Owari began to work under a new schedule after finding the metal affinity treant. He would explore the area around it in a circular fashion during the day morning, and during the afternoon he would go face off against ever stronger earth affinity treants to practice his swordsmanship. After only two days of this though he stood next to the dying body of a mid silver ranked treant he had found. Even though most treants in the area were of the high copper to low silver rank there were occasionally a few stronger ones. Once he had killed this treant he had decided he was ready to test himself against his real target. He was down to four or so days of exploration left, six if he pushed it a bit.

He didn't want to be late getting back if he could help it for a number of reasons, but everything would depend on how his next few days went. As for his attempts to find ore veins, that was actually very successful, he had already found some mildly mana infused electrum deposits. Of course not the magical electrum, but the naturally occurring alloy of silver and gold. It wasn't magical enough to have transformed into a higher form of material, but it was a good sign that any major deposits in the area might have done so. It also meant there were definitely veins in the area and he just needed to find them. He already had a good idea where to look, so he just needed to go over there the next morning to check it out. Since it was night time he got some early sleep after a meal and woke up early the next day to do just that.

Owari made his way through the forest carefully until he located a spot he had found the day before. Located tucked between some trees was a burrow-like cave, however if you went into it a bit you would find that it opens out into a number of tunnels. He wasn't really interested in exploring the caves, what he did want to do though was use the tunnels to make his way deeper into the ground to try and locate some ore veins. If he could use the exposed sediment of the caverns to confirm the existence of ores he wouldn't have to spend hours digging and coring out dirt and stone with his cheap tools. He made a point to bring some parchment and drawing tools in so he could map the caves as he went to keep himself from getting lost.

Occasionally he would dig into the walls to confirm somethings, once and a while he would turn back and go down a different tunnel. He spent most of the morning and even a few hours afternoon doing this until he came out covered in dirt and muck, however he was smiling widely. He had managed to find concrete proof of there being both ordinary gold and silver, as well as some magical orichalcum and electrum which are the magically enhanced versions of those respective metals. Even if it was only a small amount it would still make him a good amount of money, but based on the geology and ecology of the area he was sure this whole region of the forest was over top of a massive chain of ore veins.

With this done he could focus on his other goal of taming the treant, which he immediately set to work doing. When he arrived at the edge of the treants range it formed a viewing knot and carefully observed him. This wasn't the first time this had happened, Owari made sure to visit before sleeping each day and it would always watch him carefully each time. They would stare one another down and carefully observe each other, and Owari couldn't be sure but he felt the way it looked at him changed each day. Something about the feeling it gave off as it viewed him felt different even though the knot it used to look at him never changed in appearance.

He couldn't tell what it was that changed, whether it was afraid, amused, or even respected him. He only knew there was a change and not the exact meaning of that change. Today though it seemed to sense the change in Owari's intentions as he felt the aura around it shift. It was always hostile to him, but the hostility started to spike as he approached the edge of its range. It was definitely aware he came to fight today, and it also prepared itself for the coming fight. It didn't seem to look down on him either despite his inability to hurt it too badly last time they fought. Owari pulled out his sword and carefully entered the treant's attack range, however it didn't attack immediately. It was likely waiting for him to enter deeper into its territory where it would have the advantage.

Owari obliged and he continued to go closer and closer, until he took over a dozen steps when a root shot up from his right side. He turned his body and swung his sword, unlike when he had been training he used his newer technique dragging a wave of wind along with his sword and making use of his recent training to enhance the sharpness of his strike. When his sword and the root connected his sword split the root easily and went all the way through taking the entire tip-off. The root froze for a moment which Owari used to twist his body to avoid being hit by the rest of the root as it continued to try and smash into him. After that the root retreated into the ground while sealing itself up as if it had never been injured, but Owari noticed the shining puddles of liquid around him indicating it had taken damage.

Right after it disappeared underground three more roots shot out to attack him, one from behind, one from in front, and one from below and to the left that was aiming for his leg. Owari leaned forward ducking below the attack from behind as he lifted his left leg up and put it out of the path of the attack from below. Then he turned his blade and swung it forward cutting through the root in front of him with a bit of difficulty. After cutting through that root he pivoted on his foot to face the root that tried to strike his leg and grabbed his sword with both hands before swinging it down and cutting that root as well. Before he could turn to attack the last root all three of them retreated, and after resetting his stance and waiting a few moments he realized it wasn't going to attack again at this range having judged it was too disadvantaged. This enemy was clearly more clever than your typical beast, but it still miscalculated as it would have been better to keep up the pressure and overwhelm Owari. His new method of attacking required a lot of energy so he couldn't keep going forever, every swing was a drain and he had limited stamina.

