By the time Edward reached his camp, it was already late into the night. He actually had to walk part of the way back in the dark. Thankfully the night wasn`t cloudy, and the two moons accompanied by the starry sky were enough to give some light. His aura senses were helping him as well to find his way back preventing him from breaking his ankle on some loose rocks.

　　However, by the time he arrived, unless he contented himself with only a few hours of sleep he wouldn`t be able to explore the forest directly in the morning on the next day. Since the marsh area was quite far, it meant he probably wouldn`t be able to reach it before nightfall.

　　I don`t want to be deep in the forest during nighttime. Especially after what happened when I released my aura. I`m only able to travel a limited distance per day. This is starting to become a limiting factor. The forest is so vast, if for each journey I have to come back to Shele Nalore before the night I will never be able to fully explore it.

　　Never mind, this is a problem for later. I will stay in the outskirts for now. I will hunt some more Teleportcrows. I wonder how they will react once they see that I am able to teleport as well.

　　After a good night of sleep, Edward did a session of meditation, by now this had already become a comforting routine for him rather than a difficult exercise. He then took his breakfast and washed himself by the river. He noticed that his mushrooms` reserve was starting to dwindle. Since it was a culture, it was a renewable source of food, but the mushrooms still needed some time to grow back. Right now, he was eating them more quickly than they could regrow. This would become a problem relatively soon.

　　I will be able to stay here only for a few more days before I run out of food. I didn`t find enough berries in the forest to feed me reliably either. It means I won`t have any other choices than to confront those beasts in Oshle Tirion. It was something I wanted to do anyway. It only means that I will have to move a bit earlier than I thought.

　　It should be fine, I already became an Awaken after all, and my power is especially good to run away. I think I can do it if I focus on stealth rather than on direct confrontation.

　　Despite what Edward was thinking he couldn`t help but to feel apprehension. Marc had been an Awaken as well and that didn`t prevent him from getting murdered by those Bloodmaws.

　　I will still try to test my limits before leaving Shele Nalore. My power and my increase physical capacities are new. I need to know how much I can push myself.

　　I would also like to kill one of those stupid beetles before leaving.

　　Edward went into the rock field and readied himself, he wanted to try new fighting techniques. Climbing that vertical rock wall yesterday had made him realized that he was lacking in technique and that his limits were more psychological than physical. He was now in the capacity to achieve things that he wouldn`t have been able to do before. He was now stronger than before, he could teleport, and his space awareness was especially good. He wasn`t the same as his before.

　　That meant he had to adjust his fighting style to his new capacities if he wanted to make full use of his power. He had learned how to fight while boxing, but no boxer could teleport. Edward felt that now that he had changed this much, he should adapt his tactics. With new options at his disposal, a classical way of fighting wasn`t necessarily the best.

　　He had new possibilities to explore and not using them would both be a waste and reduce his fighting prowess. Also, since he had to cross back Oshle Tirion ruins infested with monsters, he had to quickly test his limits. He couldn`t afford to wait anymore.

　　Until now, he had tested his physical strength and his power separately but he had never truly tried to incorporate the two together. The only time he used his teleporting power while moving was when he had run from the forest after activating his aura and drawing unwanted attention.

　　That short time frame had been enough to make him realize how faster he could go if he used his teleporting power correctly while running. This is also when he realized that teleporting actually kept his momentum. Before, when fighting, he had only teleported while in a static position just like the Teleportcrows did.

　　I didn`t think about it, but I am realizing that I am too static in a fight. In a boxing match, it is still somewhat fine, I can still block attacks. But in this world, I won`t always be able to block what my assailants are throwing at me. Even with a proper blocking stance that Bloodmaw back then just threw me flying away like a punching bag.

　　It`s the same with those stupid acid beetles, they are slow, but I can`t really block acid thrown at me. Either monsters with powerful strength or with special abilities will become a problem later on if I limit myself to blocking their strikes.

　　No, the best tactic is to be fast enough to disorient the opponent. I should always be one step faster than my enemies, be where they aren`t waiting for me. This way I should be able to avoid their attack and land my own hits. My damage is high enough too, I have a special weapon that can absorb the blood of my adversaries. And now that I know how to use my aura on my dagger, I should be able to pierce armor too, after all, it went through rock like through tofu. I don`t think an armor will put more of a resistance.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

　　Edward stood on the rocky scree slope, picturing in his mind a Bloodmaw charging at him. He teleported five meters away to be situated behind his imaginary enemy before frowning.

　　That won`t do, I don`t know if Bloodmaws have aura senses and if they can sense what is behind them, but it just has to turn back with a swipe of its arms to force me to teleport away and disengage. I need to be faster than that. If it forces me to teleport away each time, I won`t be able to achieve anything.

　　Edward stopped to think how he could get faster.

