A surprised expression appeared on the boy's face, the wolf in front of him looked weak and skinny, only his eyes were full of vigor and vile thoughts.
There were about 10 metres between him and the wolf, as an experienced fighter he instantly assumed a fighting stance, holding the improvised weapon he's made. At first the wolf only got closer, not daring to directly lunge at its victim. It was weird to see one come out of nowhere, ususally they ran in packs and groups, maybe this one was simply weaker so he was left out.
That did not bother Arian at all though, there was an opponent in front of him, and he was doubtful about his chances of winning, he was in another body that he has not gotten complete understanding of, it was a weak one, inexperienced to the harsh pain of a battle.
Gritting his teeth, the boy attentively watched the beast circle his position, despite the weakened state of the wolf, it still instilled a great sense of fear in the boy's mind. The wolf was probably very hungry, it was either going to kill the boy and survive or continue to venture in this empty forest, starving itself to death, the choice was obvious, kill and survive or die without trying.
The wolf lunged forward and snarled aggressively, unfortunately it had to jump back, else its eye would have been pierced by a sharp stick.
The boy was not going to let himself be killed, there was no way a wolf was going to strike him down this easily, but still, he was not confident of winning a battle of attrition.
'I have to end this before this body gets tired.'
He dashed forward, closing the distance between him and the beast, a powerful slash made the wind whistle as it breezed the wolf's fur.
The attack missed but he was not done yet, tensing his muscles he used the force from the previous slash to rotate his body, threatening to hit the wolf's head once again. The beast did not expect such a sudden turn, a squeal escaped its mouth as it backed out in pain.
The boy exhaled heavily and grinned viciously, even though the strike was not fatal it was great experience for him, albeit only 2 moves, he has successfully used the first form of the Sword God's art, Autumn Leaves.
He knew that in a fight there was no time to waste, thus he dashed forward towards his opponent, not sparing the wolf a second to rest. This time he was going to pierce the beast's head with the sharp point of his hand-made weapon, pushing it forward he only managed to scratch the wolf's cheek, there was some blood dripping from the wound but the wound was by no means detrimental to the beast.
The wolf lunged forward after dodging, violently threatening to bit the boy's shoulder, that did not happen though, his teeth only met a wooden stick that stopped him mid air and threw him off balance, making him fall on his back with a whimper a metre away from the boy.
A moment later a sharp pain assaulted his neck, his vision got blurry as a deep wound caused by a pointy weapon made blood gush out and paint the surroundings in a dark red colour.
The squirming moves of the beast got weaker and weaker, until it moved no more.
"Phew... it died."
Arian sighed in relief, the feeling of killing a living being was not a new one to him, it was only to survive, he understood very well the saying of kill or be killed. He did not feel pityful for the wolf, it was an unfortunate end but he did not wish for his body to be the one lying lifeless on the ground.
On the other hand, he was quite grateful to the beast, it made him realise that he had to get stronger, he had a grand mission he wanted to achieve but there was no need to dream about it if he did not have enough power to carry it out.
He looked back at the body of the wolf but turned back after a short moment, he thought about dragging it back to use as food but quickly discarded that option, the wolf had barely any meat on him and maybe he was sick, he did not want to take any risk.
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Having returned to the temple, Arian was going to explore every inch of it, he did not have enough time to do that as he got too focused on admiring the sword technique of the Sword God but now he knew he needed a real weapon, as far as he knew, in every temple there was a weapon deposit, there was no way there would not be one in this one as well right?
For the following 2 hours he ventured through the stony maze the temple offered, he found quite a lot of rooms, including a weapon room!
Unfortunately, almost every sword in there was very old and rusty, some even breaking away from the passage of time. Arian still picked the best looking one, slashed it a bit to see if it wouldn't break right away and nodded.
It was a beautiful longsword with a decently sharp edge, despite the ages it spent crumbling inside this forgotten room.
The weight of the sword was not too bad, it suited the weak body he had at the moment, the length was slightly longer than he would have liked to but he would get used to it in no time.
The sun was going down, dying the sky in a deep shade of crimson red, Arian was mesmerized by the sight in front of him, it had been a long time since he last got to enjoy such a peaceful moment, it seemed so surreal and alien to him.
Although he was very excited about the place he was in and the astonishing sword style he's received, Arian knew that rest was just as important, somehow he ended up in the same room he's awakened into, or maybe it was that it looked the same.
Not like it mattered, as far as he knew, he was the only living being in this temple, it meant that he had all the rooms to himself so it wouldn't matter which one he picked.
Soon enough, he went to sleep, the worn out book was placed on the night stand while the boy slept soundlessly.
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.
A new day had begun, it was time to head down the mountain once again, although it was dangerous, Arian still needed nutrients and water to survive, he could not get everything his body demanded from just some berries.
The ambiance of the forest calmed his mind, embracing him in a feeling of peace and safety, but Arian knew best to not fall for scuh tricks, although he hasn't found another being to roam the forest he refused to let his guard down.
Now he was heading to a lake he's seen from atop the mountain, it was not very far away but still required him to be careful while venturing towards it.
After about 10 more minutes of walking and sneaking through the expanse of the forest, Arian reached a large opening where a massive lake delighted the boy's eyes.
It was clear and shiny, as if thousands of diamonds were covering the surface of the lake.
Getting closer to it, Arian leaned down and took a small sip of the lake's water, he inhaled anxiously but smiled in relief, the water had a sweet tint to it, it was drinkable!
Having a clean water source this close was truly lucky, he did not want to travel too much to reach another lake or even worse, have to use other methods to get clean water. He let out a satisfied sound after having a better taste of the cold water, unfortunately he did not have anything to hold water, so he would be forced to come down here every time he felt thristy.
It was still good that there was drinkable water, in some of his adventures he had to kill for some clean water, the forest he was in seemed more like a paradise, perfect for him to grow up.
Due to the sunny weather outside, Arian decided to practice the Autumn Leaves style before heading back to the temple, he grabbed his sword and cut through the air, trying out different approaches and experimenting with what he's learned from the godly technique.