Chapter 94: The Day of Marriage Ceremony

Eren wasn’t hunting today.

Emily had told him at dawn that the ceremony was set for tonight and that the men of the village were handling something near the clearing. She wouldn’t explain what. She just kissed him on the jaw and pushed him toward the front door with both hands on his back.

“Go. Be with the others. Don’t come back until sunset.”

“What about the south barricade? I was going to-”

“Thadric and Toris are handling it. You’re not touching a single log today mister.” She smiled but he could tell she wasn’t asking. “It’s bad luck to work on the day of a bonding. You’ll understand tonight.”

He left the house barefoot because the morning air was warm enough and his feet barely noticed rough ground anymore. His stats at 54 base made walking on gravel feel like walking on carpet.

Rosa was already outside sitting on the garden wall with her notebook. She looked up when he came out. “You look confused.”

“Emily kicked me out of my own house.”

Rosa smiled. “Good. I’m not going near whatever they’re setting up either.” She hopped off the wall and fell into step next to him. “Mel said there’s a group going to the north clearing for some kind of bachelor thing. She wasn’t sure what to call it in English.”

“Did she say bachelor?”

“She said ’the thing the men do before the blood night.’ I translated.”

Eren snorted. Blood night. That sounds way more intense than it probably is. Or exactly as intense. With elves you never know.

They found Thadric, Toris and four other village men at the north clearing past the slime field. Somebody had set up a fire pit and Toris was already cracking open a jug of something amber colored that smelled like it could strip paint.

Thadric waved them over. He was sitting on a log he’d dragged into a circle with the others and he was trying to look relaxed but his knee was bouncing. “Eren. Big day.”

“Apparently.”

“It’s tradition for the men to spend the morning with the groom. Nothing complicated. We eat, we drink a little and we tell stories about our worst mistakes with women so you feel better about whatever mistakes you’re going to make tonight.”

Toris grinned and poured Eren a cup. “I’ll start. Third year of my marriage I forgot our anniversary and my wife made me sleep in the goat pen for a week.”

“You don’t have goats.”

“I did then. She sold them after the divorce.”

The other men laughed and Rosa sat down at the edge of the circle with her notebook. She couldn’t follow most of the Elvish but Eren translated the funny parts and she laughed at the right moments.

Eren drank whatever Toris gave him and it burned all the way down like rubbing alcohol that someone had tried to mask with apple juice. His Endurance stat processed the alcohol faster than he could enjoy it but the warmth in his chest was nice.

About an hour in he checked his stats at the totem through his system panel. Level 42 and the experience bar was sitting at maybe 95 percent. Almost full. He was right at the edge of leveling up and he could feel it in his body like a battery at maximum charge waiting for one more push.

He looked at the slime field. Three green blobs were wobbling around near the pond where Rosa usually trained. He jogged over, grabbed two of them with his bare hands and crushed them like water balloons. Green slime splattered across his arms and chest.

Nothing. No notification. No energy gained.

He killed the third one with a kick that sent the thing flying apart across three meters of grass.

Still nothing.

Slimes don’t give me anything anymore. I’m too high level for these things to count.

He wiped the green stuff off his chest and looked southeast toward the deeper forest. Something in his body was pulling him that direction like a compass needle. The same instinct that told him where strong creatures were hiding.

“I’ll be back in thirty minutes.” He told Rosa.

She looked at him with her arms crossed. “You’re going hunting on your wedding day.”

“I’m going running. If something happens to be in my way that’s not my fault.”

Rosa shook her head but she was smiling. “Thirty minutes. Thadric’s going to tell a story about his first crush and I need you here to translate.”

Eren took off running southeast and within two minutes the village disappeared behind the trees. His speed at 54 Agility plus the Breezy Ring was insane. He covered ground faster than any car in city traffic and the forest blurred past him like he was watching it from a train window.

About three kilometers out he heard fighting.

Something heavy was crashing through the undergrowth and snarling mixed with the high pitched yelps of smaller animals. He slowed down and activated Wolf Eyes.

Through the dense ferns he saw it. A creature that looked like someone had crossed a grizzly bear with a hippo and then dunked it in river water. Massive, gray skinned, with a flat wide head and jaws that could probably bite through a tree trunk. It was standing in a muddy creek bed fighting four wild wolves that were circling it and darting in to bite at its legs.

Both sides were bleeding. The water-bear thing had deep gashes across its side where wolf teeth had torn the skin open and one of the wolves was limping badly with a crushed front paw. They’d been fighting for a while.

I’m not going to find a better target than this walking back home.

The creature was at least Level 30 based on how his instincts were reading it. The wolves were probably low 20s. None of them were a real threat to him at Level 42 with stats over 54 but they were perfect targets for pushing over that last sliver of experience.

He drew both scimitars and came in fast.

The first wolf didn’t even see him. He crossed the distance in two steps and cut it from shoulder to hip in one swing. The second wolf spun toward the noise and got a scimitar through the throat before it finished turning.

The water-bear noticed him now. It roared and the sound was like a foghorn mixed with rocks grinding together. It charged straight at him, all four legs churning through the mud and its open mouth showing rows of flat crushing teeth the size of Eren’s thumb.

Eren sidestepped. The thing was fast for its size but fast for its size still meant slow compared to a half-elf with 65 Agility after ring bonus. He let it pass, turned and drove both blades into the back of its neck where the skull met the spine.

The creature screamed and tried to shake him off but Eren’s Strength was enough to keep his blades buried. He twisted them sideways and felt the crunch of something important separating inside. The water-bear’s legs buckled and it went down face first into the mud.

The remaining two wolves decided running was smarter than fighting whatever had just killed their pack mate and the giant in three seconds. They disappeared into the ferns.

No you don’t.

He caught the limping one first because it couldn’t run fast enough. The fourth one made it about fifty meters before Eren’s thrown scimitar caught it in the back and pinned it to a tree trunk.

He pulled the blade out and cleaned both weapons on the grass.

[You gained 100% energy of Mud Ursid (Level 33)]

[You gained 100% energy of Feral Wolf (Level 19)]

[You gained 100% energy of Feral Wolf (Level 21)]

[You gained 100% energy of Feral Wolf (Level 22)]

[You gained 100% energy of Feral Wolf (Level 18)]

[Congratulations! You have reached Level 43]

[All stats are +1]

The rush hit him like a wave of warm water starting from his chest and spreading out to his fingers and toes. Every muscle in his body tightened and released and for a second his vision sharpened to the point where he could count individual leaves on trees fifty meters away.

He opened his stat panel.

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