We set out the next day north from Amara until we hit a mountainous region. When you could see the diverse environments that the System created it was hard not to think of it as some God. A forest in one direction, mountains in another, was like visiting that park in Pokemon. The weirdest part about the whole thing was the monsters though. At first, we had all assumed that the System took animals and mutated them but that wasn't the case at least not for all of them. Instead, it was like it had gone through our mythology and created monsters. I hadn't seen any dragons yet but plenty of animals shouldn't be here, including the one that Aaliyah was desperately trying to kill. It was some kind of raptor only it had feathers instead of leathery skin. There had been three of them but a sneak attack from Aaliyah took out the largest of their pack instantly. The second one was harder and she took a nasty wound to her thigh before she was able to stab it in the head.

"Muere perra estúpida!" Aaliyah yelled as the raptor's talons tore a nasty wound in her right arm.

I couldn't help but chuckle. She only started to scream in Spanish when the wounds hurt. She ducked another slash from the dino and then placed her daggers on opposite sides of its throat. A stab and rip in opposite directions and the raptor's head was on the ground with the rest of the corpses. She let out a scream of triumph and pulled a pill bottle out of her pocket. Her hands trembled like a leaf in a storm hurricane but she stayed upright. This was another reason why I was a spell caster. No way in hell was I going to let some monster rip flesh out of my body. I had to admit she was getting better. It wasn't just her level that had improved, her killing intent and aura were noticeable. Something we both realized when Trey nearly shot her.

She was roughly where I was during the fourth or fifth assignment. "Feeling better?" I asked and stepped off my tree branch. I landed about ten feet away from her. The color had returned to her face and her wounds had mostly recovered. She glared at me and if looks could kill I would probably have died. I chuckled and held up my hands in a mock surrender. "Those three should have given a decent amount of spiritual energy."

"They did. I am halfway to the next level." She smiled and placed her daggers into their sheathes. "When do I get to watch you fight? I am looking forward to learning from your skills." The tightness in her jaw when she said that part only made me laugh harder.

"You need to level up a few more times first but I wouldn't mind stretching for a bit. I will take the next group if you're okay with that."

She brightened like it was Christmas morning and nodded. "Of course!"

I rolled my eyes and turned toward the forest. I had a good idea where the biggest of the raptors dwelled so I figured why not take care of it. "Stay in the trees. I would hate for you to get hurt." When she was ready I broke out into a jog. I unleashed my aura and felt the forest come alive. It welcomed me as an apex hunter and predator. Birds took the sky and weaker monsters scurried to get out of the way but none of those drew my attention. It took less than five minutes for a new aura to fill the forest. A response to my call. I smiled as I arrived at a large clearing. I wasn't sure if the clearing was a natural formation or if monsters had cleared and it didn't matter. I stopped in the middle and waited.

I wasn't left waiting for very long. Ten raptors came into view including one that was nearly ten feet tall. Its talons were the size of daggers and its teeth looked like they could tear through steel. It wasn't as intimidating as the giant ape but it was no slouch either. We stared at each other for a long moment, It was as if the world had gone completely silent as we each waited for the other to make a move. Then the Raptor king let out a roar and silvery grey mist filled the clearing. The raptor-packed charge mad just as I activated Realm of Consciousness. If the first time I activated it the spell provided a trickle of mental energy this was like a river. My mind felt clearer than ever before it was like up until now I had been in a mental fog. A fog that funnily enough was gone thanks to the literal fog around me.

The Raptors dealt with the exact opposite problem. As soon as the fog passed over them they began to stumble around. A few of them snapped at each other including one that swiped with its talons and nearly removed its brethren's eye. Not only that but they were much slower. The king dinosaur hadn't made a move yet so I decided to begin the slaughter. I activated **Psionic Rain** and was hit with a new surprise. Instead of the spell draining my mental energy, it took power from the domain. Not only that but it stole a small portion of the monster's spiritual energy. I barely had to wait for the sphere to reach its maximum. It exploded into a rain of blades that tore through the dinosaurs with no mercy. Three of them fell under the onslaught before the king lizard made a move. It unleashed a roar that I felt in my bones. My fog was pushed away from them as they were all covered in a dark sanguine glow. The raptors seemed to devolve into chaotic savages.

