[Sub-Quest issued.]

Trophy Hunter: Approach the centre of this domain and slay the Alpha and his pack. Reward: Unique title, hidden reward, hidden reward. (0/2)

Failure will result in the Source becoming permanently inaccessible to you.

Brock read the prompt and merely blinked in response. “You’ve got to be fucking joking.”

Raising his eyes to the starry night sky - a beautiful sight he took no joy in seeing - Brock met the System with two middle fingers and cussed it out. A minute and over 30 different expletives later, some not even real, Brock slumped his shoulders in defeat and gave the wall behind him one last weak hit, resulting in his fist bouncing back softly.

“You’re an asshole, you know that yeah?” he spoke to the sky.

The target of his words offered no reply. Dick.

Straightening his back and stretching lightly, Brock sighed and took stock of that which he had the hindsight to store beforehand in his backpack, his messenger bag having been discarded for a storage device of far greater durability and capacity. Within, he had managed to fit a dozen or so bottles of water, along with a similar amount of canned beans, opting to just stick with a filling and reliable food instead of pursuing variety.

In addition to all that was a spare change of clothes, just a simple street outfit with old runners he’d found in his size and of course his plethora of weapons, consisting of knives ranging from lengths anywhere between ten to twenty centimetres. Hell, he had even nestled a meat cleaver in there somewhere, and boy was it sharp. He also had a limited supply of medical items.

Should be enough… I hope…

As far as prepared went, Brock felt he was. Taking a deep breath in and out, he spared one glance for the barred off path behind him and fiddled with his cufflinks, before finally continuing forward, returning to his previously required state of caution to fit the new and unknown environment, knife waiting at the ready in his hand.

As he prowled toward the glowing beasts ahead, he realised that the darkness acted like some sort of thin fog, his vision clearing up explosively in the direction he approached. It was far from ideal, but he could see reliably for around ten meters in all directions with perfect clarity before it started to become obscured. That… isn’t good.

It was with this newfound proximity-based sight that Brock finally glimpsed the violet variant of the Treants in all their glory. They still maintained the form of being relatively humanoid, although their bodies had begun to lean in a direction that appeared far more animalistic.

In terms of looks, they were very similar, although their previously long arms were longer and their backs were arched more prominently, with a thin mane of purple leaves trailing down their spines and onto a budding tail, akin to that of the Croco-Treant.

And while they also had longer claws, more teeth, and just an overall bigger and sturdier stature - one of radiant violet accents and browned roots - Brock felt himself powerful enough to deal with them easily, even if the fights would take a dozen or so seconds longer.

Let’s… try something…

Seeing as they were yet to notice his presence, Brock broke into a crouch and approached the closest of the three loitering Treants. He quickly crept up behind his target, his knife held in a white-knuckled grip, almost eager to cleave through the beast’s head and end the fight before it could even begin. If not for the fact that the plant monsters quite literally blocked his only path forward, Brock would have gone around them, but engaging them wasn’t the end of the world. Not yet at least.

He felt strange, being able to observe the beasts up close like this. Contrary to his impression of them being mindless tyrants intent on devouring him in his entirety, the Treants almost seemed… well, like animals really. Occasionally, they let out a gurgling call as they roamed about, tearing at the moss and what not polluting the surface of the road and grabbing the loose pieces with their long tongues, letting it disappear into the depths of their maws.

From where he was, they looked like oddly peaceful creatures, far from the raving monsters that he had witnessed so far, attempting to claw and bite at him on sight.

Alas, whether they were truly bloodthirsty monsters or not, nature itself was the biggest monster of them all. Looming over his prey, Brock brandished his knife and slashed it across in a brutal swipe, neglecting to imbue his Augment into its length due to overconfidence. The Treants he had fought before could be cleaved in half with a good swing without it, so why ruin a knife and alert the others to his position with its glow?

“What…?”

His eyes widened in surprise, however, as his weapon impacted the creature’s woven flesh and was met with great resistance, barely managing to cut through half of the monster before all his momentum was spent. Cursing as a spray of glowing purple gurgled out from the wound and the beast roared in pain, instantly turning around to catch him with a swipe of its claws, Brock jumped back and out of the way, leaving his knife embedded within his resisting prey.

All the noise brought the attention of the other Treants over to him and they gurgled at him as the duo in the distance began charging toward them, frantically rushing over to give their companion some backup. Eying the names that flickered above the trio of heads as they engaged him, Brock frowned and immediately reached for another knife.

[F] Lesser Treant (LVL 9)

[F] Lesser Treant (LVL 11)

[F] Lesser Treant (LVL 10)

The one he had initially attacked possessed the highest level at 11, and Brock wasted no time in finishing it off as he dodged under a quick swing of its claws and carved into the other side of its neck, his blade smouldering with heat. It cleanly sliced through its neck with minimal resistance. The monster’s head was sent spinning to the floor as its body began to spasm before finally becoming limp and collapsing to the side.

Tossing the ruined blade aside, Brock reached down and plucked his first knife from the charred neck of the corpse. It was slightly bent from the angle of the swing, but it would do for another Augment infused attack.

Let’s finish this.

With two enemies left, Brock readied himself and held his knife out in front of him, his eyes peeled to their movements. He was slightly stronger than either of the creatures, but he still maintained his vigilance against them. The lowest levelled one arrived first, clearly having leant more toward Agility than anything else.

