And if Connor wanted to survive he would need to actually have a strategy for killing. For that there was a very good example that he could learn from, The leopard had ambushed him without making the slightest sound and if that snow hadn't fallen on his head he would have been dead before he knew what happened.
An ambush was Connors best bet at actively completing the trial before he ran out of food and water and he knew it. He already had a small plan brewing in his mind that he would test tomorrow but for now he just ate some more snacks and drank water until he fell asleep.
However there was more difficulty this night, his mind kept flashing to images of that mangled leopards skull that made it hard to close his eyes. But eventually he did let his tired mind rest and he awoke the next morning feeling much better.
Putting on a couple undamaged layers of clothing he decided to only go for 3 layers this time since it would probably help him move faster and he wasn't feeling the cold as much anymore. Walking back into the forest he made sure to be aware of the area around and above him this time.
he walked in a straight line for around 10 minutes before looking for a sturdy tree to climb and after some significant effort he got on top of one of the sturdier branch's. His body was hidden by the leaves but he made sure to leave open an area for his eyes to look through to the ground below.
'Now I'm going to wait here for as long as possible and see what sort of results I can get.'
This type of ambush would be a very high risk and high reward strategy. If he could drop down on top of a predator and hit their head with Dwayne or pierce it with one of the claws he had brought with him he was fairly sure the force would be enough to knock out or kill most things and then he would be able to finish them off even if they were still alive.
On the other side though if he missed he would have just jumped down on the ground from a high up area. And then most likely fall on his ass and then get mauled to death.
That was provided anything ever actually showed up though. And for many hours that was the case, Connor was growing extremely bored and on top of that quite hungry. But he persevered, either way he would return home once the sun was close to setting so he didn't have much longer. And finally his chance came not too long after.
He heard movement coming closer to his kill zone, but what he saw wasn't what he expected. A large wolf, longer than he was tall was walking through, it seemed to have an injured leg and it was limping through the snow,
Connor didn't know whether he wanted to try his ambush on something that dangerous, the snow leopard was half the size of that thing. But he would still probably be able to get away due to it's injury if he failed.
However he made up his mind quickly, if he killed this thing he would probably get 2 or maybe even 3 essence. And an opportunity like this wouldn't come often so he decided to go for it.
For his weapon he chose Dwayne, the claws wouldn't be able to pierce fully into the wolf and would probably just give it a nasty gash. he waited for the right moment and jumped down holding Dwayne at the right angle to smash into the wolfs head.
Unlike the snow leopard though, it seemed that the wolf had a thicker skull and was only staggered for a short period of time. But that was still enough for Connor to get things done, he dropped Dwayne and pulled out a claw and rushed forward trying his best to ignore the shock going through his legs.
He stabbed the claw straight into the wolfs neck with all his force and slashed it before immediately backing away and running back to a few trees for protection.
The wolf had just barely recovered when Connor got away and tried to chase him but its leg gave out from the sudden movement and it collapsed. All it could do was whine and yelp as the blood flowed out from it's throat for minutes before it finally died. Connor watched on and the sense of uncomfortability remained for those minutes as those pitiful sounds entered his ears. He wanted to finish it off but he was too afraid that it might suddenly attack once he got close, and then finally he got the message.
[A very difficult enemy has been defeated]
[3 essence has been awarded]
And an even greater feeling of energy surged into him. The improvement this time was even more obvious compared to the last time, if he compared himself before the essence to now it would be like a slightly below average person had gone through a month or two of hard training.
It was more than just that though obviously, a person doing training would only be able to focus on one thing at a time but the essence seemed to provide a boost to all aspects. It was really quite a wonderful feeling.
After basking in the power growth for a few seconds he got to work and started removing the claws from the wolf, they were much larger than the panthers. They felt closer to the size of something like a small curved dagger, these would probably become his new main weapon now but of course Connor wasn't going to forget about Dwayne.
"Wanna be an emotional support rock huh buddy?" having the rock nod like a person he put it back in his pocket and jogged all the way back to his home to take a rest and a nap after his stressful waiting session.
Connor tried his best to keep up his pace and for the next 5 days he made great progress running into 6 more targets. there were 2 different deer, a fox, a smaller sized wolf, a bear, and a strange creature that seemed to be made of snow.
The deer were easy to get rid of, though the second one proved a bit troublesome. As Connor missed his first shot slightly and had to chase it down for a few minutes until it got tired.
The fox was a nasty one to face too, he had gotten a bit confident and tried to kill it head on but ended up having his hand get bitten before beating the thing.
Having experience with a much larger type of wolf this one was surprisingly the easiest even though it was similar in size to the snow leopard regardless he pierced its skull with the wolf claw he had gotten before.
As for the bear, he didn't even try and he was thankful that he was already hidden in the tree by the time it got there. In terms of size it was even bigger than what you would expect from a bear, probably ranging on the size of a large polar bear. There was a nasty scar running down its face and neck where the fur didn't grow any more and it was extremely scary.
As for the snow creature that he had found it was definitely the most dangerous encounter since the incident with the snow leopard. He had been walking and looking for a new ambush spot when out of the corner of his eye he saw a pile of moving snow. he tried to step back behind a tree and observe but whatever it was had already seen him.
The snow surged towards him at a very high speed and his face got slammed with a snow ball that proceeded to then try and climb its way down his throat to suffocate him. Thankfully Connor was able to pry the semi solid thing off his face with his wolf claw and then slash it.
That seemed to be enough to destroy whatever sentience it had but the main snow pile was still coming at him. It didn't even slow down when going through trees it just flowed around them like water. Escape most likely wasn't going to be an option so he charged at it and tried his best to shank the main body as much as possible with the claws while it enveloped him.
Snow going inside your nostrils was not a very good experience especially when its actively trying to suffocate you. After around 30 seconds of intense stabbing the snow pile dispersed and Connor dug his way out of the dead pile to take a breathe of fresh air.
In total through these 5 days he had gotten a total of 8 essence, 2 from the deer's, one from the fox, 2 from the wolf and 3 from the snow creature.
And he was feeling better than ever.