Aaron woke up with a yawn. He did sleep well last night and felt fully awake now and ready for the day even without a sip of coffee. He crawled out of his tent into darkest night. But when he looked towards the distant horizon he could see the fake sun start to illuminate the sky and turn it a beautiful dark blue color instead of the black of night. It must have only been a few hours he had slept, but he was still fully rested. Not feeling tired or physically exhausted no matter what he did was strange. It did not register as anything but normal, but he realized sometimes that this was definitively superhuman. He had slept maybe four hours and he felt as rested as if he had slept for a week. His metabolism, his senses, his whole body was enhanced. He did not get cold or hot easily anymore and his skin and muscles underneath were far tougher than they should have been without loosing any suppleness or restricting his movements. Not to speak of his bones, who were he guessed hard enough to block steel without issue. But these were only the most obvious improvements compared to a normal human. His mind was just as improved, but only indirectly by not being burdened by some things like fatigue. But he realized that there must be more going on with his brain, just because it had to sort through sensory impressions a human brain had not been built for. Even with all of that he still felt like himself.

But while he walked through his camp that was still in absolute darkness and got ready for another day he also realized that the him now and the him from when he had started this journey through the tower were very different people. Aaron back then had been conflicted, his body and his mind locked in a permanent contest for superiority. The constant change enforced by the cultivation techniques had worked on him, had slowly molded him into the person he was now. But there were parts of him that were unchanged. His moral compass, his code of conduct for who to kill and who to spare. Some fundamental things had never changed. Everything else had though.

There was a new dimension to him. Emotion was prevalent in anything he was doing now. It was completely normal to have joy in mundane things now, which was not something that had ever happened to Aaron on Earth. His emotions felt in retrospect muted, or even atrophied. Now he could look up into the fake sky, see stars glitter and know it was fake, see the flaws in the facade and still find it beautiful. That last part was new and Aaron was not sure where it had come from. Appreciating beauty. Somewhere along the way he had stopped asking himself if it was him feeling things or if it was the techniques influencing him. He had simply accepted things as they are and moved on, trying to do the best he could.

The Harmonic state was, Aaron suspected, the result of this acceptance. He had accepted himself, had accepted the changes and embraced them. It felt like he had been rewarded with a new state of things because he had done that. Perfect Harmony was such a strange concept to him, but it had felt exactly like that. Like he had been made to be in that state. Aaron guessed there was much more to Cultivation than what he was realizing right now. That the change to him was far more fundamental than he realized. He had worked on his Cultivation ever since he had come to the tower and yet he felt like he had barely scratched the surface of it.

Aaron stopped in the absolute darkness, that yielded to his eyes without issue turning the scenery around his camp into a multitude of grays. He observed the surroundings, let his ears and nose tell him of anything that had happened or was lurking nearby. But besides some bugs there had been no life at all close to the camp and the only smell standing out was the scent of blood from the antelope he had killed yesterday. Satisfied he was safe for now he started with his morning routine by stretching. It felt good to move, to bend his body to its limits and his body, although limber and strong, needed these constant reminders to be perfectly flexible. The two katas followed as he tried his hardest to concentrate and make the execution of the katas as perfect as he could manage it. He consulted the Unceasing Palm core now and then and yet he made the training light today. He would be fighting magical beasts in a bit after all, so he wanted to be warmed up, but ready for that.

When he was done he forced himself to slow down and not rush out into the grasslands and meditated to cultivate. He used manastones this time and it felt like trying to suck water from a rock. Almost impossible. Having to cut his hand and let the mana from the manastones mingle with his blood to get it to absorb was tedious and the pain agonizing. Beastcores were so much better, more potent and had no limit to them. Aaron reached the limit for the manastones rather quickly, much to his disgust and when he was done cultivating it was barely enough light out for animals to start their day.

