He didn’t go right back into meditation though but instead stood up. Although he was a cultivator he was only at the Mortal Rank so he still had to eat. “Now that I think about it I haven’t eaten in a long while. I should probably catch some food.” As he was thinking to himself his stomach made a growling sound.

Akata looked out into the forest and then made his way deeper inside. “I should play a game then, since I’m not supposed to test my true strength just yet. How about I play a hunter and stalk my prey only using regular mortal ways to catch food. I’ll even use a stick as a spear.” Akata had a big smile on his face as he thought of this and snapped a branch off a nearby tree.

“This one will do, now to find some prey.” Akata crept through the forest trying to keep as silent as possible. He wasn’t using any techniques to quiet his steps or cover his breathing. He was just relying on mortal ways to hunt his prey.

He searched high and low for hours until he came across a Fanged Monkey. The monkey had brown and green fur covering its whole body making it hard to even make out. It was a short monkey and if it was in a store you would think it was just a furry ball. It had saber teeth that stuck out of its mouth making it look adorable and fierce at the same time.

When Akata spotted it he immediately came to a stop. He really was getting rather hungry. The Fanged Monkey was sitting on a tree eating a fruit. Akata crept closer to the monkey and held his makeshift spear in hand ready to launch it. He had never practiced with a spear but he felt confident in his ability to throw it and kill something, especially if it wasn’t moving.

When Akata felt that he was within range he held his spear back and aimed it as best he could. Then he threw it forward straight at the Fanged Monkey. The makeshift spear whistled through the air towards the monkey. Akata didn’t use his cultivation base to throw the spear nor did he use the full strength of his body. He wanted to restrict himself down to a mortal’s level. The spear went to the target and was closing in on the monkey.

WHAM!

The spear hit the tree that the monkey was on causing leaves to fall to the ground. It was about five meters off from the target. Akata had a blank face on as he was watching the spear move farther away from the target as it whistled through the air. Then when it hit the tree he felt so empty that if a wind blew by he would have toppled over like a statue.

The Fanged Monkey heard the spear strike the tree and it looked at the direction it came from to see Akata. It let out a howl and threw its fruit at Akata and dashed off in the opposite direction.

Akata was still standing in the same place with a blank face looking at the spot that the spear hit. It wasn’t until the fruit smashed into his face that he became conscious again. He quickly wiped the fruit off his face and rushed after the monkey.

“What the HECK was that?! My aim was way off. It looks like I can’t use the spear as well as I thought. I guess long range isn’t my forte.” As he was running through these thoughts and chasing after the monkey he snapped off another branch. He was going to use this a sword.

“Using a mortal’s speed isn’t going to have me catch up to this monkey.” Akata mused to himself as he saw the extremely fast monkey getting farther. “I don’t even think I could catch it even if I was using my cultivation base.” Akata was then shocked by the display of speed from the monkey.

He stopped chasing the monkey and then started searching for some other prey. Whenever Akata came across some plants or fruit he would certainly eat it. But it wasn’t enough for him for two reasons. Firstly it didn’t fill him up and secondly he didn’t want to fail his so called game and not be able to complete the hunt. “If I can’t even hunt an animal while using the strength of a regular human then I can’t call myself a cultivator! If I don’t complete this then I’ll have a shadow over my heart and won’t be able to advance in cultivating.”

Akata continued to look for prey to hunt. But each time he found one something would mess him up. One time he stepped on a stick and the prey scurried off, another time his robe got caught, then another when he was about to strike his stomach growled. Akata was now focusing on his eighth target, a Blood Rabbit.

He slowly crept up to it from behind a bush. He didn’t immediately attack but instead checked himself to make sure he was ready. He checked everything; robe, stomach, sticks, wind, hair, toes, bones, bladder, etc. After he was sure that nothing could mess up he then went in for the kill. He moved fast and was upon the rabbit in an instant, he still wasn’t using his cultivation or his body, just the experience of numerous failures.

He was just about to strike the rabbit when all of a sudden a huge bird came and swooped it up. Akata face went blank once again as it had numerous times before. He was so at a loss that he didn’t even think to stop himself and fell on the ground flat on his face. He immediately sat up and yelled to himself.

“WHAT IN THE ACTUAL HECK?!?! WHY CAN’T I CATCH A FUDGING ANIMAL?! WHAT THE FLAP?!” After his series of curses he calmed his mind down.

“I’m not doing something right. From what I know people were able to hunt down faster and more trickier creatures than this and they didn’t even cultivate.” Akata was really at a loss and despair was creeping up on him. He sat there not moving for a while, he wasn’t thinking of ways to catch some prey but was just using the time to calm his mind.

