“Uh, Cirayus? Mind telling me why we allowed ourselves to be surrounded by Ash Beasts?”

Not just one or two, either. Over a dozen beasts circled warily around the two, eyeing them, sizing them up. Among their number were Ash Biters—the same beast Vir fought in the depths of the mine near Avi—along with a pack of Raptors and some Greater Zards. Ash wolves loped some distance away, wary of the newcomers to their domain.

Though he’d fought some of these beasts in the Human Realm, he wasn’t about to make the mistake of thinking they’d be the same. The prana densities were incomparable. And like him, Ash Beasts almost all possessed Apex Ash prana affinity. They might lack tattoos or orbs, but the realm strengthened them as much as it did him, and they were already terrifying, to begin with.

“Why, you’re going to fight them, lad,” said his godfather as if it was the most natural thing in the world. “You wanted to test out your new abilities, didn’t you? How can you do any better than actual opponents?”

Vir was less convinced.

“Together, right? We’ll fight them together?”

Surely the giant didn’t expect him to go up against all these beasts alone? Especially since he was still acclimatizing.

“I seem to have suddenly grown quite tired,” Cirayus said, placing the back of his palm against his forehead before collapsing, sending a cloud of ash flying. “I’ll just lay down here for a moment. Why don’t you hand me your rucksack so I’ll have a pillow.”

Yep. He wants me to do this alone, Vir thought with a grim expression while removing his backpack. This wasn’t just a chance for him to experiment; Cirayus wanted to see what he was capable of.

“If you take them all out in ten minutes, we will proceed deeper into the Ash.”

The giant certainly knew what to say to motivate him—Vir wasn’t an ignorant chal—he knew exactly what Cirayus was doing.

“Deal,” Vir said immediately.

It didn’t matter if Cirayus was hanging a carrot at the end of a stick. Not when the carrot was that juicy.

Vir drew his katar and glanced at his chakrams. For now, they were even less useful than they’d been in the Human Realm, barely useful as a distraction. One that cost ammunition with each use. He left them stowed on his back.

Ideally, Vir wanted Prana Vision’s aid, but as Cirayus once said, ‘Warriors rarely have the luxury of choosing their battles’. He’d have to fight with the ability hampering rather than helping.

When Vir walked away from Cirayus, he’d expected half to follow.

No such luck. All the creatures came after him. Not only that, the ring they’d formed drew tighter and tighter.

They can sense how strong Cirayus is, can’t they? Vir thought in despair.

Seeing Vir as small fry, they came after him, hunger in their eyes. It struck him as odd that they were cooperating with each other; from everything he’d heard, the Ash had driven their sanity out of them long ago. The beings who stalked him now certainly didn’t act crazed. Maybe they lost their sanity deeper in the Ash.

Despite his trepidation, Vir made the opening move, lunging at the nearest Ash Biter. He knew from experience they enjoyed snapping their jaws at their prey, so he took its back.

In the mine near Avi, he’d struggled to penetrate the thin layer of prana all Ash Beasts surrounded themselves with. Here, it was thicker. In fact, it was almost as thick as physical armor, so Vir didn’t dare pull punches.

Empowering his strike with as much prana as his body could handle, he shot out Prana Blade. Except, what emerged wasn't a mere Prana Blade. The Ash prana coating his katar raged forth, extending well past the length of the katar.

Vir blinked.

This isn't Prana Blade. It's Blade Projection! The Rare Tier ability he'd worked so hard for in the Human Realm had just manifested of its own accord. All thanks to the prana here.

The force behind the attack nearly threw off his balance. It no longer felt like his own arm. It was as if Vera herself had taken control of his limb, directing it with awe-inspiring force.

I’m gonna bisect this thing! Vir thought with elation, stunned at his own power. This was the power he’d yearned for. With this…

The blade stopped dead against the Biter’s armor, sinking only an inch before coming to rest.

