The next day.

 

Saiph was walking in the forest carrying supplies from the steward’s camp. He did not carry the tents with him, since if he does not reach Lopal village before today he would probably not survive anyway. At least that is what Khaila told him.

 

While walking, Saiph has been trying to follow the instincts gained from his right arm and guide his body movement. This is a training method he found that can easily improve his body’s proficiency.

 

Taking out the bottle of the rank 3 beast scent that Khaila gave him, he has not opened it yet, at this point in Khaila’s plan, he should have already used it.

 

Khaila wanted him to open it when he gets to the swamp area, as that area has a lot of animals and creatures that would make it hard for him to survive going through it.

 

Khaila said that this would be his best bet to survive this forest.

 

In the swampy area, the higher rank creatures usually live inside the depth of the swamp which means that Saiph only needs to worry about low ranking beasts, since he will move in the outskirts and avoid the deeper areas. So, the scent should stave off the lower ranking creatures and allow him to pass smoothly, or at least that’s the gamble.

 

Encountering higher ranking creatures that come from other areas is not likely, since if they cause too many ranks 1 or 2 to be killed, it would bring out a lot more creatures from the depths of the swamp to attack them. It seems the swamp creatures have created a basic coalition to join forces against outsiders. But this issue should not affect him since he’s not planning on killing any of the swamp creatures.

 

What Khaila was worried about though was the issue of how long the scent can last. If he applied it early in the journey then there is no way that the scent can last long enough for him to go past the swamp.

 

Therefore, Khaila told him that it was unlikely for him to survive, in fact, the journey is so dangerous that even Yellowrocks village’s steward team did not dare to go to Lopal town on their own. The normal way for going to Lopal town is through the Azfar family, but that is not a choice for Saiph.

 

The reason this was Khaila's chosen route was that, for one, this was the shortest path, and two, the area before the swamp was the stewards hunting area, there were not many ranks 2 or higher. They also had made maps of the area, maps that can be read by illiterates like Saiph. So he is able to avoid dangerous areas by following the map

 

The final reason was that rogue Mygan users and bodybuilders go to the swamp to get materials from now and then. So, he may be rescued once the scent runs out by these people, but there was not much hope considering the general mindset of rogue Mygan users.

 

But Saiph wanted to survive, so he was taking an extra chance. He planned on not using the scent until he reaches near the swamp, in order to increase the duration of the scent lasting in the swamp.

 

Therefore, he was trying his best to be careful when going through the woods area. His thinking was that, if he meets rank 1 creatures, he believes he should be able to handle them. If, on the other hand, he meets a rank 3 creature… well he had no hope of beating it either way.

 

The only issue of this strategy is that if he encounters a rank 2 beast, then his life would be over. But he had a small hope that his overtaxed muscles might give him a chance to fight or if he can escape.

 

While Saiph was having these thoughts go through his mind, he heard a twig snap nearby, which made him turn around to see what caused the sound to occur.

 

To his shocked eyes, it was a pack of wolves, horned wolves to be exact. Saiph immediately moved to pull his sword that he got from the camp.

 

The wolves on the other hand were beginning to slowly encircle him.

 

Saiph was worried that these wolves were rank 2. Khaila told him that the stewards have trained their senses to recognize the rank of a creature or Mygan. It was why the two stewards, Lizard and Bear, were able to recognize he had a rank 2 Mygan.

 

Saiph had no time to train his senses or the points in Hope to invest in them, so he had no idea. His only guess is that the wolves if they are rank 2, would not need to gang upon him.

 

This may mean that they are rank 1, and if that is true, Saiph now believes that his improved proficiency body will be able to put up a good fight.

 

Preparing himself to swing his sword at a moment notice, Saiph tried to slowly move back in order not to be surrounded by the wolves.

 

He did not try to pre-program his right arm like he found out earlier. He could have pre-programmed moves like sword swinging which may be useful, but he did not know how the situation would evolve so he decided against it.

 

But it seems that if he let the wolves surround him and attack him from all angles, then he would have a hard time surviving from the attack.

 

He decided to attack the nearest horned wolf to his side that is trying to get behind him.

 

His right arm and the rest of his body all expanded by a small but visible amount, and then he bolted towards the nearby wolf.

 

The wolves also made their move, but he was a bit too quick for them, he reached the wolf before it could start to attack. He swung his sword at speeds that were difficult for the wolf to react to and were able to cut off its head.

 

He then turned around, sliced towards a few horned wolves coming towards him, and jumped back to get some distance.

 

With the last exchange, he was able to kill two wolves and injure a few.

 

He also kept his distance while giving his muscles time for recovery, he is well aware that his strategy is to fight in bursts and not prolong the fight.

 

The wolves on the other were angered by the death of their comrades. Even though Saiph was able to kill two of them, their instincts and senses told them that Saiph was weaker than them, so there is no need for them to retreat.

 

There were 4 wolves left able to fight and one was too injured to continue fighting.

 

While being amped on anger, the wolve all ran towards Saiph wanting to rip him limb from limb.

 

Saiph, on the other hand, held his composure and kept his calm. Looking at the wolves running, he knew he would not win if he fights the wolves all at once. So, while not activating the overdraft state, he moved to the side, hoping he would get a situation where he can deal with one at a time.

 

He was able to get behind a tree, which made the wolves split up to go past the tree.

 

Once Saiph saw one of the wolves pop up from the right of the tree, he overtaxed his body to quickly kill.

 

*Chop*

 

A head flew into the air.

 

But by that time another horned wolf was attacking from Saiph’s left side.

 

While in the overtaxed state, he maneuvered his body to kill it.

 

*Chop*

 

Another head rose to the sky.

 

But by this time, a wolf managed to circle from behind and jumped towards Saiph’s back.

 

The moment Saiph noticed this, he quickly rolled away but was dealt a deep scratch on his back.

 

By the time he got up, he was met with the sight of the final wolf jumping towards him with its mouth wide open to take a bite out of his flesh.

 

Thankfully though, his right arm was fast enough to save him.

 

*Chop*