Aaron checked over his equipment and found everything in perfect order. He got back into his armor that had survived yesterdays fights without much damage. It had barely dried in the rather cool night and so some of it was still wet when he put the outfit back on. Whatever, it would dry. He went over his equipment once more and then made himself a quick breakfast made out of half a dozen steaks he cut out of the antelope he had hunted yesterday. The meat sizzled over the magical fire and Aaron made each steak with a different mixture of spices until he found one that fit the meat perfectly.

It was savory and fragrant, had a subtle spice to it that hit his taste buds when he first bit into the perfectly cooked soft steak. When he bit down the meat oozed juices that filled his mouth and he sighed in pleasure. It tasted not quite like beef but beef was the most similar kind of flavor he could think of. When chewing the spice mixed with the flavor of the meat and then the aftertaste brought another hit of spice with it. It was absolutely delicious and Aaron soon found the perfect ratio for the spices and the perfect cooking time.

Dawn had broken when he cleaned up and left the foothills behind him. He was feeling good, almost euphoric from eating such a delicious meal. Again something he did not think his past self would have even understood. Food had been food for Aaron in the past. But now, with his sense of taste enhanced and with him being always hungry, delicious food was one of his most favorite things in the world.

When he entered the grassland he pushed those thoughts aside. He had to focus and if the hyenas were anything like the lizards this would be much more dangerous and difficult than he had expected. But at first Aaron did not sense any of the predators anywhere near him. The only animals that were close by were antelopes grazing, sleeping or drinking from a small stream marking the border between lizard and hyena territory.

Confused by the lack of any predators beyond the river Aaron jumped deeper into the hyena territory. Whenever he was above the grass he confirmed his position from his angle to the giant mountain in the center of the floor and the foothills to his right. He was going in an angle deeper into the hyena territory and he smelled their tracks everywhere. But they were old, from yesterday, not today and nothing during the night. Which was curious. Did the hyenas not hunt at night? But he had a suspicion where the Hyenas could be.

Aaron looked in the direction of the giant lonely mountain in the distance and it did not take long for him to hear yips and yaps and the sound of paws hitting the earth. He could literally watch as the Hyena packs repopulated the savanna. They moved together and from a distance it looked like a wave of predators filling the whole savanna churning up the sea of grass. This return to the mountain at night, which Aaron guessed was one giant hyena nest, was also a hunting strategy it looked like. A very efficient one.

Herds of antelopes who had been displaced or disturbed by the lion beasts or by the lizards fled into the central area over night only to be expertly divided and corralled into manageable numbers for the hyenas to feast on at dawn. The smell of fresh blood and the sweat of fear was prevalent in the central savanna very quickly and Aaron hesitated a bit and let a bunch of groups of Hyenas pass. Their noses did not pick up on him because Aaron had properly cleaned himself and his clothes smelled like nothing after he was done with them. He had a better nose than these predators and that meant he was invisible to them. Good eyes did matter less in the savanna, but the sense of smell and good hearing was obviously very important.

Aaron waited until he was not surrounded anymore and then selected one of the packs of Hyenas that had just killed an antelope or two and were feasting. Time to test their mettle.

Aaron ensured he could accurately pin point their numbers and locations before he dove out of the grass and crashed into the closest Hyena. To his surprise the Hyena pack had set up sentries, guarding the surrounding savanna while the rest of the pack ate. That was very sensible and smart, but also left some of their numbers isolated. Perfect for Aaron to get a sense of their strength and weaknesses individually.

The Hyena had dark fur that went shaggy towards their spines and they had vertical stripes in slightly more blonde fur that was probably part of their camouflage. In the shadow of the giant grass they were actually concealed pretty well. Their ears were round and their snouts triangular. Giant canines jutted out of its maw and it yelped when Aaron crashed into its sides. The Hyena was tough, durable and big. The size of a horse, not a gigantic horse, but a medium sized one. Still plenty big for a big predator. Aaron's punches cracked ribs as he worked on the surprised Hyena and yet, it was not going down easily. It scrambled away from him as quickly as it could and when Aaron jumped after it. He had trouble to follow its wild maneuvers. These Hyenas were very agile and could turn on a dime.

