Sitting on a branch of the highest tree in the area, Flynn stared at the moon contemplating what to do with the time he had left. It had been half a year since he entered the forest and half a year since he gained Nyx. Left with a little less than a year and a half to get to the academy and it would take at least a few months to get there with his current strength. It was a good thing he would be stronger before leaving.

He stood firmly at the peak of the 3rd Tier of the Foundation Domain, a step away from the 4th Tier, and the strengthening of his body was going well. He was pleased with himself since he felt that although his cultivation didn't increase much, his combat ability soared after learning the other techniques of his mother.

While being at the 3rd Tier, the 4th Tier didn't enter his sight any longer, he could kill normal 5th Tier beasts with relative ease, and he could still kill 6th Tier beasts if he used sneak attacks, if fought head on then he could fight while being able to advance or retreat as he pleased. He had only met two 7th Tier beasts up until this point. The first he tried to launch a sneak attack but was countered and was very quickly beaten within two moves. He only survived and escaped because it was slow. He was forced to flee without doing any significant damage.

The other encounter was even worse since that beast was stronger and faster so he couldn't outrun it. It was also able to catch him completely off guard and he was only able to squeeze out a pyrrhic victory because Nyx joined the fight. Even after she joined he still used many elemental stones and they were both so injured that they were only able to completely recover after half a month. What was worse was that he still let the beast get away with only slightly better wounds. If he didn't have Nyx and was alone he would have been forced to use the talisman to escape, thus almost guaranteeing the failure of his test.

That battle woke him up. He had been growing a little too comfortable in the forest lately and it nearly cost him his life. He had lowered his guard only to have been taken advantage of and he did not like it. It also let him know what his limit was. He still wanted to kill the beast but it would have to wait until he advances andif he could find it again.

Standing up as he pulled out his sword and swung it backwards, he watched as the head of a snake was separated from the rest of its body. Striking out again he cut the head in half and took it's core. It was a darkness type beast so he was a bit happy since they worked better for him. During the past half year he and Nyx started only absorbing dark element cores according to the book left by his mother and kept the others for sale after he arrived at the capital.

Feeling the tattoo that represented his covenant with Nyx he knew she had returned and smirked as he turned around. They had started moving separately lately while mapping the area. He wanted an accurate grasp of all the beasts locations and strength. Now that she had returned he planned to hunt the beasts required for his test that were under the 7th Tier.

During the last six months the old fox had only awakened once and sent him back to the previous cave. It also told them to return to see it before they left the forest and Nyx would be able to find the location.

“Is everything ready Nyx?” he calmly inquired.

“We can move whenever you are ready, Young Master. All the targets required within 300 miles have been located.” she replied after hopping onto his shoulder.

After smiling at her, he lept from the tree and headed for the first and nearest location. The type of beasts didn't matter. Only their strength and the Element they were had effect on the test since he needed at least one beast of every element for each Tier, for a total of 81 different beasts. While hunting only those under the 7th Tier for the time being was not difficult, hunting all 54 beast would be time consuming and tedious.

When arriving at the location of the target, a 1st Tier Shadow Panther, Flynn figured that just killing them would be to boring and wanted to add some fun to it. It didn't take long to come up with an idea, but it could potentially make the process even longer than it already was.

“Hey Nyx, how about we turn my test into a game? It should be fun.” he spoke after seeing several Shadow Panthers together.

“No problem. What kind of game do you want to play.” she said casually after getting off his shoulder. “It at least shouldn't be too simple Young Master.”

Flynn looked down at his targets as he sat on a branch. “How about this. We each get one shot at a kill but only one strike is allowed.” Smirking at himself he continued. “To add to the difficulty we can't be touched or it's a loss. If we can't kill it in one blow or are touched then we let it go. The one with the highest kill count wins.”

As soon as he finished speaking Nyx became quite excited. “This would indeed be more fun, especially since I don't just have to watch you kill.” It would be extremely boring just to watch someone else hunt she thought in her heart “but are we really going to do that now? Even if we add in your rules, we both know that none of those below the 5th Tier could withstand a single strike or touch us.” she explained “we should just rush through those at the 4th Tier and below and start at the 5th Tier. It will save time.” she proposed.

“Hmm, you're right.” he contemplated for a moment before agreeing with her “Let's do it your way. We only have a year left before leaving the forest to get started on my plans and only half a year after that to make it back home so we should get this started.” he took a deep breath then drew his sword and attacked. “After killing those at the 6th Tier, let's close up until we reach the 7th Tier. With that we should be able to finish the test and go see that old fox before leaving. No need to stay longer than necessary. I want to get started with my own business sooner rather than later.” he spoke slowly after collecting the head and core and moving towards the next location.

