Kitsune do not often congregate in groups, when they do it is rare for it to be more than just the immediate family members. Most of them are not malignant though kitsune that are mistreated by others often develop a vicious streak. They enjoy games and tricks and the quickest way to be accepted by one is to trick them or beat them at a game. However, this also draws a lot of their attention and may not be in your best interest if you want to have peace. Kitsune are also one of the most magically powerful races, each tail they have both increases their total amount of mana and its raw power. Foxkin are decedents of kitsune that lost almost all of their power by breaking a promise on the very source of their power.

Lykou

The, for lack of a more accurate word, mutated bear cub does not immediately act on the pain of Analais’s arrow piercing into one of its shoulders. I spend the extra moment taking aim before letting loose a second arrow which does better than my first. I hit the cub though the arrow did not go very deep.

I don’t create enough force with this bow to deal significant damage through its hide. I need a blade or better yet a polearm to deal with this animal. Maybe if I hit the eyes or inside the mouth with an arrow it would do well but I’m not skilled enough for that. Even so I draw and loose a third arrow that amounts to little more than a prick as the draw weight of this bow is not as high as it could be.

Still an injury is an injury and that’ll still draw blood. An arrow from Analais enters the side and for some reason instead of charging at him the cub runs at me. I shouldn’t be considered a threat so why is it attacking me first?

I launch one more arrow at the rapidly approaching bear, everything became clear for an instant as distances, angles and velocities race through my mind and I luck out with a shot to the neck. I can see dark blood trickling out of the injury but it isn’t going to be a fast kill it is too shallow. I begin running making sure to change directions to keep out of the bear’s range and close enough to Analais for him to keep shooting arrows at the little monster. I drop my bow as it was in the way as I turn to fast around a tree.

The cub slams into the tree and struggles to stand up before it collapses. I stand to the side breathing heavily for the few seconds it takes Analais to get close enough to check the bear out. I’m not getting close to that thing until I know it is dead. Bear claws can rend flesh and I do not plan on dying over something stupid like not waiting for an enemy to bleed out.

Analais slowly walks up to the beast and kicks it. It does not move after the kick rolls it over to show the arrow that hit the neck was forced inwards when the cub hit the tree. Shouldn’t the wood have just broken instead? Well, I guess it counts as my kill then, sorta.

“You have some amazing luck for this to happen” Analais comments and I can only nod. Its clearly possible as I just say it happen but certainly not the most likely.

“Why did it attack me even though you were doing more damage to it?”

“Corruption, look at the mutations. Splotched fur and the slightly protruding bones, while the bone protrusions can be found on dire animals the cub is no dire bear. There are no bone protrusions along the spine.”

“How does corruption answer why it attacked me?”

“Demonic beasts grow at a visible speed when eating the flesh of sentient races. Faster and larger for any living thing but more so for sentient races. It wanted to kill and eat you so it would have the strength to have an easier fight with me.”

“Is it safe to eat?”

“No but nature will destroy the corpse quickly for us. We must see what else is in the cave, the smoke should have made anything alive in there pass out.”

I am not entirely sure how long it has been since we started the fire but most of the wood is now burned and the cave full of smoke. I sit down leaning against a tree to wait, it would be stupid to go in there right now.

“Can you explain to me how you were able to summon fire?”

“I can but you would be better off asking someone else. I am one of the worst with magic in the pack.”

“You are currently more skilled than me, and no one better is offering to teach me magic until I can already cast it.”

“You do not think as a child, do you?”

“No.”

“Alright then, can you feel your mana?”

“No.”

“When you are meditating to find it focus on your blood, that helped me.”

Blood huh. Blood is the flow of life force through the body and it is how pretty much everything is delivered to the various parts. Maybe mana is spread through the body along the same paths.

“I’ll try it, then.”

Analais nods and I close my eyes and begin to meditate only to be interrupted by some popup screens.

