When Rito appeared on the familiar plain, he was no longer the same man who appeared the first time.
He had almost transformed into a living weapon.
When a white rabbit appeared, Rito's hair stretched out and with the tip in the shape of a fist, he crushed the poor rabbit.
Still with hair stretched in the shape of a hand, he touched the light orbs just to see them disappear.
'So my stretched hair also works to collect orbs...'
That was a skill that consumed more energy to maintain instead of on activation.
Even with the amount of Spiritual Mana he possessed, he couldn't keep that skill active for more than an hour.
On the other hand, his Spiritual Mana recovery apparently increased quite a bit.
Just from breathing, he felt his Spiritual Mana recovering.
After some simple tests, he decided to go straight to the map's Boss.
Even if he says he will go directly to the Boss, he didn't run, but rather advanced in a straight line toward the South.
He could stay two days in the hunting dimension. And, if he kept advancing, he should arrive there in less than a day.
While advancing, he might as well use the other animals to get a little more accustomed to the powers he copied from Yami.
'Thinking about it now, I'm almost out of orbs...'
In the fight against Yami, he used practically his entire reserve. Not that he's complaining, thanks to that, he managed to save days of training.
When a rabbit came out from the middle of the tall grass and jumped close to him, Rito had a strange thought of a game where at that moment a message would appear: [A Wild Great Rabbit appeared!]
*Whooosh!*
At the speed of a pistol shot, from the back of his head, his hair stretched out in a frightening way and midway transformed into a fist.
*Bang!*
From bottom to top, the hair hand punched the rabbit, sending it spinning into the air.
In mid-air, the rabbit is transformed into ashes and the red light orbs continue the trajectory.
Afraid of losing them, he captured the orbs with the wind and brought them to him.
At the same time, like an elastic stretched beyond its limit, his hair returns as if nothing had happened.
'Hmm… should I let my hair grow to my waist?' Rito considered.
But, upon thinking about it, an inexplicable shiver took hold of him, and he shuddered without knowing why.
Shaking his head, he stopped thinking about it.
...
Rito advanced through the map without problem. Almost halfway, two Green Wolves stopped in front of him.
Taking momentum, Rito's hands transform into blades, when he jumped, the impact was almost Hulk level and he surpassed the Green Wolves.
Before surpassing them, he slashed the Green Wolves more than ten times in milliseconds.
Using the wind to glide, he saw them turn into dust.
'Luck.' He thought upon seeing that the two dropped crystal orbs.
He canceled the transformation and picked up the orbs with the wind.
Thinking about it now, he had already tried using the energy from the orbs without touching them, just controlling with the wind, but the instant it comes into contact only with the Spiritual Mana while still connected to him, it is sent to the three-dimensional space in his mind.
Well, at least he tried. And that wasn't the only way he tried, but none gave a positive result. Like trying to swallow while enveloping with the wind. But, instead of melting as expected, the instant the wind stops protecting the orb and it comes into contact with his body, it is also sent to the three-dimensional space.
One that he swore would be successful was destroying the orbs and turning them into powder and inhaling...
Result? In this hunting dimension, the orbs are practically indestructible.
It makes sense if he thinks about it a bit.
Even when a large-scale attack hits the orbs, the light orbs remain intact.
'By the way, there's something I haven't tried yet... That's making one of the hunting dimension's animals consume the light orbs...' He was tempted: 'Should I try? Who knows, if it succeeds and they evolve to a certain point, it might end up awakening a Divine Art...'
Honestly, it was a possibility. But, if it was indestructible while in the hunting dimension... Would it still work as a possible energy source to absorb?
There was a real chance that, by doing so, X animal would simply be eating 'stone'.
'No point speculating here... I'll try and see if it's possible or not.' He thought: 'Leave the theory to others, I like to test in practice.'
Looking at the orbs he was still controlling with the wind, he separated them and took the crystal ones.
Using the wind as a sensor, he smiled upon finding a solitary gray rabbit and shot toward the rabbit.
When he gets something in his head, it was hard to get it out until he tested it.
"Geeh?"
The gray rabbit's ears stood up.
The rabbit was 80 cm tall.
When it saw Rito, it turned to flee.
Rito arrives in front of the gray rabbit, surprising it.
When the gray rabbit opened its mouth threateningly, Rito made it swallow the light orbs, all 14 orbs.
Like a cat choking on fur, the rabbit starts trying to vomit the orbs, but they had already entered its body.
After a few attempts, it stopped trying and with its red eyes, the gray rabbit looks in Rito's direction seeming confused.
Rito kept watching and nothing strange happened.
He didn't even feel abnormal Spiritual Mana fluctuation coming from the gray rabbit.
"..."
Rabbit and human stared at each other for seconds until the rabbit turned and tried to flee again.
A glint of disappointment passed through Rito's eyes.
However, those who desire success but are prepared for failure don't dwell on it for long.
*Whoosh!*
Using a wind scythe, Rito sliced the rabbit in half.
A clean cut that divided the rabbit into two.
When the gray rabbit was transforming into dust, sixteen orbs shone.
'In the end, I was right.' He sighed softly while bringing the orbs to him and picking up all of them this time.
...
Several hours later...
A whole day and night passed and Rito finally reached the area where the Boss was.
Rito was kilometers away in the sky. He was only able to observe in detail because he had the Sage's Eyes activated.
The map's boss was a four-meter-tall Blazing Red Lion. Its beast eyes contained flames. It had a powerful and robust body, plus dense fur resembling flames. There was a 30-centimeter horn resembling blood-jade on top of its head.
Besides the Boss, there were other female lions nearby. That is, the Blazing Red Lion and its harem.
Feeling threatened, the main lion roared. Even from a distance, the Boss seemed to sense his presence.
The lionesses also roared.
Behind them, there was a Fire Tree, that is, a tree that burned not because it was catching fire, but because it produced fire.
Knowing the original plot, if memory serves him right, there should be a kind of Fire Rune that grants knowledge about Fire.
One of the reasons the lions are the deadliest in this map is precisely because of this tree.