We broke camp at dawn.
As we walked along the road, I hoped to find a town where we could blend into the crowd.
Granted, thanks to the child, we could transform, but two isolated travelers on this path would inevitably arouse suspicion—especially if someone knew of Lysara's powers.
From time to time, we spotted strange creatures resembling meerkats along the road. But as soon as they met my gaze, they instantly fled underground, vanishing in a flash.
Strangely, this world seemed far less dangerous than that damned tutorial… that hell.
We continued our march for several hours until a massive silhouette rose before us.
A boar.
Of course, it wasn't an ordinary terrestrial boar, but it shared the same bulky silhouette. Yet a single glance was enough to understand it belonged to an entirely different order of creatures.
It was far larger than a normal boar, its stocky and powerful body carved with knotted muscles, laced with veins pulsating with glowing red energy. Under the flickering daylight, its dark skin, rough as raw steel, seemed capable of repelling the sharpest blades.
Its snout, bristling with curved bony horns, made it appear even more menacing, as if it were made to crush stone and flesh with ease. Its eyes, two blazing furnaces, stared at me with bestial intelligence—a silent fury just waiting to erupt.
Despite its imposing appearance, I knew it wasn't that formidable. It wasn't an invincible monster, just another creature in our path.
Turning to Lysara, I calmly asked:
— Can you beat it?
With a nod of my chin, I indicated the beast.
I wanted to test her combat abilities, to see where she stood. If she stayed with me, I had to train her. My path would not forgive weakness.
Her empty eyes stared at the beast, analyzing it. I could almost see her thoughts colliding, her mind calculating with each fraction of her reaction time.
But the creature had no intention of waiting forever. With a low rumble, it charged straight at us.
Wanting to buy Lysara some time, I activated my intimidation. Instantly, the boar froze in place, trembling under the effect of primal fear. Its frantic eyes locked onto mine, as if it were staring at its executioner, unable even to flee.
At last, Lysara turned her gaze toward me and said in an almost mechanical tone:
— No, I can't.
I expected that, so I wasn't surprised. But she immediately added:
— Not without a weapon, at least.
I stared at her, intrigued.
— What weapon do you use?
— A hammer.
My mouth parted slightly in surprise.
— What? You… use a hammer?
The absurdity of her words hit me full force. Such a slender figure, wielding such a heavy weapon?
But almost immediately, I reconsidered. This world didn't follow the same rules as ours. Here, appearances and standards no longer made sense. It was time I got used to it.
I drew out my claws, lightly cutting my palm.
Lysara watched me, visibly intrigued by my actions.
I let my blood flow, manipulating and absorbing it until it formed a hammer. It was about a meter long, and I was quite proud of my creation.
I held it out to her.
— Is this good?
She replied, still in that flat tone, without unnecessary words:
— No, too small.
Once again, her answer struck me. I couldn't help but laugh.
This girl was definitely a force of nature, I thought.
I drew more of my blood, then manipulated the liquid with the precision of a sculptor shaping stone. I had definitely turned into an artist in this field.
I created a larger hammer, with a handle about a meter and a half long. It was ridiculously large for her, but after all, I now lived in a fantasy world. For the head, I greatly increased the volume, inspired by the gigantic hammers from video games I had played before.
I molded the blood to form only the outer shell, leaving the inside hollow. But even like that, I felt the fatigue. The blood loss gave me a pounding headache.
I handed the hammer to the girl, and this time, she took it without protest.
Proud of my work, I puffed out my chest, a smile on my face.
— Here you go, a masterpiece.
She didn't react.
A little embarrassed, I realized I might have overdone it.
Cassandre had really influenced me—I smiled warmly, thinking of her.
Snapping out of my thoughts, I returned to the present and, in a firm tone, asked:
— Are you ready? I won't help you, be careful.
It was a lie, of course. If she found herself in a difficult situation, I'd help her without hesitation, but she needed to believe otherwise.
She nodded without a word.
Then, I vanished.
The boar, seeing my absence, immediately came to its senses. The threat was gone. It turned its hungry gaze to Lysara, observing its prey with brutal intensity.
As for Lysara, she swung her hammer in every direction, still seeming to adjust to its weight. It had to be much lighter than what she had wielded before.
Maintaining the blood's shape required astonishing concentration. I pushed all other thoughts aside to focus solely on the moment, letting the scene unfold before me, without interference.
The ground trembled under the beast's hooves. Each step of the boar seemed to resonate deep into the earth, as if the world itself shuddered before its power. Its blazing eyes locked onto the girl's, a silent yet burning promise of destruction. A breath of heat and ash escaped its nostrils.
The girl did not step back. Her hammer, forged from the blood of a being with unfathomable power, seemed to vibrate in her hands. Her muscles tensed, but she was not limited by flesh. She was a shapeshifter. Her skin rippled imperceptibly, her bones rearranged under her will. Her body was a weapon in itself.
The monster charged.
The earth shattered under its hooves, cracks snaking in a flash to the girl's feet. She leapt just in time, avoiding the brutal eruption of sharp stones. With a fiery hiss, the boar's tusks ignited. It was no longer just a colossus of flesh and raw steel—it had become a meteor hurtling straight at her.
