บท 17: Hunting
Lin climbed out of the canyon bare-chested with his shirt still hanging from his waist. His eyes look brighter than usual; his hair a bit brighter. He found a giant tree about 500 meters tall with branches as thick as three Boas tied together and quickly climbed to a spot out of view to rest for a bit. He sat and began trying to make sense of all that happened.
"What was that place; who was that man? And that symbol, where is it from? There's that voice too. Why did I call her mother? I haven't had parents since I was little as far as I can remember. Everything seemed like a memory. Are they mine; do they have something to with the whole Drak's inheritance thing?"
After that event, he now had more questions than he did answers. It was hard trying to remember anything beyond the vision he saw. Doing so only gave him a headache. "Does this have anything in common with that blurry shadow I saw in the cave at Kore?". He was now even more confused than he previously was. "Well, whatever the case be, I at least have a lead to follow. I need to find the origin of that symbol" he made a decision after that bit of thought and put aside all that for the time being.
"Speaking of finding, I don't even have a Scopenet. This would all have been easier if I had a personal one; I would have to go to a Scopehub to conduct my search. That would be troublesome. I need to continue hunting. Gotta make some money" He jumped down the tree and headed in a direction.
Scopenets were devices used to assess The Nucleus, a virtual space where people can communicate, share information or make trades amidst other things. Locations, where those who cannot afford Scopenets can have access to The Nucleus, are the Scopehubs. You pay to use the Scopenets there for a period. The Scopenet is very small and usually attached to the ear where it projects a hologram for the user. They come in various shapes and designs. Some suspend to project holograms.
Lin walked for about five thousand miles in search of higher-level beasts. Though he did come across a few lower-level ones, it didn't take long to kill them. He had killed two rock-type beasts, one poison-type beast and two wood-type beasts. He now had seven rank three and lower beasts in his Space Storage Cube. As he walked on, he felt something move over his feet that caused him to jump back. It was noon; where he was passing was becoming darker than it was.
He became alert and began looking around. The shadows of the plants around were behaving strangely; it was creeping him out. "Looks like there is a shadow-type beast nearby. I can faintly sense its presence but I can't pinpoint its exact location since the shadows are interfering. It could be of a higher rank than I am." He did not activate his powers but instead focused his senses on finding the beast.
<Notice>
<Shadow Element beast Deodilephysis found>
<Level: Quint>
<Rank: 5>
<Specialty: ???>
"As I thought. It is a rank 5 but this is the first time I have been unable to see a beast's specialty. This would be a bit troublesome."
He stood perfectly still and only moved his head to scan for the beast. Suddenly, a claw mark appeared on his chest. He activated his powers and moved back almost immediately but he was still delivered a scratch. "It was able to scratch me even though I reacted immediately." That attack was not the end. Many shadows kept popping up and slashing towards him with h their claws. Lin began to move like a phantom. He was there; then he wasn't. Every time he moved, a claw attack would cut through his afterimage.
As he began to adapt to the attacks, the speed of the attack continued to increase. Now he was struggling to keep up. Attacks were coming from all directions at once. He didn't even have time to fight back. All he did was dodge. He moved his feet gracefully as if he was stepping on the wind. There was no hesitation in his movements. He was like a ghost among the many shadows. Though he was delivered a few scratches, his life was not in immediate danger.
<Phantasmal Flow Dance Form 1: Ghost>
As the scratches on him increased, he realised it would do him no good if he only kept dodging. "Shadow element beasts are annoying. I have to find the actual beast before it wears me down further. Just like I did with the fire back there, I would do the same with the lightning and stun it with it"
He loosely clenched a fist and began to gather as much lighting power as he could master at a single point as he kept on dodging. Black lightning cackled madly around his fist as he amassed more of it. "I think this should be enough to stun it for a moment so I can find it. I call this…"
<AOE Lightning Attack: Lightning Stun Grenade>
He released the lightning ball; it exploded, sending black lightning across a five-hundred-meter radius. "Urgh!" he grunted as the force of the explosion pushed him a few meters backwards. As the black lightning spreading touched him, he felt his lightning power go up for a split second and wore off. "What was that just now?? Does it work like ignition? Does that mean I can momentarily increase my elemental power for a period, just like ignition?" Question after question flooded his mind after that experience. "Guess I will just have to experiment later."
Within the five-hundred-meter zone, black lightning cackled wildly around a beast. Lin looked in the direction and dashed towards the beast. The shadows around him all disappeared after the attack struck the beast. As he drew closer to the beast, the stun effect on the beast had already worn off. It turned to him and pounced towards him, slashing fiercely with its sharp claws.
It was a six-meter-long beast more than half of Lin's height. Its rough skin and scale that stretched along its spine to its tail likened it to an alligator. It had a rounded torso and an elevated head on a short neck. Though it had four short limbs with razor-like claws, it was unbelievably quick. A horn decorated the centre of its head. As the claw reached Lin's chest, he stopped his approach and moved out of the way.
He stared at the beast when suddenly, his face twisted and he gritted his teeth. Three claw marks were carved into his chest and were oozing blood. The cut was deep. If he had moved a little later, his heart would have been perforated at that instant. "Damn it! Is this the difference in just a single rank?"
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