I activated Psychic Aegis just as the remains of the pack launched themselves into the fog. I felt the drain begin again but it was like the raptors had abandoned whatever reason they had. A pang of danger shot through me as the first raptor found me. It slammed its head into the barrier like a sledgehammer. A spider web of cracks spread through it and a part of the fog was drained to repair it. The first attack somehow acted as a homing beacon for the rest. Talons, heads, and teeth slammed into the fall in quick succession. The spell shattered and I was forced on the defensive. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't hide myself in the fog. It was like they gained some other sense...My eyes widened when I realized what happened. I looked at the king lizard whose eyes were locked on me. What it had done earlier protected it from the fog's confusing properties. It was then able to direct that information to the rest of its pack.

I narrowly avoided my right arm being ripped off my lizard and launched a right hook at another. I felt the lizard's skull crack but it kept coming. I pushed off from them to create space only for another lizard to emerge behind me and rip its talon across the middle of my back. I suppressed a scream and unleashed Psychic Blast. The raptor had already lost most of its mind so there was little to defend against me. The body collapsed and I turned to the rest of them. I formed two psychic blades and imbued them with tao lucidity. The dinosaur pack rushed me and I let my attack fly only my target was the leader in the distance. I watched the blades sail for a moment before I was forced to dodge. I ducked the first dinosaur and felt another rip into my robes. The robe's array activated and distributed the force throughout the rest of my body.

I pushed off and spun away from the pincer attack. I was just about to unleash a new attack when the raptors stumbled. A glance told me my plan worked. One of the two psychic blades found their mark and without their leader's focus, the pack had no way to defend against the fog. I activated **Psionic Rain** again. The spell was at its maximum in less than a second. Innumerable blades fell from the sky while I activated **Psychic Blast**. The raptors barely had time to react to the rain before I beam of psychic destruction washed over them. I received the energy from five kills all at once. My dantian surged with energy and I felt like I had taken a shot of caffeine directly in my veins. I laughed and turned my attention to the remaining raptor. The king had regained enough focus to power its defenses but it was too little too late. Its rage was almost tangible as we looked at each other. The raptor activated a skill that turned its feathers and skin the color of blood. Its killing intent increased and it felt like I was staring down a blood-soaked army.

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The world around me seemed like it was covered in the blood and corpses of a thousand hunts. The hair on the back of my neck stood up and I couldn't stop myself from laughing. Intellect Fortress triggered and I gained a bulwark against the blood lust that permeated the forest. The raptor tore through the dirt and the fog. My laughter turned into a grin as I summoned two psychic blades. Each one is imbued with a different tao. I didn't have the chance to unleash either of them before the raptor king was on me. A scream of danger warned me just before one of its talons tore through the air and aimed for my neck. I backflipped just in time to avoid decapitation. In the moment I was suspended in the air I unleashed both blades. Where its attacks were missed, mine found their marks. The blades dissolved a moment later but the damage was done. The raptor stumbled forward as if it couldn't quite tell where it was. I landed on both feet and pushed forward. A ball of psychic energy formed above my right palm. I pressed it against the raptor's chest. The raptor let out a roar and I was forced to back away before its talons could rip me apart.

"It's a shame you gave up any kind of reason for that ability." I smiled as the raptor recoiled from my attack. It was only slightly surprising that it was still standing. I wanted to see if it could use any tao strands but so far it wasn't that good. I ended Realm of Consciousness as most of its fog had dissipated by now. Both of my attack spells were still on cool down which meant I had to rely on simple psychic energy. I bounced on the balls of my feet as the raptor recovered. Once it was ready it opened its mouth as if to roar only for a ball of blue lightning to form. The smell of ozone filled the air. I raised an eyebrow in surprise as the attack built. My danger sense urged me to avoid but something else told me not to. I couldn't explain it but I knew I had no choice but to listen. Not if I wanted to advance. The ball of lightning in the raptor's mouth was the size of a beach ball and the warning from my danger sense turned into a scream. I ignored it and braced myself. No words were needed for me to understand that this was the raptor's final attack. How could I do anything else but receive it?