Some time later Akata saw a frog hopping along. It was hopping without a care in the world and eventually stopped by a bush where it just sat there. Akata looked at the frog closely, he felt something was going to happen. The frog sat there for a while and then a fly came along. The fly flew around until it landed on a nearby leaf. The frog noticed the fly but didn’t do anything it still sat there. Akata was confused for a moment.

“Why doesn’t it hurry and eat the fly before it goes away.” He thought to himself and still looked closely at the frog. It was then that all of a sudden it shot its tongue out like lightning towards the fly where it grabbed it and pulled it into its mouth. The fly didn’t even have the chance to resist. Akata was surprised but then his face turned into astonishment.

As soon as the frog closed its mouth with the fly inside a snake shot out and consumed the frog. It happened so fast that if you looked away you would’ve missed it. “I didn’t even notice the snake hiding there. It must’ve been watching and concealing itself even before I got here.” As Akata thought this he came to a realization. “The snake blended in with nature in the place where it knew its prey would come. It was waiting patiently just for this moment and when the chance came it struck out fast and efficiently.”

As Akata came to this thought he stood up and dashed off into the distance. When he found a place by a tree he stopped and sat down cross legged. He didn’t meditate or focus on recovering himself, he just focused on his surroundings waiting for his prey to come.

By now he had spent three days hunting for prey. After watching the fly, frog, and snake he came to a new realization that he was going to try out now. Akata sat there focused on sensing any new arrival in the area. After about 6 hours of waiting a smile went across his face. He then tried his best to conceal his aura and focused solely on the approaching figure. All of his attention was on this new found prey. And this prey was a Fanged Monkey.

The Fanged Monkey was approaching a nearby tree as it was looking for fruit to eat. When it smelled some it came hurrying by. This Fanged Monkey just so happened to be the first animal Akata came by when he began his hunting game. The monkey stopped on a branch and then looked around as if it had sensed something out of the ordinary.

Akata saw this but didn’t do anything. He didn’t retract his aura or stop focusing on the monkey he simply continued with what he was doing. What Akata didn’t know was that his aura was mixing in with nature's aura and obscuring his. It was like he was becoming a part of nature itself.

The monkey eventually stopped looking around because it didn’t sense that strange aura anymore. It then continued on towards the fruit. The monkey hadn’t left Akata’s sight since he noticed that it was coming. Of course Akata wasn’t actually looking at the monkey he was more so feeling where it was. It was like seeing with your eyes closed.

The monkey proceeded to the fruit and then plucked it off the tree. It then sat down on the branch and took a bite out of it. Akata didn’t immediately move to kill the monkey, he didn’t feel that it was the right time. He waited and waited until he felt that it was time to strike, strike with speed and efficiency.

The monkey continued to eat the fruit bite by bite. Akata wasn’t becoming impatient but rather felt at ease. He could tell by now that he had become one with nature and that he had succeeded in Ming Lu’s final task. But now was the time to complete his task. Akata was sitting on a branch above the monkey. He chose this spot because it was right above the fruit that was there. That fruit was the same kind of fruit that monkey had hit him with before and this was also the same area he was in. Because of this Akata felt that this was the perfect place to lure in a certain animal as prey.

The monkey was now lifting it’s hand up to take the final bite of the fruit. All of a sudden Akata jumped down off the branch above the monkey and pounced on it. He held his wooden sword in hand and aimed it straight at the head of the monkey. The monkey didn’t even have the time to fully put the fruit in its mouth before it was impaled. It was killed in an instant.

Akata had a smile on his face as he restored his cultivation back. “It seems I finally did it. Now to eat me some real food.” Akata thought this and licked his lips.

He set up a fire and was about to put the monkey in when he thought of something. “I should probably absorb its blood first.” With that he used his Paragon’s Blood ability to absorb the blood of the Fanged Monkey.

He felt his blood circulating rapidly and the red rune in his soul started to spin to absorb the blood more smoothly and at a faster rate. In the time of a quarter of an hour he absorbed all the blood of the Fanged Monkey. “That was faster than last time. This Fanged Monkey only had the strength of a Grade 1 beast so it didn’t do much for my cultivation. But I did get a new technique out of it. This [Shadowfeet] skill is used for speed, no wonder it is so fast.”

Akata was amazed by the fact he got a technique out of this low level beast. He wasn’t expecting it so it came as a rather good surprise.

“Well now that I have resonated with nature it’s time to head back and report to Ming Lu. Then I’ll be able to spar with her and finally test my strength.” Akata had a bright smile on his face and his red eyes showed with a fiery fighting will.

He then finished cooking and eating the Fanged Monkey and headed back to the sect. Straight towards the second cabin.