The creature recoiled as if not used to suffering injuries from the prey it hunted and moved back step, letting out an unsure growl. Ethan did not let the creature gather its wits and advanced, not bothering to summon other weapons, opting to use his sword. After all, it had not let him down before.
He did not hesitate anymore and attacked with the intent to kill. His initial reservations - gone. He instinctively understood that either he or the creature would come out on top. And he was done being the prey. Ethan doubted he could outpace the monster and decided to play to his strengths if fighting Gloomy had taught him anything. An attack is the best defense, he thought and attacked.
The monster did not anticipate such impudence from a creature as small as Ethan and did not know how to react when the tiny human jumped next to his hind legs and cut into the ligament. Its leg went limp, and then came the pain. The liger roared to the forest around them, the sound deafening to Ethan’s ears. He ignored the pain in his ears and continued with his attack.
Expecting the monster’s retaliation, Ethan leaped back and around it, playing a dangerous game of cat and mouse, as he aimed for the other leg, severing the tendons and thus disabling the monster. The creature cried out again, turning in fury, and managed to clip Ethan’s moving form with its paw, smashing him into a tree.
Ethan hit the tree with his back and blacked out for a second, losing sight of the monster as it moved to lick its wound. Then, finally, he came to, gasping, and rolled away just in time to avoid the monster’s maw, bitting into the tree behind him.
He rolled away and to his feet in one fluid motion, hurdling back a few times to make some distance to reevaluate the situation. Observing the liger, he saw that its movement had become sluggish, black blood oozing below its feet. Ethan moved to attack the creature but winced as he noticed a sharp pain in his right side.
Bruised my ribs, huh? I guess, Gloomy and his harsh treatment have made me more resilient, he thought, noting that such injury would have kicked him out of the fight back home. By then, Ethan’s breath was heavy, and he struggled to catch his breath, observing the liger a few meters away. The creature, in turn, made an unsure growl and tried to make some more distance and retreat from Ethan, recognizing that it had met its match.
Ethan wanted something else. He understood that he could match the creature, if not in power, then in speed. And to conquer his fears and leave this place, he needed to defeat this creature first. Ethan advanced. First, he feinted to the right, aiming again for the hind legs to confuse the monster. As expected, it took the bait, and Ethan changed direction at the last moment to cut into the liger’s neck, clipping an artery.
Before the creature could recover and bite his head off, Ethan ducked under it and slashed at its throat, cutting deep into the unprotected underside of the monster, bathing himself in black blood. The creature staggered back just as Ethan made it clear and out of the way.
Ethan observed it trying to roar again, only painful gurgling yelps coming out of its maw, confusion visible in the liger’s eyes. Then, finally, it attempted to move toward Ethan but collapsed with a wet thud, just ten meters away from him, breathing hard. In a moment, its puffing stopped, and a notification popped up in Ethan’s vision.
You have defeated [Boreal liger]!
Do you want to loot [Boreal liger]?
Yes/No
He mentally selected ‘Yes,' still looking at the monster’s lifeless red eyes, black oozing slowly, forming a small lake around it. Ethan breathed heavily, uncaring about the stench of the liger’s blood around him.
[Boreal liger] has been looted!
* [Monster essence (iron)] has been added to your storage.
* 50 [Aspect tokens (iron)] have been added to your storage.
Ethan felt elevated, as if he had finally been released from the prison he did not know he was in. He looked around him and saw the huge paw prints the monster had left on the wet ground and noted they seemed awfully familiar to the one he saw when he first woke up. So that was yours, huh? Ethan thought and pooled up his action log.
Action log
…
You have suffered a fractured rib.
You have dealt true damage.
As the target’s soul potential is below yours - the damage has been doubled.
…
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He calmed down as he read the messages and sat by a nearby tree to catch his breath, cursing his hurting side. I guess that is how the huge guy went down, he thought to himself as he read a string of messages from his log regarding the application of true damage.
As it turned out, it was a huge boon to inflict such damage, and Ethan could not imagine what it would take to kill such a creature with a conventional sword and spear. He still had to meet other humans, or any other species for that matter, to compare.
