Limits

I travelleing and training resumed. Another two weeks passed and I was only couple of days away from my destination. In the distance, I could see what seemed like dark clouds looming over the sky. This was the north. The beasts got even stronger at that point. Finding any Black Variants was quite rare. Mostly the Silver Elites were the norm by now and from time to time, the Flaming Variants would appear. I had to fight a Flaming Grey Bear once.

It was very powerful, not as strong as the Black Mammoth but strong nevertheless. The flames on its paws were not just for show. These were real flames and burned stuff much better than any flame I could start using wood. The battle took a while and the destruction it caused, was great. In the end, I managed to kill the bear.

What I noticed after the battle, was that the flames kept on burning, even though the bear was dead. This was weird. I tried to figure out, for how long they would stay lit. I waited for about 20 minutes and the flames started dying. After another 10 minutes, the flames were completely gone.

'So the flame lasts for about 30 minutes, after the bear dies. This is useful to me. I don't have a furnace and these flames are even better, than the flames in a furnace. Next time, I can try making some daggers and whatnot' I thought. I then butchered the bear in order to check its insides, as well as extract its meat. I never ate the meat from that variant, I was curious as to what taste it would have.

The skin was very tough, even after its death. With some cutting and fiddling for a while, I was able to open the bear up and checked its insides, compared to other bears. What I found immediately was that, this bear's muscles were much more dense and had a slightly different colour compared to normal red muscles. The colour was more on the light red side, as well as slightly pink. I took a look at the vital organs and noticed that they were much tougher as well. I extracted all the meat I could and left that place. I already stayed there for too long.

At a further away location, I sat down and noted all my findings in the Beast Scriptures. The book I almost forgot about due to only encountering the same animals, was now much more complete. Not only did I found more about the animals and beasts that I already knew, I also found new species, that has been added to my book.

I found a lizard like creature, that was quite fast and could camouflage itself. It didn't walk on 4 legs like normal lizards but on two. Its skin was multicoloured when visible and when camouflaged… Well looked kind of transparent. It wasn't humanoid in shape. It walked on two legs and had two arms but its head was elongated. The creature was quite slim, with a short tail that was used for balance. It was also quite short, about 60 centimetres in height. It's weapons were the claws, as well as its teeth. The creature had very sharp teeth and pointy claws, when I examined them later.

I decided to name that creature Raptor. This lizard wanted to sneak up on me, during my break but due to my instincts and the fact that I learned the Art of Stealth, it could only wish to do that. Its greatest ability was the stealth, its fighting capabilities on the other hand, were not very strong. It could only fight me in close combat, while I could fight at long range as well. That kind of opponent was too easy for me.

The ability to camouflage itself, came from the skin. I collected the raptor's skin in order to study it more and perhaps use it, as a cloak for stealth. I also collected its teeth. 'Those things would be perfect as arrowheads. Not only are they sharp, they are quite sturdy as well' I thought. The claws could be used to make needles or even makeshift throwing weapons, so I took them.

Another animal that I encountered, was a wild horse. These animals were not aggressive, until one entered their territory or tried to harm them. They lived in larger groups and were very fast. I tried to catch one but I soon gave that idea up. They were as fast as me and they became aggressive when I tried approaching them. I had to kill a few of them in order to escape. They were not that strong, compared to other animals but they excelled at speed.

'Maybe, I will be able to tame one in the future. I wouldn't have to walk everywhere that way' I thought after running away from them. I could kill them all but I decided against that. 'There is no point killing animals, that try to protect their own group and territory. They also eat plants not meat, so as long as I don't provoke them, they will leave me alone too' I thought. I decided to call them Forest Mare.

There was another group of animals that I found. They were the large birds, that would fly in the skies from time to time. Although they never attacked me, their sizes were astonishing. One such bird could be as tall as 2 metres and with their wings spread, they could reach even 5 metres in width. Their feathers were pale yellow and from what I found, very gentle to the touch. I found couple of feather and collected them 'Who knows what uses they might have' I thought.

I decided to call those birds Pale Avias. I didn't have much information on them but with time, I would probably find out more. Besides the new finds, I also updated some entries of the animals, I already knew about.

I also made some more advancements with my Aura. I could now condense it to the 2 metres mark but then, I hit the wall again. This time, it was not just lack of experience but something else. 'Perhaps it's the lack of strength or focus? I'm quite well versed with my Domineering Aura now but I feel like, I'm missing something' I thought.

I didn't know how to advance with my Aura but that didn't deter me from using it all the time. I also made some improvements with my new dagger skill, that I called Pressuring Dagger. I was now faster and more precise at hitting the correct pressure points. The bears had a humanoid kind of structure and their pressure points were in similar places compared to those of a human. I could kill a bear effortlessly now but of course that was a bear, with a limited amount of intelligence. The Flaming Grey Bear was much more intelligent and I wasn't able to use that skill on it. I would always miss those pressure points.

I only focused on my Aura and the Pressuring Dagger skill for my journey towards north. Besides skills, I also trained using the Modified Diagram from the Strength Manual. I was still stuck at the same place but my body was getting stronger, it was due to the stress my body was under when practicing the diagram. 'Soon, I will arrive at my destination. North looks to be gloomy but something seems to push me in that direction. In a few days, I will find out what is so scary about north!' I thought.