Gukulm looked outside the building with wise eyes. He could feel the tension in the air growing every day. Something had changed in the area and it was not for the good of the tribe.
"Unfi, have you found any more caves?" Gukulm asked the scout directly. He was their single most experienced scout in the tribe. He had put many resources in training scouts for the purpose of finding a new home.
Unfi looked at Gukulm with downcast eyes.
"No." Unfi responded with a small voice. The pressure on him was increasing by the day. Each day, he had to go farther before. Into the bigger and more dangerous world. A world where humans wouldn't survive without wits and intelligence at all times. When he had found the cave they resided in, he was hopeful, but the huntrows outside only got more dangerous.
Unfi did not like traveling so far. It seemed the further he went, the larger the huntrow went. In time, the youth swore that he had seen a huntrow as big as the sky itself. Unfi knew at the sight that the tribe was just a small colony of ants in its eyes.
The scout often voiced his findings to the chief and, although he knew that the chief took his warnings seriously, it always felt like he didn't. Unfi just didn't know what the chief was thinking sometimes.
"Then go train your scouts. The future of the tribe depends on the ability of the scouts to find a safer home." Gukulm was patient with the young man, but it was necessary. Even now, he knew better than ever before that the outside wilderness was getting much too dangerous. A new home was needed, lest some of the bigger huntrow start to move in.
"Ok." Unfi gave a small response as he quickly ran off.
He had always hated training scouts. It was not that it was boring or tedious, but it was that their ability to survive was dependent on what he taught them. Their deaths would be his fault. People would say that it was he, who killed them even when he truly did his best to train them. He never even let the trainees leave the village until he had taught them everything he knew and made sure it was ingrained into their minds. It was only then, that he would conduct advanced training with hands-on experience. Scouting requires experience and he can't teach experience inside the village.
The area was not safe, and it hasn't been for a while. It was a difficult task to even gain experience as a trainee in the demanding wilderness world. But he couldn't send them anywhere else.
The scout job used to be easy. All he had to do was find easy huntrow prey or watch out for the rare rampaging huntrow. But now, it was the most dangerous job of all. If it weren't for the young man's quick ability to adapt, he would be like all the other scouts of his generation. Dead in the maws of a huntrow.
Even now, he runs the risk of dying each time he goes out. He was scared, but even more scared of the village being ravaged by huntrow.
Unfi quickly reached the scout training area and found a few trainee scouts sparring. He stopped them all and started a quiz.
"You! What kind of berries are poisonous?" It was a vital part of a scout's training to know what one would be able to eat while outside. Often, scouts stayed out in the forest for days at a time. They could not cook or the smell would attract huntrows, big or small, it was too big a risk for anything.
The scout thought for a second before speaking.
"Thornberries, bloodberries, spiderberries, and tulberries."
"Good! Now, you! What is the biggest cause of death for scouts?" Unfi targeted a different scout who then scratched his head for a while.
"Huntrows?" The answer seemed obvious to the scout, but he was met with a berating from Unfi.
"NO! When you go into the wild, you know not to EVER approach or let a huntrow approach you. The enemy of us scouts is exhaustion! Too many scouts overestimate their ability. They see new things and it might be fun, but you don't know how to deal with a lot of new things at once. Even I don't! Some scouts go out into that forest and never come back because they lose their way! They use all of their energy and when they need to use it..." Unfi slipped a few red colored berries in his hand stealthily before clapping his hands. Red liquid splattered out. "They get devoured!"
Unfi looked at the scout with sharp eyes before continuing his lecture.
"They will eat poisonous berries, they will trip and fall, and they will make more mistakes when they are exhausted. It is important to maintain your health by eating and resting properly when out on a mission! Scout, do you know how to do this?" Unfi's bold eyes met with the scout's.
Thinking for a moment, the scout could no longer keep eye contact as he meekly gave his answer,
"... Cover yourself in dirt and sleep in a tree?"
Unfi waited a few suspenseful seconds.
"Not enough! Find the tallest tree! Do you want a huntrow to pick you out like a free meal!? Do not just settle for dirt, make mud! Plaster leaves on yourselves. Paint the illusion that you are the tree! Never sleep in a cave other than the village cave! Who knows what huntrow could have made its home there? You will find yourself with half your guts spilled out before you can even yell!"
