Mathew had walked into the middle of the forest. He wanted space, to be left alone for a while. Well, he wasn’t truly alone. All of his summons were dismissed. He brought them all with him, just in case.
He wasn’t far from Blue Oaks, only an hour away on foot. Compared to the old world standards of how fast a human could move, he was more like a couple of hours away on foot.
Cherry had tried to get him checked by Dr. Garcia, but he wasn’t in the mood to explain more things to her. Besides, his newest passive spell did that for him now. So long as he powered the spell with his mana, he was aware of everything with his body.
It wasn’t as perfect as the actual ritual, but any wounds or ailments he would be aware of. It made him think of his Expand Space ritual. How powerful of a ritual it once was before it was turned into a spell for him when he acquired his profession.
Mathew stopped when he found an open clearing that was to his liking. He had prepared for this ahead of time, declaring a ritual for his newest [Mana Text] ability. With a simple swell of mana, a ritual appeared in the air in front of him.
Red mist spread out through the air, being carried by the wind. His empowered Blood Scent ritual would cause anything wanting to fight to come to him.
All Mathew wanted to do right now was blow off some steam. Get in a few fights and get his blood pumping. The laughable fact that he was seeking a fight wasn’t missed by him. This wasn’t for a quest or to achieve some goal. It was just to find a reason to act with the power he had.
Rituals satisfied him mentally. It was a challenge to overcome and discover a new way to do something with the limited schematics he had. But, he was able to do it, and the results spoke for themself.
What wasn’t satisfying anymore was sitting inside, taking care of idiots who couldn’t fight off a Level 20 monster by themselves. Settling petty arguments. There was no enjoyment in those. No sense of victory or accomplishment.
Mathew sat down on the ground with his legs crossed and eyes closed. He crossed his arms as he let his mind wander in the thought of his next set of goals, both temporary and permanent.
He doubted anything nearby could harm him. There were no dungeons nearby, and local wildlife didn’t see to go past Level 15 except for extreme cases. The only thing that was a threat to him was another person, and he was more than sure he could fight off anyone under level 45 alone. With the help of his summons, he doubted anyone under Level 60 was a threat to him. Unless they had a lot of titles and bonuses to stats as he did.
Just to be on the safe side, Mathew summoned Jeffery as a last moment of thought. The red wolf didn’t have his armor on, but Mathew doubted it would matter. It wasn’t like he would stay dead.
With a sigh, Mathew waited and began to think. “I need to figure out how to change where my stats are allocated. I want to move things around, but keep things in pairs of two. The [Manual of Trinity] specifically only works with having things in perfect balance as I have tried to do. I can’t compound my gains from new levels. Which means I will need to rely upon other factors to keep me ahead until my soul is fixed enough to where I can cultivate my stats.”
Currently, Mathew’s stats were as all humans had them naturally. Strength and Vitality were for the Body. Dexterity and Endurance were for the Soul. Intelligence and Wisdom were for the Mind.
What he had learned over time and how he wanted to continue to grow himself was different. “Tempering my soul through stress and fixing the holes is what I’ll need to do. Which means I’ll need to put Strength into my Soul. I can easily swap that out for Dexterity, but I want my Wisdom to be part of my Soul as well. I hate to admit it, but the Lost Soul race gave me a good idea. Souls are meant to carry magical strains from enchantments. Wisdom is tied to one's overall mana capacity and overall perceptions. I need to be more aware of my soul than anyone else, which is just another reason to move my Wisdom to my Soul.”
Mathew was starting to figure out what to do with his other four stats and where to put them when a branch broke just under a hundred yards away from him. He opened his eyes and looked toward the sound in front of him. He couldn’t see anything, but he did hear a branch snap.
Jeffery was also looking in that direction but was still laying down, unimpressed.
Neither of them moved. Several moments went by as a large bear came walking over. It let out a weak roar, more in the question of why Mathew was there than a challenge.
“Now why did you come here? That Ritual should have only called for creatures closer to my level.” Mathew asked the bear as if it could answer.
The bear stood up and let out an actual roar of protest. Mathew wasn’t afraid of it. He had fought off stronger and more dangerous beasts. He pointed with a hand and fired a single [Mana Bolt], killing the bear instantly. Its body flopped to the ground with a thud.
With a sigh, Mathew closed his eyes again. “Do I want Dexterity in my body with Vitality? That means-” Jeffery’s growl alerted Mathew and he jumped to his feet ready for something to attack him.
Instead, he saw nothing. He heard nothing. Mathew looked at the giant wolf, “What is it?”
Jeffery was growling at the bear’s corpse. Mathew shook his head, “Fine go eat it. I killed it. You saw me do it.”
Mathew was about to sit back down when the bear’s corpse moved. He stared at it. “I’m more than confident that thing just moved.” He thought to himself.
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Not taking a single chance, Mathew charged up a powerful [Mana Bolt] and tore a hole in the bear’s corpse. Blood and other juices seeped out of it onto the ground. Its middle section was gone.
