*BOOM!!!*

“...” – I was seated on the ground, meditating and circulating the Berserk energy around my body, making sure my bones got used to it without weakening. I had discovered this a few hours ago, if I circulated the energy often enough, my body got used to it, and not only it could absorb more energy, it was less affected by it. That’s why I was trying to find the more effective way to circulate the energy.

*BOOOOOM!!!*

“…” – Anyway, I first started circulating the energy around my veins, making it so that it was the blood that did all the work, and somehow it worked, only I had some trouble, because I couldn’t limit it down my neck, and so the charged blood arrived to my head, and messed with me. Later I tried a new method, to carry it myself with kinetic energy to all my body, except my head, but it didn’t work as well, because even though it worked to power me up, it didn’t help my body get used to that energy.

*BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!*

“…” – And so, here we are, trying my last method. I’m trying to do something similar to when I circulated WF method, infuse the energy into the oxygen, and then let it flow. But I need to draw away the energy from it before it goes to the head, so it will be quite the pain in…

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!*

“GOD DAMNIT BOB! I’M TRYING SOMETHING HERE! DO YOU WANT TO SHUT UP AND STAY STILL FOR A DAMN MINUTE?!” – I snapped at him, who looked at me while smoke was going out of his hands and the wall was full of holes.

[…s-sorry Master, I’m just excited with this new power you’ve g-given me.] – He looked down, apologizing and scared, as if I was some kind of monster, when all I was doing was for its own good, at least some of it.

“Sorry, Bob, I know you’re excited, but I need concentration; how else if not am I going to find the way to strengthen you even more?” – I gave him my most “caring” smile, and then I approached him and placed my hand on its arm. I would’ve liked to put my hand on his shoulder, but you know, 5 meters tall. – “Now make me a favor and relax, you can go hunting, take some prey and eat it. By the time you’re back I’ll make sure I’ve discovered your next step, okay?”

[Okay Master!] – He immediately smiled as if nothing had happened, and dashed out of the cave. – “Be careful!”

He was so infantile, I loved having him here, it made my staying here in the forest so much easier. Until now I hadn’t realized how lonely I was, but living alone was taking a toll in me, even if before coming here I lived alone on Earth, every time I went out I saw thousands of people, so it was not the same.

And to think I hated living surrounded of so many people. I thought it to be stressful and disgusting, having to live with zombie like persons who did nothing but going from home to work and from work to home, as if that was a life. I always went with music on me, not bothering to listen to the people from the street, even more, actively avoiding to.

Now though, I missed the senseless sounds, the blabbering in the streets, the unconscious wandering and losing myself in the old parts of my town. There was this one time when I ended up in a forest near my town, and was lost there for almost a week! This feels similar, but worse, because I can’t get out of the forest just yet.

“Aah…” – I couldn’t help but sigh remembering those days. I shook my head and sat down on the floor, making myself comfortable as I dispersed the nostalgic thoughts out of my mind. As soon as I steadied my breathing, I immersed myself on meditation, looking inside my body. I controlled my heart in the pattern required to generate Berserk energy and I started practicing.

I willed for the energy to go into my lungs and a red mist started invading them, but this time instead of exhaling it, I redirected it towards my alveoli so I could infuse the mist into my blood, getting this way blood charged both with oxygen and Berserk energy. I released my “leash” on the blood and let it circulate through my veins, this time without controlling it, as I was pretty sure that even if it went to my brain, this amount wouldn’t make me lose my mind.

This was the true reason I told him to go on a hunt. If I had just asked he would’ve stayed quiet and not make any noise, but even then I would’ve known he was here, and if by some reason I ended up in an enrage, I didn’t want to hurt him. And now that I could control more the Berserk energy, I was pretty sure I would’ve hurt him.

Anyway, the blood went into my brain, deoxygenating on the process and at the same time liberating the energy on it, just as it did on all my body at the same time. I noticed my mind go cloudy, somehow angry, and even bloodthirsty, but at least I felt control. As soon as the blood came back, I infused some more energy in it and let it go around again. When the blood went again through my brain I was surprised that it didn’t increase my mind confusion, but more surprised that it recycled the energy already there, reabsorbing it as it released the recently charged energy in my brain.

As soon as the blood went to take more energy, the energy that was somehow “discharged” went into my lungs getting substituted by new and charged energy. The discharged energy in the form of mist merged with the mist on my lungs, and recharged with the help of the remaining energy. All this happened while the charged blood circulated, and the recycling process happened all around my body. It seemed that as long as I controlled the mist not to come out of my lungs, the circulation would be an automatic thing, which helped me a lot.

As I had confirmed that I could circulate energy at these levels and not be controlled by it, I decided to keep doing it. I had a feeling I was missing something, but for the time being I just ignored, and kept circulating the energy while keeping the mist imprisoned on my lungs. Luckily for me this levels of energy weren’t enough to cause any strain on my body, which although wouldn’t have bothered me as I could regenerate, would’ve been a pain in the ass for Bob.

I felt as my veins toughen and my heart strengthening, I figured that after some time my heart would be able to pump much more blood in much less time, increasing my “cultivation” speed. All my bones were becoming even tougher and in some way porous, allowing them to absorb more energy. My muscles in the other side were becoming more resilient and stronger, allowing them to stretch and contract more and faster without suffering as much strain as they did before.

Unfortunately all was improving so slowly that I knew I would have to do this for quite a while before it was able to really make a difference, so I immersed myself into it and forgot everything around.

After around half an hour of circulating the energy around, I finally realized what was that I missed before. The confusion on my mind was fading and was almost gone, as if the energy didn’t confuse me as much anymore, and that gave me the hint that I was missing. Circulating the energy didn’t just make my body more physically apt to take in Berserk energy; it also strengthened my mind, allowing me to use the energy without losing control.

