I worked on other exercises in game while waiting for the girls, coming up with Dance of Speed, Dance of Balance, and even Enduring Dance. So now I can temporarily can increase Strength, Speed, Dexterity, and Resistance. All of them also increase Endurance. I met up with the Sherrys and told them what I found out. After listening to me, Dirty nodded saying she had also realized it. Potter was surprised but mentioned she also heard the information on Demonic Beast making.

I guess Potter’s info comes first. She found that the major difference between animals and Beasts was the added flow of mana. This began a chain of events where animals became more intelligent and aggressive. They couldn’t collect mana naturally, so they ate those with mana. Mana resides in everything, but only flows in some.

By forcibly making the mana flow, it was like lava in their blood veins. They began to gather more, as to become stronger. So scratch lava, make it cocaine or something. Addictive. And painful. Anyways, the Beasts that gathered enough mana would transform into a stronger Beast. Kind of like DQ monsters, or something.

Dirty learned about the weaknesses of the boar, as well as looked up the natural weak spots on normal boars to see if they matched. What she found was aim for behind and under the front shoulders or go for the neck half way between the shoulders and the ears. Nice, I was impressed. Dirty is rather reliable. She must be the elder sister.

With weapons in hand, we set out again into the forest…ugh.

We walked for quite a ways, but didn’t see anything until we got to the dead zone we made earlier today. There, laying on a pile of ash, was the boar. It wasn’t sleeping, it was eating. There was a rabbit carcass it was biting into. Gnarly.

I was surprised it was only one. Usually a boar has family. Maybe it talks? Something to set it apart from other boars, at least.

“Uh…Hello?”

“Why are you talking to it?”

“Because it should be smarter.”

“I don’t think it’s that smart. I mean, we are going to kill it, right?”

Oh god, this mage girl was an idiot. As soon as she said those words, the boar harrumphed as little puffs of flame exited his nostrils. He stood up and we could see just how big he was. He was big, almost the same height as an adult great dane. He started to paw, or hoof, the ash covered ground as he got ready to charge.

I readied my hammer and told Potter not to use her Spell since it might backfire. Dirty readied her pistol, but I told her to step back and only fire if she had a sure shot. It was about time I actually found out how strong I was.

The boar began to charge at me so I swung my hammer horizontally. I planned on hitting him in the head to disorient him, but didn’t expect him to be so fast. I wanted to hit his head, but ended up hitting his side. I still managed to use my Crush Skill. I heard a crack as some ribs probably broke. The boar didn’t fly off, but it did stop his charge and caused him to stumble onto his side. I followed through with the swing bringing it up to my left shoulder as I hefted it back over to my right.

The boar took this chance to try and head-butt me, but I stepped back and swung my hammer like I was at the state fair. BAM, right on his head. Crush didn’t activate, maybe it had a cool down, but I could tell I had knocked his noggin a little loose. I could practically hear the bell ringing, telling me I was the Strong Man. As he was tripping, trying to shake himself back to normal, I used Break on one of his tusks. It broke off nice and clean, which didn’t make sense. I thought it would at least break off at a jagged angle.

I made a mistake, I got cocky thinking I could take this guy down by myself. I took one hit and smashed into a tree. Dammit! It still hurts. Potter used her Spell to try and get the boar’s attention and it worked. Dirty was off to the side with her blunderbuss in hand. I guess she realized the pistol wasn’t going to do anything.

I took the chance and took out my pickaxe. I aimed at the sweet spot just behind the shoulder and swung my pickaxe. I don’t know how, but I just knew Crush was ready and so used it again. I heard a sickening crunch sound as the point of my tool pierced the boar’s heart. Then it died.

It was at this moment that a surge of energy filled me and the girls. Then the all familiar notification rang out,

“Congratulations! You have learned the Skill Rush! You have a stronger resistance to fire! You have a stronger affinity to fire! Your account has been awarded 10 Silver Coins for defeating a BOSS Beast!”

“A BOSS?! Omigosh, 1 whole Silver Coin!”

“Are you sure it says 1? Mine says 10.”

“You’re right! It does say 10! Wooh!”

The two girls were celebrating as I carried the corpse back to the village. It was completely dark by the time we made it back. The villagers were all surprised. At the bar, everyone was celebrating and we got free rounds. Well, I got free rounds. The girls were still underage.

We sold the boar and received another whopping 5 Silver each, and we talked until one of us had to go. It turned out we each got a Skill or Spell. Well, I got a Skill, the other two got Spells.

Potter got Blazing Trails, which left a fire trail behind her, sort of like a LoL character. Good for setting traps, I suppose. And running away. Dirty got Fire Shot which actually was a Gunner exclusive technique. It depended on the weapon used. Pretty cool when used with her flintlock pistol and blunderbuss. Not too bad. My Skill crashes into all in my path as I charge forward. Reminds me of the boars charging. Makes me wish I wasn’t so heavy. This stuff makes me self-conscious.

I upgraded my normal hide armor for the Flame Tipped Hide Armor. It was named, as it was made from the Beast. It cost me my 15 Silver, but it felt like it was worth it. It looked cooler, anyways. I think there was also enough for the girls to get something, although I don’t remember what it was.

I logged off after making sure I had everything for the night done. This included checking the forums and leaving little tidbits of info. Then I went to bed after telling System good night.