Calming down, Unfi gave a few more lessons. From navigating in the wild to signs that may indicate an area is safe, he did not stop. After finishing the day's lessons, he had the scouts perform drills and run through a few courses.
"Climb that tree! You need to drop everything without hesitation!" He drilled them on their running and tree climbing abilities. A scout's best friend is the skies. As long as a huntrow could not reach them, they were, for the most part, safe. It is impossible for most of the creatures and huntrows in the wild, so it was absolutely necessary that the scouts must avoid plains and stick near to climbable trees.
In the skies, avian huntrow were either too small to deal with humans or preferred to hunt elsewhere for different food than humans.
A messenger approached Unfi.
"Unfi, Chief has some important information!" THe messenger stated the message before he started to escort him.
Unfi looked at the man, it was rare that a messenger would have to drag the recipient unless it really was vitally important.
"Ok." Unfi ran towards the chief's hut, leaving the messenger behind.
Entering into the chief's hut, Gukulm's voice sounded out from a room. Unfi could hear a few words from another guest as well.
Walking into the room, Unfi saw a large table. Gukulm and Munta sat in a chair as well as everyone else in charge of their sections of the tribe.
Just the fact that Munta was in the room greatly surprised the scout. Any time Munta accompanied meetings, it always revolutionized the way the structure of the tribe worked with his intelligent concepts and ideas.
Unfi found his seat on the table before Gukulm started to address the matter this time.
"Everyone, once again we have gathered here to discuss the future of our tribe. Munta has discovered a hope with limitless potential..." Gukulm paused and narrowed his eyes as he looked at everyone in the room. "Perhaps now, we have a hope to expand into the wilderness. The huntrow will be below us as we explore the potential of Munta's findings."
Everyone in the room turned serious at the proposition. It was common that ambitious ideas and motivations would manifest in these meetings, but not once had anyone proposed the idea of ruling over the huntrow. It was preposterous to think that they, a measly tribe of humans, would ever be able to overpower huntros.
They were silent as the chief was confident. He was a reasonable man and did not make impossible assumptions if he did not have evidence. As expected, the chief gestured towards Munta as he stood up.
"Everyone here knows about Makahbra, the plant that mysteriously appeared in the outskirts of our village. I have spent much of my time recently studying this strange organism. It is unlike anything I have ever seen with its dazzling and blinding lights. After many weeks of my own effort, I have finally come to an amazing conclusion. One that harnesses a special force in our world." Munta held out his arm with his palm facing up. In the next moment, the air above his palm distorted.
The air continued to distort more and more as energy gathered. Munta strained and grabbed a block of wood before pushing his palm towards it. Before they made contact, the distorted air made a short 'pop' sound as the wooden block flew across the room. The energy in the palm of Munta's hand dissipated as he continued to talk.
"The plant uses a natural force that permeates throughout the world. I will call this ulma. I have discovered that ulma exists all around us and even inside. Finally, though, I learned how to use this ulma..." Munta held out his palm again as the ulma gathered on it in a sphere.
This time, the ulma was compressed into an extremely small sphere. Munta strained as drops of sweat fell. Continuously compressing the ulma was no easy feat. A color began to manifest inside the ulma sphere, it was of a light blue-ish color. The color felt infinitely deep. It only appeared for a few short moments before Munta lost focus and it dissipated into the air.
Seeing the evidence that this ulma was indeed present, everyone in the room grew interested.
Munta sat back down as he gave short, quiet pants.
"Everyone, now that you have seen this power, I will now have Munta teach all of you how to sense and use it as well." Gukulm gave a brief conclusion to the discussion as he, too, held out his palm and seemed to control a sphere of ulma. He continued this for a few seconds before dissipating the ulma. "Even with my short experience in using it, I can tell that it is as deep as the unknown history of our world itself."
Unfi looked at Gukulm and Munta with practically sparkling eyes. Although he did not know what he could do yet, he could feel that this new ulma power would make scouting much less dangerous.
All the people departed from the meeting room before the chief stopped Unfi and addressed him.
"Stay here Unfi, you will be the first to learn how to use ulma. Go, follow Munta." With the brief command, the chief exited the room as well. Only Munta and Unfi remained.
