Chapter 8: Just A Bit More

After what felt like eternity of training with Ennius I finally managed to grasp the basics of the technique. I could perform it, but it wasn’t as flawless as the one Ennius had shown me. Compared to his mine wasn’t as fierce and fast, had flaws, and i couldn’t hold it for long.

From what Ennius told me I wouldn’t have trouble using this technique against opponents my level, but with someone who was stronger and had a deeper understanding, they could easily find the flaws and rend my technique useless.

Surprisingly during the whole night no beast came in within the area that my body was resting in, so I could train the whole time without any interruptions. It was a bit strange that no beast found me, but Ennius had told me that most of the beast must of had fled when the Phantom Wolf and the Heavenly White Tiger began fighting, not wanting to be caught up in the fight.

The next morning I felt completely depleted and exhausted, like someone had sucked all the energy out of me. In other words I felt like shit, but sitting here, feeling like shit, wasn’t going to fix anything so I forced myself to get up.

“Try to get out of the forest as soon as you can or at least towards the outskirts. Soon the beasts will be coming back and if they find you here you will be in danger.” Ennius spoke to me as I walked through the forest.

“Hey Leidolf, which way leads to the outskirts? You lived here so you should know.” I spoke to Leidolf mentally.

“Just keep heading the way you are, by midday you should reach the outskirts if everything goes smoothly.” I nodded to myself, “Alright, I should pick up my pace. The faster I get there the better.”

I walked through the forest and thought about my current situation. During the fight with the wolf I lost my horse, some clothes that i brought and my food. At least I still had my money on me, even though it wasn’t much at this point. From all the things I had to but before left I didn’t even have enough for the entrance fee to enter the academy. I really need to make some money somehow.

“Hey Ennius do you know a way that I can earn money with my current abilities that won't take a lot of time?” I asked, hoping that he could tell me something useful.

“Hmm, there are two possible options for you at the moment with your current abilities. The first is the most easiest and simplest; kill some beasts and sell their hides, claws, and whatever else you can.

The second option is less dangerous, depending on what you are trying to acquire. You could look for some herbs or rare plants within the forest and sell those, but the more rare herbs and plants are usually protected by strong beasts.

When beasts find rare herbs or plants they make it their territory if it is unclaimed, or fight for it if they believe they can win. The beasts guard the plant or herb until it is ripe and then consume it themselves to increase their own strength.” Ennius gave me a simple description of what my two choices where.

I thought about the two choices, the first one looked more efficient than the first. Plus, while I look for monsters to hunt I can look for some herbs or plants on the way. It's like killing two birds with one stone.

Now that he money situation was temporarily solved I moved on to the next one. Where was I going to sell all this and how far is the next city or village?

In my current situation, it will take me weeks to reach the capital. I had to get a new horse and some food. Once I exit the forest, I won't be able to obtain any food.

I could save some of food from the forest but that won't last forever, eventually I will run out.

Not knowing where I was exactly I decided to ask Leidolf since he used to live here, “Leidolf how far is the closest village or city?”

“When you reach the outskirts of the forest head east, there should be a small village there. I can’t tell you much about the village because I can’t really enter it, but I’m sure it’s better than nothing in your current situation,” replied Leidolf.

Seeing as my problems have been solved in a way I decided to speed up my pace. I really didn't want to run into some strong beast or stay another night in the middle of the forest.

I walked through the forest, trying to avoid any beast that might be near. With my enhanced senses it made the job way easier but I didn’t let my guard down no matter what, you never know what can can happen. Along the way I managed to find three herbs that would get me around fifteen silver coins, but that wasn’t even close to enough. I needed around one gold coin if not more just for the entrance fee, but other then that I need money for other things like a horse and food.

“Hey kid, get that flower, it will help you greatly in your energy refinement” Ennius spoke to me all of a sudden.

I looked around to find a flower with slightly gold petals that had a few red spots on them, “Is that it?”

“Yes that’s it, this flower is called Weeping Glory.”

“Why is it called a Weeping Glory? Is it because the red spots look like tears?” I asked, curious as how the flower earned its name.

“You guessed correctly. Now go get the flower, just make sure that there is no beast near it or we will be in a bit of trouble.” Ennius said causally with a hint of a warning in his voice.

“Maybe I should leave it then?” I asked. At this point I didn’t want to fight any enraged beast because I took something that belonged to it. Who knows, maybe the beast is one of those strong ones like the Phantom Wolf or the Heavenly White Tiger. I really did not want to piss one of those of again.

“Don’t worry you are pretty close to the outskirts from what I can tell and this flower isn’t cheap. It’s not considered priceless or expensive, but for you it is priceless right now. It will help you gain an advantage amongst your peers in energy refinement,” explained Ennius.

“Alright I’ll take it since you claim that it is worth the risk. Just wondering, how much can I sell this for?” I asked, interested in how valuable was this flower.

