Rain looked toward the remaining people behind him. They backed away in fear as his wings shimmered under the moonlight. He turned to face them, readying his staff. Two of the thieves ran into the forest, and two of Rain's vineclaws chased after the deserters. Rain continued walking forward.

The man with a sword got into a stance, red energy flowing from his body as veins bulged on his face. With a furious roar, he charged forward.

Rain parried the man's strike and countered with a swift kick to the head, knocking him to the ground. Mist filled the area as Rain activated Fog Cloak. He could hear their screams of panic as they lost their vision. Rain finished off the raging swordsman and dashed toward another enemy.

Grabbing the man's club, Rain crushed it in his hands. A blade of water formed around Rain's hand, and he thrust it through the man's throat, killing him instantly. He rushed to the next person, but it was too late—the remaining vineclaw had already finished him off. Rain dismissed the Fog Cloak and saw the two vineclaws that had chased the deserters dragging their corpses back.

Rain searched them for anything useful but found nothing as he got up from searching Notifications filled his view.

["Multiple Enemies Slain. Minor rune of Dexterity Rewarded. Minor Rune of Agility Rewarded"]

Rain nodded, noting that he was at twenty-two points invested; he only needed thirty-eight more to reach level five. He glanced at his vineclaws, curious about their levels and how close they were to leveling up. He assumed they were high-level two or low-level three but wasn't sure. Regardless, this could wait until daylight.

Rain relocated his camp, climbed into a tree, and fell asleep.

Rain jolted awake as the sun began to rise. He jumped down from the tree, his mental clock still functioning perfectly, waking him just as the sun rose. Walking over to his vineclaws, he noticed something different. Their fur had turned a dark blue, and the vines around them no longer looked like plants but appeared to be flowing water. Similar to their mother, the scruff around their necks had been replaced with something scarf-like, resembling flowing rivers.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Rain looked down at his own scarf. It was no longer the leafy green he remembered but instead matched the vineclaws' flowing river scarves, constantly streaming backward as if caught in a perpetual breeze.

He summoned a hydro shield and examined his reflection. He had to admit, he looked pretty cool. His black outfit with the hood up made him resemble an assassin and the contrast of the water scarf added to the effect. His face, which he had feared might look uglier, simply resembled that of a tree frog. But as he looked at the eye with the star in it, anger began to build inside him again. That creep just did whatever he wanted, and Rain was powerless to stop it.

Rain petted his vineclaws—or rather, hydroclaws, as they could hardly be called vineclaws anymore. As he corrected himself, he realized he had never given them names. Sitting down next to them, he began to ponder. There were two males and one female.

Rain named the girl Aqua, one of the boys Tide, and the last Cascade. a smile crept across his face as he called them forward. Rain stood up from the ground and walked back to his old campsite. The bodies he left overnight were gone and it couldn't have been an animal cause the weapons were gone too.

He ignored it for now and began moving toward the mistwoods. Rain figured they had no reason to lie because they planned to kill him anyway so he took their advice and kept walking.

As Rain approached the mistwoods he noticed that many monsters steered clear of him completely, Running away the moment he came into view. He didn't mind though, he wanted to save his strength for the monsters in the mistwoods.

he continued his journey before finally coming to a small clearing just beyond the clearing. The trees continued but they were shrouded in mist. This was clearly the mistwoods the name was a little too on the nose though. Rain stepped forward into the mistwoods ready to get even stronger.

Aqua and Cascade began sniffing along the ground, clearly ready for a fight. Rain followed after them while Tide stayed in the back for defense. As they walked, a massive paw suddenly reached out and pinned Tide. Rain quickly turned around and stepped back, hesitating for a moment before getting into a stance.

A giant bear crept from behind the tree an intimidating roar emanated from the beast. Rain looked up at the bear, How did Aqua and Cascade miss this thing? Rain activated his clan ability and fog cloak and got ready, This wouldn't be easy