Instinct prompted Vir to hurl himself into a reverse somersault, narrowly avoiding the Biter’s jaw snap. Vir’s ears rang from the shockwave emitted from its bite; such was its force.

That was it? Vir thought in shock. Prana Blade had evolved far past its prior limits, even turning into Blade Projection. Was this all it was capable of? Such power… and yet, nothing. It spoke volumes about how strong the beasts in this domain truly were.

Can’t allow those attacks to even graze me. A single strike might very well mean his demise.

Vir Leaped all the way back to Cirayus, buying himself some breathing room.

“Nine minutes,” the giant casually called out.

Need more power. It was ridiculous to think that so soon after multiplying his strength, he still came up short, but that was the reality here in the Ash.

What can I do?

It wasn’t as if he was out of ideas. Just that he’d never tested them. Ten minutes—now nine—wasn’t long at all to develop a new ability. He tried regardless.

First, Vir concentrated on his arm, seeing the prana circulating inside. Prana Blade had grown significantly—in size. Its density was only slightly greater than before.

It doesn’t need to be that large, Vir thought.

Having extra reach when needed was welcome, but right now, he required deadliness above all else. He needed a blade that could rend prana itself.

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That meant a denser Prana Blade.

Vir began the activation process, spinning the prana inside his arm faster and faster. Twice, then thrice what he’d mustered before. His blood vessels stretched and strained against the level of blood flow. Only then did he allow it to shoot out of his arm, traveling the length of his katar.

It worked—the blade that had been as long as a greatsword now came barely past his katar. But what it lost in length, it more than made up for in power. It was dense. So dense, it seemed to suck in the very light around it.

More.

Vir knew if he wanted to survive here, he’d need power. A lot more. Yet his body was at its current limit; spinning prana faster wasn’t an option.

Parai’s Technique.

Parai’s Prana Channeling boosted his prana efficiency, allowing him to do more with less. In the Human Realm, it’d also augmented his power, allowing him to Leap farther and Empower harder.

Here, where prana was so abundant, Vir wondered if it’d give him an even more significant advantage. Why shouldn’t it? Prana Channeling routed his blood in pathways that sent exactly the right amount of prana to the right muscles.

Normally, he’d just scatter prana into his muscles, but Empower’s strength and Leap’s distance depended on each muscle having just the right amount of energy. Muscles worked in harmony with each other, and when one received too much, it reduced the Talent’s overall effect.

Now that his body had mostly acclimatized, Prana Channeling wasn’t hard to use, made even easier by the hours he’d spent training.

Vir activated Empower in his arm as he slashed, this time channeling prana according to Parai’s technique. As expected, it used a fraction of the prana as before…

It also knocked him flat on his face, such was the momentum it carried.

“Vir, I know you’re excited, but I don’t think faceplanting is an efficient method to kill those Ash Beasts,” Cirayus said, looking like he was about to laugh. “Seven minutes remain.”

“Hilarious,” Vir replied, wiping the ash from his face. “Watch this.”

Vir turned, Leaping back to the Ash Biter. Prana Blade fired, wreathing his katar in prana so dense, he could see it with his regular vision, taking the appearance of black flames that oozed off of his seric blade.

Empower activated mid-swing, giving his thrust an explosive burst of momentum.

The Prana Blade met the Biter’s armor. For a brief moment, prana fought prana equally, before offense overpowered defense, breaking through. Once past, the katar split flesh like water, and this time, Vir did bisect it.

The beasts that had closed in immediately halted, reevaluating their chances.

Why didn’t they attack all at once, though? Vir had been vulnerable fighting the Biter. He’d remained on guard, of course, but he was sure a beast would’ve attacked while he was distracted.

Whatever it was, he wasn’t complaining. Vir Leaped to the other Ash Biter, destroying it with the same thrust, which also carried his immense speed behind it.

His blade didn’t simply bisect the beast. It impaled it, taking it along for the ride. Only when Vir had bounded seventy paces away and come to a stop did the corpse fall off the blade, crumpling in a cloud of ash dust.