Looking at the energetic scout, Munta nodded his head. It was natural to be excited, especially so for the young, but experienced scout. He could already tell that the scout knew that it would make his job easier. Many dangers were out there and the scouts needed whatever advantage they could find.
"Follow me." Munta led Unfi through the village and towards Makahbra.
Reaching the plant, Munta instructed Unfi to sit down near Makahbra, but at a distance to where it couldn't reach him.
"THe ulma around Makahbra is more dense. It will be easier to sense near it. Now, the first thing you need to do is have a calm and open mind. To sense the ulma, you need to find what inside resonates with the rest of the world. Slowly, you will have to filter out everything that does not resonate until you find ulma. It is the only thing inside your body that will actively resonate with the air around you." Munta grabbed a stick and drew a few pictures on the ground.
This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
"Even if you can no longer 'feel' anything, continue to search, you will know what ulma is the moment you sense it. It is not enough to just sense it, though. You must try and move the ulma along the path it travels in your body. Once you have done so, your body will have fully opened up your ulma path to accept more ulma that can also rejuvenate the body." Munta drew a simple diagram that had a closed loop on a humanoid body representing the path that the ulma would travel through.
"After your body has accepted ulma, it will naturally replenish itself. However, once you regain your senses of the world, you will subconsciously absorb ulma from the surroundings too."
Digesting the information, Unfi continued to listen to Munta.
"I will now help and give you a boost, but it is up to you whether you can actually sense it." Munta put his palm on Unfi's chest. A strange feeling flowed from the palm and into Unfi's body. The scout had an increasing sense of "fullness" as more and more ulma was put into his body.
"The increased amount of ulma in your body should make it easier to find the ulma inside yourself, but it will slowly seep out of your body, so start meditating." Munta instructed Unfi in the 'proper' meditation technique which was just finding what was most comfortable.
The scout closed his eyes and released the thoughts from his mind. To his surprise, it was almost a natural feeling. He had spent months, or even years of his life alone in the forest. Often, he had to understand the huntrow and the life around him. He could easily discard his thoughts and become one with nature.
His breathing was consistent, but powerful as he focused on himself whilst still aware of his surroundings.
"A calm and open mind. Ignore everything that doesn't resonate with the world." Munta's voice echoed inside of his head as he began to filter the information that entered his mind.
His perception of time was lost as he continued to search for ulma. The world that he knew slowly lost its liveliness, but he did not stop his search. He continued to ignore anything that his sight, touch, hearing, smell, and even taste could resonate with. His mind grew more and more calm, but also infinitely lonely inside of himself.
Suddenly, as if teasing him, he felt a feeling from within. It was playful and lively. It wanted him to find it, but the feeling continued to mischievously hide. The feeling came and went constantly. Each time it only barely slipped out of his grasp. With a flicker, his mind reacted and it grasped the feeling firmly. HE focused on it and then he 'felt' it. He continued to focus on the feeling until he was able to hear, smell, and taste it.
One last time, he grasped the feeling with all of hsi focus as he tried his best to keep it contained. It became more and more tame as it succumbed to him. He could see it.
It was an infinitely small mote of energy that was moving throughout his body constantly. He watched the energy until he recognized the path; it was the same path that Munta had outlined.
'This is my ulma?' Unfi continued to watch the ulma move around his body until he remembered what he had to do next.
He focused on the ulma within his body more and more. Trying to get it to stop. It slowly, but resiliently came to a halt as he had to maintain a constant focus on it. He caught the feeling, but this time he moved the ulma ever so slightly. He continued to move it. The process was tiring and required him to keep it contained at all times. The more he moved the ulma throughout the path, though, it seemed that it really was being opened up. He felt more and more lively the more he moved the mote of ulma through the path.
His body and mind grew increasingly clear, but still, the process was not any easier. With one last mental push, the scout had managed to move the ulma the last of the distance. In the moment that he let go of the ulma, it vibrated with exuberance. It raced around his body, much faster than before.
Unfi opened his eyes. He was able to see, hear, feel, smell, and taste once more, but an additional sense joined him. The ulma inside him began to suck in ulma from the surroundings as if it were a voracious beast. The path was being filled up with ulma.
He looked around the world with a new perspective, a new dimension of sense was added. It would take time to get used to it.
