Chapter 7 - First Encounter With A Demon Beast
1747 Words
"Four hundred and ninety four..F-four hundred and ninety-five..."
Half a day had already passed since the group of five disciples had seen Zheng Jin. And now, he is about to break through to the 5th level of the Mortal Realm.
"Fff-Five hundred!!!"
Zheng Jin shouted triumphantly as he finished...dropping a boulder the size of an adult human to the ground. As soon as he finished, he collapsed in the grass, panting heavily.
"Haaah, finally... Any more of those and I'll probably break my spine in half. Those muscle-headed knights really outdid themselves, coming up with a torturous training like this..."
He lamented as he shook off his fatigue, rubbing his shoulders for relief.
"Finally...here it comes..."
Zheng Jin had been waiting for this. Although his status window would tell him when he had just broken through his cultivation, he could somehow feel it first, in his own body.
He had no way of explaining the phenomena, as he did not have any prior experience with cultivation; but he could at least deduce that humans from his own world and this world had different physical compositions. It was as if this current body of his had something his previous body hadn't.
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•Your cultivation had advanced.
•You are now a level 5 Mortal.
•+1 to skill [God's Generosity]
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As his status window notified him of the change, his previous thoughts were suddenly pushed aside. He immediately opened his status window.
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Name: Zheng Jin
Class : Level 5 Mortal Realm Cultivator
Strength : F+
Agility : F
Speed : F+
Vitality : F-
Intelligence : D-
? : ?
Skills
°God's Generosity
Exp:2/3
°Puke Blood 1★
Level 10/10 •Max
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"I managed to increase my speed. Pretty good."
Although only one stat had increased, he was still happy with the results. After all, the matter of increasing stats is no joke. And even if his strength hadn't increased a rank, it doesn't mean that it didn't improve. Though it did improve, it just wasn't enough to make his strength stat to rank up.
More than increasing stats, his desire to raise his cultivation level is even stronger. That's because for now, he needed a good skill to compensate for his lack of strength.
"Now then...it's time to go further in."
Zheng Jin then looked towards the deeper parts of the forest, itching to finally see a "demon beast", wondering how they managed to get a terrifying name like that. After all, he also knew "demons" from back then, and his memories regarding them were anything but pleasant.
"Hmm, it should be fine for the first 3-kilometer radius. The book said that the strongest demon beasts there are only 5th level Mortals."
Zheng Jin thought as he picked up his sword and his book, now ready for the journey towards the deeper parts of the forest.
"Hmm? What is this...a message?"
After only walking for a few minutes, however, he saw a strange message, carved on a tree. What's even stranger is that he had his name on it...
Zheng Jin, leave.
That's the message that Zheng Jin saw. He then scratched his head as he finished reading it.
"Who the hell wrote this?"
This message really confused him, as he didn't have the slightest clue as to who wrote it or even why would they write it... Not only that, the carvings were still pretty new, so the one who wrote it might still be here in this forest."
"That feeling that I had felt earlier. Was it that person?"
He recalled the events from earlier when he was training. Although faint, he thought that he had felt that someone or something had been watching him. This sense had been honed from his years as an adventurer, so he naturally became a bit wary because of it; but after a minute or so, he brushed it off as nothing, as it seems that whoever who was watching him had long been gone.
"At least tell me who you are!"
Zheng Jin's head hurt from this ordeal. He had to make a choice. Either he follows what the stranger said and go back, or he continues his journey, cautious of why the stranger had told him to go back.
"Ahh, what the hell. I don't even know you, at least tell me your name before you order me around!"
With that, he made his decision. He wasn't even sure if the message was a threat or a warning...or maybe even a prank on him, but he decided to still go on, and to push the stranger's message on the back of his mind.
"I'll gain nothing by rolling over all the time. If I want to get stronger, I'll have learn to adapt to anything...
He couldn't run away from this challenge...not if it can make him stronger once he came out of it alive. After all, fortune favors the bold, didn't it?
"Whether this was a warning or a threat, I'll know it once I get there."
Having thought that, Zheng Jin continued onto his path, already thinking ahead of how to prepare himself for whatever lies within this forest.
...
...
...