But Aaron could turn mid leap and so he caught up with the Hyena fleeing back to its pack and smashed its head into the ground, making it crash and tumble over itself with a pained howl. The rest of the pack paused from its meal and the sentries charged Aaron. They two closest sentries turned, lowered their heads, bared their teeth and then they charged. Aaron evaded the first charge and let them pass him by, while he smashed the first Hyena's head into the ground a second time and finally killed it, the kinetic force behind his punches liquefying the beast's brains.

The rest of the pack was coming closer with wild yaps and angry growls. The two sentries had stopped attacking after their charge failed and eyed him warily. Him killing one of their pack had given them pause. But as soon as the bulk of the group came close they charged again.

Aaron observed the pack, studied how they moved together, listened to their communication and quickly found that these packs were lead by an alpha Hyena that was just a bit bigger than the others. But not by too much and the alpha looked exactly like any of the other Hyenas. There were also adolescent Hyenas in the pack, smaller, more shaggy versions that seemed just as eager to hunt and kill as their grown up counterparts.

Aaron charged one of the sentries and caught it mid jump, his arm reinforced as he smashed it into the giant hyenas head. There was an audible crunch and a half destroyed snout sprayed blood at the surrounding grass turning it crimson as the hyena slumped to the ground. Aaron's whole arm hurt from the crash, but the whole purpose of this was to limit test and study these things.

The first thing that really stood out to Aaron was the coordination and the adaptability of the pack. When the pack or the alpha saw what Aaron did to isolated hyenas it yapped and suddenly all of the hyenas attacked in small groups of two or three. They came from all sides, running at him or around him without giving Aaron time to do anything but defend himself. Two of the hyenas were much more difficult to avoid. When he dodged both of their jaws and turned to attack, another duo came from his right jumping at him. Their claws raised, their maws open. Aaron punched one of the offending hyenas who had come too close out of the air. He smashed its jaw upwards with a mighty uppercut leaving the Hyena dazed and unable to fight.

He quickly moved away from the incapacitated hyena as its partner jumped over its fallen comrade to bite and swipe and attack Aaron for the entire time it took for the next group to take over the attack. The Hyenas were relentless and they just kept coming. There were enough of them to make it work and they encircled him in a heartbeat. It was difficult to pinpoint and kill any of them because they were so tough and worked together seamlessly. Injured Hyenas stayed back while the pack continued to attack, not allowing Aaron any more easy kills. Aaron flickered in and out of combat, time slowing in his perception, as he used the Unceasing Palm kata to defend and reposition himself. There was not much time to think in combat, but his senses were still as alert and he finally noticed something significant.

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The Hyena alpha had a distinct scent none of the others had. It stood back and studied and delegated its pack like a conductor guided an orchestra with quick harsh yaps and Aaron quickly saw how ordinary groups of climbers would die to these predators. But he was not them. Aaron jumped with wind steps over a group of Hyenas charging at him and charged the alpha instead, pushing off the head of a Hyena before he was upon the alpha.

The alpha bared its teeth and his small honor guard attacked Aaron from all sides, their teeth snapping, claws biting into each other as Aaron punched and defended himself. He kept on the alpha and the coordination of the pack disappeared. Where they had been able to coordinate before to attack him from all sides without giving him any respite, now they left huge gaps in their coordinated attacks that gave Aaron plenty of time to pursue the alpha.

The alpha fought ferociously, it used its claws and its maw with an agility that defied its monstrous size. Each of the Hyeanas were agile and capable of moving in and out of combat quickly, but the alpha was even more agile. It bit at Aaron, turned mid leap to swipe at him with a claw, stomped the earth with its hind legs and jumped him again. Up close the honor guard of hyenas were all coming at him with everything they had. Their ferocity was quite something, even when Aaron injured or killed some of them.