“Hmm, I’m not sure about now but back when I was alive this flower would sell for one or two gold pieces amongst the gifted. However, I’m pretty sure that the price didn’t change much.” Ennius spoke like the flower was worth nothing.

“What!? One or two gold pieces? That would take me years to earn, this flower is super expensive.” I couldn’t believe that such a flower would cost so much, and Ennius said that it wasn’t expensive. I gulped, “Just how much do the really rare plants cost?” I asked, wondering what kind of astronomical number I would hear.

“No one really sells the rare plant because they are truly priceless and hard to obtain. However I remember seeing one in the auction house once. It was a Blood Iris. The flower is truly hard to grow and obtain from waht I know. The iris needs to feed on the blood of a really strong beast until it obtains its blood color.

However, unless a beast dies, causing it to absorb the blood there is no other way you can get the flower unless you have the strength to obtain it. The beast that finds the iris usually marks its territory there and lets it absorb some of its blood from time to time. Since, the beast is extremely strong it is usually impossible to obtain it.” Ennius explained.

“So how much did it sell for?” I asked again, not receiving a proper answer the first time.

“Two thousand gold coins” said Ennius with a small sigh.

I thought that I misheard the amount he just told me so I asked again, “Could you repeat that? I think I misheard what you just said.”

“Two thousand gold coins,” Ennius told me the same thing that I had heard.

My mind totally went blank before broke down from hearing such a insane sum. Just who in the world spent so much money on a freaking flower? Just what could such a flower do? Two thousand gold coins wasn’t a small sum, with that much money you could probably buy a third of a city like Kraposs, if not more.

“What is the flower used for?” I asked, curious as to what kind kind of miraculous properties the flower held.

“That is the one thing that I am not sure of, it depends on the blood of the beast. From what I know it can be used to break through one of the energy channels later on, but to use it for that would be a waste. The flower gains different properties depending on the beast. Since, the flower’s properties depend on the beast I assume that you gain something that the beast possessed. Maybe an ability, or you obtain some sort of physical enhancement of the beast.”

I listened to every word Ennius said carefully. If what Ennius assumes is true then the flower really is priceless. To be able to strengthen your body similar to that of a beast you would truly become someone to be reckoned with. Plus, if if the flower truly could give an ability then it really is priceless. I wonder if it there would be side effects from consuming the flower?

“Kid, hurry up and get the flower, before some beast comes and you have to run with your tail between your legs.

Putting my thoughts aside I went up to the flower bent down and gently broke the stem. Wait, where am I supposed store this? My knapsack is gone and the only other place it my money pouch. Ughh, why don’t I think things through all the way before doing them.

Having no choice I took out my money pouch and carefully put the flower inside. I really needed to get out of here and buy the needed necessities. Putting the pouch away I continued to fast walk, before breaking into a jog. I should probably get out of here as fast as possible, if the flower was guarded and is discovered missing it will be a huge inconvenience. So the farther I get away the better.

After jogging for a while I finally slowed down and continued to walk at a normal pace. By now the sun was already descending from its peak. The forest around me has become a lot less dense, meaning that I have finally reached the outskirts. I let out a sigh of relief before laughing. I actually made it out and managed to get away fro the wolf.

Speaking of the wolf, I wonder what happened to it? “Hey Leidolf do you know what happened to your mom?” I asked, thinking that he might know since his mom knew when he died. Now that I think about it how did she know that he died and that I killed him?

“She still lives but is most likely heavily injured, so she won’t give you any trouble for some time. However, she will most likely come for you in the future. Now that she knows your scent she will track you down no matter what. Unless, you manage to get my body back before she finds you and I can help you out.” Leidolf explained to me.

“How did she know that you died and I was the one who killed you?”

“When we are still growing up we have a special connection, kind of like the one I have with you. My soul is connected with my mother's and she can tell my location through our bond. So, when you killed me you absorbed my soul and you were basically watched the whole time by my mother. Later when you entered the forest my mom tracked my soul down and you know what happened next.” Leidolf explained to me, not expressing any signs of emotion.

“I see, by the way your mom can speak too right? From what I remember you talked to me when I was running away from you that night” I asked from curiosity.

“Yes, but she usually doesn’t speak to humans, she doesn’t find them worthy enough. My mom has a pretty huge ego and a lot of pride. To be honest it was annoying a lot of the times.” Leidolf spoke with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

I slightly chuckled, “I guess I’ll try speaking with her later, maybe we can come to an agreement.”

Seeing how the conversation was over I continued to walk through the outskirts of the forest. Since the outskirts weren’t as dangerous as the deeper parts of the forest I started to concentrate more on finding food. At this point I was starving. I hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday before Leidolf’s mother attacked us.

I managed to find some berries that were edible, from what Leidolf told me, but other then that I couldn’t find anything else. I heard my stomach growl. Seriously, what was up with this forest there is like no food here. Other than those berries I couldn’t find anything else.

