Thorne left his tree promptly and quickly prepared his food and water for the day in his spatial storage. He jumped down the large tree and circulated amber energy to his feet and legs mid-air to survive the fall.

He reached the ground unharmed, all be it sprayed by some dirt. Upon hitting the ground, Thorne started jogging steadily, looking for something to hunt!

It had been about two months since he had killed his first raptor group. That battle had been a true scrape with death, but Thorne had come out better for it.

For the weeks following that battle, Thorne focused entirely on training his internal manipulation through similar fights.

Initially, he would fight more raptor groups. He always focused on winning through skill and control rather than brute force, which helped his energy control immensely.

Near the end of his second month in the Great Wilderness, Thorne could quickly kill these raptor groups, using his sword skills and proficiency in internal energy control.

Three days ago, Thorne decided to shift his goal in training. He chose to focus on external manipulation.

Unfortunately, he was confronted with a problem: there were no strong enemies in the forest. All the beats he had encountered were no match for him. The only ones that posed a threat were the flying beasts and that damn snake, but Thorne knew that he was no match for the snake just yet, and the flying beasts always flew away at any notion of danger.

‘I guess I should head out to the plains.’ Thorne decided, ‘If I remember correctly, the foes in the grassland were very out in the open.’ Recalling his first day in the Great Wilderness, Thorne pictured the flying beats and building-sized behemoths that dotted the endless terrain of the grassland.

‘Well, I suppose I don’t really have a choice.’ Thorne sighed, his shoulders drooping, ‘unless, of course, I want to fight the snake. Which I definitely do not.’ He shuddered upon imagining the snake. It was certainly more terrifying than anything that resided in the grasslands.

Thorne trekked through the terrain of the now familiar forest with ease. Occasionally, he would spot beasts in the distance, but he decided to avoid them and conserve his strength and energy.

After traveling for nearly an hour, Thorne reached the grasslands. It stretched for eternity; its endlessness was only broken by the towering mountain on the horizon. The grass varied in height; in some areas, it would only reach up to Thorne’s ankles, but in others, it towered as high as some trees.

‘Well, there are certainly lots of enemies here.’ Thorne thought as he surveyed the area, ‘They seem a bit too dangerous though.’

He eyed one beast in particular: the giant bear. He had seen it before on his first day in the wilderness and had been fully motivated to avoid it.

Thorne smiled wryly as he started walking in the bear’s direction, ‘I suppose we’ve come full circle.’

The bear towered at over thirty feet tall. It was the exact replica of a brown bear, except for its size, of course, and one more thing: its energy.

‘Hmm, so it uses amber energy; that’s very interesting.’ Thorne mused as he got closer. He sensed the latent energy swirling inside the bear. ‘This one will be hard to kill.’

Thorne rechecked his internal energy and noticed its excitement upon finally being allowed release.

He chuckled lightly, ‘Yes, you will have lots of fun today, don’t worry.’

His long brown hair rocked back and forth in the overpowering wind as he ventured forth toward his enemy.

‘It’s good that the grass isn’t too high here.’ Looking down at the grass and his surroundings, Thorne rechecked everything. He had to make sure the conditions for this fight were perfect.

‘Water, check. Food, check. Energy at full capacity, check.’ He confirmed with a sardonic smile on his face, ‘From being scared shitless by this beast to willingly fighting it, oh, what a few tortuous months can do.’

He shook his head, a light smile running across his face as he remembered a passage from the energy control manual. “With unwavering dedication and a commitment to disciplined practice, cultivators can forge a formidable connection with external energy, paving the way towards unrivaled combat prowess.” He drawled, ‘Well, hopefully, I get some of that unrivaled combat prowess, ’ Thorne chuckled to himself as he charged at the colossal bear!

The bear turned its massive body and looked down at Thorne, seemingly unimpressed at the bug charging at it.

‘Arrogant bastard,’ Thorne smiled while sprinting.

The bear reared as it rushed toward Thorne!

