“You don’t have to look so happy to leave.” Sophie said. “Don’t forget to keep in contact so we can measure our mental communication range. You too Lana and Luna.”

“Understood.” Lana said.

“I’m not happy to leave but I am happy to go fight,” Zane answered. “I’ll keep in contact and you guys stay safe.”

Zane continued jogging of into the darkness as he communicated with Sophie and everyone else. Zane did his best to track his distance, but he quickly gave up. Luna and Lana were moving a lot faster than him while giving out accurate measurements. He realized they were using their map skill while he was estimating based on his own judgment.

As Zane continued to jog forward everyone’s voice became fainter in his mind. Eventually he stopped hearing Lana reporting their distance. He stopped and told the others he couldn’t hear Lana but felt that she was trying to communicate. A few moments later they reported back to him the distance they were no longer able to hear Lana which was two thousand meters.

Zane continued to move forward until eventually he stopped hearing Sophie and the others. Other than measuring the range of mental communication everyone wanted to know if experience would always be shared. This meant Zane’s second and final task would be finding something to kill.

A few thousand meters after Zane stopped communicating with Sophie and the others, he encountered a bear. The bear looked similar in size shape and color when compared to the normal bears at the den. The difference was that it was only at level fifteen and it wasn’t an adult. Zane easily killed the bear and checked his system messages.

You have killed a level fifteen adolescent bear. You receive bonus experience for killing a being four level higher than you. You have gained 2123 (1500) experience.

Zane smiled after reading the system message. He received all of the experience for killing the bear, but Zane didn’t know the exact distance he stopped sharing experience. He didn’t need to turn back and report his results to Sophie and the others. They would know the results if he stayed in the party and they didn’t receive any system messages about his kills. Of course, if he kept sharing the experience of his kills everyone would be okay with Zane leaving the party.

Sophie and the others will be fine resting at the shelter. Zane thought to himself. Lana and Luna should be able to run from any danger. They also have a lot of experience and shouldn’t make any bad decisions. As Zane jogged through the forest he thought about the safety of his companions and the circumstances that they may face. Forget about it, Zane thought while shaking his head. There’s no point in worrying about the possible situations they might face and it’s not what’s important right now. Right now, I only need to focus on myself and the dangers lurking in the darkness around me.

Zane stopped, turned to his left and thrusted his spear into a dark figure leaping to attack him. The spear head sunk into the creature’s flesh and Zane adjusted to the weight within a second. A quick glance and a familiar yelp proved that the creature was a wolf. Zane tuned and flung the wolf on his spear into the creature approaching him from behind. Zane assumed that he was facing multiple wolve and leapt to the side to avoid getting encircled. Sadly, he noticed to large wolves approach him in the direction he tried to escape too.

Adult Wolf Lvl 20

Adolescent Wolf Lvl 17

Adolescent Wolf Lvl 18

……

Adolescent Wolf Lvl 15

Zane used identify and confirmed that he was surrounded by two adult wolves and five adolescent wolves. The wolf he already injured was included in these seven wolves. Each wolf had amber eyes that gave of a ferocious glint and black fur that helped them blend into the darkness. They released a few barely audible growls and quietly paced around Zane.

The wolves paced around Zane for a few seconds before leaping to attack. One adolescent wolf attacked his front and one attacked his back. Zane used Charge toward his right and attacked the wolf he wounded before. The wolf was knocked down and stunned but Zane had to turn around before he could land another attack. Another adolescent wolf attacked from the side and Zane received its attack with his shield. Zane thrusted his Spear towards the wolf the moment he pushed it off his shield and used Pierce.

After the spear dug into the wolf Zane let go and quickly used Block. An adult wolf delivered a fast and powerful attack toward Zane. Zane took a step back before pushing the wolf away and drawing his sword from his side. The wolves weren’t as strong as the bears, but they were able to attack faster. Multiple attacks that were fierce and quick had Zane constantly on his toes. Zane had to be ready to receive an attack from any of the wolves in front of him.

Suddenly pained burst from Zane’s leg. With the pain came anger and Zane used Slash to cut into the head of the wolf that bit his thigh. The moment Zane turned to deliver the slash the wolves surrounding him surged forward to attack. Zane only managed to wound the wolf’s left eye and take away some of the flesh from the side of its head before he was forced to turn around.

Zane was barely able to receive an adult wolf’s attack with his shield. Luckily the wolf that had attacked him from behind had ran off, so he didn’t trip over it when he stumbled back. The adult wolf sent Zane stumbling back with two more attacks before he was able to regain his balance. An adolescent wolf tried to jump on to him from his right and he was more than happy to have a repeat performance of the beginning of the fight.

