He felt way, way too many pairs of eyes on him. Completely circled, he saw a massive variety of animals. Crows, ravens, pigeons, coyotes, wolves, squirrels, and so much more. They all warily looked at each other while they kept him in their sights at least partially. They thought he was food, yes, but they also knew what would happen to the first to attack, or the one that finally killed him.

It was eerie to him how intelligent they were already, and he doubted any of these fuckers were even higher than Lv. 15, if even that strong. They were a lot less mindless than the swarm, or the squirrels, or the pigeons.

Sighing, Sebastian knelt down and reached down towards the hard piece struck when he killed the plant. He felt a round object that all the roots came out of, a seed. Basically the plant’s core. Pulling it harshly from the ground, he revealed it’s navy blue shell, tossing it up and down in hand.

[Inferior - Water Flower Seed]

[Instills the leftover vitality into water, or can be regrown into a new Carnivorous Water Flower. It exudes a cold but resilient life force. Water instilled by the seed can be drunk.]

Ingredients? Nothing of the sort had appeared before from the animals he killed. What was the difference? Was the Water Flower’s vitality condensed into this seed and thus giving it an effect? Could he condense his Vitality too?

The idea gave him something to think about as he placed the small seed, the size of a baby’s fist, into his pocket. The animals had inched closer now, still eyeing each other for this ‘prey’. He glanced around to identify the various creatures quickly.

[Lv. 11 Winter Wolf]...

[Lv. 12 Dark Tooth Coyote]...

[Lv. 10 Shadowless Crow]...

Seeing a few Lv. 10’s and above mixed into the crowd, he was damn happy. In fact, this was the best scenario in Sebastian’s mind. Lure a lot of beasts to the same spot, kill the ones he wanted while everything was fighting each other. The issue was he expected them to be a lot dumber. And he didn’t think there would be so many.

If he killed only beasts above his level, he’d level up fast. He noticed that killing normal monsters at your level or below quickly requires dozens if not hundreds. He easily took hundreds if not a thousand or two xp to level up now, and killing things for 45 xp just wouldn’t cut it.

Sebastian rested the saber against his shoulder, slowly walking towards the Dark Tooth Coyote on the rightmost edge of the circle. It had a small pack with it, and that was the reason he decided to go for this side. The pack had another Lv. 10 Dark Tooth Coyote in it.

They growled angrily at the approaching bladesman, but he didn’t mind. He needed to start somewhere, so he’d just.. Start here.

He lurched forward abruptly, bending his knees and pushing off of the ground, bringing his saber down in front of him as he darted forward. It glared in the sunlight as it swung by the dodging coyote, shaving a few hairs from its ear.

The abrupt attack sent the entire encirclement into chaos as the different animals sprinted towards him. It didn’t take long after that to devolve into chaos as the different groups collided and smashed into each other, ripping out throats and hearts in their wake.

The Lv. 12 Coyote and the Lv. 10 quickly carved out a space for themselves around Sebastian, their members angry that he had dared attack first. With a howl from their leaders, the cannon fodder members quickly leapt at him.

Swiping out with his left arm to block the jaws of one, he slashed across another’s chest with his saber, leaving a bone deep gash that sent it flying from the residual force. It slowly limped back up, but it’s place in the attack was quickly replaced.

The coyote attached to his arm gnawed at the flesh and bone but his Vitality fought back, hardening the skin and tensing the muscle, making his body an armour in of itself. Not great armour, but better than nothing. With a roar, he charged into a tree, placing the coyote between him and the trunk easily three people wide.

The animal let go when it felt its back slam against a hard surface and immediately found a saber pierced through its eye. The animal turned lifeless and slid down against the tree as Sebastian turned around, right into the jaws of the Lv. 12 Coyote.

Out of instinct he dropped his saber and clasped the animal's jaws as fast as he could. It’s teeth had dug slightly into his neck already by the time he grasped it’s mouth. His eyes froze over as he pried the creature’s jaws from his neck, tossing it flying into the others of it’s pack. Another leapt at him before he could grab his weapon, forcing him to crouch down and roll away from the saber and underneath the leaping beast.

Forming a ball of ice in his hand about the size of a softball, he gripped it tight. He was gonna use the fucking thing like a rock, making sure it had the slight protrusions on it and everything.

Sidestepping the next coyote, he brought the ball of ice down hard on it’s skull as it went by him, using his rudimentary control over magic to keep the ice rock solid. He heard a crack and a crunch as the coyote kept running a few feet and then slumped over, lifeless like one of it’s companions.

He formed a second one in his hand, a task that worsened his mental strength a little as he had to multitask with the magic, but overall what better time to get used to it, eh? He learned the best during combat, after all.

Swinging the ice like primitive maces, Sebastian smashed their bones to pieces over and over. The luckier animals had their skulls crushed immediately, but the more unfortunate ones would have their limbs or ribs broken, leaving them alive but motionless on the ground. They’d probably be killed even if their leaders killed the bladesman.

Standing off with the two Tier 1’s, Sebastian almost felt.. Bored. The normal coyotes hardly gave him any difficulty, his Vitality giving him a quantitative boost in strength once it was unlocked. Only these two Tier 1’s could sate that boredom after fighting a pack of two dozen coyotes.

