[Assimilated Cry-cotton bloodline! 2 new bloodline directions potentially available]

Waking up to the bright prompt, he shielded his eyes to adjust to the light before reading it properly. Just two more didn’t mean much, but at least he had a way out after selecting the Pure mana bloodline. With that in mind, he got up and headed to his storeroom to cook some meat and field roots together.

The book which mentioned its taste recommended shaving the field root and adding a handful to a stew, although that option didn’t exactly work for him. Alternatively, it suggested grinding to a paste and smearing it on the meat before cooking as pleased, that seemed best for roasting and he did as instructed.

Grinding the root proved even easier than expected, the originally tough internals easily crushed under a rock. Then smearing it on the meat took a minute at most, and a Living flame cooked the diced meat of a human leg.

Nothing else was new there. He cooked in a pot for convenience before allowing it to cool. This step was arguably the most important when cooking as even slightly warm meat resulted in painful burns. So, as soon as it felt ready, he grabbed a piece out and chewed on it heavily before swallowing. “It’s actually really good, I have to collect more,” he said, barely saving his breath as another piece of brown, seared meat travelled down his throat.

With a ravenous gusto he finished the diced meat and relaxed a bit. The Nexus also pointed out the consumption of that root.

[Consumed Snowy field root! Assimilation progress 15%]

Now if only they were easier to find, admittedly his improved mana sense could help with that. Seeing through snow might not change much in the magically large battlefield, a place where only his far-range sight mattered, but on the surface he could easily see anything of interest underground. Most plants like the field roots weren’t that far down, making it all far more viable.

In fact, if not for digging up all the ice-mind berries on the way to the battlefield long ago, he’d probably have assimilated its bloodline by now. And today, he did precisely this while travelling to the winter's hope tree. The progress on arrival felt adequate given the sheer utility available to him.

[Consumed Ice-mind berry! Assimilation progress 97%]

Just one last bushel and he’d be able to assimilate it back home. While not a strong plant, it was an unnecessary risk by being outdoors. Finally, as he saw the crystal flower field in front of him, there was no time to continue digging or thinking.

The leaves of snow and ice appeared at the tip of his vision themselves and he continued moving forward.

Just like the first time he visited, the massive wolf and elk took a seemingly rightful place beneath the tree while none dared approach. Many of the magical creatures seemed appeased to simply be in the area with considerable mana, not even absorbing it to train.

In fact, if not for their bodies breathing it inadvertently, it may have been better for them to live anywhere else. But this also explained why so few magical creatures existed on the mountain, he guessed. Not doubting that one of his many books explained this as well.

Perhaps he would one day be able to read through them all. But that couldn’t be today.

With all his Jump and Windburst seals ready, he readied himself for a conflict. If possible he preferred to go and consume some sap without having to fight… but from that wolf’s aggression he doubted such an ending.

And he considered a sneak attack to debilitate one, but the intelligence of either fell into an unknown category. If the other found him too dangerous then it suddenly became a fight against both, and such a thing was far worse. Once near the tree he did not stop and gawk, only moving forward to take a place.

Both creatures opened their eyes as snow crunched beneath him, and as last time the wolf growled lightly. In response he let out a his own, higher pitch, roar. To further prove his place, he cast Earth bolt and struck the tree, leaving no mark, as expected, but clearly drawing attention.

The intimidation failed, and the wolf began to stand. He changed the tactic from using spells to showing damage, he cast a Wind blade storm, most of the blades striking the tree or snow, except for one.

That single blade curved round and struck the wolf’s side, not drawing blood but certainly cutting through its dense fur. A full round of blades would have left it with a few deep cuts at the least.

But his attempt to threaten it didn’t work. The wolf howled, winds whipping up around its body and bursting out. Leaves and snow rose from the ground and flew away, creatures nearby scurried as fast as possible to avoid what came next.

Activating a Windburst seal, he pulled back a bit and prepared himself.

The battle began.

He first glanced over to the elk who sat there, appearing unbothered by the appearance of both contenders. Clearly it didn’t really care who won and simply wished the fight to end soon, a perfect response for him.

As for the Wind blade’s lack of damage, he didn’t expect it to cut through the large wolf’s thick coat so easily! At the very least he anticipated defences on par with Bronze ranked warriors, but this overlooked how those warriors specially evolved to have high physical defences.

This wolf on the other hand evolved in another direction entirely, and as its howl finally came to a close he understood where.

Snow rose up to its grey coat, not ending there as mana permeated throughout its fur and covered its whole body in strands of ice. Very soon its fur transformed into a thicker armour, and he no longer waited for his enemy to finish. Gawking was a stupid action on his part.

