Thea and I had a breakfast of dried soul mana meat. While we could have brought quality food, this was a trip of training and self-discovery. Therefore, we would eat from the forest—or die trying.

Unfortunately, we couldn't leave the campsite because Thea couldn't moderate her transformation. Watching her left me with a strange feeling:

"I've never seen another shifter change size… Could it be that what she's doing right now is actually… unheard of?"

I was exasperated when I saw her transformation and blindly asked for a convenient solution. It felt strangely natural for cat people to shift into house cats despite knowing it was impossible. A shifter's ethereal body (their spirit form) is a shell made solid with magic. Therefore, the animal body could get infinitely larger than the host but couldn't get smaller.

Now that she was learning to regulate her size, it made me wonder if that was natural. I'd have to ask Zenith, but for now, I'd just encourage Thea and hope for the best.

That night, we ate a meal made from foolish beasts who wandered into our campsite with a 30-foot divine beast. I spent most of my time cheering up Thea, who was humiliated by her (potentially groundbreaking) progress.

I could almost taste the irony.

The following two days were similar. However, Thea made considerable progress daily and reached twenty feet tall by the third. That was thin enough to stand without a tree prison pressing into her, but she still couldn't navigate.

Finally, on the fourth day, "I did it!" a cheerful squeal came from a towering teal panther with white tiger stripes. She managed to shrink to fifteen feet, allowing her to navigate between trees. After that, she was a happy kitty with a cute squeal that could slay a man's heart and a razor smile that could cull an elephant herd.

"You did well," I chuckled, stroking her fur. It was soft when I pressed down but jagged like broom bristles when I tried to move up.

"Well? Are you going to ride me?"

I looked up and saw a cute, murderous death panther with rosy cheeks avoiding eye contact.

It was adorable.

"Sure."

Without making things awkward, I jumped onto her back and hugged the nape of her neck. "Let's go."

Thea purred with a slight shiver that bristled her white fur in a wave. "Okay."

She took off through the forest, playfully navigating between trees. It was a fun experience—like an enthusiastic frolic through a flower field—until we encountered a wall of Kale Jaws. I named the bush because its leafy appearance looked like a bunch of Kale with sweet purple berries. However, the plant was carnivorous, and the purple berries were trigger hairs that caused it to snap shut like a Venus Flytrap. It probably couldn't hurt Thea, but she didn't push her luck. So she jumped to the left sharply, landing on a colossal tree—and stuck to it.

"Now, THIS is what I'm talking about!" I grinned, looking at her claws stuck to a tree horizontally.

Thea let out a mischievous hum before saying, "Then hold on!" Without further warning, she jumped from tree to tree, scaring off the birds, insects, and B-class beasts as we traveled through Nightshade Forest.

The first A-class we found (a hellish buffalo of a creature with jaws that could chomp a beach ball) stood its ground.

I frowned. "Did that thing just growl at us?"

"Yeah, I think it just did," Thea responded.

"Do we let people growl at us?"

I could imagine Thea's panther mouth curving into a wide grin as she replied, "No one growls at Ryker."

My lips pursed into a guilty smile that said, That's a bad mindset, Thea! You shouldn't think that way! But don't stop. Whatever you do, don't stop. "I love you, Thea."

As if my words were a signal for battle, Thea's body shot forward, jumping onto a tree behind the buffalo beast at ghostly speed. Before it could turn, Thea had already sunken her teeth into its neck. Then, in a horrifying display of balance and dexterity, she put her four paws on the beast's back and pushed, ripping out its spine.

Everything happened in seconds.

"Wheeeeeeeeeeew!" I whistled, a massive grin on my face, rubbing her right ear (which was now the size of a toddler). "You just took out an A-class beast as if it were a lost puppy."

Thea turned bashful, pawing at my hand between cute whines and purring.

Murder machines don't get this cute.

"Harvest this soul, and we'll continue," I suggested.

