Knowledge is a powerful resource that is unique in that it can be given to any number of random schmucks on the street and suddenly they can tell you what type of magic you're using.
Putting that knowledge to practical use however is a whole lot different from just knowing it.
Using that knowledge skillfully is especially difficult, but nothing tempering your knowledge repeatedly like a hammer against steel can't fix
-Mage Max Debate
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'It's very steamy.'
Feeling his skin heat up as he walked through the thickening clouds of steam, Ren noticed an abundance of plant life as he got closer and closer to the earth fire vein
It wasn't noticeable at first glance with how sparse they were, but as he got nearer and nearer, the walls were covered in moss growth and thin tendril like vines.
There were even mushrooms.
Then came the light.
Squinting as the warm orange light reflected against his retinas, Ren eventually came across...
'A forest?'
Blinking as green plants consumed everything that Ren could see, white mushrooms sprouted out of the walls like flowers to the sun, their button shaped caps clinging to the walls with a dense coating of roots.
In addition, small bushels of wood entangled moss crawled out of the ground like snakes.
Moss hugging the ground and ceiling in a manner not so dissimilar to grass, it was as if he was back on the fields outside of the city, except in a cave.
If you go on ahead, there's a place where the earth fire vein meets a river connected to the lake you just fell in.
The Bone wolf nodded their head to a place with a thicker gathering of white steam.
If you take out the knife and dip it into the boiling hole over there, it should be disinfected enough for you to fashion some crude bandages out of your shirt, you do know how to make bandages right?
"When Mom was still around, she taught me how."
I see
Peering over the boiling hole that the Bone Wolf Kiklo had gestured at, Ren noticed glowing orange rocks lingering at the bottom of the water, heating up the water to the point of boiling.
"Ouch."
Flinching as the steam instantly condensed against his skin, giving him a sensation not to dissimilar to burning, Ren backed away and scrunched up his relatively dry shirt into a portion he could easily bite into.
Kneeling on the ground while making sure to not as much pressure on the leg with the blade stuck into it, he latched onto the end of the blade.
And without any little fanfare, he ripped it out and regretted it nearly instantly.
"!"
Biting into the shirt just a bit harder, Ren gagged slightly as his leg throbbed with incessant pain.
But no use in crying over something that had already happened.
Wiping the tears that accumulated in his eyes, Ren shifted over to the boiling hole and dipped the whole blood soaked part of the blade into it, cleaning it and sanitizing it at the same time.
'Ouchie.'
Grimacing when he shifted his injured leg and paid the price for it, Ren reached over for the hem of his sleeve and cut a sizeable portion of it before folding it into a block.
Don't forget to clean the wound and boil the cloth.
"Kay." Ren said as he broke off a stick from a nearby bush, cleaning off its weird tendril vines hanging off of it.
The tendril vines were strangely durable. Effective enough for what Ren wanted to do.
Comparing the length of the stick to the opening of the boiling hole, Ren nodded his head and placed the stick over the mouth of the hole before hanging the shred of cloth over it like one would do to dry clothes.
Then as he was waiting, he grabbed the tendrils that he had cleaned off of the stick earlier and began to tie them all together.
A smart one aren't you? I would suggest using the ones deeper into the bushes however, they are dryer and more durable then their younger counterparts.
"Are they?" Pausing as he tied the tendrils, Ren hesitated for a few moments before shoving his hand deeper into the bush and breaking off a stick.
A few tugs proved that they were a lot more durable than the ones he had just been using albeit they were harder to get off of the stick.
Grunting slightly as he pulled at them individually, Kiklo pointed out after a few more struggle filled tugs. You know you have the bone knife don't you?
Ren flushed slightly as he grabbed the knife and cut out all of the tendrils, rearranging them into a neat pile that he began to tie them all together into a rope.
'And I think the bandages should've finished boiling.'
Grabbing the edge of the stick and peeling off the wet and warm fragment of cloth, Ren rubbed the area surrounding the wood that began to bleed the cloth red before realizing that he should've probably prepared a few more bandages.
Cutting apart more of his sleeve so that they were now symmetrical with each other, after a few more moments of waiting and a bone skull staring at him as he waited, Ren awkwardly shifted in place as he placed the square of cloth against his leg, using the vine rope that he had set aside earlier to bind it tightly.
Pulling it tightly and knotting it all together, the wound had eventually set in all together before he looked up at the floating half skull wolf with a face of awkwardness.
"So... you said something about revenge against that Tiger Centipede?"
I did, yes
"Then what do you need me to do?" Ren stared at the bone wolf. "It tried to kill me, and I want to return the favor."
