Maximilian glanced at the darkness around him and decided to change his plan. His makeshift defense was great for deterring attacks, but it made him a target. He might as well have lit a bonfire and carried it around with him. Since that cat was already out of the bag he decided to fully unveil himself. His aura and killing intent billowed out like a dog that had slipped its leash. An area of over fifty feet in all direction was baptized in his struggle. The Dao of Static was still the most prominent but the dao of rain was there as well. Electricity arced while water droplet fell to the ground. He wondered what other people would think if they saw this. What his family would think. He knew he wasn't the same person as before. He was stronger, faster and possibly smarter. Hell his appearance had transformed to the point he could've been the model for a Greek god. Yet, it was the killing intent that bothered him the most. Every kill added to it like an invisible chain that reached down into an abyss. Monsters, beasts and whatever else had been the target for now but how long until he had to fight people? How long until he could kill them with the same ease as these creatures?

  He was pulled from his musing by another set of dogs. This time there was only three of them. He was once again impressed by their agility. They contorted their bodies to avoid his electric darts. Unfortunately for them they were forced into a path that he had left open on purpose. No sooner had the three hounds appeared had they been bombard with electricity. Two died as soon as they were hit while the third just managed to survive. Maximilian's hand shot out, imbued with the dao of rain to stop it from fading into the darkness. A process that had slowed in the midst of his light. "Can you understand me?" He asked as he lifted the snapping the hound into the air. When it tried to bite his face off he gave up on communicating with it. His communication skill still worked so he assumed it wasn't a language barrier. His heart felt a little less heavy as he finished the thing off.

  He had tried diplomacy. Which was all that anyone could ask of him. Kill energy surged into his dantian and the matter was pushed to the back of his mind. He wasn't sure what he was expecting to find the creatures havens. Dogs weren't known for building houses in the forest as far as he knew. It was possible that the darkness itself was their homes which would make his fight all the more difficult. He replaced his darts and repaired the "flaw" in his defenses. He didn't need it to kill the beasts now that he had a handle on their speed but it was a good test to see how smart they were. Part of him wished he could domesticate the things. If he could get an army of shadow dogs on his side than his strength would go up by an order of magnitude. He faltered a step as an idea slowly formed. He was making a mistake. Not in killing the beasts. He had to do that for the quest but he could leave some alive. They would act as a buffer between his settlement and the outside world. He doubted he would get invaded anytime soon but who knew what tomorrow would bring. It could make bringing new people here later more difficult though. He went back and forth on the idea until a new group of hounds unleashed their attacks.

  After almost two hours of walking Maximilian had gone from curious to irritated. He wasn't sure if the boss dog was avoiding him or if it was that far away. He had already fought off several packs and now that he could bait them in they weren't a problem. If anything they were weaker than the boars. They could afford to take a hit to hit him but the dogs couldn't. They weren't afraid per say but they were ambush predators. Once they lost the element of surprise they weren't hard to fight off. They did provide an opportunity to learn more about what he could do. He wanted to experiment using his killing intent as a weapon. His results were mixed. Using it the way he had been was simple enough. Just withdraw and then release it. Doing that more than once or twice had diminished returns. The beast would get used to what you were doing and wouldn't be afraid anymore. Or to be more accurate would get used to the fear. He figured that method would work fine on people. Assuming he got the timing right. Outside of that though he couldn't find any other use for it.

  If the dwarves hadn't taken the time to warn them about their auras and killing intent hurting people he would've accepted that and moved on. Now though it was like a persistent voice in the back of his head. One that was convinced he would gain another weapon if he could master it. Once again his lack of resources limited him. It felt like he had to reinvent the wheel when there should be people out there that could teach him. It was beyond frustrating. That being said he was confident that he was making progress. He felt like his aura and killing intent was easier to control. He could release and reseal it almost as easily as breathing. Despite that he wasn't confident in relying on it in a real fight. Which brought him to his current situation. In front of him was a dog that would've given the mythical Cerberus a run for its money. The dog was as big as a truck. It was more "Real" for lack of a better word than the other dogs. Its shape felt more solid but that didn't mean it would be any slower. If anything, his gut told him this guy would be two to three times faster which made put the two of them into a stalemate. Maximilian had closed his weaknesses and surrounded himself with so many darts that he had lost count.

