System Change

Some time later, Jace viewed his map again. He had finally entered unexplored territory… well, unexplored by anyone else who had come here. He had received a ton of looks from people who saw him venturing out alone. He only snorted and continued along the way. People who didn’t want to become strong weren’t worth his time.

Soon, he entered a forest, and he was far enough from any civilization that he could almost feel the beasts drawing close. His heart beat harder and harder, and his uncontrolled aura began to manifest on and around him. It was pure adrenaline, one of the best feelings in the universe.

He would always get reprimanded for not controlling his aura, but he didn’t care. The main reason for a hunter to control their aura was to set up an ambush, and ambushes were for cowards. He liked to fight head on. Plus, he could control it just fine. He just chose not to. It did the job of scaring away anything that wasn’t worth his time fighting, leaving only the fun beasts and users.

When he finally heard the first roar, he smiled a deadly smile and his aura congealed into almost a red mist. His irises were already blood red, but soon, the whites of his eyes shifted to the same color. Jace thought he looked rather cool in this form-others called him a demon. Well, he didn’t mind.

Jace brought his arms out to the side and summoned his weapons from his bracelet. He’d yet to see another prefer his weapon of choice, but to him, nothing could beat them. In each hand, a custom made kukri appeared.

His kukri were slightly longer by a few inches than the typical kukri. The machetes were curved and notched in the back side in case he needed to use it for something other than killing. The notched also worked quite well for parrying other blades.

He’d been asked why he didn’t just opt for daggers or short swords, but something about how his kukri felt when cutting into flesh had kept him from switching. It was an almost euphoric feeling.

With both weapons summoned, Jace glared ahead and waited for the attack. In seconds, three black flashes appeared in the corner of his eyes before turning solid. He didn’t bother to Identify the beasts; they were already too close for that. However, they reminded him of extra large panthers.

Each of the beasts was at least as tall as he was. They were the size of horses. Each tooth he saw from the snarling form of the panther was razor sharp, and their fur stood almost like needles. Their eyes were green with diamond shaped iris, and saliva dripped from their maws.

Jace licked his lips in anticipation as the panthers stalked closer, sizing up their prey. Finally, the lead panther pounced. Jace sidestepped and turned his right wrist before swiping vertically. The razor sharp claw of the panther just caught his cheek and left a gash, but the panther was much worse off.

His kukri caught the panther mid leap and gutted it from groin to sternum. Its innards hit the ground before its body, and it collapsed in a heap, not moving. The first panther was dead. A burst of energy rushed into his body and the wound on his face began healing at a visible pace. His passive skill, Slaughterer, had activated, increasing his regeneration and fighting abilities for some time after each kill.

The other two beasts didn’t take kindly to their apparent leader being gutted and pounced at the same time. Jace welcomed the challenge. His smile grew even wider, and he licked his lips once again, this time tasting iron from the blood that had dripped down his cheek before his wound had healed.

He ducked out of the way of the first beast, then blocked a swipe from the second one. He spun with the from the momentum from the attack of the second panther and cut out with his second machete, hamstringing one of the back legs of the first beast before falling back into his fighting stance.

One of the beasts may have been slightly crippled, but a panther such as these on three legs was just as dangerous as one on all four. Jace continued his slow and precise dismantling of the panthers. In a matter of minutes, the battle was over. Jace stood in the middle, no worse for wear, while the three beasts laid around him unmoving.

Each cut the beasts took was precise. There were no artificial wounds on the three panthers. Each attack Jace made had a reason for and took something from the beasts. His first strike was fatal, the second hindered one of the beast’s movement. He was an expert in killing and rippling.

The forest went quiet once again, and he withdrew his aura. The battle didn’t take much out of him, only resulting in a slight loss in Stamina, but, although people may call him battle crazy, he wasn’t stupid enough not to rest back to 100% after a battle. While waiting for his passive skill to finish regenerating everything, he viewed the notifications that had appeared.