As they moved through the forest, they killed beast after beast. They hunted their targets down one by one. It didn't matter if they were alone or in a group. If the target was alone then all the better, but if the were in a group then the entire group was wiped if they retaliated. It was a slaughter that caused many low tier beasts to escape their original locations resulting in the time extending. The hunting in the outer regions continued for two months before calming down.

Although the time was short and those killed were weak, the scale of the bloodbath was anything but. It caused a few of the rulers of the outer regions to take notice. Though it was nothing major, more and more 6th and 7th Tier beasts were appearing in or around locations belonging to the lower tier beasts. Upon noticing the increase Flynn and Nyx only felt the rise in difficulty would only add to their fun.

After two months of hunting it was finally time to begin the game. Looking at the 5th Tier beasts below, a group of four apes, Flynn and Nyx were resting before Nyx would make her move. It had long been decided that she would have the first attack once the game officially got underway. If she were to face one of them head on then despite victory was still assured, she might still be touched in the retaliation resulting in her loss which she found unacceptable.

It had been just over half a year since Nyx was born but at this time she was at the peak 4th Tier of the Foundation Domain, a Tier higher than Flynn himself. She was likely to breakthrough to the 5th Tier before they closed themselves up. She was stronger and faster than Flynn in every single aspect except her perception wasn't as strong. In every training session they had he lost soundly without any suspense.

She silently waited for over ten minutes before finding her chance. One of the apes started moving slightly away from the others and when it was far enough away she struck. The ape was only had time to move its head slightly towards her direction before Nyx’s claws slashed through it neck before disappearing into the darkness.

By the time the other apes reacted Nyx was gone and the one that was attacked was in its death throes, attacking everything around. While its companions were rushing towards it a shadow flashed. Flynn picked that moment to strike the ape in the rear. It died just as fast as as the other. The two surviving apes let out an enraged roar before turning and running away.

“Young Master that was sneaky.” Nyx snickered after seeing how he attacked. “It wasn't necessary to act like that was, was it?”

“It really wasn't necessary but it was effective.” Flynn replied nonchalantly. “Besides it's not really different from you waiting for one to wander off by itself is it?” Spreading out his perception he noticed a 7th Tier beasts making its way towards them. “Let's get moving Nyx, we've got company on the way.”

They disappeared quickly after crushing a flower he removed from his ring and spreading it around. A few minutes later a large beast arrived and saw two apes dead on the ground. One with its head missing but both had their cores removed. It roared in rage upon noticing that these apes were killed by the same people that had been slaughtering through the forest. It looked around but couldn't figure out what direction they ran off towards neither could he smell them. It could only follow the trail of the two apes that escaped in order to get more information on what happened.

One hour later, in a different location, Flynn and Nyx we're caught up in a bit of trouble and running for their lives. The had come upon a pair of pythons and since they we're alone, they struck out quickly without checking their surroundings well enough. It was immediately after that a pressure descended upon them, almost causing them to lose consciousness. A roar rung out causing all other sounds to dissappear as if every other beast and and insect had died from fear. Flynn reflexively spread his perception in the direction in which the sound originated and fear spread through his body as he found the source.

He instantly started moving in the opposite direction. “Nyx move it now!!” Flynn roared “Dammit I fucked up, really really bad. How could I be so stupid?” Nyx didn't know what he saw but she felt his fear and anger at himself. She refrained from asking questions and ran as she glanced behind her and her pupils constricted.

A large pit of pythons were pursuing them. Most of them didn't look strong but there were more than 100 of them with about a dozen or so at the 7th Tier. That in itself was a problem but the pressure they felt didn't come from a 7th Tier beast. That beast most likely surpassed the Foundation Domain altogether. If they weren't so far ahead and didn't move out immediately they would already be dead.

Flynn and Nyx were moving quickly, trying to stay alive. This was the first time he had ever put the movement technique he learned to full use. He would have already used the teleportation talisman except it would take time to activate and could only teleport one person and he would absolutely not leave Nyx behind to die. For the first time he didn't know what to do and had lost his calm and paid no attention to where he was going.

“Master!” Nyx called out but didn't receive a response as they kept running. She didn't have the Mind element so she couldn't spread her perception as far as he could so she also couldn't direct them. In desperation she jumped towards him and bit his wrist. “Master you have to calm down or we are both going to die!”

The pain brought him back to his senses and he realized that he indeed needed to calm down, but it was already to late. When he looked around he noticed they were surrounded by fog and his heart almost stopped. The only fog in the forest was the one that separated the inner and outer regions. He started to shake but forced himself to stay calm.

After spreading his perception to the limit he realized that he could see nothing but fog, not even the pythons that were after them. He didn't know which direction to head in to go back and he wouldn't dare move forward.

“Nyx, I'm so very sorry.” he spoke as tears welled up in his eyes.