Ian was victorious. Killing the lynx took a lot of effort, leaving him feeling drained. He fell to the ground, sitting down as he caught his breath.

  The intense sounds of them fighting had come to an end, leaving the growing night quiet. Every nearby entity was silent, waiting for something to happen, but nothing did.

  While he rested, Ian looked at the lifeless body of the lynx. He was happy to have killed it, but he wasn’t satisfied yet.

  Once he regained his strength, Ian stood up to collect the body. He placed the head under one arm and dragged the body along with his other hand. As he dragged the body along, he left a trail of blood.

  When he finally returned to his area, Ian placed down the body before placing the head of the lynx on a branch. It was a sign for everything in the forest to stay away.

  By now, his fire had gone out, so he gathered more wood to set it up again. As the fire slowly came to life, Ian began to skin the body of the lynx. After removing the pelt of the lynx, Ian hung it up to prepare for tanning later.

  In the meantime, he began to gut the lynx and clean the meat. Once everything was sorted and cleaned, Ian began to cut up the meat and place them over the fire. He even found a large flat stone to cook the meat differently. He was going to have a feast.

  Most of the meat he cut up was placed on sticks over the fire with no seasoning. This wasn’t a problem, though. He was planning to make a tasty meal.

  While most of the meat was cooking, Ian foraged for herbs and spices throughout the forest. He managed to find a few plants and some mushrooms, but his biggest find was rock salt. On a cliffside, he found a small deposit of rock salt. He used his daggers to dig some out before taking them back.

  Back in his area, Ian cleaned the rock salt and herbs. He then crushed the salt into a more usable form. Afterwards, used the salt and herbs to season the top of the large flat stone he found. Placing it carefully over the edge of the fire, he then placed a thick slab of lynx meat on the flat stone.

  The meat sizzled lightly as it made contact with the hot flat stone. As it cooked, the fat of the meat slowly melted off, mixing with the seasoning underneath. The mixture of the fat and the seasoning created a delectable aroma. This mixture would slowly get absorbed back into the meat every time Ian flipped it.

  Just like before, the smell of the meat attracted the attention of many creatures, but none dared get close. The sight of the lynx’s head hanging off the tree deterred them all. Even a small white fox with a red band didn’t want to get close.

  As the slab of meat cooked on the flat stone, Ian began to snack on the other pieces of meat while also cleaning the pelt. He was going to tan it so he could keep it and turn it into something wearable.

  The process of tanning a pelt took time to accomplish without the proper tools, but he would manage. By the time he finished cleaning the pelt, the slab of meat was done cooking.

  He used one of his daggers to slice into the meat. It was a perfect medium-well. He cut off a piece, sticking it in his mouth. Instantly, he was overjoyed by the taste. The meat was tender and juicy. The herbs mixed with the fat only enhanced the flavor. Ian was now satisfied.

  Once he finished his food, Ian prepared the rest of the meat to turn it into jerky. There were still loads of meat left, so he wouldn’t need to hunt for food for a while. Even so, there was too much for him to eat, and he didn’t want to let it go to waste.

  Carefully, he cut the meat into thin slices. Afterwards, he would marinate the slices in a mixture of salt, herbs, and leftover meat juice from cooking. Once the meat was thoroughly marinated, Ian placed them high above the fire to dry and get a smoky flavoring.

  With nothing else to do, Ian climbed up his tree, setting up his shelter once more before getting comfortable. It was late into the night when Ian decided to sleep.

  He was badly hurt and tired from fighting the lynx. He needed to rest in order to recover his strength.

  The night passed without any interruptions. Ian slept peacefully, undisturbed by anything. Even after the night passed, Ian did not wake up. The exhaustion he felt made him sleep longer than expected.

  Soon, the afternoon came and went. The sun was now starting to head downwards to the horizon when Ian finally woke up.

  Ian felt sore but mostly refreshed. His body was still bruised, but that didn’t matter to him. It was the third day of the final exam. He had a lot planned for that day. Mainly hunting for more points. But there were three main targets he was after.

