Alexander had been eyeing the mutated dog and carefully observing its features. Although Alexander was afraid to face death, he knew that this was his first opportunity to try to use mana offensively.
Alexander was confident in his ability to turn mana into a weapon, but he couldn't focus on both dogs at the same time. His only worry at this time was James.
Alexander's mind fired off, coming up with a plan at the same time as he spoke.
"James, if you can try to use your mana. If you fill your arm with it, you can use strength above what you normally can." I'll take the one in front. You take the injured one. It probably can't run very well, so you should use that to your advantage and avoid it. Don't actually fight it if you don't need to."
James nodded his head in understanding.
Alexander focused on the enemy before him and gave it his whole attention.
His mind was circulating the mana in his body and drawing it all to his right hand, and at this moment, the dog lunged.
It attacked Alexander with its claws forward and tried to tear Alexander to pieces, but Alexander formed a knife-like construct of mana that extended from his hand.
Alexander's talent with mana was heaven-defying, but that didn't mean that he could form a mana blade on his first try. His construct slapped the wolf's claws downward, which allowed Alexander to dodge its first attack, but right after its paws missed, the wolf shifted its weight and brought its jaws to bite Alexander in his upper left leg.
"Ahhg!" Alexander let out a cry of pain, but he pushed down his fear and agony as he felt a single tear form in his eyes. He felt weak. How was he supposed to be something great if he couldn't handle the pain?
Alexander moved his mana once again. This time, he focused on the act of filling his entire body, which strengthened him even further.
It should be mentioned that due to Alexander's awakening and the mana in his body, he was already as strong, if not stronger, than professional fighters.
But this wolf went through the same thing he did. Probably not on the same level, but the wolf had mana in its body, too.
Alexander then expelled some of his mana and formed a protective layer around his fist. A blue fist appeared around Alexander's own that mimicked his real fist.
He brought it down on the wolf's head with great force. The wolf was knocked down and was bleeding from its head, but it still had eyes of malice, not fear.
Alexander's attack had hurt himself more than the dog/wolf and had torn part of his leg. He fought back the urge to scream again and attacked the wolf as the wolf lunged at him.
The mana in Alexander's body worked like crazy. Mana was slowly healing and supporting his leg, while other mana was strengthening him and forming a protective barrier around his arms. Now, Alexander had full-on gauntlets that both defended and brutalized the wolf in front of him.
Alexander shoved his arm, covered in mana, towards the wolf's mouth, which it gladly accepted. However, the blood and flesh that the wolf expected to taste weren't there. Instead, its teeth bit down on something both soft and hard. No matter how much force it used, it couldn't bite through Alexander's creation.
Alexander took his chance and pummelled the wolf's head into his guard, never once letting the wolf have a chance to back away. He kept punching until he felt a crunch after his fist went straight into the wolf's skull. The wolf stopped struggling and fell to the floor, dead.
Alexander fell on his butt and breathed deeply as the furry that had ragged inside him calmed down. As it calmed, he felt a new sense of clarity that he never had before. Now that his enemy was gone, he had no fear and basked in his sense of victory and survival.
However, that didn't last long because his clarity brought something else to mind. 'James!'
Alexander looked around frantically for his friend but couldn't see him anywhere. He started to panic but stopped when he heard a scream. It was high and clearly terrified, and Alexander knew it belonged to James.
They had seemingly run into the forest, which was likely James' idea because of his interpretation of, "don't actually fight it if you don't need to."
The only problem was that Alexander's leg was still in a lot of pain, and he would be limping for the next few hours while his body healed.
'Damn it James!' thought Alexander as he made his way into the forest to save his friend.
(James POV)
As soon as the large wolf lunged at Alexander, the second one started running at James.
Having been completely terrified by a bloody wolf running after him with eyes that said, "I bet you tastegreat!" James made the clearest decision in the world: Run.
James darted into the forest, passing through thick brush like it wasn't there. He ran past trees and through thorns. He could hear the dog behind him and imagined that it was so close it could bit at his heels. So, James kept running. He ran through clearings and over rivers. He sprinted as fast as he could in order to get away from his canine pursuer.
'Carmen would probably laugh at me if I told her what happened,' thought James as he decided to ask Alexander to keep this matter quiet if they both escaped.
