by William Hill
Fortunately, Artemis was back into the air, diving down on one of the scaled wolves which saw the threat coming at it.
Jason saw this, forcing the attacked scaled wolf to a difficult decision as he used his last remaining mana to charge at it.
Now attacked by two threats at the same time it was overwhelmed and halted its charge, betraying the last comrade it had because it wasn´t sure what to do.
Unfortunately, the scaled wolf's instincts told it that it should run away, instead of charging at the duo in front of it.
The betrayed scaled wolf didn´t know what happened but he saw the youth charging at its friend as it tried to help.
However, it could only see the youth changing its course with a big stride towards the side.
Artemis also stopped her attack after she saw the wolf halting its charge while Jason changed his course, turning his dagger downwards in order to stab into the wolf's side twisting it while continuing his run.
The wolf didn't expect Jason´s speed to increase so much more and it was unaware of its injury as the legs gave in while liquid ran down its whole site.
Its eyes became heavier with each moment passing and after enduring some pain it gave in to the slumber that awaited the wolf.
Jason was exhausted as he hadn't thought that he had to use all his mana in such a short time but his speed did not decrease as the halted wolf saw its last comrade die because of its fault.
Enraged the scaled wolf attacked Jason only to end in the same situation as before.
Artemis attacked the scaled wolf from above while Jason charged at it from the front.
Thinking that Jason was the bigger threat it charged at Jason who rolled to the side while the enhanced talons of Artemis caused red stripes along the back of the wolf.
Blood spurted out of the injury and it wouldn't take long until it would lose enough blood to sustain a heavy injury.
The scaled wolf was overwhelmed and didn't exactly know what it should do once again
Being in a desperate situation gives most living beings a boost in strength and the wolf's speed increased slightly as it turned around to pounce at Jason who was still on the bottom about to get up
Artemis was still flying up while the wolves' speed accelerated to its highest possible as it saw a green light shimmer leaving Jason´s hand.
There was nothing it could do as the Jade Iron dagger pierced in the wolf´s skull, killing the scaled wolf instantly.
Jason wasn't really good with dagger throwing but one couldn't say it was difficult to aim at a large beast, five meters apart from one with a certain degree of calmness.
And even if he hadn´t hit the skull, at least its chest would be pierced, slowing it down which would give him enough time to stand up.
Taking a deep breath, Jason felt exhausted as he pulled out the dagger before pulling out the pebble-sized cores.
Storing the beast carcasses away, Jason went inside the dome that was only around 200 meters away from him.
Each time Jason replenished his mana, took less and less time as he was becoming more and more proficiency with the process, which was entirely different compared to him gathering mana inside his eyes.
An hour later his mana was completely refreshed while his exhaustion was blown away.
Wondering about his soul world core he entered the soul world to see that the core already expelled some unstable soul energy.
Jason was now convinced that his soul was the best thing that could ever happen to him after getting back his eyesight.
He calculated that 6 hours were more than enough for the soul energy to get completely expelled and he renewed his schedule slightly.
Chapter 31: Ready to rumble
Almost two weeks passed and only two days were left from his initial 3 weeks in order to kill five five-star wild beats or one awakened beast.
Nothing special occurred during the last two weeks but most importantly was that Jason and Artemis' strength increased quite a lot.
Unexpectedly, Artemis broke her limit and entered the rank of a two-star wild beast, which shocked Jason extremely.
The Mana she digested every day increased her physique, blood, and mana core.
It was only a question of time until this would happen.
He asked himself if Artemis could even evolve as she could even break her limit because of her mutation?
Or was that something every beast could do with enough mana? But then...Why would his eyes tell him something about the potential of beasts?
Was Artemis able to break through her shackles because of her superior digestion ability or because of the high amount of mana?
Jason didn´t know and he couldn´t find an answer because he was also unable to tell what exactly Artemis' potential was.
The mutation Jason thought of was a complex one that involved some sort of gluttony and a stomach that could digest huge amounts of mana.
But how could Jason be sure of that, as he had never heard of such a mutation?
Furthermore, he wasn't even sure if Artemis could eat something else?
She has yet to eat something else other than the cores of wild beasts and mana stones.
Her plumage shimmered more with each day passing and the amount of mana within her blood increased steadily.
Artemis grew slightly in size with a wingspan of more than a meter while her length was around 35 centimeters but most importantly was, that even her talons were strengthened.
She should be able to pierce through the scales of the scaled wolf without enhancing them with mana.
Jason however was still at the 3rd Novice rank while his mastery over the modified Azure feisty Ape technique reached the familiar mastery.
His combat prowess soared and he learned how to use his mana more efficiently.
He was even able to eradicate a small group of three-star wild beasts and lone four-star wild beasts with the help of Artemis.