  Though he didn’t get to eat enough of the creatures he killed, he knew he had gained the points from eating the ones he did. He even gained points from the lynx, increasing his strength.

  Unlike every other student, Ian was a copper rank. This meant he would still get points from eating copper rank creatures. However, silver-ranked creatures increased his strength by more points. This was the one advantage he had over everyone.

  Ian wants to hunt more copper rank creatures, not only to increase his test score, but also to increase his power score. He was going to spend the next few hours hunting and eating any green and yellow band creatures he would kill.

  Thankfully, creatures of that level were easy for Ian to find during the day. Because of his expertise in hunting in the forest, he had little difficulty killing a few copper-ranked creatures.

  Many of them were small, with only a few being bigger than he wanted. He only kept the creatures around the size of a squirrel and gave the rest to students he encountered looking for food.

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  By the end of his two-hour-long hunt, Ian had captured 12 small copper-ranked creatures. Most of them had green bands, while only two of them had yellow bands.

  Even though the creatures were small, it was still a lot of food for Ian to eat. But if Ian hoped to kill another red band creature, he needed to increase his strength.

  He spent the next hour cooking the creatures he caught. He didn’t plan on cooking them properly. He only wanted to make them edible so he could get the power points.

  Of the 12 creatures he ate, Ian gained points from only 11 of them. The last creature still had some meat left on it, but he was too full to eat any more. The bland taste didn’t help his situation.

  With his stomach full and his power increased, Ian ventured out in search of one of the three other red band creatures. His main target, though, was the snow fox. He knew the general area to search in, but he had no idea where it was hidden.

  As he ventured into the northeastern part of the forest, Ian felt a subtle change in temperature and wind flow. By now, he was fairly deep into this section of the forest. He knew he must be getting close to his target. He also knew he had to be careful.

  Slowly, he traveled in the direction of the cold air. It wouldn’t take long for him to reach a small clearing in the woods. Beyond the clearing, He spotted a small cave on the side of a hill. Inside, curled up in a ball, was the sleeping snow fox. As it slept, a bit of frosty air came out of its nose with each exhale, making the air around it cold.

  Ian was happy to have found the snow fox in such a short amount of time. However, now was not the time for excitement. He needed a plan.

  There were no other creatures near. He wasn’t sure if it was because of the snow fox’s presence or because of something else. Ian thought it must be a similar situation to the lynx, where the snow fox had a barrier to protect itself.

  Having few options, Ian decided to take a risk. He pulled out a dagger and aimed it towards the snow fox. Using all his strength, he launched it in a straight line. He expected it to bounce off a barrier, but in the next second, he was surprised. The dagger had hit its mark, burying itself in the snow fox’s side.

  The fox yelped in pain as it woke up in a hurry. It began blowing out a continuous stream of snow from its mouth, looking for its attacker.

  The inside and the surrounding area of the cave were soon covered in a layer of ice and snow. Ian even started to feel the temperature drop from the cold stream. The area closest to the fox was colored red from its blood.

  Ian stayed hidden, waiting for the fox to tire out and weaken. He knew it couldn’t attack aimlessly forever. It was only a matter of time before he could strike again.

  After nearly a minute, the fox stopped attacking. It fell to the snow-covered ground, shivering in pain. Since the dagger was buried in its side, it wasn’t bleeding a lot. Even so, the pain was unbearable.

  Seeing the fox collapse to the ground, Ian took it as an opportunity to strike. With his other dagger in hand, he bolted towards the cave.

  Even though it was in pain, the fox saw Ian approach fast. It opened its mouth to release another burst of ice and snow.

  Ian was quick to react. He used his dagger to block the continuous stream of ice and snow. Even in his weakened state, he was still able to protect himself. However, he wasn’t entirely safe.

