Sora killed tigers for the entire day, only taking short breaks to recover health and mana. He was determined to get the tiger pet before doing anything else. The sooner he has the pet, the sooner he can level the pet up to help him. A pet could help you fight and level up alongside you, unlike a mount that can only be ridden. There are some exceptions where a pet can also be a mount but those are extremely rare drops and Sora couldn’t think of where to get one at this stage in the game. Another white tiger fell as Sora leveled up once more, finally reaching level 50; giving him the requirements to equip his new sword.

Sora looked like an excited child as he wielded the Edge of Corruption, raising his damage to a ridiculous amount. Sora tested his new sword on another tiger, quickly dispatching it in nearly half the normal time it took. Sora gave a nod of approval as he looked at his sword, giving it a few more tests on the nearby tigers. He had just went up to another tiger when he heard a scream for help. Sora quickly looked around, forgetting about the tiger as he bolted towards where the scream came from.

As Sora pushed through some brush he found a small elven girl backing away from a giant white tiger, at least double the size of the ones he had been fighting. It was showing its fangs to the little girl as tears streamed down her face, the tiger looked like it was playing with its prey as it circled around her.

Level 50 -Kara, The Alpha Tiger-

The tiger seemed to have gotten bored as it leapt toward the little girl. She put her shaking arms in front of her face so she didn’t have to watch the savage beasts pounce on her as she waited for death. A force suddenly pushed her from the side, making her roll a few feet away as she heard what sounded like something crashing. After a moment of hesitation she slowly moved her arms to see what happened. She was shocked to see that a man had pushed her out of the way and taken the hit for her.

Sora had to use [Relentless Pursuit] to make it to the girl on time, he originally wanted to save her without taking a hit but the tiger suddenly leapt at her. Sora didn’t have any other choice and had to watch her die or take the hit himself. The tiger looked at Sora in annoyance and anger, letting out a loud roar that shook the branches on some of the trees. Sora became dazed as he backed up to create more distance while drawing the tiger away from the little girl. The tiger leapt at Sora who luckily broke free from the daze just in the nick of time, allowing him to sloppily dodge the attack.

Sora felt he was in trouble, the tiger was a named enemy so its stats were far above the normal tigers. Even with his new sword the fight would be extremely close. He didn’t bother to think about it anymore as he focused on fighting the beast in front of him. A [Slash] connected with the tiger, enraging it even more as it swiped at Sora. One hit had taken a good 20% of Sora’s health. He already saw how hopeless this fight was and was tempted to run away until a green light enveloped him, healing the health he had lost. Sora was confused as he looked around until noticing the little elf girl holding a branch that was completely white while chanting something in the elven language. She still had tears streaming down her face and could barely stop her voice from shaking as she tried her hardest to chant the healing spell. Sora went from thinking the fight was hopeless to thinking the fight was unfair for the tiger. Sora would be able to wail on the tiger with no problem as long as he was being healed.

The little elf girl continued to heal Sora as he repeatedly used normal attacks and [Slash] to widdle away at the tiger’s health. He was able to parry every now and then but mainly focused on dealing damage since he had someone healing him. The tiger would occasionally roar, sending Sora into a dazed state and dealing a lot of damage. The little elf girl stayed just far enough away to not become affected by the roar while also keeping Sora full on health. The tiger fell with a roar of defiance, unaccepting of its defeat. The tiger disappeared, being replaced by some coins and a stack of fur. Sora ignored the loot for now as he looked towards the little elf girl who had fainted after the battle was won. Sora decided it would be best to return her to the village, he could always come back and get the pet later and this girl might trigger a secret. He picked up the coins and reached to grab the pile of fur but was surprised when the fur was actually not in a stack, it was draped over something else. He lifted the fur to reveal a tiny white cub that looked up at Sora with large yellow eyes, releasing an adorable roar as the fur was lifted.

[x1 White Tiger Pet obtained]

Sora was relieved, he had high hopes for the tiger to be dropped by a named creature and was a little disappointed when it didn’t. Looks like the little guy was just under the rest of the loot. He picked up the cub and registered it as a pet by giving it a name.

“Hmm… You look like a Snow to me. What do you think?”

The little tiger let out another high pitched noise as it became Sora’s pet. The tiger started at level 1 and wouldn’t grow unless Sora leveled it up. He put the cub into his pet space to let it roam around while he dealt with the elf girl.

