In the time it took me to reach Vivian, I was able to focus my Ki into the area around my ribs. Healing a broken bone wasn't the most pleasant of sensations, a constant burning itch that was hard to ignore. Normally, a bone healed slowly over time but Ki enabled me to accelerate that process. To make sure there were no problems, I held the broken rib in place with my Ki as it healed. It was surprisingly easy, similar the rocks I normally controlled.

As I stepped up next the large female wolf I rubbed my side, feeling sore but much better "What have you found?" I asked Vivian.

"Danger." she growled towards a building a little ways away from us. I looked towards it and focused my attention, letting the blue outline of the building take form.

"That building?" I asked, more to myself than anyone else. We'd found this building some time ago. From what I could tell, it was a throne room, possibly for the Greek Gods that had once lived on Olympus. Last time I'd checked, it had been empty but it Vivian said that there was danger, I was inclined to believe her.

Besides, it wasn't as if we hadn't had new creatures arrive before. The Goblins loved the bath house to the east, requiring us to clean it out every time we wanted to get clean. The Kobolds liked the training grounds to the west as it was a lot flatter than the surrounding areas. The forest to the south was now home to those trees, which I was sure were all Ents at this point, though friendlier than the one I'd fought.

The northern areas were where Vivian and I stayed, surrounded by the various territories of the wolves that had popped up over time.

This building was dead center of it all and if a creature had moved in to this place specifically...well, I just had to see it.

"Danger! Danger!" the little bird flew around my head, its high voice echoing in my mind. I commanded it to be quiet as I stepped closer to the large double doors. I was beginning to feel something, a pressure similar to Killing Intent. However, instead of Ki, it was the very mana of the area pressing against me, a wave steadily holding itself against me.

A cold feeling went down my spine. I felt afraid. I hadn't really felt afraid in some time, my Ki pretty much locking it away only leaving caution. If I was properly prepared and strong enough, I could get through anything.

But now...fear settled in. My body and even my Ki was screaming at me. DANGER!

I continued on, pushing against the mana. It didn't resist me, there was no true intent behind it. When I reached the door, the idea of danger had only grown, causing goosebumps to appear on my skin, the hair on my neck rising. I pulled the door open and stepped back as a wave of heat struck me. It felt like the air itself was only a degree from bursting into flames.

But the heat was the nicest of things I saw. There was a creature sitting on the throne originally meant for Zeus. I could see its outline so clear. A fourth color was introduced into my world. Red. Deep, glowing, blood red. It crisscrossed sinewy muscle, moving through the being's body like snakes, crawling up its face and into its burning eyes.

Even sitting, I could tell it was bigger than me, at least eight feet tall and it had six arms. Its face was stone still, its mouth open revealing razor sharp teeth, coursing with the red energy that made up its body.

It looked at me and my vision was filled with red mist rushing towards me. Killing Intent! I through up my arms to guard, pumping my Ki into my wolf arm for extra defense. When it hit me, I was actually knocked a few feet back, my skin splitting in several locations. The bones in my arms creaked but held firm.

Falling to my knees, I coughed a bit of blood out. A look! A fucking look! It had sent me to my knees with just its own energy. That wasn't Killing Intent...a fear greater than before permeated my skin. That was an Aura, that was the only thing I could call it, a bloody and sickening aura. It had torn into my body like numerous small blades.

It was like it had actually attacked me with its Ki. I could manipulate things with my Ki, but it couldn't directly damage anything by itself...could it?

Whatever this Monster was, its Ki was different from everything else I'd seen. I hadn't felt anything from that Ki, no desires, no will. Just blood, endless blood.

Standing up, I moved forwards once more and quickly shut the door. For whatever reason, it hadn't made another movement. But I knew, I felt, that if I stepped into that room, I would die. I wasn't ready to fight such a creature and it was in my best interest to thank whatever force of Luck that existed that it hadn't decided to actually attack me.

Whether it had intended it as such or not, I was going to take it as a warning. I'd been focusing on magic too much recently. While learning new forms of attack was useful, I needed to focus on my own body first. I was injured too easily all the time. My only sure defense was my right arm...I needed my body to be at least as tough as my arm. It had sustained the least amount of damage from the Aura, though it was still serious. I had to figure out some way to shield myself from that kind of attack.

"Master" Vivian looked to me as I walked back to her. I chuckled and gently rubbed the side of her head, reassuring her that I was fine before I climbed onto her back and urging her home. The first thing I needed to do was properly heal, a quick patch up on the move was fine but to be at full fighting strength I needed proper rest.

One fight with the Ent, alone, and then I rushed over to find this new thing and it was freakishly strong, all the while doing my best to speed my recovery forwards. My Ki was nearing on empty, a tiny little wisp of its former self, especially since I'd recently gotten it to be half the size of my hand. A little bit more time spend absorbing Mana and I'd double that size.

