Traversing the forest at night proved to be more arduous than Theron foresaw. Torches didn’t exist in this place, nor did he know how to produce a fire with all the humidity lathering the forest. It got so dark at one point he saw nothing but black, repelling any further attempts for him to peruse the forest further.
Resting under the cover of a brooding tree, he allowed the gentle winds to calm his nerves. Lux trailed nearby, probing their vicinity with dutiful eyes. The tug of sleep grew stronger with every passing minute, and his addled mind tired of the life-ending events battering him like the rain. Fortune struck as the clouds appeared to be agreeable tonight. Long gone was the glowering thunder accompanying his arrival; now, everything up there was serene.
Under the guise of night, he slept.
###
He woke up from Lux’s musty licks slathering his face.
Fingers of warmth peeked through the roofs of leaves and thin branches, spilling unto the bumpy soil, coloring the brown with shades of orange and white. He got up with a yawn, brushing his languorous eyes, hoping to erase the sleep. His stomach churned from hunger and thirst as he observed the placid forest around him. No movements outside… We’re safe.
Lux was, otherwise, as vigorous as it had always been. No trace of exhaustion or hunger was shown on its stout gaze bordering on a glare. Theron opted to push in the direction he thought he came from. The truth would reveal itself with time whether he was right. Before he slept, he pondered about hunting one more panther elite to complete its aspect, hoping its prowess would eventually assist in his survival, even if no elite aspect cores were in his possession. However, he doubted his chances against that thing on his own. The mother wolf, while hapless on its own against it, provided a sufficient distraction to allow him a pyrrhic victory. Without her, Theron had to perform that role himself.
The forest bustled to life as the sun shone directly above their sweltering head. The sprinkles of another rivulet drew his attention to his side, each splatter sang for him to approach. His arid throat yearned for a soothing wave of fresh liquid. The pair galloped toward the sound of running water with Lux in front, leading the way with its superior sense of smell and hearing.
And… there it was—a line of clear, running water, as pristine and fresh as his mind pictured it. Theron spared no time to push his face into the revitalizing body of fluid, each gulp easing the soreness of his gullet, pumping his stomach with a mouthful of odorless liquid. His vision returned to his usual, perfect clarity after fulfilling his body's most urgent need. Afterward, he sat after washing his face and the other parts of his body, sighing in ecstasy.
His eyes craned from his right to the left, tracing the line of water and the riverbed toward the far distance, then ogling at the same structure he witnessed before being pulled into this world. A massive, towering thing pointing its sharp edge toward the sky, a beacon for him and potentially the others to approach and band up, if they felt like it… only if it wasn’t stuck atop a gigantic frosty mountain, foreboding as all hell, dismissing any queer thoughts of reaching the summit. He turned a hapless gaze toward his companion, hoping it could provide some answers, but all Lux did was pant.
Doubtless, the monsters up there posed a significant challenge, even if he was twice as strong. His primary goals were clear as a day: to attain strength and join up with the others, to brave the cold and peril side by side, challenging whatever trials awaited.
Well, until then… Let’s focus on getting stronger. He gave Lux a jovial rub as he picked the direction opposite where the structure was. If that thing was his goal, then the closer he got to the tower, the more perilous the monsters should be.
The forest pressed on him once more. At times, he felt more comfortable in the shadow of the closing trees, each wave of their branches shrouding him from the prying eyes around him. A few green-furred tigers meandered about in their path, which Lux and Theron dispatched with minor issues. Lux had grown to a point where its speed and power outmatched them, enough for them to pose little challenge, even when Theron was technically defenseless most of the time. None of the monsters appeared interested in gunning for him immediately when he was out of sight. Most, if not all, opted to defeat Lux first. A shiver ran down his spine when he entertained the idea of fighting another person. No doubt his foe would avoid Lux and go straight for him, so he needed another aspect to act as his guard, something big and bulky—something like the bear, perhaps?
[You gained 5 experience points!]
[You gained 5 experience points!]
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[You gained 5 experience points!]
[Rank 1: Green Forest tiger Aspect learned. Progress: 80%]
Three tigers were snuffed out of their lives, each giving him 5 essences and experience, a paltry amount by his current level. Two levels ago, these tigers nearly killed him, inflicting a grave wound that lasted an entire day. After two more encounters, Theron completed their progress, acquiring their aspect.
[You gained 5 experience points!] x2
[You completed a new aspect!]
[Aspect of Green Forest tiger is added to your compendium. You can now summon it after materializing the aspect through the use of an aspect core.]
[You obtained a materia: R-1 Green forest tiger.]
Another materia… Sweet.