After walking for an hour or so, Zheng Jin finally stopped by a nearby pond, wanting to take a drink from it and maybe take a break. When suddenly...
*Rustle *rustle
He heard some noises coming from a nearby bush, making him raise his awareness. Little by little, he approached the bush, his hands on the hilt of his sword.
"Finally...I found one."
To his surprise, he had finally found his first demon beast.
"It's a Five-tailed Crimson Rat..."
Looking at the creature's dark red fur and its odd number of tails, he is perfectly certain of what it is. Reading a lot of books since his time here was worth it after all.
"Strange...are they really this small?"
He originally thought that they would be bigger, unlike what was said in the books. But looking at it now, it looks so...tiny...harmless even.
"I'm sorry little one, I'll make this quick for you."
Zheng Jin thought as he tensed his body, ready to strike while the demon beast still do not see him. For now, he had the element of surprise.
He waited for the perfect chance to strike. Then...
*Slash
He dashed forward and lashed out with his sword. To his surprise, however, the demon beast had evaded his well-timed attack.
"Fast!"
Zheng Jin thought as he took a defensive stance, now ready for a longer fight after failing his initial ambush.
The rat then attacked first, its little mind only seeing the human in front of it for a food to be eaten.
This Five-tailed Crimson Rat hadn't eaten in days, naturally, it would be ecstatic to finally have a prey it could defeat!
The rat had been attacking Zheng Jin all this time, targeting his vitals in each hit. All of its attempts, however, were either deflected by Zheng Jin or evaded by him.
"A little bit more..."
Zheng Jin thought. Just a little bit more and this demon beasts will finally...
After seeing that its flurry of attacks had not hurt Zheng Jin at all, the rat suddenly dug the ground beneath it.
"Here it is!"
He had read about this. Five-tailed Crimson Rats are impatient by nature and will resort to underground attacks if their prey manages to hold on for a long time. This move caught a lot of cultivators and demon beasts off guard, but not Zheng Jin.
A couple of seconds later, Zheng Jin closed his eyes and focused his attention on hearing. Sight was useless in this situation after all.
Then in a flash, Zheng Jin opened his eyes and jumped back, then stabbed at the ground where his back used to be. The result was a success...he pulled out the sword from the ground, and the rat impaled on it; already dead.
"These creatures. How predictable."
He didn't know how accurate the information was in the book, but what the rat showed here today perfectly copied it. The rat did go for his back, just like the book had said.
"They do have limited intelligence. This one is only a Level 4 Mortal Demon Beast after all."
His thoughts began to wander, thinking of how he will deal with a demon beast with higher intelligence in the future, but his train of thought was stopped by the grumbling sound of his stomach.
"Haah, it's been a while since I've eaten some meat..."
Zheng Jin said as he prepared to cook his fresh kill. He had been eating edible plants for long enough, after all. It is about time he had something different. It is fortunate that demon beast meat was edible for humans, if it wasn't, Zheng Jin wouldn't even try to go into this forest without any food on him.
"Ah! A core. This is perfect."
As he prepared the demon beast for cooking, he also searched for a core inside its body. As a result, he found a crystal-like object the size of a nail, shining dimly. He needed spirit crystals, and selling these things would give him quite a bit of it. He had no use for it currently, after all.
After a half an hour or so, Zheng Jin had finally finished eating. He then looked at the fire he made, adding a bit more wood to it.
"The smell must have brought them close by now."
Leaving the fire to burn even after he had finished was part of Zheng Jin's plan. After all, how could he be satisfied with one kill? His skill [God's Generosity] hadn't even gained a point yet...
"Here comes one..."
Zheng Jin planned to lead some demon beasts to himself by using the smell of the meat and the smoke coming from the fire. While others may think this is suicidal, Zheng Jin had already picked this location beforehand.
This location that he chose happened to be a zone where only Five-tailed Crimson Rats were seen. Not only that, he is more than five kilometers away from any places where demon beasts posed a threat to him.
"Now then..."
Zheng Jin thought as he rose from his seat, his sword already held firmly in his hands.
"Time to exterminate some rats..."
Zheng Jin then smiled...his first prey had already arrived.
- Writer
