Al was surprised, but he quickly got over it and looked at his brand new skill.

[Zapper]: Allows lightning mana to course through the weapon, constantly electrifying anything it comes into contact with. Efficiency depends on the weapon's mana conductivity.

This skill was definitely cool, but there were several problems with it. Firstly, the name was kind of lame, but he could let that one go. More importantly though, his weapon didn't go well with this skill. The mana conductivity of the Squirrelic wasn't especially low or anything, but if you coursed mana through it, it would immediately lose most of it's weight reduction.

Of course, it would go back as soon as he released the skill, but having your weight change all the time was extremely trippy. He also had [Palm of the Storm] which did something similar, though he created that skill himself so he couldn't blame the System for that.

Al decided to tone down the physical training for a while, which Yuly seemed very happy about, and went back to cultivating with her. It took a while to get the ropes back, but dual cultivation with Yuly seemed much more fluid than when they started. Their elemental manas intermingled with each other, swirling around, merging and separating, each time retaining a tinge of the other's mana.

Al felt like their bodies were slowly becoming more and more attuned to one another. He had been feeling it since several months ago, but the following weeks of cultivation seemed to almost confirm his suspicions. By now, it was as if his lightning element had started to acquire some of the softness of Yuly's life mana, and hers seemed to have gained a bit of the brightness of Al's.

This had also sped up their cultivation even further, though it would take a good while before they saw another breakthrough. In the two following months Al got his [[Mana Molding]]to Mid proficiency, which gave him yet another boost to moving and controlling large quantities of mana.

His Will also reached D- Grade, but it clearly took more effort than to train his physical stats to that grade.

Al also killed many Rank 3 beasts, and gave a couple of Earth Cores for Koro to absorb (since his element was compatible), but levelling up had clearly gotten much harder, since he was barely halfway to level 16.

After cultivating for two months Al was getting a bit sick of it, but Yuly wanted to get to the Circulation Realm as soon as possible, so Al soldiered through. They took one or two days off each week to hunt and train skills, but mainly spent every daylight hour cultivating. Al did manage to get his [Zapper] skill to Mid proficiency by practicing it when wielding a Hareth Collapser horn, but it only increased mana efficiency.

Al was also a bit scared that a Tusk Tank would barge into the orphanage by easily ramming through the wall or that a Bomber Squirrel would launch an aerial attack, but Misty detected any monsters before they got anywhere close and Al used her directions to dispatch them.

One day, when Al was taking a break from cultivation by doing some physical training, Koro walked up to him. "Oi, runt," he said.

"Nice to see you, Koro." Al replied.

The hulk of a child stated his purpose. "Ya ready for a duel?"

Al rolled his eyes inwardly and replied "Sure." He was actually glad that in their duels they couldn't use weapons, since a single hit from one of Koro's swords would most likely bisect him. Of course he'd never get hit with how slow his movements were, but in the off-chance it did happen... no amount of Toughness would save him.

They both readied their stances and pounced at each other in unison. Koro's moves had become more refined and less predictable, though with Al's [Physical Augmentation] and [Sense Enrichment] speeding up his reaction times and allowing his body to follow those movements, he could dodge Koro pretty much with his eyes closed.

Still, Koro just shrugged off Al's punches, and even when he punched him with extra momentum form [Impulse], he damaged his own hand more than Koro's body. [Palm of the Storm] was a fair bit more effective though, since each time it connected Koro spasmed for several seconds. He still refused to fall down though.

Al pushed all the mana he could into a [Palm of the Storm], then closed in on Koro while dodging his flurry of punches and pushed his palm against his chest, using [Impulse] to gain speed. He didn't stop there though, and took the chance to use his momentum to throw Koro down onto the floor while his body jerked around. 'Damn, he may not be able to touch me at all, but getting him onto the floor is hard fucking work.'