Each step it took produced a crater in the ground. It sounded as if cannons were being fired simultaneously as the bear started running.

It was terrifying. Thorne’s eyes widened as he saw the once comfortable distance being closed in a second by the bear’s massive strides.

“Shit!” He swore as the bear ran closer and closer until it reached him. With all its momentum intact, the bear brought down one of its legs on top of Thorne with divine force!

The sun was blocked out; the only thing left in this horrid wilderness was that bear leg!

‘I can’t run!’ Thorne’s breath caught in his throat. ‘I have to use my amber energy!’

He circulated all his amber energy, not to his arms, chest, or head. No, he pushed all that protective energy into his swords!

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With a shout, he held both swords up like pillars in the sky! They projected his will and stood undying, their sole purpose to protect, not kill, at that moment. Amber energy erupted from the tips of the two sabers, and an umbrella-like amber shield made burdensome contact with the hefty leg of the bear!

Thorne grunted in pain, and his legs sunk deep into the dirt from the unrelenting pressure.

‘It’s not enough! The amber is cracking!’ His eyes hardened in determination as he saw his potential death become closer and closer as the amber shield began to falter.

‘I need to escape now!’ Thorne realized. He had only held off the leg for a few seconds, but that was already too much. Thus, with great difficulty, Thorne multitasked his energy control.

Sweat rolled down his face and into his eyes. Thorne continued pumping and providing amber energy for the almost broken shield while simultaneously moving all his red energy to his legs for one departed final gambit!

His legs trembled as the energy filled them, but Thorne did not make his move yet.

“Almost!’ He grunted, almost unable to speak due to the otherworldly strain.

CRACK! The amber energy shattered into millions of pieces, and the bear’s leg crashed with a vengeance!

“Now!”

Thorne pressed off the ground with monumental speed! He rushed past the descending bear leg, barely avoiding being smushed into paste!

Spiting out dirt from his mouth, Thorne smiled widely; it had succeeded!

‘Who would have thought you could make a shield from a sword.’

However, the bear did not allow Thorne any more gloating as it hurriedly charged at him!

Thorne eyes contracted in concentration as he focused on the movement of his enemy; it was rugged and unbalanced, a tsunami of force and mass barely controlled.

‘I need to injure one of its legs.’ Thorne thought calmly.

He could not plan much more, though, as he had to focus on not dying from the bear’s relentless siege.

With heavy movements, the bear was upon him, a mountain of a creature hunting an insect. It roared, before lowering its head to thoroughly mince Thorne to pieces!

Its teeth were monstrous. Yellow and cracked, a monument to its past battles and foes.

Thinking quickly, Thorne slashed out with one of his swords! The blade was coated with red energy, but that energy soon left the blade and traveled savagely through the air. The brutal red arc surged at the bear’s mouth. It was a speck of dust compared to the monster, but it did its job.

With a horrifying explosion, the chaotic red arc of energy collided with one of the beast’s fangs! Parts of the teeth exploded into shrapnel and punctured the bear’s own mouth.

ROARARR!

The bear reared its head and shook violently in pain! Blood, smoke, and shrapnel flew out of its mouth. All a result of Thorne’s singular attack

Something changed, though. Thorne’s eyes widened with horror, and his heart stopped.

“It’s...it’s healing,” Thorne muttered in wonder. Intricate flowing lines of amber energy swiftly rescued the bear as the energy healed the wound.

It all occurred in an instant; at one point, the beast was screaming in horrifying pain; in another, its once horrible injury was gone. Healed in seconds.

‘I need to kill it instantly.’ Thorne realized his former plan going out the window. ‘But how? How can I do that?’

The bear’s eyes darted over to Thorne in pure fury. It had been thinking of him as a bug, an annoyance, a pest. Thorne had hurt the prideful beast, and to restore that pride, the bear would do anything to kill Thorne!

“Oh shit.” Thorne wheezed breathlessly in exasperation, “Now it’s angry.”

