The Eternal Assassin

It took his Eternal Regeneration a good hour to get his arm back into fighting shape, and by that time Asher was practically bouncing on the balls of his feet, more than ready for round two. He'd been so focused on experimenting with his new Distortion skill that he hadn't really felt the thrill of battle he'd become so enamored with while fighting the demon.

After a brief trip wandering the meadow in search of a new heavy boar, he finally found one grazing on a particularly large patch of grass.

Wait, monsters can eat grass? I kinda assumed they were all carnivores or something.

Asher spent a few minutes watching the boar out of curiosity, and as far as he could tell the monster seemed completely satisfied to stand on the edge of the meadow, munching on grass and occasionally snorting. If the boar hadn't been four feet tall and roided out to hell and back, without his Identify skill he could have been fooled into thinking it was just a regular animal.

"Are you actually a monster?" He called out, curious how the boar would react. Immediately upon hearing his voice the boar's head shot up, its red eyes narrowing as they homed in on him. Without a moment of hesitation the monster let out a familiar low-pitched squeal as it charged directly at him, its peaceful grassy meal completely forgotten.

Well I guess that answers that. Asher let the boar run him down, slipping into the astral realm at the last minute and letting the monster phase straight through him. Calmly grabbing two of his daggers, he turned around, watching the confused monster slowly come to a stop before realizing he had reappeared. Squealing, the boar stamped the ground with its hooves before starting a fresh charge.

Asher frowned at the repeated attack as he activated Distortion twice in quick succession. Bending the space to his side, he first effortlessly shifted out of the boar's charge, leaving as little space between him and the boar as possible to make his follow up attack easier to land. Repositioned, he then twisted a much smaller area to extend just his reach and took careful aim as the monster bulldozed uncontrollably past him. Remembering what happened when he'd tried striking the boar head on, this time he was more careful as he targeted the thick muscle and plunged his dagger into the side of the boar's leg before quickly letting go of the weapon.

Squealing in pain, the boar's leg gave out mid-charge and the two-ton pile of muscle crashed to the ground, sending a small rumble through the earth as it slid to a stop. Throwing up a quick Distortion directly in front of him, Asher did his best to ignore the blurring colors of his surroundings as he yanked out another dagger from his bandoleer and covered the two dozen feet the monster had slid in a single step. Using his skill to cover a lot of ground quickly was certainly useful, but it was extremely disorienting.

Shaking his head to clear it, he came out the other end of the distorted space and plunged his two daggers into the monster's hindleg, severing thick cords of muscle before it could react.

Squealing, the boar tried jerking its head to the side, swiping at Asher's body with its sharpened tusks. Flickering in and out of existence, Asher dodged the frantic attacks as he circled around the monster, slicing through tendons and completely hamstringing the monster. In less than ten seconds he'd severed the major muscles running through all four of the monster's legs, and the boar now lay helplessly on the ground before him.

Asher stood a few feet in front of the squealing boar, watching the monster struggle to stand up on its disabled legs. He wouldn't exactly call the monster helpless, as he knew without a doubt that any attempt to get closer to the beast would result in having a giant tusk shoved straight through his chest.

Not wanting to prolong the monster's suffering, Asher created a thin Distortion to extend his reach and stabbed through it, shoving his dagger straight through the boar's eye. The monster let out one final, rumbling squeal before it finally stopped struggling, twitching for a few moments before going still. Asher watched carefully as the small violet orb emerged from the head of the creature, confirming its death as it drifted directly in front of it.

Shards: 2,971

Despite the relatively easy fight and fresh addition to his bank account, Asher wasn't pleased. Unlike his battle with the first boar, he'd actually tried this time, hoping to recreate that strange blood-pumping sensation he'd experienced when battling the demon back in the tower. Yet try as he might, he'd felt nothing during the entire exchange. No sense of exhilaration. No excitement when he landed an attack. Nothing.

Maybe the boar was just too easy? He thought, cleaning his daggers and putting them away. I can't believe I'm gonna say this, but I kinda wish I could fight another demon like the first one. The boars are definitely good practice, but they really only have one attack.

Asher thought back to how the demon had surprised him during their deadly fight. Even while it was on the back foot, the demon had figured out the timing between his dips into the astral realm, waiting for the exact moment he reappeared before hurling some fallen books as an improvised weapon. Only luck had kept the books from smashing into his head and killing him instantly, and the broken ribs and damaged organs he had received from the surprise attack had made finishing the battle all the more challenging.

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Realizing his heart was racing and his hands were twitching at even just the memory of the touch-and-go battle, Asher sighed.

I may very well have a problem.

-----

The rest of the day was spent hunting heavy boars, much to his chagrin. Despite the fact that Asher found the fighting mundane and even a bit boring, the boars were still a good way to practice his skills and collect shards, and he did have plenty more skills to unlock after all.

