Unlike the diminutive plane he’d just come from, Leo quickly confirmed this one was far larger. Rather than find himself back where he started, after what had to be a few hours of walking in a mostly straight line, he was still encountering brand-new portions of the forest. In the off chance he’d stumbled upon a colossal plane, Leo finally turned around and began trekking back the way he’d come, not willing to risk losing access to the rift leading back to the safe meadow he’d spent the last few days in. It was one thing to let his guard down and cultivate in the forest, but it would be silly to risk sleeping in here when he could do that in the meadow instead.

  Unless one was dampening their soul, it took about an hour for them to gain the ability to travel back through the same rift a second time, which meant hopping back and forth between the meadow and the forest wasn’t something he could do with impunity. But for the purposes of rest, that hour time limit was irrelevant.

  Damn, I really need to find civilization. If only to adjust myself to Nexus time again.

  Naturally, one of the main challenges gem holders faced when going from one plane to another was having a consistent system of time. The length of a single day on any plane was wildly inconsistent, and some went a step further, not even having a cycle between day or night and simply choosing to remain one or the other. To solve this, Cartographers had devised a trick thousands of years ago. One that was so simple and convenient that it was still used to this day.

  The Nexus, the greatest bastion of civilization across the planarverse and easily the most populated plane by leaps and bounds, was naturally the plane that Cartographers decided to base their own sense of time on. The question though, was how did one keep track of that while running through the different planes? Equipment could get lost or damaged, and timepieces were usually rather fragile things to begin with, even for people who weren’t often under attack by magical beasts.

  The solution was beast gems.

  Upon absorbing a magical beast gem into one’s core, despite the fact that the gem wasn’t truly a solid object any more, gem holders could actually feel the gems floating within them if they focused on them. One Cartographer ages ago, whose name had since been lost to time, had come up with a clever idea.

  What if they could make those gems rotate?

  As it turned out, with only a sliver of focus, any gem holder could get the chunk of power mimicking a gem within their core to slowly turn, at pretty much whatever speed they wanted. The soul didn’t have anything like friction or air resistance, which meant once the gem began turning, the gem holder didn’t have to worry about it anymore and could turn their attention elsewhere. And whenever they wanted to know how much time had passed, they could peer into their core and note the new position of the gem. Some gem holders went a step further, doing the same with a second gem within their core to more closely denote the hour, but most simply set their main gem rotating at the speed of a full Nexus day and did their best to judge hours based on that. Now that Leo was a gem holder, he could do the same.

  As soon as he found someone with an actual clock to sync himself to.

  Blasted gem holders couldn’t have waited one more day before attacking, could they? he growled, noting the marks he’d left on a tree in order to help him back track correctly. Just one day, and everything would have been different. Though I suppose that’s probably why they attacked when they did. They must not have wanted mom and dad to link back up. Understandably, seeing as mom is way more of a threat when it comes to combat. I wonder how-

  Leo was ripped from his thoughts as he heard a shrill whistle from somewhere up above him. Without even thinking, he flexed Harden, forming a layer of rock across the top half of his body, and not a moment too soon. Before his skill had even finished forming, something raked itself across his head, sending him stumbling to the side from the force of the impact. Even with the partially formed rock layer protecting him, Leo felt pain shoot through his scalp and the familiar warmth of blood dripping down his head.

  Tightening his grip on his makeshift spear, he lowered his center of gravity as he shifted into a combat stance, ignoring the throbbing atop his head. While it certainly hurt, the combination of his skill and quick reaction time had saved him from getting scalped, and he had more important things to worry about.

  Like the arrow-hawk circling around above him for another strike.

  Despite never having seen one in person, Leo recognized the arrow-hawk in an instant. It was one of his father’s favorite magical beasts to pretend to be during training, whistling to mimic the sound of air shooting through their feathers before firing blunt bolts at him from different angles to deflect. At the time, Leo had thought that particular training was annoying and unfair, as reacting to the bolts fast enough was nearly impossible without his own skills to assist him.

  Now he wished he could thank his dad for saving his life.

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

  Leo narrowed his eyes at the magical beast, watching its wings flap as it prepared itself for yet another dive. Timing was everything when it came to fighting beasts that were faster than you, and there was no guarantee he’d get a third shot if he missed his strike. While scaring the magical beast off would still be good for his own survival, he didn’t want to make it run away.

  He wanted its gem.

  Unlike the gonkies, Leo knew full well what the skill that came from an arrow-hawk was, and he would love nothing more than to add it to his soul. He’d have to give up both his Harden and Digest gems in order to take it, but it would be a more than worthwhile trade.

  Seeing the arrow-hawk tilt its wings and dive, suddenly speeding up as though it had been thrown by a Planar Lord themselves, Leo waited for the whistle to grow louder, paying attention to the change in pitch. Just before it hit the crescendo, he struck.

