POV Aron Brightcloud

I realized I had made a mistake. Having a part of my battle senses back, I had used them automatically in response to a dangerous situation. In doing so, I had shown her more of my skills than I had initially planned. On the bright side, I was quite sure that she wasn’t going to tell anyone. I had a certain power over her. The knowledge of her not being human, gave me some leverage. So it should be okay. It would even speed up my training as she would push me more in the future.

Having heard her words I answered, “Sure, I have been looking forward to fighting a real beast!”

“Great, in that case lets get going. I will lead you to one and show you at the same time how to track down your pray.” Following that, she gave me a short introduction before taking off at a moderate jog.

Knowing more, I ran after her. While running I scanned the surroundings and applied the learned theory on the move, practicing multiple skills simultaneously.

Not long later we had arrived at a little ledge, giving us an overview over the small valley below us. And there next to a river a forest-wolf stood, drinking water from the stream. The beast was magnificent. Over eight feet long and five feet tall, it was quite a bit bigger than the wolves I knew from my homeworld. From my new memories I knew that this beast was much more dangerous than a normal wolf, but nothing I couldn’t handle with my experience and returned subroutines.

Sephiroth grinned and motioned with her hand to the wolf, “Attack!”

Yes… Like I was some sort of hunting dog. Shaking my head, I complied and relaxedly took two steps in the direction of the beast.

I froze. Damn. Not again! I turned my head back. Sephiroth starred at me like she had found a new, very fascinating toy to dissect.

Our eyes connected. I could feel her predatory gaze trying to drill straight through my eyes into my brain. With a velvety voice she rolled my name over her tongue.

“Say, my lovely Aron. Why are you suddenly so sure of yourself? Attacking your first beast without any help or tactical discussion? First you make a sudden jump in battle tactics and now this. Has something changed? Are you hiding something from me?”

While she talked, Sephiroth had surmounted the distance between us. She did it so casually and sensually that I had somehow missed reacting to her approach. Now she stood much too close to my liking. Sephiroth grinned knowingly before patting my cheek with her left hand.

“No taking it back now. Hush, go now. I want to see you butchering that wolf. And don’t try to fight it at half strength. I will know. Believe me, you won’t like it.”

Damn… I needed to pay more attention… Having part of my toolkit back made me too self-confident. I needed to hide it better. Now it was too late. Better I followed her advice. Sephiroth would make my life a living hell if she thought I had held back during the battle. Continuing my initial plan, I quietly made my way down towards the beast.

Forestwolves had great hearing and an impeccable sense of smell. Because of that, I held myself to the right side. Using the down-wards wind stream to blow my scent away, I moved closer without it’s notice.

I knew that I had only a slight chance of killing it with one blow, so first priority had to be to injure its hind legs. With only one fully functional leg it would be less dangerous. Most likely I would be unable to arrive at its side without its notice, so I to plan for contingencies.

Slowly, I crept further.

As I had predicted, it became aware of my approach as I reached the thirty feet mark. I had done everything right, but somehow it had still felt something. Well, no benefit in lamenting over what could have been. It was time to adapt.

I gave up on stealth in favor of a better fighting position and moved towards it. I would have preferred to have a shield for this fight. But in the future my left hand would be occupied with magic, so I had to get used to fighting without one.

Having lost the moment of surprise, I played it safe and easy. I didn’t know its movement patterns well enough for exotic tricks. This fight was going to be simple and repetitive. The wolf would attack, I would evade and hurt it until I had crippled its legs enough to attack essential organs without being in danger of having body parts bitten off.

Following my plan, the wolf attacked me with a jumping lunge. At the last moment I evaded, letting it fly by. My sword slipped in. It cleanly cut through its hind leg, severing it above its knee.

Okay, that was out of my expectation. My sword was much sharper than predicted.

With a yelp the wolf came down on its remaining legs, immediately turning towards my position, yet it moved much slower than before. I used it’s impaired mobility to close the distance. This fight was going to be much shorter than expected.

It turned its body to bring its sharp teeth to bear. I simply moved backwards a bit, letting it bite empty air before bisecting its head lengthwise with a casual swing of my sword. The fight was anticlimactic. I had profusely underestimated the sharpness of my weapon.

Suddenly, hot energy entered my body. It slightly strengthened my whole being before settling in my stomach. I- My sixth sense screamed, I let myself fall to the floor, narrowly missing a sword that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Someone stood behind me. My body moved automatically. Being in a low position I swiped my leg out and cleanly swept my attacker off her legs. While she fell I pushed myself off the ground in a round arc, coming down on top of her. I used my body to tackle Sephiroth as she tried to right herself.

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Not giving her any time, I disarmed her and pinned her to the ground. Only than did I realize how close we were. I felt her whole body pressed against me. Her beautiful eyes peered into mine.

My tactical brain suddenly screamed; Trap! She was much too quick to let herself be caught like that. I needed to distance myself. I- Her arms slinked out of my hold and before I could move, she held my head in hers. Oh no! I needed to- Then she kissed me. It felt so good. The remaining heat of the experience intake and her kiss rippled through my body, combining and elevating it to a whole different level. She held me in place at first but feeling my acceptance through my relaxing body she led my head go. I knew I should have used this chance to escape, but it felt so good. It toppled my logic though patterns in favor of much more primal ones. It wouldn’t hurt to indulge her a bit. Letting the heat from inside and outside wash through me, I felt wonderful. We played with our tongues, sensually rubbing them against each other, moving our lips up and down.

