After carving out the monster stones from the four imps and collecting his weapons, Xavier decided to pick some fruits to eat, in hopes of bringing his HP back to the maximum, but he had no such luck. He was only able to bring it up to 40/50, and he quickly realized the reason. There was still a wound on his back, which although it had stopped bleeding, it hadn't fully healed, which frustrated Xavier. He threw the monster stones into his bag and continued his hunt, he had no time to waste.
After walking for another thirty minutes, he found his next group of imps, and he sighed in relief when he realized there was only two of them. Picking up a stone off the ground, and threw it at one of the imps. As expected, the imp dodged and flew towards where he was hiding. When the imp was close enough, he jumped out of his hiding spot with his sword in hand and jumped towards the imp. The imp, although surprised, swung it's claws at him and he had no choice but to swing his sword at the imps attacking hand. The imp screeched in pain, and quickly distanced itself from Xavier as it's arm bled heavily.
Seeing the enemy, the other imp came rushing in and Xavier quickly dropped his sword and took out his daggers. In the previous battle, he had realized that he was better at wielding daggers than a sword. He rushed to meet the imp and he dodged it, and stabbed a dagger in it's stomach and the other in it's neck, surprising both of them how easy it was to kill the monster.
'Proper weapons really make a difference.' Xavier thought as he pulled out the daggers from the dying imp. The other imp was flying around in the air, looking at him with fury in it's eyes, but didn't attack immediately.
'That one is definitely smarter.' Xavier thought, but then the monster rushed in and he smiled. He met the imp in combat once more, and it swung it's only good arm at him, but Xavier dodged and slashed it's arm, drawing a bit of blood. Before the imp could fly away, Xavier stabbed it's wing, preventing it from flying away. Xavier then stabbed it in the neck to finish it off.
"That was a lot easier than before." Xavier said and carved out the monster stones from the two imps. Not receiving any injuries this time around, Xavier decided to continue. He continued to walk, keeping an eye out for monsters when he suddenly heard a sound he hadn't heard in a long time. His eyes widened and he quickly ran in the direction of the sound and he looked in astonishment when he saw what was making the sound.
"Water." He said excitedly, when he saw a river that was at least three meters wide and flowed through the dead looking forest. He quickly rushed towards it, dropping his bag on the ground and dived inside with a splash.
"Okay, that was dumb." He groaned as the river wasn't very deep and full of stones, which he landed full force on thanks to gravity. Still, the pain wasn't enough to dampen his mood as he drank fresh water for the first time in days.
"Too bad I don't have any bottles, but I can always come again later." He said, washing the blood off his body. His clothes were also soaked by the water, but he didn't care. After washing the blood off his body and feeling a bit refreshed, he sat on the banks of the river and inspected the weapons.
"As I thought, these things are crap." He said as he ran his finger along the blade of the dagger, but it didn't cut him. He could also see several nicks and shallow gashes on the swords and daggers from fighting the imps. With a sigh, he started the blade of the daggers against a rock.
"Grrrrrr." Xavier heard a low growl as he was sharpening his daggers and immediately stopped. Looking towards another section of the river, he could see a groutesque looking humanoid creature with blue scales, a large fish head with a big mouth filled with razor sharp fangs, savage eyes and clawed hands that were webbed like a ducks feet. It had a thick fish tail behind it, and gills on the side if it's neck. Above it's head were the letters, Aquatic Dweller E-.