Following behind Arther, John scanned his surroundings. He noted that his vision seemed crisper, and his hearing was definitely sharper. Not only that, but his awareness for his surroundings seemed to improve beyond what the standard five senses could manage. John asked Arther about it, who in turn explained that he was instinctually using the most basic form of aura.

While John’s aura was still on the weaker end of both power and control, it was still exciting. He tried to stretch out this new aura of awareness to hone in on the area ahead of him but found it very difficult to manipulate. He stopped trying to wield it and let the intangible aura return to a sphere-like field around himself. Within the field, John was able to feel the presence of anything within it, John almost didn;t notice that he could vaguely sense everything in the field... except the adventurer standing right next to him.

“Arther, why can’t I sense you with my spirit sense” he asked.

Arther grinned, “Aura strength and aura manipulation skills are vital if you want to differentiate between just the run of the mill adventurer, and a pro. Personally, I think it’s one of the most important skills for us to have yet it goes overlooked by most until the later stages. Compared to you, who is merely a fledgling in using aura and has yet to even utilize any magic, my aura strength and control is much stronger. I conceal my own because if an Advanced level adventurer releases their aura, there would be... extreme consequences to weaker people like yourself.”

John was a little vexed as he felt Arther put a little too much emphasis on the word weaker, but he had to admit that Arther was much stronger than himself and probably anyone he’s met in this world so far. He couldn’t help but wonder what kind of strength he might have if he was able to completely conquer this dungeon. This train of thought was quickly cut off when he felt a strong presence enter his aura field .

He looked around frantically, ready to fight, but was confused when he didn’t see anything in his surroundings.

“Arther, do you feel that?” he asked his friend.

After he heard no response he turned his head to see that Arther was gone. That bastard left him without a trace! John would bet money that he was laughing to himself some distance away at John’s expense. He quelled the annoyance, pushing it down, and closed his eyes. He might not see his enemy, but he could certainly feel it’s dominating presence. Compared to all of the low ranked spirit beast he had encountered until this point, John was certain that this was the strongest yet.

John rationalized that while the beast was definitely stronger than himself, it was either making no attempt to hide itself from his aura sensing, or it didn’t have the control to do so. Instead of fear, John could feel a different emotion wheeling up in him. Everytime he absorbed the power and instincts of a spirit beast, when he moved on to the next for the anticipation would grow. This anticipation had begun to boil unto a palpable blood lust that drove him to hunt. He needed to hunt. That he knew.

He opened his eyes and they darted from tree to tree. Every small movement caused by the wind drew his gaze. John momentarily considered the possibility that the spirit beast might be underground when he felt the surge of an undisguised aura to his left. He dropped to the ground, narrowly dodging a heavy blow that ended up hitting air.

As the creature swung, whatever power it had been implementing to cloak itself faltered. A massive fist was momentarily visible as it struck. Following the attack, the fist was quickly cloaked again. John tried to make a mental image of the creature but didn’t have enough to go on. He waited for the next attack and trusted his new battle instincts.

A surge of bloodlust came from behind him and he tumbled to the side. This time, he was able to make out the monster's upper body as it had raised its fist and attempted to bring it straight down onto John with it’s full power.

The silver haired gorilla’s blow continued through to the floor, where John had previously been standing, creating a deep crater in the ground. The sheer force of the attack produced an explosion of sound, and John’s newly sensitive ears began ringing.

John assumed that this gorilla was using a cloaking power similar to Tina’s, but whenever he attacked with the explosive strength it wielded, the cloaking would partially fail for the duration of the attack. He assumed that the gorilla had to move slowly in order to maintain the magic but this would need to be tested.

His adrenaline pumping, John allowed himself to fall into a hyper alert state. His body went still and he waited. When he heard the slight crackle of a dried leaf being crushed, he charged. He blindly swung his fist into the gorilla and luckily grazed it’s left shoulder. When he struck his foe, it’s whole body became visible and John smiled as he thought he could see a look of surprise on the gorilla’s face.

Taking advantage of the moment, John sharply kicked at the now visible Gorilla’s left kneecap. The beast gowled in annoyance and swung its beefy arm out in response. It’s attack cleanly hit John square in the chest and he could feel several ribs break under the impacts. He tried to take a breath but could feel that one of the bones in his chest had pierced his lung.

Perhaps due to all the adrenaline, or maybe it was the substantial increase in his resilience, but John managed to resist passing out and stayed on his feet despite the devastating blow. He was painfully conscious and learned first hand what it felt like to have your lungs slowly fill with blood. While taking extremely shallow breaths, John barely managed to avoid what was clearly an upcut aimed at his Jaw.

If the beast landed even a single more hit, John knew it would end in his death and he would just become fuel for the beast to increase its own power. Dealing with just the strength behind the gorillas strikes was already impossible enough.

As he calmly analyzed the situation, in the back of his mind he considered just how much he had changed during his short venture inside this dungeon. The fact that he was still trying to figure out how to take down this nearly unbeatable opponent, showed just how much he had changed since arriving in this dungeon. He knew he belonged in this dungeon. It just made sense. While trying to figure out how he was going to take down the obsticable between him and the dungeon's core, he was jolted from his thoughts when the beast aura emitted a powerful lethal intent.

John’s vision was already blurring. His head was pounding as he struggled to take in even just a single breath. Making his best attempt to sidestep the heavy blow, his legs betrayed him, and his body was hurled backwards as the spirit beast hit him directly in the face.

Overwhelming pain overtook him. The bones in his face were either broken or shattered and several of John's teeth could be found on the ground around him. The animus hunger to consume spirit beasts was overtaken by sheer panic. John could draw in a breath and whenever he managed to do so, he was painfully reminded of his shattered ribs.

The gorilla stood over it’s downed for knowing victory was about to be his. John could’ve sworn that even through his blurring vision that was growing spotty, he could make out the gorilla make an almost human grin portraying ecstatic joy.

Arther, highly adept in aura manipulation, could fool both the physical and aura senses of anyone below his level if he chose to with minimal effort. He stood just a mere few feet away from the battle, eyes locked on the scene in front of him. His smile, long gone, was replaced with a hard expression. John had failed this test and it was painful to watch his new friend get brutally beaten to a pulp to the point of choking on his own blood. Arther sighed, the test was over. He canceled the advanced aura technique and allowed those in his surroundings to sense his presence once more.

“I suspect it’s time for me to step in now Jo-” Arther’s words fell away as he watched the awakening of a power. He smiled, ear to ear, as John used magic for the first time.