Zane used Pierce with his sword and allowed the wolf to fall onto the blade. Zane quickly threw the wolf on his sword into another wolf that was trying to attack him from the left. He tried and failed to quickly lift his shield into a defensive position. The result was a claw from an adult wolf hitting his chest and sending him stumbling backward into a tree. Although Zane felt pain from the attack he smiled when he realized it did verry little damage. Seeing Zane cornered the wolf pressed its attack and Zane used Block to receive it. Skill Combo. Stab. Slash. While the wolf tried to pull down Zane’s shield with its claws and teeth Zane delivered a powerful combo attack.

The attack wasn’t perfect, but Zane smiled when he saw the bloody gash he opened on the wolf’s neck. Zane was proud of the damage he could deliver, and he knew that the wound symbolized the end of the fight. The adult wolf quickly lost strength and died. Zane easily dealt with the remaining adult wolf and several adolescent wolves. During the remainder of the fight Zane managed to level up and recover the damage he received. The only surprising thing that happened toward the end of the fight was one of the wolves trying to escape. Unfortunately, it was severely wounded and Zane had recovered his stamina from the level up.

You have killed a level twenty adult wolf. You receive bonus experience for killing a being nine level higher than you. You have gained 3,876 (2,000) experience.

You have killed a level fifteen adolescent wolf. You receive bonus experience for killing a being four level higher than you. You have gained 2,156 (1,500) experience.

You have killed a level eighteen adolescent wolf. You receive bonus experience for killing a being seven level higher than you. You have gained 3,100 (1,800) experience.

……

You have killed a level seventeen adolescent wolf. You receive bonus experience for killing a being five level higher than you. You have gained 2,591 (1,700) experience.

Zane glanced at his system messages as he collected the wolf corpses. Once he was done, he moved away from the area and climbed up a tree. It was time for him to review the fight. He didn’t need to go over every fight immediately after it happened. Also, it wasn’t a good practice to try and visualize a battle in a dangerous area. The main reason Zane stopped was because he needed to find a solution to a problem he found.

The problem was that he was leveling up too quickly. Zane wanted to push his body to the limit so that he could benefit from his bloodline. He already planned to avoid using potions unless he absolutely needed to. However, his plan didn’t work because he leveled up before he even needed a potion. Zane came up with two solutions to this problem. Solution one was to find a powerful mana creature that could push him to the limit. Solution two was to fight multiple creatures that were relatively weak.

Once Zane determined his next move he stood up and left. Sadly, Zane was quickly reminded that what a person plans to happen versus what actually happens are two different things. Zane didn’t encounter any extremely powerful creature. The highest-level mana creature he encountered was only at level twenty-two. Even worse most creatures either moved in groups of two or on their own. In frustration Zane decided to kill a few mana creatures and gain his next level. During the process he realized the bloodier he was the more mana creatures he would attract. It was an obvious solution that he failed to realize. Usually, he would try to draw less attention to himself because there were a lot more powerful mana creatures in the wilderness. Now that he was in an area filled with weak creature, he could be a bit less careful.

Eventually the blood on Zane managed to attract the attention he sought. Zane encountered three adolescent panthers at level nineteen and two adult panthers at level twenty-one. Zane had gained another level after killing random mana creatures and was ready to have a good fight. To make the fight more difficult Zane challenged himself to only use his whip and his knives.

Zane new his actions were risky, but he felt like he was in a relatively safe environment, and he had multiple ways to preserve his life. He didn’t have to worry about a tier one mana creature randomly interfering in the fight. If he got injured, he had his final barrier skill to protect him and potions he could drink to recover. If those didn’t help, he could always use the set effect of his training gear.

The biggest risk for Zane were people that might interfere, but Zane wasn’t too worried. There wasn’t any adventurer that was capable of killing him in one blow. This included people that reached the first tier. As long as he wasn’t dead, he could recover and as long as he recovered, he could fight

Zane thought the fight went well and by well he meant bloody but safe. Zane received a lot of wounds and was dealt a lot of damage but in the end he was victorious. Zane was excited about the victory, but he was even more excited about the difficulty. The difficult fight meant his bloodline might activate and he liked how the fight pushed him to be better.

As Zane excitedly moved to collect the corpses, he heard a loud sound and felt a painful burning sensation on the side of his head. Before he knew what was happening Zane fell and his vison darkened.