Owari sheathed his sword and stretched a bit to check his condition. Yet another person whose name he didn't know fell to his blade, his head was on the ground nearby and his body had already drained itself of blood. Owari noted that while his body was sore and a bit battered he was still in good health. As long as he didn't fight anything too tough and kept his exertion down for the rest of the day then he'd be mostly fine by the next morning. He also checked the guys' armor and was disappointed, the leather was okay but it was damaged beyond use during the fight, as for the breastplate that had a golden sheen it was only very thin gold plating over ordinary steel. It wasn't even enough to justify risking being caught so Owari just left it on him. The guy came from a real agency and didn't even have any valuables, Owari didn't know if he was just poorly equipped or if he came with little just because he underestimated him.

Either way he gained no valuables from the guy's body so he went back and checked the pack he had been carrying which had been discarded near the initial battlefield. In it was just some rocks and scrap cloth to give it the appearance of being full. It seemed he didn't take this whole thing seriously and hadn't even planned to be out here long enough to need food. That also meant someone might know about his plan to kill Owari and he suddenly recalled what the guy said about the Howling Wulf agency investigating him. However they couldn't prove anything even if they got ahold of the guy's body. After all Owari wasn't the only one with a sword around here and magical beasts can make similar wounds using magical abilities. They might know he did it but they couldn't prove it and that was all that Owari cared about. If they couldn't use the law to punish him their only option was to send people to kill him and then they would get the same treatment.

Owari made his way to a location about a mile deeper into the forest, he wanted to practice some stuff while he still had the feeling of his earlier fight in his mind. It helped that it would be smarter to wait until the next day when he had some time for his body to recover before he started his exploration properly. His training spot was a burrow that had been partially dug out by a reptile type magical beast that had attacked him on a previous trip here. It had survived his counter attack and he followed it back here. The place was secluded enough to practice at and one of the walls deeper in was made of stone so it was a good target. The inside was about the size of a living room and was tall enough to stand and hold his sword up without getting in the way.

He quickly made his way in and prepared his sword to begin practicing as he thought about what he had just learned. Namely he was considering the pressure wave he could form around his sword, and more specifically how to make optimal use of it. He thought about creating a new technique, but decided against it for now. Instead he started to practice how to incorporate it into his moth wing strike, the main weakness it had was that if he couldn't cut his enemy he would receive a backlash but with this new finding he could increase the force behind the blow so that even if he didn't cut through the enemy he could still force them back and remove the rebound. With this in mind he started to incorporate the pressure wave into his attack, and he even started reworking the breathing method he used to get the same effect of enhanced strength he got during the fight before. It actually didn't take as long as one might think to incorporate this new aspect into his technique, the main problem had been practicing changing his swinging method at the last second so he didn't lose any of the sharpness of his strike but that just needed practice.

After getting things sorted he just needed to practice it and make sure everything was optimal, so he took his stance and swung his sword. The blade cut through the air, but instead of the singing of steel a roar of tearing wind sounded out. Owari felt the resistance of the air spike as he did his best to catch as much air against his blade as possible to maximize the pressure wave. As he swung he breathed out and swung his whole body into the attack, and as expected the wind following his blade was nothing to scoff at, what was more was that it had no mana and so it was as invisible as the breeze. Just as the edge of the sword was going to strike the stone he changed his grip on the blade and went back to his normal resistance reducing method of striking, he didn't need to pull the air anymore with his sword as it had already reached the target and would do that itself. His blade cleanly cut through the stone like a hot knife through butter as usual, but the wind his sword brought with it slammed into the wall and outside of a little shudder just bounced off. The wind he created with his attack didn't have the force needed to damage stone, but he wasn't discouraged. Instead Owari just had to get creative and figure out what he needed to do to make it into an effective attack.

He started by considering the problem which was that it didn't have enough force to do any real damage. The obvious answer would be to increase the force somehow, but that would require more start up time or more strength which he couldn't realistically achieve. After all he didn't like attacks with long wind up times and his body only had so much strength in it, he had already gone well beyond normal human limits with the help of his mana reserves passively enhancing him along with his various strength-enhancing methods. So he had to think of another method of using the pressure wave, and he had two ideas of how to do so.

