Somewhere in a large forest, a boy around his late teens, with silky smooth black hair that reached past his sharp and thick brows, a pair of stupendously mesmerizing purple eyes along with the company of a water mana spirit, walked with cautiousness whilst holding a map.
"Neil...Neil." Neph tagged on my hair and pointed elsewhere.
Yesterday, whilst we were still habiting the cave, I taught Neph some words beginning with my name. It didn't take long for her to absorb the knowledge and not even a day in, she could now say words — even though it was as simple as a name, still it was a great progress, I felt that it won't be long before she could say proper sentences.
I frowned looking at where she was pointing, a wild boar was charging right at our direction. It didn't seem like something I couldn't handle, it was only a tier-1 peak stage.
It was our second meeting with a beast of such caliber. At this point I started doubting whether this map was legit. In the map, a village was highlighted and it was where I was currently heading. Though, as I noticed, the wild beasts I encountered grew in strenght and in numbers which was disturbing.
As for where I got the map? It was in the pile of human bones — in the snakes lair.
I contemplated whether I should kill this beast or just hide and preserve my mana?
I picked the second option, I really didn't have any reason to fight against the beast.
I jumped and climbed up the branches of the tall tree and hid behind its folage. I peeked at the boar that had just arrived right below me. It kept sniffing around and circling to look at its surroundings as if hunting for prey.
The boar had thick brown fur, big and strong calves as well as a sharp, thick elongated horn.
Looking at it now, ain't this the perfect chance to attack? I'm in high ground and currently the boar was in a state of vulnerability from above. Even though it had its guard up around the surroundings, it would have never thought of an opponent from above.
It's back was as open as it could be. If I just dropped from this height and plunged the short sword I got from the cave as well, I could kill it without wasting a significant amount of mana.
I looked at Neph by my side, she only smiled and shrugged.
Change of plans, I held the short sword on my waist and readied myself to drop down.
Jumping off, I separated my legs slightly as well as my arms, on my right hand held the short sword in a reverse-grip. I looked like a flying squirrel that just jumped of a branch to glid through the wind — with arms wide and legs separate. My eyes shone with cruel purple light.
I plunged the short sword right into the top of the boars head without mercy. I could feel it through my hands how the dagger penetrated deeper and deeper into its brains — just like how I had done with the bear the last time.
Blood spurted out but I was not bothered one bit albeit grossed out a little. The boar started to jump around, kicking its legs in panick. I quickly jumped back — though, not before taking out the sword back.
The boar grew sluggish before falling to the side. The rustling of leaves were the only thing the boar heard before dying.
Looking at the bloodied short sword and back to the dead boar, I showed a small smile. It was easy and everything went smoothly, though, if I had not reinforced the short sword of my mana, it wouldn't have penetrated as deep, and wouldn't have resulted in the bears death as fast.
Mana Reinforcement — a technique that use mana to reinforce inanimate object to improve their qualities and features. It was easy, not gonna lie. To do it, you just had to have a good amount of concentration as well as exquisite control over mana — which for me was by no means hard.
I approached the dead boar and took out its mana shard, just then, I saw Neph looking at the shard with begging and pitiful eyes, her arms outstretched, hand open-wide.
It was clear what she wanted. I sighed, handing her the mana shard helplessly. I knew things like this will happen more often as we proceed. She is a spirit that needs continuous nourishment, she is my responsibility so naturally I have to be the one to provide for it.
Still, she got one, I also got one — from the first peak stage wild beast we encountered much earlier on the way here, so it was fair.