The mist mountains.
This location wasn't really filled with mountains; instead, its borders were marked by tall mountains. But within these mountains lay a unique terrain, home to creatures of different ranks. The entire forest was covered in a gray mist, making seeing beyond a couple of steps around your body impossible.
Ethan usually visited the outskirts of this forest to test his sword skills on some Rank 1 creatures, but he still had to be careful each time since he had no way of navigating the forest if he ever got lost and couldn't find his way back to the teleportation platform.
Right now, Ethan was following his usual route, which he had mapped with certain cuts on trees. He had found a unique wolf that had an ability he liked. He wanted to capture the wolf and study its ability since it used the illusion element. He already knew where it loved to hunt. He could kill it, but it had more research value. but in his Rank 1 accommodation, there just was no lab equipped for that kind of research, so he had to hold on until he broke into the Soul Born rank.
"Wow, the elemental eyes are really amazing. They don't obstruct my vision at all. If I remember the life element in the trees and use them as a guide, I can almost ignore the mist always obstructing my vision." He felt that this vision was even better than his usual sight; If he didn't consider the energy drain, he could make a habit of using his elemental eyes.
Following the marks he made on the trees, he finally saw the creature. It was a gray wolf with blue eyes. It was pulling the prey it had just killed. Immediately, Ethan saw the wolf, and he ducked behind a tree. In his eyes, the wolf had a purple core that saturated its body with purple energy.
"The Phantom Wolf. It's really an illusion affinity creature."
Ethan knew how hard the wolf was to catch, especially with its speed combined with its annoying ability.
Ethan only had a few opportunities to beat some sense into the mutt.
The first time he set foot in its hunting territory, it saw Ethan as prey because Ethan wasn't emitting any power at all. Of course, Ethan was weak at the time. He was the only Initiate who dared to step into the mist mountain, but Ethan wouldn't explain his secret to anybody.
Immediately, Ethan took cover behind the tree. He took a bottle out of his ring and began to spray a white powder over himself. This powder was the scent-erasing powder he bought from Henry. Hunting this wolf didn't just need strength because the wolf always escaped when it felt its odds of winning were slim. Ethan, knowing this, used the powder first, as he had used this wolf too many times as a punching bag. So now, immediately it noticed Ethan, it would leave whatever it was doing and escape immediately.
Suddenly, the wolf's hair stood on end as it noticed another creature walking toward it. It was in pretty bad shape already, considering its fight with the creature it just killed. Taking a step back, it began to growl loudly.
Ethan, hearing this, was confused, thinking the wolf might have noticed him. Immediately, he stayed as quiet as he could to make sure it didn't run. But right after, he heard a hiss.
He took another peek, and he saw the reason for the growl wasn't him. Apparently, another creature just made its appearance.
A Poison Fang.
Ethan recognized it immediately—a rare poison-affinity Serpent that hunted with a mist-like paralysis poison. Even he wouldn't want to be caught in its range.
He quickly assessed the situation. The Phantom Wolf was in bad shape, maybe at thirty percent of its optimal condition, but the serpent could match its speed, so escape was unlikely. The wolf had no choice but to fight.
Immediately, it took the first shot. Releasing a puff of purple mist, it used its Clone skill. When the mist faded, two identical wolves stood there.
Ethan was shocked. Even with his Elemental Eyes active, the illusion was perfect. He couldn't tell the difference. This was the exact annoying skill he had been trying to avoid, but the serpent just had to push the wolf at the wrong time.
Now, one of the wolves was running straight toward him, and he had no idea if it was the real one.
Fortunately, the serpent chose to chase the one coming his way. His scent-erasing powder was still working, so neither creature noticed him behind the tree.
He saw his chance. The serpent coiled, ready to strike the wolf that was now six meters from his position.
Ethan moved fast. He set a special ball from his ring on the wolf's path and took out his sword stance. It was time for his trump card.
Ethan practiced every day for the past year to be able to fully integrate the hyper-perception state he usually entered when he was under stress into his sword technique. It took him months just to figure out what allowed him to enter the state whenever he wanted. It was his soul energy. For some reason, under stress, he unconsciously channeled this soul energy towards his brain, causing his perception to speed up several times.
Initially, the problem was figuring out how to control his soul energy without being under stress. Then, after that, he had to figure out how long he had before he could totally run out in this state. This state, combined with his sword technique, gave him the edge over Alan whenever they sparred. But of course, he'd never tell Alan.
It had taken months. Whenever he entered this state, he suddenly felt like time had slowed down. Everything in his perception slowed down, giving him more time to figure out the optimal path, but he couldn't move his body as he wanted while his perception was that high. After countless days and nights, he could now manage three activations, each with a 20-second time limit per day, and once he ran out of soul energy on the third activation, he would pass out cold.
As the serpent shot forward, Ethan swung his sword. The serpent could see the sword swing, but with the speed it was moving at, it only saw a silver flash.
Slash!
Its head was separated from its body.
From a different angle, it looked like Ethan swung his sword at an open space, but a moment before the swing was complete, the head of the poison fang came in contact with his swing.
Ethan, who just killed a Rank 1 poison fang, was more focused on the wolf as he immediately turned to see the running wolf. It stepped right on his trap ball without triggering it and kept moving.
"Dammit, that mutt got away."
He quickly stored the serpent's body in his ring. Every part was a treasure. He put the trap ball back in his ring. This was a trap that was activated by motion, and because Ethan needed the wolf alive, he spent quite a sum to purchase this trap.
Knowing other creatures would soon be attracted to the blood, he got into a sprint. Activating his Elemental Eyes again, he poured double the energy into them to see the faint illusion trail the wolf left behind.
He ran at his maximum speed, grateful for the minor physical enhancements from his Soul Born breakthrough. After a year of physical training on his body and barely getting satisfactory results, a small boost felt like a world of difference.