I immediately increased the amount of energy a little bit, and the confusion increased, but only up to the same level of confusion that it did before, yet the rest of my body was strengthening faster than it did before, and probably my mind was too, it just was harder to perceive that than the changes around the rest of my body.

After around an hour, I had increased the amount of energy in my veins twice; I was about to increase it a third time when a mental message from Bob came.

[MAAAAAASTEEEEEEEEEEEEER! HEEEEEEEELP!] – I stood up in an instant and looked around, only to realize Bob wasn’t here. I closed my eyes and tried to feel our connection. I felt something, not sure what it was, but it was something I hadn’t felt before, so I tried to touch it. As soon as my mind made contact with that thing, I realized what it was, it was like a worm hole, and I felt Bob on the other side. I wondered why I hadn’t searched for our connection until now, but it didn’t matter right now.

[Bob! What’s wrong?! Tell me where you are!] – I asked him as I opened my eyes and started gearing up, taking some daggers and two javelins, not knowing what I would have to face, it was better to be ready. I poisoned the daggers and then approached the Panthers’ heads. – [Master, it’s my community, I found them as I was coming home with a Drake Hound, and they tried to steal my prey from me, so I fought the Alpha, but in the middle of our fight a Gryphon flew down and grabbed him! I need help to save him Master!]

I smiled at the thought of him fighting the Alpha, and I tried to ease his mind as I collected some acid in a specially made canteen made with Panther’s leather. – [Don’t worry, I’m coming right now, how should I find you?] – [Easy, just follow the link that ties us together. Hurry up please, I’m following the Gryphon, but it goes as fast as I do even with the Ape on its legs!]

***

An hour ago (Bob’s POV):

[Kakakaka, Master let me go out! I’m so eager to hunt something, I wonder if I would be able to hunt a Panther. Better not to risk it, Master has told me they’re some nasty creatures, even nastier than I thought!] – I couldn’t help but smile at the thought of hunting again. It had been more than a week since I went out. Master had prohibited me to go out until I mastered up to certain level in the Berserk Rage. – [I still wonder where did he get such a wonderful technique, it more than doubled my strength and according to him I haven’t mastered a 10% of it!]

It’s a pity that nothing goes near Master’s cave; I have to walk so much just to have a chance to hunt something.

Half an hour later:

[Ooh, that’s a Drake Hound!] – In front of me a Drake Hound was laying down on the shade of a tree, dozing off. This was so exciting, I finally found a prey! I had had to travel far, and dodge a pack of Drake Hounds. Anyway, now that I found a prey I wouldn’t let it run away. I dashed at him trying to take him by surprise, as even thought I felt confident in my strength, Master had taught me that being smarter than my prey was also a strength in itself, and being able to kill a prey without letting it fight back revealed that I was smarter, and thus, in some way, stronger than the prey.

Unfortunately, having been taught to try and take advantage of my enemies’ carelessness didn’t mean I had been taught how to do so yet, so the Hound heard me before I was even at 10 meters of him, and stood up in an instant, dashing away from me. – [EEH?! DAMN COWARD COME BACK!] – “ROAAAAAAAR!” – I immediately dashed forwards, not risking myself to lose sight of him.

Taking advantage of the trees I jumped from side to side even faster than I would run on a plain, and soon reached the Hound. As soon as he realized he couldn’t run away from me he made a sudden stop and faced me, ready to fight me to death, yet that changed the moment my superior right arm bulged and emitted a somewhat red mist. He tried to run again, but my fist was already on its skull, and I crushed him to death just like that.

“KAKAKAKAKAA” – I did it! I killed a Drake Hound, and I did it alone! I grabbed the Hound and carried over my shoulder, and then I made way towards my home.

20 minutes later:

[Hmm? Aren’t those? HA! What’s my community doing here?] – As I was going home I found my community wandering around. It was the whole community, and not just a scout patrol, did something happen?

“Guys! What are you doing here? Why did you leave the mountain?” – I shouted to grab their attention, and they looked at me, some of them with a scornful gaze, but I didn’t mind, I had gotten myself a real Master, and I would be obtaining the Alpha position soon, so they would be swallowing their looks in no time.

“RAHK’TAR! WHERE WERE YOU?! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO COME BACK A MONTH AGO!” – The Alpha seemed angry, but who cares. – “I was out, training! I’m much stronger now. Look, I even hunted a Drake Hound alone!” – I proudly showed off my prey, and suddenly the looks from my community changed; sadly they didn’t turn into appreciation or awe, but greed and envy.

“You! That Hound was probably already dead, and you just took it from the forest! You know the rules; anything not hunted by you is to be shared by the community!” – A stupid Ape I hated just had to open the mouth. He was a year older than me, and he made sure to remind me of such. – “Rahk’Tar, is that true? Did you find it in the forest?” – And of course the Alpha believed Kar’Talbor, the Alpha himself was Kar’Runat, his father. – No I didn’t! I hunted it myself!

“Ha! Like anyone’s going to believe that, you’re even weaker than we are, and we would need at least 5 of us to hunt a Hound!” – He smirked, happy to drive me as he wanted. – “Rahk’Tar, give us the Hound, don’t make me take it from you.”

“…” – I dropped the hound on the floor, and Kar’Talbor made a triumphing smile, only to be substituted by an astonished open mouth when I hit my chest and then hit both my superior fists together, the Alpha challenge symbol. – “KAR’RUNAT! I CHALLENGE YOU FOR THE ALPHA POSITION!”