“Continue to smash it, I’ll send a fireball” Phoenix sent out a tentacle from my back and started preparing a fireball while I was left to dash to the boars side again while trying to find an opportunity to smash it in the face. I lost control of the needles when the boar didn’t fall from my strike as I was still new at doing a physical fight while maintaining my connection to the needles.

I smashed towards it face again but the enraged boar fought back with its head spikes which deflected the hit. I was sure that hitting it anywhere else was pointless as I could see how tough the hide on its back was. The boar started charging at me the moment my second hit was deflected which made me have to roll to the side to dodge as I didn’t expect the thing to be this fast either. The boar was a fucking freak in my eyes. The good thing was the Phoenix finished the spell by that time and shot it towards the boar as I started my roll. Getting back my balance, I watched for a second as the boar groaned in pain from a fireball to the face and grabbed another needle from my quiver and manipulated it as fast as I could while stepping to the side. The boar had shoved its face into the ground to put out the fire burning its face but I used those precious seconds and shot another needle into the belly again. The Boar squealed again and just starting bucking randomly while trying to hit me which made me have to start dodging the goddamn thing again and lose control of my needle which I was trying to disfigure its bowls with.

I ended up getting hit on my left arm with one of its tusks while side stepping and the pain made me wince but Phoenix yelled at me to jump back which I did just in time because I was almost rammed into again. At this point, the pain had pissed me off so much that I just directly sent my mana into right palm and conjured my black flames and shot it directly at its face again before jumping right. I was surprised at what followed as the flame hit the boars face, the boar started squealing again but it sounded a lot more terrifying as if the pain was unbearably bad. I didn’t waste my chance as I created another black fireball and shot it at sides right towards its stomach before jumping back and positioning myself behind a tree while looking at the boar. The boar struggle a little longer but the bleeding from the three needles in its body and the two black fireballs managed to finish it as the sounds of its squeals grew to a whisper before the thing finally fell.

I had never expected a simple boar to be this challenging and just collapsed on my butt while panting.

“My god, these things are so goddamn durable.” I cried as I was still in pain from the hit to my left arm which was worrying me as it felt numb but I wasn’t sure if anything was broken.

“Haha, good job with the fight there. We managed to get away with only minor injuries!” Phoenix seemed really cheery from winning the fight and I couldn’t help but smile as well from her wiggling in my head, after all, it hurt but we still won.

“Phoenix, can you check my arm to make sure everything is alright? Let’s go look at what we got.” I said as I pushed myself up with my right arm while leaving the left one just hanging before walking over slowly towards the dead boar.

I wasn’t sure whether it was really dead or not so I sent another needle into its stomach but it didn’t move so I was reassured of a confirmed kill. I started inspecting the boar and from the closer look, it really was a thick monster of a beast. It felt like the thing could easily bulldoze through a group of bodybuilders that all weighed 200 pounds.

“I think you should take a seat neat the boar and meditate for a bit. I’ll try to see what we can get from the boar in the meantime as your left arm has a couple of cracks and is seriously swollen. We can try to heal it with your mana.”

Nodding my head, I sat down behind the boars back with mine facing it while Phoenix did her thing with the four tentacles sprouting out of me. I closed my eyes and just started focusing on gathering the natural energy in the air while trying to redirect it towards my left arm where the pain was.

Before I knew it, I felt a little tingling from my neck which reassured me Phoenix found something at least but sadly the feeling only lasted a couple of minutes unlike the usual lengthy meditations. My arm did start feeling better as when I opened my eyes, the swelling reduced and the damaged area just felt itchy rather than the violent pain I felt earlier.

“Tough fight” I casually remarked.

“We’re still too weak if this thing is able to cause us this much grief.” Phoenix mentions as I turn to look at the dead boar. It looked slightly thinner from its earlier constitution but I guess that is a given.

‘Man, I really need to improve the damage done by the needles, I also want to join a mage academy… sounds so fun but I should probably get stronger first so I can maybe get a girlfriend or be a badass hehe..’ My thoughts derailing at the first thought of a girlfriend in fantasy land. Maybe two, ha… I could handle two.

“You should stop with your lewd thoughts and start skinning buddy.” Phoenix reminds me.

“Pfff. I have no idea where you get such ideas. What happened to my pure Phoenix? Sigh.”

“YOU HAPPENED, idiot.”

I laugh at her little outburst though I do feel a little guilty about turning my pure Phoenix into such naughty god slime.

‘Well, can’t be helped now. Hopefully when she gets a body, she isn’t as demented as me if not I would feel bad for her future husband.’

After getting a few pieces of meat off the boar and saving the tusks as material for some stronger needles, we start a campfire to have some lunch. With my alchemy skills, making some decent skewers became incredibly easy and delicious especially when the meat tastes so divine and fresh compared to all that processed food from Earth.

Lunch didn’t last long before we set out again to find out what other creatures live around these parts. Hoping to gain some better proficiency in my needles, I start working on the boar tusks and head horns manipulating them as best as I can with my mana to form stronger spiral needles while keeping a slow pace just in case any hidden dangers appear. I managed to get three decent needles of slightly differing sizes out of the horns but the tusks were a lot harder to manipulate for some reason maybe because they were already curved.

“Phoenix, how far can your senses reach now?”

“About 30 feet, it’s my maximum range until I get a body.” She replied with some anticipation.

“Hey, what exactly do I need to do again for the body? I might as well be up to date on the specifics since I’d rather not upset my little Phoenix and not get her a body.”

She wiggled a little, seemingly pleased at my words. “ Depends really, you still need your crystal mana core to grow to about the size of a fist and possibly condense once more since I doubt you would be able to handle the mana required when it comes to making a proper body even with my help. We also need to gather some unique materials. Specifically, the body and core of a high level creature that has its own unique abilities, a life crystal which I don’t know if they have on this planet but we could always create it if we find something with high vitality and finally we would need a magic circle that can stabilize the whole process and handle the mana and items into creating my body. I have the knowledge for the transfer but we would create our own magic circle to fit the requirements of the creature, vitality and whatever elements my new body would have upon “birth” “

I whistle at the list, which in my opinion isn’t as tough as I originally thought but more so just lengthy due to the required components and knowledge.

“I guess we do indeed need to join some magic school or at least get our hands on their library. What kind of elements were you looking to have in your body anyways?”

“Possibly fire since its one of my better affinities and I also chose fire because of Phoenix’s having that cool body of fire description in your head.”

“Haha, sure. I’ll make sure to get you the best body you could possibly want as thanks for everything.”

“Giggles, you better. I have to withstand those incredibly lewd thoughts after all.”

“Hey!” I was just thinking we were having a good bonding moment when she ruins it by calling me out on my crap. Sigh.