He hadn’t been able to drain the beast for enough time to weaken it but that wasn’t important. The amount of blood he had managed to absorb helped him heal his internal injuries. His pain dampened while his confidence increased. The monster was trashing and moving incoherently, striking at invisible opponents. Edward smiled, aware that its enemy was still alive but unable to locate him. He waited for the beast to calm down, before moving closer.

It will take a lot of time to vanquish it if I have to hit, retreat immediately and wait for the beast to calm down each time. However, it will suffice to cripple its mobility. If it can’t use its legs, it won’t matter that it can accelerate itself. Then I can use my aura again to sense my surroundings. The monster will know my location but I will be faster than it, and I will be able to finish it quickly.

Edward walked quietly. The beast was wary and was turning on itself trying to find him, but it was blind and couldn’t locate him with his aura since Edward kept it hidden. One step at a time, Edward got closer until he was in the perfect position to strike. He chose to hit the right hind leg. He imbued his dagger with aura and pierce the leg with his weapon before teleporting away. The beast was massive, reaching two meters tall while on all four, its size was the only reason why its leg was still attached to its body instead of being severed. It swiped the location where it had been attacked but hit only empty air. As it tried to move around, it put weight on its injured leg and whimpered in pain, the leg unable to support its weight.

The beast felt its end coming, it had planned to exterminate the intruders invading its nest, but it had been blinded and its mobility drastically reduced. It couldn’t understand how things had turned out like that. Things had proceeded, as usual, it had been ready to tear its opponents to pieces, and they were always so slow to react. That is until one annoying pest had managed to somehow avoid its strike while piercing its eye. From there on it only went from bad to worst.

Feeling, unsecured, the beast moved to place a wall behind itself. Good idea but it’s already too late. Edward thought. The monster was turning its head around trying to sense where the next attack would come from. Let’s give it something to think about.

Edward activated its aura for a brief instance of time, letting it linger in place while he teleported behind the beast. The latter focused on where it felt the aura while ignoring Edward’s real position. Edward pierced its other leg, the monster cried in pain.

Immediately after he reactivated his aura. He was in an advantageous position while the monster was almost immobilized. Being able to sense his surroundings and to perceive the monster more clearly rather than through its aura only, he jumped on the beast running along its back to reach its head. He was going for the kill.

The monster tried to move, but with its two legs out of order, there wasn’t much it could do. Edward couldn’t stay upright since the monster was tall enough to almost reach the ceiling. He launched himself, landed on its stomach atop the beast, and stabbed the monster’s throat from both sizes with its dagger. The monster collapsed in a gurgle of blood. I have done it. Edward rejoiced.

Edward knew that he should be worried about getting stranded in the caverns while the rest of the expedition was leaving. He knew he should, but he couldn’t care less right now. He only felt so hungry. His blood craving had been in the back of his mind ever since they killed the first Lusus naturae earlier in the day. And now that the best prize he could hope for was laying in front of him ready for the taking, he couldn’t think about anything else.

Edward plunged his daggers deeper into the beast’s corpse with eagerness. He used his aura as much as he could to accelerate the draining effect. He felt a continuous flow of energy stream into it from the daggers. He indulged in it, at last, he felt satisfied, absorbing the blood essence with voracity. His ravenous hunger was having its due.

He stayed in this state for an undetermined period of time, absorbing more and more blood essence. That was until his aura expanded drastically, waking him up from his hungry daze. His aura spread, encompassing the entire cavern, only stopped by the walls of dirt. Uhh. I have broken through. Edward thought groggily. His daggers were sending as of now only a trickle of energy instead of the previous powerful stream. The corpse had slightly decreased in size and was presenting a mummified aspect in several places.

Edward stood up, experiencing his new senses. His aura range had increased a lot but the changes weren’t limited to that. He felt that his body was stronger, there was a strength ready to be deployed inside his muscles. He thumped his foot on the ground and it pierced through it, his leg was stuck in the dirt until his knee. He slowly raised back his leg. This is almost scary. This is no longer something a human should be able to do. I already felt like an Olympic champion before, but this is something else.

