A serious bit of grinding, no, really.

In the middle of a green, foliage rich barrier, arrows scattered across the ground, broken branches left and right and a deceased boar here and there, John cast Bind again, his mana pool draining of its last points as the boar got squeezed by slender, ropelike tendrils growing from below. Jack appeared from the branch above, the little white leopard pouncing onto the haggard boar and clawing at its ears. Small damage values appeared above its head indicating that Jack was doing one damage with every four swings of his tiny claws.

The boar tried to move, letting out a mournful oink, but the vines were too strong for the weakened creature to escape from. Across the clearing, smaller boars were tangled up, two of them getting hit in the side with sharp pebbles, cutting open small wounds on their sides. John himself was just standing back; having hit level six after the first enemy, all he wanted now was for Jack and Toph to level up as well.

The first to collapse was one of Toph’s boars; the small wounds created by the pebbles making it collapse, the pangolin seemingly using the **** by a thousand cuts approach to finish off her prey, at least at her current level.

John started walking around the clearing, patting the dead boars while a loud wailing oink and a victorious mew told him Jack had killed his boar too. As John turned his head to look at the little furrball, a soft white glow came from Jacks’ fur, flashed, and then it was gone.

“Jack, did you level up?” John asked him. Jack yawned, lolling out his tongue, then nodded. ”Great job! Come here and let me give you a good, old pat,” John praised him, causing Jack to suddenly raise his head. Jack then turned tail and ran, waving his fluffy tail as he disappeared into the bushes.

John turned his attention to Toph, seeing a small earth spike fly at the final boar. The boar’s skull was nowhere near thick enough to defend against it, and so its life was ended. The same glow spread over Toph, her scales shining brightly, then it spread across her body. A flash, and John knew that both his pets had leveled up. John walked over to Toph, rubbing her over her head as he told her what a good pangolin she was.

When John was about to start gathering the loot, a playful mew came from above him, a fluffy spotted tail hanging from the overhead branch.

“Jack, come down from there; we did what we came here for,” John called up to the kitten.

“Mew” was the answer, Jack popping his head out across the branch, sticking his tongue out, then jumping onto another branch.

“Jack, this is no time to be fooling around; we need to train some more, or do you want us to die the next time we encounter an enemy?”

John got a playful mew as an answer once again. The Gamer sighed, looking at Toph. “Can you try to gather the boars in one place so we can loot them later? I’m going to go up and bring the fluffball down with me.”

Toph gave him a claw up, then rolled up and moved to the first boar, the vines retreating now that their targets had expired.

John looked around for a suitable tree to climb, finding a decently thick one not too far away. He made a small dash, jumped, and clamped his arms around the sides of the trunk, slowly but steadily climbing up to one of the branches. He marveled at how easy it was for him to do this all of a sudden. ‘Must be the Agility boost or something,’ he murmured when he pulled himself up to a rather thick branch.

Kneeling on top of the branch, he looked around, spotting the white fur of Jack on a branch three trees over. One foot at a time, John tried to move closer to Jack; **** not to lose his balance, he shook slightly. “Hmmm, you can do it, John, you can do it,” he kept repeating to himself. When he reached the next branch, taking a deep breath and wiping the sweat from his brow, Jack noticed him, mewing at him again, and promptly jumped onto the next branch, once again putting three trees between them.

“Jack, this isn’t funny!” John grumbled as he took a few more confident steps in Jacks direction. The leopard yawned, flicking his tail, then got up to move again.

John realized that Jack probably was not going to listen; the kitten seemed to be in a playful mood, even if he had just decided to get serious with the whole Abyss deal. Sighing, John decided that the worst that could happen was losing a bit of time and health, so he crouched on the branch and started moving faster, one hand below him, the other to his side to keep his balance.

With a few deft steps, John had once again just put two trees between him and Jack, the leopard in question seeming unimpressed as he got up to leave again. John, however, would have none of it, continuing his movements, almost falling a few times because he was speeding up, but before he reached Jack, a pop up appeared in front of him.

Skill earned: Wild Run level 1
A true hunter knows where to put his feet and where not to put his feet on instinct. The path of the hunt is an arduous one, and with this, you will make sure you won’t stumble on its first few steps.
Lets you instinctively know where you should place your hands and feet without tripping in the wilderness. Later levels will allow you to move and use your weapons without a penalty.

John grinned at Jack, his feet suddenly finding the right place to put his feet, breaking into a dash and scooping the leopard up without much trouble. “Well, you little rascal, I guess that was good for something at least, now let's go back to Toph.”

John firmly held the struggling kitten in one arm as he lowered himself from the branch with the other, realizing he had overlooked a second pop up.

Prestige skills unlocked: For earning x amount of skills with a certain common attribute, you will earn prestige skills. It depends on the attribute how many skills you need to unlock a skill.

Prestige skill earned: Stalker Steps
Attribute: Nature
Increases movement speed in wilderness by 10%

John grinned, ruffling Jack’s hair as his feet hit the ground, watching how Toph stacked the last boar onto the pile.