Despite being the weakest, the beast actually managed to score a trio of thin gashes across Brock’s forearm, its speed exceeding that of his own reactions, if only a little. Unfortunately, it had neglected to raise its Constitution enough, and his heated blade shaved its head down the middle the next second, showering Brock in a spray of sizzling blood just as his final opponent arrived.

Looking at it, Brock sensed an odd sensation radiating from it. The creature didn’t seem to be any faster or more powerful than either of its friends, yet it seemed to emit some sort of idle power that he found somewhat familiar, yet entirely foreign. No matter what the weird feeling was, he just shrugged and readied himself to dodge as the creature dashed in with its arm raised high and swung down.

He was left utterly confused, however, when he jumped away and easily cleared the range of attack but still found a triad of slashes carved messily into his chest. Retreating a few steps more and touching the wound with his fingertips, Brock narrowed his eyes in the direction of his opponent and noticed that it didn’t seem to be approaching, instead waiting for him to make the next move.

While he couldn’t look at the thing’s eyes, Brock could still see the spark of intelligence the creature possessed within.

Glancing at his fresh wound once more, he circled around the beast and it followed suit, “What’s your problem?”

It didn’t respond, only kept at its deliberate inactivity.

Well then, I guess I’ll make the first move. Thinking to himself, Brock shot forward with his enhanced Stats and met the creature head-on, opening the melee with a sharp swing, the passage of his knife forcing the very air itself to churn and waver with heat. Although, his eyes were left wide when his swing aiming so obviously for the beast’s neck managed to only slice off a small sliver on the side of its head, leaving it perfectly alive.

What the f…

Gurgling in response, the creature swiped back at Brock, their close proximity enough for its claws to physically carve another set of deep gashes across his chest, making him grit his teeth at the pain. He didn’t let it wind up for another attack and promptly followed up his own assault with a crisp kick to the monster’s currently bi-pedal midsection, though that too seemed to veer slightly off course, only hitting its side and disorientating it slightly.

Brock furrowed his eyes. It seemed like the creature was… changing the direction of my attacks…

He leapt back, creating distance between them once more, and glanced down at the ruined remains of his rapidly cooling knife. Deciding to test something, Brock reared his arm back and let his weapon fly, spinning hilt over blade toward the Treant. From where he stood, the knife looked to be destined to strike right in the centre of the beast’s chest.

It was slight, but Brock managed to notice a shimmer in the air just before it hit, making the knife veer off to the left marginally. Although it was still just enough that the blade hit its body at a weird angle and bounced off harmlessly.

The creature was warping the space around it to alter the path of his attacks.

Brock wasn’t exactly sure how, though he thought he had a pretty decent idea of what was happening. And that was simply explained by the Treant having access to what Brock himself had. An Augment. He had no clue what kind of other Augments were to be gained out there, but this one seemed to be related to space.

An Augment of Space maybe?

Considering his was clearly fire-based but was still called the Augment of Sparks, Brock thought it was more probable that it was similar to his initial guess, but with a simpler name. Like the Augment of Shifting, or Warping, or something like that.

Gazing at his opponent while it appeared to gaze right back at him, he gritted his teeth. Even if he was definitely stronger than the Treant Stat-wise, it mattered little when he couldn’t even land a solid hit on its body. The way he was going, he would long succumb to the creatures’ weaker attacks before it succumbed to his.

Licking his dry lips, Brock glanced down at his hand and looked back up at the Treant waiting several meters opposite him. If the beast wanted to fight with Augments, then he would give it a fight with Augments. Let’s give you a taste of your own shitty medicine.

Running forward, he kept his eyes out for any sign of shimmering space, as while he was almost certain the explosion from his Augment would be too fast for the monster to displace, nothing was stopping the Treant from doing so to the hand channelling it.

In seconds, he was dashing into the range of the beast. Without even giving it time to react, Brock swung an open palm at its dome, smirking as it grazed the side of the Treant’s head as expected, having been deflected.

Though, it was only a feint as the true attack stuck downward at the legs with his other arm. The monsters’ accents flared in intensity for a brief moment in something resembling shock, and it was only able to shift the trajectory of his hand slightly before a roaring explosion from Augment blew off over half of its leg with a small bang.

Right on target.

The budget space mage let out a gurgling scream as its leg snapped under it, unable to resist its own weight, and it fell to the ground helplessly, scoring a gash along the victor’s chin on its way down, forcing him to flinch back and wince. Grumbling at the creature, Brock eyed its smouldering stump and hastily drove another explosion of power through its forehead as it began clawing and raging at him, frantically trying to devour the human that had bested it.

“You're lucky I don't like salad,” Brock hissed out a breath and felt at his wounds, “you little shit.”

He watched the corpse as it slumped to the side and hit the ground. The man sigh in relief and briefly considered using his stored bandages to patch himself up. Ultimately though, he brushed the idea aside, deeming the wounds not worth the expenditure. The cuts across his chest were somewhat deep, but his Vitality was already getting to work with stemming the bleeding and patching him up.

With nothing else barring his way further into this strange violet forest, Brock continued onward, all but unenthusiastic about exploring its depths. This is gonna be… fun.

The satire dripping from his thoughts almost made him laugh.