But that wasn't everything as Jason used the Heaven's Hell technique three times a day instead of one time a day which was pretty nice to increase his soul energy, purify and stabilize it.
Due to the natural breakthrough of Artemis Jason got more shared soul energy, Mana, and his physique increased.
Jason was happy that Artemis grew stronger and his mana core reached the size of a normal 5th Novice rank while his physique reached the 4th Novice rank Standart.
However, the soul energy he needed to keep Artemis by his side or rather inside his soul world increased from the initial 1 unit to 2.
Because of Jason's fast soul energy replenishing and his utilization of the Heaven's Hell technique three times a day, which was painful like nothing else he had ever felt, his soul energy reached almost the required amount of two.
It was still enough to take a hold of Artemis but once she reached the three-star wild beast rank Jason would be in trouble as the soul energy requirement would be around 4.
But there wasn't anything he could do about it.
He should work hard and use the practice the Heaven's Hell technique as often as possible.
With his increased soul energy or rather double amount from one to two, each practice would increase his soul energy double the amount than two weeks before.
And this would only continue on his path.
As long as his soul energy reached four, the Heaven's Hell technique´s efficiency would result in a doubled increase compared to the time he only had a soul energy of 2 and a four times increase to the initial soul energy of one as everything worked exponentially.
Jason discovered something and he would love to try the theory he began to develop but for him to try this he would need quite a bit of soul energy.
Today he would hunt pairs of four-star wild beasts and if he could kill two or three of them without sustaining an injury, he would try assassinating five-star wild beasts.
It was dangerous but what could he do? With enough safety measures and tactics that involved Artemis, he was confident in not dying ag
ainst four-star wild beasts.
There was no way for him to hunt an awakened beast as there was a huge difference in combat strength between wild beasts and awakened beasts.
Once a beast reaches the awakened rank the possibility to awaken an ability appears.
While some beasts don't have a single ability, their physical traits increase a lot once they reach the awakened rank.
If he was completely honest, Jason was extremely horrified to fight five star wild beasts while being at the lower levels of the novice rank.
In the end, he had to face beasts that had at least double his strength and mana,
Jason was confident in his control over mana, martial art proficiency, intelligence, and ability to marginally foretell where he was about to get attacked.
Throughout the morning he looked for a spot with a few trees and bushes around in order to hide and surprise attack some small four-star beast groups.
Suddenly he spotted an almost completely green bison walking around with its head held high.
No beast dared to come too close to it as it grazed without caring about anything at all.
Looking at the beast's mana core, Jason found out something interesting.
The aura around the beast was black which indicated its chances to reach the awakened rank but scanning the mana core, it looked like it was a black horned bison with an elemental mutation as the mana had green-colored traced within.
It was extremely rare to see a wild beast having an elemental ability and the problem with wild beasts having an affinity was simply
Huge amounts of mana had to be used in order to completely integrate the affinity to a wild stage beast´s body..
This caused the physique of these wild beasts to be weaker than their peers.
Looking at the highly likely wind-elemental mutated black horned bison in front of him, Jason estimated that its physical strength should be around a normal three-star wild beast.
Nevertheless having an elemental affinity caused it to be the strongest in its surrounding.
If a normal five-star wild beast were to attack this bison, Jason didn't even have to consider who the winner might be as the bison would probably use its element to shoot shards or blades out, easily killing the normal five-star wild beast.
Having a weaker physique wouldn't matter in this case as it was unnecessary to even use the pyhsique to defeat its enemies.
And with such a mutation, once the bison reached higher ranks the wind affinity would only become stronger while the disadvantage of having a weaker physique would diminishing slowly
Thinking for a while, Jason decided that attacking the mutated bison might be the easiest way to kill a five-star wild beast as its guard was down due to its high confidence.
Jason sent out Artemis to look after the mutated bison while he thought about multiple ways to come close to the bison, without drawing too much attention on himself.
He thought of one solution, however, he didn't like this idea because he had to use Artemis as bait.
Calculating a few things he asked Artemis for her opinion, after which she replied confidently.
Still worried, Artemis reassured him that she would be careful so he couldn't do anything about that anymore.
Chapter 32: Assasination
Standing up within the bush, Jason made himself some space to dash out immediately when both would appear.
Jason could sense Artemis´ astonishment.
Afterward, he felt that she used large amounts of her mana to enhance her wings in order to accelerate her flying speed.
Jason grew worried but he told himself that he had to remain calm as Artemis plumage could be seen from far away.
She was at least 20 meters high in the sky, while below her Jason could see green bison pursuing her on the ground.
The bison was enveloped by a light green mana, roaring enraged.
Shooting out wind-blades towards Artemis, she had to use her utmost efforts to evade them, which was barely possible.
Artemis threw stones at the bison and made fun of it, which made the bison extremely furious.