“There, now it’s dead for sure.” Mathew paused. “Unless Necromancy is involved.” He summoned his spear and walked over to the corpse. He poked it, and seeing it not moving, he stabbed into its head, ensuring the brain was destroyed.
Mathew turned and took two steps before he heard the bear move again. He was no longer thinking this was a normal bear or a normal situation of any kind. He jumped back from the bear and readied to figure out exactly what he was dealing with.
The bear stood up and staggered forward a step. Mathew narrowed his eyes as a gray glow came from them. He watched as he saw something tiny move around the edges of the hole in the bear’s torso. It was still too small for him to know exactly what it was, but there was movement.
Mathew replaced his spear with his rod. He wanted this entire thing destroyed so he started to summon Agnox. As the minute went by to bring out his familiar, he watched the wounds on the bear slowly shrink and repair themselves.
Agnox appeared floating in the air. “What’s up boss?” He looked over at the bear and scoffed, “Really? You brought me out for a-” He noticed the giant hole in the bear’s torso and smaller one in its head. “Bear…”
“Burn it,” Mathew ordered.
Agnox pointed both his hands outward and a cone of flames spewed outward to the bear. It didn’t make a sound as the smell of burning flesh emanate. Agnox stopped once it fell to the ground.
“No, burn it to ashes,” Mathew said. “There is something inside of it. Some sort of bug or parasite.”
Without hesitation, Agnox’s flames returned with a black hue now enveloping the flames. It took five minutes before there was only ash left behind of the bear.
Mathew walked over and knelt down to look at the ash. He scanned it as closely as he could to ensure nothing was amiss about it. Nothing moved within the pile minus a few ashes being blown away from a breeze.
“Think I got it all?” Agnox asked.
“No. No I don’t.” Mathew said. “Whatever it was, I am fully sure that wasn’t the only one. Parasites don’t just have one host. I am absolutely sure that bear was just one of many.”
Agnox landed and looked at the pile. “What makes you an expert on that?”
“I have a brother that is a doctor. Remember Adam? He studied human nature. Humans are a parasite, at least, that was one of the thesis papers he wrote. He has since changed his opinion obviously, wanting to help people get over their mental faults after he married his husband.” Mathew stood up and looked around at the environment around him. “Parasites take, they never give back to their host that they take over. Once the host’s purpose is all used up, then they move to another host. Meanwhile, they create more offspring to take over more hosts and continue to spread. The cycle continues until a new host isn’t found and they die off. Weather because they were unlucky in finding a host, or because all hosts are used up and gone.”
Agnox raised an eyebrow, “How are humans a parasite?”
“Earth is our host. His paper stated we give nothing back to the planet. Of course, people say we give off carbon dioxide for the plants to recreate oxygen. Our dead bodies fertilize. We also have prevented dozens of animals from going extinct. He stated we don’t do enough to offset the damage to the planet we cause.” Mathew shrugged, “Of course, that was just his first thesis to get his Doctorate. He’s written four in total. The last three all oppose his first. Each saying human life is precious and each life should be cared for as the delicate flower it is, but in academic and medical terms revolving around the human psyche and it’s primitive action to care for one another.”
Mathew didn’t see anything else coming for him, but he was more than sure something was just behind his senses. Watching him. His ritual would last for an hour. He couldn’t leave until it had finished running its course.
“I’m going to summon Cherry and the wisps. Get Jeffery armored up. Once we are all ready, we are going to figure out where that bear came from.”
Ten minutes and another explanation to Cherry later, they were all following Jeffery who was leading the group in the direction the bear came from. Mathew’s ritual was still active, so anything he got closer to would instantly come for him.
“What I don’t get is, why did such a low-level creature come to you?” Cherry asked. “Your ritual is for creatures within your level range, which nothing like that should exist out here. Unless you changed it.”
“The parasites or the first parasite must be a high level. It sensed the ritual and came to fight me.” Mathew explained to Cherry. “I’m betting it sent something out to check me out.”
“You really think a parasite can think?” Cherry asked. “They are mindless.”
Mathew chuckled. “I’m talking to a human tree, with a giant armor-wearing wolf, while an imp is flying above me. Nothing is impossible.”
“Fair point,” Cherry said with a pointed look. “I just don’t think it was reacting to your ritual. I think it was a pure chance a low-level creature walked near you.”
“The ritual is supposed to work like a beast ordering a challenge. Low-level monsters are supposed to be afraid. So why wasn’t - Actually never mind I answered my own question. Parasites don’t have emotions. They will absolutely go for a strong creature just for the chance to infect them.”
Mathew cursed at himself, “Now I am absolutely sure that it was reacting to my ritual.”
They continued to travel in silence. Mathew kept the pace slow, so they could investigate the area to not miss anything that could be a clue if more parasite-infected creatures exist near Blue Oaks.