After waking up, Reed looked at his surroundings.

He was currently inside the Demonic Forest, the forest that surrounds Marth.

It is said that countless demonic beasts inhabit the forest, making travel from in and out of Marth difficult.

However, that didn’t stop Reed from escaping. He already knew the danger.

He slowly started getting up, and when he did…

Growl…

He heard a groaning sound close by. Quickly, he moved his head in the direction of the sound.

And, he saw it. A dark beast, with black fur covering the entirety of its body, in the shape of bigger than normal wolf. A demonic beast!

He and the wolf looked at each other, and…

The wolf leapt into the air, jaw open as if to bite something.

He moved his arm in front of his face instinctively.

The wolf immediately bit into it.

Red, dark blood started to drop out of the wolf’s mouth.

Reed grimaced in pain, but only that. He was already used to this level of pain.

After bitting into it, the wolf shook his head from one side to the other with enormous force, grabbing Reed out of the ground and shaking him together.

He opened his mouth, making Reed fly out of there and smack into a tree.

Reed immediately got up, and looked over at the wolf.

The wolf, once more, leapt with his mouth open.

At that, time seemed to stand still for Reed. Various thoughts ran across his mind.

He thought, if only I was stronger, I could beat this beast.

He then thought, what if I make myself stronger then?

He remembered, during his father’s “talks”, he mentioned a way to make a person stronger.

A way to enhance the physical strength of someone, through the simple use of flowing mana.

One of the very basic spells, that any magician could use.

By focusing his intent on making mana flow through his veins, and concentrating that mana in the muscles of any part of the body.

He immediately did it, focusing strength on his arms.

Afterwards, you wait for the right moment, and release the mana at the moment you need the power.

With Reed’s enhanced perception from the adrenaline, he felt he could do it.

He saw the wolf coming at him.

He positioned both his arms on the sides of his body.

And then…

*Crush*

A sound of bones breaking could be heard.

Reed had crushed the wolf’s head with his hands.

Blood flowed from between his fingers, and he feel something soft between his palms. He thought it must have been the brain.

He let go of the wolf’s head, and after it fell to the ground, he sighed in relief.

Sigh…

He got a healing potion out of his bag and splattered the liquid over his bitten arm.

The wound did not immediately start healing, but after some time had passed, his arm would be as good as new.

He picked up his bag and tried to recover from the battle.

Now that he had a way to defend himself, he felt confident, but at the same time, the wolf’s attack had scared him. He became apprehensive of what was to come.

Looking back at the wolf to make sure he was dead, he found a small gem shining from the inside of the wolf’s head.

He picked it up. He knew what this was.

It’s an ether fragment. Mana often condenses inside the body of demonic creatures and creates these.

Other demonic creatures often ate these in order to become stronger.

The gem was small enough, and he needed to become stronger in order to survive, so he immediately ate it, thinking it might help him in some way.

He felt a small surge of power, but that’s all. He instinctively knew he would need more in order to grow stronger.

He then started walking, away from Marth.

During his walk, he found a cave, and after verifying that it was secure, decided to settle down on it.

Reed found a random spot on the cave, and after a while of turning left and right in fear, he fell asleep.