With no other thoughts in his mind, James kept running. He was beginning to feel tired, which actually confused him. He should have been tired a long time ago! Sure, it hadn't been that long, but he was still running at his top speed, which was insane!
James didn't know it, but his speed while running through the forest was 28mph! He was the fastest man alive!
No athlete ever ran as fast as James for such a great distance.
'It must be because of the mana!' thought James correctly. 'I must have Alexander teach me more about how to use it properly when I have the time.'
James slowed down and came to a stop as he looked around and realized that the dog had stopped its pursuit.
He looked around at the forest trees around him and realized that he didn't know where he was. Suddenly, he heard a sound come from the direction he had been running in.
He spun around just in time to see the dog lunge at him with open jaws.
"Ahhhh!" screamed James as he stumbled backwards and tried to start running again.
It was a high-pitched girly scream that echoed throughout the forest and eventually made its way to Alexander's ears, who had just finished his own battle.
(Alexander's POV)
Alexander sprinted through the forest and pushed through the pain in his leg. As he was running, he took the opportunity to try to understand his mana.
'I couldn't make my mana sharp during the fight. That alone was a huge disadvantage. I also felt the mana barrier I formed around my arm was getting pierced by the wolf's teeth near the end. I need to learn how to do three things: first, I need to figure out how to form a proper mana blade, which will make fights simple and easy. Second, I need to understand how to "break through" to stronger levels like those in cultivation novels. Lastly, I need to figure out how to change the nature of my mana to imitate the natural world's elements like fire, water, air, earth, metal, lightning, etc...'
Alexander's mind swam with ideas on how to accomplish these three things. He couldn't do much while running, but he did focus on trying to make his mana blade sharp.
First, he compressed what was essentially a pike of mana that flowed out of his palm. Next, he tried to flatten the mana pike. However, his hopes were dashed when his construct dissipated in front of his eyes.
'Well, Rome wasn't built in a day,' thought Alexander as he encouraged himself.
Again, he compressed a mana pike, but this time he focused only on sharpening its tip. Now he realized why making the mana blade was so hard. Even the compression of this pike's tip was making him strain as he tried to force it into a point.
Alexander stopped running as his construct seemed to have reached the most critical point. He closed his eyes and focused until... "pop," the pike's tip became sharp and entered a stable state that Alexander didn't need to focus on as he continued running.
He fed the pike mana to keep it from dissipating and eventually heard whimpering and grunting in the near vicinity.
Alexander's view came around a tree and saw James, who was bloody, wrestling with the dog on the ground.
Alexander wasted no time and leaped after the pair. At his top speed, even with his injured leg, Alexander could run around 35 - 40 mph. At this speed, to charge towards the dog with mana pike in hand and thrust the pike through the body of the beast while it was busy trying to bite James' face off.
The pike entered the beast's body smoothly, like a knife in butter, and killed it.
James pushed the beast's body off of him and lay on the ground panting, looking at his savior. Alexander was also out of breath, and he offered his hand to James with a smile.
"You really couldn't have come any sooner?" asked James.
Though James was smiling, there was a sort of sadness in his eyes that Alexander caught. Alexander checked over James' body and saw that James' right hand and lower arm were torn to shreds. It was still attached to James' body, but it was hanging uselessly to the ground, and it was clear some parts were missing.
"James, don't worry. It can be fixed. Mana will help you heal. I was in a much worse condition when the awakening started," said Alexander encouragingly.
James responded, "I don't have mana like you, Alex. Though I am sure that one day I can have my right arm again, today is not that day. Maybe I won't even be healed for a year," said James sadly.
Alexander gritted his teeth. "No, James, you're wrong. I will keep learning about mana so that one day soon I can heal you. But don't think you can slack off either. I expect you to gather mana and train like crazy until then, okay!?" demanded Alexander.
James looked up at his friend and felt that this new world might not be so bad. The near-death experience he just had was mixed with more emotions and feelings than he ever could have imagined before the awakening.
Life before today was boring for James. He acted mischievous and caused trouble just so he would not be bored. That may mean that something was wrong with his brain. But now that the world was new and the unexpected could happen any time. He started feeling like he was alive.
"Ha... I guess I'll have to listen to you," responded James as he sighed towards the ground with a smile.
He would not give up on this life. The world now had too much to explore. And with his best friend, the creator of mana itself, he knew that his life was about to become much more interesting.