Following and attacking the flying beast pleased the bison as it was reassured once again that it was the overlord in this area.
It knew that the small beast could only endure the onslaught of wind blades for a few minutes at most before it would be exhausted.
The small wind blades it used didn't take much of its mana because of the bison's mutation, which it instinctively figured out.
Completely without a single thought of protecting itself, the bison stared at the sky, not looking at what happened in front of it as it bypassed a big green bush.
Suddenly the bison felt a painful sting at its ride-side as it grew weaker when its legs couldn't handle the bison's weight anymore before it collapsed.
Turning its head, the bison saw a long red stripe with white bones sticking out of its body, caused by a Jade green dagger that stuck on its hindleg.
The bison's whole side was torn apart, blood and organs spilling out of the huge laceration caused by the dagger.
Crying out in pain once it saw a youth squeezed himself out of the bush, the bison felt enraged.
With its last efforts, it gathered the remaining mana inside it to shoot out a wind blade.
Jason was still completely on-guard against his first opponent with an elemental affinity.
However he was still only barely able to evade the wind blade as the blade´s draft blew away his hair.
Artemis dived down in rage after Jason was attacked, only to pierce into the bison's eyes with its sharp talons.
Immediately afterward, the weight of the white beast vanished once the bison died without taking revenge on any of its attackers.
Jason was astonished that his plan worked out so easily, causing him to sigh in relief.
The only thing that worried him was the fact that the wind blades were faster than he expected while Artemis was almost hit by some of them.
Still, the bison was way too full of itself as it didn't even notice Jason jumping out of the bush, tearing apart the bison´s whole side with his dagger.
Sometimes even a hunter might be hunted, and one should never feel too safe anywhere.
Jason ran to the dead body, only to see Artemis picking out the slightly green incomplete core which he instantly took out of her talons.
The amount of mana inside this core was almost at the awakened rank and he didn't want Artemis to eat this core.
Otherwise who knows how long he had to wait for her to wake up.
There was not much time left, as he had to hunt another four five-star wild beasts.
However, he had to rely on Artemis for that.
Artemis mana replenishing process was relatively fast while she sat on Jason's shoulder.
Jason strived around carefully to look out for some lone five-star wild beasts.
His luck couldn´t be considered good as he walked around until afternoon, even neglecting his Heaven's Hell practice, only to find nothing.... not a single solo five-star wild beast was in his sight.
He saw many larger groups of youth within the mid and a few peak Novice ranks fighting a large group of five-star wild beasts.
Finally! Jason's luck paid off.
Seeing a group of youths overwhelming a pack of five-star greater horned wolves Jason rejoiced.
They split up and an injured wolf-headed his way.
Jason was still approximately 100 meters away from the whole battle.
He was delighted seeing that the youths pursued other wolves while the particular wolf who ran to him was alone.
Deciding to hide behind a tree, he waited for the perfect moment to ambush the wolf.
Seeing the wolf running past the tree, Jason gathered enough mana in order to push his speed to the limit in the shortest amount of time, thrusting out with his dagger, cutting through the unaware wolf's neck.
The whole assassination took less than a second and it was only possible b
ecause the wolf was foolishly running along the bush, not caring about any possible danger.
Not knowing what happened, the wolf collapsed on the ground, with its eyes turning dim in a short amount of time.
Storing the corpse without further delay, Jason vanished from the spot.
Only half a minute later, a few youths found the spot where the greater horned wolf was killed, looking down at the green patch of grass that was stained with fresh blood.
These youths were all at least a year younger than Jason, but they were already at the 8th Novice rank which indicated their strength.
One youth with particular looked at the blood-stained grass patch.
Jason was running far away with a big radiant smile on his face.
Only three out of five beasts had to be hunted down and Jason had still time until two days later, when he had to meet Greg.
He didn't think that he would find a lone five-star wild beast until the evening which was only around two hours away.
But even so, he continued his journey around the wild zone.
Artemis circles around him in the air, looking out for possible targets.
Suddenly, around half an hour later something that both of them didn't expect happened.
Above Artemis, the sky turned dark with a weird sensation approaching her, as she looked above, only to see a huge vulture diving down.
Horrified, Artemis cried out and also dived down with a ninety-degree angle, only to evade the vultures' talons by a hair length.
Noticing Artemis´ feeling horrified, he heard her crying out as he looked above.
There he saw Artemis diving towards him as the vulture pursuid her.
The vulture was heavier and thus way faster with its dive than Artemis and Jason knew that the vulture would catch up to Artemis only a few moments later.
He made up his mind and utilized the only thing he could think of.
Gripping his dagger firmly, Jason pulled his arm back as he aimed with his other hand, following the trajectory with one finger.
Injecting half of his mana into the arm that held the dagger, Jason threw the dagger with a loud shout.