Fear clutched at Ryu’s heart like a possessive mother. His wounds from the wendigo Boss- now scabbed over- seemed to ache with a new intensity, his mind reliving the pain of the event. Sweat trickled down his forehead.

“Fuck,” he cursed. “Fuck.” Maybe if he said it a few more times, the creeping feeling in his stomach would go away. Maybe fear was like one of the priests his family kept around, and with enough cursing, it would give up on him. Maybe.

A growling interrupted his thoughts. It seemed he’d been discovered. He’d set out that morning with the goal of getting stronger. Which meant Qi. Which meant fighting. It was only that… he was scared. The word held a certain bittersweet taste in his mind, its sound both an admission of cowardice and refreshing honesty. In truth, he was afraid of fighting the caninds. Beasts didn’t move like men. His dueling experience was useless. The memorized sword combinations wasted on their bestial instincts. The wounds on his back provided a refreshing reminder that the wounds wouldn’t be healed anymore. There was no grand castle or rich rooms awaiting him- not for some time, at least.

In all his thinking- or rather, his overthinking,- he’d failed to account for a certain scientific truth: nature didn’t care how he felt. Nor did the canind in front of him, for that matter. It’s throaty growl rose to a sharp bark, and its hind legs bunched.

His sword came up, its outstretched blade taking the leaping monster through the body. They fell to the ground in a growling, whimpering mess. Ryu wasn’t sure which of them made what noise. His fumbling hands lost a grip on his blade, and he struggled to push the beast off of him. Then he realized it’d quit moving, save for the minor convulsions that racked its dead body.

He pushed the corpse off of him, sucking in a breath of air that didn’t smell like stinking fur. “Fuck,” he said breathlessly. A smile crossed his face. He grabbed the Qi crystal that hovered in the air above, thankful that the system didn’t make him harvest it from the corpse himself. More. He still needed more. A particular fire reignited in his stomach, and he rose on shaky legs.

Level Up: Level 1 -> Level 3

He snarled. The level meant nothing besides a minor increase to his connection with his Class- whatever that meant. Only every fifth level mattered. It was on those levels he received Skill choices and Profession Points, the points that could raise his natural talent and proficiency in a particular trade or action. It was only those things that would give him the strength to one day measure up to Haru as an equal. Or as an enemy.

Caninds were simple creatures. Simpler than humans. He just needed to focus. Right. Another one found him soon after the last, and he noticed it growled, too. Strange, that. It was like they were intent on announcing their presence, giving up all pretense of a surprise attack. Then he remembered this was technically considered a training ground for young adventurers. A deadly one maybe, but a training ground, nonetheless. It wouldn’t do for the young heirs of the Rings to die without a good fight. Until they got too strong. Then the only way to kill them would be through stealth or a good dose of overwhelmingly powerful opposition.

The canind’s claws rattled the sword in his arms. It was going to be a long day.

He stumbled into a strange clearing in the midst of his wandering. The wounded canind he’d been following was gone, replaced by an empty patch of jungle. Well, relatively empty. He supposed a truly empty clearing would be without the man-sized wolf that snarled at him so… fiendishly. It had to be said that Ryu had many things. A deathwish was not one of them. He fled.

His fa… Jinn had done most of the strategizing before Ryu’s duels. He watched the opponents, dissected their tendencies, and packaged his observations in a neat little package for Ryu. That safety net was gone. Not for the first time, he realized he’d lost more than a father. Jinn was his biggest supporter, and he’d cut the man out of his life without hesitation. That situation… would have to be fixed. At some point. Right now, Jinn was far, far away. Ryu would have to make his own plans.

He slipped behind a tree and slid to his back. He had to think. How would the wolf attack him? Would it growl before it attacked? Would it ambush him? Normal wolves hunted in packs. This one clearly didn’t. He slammed his head against the tree behind him. He had no answers, no plans. Nothing.

He had to relax. He strained his senses, hoping maybe an answer would come to him. None came, but something else did. The air around him shifted. His sixth sense- that peculiar ability of the body to put the pieces together before the mind- shouted at him to move. He listened. Jaws snapped the empty air where his head had been.

Ryu rolled to his feet in shock, fumbling at the sword in his belt. The dam in his mind seemed to break, and his thoughts flooded in. He ignored them. They hadn’t helped before. They wouldn’t now. Jinn might be far away, but the muscle memory he’d ingrained in Ryu was closer than ever. It would just have to be enough.

The wolf circled to the right. Ryu circled to his own right. He almost laughed. He’d thought the caninds snarled before attacking to warn adventurers. How stupid. They were beasts, not training dummies. They snarled to lower his guard. They snarled because this wolf, their alpha, commanded them to. He’d waited for a snarl and almost paid for it.

Ryu hopped back at a snap of fangs. A feint and not a particularly good one, either. What was this, his first time holding a sword? The wolf snapped again, and Ryu lunged in. [Karuta Armor] flared into existence under the wolf’s bite. His sword chopped into the thing’s front leg, left the thing dangling, and came back up for another strike. Then his Skill shattered, and he felt exhaustion flood his body. Fangs like knives clamped onto his forearm. He screamed. His vision tunneled. He fumbled for his knife with his free hand, stabbing it into the beast ruining his arm. Once. Twice. The wolf let go, and the third stab passed through empty air. He stumbled.

The fight became a game of exhaustion. Ryu fumbled about with his recovered sword in his weak hand. The wolf made minimal movements to prevent blood loss. Both teetered around like two drunkards at a bar. In one last desperate move, the wolf crashed into him with its full body weight. It bit weakly at his arm. He plunged a thumb into its eye, biting and tearing at the beast. His knife plunged into its throat. Its claws tore lines of fire into his calf. After some time, it quit moving. Ryu didn’t.

Rare Loot Received

Item- Savage Wolf’s Blood received!

Item- 2 Average Grade Qi Crystals received!

Item- Uncommon Healing Pill received!

The items fell into his hand with a soft clink, but he only had eyes for the healing pill. He downed it without a thought, feeling the burning sensation of his wounds stabilizing. The wolf’s corpse seemed to be getting warm. Comfortable, even. He let his head rest against the tree behind him. The gods would just have to protect him once more. Ryu fell asleep.