“Any takers?” Vir shouted, Leaping back into the fray and skewering a small, bipedal beast along the way. A Raptor. Balar five. Not only was it smaller, its prana signature was also less dense than the Ash Biter’s, and Vir doubted he’d have any trouble with the Raptor and its brethren.

Only their numbers gave him pause. In packs, their rank could soar to eighty, but its dozen brethren routed, clearly thinking themselves outmatched, and ran for their lives.

Vir wasn’t about to let them. Leaping, he impaled, bisected, and crushed, preparing his next Leap even as he swung his blade.

At first, it took a second to kill one of them. By the time he’d lopped off the head of the last one, he’d cut that in half.

“Five minutes,” Cirayus called, and Vir swore he could hear a trace of surprise in his voice.

“You don’t need to suppress the others while I fight, you know?” Vir replied, somewhat irritated. The reason the beasts hadn’t swarmed him became obvious with a glance at the compacted ash.

Cirayus had been pinning the beasts in place.

“This is tough enough, lad. You’ll be fighting them on your own soon enough. Less than five minutes to go. You sure you want to be chatting me up right now?”

“Five is more than I need,” Vir said, facing his next opponents.

Next up were the Greater Zards. He’d fought their lesser brethren in the mines near Avi, but their larger brethren were in another league. Where Lesser Zards might’ve been Balar One individually, Greaters could get up to Balar fifty, and there were two to greet him.

Vir Leaped in, but the beasts matched his speed, dodging his blow by a hair. Something blasted out of their mouths, and Vir slashed in reflex, his blade finding something fleshy and wet.

A tongue!?

He severed it, sending the Zard writhing in agony. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to use the same tactic on its friend. The other Zard’s tongue wrapped around his ankle, slamming him into the ash face first.

Vir inhaled a cloud of ash, setting him coughing. His eyes watered and his nose stung, but Vir had been in worse situations before. Closing his eyes, he relied on Prana Vision.

The tongue’s stopping me from getting away! Vir struggled as the other, tongue-less Zard launched itself at him, its clawed paw ready to maul.

There wasn’t enough time to bring his blade to bear, nor could he break free of the Zard that held him in place.

Break… free? Vir dumped as much prana into his leg as his body could handle, not bothering with Parai’s Technique. High Jump hardly needed it.

He straight shot up, until the Zard’s long tongue stopped him. It was never designed to bear such strain, though, and Vir felt a sharp tug as it ripped.

Owing to the tongue that held him, High Jump only took Vir a few paces in the air. Performing a midair somersault, he fell katar-first, bringing his executioner’s blade down on the Zard’s smooth hide.

There was no defending against such force. Its head sheared clean off, and when Vir righted himself, he found the other Zard already twenty paces away, fleeing as fast as its legs allowed.

A single Leap followed by Prana Blade, Prana Channeling, and Empower, ended the beast.

“Three minutes,” Cirayus called.

Only five Ash Wolves remained—the others having left at some point.

Immediately, Vir knew they’d be his toughest opponents yet. From the way Ash prana oozed off their hides, to the piercing gaze of their glowing blue eyes, everything about the pack screamed danger.

“Uh, Cirayus? What’s the Balar rank on these? Do you know?”

“Hmm. I feel like I've heard that term before...” Cirayus said, scratching his head.

“Nevermind.”

Vir searched his memory, thinking back to the bestiary at Balindam. If he recalled properly, it’d put Ash Wolves in the twenty to forty range, but there was something he was forgetting. Something crucial.

“What I can tell you,” Cirayus said, “is that they’re many times more lethal as a pack. You’d best not underestimate them.”

Ah, right! That was it. Balar twenty to forty… individually. Two hundred fifty to four hundred as a pack of five.

“B-bring it!” Vir roared.

Cirayus, oh great demigod, please watch over me!