He stopped in place and waited to see how the treant would respond to his presence, however even after a short while it didn't attack, it only observed. He used this time to restore his energy and recover his expenditures. Truthfully this was one of the better outcomes, this meant the enemy could recognize when it was outclassed and act accordingly. If he could slowly close in on the treant's main body and show it that he was stronger and then he attempted to tame it he would be more likely to succeed.

After resting for a bit, Owari slowly made his way closer to the treant until he seemed to reach a threshold as the treant decided to attack him again. This time there were five roots and they were all much faster and more coordinated as two came from behind and slightly to either side, while one aimed for his stomach from the front, another came from his left and towards his flank, and the final one came from directly below. It seemed to be leading him to dodge to the right, but Owari could detect another root waiting below the surface in that direction to attack him as soon as he did so. Instead he spun his body in place and aimed his sword low as the root below him shot up and missed due to his sudden turn, while among the four other roots the ones that had aimed behind him were cut through with the same swing. The one coming from his left was now on his right and he rolled forward between the two recently split roots to dodge it. The root that had been aiming for his stomach also missed because of this. As he rolled on the ground he used the rotation of his movements to swing his sword and cut through the two remaining roots as well.

Just like that he again took care of all of the attacks coming his way and the treant retreated and refused to attack again. Owari had expended even more energy after that attack however, and after a short time trying to rest he realized he couldn't go any further today. His body needed a night to recover and he needed some time to let himself adjust to the toughness of his opponent, he still had some trouble splitting those roots and only by giving himself time to recover and grow in strength would he be able to keep progressing.

Realizing this he stared down the treant as he backed off slowly, never breaking eye contact. He made it clear that he wasn't afraid and he was only retreating to recuperate and that he would return. Only by leaving behind this image could he slowly break down the treants resolve otherwise it might believe he was too weak and afraid and ran away which would ruin his plan to make it submit and to tame it. After having left the area Owari went over to a nearby area slightly out of the treants range of detection and went to sleep. He needed to be close enough to see it if it started to try and escape but not so close that it could notice him easily. Luckily it was big so this was much easier, it would have been a nightmare if it had been a mouse-sized beast or something. Though if it had been then he wouldn't have the same issue of slowly beating it down until it gave into him.

Owari rested for the night and went straight back to the treant the next morning, it was still in the same place and had not tried to run. Owari again waded his way into it's attack range prepared to respond to any attacks. Just as it had the days before it watched him, and it waited without attacking him right away. Once he was about halfway into its attack range it finally attempted to strike him again. Three roots came from the front aiming for his heart, stomach, and leg. Another two came from behind aiming for his shoulder and other leg. One more came from each side off to either side not intending to hit him and only trying to trap him, while another root came from directly below. It had obviously planned this meticulously and intended to take him down right now. Unfortunately for the treant Owari was prepared and as soon as he realized it was trying to cut off all paths of escape or survival he unhesitatingly crouched and jumped up and over the roots trying to spear him from the front. He had yet to show his ability to jump higher than the roots could reach so the treant had not considered it and hadn't put a trap along his path.

Owari turned mid-air and reoriented himself and when he landed he was facing the group of roots that had just completed their attack and were preparing to retreat. However Owari gave them no chance as he put all his strength into his legs and kicked off to rush the roots as he swung his sword with all of the strength and momentum he had to cut the roots tops off. As he pushed closer and swung his sword he noticed something interesting, his own body also had drag on it so he would inevitably kick up a draft as he rushed through the air rapidly. When he swung his sword it caught the draft his body created and seemed to add it to itself enhancing his swing and giving it a larger arc. It wasn't a lot but Owari realized that this meant his charges would have even greater force than they already did so he wouldn't have to be as worried about being suddenly halted as much. It was a small but enjoyable find, it was small things like this that would snowball and allow Owari to grow rapidly.

His attack wasn't nearly as successful as he had hoped though and he only managed to strike four of the roots as he passed by, the rest had retreated by the time he reached them. He quickly flipped in the air as he glided close to the ground and made himself face the treant once again before pushing off and slowly making his way to its main body once again. It had given up on attacking him within this range as well and he wanted to give it some pressure, he planned on trying to tame it for the first time today. When he got about 3/4ths of the way to the treant it attacked again, this time though it didn't try to spear him from multiple directions, it had realized this wasn't working so why keep trying it?

