Spirit Taming

Chapter 425: That's All?

Pressure was a good way to put it. Everyone in the group knew that they might not kill the winter puma with Clark's planned attack. They hadn't thought they would need to because of the poison. But they still underestimated the time that the poison would need to take effect over the winter puma. It was a powerful wild beast. It was tougher because of life in the wilderness.

It didn't have a dungeon to hut in or protect it from traveling beasts. It had become tougher than most.

The winter puma wasn't growing and showing viciousness anymore. Instead, the ice type energy started to pull around it. There was a strength that they had missed. The ability to stun weaker bearings with just a glare. Something that many powerful beasts had. An instinct they gained from being constantly in survival mode.

This glare made the entire group feel their hearts jump to their throats. As much as Clark himself had felt this way before, he was still not able to resist the sudden pressure as the winter puma started to walk forward. The bleeding wound on its ribs seemed to mean nothing to it. But that was also the point. It was numbed.

A slight limp was the only effect the poison had otherwise. That was the paralytic poison spreading with the numbing poison. It made Maria think she had just doomed them all because she had made a mistake. That she and Lit had not been ready to make something like this with their minimal knowledge. What if it had been made useless by mixing the two poisons?

What if she had made it too thin and the heat burned it? What if she had just tricked herself in to thinking that it would even work on a winter puma? All of this ran through her mind as she watched the winter puma take steps toward them.

"You said we would fight, so fight." Ralph snapped out of his frozen stance first. The sudden summoning of his molten boar from his taming space was enough to make the winter puma react. It tried to leap forward and attack but was hit by a sudden burst of toxic steam.

The molten boar naturally had these toxic fumes in its stomach because of consuming metals and the intense heat. Ralph had been careful to ensure that it would not release the toxic steam around the others. He made sure they would not be affected by it. But now, the molten boar had no qualms releasing it in the face of the winter puma.

These toxic fumes might not have been enough to kill it or drastically harm it, but blinding the winter puma temporarily? Easy. The entire group heard the growl of pain along with the sudden retreat of a now blind beast.

"Attack it again!" Isa shouted as Clark started to charge forward. He had his mind working on the best place to attack. But the black lighting spear had cooled off. That left one spot, the already damaged one spot.

With Isa still pushing him forward and the winter puma completely blinded, it couldn't stop the momentum of the black lightning spear. In the erratic movements of the winter puma, ice was forming around it and shattering with its claws swiping. All Clark needed to do was dodge them as he pushed forwards. What surprised him was that he made contact with the exact spot he wanted.

The black lightning spear pierced through the opened wound on the winter puma's ribs. The puma didn't even react to the sudden attack. This just proved that Maria's worry had been for nothing. But the battle wasn't over, Clark and the others retreated after they saw that the black lightning spear had been caught by the ice that the winter puma was using.

The ice held the spear in its body, this caused the wounds to open more and more as it struggled. The numbing poison blocked the pain while the paralytic poison spread more. Before even ten more breaths had passed, the group was looking at the winter puma collapsed before them. The life had just faded from its body.

'Quest- cold in the night- completed

Requirement: the beasts in the night have picked up your scent. Survive the pursuit of any beasts that might want to attack you and the powerful ice type beast in your group.

Reward: 1 item gotcha ticket'

"I would say you have all passed your test." Professor Wright showed herself and saw that the group had definitely been pushed a little further than usual. She had not expected them to kill it but she had wanted them to see the true strength of dangers in the wilderness. Many students didn't learn it until too late. "I rethink we can call it a night here.

The carriage is only an hour ahead and you will not be joining your brother and his guards in this state."

Ella was still in a battle stance but like everyone else, she was cut here and there. Through all the running, fighting, and flying ice crystals from the winter puma, the group had gained decent cuts across their exposed skin. They were also clearly too cold and needed to immediately start to heat themselves back up to resist the cold.

Not to mention that no one had stopped moving the entire day for food. It had been too much for them.

"Now, come here and gather around. I Will start a fire." Being a teacher to them, Professor Wright took the responsibilities of preparing the camp. It wasn't a perfect place for them to rest but it was enough to get them back to a good position. Especially since this had been her test in the first place.

"Using the spear to attack was the right call when it came to defense. That beast couldn't reach you since the spear is longer than its claws. But you were foolish to think that you would win with one strike. You have all been fighting people too weak for you. Or you have had too many plans. You are not ready for unexpected powerful attacks."

This was clear to everyone, but Professor Wright wanted to hit it home so that all of them thought about these things more. "You are all too weak right now. It's not your fault though. The wilderness holds many mysteries to you. I want all of you to keep a better feeling of what may or may not attract predators.

Powerful energies like your winter witch are easily seen as prey since she is not powerful enough. It's broadcasting the energy she has while showing that she is not ready to fight. That is why the winter puma came."

Now that Professor Wright said this, everyone felt that it was surely true. This was survival of the fittest in the wilderness. "Mixing poisons was a good move but risky. You lacked the experience to do it perfectly so it caused the poisons to spread too slow. But using heat to melt the defensive ice on the beast's body was smart.

Ralph reacted the best, his molten boar attacked at the right time with a skill it held back. Toxic breath is a very hard to counter attack for any level of beast."

"Then you have the second attack, risky, but perfectly timed. If there had not been poison then the second attack would have caused a better instinctual reaction. Potentially an overflow of ice energy that caused spikes or an explosion of sorts. Overall, the fur, meat, and claws are your best prizes here. The bones from a winter puma are also very valuable to some beasts.

I recommend that you save it for when you need the gold."

This left the group with a lot to think about. But it also allowed them to begin their improvements. The mentality they had was still filled with adrenaline. But as it wore off, the group realized just how tired they had made themselves. If they went to the carriage now they would be useless and weak. What kind of defenders was that?

Clark was lucky that he had strengthened his mind. Even though he felt the weariness of his body, he could sense that he was able to think smoothly. This brought him to the completed quest before him. The item gotcha. He wasn't sure how it was different from the regular gotcha since he got items from that. But he was ready to let it spin.

'The item gotcha ticket is being used. The wheel is spinning.'

Clark watched the system wheel spin again. But he noticed the odd shapes of the items. It wasn't tools, food items, or other improvement items he would normally see. It all appeared more foreign than he expected.

'Congratulations, the prize received is; butterfly net'

Before Clark could even read the description he was stuck. He hadn't thought that some kids toy would show up. Just a butterfly net? What was the point? He just survived life and death and he got a toy?