Chapter 16 – Progress

Five days passed quickly. During this period, Kieran had changed form thousands of times until he mastered the transformation into a lycan. He could now take the same form he had in his dream, but compared to him in his dream, he couldn't move like he did or manipulate the crystal essence as well.

The lycan in his dream could fill his claws with so much crystal essence that it turned blue, but outside of his dream, he could barely improve their sharpness with his crystal essence.

He knew he was far from having acquired the same control as in his dream. After all, he had only spent five days training to take this form.

"My two crystal trees now have over 30 crystal essence points each in the refinement rate. With both, my crystal essence have reached 62 points. If I use my lycan form in addition, I may be able to face a crystal beast at the late stage of the Iron rank as long as the fight doesn't last long, but if I encounter another Bronze rank crystal beast like the goblin, I couldn't do anything against it."

"I need to reach the same level of crystal essence control that the lycan in my dream has if I want to face a Bronze rank with my current strength."

He inspected his body. All the wounds he had suffered while facing the goblin were now healed, he sent a message to Darvell to find them at the exit of the refuge.

After joining them, the four of them set out to hunt.

"How did you manage to injure yourself to the point of having to stay locked up in the refuge for five days?" Catherine asked.

"I was chased by a goblin."

"You got chased by a goblin?" Catherine asked in a surprised tone.

"Ahah, I know you're a newbie, but still getting chased by a goblin. You should be more careful, he couldn't have ambushed you."

Darvell couldn't hold back his laughter, for him Kieran could only have been hurt by a goblin if he hadn't been vigilant enough.

Kieran looked at Darvell, he felt an urge to beat him rising inside of him.

"It's weird. You're careful every time you hunt with us. How could a simple goblin hurt you so much?" Landen asked.

"If he were a simple goblin, he wouldn't have hurt me so much."

He started telling them what had happened with the Bronze rank goblin.

"Being able to survive against a Bronze rank beast, you're lucky someone came to help you."

As the four continued to chat, they found a Xunarian walking alone, Darvell stopped everyone by raising his hand.

Catherine and Landen begin preparing their arrows when Kieran stops them.

"Wait, let me try alone."

Darvell frowned, but seeing Kieran so serious, he stopped, looking him in the eye.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Okay we'll watch you, but we'll still share the body, either that or you pay at the bar tonight, and I'll make it cost you even more," Darvell said with a big smile.

"No problem."

Kieran smiled mysteriously. Seeing him so confident made Darvell doubt himself. They had hunted Xunarians together before, he knew that the Xunarians were not a very powerful crystal beast, and most of their race were only at the early stage of the Iron rank. Kieran could kill a Xunarian alone, but they would go much faster as a team. He didn't understand why he would want to go alone. Without saying another word, he watched every move he made.

Kieran stretched his body before lowering himself slightly, his crystal essence flowing rapidly through his body into his feet. Two 3-meter-tall illusory crystal trees appeared above him. His body changed in an instant, taking the form of a lycan. The next instant, all the team could see was a black blur traveling from tree to tree closer to the Xunarian.

Kieran had an inexplicable feeling, it was his first time using his lycan transformation in battle, but he felt no pressure, only a familiar feeling like he had done that his whole life was invading his body. He was leaning on every tree like he had done it a million times before.

In a split second, he appeared in front of the Xunarian. Before he could even react to his appearance in front of him, a pair of claws tore his head.

Kieran landed behind the Xunarian before the Xunarian’s lifeless body can fell to the ground. Instead of his head, there was only one bloody mess left.

"Ho... How did he do that?!" shouted Landen

Strangely the only one of the three who could react was the one who rarely spoke. Darvell and Catherine were speechless. They had been hunting with Kieran for over a week, and now only five days had passed since they last saw him.

"Can a person really progress that much in just five days?" Catherine whispered to herself.

Seeing him approaching them, Darvell was finally able to open his mouth.

"Damn, that was amazing! How did you do that?!"

"Partly thanks to you. You’re the one who told me to learn to use my abilities differently."

Darvell was stunned, he had indeed told Kieran to use his abilities in a different way, but he hadn't expected such a result.

"You're right it's that senior who is amazing!" Darvell was bragging as if Kieran's achievement was his own.

"What senior? You only said a few words," said Catherine.

"You don't understand. That's how a senior is supposed to be! Helping young people in the shadows without forcing their vision on them!"

"Playing grandmaster now... You'll see."

Catherine used her ability to form a whip before starting to hunt after Darvell.

While Kieran watched them bicker with a calm appearance, inside, he was just as shocked as them by this newfound strength.

Looking at his claws, he clenched them in a fist.

'I can successfully use it in combat! Even though I briefly lost control and let the illusion of my crystal trees appear, I just need a little more practice before I can fix that.'

The four continued to hunt, Kieran's lycan form greatly aided the team. His quick movements and the strength behind each attack made him a powerful fighter.

He spent the next two days hunting with them. Finally, it was his 15th day across the rift.

Kieran was meeting with his team in the morning to say goodbye.

"Are you leaving today, Kieran?" asked Darvell.

"My parents are waiting for me at home. If I stay another day, they might think something happened to me, but I'll be back hunting with you in a few days, Darvell."

"It's nice that you want to come back hunting with us, but we've already discussed it. We don't want to hunt with you anymore. We've only followed you for the past two days and helped you carry the bodies. If you stay with us, we will only hold you back. You clearly want to progress through the ranks compared to us, who are only looking for a way to make money.

Kieran looked at the three in front of him, he didn't know exactly how he should feel, he had been able to learn a lot thanks to them, and he was greatly grateful to them. He wanted to repay them for what they had done for him, but they had already thought about that, refusing to go back hunting with him.

*sigh*

"Okay. At least let me buy you a drink."

A big smile appeared on Darvell's face.

"That's an offer I can't refuse!"

Kieran spent part of that day with them before crossing the rift back to Ozryn.