The day went by surprisingly fast.
He finished burning the corpses, spent some time with his mother, and finally went to bed.
At least, that's what the maids and his mother thought. In reality, he dressed in dark clothing and prepared a pair of weapons.
Surprisingly, a Grade 8 Sabertooth Wolf had made its way here. And of course, Lizbeth killed it effortlessly.
It had an orange Mana Core, but most importantly, it had two giant, sharp teeth.
They were the perfect size to be used for daggers. After a brief chat, Lizbeth let him keep them.
He wrapped a few bandages around the two fangs, ensuring a stable grip. Now, he was finally ready to head out.
But not before checking the considerable progress he'd made today.
Basic Fire Manipulation (★☆ — Mastery: 2% → 3%)
Basic Fireball (☆ — Mastery: 8% → 11%)
Basic Stealth Technique (☆ — Mastery: 39% → 51%)
Nonetheless, he walked through the hallways quietly and arrived before the front door.
Just as Lizbeth had said, it wasn't locked. He pushed it open and silently closed it behind him.
Yet once he was outside, the familiar smell of blood greeted him, followed by a distant sound of sword fighting.
He tightened his grip on the Sabertooth Daggers and dashed behind a tree, swiftly making his way toward Lizbeth.
Yet only a few minutes later, he encountered the first hurdle.
—AWOOOOO
There was a single Grade 10 Gray Wolf, and it was howling to its pack.
It's lost, he deduced and lowered his stance.
With limited time to act, he had to move fast.
He moved between trees and bushes, careful not to make a sound. Soon, he was right behind the wolf.
He raised his Sabertooth Daggers and swiftly brought them down on the wolf's spine.
The wolf let out a sharp cry as its blood sprayed onto Raelis's face.
For a single moment, he froze. He had thought that would be enough to kill the wolf.
But even with its spine greatly damaged, it managed to turn around and lunge at him with a hateful glare.
Raelis's brows twitched as he summoned a single stationary fireball below him, then jumped as high into the air as he could.
Since the wolf was in a frenzy, it leaped off the ground after him.
The moment it did, Raelis inhaled, focused, and hurled one of the Sabertooth Daggers with all his strength.
He missed the skull and struck its neck instead, but that was enough to stop its upward momentum.
Raelis brought all of his focus to the fireball he left behind and increased its heat by as much as he could.
With a single thought, he launched the fireball at the wolf.
It had no time to react or dodge in midair, so it could only glare at Raelis as the fireball blasted its head to bits.
Yet the fireball didn't stop there as it continued flying into the sky.
And a few seconds later, the fireball burst like a golden-white firework, lighting up the night sky.
Raelis's eyes widened in alertness as he finally began falling. He grabbed hold of a tree branch to cushion his fall, then searched for his Sabertooth Dagger.
It only took a few seconds to find it, as it was embedded in a tree, and with that, he once again exhaled all the air from his lungs and vanished behind a tree.
His heart was beating out of his chest since that was the first ever life or death fight he had been in.
But instead of focusing on the kill itself, he was more frustrated by the process.
I could've killed it so easily, Raelis recalled in a salty tone. But I messed everything up... I underestimated the wolf, then took a gamble by throwing the dagger...
If he had missed, then the wolf would've caught up and chomped Raelis's body.
And to add insult to injury, he detonated a flare in the sky by accident, which would attract all the Mana Beasts to the area.
I also used about 60% of my mana just to heat up that fireball... Raelis sighed. Yeah... I don't think my first kill could've gone any worse.
He made his way through the forest, and once he was far enough away, he realized he had forgotten something.
The Grade 10 Mana Core... he facepalmed. It sells for a bit of money... but not anymore, I guess. It's too dangerous to go back there.
He circled around to where most of the fighting was, and when he finally arrived, he saw Lizbeth fighting against a single monster.
Once he realized which monster it was, he went behind cover, not daring to approach.
A Grade 7 Obsidian Mole? It has lava-infused claws, and it can easily destroy terrain... It's a very tough Mana Beast that could maybe even fit in the Grade 6 category, Raelis thought warily.
But just as he was about to try his best to support Lizbeth from the side, he finally caught a glimpse of her expression.
She was relaxed, and with each swipe the Obsidian Mole made, she parried and kicked it in the face.
She's toying with it?
It seemed like she had noticed Raelis, as she slightly turned her head and shot him a smirk.
All of a sudden, the air noticeably chilled as a faint cyan glow enveloped her sword.
Then, it seemed as if all sound vanished from the forest, with only Lizbeth's rhythmic breaths filling the air.
Even the monster who had been trying to attack her since earlier froze, its eyes darting around in panic.
That was until it managed to spot Raelis who tried his best to hide. But despite that, the Obsidian Mole sprinted at him.
It appeared in front of him in nearly an instant, and he only had enough time to summon a single fireball, heat it up as much as he could, and send it directly at the Obsidian Mole's face.
But the difference in Grades and power showed, as its Fire Resistance was simply too high, causing his fireball to only leave behind a slight mark.
He had no time to dodge, and yet when he thought it was all over, the Obsidian Mole froze.
Raelis glanced at it in disbelief.
That was when its body suddenly split in two. Yet no blood spilled as icicles began to form, covering its entire body, until eventually, the Obsidian Mole turned into an ice sculpture.
But then, Raelis felt a chill run down his spine, and when he turned around, he saw the entire area behind him coated in ice, with hundreds of Mana Beasts frozen in motion, each one turned into an ice sculpture.
A pair of footsteps made him snap out of it as he turned his gaze over to Lizbeth, who wore a victorious smirk.
"The night is still young, Raelis," she said as she passed him.
She stopped and looked over her shoulder with a puzzled expression.
"What are you standing there for? We've got more Mana Beasts to kill."