XVI

  Kaz opened his eyes slowly, and almost immediately closed them shut, as the sunset was glaring straight through to his eyes. He groaned and tried to shield his face from the rays of the sun, and an ache came from his midsection, a slightly throbbing sensation filled his whole body. He quickly moved his hand and traced his finger over his scabbed wound over his midsection.

  It then came to him, the whole fight, his near death, and the fox… the three-tailed fox.

  Kaz looked around in panic, wincing from the pain in his midsection, frantically looking for the fox. He gets into a sitting position, with labored breaths, as he is fighting the pain, and then finally leans against the tree trunk. He closes his eyes, nearly passing out from the exertion. He quickly opens his [ Archive ], and sees that his Health Points are up to 20, which means he was probably a couple points away from losing his life. His Mana Points are back to 40, which was interesting, because he knew he was running low because he wasn’t able to recover from his first fight with the weaker Ironbark Boar.

  His Resonance has increased by another point, which shows his suffering wasn’t for nothing, at least he gained something from it. He was at 8 Resonance, and he was curious what his total Mana Points and Health Points were, but he guessed after some more rest, he would refill his Points. He reached over to the side, where his bag was laying, and again, the strap was torn. He made a mental note that he really needed to prioritize getting another bag, with a chain strap so it wouldn’t break every single time he got into a slightly difficult fight. He fixed his bag and made sure all his contents were still in there. He grabbed himself a small block of hard cheese that he got from Bartly, and nibbled on it, finishing it quite quickly.

  Kaz then gripped his health potion, knowing that if the three-tailed fox shows up, or any monster to be fair, he would drink it and engage the monster. He took a few breaths after scanning the area around him, and decided he would activate his Passive Ability, [ Mana Regeneration ], as he wanted to make sure he was always full of Mana Points just in case. He also knew he could rely on his new Passive Ability, [ Evasive Step ], which saved his life earlier, as he instinctively dodged the boar who was charging at him while he was recovering his mana. It also answered his question of doubt he had earlier, of how his reflexes could improve, and he found out it just did. It was a pretty useful Ability, especially since it was only working at three percent, he wondered if he would be untouchable to most monsters once he hit one hundred percent.

  Kaz quickly dismissed the idea, as many people still lost their lives to monsters, no matter how high their Resonance was at. There was always something out there more powerful.

  During his time recovering his mana, the three-tailed fox returned and lay twenty yards away, watching him unnoticed. Kaz finished his regeneration, and instantly passed out again, his body needed the rest to recover itself.

  Like déjà vu, Kaz opened his eyes to the sunlit forest, thankfully this time his eyes weren’t being pierced by the rays of sunlight. He stretched, his wounds only slightly protesting, but the rest of his joints cracking and the blood rushing through his stretching muscles.

  He relaxed against the tree, trying to get the morning fuzz out of mind, trying to wake up fully and begin his day. He sighed and fully opened his eyes, rubbing them and standing up. He opened his eyes and from a small distance away, the glowing green eyes of the fox looked back at him, still in a laying position, its ears perking up at his movement.

  Kaz tensed up and reflexively began casting his Skill Ability, [ Mana Burst ], while bringing the health potion to his lips, but he quickly stopped himself, because if the fox wanted him dead, he wouldn’t have woken up from his peaceful sleep. He slowly approached the fox and stood quite a distance away, the fox watching him approach with curiosity glinting in its eyes.

  Stopping a few yards away, Kaz stood there awkwardly, as he didn’t know what to do. The fox tilted its head to side and got into a sitting position, it’s three tails floating into the air behind it, and waited for him to do something. He admired the beautiful fox, its fur was a pure white, and the edges were tinted with a light green color, similar to its eyes. The tips of its tails were fully capped in the light green color, with each tail nearly half the width of the fox itself.

  Kaz awkwardly said, “Thank you for saving my life. Um, I do not know if you can understand me, but I am extremely grateful for you intervening and defeating that strong Ironbark Boar.”

  The fox simply nodded, and slightly backed up, revealing two crystals resting on the ground. One looked like the grayish brown crystal that dropped from his first boar, and the other one was nearly triple the size, and was a deep gray color with a slight brownish glow to it.

  Kaz stared at the crystal, mouth slightly open. He began reaching for it, but hesitated and looked over to the fox. He asked the fox, “Are you sure you want me to have the crystal? You were the one to defeat it, so I am not sure if I deserve the crystal.”

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  The fox made a cute sound, almost sounding like a sigh, and with almost lightning quick movement, the tails picked up the crystals and threw them at Kaz. With a sharp and painful crack, the crystals hit him straight in the forehead, causing him to fall backwards onto his back and his head span so much he thought he might throw up. Guess the Passive Ability didn’t matter in this case unfortunately.

  He sat up moments later, and saw that his hero, the three-tailed fox, was starting to walk away gracefully, not leaving a single paw print in the ground. Kaz swiftly jumped up to his feet, and then tumbled to the side, his balance still not back to normal. He steadied himself, reached down and picked up the crystals, throwing them into his worn bag, and ran after the fox.

