"Alvi, are you sure you can handle this," an old man with a bulky frame wearing a black beast armor asked the boy who was crouching behind a large tree with a serious look on his face.
"Grandpa John, I have been trailing it for the past few days, it will surely come here," the black haired boy said with a sharp glint in his eyes.
He looked to be around sixteen years old, with a tall build, shoulder length hair and a chiselled face. His eyes were purple in colour and there was a black hoop earring on his left ear which was similar to the old man who spoke earlier.
In his hand the boy held a hunting bow and there was a quiver containing dozens of arrows on his back. He was also wearing a wolf skin armor along with a pair of daggers attached to his waist.
The old man hesitated for a moment and said, "Boy, although this is a Mortal Realm beast, it is still as powerful as a first stage Ascendent Realm magic beast, maybe we should look for some other beast with slightly lesser cultivation level."
Alvin turned around and frowned at the old man, "If you are afraid you can leave, just do not forget to refund the ten mortal essence coins I paid at the guild for your service."
The old man's expression darkened slightly and he sighed in the end, "Brat, I am telling you this for your own good, after all we both are from the same tribe."
"Grr..."
Just then a low growl rang out in the quiet forest. Both Alvin and John held their breath as they peeped through the leaves towards a black panther which was slowly walking towards the small pond at some distance .
There were many wounds on its body which still left a trail of blood in its way.
"It has gone through a tough battle against an Ascendant Realm iron tooth crocodile yesterday. If I strike now there is a fifty percent chance that I can kill this beast. You just have to help me only if anything goes wrong, leave the rest to me," Alvin said to the old man in a low voice.
The old man's expression turned grave and he nodded slowly, "Be careful."
Alvin gave a nod to the old man and slowly took out an arrow before nocking it to the bow. He slowly stood up as he pulled the string to a full moon.
"Swoosh"
The instant he let go of the string, like a gust of wind it flew towards the black panther which was fifty meters away from him and pierced the wound on its neck where its flesh was exposed.
"Roar..." the black panther let out a loud roar in pain and without hesitation it charged towards Alvin like a black ray of light.
Alvin threw the bow and quiver to the side and pulled out his two daggers before rushing forward to meet the charging panther.
Right as the panther was one meter away from him, without any hesitation he threw the knife in his left hand towards the panther.
With deadly precision it pierced the beast's eye , making it deviate from its direction and crash into a tree beside him.
Alvin turned swiftly and before the panther could even let out a growl, he jumped on its back, yanked the panther's head backward by holding on to the handle of the knife which was plunged into its eye and stabbed its neck with the other knife several times in succession.
"Roar..." the panther screamed in agony and tried to shake off Alvin from its back, but the knife which pierced its eye was like a master key which shut off all the panther's attempts to shake him off .
After a span of fifteen breaths, the panther fell to the ground dead.
"Did you really learn to fight like this from Senior Lilly?", The old man John who was staring at the whole battle which ended in just five minutes asked with a stupefied look on his face.
Alvin gave a small smile to the old man and shook his head, "Master is a shaman, she only taught me the ways of spirits. My hunting skills are a mixture of experience from the old hunters of my tribe, besides this one is already injured , otherwise it would not have ended so easily."
He then walked forward and using his knife pierced the heart of the black panther, then with the flowing blood from its heart as ink he began drawing complicated diagrams around its body while murmuring something under his breath.
"With blood as the medium, I call upon you descendant of the dark element sacred beast. Appear before me." As soon as Alvin finished the chant, he sat cross legged on the ground and called out to the corpse before him.
Suddenly, his purple pupils started to flicker violently and after some time the illusionary form of the black panther appeared before him with a ferocious look on its face.
"Roar..." the moment it appeared, it tried to jump towards Alvin but a blood red cage appeared from the ground and trapped it within.
"You are no longer a living being, but a spirit which will soon dissipate in the wind. But if you accept to be my shaman spirit, I can grant you a new life and a chance to break through to higher realms," Alvin said as the light flickering in his purple eyes grew stronger as time passed.
"Roar..." the panther let out a cold roar filled with an unyielding presence as though it would not submit to Alvin.
"You were defeated by me in a fair duel. By the blessing of the beast gods to us shamans, any beast we defeat in a fair duel when we are in the Mortal Realm has two options if we cast the Shaman Spirit Forming Art. Either choose to suffer the pain of your soul being burned endlessly or accept to be our shaman spirit.
If you choose the second option, by his blessing you will also open all the racial locks and transition into a sacred beast with endless potential. Now the choice is yours," Alvin said calmly as he looked at the soul in front of him.
The panther shivered when it heard Alvin's words and its will gradually crumbled as it remained silent for some time before letting out a few low growls.
A smile appeared on Alvin's face and he waved his hand. Gradually the blood cage disappeared.
Then with his knife he made a wound on his right thumb and let his blood fall on top of the blood diagram on the ground before closing his eyes in a meditative position.
Gradually, the panther's soul and body disintegrated into light particles and entered Alvin's left thumb. Alvin trembled in pain and sweat kept pouring out of his body, but he remained calm with his eyes closed.
After some time, he opened his eyes and the shine in his eyes gradually dimmed as a tattoo of a black panther appeared on the left thumb of Alvin's hand before vanishing inside his skin.