  Yet, the beast had neither attacked nor had it tried to run. "Are you able to understand me?" He doubted he would get an answer but he wanted to give it the chance to back down. The chance to survive. When it lowered his head as if to pounce on him he steeled his resolve. He wouldn't win against this thing in battle of speed. He wasn't even confident in a battle of strength. Not unless he wanted to gamble his life. Instead, he activated Prismatic Barrier. The appearance of the rainbow colored shield triggered something in the dog. It disappeared. Before he could react the dog had reappeared behind him and slammed a paw into his barrier. A lattice work of cracks spread across it as the skill drained almost ten percent of spiritual energy. Maximilian spun as panic surged in the pit of his stomach. By the time he could see what was behind him the dog had moved again. Another hit and his shield began to crack. Maximilian doubled the output of energy into his skill as he tried to process what was happening. The creature's speed was insane but that wasn't the worst part. His instincts, his danger sense wasn't warning him. "Ambush hunters." He gasped and formed another half dozen darts of electricity. He wasn't fast enough to hit the creature, so he made it a mine field.

  Maximilian became the center of a maelstrom of attacks. His heart raced as he fought to stay calm. The dog wasn't strong enough to break through, but he was burning through mental energy at an alarming rate. He considered activating Severing Disc or Static Bolt but they were too slow. He considered an exchange where he took a hit to give one but discarded it almost as fast. There was a delay between skill activation. He would have to kill the dog at the first hit or he was put on the back foot. The shield on his robes wouldn't stand a chance against these attacks. The best way to survive was to do nothing. There was no way the hound could take his dao this many times without punishment. It was a war of attrition—He paused at that and shook his head. That wasn't true. He released his aura pushing both the Dao of Static and Rain as far out from himself as possible. The beast crashed into his dao like a bull in a China shop. It wasn't enough to stop it but it was enough to slow it down. Time slowed to crawl as the hound began to disappear. Maximilian unleashed a barrage of pressurized water and electricity right before it disappeared.

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  He wished that had been enough to deal with the creature, but it wasn't. Nor was it enough to change the speed of the battle. Yet, it represented the end of the battle. Maximilian withdrew his aura inside himself and waited. The hound attacked. It was brief, but he saw the creature's muscles spasm in response to the electricity which should mean he had hurt it. At least a little. He wasn't sure if the creatures he had to hunt were in the same situation he was. Where they weren't allowed to run but he doubted it would. This was its domain and he was the invader. Sure, enough their stalemate was broken nearly ten minutes later. The creature crashed into his barrier and then froze. It let out an agonized cry a second before Severing Disc removed its head. Maximilian waited another few minutes just to be certain that it wasn't a trick Or that the creature couldn't heal itself. When he got the kill energy he released his barrier. He had lost almost sixty percent of his spiritual energy in the exchange so he wouldn't be leveling for a bit. Despite that he was pleased with the result. He was stronger than the beasts which made him feel like he was bullying the weak but that wasn't true. His skills were just better for this fight.

  He grinned at himself and looked up at the sky. "You would probably scold me for being too confident if you were here." He said part of him hoping that his father would hear him. While the reasonable part of him knew he couldn't. There had to be ways to communicate across a planet in this new world but he couldn't do it. He let himself stew in his thoughts for another few minutes before he collected the beast's teeth and set off. He had defeated two of the beasts which meant he was half done. His gut told him the other two wouldn't be so easy. With his aura and killing intent dealt the journey back was simple. He could feel eyes on him as he walked but since none of the remaining dogs decided to attack he left them alone. The quest didn't require him to slaughter and he had no interest in it. He walked until he was out of the forest and back into the mountain before he decided to break. He reached into his bag and pulled out the meat he had. The meat could charitably be considered food. It was stuff he had scorched with a man made fire a few days ago. He still wasn't sure if it was safe but he figured between his cooking attempt and the strength of his body that he would be alright. If not then he would have to return and try to buy healing stuff.