He thought back to the soul part, sighing as the grey windows confirmed his rising suspicions that the monster contained at least a sliver of a soul or intelligence. Then he saw the monster’s black goo was absorbed back into the ground.
“You rest well, big guy,” Ethan said as he observed the last of the monster disappear without leaving a trace. He exhaled and looked up to the sky before saying, “I guess I will see more of this the further I go.” He looked around and slowly got up, the pain in his side not improving.
Ethan slowly returned to the secret underground tunnel hidden behind the small clearing. Despite all the aching limbs, he felt elevated to defeat his fears. Yet, the fight left him wondering how many more, even stronger monsters or even humans, were out there.
His head cleared as he returned to the meadow, and he understood there was no use in worrying about such things now. After all, he had a long road ahead of him before meeting this strange land's first humans. He had already taken the first step today and felt ready to pack his things and go.
However, before he was ready fully ready, he knew that if the humans shared the same powers he did, then he was bound to run into conflict. And it very well may be him next time, who was a the mercy of others, and he did not want that. No, he wanted to be a master of his destiny. And for that, he needed to be stronger.
I guess we will be spending some more time together, Gloomy, Ethan thought as he went into the small cave and crawled slowly to the entrance to the castle of Gloom.
- - -
As promised to himself, Ethan continued to spend his weeks in the training hall with Gloomy. He had come to enjoy his meetings with the shadow golem and sometimes wished it would show the same love as he did. However, it had other thoughts, throwing Ethan out of the training area time and time again, continuing to teach Ethan how little he knew how to use the sword.
On the first days after the fight with the liger, Ethan took it slow and allowed his ribs to heal. It took far less than Ethan estimated, and after a few days, he was ready to go back to the routine of sparring with the shadow golem. The weeks went on, and Ethan continued to grow his mastery, learning more and more tricks to employ his shadow conjurations, albeit to a little effect against Gloomy.
At one point, Ethan experimented with the poles and discovered that he could dislodge one and put it in storage. Unfortunately, the thing took up two spaces, but Ethan saw that as a small cost to pay to have a permanent training buddy with him when he decided the leave the castle.
He was flung out of the ring again and again but paid it no mind as he had learned to land on his two feet. Ethan observed his progress and smiled to himself.
Aspect [Shadow]: Apprentice rank
Progress: 72%
“Nice one, Gloomy!” he called out to the impassive golem, bowing. “Getting close now. I hope this has not been in vain so far, and I will get some new power after hitting the adept rank,” Ethan pondered to himself, hoping he would rank up when his one and only aspect hit a hundred percent. He had his doubts, however, he was not sure if that was how it worked.
Maybe I will need to gain all the other aspects before I can continue to rank up? he thought, absently walking away from the training area. He sat down in the captain’s corner and got out yet another freshly cooked fish from his storage.
He bit into the fish and savored the taste, enjoying the food. Ethan could not shake off the feeling that something seemed different today. Then, his ears perked up as he heard something. “A thudding sound?” Ethan asked himself and listened closely. Then he heard it again as the floor shuddered a bit.
Ethan paused briefly, “All right, that can’t be good.” He put the fish down and ran out of the training hall, following the thudding that repeated at roughly fifteen-second intervals.
The sound led him down to the large meeting hall, and he listened closer, pressing his ear against the wall. The thud repeated as he turned his head toward a corridor he had not explored before. He discovered a staircase leading down and followed it, getting his light crystal out of storage. Oh, well, that is where you usually find more monsters, he thought before descending.
As the floor below his feet trembled, Ethan descended, listening to the thuds increasing in volume and magnitude. Then, a message popped into his vision.
You have discovered the [Gloomvault dungeon]!
Do you wish to enter?
Yes/No
Ethan paused for a second and said, “No! Hell no!” He took a cautious step back, looking back down at the dimly light staircase, the end of it seemingly swallowing the light. A dungeon under the castle? I was sleeping here, for god's sake! he thought as he ran back halfway to the training hall before a horn sounded from somewhere outside.