He entered his stance again and swung his sword at a fresh location on the stone wall. However when his sword was about to hit the wall he only used the resistance-reducing method to get his sword into the wall before switching back and using brute force to tear into the wall. As soon as his sword lagged a moment the pressure wave behind it struck into it and force it forward. Using his own strength and the strength of the wind behind it he tore into the stone wall. Soon chunks of rock were broken out of the wall and kicked up by the wind along with powdered stone and thrown to the side leaving a massive jagged scar in the otherwise mostly smooth wall. Stones were scattered off to one side and some dirt floated in the air, the force of his blow had smashed a chunk out of the wall.

He had barely used his force redirecting method to reduce the strain on his sword to an acceptable level. The idea behind this attack was similar to how you tap a nail into the wall before actually hitting it properly to give it a starting point so it doesn't just deflect off. By getting his sword into the wall of stone and using the inherent sharpness of the blade and the secondary strike of the wind against his sword to reduce the shock on his arm he could keep going with less risk to himself. This technique was much different from his original intention of the moth wing strike through which was supposed to cut his enemy, instead it was more like smashing through the resistance with force. He decided to test this other idea before anything else.

His other idea was more complicated and involved, it required a lot of attempts to get a feeling of whether it could even work. The idea was to use the wave of wind around his sword like an extension of his sword. The air around his blade would take a similar shape as his sword, so if he could make even an ordinary sword of steel capable of cutting through steel why couldn't he make a sword of wind do the same with some effort? So he put that question to the test and began practicing, and he found the simple issue with this method that seemed like an impassable wall. His method of increasing the sharpness of his sword also reduced resistance and would cause the wind he was dragging along to dissipate.

So in order to do this he would have to both increase and decrease the resistance his attacks felt. Such a paradox might make most people shrug and give up seeing it as impossible, but Owari decided to keep trying. A lot of what he had done so far should be impossible or difficult, he at least felt it was worth the effort, after all if he succeeded he would feel satisfied enough to call his moth wing strike mostly completed. After that the only things left would be to perfect the techniques used and slowly deal with any weaknesses it had and then he would finally have his first truly completed technique. Of course there is no such thing as a perfect attack, but he couldn't just make every technique he uses a work in progress forever. So he swung his sword over and over and over as he tried to get a feeling for the nuances of air resistance and how everything worked together.

After trying for hours all the way into the night when the moon was high in the sky and the moonlight seeped into the cave he had finally had a spark of inspiration. The stone wall was covered in scars and cracks, but he managed to find a decently intact spot to test his idea. He took his stance and attacked, this time he suddenly shifted his grip at the last moment and as the blade dug into the stone the wind following behind it unexpectedly also sliced into the stone cleanly digging into the stone and kicking up the powdered dirt from his strike and sending it across the room. In front of Owari in the stone wall was a large gash clearly longer, wider, and deeper than his sword could have made. As he inspected the results Owari considered how he had done it, it was entirely based on the irrefutable fact that no matter how much you reduce the resistance of an object it will always displace air as it moves through it.

So all he had to do was find a balance where the air he displaced would still pull the wind behind his sword forward while reducing the drag he felt on his sword, this also had the effect of focusing the wind into a smaller space and giving it more force. Of course this alone wasn't enough and he also added in his previous finding when he allowed the wind to propel his sword forward as he shattered the stone wall with brute force. He allowed the wave of pressure to catch up and instead of using force to smash the wall apart he started cutting into it again. This weakened the wall enough to allow the now sharper and more focused wind to make its way in and cut into the rock alongside his sword. Looking at the results it was definitely a success, now Owari just needed to practice it and perfect it. After all it still had faults, for one it put a strain on his blade that was similar to when he first developed the moth wing strike, on top of that the actual attack required a lot of focus and micromanagement so he would need to find a balance of what was realistic and what was worth the effort, not to mention he could still optimize the attack in a few other ways.

For now Owari laid up against the wall after resheathing his blade and began to sleep. He had probably pushed himself too hard and he doubted he would be in perfect shape the next day, but it had been worth it in his opinion. He would practice the technique more in the future though, when he woke up he didn't bother looking back as he made his way out and got to work dragging his tools and supplies into the forest to begin his expedition. He had already gotten an idea of the technique he wanted and managed to get a framework for it, and this area might get dangerous soon if that guy's agency shows up to search for him. It was best to just get started, after all this trip wasn't just about getting stronger and practicing. He made his way through the surroundings, avoiding the treants he had confirmed and doing his best to keep an eye out for any that had moved so he didn't get caught off guard. He of course ran into a few who had moved and who tried to ambush him, but he had long gotten used to their methods.

