Sweat gathers on Zatu's forehead as he walks down the path marked by what was left of the old outer south roads.
Under him a clear shadow, marked in the ground by the high noon sun.
"Crystal horn deer up ahead, high tier 1, can you take it if I impair its back legs?" A female voice reaches his ears even though Zatu seems to walk alone through the rubble.
"What colors are its horns and fur? " Zatu asks back, trying to identify what element this beast in specific was attuned for.
Since each element is better at specific things and a high tier 1 beast with a defensive focused element would be almost unkillable to Zatu at his level.
Silence takes over for a few seconds, before her voice speaks again in his ears.
"Orange horns, one broken, red fur, not metallic, not stone like, normal fur." Night Fang answers.
Already guessing what type of question Zatu would ask next, based on the things he had asked before the couple hunts they did through the morning.
Zatu nods and unsheathes his sword.
'Classic fire element pattern. Attack focused element with weak defenses, a pattern clear here by its non-reinforced fur. '
"Please tag it for me Illya." He says running forward.
No more than half a minute later a beast cry echoes right around the corner.
Moving closer to the rubble on the side of the road Zatu approaches the beast.
Soon the beast entered his view.
And though he tried being sneaky, it took no more than an instant for the beast to lock eyes with him.
It had fur red as blood and a single tall orange antler made of a crystal like material.
Screaming at Zatu the deer lay impaired on the ground.
The tendon's of all four of its legs were cut apart by Night Fang's dagger.
Gripping his sword Zatu rushes toward the deer, eyes locked on the antler and legs ready to sidestep the attack that was guaranteed to come.
In seconds for the antler to start to glow, shaping mana into a fireball before shooting it towards Zatu.
Prepared he side steps the magic.
Once, twice, thrice… but with each step forward the distance grows smaller.
With each meter of difference the less time he has to react.
With each spell dodged, more and more panic blooms inside the deer's eyes.
Its crystal antler glows brighter and the spells come one after another.
Twenty meters away, fifteen, ten, five…
Just as he gets close enough to swing the fireballs grow too close to fully dodge.
Seeing the antler pulse with light Zatu picks a direction and rolls before the spell even launches.
As he rolls through the ground he feels a heat graze by his arm.
Just close enough to hurt skin, just far enough to not light up his clothes.
Stabilizing on a crouch Zatu channels his sword intent into the blade.
For a moment the temptation to push mana into it too flashes through his mind.
But he doesn't, having a bit more experience and the knowledge that this beast's weakness is its toughness Zatu only channels all his sword intent.
Confident his sword would bite in and even more that if it came to it Illya could easily bail him out.
From his sword he feels the sword pierce skin, hitting the stationary beast into its neck.
Carving skin and muscle till it hit its bone and lodged itself there.
Locking eyes with it Zatu watches as its life dims down.
Deep inside those pupils a last struggle bubbles up, the crystal antler brightens with mana.
Zatu releases his hold on the sword and jumps back.
'Not enough time.' He concludes as the spell takes shape.
"Illya..." Is all he has time to say before it flies out.
As the heat from the fireball comes closer Zatu feels her arms wrap around his chest.
The next moment the world seems to shift around him.
Sounds quiet, colors fade and the three dimensional world he stood just now seems to collapse into something akin to a picture in an old book.
Only it moved, letting him watch the deer head fall dead to the ground before Illya released him back into the world outside the shadow.
"Thanks Illya." He pants giving her a smile.
"Don't sweat it." She smiles back holding Sir Howard before submerging back into the shadows. Zatu couldn't tell if it was just an impression, but he felt she had been a lot shyer after last night's talk.
Shaking his head he squatted near the deer.
Straining a little he yanks his sword out before reaching into the neck wound with his hand.
With experienced motions Zatu takes a little bit of blood.
Bringing it close to his face he smells and tastes it.
Still hot it tastes spicy against his tongue, so spicy in fact Zatu could feel his own body start to heat up.
'High fire attunement.' Zatu nods as he wipes sweat away from his forehead.
Not surprised by his body's reaction to high tier fire type blood.
After all, as the beast's get stronger and their bloodline skills awaken their bodies morph to accommodate their power.
As he thinks so he freezes mid thought.
'Wait a minute, this isn't a high tier beast…' Zatu's eyes widen and he squats closer to the deer.
With the palm of his hands he touches and analyses the warm hide, pressing through ti's fur and feeling its muscles.
"Found something?" Illya's curious voice echoes in his ear.
Zatu nods, a small frown growing in his golden brows.
"Yeah, much like the tier 3 scaled wolf from yesterday I find it strange this specific individual is here… alone."
As he looks he finds bruises on its skin and underneath it muscles way too weak compared to its magical capabilities.
"Beast's powers come from their bloodlines and this one has such a high affinity for its element it could have reached tier 3 by doing nothing and living a few more years."
Pressing his palms firmly against its skin he could feel broken and badly healed bones hiding inside its chest.
"A specimen like this should either be killed at birth by competition or raised by its herd as a core of their group." He sighs, deciding to continue his analysis back in the city.
"For us to find two beasts that should have large entourages in small groups barely a day apart might be just coincidence or might be a sign something is happening in the surrounding forest."
Illya hums watching as Zatu closes his eyes and touches the mouth of his space pouch to the corpse.
"You look really worried but… This doesn't sound that serious to me." She squats beside him tilting her head. "I don't know about bloodlines, but It is not that rare to find a tier 3, I fight one almost every week."
Zatu nods, stretching himself up.
"You're probably right and this is just making a mountain of a molehill, but when dealing with beasts I rather overdo things than to be blindsided." His eyes narrow, as he wipes his blade on his pants and sheaths it back to his hips.
Shaking his head he disperses his thoughts, now was not the moment to theorise about a problem he wasn't even sure existed.
'For now I just need to do what I can.' He looks forward.
"We'll know more as the days pass, mind looking after me while I recover sword intent?"
Illya sits at the side with Sir Howard on her arms.
"You know you don't have to ask everytime right?"
Zatu chuckles.
"Grandpa always said sometimes the way things are done matters just as much as the results."
"Sometimes?"
He nods at her question.
In his head the memory of an old voice repeats the answer he received when he asked something similar.
"Other times when cornered between what is safe and what is right."
"Times where following procedures are just chains holding you back from a better tomorrow."
"Times that show to the world what you truly are inside."
"Then processes and methods dim in view of what your heart calls forth."
"Or so the old man told me hahahaha." Zatu laughs one last time before diving into sword meditation.
***
After a few more 'fights' and hours trekking through the rubble, night approached.
And with it the end of Zatu's first day of level grinding.
With a smile he glances at his panel more than satisfied that the idea of smaller fights had indeed accelerated his progress.
Seeming like the best approach, at least during these early levels when the differences between levels wasn't as steep as in higher tiers.
One con of it however was the complete lack of progression in his skill levels.
With only the resource pools and class level increasing fast.
=======
Class: [Magic Swordsman] -- (Tier 1 - Level 15/100) 9 --> 15
[Mana] -- (30 / 30) {24 → 30}
[Sword Intent] -- (06 / 22) { 17 → 22}
=========
Looking at it a second time Zatu notices a funny detail.
Even though he had used zero mana throughout the day, it was still the resource that had grown the most.
With a little thought the only motive he could think of was the effect of his cutting edge (experimental) mana core.
"Nice." He chuckled, already thinking how to thank Schalt for the help getting the special meditation.