Gamora left the kids the following day. She gave them some Silver tier armor, food supplements and some Stabilizing Pills just in case they breakthrough and gain new skills. Leveling up from the Low Level to the Upper Level was practically easy. It was the easiest out of all the levels. The requirements were breaking through and gaining three skills minimum and then unlocking the Innate if you have, then you break through the last round and you are an Upper Level guda. In all, a guda with an Innate had to succeed in four break throughs while a guda without an Innate had to succeed in three break throughs, no matter if he or she is a Pro-guda or a normal guda. The Stabilizing Pills were to help a guda who had broken through, to stabilize and keep their power under control till the break through is complete and he or she gains a new skill.
After Gamora left, Vorden and Lith talked a little and parted ways. They made a goal to control their battle maniacal trait for at least 10 minutes the moment it threatens to take control before they let it continue its blood bath.
...…
Vorden moved swiftly through the wasteland like a phantom. The area was void of beasts as they had already been cleared. Gamora had commanded the beasts to stay put in case any of them breaks through in the middle of a battle. Vorden was already feeling excited to continue "hunting." What was more interesting than "hunting" beasts, summoned by your sweet mother.
Soon he reached a beast infested area and prepared for hunting. His Storage Ring glowed blue as a black box flew from it. He was currently wearing a yellow hoodie with brown shorts, white socks and a pair of black sneakers. The box hovered in front of him for some few seconds and burst into tiny pieces. The pieces were too small and practically uncountable. They flew around him and attached themselves to him quickly. In less than a minute, a silvery black armor had formed on him. It had a snake look as their mother said it was made from an Arion class Boneheaded Serpent. It was full body armor leaving his head out. The armor somehow didn't form of his hoodie's hood so he used that to cover his head. He shadow stepped onto the balcony of a two story building to scan the area. There were beasts roaming the area as he had predicted making him smile. After the three days, he had become a bit fluent in his use of the Shadow Steps and could already shadow step short distances without the use of artim. Unless he wanted to shadow step longer distances, he didn't need the aid of the artim. The moment he saw the beasts, his battle maniacal trait started to take control but he controlled himself while muttering,"10 more minutes….10 more minutes."
He made a suicide dive from his position atop the building. When he got close to the ground, he somersaulted and shadow stepped into the shadow of a huge tiger-like beast. Of course, Shadow Steps was for traveling in the shadows. If he leveled up to some point, he could unlock the real skill or say, the upgraded version of the skill, Shadow Teleportation. But we'll leave that for another day.
The beast felt something but it didn't know what. It had become the tyrant of that small area so it knew no other beast could threaten. As it was still searching for the intruder, a black fist materialized out of its shadow and hit it squarely in the groin. It cried out in pain and tried running but it realized that its shadow had become surprisingly heavy. It didn't need to think too much as a shiny katana covered in flames sliced its body into two like tofu. The the thing it saw before it unwillingly died was a male figure covered in silvery black armor and yellow hood, holding a flaming katana with a gentle smile on his face. It could only curse its luck as it died. Why that petty human attack it? It was a tyrant, an Arion class beast but it was assassinated by some human brat. That wasn't fair. In fact, it despised creatures who used stealth and assassinating skills.
Vorden looked at the which had killed easily and couldn't help but smile. He noticed the reluctant look on its face as it died. He had learnt a few things about the Pseudo Gold tier weapon these last three days and could already kill an Arion class with a single Inferno Slash. Even though he couldn't use the full power of the katana, it was enough for him.
He continued his hunt. This time, he wanted to test his strength so he chose a Rika class beast. He could already identify a Rika class beast from an Arion class beast. He came across a weird looking beast. It was a cross between a fox and an octopus or so he thought. He placed his katana away and intercepted the beast. From a closer look, he could see a beast he had read in his beast book, a Tentaclion Fox Lord. It was a fox with two tails which was covered in tentacles. The tentacles served as its hands and defense. It could control them at will and they could stretch to some extent based on the level of the beast. Vorden cracked his knuckles a little as his eyes became lifeless. He was still trying to keep the battle maniacal trait at bay and that was one of the ways he had learnt to control it. The beast sensed the killing intent of Vorden but as its pride wouldn't let it back down, it took the initiative to attack first. It howled into the sky and pounced at Vorden. When it was just 2 inches away from him, he rolled to the side. He quickly got up while the beast was still airborne and kicked it in the side. The sound of breaking bones could be heaven as it flew five meters away due to the impact of the kick. It got and growled fiercely at Vorden. Dark brown tentacles flew like the spider webs of spider man at Vorden. They attacked aggressively giving Vorden no chance to escape. They turned out to also have sharp points which drilled holes in anything it came into contact with. Vorden's armor was surprisingly sturdy as some attacks which got him only left a few scratches. He dodged, ducked, somersaulted but he couldn't get close to the beast. Seeing that normal skills were basically weak against the beast, he changed to his evasion footwork. He used to close in on the beast. When the beast saw what he was doing, it joint attacked with its tentacles but that was its gravest mistake. The shadow of the joined tentacles was what Vorden needed. The moment he saw it, he shadow stepped into it and traveled into the main shadow of the beast. All what the beast saw was the boy it was fighting disappear. It thought it had defeated the boy so it decided to go somewhere else but it stopped in its tracks when it fell a sudden chill across its spine; killing intent. Its shadow became extremely heavy and all it could see was kick headed for its face at an insane speed. The kick connected with its face and cracked its face as it was sent crashing into a mud building. It struggled to get up but it was dizzy and blood was pouring like a river from its face. It looked at Vorden with hate filled eyes as it prepared to attack but stopped when felt the seal on it lock up. It was the seal Gamora put on all the beasts to stop them from attacking the moment any of the kids showed signs of breaking through.
Vorden had also planned to end the battle by allowing his battle maniacal trait to take control as it was past the ten minutes but he froze when he prepared to attack. A sudden wave of chilly aura followed by immense pain took over his body. He fell down and started trashing about as the pain was too much to bear. Even though it wasn't as intense as when he was awakening, the pain was too unbearable. He even doubted if he would ever get used to it. He could feel something breaking in his body and spirit world. The chilly aura slowly took the form of a night black cloak and covered him. It then transformed into a cocoon and slowly disappeared from the place. After five minutes, the cocoon appeared again and slowly broke revealing a pale faced Vorden wearing a night black cloak over his armor. His eyes were hollow black like an abyss which continued to spread the chilly aura through his surroundings causing every creature around to freeze in fear. That was the power leakage after breaking through which needed the aid of a Stabilizing Pill to keep it under control. Vorden slowly took the pill from his ring with great pain and threw it into his mouth. He was still feeling the pains from the torture he'd just went through.
The pill worked pretty fast and absorbed the leaked energy in one swoop. It then covered Vorden in a blue halo. Vorden felt all the pain disappear without a trace and the aggressive energy in him become calm. When he realized the stabilizing would take some time, he closed his still black eyes and entered his spirit world. He saw the Shadow artim brimming with power and the image of a cloak whirlpool was slowly fading into the artim. Instantly, the name of the skill entered his mind; Dark Mantle.
He opened his eyes with a crooked smile on his face. The hunt had just started.