"No, you should have it," she insisted. "You've been waiting on me for the last few days. Now, you're letting me practice."

"Then let's just share." There was no point in cutting a deal when that was our goal. I closed my eyes and connected to my soul core, churning it. "Reap."

Golden lifeforce leaked from the beast's corpse, rising like reverse pixie dust. As it escaped, the beast's corpse (glowing and ambient with life) started draining, becoming increasingly... mortal.

Halfway through, I took a deep breath, allowing the golden dust to suck into my chest like a black hole.

"Don't you want to transform to reap?" I asked. "You can practice your illusion magic."

An illusion spell could clothe her body upon transformation, giving her time to change. It wasn't ideal because people would still see her body, even though she knew they couldn't actually see it. Still, it was better than nothing, so I used my status to buy a highly-illegal "espionage" spell, and she agreed to practice it.

Thea shook her head. "I don't need to. This body converts meat into energy since it can't actually eat."

"Oh, that's right," I hummed. Thea's panther body could swallow a beast whole, but her natural body couldn't. Thus, it broke down meat into soul mana and dust. It was strange. "Then eat away."

Thea was mortified but complied, hesitantly snapping the beast into her jaws and chewing. However, her reservations instantly disappeared, and she greedily devoured it.

"It's that good?" I chuckled.

"It's like soul harvesting and eating at the same time!" she squealed, blood pouring from her lips. "It's the best."

"Oh?" I mused. "Then let's get some more."

We flew through the woods after finishing, seeking out prey.

I practiced Lightweaver Arrow, a homing spell that hit targets with a bolt of searing light. It usually couldn't harm one of these beasts, but I was learning to supercharge spells with mana control, making them larger and deadlier.

Thea ran around and ate things.

Literally.

It wasn’t really fighting. Thea used an inherent camouflage skill to blend into the trees and then pounce, snapping beasts in two in one bite. It was a massacre. Seven years ago, Thea was the prey in this forest—now she was the predator.

Unfortunately, being strong here had increasingly little value. "We need to find a guardian," I muttered. "After Rorsaka, A-class meat might as well be beef jerky. Hmmm… speaking of snacks…."

I patted Thea's neck. "Let's pile up some bodies."

Thea cocked her head but said okay and complied, gathering beasts into a large stack for a few hours. Once it was good and high, I grinned. "Thank Aphrodite that no one will see this. They'd never stop complaining."

After a deep breath, I spoke one word: "Reap."

A giant plume of pixie dust swirled into the air, and after a simple chant, an invisible sphere wrapped around it, leaving it suspended in the air like a small sun.

"Come on, my pretties. Come get a tasty snack," I grinned.

Roars, howls, and screeches blasted from the forest, and a stampede followed my provocation. Most beasts were picky eaters, but they were all hungry for power.

It worked the way I wanted, but a little too well.

"Should we… leave?" Thea asked, her ears twitching. "There's a lot of them…."

That was an understatement—trees were snapping in every direction.

"Not yet. We won't get stronger unless we push ourselves…." I frowned. "But keep an escape route ready."

Thea nodded, and I released the spell, unleashing a cloud of soul mana into the air. "Let's go!"

With a decisive growl, she bolted from her position like lightning, racing through the forest to greet the grizzly-bred crocodiles, elk-fused wolves, and lion-fed boars barreling toward us. Such chimeras would wrap a normal person in gooseflesh, but not Thea—she plowed right into the thick of them, jumping over a shadow wolf and snatching a king shrew into her mouth mid-air. With a flick of her jaws she threw it into a tree, just in time for me to staple its body to the trunk with a lightweaver arrow.

It was brutal—but the victory didn't last long.

"Duck!" I yelled.

Thea listened just in time, hitting her belly as a massive bird (about the size of a double-decker bus) swooped down from overhead, nearly capturing me in its gigantic red talons.

My heart thumped.

