By the time Edward reached his base, it was already late into the night. He actually had to do part of the way back during the dark. Thankfully the night wasn’t cloudy, and the two moons with all of the stars were enough to give some light. Moreover, his aura senses were helping him to find his way back preventing him from breaking his ankle on some loose rocks. However, by the time he arrived, unless he contented himself with only a few hours of sleep he wouldn’t be able to go explore the forest directly in the morning.

Since the marsh area was quite far, it meant he probably wouldn’t be able to reach it before nightfall. I don’t want to be deep in the forest while it’s the night. Especially after what happened when I released my aura. The distance that I'm able to travel per day is starting to become a limiting factor in this forest exploration. Never mind, I will stay in the outskirts. I will hunt some more Teleportcrows. I wonder how they will react once they see that I am able to teleport too.

After a good night of sleep, Edward did a session of meditation, by now this had already become a routine for him instead of a difficult exercise. He then took his breakfast and washed himself by the river. He noticed that his mushrooms’ reserve was starting to dwindle. Since it was a culture, it was a renewable source of food, but the mushrooms still needed some time to grow back. Right now, he was eating them more quickly than they could regrow. This would become a problem relatively soon.

I will be able to stay here only for a few more days before I run out of food. I didn’t find enough berries in the forest to feed me either. It means I won’t have any other choices than to confront those beasts in Oshle Tirion. It was something I wanted to do anyway. It only means that I will have to move a bit earlier than I thought. It should be fine, I already became an awaken after all, and my power is especially good to run away. I will still try to test my limits before I have to go and see until which point I can push myself. I would also like to kill one of those stupid beetles.

Edward went into the rock field and readied himself to try new fighting techniques. Climbing that vertical rock wall yesterday had made him realize that he was lacking in technique and that he was able to do things that he wouldn’t have been able to do before. He was now stronger than before, he could teleport, and his space awareness was also especially good. That meant that he should improve his fighting style. He had learned how to fight while boxing, but no boxer could teleport. He felt that now that he changed this much, he should adapt his tactics. With new options, a classical way of fighting wasn’t necessarily the best.

He had new possibilities to explore and not using them would both be a waste and reduce his fighting prowess. Also, since he had to attempt to cross back the ruins infested with monsters, he had to quickly test his limits. He couldn’t afford to wait anymore.

Until now, he had tested his physical strength and his power separately but he had never truly tried to incorporate the two together. The only time he used his teleporting power while moving was when he had run from the forest after activating his aura. And that short time frame had been enough to make him realize how faster he could go if he used his teleporting power correctly while running. This is also when he realized that teleporting actually kept his momentum. Before, when fighting, he had only teleported while in a static position.

I didn’t think about it, but I am realizing that I am too static in a fight. In a boxing match, it is still somewhat fine, I can still block attacks. But in this world, I won’t always be able to block, even with a proper blocking stance that Bloodmaw just threw me flying away like a punching bag. Even with those stupid acid beetles, it will be a problem, they are slow, but I can’t really block an acid throw. Either monsters with powerful strength or with special abilities will become a problem later on if I want to limit myself to blocking their hits.

No, the best tactic is to be fast enough to disorient the opponent. I should always be one step faster than it, be where it isn’t waiting for me. This way I should be able to avoid their attack and land my own hits. My damage is high enough too, I have a special weapon that can absorb the blood of my adversaries. And now that I know how to use my aura on my dagger, I should be able to pierce armor too, after all, it went through rock like through tofu. I don't think an armor will put more of a resistance.

Edward stood among the rocks in the scree, picturing in his mind a Bloodmaw charging at him. He teleported five meters away to be situated behind the Bloowmaw before frowning. That won’t do, I don’t know if they have aura senses and if they can sense what is behind them, but it just has to turn back with a swipe of its arms to force me to teleport away and disengage. I need to be faster than it. If it forces me to teleport away each time, I won’t be able to achieve anything.

Edward stopped to think how he could get faster. I can keep my momentum between teleportation. I think that's the key. If I’m in movement before teleporting, it basically means that I will always be in motion. But then, the difficulty will be how to keep track of my surroundings. Teleporting all the time can be quite disorientating. I have my aura perception for that though, I should try it and see what I can achieve.

