A D-Rank Adventurer's Bizarre Reincarnation

Chapter 6 - Training In The Forest Of Nine Deaths

"That girl...she knows something."

Zheng Jin thought as he walked farther and farther away from the library.

"Damn, how could I be so stupid!"

He initially thought that because of the girl's cold demeanor towards him on the first night he'd been here, that she didn't know the past Zheng Jin personally. But that look she gave him earlier...it did not look like an expression for a stranger like him at all.

"Forget it. She doesn't seem hostile. I doubt that she'll go nuts on me, unlike those three idiots."

He sensed no malice from her earlier. Only a sense of familiarity, that's all.

"I guess I'll find out what connection is with her sooner or later. For now, I need to get stronger..."

Zheng Jin sighed as he thought. He really had enough problems already, thus he decided to pursue the matter about Bai Shuanyang when he had the time.

Minutes passed as he finally arrived at his shack. The first thing he did after getting back was sleep, seeing as he held off sleeping for a long time and he needed it quite badly.

Five hours had passed and Zheng Jin was finally awake. He was now ready to train.

"Let's see...a spirit art? Let's see what this thing can do."

The first thing on his mind was to try and learn the spirit art from the black book returned to him by Du Zhen.

As he flipped the book open, the usual [Skill Learn] window appeared in his head.

"How convenient."

Zheng Jin thought. Learning skills like this apparently wasn't available in this world. Maybe with this, he can get his hands on countless manuals and learn a lot of them, unlike in his own world.

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Would you like to learn

[Eternal Darkness Spirit Art]

?

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"Yes."

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This method of acquiring skills had been banned by the new god. The skill had not been learned

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"Damn, so this is the restriction."

This irritated Zheng Jin quite a bit. His delusions of learning skills easily left and right was quickly put out.

"No matter, I'll just have to learn as they do. If they can do it, I can too!"

Zheng Jin calmed himself down. Complaining about any setback would not help him in any situations. This, he learned a long time ago. With that in his mind, he began to read.

...

...

...

"This doesn't make any sense."

After reading the spirit art manual for quite a while, he voiced out his opinion of it.

"Absorbing mana from outside the body? Is this a manual for suicide or something?"

He said with a look of disbelief in his face. He learned of the term "spirit energy" from reading books and he noticed that its qualities are quite similar to mana in his old world. However, this manual instructed him to do for cultivating the spirit art was to "absorb the spirit energy from the darkness".

He shuddered at the thought. There was once a madman in his original world that experimented on humans, making them absorb mana onto their own bodies. The horrific state of the bodies he saw that day when he went on that quest made him want to puke. They all exploded from the inside out. No one survived.

Scholars speculated that absorbing more mana to the body was impossible in the first place, attributing it to the lack of ability of the human body's "mana point" to expand. Thus, everyone accepted the natural quantity of mana in their own body. No matter how bountiful or scarce it was.

"Come to think of it, when the madman was finally caught, he called himself a "cultivator". Is he perhaps...?"

When they finally caught the madman, he kept on spouting gibberish. The only word they understood was the word "cultivator", which at the time made them assume that he was a farmer of some sort. But now, Zheng Jin suspected that the madman might be from this world originally.

"Maybe it changed as I went over this world? I have another man's body after all..."

Zheng Jin formed another conjecture.

"In any case, it seems I still can't absorb spirit energy in my current state."

Putting the matter of absorbing spirit energy aside, he still had the problem of increasing his cultivation higher. He didn't know what his realm of cultivation currently is, but it is said in the manual that being at 9th level mortal realm is the bare minimum to learn the spirit art.

"Increasing the cultivation at the Mortal Realm is easy...but..."

His problem was ascending to the Awakened Mortal Realm. Progressing in the Mortal Realm only required him to stimulate the spirit energy inside his body by doing tremendous amounts of physical work. The Awakened Mortal Realm, however, required him to absorb the spirit energy from the world itself, which made him feel uneasy. After all, he did not want to end up like those mangled corpses he saw back then."

"Ah f**k it. I'll do something when I get there!"

He then pushed the unnerving thoughts away and focused on the present. For now, he needed to train his body. There was no time to waste, as he thought that the three idiots he confronted earlier this morning might be scheming something behind his back, thus he needed to act quickly.

Zheng Jin then took some clothes, a book about herblore, and his sword, then left his house. Using the cover of darkness provided by the night, he went to the place where he planned to train.

And that place is the most dangerous place that is near the Goldenridge City.

The Forest of Nine Deaths.

...

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...

"Doesn't seem that dangerous to me."

Zheng Jin said as he hung by a tree, finishing 150 upside-down push-ups he head started from earlier.

He had been in the forest for three days, and he had been training non-stop, with short breaks for sleep and eating. He brought the book about herblore because he did not have the time to read it, thus he just used it as a reference for knowing the edible plants in this forest.

"Damn, where the hell are those demon beasts at?"

He had been looking for demon beasts during his time here, but he did not see any even once.

