"Alright Max, time for aether control."

Leonhard called over Max, but he still had some qualms over his least favorite training so far.

"But Dad, it's really early, only a finger past dawn!"

While clocks did exist, in a mana-dense region like the beast forest, they would have to be oddly strong to be the correct time despite the natural mana fluctuations.

Thus, using fingers to count time with the sun over the horizon was a popular trick, and they had taught it to Max.

"Max, remember? It's been 7 days since my last hunt, I need to go out at Zenith."

Zenith was the equivalent of noon, with dawn and dusk being the solar and lunar equinox respectively.

"Can you do it quicker then? Please?" Max was hyper-fixated on not doing the aether training now, that he didn't realize that he would still end up doing it later.

"Max. You have to do it anyway, so get over here."

"Okay..."

Max walked over reluctantly, getting down into the meditation position he was taught.

"Do you still need my guidance? Or do you want a trick?"

Leonhardt was already getting good at parenting Max, and he knew Max being curious was in his nature, he would jump at the opportunity to learn something.

"I wanna know the trick! Is the aether going to fix itself faster?"

"Yep. You know, that little loop you have going there is pretty bad."

Leonhardt tapped on the back of Max's neck twice.

"But why? It goes through the core, it even goes twice."

Max felt annoyed that his supposedly good loop wasn't that good.

"Max, first, the aether goes a long way outside the nexus core, which can be reduced to increase the rate that it gets kept into the cycle, and make sure there are more loops."

Max now had two things to work on when he had aether control, he had to increase the quality of his method, and also focus on getting more.

Yet time was passing quickly, and it quickly approached the equinox, then zenith soon after.

They hadn't done much in that time, mostly having Althea prepare a meal with cooking magic, and Max finishing up on his Aether training.

Leonhardt was now going out, his sword on his back and a tesseract bag, to carry everything he found.

Leonhardt rushed through the forest at blistering speeds, the beautiful green forest, and the colors of the flora and fauna around him not distracting him at all.

He would stop to pick up fruits, herbs, and if he was lucky enough to find one, any verdana.

He kept on with this until he found a monster.

Beasts and Monsters were classified differently, the main difference between them being intelligence, as beasts were around the intelligence of humans, some smarter, some dumber.

This monster was fairly weak, at least for Leonhardt. It was "only" hero-grade.

this warranted the power to topple a small town on its own, and it would require one with significant power to beat it.

The monster in question was a dakon, and a stronger variant, called an umbral dakon.

dakons were already very scary monsters, with 4 arms and a scrawny, incredibly thin look. They were humanoid, but their faces were a clean slate with nothing on it.

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Their eerie appearance wasn't for no reason, as they were ambush predators, though this one had been caught.

Their arms and lanky structure made them have an easier time hiding, and their not having a face wasn't their most horrifying capability.

dakons had no legs, and it was simply a spine-like appendage that extended out.

But, when prey was killed, this appendage would be stabbed into them, where it would suck out their blood, like a mosquito. So much, so that most times they would be killed slowly.

umbral dakons, unlike normal ones, had dark, light-absorbing black skin, unlike the normal tree-bark brown.

They would also just be stronger, and better in every way.

Sadly for this dakon, it had been caught before it could pounce, which made it far less strong.

"Huh, just this little twig? I can't eat bones."

Leonhardt was angry a strong monster was so thin, so was going to let out a little frustration.

His body twisted and turned, as frost swirled around him, snowflakes spinning at speeds that could turn them into saws, he let out 2 words.

The snowflakes charged forward at a stunning speed, ripping into the umbral dakon like it was one of the trees behind it, slowly turning the thing into a red paste by the time all the snowflakes were gone.

"Phew. A difficult battle!"

Leonhardt laughed.

And he went on, but his move had caught the attention of another beast, a stronger one.

He moved through the forest, at speeds even faster than before, but he quickly ran into another creature.

"Hm. A human enters my land. I'm feeling quite angry, so this is the end for you, sadly."

The beast who had just spoken this was no weak creature that could say this with no backing.

It was a dragonoid. Given to any creature where one parent was a dragon, they weren't as strong as dragons, but they were still close.

The dragonoid in question seemed to be a mix between a dragon and a boar, specifically a raijor, which was an evolved boar with lightning affinity.

Its lumbering frame stood 25 meters tall, though the creature was also 60 meters long and 20 meters wide.

It looked like a classic dragon, yet the lightning crackling all over it gave way to its affinity.

It also was fairly stubby and somewhat fat, but still very muscular.

Its light blue scales were iridescent, and it looked beautiful in a way.

This creature wasn't showing off too. Its presence was electrifying, and being near it was enough to send even Leonhardts nerves on edge.

It felt like it could be anywhere, just when it wanted to. This was the strength of a city destroyer, a bane of life.

A creature of the Apocalypse-Grade.

"Ah. I smell the scent of a father on you. Once I'm done with you, I might go and kill your cub and mate as well."

A self-serving creature it was, as it had lived to treat itself like a king due to its strength.

Yet Leonhardt saw red. He had protected his family all this time, he wouldn't stop now.

VHOOM!

A massive beam of white mana shot down from the sky, signaling a transformation into one's gigantiform. The mana was neutral, and it fueled the creation of the flesh in the gigantiform

In this form, Leonhardt looked humanoid, he was about 35 meters tall, his hair had turned an ice blue and was glowing, and his skin had a light blue tint.

His arms were disproportionately huge, and the mana dimens in them seemed to be glowing.

Not only this but an ice covered his fists like gauntlets, and two massive greatswords as tall and thick as Leonhardt were in his hands.

"You think you can say that?"

The ground buckled under the pressure of Leonhardt's charge, his thigh flexing, and the vibrations being felt by even Althea and Max.

Tree toppled under the wind of his movement, and as his sword moved artistically, mana was guided along a path, for his swordance.

Time slowed for the dragonoid, his realization that Leonhardt would most likely kill him.

The cold in the air condensed into a spirit behind both swords, their vengeful forms seemed to wish, to beckon for the dragonoid's demise, and they seemed capable of assisting.

Both charged at the dragonoid, biting into its flesh and freezing it immediately.

He realized something was odd, as not only his muscles, but the mana around him, and even his thoughts were slowed.

But he had to fight back.

It seemed the human wanted to finish him with that swordance, he would return the favor.

A cloud formed above Leonhardt, quickly forming into a stormcloud.

It struck once, then twice. It sped up quickly until more than one lightning would strike at once. The hateful cloud barraged Leonhardt with innumerable strike after strike until it dissipated.

The frozen trees were now burnt to a crisp, making the landscape look even worse.

"Fucking fat lizard. When I kill you I'll feed you to my family. You don't deserve a better fate."

And with it, he started on another swordance, his body weaving a flurry of aether and mana—this one would be powerful.

Starting from Leonhardt, the world froze. The ice spread, and where it went, all had stopped.

The dragonoid tried to run, but it was in vain. It could not escape.

So its last moments were spent in a pathetic visage where its face was painted with fear, escaping.

SHING!

Leonhardt slashed the head off.

A sound similar to air releasing from a pipe sounded, as Leonhardt slowly shrunk to his normal size.

He was singed and slightly hurt, but overall better than he expected.

"Wow."

The corpse thawed, falling over with a thunderous noise, blood flooding the flattened, burnt, and shattered land.

"Boar meat, alright! I'm bringing some good food back home."

Leonhardt somehow fit the corpse in his tesseract bag—courtesy of Althea—ready to show them the spoils of battle.