Branches whipped by as Edan sprinted through the forest, the trees becoming a blur. Ahead the [Roaring Boar] crashed through a bush, its high-pitched squeals muffled by the foliage.

  Edan hurdled a fallen branch and used it to springboard himself into the air. Pulling a dagger from the sheath on his chest he used [Throw]. The boar’s squeal changed in pitch as the blade nicked its hind leg, drawing a line of blood along its heel. The blade sank into the ground.

  Landing hard, Edan rolled to his feet and scooped up his dagger. All without breaking stride. Dropping his shoulder he pushed through the bush with brute force, twigs and broken branches pulled at his clothes but snapped under his unrelenting forward momentum.

  “Get back here!” Edan yelled, getting a mouthful of leaves for his trouble. Spitting them out he burst from the bushes and slid to a halt.

  The boar had turned. No longer fleeing, it faced him head-on. It rose to Edan’s shoulders and was broader than he was. A large, heavy head swung from side to side and it snorted angrily. Twin tusks rose from each corner of its mouth, saliva hanging in a long string from its whiskered chin.

  It snorted again, its hot breath blowing up dust as it pawed at the ground. Beady eyes glared at Edan.

  “I don’t know why you’re getting angry at me,” Edan muttered, adjusting his stance slowly as he reached behind him. “You attacked me first.”

  An argument could be made that technically, Edan had assaulted it first. If you consider peeing on the bush it was napping under assault.

  The boar huffed one more time before dropping its head and charging. Edan watched it come, his knees bent. At the last second he dove out of the way, landing on one shoulder he rolled back to his feet and drew the punch dagger from his back. It had been a present from Reema and Sanik. A replacement for his old ones that had been lost in the dungeon. Even his armor had been a gift.

  The boar struggled to slow its bulk and moved in a loose circle, its head tilted as it tried to find Edan again. Edan surged forward at the same time its dark eyes landed on him.

  Throwing its head back, the boar roared. A sound like nails on a chalkboard drove deep into Edan’s ears and his run turned into a stagger as he almost dropped his punch dagger. Pressing the heel of his hands against his ears he tried to block the noise out. It didn’t help.

  [Charge] activated and Edan flew forward, the skill taking over his movement. Faster than the boar could react Edan was in front of it, his dagger flashing in the weak sunlight that filtered through the thick canopy overhead. The uppercut Edan threw had all of his strength behind it and the momentum of his skill. It was still barely enough to break the boar's hide. It did snap its jaws closed though.

  Pushing off, Edan retreated. A thin trickle of blood dripped from under the boar's chin.

  "Tough bugger," Edan grunted, before using [Identify]

  [Roaring Boar - lvl 35]

  It was a few levels above his own of 31, but he should still be able to injure it. Edan looked down at his punch daggers. They weren’t really designed to injure graded beasts.

  Enraged by its wounds or encouraged by the lack of damage it had taken, the boar charged forward again, its head swinging back and forth as its tusks tore at the air.

  Edan threw a dagger at its eye, missing, the blade bounced off its brow bone. Edan took two steps forward to meet the boar. It lowered its head. He jumped, landing on its broad head. Shocked the boar threw its head back. Using the momentum as a boost, Edan flipped over it. He hit the ground and rolled across the uneven forest floor.

  Hopping to his feet Edan turned and grinned at the boar, proud of his own dexterity. Bits of dried leaves and broken twigs stuck out of his hair and armor.

  “Come on,” Edan challenged, pulling out his second punch dagger and holding his hands wide as if for a hug. “We’re running low on meat and you look tasty.”

  He had hoped the boar's roar skill would be on cooldown but he realized his mistake the second it threw its head back again. Edan activated [Charge] again and shot forward.

  The boar dropped its head, its tusks turning a metallic color, and Edan swore it grinned. When he retold this battle, he would leave out the part where he was tricked by a pig.

  Unable to cancel his skill Edan hurtled towards the boar. It swung its head to the side, its tusk leaving an outline behind that grew to twice the length of the boar's actual tusk. Edan punched out at the skill with his daggered fist. It shattered and Edan felt the force reverberate up his arm. The dagger twisted painfully in his grip and he dropped it, his wrist felt broken.

