A step forward followed by a vertical slash.

  Blood, so vibrant in its potency and purpose spewed from the wound and unto my features, but I wasn't fazed. I dodged the coming slash from a hand carrying claws that rivalled my body in size, the arm was a skinless thing of pumping arteries and exposed veins. Muscles and tendons so clearly visible I hadn't needed any sort of anatomical understanding of the monster to hunt and kill. Not that I wasn't forced to learn anyway.

  But that meant nothing if my blade couldn't cut deep enough to sever them.

  I barely managed to avoid having my own anatomy being put on display for my humble spectators. All but Loklan seemed at the edge of stepping in and ending my foolish gambit. But I had given them an ultimatum they'd respect.

  It was pretty fucking easy to manipulate people who cared for my life after all, couldn't abuse it though. Just...had to pull the right strings at the right times and I could get what I wanted.

  In this case I was exploiting the care Aira had for me by threatening to take on a monster on my own, whether they wanted to watch over me or not. She didn't believe me at first, but I wasn't bluffing.

  Returning covered in wounds after a trip through the snow was enough to get the woman to harry Loklan into accepting my demands.

  Though he made it clear it would only be one time.

  I hadn't fought anything I couldn't handle to be clear, though it was still a massive risk to travel the forest alone considering the season. I didn't even fight a proper monster, just a dire wolf.

  One that had mutated.

  Rare, but it was the perfect opponent. Got enough of a challenge where I'd even earned a decent portion of essence.

  Learning how to be manipulative made me sick to my stomach (alongside the ethereal sickness, still hadn't recovered from the last purge of my mana), but it was necessary. Besides, who cared what a murderer felt? Them, apparently, but that was their dilemma to sort out and mine to take advantage of.

  The ten-foot giant looked at me and snarled with broad teeth of yellow. The wound wasn't anywhere close to deep, nor were any of the wounds I managed to deliver, but its legs were covered in cuts. Plenty and plenty of cuts bled to paint the snow red.

  It let out a roar of rage, so powerful it rattled my bones, and charged swinging six digits with a dream to see my end.

  I wasn't so receptive as to oblige.

  A step to the side was all it took to avoid another slash of claws. They made deep rents into the ground, and I took the opportunity to slide my blade across its forearm. Monsters of its caliber took a different strategy for a humble hunter. Unless one was absolutely swimming in essence or was in possession of enchanted armour, then letting a single attack gain purchase would spell their doom.

  Meant that even Loklan had some guile, which was hilarious considering his stature and the absolute behemoth of a sword he carried with him.

  The diod looked at me with enough rage that it drowned out the rest of the whispers of the World. It was daunting, this thing could probably take Alvir's precious Skiski and turn it to paste, yet here I was challenging it like some hero from legends.

  I probably looked mighty arrogant to the rest of the crew, but I needed this. Not because I thought I could win (though that would be a pleasant surprise), but so that I could prove to myself that I'd face overwhelming odds with the tenacity of the insane. So far I was quite pleased with the results.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  Though I felt a bit guilty, diods were peaceful creatures, one of the few monsters that lived and let live. Which ironically made them the only monster of their strength that I could face with any semblance of a chance.

  Where the others were too fast or too clever, this thing just flailed about ineffectually.

  That made it predictable, eliminating one of the biggest challenges when facing a monster.

  The grit of its teeth echoed throughout the forest, oozing frustration from its form. It stood and stared at me with an eery clarity as the claws of one hand dragged across the shallow cuts I had made on its legs, covering them in its own blood.

  My confusion peaked when said blood glowed and was absorbed by the keratin of its claws. I made some more distance between us in preparation for whatever the diod was scheming.

  It all happened in an instant.

  The diod slashed empty air, and my eyes widened as arcs of blood escaped its claws and raced towards me. It was too fast to dodge, almost as fast as thought, but strangely that wasn't what my mind registered as time froze.

  It was the look in the diod's eyes, staring me down with something resembling pity.

  Then a shadow passed over me, and a blade that rivalled the monster in size crashed into each arc of blood, returning the liquid to its natural state. Loklan didn't even spare me a glance as he stepped forward and brought his blade down on the monster.

  I watched as his attack was punctuated by the twang of a warbow and an arrow struck the monster, managing to make it stumble.

  "Good, you live," Aira said as she took a spot next to me. "I'd ask how you feel but that'd just be rude. Not nearly as rude as forcing us to watch that though."

  "You didn't have to," I grumbled.

  Aira smacked me upside the head enough to actually hurt. "You didn't exactly give us a choice, Yir."

  I turned my head and gave her a glare. "I need to get stronger."

  "And how's that been working out for you?" She said with more than a little bite.

  "Aren't you supposed to be helping them out?" I said. "You know, instead of being an ass?"

  "I'm checking on you."

  "Well consider me checked, now go help."

  Aira pursed her lips and gave me a look that screamed sympathy. "Look, I know you were close to those two but—"

  "Shut the fuck up," I growled.

  "—but you can't keep doing this to yourself." She scowled. "what happened wasn't your fault."

  I looked away and didn't bother giving a response to that. Aira let out a sigh and stepped towards the controlled chaos of combat to do her duties as a slasher. I picked a tree to sit by and started contemplating what I could've done differently while watching the experts do their work.

  If I had known what the diod was planning, then could I have dodged it? That was a stupid question, I couldn't have known the giant would be capable of magic. Some monsters awakened to mana inherently, like Rondu boars or an Atrus Arenea, but those that didn't could still learn.

  It wasn't common, and whatever magic they acquired was too random to make any actionable plans to counter it. Though their meat tended to be more valuable, so the hunters that could fight them often found it to be a boon.

  The others were too dead to complain.

  But why couldn't I feel anything with my senses? Spells used mana, that's just basic logic, and an attack like that surely used enough where I should have felt something.

  Yet I didn't.

  Was there some way to conceal mana? I'd have to ask Alvir the next time I saw the bastard, but for now I could only guess.

  Which was a waste of time.

  What wasn't though, was contemplating something I felt like a fool for not thinking of before.

  My concept, ostensibly, pertained to the body. It meant I could replicate the effects of essence temporarily to dramatic extremes for brief periods of time.

  Faster, stronger, tougher.

  Every method to increase the body's capabilities were at my disposal, If I could make the spells or had enough tolerance to brute force the issue. But who said that enhancing myself was the only thing I could do?

  Blood was part of the body.

  As were bones and muscles and organs.

  If I was right...I might be capable of replicating what the diod did, alongside a whole host of other things. I didn't think I could do any permanent body modifications but that didn't mean I shouldn't try.

  Hells, mend could literally create blood.

  Maybe I could coat my sword in blood and make it better so that I could actually do some real damage?

  Aira didn't seem to need such crutches, I knew her weapons weren't enchanted and yet somehow the diod's skin seemed to part for her blades like they were the staff of Moses. Gren's arrows always seemed to strike true and Kerro was at home dancing around the monster while letting loose plenty of creative expletives.

  Loklan was just ridiculously strong, I wonder how much essence his body had absorbed?

  Together they made a fight with a greater monster seem like child's play, true masters of their craft. They eclipsed me in skill, and were eclipsed in turn by beings that could barely be called human.

  I had to be stronger than them before the End came, had to be capable of taking them all on with greater ease than the show in front of me.

  It was enlightening.

  too much time between chapters, I have a books worth of content to recycle and add too, but I make no promises.