"Well, I'm not that quite that deep into the forest, maybe that's why?"

He wondered if it would be safe to go further in. After all, it wasn't called the Forest of Nine Deaths for nothing. He read from a book that the origin of the "nine deaths" in its name was not because only nine people died here. It was named like that because nine Spirit Enforcers had died here a hundred years ago!

One has to know that Spirit Enforcers were quite a rarity in a backwater city like the Goldenridge City. Even the Sect Leader of the Golden Dragon Sect was just a Level 5 Spirit Enforcer!

"A little bit more. Just a little bit more, I'll be at the 5th Level Mortal Realm. I'll head out deeper into the forest once I reach it."

As he said that, he opened his status window.

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Name: Zheng Jin

Class : Level 4 Mortal Realm Cultivator

Strength : F+

Agility : F

Speed : F

Vitality : F-

Intelligence : D-

? : ?

Skills

°God's Generosity

Exp:1/3

°Puke Blood 1★

Level 10/10 •Max

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Three stats had increased since he last checked: strength, speed, and intelligence. Not only that, he also unlocked the class "cultivator" after advancing a level in his cultivation. Not only that, he had also advanced a level in his cultivation, giving him an exp point for his skill, [God's Generosity].

It turns out that he was at Level 3 Mortal Realm originally, back when the previous Zheng Jin was still alive.

"No wonder my stats were that low..."

He already predicted before that Zheng Jin's cultivation was quite low, judging by his stats. Though he eventually thought that cultivation does not really correlate with all stats, seeing that his intelligence is quite high for his level of cultivation.

"Looks like I will be here for quite a while."

Zheng Jin muttered. He planned to advance his cultivation and gain enough points for [God's Generosity] to get a random 10★ skill. Maybe it was wishful thinking, but he wanted to hold off getting a lower starred skill because he wanted to see just how strong a 10★ skill really is.

"Maybe finding a demon beast can help me get some points..."

He really wanted to see a demon beast pretty soon. Though the book said that there weren't any demon beasts that exceeded the Mortal Realm of cultivation in the not-so-deep parts of the forest, he can't just strut around there like an i***t. After all, he didn't know how he measures up to their strength at the moment.

"Well, time for another set."

With that, Zheng Jin stopped his thoughts and got back to the tree branch to do some more sit-ups. He planned to mimic the training of the knights back in Estellia, which focused more on strength and speed; until he reached the 5th Level Mortal Realm. Then, he will switch it up with exercises that improved his agility afterwards.

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Five days came and went as Zheng Jin continued his training. He was now about to break through to the 5th Level of the Mortal Realm. He is currently doing squats with a log thrice his own size on his back.

At this moment, five people went by and saw Zheng Jin with their enhanced vision.

"What is it senior brother Kang? Is it a demon beast?"

A short, bald-headed disciple spoke to his senior brother in a hushed tone.

"Hmm, no...it's nothing. It's a fellow disciple of our sect. Look."

The other four disciples looked at the direction where their senior brother had pointed. Sure enough, they saw a boy lifting a huge log over his head while doing squats.

"What the hell is he doing?"

A tall and lanky disciple asked his senior brother Kang.

"He's...training?"

The senior brother said, although he's not entirely with his own words.

"Hah, what a strange way to train!"

The bald-headed disciple chimed in. After all, there was no need to go all the way to this dangerous forest just to train, because there is a place in the sect specifically for that purpose. But of course, they did not know that Zheng Jin is staying here not only because he intended to train, but he also wanted to slay some demon beasts for points.

"Hey, I know that boy. It's Zheng Jin, isn't it!"

A short-haired female disciple said with a surprised look on her face.

"Zheng Jin? That trash? What is he doing all the way out here?"

The tall disciple said, confused. Coming all the way out here in the forest. Is he seeking death?

"Elder brother Kang, should we warn him?"

"No, leave him. We aren't responsible for that i***t's life after all...coming all the way out here with his meager strength! Come, let us go. The elder said that the peak level Spirit Enforcer Demon Beast is currently hibernating...this is our chance! We must move quickly!"

The senior brother rejected the short-haired girl's proposal of warning Zheng Jin about the demon beasts that may wander out of the deep forest once they went in. He will just have to take care of himself, as to how, the senior brother of the group did not care.

With that, they all went deeper inside the forest, leaving Zheng Jin with his training.

...

All except one.

A familiar, pink haired girl stared at Zheng Jin with a worried expression.

"What are you doing in this kind of place, Zheng Jin!"

The girl thought as she looked as she observed Zheng Jin. After all, with his current strength, he will be no match for the demon beasts that wander around this forest!

"Little sister Bai, is there something wrong?"

"No...I'm fine. Let's get going."

She then walked behind the others, clenching her fists tightly. Suddenly, an idea flashed in her mind.

What the others did not notice, was that she had carved something into the nearest tree using her spirit energy... For now, she only hoped that Zheng Jin would see it!