The three-headed dogs came at random times to ensure that Akata had to constantly be on alert. He had to constantly have his nature sense spread out which caused him to grow severely tired and drained a massive amount of his mental energy. If he didn’t have such a strong mental strength he would’ve put himself into a coma already.

Akata sat there cross legged with beads of sweat dripping off of him. His red robe had long since been drenched and his face was pale. Akata clenched his teeth and forced himself to maintain his nature sense.

He started rotating his red rune and stood up to kick an approaching three-headed dog. He didn’t stop there as he turned around and punched the air behind him sending out a blast of air towards another one. After the punch he gasped for air and fell to the ground.

“It’s been a week already and I can’t keep this up for much longer. I’m only able to maintain my nature sense in combat for about ten breaths of time. At this rate I won’t be able to maintain it for thirty breath until about a month.” He suddenly jumped up from his spot and rolled to the side. Then he sent a punch out and sank back down to the ground.

The three-headed dogs would come at random times. Sometimes they would appear right after one was defeated or even wait a few hours to show up again. At some times multiple three-headed dogs would appear at the same time and group up against Akata. This made it so he had to be on guard the whole time in this place.

To be on guard the whole time put a lot of strain on anybody. One had to have a strong mentality otherwise they would go paranoid. Also to maintain any kind of sense whether it be divine or nature would cause the mental energy to be drained constantly.

Each time Akata faced an opponent his nature sense would deplete and eventually run out so either he will be forced to finish his opponent off quickly or run away. Luckily the three-headed dogs were weak and he could easily defeat them one on one. But in cases where they grouped up it would get troublesome. After each time his nature energy was depleted he would have to sit in meditation again in order to build it back up and send it out again.

“How can I get this to go faster? I won’t be able to constantly maintain my nature sense for a whole month. There has to be another way to fight with my nature sense for thirty breaths of time. Right now my nature sense can scan around me and reach two meters. I can also maintain it in combat for ten breaths of time.” Suddenly Akata’s eyes went wide as he came up with an idea.

By now Akata could spread his nature sense out to two meters. That was double what he could originally do before. Not only that but he could maintain it for ten breaths of time in combat. When he first started he could only last half a breath. In a week of training he improved greatly, even faster than Second Elder’s expectations. But Akata still felt that it was too slow of progress, he wanted to go faster.

Akata sat there in meditation waiting for another three-headed dog to appear. He sat there for a good while before one showed up. He stood up and this time didn’t immediately punch out but instead retracted his nature sense back some. He retracted it until it only spread out to a meter. Then he commenced in attacking. He didn’t rush the battle, and only until he felt that his nature energy was about to go out did he deliver the finishing blow.

After the fight was finished Akata stood there for a moment and then gave a slight smile. “Twenty breaths of time, just as I suspected.” He sat down in meditation and spread out his nature sense as far as it could go. He was going to try his own kind of training.

Second Elder was somewhere looking on at Akata when she saw what he did. She gave a deep look and her eye twitched slightly. “He’s… he’s cheating.” Third Elder was right beside her and he let out a thunderous laugh. “AHAHA! That Akata kid sure is crafty. He is definitely a genius when it comes to improving himself. I have a feeling he’ll be out soon.”

“While in combat I’ll restrict myself to a meter of nature sense, any less than that and it will hinder my fighting performance. When I’m out of combat I’ll attempt to strengthen my nature sense. When it is able to spread out to three meters then I’ll be able to fight for thirty breaths of time.” His eyes glowed with anticipation as he began to train his nature energy and improve his nature sense.

By cutting the range he sent his nature sense in half, he was able to maintain it twice as long. “Keeping a calm mind is key to spreading out and strengthening your nature energy and strength. If I’m able to stay calmer in combat I should be able to maintain my nature sense longer also.” Given his temperament staying calm in battle was very difficult for Akata. He had a naturally strong fighting will that caused his mind to race which combatted the effect of his nature sense in combat. But if he was able to control his fighting will while in combat he could maintain his nature sense.

“Controlling my fighting will would be almost impossible for me. Not to mention my attitude but the red rune in my soul region also incites my will to fight.” Akata went quiet and considered matters for a while before thinking of something.

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“Well if that’s the case the only way to get them to work together is to have one of them to change, and since my fighting will won’t change then the state of my nature energy will have to. Nature energy is meant to be calm and undetected like a stalking predator trying to conceal themselves. But eventually that predator is going to lash out, in that case the state of the nature energy changes. It changes from one of calm and concealment to one of ruthlessness and speed. Everything uses the two sides of nature energy. The wind can be calm like a soft breeze or can be rough like with a storm. A predator conceals itself in order to stay hidden but then attacks with speed and power to get to its prey. I’ve only practiced the calm side, and now it’s time to unleash the wild side.”

Akata sat there gaining enlightenment towards nature energy that slowly helped him to enhance his nature energy and nature sense. In meditation he would practice the calm side. But when the time came to fight he would unleash his fighting will and also the wild side of nature.