Sora summoned Luna as he picked up the girl, carrying her princess style as he got on top of Luna. He started heading towards the elf village, making sure to take things slow so that the girl didn’t fall. It didn’t take long for Sora to wander into an area where shadows could be seen along some of the branches. A man suddenly dropped in front of Sora, looking at the little girl in his arms.

“Saria! What is the meaning of this?”

“She was being attacked by a tiger, I was able to defeat it but she collapsed after the fight for some reason.”

“Please hand her to us.”

Sora carefully handed the girl over to a woman that appeared next to him. The elves started to cautiously leave but before they could get very far Sora pulled out the badge given to him by Desakor.

“Desakor said I should ask for him if I ever ran into any other elves.”

The elf looked shocked as he studied the badge, making sure it was authentic. After a quick inspection the elf simply beckoned for Sora to come with them as they walked further into the forest. The shadows in the branches all followed quietly behind, keeping an eye on Sora to make sure he didn’t try to do anything crazy. After a short walk a tree that was much bigger than any of the others came into view, many structures could barely be seen hidden within the leaves on many of the branches. The elf stopped Sora from going any further as he put his hand on the base of the tree. A green light spread out from his hand, making the wood warp until a doorway opened up. The elves went into the doorway together, leaving a few behind to keep an eye on Sora. Sora simply sat down beside a tree and waited, ignoring the curious stares from the elves around him.

After a long wait the wood on the tree began to warp again, revealing Desakor as it opened up. He walked out with a sad look on his face as he walked up to Sora. A hint of hesitation could be seen before he bowed his head down to Sora.

“Thank you for helping my little girl.”

The rest of the elves looked at Desakor in shock, he was one of the proudest warriors within the village yet he was bowing his head down to a human stranger. He stayed bowed for a while before finally raising up once again to look at Sora in the eyes. No hint of satisfaction could be seen on Sora’s face, he simply returned the gaze with his own.

“Are you sure you are okay with bowing your head in front of the ones who respect you?”

“Just the thought of losing my little girl hurts a thousand times worse than this small act of humility. We may not take kindly to strangers but we are also not blind to the kindness shown to us.”

“Well said, I’m just glad that your little girl is safe.”

“That… might not be so.”

“Hmm? What happened?”

“We usually let the young ones have freedom to explore the forest, if anything threatens them they can always escape due to their nimble movement through the forest. You said she was attacked by a white tiger?”

“When I showed up she was being circled by the tiger, falling to the ground as if she didn’t have a chance to escape.”

“It seems that my fears were correct then, I think she may have been poisoned by something within the forest before running into the tiger. It’s unlike any poison I have ever seen, her mana has been completely drained and her body is rejecting any new mana from coming in… at this rate-”

“Then we must act, if we can find the source of the poison then we might be able to also find a cure.”

“... If you can find a way to save my little girl, I will personally welcome you into the village as my sworn brother!”

The other elves all gasped in surprise, some wanted to argue the point but when they saw Dasakor’s serious face they didn't dare to try. Sora agreed to the request and set off on his journey, returning to where the girl had been attacked by the tiger. The area around here didn’t have anything weird, just the trees that was everywhere else in the forest. He started to expand his search, covering a broad area of the forest that he would sweep over a few times. No matter how many times he checked he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. He kept expanding his search range for 3 hours, not finding anything other than the white tigers, the trees, and basic foliage.

Sora stopped to take a break, he had gotten into a few fights with the tigers during his search. Snow, his white tiger cub, had already leveled up to level 13, not even doing one point of damage to the enemies. He let out a sigh as he looked at the branches above him that filled the sky. He was hoping to avoid having to go up there but it seems that’s where his answers are. He started to use the branched to climb higher into the top of the trees. Alchemy plants could be seen everywhere but Sora only grabbed the ones that he passed close to. The branches had many different forms of enemies; sometimes it was just a white tiger, sometimes it was an ape, sometimes it was a flying creature, and sometimes it was a snake.

Sora tried fighting the snakes first since that was the closest thing to a poison he could think of. The snakes did in fact have a poison but it showed different symptoms from what Desakor’s daughter had. He continued to climb the branches of the trees, going up on one side and down on the next. The entire place was very confusing since there was no set path, only the wildly grown branches acted as a pathway to take.

After a while Sora finally found a clue, it was a white tiger that had purple eyes instead of the normal yellow ones. It’s fur was tainted black in some areas and it looked more savage than usual. The tiger had just been fighting against one of the apes in the forest, it ended up winning the fight and started to prowl around for its next prey. Sora watched as the tiger got closer, revealing its name tag.

Level 52 -Corrupted White Tiger-