Sephiroth used the relaxation of my body to suddenly turn me over. Coming to lie on top of me. Still not stopping the kiss she made herself comfortable on my chest before stopping.

Sephiroth looked down at me sensually, yet full of mirth. Her eyes told me that she had gotten the better of me. Slowly, I regained my clarity.

Clearing my throat I spoke, “What the hell! What was that!? Could you please climb off of me?” Sephiroth simply shook her head, “ No, don’t want to, it’s too comfortable.”

I had no clue how to react to that. Especially as I enjoyed it as well. Yet I knew I needed to get away from her. I mustn’t give her more control over me.

I forced myself to push her away. Luckily, she didn’t fight against it too much. I righted myself and checked the surroundings. Partially to make sure nothing dangerous was creeping up on us and partially to get my mind back on track.

Sephiroth’s voice sounded behind me. “That was a splendid fight. Short, precise and clean. You even sensed my attack at the end.

This is really important. Always be aware of your surroundings! Especially after you have killed a monster. The experience intake tends to distract people. Many have found their death because of this. They were too engrossed in the feeling and missed another beast or even a teammate that attacked them during their time of weakness. Woman can also use these events to push you into things you normally wouldn’t do. You are much more susceptible to sensual assaults.”

I looked at her with one eyebrow raised. “So you only did it to teach me? Let me guess. Because of that, it is not a transgression of the rules we have set and shouldn’t be punished?”

“Yes, exactly. You needed to have experienced it so you are aware of the dangers. See how much I invest in your development! I should get a pay raise for that!”

Only Sephiroth would break the rules, and try to get benefits out of it. I wanted to be angry at her but had to suppress a laugh instead.

She was really a disaster on two legs…

I shook my head. “Nope, you can be happy that I won’t switch you with Richard for a day.”

“Aww, Master, don’t be so strict!” She wined and looked at me with her most pitiful eyes.

“Forget it, I won’t fall for that. So, what do I do with the energy I feel in my stomach?”

Sephiroth switched instantly from pitiful maiden to wise teacher mode.

“The experience you gain by killing a beast will strengthen your body a bit before it nestles itself in your core. Now you can decide on how to use it. Strengthening your core to become a stronger mage or strengthening your body to become a more accomplished fighter. As you have yet to awaken, it is only possible to strengthen your body. The place in your stomach will in the future become your Core, at that time it will provide you with mana. At the moment it is only an empty container which you can fill with Experience-energy.”

Hearing her answer it made sense. So what should I do with it? Keeping it or improve my body instead?

Sephiroth saw my thoughtful look and answered my unspoken question.

“As you are now completely at the beginning it won’t hurt you to invest a bit into your body. It will give you an edge over most of the civilians and help you in all sorts of situations before you have developed your magic enough.”

“Okay, that advice seems sound. So tell me, why are you so sure that I will become a mage? It has yet to be confirmed if I have the talent to become a mage.”

Sephiroth only grinned at that. “It is not well known, but your father is much stronger than he lets on. I have followed him for quite some time, and your mother feels a bit off as well. Magic is dominant, means if both of your parents are strong magicians, you will most certainly become a mage as well.”

Okay, that was interesting to hear. The boy had no clue about his parents' strength. I had to pay more attention to what I showed my mother and what not. She mustn’t get suspicious of me. Now it made more sense why our family was still alive. Our enemies must have stopped the culling because we children were a deterrence as well. If all children died, the remaining powerhouses of my family wouldn’t have anything holding them back.

“Anything else I should know about infusing the energy into my body?”

“Yes, you should start with your bones, followed by your organs and nerves. Work your way outward from there. It is important to build a sturdy base to not hurt yourself. Otherwise your improved muscles will put too much strain on the rest of your body.

You will feel it. The more you improve your body the more energy you will need to improve it further. So take that needed energy level as a gauge to measure the advancement of your body. To move the energy you have to simply will it with your mind. It is yours, so it will follow your will.”

I nodded and focused on the energy in myself. I willed it to fuse with my bones. The energy immediately complied and moved from my empty core chamber through my body, settling in all my bones.

A hot wave spread through my whole body for a second time. I felt better than ever before in my life. God, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were humans who had gotten completely addicted to it. Killing each other to feel more of it.

It slowly dissipated, leaving me to recover my bearing. Sephiroth stood close to me, grinning knowingly at me. “It feels great right? Normally you won’t get that strong of a reaction. Not anybody is able to kill such a strong monster in an one on one without having gotten any experience beforehand. Next time it won’t feel as good anymore. Yes, you could save it up and use all your gathered experience at the same time, but that's not a good idea. You will get addicted to it in no time.”

I slowly breathed out, “Yes, I can see that. It feels unbelievable.”

“Good.” Sephiroth watched the sky. “It is time to return home, Midday has already passed. Leave the beast here, another predator will arrive shortly and clean it up.”

I nodded, and we jogged back towards the mansion.