The bear sprinted at full speed. It tore up the earth mercilessly; dirt flew in its wake, and the grass was ripped and torn from its roots. The landscape of the previously serene grassland now looked like something else entirely: a battlefield.

‘Should I run?’ Thorne looked around fervently in panic, ‘Can I run?’

He shook his head, ‘No, I have to kill it; if I run, I die.’

His eyes hardened in resolve. The red and amber irises stared intensely at his prey.

‘I know what I need to do.’

Only a couple dozen feet away, the bear swiveled one of its legs out in a sideswipe attack. Thorne pushed the red energy to his legs and hopped high over the attacking limb!

He ran as fast as he could. Red energy was pushed to his legs as he ran, increasing his speed substantially. In an instant, he was upon the bear. Pushing red energy into his legs, he jumped! This jump, in particular, was different from other jumps, though. Red energy flew from his boots into the air! He used external energy to push himself off the ground and up all the way up to the bear’s neck!

The bear shook and growled in protest. Thorne held on for dear life; he became dizzy and nauseous, but he still held.

‘I need to do this!’ Thorne growled internally!

He pushed all the red energy to his sword, ready to land the killing blow, but suddenly stopped in unfettered horror. In his adrenaline-filled state, he had forgotten one crucial thing: none of his attacks could kill the bear!

‘There’s nothing!’ He realized, panic filling his face, ‘I’m not strong enough!’

The wind, as well as the bear’s shaking, almost threw him off, and Thorne had to place one of his blades in his spatial storage so he could grip onto the bear’s mangily fur with one of his hands.

‘There has to be something, right?’ He racked his brain furiously.

“That’s it!” He exclaimed in glee.

His visions of the snake’s head being cut off returned to him in a flurry. The mighty snake’s head, as well as his father’s and Vlad’s, were all decapitated by a sword strike, but there was a rather remarkable factor behind those attacks. The red energy coating the blade extended past the metal and floated jaggedly in the air, unsupported.

‘I need to extend the energy past the blade!’

He closed his eyes in utter concentration. With only one sword, it would be simpler, but it also meant that he would need to do all possible damage with one strike!

Red energy began to coat the blade. It hummed violently, the energy, a glutton for violence. Soon, the energy extended! It extended multiple feet past the bale and remained there, a true extension of the sword!

Thorne growled angrily, however, ‘It isn’t enough!’

‘I need more!’

He forcefully probed his spectrum crystal, forcing it to provide more and more red energy. The energy on the blade continued growing inch by inch; with each second passing, it grew larger.

This came at a cost; Thorne’s skin began to heat up, and the blade was becoming increasingly chaotic and volatile, almost impossible to control!

‘Just a little more!’ he growled.

The mystical red blade grew longer. Its length was comparable to the bear’s neck!

‘Now!’

Thorne forced his tired muscles to lift the unsurprisingly heavy blade of metal and energy up! The thrashing of the bear caused him to almost lose his footing, but Thorne held on!

“ARGHHH!”

The blade fell down like a guillotine! The symphony was finally sung. Pure, unfathomable destruction sounded throughout the lands when the blade connected with the bear’s head!

The celestial opera reached its profound crescendo! The beast let out no squeal or roar of anguish. It died instantly.

BOOM!

Its head collapsed to the grasslands with an explosion of dirt flying in its wake.

Thorne fell with his falling head but landed far more gracefully in a practiced roll.

He surveyed the surroundings, the red energy still coursing through the bear’s corpse. The cratered grassland that had once been so tranquil in its danger had finally become the battlefield it was meant to be.

Thorne smiled in pride upon seeing his handiwork. He smiled the widest though when he saw his enemy. The corpse resembled a fallen tree. It was so tattered and scarred in its death that one would think that it had been dead for years.

Thorne bowed slightly to the corpse. The wind blew his hair back, and his wounds and ripped robes shone in the sunlight.

“You were a worthy opponent.”