Unfi's eyes laid on Mount and found that he could tell the man already had much more ulma than himself. He could not actually 'see' the ulma in his body, but he could 'feel' the dense amount inside the man's body.
"You can now sense ulma, but now I must teach you to control it. Follow my actions." Munta reached out his arm with his palm facing upward.
"Again, you need to grasp the ulma within yourself and then move it towards your hand. After doing so, you need to 'push' it through your hand. It will resist, but once you make it through, it will be much easier in the future. The ulma that has been expelled can still be controlled as long as it is connected to you in some way. The further away it is, the harder it will be to control." Munta gave Unfi some direction before he headed off. "I need to teach the next person."
Unfi looked at Mutna's back excitedly. His body had stopped sucking in ulma from the surroundings and, if only slightly, he did generate a small amount of ulma inside himself. He headed back towards his own hut and sat on the floor.
Closing his eyes, Unfi began focusing the ulma within himself. He held out his palm and clumsily grasped the ulma. Pushing the ulma, it moved sluggishly inside him, it was actively resisted until it passed. Many parts of his body still resisted the ulma and would need to be 'baptized' by manipulating the ulma. Just as he reached the wrist of his hand, Unfi's focus lapsed and the ulma retreated back into the ulma loop.
Exiting out of his concentration, he noticed a large headache had started to form.
"I need to rest." Unfi could not continue to manipulate the ulma inside himself if he couldn't even concentrate properly.
The scout laid on his bed and fell asleep. Throughout the night, the ulma within silently circulated, healing countless minor and invisible injuries.
The next day, he woke up with more energy than he had ever before. Before he was even fully awake, Unfi was already standing up and getting ready for the day. His body felt fluid and smooth. Surprisingly, he could see better. The fuzzy and blurry world that he was used to was entirely gone. It was like, for the second time, a whole new world has been presented to him.
He looked at his hands and remarked at them. The walls, the floor, the ceiling, they were all clear.
Calming down, he sat on the floor again and controlled the mana through his arm.
Manipulating the ulma in his body, he repeated what he had done the day before, but he quickly recovered the progress he had made. The path that he had already carved into his body allowed him to recover his progress with only some effort as he moved the ulma through his arm and to his wrists where he felt the resistance of his body again.
Making it to his palm, though, he tried to push the ulma through his skin, but this time, a much greater resistance presented itself. It was like a wall had manifested in his body. Increasing his focus, he continued to push the ulma into his palm with increasing force. No matter how hard he tried, the ulma would just not go through the wall.
Seeing that his current method was not working, Unfi receded the ulma from his palm all the way to his elbow. He braced himself and took a deep breath before pushing the ulma with everything he had back towards his palm. the ulma rushed through his forearm and into his hand. It was like he put his arm over a fire. It pushed against the wall of his palm and broke the barrier. A stinging pain rang out throughout his palm before disappearing.
The ulma seeped out as he recovered from the pained shock of surprise. He manipulated the ulma that was seeping out of his palm before pushing it back inside. He then let the ulma out of his palm with focus and tried to compress it into a sphere like he had seen before. Slowly, the ulma was shaped into a sphere and compressed even further. The more Unfi compressed the ulma, the harder it got.
With a lapse of concentration, the scout's ulma dissipated. He looked at his hand in wonder. The scout then carved another path towards his other palm, this time he was able to do it all in the same day. With another sting of pain, he had opened up both of his palms.
The scout thought of the possibilities. Would he be able to release ulma from anywhere inside his body in the future? The scout continued to play with the ulma as he thought of its uses as a scout.
"My body is stronger as it goes through the loop... What if I circulate the ulma through my body faster than it already is?" Thinking of the possibility, the scout focused on his body again. This time, controlling the whole natural path of ulma.
He took control of the pathway with bits and pieces at a time. A headache began to form right before he was finished. The headache was nearly head splitting when he took control of it fully. However, he remained awake and was determined to test his idea.
The scout began to accelerate the ulma slowly. It got faster and faster. His body felt more energized. However, to his surprise, Unfi found that the ulma was being depleted nearly exponentially. Accelerating the ulma even more, it was used up faster. It was now that he noticed a strange, additional force was made as a byproduct when he used his mana. He didn't know what it was, but it faded into the background of the world rapidly after a few seconds.