His aura had also changed in quality. It felt denser somehow, and at the same time, his control over it had improved. He could focus his aura on his daggers, feet, or armor fluidly. He always had a particular relation to his aura. It was equivalent to his life force, a part of him, and the visible proof that he was alive. Now, he felt as if the control he had over it somehow extended to his surroundings. As if his aura was physically influencing reality. On a hunch, he tried to move a pebble next to him. To his shock, the pebble actually moved without any visible influence. What the heck?!

Edward couldn’t believe his eyes, or rather his aura senses since it was still pitch black in the cavern. Am I able to do telekinesis now? He tried again to move the pebble. It responded to his desires. He was able to make it float, bringing it in front of him. The pebble wasn’t moving swiftly but this was something unexpected to Edward, this feat should have been impossible. He wasn’t using a spell but his aura alone.

He wondered for an instant if he was special, and if that was something unique to him before remembering a passage he had read about the different stages one could achieve. It had indeed been mentioned that auras evolved and were able to influence reality at further levels. It is one thing to read it, but another to experience it personally.

He did further experiments, trying to levitate pieces of a destroyed column that were laying on the ground. He was able to lift them but only slowly and with difficulty, the rubble too heavy to be moved with ease. I guess I can’t yet use my aura this way in a fight. But that is already impressive, this is one hell of a tool to show off and do magic tricks. If I ever go back to Earth, I have a secured career as a magician.

I guess being able to move my aura more fluidly is the real boost to my fighting prowess. It is the first monster that I’m fighting that can use aura like that, but they probably get more frequent at powerful levels. Without aura, I wouldn’t be able to defend against a single hit, and I would be limited to avoiding them. It is also required to injure tough monsters. The wind and water blades the other adventurers used were barely able to injure this beast.

Actually, now that my aura has increased so much, it is a good time to check if I can use the aura blades technique.

Edward gathered his aura on his right dagger, he gathered it until he sensed it gaining its own weight. Aura wasn’t something that you should be able to touch, and yet so much of it was gathered in the same place that it became tangible. He had the certitude that even a civilian who hadn’t absorbed a single drop of blood would be able to see it. Then he swiped his arm as if he was holding a tennis racket instead of a dagger and let his aura go simultaneously. The aura flew away from the dagger but it dissipated after only a few meters without reaching the other side of the cavern.

Edward heaved a sigh, his expectations disappointed. The end result leaves to be desired. Still, it is possible. I just need more practice. The aura shouldn’t dissipate this quickly. Maybe I can lengthen its duration if I keep my control on it after launching it? Actually, that’s a good idea. If I could keep controlling it even after I throw it, it would become a homing blade. Someone specializing in this domain would be scary. I can imagine having to evade a dozen aura blades chasing you continuously would be exhausting.

As Edward relaxed after having checked his newfound strength and improvements he realized there was something more waiting deep inside of him. Hum? What is this feeling? He concentrated and reached for this power inside of him. He suddenly experienced a need for speed, he wanted to move, to be fast enough to feel the wind press onto his skin. He took a step forward and things blurred around him, his perception straining to follow his movements until he bounced against something.

He blinked and realized he had collided against the wall on the other side of the cavern, the shock hadn’t even hurt him this much, but rather startled him. Wow. That was fast. So, this is what the Lusus naturae experience when they accelerate themselves. For short distances, this is comparable to my teleportation. I can’t move instantly from one point to another but this is pretty close to it. His stomach chose this timing to rumble.

Edward didn’t have many rations on him, as an awaken, he needed to eat less compared to an average human, although he wouldn’t say no to a snack even if he wasn’t hungry. Food was part of the traveling experience after all.

Interesting timing. I suppose to reach this speed requires a lot of energy. Otherwise, the Lusus naturae would use it all the time. Even though there is also the control drawback. Going fast isn’t that interesting if you can’t change your trajectory or react to your environment. Luckily for me, I already have the perfect solution to this problem.

“Rèng khwāmrĕw.” He stated expectantly. He felt everything slow down, although it was limited to a feeling only since nothing was moving right now. Then he dipped into his new power again. He took one step forward and this time he was able to understand what was going on. Just one step had been able to propel him into the air, he was literally flying a few centimeters above the ground. His other foot was already coming down to take another step reflexively. He changed the orientation of his foot and was able to avoid face planting against the wall. With his spell on top of his power, both his processing power and his speed were improved. He was having a powerful engine and the pilot to drive it.