He didn't kill them though even though it would be a good experience, if they really were mostly contained for now and in such high numbers he would be able to sell information on this location for a decent profit. The more treants that remained alive the more he could make, so he made sure to count them carefully. He would do this again on his way back and compare the numbers to get a decent idea of how many there were so he could get paid properly.

As he went along he didn't forget to take soil samples and check the riverbeds for any oddities that would indicate an ore deposit in the area. When night rolled around he was feeling much better and he enjoyed a stew made from the few beasts dumb enough to attack him. Being in an area that was less tread by humans meant magical beasts here had less wariness of humans. They were poorly matched for Owari who had the ability to sense them even if they tried to hide their presence and ambush him, the ones who openly challenged him were even worse off as they didn't even get the chance to approach.

All these beasts turned into target practice for his new technique which he was slowly figuring out with each use. Among the magical beasts he killed today most were earth affinity, but there were some water and dark affinity beasts as well. Dark affinity just meant stuff like shadow and lack of light and had nothing to do with evil. There was no such affinity as evil since the natural world outside of human society cared little for such things as morality and human beliefs or ideals. Owari wasn't gaining much affinity from this, but the meat was still tastier than the rations he had brought along and with some berries for a snack made a decent meal. Like this he enjoyed his first few days traveling along through the forest looking for his target while steadily improving his ability.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

It wasn't until the fourth day after he arrived at the forest that something of note really happened. Because of the treant infestation there actually weren't many strong magical beasts. Most of the magical beasts that dared live here were either masters of stealth or too weak to be seen as worth the effort to eat. Even now he hadn't seen anything stronger than iron rank magical beasts this deep in the forests with the occasional copper rank thrown into the mix. Of course the treants only got stronger the deeper he went until they reached their current high copper rank. It was at this point that he started to become very cautious, Owari wasn't stupid enough to believe he could keep going until he met silver ranked enemies as regularly as this.

However it was on this fourth day that he found an anomaly among the treants, this time he didn't even need the aura or mana sensory abilities to confirm what he saw was a treant. In a spot not too far off was a tree that was at least twice as tall as any tree near it, however this wasn't the only difference between it and the rest of the forest. This tree was a silvery-white, shining like polished platinum, and it's leaves were all reflecting light as if they were green tinted mirrors, and hanging from the branches were green apples in the midst of ripening which had a similar metallic sheen to them though noticeable duller. The tree was about 18 meters tall and was very straight and solid, not matching apple trees' normal gnarled knot filled trunks at all. The branches were also all very neatly spread and had a strange symmetry to them, as if it was trying to appear as beautiful and approachable as possible. This wasn't just any treant, it was an apple tree treant with the metal affinity. It probably wasn't a mutant though, it had most likely evolved to gain the metal affinity later by absorbing the mana and nutrients in the area, after all Owari was keeping an eye on the metal content of the soil and had been heading in the direction that had the highest traces of it which included this place.

Not only did it have the metal affinity and thus was likely an evolved treant, it was also quite big showing it was old and thus would have a lot of mana and vitality, and even more worrying was that it was an apple tree. Among treants the ones born from apple trees have the best shapeshifting ability since their bodies were the most easily altered, normally this was a bad thing for natural apple trees which would be gnarled and filled with knots and quicker to rot and die when they were damaged. But for treants which have powerful magical abilities and the ability to alter their bodies as they wish it has the opposite effect and it actually makes them more dangerous. Looking at this treant Owari guessed it was at least a middle silver rank magical beast, maybe even high silver. It may even be gold rank if it was experienced in fighting and not just powerful.

Despite the danger this threat posed him though Owari was very excited, though that shouldn't be surprising given his personality. What might be surprising was the reason for his excitement, he did want to fight it, but more importantly he wanted to tame it. He had wanted the metal affinity, and here was a perfect candidate to give it to him. Even though it was dangerous and very hard to convince a wild magical beast to be tamed, treants were less resistant to it usually due to their less developed sense of self. It would still take some time and effort, but Owari was prepared for it. The main problem was the danger, a silver rank threat was no laughing matter. However this only increased his desire to fight and tame it, not just because he wanted the challenge but also because having it as a tamed beast would give him a strong ally.