Instead it shook its branches and dozens of leaves glowing faintly silver shot at him rapidly, meanwhile a single root shot out in front of him and unlike the ones before it this one was as thick around as his chest and if it hit him his whole torso would be blown to bits and scattered behind him. Owari had no intention of dying just like that though and although he was a bit surprised by the tactics change it wasn't shocking or anything. He pulled his sword to the side and swung it to meet the root coming for his chest and the two clashed with a loud ringing. His sword sunk half a meter into the root and split it before stopping. Meanwhile the root kept pushing and forced Owari back who could only do his best to grip the sword tightly and keep pushing back for now.

During this time he assumed the sudden push backward would get him out of the attack range of the leaves, but when he glanced up at them he realized he underestimated his enemy. The leaves were aimed at his previous location, but as soon as Owari began to be pushed back they flashed brightly before changing directions and coming from multiple angles to cut him to ribbons as he fought against the root. Unfortunately as skilled as Owari was there was nothing he could think to do at this moment. The reason he was so good at dodging all the time was that he responded entirely on instinct and moved his body with little thought, but right now he couldn't dodge. He was pushing back against the force of the root and if he stopped he would be pierced, the root was even leaking nutrient water in a bid to force him into this position.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

The enemy was prepared to be injured to take him down, and now it seemed like it was going to succeed. As Owari watched the leaves that were as sharp as daggers rushing at him as fast as arrows he didn't show fear, he certainly was afraid but the fear only made him grow excited. He carefully calculated the paths of each leaf and then suddenly shifted his body as they approached. of the nearly thirty leaves about two dozen managed to hit him. Some of them left mere cuts or scratches as they barely nicked him, but about a dozen cut deep into his limbs leaving massive gashes that sprayed blood everywhere and about half a dozen even directly shot through his body leaving slit-like holes going through him. As this occurred he lost his footing and the root shoved him back and sent him tumbling across the ground and sending blood spraying into the air and across the forest floor.

The treant only had a moment to feel joy at its kill before Owari reoriented himself and used his feet and sword to drag along the ground and kill his backward momentum. He half stood, half crouched on the ground still in range of the treant and looked it straight in the eye with a smile. His body was covered in cuts, gashes, and even a few holes and his clothes were slowly soaked with blood. But he stood there as if he noticed none of those things, slowly getting to his feet and standing straight up. Even though the wounds were quite bad he had managed to avoid having anything vital be hit, even his veins and arteries were spared from being cut. However he was still heavily injured and would definitely die if he didn't get himself treated soon, he was not only bleeding a lot but his muscles had received a significant amount of damage from the deep gashes.

Unless he took care of it even if he lived he would be much weaker and would require special medical treatment to fix the permanent damage this could cause. When he realized this he was actually tempted to ignore it, he wanted to keep going honestly despite the danger. That was the closest he had ever been to actually dying since he became a hunter, even though he had faced death countless times he mostly came out fine if a little injured. Usually it was an all or nothing gamble with his life and he either lived or died. But this time even though he lived it was only just better than having died as he was quickly approaching death anyways, and unlike every time before this his enemy was still perfectly fine. So far when he made it through and survived it usually marked death for his enemy. But this time it was different, this clearly showed the gap in strength between this treant and all his other opponents so far.

In the end Owari listened to reason and retreated carefully, not at all letting his weakness show for his enemy to take advantage of. Eventually he exited the treants range and he made his way back to his supplies. Once he got back he immediately got his medical gear out and started to deal with his injuries. He disinfected the wounds, bandaged the smaller ones, stitched up the larger gashes, and inspected the puncture wounds. Even though he had a few holes in his gut they were all small and thin and had missed his vitals, with some stitching he was able to get it all sealed up. One good thing about having a seamstress for a mother was that he knew how to sew, and even though stitching wasn't exactly the same he didn't bother to think of it much. After all he just needed the wounds to be decently closed so they would heal properly.

Once that was done he didn't really have any energy left to do anything else so he found a spot and went to sleep. He was physically and mentally exhausted, his body lacked blood and was very injured and even though he was tough willed he had spent over an hour dousing himself in disinfectants and pricking his body with a needle and running thread through it without any painkilling medicine to ease the ordeal. Even he would be quite mentally tired after all that pain, so he didn't try to fight the sleep that came as his adrenaline faded out of his system.

