"Haa-haa.."

He could hear his own panting as well as the loud beating of his heart. His view on his surroundings was fleeting with how fast he was running. He could only see glimpses of small animals scurrying on the floor or climbing on trees. Fortunately, they were not trying to obstruct his running path. The animals in the forest were already aware that these humans were higher than them in the food chain.

As he kept running, he got to the part of the forest which was more dense with trees. He had to move away several branches in the way and to keep zigzagging to not bump into any tree trunks.

His panting became more pronounce but he still wasn't able to get a glimpse of the owner of that drumbeat shaking the ground. It was only the rustling of leaves in front of him that indicated its position.

He had been running in the forest for hours now. Due to his non-stop training, he was able to regulate the use of his 'mist' to enhance his speed as well as recover some energy from the life 'mist' around the forest.

After a while, he kept looking behind him to see if the others were already catching up to him. He was confident in his skills that will not lose to anyone even a few years older than him. He had his father train him by taking him on hunts since he was five until now that he was twelve.

His father was leading one of the advance hunting groups which means they were always hunting on the more dangerous areas. The part of the forest with more ferocious beasts. Looking back, he was never a hindrance to the adults so his father always praised him.

He remembered what he said to his friends before the group entered the forest. "Do not get in my way like the last time. I'll get this one too and I don't want to be bothered by your lacking skills."

Suddenly, a loud roar somewhere ahead of him interrupted his musings. A frown showed on his face but he was glad for the reminder that this is a race.

Still feeling somewhat apprehensive, he gathered more of his 'mist' inside him to have a burst of speed, then the sudden flash of the shadow surprised the surrounding animals. Even the wild boar running back to its cave breathed a sigh of relief that it didn't get in the way of that shadow or it will be sent to oblivion after a hit.

In a nearby clearing, the roar of a large bear continued. However, this was not a normal bear. It had two horns protruding from its mouth and more claws in its paws. Its paws was currently colored a darker brown with clumps of crimson from the blood of its victims.

With a spear jutting out of its back, it kept roaring while still running. Despite its thick hide, the spear was able to penetrate deeply because of the exceptional force put on the hit. Though an animal with this deep a wound should have slowed down, that was not the case for this one.

This bear had enough knowledge to use its own 'mist' to strengthen itself. For this beast, a hit that did not immediately kill it would use its own strong energy from its suffering to increase its speed to escape. It was their form of self-defense from fiercer predators in the forest.

A young boy was closely following the running beast with another spear at the ready while suppressing his own 'mist' to avoid detection. Hiding behind the trees surrounding the clearing was another child readying an arrow, the point trained at the space in front of the bear.

A spear was the usual weapon used by the hunters of the Mal'it Clan. It was easier to incorporate their own 'mist' in something that they were holding to strengthen it before an attack. Another reason was to lessen the suffering of the beast to decrease the 'haze' it would exude in its death.

However, this child chose the bow, a way to slow down or weaken the target first before closing in for a lethal attack. This was an indication that he was confident to control the 'mist' of the still suffering animal before its death.

When the animal was now nearing the space where the arrow was pointed at, the twang of the bow was heard, releasing the arrow which penetrated the air before accurately embedding itself on the beast's side.

Of course this was not enough to slow the beast down. Rather, this made it enraged. A small prick on its side made it think that the attacker was weak, resulting to it turning to the direction where the arrow came from.

At that same time, a series of twangs immediately followed the first one. Due to its attention diverting to turn to the archer, the arrows released this time also managed to hit its target.

The beast became angrier when all arrows penetrated its thick hide. A deafening roar was heard once again as it made a mad dash towards the archer. However, it did not notice that there was another danger behind.

That boy ran faster after his friend took action. He was already a meter behind the beast before he jumped up. After gathering his 'mist' around the spear, he then used it again to make himself drop faster to strike his spear directly at the beast's neck.

The thud of the large animal falling became the signal for finishing this day's practice.

"Gather around, everybody! We have a winner for today's trial!" the instructor announced once he ensured that the animal was dead and its death 'mist' was not affecting the atmosphere.

Seeing that their job was done, the archer also went forward. The long, silky, pony-tailed hair swaying down his back was not affected by the day's activities.

Meanwhile, the twelve year-old boy from earlier just reached the clearing when he witnessed a boy two years younger than him fell a beast seven times his size. There were several thoughts running in his mind. It had distracted him from the tiredness he was feeling from exerting too much energy with that earlier burst of speed.

He took a deep breath to calm himself after the pain he felt from punching the tree trunk beside him. So that nobody would notice the change in his usual demeanor, he stayed hidden behind the trees for a few minutes. When he was confident that he wasn't showing any weaknesses anymore, he walked out to where the instructor and the two boys were talking.

When he was almost near the group, a voice from behind calling his name stopped him. "Yabang!"

He turned around and saw that it was his friend, Lino. He waited quietly for his friend to reach him before they continued to walk forward.

Once they reached the group, Yabang heard Lino gasp softly beside him. It irritated him since he understood the other's reaction. It was a surprise even for Lino that it was not Yabang who had taken care of the dead animal. Fortunately, Lino was smart enough to avoid voicing his thoughts.

It was Ling and Rin who felled the ferocious beast. They were already ten year-olds, the time to start joining their parents to train their powers but it was just their first day to join the training.

Once all the thirty something boys arrived at the clearing, the instructor spoke loudly again, "This time, you didn't need help from any of the instructors so I'm assured you all will be able to perform well in the test. As you've known for a while now, the test will start in three days and will last for a week. Be sure to have all your tools ready for it."

It was the clan's usual practice for the school to hold a test for the children from ten to twelve before letting them go on a hunting on their own to test their skills. Some of them were excited for getting away from the guidance of their parents while some were still hesitant for a new experience.

The twelve year-olds who had experienced it before when they were a few years younger were more confident. They would be the experts in this group if not the strongest.

After the last reminders, the two friends, Ling and Rin proceeded to go back to their village while carrying the dead beast.