"Keep going!" I commanded, churning mana around the tip of a lightweaver arrow until it looked like a spinning galaxy.

KYaaaaaaaaHhhHHhhHH!

The bird circled as I tried to aim in the midst of the hellish battle. When it swooped down, I shot directly into the center of its talon to prevent it from picking me up.

Effective? Absolutely.

Smart? Questionable.

The avian screeched and thrashed through the trees, sending tree limbs raining down on us.

"Creā lucis sphaeram ad me et meos cognatos protegendos!”

I erected a barrier, saving us from falling debris as Thea jumped over chimeric creatures blocking our path.

“This is a good opportunity to test the efficacy of human weapons….” I grinned. Omnipotent tool, AK-47 with an extended mag and extra mag, I silently ordered.

An Avtomat Kalashnikova 1947—an iconic assault rifle with a wood stock and handguard stained reddish-brown—appeared in my hand.

“You boys look sturdy. Let’s see how sturdy.”

I grinned and pulled the trigger.

Ratatatatatatatat!

The chimeras chasing us groaned as bullets crashed into their pelts. Some (like the glower boar) got punctured with every shot, spewing blood everywhere. Others (like a massive komodo dragon) deflected the bullets but screamed in pain regardless. That was natural: bulletproof vests will save you from a 9-millimeter slug, but it will still crack your ribs.

“The bird’s back!” Thea warned, jumping over a tree.

I turned just in time to see the nasty charcoal bird diving toward me. “Shit!”

Ratatatat! Ratatatat!

The bird took the rest of the clip to its face—and promptly died—but crashed into us like a kamikaze strike, sending us crashing into the forest.

“Damn!” I coughed. Thea was nearby and healthy, but we were surrounded, with our backs to beasts fighting for the soul mana cloud we left behind. “Should I use my power? No… not yet.”

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I stood, brandished my Mythril sword, and chanted a spell while sliding my hand up the blade. "Gladium meum in furore et igne circumda, ut viam ad victoriam illuminet!"

The Azure sword glowed as blue flames wrapped around it. “Let’s go!”

A titanic ox with diablo-esque horns charged. I jumped out of the way, rolled, and then turned back, slashing its hulking thighs with the blade. A sizzling crack and yelp followed as its leg snapped off, sending its body crashing into the woods.

“Are you okay?!” Thea yelled before snapping a wolf’s neck into her jaws and ripping out a meaty chunk.

“Yeah, I’m fine! Get back to training!”

The response felt amusing. Only we would see this as “training,” but that’s what it was. We spent two hours in that warzone, fighting beasts. It was a rollercoaster ride, fueled by adrenaline and mania—and I never used Molecular Separation once.

It felt good. I couldn’t remember the last time I had felt that way. Exhausted? Sure. Injured? Absolutely. Still, the feeling of a good workout was something I hadn’t felt since the early years in Nightshade Forest before I was jacked up on hyper-healing and soul mana.

No, it wasn’t just that. All the muscles pressing up against my new bone structure were released for the first time, freeing me from the prison that constantly weighed down on me. That alone made it worth it. So I felt I could fight forever—until That Fucking Beast ruined it.

A piercing shrill cut through the forest, cutting me off and silencing the beasts fighting in the woods.

Cold sweat dripped down my cheek, leaving me with a sheepish smile. “You’re a bit late, aren’t ya, big guy?”

Of course, a guardian would show up with a hundred A and B-class beasts surrounding us. Of course.

“Now what?” Thea gulped.

“Come pick me up,” I instructed. “We’ll start there!”

“Okay!”

Thea swooped me onto her blood-soaked nape and booked it, hearing 100-foot trees snap behind us.

“Yep. Might not be normal to make yourself smaller,” I grinned, gulping as Thea weaved through beasts and trees to escape.

“What is that thing?!” Thea exclaimed.

I summoned a lightweaver arrow and turned around, only to chuckle. No, hiccup. “I’m not sure. Whatever it is, it’s not a normal guardian….”