The problem was that he did not have time to fight them all at the same time. He could only fight a few of the honor guard and then move on to the alpha. But that gave the alpha time enough to assess the situation and coordinate its pack. During one of these pauses as Aaron was punching one of the honor guard to death, the alpha howled and then turned and ran.

Aaron was surprised to see the raging beasts he had fought just a moment ago all turn away from him and run. They split and scattered in all directions running frantically dodging left and right as they ducked in between the huge grass stalks surrounding them. For a moment Aaron considered chasing them, but for now he wanted to check out the kills he had made and continue with his study. Killing one of the alphas could come later.

With all of the hyenas gone in an instant Aaron searched for the beastcore in the closest hyena. He found one, much to his delight. But it was a small marble sized core, nothing like the gigantic core he had pried out of the dead behemoth. The cores of the hyenas were inside of their heads or chests he found out. They either were similar to the lizards directly in the nape of their neck or in their chests close to their heart. Depending on where the core was they had different colors and were a different shape. Heartcores were more oval and usually had darker colors. The cores close to their neck had a brighter color and Aaron could feel some elemental magic from those cores now and then.

Aaron got all the cores from the hyenas he had killed and ended up with 5, two dark brown and dark red heartcores that were slightly oval and felt like the earth and three cores from their head. Those cores were perfectly round and Aaron felt heat radiating from one of the cores while the others felt more like water to his mana senses. This was interesting. Maybe the Hyenas did have some abilities related to these elemental charges?

With every single Hyena having a beastcore they became instantly his newest target to hunt. Although the cores were all inferior in quality, barely more than a protocore, they were true cores and he would see later how valuable they would be to his cultivation.

Aaron paused when he noticed something odd. There had been packs of Hyenas all around him, going on with their business, hunting, laying around, waiting in ambush or play fighting. These normal animal like behavior had stopped entirely. Aaron stretched out his senses and found the hyenas stalking closer from all sides. But this was not just one hyena pack, there was suddenly a concentric ring of hyenas all around Aaron. He scented the air and smelled three, no five alphas from their distinct scent and there were more joining this siege by the moment.

The first Hyena charged Aaron just moments later. But it was not alone. Five others charged with it and attacked him from all sides. Aaron dodged to the side, punched one of the Hyenas in the gut before he had to dodge a new charge. Like a wave of flesh the Hyenas came for him, there were hundreds of them now and the alphas stood back, coordinating their packs with yips and howls. Within a minute he was getting swarmed by the hyenas who formed almost a solid wall of claws teeth and anger around him.

So this was why the Hyenas were so difficult to hunt. They worked together even among rivals. Even for Aaron and the unceasing palm kata this was too much. Their coordinated assault put him on the defensive permanently. He even had to jump out of an encirclement once, then twice and then Aaron was basically running away.

The toughness of the Hyenas made it certain that he could not instantly kill one of them and those who were hurt by Aaron would be pushed aside by the sheer mass of other hyenas coming for him. Aaron jumped away with a wind step empowered leap and stepped on grass while he dodged one hyena leaping at him from the crowd after another. The whole giant pack started to move with him. They charged at full speed alongside with him in any direction he went and they surrounded Aaron again in moments.

Aaron smirked and increased his leaps, charged further and left the hyenas behind him within four far leaps they could not hope to cover. He still fled from the combined assault team and ran for ten minutes until he was in a quieter part of the savanna, where the hyenas were not agitated.

So what had he learned? The Hyenas were good to hunt if he was capable of killing them quickly. But if he gave them time to coordinate they would overwhelm him with sheer numbers. It was not dangerous though, because Aaron could outrun them and they did not seem to have any magical abilities like the behemoths, which made this a much easier training ground. Just not the greatest hunting ground.

But maybe there was a way to slow down the coordination. If he was able to assassinate one of the alphas he was not sure how the pack would behave. Would they go after him, or flee and if they fled would they call upon the other packs to hunt him or was that something the alphas did? It was certainly worth an attempt to answer those questions.

