Limits
chapter-78

I stood there with my eyes closed and focused. I didn't move and tried to cancel out all the noises except the wind. It was hard to cancel out everything. I could still hear the waterfall. I could also hear Shelly running around and even the rustling grass. I knew it wouldn't be easy to achieve that but I wouldn't give up that quickly. I set my sight on the noise canceling part first.

I needed to learn how to cancel out all the stuff besides the one I needed to focus on. Although I could manipulate my hearing in a way where I could hear like a normal average human or with my advanced hearing where I could hear someone or something closing in from far away. The problem I had was to determine where the sound was coming from. If it was a silent day or night, I didn't have much problems doing just that. Yet with Shelly, waterfall and what not that produced noise around me, it was multiple times harder to determine something that was happening further away, something I never saw with my eyes.

I decided to take small steps first. In order to learn how to find wind, I would need to first learn how to cancel out the noise of all the things but one. In order for that I chose Shelly as my target. I needed to focus on only noises that Shelly made. With my eyes closed I started to listen in for the sounds that Shelly was producing.

I found it very hard to do because the waterfall was very loud and other noises in the background didn't help. I guessed that I needed to train in order to learn 'I wouldn't be able to just do it without first learning how to do it' I thought to myself. I focused like this for a long time and trained. I don't know how much time has passed but Shelly came over and hit my leg lightly, I woke up from my training and looked down at Shelly that was still wearing the mask. I also noticed that it was already evening and Shelly was probably tired and wanted to eat something.

I said "Sorry Shelly, I was so focused on my training that I forgot what time it is. Let's go eat something and then rest for today". I took off the mask from Shelly's head and stretched a bit. I was standing in one place without moving for couple of hours and could feel a bit rusty. I had enough food for us to eat but I still decided we should go and hunt. This would allow Shelly to gain more experience but before that we had a meal from the supplies in my bag. We then went out for the hunt. I decided to give some hints to Shelly before we encountered any group of animals "The ramming attack that you do is effective against most enemies but when you attack a group of animals, you will not be able to kill all of them with that one attack. You should only use it against smaller groups because after that attack you will lose your momentum and will be more vulnerable".

Shelly nodded its head in understanding and I continued "Last time, you actually used your mouth in order to attack. This is a good idea. Also as long as something is not poisonous, you will be able to recover your energy at the same time. Use your mouth more often to attack a group to preserve your stamina". Shelly again nodded in understanding and I could see that it was grateful for me to point those things out.

I said "Remember that there are different types of enemies. For example wolves move fast and usually attack individually but they are working as one pack and it is much harder to fight against them then the boars. Bears on the other hand are much stronger and if you are surrounded, you can receive quite a substantial amount of damage".

I then said "Let's go, we need to find some animals to hunt". We looked for a group small enough for Shelly to take on by itself. After about half an hour of searching we found a pack of wolves that numbered 11. I said to Shelly "Think about your actions and what consequences they will have. Also think about your enemy. Wolves are more intelligent than boars and are much more agile. Take that under consideration when you go and fight". Shelly nodded its head and didn't attack immediately. It was probably thinking about good way to play this fight out. This was a good sign. Instead of rushing in like the last idiot, Shelly was strategising or at least starting to form some plans.

I waited patiently for Shelly to start the fight. After couple of minutes, Shelly started to move. I watched with anticipation and wondered what was Shelly's plan. Shelly slowly creepted closer to the pack as if trying to be stealthy but it was not very well versed in that departamnet. Shelly couldn't move silently like I could and therefore the wolves easily discovered it.

Shelly didn't seem to panic and simply continued sneaking. I thought 'Why does Shelly still insist on sneaking when it was already discovered? Maybe it doesn't know that it was?'. The wolves were getting closer and when they noticed a turtle they simply let their guards down and walked over in a playful manner.

The wolves would not put a turtle in their eyes as an enemy, Shelly was rather considered as food than an enemy. One of the wolves ran at Shelly in a playful manner and probably got surprised at what happened next. With a lightning quick movement, Shelly bit the wolf's neck and killed it on the spot. I thought 'Using the fact that Shelly is a turtle, it's quite small and appears weak, the wolves underestimated its capabilities. This was a good plan but it would not work on the rest of the wolves anymore'.

The other wolves were also stunned at what just happened. Shelly then started to run very fast towards the pack of wolves. I think the wolves were even in bigger confusion when they saw a turtle rushing at them and gaining speed the closer it got. The wolves didn't understand what was happening and because of that Shelly managed to ram into 3 wolves that stood as a group. The first wolf that took most of the impact almost shattered and the last wolf was critically injured.

'I don't know if Shelly was after that moment of confusion but it did help in reducing the number of wolves. I wonder what is Shelly's next move'. The wolves were no longer spacing out and ran towards Shelly in order to kill. Shelly on the other hand back away and speed off into different direction. 'I think I know what Shelly is trying to do. Because it needs space to gain speed, Shelly wants to run away for a while then turn around and use this ram attack again' I thought.

After awhile, I witness that exact guess I had. Shelly did a circle and came back to attack the wolves again. Some of the wolves managed to avoid Shelly's attack but another two still perished. Now there were only 5 wolves left. This was much smaller group and much more manageable. Shelly then decided to attack in close combat using its mouth.

I waited patiently and after about 10 minutes, the struggle was over. Shelly returned to my side and looked at me as if showing off its skills. I said "You did very well. You confused the enemies and took advantage of their stupidity as well as carelessness. Let's go and collect the meat then we will return to the shelter".