Casting Cone of fire, he targeted the wolf from above while preparing a real attack.

The still transforming wolf noticed his attack, but simply ignored it. The bright orange cone covered its blue and white body, but seconds later the spell ended to reveal just a bit of melting allround with a small bit of singed fur on top.

Okay… It was as tough as expected with its armour. Perhaps he should’ve just killed it with the Wind blade storm.

Ignoring how minor his spell’s damage was for now, he continued casting Mental shock to lock down its mind temporarily. The wolf’s intelligence seemed nowhere close to the elk’s, meaning mental attacks performed far better.

But at just 10 words and beginning to release mana, he saw that the wolf poured mana into its legs. Using some kind of innate ability, he knew the distance between them was far too short.

Winds suddenly whipped up around its body and rose a flurry of snow once more, he barely had time to react. Without a better option, he stopped casting the spell to trigger one of his Jump seals, the only method to dodge this obvious charge. Rising up into the air without any indication, the wolf was unable to stop its skill and pushed through.

Any warrior knew that stopping a skill halfway through is a prime way to injure themselves, and how could the wolf not also understand?

Faster than his eyes moved, the wolf’s figure dashed away and barrelled right below him, charging at a frightening speed, spinning at the end of its dash to face him once more. It didn’t stop for a moment before running towards him, a dangerous closeness at the moment. Every step kicked up snow which circled around its body like a naturally occurring snowstorm.

But the moment he entered the air his casting of Mental shock restarted, and the wolf’s lengthy charge gave more than enough time to cast it this time round. Just like a Stun spell, the creature had no way of knowing such a spell had arrived, its mind went white and nothing existed anymore. Let alone control its body, whether it could even think at the moment was unknown.

As its body crashed into the snow, skidding for metres before slowing, not a single sensation impacted it. But the effects of Mental shock faded fast, the lack of a sustained blow reduced its seriousness in exchange for its penetrative psychic effect. The few seconds it remained flat on the ground, whiteness slowly fading and granting it consciousness once more, the wolf could finally think about where it even was.

Memories of the battle fueled its strength, and it pushed its body to stand up and search for its foe.

It didn’t have the opportunity for very long.

A giant chunk of ice appeared above, the glacier easily a quarter of its body in size, and when directly dropped on its head… The huge weight smashed down, actually cracking in two from the force alone but for the wolf things weren’t as final. Ice armour cracked all over its head and back, and he saw its head drop, almost forcing the wolf down too if not for the ice breaking!

It roared out, in both agony and rage, blood trickling down its armour of ice and eyes blood-red as it focused on the little dragon. The hatchling was casting another spell, and it understood that any spell was dangerous if used correctly. To let the dragon cast another was a complete loss in its eyes.

Rather than charge and let him jump up once more, the wolf moved mana to its mouth and gave off a single bark. As it did, a blast of air faster than the Jump seal hit him dead on, throwing him back and wasting the seal he activated moments before the blast hit.

That didn’t stop the upwards momentum from taking effect, only amplifying the distance he flew away from the wolf. It fired him toward the tree, moving past it a second later and landing near the cliff face right behind. He rolled several times before stopping himself to recover some beatings.

And just after rising up, he saw the wolf charging right to him with claws arcing with blue lightning, it expelled a strong burst of wind from its feet to jump high up, landing directly where he stood with slashing claws imbued with lightning coming for his life.

Activating the Jump seals on his side, the sideways force pushed him away and let him dodge. But just barely at that.

Before even standing up, he began casting Snow blade storm, looking at the wolf who had sunk somewhat into the snow and now had to pick itself out. Refusing to stop the casting early, he carefully watched it move mana to its mouth again, but this time he finished the spell before it could look over! Dumping a specific quantity of his MP out to cast the spell, he saw the wolf look over with a growl. This wasn’t anywhere close to its limit yet..

Snow rose off the ground and quickly began compressing to create tens of small ice shivs, the blades all growing larger and thicker before firing off towards the rushing wolf at the same time.

But he targeted a few spots in particular.

The bleeding spot on its head, then both eyes, ears, and its nose. He considered the anus as well but without a clear shot the ice armour could block it easily. And while its armour repaired without any interaction, blood still dripped down without end, the wound too deep to heal so easily with a layer of ice.

The giant beast dexterously swatted away several of the blades, roaring to release another air blast which knocked away a few more, but it did nothing about the remaining ones, perhaps realising that dodging was the far better option against this prideful, errornous display. Limited by its own speed in the end. Most of them missed, unfortunately, and simply pinged off its thick armour.

But one stabbed right into its open eye! And another deep into its ear! Both wounds on the left side of its head, giving a blind spot he wished to move into now. Whether his speed even allowed for such a thing was an entirely seperate matter.

