slain Cochlean Wild Boar, a Budding Deuce]
[You obtained one of it's Creation Skills]