　　I can keep my momentum between teleportation. I think that`s the key. If I`m in movement before teleporting, it basically means that I will always be in motion. But then, the difficulty will be how to keep track of my surroundings. Teleporting all the time can be quite disorientating. I have my aura perception for that though, I should try it and see what I can achieve.

　　This time, when he pictured the Bloodmaw charging at him, he pounced on it, before teleporting to the side instead of behind it. The momentum forced him to take a few more steps to stop himself.

　　This is better, this way I should be able to injure it on its flank while avoiding its attack. I should continue training to be able to chain movements and teleportation. But it is not optimal, imagining a fake opponent and facing a real enemy is not the same thing.

　　I need a real opponent to train effectively, but an opponent who could force me to teleport and really push myself would be dangerous. Monsters are not sparring partners, they will kill you if they can. I have no choice but to keep training like that for now.

　　Edward trained for the end of the morning and for the whole afternoon, only giving himself a few hours to rest in the evening.

　　Like he thought, teleporting around was disorientating. It was also taxing on him, he didn`t realize it before, but teleporting did use some of his energy somehow. He was getting significantly more tired after chaining a few teleports.

　　I won`t be able to maintain a whole fight while teleporting nonstop. But it is enough to help me achieve a quick win or to reverse the situation in a fight. I can still improve but this is already a big step forward. Let`s rest for now. I can`t go into the forest while already exhausted.

　　Once he was rested and back in top shape, Edward left for the forest. He would stay in the outskirts since he didn`t have the time to go further inside, but that didn`t mean his trip would be wasted. What he lacked right now for his training were real opponents. He was familiar with Teleportcrows and he was already able to slay them without too many difficulties. They would attack him with real killing intent but they wouldn`t be too dangerous, leaving Edward some breathing room if he did a false move. It was the perfect occasion to try his new fighting techniques.

　　The night had already fallen when Edward reached the forest, but that didn`t bother him since it was more important to rely on aura perception than on one`s sight when fighting Teleportcrows.

　　It was already the third day since he had fully released his aura inside the forest, however, even if the dreadful sense of pressure wasn`t here anymore, Edward still felt as if the forest was agitated. He had barely walked twenty meters inside, the mountains still visible behind him between the trees, when he met his first Teleportcrow of the night.

　　Wow, it`s the first time I`m seeing one so soon after entering the forest, and this close to the outskirts.

　　The Teleportcrow teleported behind him as usual, it wasn`t one of the most aggressive ones from deeper in the forest. Edward casually whipped his elbow behind him to hit its head, before thrusting his dagger at the monster. The Teleportcrow was too slow to avoid the blow and to teleport away, it was impaled by the blade. Edward felt a feeble stream of energy from the blade as the Teleportcrow dissipated in a cloud of dust.

　　It is not worth my time anymore, it is too easy to kill and its blood doesn`t give me much power anymore.

　　The dust cloud had barely disappeared when two more Telepotcrows appeared in his vicinity. Edward was able to sense them with his aura since they were less than thirty meters away. He froze, surprised by what his senses were telling him.

　　Two of them at the same time? Releasing my aura must really have disturbed something in the forest. I didn`t think it would have such an effect. And it has been three days already. What is going on in there? Anyway, this is getting interesting. Two at once could give me just the right level of challenge I was searching for.

　　One of them teleported behind him, Edward was ready to throw an elbow at its head, but right at this time, the second Telepotcrow teleported in front of him, its face splitting into two to reveal a gaping maw.

　　Edward didn`t want to get injured, he was alone and had nobody to take care of him. Anything beyond surface injuries could become dangerous. Additionally, Edward had never been injured by Teleportcrows but something in the monster`s maw disturbed him. That maw wasn`t one a normal animal would have. Teleportcrows could teleport, and Edward was starting to wonder if their maw was having this power as well, teleporting whatever they bit directly to what acted as a stomach for them.

　　With several reasons no to get injured Edward chose to teleport away rather than tread an injury for killing a Teleportcrow.

　　After Edward`s teleportation the Teleportcrows were stunned for a few seconds, not knowing how to react. Edward used this opportunity to teleport behind one of them, killing it with one slash of his dagger. While attacking he sent a portion of his aura into the dagger. The blade didn`t encounter any resistance, going right through the monster, its head separating from its body.

　　I wanted to try it, but I didn`t expect it to be so effective.

　　The head and the body fell onto the ground separately without dissipating.

　　Uhh? It is not turning into dust? The absorbing effect didn`t trigger either. I wasn`t able to absorb anything from it. Maybe the slash was too quick for the effect to activate?

　　As he was pondering those questions, the remaining Teleportcrow opened its maw to bite him, and two other Teleportcrows arrived from the forest.

　　Okay, okay. I understand, no time to rest, bring it on. I`m not afraid of you lots.