This time, when he pictured the Bloodmaw charging at him, he pounced on it, before teleporting to the side instead of behind it. The momentum forced him to take a few more steps to stop himself. This is better, this way I should be able to injure it on its flank while avoiding its attack. I should continue training to be able to chain movements and teleportation. But it is not optimal, imagining a fake opponent and facing a real enemy is not the same thing. I need a real opponent to train effectively, but an opponent who could force me to teleport and push myself would be dangerous. I have no choice but to keep it like that for now.

Edward trained for the end of the morning and for the whole afternoon. He gave himself a few hours to rest in the evening, like he thought, teleporting around was disorientating. It was also taxing on him, he didn’t realize it before, but teleporting did use some of his energy somehow, he was getting significantly more tired after chaining a few teleports. I won’t be able to maintain a whole fight while teleporting nonstop. But it is enough to help me achieve a quick win or to reverse the situation in a fight. I can still improve but this is already a big step forward. Let’s rest for now. I can’t go into the forest while already exhausted.

Once he was rested and back in top shape, he left for the forest. He would stay in the outskirts since he didn’t have the time to go further inside, but that didn’t mean it was wasted. What he lacked right now for his training were real opponents. He was familiar with the Teleportcrows and he was already able to slay them without too many difficulties. It was the perfect occasion to try his new fighting techniques. The night had already fallen when he reached the forest, that didn’t bother him since it was more important to rely on aura perception than on one’s sight when fighting Teleportcrows.

It was already the third day since he fully released his aura inside the forest, however, even if the dreadful sense of pressure wasn’t here anymore, Edward still felt as if the forest was agitated. He had barely walked twenty meters inside, the mountain still visible behind him between the trees, when he met the first Teleportcrow of the night.

Wow, it’s the first time I’m seeing one this early, and this close to the outskirts. It teleported behind him as usual, it wasn’t one of the most aggressive ones from deeper in the forest. Edward casually whipped his elbow behind him to hit its head, before thrusting his dagger at it. The Teleportcrow was too slow to avoid the blow and to teleport away, it was impaled by the blade. Edward felt a feeble stream of energy from the blade as the Teleportcrow dissipated in a cloud of dust. It is not worth my time anymore, it is too easy to kill and it doesn’t give me much from its blood.

The dust cloud had barely disappeared when two more Telepotcrows appeared in his vicinity. Edward was able to sense them with his aura since they were less than thirty meters away. He froze, surprised by what his senses were telling him. Two of them at the same time? Releasing my aura must really have disturbed something in the forest. I didn’t think it would have such an effect. And it has been three days already. What is going on in there? Anyway, this is getting interesting. Two at once could give me just the right level of challenge I was searching for.

One of them teleported behind him, Edward was ready to throw an elbow at its head, but right at this time, the second Telepotcrow teleported in front of him, its face splitting into two to reveal a gaping maw. Edward didn’t want to get injured by them, he had never been injured by them before and he wasn’t able to evaluate the level of threat of their attacks. That maw wasn’t one a normal animal would have. They could teleport, and Edward was starting to wonder if their maw was having this power too, teleporting whatever they bit to what acted as a stomach for them. In any case, he didn’t want to experience that, so he had no other choice but to teleport away.

The Teleportcrows were stunned for a few seconds, not knowing how to react. Edward used this opportunity to teleport behind one of them, killing it with one slash of his dagger. While attacking he sent a part of his aura into the weapon. The blade didn’t encounter any resistance, going right through the monster, its head separating from its body. I wanted to try it, but I didn’t expect it to be so effective. The head and the body fell onto the ground separately without dissipating. Uhh? It is not turning into dust? The absorbing effect didn’t trigger either. I wasn’t able to absorb anything from it. Maybe the slash was too quick for the effect to activate?

As he was pondering those questions, the Teleportcrow in front of him opened its maw to bite him, and two other Teleportcrows arrived from the forest. Okay, okay. I understand, no time to rest, bring it on. I’m not afraid of you lots.