Having made his decision he took out his map and memorized this location, after ensuring he knew how to get back here he put his things down nearby before approaching the treant. He would never be able to convince it to join him with one try, not only that but he may need to retreat. He would need to wear it down by fighting it over and over again and slowly convincing it that he was the stronger of the two, at that point it would either submit or he would have to give up and kill it. Leaving it alive after he tries to force it into submission is asking for it to escape and become a thorn in his side one day. For now though he needed to see if he could even reasonably fight it and survive. He pulled out his sword and steadied his breathing as he slowly approached.

As he expected once he got within about a dozen meters a root came spiking out of the ground at him. However it's speed and strength were on a whole other level from all of the attacks he had previously experienced, it was at least as fast as the silver line his first human enemy had used in desperation. However unlike that time not only was Owari much stronger and more experienced, he also wasn't caught off guard so hopped to the side and the spike pierced the empty air. However he didn't stop there and he jumped to the side again to dodge a second root spear that tried to cut him off.

As he dodged he turned his body and used his newly developed technique to try and cut the root. The air roared as if a beast was about to strike its prey as his blade split and tore the air, however when it struck the shining silver root it was halted in place as if he had struck an impenetrable barrier. The pressure wave following his sword along with the force of his blow barely knocked the root away and allowed him to negate the backlash of failing his attack. Unfortunately the attack had done next to nothing to the root and Owari had no time to consider this as he dodged another root and then another. It was only after he dodged those two attacks that he got the freedom to think of his failed attack.

Clearly the hardness of those roots was on a whole other level from a normal treant, it even put some magical metals to shame. Luckily Owari expected this so he hadn't been too surprised, though it was actually a level above what even he had thought. As he dodged another root he didn't jump away and only stepped aside and shifted his body to dodge, although the root tried to redirect towards him it was moving too fast and he had shifted out of the way of its only available path leaving the root right in front of him. He gripped his sword in both hands and swung it horizontally using his full strength, he needed to confirm if he could even injure it let alone fight it. The edge of his sword struck the root and as the loud clang of metal rang out along with the ripping of the air, his sword sunk a few centimeters in. Then the pressure wave forced it deeper and cut the wound wider, however Owari knew he wouldn't cut clean through so he jumped back and dragged the blade along and smoothly pulled it out before it got stuck.

A large cut appeared in the treant's root and it froze up as clear liquid carrying a glittery shine to it leaked out. The wound closed before even a couple of seconds passed and unlike the other treants who had seemed to use pressure and force to accomplish this, the wound seemed to have truly sealed up as the treant pulled its root back. Owari used this moment when it froze up to retreat. As he did so he felt an odd prickling in his back and he glanced back to see that the treant had formed a viewing knot to look at him with. This meant it would know what he looked like and that he would leave a more lasting impression which was a good thing. After all the greater his impression the easier making it submit would become.

He still didn't hesitate to retreat and regroup, he picked up his equipment and supplies and jumped up in a tree nearby to observe the treant as he considered things. He had been in the forest for about four days, by his original plan he would only have about six to eight days left before he would go back. However he wondered if he could both search the forest and tame this treant in that time. After all, once he went back he'd sell the information to this location and the buyer would put many resources into taming this treant once they found it. On top of that Owari knew how much time and effort he'd have to actually put into succeeding considering his strongest attack could only briefly injure it. Not to mention this treant was able to move rather fast and if he didn't keep an eye on it then it might actually escape.

After considering things Owari finally came up with a plan he was satisfied with, or at least as satisfied as he could be given the circumstances. He decided to explore the surrounding regions around the treant for any ore veins while keeping an eye on the treant and trying to tame it. There were two reasons he was willing to lower his chances of finding any ore veins in order to go after this treant, other than the obvious reason that he wanted to tame it. The first reason was the pragmatic reason, this treant was of the metal element and the mineral content around here suggested there was a decent amount of silver and or gold in the area. That meant it wasn't too far-fetched an idea that there were some veins around here, he just had to look more closely. The second reason he decided to risk it was because of his recent deal with Rebecca, more specifically his agreement to go with her on the expedition and to be paid by the Sapphire agency to do so. That meant he had a safety net in terms of money in case this didn't pan out, even if he failed to get either the treant or ore veins he still had the location of these treants to sell and the payment of his next contract lined up to buy him some time before his next venture. This wasn't the only place he had planned on mapping out and searching for valuable resources so he wasn't massively worried.