  Slowly, a thin layer of ice started to form on his blade. The ice crawled from the blade to Ian’s hand. Though he was blocking the main force of the fox’s attack, it was still starting to affect him.

  Ice started to form across his body. He could feel his body getting cold. He now understood why the fox was given a red band. Though it looked small and frail, its ice attacks were powerful. Ian didn’t know how much longer he could endure the ice stream for.

  However, due to a dagger being in its side and the pain it felt, the fox could not keep up the attack as long as it could before. It eventually stopped as it curled up in pain.

  Once the fox’s attack ended, Ian was nearly covered in a thin layer of frost. He was shivering, able to see his breath in front of himself. The cold made it difficult for Ian to move. Without proper clothing, he could barely withstand the icy atmosphere.

  The snow fox was right in front of him, unable to move from the pain it felt. And yet, Ian also couldn’t move. His body was using most of his energy to keep itself warm.

  This miscalculation annoyed Ian. He tried hard to move, managing to slowly inch forward. Even so, he was too slow to do anything.

  With this unfortunate circumstance, Ian had only one option. He was going to let gravity do the work for him.

  Moving ever so slowly, Ian positioned himself so he would tip over with his dagger aimed at the fox’s neck. However, he was off by a few inches and drove the blade into the fox’s head.

  With the fox dead, Ian used all of his energy to keep himself warm. Sadly, it wasn’t enough. The cold was becoming too much for him.

  In a moment of desperation, Ian decided to do something insane. He began to remove one of his gauntlets, hoping the increase in energy would help. The problem, though, was that he had never tried using one gauntlet at a time. He always used both of them together or not at all. This was something completely new for him.

  Slowly, he removed one gauntlet, dropping it on the ground, before trying to use his power. In an instant, Ian felt a drastic increase in strength. The sudden increase in power was able to warm him up enough to move. But his body started to ache. Thankfully, it wasn’t as unbearable as it would be without the gauntlets. Even so, he didn’t think he could stand the pain for an extended period.

  Knowing that, Ian didn’t waste any time. He grabbed the dead fox and his other gauntlet before making a run for it. He knew he needed to get away from the cold as fast as possible.

  After getting far enough, Ian dropped to the ground in pain, both from the cold and the increase in power. He quickly put on his other gauntlet, feeling his body return to normal. He decided to rest on the ground for a while before heading back to his area.

  For an hour, Ian did not move. He rested on the dirt, waiting for his body to return to normal.

  By now, the sun had started to set on the horizon. Night was approaching quickly.

  Once again in a weakened state, Ian stood up to pick up the fox’s lifeless body. Both of Ian’s daggers were still buried in it. He pulled out the daggers, putting them away, before walking back to his campsite.

  Ian didn’t want to use any strength for the time being. His body felt heavy. Each step made his body ache. This pain was reminding him of when he first started doing the training Erik made him do.

  After walking for nearly an hour, he finally reached his campsite. The fire was no more than a pile of ash and embers. Night was in full swing.

  Regardless of how tired he felt, Ian knew he couldn’t sleep yet. He restarted his fire, illuminating the night. His stomach growled, begging for food.

  For as much as he wanted to cook the fox, he was too tired to do so. He just pulled out some jerky and began to eat it.

  Beyond the shadows of the trees, creatures once again showed up in his area. The head of the lynx still deterred them, but now, seeing the body of the snow fox, they all stepped further away.

  Ian was in no condition to fight so many creatures, even though he knew they wouldn’t get close. He looked into the darkness, hearing the creatures move around.

  He grabbed the body of the fox, looking at it carefully. He removed the red band from its arm before begrudgingly throwing the corpse into the darkness.

  Immediately, the sounds of animals eating and flesh ripping filled the air. Ian watched the shadows move over each other to get a piece. As he watched, he said, “Now don’t come close. Let me rest.”

  As if understanding him, the creatures looked at him before walking away, taking the remains of the snow fox.

  With no more danger near, Ian leaned against his tree and closed his eyes to sleep for the night.