She spun mid-air, adapting her body to the force of the wind, elongating her legs to land right beside the beast. Her hammer howled through the air, but the boar spun faster than it should have been able to. Its rough flank deflected the blow with a deafening sound, sending a shockwave through the girl's arm.
A bestial roar erupted, and the beast followed up with a violent blow from its snout. She barely had time to harden the skin of her belly before being thrown backward, her body scraping across the ground like a rag doll. A searing pain spread across her side. Her skin blackened, burned where the blazing tusks had touched.
She gritted her teeth. No way she'd collapse now.
Her body partially repaired itself, her muscles reconfiguring to absorb the shock. She rolled aside just before the monster struck again, its hooves gouging the earth with terrifying force.
She rose to her feet, short of breath, her face remaining expressionless.
The boar roared, clawing the ground with its massive paws before charging again. This time, she didn't try to dodge. She let her arm stretch, twist, coil around the hammer's handle like a living whip. Just before impact, she planted her legs into the ground and struck with all her might.
The impact was cataclysmic.
A shockwave burst through the air, shattering nearby cacti and kicking up a cloud of dust. The beast staggered back, its body trembling from the blow. A crack split open its steel flank, and black, incandescent blood oozed out.
The girl panted. Her arm trembled. But she couldn't stop now.
The boar shook its head, its ember eyes locking onto her once more. Its fury erupted in a furious howl, and the earth itself seemed to respond. Spikes of rock erupted around them, a deadly arena forming under the beast's influence.
She let out a faint breath, devoid of emotion, as if detached from everything around her.
And she charged.
The fight reached a new level of brutality.
The girl propelled herself forward, her body reshaping for speed. Her legs lengthened, her muscles tensed like drawn bows before launching her at the beast. Her hammer seemed to pull the air around it as she delivered a thunderous strike.
Despite its massive size, the boar reacted with surprising speed. It spun, releasing a spray of black flames in its wake. The girl barely had time to harden her skin before the burning wave struck. Her flesh sizzled under the assault of fire, but she did not stop moving.
With a leap, she rose above the monster and brought her hammer down on its spine. The impact shattered metal shards, and a bestial cry of rage burst from the creature.
But instead of weakening, the boar seemed to draw from an even deeper fury.
It leapt forward and rammed into one of the rocky spikes it had summoned. The massive structure collapsed, hurling a torrent of burning stones in every direction. The girl rolled under a landslide, feeling each stone strike her body.
She stood up, staggering. Her right arm dangled limply, broken by one of the projectiles. But she was a shapeshifter. Her flesh contracted, her bones reformed with a dull sound.
— Very well, she breathed, her eyes void of expression.
She lunged at the monster, her hammer humming. The boar charged too, their forces colliding in an explosion of flame and dust.
The shockwave made the earth tremble all around them.
The battle wasn't over.
The clash between the girl and the monster was titanic. The detonation echoed through the stone arena, lifting a hurricane of dust and flames. The girl felt her bones vibrate from the impact, but she held firm.
The boar, on the other hand, staggered. A wide crack now split its skull, metallic shards falling from its molten body. It exhaled one last time, a breath filled with embers and rage, then tried one final charge.
But the girl was already on it.
She dashed, using her malleable body to propel herself even faster. Her arm stretched, her hammer seeming to weigh a mountain as she brought it down right on the monster's skull.
The ground cracked from the impact.
A broken, bestial howl rose as the boar's head smashed into the earth. Its body trembled one last time, then collapsed with a deafening crash. A wave of heat spread around it as its black, incandescent blood seeped into the ground.
Ding!You have defeated [Gorvak (Evolved) – Level 34]!
The girl remained still for a moment, panting, her muscles trembling. Then, slowly, she raised her head and gazed at the smoking corpse of the monster.
A tired smile brushed her lips.
— It is done.
Silence fell again, disturbed only by the crackling of dying embers.
I reappeared at her side, deactivating my stealth skill.
She stared at me, wordless.
Her body bore the marks of battle, and a pang of guilt struck me. I regretted letting her get hurt like that, but I knew it had to happen. She needed to grow stronger if she wanted to follow me.
I released my control over the blood hammer, now disassembled, letting the blood fall to the ground.
During the fight, I had already regenerated most of it.
My mind slowly regained clarity.
I stepped closer to her, slowly, my gaze fixed on her marked face. My hand rose toward her, hesitating for a moment before gently brushing her skin.
I saw a flicker of fear in her eyes, and it pained me. What had she lived through to react like that—not to pain, but to simple human contact?
I didn't intend to ask her about it, not yet.
I softly ran my hand through her hair, as if to praise her. Kneeling to her level, I murmured with sincere gentleness:
— Well done. You did great.
From what I had observed, she primarily fought using two abilities: transforming her tangible body and solidifying it.
I was beginning to understand why shapeshifters were so feared.
The ability to reshape one's body was an overwhelmingly powerful skill in combat.
As I thought, I began skinning the boar, retrieving its tusks—materials that could store and release flames. These were resources that had to be both precious and useful.
Then I realized we hadn't eaten in a while—since yesterday, to be exact. I could go a full week without food thanks to my levels, but she must surely be hungry.
That's what I thought as I cut off a piece of meat.