Northern Woodlands

“Ahhh! That… was… AMAZING!”

I rub my stomach in satisfaction. I knew that absorbing the demon core would be helpful, but I never knew that it would feel so amazing! Although it hurt a little, even more so when I broke through the next tier / stage, I still enjoyed it. I am now stage 2, tier 1 or to put simply, tier 6.

I have finally reached my short-term goal of reaching stage 2, however I am limited by my age. Even the best sects only accept disciples at the youngest of age 10. Being a stage 2 already, I do have amazing potential, but I am missing experience. This was proven with my fight against the demonic fire lizard.

Being a scholar in my past life I am aware of many different fighting techniques available for the many different tiers. That in itself does not equal experience that comes from actual battles.

I stand up and leave my make-shift home that has been with me and has evolved over the last three years. It does look quite shabby as the leaves that make up the roof need changed *again* and the multitude of sticks and stones that make up the walls are starting to show their age.

Ugh… I guess I’ll change it when I get back. For now the most important thing is experience, and I just so happen to know of a small pack of demonic wolves that live nearby. There are very few of them and they are all low level so I should have nothing to worry about.

The wind plays with my hair as I am looking down from a tree. Currently I am stalking a pack of demonic wolves from an upwind position. An evil glint appears in my eye as I notice that all the members of the pack have 4th tier and lower. Even if they have more members I shall surely defeat them!

As soon as a demonic wolf approaches my tree I jump down and brutally hit it in the back with my mana. Instantly a wind blade cuts the wolf in half before it even has time to react. Unlike the fire lizard, demonic wolves are known for their agility not their defense. With agility and speed as my strong point, I can easily take down the majority of the pack before they even have much time to defend themselves.

“Hya!”

I knock down all the demonic wolves in the surrounding area of my tree. Hmm? This will be amazing. My eyes gleam as I take down the forth demonic wolf which yelped to alert the others of my presence. Tsk. Pesky demon wolf, alerting the others even as you draw your last breath.

A large scratch appears on my side and I notice a few others approach. I don’t remember seeing them… but… all the more demon cores to absorb later! I pull out the best of the techniques that I am able to use at this tier of mana, and if one were to look from a faraway distance they would see quite an unbelievable sight. Imagine; a single five-year-old creating flame serpents and shooting off a large variety of wind blades.

“Huff, huff, there are way more wolfs in this area then I remember. Huff, huff, I wonder where they came from. Huff, Huff…”

Before I notice I am surrounded by a large amount of dead demonic wolves, yet the amount of those alive seem to have doubled… no, they tripled! I also seem to have acquired a bit of cuts that are leaking blood at an alarming rate.

I silently curse under my breath and start to retreat when suddenly I see a larger demonic wolf that far surpassed the others in both mana and strength. How?! I’m sure that this pack’s leader was nowhere near this place, in fact I would have staked my life on it… in fact I did stake my life on it… so how?! No matter how you look at this creature it is the pack’s leader, and I could sense the amount of bloodlust coming from the demonic wolf. The bloodlust alone was enough for me to stumble and lose my footing. Now I was sure of it… this wolf is just like the bear I saw three years ago… a tier five demonic beast!

I find myself trembling and subconsciously take a step back when the demonic wolf approaches. Before I could even register that the wolf had attacked I had already spat up blood as I hit a tree at earth-shattering speed. My semi-old wounds from the attack on the fire lizard opened up with the addition of the new ones from hitting this tree. This was the second time I had been slammed up against a tree by a demonic beast, and yet, there was nothing I could do about it.

[Random Voice] “Oh? So this is where you pesky little brats ran off to…”

What?! When has there EVER been another human that has traveled to this particular area?! Wait… his words… was HE the cause to the increase of the amount of demonic wolfs as well as the appearance of the leader???

A guy walked out of the shadows and moved his hand only slightly. That little hand movement cause the extermination of the entire pack. Only by looking closely could one see several small spikes that went through all of the demon wolf’s head. This guy looked to be about the age of 65, and seemed to be looking at the wolves I had killed with a slightly confused look on his face.

I finally couldn’t keep it in anymore and coughed up some more blood. This action in itself caused the elder to look upon me with clear interest in his eyes.

[Elder] “Hmm? You… were you the one who killed these demonic wolves?”

[Me] “Yes e-elder… I’m s-sorry if I got in your w-way”

[Elder] “Oh? You seem to be quite talented for someone of your age… how old are you?”

[Me] “Elder, I am eight years old as of this year”

Of course I was lying, how could I tell this elder that a mere five year old took down that many?

[Elder] “… call me Elder Choro… as of now you are a Silver Sword disciple.”

WHAT?! Wait a minute… during the five years I have been disconnected from the mana cultivator world did the standards suddenly start allowing younger disciples?! And one more thing… where is my say in this? He didn’t even ask me for my consent!

Upon seeing my frenzied appearance he just laughed and swiped his hand. I was instantly plucked up from the ground and fell unconscious.

---------------Elder Choro’s POV---------------------

Sever moments earlier…

[Elder Choro] “Finally! I found the magic ingredient I came to this secluded place to get!”

I look down in my hand and smile, as I came all this way to get this specific plant that only grows in the Northern Forest for some reason.

“Grr…”

I look around to see which idiotic demonic creature dare challenge me, and stage 4 cultivator. When I look I notice a large demonic wolf whose mana is quite inferior to mine. Then, in the blink of an eye my precious herb disappeared and the wolf appeared on the other side of me. WHAT?! I forgot about these beasts speed, ugh… I watch as the demonic beast swallows my herb. Death. All these beasts deserve death for daring to eat MY herb. I race around killing all wolves in sight and notice quite a few have disappeared. Hahaha… even if you go fetch the entire pack you are all going to die today!!! A crazy glint appeared in my eyes as I slaughter one wolf after another.

[Me] “Oh? So this is where you pesky little brats ran off to…”

I finally find the rest of the pack and move my hand to shoot out many different earth spikes at all of the surrounding wolves. All of the pack collapses under my wonderful might and I look over my beautiful work. That’s when I notice… a large section of wolves were not killed by me. I see some of these wolves are burnt to a crisp while others are cut in two by something sharper than anything a mortal could do.

I then hear a raspy cough and I turn around. Huddled near a tree is a young disheveled girl. She had long tangled-up hair, and barley and clothes which seem to be made out of animal hide. Her hair was a dirty blond, and her eyes were so dull that I could not see whether it was a dark brown or a dulled red. She seemed to be skinny and her cultivation base was already at stage two.

I ask her if she was the one who had killed the demonic wolves and she says she was. When I found out her age was eight I realized what an amazing existence I found and decided to instantly make her an outer disciple of the Silver Sword Sect. I pick her up with my mana and she seems to slip into unconsciousness. Oh well, I found something after this trip… so I guess I can't consider it all a waste. However… next time I see a wolf it will be dead.