When he woke up the next day Owari considered what he should do. He was quite injured currently so if he tried to fight again he would definitely reopen some wounds. If he pushed himself too far some of his worse wounds could become serious risks. However he didn't have a lot of time to spare, he only had two to four days left. Not only that but if he took too long to go face the treant again it might forget about him and he would lose a lot of the progress he built. That isn't even mentioning that even if it remembers him it might be less intimidated by him after realizing he had to retreat and recover after their last confrontation.

Even if he had to risk permanent injuries Owari planned to go and try again today. With current medical technologies pretty much most injuries could be treated including lost limbs and severely damaged organs. Of course the price for such treatment was large, but some muscular damage like what might happen to him was relatively cheap and he could probably afford it with the money he was pulling in soon. That was under the assumption he even needed to get it treated though. Once he made his decision Owari made his way to the treants location and sat outside of its range looking at it. He was giving himself some extra time to rest and recover and he hoped his presence would put pressure on it.

It was around noon when he slowly stood up and unsheathed his sword to attack. The treant still didn't attack right away and waited for him to enter into closer range. Owari carefully adjusted his movements to lessen the impact on his wounds, he was especially bothered by how the stitches felt as he moved his body. However he would have to get used to this, he couldn't always fight at his best and he couldn't afford to not have some experience fighting while injured. If he only ever fought while in perfect shape he would be quite caught out when he inevitably got attacked while injured.

Owari cleared his mind as he sped up and ignored the uncomfortable feelings grating on him. When he was about halfway to the treant it suddenly shook a branch and shot out a few leaves. It apparently didn't want to make his approach easy, however if it thought this was enough to stop him it hadn't learned anything. He planted his feet on the ground and used the blade swarm stream to strike down the half dozen leaves one after the other. Even if they were as sharp as knives and hard as steel it was nothing to just knock them away and even cutting them in half was easy for him. The sudden exertion opened some of his wounds and some blood leaked out from them, but it was manageable for now. However the treant didn't stop its attacks as it shot a few more leaves. Nearly twenty leaves came out this time and some of them suddenly changed direction and came from the side weaving a net far more complete than any treant so far had managed against him.

Owari continued to make use of his technique to rapidly strike down each of the leaves coming at him, cutting down two or three each time he struck. As soon as he blocked the attack another group of even more leaves were shot at him and he had to keep making use of his technique to even move forward. By the time he got to where he had reached the day before over a hundred leaves had attempted to turn him into shredded meat. However with every swing of his sword and twist of his body he stepped forward and struck down the opposition as if it was no more difficult than a walk through the park.

Having used the blade swarm stream for this purpose so much it had slowly become second nature to him and he instinctively used it to deflect and strike down the leaves, if not for his wounds slowly opening up he wouldn't be at all struggling to keep this up. It was when he had reached the previous day's location when the treant tried to shoot a root up at him, probably trying to repeat the previous day's success. Unfortunately for it Owari was nothing if not adaptable so how could he allow the same trick to work on him twice? As he swung to take out a number of leaves he pivoted on his foot and jumped while striking the root from above and using his sword as a fulcrum was able to push himself up and over and even past it. Then he reoriented himself in mid-air and landed on the ground just behind the root before turning back and making use of all the momentum he built up from his blade swarm stream and rotated in place to cut straight through the root. Because of how thick the root was even if the treant tried to close it fast it lost a lot from this injury.

Before the root retreated though Owari held out his left palm and seemed to strike it against the root lightly. However this wasn't an attack, on the center of his palm was his brand and he was trying to tame the treant. When the brand touched the root it melted into it and the entire treant shuddered. For a brief moment Owari connected with the treant as he attempted to get it to submit to him, and although he felt the connection snap he was sure the treants resistance was mostly out of stubbornness and not unwillingness.

It was something like a token effort put up from a mix of shock at what Owari was attempting and it's own pride as a wild magical beast. As soon as the connection broke three roots shot up from the ground, but none of them were aimed at Owari. Instead they spiked up around him like pillars and into the air, which surprised him. However once they reached up out of the ground they turned in the air and came down at him from above. If attacks from below didn't work then it just had to attack from above. Unfortunately for the treant it was too simple-minded and had forgotten a simple fact, whenever it didn't pull its roots back fast enough it would get hurt. Owari spun in place and used the full strength moth wing strike to chop through every root in one wide swing. He hadn't even given the roots the chance to start their attack before he had already started his counterattack. By the time they had started attacking it was too late and they were all sliced.

