PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

As if it were a planned routine, early in the morning Desmond was training his body in the open air while a certain alchemist observed him from the window of her room; Having already gotten used to this shy yet perverted attitude of the girl, Desmond just shrugged and finished his exercise routine.

As soon as he took a shower to get rid of all the sweat and have a quick breakfast, Sasha and Desmond left the cabin to go back into the woods; Only this time they weren’t heading to gather supplies or fight insanely strong beasts. . . no of course they wouldn’t do something so stupid and instead headed to the side of the forest infested with zombies and other corrupted creatures.

It is worth mentioning that during breakfast Sasha told Desmond her decision to follow him into his world and offered to help him with some of the materials that Desmond needed for his mission, but because as an alchemist precious metals were not exactly a material very required; the materials Sasha provided only covered all of the low-level materials Desmond needed and now he only had to get a not-so-large quantity of high-quality materials.

As for what Sasha asked in exchange for those materials. . . well, she didn’t really ask for anything, in her own words the number of materials they had gathered between her and her teacher over the years was enough to buy a small city so she didn’t really feel like giving those materials to Desmond was a great loss.

Of course, Desmond didn’t feel as comfortable just getting everything for free so while Sasha was distracted he quickly grabbed her by the waist, and before she could react Desmond had already planted his lips on hers, soon that warm and slightly moist sensation The one she sometimes dreamed of made Sasha lose all the strength in her legs so that she was completely surrendered in Desmond’s arms; who did not let go of the opportunity to hold and pamper this girl whom he had become fond of.

The seconds passed and feeling that Sasha desperately needed to breathe only then Desmond alone to the poor alchemist, watching her catch her breath with misty eyes; Desmond just licked his lips mischievously.

But that was only a small chapter in their journey and soon following the path discreetly traced by Sasha they found themselves in the area where what they decided to call corruption began.

′′ Is it my imagination or this has expanded quite a bit since the last time we were here. ′′ Desmond exclaimed with some concern.

.....

′′ You are not mistaken, the time I found you the corrupted area had only extended to marker 75 of the trail, but we just passed marker 57, and as you can see it is more than obvious that the corruption extended up to here. ′′ As Sasha answered the young hunter’s question, they both couldn’t help but get a little more serious about the current situation.

′′ Whatever is infecting the forest is becoming stronger or at least extending its range of influence. . . Damn if I didn’t need to hunt down the metallic creatures in that mountainous area, I wouldn’t want to have anything to do with all this; it gives me a bad feeling. ′′ Even the sometimes reckless Desmond didn’t really feel like hunting zombies right now as he expressed his reluctance to get involved with whatever was damaging the forest.

′′ I don’t really want to enter that place either, but even if I am leaving this world soon, this forest has been my home my whole life and I don’t want to leave it as it is. ′′ Sasha expressed her own reasons for having to get involved as she glared at Desmond.

′′ Haaa. . . if you say it like that, there is no way that I will refuse to help you, you want to go into the area to investigate I suppose, it seems good to me, but this time I will lead the way; I have to assume that you are not good at close combat. ′′ Desmond replied after a sigh as he clarified his position on how to proceed when entering the area.

′′ Even if I was, I doubt I would be as good as someone who killed a dark-edged creeper tiger using his bare hands. ′′ With a small amused smile, Sasha answered while a certain degree of admiration hid in her pupils.

Not wanting to think again about his pathetic victory over the idiot tiger, Desmond refused to respond to Sasha’s taunt; Instead, he preferred to continue playing with what he had in his right hand.

′′ I have wanted to ask all the way here. . . what is that? ′′ Sasha asked as she pointed to Desmond’s right hand.

Right there in the palm of his hand was a small amount of water condensed from the mana, Desmond had manipulated it in such a way that it mimicked the surface of a lake and from time to time Desmond applied a certain amount of mana causing small waves to appear in it.

Actually, as sensitive as she was to mana, Sasha had long ago noticed that Desmond had this in his right hand and she also knew that Desmond had kept it there all the way here; so she couldn’t resist the curiosity of asking Desmond what it was about.

′′ Oh, this ′′ Desmond replied pointing to his own hand, and seeing Sasha nod he proceeded to explain.

′′ I don’t think it can be called training. . . nor is it a mantra since that usually involves words. . . I think it could be considered an exercise in visualization or an object of concentration; maybe a little of both. ′′

Seeing that Sasha did not seem to fully understand what he was referring to, Desmond could only smile bitterly, after all, it was difficult to explain something that was being done based only on his instincts and his own understanding of a phenomenon to replicate said phenomenon and apply it. in a skill.

′′ in summary. . . training. ′′