4 04 - A New Friend?
After what felt like hours, the fight the between and 'Hornet Wolves' and Fang Lin have come to a climax. Next to his feet was the corpse of the third and final wolf with only the alpha left. Both combatants came to the same conclusion, the next confrontation will be the last and it won't be in Fang Lin's favor.
Due to their numerical advantage, Fang could only try his best to weather a blow in order to exchange for a fatal strike yet even then, the alpha's barely taken any damage at all. Although it looked bloody all over and missing patches of fur everywhere, those were only glancing blows. The only saving grace was the fact that Fang Lin managed to nick one of its eyes during the scuffle, effectively blinding it on one side.
Fang Lin's condition on the other hand; if he were to show up at any modern day hospital, he would definitely be rushed into Intensive Care Unit immediately. Hanging down loosely from his torso is his left hand. This was the result of Fang Lin using his arm to block a bite aimed at his neck and also the reason he able to end the wolf's life by counter-stabbing it through the neck. Both his legs are now full cuts and bite marks with blood still periodically dripping out of the numerous holes. The worst of his wound however were the deep gashes on his back. He was careless and forgot about the alpha for a moment which gave the alpha a chance to run its claws through to his defenseless back. Worse yet still, the blood loss he suffered is now making Fang Lin a bit dizzy. It's almost a miracle how he's even alive and still standing on his feet.
"Huu huu huuuu... it's... just you and me now..." said Fang Lin with his grip on "Black Dao" trembling and all. The only response the alpha returned was a malicious snarl and it lowered its posture getting ready for a charge. The wound on Fang Lin's back chose this to send him a surge of pain. This happening so abruptly caused him to gasp and lose his concentration. The wolf may be a beast, but it's not dumb enough to let this chance pass by and did a leaping charge. Extending its vicious claws, the wolf aimed at the Fang Lin's head, intending to end this in one hit.
"Shit!..." Even though he knew it won't make it in time, Fang Lin still stabbed his 'Black Dao' to intercept the claws. (Is this as far as I can make it? Fuck!) depressedly thought Fang Lin. At the last moment before the claws made contact, a white blur shot out from behind him and slammed into the wolf's paw causing it to miss Fang Lin's head, effectively saving his life. The wolf now stunned by the unpredictable development, wasn't able to react in time and was met with a sword piercing it's already damaged eye and going straight towards it's brain. Before Fang Lin could feel happy his victory, the corpse of the wolf that still had all the momentum from it's charge, slammed straight into him sending them to the ground.
*DING!*
[Lv19 -> Lv20]
*DING!*
[Black Dao (Unranked) -> Black Dao (Mainstream)]
After his promotion, Fang Lin felt a surge of power coming from deep within. The feeling it brought was a lot more powerful than his other level. This is most likely because he's broken the boundary into a new realm. The wounds on his arms and legs are now healing at a visible speed as was his back however as the wound was too deep, it couldn't be healed in totality which was bound to leave another scar.
"Goddamned it... am I gonna keep adding new scars every time I reach a new realm?" complained Fang Lin to no one in particular. He then stood up as he remembered the white blur that saved him. Even after frantically looking around for a while, he still couldn't find anything save for the 5 corpses of the wolves. Although for some reason, he got the feeling that white blur was a bit familiar?
"Whoever you are, my life would have been forfeit if it weren't for your timely assistance. Thank you" said Fang Lin as he gave a slight bow towards a random direction in the forest. After a couple of seconds he looked at the text box that's been in his field of vision for awhile now.
[Corpse of multiple magical beast detected. Do you to convert these 'Items'?]
[Yes], [No]
[Core of magic beast detected. Do you wish to convert these 'Items'?]
[Yes], [No]
Fang Lin's victory is even more satisfying now after seeing that one of the magic beast actually had a core. Fang Lin found out after his... pyrrhic victory over that damnable 'Ironhide Boar' that some beasts had a chance to condense a 'Core' in their body. Every single monster Fang Lin fought that had a 'Core' always were unusually stronger than normal with some even stronger than other beasts of higher 'Levels'. The best part was the fact that cores gives AP when converts them. In other words, as long as he had enough cores, he can get as many abilities I could from the system.
With no hesitation, Fang Lin picked [Yes] for both options.
*DING!*
[AP: 1,800 -> 2,200]
[IP: 6,400 -> 7,080]
"Sigh, guess I'll go back to camp earlier today." said Fang Lin as he felt fatigue washing over him. Even though physical wounds are healed, he's still mentally exhausted. It was a pretty long battle after all.