Reaching the dining hall we called home, I climbed off of Vivian and headed into the building where I promptly sunk down onto the small pile of furs I'd come to call a bed. Mostly fox furs, but they were soft and quickly took me off to dreamland. I barely registered my two animal companions as they drew close to lay with me.

My sleep was surprisingly restful, given the events of the day. I dreamed of home, of my parents, my brother, the three girls I called friends. I dreamed of the days before I discovered Ki, Mana, Gods, and Magic.

It was a happier time. My time as a normal person had been pleasant but uneventful. I'd avoided contact with other people I wasn't close with. It wasn't due to some problem with me, I just didn't like dealing with people and their problems.

Now...I still didn't like dealing with people. However, life was different for me, my mind different. I couldn't just avoid people. My Magic grew the more I was exposed to. Everything I knew was learned from observing the skills of others.

If I decided to give it all up, go home and never use my magic again...I couldn't. I'd nearly died so many times and yet...I enjoyed it. I liked struggling to stay alive, growing stronger. I felt like I was a better person this way. I wasn't special by any means, but I could continue to grow.

Sitting up in my makeshift bed, I stretched, feeling much better than the day before. A lot of my minor wounds were healed now and only a few serious bruises were left. Strength breeds hardiness I guessed. The stronger I got, the harder I became to keep down.

Grinning, I stood up and did a few warm up exercises. My blood pumping and my Ki moving excitedly, I began my new training. Magic training was placed on the back burner for the moment as I sat down in a meditative pose.

I didn't direct my Ki in any direction, I just let it flow across my skin, my muscles, my bones. I realized something interesting. I hadn't paid much attention to my body since discovering Ki. I'd noticed the changes as I put on muscle and my reactions grew faster, but I'd never actually observed myself. It had been Ki and Mana for the most part.

Now I noticed more. My muscles hadn't just grown stronger, they'd become far more limber than before. The amount I could stretch and bend was greater than I'd ever known. The same went for my bones, I could see that they could handle a quite a bit of stress. It'd been smacked around by the Ent and only broke a single rib. Had I been an untrained human, I probably would have been smashed like a mosquito.

Deeper into my body, into my organs I could tell that they were more efficient. A single breath of air could sustain me for several minutes. My heart was stronger and pumped blood at a quicker rate, bringing oxygen faster and increasing my recovery rate even further.

My liver was strong enough that I was quite sure I could spend a night drinking and only get buzzed. While I didn't really drink to begin with, I was sure it'd be useful against being poisoned. Neat.

The more and more I examined my body, the more I understood.

Then I got to my brain. With my Ki, I could feel the individual electrical signals as my brain worked. I followed neurons. It moved fast, faster than I ever really understood. The time it took for a signal to leave my brain and reach my fingers and vice versa was ridiculous. I was thinking better and faster, at the same time I noticed that my brain was ignoring specific signals, such as fear.

It was detrimental to feel excessive emotion. I understood that. I could still feel those emotions, but they would no longer disrupt my ability to think. I could be afraid without being terrified into paralysis. I also understood that that was only under regular stimulus. Something like the monster in the throne room was strong enough and intimidating enough that I couldn't just ignore the feelings it brought out.

In a moment of insight, I also realized that this increased thinking speed was the reason time seemed to slow down in fights. Using my Ki, I could temporarily increase the strength of my mind, effectively stretching time with my thoughts. Given enough time and strength, I could probably increase the signal speed to the point that my body could act independently of my body.

I turned my attention to my eyes. They hadn't changed much. Unlike my other senses, my eyes had clearly not improved in that direction. If I could see, I'd probably have the same vision as I'd had before I lost my sight.

I supposed that it wasn't really necessary. I couldn't actually see anyway. The eye itself was stronger and would heal faster than before, but the real intrigue was the inside of the eye. Ki was there, but not normal Ki. Unlike the wispy Ki of the rest of my body, the Ki in my eyes was crystalline. The entire inner surface of my eye was covered in little Ki Crystals.

Even with my improved intellect, I couldn't understand what these crystals were, nor could I understand what they did. I was sure that I could see Ki and Mana because of them, but there was no signal from my eyes to my brain, nor from the crystals to my Ki. They were just...there.

I shook my head and let out a breath I hadn't been aware I was holding. My head was beginning to hurt like hell. I'd been thinking too hard, speeding up my thoughts to the point I was overheating my brain.

To give it some rest, I turned my Ki towards my right arm, specifically the space where it met the rest of my body. It was kind of cool how it was just grafted on. There was no seam, no line showing where I began and the arm ended. It was as if I'd just suddenly gained a spurt of puberty in just my right arm, growing hair like wild.

I laughed softly as I looked closer. I notice something new about the skin closest to the arm. It was stronger, as if the skin had adapted to its neighbors. I nodded, quickly understanding. It was an environment thing. Like the skin growing darker the more exposed to sunlight it was. It did so to absorb less radiation and burn less.

In the same way, the skin was starting to change to the stronger skin to protect itself against more damage. My skin had already grown stronger and yet the wolf arm was still better. At the rate of growth, I could expect my entire body to have changed within a few years.

