The beast didn't seem to have noticed Al, so he continued observing it. Unlike the Badger-pine seemed to have extremely muscular short legs, like those of an elephant on steroids, but the paws were different, meant to recklessly push the body weight forward when performing a charge.

It did have that large spine going it's back though, just like the Badger-pine and Bomber Squirrel.

It's defense seemed to be extremely sturdy, many times greater than the Bear-boar's. Al considered just commanding Misty to kill it with a mind attack, but he did so for the Bomber Squirrel he didn't end up getting any experience, and he guessed Rank 3 beasts must give quite a lot.

Suddenly the beast noticed Al's presence though, and it turned around to put his backside in Al's direction. Al moved away without a problem. This movement was similar to when Badger-pines threw their spines, would this beast throw its Spinescales? 'That would make it an easy target.'

But, to Al's surprise, it threw the large spine that ran down its back instead. It produced a whooshing sound as it cut through the air, giving Al a dangerous feeling of weight as it passed through the tree he had been standing on a while ago. It bore a hole in the tree trunk and appeared through the other side, stopping just before falling out of the tree, which by the way was much harder than trees back on Earth due to the enhancement that mana provided.

If that thing hit a Bear-boar, it would be a one-hit K.O.

Quickly, Al asked Misty to put the beast to sleep with its confusion spell. The spell immediately did its job, since the beast clearly didn't have much Will, and Al climbed down and walked up to the creature, scrying for weak points just in case he ever had to face one or several of these, without Misty's cheats.

He most certainly wouldn't be able to pierce its defense with his current Strength, And even its underbelly was protected by scales. It's eyes were small, so even though he could easily destroy them now they wouldn't be feasable targets in a real fight. He thought about the spaces inbetween the scales, but they were too packed together.

It really seemed that even though defense was this beast's only redeeming feature, it was hella redeeming. Al listed his findings.

There were several weak points that were too small to be feasable targets: Eyes, ears and butthole.

The scales were extremely packed, except at the joints, were there was enough room to immobilise each leg with a well-placed [Flash].

Bit the main weak point was its mouth. The beast shouted when it got angry, which, in a real battle, would give Al the perfect opportunity to pierce it up to its brain. He did just that to the beast lying dormant on the ground, and felt the surge of experience enter his brain, expanding something inside his head.

Al opened his Status to confirm his level-up.

Alberto Peñas

Age: 3 years

Level 12

Class: Prodigy of the Lightning Rapier

Strength

E+

Dexterity

D+

Toughness

E-

Will

E+

Intelligence

D-

Charisma

E-

Perception

E-

Assignable

2

Skills:

[Mana Molding] (Low)

[D Grade Core] (High)

[Physical Augmentation] (Mid)

[Sense Enrichment] (Mid)

[Palm of the Storm] (Low)

[Quick Steps] (High)

[Flash] (Mid)

Happily, Al rushed back to the orphanage to inform the adults of this new development, and tell them that each Rank 2 monster might have several different evolutions. Al,hoped it would stop at two, or he wouldn't be able to keep up with all the nicknames.

Actually, although Al himself hadn't given it much thought because of his speed in his previous life, his velocity after getting his new weapon, the Squirrelic, was absurdly high. If not for having to constantly weave in between the trees and avoid bunny holes that hadn't closed up yet, he would probably be able to reach the speed of a Formula 1. Of course, Al knew he wouldn't be able to keep it up for long, but it was enough to shake off any and all pursuers that didn't have some weird teleportation or trapping skills (if those even exist in this world).

The adults were relieved to hear that this beast's forte solely lied on defence and a single unreliable attack, since it wouldn't pose a threat to the wall. They were really concerned to hear that Rank 2s could have different evolutions though.

Al had also brought with him the Spine from the Spinegolin, and although it didn't seem special in any way, there was clearly air mana inside it, so Al decided to do some tests.

He swung it, threw it, and used the spine in many different ways, then analysed the flow of mana and tested the material's hardness. Eventually, he came to a conclusion.

The spine seemed to be made of extremely compressed stuff, probably queratin, and would probably weight almost 100kg by itself. That's basically the weight of a very heavy adult male, so Al didn't know how the beast could pack so much stuff into it.

In any case, the air mana seemed to have a lightening effect too on this spine, but the effect was different than the Porcuspine and Squirrelic. Instead of lightening the wielder, it only lightened itself, but the reduction was about 90%, leaving the perceived weight of the thing at just under 10kg.

The curious thing was that it didn't decrease the mass, just the effect gravity had in the spine. This meant that, although it would take quite a lot of force to throw it at high speeds, it would only lose as much altitude as a 10kg spear and if you swinged it as a sword, it would keep its momentum really well, and of course the impact force would be that of a 100kg object going at mind-boggling speeds.

Al could already picture Koro with two giant fang swords, each with this spine in the middle, dealing blows with the momentum of a 100kg wrecking ball.

