After our discussion about potions, Griffith leads me to the northern gate then says
"Here take a look at the Job request, from here on out everything is in on you, just pretend that I'm not here. I'll only step in if I see you're doing something that you absolutely shouldn't be doing. It's important that you learn some things by yourself."
I take the Job posting from him, felling a little nervous about Griffiths hands off approach.
The Job posting say that if I head due east from the northern gate then in about five days I will eventually run into a lake called Sapphire Lake, around that lake is where Tyrant Swine have been seen gathering.
I pull out my map of the E ranked hunting zone and see that Sapphire Lake is actually quite a large body of water. From edge to edge going from west to east the lake is about ten miles wide, its approximately the same size going north to south as well. Overall its quite a large area to search for a beast, so I already know that its going to be a test to find them with my meager tracking skills.
I take out my compass and start heading east towards Sapphire Lake. As I move forward I try to walk as quietly as possible, I look to avoid breaking sticks and such as I keep in mind what Griffith said about most predators locating you from the commotion you make.
As I immerse myself in the wilderness I cant help but feel that the city of Andora must have taken a lot of inspiration from the surrounding wilderness because besides their being no people around I kind of get the same vibe I get while in the city. Some of the tall trees that dwarf me in size are about the same size as some of the skyscrapers in the city. There's definitely no trees this size back on earth.
As I'm thinking about the size of the trees and how close together they are I get an idea. With the branches being so thick and close together surely moving from branch to branch shouldn't be that hard right? My logic being that jumping from tree to tree was sure to be quieter than constantly breaking twigs and leaves while walking on the ground. THe branch's were so big and thick that I didn't think my e=weight would even rustle the leaves.So I give it a try figuring that if I'm doing something stupid then Griffith would stop and tell me.
I move over to a smaller tree whose branch's I should be able to just reach if I jump.They're thick and sturdy looking, seemingly perfect platforms to start my ascent to the branches of the bigger trees. I then crouch down and use all of my force to jump up and grab the lowest branch. After doing so my agility stat really shows its worth as I nimbly swing myself up onto the branch.
Okay first step down I think to myself. With my agility stat being what it is I have no problem balancing myself on the branch. I look at my compass again which is now hanging around my neck by a small chain that is attached to it, and orient myself towards the east. From there I crouch again and jump to a branch a little higher up and further towards the east from the one I'm currently standing in. I easily make it to the next branch. That jump gave me a world of confidence. From there I begin jumping from branch to branch while steadily rising further up into the the tree tops. I find that I can jump much further than I could on earth especially if I take advantage of my speed stat and build up enough momentum, which sounds hard and surely is but because my Agility stat is so high I manage to do so easily, almost effortless even.
I find myself practically running from branch to branch, roughly about fifty feet off the ground which is where the largest trees lowest branches are. I wanted to climb higher into the tree tops but realized that I couldn't take advantage of both the tall and smaller trees if I went any higher.
I'm covering ground quickly, much faster then my first trip into the wilderness. I also find that I don't even feel winded even though iv been practically running or more accurately jumping for the past few hours.
Leaning on my past video game knowledge I deduce that this is also probably an effect of both my speed stat and agility stat. In a lot of rpg games I played back on earth a common thing was for your agility to reduce the cost of the stamina you consumed when performing actions. While speed would reduce the stamina cost of sprinting. While neither of them increased your max stamina like your constitution would, having both of them being my dominant stats practically made me a machine when it comes to things like running and jumping. Now I'm just guessing that this is the case in World Game but I have a good feeling that I'm right and its also the only reason I can think of for my apparently inexhaustible stamina.
As I'm jumping from branch to branch I suddenly get a ping from my premeditation. Apparently there's danger up ahead that's going to come from above me and to the right.
I quickly unsheathed my Tantos and created a small shield that was attached to my vambrace. These actions all happen within a matter of seconds. My reaction speed is due to the fact that iv been practicing making a shield like this every night since I first decided on wielding twin daggers, luckily I did because if I hadn't I wouldn't be prepared to make such a thing in so short of a time. I did so figuring it was the best way for me to take advantage of Solid energy while also wielding a dagger in each hand.
A few seconds after I complete my shield I see a shadow jump across the branches above me. It was to fast for me to get a good look at it but the threat I was feeling because of my ability was definitely coming from it. Before I know it the shadow jumps from another branch and then is practically in my face. Luckily the branch I was on was quite wide because it allowed me to roll toward the leaping shadow while taking advantage of it trajectory to safely stand up behind it. Coming out of my roll I immediately turn around and find a paw with five sharp claws extended towards my face. With an understanding of my style that I didn't know I possessed I use one of it many forms to side step out of the way and attempt to lash out at the paw with my Tanto. I feel my weapon digging into flesh and know that I injured the beasts forearm pretty badly. The pain makes the beast hesitant to attack again. I use that moment of indecision to jump back and put some space between me and the beast so that I can finally get a good look at what I'm dealing with. As I do so I also pull two daggers out of my storage satchel to be wielded by my telekinesis.