It didn’t wail or howl in pain this time, instead growling and rushing straight for him, the wolf aimed to slash him apart with a swift lightning-fueled slash, and at such a distance it could follow his Jump easily. Rolling away would no longer work as it waited for such a thing, and he lacked the ability to repeatedly dodge… He had to defend the next blows.

And now he wished he actually tested his innate skill out properly.

Pouring over 25% of his MP into his scales right away, he noticed they simply absorbed every last drop without hesitation, quadrupling in weight instantly and forming a grey shine all over him. The appearance confused him, not expecting such a metallic effect, but a greater concern of whether this was enough appeared in his mind. There wasn’t enough time or mana to add more though, and he decided to dodge at the last moment with a Jump seal.

A weak jump to the side barely moved him and he panicked instantly, barely rising beyond eye level with the gargantuan creature.

As expected, the wolf expected his sudden dodge, albeit not one so feeble like this time round. Its body turned ever so slightly and easily caught up to his landing location, prepared to cut down the belligerent lizard without waiting.

To avoid the attack, he activated another two seals to make some space before casting. The force of all three seals combined finally gave some height in this defended, yet weighted state.

But now came the deciding moment. His status showed 57% MP, enough to release a single large attack. From the selection of spells available, right now the wolf’s head couldn’t have been in a worse state, and he had to capitalise on that injury and exhaustion.

Casting Mental blast, the wolf’s eyes narrowed and no longer waited for him to hit the ground. Rushing over to his falling body and jumping up without the need of an ability, in the air he locked eyes with the beast but did not stop casting.

His eyes closed and he simply focused on finishing the spell.

A flash of white lit up the darkness, and a crackle of lightning momentarily entered his head. There was no next step. Only Enduring.

His body slammed into the ground at breakneck speeds, a massive gash covered his side and half his wafer scales cracked from its strike alone, but on impact turning into little less than a demolition.

All over his body the cracked scales crumbled into a fine powder, some barely sticking to him but not really affecting him in any way. Instead the deep hole clawed out of his side left him in so much more pain, he wanted to squirm and cry out but physically couldn’t find the strength to. However, he no longer had to speak.

Before striking the ground he finished the spell.

Rapidly emitted as much mana as his collapsed body allowed for… He just looked forward. To the wolf looming ever closer who did not understand his gaze as more than spite. But at that moment it stood still, unable to even twitch as a wave of death passed through its mind.

The elk looked towards the blast of vicious psychic energy, ignoring this final move when it clearly only targeted the wolf. Travelling in a different direction which left it unharmed.

His wave of psychic power finally touched the wolf, and its eyes turned dark. Swaying gently in the mountain wind, internally it felt a heavy pressure crushing its existence from all angles. There was no resistance, and nothing it tried held back the ever-closing walls. But like an omnipresent anxiety attack, it could not stop the unstoppable force slipping through… Its mind collapsed in a single moment of weariness and the beast crumpled. Now dead; heartbeat fading.

Simply thinking harder is never a proper method to resist psychic magic, even if it gives a few final moments of survival.

And yet, the spell had almost finished at that point, just a few seconds longer and it may have survived the attack. If not for his Mental shock weakening its mind slightly, and the concussion of his Glacier crush further build up damage, who knows how he’d possibly release another attack. Still, he triumphed over the creature with little to no mental defences.

In the end a Mental blast requiring 25% of his MP took it down… and just barely at that.

Standing up weakly, he looked out to the beasts at the outskirts of the crystal flower field and growled. The wound on his side felt incomparable to having his leg torn off, still inflicting him with sharp cuts of pain with every move. It remained fresh and raw, weakening him immensely. But he had yet to show any of that pain in his voice or stance.

As the wolf’s heart came to a crawling stop, he declared himself the victor of this mistaken battle. There was no value in honour amongst animals. If he wanted to kill anything, then next time then he’d start with that. It was only because of that troublesome deer he didn’t attempt it, and even now he regretted such a choice.

His body automatically drew in copious mana from the surroundings and reaffirmed his stance, mentally feeling far better. The gouged out chunk of ice-cream and broken scales would need a bit more time to repair, but with this victory he had time to rest. That wolf’s single attack completely used up all the mana used in an expensive reinforcement as well. It seems his scales weren’t weak, but not close to as tough as he hoped for.

A slow use of Telekinesis dragged the wolf’s corpse alongside, placing it beneath the tree, where he took his rightful place as victor. The awaiting prompt meant nothing to him, and the canopy above shielded him from a bright sun.

All while lying on the corpse of its former owner.