The Bear-boar tusks were a bit too small to fit such a giant spine inside though, but Al wouldn't be surprised if the Rank 3 version of the beast had tusks the length of an adult leg.

As he thought of such things, Al sat down under the shade of a tree, and gestured for Misty to sit on his lap. The cat didn't really fit on his lap, so it just lazily sprawled on the ground in front of Al, engulfing his legs beneath it's fluffy body in the process.

Al found petting Misty's soft fur calming, and it was perfect for relaxing after several hours of testing. Slowly, Al's body parted from the tree and fell on top of Misty, and he drifted to sleep.

Al felt something growing beneath his head, soft fur tickling his nose and ears. He groggily woke up, only to see something unexpected in front of him.

It was Misty, but bigger. The size difference wasn't as drastic as when it reached Rank 2, but it's back was now almost as tall as Al when he was standing. This wasn't the only change though, since apart from its extra tail, (yup, it had three now) it's fur seemed to somehow glisten slightly.

"Oh wow, well aren't you all sparkly now. Is this caused by mana?" Al patted Misty's now glamorous fur.

But suddenly, an almost indescribable voice resounded in his head. [Indeed, this is caused by the excess mana my core produces. I can forcefully suppress it though.] The voice seemed... confident, like that of an elder talking to a naïve child... It also seemed slightly...seductive? Although it was fairly androgynous, Al had to guess it was that of a woman.

Al quickly snapped out of his thoughts and saw Misty looking towards him.

"Misty... was that you?" The cat put on an amused expression, which gave Al the answer to his query, and proceeded to lick her paw uninterestedly.

Of course though, Al wouldn't just move on. "Was that a mind magic spell? Did you unlock it at Rank 3?"

[Correct. Now, I will have to ask you to leave any further questions for a later date since, as you can see, I am grooming myself] Al stared at Misty dumbfoundedly. He had questions, so many questions, but he would have to abide by her word and leave them for later. It was getting dark, so Al went back to his bedroom after eating dinner.

He couldn't sleep for several hours though. 'Is it because I slept already after the experiments?' But Al knew it was because of what happened with Misty. He already knew she was pretty intelligent, since she followed orders and even showed complex emotions, but until now Al had just convinced himself that it was just him looking too much into things.

But now it was clear that she was just as smart, if not smarter, than humans. And it was like that since she was Rank 1. Al knew that Misty was hiding much more than met the eye. And if there was her, there must be more like her too. He knew it wasn't something that affected him directly, but thinking that he might one dat have to fight against a group of organised, intelligent beings that had grown impossibly strong just by living in an extremely mana rich area made Al's body shudder.

Plus, the rudimentary taming technique Al used on Misty most definitely disn't work. She probably just took his condensed mana to play along with Al. 'Maybe this is all just a game for her.'

Eventually, Al drifted into a troubled sleep.

Over the next weeks, Al and Yuly focused almost entirely on physical training. Al's training regime quickly made his Toughness reach E Grade, and having attained his previous training goal, he decided to set a new one. He would get all his trainable stats, or at least the physical ones, up to D Grade before putting any assignable points in.

After almost three weeks since the start of the training his Strength finally reached D- Grade, Al felt it would take a long time before it ranked up again, but that was to be expected. His Toughness wasn't too far from going up, at least that's what Al felt.

He'd also killed a couple of Rank 3s, but they were all of the spine family tree. He had yet to see and evolution of neither the Supra Bunny nor the Bear-boar, but just as he was thinking that, the ground beneath him began compressing in on itself at an outrageous pace.

Al effortlessly got out by using Quick Step, but the moment he touched the ground, a circle 3 meters in diameter around the part he was on also disappeared. Al was ready this time, and as he gracefully jumped off he tracked the mana print of the spell back to a shadow lurking behind some high bushes.

Al thought of asking Misty for help, but he wanted to kill this thing alone. He had also barely been with Misty this past few weeks, and the few times they communicated she was pretty aloof and evaded most of his questions or have roundabout and vague answers. This had only enhanced Al's suspicions about her.

Just as he landed on the ground he shot towards the beast at an outrageous speed, his Squirrelic ready to face some action. He used nearby tree trunks as footholds, pushing off of them by using Quick Step. The beast leaped away, much faster than a Supra Bunny, but it had no hope to outpace Al. He grabbed onto the thing's soft fur, then plunged his Squirrelic deep into the rabbit's neck from behind using [Flash].

It started biting at the air and squeaking, but it seemed to have lost all movement in its body. A torrent of blood was coming out of its neck and mouth, so Al ended it's misery. He then felt part of the rabbit's soul merge and strengthen his own, pushing him to level 13.

'Ho... so this one isn't as much of a glass cannon as its Rank 2 version, huh. Well, it's still pretty soft, but it can escape pretty much any monster from around here. You'll be... Hareth Collapser! It's fast and slim like a hare (although way bigger) and it collapses Earth! It's genius!'

Feeling good with himself, Al went back to report the news.