  He spent an hour resting before he set out deeper into the mountain. He passed through the boar's domain and then went deeper. He spent another hour walking before he found what he was looking for. An area with increased spiritual energy density. As soon as he entered he realized he might have a problem. The air was hot. He groaned as he stepped into a cavern with dirt that was closer to an oven than anything he had expected. "Please tell me I didn't choose to settle on a volcano. He quickly realized his assumption was wrong. He wasn't sure if the truth was better or worse than he thought. The creatures were fire lizards. They looked a bit like salamanders made out of thick stone like scales that encased a fleshier hot interior. The things looked hot enough to melt stone which was the issue. There was no way he could risk a physical fight with them. He trusted his body but punching an oven seemed stupid regardless of his personal power. He decided to sit and watch the salamanders to get an idea of how they'd move and maybe how they would fight.

  After an hour he had formed a basic plan attack. They were the middle ground between the boars and the dogs. Not as fast as the latter nor as durable as the former. He also learned that his previous strategy wouldn't work. The fire or rather molten rock that they used didn't disappear. He wasn't sure if something made from spiritual energy would work differently but he decided to go with the worse case scenario. If he stayed still he would die. He just didn't know if the shield would drain him first or if it would break and then he would burn to death. Either way the result would be the same. That being said he should be able to fight them like he did the boars. The big issue there was that they could move in three dimensions when he couldn't. At least not as well. He also had a water based Dao which would either be a boon or bane depending on how things functioned. Either way the only way to know for sure was to dive in. He mapped out an escape path just in case things went poorly and then began his attack. He formed a dozen darts of electricity. He tried to do the same with the dao of rain but got mixed results. He decided to go with the pressurized jets of water instead.

  His attacks crashed down on a trio of salamanders with the fury of a weather god. Two of the salamanders died at first contact while the third just managed to survive. Before the dust had cleared Maximilian swore as he was dealt with the bad possibility. As soon as his water hit the fire it created steam. It wasn't enough to bother him yet but if he kept going like this he'd lose visibility. He unleashed a barrage of electricity and then launched from his hiding place to a ledge ten feet further inside. The salamanders released a sound that felt like nails on a chalkboard. Five of them rushed him from five different directions. He activated Severing Disc and two buzz saw blades formed. Each one taking on a different target. The first one was too slow to react lost its head. The second opened its mouth and bit down on the blade. It wasn't strong enough to shatter the skill. Instead, it changed what would've been a fatal blow into a lethal one. He was forced to leap away as the other three salamanders arrived. The slammed his fingers into and through the stone to stop himself from falling. He formed a minefield of electric darts as the salamanders pressed their attack. He wasn't sure how they were coordinating but every time he tried to make them crash into each other they dodged.

  He formed and fired two more sets of Severing Disc. He eliminated the remaining lizards only for another half dozen to surge toward him from a side cavern. He formed another minefield of electricity and started mental calculation. Severing Disc was strong enough to cut through even the most armored parts of their bodies. Which meant he would exchange one life for one disc if he used the least amount of energy. He leaped out of the way of another attack. As another three salamanders joined the battle. He glanced toward the other caverns and blanched. He had a bad feeling that he had trapped himself. He doubted they knew he would be here but they reacted too fast. He was too slow to avoid another series of attacks. With one salamander managing to bite his right arm. He screamed in agony and released his killing intent. He flipped through the air only to find himself surrounded as soon as he landed.

  He activated Prismatic Barrier to buy himself some breathing room. The rainbow shield formed before the salamanders began a new assault. Sure, enough the skill began to burn through energy as molten rock was poured on it. He would have to regroup. He pushed Severing Disc to its largest. The twin blades increased in size until they were nearly as big as he was. He was about to end his defensive skill when his instincts screamed of danger. His confusion lasted for less than a moment before a beast that looked like an apocalyptic alligators crashed into the room. The creature was the size of a small house and was covered in obsidian like scales. Scales that seemed like they could survive a missile strike. He abandoned any thought of fighting all of them. It would be a small miracle if he was able to get out of here alive.