I couldn't wait that long. It'd probably take even longer for the muscles and bones to adapt. Luckily for me, I had Ki. I didn't have to wait as long. Manipulating my Ki, I pushed it deeper into my skin, urging the cells to replicate and grow faster.

Starting at my elbow, my skin began to itch as it began to change. It was still rather slow, but it didn't take up so much of my concentration that I couldn't do it on the move.

By my estimation, it would take about a month to completely change my skin. That seemed fairly coincidental, as if my skin was being controlled by someone other than my self. Well, that was just a bit of paranoia. I understood that I could speed it up, but any faster would be bad for my health.

The process would only get longer the deeper into my body I went. Eventually, I'd have the stone like body of the Moon Wolves, possibly even greater considering my Ki control.

I slowly stood up, making sure that the Ki didn't stop interacting with my skin before I headed out. I called to Vivian and the bird who I'd now decided to call Adarna, getting them to follow me. The name came from a mythical bird known for itss beautiful singing and beautiful feathers. While I couldn't see the feathers, I could appreciate its song, even if it did sing early in the morning. Given that it did sing, I was beginning to suspect that the bird was male, but I wasn't a bird expert.

"Adarna, Vivian. It is time for us to train together" I said to them. I'd fought along side Vivian but not Adarna and I'd never really tested myself against the Moon Wolf since we'd met. I also wanted to test my ability to alter my perception of time against Adarna's speed.

We found a nice clear and unobstructed space. I began with Adarna. I held out a hand and formed a small wisp of Ki within my palm. With a burst of speed, the bird shot towards my hand. I'd already figured out a few things about him, when flying at his full speed, he was incapable of rapidly changing direction. However, I'd noticed that when he flew, he would use Ki to guide his wings, enabling him to make split second adjustments, such as when I struck him with a rock and he burrowed into the floor.

I focused my Ki into my mind and the world began to slow down. I'd say it was half the normal rate. Adarna was still a blur as he raced towards me. I continued to slow everything down until my mind had increased three times the original speed. Adarna was still fast, but I could make out his movements easily. It was fortunate as three times was my current limit.

Moving my hand, I avoided the bird's attempts to steal the Ki from me. At least, that was my attempt. When put into practice, my hand only moved at a fraction of the speed, allowing Adarna to reach me and get my Ki before I could even finish moving.

When I returned to normal time, I nearly smacked myself in the face. My mind worked fast, but my body could only respond at a specific speed. A little experimenting proved that I could still move normally while accelerating my mind to one and a half times normal speed. That meant that my body and reaction time was about that fast normally.

I continued to practice against Adarna for a few more minutes, improving my ability to predict where he would come from instead of trying to move faster than him. That proved to be a bit more productive.

Six out of nine times I could predict where the bird was going to come from. The other three times, I noticed a shift in his Ki and his movements became too random to predict.

Then it was combat practice with Vivian. She was strong and fast, a good challenge. Being with me for so long had trained her to my specific mannerisms. She could show me the bad habits I'd developed after all this time.

The moment the battle started, we both shot forward into each other. I'd limited myself to my physical skills as I called my staff to me. With a quick step, I slammed the staff into her lower jaw and watched as she quickly moved with the blow, using its momentum to flip and use her hind legs to kick towards me.

The ironwood staff clanged as her sharp claws met it, shoving me backwards before she quickly bounced to her side and circled around me. For a second, I saw two of her, one rushing forwards to strike at me while the other continued to circle to my back.

"What?" I turned, deciding to focus on the one at my back but when I moved to block it, she passed through me before I felt a slash across my back sending me rolling forwards. Damn...had she been trying to kill me, I wouldn't have gotten off easily.

"Master relies on eyes too much" her voice echoed in my mind. I wondered if her ability to speak had increased somewhat before I nodded.

I knew what she meant. Just because I could see Ki didn't mean I was unstoppable. Someone who knew how special my eyes were could create an afterimage with their Ki. Unlike Killing Intent, which gave me a quick glance at their intended attack, this would look and feel like the real thing...at least to me. Until I physically made sure, I'd been incapable of telling the two apart.

Very clever. The attack was useful against those who couldn't see Ki as well. No one would see the afterimage like I could but they would feel the Killing Intent from the image as it attacked them from behind. A simple trick, but effective.

Still..."How did you learn to do this?" I asked. Vivian was more of a speed striker type, magic and extending her Ki beyond Killing Intent should have been nearly impossible.

"Training. While you meditate. I learned control" she stepped up to me and licked my face playfully. I chuckled and scratched under her chin. It seemed she'd learned more than just meditation from me. It certainly fit her species name, Moon Wolf. Afterimages and Illusions. If she could learn more, we could probably learn magic together. She was definitely getting smarter as well. It seemed as her Ki control grew, similar to myself, so would her intelligence.

"Alright" I clapped my hands as I smiled "Lets go again, we need the practice" we needed to get stronger if we were going to beat that monster in the throne room.