WIth his body getting even more energized and stronger, he used great concentration and moved his body to pick up a wooden block.
Gripping both ends, he pulled and the block was split in half.
Unfi let out a grunt and a small smile before his body fell over unconscious. His mind was blank as the headache made his head feel as hot and heavy as magma.
Unfi woke up in the village infirmary.
"... Where am I?" His memory was foggy as he slowly got out of his daze. He remembered his last memory was filled with pain and excitement.
The light of torches lit a silhouette on the walls. Unfi turned his head to look at whoever was near. It was Trilla, the village doctor. Her hands were on his chest. Unfi blushed before noticing that something strange was going on inside his body.
"Huh?" Unfi felt that his pathway was being manipulated somehow. After a few seconds of tracing, he discovered the source. Trilla was sending ulma into his body and accelerating the ulma pathway slightly, but also in an extremely gentle way. It was like a massage.
"Oh! You're awake..." Trilla looked up at Unfi.
"What were you doing?" Unfi was curious.
Trilla looked at him seriously as she took her hands from his chest. "I was healing you. Don't overexert yourself while using ulma. You just learned how to use it!" She looked at him with sharp eyes. "Do you know how many days you were unconscious?"
"... No?" Unfi said, startled. It must have been bad if she was measuring the time in days.
"Three days."
Unfi's jaw dropped. He thought of the time that was wasted while he was passed out.
"Three days..." The scout murmured to himself.
He heard Trilla speak again beside him.
"If it weren't for the fact that I was taught how to use ulma right after you, you might have been asleep longer than that. I was transferring my ulma to you and into your body so that it will recover from the impossible amount of fatigue that you somehow managed to get before passing out... Just what were you doing to cause this?" Trilla's voice was filled with demanding curiosity and a trace of bafflement as she looked at the sickly scout.
After training with ulma for a short while, she was quickly able to deduce that it could heal other people better than all previous methods she knew of, but the amount of fatigue in Unfi's body was extremely unnatural and unlike anything she had seen. If it weren't for his newly enhanced body, it might have killed a normal person.
"I was experimenting." His voice was low.
"And just what were you experimenting with!? Tell me so I can know what happened." It was very important for her to know the causes of her patients' effects.
"I took control of my ulma pathway and accelerated it. In the end, I determined that it did, indeed, increase my physical performance by magnitudes." As he was explaining his actions, a thought entered his mind.
'Did I permanently damage my ulma pathway as I did that?' The thought terrified Unfi, he didn't want to permanently injure himself the moment he got control of ulma.
Hearing what Unfi said, Trilla could only deeply sigh.
"When you overexert your muscles, do they feel fine and normal? No, they do not! The same happens with your ulma pathway, if you push it beyond its limits, it is inevitable that damage will occur. However, luckily ulma is very hard to damage by nature and there was no permanent damage done. For the most part, I have healed your ulma pathway, you will need a day of rest though." With the information, Trilla shooed the scout out of the hut.
Unfi looked at the roof of the cave as he focused on himself. He looked close at his ulma pathway and he found that it seemed to be a bit sore and minor scratches were few and far between.
He walked out of the cave and found his hut. Most of the important buildings were within the cave while huts that were meant for living were kept outside. However, soon enough all of them would have to move into the cave should the wilderness prove to be too dangerous. Unfi shuddered to think of how cramped the cave would be.
"I need to get more powerful to protect the tribe..." Unfi walked towards his hut and collapsed. Although he had been unconscious for three days, it did not reduce the fatigue on his mind any further.
---
The ulma inside of Unfi was bustling in activity with just the thought of his first hunt. He grinned as he stood on the outskirts of the wilderness. A sturdy bone sword was held in one of his hands and a sheath in the other.
He took a step and the world around him changed. The tension was higher. He could feel the ruthlessness. Every single roar, every single step of a critter, every sway of the tree. If he were not aware, he may find himself ambushed by a huntrow lying in wait.
More careful steps ensued as he moved into the forest with practiced efficiency. He had spent more of the life that he knew in the wilderness than the one that he remembered in the village. It called out to him.
