Dante stood over the remains of a campfire, cursing his gag reflexes. The Kickflip skill having sent his world spinning upside down. Now he just needed it to sit still for a few seconds.

When the world steadied itself, Dante continued on in search of food. Heading in the direction the Iron Way clan members had fled. He contemplated carving up the dire wolf carcasses, but after one or two days left out in the open, he was sure the meat had gone bad.

Besides a few birds that escaped his wrath, the first animal he found that was not mutated, was a turtle. The damn thing didn't even bother to hide in its shell. It snapped at him before he even began to chase after it.

Conjuring a fireball, Dante incinerated the poor creature. It was an overkill, and the burnt meat had an otherwise fishy taste that he reluctantly swallowed.

Next, Dante spent the morning crafting throwing knives.

He still required an extra three points to use the Iron Compass, however it wouldn't be the first time he slacked off when it came to exercising.

Withdrawing a North Seeker arrow, Dante used the arrowhead to carve away at one of the boar's tusks.

The idea came to him when he was training his Imbue skill. He had attempted to imbue his mana into the arrow, but unable to do so, he assumed the reason was either his level or the material of the arrowhead didn't allow for it.

Thus he flirted with the idea to craft his own arrows in which he could enhance with mana. But thinking it over, he realized that would have been a waste of time. It was unfeasible that whatever arrows he crafted could outperform the Iron Way clans specially made arrows. And their arrows had a high grade durability, which meant they could be salvaged and reused over and over.

In the end, he decided to go with throwing stars and kunai weapons.

Currently his spearhead was replaced with one of the North Seeker arrows. It broke the system, granting him a suitable weapon that was past his normal capabilities.

The sharp edge of the metallic arrowhead sheared through the mutated Tensile Boar's tusk with ease. 

Slowly rising, Dante injected his mana into the kunai. With a current level of four in Imbue, the small blade glowed a light purple. 

Launching through a tree trunk over two dozen paces out, the blade sank to the hilt. 

Running to retrieve the kunai, Dante discarded the first crude spearheads he had crafted. They simply couldn't measure up.

Next he fashioned two daggers. One ended up being a bit shorter than the other, as he made a mistake on his first attempt.

But ultimately Dante didn't care for these weapons. He wasn't a fool to think he could best someone with a crude dagger or throwing knives, while they had a sword or something worse. No, he would stick to his bow and spear. Outside of keeping himself productive, they were to be hidden aces in case one countered his ranged attacks.

Continuing on the Yaampur's trail Dante's Strength grew by one point. He had re-equipped the improvised training weight and added more stones and branches onto it. His Charge skill range didn't increase by much, though it was considerably faster with his enhanced Strength, Endurance and Agility. 

Overall he kept a decent pace. It wasn't until noon that he stopped, and went in search of more food to fill his belly.

He found and killed a rather large snake. This time he went a little light on the stirfry, unfortunately that didn't help much with the taste.

"Maybe I should marinade it with a little of the Lindonberry tea. Just a little, it should enhance the flavor a bit." As the thought flashed through his mind, he caught himself reaching into open space for the gourd. The gesture wasn't something he had to do, but one he had grown accustomed too.

"Oh fuck –he stopped himself– I've become an addict."

~

When Dante stopped for the second time, he had located three dire wolves. All three were dead, and all three were pierced by exactly one North Seeker arrow. It entered cleanly through each heart.

The Archer was either a braggart or a genius, Dante thought.

"The smooth bastard… He controlled their pack mindset, corralling them. Using them to his full advantage until… checkmate."

The scene was that of a master, one who used the battlefield like an instrument.

Removing the arrow from the last dire wolf, Dante formed it into a necklace. The unknown metal of the arrowhead cut his chest, drawing blood.

With a grim smile, Dante continued on his journey.

~

Endurance +2

Agility +2

Strength +2

Charge has reached level 8

At the days end Dante had gained two levels in Charge, and had finally increased his Strength stat to twenty six. Before going any further he rested, activating his meditation skill to replenish his stamina.

Summoning the recurve longbow, Iron Compass, Dante stood by the campfire with the river to his back. It was then he noticed the true power the bow held.

"No wonder the Strength requirement is so high, how many pounds does it take to draw the string? Fifty, sixty?"

Intuitively Dante knew that more power could be extracted. Straightening his back, he pulled his right arm back with all his might. Once his thumb touched his cheek, he loosed.

The spear shaped arrowhead vanished. Actually vanished. Dante had lost the arrow, entirely missing his target. It flew past the tree delving into the wilds beyond.

He gave a cheeky smile. "Oof, that was a little embarrassing."

After an hour or so of target practice later, Dante stretched, kicking dirt on his campfire, and leaving in search of the arrow.

"This shouldn't take too long", he thought, having now left the Yaampur's trail.

It wasn't until he heard a growl that he froze. He was searching for them, yet they had found him. Though this time his spine was still.

Over half a dozen overgrown shaggy shadow beasts stalked towards him. They had been feeding on a circle of near thirty dead–

"Aliens?!"

Of what he could make out, the humanoid creatures were green, brown and pale. Many of them had four arms, which were chewed to the bone. Apparently a delicacy for the wolves.

Black Dire Wolf Lvl 8, Black Dire Wolf Lvl 10, Red Saber Wolf Lvl 12 , Steel Claw Lvl 7...

Now, with his current strength, Dante was able to reach sixty, perhaps seventy pounds of draw weight.

And as the Black Dire Wolves made the first charge, those seventy pounds of concentrated kinetic energy honed in on one point. The area below the dire wolf's sternum. It's heart.

The North Seeker once again vanished, yet this time the target had been struck. Though a bit off mark, the arrow had pierced the beast's lung.

Dante hardened his resolve, watching as the wolf wheezed, with blood gurgling out of it's diaphragm.