It wasn’t an ancient, either. Whoever designed a classification that separated Obsidian Basilisks from Rorsaka in one level must’ve categorized beasts from death to guaranteed death because whatever was behind us was somewhere in between.

Sixty feet tall, a black gorilla with a bear head ran through the forest, yanking out trees from their roots and leaving them crashing in its wake.

“Why’s it running after us?!” Thea cried.

“Probably for the same reason we were looking for it,” I chuckled self-deprecatingly. “To get stronger.”

“Get me a few seconds,” she requested. “I’m going to try to make contact.”

“Sure,” I said, summoning another arrow, charging it up, and aiming it at a massive wolf. “I got this.”

I released it, and the beast’s head exploded from mana overload. Then another. And then a third.

“I got it,” Thea grimaced.

“Is it intelligent?” I asked.

“It is… kinda. But he’s like speaking to a drunken brawler who wants a fight.”

“If that’s what it wants, we have to give him one,” I said, “but can you ask it to scare off the beasts? This isn’t fair.”

Thea nodded and made contact again. A moment later, she growled and snapped her jaws. “Cover your ears!”

I did just in time for the beast to let out a shriek that scattered our pursuers in random directions.

“What was that?!” I asked.

“A declaration that we were its food,” Thea growled. “He marked us.”

“That’s fine by me. I’ll gladly accept getting underestimated!” It’s been a while.

“How are we going to fight it?”

I pondered that question carefully. It was wise to use Molecular Separation from the start. Risking Thea’s life for practice was wrong. Still, we couldn’t get stronger if we didn’t push ourselves—and we needed that.

Otherwise, we’d die to Edikus or some reincarnator. Easily.

Our enemies had centuries of combat experience. By contrast, we just had raw power and soul mana—something they also had. Hell, we were lacking there, as well. Without Rorsaka’s meat and Roman’s soul mana, I couldn’t fight archwizards without 50-caliber weapons. It was a serious problem—one I promised to rectify.

That settled it. If I needed Molecular Separation, I would use it. But I wouldn’t start there.

“Lead it to a clearing and then transform into full size. Then, wait for my order. You don’t want to attack at first.”

“Okay!” Thea yelled, full trust and confidence in her voice.

The close chase continued for five minutes until Thea broke into a large meadow and transformed, growing twice the size. It stopped the beast, making it pound its chest and screech, picking up trees and throwing them in a tantrum.

“We cheated? You’re still twice my size! Actually, on second thought, you are a small man,” Thea growled. “I’ll have fun ripping out your arteries and using them as straws!”

That provocation sent the beast into a frenzy.

“On my word, charge and sidestep!” I yelled, closing my eyes. “Omnipotent tool. Glass jar, Dichloroethyl sulfide in an airtight large glass jar,” I mumbled, summoning a glass jar filled with thick yellow gas.

Then I patted Thea. “Run like hell when I throw this. You don’t want it on your skin!”

“Okay!”

“Charge!” I roared.

The beast hit its chest twice and rushed Thea to meet her head-on. At the last second, she darted away. However, anticipating such a cowardly move, it turned and grabbed her tail with a sick grin—that I promptly wiped away by throwing the jar into its right eye.

Despite its eye being twice the size of a beach ball and the jar being very small, the beast screamed in excruciating pain as the gas spread, freeing Thea’s tail and allowing her to disappear into the forest.

“What was that?!” Thea screamed. “It’s burning my tail!”

“Mustard gas. It’s some nasty shit.” That was an understatement. Dichloroethyl sulfide—Sulfur Mustard SD—is the most concentrated form of mustard gas. It causes severe skin and eye blistering within seconds and wreaks havoc on soldiers’ lungs, killing them in minutes.

The stuff’s so twisted that Earthians collectively banned it in 1925—a time when people would buy codeine over the counter—which just goes to show how good the shit is.