The beast in front of me looks almost exactly like a jaguar except instead of being black spotted with a yellow coat this beast is all black. It also differs from a Jaguar by its size, the thing in front of me is about the size of a small horse. I'm glad I managed to injure it before I saw what it looked like. If I hadn't I might have been too nervous because of its appearance to properly fight back. Since I wounded it already, psychologically I realized that the beast in front of me is not an invincible killing machine despite its looks and that I had already managed to hurt it while it has been unable to hurt me.
With that confidence surging through me I send my two floating daggers towards the beast and spend two hundred Energy to shoot them towards it with as much force as my stats currently allow. I aim them in such a way that it would be almost impossible to dodge both of them completely. The beast does the most logical thing and jumps straight into the air and slightly towards me, in doing so it was able to dodge one of the daggers completely while only having its shoulder nicked by the second dagger.
Even though the dagger only nicked the beast it still had enough force behind it to take a large chunk of flesh out of its shoulder, it may have even taken some bone with it as well. As luck would have it, it's the shoulder that the already wounded forearm was attached to.
Judging from its wounds the beast wouldn't be able to put too much weight onto that leg, which meant that it wouldn't be able to attack with its other paw either. The only Weapons the beast had available now was the strength of its jaw and the sharpness of its teeth.
The beast did something I didn't expect it to do even though I probably should have. After seeing that its supposed prey was actually not prey at all and was actually quite a deadly predator, it did the thing its instincts demanded it do, which was run.
Seconds after the floating knife collided with its shoulder the beast jumped to a branch that was below us, obviously trying to escape back to the ground where its injured foreleg wouldn't hinder its escape as much.
After it makes its second jump towards the ground it finds itself with a hole being punched through it by one of my floating daggers. I acted on instinct too and when I saw that it was trying to get away, that instinct told me to spend another hundred Energy to fuel my dagger while taking advantage of the fact that it was already in the air and had no way to dodge. The result was the beast laying dead on the ground below me.
My adrenaline begins to fade after I see that the beast is dead. Everything happened so fast that I find myself doubting if those series of actions actually happened. I didn't think I was capable of fighting in such a way. The only explanation I have is the instincts that were embedded in the Style Crystal that I had consumed. Much of the Style Crystal contained memory's of the master who made the crystal sparing and sometimes even fighting different opponents, though none of them had been beasts, the instincts ingrained behind the actions of dodging, defending, and attacking were all transferable skills that could be used against beasts. Maybe a specific form wouldn't be transferable to beasts, but the overall general instinctual action would be.
I was under no illusion though that I was now some kind of master of fighting, if things had gone a little differently I could be the body that was laying on the ground dead. I know that the first blow I landed when I was dodging its outstretched claws was all luck. There was no skill behind it, it was just an instinct I picked up from the crystal. If I had missed that first strike chances are the battle would have gone a lot differently. Now that doesn't mean I would've died but I wouldn't have been able to pull out my other daggers from my spatial satchel if my successful first blow hadn't made the beast hesitate.
Breaking me out of my thoughts is the sound of soft clapping. I turn around and see that Griffith is there giving me a silent standing ovation while saying,
"That was nicely done considering the circumstances, it seems that Style crystal didn't go to waste. Now I can tell you already know how close you came to dying by the look that is on your face. If you didn't make that beast hesitate there at the beginning its hard to say if you would've been able to kill it without the help of your telekinesis.
Iv' been wanting to tell you for hours now that you should've had your daggers following you this whole time, especially since it doesn't cost you any Energy to do so once you pay the initial Energy cost.
As you've just experienced you wont always have time to take things out of your satchel or even prepare something like that shield of yours before a battle starts. Its always better to have as many of those things done before you're put in a situation where you have to fight. So from now on I expect to see both of your weapons in hand, while having both of your simple daggers out and already following you. You also might as well keep that shield since it also doesn't consume Energy after its initial cost.
Now I know that you still need to look at the compass and occasionally the map but you can do those things with your telekinesis, you should be able to manage one or the other while you're standing still. It will also be good practice to occasionally control three things with your mind, it'll lay the foundation for you to be able to control three objects during combat. Once you're able to surround an opponent with three objects your kill count will soar towards the heavens." his boisterous voice comes back as he finishes lecturing me, it makes my adrenaline spike again as my premeditation suddenly gets slightly ticked from multiple directions. Griffith has a slight smile on his face that makes me feel that this particular time he's doing it on purpose just to mess with me!