Not for the last time part of me wondered if I had lost my mind at some point. The part of me that thrived on competition and pushing myself had transformed. That the thought was banished as the raptor unleashed its attack. The ball of lightning shot toward me. For a second my mind went completely blank as I stared death in the face. My body moved on its own and I brought both hands up as if to catch the sphere. The ball of lightning hit me like a Mack trunk. I screamed in pain as every muscle in my body spammed. I felt like I had been strapped into an electric chair controlled by the god of lightning. The stubborn part of my brain refused to give in. I pressed with both hands on opposite sides of the ball. It felt like I was trying to squeeze a diamond with my bare hands. Every time I made the slightest bit of progress the ball responded with fury.

I wracked my mind for a solution. I couldn't command my psychic energy enough to activate any spells nor could I activate the array on my robes. The pain reached a crescendo when I felt something brush against the back of my mind. It was like the warm embrace of a mother and I latched into it like a man lost at sea. The Strand of Adamance surged through my body. My hands turned into steel as pure tao coated them. My mental energy became the fuel for my resurgence. It still wasn't enough. The raptor's final attack refused to be cowed by the strand of adamance and we entered into a battle. A battle that would exhaust my mind if something didn't change. The realization provided me with something else. I had been given a lifeline and I refused to lose it now. My screams of pain turned into one of defiance. I ignited my psychic energy to push the strand of adamance to its limit. For a moment the world seemed to stop as something inside me snapped. My mind was filled with dozens of impressions as the tao of adamance exploded with newfound vigor. I pressed forward and the sphere of lightning began to shrink. I took another step and forced the sphere down to its original size.

I stared into the crackling lighting and it felt like with enough time I could gain something from it. As if it were a book that I just needed to take the time to read. The pain that shot through the rest of my body told me what I already knew. Whatever had changed had only brought me a few minutes. I turned toward the raptor and what I saw made me shake my head. It had pushed everything it had into this attack. It had shrunken to an emaciated version of its original size. I wasn't sure if it was possible to put your cultivation into an attack but it seemed like it. The thing in front of me could barely be considered stronger than an old-world animal. It hurt my heart to see it but there was nothing I could do. I gripped the sphere in my hands and launched it back at the raptor. I expected to see anger or fear in its eyes but there was nothing. I didn't have the chance to reflect on that anymore as a torrent of spiritual energy surged through my channels. The battle with the pack had been just enough to push me to level 27.

I smiled to myself and turned my attention to the raptor or rather to the crater that used to be the raptor. The impact sight was nearly ten feet across and maybe twice that in depth. I shuddered at the thought of getting hit by that but pushed it out of my mind. I summoned a pill bottle from my bag and tossed back two healing pills. I grimaced as my injuries started to knit themselves back together.

"You are insane. I am not sure if you or the monster was scarier." Aaliyah's voice pulled me back to the moment.

I smiled at her and took a seat on the grass. "Aren't you just my bestest friend," I said only slightly mockingly.

"I mean it. I thought you might need my help at first but once that creepy ass fog appeared I felt sorry for them. It was like they ran into a humanoid monster. Especially once you started laughing and that killing intent permeated everything. I wanted to leave but I also didn't want to draw either of your attention. Is that what the tutorial did to you?"

I was about to reply when I saw the genuine fear in her eyes. The words died on my lips as I tried to process what happened. She was a cultivator so she had to have been there. Hadn't everyone pushed themselves? The memory of the people who had given up and those who had partnered up came to the forefront of my mind. "I fought on my own for most of the tutorial so I guess so. I am what I am." I looked back at the nine other lizard corpses and didn't feel anything. Even when I forced myself to remember all the monsters and people I had killed there was nothing. "I am going to gather up the corpses and then we will keep moving forward." She gave me a head nod and we fell into an uncomfortable silence. I wasn't sure if I was expected to apologize or explain myself but I also didn't feel like I needed to. It was strange sure but I enjoyed the fight. Furthermore, this was the person that I needed to be. I was the strongest person on earth and my level was only rising. When I had collected all of the corpses I turned to Aaliyah and activated Apportation.

"I am not going to tell you that you have to fight like me or even enjoy it but you will have to find your way forward. Even if it's just surviving until some new normal arrives. For now, you have to decide if you will come with me or head back." I held out a hand toward her. I wished I could hear the thoughts that ran through her head as she stared at me and the now-open portal behind me. It felt like it took her an eternity before she took my hand and we stepped through.