That's what I'm thinking
"...Can't you just do that weird knowledge thing that you did last time?" Gesturing at his head, Ren elaborated. "Before you gave me that knowledge, I'm sure that I never even knew that the lungs were a thing"
"Abyss below, I'm pretty sure that I couldn't rip a Tiger's leg off of its body before. Or shatter my own skull for that matter."
I only have two chances to give you knowledge from myself before I disappear completely, so until I find that you are unable to do something, I won't be doing that.
And to take revenge, the first steps is to survive long enough to deal significant damage to the bastard
"Then tell me how to survive then."
It's been so long since I dealt with mortal followers that I have completely forgotten what they need to survive hence why I'm still thinking.
And now that you mentioned the abyss... The Bone wolf stared at Ren You are actually in one
"What?" Ren blinked, processing the fact that he was in... the abyss? What?
A Dense Abyss Anchor to be exact, it's equivalent to... a Silver Grade if I recall correctly
'That's... not good'
Suddenly feeling not as confident in his ability to kill the Tiger Centipede, Kiklo the bone wolf comforted Ren
Don't worry, it just means that I have to teach you well enough to survive Jenko. And that starts with helping you use that knife in your hands a lot better.
"This thing?"
Raising the knife, the orange light of the glowing earth fire vein reflected off of its surface, the bone white sheen colored in orange hues.
Correct, you probably didn't know, but that knife that you hold in your hands is one formed from the hand bone of an anti Spirit, it's the best tool you have to kill Jenko that damn tiger.
'I guess I have to say thank you for the gift Ramzan.' Grabbing some more of the leftover tendrils and wrapping them around his body to form a loop, Ren hung the Knife against it.
"So what do I do?"
For one, don't put away the knife when I just told you that you would need it.
"Oh. Oh yeah." Awkwardly taking the knife out of the loop he just made, the wolf stared at Ren before muttering.
Have you ever trained with the Knife before?
"No...?"
Good, because what you'll be doing will have rendered all of that training useless.
The Bone Wolf's jaw unhinged to reveal a blue tongue which extended unnaturally long, forming a circle in the air.
Now stab the knife here.
Ren hesitated before thrusting the bone knife at the circle, feeling his hand pass through something cold as he shivered with subtle recognition.
'This feels like those white figures.'
Briefly remembering the time when he had rushed past the white figures crowding the doorway of the place where Ramzan was, the Wolf spoke again
Keep light on your feet for optimum mobility. The Bone wolf's head floated backwards at a steady pace. Now try again from over there.
Ren pursed his lips before running forwards and stabbing.
Horrible stabbing posture, keep your center of mass close to your legs when you run.
Ren fixed his posture until the wolf nodded their head and stabbed forwards
Instead of being that slow, be faster
Ren ran up faster
Not fast enough
Ren ran faster
Fix your stabbing posture
Ren fixed his posture again
Faster
I said Faster.
You can go a lot faster than that
Ren grunted before stopping
What are you doing? The wolf stopped in their tracks, their tongue still forming that annoying blue circle in the air Why did you stop?
Huffing and puffing in place, Ren stared at the bone wolf "How Huff... Do you Huff... expect me to huff... go faster huff...?"
The Bone wolf stared at Ren before turning into IT
Gasping as It disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared, Ren collapsed onto the ground as the wolf spoke
Break past the limits of your flesh like what I taught you
"How?" Ren gagged as his heart beat against his chest like a prisoner begging for release. "If I use that power again, my body feels like tearing itself apart."
Then control it to the point where it doesn't... And get ready to hide, Jenko noticed my presence again.
Wanting to dry heave once more despite his words, Ren instinctively twitched his head to his back as sound echoed from behind him.
It was quiet.
Barely as loud as the bubbling of water boiling besides him, but it was audible nonetheless.
And it was getting louder by the moment.
Numerous heavy steps thundered against the ground like thousands of men running at the same time.
And they were getting closer.
Hurriedly getting up, Ren steadied his breath with choking gasps as his heart thundered against his chest, his nose bleeding and one eye bloodshot as he hid behind the underbrush.
Instinctively holding his breath and forcefully quieting himself even as his heart threatened to burst in his chest, the Tiger Centipede roared onto the scene with rage audible in his voice.
"KIKLO!!!"
What is it Jenko? Can't see?
The Bone Wolf grinned amusedly as the Tiger Centipede's numerous legs dragged themselves across the ground with heavy stops, two of said legs being very noticeably missing.
Jenko roared angrily as their mouth split into three separate parts, their teeth clattering together noisily as Ren felt his heart jolt in his chest.
"YOU'VE GONE A STEP TO FAR NOW KIKLO!"
The Bone Wolf growled darkly And slaughtering my kin before placing my body in your den like a trophy isn't to far? Be real with yourself Jenko, You got to cocky
The Tiger Centipede Roared angrily as hundreds of legs crashed against the ground.
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