  Rather than thrust or slash with his spear, Leo slammed the butt of it into the ground, crouching behind it and angling it just right.

  The arrow-hawk’s impressive speed did all the hard work for him.

  Unable to turn or pull out of its dive fast enough, the arrow-hawk shot straight into the tip of his spear, actually ripping his knife free from his makeshift binding as both beast and knife alike tumbled to the ground. Thankfully, despite destroying his spear, the knife had gone practically through the magical beast’s entire body, killing the bird almost instantly as it punched out the other side.

  “Yes!” Leo shouted, eagerly grabbing the large bird and bringing it over to a nearby tree.

  He had a skill to learn.

  Yanking his knife out of the magical beast, he nearly began carving before stopping himself at the last second. In his excitement for the arrow-hawk’s gem, he’d nearly made a critical mistake.

  Arrow-hawks were a Grade 4 magical beast. It was going to take his entire soul to contain its skill gem, which meant he first had to free up some space.

  Carefully setting the bird to the side, Leo closed his eyes and looked inward, peering at the two chunks of power currently drifting within his soul. First, he started with Digest. He was more than happy to get rid of that one, and he shattered the makeshift gem with a quick flex of will. The gem was only Grade 1, which meant it was child's play to direct the pitiful amount of power and command it to lay atop his current soul layer. The rock rabbit’s gem, Harden, was Grade 3. A bit more challenging, but nothing his rank 4 soul couldn’t handle. He was used to cultivating gems above his current soul rank, which meant anything below it didn’t really faze him too much at this point. Once he’d finished adding that power to his soul, Leo opened his eyes again.

  Now, he carved into the arrow-hawk quickly finding part of its namesake as he pulled out a white gem that looked like a small arrowhead. The name was both from the shape of the gem within its body, as well as the fact that the beast sounded like an arrow descending when it dove toward its victims.

  Leo planned to utilize that power for himself.

  Holding the gem to his chest, Leo slowly breathed in, focusing directly on the gem from the get go as he brought the power into his core. The method for strengthening one's soul involved forming layer after layer of power over it, but drawing a beast gem into one’s core was an entirely different technique that was both easier and harder. On the one hand, the empty space within his core yearned to be filled. He could practically feel his soul reaching out now that he allowed it to do so, attempting to suck the beast gem directly into the center of his being and harness its power for itself.

  But at the same time, it was his job to keep the beast gem fully intact. If his concentration wavered for even a split second, the fragile makeup of power within the gem would shift, transforming the skill into nothing more than a storm of power within his core. Not only would he lose the skill he was trying to gain, but he could even damage his own soul as the raw power burst free. In some extreme cases, this could even result in permanent damage to the soul, shattering a gem holder’s cultivation and preventing them from growing beyond rank 1 ever again.

  That would make taking down the Planar Lords rather difficult, so Leo made sure to keep his concentration as he gradually worked the arrow-hawk’s gem into his core.

  It took him longer than he would have liked, seeing as he was sitting defenseless in the middle of an unknown forest, but the risk was more than worth it. Finally, he felt the beast gem slot into place, and he laughed as he checked on his soul.

  Soul Rank: 4 (0 available)

  Beast Gem: Arrow-Hawk (4)

  Skill: Dash

  Eager to test out his newest skill, Leo got to his feet. Picking his fallen spear shaft as his target, he prepared himself, flexing his soul and triggering Dash. From a standstill, he shot forward, the wind whistling around him as he crossed nearly twenty feet in little more than a second. Nearly tripping over his own feet as he tried to stop, Leo could only laugh as he caught himself.

  The Dash skill was everything he’d hoped it would be. He knew from his research that despite its usefulness, it wasn’t a skill that many gem holders liked to utilize. While it could be used offensively, defensively, and even just to travel the planes faster when exploring, it had a few major caveats. One downside was that it wasn’t quiet, as the skill emitted a sharp whistling sound while in use, just like that of the arrow-hawk diving. But far more importantly, it did nothing to speed up the user’s reaction time or mental processing speed, which meant running into a trap or hurting oneself with the skill was extremely common. Because of that, by those who still dared utilize the skill, it was best used in short, quick bursts. When the user knew exactly where they wanted to end up, or if they needed to move fast for whatever reason.

  Still, even with the associated risks it was a fantastic find, and Leo couldn’t believe his luck. Yes, arrow-hawks were one of the more common aerial magical beasts, but he could have been attacked by a deagle, or a Jonathan Stanson, if he’d been really unlucky.

  Leaning down to pick up his spear shaft, Leo blinked as a drop of blood fell from his head and landed on the whittled branch. It was only then that he remembered he’d nearly had an impromptu haircut not long ago, and he should probably do something about the open wound. And after that…

  He had to worry about dinner.