“So, I suppose this is it.”

“And what’s your point?”

“Fucking firewood. I was trying to be little bit emotional.”

“Still, what’s your point then?”

“Okay, there was no point.”

“Then leave already.”

I will burn you one day. After coming out of my little space beneath the tree I head west once again. Since Altrandil is mammal that means that his territory is located in west side of the forest.

But before I go to Alt’s territory, I think I will meet Arcturus first and say goodbye to the old wizard.

After almost getting lost in his cave tunnels I come before Arc’s crystal cave.

“Hi, Arc.”

“Hello, Alder. So, what’s new then?”

“Nothing much. Oh, I'm leaving the forest today.”

“Really, this fast? How are you going to pass the outer regions?”

“I found someone who’s willing to let me go through his territory.”

“Oh, then good for you. But before you leave, I got something to give you.”

After going into his bedroom, he came back with bracelets like mine but slightly thicker and darker colored.

“Here, it’s my new creation. Let's just say it’s an upgraded version of your bracelets. Try it out.”

“Thanks.”

After taking my old ones of I put the new ones on and activate it with my mana. As soon as I pump some mana into it, it starts to take form.

First my gauntlets form. They look sleeker than my last ones. Greaves too. But it doesn’t just stop there. After gauntlets, greaves and mask for next comes more extensions from these. My mask becomes helmet, gauntlets extend upward my arms and become full body armor and my greaves extend upward like my gauntlets and cover my whole body.

Now my gears not only cover my feet, arms and mouth. They transform into full body armor. And they fit like a glove. But I still prefer my old ones. Still I can feel coolness exuding from myself.

“This is awesome. Thanks dude.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“Okay. Thanks again anyway. So, I suppose this is it.”

“Yes, farewell Alder. I hope we will meet again.”

That’s more like it.

“I know we will meet again as long as you live in this forest.”

After bidding Arcturus farewell, I come out from the underground cave.

“Hey stupid tree which way to Alt’s territory?”

“First just keep heading west then you will come before third boundary. After that as where that fox’s territory is.”

“Okay. Then how long do you think it will take me to reach the third boundary.”

“If you’re lucky enough it will at most take two months. If you’re not lucky enough you won’t make it there.”

“As always thanks for your vote of confidence.”

After that I start heading west. Since west is mostly occupied by mammals there are lots of animals crawling along my way. And sometimes some animal notices me even through my camouflage.

But for some reason even though they noticed me they simply run. And I suspect that has something do to with my aura. After committing two genocide my aura is painted by blood.

So, I think as long as they are sure that they can kill me they won’t attack me. That will help me tremendously during my travels. But I suspect it will only be effective in the inner regions. As I go outward my aura will become negligible to stronger beasts.

I finally come across something that is willing to cross me after travelling for almost a two week. In front of me stands grey dire-wolf glaring at me with hostility and at the same time with caution. It knows that I'm not prey and at the same time it is willing to fight me.

I think this vicinity is territory of canis lupus seeing that I encountered mostly wolves along the way. And wolves here is very diverse.

Still one standing against me is the biggest that I encountered along my way here. And before I knew it there is a grin on my face right now.

I think I'm actually looking forward to fighting this wolf.

I activate my old gears. No matter what new ones are still little bit stuffy for me. As soon as I activated my gears the wolf jumps to action. Pouncing on me. As it tries to bite my face, I simply put my gauntleted left arm in its mouth and let it bite on that.

As it bites down on my gauntlet, its teeth crumble like a soft tofu. While it whimpers away and tries to put some distance between us I punch it across its snout with all the strength I can muster.

Even without mana I can still throw the damn wolf back with my punch now. Wolf starts to vomit blood while whimpering. I suppose my punch really packed a punch. Pardon the pun. From that I can see that increase in my body potential really matters.

I can still remember what my puny punch did to the first wolf I encountered. And there is no longer condensation in this wolf’s eyes. There is only caution. This is what I wanted. Not to be looked down. Not to be cast aside like a thrash.

And for that I need power. And I will grasp that power with my own two hands.

Now let’s try this again with mana. As I close on the wolf, I charge my gauntlets and execute my first technique on its skull while it was still vomiting blood and whimpering.

BOOM!

I can feel its skull crumbling beneath my fist as my punch makes resounding boom. After kicking for a little while wolf takes its last breath and I can feel its dissipating life-force being absorbed.

Now that I thought about it, it’s been a while since I last ate something. Even though I don’t need to eat to sustain myself I would still like to eat some meat.

So, I create a dagger from my mana and slice of the wolf’s front leg and start to skin it. Since I never did it before I fail a few times. And after slicing off most of its meat with its skin I finally manage to skin it.

After finishing skinning wolf’s leg, I cast a fireball and cook the wolf’s leg over it. I wish I at least had a salt add some taste. Still after holding it over the fire for a while it starts to exude a delicious smell.

I took a bite from it after cooking it for almost an hour. As I bite into it, its juice starts to flow down my mouth. Even though the taste is little bit bland, since I didn’t eat meat for a long time it still tastes good.

Today after living in this world for almost four years I finally eat a meat. And it is delicious.