  He was in close though. [Slice] empowered his next attack and his punch dagger drew a deep red scar down the boar's neck. The boar swung its head around and Edan dropped to the ground, a tusk scraping his scalp. Rolling to the left, Edan popped up on the other side of the boar, unfortunately, it was the side with his broken wrist.

  Twisting awkwardly around himself, Edan drove his dagger into the other side of the boar's neck. The blade barely sunk in. Edan activated [Flurry] and his arm turned into a blur as the blade withdrew and stabbed out again and again. Edan focused the blows down to the same spot. Blood pumped out, splattering him and the forest.

  The boar twisted, squealing in anger, and used its greater mass to push Edan back. The punch dagger, slick with blood, slipped from his grasp, the blade still deep in the boar's neck.

  Edan jumped back, avoiding the wild attacks as the boar tried backing him up into a tree. Edan made sure not to trip on anything as he slowly gave ground. He hoped blood loss would slow it down, or his Endurance would heal his wrist.

  By his own labored breathing, Edan knew his stamina was getting low. He could use one, maybe two, more skills before he’d end up exhausted.

  Edan jumped to the side as the boar lunged forward. It predicted his movement and threw its head after him. The larger of the tusks sliced the hardened leather of Edan’s armor and barely missed his face. Stumbling back, Edan pulled another dagger from his chest and threw it.

  The boar squealed, this time in pain, as the blade struck true, blinding it in one eye. Jerking away, the animal shook its head and hopped around, scrapping its face against the ground as it tried to remove the weapon. Edan could see the handle of his punch dagger still sticking out of its neck.

  Timing it right, Edan waited until the boar turned sideways. [Charge] threw Edan forward. He allowed it. Twisting sideways at the last second, Edan lowered his shoulder and allowed the momentum of his skill to drive him into the boar's neck. Like a hammer hitting a nail, Edan slammed into the handle of his dagger, pushing it deeper.

  Hissing against the pain, Edan pulled his last dagger from its sheath with his injured hand. Grabbing the handle of the punch dagger still embedded in the boar's neck with his other hand, Edan pushed past the dark spots that filled his vision and activated [Flurry]. Guided by the skill, and Edans own intent, the dagger was pulled from the boar's neck and replaced with his throwing dagger. His throwing dagger was pulled free and his punch dagger replaced it, pushing deeper. Edan roared out loud as he pushed through his own exhaustion to keep the skill going.

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  [Roaring Boar - lvl 35 slain]

  [Experience gained]

  [Vitalis gained]

  [Level 31 -> Level 32]

  [+15 Stat Points]

  Edan allowed himself to fall to the ground in exhaustion. The boar fell away from him. He felt the familiar rush of Experience and Vitalis course through him, like sunlight poured directly into his veins. The increase in level was greatly appreciated and Edan beamed with pride. It was a shame his class didn’t provide him with an increase in Endurance.

  Dappled sunlight filtered through the canopy above and played across Edan’s face, bringing with it spots of warmth. The leaves and mulch that covered much of the forest floor proved to be surprisingly comfortable. Edan remembered when he had first left the camp, around 2 weeks ago, to go hunting. He’d jumped at every sound.

  Now, the chirping of the birds and the buzz of insects was soothing. He’d learned that the greatest danger was when it fell silent. That didn’t mean he wasn’t alert. Part of Edan was always alert now. Kiba had been training him to use his spirit sense. It was tricky to do and involved merging your spirit, an already mysterious stat, with perception.

  The best way to describe spirit sense was that feeling Edan would get when he thought someone was looking at him, or he looked down an alley in Stratta’s seedier districts and felt a sense of danger.

  You get a level, kid?

  That was another change. A by-product of training his spirit sense. Kiba could now talk to him. It was weak like they were conversing over a great distance, and sometimes it took Edan a while to understand what was being said, but it was better than before. Before being silence. Probably. Edan wasn’t sure how he felt about hearing another voice in his head.

  He sent back a positive response and mentioned seeing him later. Kiba likely knew why.

  The primordial had set a strange rule in place. Every time Edan gained a level, he could ask the god a question. At first, Edan had been against it. What use was having a god in your head if you couldn’t use it as a search engine? Kiba had refused, holding his own knowledge hostage to help incentive Edan to grow quicker, curiosity being a powerful motivator. He also said that sometimes it was good for Edan to take a break and absorb what he had learned.