He moved into a grove of the green hell. His breath was silent and his thoughts were empty. He filtered through every sense to keep the insanity away. Now truly, it would take years just for a trainee scout to reach his standards to scout on their own. Unfi needed to prove it. That huntrow could be defeated with just his mortal hands.
He took in a deep breath as he navigated through the trees. Making sure he was never too far. He knew his limits well. It was what partially allowed him to survive for so long. But the limits he knew was the him of the past. Unfi would need to put himself to the test to figure out what he could do now.
The ulma in his body raged on and pulsed like his heart. The nervousness in his mind was sapped away as he grew more used to the area that he had spent much of his time in.
Thump. A wieldy monster stepped behind him. Unfi did not hesitate to climb a tree faster than before. In just under a few seconds, he was already near the top and jumping towards a different green cloud of leaves. In his previous position, a violent tear of branches was left. He looked behind him. A mighty huntrow was on his tail.
It roared in annoyance. Its steps shook the ground. Unfi's heart went pale with fear. It was unlike anything he had faced before. Unable to face it directly, all he could do was run. But that was all he ever did.
He stopped the thoughts in his mind. He did not want to run any longer. Was this venture out into the wilderness not to prove that? He was no longer a scout. He was a warrior. He fought for the tribe, he protected the tribe, he found hope for the tribe. In its most desperate of times, he would be the light in the midnight. The sun rising from the horizon. Warmth in the winter. The executor of huntrows.
With a swift foot, Unfi dodged the maw of the huntrow. He jumped back towards it and onto its back. With his bone sword in hand, he cast a mighty push into its skin. But it was not enough.
Ulma gathered into his arms and they supplied power. With one more stab, it had punctured the huntrows tough skin. A feat never accomplished before except for the sharpest of swords. But he had done it with his own arms and strength.
The ulma in Unfi grew more excited and he pushed more out from his pathway. He could not maintain his composure when accelerating his pathway, it was not a viable option of support. For now.
He took the bone sword's handle once again, his arms climbing hard onto the hide of the huntrow. In the face of perseverance, he climbed across its back and all the way to its head. His fingers pale and sore from the grip.
His body jerked back and forth as the huntrow tried desperately to throw him off, but it was not enough. With a cry he cast his sword once more. This time, into the huntrow's eye.
Unfi did not stop at just the eye. He pushed further. It carved into its flesh, a gully of blood formed and spewed out. Red flesh was privy to the eye, evidently not shy.
The sword did not stop its journey there. And continued forth. The huntrow thrashed to and fro. Its body bashing against the trees. The leaves swayed as if there was an earthquake. The ground covered by plushful grass cracked and pits formed. Claws dug trenches in the dirt.
Unfi continued his cry in the face of the world. He would be the one to prove that ulma was the path of greatness. He was above the huntrow. No longer an ant. No longer a speck in the wilderness. Humans would prey on the huntrow. Humans would reign.
His hands caved by blood pushed the sword forward with one more great push. The huntrow stopped dead in its tracks. No response from its flesh. Muscles locked and twitched. Sound was no longer in the control of the huntrow.
He had done it. Unfi continued to hack at the huntrow, making sure that it was dead.
He was done. The huntrow was dead. It was not at the cost of a squadron of tribesmen. Not even a death had occurred to his kin. He had killed a true huntrow. Not one that hunted in packs. Not one that barely towered over him. No, it was a true huntrow that shook fear into his very flesh.
He had done it himself. Ulma assisted him, but it was Unfi that had done it. He knew now that humans were no longer ants. He dragged the huntrow's carcass back to the village. It was a tireless effort.
But never before had he felt so fulfilled.
He had not been far from the village when the battle had occurred. The sounds of a desperate struggle, and his recent departure, had worried many. A wall of his fellow tribesmen were formed at the village's outskirts.
They all stood in shock at the monster Unfi brought back. All it took was one cheer for the rest to rush forward. They helped him drag its body. It was the largest carcass anyone had ever seen.
Unfi smiled. It was possible. The individual human could triumph even a giant huntrow. Many of his own scouts looked towards him in admiration. The same thought was in many of their heads. 'Would I be able to do it too?'
A new dream had formed unto many young tribesmen. One that of power and loyalty. To learn from Unfi. To prove that they could protect the village and most importantly of all, to hunt the huntrow. To be powerful. The joy of the hunt and the joy of the fight excited them