"Remember son, the easiest way to find most plants for healing is by looking at night. The plants that have medicinal properties are bio-luminescent, they glow."

Laurence could remember his father instructing him on the process of healing. He was nowhere near as gifted in the study as either of his parents, but his expertise lay in other fields. The young boy did have enough knowledge to get by though. He knew he needed to find some red veined Iconis Roses at the very least, or the poor wolf cub would bleed out before the day was up. Blue leaved Cillin Root would stop the wounds from getting infected and white Silkweed would just speed everything along greatly. If there were white budded «Aguara Leaves» around then it would speed up the small beast's recovery as that plant allowed for increased blood production. Aguara leaves were difficult for Laurence to use though, his father had often said that too much of any medicine would be dangerous, and Aguara was the best example of this. If a doctor used more than necessary it would cause the patient's veins to expand and eventually explode from over filling them with blood.

He searched without any sort of torch, only going towards luminescent spots and looking at what he found. After about fifteen minutes Laurence had only found Silkweed, but that was better than nothing. He knew Iconis Roses were hard to find but comparatively common, so he hoped it was only a matter of time before they were pasted upon the wounds of the wolf. He dug up the roots using a shovel shaped out of mana, each time he reshaped his mana it became easier to do so he thought the simplest way to become proficient was just use it instead of any normal tool. It also meant he didn't have to clean the tools afterwards to keep them in good shape. Once he finished digging up the roots he felt a few drops of liquid on his head and realised he should probably get moving before it began raining.

Little did Laurence know that for the last ten minutes he had been hunted by a monster. The creature had come across the young boy as he was looking for something inconsequential. It followed him round the forest, always keeping just out of the way. It was waiting for the perfect moment to strike and eat the boy.

It called itself Garral, and it was an apex predator in this jungle. It knew how to kill creatures and get food that it should not be able to, and had long since recognised the tattoo of the Challengers. It knew they were hard to kill, but in its one hundred and thirty years of hunting not one had escaped. The rain came down and Garral decided to get closer, soon it would try its standard lure and consume the child.

When it first came across the boy it was wary. It thought perhaps the child was bait to catch Garral finally. It was not the only smart hunter in the jungle, but it was the oldest. It had not got where it was by being stupid. It decided to spread its awareness out and when it found out that it was the only other large creature in the nearby area. It climbed down the tree it was perched in and began the final stage of its hunt.

Laurence finally decided to pull out his red book and have a look for the roses on the map. Since he made the map he had discovered that he could zoom in and out to either get more detail on the local area or see the area in a larger scale. He expanded the map and finally spotted some roses, only half a kilometre away. He was about to shut the book when he saw the words '«Garral - Royal Orik»' heading towards him. He looked at the dot for a few seconds and then closed the book, wondering what an Orik was.

He began walking towards the roses with his book in hand, occasionally checking the map to make sure the creature continued to follow him. He changed directions a few times and finally decided that the creature was probably hunting him. The boy ran towards the roses at full pelt and watched as the dot followed him at a good pace, keeping up to his Saint level speed. In the blink of an eye, Laurence had reached the roses and began harvesting them as fast as he could without damaging the plants. If it was not for his mana formed objects he could not have done it anywhere near as quickly as he did.

He put the roses in his bag of holding when the creature finally caught up. The entire process of reaching the plants and harvesting them had taken less than ten seconds, but the creature covered almost a whole kilometre in that time. Laurence oriented himself towards the hollow where the wolf was and then put away his book as the Orik arrived.

A profoundly hideous creature walked out of the foliage towards Laurence. It was almost two metres tall hunched over like it was, with a face that was part pig, part dog and part bear. It was furred all over and exuded an aura of violence about it that could only be formed from cultivating in the direction of Death and Destruction. A gobbet of drool dripped down its jaw, past its massive tusks, getting lost in the steadily worsening rain.

There was a crash of thunder and a flash of lightning as the Orik opened its mouth revealing filthy yellow fangs. Its guttural voice could be heard even above the thunder. "Hello little boy, shall we play a game?"