Even so, after the third boar he'd begun setting challenges for himself just to make things more interesting. First, he tried fighting with only a single dagger. Then when that proved to be too easy, he fought with only one dagger and without the use of Astral Dip. By the time the sun was beginning to set, he was competing with himself to see how few attacks he could kill a boar in without shattering his arm like it was made of glass. He wished he could have fought more frequently, but it seemed the longer he spent in the rolling meadow, the fewer boars he'd been able to find.

Still fairly satisfied with his progress, he took a look at how much his skills had improved after an entire day of fighting heavy boars.

Astral Dip - Lvl 7

Distortion - Lvl 4

---

Distortion - Lvl 6

Comprehend - Lvl 3

Eternal Regeneration - Lvl 5

Complete Resilience - Lvl 2

Shards: 18,243

Not bad for a day's work, he grinned, dismissing his notifications as he pulled Samantha's map from his rift and began making his way back to the village. He was particularly pleased with having improved Distortion an entire three levels. While Astral Dip would probably always remain his ultimate trump card, he had a feeling his Distortion skill would end up becoming the backbone of his eventual fighting style. There was something about twisting space around him in order to control the ebb and flow of combat that just felt right to him.

His theory about Complete Resilience counting pain as a negative effect had been confirmed as well, seeing as he'd managed to level the skill despite the boars not having any sort of status effect that he could see. He was thankful to figure that one out, as passing out from pain would probably be a really easy way to die in this world.

After a liberal use of Distortion both to practice running through compressed space and to speed things along when he realized there soon wouldn't be enough light to read the map, Asher made it back to the village just as the last bit of daylight faded away.

Knocking on the cabin door, he followed Samantha's directions she'd given him that morning and let himself in. Before the front door had even closed he felt something crash into his side and he doubled over, not having expected the sudden blow.

"Asher! You're back!" Brian shouted, grinning as he clung to him. For all the boy complained about how much of a hugger his sister was, Asher had found that the trait must run in the family. "When it got dark I started thinking you'd gotten lost!"

"With your sister's map? Not a chance," Asher laughed, an idea suddenly popping into his mind. "Actually Brian, I have a new skill I just learned that would keep me from ever getting lost. All I need to do is touch something, and I can always find that thing again no matter how far away I go. This is your house as much as your sister's. Do you mind if I place a mark somewhere in here? That way I wouldn't need to worry about finding my way back."

The moment the words left his mouth Brian's face lit up, and he practically began vibrating at the mention of Asher's skill.

"That's so cool! Can you use your skill on me?"

"I don't see why not," Asher shrugged, bringing up his skill description and reading through the limited information once more. "Are you sure though? Seems like an invasion of privacy in my-"

"Do it! Do it! Use the skill!" Brian shouted, interrupting him as he pushed off him and started jumping up and down. Laughing, Asher gave in to the boy's demands, placing his hand on Brian's head and activating his skill. He knew from earlier testing that the mark could be removed just as easily as it was placed, so he could end the skill whenever Brian changed his mind. Feeling the sliver of energy travel from somewhere around his core over into Brian, he removed his hand, raising an eyebrow.

"There you go, from this point forward you'll never be able to beat me in a game of hide and seek." Though with Astral Dip, that was probably already the case.

Brian stopped jumping, frowning up at him as he felt at his head. "Did you actually do anything? It didn't feel like anything happened."

Well, I guess that's good to know in case I ever need to mark someone for any reason. Focusing on the skill, Asher was able to sense Brian standing directly in front of him, even when he closed his eyes. He could also tell that the boy was in perfect health, other than a light bruise and some minor scratches on his knee currently hidden by his pants.

"Did you trip and hurt your knee?" Asher asked, pointing at the hidden injury. "My skill tells me if you get injured as well."

Just as quickly as it had left, Brian's excitement came back full force, and he stared up at Asher like he'd just conjured a golden egg out of thin air.

"That is so cool! Most people don't go around talking about their skills, you know. Sam told me all about hers, but she said I shouldn't tell anyone else. Apparently it's rude to ask."

"Well I don't mind if you tell your sister about it, but I'd actually prefer if you kept my skill a secret as well," Asher said, miming zipping his lips shut. While he didn't think his Eternal Mark skill was anything too crazy, if people didn't normally talk about their skills, there was probably a good reason for that.

Brian nodded, repeating the gesture of sealing his lips back at him. Before Asher could ask where Samantha was, there was a loud banging on the front door, as if something big and heavy were trying to break it down. Asher had just enough time to step defensively in front of Brian before the door slammed open, revealing the giant, growling bear as it stepped menacingly into the cabin.