A/N: the word stat is used to encompass any and all physical aspects, not stats in the system sense. But strength, speed etc etc
***
As the beast's air flow was cut off, it was gradually losing strength. It seemed like even Mana Beasts needed to breathe, and due to me cutting off it's air supply, it was slowly but surely dying.
After one last violent thrash, it fell to the floor, the beast was no longer alive. I then crushed my left arm at the shoulder joint, using Partial Enhancement, before separating myself and my arm entirely, and then I did the same with my right.
As for my torso, it wasn't really stuck due to the bears thrashing, so I was able to pry the quills out of my body with my hands. Once I had freed myself, I healed myself of any of the minor injuries that I had received from the quills and them went to collect my sword.
I dusted myself off, and decided to get out of this location. I needed a water source, I highly doubted I could use Arcane Magic to heal my way out dehydration. Or could I? Well, I wasn't keen on finding out at the moment.
I had bigger priorities, like getting stronger and getting out of this hell hole. I had what, a week before I'd get rescued. Or so I hoped, who knew if my survival would alter the time I spent.
***
As I marched onwards in search of water, I began to feel something. It was as if I was being watched, but perhaps I was being paranoid. However, I really couldn't shake the feeling off. However, the chances of another Mana Beast hiding and waiting for me let my guard down was rather high. Thankfully, I had been able to maintain a constant, high output with my Arcane Enhancement. I could've maintained my maximum output, but, I didn't want to use too much Mana. And, I also risked an uneven Enhancement if I didn't focus. The higher my output, the more likely I was to mess up.
And because of those factors, maintaining a lower, but easier to manage and easier to maintain level of Enhancement seemed like the best idea. Now, I was sure that Mana Beasts could sense my enhancing myself, but I assumed I could ward off most of the ones close to my level by doing that.
After all, beasts didn't like to fight creatures close to or above their strength if they didn't have to. A fight to the death with someone close to your strength would undoubtedly lead to terrible injuries. Now, that isn't a problem for me. But, for Mana Beasts without a strong healing factor, receiving wounds could be equated to being given a death sentence.
That was why every Mana Beast I had encountered attacked me when I had my guard down, they all intended on ending the fight in an instant. Not that it was a very realistic goal considering their opponent was someone who was not only immensely durable, but who could regenerate their body.
And, when I regenerated, I got stronger than before. It's very minor, but after receiving so many wounds, it's starting to be something very slightly noticeable. The old man said something similar, but, what's really interesting is that my entire body gets stronger. Not just the part that was damaged.
And, the fight with the bear like creature gave me a better boost in physical stats than the one with the with the hyena like Mana Beast. Meaning that the more severe my injuries, the better the stat boost after healing.
The boost in stats was all encompassing, my speed, strength, durability all increased. And, this directly affected the result produced by my Arcane Enhancement. If I had used this level of output of Arcane Enhancement before my second fight, I would've been very slightly weaker.
It may have been an almost negligible change, as a matter of fact, only I would be able to notice such a small difference. But, that didn't change the fact that I could quite literally get stronger as I fought. I could get stronger without actually training directly.
But, I assumed that normal training would be more effective. After all, since it was such a small increase in my physical abilities, it would take a while before it was anything helpful.
But, it was a great little thing to have. In theory, I would eventually be able to display super human levels of physical prowess without the use of Mana or Arcane Magic.
From what I understood so far, the 'stat boost' worked by slowly reconstructing the body, and causing the bones, muscle and everything else to become just a bit stronger.
As I kept walking, I finally encountered water, and it was flowing water.
But, there was bound to be a Mana Beasy nearby, and as if confirming my suspicions, on the other side of the river was a Mana Beast. It was here to do the same thing as me, and that was to just have a drink of water.
'What... is that?'
The beast wasn't too large, it stood at around the same height as me, which was around 6'3/190cm. The beast looked like a hippo, except it had long tusks and it had scales instead of tough skin. My intuituon was screaming at me, it told me not fight that thing.
And so, I kneeled by the river, scooping up water with my hands and drinking it while keeping my full attention on the Mana Beast. However, I made sure not to raise my Enhancement output so as to not make it think I was preparing for battle.
'Those tusks. Something's weird about them, they just don't feel right.'
I said before beginning to back away, however, the Mana Beast began to walk in my direction.
'Of course this is what happens.'