13 How Brutal

Seeing the severed hand, chills went down everyone's spine. The youth pointed a finger shakily at V in fear," You how dare you!"

V looked at him through the corner of his eyes while contemplating, This Kid seemed like someone who holds grudges but he wasn't a mindless killer. He'd give the kid a chance and if he pursues it which he probably will- Argh, conjecture is conjecture. I'll let things play out.

"Problem?"

The youth shook as he prepared to scream at him but a quick figure ran to his side.

"I must remind you young master, the Lord forbid you from causing trouble with the major powers by provoking them. He is a student of Westwood Glory Academy."

Of course the youth remembered his parents warning. But that didn't mean he'd take this lying down. He glared at V before stomping out.

V told Ren to head back to the Academy and learn a few shield and defense innate techniques. Naturally, to do this he must earn points to exchange with , which was an arduous task for someone his level who'd merely just begun cultivation. This served as a type of training to him.

V was aware that everyone wasn't like him and could fumble on their own slowly to find their own path at every and anything. He didn't want to but he allowed Ren to accept a master of need be and practice other techniques whilst making his own. He was pretty flexible to Ren as long as Ten recognized he must have his own path and a goal, a speciality that he must have. One where he could proudly say he's the best and when proven wrong; he must strive to make it right and surpass his limits.

V was strict on himself however, even the Astral Soul he condensed from 6th Heavenly Layer wasn't satisfying to him as he used Qin Wentian as a reference. A being with all Astral Souls from the 8th layer and above. Naturally, he had no idea of the circumstances surrounding this and that he'd already surpassed the young Qin Wentian.

The Forest of Owls was located in the boundaries of Westwood Glory Academy and students frequently entered there to gain combat experience, even then they dared not go too deep as the forest was just a section of the forest which extended over a million kilometres wide, even as Cultivators they couldn't cover that much distance in less than a 100 years.

The reason for the name stemmed from legend. A powerful Owl type creature of great rank and blood fell in the forest. At night Owls could be heard hooting with nothing in sight. Owl type and Bird type monsters also comprised the majority of the Beast population. Flying type beasts were obviously more difficult to deal with.

******

In a small pond clearing against A rock a shirtless figure was leaning against a large boulder which the water flowed beneath. In such a small water source only the weaker animals and smaller packs drank form here. He chose this place immediately upon seeing it.

His body was covered in bloody scars, fresh gaping wounds showing bloody tissues and fine scratch lines along with gentler healing injuries. Despite his sorry figure, this silver haired mature youth had calm and piercing eyes showing through the gap between his eyelids.

Suddenly, he looked up- the next wave was here- It was a Furry Three eyed ape. A land creature. A third level beast equivalent to the peak of the Body Refinement realm. Their eyes met, silvery demonic pupils and fierce red yellow irises, for a moment they seemed in tandem, in peace before they lunged at each other. It's large human like fist against his small fist.

V pivoted on his right leg and twisted relying on gravity and a turning force to utilize his full strength while flowing with the wind. He was training his body not combat skill as such his sword was left on the rock.

Boom.

Both figures one large and one small staggered. V clutched his trembling hand, it was shaking like a leaf, his bones felt like they cracked just then.

"Ooo oo"

The ape beat it's chest and shivered upon using the arm which collided with his , In an instant he leaped up and spun while targeting a spot on its neck, even airborne his foot didn't leave that spot and only increased the pressure, it howled in pain.

Reading its movements, he landed and pushed off its 4 meter high up neck while crossing his arms in a defense position, the ape punched out with its long limbs, in the split second of impact he altered his hand position and leveraged off the impact force the flip in the air repeatedly rising upwards.

The force only pushed him up 10 meters above ground where he landed and gouged out the ape's eyes. It wildly punched while wailing.

30 minutes later.

Ape meat was roasted and seasoned on a stick. Here on the outskirts there were a lot more weak than strong monsters. He met several insect type poisonous monsters during this time and removed their poison sacs. He took advantage of the properties of poison and mixed them with plant secretions to make a cream which he rubbed on himself. Different combinations yielded different results. Several painful ones at that. He'd met some small successes but they were inconsequential.

"Rrr rowr!!!"

Dog like howls accompanied 50 pairs of yellow eyes to his left.

Wolves.

Biting a Bob of Ape meat he rose and jumped straight into the small army of wolves. The pack leader was a third level demon wolf while the pack was comprised of second level demonic wolves.

Demonic Beasts could be classified into nine levels. 1st-level demonic beasts had a cultivation base that was roughly equivalent to the 3rd level of the Body Refinement Realm; 2nd-level demonic beasts had cultivation bases that would roughly be at the 6th level of the Body Refinement Realm; 3rd-level demonic beasts would be roughly equivalent to the 9th level of the Body Refinement Realm.

Based on this analogy, 9th-level demonic beasts were all fearsome existences that had a cultivation base at the peak of the Yuanfu Realm. For Demonic Beasts that had strength beyond the 9th Level, they would then be able to transform into the shape of a human, shedding the form of their demonic bodies.

Jumping into the carnival of jaws, Verathragna lost himself in combat using his raw combat talent to break necks with ease whilst avoiding the pack leader. He ripped open mandibles with his bare hands and killed brutally all while being rammed repeatedly by different wolves.

These were a pack of Stone Shoulder Wolf. They attacked by ramming their tough stone covered shoulders into prey, perfect for tempering his fleshes resilience.

6 hours later.