Slamming his ice into an unlucky wolf that bumped into him, he ignored the new notification as he continued staring at the two predators. With another howl, they both sped towards him, their fur a clearly different shade than all those prior. Their claws were sharper, bones were sturdier, muscles filled with strength.

Speeding forward at the same time, one came from his left and the other came from his right, forcing him to defend one and take the other. He had continued channeling mana into the balls of ice, making them just as if not harder than a rock, a quality he planned on taking advantage of. Winding his arm back, he closed his eyes and circulated his vitality faster and faster, gathering it in his arm.

Lifting his foot up before stepping into the throw with his knees bent, he tossed the ice like a baseball, throwing it directly at the Lv. 10’s side as it took the hit to it’s ribs. It whined as it fell and rolled over a few times in the differently coloured grass. The Lv. 12 howled, taking advantage of Sebastian’s gap in stance to leap at his throat again from below, refusing to let him crouch down or roll away like he had done to others.

And he didn’t.

Instead, he positioned his arm and thrust it down the Coyote’s open mouth. It tried to bite down, but he brought his other hand up and grasped the animal’s lower jaw, refusing to let it chomp down on his arm.

Sebastian stared coldly into it’s eyes as he willed the mana around them to form an ice ball in his palm. The creature began to panic as it felt a lump grow inside it’s throat. Pouring more and more ice mana into his construct, it grew and grew. Easily the size of a softball now, it was completely lodged inside the animal’s throat. This wasn’t what he wanted though, because his hand was stuck wrapped around it. So he channeled more mana into it. He felt the mana inside it build up unreasonably, only to suddenly sense the instability.

He smiled when the ball exploded inside the animal's throat, tearing through its flesh, muscles, lungs and nerves, the force breaking it’s spine from the inside. It fell limp with Sebastian’s arm still reaching down it’s throat, prompting the man to pull the corpse off of him with some disgust, but nowhere near a lot of it. Was just a dead coyote.

[You have slain a Lv. 12 Dark Tooth Coyote]

[Defeated Higher Level, Higher Tier]

[Awarded 300 xp]

Nodding to himself slightly, walked back over to his saber, surrounded by corpses as the other battles raged on. Picking up the blade, he finished off the Lv. 10 quickly. The animals were a lot easier to deal with injured and alone.

[You have slain a Lv. 10 Dark Tooth Coyote]

[Defeated Higher Level, Higher Tier]

[Awarded 250 xp]

Comparatively, he came out rather well considering they were all his level or above. His better understanding of Vitality was probably the reason for that other than his slightly higher level. He didn’t get to use his saber much, which he’d hope would stop happening. He needed to learn footwork so he could dodge and move during a fight rather than just stand mostly stationary and move about like a headless chicken when he had to.

Exhaling his turbid breath, Sebastian looked at the other fights. The Winter Wolf was still alive with it’s pack, making out to be the victor of the overall brawl. It and it’s pack seemed fairly stronger, making him feel like they all levelled somewhat. The sight confused him somewhat, until he realized why.

They were an ice attributed beast, their vitality was like his. The environment strengthened them. Winter Wolves also experienced a boost to their vitality, regenerative abilities, and awareness during the cold. No wonder why they won the fight. The higher levels were taken out by Sebastian whilst the lower levels didn’t pose a challenge.

That being said, the animal wasn’t in it’s best state, covered in blood and injuries. The birds, while mostly eliminated or scared off, were hard for land animals to fight on a superior level. Most of its injuries were from their talons and beaks. Walking over to the injured pack, Sebastian shook his head with some pity. They’d have to run or fight him, but if they ran, they’d be chased down. If they stayed and won, they’d be defended by the overwhelming stench of blood that scared off other animals.

The Winter Wolf turned towards him, and he almost felt like it’s eyes looked him over coldly, almost humanly with greed, as if it sensed Sebastian’s Ice Affinity. It howled out, and it’s injured pack ran forward at him. The alpha had levelled up once, but other than it’s ice vitality, it wasn’t superior to the coyote or different in any way. It’s regeneration made the fight much longer, but that was all.

[You have slain a Lv. 12 Winter Wolf]

[Defeated Higher Level, Higher Tier]

[Awarded 300 xp]

[You have slain a Lv. 10 Winter Wolf]

[Defeated Higher Level, Higher Tier]

[Awarded 250 xp]

The only surprise came at the end of the fight, when one of the wolves in the pack spontaneously acted a lot stronger than before. Only when he identified it did he realize they had hidden a Lv. 10 that evolved during the fight. His miscalculation led to a pretty deep bite into his forearm, covering the remainder in his blood.

He couldn’t be far off from levelling up now, though. Not with the increased xp gain like this. An aching body filled with exhaustion, Sebastian decided to head back to Dallas’ Deals. Soon, animals far stronger than him would be attracted to the smell of blood and death, and he wasn’t confident he could fight anything much higher than Lv. 15.

Picking up the two Tier 1 Wolf carcasses and carrying them over his shoulder, his saber still stuck in one of them, he moved towards the forest's edge with some semblance of a smile on his face. He didn’t know what was coming to him at Lv. 10, but he definitely couldn’t wait.