I stare at a list of available skills, it currently only has one entry at the very top. I haven't seen this since I upgraded and didn't think I would see it again until level fifty. But here we are, I'm being offered Throwing Proficiency. But how did this even happen? Did the throwing hundreds of snowballs at the twigling cause it to offer me the skill. I check the description.

Throwing Proficiency

The ability of a creature to throw objects, including regular and throwing oriented weapons, and hit their designated target. Higher levels in this skill allow users to more accurately judge and hit both moving and stationary targets, as well as targets that would otherwise be too hard to hit by normal means. This allows even creatures inept or incapable of throwing objects properly under normal means to do so anyways.

Oh if that isn't a jab at me I don't know what is. Think it's funny I can throw so you give me a pity skill is that it? Well fine, I'm not so prideful as to snub my nose at fix to potential issues, I accept the skill.

General Skill Acquired: Throwing Proficiency

General skills:

* Universal Communication – Level: 1 (Max)

* Blend – Level: 10 (Max)

* Plant Forming – Level: 10 (Max)

* Mobile Podding – Level: 4(+)

* Throwing Proficiency - Level: 1(+)

OK cool, new skill. Now let's try this again. I grab a snowball and chuck it at the twigling. It doesn't hit, but gets a lot closer than most of my shots were getting before. I grab another one and toss it. Same thing, this one grazes the twigling it's so close but isn't exactly a direct hit. I grab a third and it lands only an inch short. OK so even with the skill I can still miss, at least at its current level. Even at level one it's already majorly improved my accuracy. I wonder what a target that is hard to hit by normal means is? Eh, probably just moving to fast or has a mirage effect or something. Hmm actually I have light as an element, I wonder if I could do illusions spells or something. Probably not since I'm a paladin but hey, another thing to add to the list.

I walk to the center of my pod and sprawl myself out, then close the petals and re-add the sap. I close my eyes and drift off to sleep as the warm sap slowly encases me.

………………………………………

I'm awoken in the middle of the night by something big lumbering its way into my domain. And what ugly ass monster dares to interrupt my beauty sleep? What I find is a giant almost seven foot tall, six foot long, four foot wide cross between a boar and a grizzly bear. It has hooves for back legs but giant paws for its front. The head resembles that of a boar with giant spikes coming out of its nose. But the overall body structure seems to be closer to that of a bear.

Grizzly Boar (rare) (level: 37)

Oh my, a rare one, literally. I wonder how much exp he will give, actually I wonder if I can even kill him. Despite being lower level than the cratacumbas I’m getting the vibe that he is stronger than them. I say he but I guess it could be a she, I don't see any distinguishing features in that regard. Besides, it's going to join the dead soon anyways. The branches move into position, then stab down, and do nothing. Huh, that didn’t do much. The boar bear thing just looks around confused, like it got smack by something but can't figure out what, despite the fact that the branches are still sticking out of its ass. Well that's exactly what happened, so at least it hasn’t figured out I smacked it. Still, that's not a good sign, my initial attack didn’t even make it angry. Wow, maybe I should not mess with this thing….. Nah. I’m safe in my pod, I don’t think it's smart enough to figure out that, A,something is attacking it. B, I’m the something attacking it. And C, where I am attacking it from. So I wind up the branches and stab it again. This time it seems much more annoyed as it turns around and lets out a growl. I hit it again from behind using a different set of branches. It turns again and lets out a growl, but otherwise just stands there looking around. I hit it for a fourth time, this time it spins around and lets out a roar. It sees the branches and in a slow lumbering motion raises its front right pawn and smashes them away. It then follows up with another roar, this one loud enough to knock the snow off the nearby branches.

Stolen novel; please report.

Good, now that I have its attention, I’ll just stab it until it dies. Death by a thousand cuts, not like I’m going to run out of mana, maybe tree branches depending on this thing's health. So with no other way of being able to do anything, I start stabbing. Hit after hit goes into the thing, each one eliciting more and more rage from the creature than the last. After five minutes of continuous stabbing the beast shows no signs of slowing down, infact I think it's speeding up, it's now smashing branches away after each hit, slowly but surely draining my supply of offensive materials. Every other second the forest seems to shake with one of those obnoxiously loud roar. Go down damn it, why won't this thing stop and die already.

Tired of this charade I change my target. Instead of trying to just stab the target I start aiming for the eyes. The damn things are only the size of a quarter, but hitting anywhere else is clearly useless. After a few strikes to it's face I finally land the blow I've been looking for and pierce its right eye with a branch. Before I can do anything else it smashes the branch with its paw, let's out a horrific roar that I can feel even inside my pod, then turn and charges the offending tree which the striking branch had come from. It smashes into it and proceeds to start ripping into and biting the tree. Slowly the bark is torn away and the wood underneath hacked and mauled.

Yea, this thing is dumb as hell. I aim more branches and strike again, this time aiming for the one remaining eye. After a few hits I manage to get that one too, the eye coming out of the socket on the branch with a sick plucking sound. The now blind beast fails about in rage, haphazardly swinging at the air, occasionally striking a tree as it tramples about in an effort to find something to kill in retribution. I withhold my attacks for now, instead opting to watch as it wastes its energy. It will tire eventually, and when it does, I'll be waiting to finish the job.

Hours pass, every time the beast seems to think about calming down and leaving I poke it in the ass or face again with a nearby branch to remind it why it should be angry. Eventually it starts to slow down but I keep the annoyance up trying to completely exhaust it. Finally after another hour of spin the boar bear thing, it collapses into the snow with a light thump. The slowly rising sun barely illuminates the creatures face as my branches slowly creep in once more. I get them into position and strike. The grizzly boar finding one last burst of energy to stand and flail as half a dozen branches peirce into the remainder of both its eye sockets. It tore away the branches and made it a few feet before it fell to the snow once again, this time ceasing all movement completely.

It's not dead yet, I haven't gotten the kill notification, but it might as well be. Finally with the beast still I am able to consecutively strike the same spot. I pick a spot on its back where the fur and fat seems thin and start stabbing, hitting the point over and over until finally a branch finds its way through the thick skin and draws blood. I widen the wound by striking with more and more branches over and over, until eventual the hole in the skin is as big as my fist. Pouring blood and exhausted the beast can only let out pained grunts and gurgles as I slowly tear its insides apart using the branches. A few of my strikes hit bones, resulting in broken branches. Most of them hit true, eventually digging through the muscle and perforating the internal organs. Finally after an additional hour of stabbing my stationary victim it heaves its last breath then dies.

Defeated: Grizzly Boar (rare) (Level: 37)

+224 EXP

*Ding* You have leveled up!

I stare at the corpse, blood still dripping from the eyes and hole on its back, face buried in the slow with its tongue flopped out. Jesus christ I tore that thing apart like a psychotic child playing with bugs. I slowly hacked it to pieces over the course of hours and I don't feel a thing. I knew I was going down hill but damn. oh well, it's just a monster. Of course that's what those 'civil' folk say about me, fucking assholes! OK, calm down me, it's not like I wanted to kill it as slow and painful as possible. I went as quick as I could, which just happened to be slow as shit.

But enough introspection on my actions, I should focus on that exp though because hot damn that was a lot even for a level thirty. I wonder if it was because it was a rare rank? It was a lot harder to kill than the cratacumbas, but that might not have much to do with its rank. Now I got eleven points, what do I want to spend them on?