Gain: +55 XP Woodsman, +30 XP Tracking, +25 XP Ranged, +25 XP Archery(Bow),

Woodsman 0 ->1 +2SP, Meditation 0 -> Elven Meditation 0,

Tainted Kill: +10 SP

Lykou

Gender: Male

Race: Void Draconian?

Age: 10

Strength 14

Intelligence 15

Mana Potential 8

Skills

SP: 14

Dexterity 14

Wisdom 14

Mana Potency 7

Languages

Titles

Agility 16

Cunning 13

Luck 16

Traits

Options

Endurance 14

Willpower 17

??? 1

Magic

???

Vitality 14

Alertness 15

Perception 12

Classes

Racial Class

Appearance 15

Charisma 11

Health 17/17

Mana 8/8

I stare at the two screens for a moment before dismissing them. There is a good reward for being responsible for the death of that corrupted bear but I want to store the SP until I have something big to spend it on.

As I turn inwards the world dims and my breathing slowly begins to slow. I sit in this state for some time yet I do not feel my thoughts drift like the woman in my dream explained, nor am I deep enough to look at my blood like Analais suggested.

All too soon I feel a touch and I open my eyes to Analais waking me. I knew I would not get to practice this for long but still. Should I use the SP to accelerate my progress? No, I should hold onto them until I hit a wall. When I reach the end of what I can on my own or perhaps some form of bottleneck.

“Follow me” he says before entering the cave, the smoke while still present is mostly dispersed.

While unpleasant to walk through and breathe neither of us have any problems moving to the back of the cave. There sitting unconscious and barely breathing is a bear larger than Analais is tall, at least seven or eight feet at its shoulder.

Without saying a word, he draws a knife and flipping it around points the handle at me.

“Why?” I whisper.

“You disabled it it’s your kill.”

“Don’t you want the rewards the Architect grants though?”

“They are better spent on you.”

Regardless of the whisper his tone is one that makes no doubt in my mind that he will not kill this monster. I don’t sigh or anything like that, I’m happy to get the god’s bribery for killing tainted creatures. I take the knife with a slight smile and search the bear’s neck for the throb of a major blood vessel.

As soon as I see it I move to slice across it putting strength behind the knife and then quickly jump back as the blood begins to poor out of the tainted bear. My hands and the knife are covered in its blood though the rest of it is simply spilling to the ground. Even as its lifeblood flows away towards the entrance of the cave the bear does not move. Looking at its side and hind legs it was already injured earlier.

“You said it might be a dire bear that Ragnor and the other hunters ran into last week. Is this a dire bear?”

“Not anymore, sometimes dying animals will accept the corruption for the chance to live it brings.”

I frown, that isn’t good news. If animals can be demonized by their own will people probably can too. Is that how this whole demon invasion started?

As soon as the bear stops breathing and the blood ceases to poor out of the wound Analais speaks interrupting my thoughts once more.

“We should return to the pack now. I’ll need to inform Ragnor of this cave so it can be cleansed or otherwise dealt with.”

“Dealt with?”

“Large amounts of demonic blood can corrupt the land; the cub is too small to matter but this bear is not. Creating a place where the land is forced to birth demons.”

So, demon blood corrupts nature if too much is introduced at once but can be cleansed. I don’t think I’ve heard of anything like that before. But why would someone choose not to cleanse it? Allowing it to fester and grow does not seem like a good idea.

“I’ll rinse my hands off in the stream on our way back.”

Analais nods though he accompanies me the whole way, the water is cold and clear. It only takes me a few seconds to clean myself. After which he begin to walk back to the village.

I’ll focus on the meditation stuff once we’re back in the village. Analais can deal with Ragnor, what I have heard of him is enough to let me know I would rather not have to deal with him. Seriously, Kylana mentioned him having problems and she is basically the equivalent of his wife. . .

