บท 13: A honey cake encounter

Two days with Lia had both been addicting and frustrating and it had also laid a solid foundation, for he had learned lots.

In those two days, he had gotten a blowj*b twice after the first time, learned meditation and how to use mana to control his surroundings to aid him in a battle.

"I'll make sure I hit tier two in the fastest way possible and come get you," Cristian said. His deep tone was a mix of care and affection.

His thumb rubbed her cheeks, and her gaze made his heartache. He sealed their parting with a kiss and clad in a white silk shirt, brown pants, and leather boots. He made his way into the forest.

A path made with paved blocks stretched deep into the depths of the forest and he had no idea if it led towards the town which according to Lia is a three hours walk.

Even when he had gone far, her piercing gaze still bore into him. Cristian stopped and turned. He raised his hands into the air and waved.

And the breeze intensified, his hair fluttered, and he smiled. This was Lia's way of replying to him, but affecting the surrounding environment despite being restricted spoke heavily of her powers.

"I'm gonna miss that naughty maid," He chuckled and bolted forward. His stats were super good for a level 7.

Well, this was his view, but to others, his stats were unbelievable. Many were struggling to reach their twenties and his highest stats had surpassed eighty!

Strolling through the forest path, Cristian took in the breathtaking view. Sunlight shone through the gaps from the canopies of trees and the chirping of birds painted a refreshing background, with the beautiful butterflies perched on petals of varying colors.

"Wow," he gasped at the mesmerizing sight. But didn't reduce his speed. A short while later, a man leaned against a tree, panting.

It had kept at a moderate speed for tens of minutes and as he got deeper, the paved road stopped and the forest lost its warmth.

He couldn't even see the sun due to the thickness of tall trees shading the ground with their branches.

He opened the pouch Lia gave him and brought out the honey cake. The scent triggered a reaction and his stomach rumbled.

The sight of a round brownish cake with a lighter shade, when split, made him savagely munch on the cake.

The undying desire to first explore this world before he decides on what his life goal was going to be burned bright, but it would have been better had his perfect loving maid been beside him.

A tiny part of him yearned to go back, but Cristian knew how stupid that would be. As a man who wanted to be in control of his life and not get tossed around, depending on someone else, even if it was Lia, could not lay a firm foundation in his heart.

He wanted to be powerful. Not for some bullshit goal of ruling the world, as that would be stupid. Why would he put such a heavy burden on himself? Spending a lifetime to train and grow only to later be shackled with the sense that you have the world beneath your feet.

That was definitely not him. His ambition was to be truly free. To be powerful enough that nothing could hold him back. Not even the gods and paragons of this world.

True, it couldn't be more stupid as he aimed to be stronger than people who had long acquired their undeniable positions.

But there wasn't anything bad about having a dream. Besides, it's always good to aim higher.

"Ooo '' he let out a loud noise and faced the skies, "This is so good, too bad Lia doesn't have the chef class. I'm pretty sure this cake would have given me lots of boosters."

The moment he was done eating two honey cakes, he closed the pouch and hung it back at his waist.

"No inventory, bummer," he mused and wiggled his fingers. He couldn't be more satisfied with the gloves, as he could feel like they weren't there.

Sometimes he forgot that he had a pair of gloves that were amongst the highest-ranking artifacts in the entire realm.

Except it doesn't aid him in anything and for this. Cristian would forever dub those dwarfs as wicked men.

"It shouldn't take much time if I maintain my previous speed and follow the path," he laid down his next moves in his mind and got up.

Wiping off the sand from his butt, a rustle coming from behind made him pause. He balled his hands into fists and slowly turned his head.

His breathing got louder and he could sense a presence behind him. The reverberating roar of the brown bear that stood on its two feet made his hair flutter.

He could hear the flapping sounds of fleeing birds and other smaller animals. They all scampered with trembling hearts.

"Honey cake… honey! I should have known," Cristian sighed in regret as Lia had told him the honey came from tier 2 bees.

The allure of their honey could draw bears from miles away. The system had stated this after Lia spoke, but it fled his mind because of the nightly services generously given by his loving maid.

He saw the bear roar again, this time much louder, and his ears almost bled. The beast must have gotten angry since he just stared back at it.

'Inspect,' he called out internally.

[...]

[scarlet-eyed Bear]

[Name: Angry Eater { a name bestowed by an elf who saw a cute bear and fed it an entire basket of honey cakes.}

[Level: 14]

[Innate skills: mighty roar, thick skin, massive strength, swipe]

"You gotta be kidding me. An elf saw this hideous-looking monster and called it cute! And it's after me because the elf made it addicted to honey cakes!" Cristian couldn't wrap his head around how that certain elf thought.

And Angry Eater, what sort of name was that?

His pupils dilated, and he leaped back. The moment he did so, he thanked his stars as the bear lunged forward and made a swipe, its sharp claws making a deep cut on the tree Cristian had leaned on.

"That must be the swipe skill," he mused, and his Adam's apple moved up and down. He felt the air pick up as it made that move, signaling the use of the mana in the surroundings and thus a skill.

'The name certainly doesn't do justice to the skill,'

Bam!

Despite its savage and fear-inducing looks, Cristian couldn't pass up a free power-up. Each level took him closer to the first tier.

Tier 0 had no worth anywhere. Should anyone see his tier, then an unending surge of laughter would follow.

And his desire to find where earthlings had transmigrated to was because of his ambition. He wanted to find the only woman he almost got into a relationship with; his gym instructor.

At least make sure she wasn't dead and if she would join him in his adventures, then it's even better.

"Oh yeah, I can't forget Delilah," he muttered, applied pressure to his legs, and leaped high enough to grab a thick branch and sit on it.

His emotions about Delilah were complex. On one hand, he felt guilty for ignoring her, even when she was so caring. He had once gathered the courage to ask if she had feelings for him and she rejected it flatly.

Her firm expression made him know she only cared as a friend and their discussion got awkward for a while.

It became normal when he met the gym instructor whom he had also lost faith in, even though she confessed her feelings for him.

"I guess I'm lucky after all," he mused and slid off his gloves. The gym instructor already had an arranged fiancee, planned by both her family and his. Their marriage was supposed to occur in two weeks.

Bam! He leaped from the branch and landed a straight punch to the bear's jaws. The beast roared, but his affinity had accompanied that punch, and his love for his affinity grew with each passing day.

He ducked and landed another punch, and the bear fell to the ground. His high-strength stats hurt the beast, but his affinity did the major work.

In a matter of sixty seconds, Cristian watched as the aging process of the bear fastened by a million times, and all that remained was ash.

Beings without Affinities were much easier to kill as those that had could fight back whilst some could purge out the decay but that part of their body would forever remain dead.

Except they visited the church and got the rare holy water.

[You have killed a level 14 scarlet-eyed bear. Strength of 1, level +1]

"Status," he called out in a relaxed tone.