Aaron moved slowly through the grass, while he stalked a hyena pack. He chose this one because it was rather isolated and had just eaten three entire antelopes, the scent of blood was prevalent in the air and the pack had defended their kill from another group of hyenas with growls and yips until the other group had left to go after easier pray. So there was definitively some rivalry going on, but they would work together against a common enemy. Unless of course Aaron was able to stop them from coordinating.

When the time was right Aaron leapt out of the grass, holding up his wristband while he soared through the air. He unleashed the bolt of lighting on the alpha, scorching the surprised Hyena in the neck. It yowled in pain and Aaron was on it in the next moment. He sunk his enchanted dagger into the scorched wound and then cut sideways, tearing the tough flesh apart. The alpha died on the spot, overwhelmed by the combined assault of magic and enchanted blade. The other hyenas charged him a moment later, their sounds angry and their attacks ruthless. But they lacked the coordination the alpha gave a group. Some of the hyenas also ran away, so it was a mixed bag. Aaron defended himself, slapped a paw aside and punched upwards with his enchanted dagger, killing the hyena before he moved on to the next one. He tore through the remaining pack like a vengeful ghost. Untouchable and with his full offensive capabilities unleashed he killed quickly and efficiently. Liberal use of the lightning bolt and the enchanted dagger made short work of 7 hyenas before the rest fled. More than half of the hyenas had fled, but that was fine.

Aaron returned to the carcass of the alpha and cut out the core. It was significantly bigger than the normal cores and of a higher grade Aaron guessed. When all was said and done, he had 8 new cores, which was a bountiful harvest. But as he had feared and expected the packs around him were converging just like before and they started to hunt Aaron with overwhelming numbers. The reaction was instant and even the pack this one had sent away after their little altercation over food earlier returned side by side with the remnants of the pack. This must be a natural response to any predators attacking them. Which meant unless Aaron was willing to face hundreds of them he was out of luck and had to change his approach from straight up fighting to hit and run raids.

Aaron leapt away with his bounty and escaped the forming encirclement rather easily. The Hyenas followed him for a while though because he reeked of blood. But they soon lost the trail when Aaron accelerated and charged towards a nearby river to wash the blood off. In his hurry he had to basically do a belly flop, washed the blood of his clothes in a hurry and then moved on. He did not want to linger and wash himself properly only to be surrounded by a hundred angry hyenas.

When he was sure he had escaped Aaron fished the alpha core out of his pockets and studied it. It was a heartcore and looked like a smooth dark oval jewel. It felt like the earth itself in his fingers and Aaron reminded himself not to get complacent just because none of the Hyenas had used any magic so far. These cores clearly indicated that some must be able to do so. Maybe the alphas were the only ones who could use some sort of magic?

He had to fight more of the hyenas to find out. But in terms of beastcores the hyenas were a really good hunting target. Training wise it would be difficult, because at some point they would overwhelm him or flee, especially if they called for reinforcements.

Over the next few hours Aaron moved through the savanna ambushing packs of hyenas one after another, killing a few, more if he was able to take out the alpha, and then he moved on. He gathered more and more cores and got slowly used to fighting the hyenas. Their speed and maneuverability had its limits and soon Aaron was able to defend himself and find small gaps in the hyenas offense to punch back. Most packs he faced were the same, one alpha either female or male, that did apparently not matter, just how strong their core was and more than 20 hyenas that were in various stages of adulthood. He never saw any babies, just older juveniles and so Aaron guessed the giant rock in the center of the floor was where they reared their young.

Aaron stuck to the river towards the lizard territory and because water is important for all animals it was a very frequented area by predators and prey alike. But the hyenas avoided crossing over into lizard territory and vice versa, so Aaron could escape in that direction easily because once the inevitable response by surrounding packs got too much to fight. The closer he got to hyena rock during his hunting expedition of hit and run raids, the stronger the alphas and the larger groups in total became. One of the alphas even used magic. But Aaron was prepared for it and he sensed the build up of magic in the creature before it unleashed a wave of electricity to stun Aaron. But Aaron just vaulted over the wave of electricity and pummeled the alpha. The magic hyenas did not have the increased strength or agility of the other hyenas and Aaron guessed it had to do with the core they possessed.