Analais waves me off once we enter the perimeter of the village and as it is nearing noon I’ll skip Naliya’s class, I’d only be there for a few minutes anyways. I head towards Alana’s house, should I try to figure out magic there or go to a tree again?

Once I walk inside the hut I see Alana stitching together a tunic from deer hide. She looks over at me and sighs, “I wanted to surprise you when it was done. You need clothes other than your rags. Anyways, how did the hunt go? Was it successful?”

“Nothing that can be eaten. Analais called them corrupted bears.”

She immediately stands up and the incomplete leather tunic falls to the floor, as she quickly begins to walk to the door.

“He’s fine, uninjured and the bears are dead” I say before she begins to ask what would likely have been half a dozen questions at once.

“How?” she asks still walking towards the door.

“Smoke, they were in a cave.”

She frowns at that, I’m guessing that trickery is not appreciated. Honorable fighting is expected I guess. I’ll remember that except when my life is on the line, at least in front of this village.

“I’ll be in the tree Analais fond me in yesterday” I say and turn to run out the door only to be grabbed by the upset pregnant woman.

I could probably break out but I would have to fight a pregnant woman to do so, so I am stuck listening to her as she scolds me over how a wolf must always be fight with honor and tricks . . . bla bla bla . . .

I just sit and nod my head with a frown on my face. Luckily, she doesn’t ask any questions because I’m not really paying attention. Others will use dirty tricks against me so its fair game as far as I’m concerned.

Eventually she stops just before Analais walks in and I rush past him. I’m not staying around for this and I have far better and more important things to do than sit around being told the rules of proper whatevers. Sparing and such sure but there isn’t anything wrong with using everything you can to survive.

Aside from the same sentry as yesterday no one does anything about me entering the woods, and she just looked at me for a few seconds.

Back in a tree and away from possible distractions till probably dusk I get back to what is most important right now. Learning magic, or at least trying to.

Gain: +10 XP Anatomy, +1 XP Dagger, +1 XP Melee, +2 XP Meditation, +1 XP Climbing, +15 XP Man-at-arms

Tainted Kill: +25 SP

Lykou

Gender: Male

Race: Void Draconian?

Age: 10

Strength 14

Intelligence 15

Mana Potential 8

Skills

SP: 39

Dexterity 14

Wisdom 14

Mana Potency 7

Languages

Titles

Agility 16

Cunning 13

Luck 16

Traits

Options

Endurance 14

Willpower 17

??? 1

Magic

???

Vitality 14

Alertness 15

Perception 12

Classes

Racial Class

Appearance 15

Charisma 11

Health 17/17

Mana 8/8

This is rather annoying if this is going to show up every time I sleep and meditate. Though at the same time it is nice to see my progress so often. The dire bear was also worth a lot more than the cub. Still, I plan on sitting on the SP until I need it or hit a wall so all I do is dismiss the screens and continue to send my mind inwards.

Once more my breathing slows and I slowly filter out most of the sounds of the wild. I sit and hold this for hundreds and hundreds of heart beats before I feel a slight change, I look in that direction mentally and begin to relive the events of the day. Some parts moving faster while others slower. Noticing ever so slightly different details as I restart it over and over.

Just as I am drawn out by someone calling my name I notice the deer’s trail I missed. Going through the day and reviewing it are going to be a great help to me. Is this why elves are supposed to be so skilled at whatever they choose to do?

When I open my eyes I also find that I feel well rested, as if I had had a full night’s sleep. I’ll just fake sleep and keep meditating. Even if I can’t gain magic out of it is a great benefit for me to do so. There is the matter of possibly doing this too much though. I can’t review experiences I don’t have after all and my body will waste away if it is not used.

No one says anything over the soup that Alana prepared. I think she is still upset, as she finishes quickly before working on the tunic again. The stitching has changed though and it doesn’t look as good. Even so I watch since I need stuff to review during my meditations. My dream said using it to relive the same memory enough times would help me notice mana. Perhaps I should try the part of today where Analais cast that fire spell?