Looking at the fallen tree, which was thick enough to require at least three people to fully embrace it, Evan couldn’t understand how the single Wind Blade he had created by controlling the surrounding wind could be so powerful.
However, he soon got his answer when he suddenly began feeling dizzy.
Evan was very familiar with this feeling after his battle against the Forest Tiger, so he quickly checked his Mana and finally understood why the power of his Wind Blade had been so high.
---) Mana: 56/107
He had used about half of his Mana in a single attack.
Seeing his remaining Mana, Evan wasn’t happy in the slightest.
He immediately took out a Mana Potion from his Storage Ring and drank it. He then waited patiently until his Mana was fully restored.
Once his Mana had recovered, he once again created a Wind Blade and shot it toward another tree.
SWISH!
The Wind Blade struck the tree and cleanly cut it in half.
However, Evan’s eyes remained closed as though he was trying to figure something out.
After a while, he opened his eyes and let out a sigh.
"As expected, I can’t utilize most of my Mana because I can’t control it perfectly. If I can improve my Mana control, I should be able to use Wind Blade while consuming much less Mana."
When Evan created the Wind Blade, he had to use his Mana to control the surrounding wind.
However, because his control over Mana wasn’t perfect yet, a large portion of his Mana escaped his control and mixed with the World’s Mana.
As a result, he had to use much more Mana than necessary to control the surrounding wind and create a Wind Blade.
But it couldn’t be helped.
Although his affinity toward Mana was quite high, Evan had only started training his Mana control recently, and it would take some time before he could control his Mana freely.
Along with the Wind Monarch skill, Evan had also gained many insights into how to use it.
The Wind Blade he had just created was one of the insights he had gained from the skill itself.
The higher the rank of a skill, the more insights the user would receive from it.
Since Wind Monarch was already at the peak of Rank One, Level 5, it was normal for Evan to gain many ideas about how to utilize its power.
However, a skill could only provide its user with basic insights into its own abilities.
The rest depended on the user’s imagination and understanding.
Every skill was divided into different ranks.
From the lowest to the highest, they were:
Unranked Skill → Rank One Skill → Rank Two Skill → Rank Three Skill → and so on.
The higher the rank of a skill, the more powerful it would become, and the more ways it could be utilized.
Each ranked skill was further divided into five levels, from Level 1 to Level 5.
Evan’s Wind Monarch was currently a Rank One, Level 5 Skill.
If he fulfilled the necessary requirements and evolved it to the next rank, it would become a Rank Two, Level 1 Skill.
The higher the rank and level of a skill, the more powerful it would become.
However, evolving a skill to the next rank required fulfilling certain requirements.
These requirements could be seen on the user’s Status Screen, but they would only appear after the user had used the skill for a certain amount of time.
Since Evan had only obtained Wind Monarch recently, there was no need for him to check its evolution requirements.
He would have to use the skill for some time before the requirements became available anyway.
Furthermore, even if he evolved Wind Monarch to the next rank right now, he wouldn’t be able to display its full power.
His current level was only 7.
If he wanted to utilize the full potential of his skill, he had to start from the basics.
He needed to first learn how to use Wind Monarch perfectly at Rank One.
That way, when he eventually evolved it to Rank Two, he would be able to adapt to its increased power much more easily.
Normally, people obtained a Rank One, Level 1 Skill as their first Active Skill.
Some people even obtained an Unranked Active Skill.
They would then gradually learn how to use their skill, increase its level, and eventually evolve it to a higher rank.
But Evan was different.
His first Active Skill was already a Rank One, Level 5 Skill.
Therefore, he wasn’t in any hurry to increase its level.
Instead, he first wanted to improve his Mana control so that he could utilize Wind Monarch’s power more efficiently.
After thinking for a while, Evan decided to leave the Dark Forest, camp somewhere outside, and focus on training his Mana control.
Improving his Mana control was only one reason for leaving.
The other reason was his physical condition.
His body hadn’t completely recovered yet.
His legs were still injured, and even with his increased stat points, it would require at least two more days to fully recover.
Not to mention, his shoulder was also injured by the Forest Tiger’s final attack.
Therefore, Evan decided to temporarily stop hunting and leave the forest.
After making his decision, he climbed down from the tree and began walking toward the exit of the Dark Forest.
Because his legs hadn’t fully recovered, he walked slowly to avoid worsening his injuries.
With his current speed, he estimated it would take him at least three hours to leave the forest and reach the outside.
And if he encountered a magical beast along the way, it could take even longer.
"I just hope I don’t encounter another magical beast like that Forest Tiger. Even if I can win, my injuries will only get worse."
Evan muttered to himself as he carefully continued toward the exit.
After walking for nearly two hours, Evan suddenly noticed a monster ahead of him.
At first, he considered changing his route.
However, after checking its level, he decided there was no need.
---) Sky Eagle — Level 9
The Sky Eagle was a flying-type magical beast that had evolved from an ordinary eagle.
It was around one meter in size and had deep-yellow eyes and black feathers. Its wings stretched nearly two meters from end to end.
Like ordinary eagles, Sky Eagles possessed incredibly sharp eyesight, allowing them to spot their prey from extremely high altitudes, and their flying speed was also extremely fast.
If Evan hadn’t obtained the Wind Monarch skill, he wouldn’t have had the confidence to provoke such a flying magical beast.
However, things were different now.
He slowly walked toward the Sky Eagle.
Because of its sharp eyesight, the eagle had already noticed him long ago and was staring at him from a distance.
When Evan was only around one hundred meters away, the Sky Eagle suddenly spread its wings.
WHOOSH!
It shot toward him at incredible speed.
Evan simply stood there and watched as the Sky Eagle rapidly approached.
Just as the eagle was about to reach him, Evan’s eyes gleamed with green light, and he muttered in a low voice,
"Wind Blade."
The surrounding wind suddenly gathered in front of him at astonishing speed, and within a second, a sharp blade made entirely of wind appeared in the air and shot toward the Sky Eagle.
Because the Sky Eagle was flying toward Evan at its maximum speed and the Wind Blade itself was also extremely fast, the eagle didn’t have enough time to evade.
SWISH!
The Wind Blade passed straight through its body and continued moving forward.
The Sky Eagle flew for a few more meters before suddenly stopping in midair.
A thin red line appeared across the middle of its body and the next second, its body was cleanly split into two halves.