Outside the cave, Faust roamed through the yellow forest, but not without a path in mind: the beacon was guiding him.

  It was a curious thing. The loss of his eye did not prove to be the grave handicap he had feared. With mana flowing through him, his remaining sight sharpened, and his other senses—hearing, smell, even a certain awareness of the space around him—heightened to compensate. In a way, it was as if his vision had not diminished, but simply changed… improved, even.

  Curious.

  All the while, he attempted to use his mana, trying various “methods” described in books. However, he quickly found they were all a lie—or at least, in his case, they did not seem to work.

  He tried to visualize a spell and cast it by speaking the name. It did not work.

  He then tried simply saying the name again. It did not work.

  Then he tried to manipulate the mana with his mind. Nothing seemed to work.

  After attempting other unorthodox and strange methods, he ran out of ideas and decided to put it aside for the moment.

  Concurrently, he was no longer avoiding the wind wolves. Instead, he actively searched for one along his path. What was the reason for that?

  He was curious and eager to learn his new limits.

  Curiosity was truly curious.

  Unfortunately for Faust, it took a long while to find a foe, but eventually, he found a wind wolf. He could hear and smell it from so far away it was impressive, but he quickly settled down and observed the beast from a distance.

  The wind wolf climbed a tree, using its paws to lock onto the wood, then knocked down a fruit before feasting on it once it fell to the ground.

  I thought wolves were carnivores, but these ones enjoy fruits as well? Or is this one simply an outlier… It makes sense if they are not strictly carnivorous. I can’t see how they would be able to actively find prey otherwise. This forest is either too vast or too empty... probably both.

  Faust observed it for a bit, swallowing his insecurities about fighting and readying himself. Then he grabbed the strange curved blade and took a deep breath.

  Alright…

  In one connected movement, Faust rushed toward the creature, traversing dozens of meters and reaching the white-furred monster in seconds. At the same time, he unleashed a slash aimed at splitting the monster’s head.

  Wind wolves were known for their keen senses. The beast reacted quickly to the danger, leaping back with wind-aided speed. Yet, it was surprised!

  Faust had been too fast. A red line appeared atop the monster’s head, and blood dripped from it. The monster howled in anger as it bared its teeth.

  The creature rushed forward in an attempt to bite his neck, but Faust stepped aside and dodged at the last moment.

  Again, the wolf gave no space to Faust and kept attempting bites and slashes with its sharp claws. Its intensity was completely different from the wind wolf that had played with Faust before.

  It was much rougher, more feral and violent. It was moved by the will to kill; it did not see Faust as a playful target but as a proper enemy.

  For a long while, the monster moved in flashes, leaving white afterimages behind. Even with heightened senses, seeing and dodging the monster was difficult.

  Yet, amidst all the contained chaos of the battle, Faust’s crimson gaze remained locked onto the beast. His face was completely stoic as he analyzed the creature’s patterns and movements.

  Faust made no effort to attack; he wanted to understand the enemy.

  Interesting! I can see it. It’s moving in arc patterns, perhaps trying to surround me even though it’s alone. It also changes direction too suddenly, trying to make me lose track.

  Faust stepped to the side as he dodged another attempt to claw him. “It’s so easy now that I can see you!”

  But that’s enough…

  Faust moved quickly, trying to mimic the wind wolf’s arcing movement patterns against itself. The attempt clearly confused the beast, which refrained from attacking and instead tried to match its human foe.

  Faust’s steps were erratic; it was too hard to mimic a four-legged creature’s movements with only two legs. But in the end, he succeeded to a low degree.

  Once the monster caught up to his speed, they moved side by side across the forest, like two friends having a race.

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  However, Faust misstepped and stumbled, leaving him open to an attack. Seizing the chance, the beast used its momentum to turn around and dash toward Faust’s body.

  Suddenly, the monster’s eyes bulged from its cranium. Blood spurted upward as its lifeless body fell to the ground. Faust had purposely taken a misstep, testing the creature to see if it would take the chance.

  Once it did, his new blade descended vertically and cut through the monster’s head like an axe, killing it instantly.

  It's dead...

  Faust was breathing heavily while he stared at the corpse. Yet, did not feel much exhaustion.

  Instead, he felt a strange sensation coming from his left forearm.

  The sensation grew stronger, then it began to burn. Burn as if hot iron were branding his skin.

  “Gah!” He dropped the blade and gripped his forearm, his face twisting in pain. The simplistic sacrifice sigil on it was glowing with an unusual, faint crimson hue. It was calling for something—Faust could understand it as if it were part of himself.

  It wanted the body, the wolf’s body.

  It demanded it as a sacrifice.

  Quickly, as if his mind were cleared of any thoughts, he moved toward the beast’s corpse and touched it lightly. In the same instant, the mana from the core in his heart moved.

