Draven was about to summon his sword to prepare for battle but froze as the wolf suddenly retracted its gaze, turned, and walked deeper into the fog. The rest followed behind it. He didn't dare move as he watched them disappearing deeper into the fog.
'What?! It left because it couldn't reach me? But... did it really see me?' Draven mused in confusion.
'Either it saw me and retreated, or Stasis is so strong that it hid me from its perception!'
Draven waited for a few minutes. When nothing happened, he finally released the pent-up breath he didn't realize he was holding.
Then he wheezed as he felt the sting in his new wound.
He lowered his head, and his face contorted into a nasty grimace at the sight of the claw wound.
'Damn! If I follow this method, I will return with a body covered in injuries. Maybe by tomorrow, I won't be able to hunt.'
But he squinted when he noticed the blood had already coagulated instead of dripping.
'Stasis is this strong? Good! I won't suffer from blood loss.'
Draven's gaze shifted to the monster crystal. He absorbed it with a thought.
[+5 Mana Absorbed.]
Then he opened his Elite System panel and saw his Soul Vitalis at 18.
'I used 2 to hunt a single Second Order Transient monster despite ambushing it? I can't go on like this! Accumulating injuries and depleting Soul Vitalis is not the way to go.'
Thinking of what could help him out of his predicament, his eyes roamed over his panel and stopped at his new gear.
He opened it to see the description.
––––
[Gear: Sliken]
[Rank: Transient]
[Order: Second Order]
[Type: Weapon]
[Description: A whip that can be controlled mentally and physically.
Mental control range: 20 meters.
⟨Zap⟩: when activated, converts kinetic energy to electrical energy with paralysis effect through the body of the target.]
––––
When he read through it, a plan began to form in his mind.
He quickly summoned it.
A black whip appeared in his grasp. He released it and controlled it with his mind. The whip levitated and swam in front of him according to his will. It was stiff at first, but in a few minutes, he became smooth with it. The movement wasn't as difficult as Draven had envisioned despite being the first time mentally controlling something.
Narrowing his eyes, Draven positioned the whip horizontally across his front and activated Mental Serration.
'I don't know how the paralysis effect of Mental Serration is, as it doesn't affect me, but I can test this ⟨Zap⟩.'
He clenched his fist, readying himself for the shock, and controlled it.
The two ends of the whip snapped, and it struck and wound around him.
A shock ran through his body, and he stiffened for a few seconds before he could finally move again.
He panted and freed himself from the whip.
Draven began calculating.
'Mental Serration plus Zap should prevent them from escaping like that mastiff, then I will overwhelm them. With Mental Serration in my attacks, it should prevent instant counter attacks when I hit them. Fifteen seconds should be enough to kill them, right?'
Thinking of this, he hesitated because something could go wrong, but he decided to go along with the plan.
Draven decided to give himself a short break to recharge and wait for the wolves to go farther.
He rested his back against the trunk, activated Stasis—which deactivated when he moved—and began thinking of another thing bothering him. He was getting used to the numbness.
'I couldn't enter that strange sensitive state, where I notice the change in my surroundings with precise clarity. That state… makes me one step faster in body reaction. What am I missing?'
Draven mused for about twenty minutes but didn't find a solution.
His eyes snapped open, then he controlled the whip to slither to the ground. It lay carelessly on the ground, like a discarded rope. Then he summoned his twin swords, crouched, faced the depths of the fog.
Making one last prayer not to attract a pack, Draven screamed.
He went silent and still as he waited for prey.
A few minutes later, a monster rushed into the range of his vision until it slowed down under the tree.
It was another quadrupedal monster with spotted furry skin.
It slowly walked beneath the tree with calculated steps.
Draven held his breath until it walked over the whip.
He activated ⟨Zap⟩ and launched the whip up while leaping down.
The whip snapped against the monster's belly and wound around it.
It froze, and Draven descended on it.
With strength in his right hand, his right sword slashed its nape, followed by switching strength and hacking from the left sword. Then back to the right. In a few seconds, Draven bombarded it with berserk slashes. Blood splattered as his switch strength between both hands and slashed unceasingly.
In about ten seconds, the monster only had the chance to release one weak roar and a slow swipe of its claw before collapsing.
[Second Order Transient killed: Spotted Tiger.]
[+1 Soul Vitalis.]
Draven swiftly opened the skull before his strength was exhausted, then deactivated [Ingi Vitalis].
He retrieved the monster crystal, left the whip beside it, and quickly climbed the tree.
Then he dismissed his swords to get rid of the blood before absorbing the monster crystal.
[+7 Mana Absorbed.]
He huffed, his heart still pounding from the ordeal because wrong timing would switch the battle to a brutal and dangerous struggle.
'Single-arm enhancement is no joke. Even with a lower rank weapon, I dominated that monster.'
Gazing at the body below, he activated [Stasis] and waited for the next prey. He knew this battle had attracted a monster, if not monsters.
A few minutes later, a red quadrupedal monster appeared. It halted a few steps from the corpse and cautiously scanned its surroundings.
Draven held his breath. It then rushed at the dead monster, burying its head into it to feast.
A minute later, Draven flicked the whip with a thought and descended.
He repeated the same thing but was unlucky this time as one last counter broke his armor, delivering another deep gash.
[Second Order Transient killed: Red Panther.]
[+1 Soul Vitalis.]
[+1 Gear.]
He quickly performed the cleanup, hid in the top of the tree, and opened his panel to check the gear.
––––
[Gear: Crimson Reaver]
[Rank: Transient]
[Order: Second Order]
[Type: Weapon]
[Description: A single-handed axe with a heavy frame.
⟨Titanic Cleave⟩: When activated, this skill builds momentum with distance, to deliver a devastating cleave.]
––––
He swiftly summoned it, and a red axe materialized in his right hand.
It was a single-handed, well-fitting axe with a broad blade. It was also heavy in his grasp.
Draven went still and activated Stasis at the sight of another monster in the distance. He always kept his guard up.
It was a hybrid mastiff—the first monster that had appeared.
It behaved like the previous ones and began eating.
The whip snapped around its neck, and Draven descended.
The axe went light when he pushed strength to his right arm but got heavier when he activated Titanic Cleave.
In one powerful hack, the axe almost decapitated it, sending it crashing to the ground. He pulled and hacked at its throat, getting the notification of its death. He quickly got the monster crystal and agilely climbed the tree.
An excited gleam shone in his eyes as he finally realized he wasn't weak.
Draven threw himself into repeated baiting hunts and had four more successful hunts, with their bodies on the floor. The scent of blood was faint in the air. With his swift killing, he was very efficient as he kept using only 1 Soul Vitalis, keeping the total value the same in his panel.
Though the hunting was a dangerous and reckless method in the fog forest, as new monsters appeared just after he swiftly killed one. If he had been a bit slower, he might have had to battle two. But it swiftly brought his mana value higher. He aimed to ascend to the Third Order today.
Suddenly, something struck his chest.
'Third Order!'
His eyes widened in shock, and he was about to jump off to escape but reined in his impulse.
'If I get a Third Order Transient rank gear, with my attack power, my hunting will be smooth sailing. This is an opportunity!'
A wild gleam flashed in his eyes.
It was a big risk, but he was taking the chance.