Soon another three-headed dog came and Akata was ready for it. He stood up and retracted his nature sense to a meter in length. This time though the nature sense wasn’t calm like it had always been when he fought but instead increased in pressure causing the air to vibrate.

The three-headed dog immediately stopped in place. At first Akata seemed like a blade of grass that swayed in the wind, but when Akata stood up it felt like he turned into a giant that could crush it with nothing but a finger. The dog shrieked and tried to run away but how could Akata let it go just like that?

Akata took a step forward and used his Shadowfeet skill. The lower half of his body seemed to blend in with his shadow as he sped foward in front of the dog in the blink of an eye. Akata had been using his skills and techniques non-stop for the past week so they naturally improved, especially his Shadowfeet skill. With all the running he did and hiding he tried to do his Shadowfeet skill reached the third level. There were a total of five levels in the complete skill and he had mastered the second one while running this whole time.

Akata stood in front of the three-headed dog but didn’t punch out. He knew that if he did then he could instantly kill the dog right now. This new use of nature energy flooded throughout his body causing him to feel baptized with power and speed he never felt before. He looked deeply at the dog and waved his finger towards it. “Paragon’s Blood”.

The finger swipe cut into the dog causing it to be instantly killed and for blood to gush out. Akata waved his hand gathering the blood and he sat down in meditation. He used his Paragon’s Blood skill to absorb the dogs blood.

“I never got the chance to absorb this creature's blood since I was always on guard and worried about being attacked. It is a weird creature, even though there are many I can tell that they all come from the same animal. It is probably clones being sent after me. I wonder what secrets their blood holds.” Akata eyes shined brightly as he began to use his Paragon’s Blood.

The blood of the dog hovered in the air in front of him and then spread out to cover his whole body. The blood was then absorbed into his chest as he began using the technique. As he was absorbing the blood Akata kept his nature sense focused on his surroundings.

After six hours Akata let out an, “Eee?” sound as he finished absorbing the blood. “This blood contains many secrets in it. Unfortunately it truly is only a clone and I won’t be able to get any of those secrets from this single clone. But if I’m able to get my hands on more clones then maybe I can unlock those secrets.” Akata’s eyes glowed with greed and anticipation.

He waited for more clones to appear and each time they did he would kill it instantly and absorb its blood. Since he would kill them instantly and begin absorbing their blood he didn’t reach the thirty second mark he needed to complete the training. Eventually ten days passed by in a flash.

Akata hadn’t noticed the passage of time as he was obsessed with the blood of the three-headed dog. Each time he would absorb the blood of the clones he would feel like there was a secret hidden in the blood and that he would get closer to it, but no matter how much he absorbed he couldn’t find that secret.

“These clones aren’t working for me. I have to find the source of these clones and absorb that beasts blood, then I’ll be able to unlock the secrets of this blood.” Akata finished absorbing another clone and realized that he wasn’t going to get anywhere with them and figured that he needed to find the creature that produced them.

Almost as soon as Akata finished his thought a roar sounded out. The roar was so powerful that Akata sensed it through his nature energy.

“What a powerful beast! It has to have the cultivation level at the Docile Rank Grade 3 at least!” Akata couldn’t help but exclaim as the roar sounded out. Then his eyes glowed with a fierce light. “This saves me much time. Once I absorb the blood of this beast I would have finished my training here.”

Akata didn’t move from his spot though. For one he knew the beast was going to come to him. For two he didn’t want to deplete his nature energy by moving. Instead he spread his nature sense as far as it could go. By this time it had reached three meters.

Akata didn’t have to wait long as the beast reached him in a few moments. As it entered his nature sense, Akata saw the full view of it. It was a creature that stood six meters tall. It had three canine heads and long red claws that tore at the ground below it. Its body was covered in a deep black fur that made it look like an extension of the night. All six of its eyes were bloodshot and its four paws were enormous. It also gave off the aura of blood and death.

The pressure that emanated off of it caused Akata to feel astonished for a moment, but he regained his composure right after.

The three-headed dog stood in front of Akata baring its fangs and letting out growling noises. Akata took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He then stood up and converted his calm nature energy into one of complete roughness. The pressure around him intensified and fought off the pressure of the three-headed canine.

The dog could sense the pressure coming from Akata and felt that it was actually pushing back his own. It didn’t wait any longer as it rushed towards Akata brandishing its claws in an attempt to tear him apart.

Akata gave a slight smile and used his Shadowfeet skill to evade the strike. He seemed to blend in with his shadow as he dodged the blow and appeared behind the dog. He pulled his arm back, clenched his hand into a fist, and punched out.

The canine was a fast thinker too as, instead of turning around or trying to dodging, it used its tail to fight against the punch.

Boom!

The collision of the two caused the air to vibrate vigorously. The dog was pushed back by a few meters and looked astonished and then it looked mad as it let out a deafening roar. Akata stood in the same place as astonishment also covered his face. He was surprised to find that the dog withstood his attack without being injured in the slightest.

“So that means I can let loose then?” A smirk appeared across his face and his eyes started glowing with a deeper crimson red.