With the snarltail defeated Jason checks his blast punch progress. Though he shakes his head a moment later. It is currently Novice level 9 and 2.79% which is good. However he had forgotten to check before he worked on the skill so it shows the progress as +1 level and 2.79%. He feels that his use of proper forms and punching skills helped but will need to try again to confirm it.

Jason can only shrug and continue on his search. He still needs to kill seven more of the cats before he can go after Jarr. That and he has to get where the goblin boss is in the first place. The travel time alone if he went straight there would be four days. With hunting the snarltails he would be close to his time limit. While he would rather head straight out and not go back to the Scratchy pinecone that just is not an option. While it would not be hard to get another room, the extra effort would a drag. As it is, he hasn’t used the room much. Though now as he thinks back on it his choice to rent the room is questionable at best. He should have rented a room as needed. It is not like he stored stuff in the room. It would have saved so much money if he didn’t rent the room for the past couple weeks.

This train of thought was going nowhere good, so he put extra effort to track down another snarltail. Still took him a couple hours to find the trail for his next target. This one was out on the prowl so Jason decides to go back to his tried-and-true tactic. Wait till it goes to pounce then ruin its day. Though this one seems to want to foil his plot. After he followed it for about an hour Jason is about to give up on it. The only consolation is the cat was going in the right direction.

About 10 minutes later, the snarltail has finally found some prey. A small herd of deer grazes at the edge of a clearing. The cat crouches in the trees on the next side of the clearing that is closest to them. The powerful muscles in its legs tense as it readies itself. To its left Jason jumps out with a kick. The snarltail howls in pain as he starts to systematically take it apart. A leg sweep to bring it down followed by the classic one, two punch.

The snarltail reacts too late to this as Jason swings around its side and delivers another straight punch. A low kick follows this up to keep the cat down. Then as it tries to turn to face him, Jason delivers a final strong cross right into its head. With each punch having delivered a blast punch the fight is over before the deer have even got away.

Jason swings his arms back and forth to relieve his tension. “Yep, this is why I wasn’t bothering with proper forms. It is a little stiffer but worst of all the game really boosts your power. If this was a fighting game I would be getting an A or S rank for technical skill. Boring but dependable I guess. Now how has my skill progressed?”

While this fight he did not quite reach the level of the previous fight he still followed proper form. He checks the skill. His guess is proven right. From 2.79, blast punch had raised by over 11% to 13.99%. While just following proper forms should not boost it so quickly after novice rank this will help him complete the skill.

Satisfied with his progress Jason continues on through the day and kills another two snarltails before night. A great surprise for him as that means he only needs four more to cap his level. Not that he expects to manage that too quickly. The fact he found so many close to town means something likely pushed them from deeper in the forest. That thought causes Jason to worry even more than the squirrelraptors. At least with the squirrels he knows what to expect out of them. However they are not what has forced the snarltails out. All their presence did was causing the cats to be more cautious. He really should have realized it before now. It is just the squirrelraptors came at the right time. Jason was questioning what would cause the snarltails to develop a tail mouth and the squirrels popped into the scene. As simple as one plus one equals two, it seemed to work.

As his mind runs off Jason stops himself. “Woah there! I am guessing about all this. Maybe they just gathered together. Who knows what the snarltails migration pattern is? Definitely not me. It is time to get to sleep and I can’t be spending all my time wool gathering. If anything, I should putter around with my plants a bit. They have all started to grow at this point.”

With a nod to himself Jason goes to find a good clearing. The last few had been mostly brambles which are not the best for a place to sleep. The area seems to be tilted towards them though and it takes till after sunset to find a place to camp. Not wanting to stay up too late Jason quickly sets up his alarms and planter. Then with everything finished he opens the harness and sets Lily in his lap. After feeding her some minor herbs in the clearing he starts to meditate.

As the night passes all around him the brambles he had seen in the other clearings started to grow. These new plants are centered on him and proceed outward. A few herbivores edge along the clearing but avoid entering. Lily caught in the center of the brambles with Jason burrow further into Jason’s lap. She worries as a strange smell permeates the air in the clearing.