035

I didn’t take long for me to sense that I was getting closer to the town altogether.

Now that I could basically differentiate between humans and non-humans using [Awareness]. It was relatively easy to keep on track.

What wasn’t easy was the thing chasing behind my back. With my weight being around 2kg it was very easy to keep up a good amount of speed with just the most minimum amount of Qi, which is why I already lost the snow wolves who were chasing behind the silver wolf.

The main mistake I did when I was previously being chased by the silver wolf was that I kept a straight path, if I keep that up even now, there is no doubt in my mind that it is going to use that incredible wind movement skill it has.

So, while hopping around like a monkey, I have stayed at a fairly safe distance from it.

Not long though.

Very soon, the gates would be visible and then I will use the help of the guards there to get rid of it.

I mean they guard the town, they should be high level, right? At least around the level of Kyle would help.

I don’t actually know if I should keep someone like Kyle as a standard, but I don’t have much to choose from.

The guy that I just fought, his strength was around the same as me, which I can assume is the same as a Rank 3, maybe upper Rank 3, if I keep Rachael as the standard for the amount judging by her HP.

Then again, she doesn’t train that many physical skills, maybe if she did then she would’ve had much more HP than me. That is what I think. I don’t know.

The guy also didn’t seem like the physical fighter type, maybe that’s why I could physically overpower him. He looked like he was very tired as well, that also worked in my favour.

I don’t think that things are going to always turn out this smoothly, so precaution is needed going ahead.

Speaking of ahead, I think I just sensed something problematic…

“Why are there so many people near the gate..?”

At this moment, I should be rejoicing that there are so many people who can help, but my [Awareness] tells me that none of them are even close to the strength that can handle something like a silver wolf.

I could still lure it to the town, but there may be casualties given how many people there are. Even if there aren’t any casualties, still endangering this many people doesn’t sit right with me.

So, even though I don’t want to…

“Damn it!”

I picked up a rock while running, and while suddenly turning around surprising even the silver wolf, I threw the thing straight at its face. Of course I didn’t forget to season the rock with my Qi, doubling the flavour.

The silver wolf couldn’t even begin to dodge a random attack like that.

BAM!

Straight to the face. The wolf abruptly stopped in its tracks and I could hear a low but quick whimper from it.

Too bad I wasn’t going to give it time to stabilize though.

Using one of the tree trunks as base, I kicked off using the most amount of Qi without hurting myself, while brandishing the knife.

Akin to a cannon ball, I shot straight towards the wolf’s head, but it was too quick to judge my attack like this. It moved its head in just the right time to avoid the most fatal strike.

And here I was hoping to finish this in one go. Guess I was too naïve to think that.

But it didn’t leave unscathed though. I managed to slash a good wound around its right side going from the neck to the tail. Although not too deep, it should prevent it from making too many quick movements.

I did a front somersault and got back up quick enough to notice the wolf clawing in my direction.

“Not gonna work! I’m light as a feather bitch!”

While throwing insults at it that it could never begin to understand, I jumped back with minimum effort dodging its attack.

Since I was so light, I managed to get my back facing another tree so using the same cannon method as before, I launched myself again and this time, I managed to stab the bastard right in the stomach.

Another whimpering howl later, I used its body as a foothold and jumped up a little higher. I was going to increase my weight and crash down but it seemed to have sensed something so without minding the direction it was going it activated that wind movement skill and disappeared from beneath my feet.

I quickly move my vision around to see where the thing ran off to, only to see.

“Hey! Not that way!”

It just had to choose the worst possible direction.

I can’t let that thing near the city.

Thinking that I dashed in the same direction. But this wasn’t going to be easy.

The moment it noticed that I was running behind it, it activated the same movement skill again, and this time since it was going in the same direction, it went pretty far.

“Shit! Stop!”

Doesn’t that shit have a cool down or something? Aren’t normal skills not supposed to be used one after the other, then it must mean that it probably can’t do this too often, I hope.

Also, with that many serious injuries, just die off already!

Just as I thought it couldn’t get worse, it does. With the wind flowing in the front I saw as the wolf disappeared from in front of my eyes.

Damn it, I can’t lose it like this!

I know that it is still going in the same direction as before, as I still feel something moving quickly towards that direction, and I don’t need to be a genius to know what that is.

Should I use [Sprint]? That is the only thing that can hopefully catch up to it, but I don’t think my HP can handle something like this.

HP: 82/512

If something unexpected happens when I get close to that wolf, I don’t think I’ll be able to survive that. Even my unique skill is used up.

But I don't have much choice.

[Sprint]

With a pain similar to an electric shock coursing through my blood stream, I ran forwards.

It didn’t even take a few seconds before my HP started dropping.

HP: 79/512

“Damn, I’ll run out before even reaching the wolf!”

Isn’t there anything I can do? This is my Qi, it should be helping me, why does it hurt so much?

I don’t know why but my instincts told me that I needed to activate [Qi Regeneration].

With the automatic control taken away from the cycle of regeneration, I started moving my Qi. Since [Sprint] was activated, I could see how my Qi moved and regenerated while the required Qi was used up to power my skill.

As I saw it, I instantly understood, rather I was surprised how long it took me to finally understand it.

“So this is the reason no Qi based skills go past level 5.”

You would need to see what I'm seeing to finally be able to.

There is nothing to go past. It already is working in the best way possible. So then comes the question, why isn’t it increasing in level? Is level 5 it?

No. It can go further, much, much further. But not in the way I was thinking.

I see the network that is passing my Qi along and I notice something. The lines that distribute the Qi for [Sprint] are overflowing. The parts that are sending the Qi are not able to handle that much Qi at the same time.

So, all I need to do is simple. Decrease the amount of Qi being sent towards the lines and increase the speed of the Qi being transferred in the lines. The thing that is causing me pain is the excess amount of Qi being leaked and seeping into my body.

As long as I can control that.

[Skill: Sprint is now level 6]

[Qi is increased by 20]

“Finally.”

As the pain coursing in my body lessened. I could feel that the speed I was going with also increased, the pain coursing through also lessened. Although it didn’t disappear completely, I could see that I was making progress.

So then helped by my light weight I quickly caught up to the wolf, who was very surprised to say the least.

Good thing I caught up to it though. It was almost near the gate, and when I say almost near, I mean I see guards taking out their swords in the distance.

With the newly advanced [Sprint], I move out of the woods and into the open, then with the help of a little Qi in my legs, I jump enough to get above the wolf’s head.

Taking out the knife, I see that the wolf, who has already noticed me, can’t find a way out of this, so in a desperate attempt to get at me, it starts loading up the Ice Spike skill, but before the spike could manifest itself, the knife, without resistance passed through the wolf’s head finally ended this chase.

[2500 EXP gained.]

[EXP cannot be used. EXP stored.]