After having come to a decision on what to do he started to map out the area and search for obvious and not so obvious signs of ore veins in the ground. While he did that he used the time to consider the problem of how to fight the treant. He obviously couldn't win as he was, but he also didn't have time to train himself and grow significantly stronger. That meant he had to increase his skill and ability to cut through tougher things, however it wasn't like he had magic metal slabs to practice on like that stone wall. He also couldn't just practice on nothing, but he did have an idea of a good set of sparring partners nearby. When he came to a decision Owari was as fast as always, so after he finished up his soil sampling and mapping and when the sun was close to setting he made his way to his new practice partners.

Sitting on a branch Owari observed a treant as it sat entirely still attempting to blend into the surroundings. This specific treant was about late copper in rank and so it would have quite decent toughness for Owari to practice on. He had to be careful not to kill too many treants as it would drop the value of the location when he sold the information, but a few were fine. Luckily a lot of the value of this location was that it could birth treants and thus even if he killed all of them the land was still valuable.

When he confirmed the strength of the opponent Owari dropped down and walked forward calmly until he entered its range. That was when it made its own move and attacked, however he lightly dodged the slow attack and didn't bother to strike. The further the root was from the main body the slower and weaker it was, and he wasn't interested in these outer roots. So he calmly dodged and weaved his way deeper into the treants territory, even as he got closer the roots it could attack him with were slower than the metal affinity treant so even though there were more roots that were more finely controlled, it wasn't too hard for Owari to dodge around them.

He had come a long way and was much more experienced in footwork and combat placement than when he fought the first treant before. His movements were nimble as he lightly sidestepped, ducked under, twisted around, and rolled away from each attack. Finally an attack came that was coordinated enough to push him, and it was then that he drew his sword and planted his feet firmly on the ground. He ducked and dodged each attack but one which he aimed his strike at as he unsheathed his blade. As he had hoped the resistance he felt was greater than even when he tried to split stone and was closer to iron in resistance. But it wasn't enough.

Owari jumped over that root and rushed forward towards the treant's main body. More roots shot out at him as it seemed to panic due to his sudden increase in aggressiveness. Owari didn't fear this at all and he simply used the roots as practice to try and increase his skill at cutting, not even bothering to use his newly created technique and merely practicing his focus. He had already confirmed he could actually cut through stone as if it didn't even exist. The only problem he had was the focus and concentration required to do so and that the muscles he made use of for this technique were weaker and required a lot of energy to use. So he just needed to practice until the focus that was needed to use the technique to the fullest was second nature as he swung the sword until he didn't even realize he was doing it.

The muscles he used would naturally grow stronger and more efficient as he practiced and used the technique. So as the roots came at him he used the pressure they placed on him to force his mind into a state of unprecedented focus and swung his sword to cut through them one after another. The closer he got the harder it became to cut through the roots, it went from being as hard as iron to being as hard to cut through as the metal used to make his sword, and then increased even further. At that point as he was cutting through the fifth root Owari only managed to cut about 3/4ths of the way through before he suddenly pulled away and retreated. Since he couldn't progress he retreated before he got caught in place.

As soon as he confirmed his limit he backed off and cut his way back out of the treants range and waited a bit. He took a break as he waited for both his own body and the treant to recover. He also inspected his arms which were a bit sore and tired from the overuse, though it wasn't his sword swinging muscles that were exhausted. It was the lesser used muscles which he made use of to increase the sharpness of his swings which were growing tired and sore. However after a short period of rest they had already begun to recover, luckily his breathing techniques helped to speed along his healing which combined with his growing earth affinity and naturally sturdy body made him quite quick to recover. Once he felt he was ready he went straight back in and rushed the treant that had only just started to feel at ease again after judging Owari had no intention of attacking again.

Once it sensed him it began to attack even more fiercely than before hoping to drive him away. However Owari waited until he reached deeper in before he started to counter-attack. Once he reached a point where he couldn't get past he would beat a hasty retreat and do everything again. He showed no shame nor mercy as he rushed in cutting up the treant and escaping just as fast, continuing the cycle over and over until eventually no root could stand in his way as he rushed through and cut it down like a lumberjack might do to an ordinary tree. As for any feelings of guilt for torturing such a being, he had none. It was kill or be killed out here, and the reason these magical beasts kill and eat others is to grow, what he did was no different. He was just using the treant as prey to train and grow against, nothing more and nothing less.