Chapter 9: His First Time

Zax banged his punches against the white and silver mantle of the canines' formation. He threw tens of kicks and punches since the canines retreated to contain him until reinforcement will arrive.

BANG!

The mist energy of the canines depleted faster after his attacks and the wave of energy did not have the power anymore the shove Zax back.

"Hold!" The wolf boss commanded the members of his pack.

"Boss, this is too insane!" One of the canines responded.

"Boss, is that boy truly a human?" Another asked.

"It's beyond what I heard about body refinement techniques!"

"Of course it is!" The wolf boss answered. "This human trains in the most powerful body refinement technique! Now, enough talks! Conserve for the formation!"

BANG!

Just as the boss wolf finished talking, Zax follow up kick broke through the mantle and hit one of the canines in his rib cage. Crackling sounds came out from the canine's upper body and blood sprouted from his jaw.

"Spread out!" The wolf boss had no choice. The instant a link in the formation broke the time to repair it was long in comparison to the time it would take for Zax to escape and the cost of mist energy will be spent for nothing.

WUSH!

Zax dashed out of the formation. Turning around he saw the canine he kicked lying on the ground, somehow still conscious. The other canines created a blockage, this time around the cave's entrance and Zax was in between.

Zax interest in his ability to contend against the canines subsided. "Previously you didn't let me in, now you don't let me out". He was amused.

The wolf boss lowered his stance to what seemed to be preparation for attack or escape and his pack members done the same.

"That's it for me". Zax announced, turned his back to the canines and idly strolled into the long tunnel.

The murderous gaze of the wolf boss watched Zax back in fixation. His intention was to stay and wait for reinforcement, even if it meant prolonging this dangerous battle. However if the human boy chose to enter the cave, that will be good as well.

'How long it will take, we wait for you human, and then let's see if your body refinement technique can stand against a captain!'

Zax mood was excellent. He had his first real fight and dominated his enemies to the level of his satisfaction – letting out his pent up frustration also contributed for his good mood.

The tunnel was over a kilometer long. For ten minutes Zax simply walked and reviewed in his mind the battle against the canines. What he looked up at was mostly ways to improve his control of the body since he realized that it was correlated to the bodily maneuverers he trained. In the fight his breath and movement were synchronized, roughly on the same level as his proficiency in the bodily maneuverers. The thing that was the problem was the rhythm.

"If it's that, then I should just keep training in what Master taught me". Zax reached to the conclusion. The bodily maneuverers and the breathing sequence were harder to execute than the intuitive movements in the battle with the canines, training in them will improve his overall form.

In the remaining seven hundred meter or so of the tunnel, Zax let loose his eagerness of reaching the other side, to the first Savage Cage, and ran the rest of the way.

Stepping out of the tunnel Zax's mind went blank for a second and in the following moment his body was midway to hit the ground. An invisible force penetrated Zax's mind and raised tidal waves in his sea of consciousness. Zax felt the force taking over as if it was a part of him that he had no means to fight back, much like the sensation that drove him to the Black Core, multiply by thousands. Agitation built up in his soul and its blurred appearance began to shudder. Immense savagery materialized to the shape of a bubble that encompassed his mind.

"Graah!" Zax cried, barely holding up his awareness. He opened his eyes and saw everything in red. 'Savage Caves... ' were the only two words his mind could produce. He now understood what made the name so suitable.

"Graah!" Zax's cry changed to roar. The bloodiness in his eyes augmented the savage desire.

Zax crawled up to his feet. His control of the body felt like he was walking in water. The bones and muscles opposed every move he wanted to make, turning him slow and clumsy. "Grrr!" An irritated growl left Zax's mouth and he tossed his fur coat. He tried to get a gist of the environmental essence, but his soul sense was confined to the bubble of savagery in his head.

With a soul at level C and the capabilities of a Core Master all that was left within Zax's power was to keep contact with his actions. Little did Zax know that for anyone else with a soul below the Core Master level, even a minuscule trace of self would not remain.

"Grah!" In an attempt to release himself from the mental shackles of the cave's savage force, Zax coordinated with the insane savagery and bashed his head and body in the ground and the surrounding rocks and trees. Nothing was sturdy enough to not break or crumble after Zax bashed himself against it, but due to his speed, the moment of impact painfully stung as if he fell twenty storey to a pool of shallow water. Still, it was either go with the flow of savagery to the extreme or to fight with it and achieve nothing.

When he settled down, blood ran down from all over Zax's body, the wounds, however, were already in the process of healing and closing. Zax sat as if he was meditating, but it was completely the opposite case. Though his body seemed calm, Zax felt his head about to explode. The savagery was overbearing. Zax's fingers dug into the ground, seeking for something to tear apart. He was no longer in a state of even making up words in his mind. To stay sited took everything he had.

The air inside the first Savage Cave was very hot and humid like the steams in the belly of a volcano. Hundreds degrees high. As a result, sitting steadily as Zax did quickly became intolerable.

It took a day for Zax to get used to the imposing savagery and another day to estimate how much control he had over his body, sixty percent.

RUSTLE!

The sound of leaves parting came from behind him. Zax opened his eyes and dashed forward as out of the bushes a two meters long green lizard with bulges on its back emerged with the intent to jump him. Its eyes were the same color as Zax's, blood red. The lizard did not halt when its ambush failed and sprang at Zax, which avoided its first attack by a hair's breadth.

The lizard burrowed its claws in Zax's skin, but could not break past it. Its eyes turned redder, it raged and rolled with Zax on the ground as its dark white aura frantically burst out of its body.

'This lizard is berserk; it completely lost it to the savagery!' Zax deduced.

Since he was a bodily cultivator his output of strength depended on how much he could generate it from his muscles. With an overall control of the body at sixty percent, the strength that he could use was of even lower percentage!

"Get lost!" Zax kicked the lizard that used the momentum of the kick to jump over a tree and attack him again.

'How can it be so strong?' Zax could not understand.

Though he mostly saw red, Zax could still somewhat distinguish colors due to his eyesight improving with the rest of his body. By its color, the lizard was a Peak phase Core Breaker in terms of mist energy. Its soul level, Zax could not sense, but it clearly was not stronger than his. And in terms of bodily cultivation ... there was not even a need to mention it.

'Its power surpassed that of the Core Breaker canines' by a great margin and even some of the Mist Master!'

The lizard was eccentric and Zax just spent two tiring days to gain partly control of his body.

'If one more troublesome beast will appear I won't have the energy to fight it ... I must retreat and look for something to nourish my body'.

Zax clashed with the lizard for a bit longer before he managed to break its leg and escape. The lizard, even with broken legs, tried to chase after, but its speed dropped substantially and it could not keep up with Zax.

Anything and everything inside the Savage Cave seemed to emit the color red in more dominantly than the original colors. Zax realized that it was mostly because of his eyes. He picked his fur coat when he escaped from the lizard and neither it nor the color of his skin was supposed to be red. Nonetheless, he looked at himself and at the fur coat and red resided everywhere.