A part of him wished to meet the panthers again for a better experience gain, but after scouring the forest for hours with no panthers in sight, he had no choice but to conclude that the panthers either only spawned at night, or they were a part of the hidden event. However, his efforts weren’t fruitless; the hulking silhouette of another being slid into the fray, a tall bear with claws made of metal sauntering about, searching for food. Theron spared no time and ordered Lux to rush that thing down while it was unaware. The bear’s furs and fatty skin proved too stout for a single bite to end the fight, pushing Theron to use a crushing bite to end the battle swiftly. The hunt lasted slightly longer than he expected; the bear’s toughness was second only to the elite panther. It crashed the soil with a heavy thump, prompting Theron to extract its aspect.
[You gained 25 experience points!]
[Rank 1: Metal Clawed Bear Aspect learned. Progress: 40%]
25 experience for this one… wasn’t it 50 before? He paused as he regarded his reduced gains.
They veered to the right, avoiding a large hill blocking their passage. The trees grew sparser in a clearing, with a small opening leading to an ominous cave. Theron slid toward it with Lux dipping its head down below the undergrowth, eventually reaching the cave entrance with their bodies shrouded behind the surface of a tree. No movements spurred from their arrival, nor were there anything else alive in the cave’s vicinity. As Theron’s eye studied its entrance, a message appeared.
[Lair of Metal clawed bear.]
His eyes frowned upon the revelation. Sure, a lone bear wouldn’t pose much of a threat, but that applied only when they were battling it out in the open wilderness, where spacing wasn’t an issue. Inside a cave, where the light was scant and their maneuverability hampered, added atop the possibility of multiple bear encounters, things could get precarious if he played his cards wrong. Then, as the cherry on top, the mere possibility of the enormous bear with a spiked back sent a chill down his skin. That… monster was a bear, no doubt, and who was to say that horror didn’t exist in there?
However, he knew with their combined might, snatching a triumph wouldn’t be an impossibility. Was it risky? Absolutely, but as long as he exercised prudence and patience, avoiding any direct confrontation against the spiked bear—if it even existed—then he could prevail.
The snout of a bear lurked through the pitch-black entrance, followed closely by its maladroit steps. From a glance, it appeared as if it had just woken up. It rubbed its eyes with the back of its hands, then covered its eyes from the harsh sunlight above as it trekked toward his left, its back fading into the forest. Theron shot Lux a glance as he stalked its path, then struck once the crushing bite went off cooldown. The bear died with its neck carved by Lux’s gleaming fangs—a feat possible due to their preemptive strike.
[You gained 25 experience points!]
[Rank 1: Metal Clawed Bear Aspect learned. Progress: 60%]
Two more…
Theron waited again near the entrance, hounding it like flies swarming a corpse. Impatience ladened his chest as he seriously considered breaking into the cave, taking careful steps not to rouse unwanted attention. Darkness seeped around him when his head peered into the cave, his eyes adjusting rapidly as his steps crunched the hard soil. The sweet stench of unwashed fur and stale breath clung to his nostrils, unwilling to let go. He tip-toed deeper, the space widening with each meter he traveled, and the once-black innards of the cave turned to shades of dark brown. The color of soil and roots earthing the surface carved a path from the entrance, and eventually, he encountered the resting figures of multiple slumbering bears.
Here the cave split in multiple directions. One led to a chamber housing the resting bears, and two more led to sable blackness. His frozen eyes counted at least five of them snoring about in the spacious room, numbers which would kill him instantly if they roused. A jerk from one of the bears sobered him to the notion of escaping, but he pulled his psyche from submitting to his fears. It wasn’t like he had no tools to deal with them; his necrotic aura would deal enough damage given time, and mana was less of an issue now with the crude wand cinched around his belt.
Hiding behind the cover of a slanted wall of arid dirt, he pulled the wand out as he projected his aura outward. An estimate showed that his reach didn’t extend far enough to encompass one of those bears happily sleeping in the distance, but it was a foe his companion could handle. Slowly, their eyes jerked open from their bleeding nose, dripping blood on the floor as their eyes glowered at nowhere, detecting whence the unknown attack originated. Seven seconds had passed since. Theron hunkered behind the shadow of a wall, almost burrowing into the dirt with his back. Their roars resounded within the bleak cave, and their weakened bodies lurched outward, their languid eyes finally spotting Theron’s hunched figure.
Ten seconds passed. Theron had no doubts the awoken bears were a few steps away from death. A few dropped dead on the floor before they began their retaliation, leaving the sole, confused bear gawking at its deceased kin.
[You gained 25 experience points!]
[You gained 25 experience points!]
[You gained 25 experience points!]
[You gained 25 experience points!]