  A shaky foundation would crumble under heavy cultivation in the future.

  Having caught his breath, and eager to leave before the smell of blood attracted something else, Edan rolled to his feet. Plant matter stuck to him and the dried blood had begun to crack. Looking at the body of the boar, it seemed deflated in death.

  Squatting next to it, Edan grabbed its legs and pulled them together. It took a lot of maneuvering and he fell over twice as he lost his balance, but eventually Edan stood up, the carcass slung over his shoulders like a creepy scarf. Pulling it tight by the feet, Edan orientated himself towards the camp and began walking.

  It was slow going. The board was incredibly heavy and moving while balancing it on uneven terrain taxed Edan to the limit. He actually stopped and threw three points into Endurance and 2 into Strength.

  Using that as a quick break, Edan had a brief look over his stats.

  As always he completely ignored Charisma. It was a hopeless cause and better off forgotten. Perhaps he’d get a title later that would help, but for now, it wasn’t worth his attention.

  Spirit was lower than he would like and he considered dumping his free points into it, but Kiba had told him that while the stat was important, he could hold off on it. There were techniques he could learn that would help him grow it naturally, without spending points.

  Edan was surprised his Strength had become his leading stat, but he shouldn't have been. His class gave him nine points for each level.

  Closing the screen Edan continued moving. Overhead the sun had begun to set and night came early in the forest. While confident in the light of day, Edan would not like to be alone out here at night.

  As he walked, he reviewed the fight, just like Tali had taught him. He went over it again and again in his head. First, he tried to figure out what he could have done differently, and then it became how he could have used his skills differently. If he’d used [Charge] while he was closer to the boar perhaps he could have got to his dagger quicker. After that, it was finding the things in the fight that he needed to change. The most obvious answer was his weapons.

  As he approached the camp, his thoughts turned to what question he would ask Kiba.

  Edan had created a natural, unconscious, delegation of duties between his two instructors. Tali taught Edan all things practical, and Kiba was responsible for his education, the Primordials experience was, as he had mentioned multiple times, invaluable.

  If Tali wondered why Edan never asked her questions related to cultivation or the wider realms, she didn’t mention it.

  Edan hadn’t run far from the camp but it still took a solid forty minutes to hike back. The boar on his shoulder was more unwieldy than it was heavy, its odd shape meant he constantly felt like he was about to tip over.

  The camp had changed over the last two weeks. Constant Dance practice had flattened one side of the clearing, the thick layer of grass trampled down to a dull brown. Tali had moved several large rocks from under the waterfall and settled them down by the shore with the flattest side facing up. She enjoyed sitting there, her back to the woods, as she meditated.

  Edan’s own canvas tarp had been strung up next to hers, the combined two providing a large, marque-style accommodation with open walls. As Edan needed to remind himself constantly, once graded, it was impossible to get the common cold. Besides the view of the pool with its crystal clear waters and the waterfall throwing up a spray of fine mist made for a beautiful scene to wake up to.

  Edan dropped the boar on the ground with a thud, patting his shoulder to remove a bit of fur and blood. Tali, sitting on her rock, looked over her shoulder at the noise.

  “That will make a fine meal.” She said, her voice reaching him over the roar of the waterfall. “It is time for you to dance. I will dress the meat.”

  Edan was pleased to trade off that duty. Tali had taught him how to field dress game, but he still lacked the necessary skills to make quick work of it. His high dexterity did help, but stats could only take you so far.

  The pool was ringed in a small shore of smooth pebbles that shifted under Edan’s feet as he removed his boots and folded his trousers up to his knees. Ripples spread across the pond, disappearing as they clashed with the turbulent waters near the waterfall. Bending over Edan cupped the crystal clear water in his hands and splashed his face, removing the grime and dirt from his hunt.

  Feeling somewhat refreshed Edan moved over to the patch of dying grass and allowed his body to relax. He’d felt something the last time he had practiced. He couldn’t explain it, whatever it was had been just out of reach, but Edan wanted to reach it.

  Taking a slow, steadying breath, he began to dance.