But the response from the surrounding groups further down into the savanna was also quicker and more ferocious. Even though Aaron had grown used to fighting hyenas over the day, there was still a critical mass he could simply not fight without serious risk of injury. So Aaron stayed safe, retreated frequently and took few risks. He hunted the predators slowly, killed plenty of them in each attack even without using his dagger and reaped the rewards for it.

When the sun set and the hyenas began retreating towards their nest Aaron had almost 50 beastcores in his new collection. Four of them were alpha cores. Aaron retreated to his camp as well, hunting two antelopes close to home to feast upon.

While he was butchering the meat he thought seriously about what he had learned. First the hyenas became more dangerous the closer he got to that rock, second, ambushing alphas was the way to fight these packs. Third he could train on them, but only for a limited amount of time and if he traded kills for experience. Which was not ideal.

Aaron simply did not have a weapon to kill these strong, tough beasts easily. Sure, he could use the enchanted dagger, but that felt like cheating himself. He was here to train, to farm for cores, yes, but to train primarily. So the better option was to learn the third Heavenly kata. The Piercing finger did sound offensive and with a completed triplet he would be strong enough to go up to Ambition apparently. But he did not want to be hasty. If the technique really used Qi it would slow down his progress by a lot. So until he had scouted out the entire floor he was apprehensive to commit to learning and using the kata.

When he was done butchering, he went through stretches and the two katas slowly before he washed himself thoroughly. It was pure bliss to remove all the grime and blood from his armor, his hair and his skin. The alchemical solution he had gotten to wash his clothes was amazing too, removing any stains like magic. He had a few rips and tears in his leather armor from where he had been grazed by the hyenas during his day fighting, but it was still more than intact.

With his chores done Aaron cooked up a feast for himself, eating his way through his body weight in meat in the shine of his manastone stove. Variety was the spice of life. Just eating steaks was not cutting it anymore and Aaron made himself some flatbread to have something to add to the meat. Then he prepared a stew with the biggest pot he had and let some meat simmer down slowly on the bone for the night. Only when he was sated and felt ready he settled down to cultivate.

Calming his mind he set the bag with beastcores on his lap. The first core, an ordinary heartcore was placed in the center of his palm and Aaron let his senses collapse in on themselves, ignoring the soft noise of the fire and the gentle bubbling of the stew. His breathing slowed and then vanished from his perception as background noise. Only when he arrived at the place of perfect tranquility and sensory deprivation he started to pull on the beastcore. Qi rushed into his veins, flowed smoothly into his cycling pattern before being deposited in his dantian. The Flow was steady and the core bountiful compared to manastones. But it was nothing compared to the core of the behemoth. It was at least 50 times weaker, or more.

Aaron burned through one core after another, absorbing their power as he cultivated steadily, filling his body and dantian with more and more Qi. He paused only slightly when he got to an alpha core, which was much stronger and larger than the normal hyena cores. It lasted longer and put out purer Qi. His body, sated and fed added to the influx of energy and the entire experience turned into a rush. A never ceasing flow of energy that made Aaron more.

When he had absorbed the last beastcore hours later he had filled his dantian by around 8%, which was significantly less than the amount of Qi he had gathered from the single behemoth core. But it had been much easier and safer to gather these cores, so Aaron considered that a win.

With his dantian half full now, Aaron was satisfied with his progress and went to bed. Tomorrow he would tackle the wildcats he had spotted a couple of times while hunting towards the right side of the hyenas territory. The giant cats looked quite strong, but since the groups of the tower preferred to challenge them, Aaron was sure they would not be that bad. Either way he would see tomorrow if he was right or not.

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