A figure sprawled out on grass covered by a slightly elevated thick bush with few gaps for light penetration. He sweated buckets, bled slowly and breathed heavily. Horrifyingly he was missing several chunks of flesh. And like a madman he was smiling. His blood boiled and life came to him, he enjoyed fighting, this was a fact now.

A few hundred meters away were a scattered leaf/corpse ground of demon wolves, the most horrifying sight was the former pack leader, his head was ripped off his bloody neck!!!

The purpose of the Body Refinement Realm was to temper your flesh until you achieve a perfect body. Those with weak cultivation methods, and that relied on absorbing Astral Energy from low-level constellations, would have a low effect towards the refinement of their fleshy body. In contrast, if the cultivation method was of a high level, and the Astral Energy within the body was powerful enough, one would be able to achieve the perfect body within a much shorter period of time. 

Verathragna was a special case, his astral energy came from the 6th Heavenly Layer but it was neither tyrannical nor ferocious. It was ethereal and formless. It's energies granted his cells activation and upon destruction creation would occur strengthening his cells with impacting his life energy. As such, he had to go through heart rending pain such as walking through poison and being clawed by beasts.

Eating meat, shrubs, soft wood, and a variety of natural consumables, his wounds healed under the nourishment of astral energy from the «Ethereal Time Constellation». In the short span of one night, he was as good as new. Any other Cultivator would have been long dead with his wounds, this was the tyranny of an Astral soul from the 6th Heavenly Layer.

After getting a change of clothes, he returned to his hunting spot, his muscles, tendons, bones, ligaments, flesh and many other things were all brutally broken and had reconnected to become even stronger now. He didn't forget to torture himself by drinking his own self made concoctions with poison as the main ingredient; to refine his energy channels and bones. Again, the gaping wounds increased the effectiveness and his energy channels strengthened while his bones grew sturdier and smooth with a tinge of crystalline.

Upon arriving at his hunting puddle, he found visitors but not the regular demon beasts but humans. Seeing a figure emerge from the bushes and approach them, The party of 5 grew vigilant and grasped their weapons. Evidently, they were taking a rest stop and happened to choose here.

V leaped up on the large rock and looked downward at them.

"May we ask what fellow student intends?"

Recognizing their uniforms as first year students of his own Westwood Glory Academy, he descended from the rock , landing In front of them.

A group of moderately handsome fellows protecting one woman. They didn't seem to be courting her and were perhaps protecting her due to being from the same clan or group of some sort.

She was a cute 14 year old girl with an extremely lovable face, perfect skin, big curious eyes and a slender young figure. She would definitely mature into a great beauty.

"You all should leave soon, this is my hunting grounds and I can't guarantee your safety if you stay, just like you some adorable fellows come here frequently though recently they haven't been leaving."

A heroic like young man clenched his spear and pointed it at V, " Is that a threat?" to which V smiled in response and walked right up to the tip of his spear, his forehead almost touching it.

"It wasn't but you can take it as you wish, it was my mistake being nice"

V turned to lean on the rock while waiting, he didn't hate beasts. In truth, he preferred them and treated both humans and beasts equally, if they tried to kill him, he killed them or made use of them. He always waited to be attacked before attacking himself. If these students attacked him, Well that's that.

"I haven't seen you here before. Why are you here alone? Are you strong? What's your name? "

The cute child like girl bubbled and questioned him with her big adorable eyes. Hearing no response after a while, she bent her lips in displeasure.

"Hey, I asked you a question!!"

"Young miss, please avoid taking to him and let us soon depart."

The youth with a heroic bearing, spoke while glaring at V with distrust. Naturally, the target of the glare was preoccupied thinking how nice the wind was evidently placing it at a higher importance than the youth.

"Why should I Ling Ren, Don't forget I'm the leader and you have to follow my lead hmph."

The little girl rebutted him before pointing at V,

"It's rude not to answer when someone asks you a question!"

".."

"Still if-boring meee!!!"

She stomped angrily while displeased states looked at him from behind her. V of course, payed them no attention. Suddenly, his senses were screaming loudly. It was an alarm in his head for when danger was near, it was a crucial role in him surviving so many wars as a mortal. He instantly leaped up to the tallest tree in the surroundings.

"Ptch, he ran"

The youth girl lowly spat upon seeing this, Her escorts seemed relieved as well. They didn't like this random stranger being in their young miss's presence perhaps endangering her.

"Should I have warned them? Hm. No I have no reason to."

V relaxingly laid at the tip of a 35 meter tree. Looking down, he could already see the danger. A larger adult 8 meter 4th level demonic beast. If he wasn't mistaken all of those students were at the first level of Arterial Circulation as for the girl he wasn't sure. Handling that demonic ape should be easy. But, something was off.

Ling Ren and his companions immediately formed a attack formation, "Young miss, stay back!" They released their astral souls aiming to take out the Beast in One fell swoop to avoid their mistress coming to harm. They confidently surrounded it, Up in the tree V s

grew serious,"-That ape.."

And sure enough, splat. It happened so fast none of them caught what happened. One moment they were attacking and the next, their bodies were brutally bashed destroying their skulls. This wasn't a normal furry ape a superior Variant beast!!!

"R..un...run...mistress"

The scene of scattered organs, limbs, bone revealing, brain matter and a torso missing it's lower half talking to her was too much for the young girl to handle.

"Ling ling ling Ren ..... everyone....EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!"

She screamed.

V chewed on some nuts. Looking at the scene.

"How brutal"

The scene was yes but,

"That guy obviously seemed to adore her but all he got was oh ling Ren and then was grouped with everyone, how very brutal."

V had seen much much worse.