  Catching up to the fox, the fox looked back at him incredulously, as if questioning why Kaz was following it. Kaz confusedly asked it, “Why can’t I follow you? You’re my savior and I will follow you until I get back close to the road.”

  The fox was not impressed, shaking its head, and sent a gust of wind at him, causing him to get blown back 25 yards. The wind was warm and comforting, an involuntary smile tugging at his lips, and he landed gracefully on the ground, back where he first fell from the fox’s unfair attack.

  Kaz snapped out of it, and got back to his feet, running towards the spot he last saw the fox. Unfortunately, it was gone, and Kaz felt upset, as he was abandoned, again.

  Suddenly, a warm breeze flowed right past him, and he felt something pulse in his head, something similar to when one of his Abilities gained a Rank up. He would have checked it out, but he heard something rustling in the shrubs near him.

  A relatively small Ironbark Boar strolled in front of him. Kaz stood frozen, fear gripping him as the trauma from his last encounter still lingered in his mind. The Ironbark Boar stopped its hunt for grass to chew on, and looked up at Kaz, tilting its head in confusion as to why he was just standing there.

  After the Ironbark Boar focused more on him, it realized that Kaz wasn’t a fellow monster, and instantly tensed up, angling itself to face Kaz, getting ready to charge. He could feel the cold sweat running down his back, as his body began to shake uncontrollably. The mana flowing inside him became unstable, not allowing him to form a construct to attack the boar.

  The boar huffed and then lowered its head, tensing its body. It exploded into motion, dirt kicking up behind it as it began its charge towards Kaz, who was rooted to the spot. His mind was screaming at him to make a move, but it felt like he was stuck in some sludge, unable to get his body to move the way he wanted to.

  At the last second, right before the boar was about to collect him in its charge, something pulsed in his mind, and everything seemed to spark in him, as his body reflexively sidestepped to the left, with the boar flying past him. He let out a deep breath that he was holding, and the tension in him slightly waned. He swiftly cast his [ Mana Burst ], and his silver mana construct went flying towards the unprotected side of the boar. It struck the boar, and it made a squealing sound of pain, which surprised Kaz, as before the boars barely acknowledged the pain. This must have been a weaker Ironbark Boar, but he would never underestimate a monster ever again.

  Kaz began casting again, and this time the mana construct struck the head of the boar, causing it to stumble from the impact. He took advantage of the currently stunned boar, and cast [ Mana Burst ] again, drilling the boar in the forehead. The boar dropped to the ground, breathing heavily and whining pitifully in pain. This slightly concerned Kaz, because maybe this was just a young boar, which meant its mother or father could be lurking somewhere.

  Kaz quickly spun around, scanning the environment around him, and sure enough, he felt a disturbance approaching him. It was approaching very quickly. Kaz quickly sought out a tree, and ran over to it, jumping onto the trunk and climbing it with haste. The tree shook violently as something ran straight into it, making him nearly lose his grip. Kaz couldn’t see below him, but he just knew that the parent of the suffering boar was on him, and just charged straight onto the tree. He got onto a branch and looked down.

  He saw a boar that was roughly the same size of the first boar he encountered, so that calmed his nerves slightly, as he was expecting another behemoth that attacked him in his second encounter. He could see the rage filling the eyes of the boar looking up at him, occasionally bumping the tree.

  Stabilizing himself, Kaz oriented himself to be able to cast from the tree, while maintaining his balance as the tree vibrated with each attack from the frenzied boar.

  Casting [ Mana Burst ], his mana construct hit the back of the boar. The boar simply ignored the attack, its rage overwhelming the pain that his attack would’ve caused. Kaz simply sighed to himself, disappointed in himself, attacking like this from the tree, he felt like a coward, attacking a young boar and now hiding in the tree from its parent.

  Unlucky for Kaz, the boar wouldn’t leave him alone, so he kept on casting attacks until the boar met its demise. The body of the boar disappeared, leaving behind a lackluster crystal. He didn’t have it in him to finish off the younger boar, as it left a bad taste in his mouth to end its short life. Sure, it was a monster, but it was too young to perish in this realm. He hopped down the tree, picking up his crystal, and began walking away from the area, sparing the young boar. Hopefully, it will survive its injuries and live to see another day.

  Walking among the trees in the forest, he slowly realized after some time that he was simply lost. He walked until the sun started to dip below the trees, and decided to call it a day. Kaz climbed up another tree, and deciding he was safe, opened up his [ Archive ], to investigate what that pulse was from earlier, hopefully it was a few updates to his Ranks, as he has done a lot, and also his Resonance went up earlier, so that definitely meant he Ranked up at least one of his Abilities.

  Under his tier of Resonance, which was now displaying 9 Resonance, there was a new set of text, which had a green tint to it. He focused on it, and a new page rolled out in front of him.