  It traversed through his veins, then through his muscles, and finally through his skin as it reached the sigil. Once the sigil was activated, the lifeless monster reacted.

  Its fur began to slowly melt alongside its muscles and bones, turning into a dark ash that flew directly into the sigil and pierced Faust’s skin.

  Following behind, the monster’s blood did not seep into the earth. Instead, it clotted into a strange mud-like substance that also flew toward Faust and invaded the sacrifice mark. It was not painful—not painful at all.

  Instead, it was rather refreshing, as if he had been thirsty for so long and could finally drink water.

  In only a matter of minutes, the monster’s body had completely disappeared without a trace left behind, as if it had never existed in the first place. Concurrently with the monster’s disappearance, Faust reeled back and fell to the ground, exhaling as questions surged into his mind.

  One stood out more than others, a question to which he felt he already knew the answer deep inside: Why had the sacrifice sigil reacted to this kill? Had he not killed before? The same creature, in fact. But back then, it had stayed dormant. Recently, Faust had ignored the mark and thought of it as a harmless drawing. But now that he thought of it, why had he accepted the mark so easily?

  In any case, what was different now? The answer was one: mana.

  The sacrifice sigil needed mana to be activated—Faust was able to understand that. As he observed the sigil, its pale black turned into a deep, unmistakable color. But then, the color began to fade back to what it was, and as it did, something grew inside him.

  The mana core in his heart—he could feel it stronger and deeper.

  What was that? Have I increased my mana?

  He kept staring at the mark, trying to recompose himself from this sudden event.

  I see… so that’s how it works? It needs mana to be activated, and then… once I touch something with it, I can absorb their… well, something. But what’s that something, then? I gained some mana from this. If I keep killing and using this mark, can’t I grow stronger in a short time? This feels like cheating… but who cares!

  Shallowly understanding his new tool of power, Faust had no intention of not using it.

  So what if he couldn’t understand it completely? He understood enough.

  Kill, absorb, grow stronger… wasn’t growing stronger exactly what he needed to survive?

  …

  Recovering a few minutes later, Faust grabbed the blade from the forest floor and went back to moving toward the beam of light while assimilating his new discoveries.

  Aside from the sigil—which was a surprise—he also had the intended gains. He assessed that his physical prowess had at least doubled with mana, which already put him on the same level as a trained adult guard without mana… or so he hoped. Not only that, but he was now able to understand the wind wolf’s movements, so he could see the intent behind most of its actions: whether it was trying to lure, dodge, or attack.

  In a way, the monster moved as if earthly factors did not affect it. It moved with utmost speed independent of terrain, wind, or any other factor. Initially, he thought that was because of what everyone said: wind wolves move with and like the wind, thus the name.

  However, that was not completely true. In fact, the wolves moved by barely maintaining contact with the ground, thanks to their light weight and fortified muscles.

  Because of that, it could be seen as “gliding,” but it was just a combination of biological factors and efficient movement that allowed these white-furred creatures to maintain their fame.

  If I’m able to mimic them… my speed would also increase so much. But moving without touching the ground is difficult with my weight and body. I have only two legs instead of four, and I’m much heavier than them. But what I did back there was similar, so it’s not impossible. I will find a way… I’m sure of it.

  Faust didn’t remain still for long, quickly resuming his journey toward the beacon. As he walked, he continued to experiment with ideas for using mana, though these new attempts proved just as unsuccessful as the previous ones.

  Over what he estimated to be roughly a week, he did little more than walk. Yet, a few notable things did occur.

  First, he noticed that the pain from not eating or drinking took much longer to appear—a change he associated with his mana-reinforced body. Unconsciously, he found himself eating far fewer fruits, as the need had greatly diminished.

  Second, he used the spare time to ponder how to mimic the wind wolves’ movement.

  Third, he actively searched for wind wolves along his path. He found two, which he dispatched without much difficulty and absorbed his bodies, increasing his mana by a small amount.

  But then a question surfaced in his mind: were there really no creatures other than wind wolves? If so, what had caused the carcasses he’d found earlier? It seemed unlikely a human could have done that.

  Not only that, but along his path he found more carcasses. Some were half-eaten, others reduced to little more than scattered remains—and not just wolves, but humans as well. He was no coroner; determining the exact cause of death was difficult, but he felt reasonably sure dismemberment was involved.

  In any case, Faust’s interest in the dead was limited to what they might carry, and these bodies held nothing of value. So he mostly ignored them and kept walking. He also confirmed he was unable to use the sigil on bodies he had not killed or on alive creatures, which he tested earlier with a wolf he incapacitated.

  During his trek, Faust found other caves. They held no items, magical creatures, or interesting objects—they were just empty caves.

  What a letdown…

  Soon, Faust began to suspect he was caught in another loop-like situation, but this time in a forest.

  Was this place toying with him... again?

  However, between walking and killing a couple more wind wolves, the scenery began to change.