Stressing over about not being able to find any food I let down my guard, forgetting that there were still some beasts that could pose danger to me here.

As I was lost in my thoughts about what to do about my lack of finding any food I felt the back of my neck tingle. Immediately I rolled forward and pulled out my short sword. I turned around to find a… spider?

I focused my scenes on my surroundings, not letting my guard down even slightly. My eyes were focused on the spider before me, as it just stood there gazing at me. Neither of us moved. I took this time to observe the spider. It had an ash colored body that seemed to have a slight tint of silver in it, making it it shine a bit in the sun. It’s height on all of it’s legs reached around my stomach. From what I could tell the spider was probably really close to adulthood.

My grip on the sword tightened and I started to circle the spider. The spider let out a growl and got into a jumping position. I circled the spider a bit more before lunging at it. Seeing this the spider dodged to the side, surprising me with its agility and reflexes. I slashed to the side to have the spider dodge again with ease.

I groaned in annoyance, this spider was a huge pain in the ass with its quick reflexes. I tried slashing at it again, but it easily dodged again and this time managed to scratch my leg.

Seeing as I was at a disadvantage with a short sword I decided to put it away and summoned my scythe. The bone like scythe appeared in my hand, sending a feeling of familiarity through my body. I really did feel more at peace with the scythe in my hand.

I slashed with my scythe towards the spider to have it dodge, but this time I used the pull of the slash to my advantage and spun to deliver another slash from the other side. The spider didn’t seem to have predicted something like this and didn’t have enough time to dodge. My scythe connected with the side of it’s body leaving a deep gash.

The spider cried out in pain, stumbling back. Not letting this chance slip away I raised my scythe and brought it down on the spider, ending it’s life.

I let out a sigh, I didn’t think that spiders could be that fast. I walked up to the corpse of the spider to salvage the parts that could be sold or eaten. However, before I could do anything my senses screamed of danger. Even though I knew of the danger I was to slow to completely defend against the attack.

The spider seemed to have been aiming at my neck but since I managed to slightly move it slashed my shoulder instead. I let out a cry of pain. Quickly taking out my short sword I lunged at the spider, catching it off guard and pierced it through the chest. The spider cried out in pain before dropping on the ground.

From the corner of my eye I saw another spider emerge, followed by two more. Shit, where did all of these spiders come from?

I quickly got up and stepped back a bit to get some distance from them. I raised my scythe, flinching at the pain in my shoulder. Not letting the pain distract me I concentrated on the group of spider before me. I needed to finish this quickly and treat my wounds or they would get infected or I could lose too much blood.

Having this weighting me down I dashed at the group in front of me slicing with my scythe. The spider simply dodged and ended up surrounding me. Seeing this an idea popped into my head. I started slashing with my scythe at the spider in front of be, increasing my speed with each slash.

Soon enough I was slashing fast enough that the my blade looked like a whirlwind, even the wind seemed to pick up a bit around me. The spider around me started to growl and the one that was behind me pounced at me. I smiled and did a spin slash, slicing the spider in half.

I turned around to face the other two spider to see them backing off a bit. Lunging at my next target I swung my scythe, to fall flat on my face. I groaned in pain and looked down on my feet to see a line of spider web tied around my foot, connected to the other spider.

I slashed at the web with my scythe, cut myself loose and jumped back a few steps. This time I didn’t underestimate the spiders at all.

The spider that I was planning on attacking slightly moved and shot a string of web that stuck to my scythe. I pulled on my scythe but it wouldn’t budge at all. I frowned, I was basically immobilized, unable to do anything.

I felt a pull from the spider and saw that it was pulling me towards it. I tried to pull back but it was stronger than me. Thinking of putting my scythe away to break away from the spiders hold I was prepared to put it away but then an idea hit me.

I pulled back away from the spider as far as I could before lunging at the spider. Since, the spider was pulling me towards himself I gained more speed. Quickly putting my scythe away I pulled out my short sword and pierced it through the spider's head.

I turned around to see the other spider running towards me. Seeing this I simply grinned and jumped into the dead spiders shadow, emerging from the shadow of the spider that was chasing me and stabbing him from the back. The spider let out a cry before dropping dead on the ground.

Finally, I slightly relaxed. I looked around the area first to make sure that no more spiders where in the area. Finding none, I walked up to each corpse and gathered what I could sell or eat. I didn’t really want to eat spider meat, but I didn’t have any other option right now.

Next I started a fire and burned the skin on my shoulder to stop the bleeding. It could become infected but I didn’t bother about that right now because I was bleeding pretty heavily from the gash in my shoulder. I put some of the spider meat to cook and dry over the fire, so that I could save it for later.

From one of the spiders I took the spider web sack and used it as a temporary bag to store some of the items. To my surprise it was pretty durable. After finishing everything I leaned back against a tree and was finally able to rest in peace.