Owari was about to charge forward and keep up the pressure when he flinched, his wounds had torn quite badly during those two previous attacks. He had moved his body too violently and had caused the stitching in some of his wounds to cut into his body. Even if he had good pain tolerance he was still unused to pain in general, it was only a month ago that he began this new life and started to get used to the feeling of being wounded. The treant didn't give up this chance as it seemed to notice his moment of stillness and shot a root at him at full speed. Owari knew he couldn't dodge so he switched his sword position to be in front of him and placed his left arm against the back of the blade to give it more stability as the root came out of the ground and collided with his sword. He felt a massive force strike him from the front and unfortunately it came from the front and below so he couldn't even use the ground to brace himself as he was lifted off the ground and sent flying back under a massive strike. He felt his sword pushing into his arm and even heard a crack as his arm likely fractured, his arm was also forced into his chest and not only was the air knocked out of his lungs but he also he felt a pop come from his shoulder due to the sudden change in position as it was dislocated. After only a few moments of being forced back the pressure on him decreased sharply as he reached full speed and was sent tumbling across the ground after a short period in the air. Unlike usual when in this situation Owari was too injured and exhausted to reorient himself or stop it as he just did his best to remain uninjured and get out of the treant's attack range and into safety.

Unfortunately because he couldn't stop himself from rolling he ended up skidding across the ground and slamming into a nearby tree trunk, as he did he was sure he broke a rib or two not to mention the massive pain on his back. He was sure he would be bruised and likely have knots in his muscles after this. However after coming to a stop he quickly stabbed his sword in the ground and used it to get into a kneeling position. Then he took his hand off the sword and used it to reset his shoulder according to what he had learned and carefully tested his grip with his left hand. The dislocation and fracture had probably caused too much shock and he couldn't put much strength into his fingers and wrist. His arm mostly hung limply at his side and he spared a moment to humorously recall that something similar had happened before. His left arm sure was unlucky, but then again he did mostly use it for this specific type of thing. Better his offhand be out of commission than his main arm even if he could use it almost as well.

After checking his arm he poked around the rest of his body as he kept an eye on the treant to make sure it didn't approach. He had definitely broken or at least cracked a couple ribs, and he found it hard to breathe after his breath was knocked out so he likely injured his lungs a bit. His right arm and wrist were sore from the force of the treants roots pushing against his sword and him trying to fight against it. His back hurt and every time he tried to move his arms or turn his body he would feel a dull throb come from both shoulder blades. Overall things had gone very poorly and he was even worse off now than before, his previous wounds had all also torn back open and some of the stitched ones had gotten worse due to the stitching cutting into the surrounding skin.

He turned and retreated after putting his sword back in its sheath. As he made his way back to his supplies to treat his wounds he was reminded of just how quickly things could go wrong. It was easy to blame his impatience and say it was because he forced himself to fight while injured, however it was true that he might find himself in such a situation in the future and have no choice in the matter. Owari didn't judge things with such a subjective and biased attitude. Instead he looked at things fairly and objectively.

The reason he had lost wasn't that he was injured, it was that he gave his opponent an opening to exploit. If he had been able to tolerate the pain of his wounds reopening and forced himself to keep going he would not have been hit. Some people might say it was natural to react that way, after all it was just his body trying to warn him not to move and hurt himself. However the results spoke for themselves, that natural reaction meant to keep him safe had caused him to be even more injured. Not every natural response was the most optimal or safe option. Owari realized this now and he knew he would have to overcome this natural limitation one day to grow stronger. As a start he tested a few ways to overcome this as he arrived at his supply cache and began to treat his wounds.

He ended up having to remove the previous stitching and redo them since a lot of them either came loose or flat out tore out. Some of his smaller cuts had also torn and required stitching now as well. He couldn't do much for the damage in his bones so he just left them as they were and did his best not to move so they wouldn't get worse and would have a chance to begin healing. Other than that he regulated his breathing and tried to clear it up, he was still unable to take deep breaths but he had strong lungs so they were recovering quickly. He wondered if he would even be able to go back again tomorrow to try again, with his current wounds it would be ill-advised. However he also knew he couldn't delay.

As he considered these things he made his way down to a nearby stream and threw his clothes out before washing himself of blood and changing into fresh clothes, he only had one more outfit after this so he had to be careful. He rinsed his haori to remove as much blood as possible and slung it over a tree branch to dry before going to sleep. When he woke up the next morning he was still unsure of how to deal with the treant problem, however it was never in his nature to hesitate so after beating out the dampness in his haori he threw it on and made his way to the treant's home.