Roy sucked in a deep breath and sneaked a glance at the hyena.
Here we go, he thought, picking an arrow from the quiver. He took a position with the bow in hand, aiming it at the hyena.
Thankfully, he wasn't bad at archery. Yet he found his aim wavering. As it turned out, he never got to choose a live target in school.
First time for everything, he thought, his grip firm on the weapon.
The savage animal was about twenty yards away from him, which was not really that big of a distance for Roy to make a shot. But he still waited for the animal to move closer.
Roy drew the string, eyes steady on the target as his palms shook a little. However, when he was about to shoot, the animal spun, growling in his direction. Roy released the string as the arrow launched into motion.
As Roy had assumed, the arrow missed the hyena, but not a long shot, only about a couple of strides. Still, it's a failure.
The savage animal growled and launched itself in his direction. Without considering the circumstances of the man hiding in the shrub, the hyena charged.
Roy's mind raced, and a rush of electricity filled his brain. He didn't flee from the spot, knowing that was the wrong move to take at the current moment. So he picked another arrow from the quiver again and aimed, eyes narrowing at the target.
For a second, he forgot everything. Everything but the target. His breathing calmed a little as he drew in a long breath, pulling the string.
Roy let go of the string as the arrow shot and clanged right into the shoulder of the hyena. Roy aimed for the head, but he would take it. The animal howled and slowed down a little, but didn't stop. It was only about ten strides away now.
Roy shot again, and this time it kissed just the side of the head. He cursed inwardly and drew another of the arrows, however, the beast was at his hand's distance already. It was beastly agile.
Before he could even aim, the beast lunged at him, growling. It ran its savage claw on his chest, drawing blood at first move. Pain shot through his core at once.
Roy's pupil widened at the horror, and then it narrowed again. Thankfully, the pendant was helping him with the wounds.
Roy tried to lurch away from the spot, but it was too late, so he let go of the bow and gripped the arrow in the middle section tightly, aiming for the spot where he missed.
He didn't know where he got this courage from, but he followed through with the move. The savage beast was on top of him when he struck his arrow on its back. Unfortunately, it was not a critical spot.
The hyena turned to take a bite of his shoulder.
A spasm of biting agony shot through his shoulder. Hoping that the relic in his neck would save him, Roy gritted his teeth and put all his effort on killing the best.
Cursing inwardly, he fished out one of the knives from his waist, lurching his knee into its abdomen with all his force. The beast was strong, but he was not a pushover either.
The stomach of the animal shook from his kick, but it was the knife that did the real damage. It dug into its body, hot bobbling from the wound. Roy managed to wound it in a more critical spot, at the sides of its neck. It weakened the beast greatly.
Roy screamed in madness as he continued to pierce the dagger into its neck. Blood sprayed, smearing him, but he continued to do what he needed to do. The hyena sprawled after the second penetration, and its sorry life finally ended after half a dozen more stabs.
Roy blinked multiple times as warm energy coursed through his body, healing his wound on the shoulder. His shirt, though, was in tatters. The wolf claws ruined it almost completely.
Wheezing, he crawled from under the dead beast. The hyena was bigger than the ones he had seen on video, almost waist-high, now lying in peace, with blood smeared around it. Roy's right shoulder and chest side were tainted by most of it as well.
Roy chose to ignore the gore. All his senses were heightened, even his brain having trouble concentrating over one at a time. Roy could hear his heartbeat all too clearly—the rhythmic tones going at a fast tempo.
He couldn't calm down yet. Well, how could he? He just killed a beast on the verge of getting bitten, and then there was the pain from getting clawed. Blood was still dripping down from the claw marks.
Roy closed his eyes and focused. The exhaustion was killing him. He felt like dropping back to the ground and passing out, but he couldn't give in to the urges.
[You have defeated a Tier 1 Rabid Hyena.]
[+0.1 to Might.]
[You have received a loot of a trait crystal: Bestial Agility (F) in your inventory.]
A strong wave of power surged within him, driving away all his exhaustion. In a matter of seconds, his power literally doubled.
A grin split his face, as Roy couldn't help but examine himself. There didn't seem to be any outward changes, but the power could not be mistaken.
It took a while to calm his senses. It was fight time he fought something to the death, and it had consumed a lot out of him.
Roy collected back all the arrows, wiping as much of the blood as he could, and brought out his reward from the inventory.
He turned his sight to the trait crystal. He had read about them, and they were apparently rare. Roy had no clue how he got one for his first kill.
Well, then again, it was of the lowest grade.
Roy stared at where the corpse was before it disappeared into smoke. He turned his attention to the crystal in his hand. It shimmered with a pale yellow hue, its crystal structure gleaming in the light. When Roy focused his gift on it, he glimpsed intricate, interconnected patterns within, weaving a symmetrical design that was both beautiful and baffling.
Despite this, he didn't understand any of its deeper meaning. Roy couldn't even scratch the surface of the stone, no matter how much strength he exerted. It was solid.
More importantly, a prompt appeared before him:
[Would you like to assimilate with Bestial Agility (F)?]
[Y | N]
As he was now, Roy could only have one Trait Crystal. To absorb another one, he would have to advance to the next rank. Bestial Agility didn't seem bad, but it was only an F-rank trait with one aspect of mobility.
Thankfully, like most things about awakened, traits were upgradable. It could upgrade with his advancement. Hell, if he did well in the trial, the system might even evolve it into a higher grade.
Roy could always wait it out and get something better. But there was no guarantee he'd receive another one, and it would be of a higher grade. Not to mention efficient in combat. For all he knew, he could die to the next beast he encounters.
Roy stared at the window for an extended moment before accepting it. He could use agility, after all.
The crystal crumbled into dust and disappeared into the air in mere seconds. A familiar current surged through his body. There was no pain, only a strange sensation.
Roy could feel more clearly. He could almost see it as he dug deep with his mind's eye. The interweave of patterns pushed into his being and was sucked into an even higher complex system of weaving webs, making it his own.
He was unsure if it was natural to witness changes like this or if it was a side effect of his gift. Either way, he stored it all in his memory palace. Who knew when it would come in handy?
Finally, a fiery sensation flooded through his core, causing him to let out a groan.
[You have acquired the trait, Bestial Agility - F (1%)]
[+5% Efficiency in Might.]
[Your mobility grows stronger.]