After checking that Koro's heart rate was in order and the multiple burns in his skin weren't too serious, he called Yuly over for some quick healing. At this point injuries of this level didn't even take 10% of her mana, though in Koro's case it was more mana expensive since his body was extremely compact, and even a normal injury required copious amounts of muscle mass to refill.

Jiao had also watched the fight, and wanted to get better at fighting, so Al spent a couple of days teaching him some basic sword techniques. It wasn't his specialty, but Al knew how to handle a sword. Jiao's enthusiasm was short-lived though, and after a week he was begging Al to spare him from the torture. 'Tsk, what a weak resolve. Well, he's probably just acting like a normal kid, unlike us freaks.'

So Al and Yuly continued their cultivation with some training sprinkled in. Al's Strength soon reached D Grade, the milestone Al had set for himself. His [Sense Enrichment] reached Hogh proficiency too, and it gave the same perk as [Physical Augmentation]. 'Oh, what a surprise,' well, even if it was an expected upgrade, it was still handy to have.

In truth, Al was really enjoying spending his days like this, getting stronger, surrounded by people that care about him, and having fun every day. 'I suddenly got a bad premonition...nah' Al thoughtas he shot down another one of those pesky crows.

He was just coming back from a hunting session, and he'd just reached level 16, so he was in a jolly good mood. Just as Al entered the orphanage, Khan-Wan called him over and told him "Tomorrow we're going to go to the village to sell a big haul of boar and rabbit meat, along with some pelts, can you come with us? Koro is going to be hauling the cart, and with these Rank 3 beasts around..."

"Of course," Al immediately agreed. "We could bring Yuly and Jiao too, since they've never seen the village before," He added.

Khan-Wan seemed to be pondering something for a moment and ended up replying "...Alright."

Al then thought about something. "But with these Rank 3s, maybe we should leave some more adults back at the orphanage in case one appears there. I think I alone can deal with anything that we could encounter on our trip."

Khan-Wan agreed with Al and concluded "You're right, I'll go with you three and leave the other four here. What about your pet?"

Al thoughtfor a moment before replying "I don't think she's ever seen the village, so maybe she'll like to come with."

The next day, a group of six left the orphanage. These six were Khan-Wan decked in Tusk Tank fur gear; Jiao with some light armor and a small backpack; Yuly with slightly heavier armor and a Hareth Collapser horn staff; Koro with heavy Tusk Tank armor and a backpack filled with Hareth Collapser fur, carrying a wooden cart filled with meat and other loot; Al with leather boots and light armor, and with an almost equally packed backpack filled with boar meat; and Misty, peacefully snoozing on top of the cart.

Yuly seemed a bit uneasy, so Al told her "Are you nervous? Don't worry, the village people are all really nice... for the most part"

She looked up from the ground and replied "N-no, it's not that, just that... I've never been this deep into the forest before, and you said that monsters are getting stronger..."

Al chuckled a bit, before saying "Oh you're worried about that? Well don't be. Monsters are getting stronger, but I'm getting stronger faster! No matter what comes our way, I'll pierce the heck out of it! Piercing is my specialty, after all." To prove his point, Al leaped at the cart at an inhuman speed and pushed his rapier clean through a piece of tough Tusk Tank meat.

Jiao looked at the feat with glittering eyes, and Yuly giggled a bit. Al felt a sense of accomplishment and puffed up his chest as the group continued to stride forward. Suddenly though, he felt a wave of eerie and dark mana coming from the west wash through him, and Yuly seemed to feel it too. Koro, Jiao and Khan-Wan seemed to notice something was wrong too, but they couldn't really pinpoint it. Misty was still sleeping.

Then a series of heart-wrenching howls resounded all throughout the forest, except to the east. They continued on for almost a minute, and one could almost feel the soul-tearing pain the beasts were going through from their wails of desperation. They quickly disappeared though, replaced by an eerie silence. Al looked at the group and started saying "Hey! Stick togheth-"

When suddenly a black spine flew towards the group from the distance and pierced straight through Khan-Wan's head.