Chapter 8: Just Perfect

Erian lay on the ground for quite a while, looking up as his breathing slowly returned to a normal rate and his heart no longer felt like popping out.

Of course, he had his absolute view activated to prevent getting cornered by another intermediate-tier beast.

"If that really happens then it will just be my day." He muttered before turning to the dead beast.

With enough of his strength recovered now, he slowly got up on his feet before moving a little closer to the beast.

Grabbing the dagger by its hilt, he pulled it out of the snake with a bit more than a little effort required.

He stared at the dagger now that it was back in his possession, the expression on his face one of intrigue.

'Even the daggers mom gave me don't seem to hold out much under pressure like that. What exactly is this dagger made of?' He pondered.

Unable to figure that out, he opened a portal and threw the dagger in before turning back to the snake.

Now lifeless, it no longer posed any threat to him as he slowly placed his hand on its head.

"My first intermediate beast core." He smiled as he released some mana from his body into the beast.

The beast's body suddenly received a blue glow corresponding to the colour of its aura when it was still alive.

Once its whole body was covered by the blue aura, they slowly began to gather together, condensing into one form and finally forming a spherical blue crystal about the size of Erian's hand.

The smile on his face now wider, he grabbed the crystal with both hands and placed it into a portal.

"Mom is surely going to be…."

He wasn't able to finish that statement as his gaze fell to his white tunic.

It was covered in blood even more so than the one he was wearing yesterday.

"No, she's going to kill me."

________ ________

With noon slowly approaching, the sun was at its peak and in the absence of heavy clouds, it shone brightly, illuminating everything and elevating the mood of the people of the Estero, especially the farmers.

Sitting outside the house with the cover of the roof on the front porch, Luna was whistling happily as she mended the tears on her son's clothes with the needle in her hand.

"Why isn't he back yet?" She muttered before turning toward the right.

For the errand of finding firewood, Erian had been gone for almost four hours and she was starting to get worried.

Dropping the cloth, she was holding inside the basket on her right along with the needle in it; she slowly stepped down from the front porch.

"Hmmm." She sighed as she stared off into the distance in the direction of the forest.

'Did he run into trouble?' She thought before opening her hand to reveal a pendant with a special gemstone

The gemstone was special because it was glowing but not with one colour. One half was glowing green and the other half yellow.

"He's okay though." She muttered, staring at the green half of the gemstone.

With that said, she turned the gemstone to the yellow side.

"You're also still okay."

'I should probably go look for him.'

Just as she took a step forward, she spotted Erian from a distance as he seemed to have entered her field of vision.

However, instead of a smile at seeing her son return safely, a gasp escaped from her lips.

"Erian."

Seeing his clothes covered in blood, she didn't rush to him and just stood in front of the house waiting for him.

It didn't take long for Erian to get to his mother, and now standing in front of her, he couldn't bring himself to look at her.

She wasn't strict with him when it came to a lot of things but when it came to his cleanliness, one could say she was even more strict with that than his training.

He was expecting a very stern scolding seeing how his clothes were covered in blood.

However, to his surprise, she pulled him closer, getting down on her knees to wrap her arms around him.

"Mom?" He muttered in awe.

"What did you encounter there?"

Her voice was shaky like she was about to cry, and it didn't take long before tears began to form in her eyes.

"You're not hurt are you?"

She pulled away from the hug to quickly examine his body as she patted almost every corner of it while also looking for injuries with her eyes.

To Erian, his mother was sweet, kind and very warm, like the sun, but at the same time, she was also strong and resilient, never giving in to anything.

He had never seen her cry before so he was a bit taken aback as he watched tears roll down her eyes as she worriedly checked if he was hurt.

"Mmm-mm, Mom." He shook his head. "I'm okay."

"Mmm, you're okay." She nodded with a smile before pulling him closer into her arms.

She looked up with a smile as he gently patted his head.

Erian couldn't contain the explosive joy he was feeling at that moment as they were boldly written on his face.

Now able to calm down, Luna took a deep breath before slowly letting go of him.

"Now, tell me, what happened to you?" She asked, this time with a calm voice.

"Ugh…..I think I entered a place I shouldn't have and encountered an intermediate-tier beast." He revealed, scratching the back of his head.

"What?" Luna retorted, the panic in her voice quite evident. "You met an intermediate-tier beast?"

"Yes." He nodded. "But luckily it wasn't impossible to handle it."

He opened a portal just after saying that and pulled out the blue crystal to show her.

"Here."

She found it hard to believe that her seven-year-old son actually took down an intermediate-tier beast, and staring at the crystal now, she was in an even greater state of awe.

She stared at the crystal for a while before turning to him.

She smiled, but this time there was some sort of awkwardness to her smile.

"And I'm guessing the blood on your clothes is from the beast?"

"Yes." Erian nodded.

'If he was able to take it down then it must not be a highly offensive beast.' She said inwardly before slowly placing her hand on the crystal.

Releasing a bit of her mana into the crystal, an image of the snake was made available to her in her mind.

"Binding serpent." She gasped.

"Huh?" Erian responded.

'Although known to strike mostly from the shadows, restricting their prey with their binding vines first, they are not any weaker in one-on-one confrontations. It's just that the former is more convenient.'

With that thought in her mind, she turned to Erian this time with a warm smile.

"This boy."

'I was going to give him something of basic tier first but it looks like he just earned himself one of intermediate tier. The beast also has a restricting ability which is just perfect for him.'