I mean, nasty…. It’s some nasty shit.

“Must be!” Thea yelled, hearing the beast thrashing around in the forest. “Should we go back?”

“Yes. Here’s the plan!”

After explaining the strategy, she turned while I charged up a lightweaver arrow until the tip was the size of a basketball. “If this doesn’t work, I’ll use molecular separation….” I gulped, getting into position.

Once Thea came into view, the beast stared at her with his puffy red eye, scrunched its face, and let out a battle cry.

Bad move. It should’ve checked its right—its blind spot—first because that’s where I was with the massive arrow.

Whiiiiiiiiiiiish!

The arrow smashed into its nose, sending blood flying everywhere as it shrieked in pain.

Without pause, Thea attacked, chomping its left shoulder with a sickening snap.

Undeterred, the beast grabbed her by the neck and threw her (and a chunk of its shoulder) across the meadow, making her crash into a tree.

“Thea!” I yelled.

Bad idea.

The beast couldn’t see or smell me, but it could hear. Within a second, it swung around, stomping the ground and causing it to buckle. I lost balance, stumbling back and giving it time to slam its hands on the ground, sending me crashing through multiple trees and God knows how many deadly bushes, mushrooms, and plants.

“Fuck….” I gulped, feeling the poison burning on my skin. If my skin wasn’t as hard as steel, a single scratch could’ve killed me. Wait….

I saw a wound on my shoulder and leaves sticking out on it. “This is what I get for putting practice before pragmatism….” I chuckled. “Maybe. This world’s violent and backward. So maybe I did the right thing.”

I stood and started weaving through the trees. It wasn’t fast, but just long enough to distract the beast.

That’s all it took. Thea lunged at it again, slamming into its back. It immediately spun around and backhanded her, but was terrified to see that she had clamped down on her forearm and wouldn’t let go.

As it screamed out, I made up for my mistakes. “Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorus, calcium, potassium, sodium, chlorine, magnesium, iron, zinc, copper, keratin, collagen. Separate!”

I rushed the beast as it pounded Thea with its fist to no avail. That just made me angrier, so when I chopped its Achilles heel like a lumberjack, it sliced straight through the bone before its entire leg grew tumors and exploded in a chain reaction and dissolved into dust.

“Separating oxygen from water is gruesome,” I chuckled, watching the beast fall like a chopped tree. My vision was hazy, and I wasn’t prepared for the aftershock of its fall; luckily, Thea snatched my jacket in her teeth and got us to safe ground.

When we touched down, we listened to it shriek.

“Should we finish it off?” Thea asked. It was on its way out. The thing was bloody, bruised and blinded, lacking its sense of smell, and only had partially functioning arms. Death would be a mercy.

“Nah, we’ll let it bleed out,” I frowned, feeling drowsy. “It planned to eat us without mercy or acknowledgment. Fuck that creature.”

People may look down on me for that mindset, but I simply didn’t care. I never gave a warrior prayer to my steaks on Earth, and I wasn’t going to start in Solstice just because the steak was sixty feet tall and half-immortal. It played with fire, and it got mustard gas to the eye. That’s just how life is sometimes.

Thankfully, Thea didn’t spare a single fuck. “Good. The stupid rat lived six hundred years and didn’t understand greatness at sight.”

I love this woman.

“Okay. You want to eat lunch?” I asked, plopping on the ground. “It’s distasteful, but I refuse to wait six hours for it to die on an empty stomach.”

“Sure,” she replied apathetically before turning. Then her face paled. “Your wounds….”

I looked down at my arms, pulsing with networks of bright purple veins. “Oh yeah….”

“I need to heal you! That’s paralysis bush poison!”

“Of course it is….” I chuckled, feeling my body go numb. “Just what I need.”

Thea promptly transformed, threw on some clothing, and started casting every detox spell in her arsenal.

I’m not sure how many she used because my vision got hazy, and I quickly blacked out.