On his way back, Fang Lin didn't forget to hunt a 'Fanged Rabbit' for his dinner. Ugly little fuckers they may be, their meat is still delicious... if you know how to 'Cook' it of course. Fang Lin couldn't help but grimace as he remembered the first time he tried roasting the damn thing.
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On the 2nd week of Fang Lin waking up in this forest, a couple of days after his...ugh, 'fight' with the that damn boar, he decided he didn't want to buy another 'Fasting Pill'. He couldn't withstand the cardboard taste of that filth the system called a pill any longer. After his daily hunt, Fang Lin decided to keep one of the 'Fanged Rabbit' corpse and turn it into dinner.
What Fang Lin forgot was that he didn't know the first thing about cooking even prepared ingredients, let alone what used to be alive just moments ago. The result was as anyone predicted; the whole thing was pretty much inedible as the blood wasn't drained properly, innards not removed and so on... with the meat tossed aside, Fang Lin went to bed hungry that night. He was surprised however when he woke up the next morning found the 'meat' missing but didn't give it much thought.
Learning from his previous failure, Fang Lin continued hunt and roasted more of the meat he found in his hunt. As he got better, the 'food' became less and less inedible, though they're still pretty tasteless as he didn't have any condiments nor know how to identify which herbs are safe to use for cooking. As for his 'missing' leftovers, he just took it as feeding the harmless wild animals near his campsite.
It was on the 3rd week that Fang Lin collected enough AP to buy a cooking ability. He couldn't remember a time when he said [Yes] faster than that moment. He was so happy after he got the 'Cooking Mastery' that he went on a rampage hunting for meat, which even almost refilled the points he spent. Finally! No more tasteless meat!
That night, Fang Lin made a feast for self celebration and even left out some food due to habits over the past week. Probably due to the new and improved cooking skills, Fang Lin's little stalker couldn't resist and wait til Fang Lin went in his tent like usual, it hesitantly walked out of the bush, guided by aroma of the meat.
Hearing a sound nearby put Fang Lin on alert as he put a hand over 'Black Dao', ready for trouble. After learning his lessons weeks earlier, he no longer stored 'Black Dao' in his inventory even when he's sleeping and made it a habit to carry it around. Looking over to see what made the noise, all Fang Lin saw was a ball of white fluff, just a little bit bigger than the size of an adult's palms, a set of whiskers, golden pupils and an azure lightning pattern atop its forehead lithely walking towards the food he left out. Right, it was a little kitten. The thing that made Fang Lin almost cry is the thing floating on its head [Lv15], the same level as him! Damn it! I'm only as strong as a weak little kitten...!? If anyone ever asked, Fang Lin would forever denied that he ever cried that night. No way it wasn't tears... just his eyeballs sweating.
What Fang Lin didn't know was that the 'food' he's been sharing is the reason it got that strong. There are energy in the meat of magical beasts that when consumed, could actually increase one's cultivation level and is one of most sought after commodity in this world. As it is just raw energy, it could provide benefits to both Battle Qi and Mana cultivators. Sadly, the only one in the world that doesn't receive this benefit is Fang Lin because his body is made differently than the rest.
Ever since the first meeting that night, that little kitten would always show up whenever its dinner time. Fang Lin also never failed to leave out a portion for the little guy. Maybe it's because loneliness of living alone in the wilderness, Fang Lin didn't mind and in fact enjoyed its company. The food he makes also tastes a whole lot better now that he used his points to get the necessary condiments from the system after knowing that IP was an expendable commodity. It was then that a strange relationship between man and beast had formed.
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After reviewing his memories of the past 2 weeks, he finally remembered now why that white blur looked familiar to him.
"But why didn't it stick around...?" said Fang Lin with a mumble. He gave one last shrug before returning to camp and to prepare for tonight's dinner.
As Fang Lin was leaving, a pair of golden eyes were following him until his silhouet disappears into the forest. It gave a feline's equivalent to what a human calls a sigh of relief and followed after Fang Lin. If it was a bit later that time... it wouldn't get to eat delicious meat anymore! That would be unforgivable!
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stats update;
***************************Status***************************
Name: Fang Lin
Title: "None"
Lv: 20 (5%)
Tier: "Mortal"
Traits: "Serene Mind", "Pain Tolerance"
Skills: "Sword Mastery", "Cooking Mastery"
Bloodlines: "None", "None"
Equipments: "Black Dao (Mainstream)"
Items: "Basic Camping Set"
Summons: "None"
AP: 2,200
EP: 0
IP: 7,080
UP: 1000
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