Level 186 Obsidian Ash Panther Slain

Level 183 Obsidian Ash Panther Slain x 2

625,757,440 Experience Gained

1,854,266,420/4,050,000,000 to Level 177

Jace grinned as he swiped the kill notifications away. These beasts from the forest were apparently called Obsidian Ash Panthers, and they seemed to be of the perfect level to satiate his battle lust. Soon, the population of said beasts would be severely depleted. He walked over and began dismantling the beasts. It wasn’t something he really enjoyed doing, but equipment, potions, and repairs weren’t free.

After finishing, Jace stretched and yawned before sheathing his kukris on his hips. He opted not to store back inside his bracelet for now. The Obsidian Ash Panthers seemed to be stealthy, and it was possible that the ones he just encountered were some of the lower-level beasts in the forest.

Jace kept his aura ready and his muscles tense as he crept through the forest. Soon enough, he was ambushed by another trio of panthers. They seemed to come in groups of three, which was odd, as the panthers he knew of were solitary creature, usually not forming packs or prides like wolves or lions. This second battle was less intense than the first, as he had a good understanding of the panthers’ attack patterns. He sliced and diced his way through the beasts and continued on, making sure to dismantle and store the corpses as he went.

His guess was correct, as the further he moved into the forest, the more and more powerful his prey got. Though, the more he killed of the Obsidian Ash Panthers, the easier it was for him. His Slaughterer buff could grow to crazy heights, especially when focusing on one species of beast. As long as he didn’t wait too long in between fights, he could keep the buff for whole days.

Of course, sometimes, the battle would be tough, but rewarding, and he would lose his buffs while waiting to get back into fighting shape. But that was just another fun challenge.

Jace was soon fighting panthers at level 200 plus. They still came in groups of three, but even with his pattern recognition and familiarity with the beasts, their crazy stats made it hard for him. They were the perfect opponents. Ones where he was constantly threading the needle between life and death.

These were the types of battles where he grew stronger. Battles where he was able to push his skills to the max, and then some. These battles were the ones he wanted when he agreed to join in under Kelvin, and the ones he would seek out once the man no longer held any power over him.

Jace’s blood-red eyes gleamed as he thrust his left arm into the maw of an overly powerful panther. It was a near suicidal move, one where he could easily lose his arm, but with a quick flick of his wrist, the blade of his kukri appeared from in between the panther’s eyes, causing instant death.

He didn’t come out unscathed, though, as he quickly let go of the machete and kicked the ground, moving out of the way of another beast. When he got a good look at his arm, he found a mangled limb. It had been cut up badly by the razor-sharp teeth of the beast when it entered its mouth.

Still, it was worth it. His arm may have been near unusable now, but he had also rid himself of the most powerful beast in the group. The remaining two were smaller and weaker, and he had already hunted enough of them at their strength to know that he wouldn’t have much of a problem dealing with two, even if he fought one armed.

Those thoughts ended up correct as he flipped over the first one to charge, his left arm dangling uselessly, and landed kukri first into the second remaining panther while they were still stunned by the death of their leader. Half the panther’s face slid off as the kukri cut clean through it.

Another rush of energy entered Jace’s body, and he even began to get feeling back in his mangled arm, which wasn’t ideal, because with the feeling came an intense pain. But he could handle pain. Jace grit his teeth and fought the final remaining panther until only he remained.

Overall, he would give the fight a high grade. It was fun, and he had even leveled up a couple of his already high-level skills in the process. It was also the closest he had been to being critically injured in some time, which he cherished. Still, he was no fool, and he was bleeding heavily.

For the first time since beginning his hunt, he brought out one of his expensive healing potions and chugged it. His already visible regeneration speed from his passive skill increased and his arm was soon in fighting condition.

Sure, everything would have healed just fine on its own without the potion, but he was deep within enemy territory and wasn’t sure he could handle another group of panthers at the same level as the previous one in his condition. Plus, he was bleeding pretty heavily, which would attract beasts even better than releasing his aura. Who knew how far away the panthers could smell blood from?

While he was healing up, he retrieved his second kukri from inside the leader… or alpha… of the group. He wasn’t quite sure what to call it. He cleaned it off on some nearby grass before sheathing in on his hip once again. Then he took his other kukri and began the arduous task of dismantling corpses once again.

With that finished, he waited to heal back up and continue on his journey. He didn’t plan on going back to the encampment until he hit level 200. Especially not with all the fun to be had.