Bug Hunter (2)

Kai crawled into the crevice and used his backpack to block the small entrance. He had found it during the battle and figured it would be a good place to hide his backpack while he fought.

He dressed his wounds from the earlier confrontation, but at this point, the bleeding had stopped. He could also see the wounds slowly healing.

"This must be [Primordial Dragon Physique]. As expected of a D-Rank Body cultivation manual", Kai murmured with a smile. He sat cross-legged on the ground and looked at his Qi.

[Qi:499/500]

Kai could only sigh as he thought about the Qi he used to escape that [Rock-Wyrm Adult]. Had he stayed right under it, it would have shot those rock spikes onto his head at short-range. The momentum from gravity plus getting caught unaware would have probably instantly killed him.

Kai shuddered in fear at the thought and once again swore to never disregard any of his gut feelings.

Kai stomped one of the bugs to replenish his Qi, then sat back down cross-legged. He visualized the Qi circulation pattern of [Dragon Subduing Law] then began the breakthrough process.

As expected, this time it was much more difficult than before, however, Kai was prepared for it and focused his mind on his battle experiences. This helped to alleviate some of the pressure and allowed his Qi to flow smoother.

He broke into a sweat as he fell into deep concentration. After a few minutes of intense Qi circulation, he got a pleasant system notification.

==[Congratulations, Host has broken through to the 5th Level of Qi Condensation]==

Kai took a deep breath and could now feel the Qi particles in the air. He had no way of interacting with them or pulling them into his body, but he could tell that the Qi was there.

Kai also felt his Qi channels become wider than before and instinctively knew how much more concentrated and powerful his Qi would be.

"I could likely take down a [Rock-Wyrm] with a normal full body Qi enhanced punch instead of the super-enhanced punch". Kai knew how significant that would be. Super-enhancing costs a minimum of 1 Qi for only one attack, whereas full body enhancement would give drastically less power but lasted a few hours at the same cost.

Kai decided to keep the improvements going and pulled out a [Rock-Wyrm] gallbladder while looking at his [Life Essence] bar.

=[Life Essences required for next promotion]: 199/200

Kai had saved the last one just in case his body would fall into an unknown state when he reached the requirements. He wanted to eat it in a controlled environment where he knew he would be safe.

Kai shoved it into his mouth then felt a sudden heat coming from his stomach. The heat slowly flowed to his heart. His heartbeat became more vigorous, spreading the heat throughout his body. He felt his muscles expand and contract as they became denser.

The entire process was quite painful and made Kai wince, but it was done within a few seconds.

==[Congratulations, Host for reaching Body Cultivation Level [Mortal Grade-3]==

Kai had instinctively tightened his muscles during the process so he exhaled while loosening up his body.

"Incredible, how much physical power did I gain in just a few seconds...I'm sure I could now defeat a [Rock-Wyrm] with a few non-Qi-enhanced punches.

Kai looked over to the unconscious [Rock-Wyrm] and decided to test out his theory. He threw a normal fist with all his might like the [Rock-Wyrm] skull, leaving lines of cracks running over it. He threw another fist, this time fully cracking the hard shell and soft skull beneath. The third and final fist went through its head, immediately shattering its skull.

==[Rock-Wyrm] defeated. [6 Qi] absorbed by [Dragon Subduing Law]==

Kai smiled at the progress he had made. Not only had his Qi per kill been increased, but he would now be less reliant on Qi. This meant he could save more of it for his breakthroughs.

Kai checked his Status to see the most recent stat changes.

==[Status]==>

[Name]: Kai (No Last name)

[Age]: 14 [Life expectancy = 40 years]

[Internal Cultivation Level]: 5th Level of Qi Condensation

[Body Grade]: Mortal Grade 3

[Health]: 60 /60

[Qi]: 6 /600

[Qi Gather Rate]: [1 Qi /day]

[Status]: Healthy

==[Stats]==

[External Strength]: 8+(0)

[External Defense]: 15+(8)

[Internal Strength]: 10+(0)

[Internal Defense]: 6+(0)

"I'm not sure how I'd compare to the genius cultivators in this world but my speed has been fast. It's only been a few weeks since I came to this world after all".

Kai was happy with his progress. The next step for his Internal cultivation was as expected, he now needed 600 Qi for the breakthrough and would gain 6Qi per kill. Kai needed to kill an average of 100 beasts without spending Qi to achieve this.

As for his body cultivation, Kai inspected the requirements for [Primordial Dragon Physique].

[Life Essences required for next promotion]: 0/400 [Grade-1 Essences].

"400...Well that's going to take a while..."

Kai stood up and stretched his body before walking out of the crevice. He was anxious to get his revenge on the [Rock-Wyrm Adult]. He had the feeling that he could have fought it even in his previous state, but he didn't want to waste Qi unnecessarily.

Kai walked back to the [Rock-Wyrm] nest with a spring in his step. He had already exterminated everything in the tunnel so there wasn't anything to worry about. When he arrived at the entrance of their nest, Kai took a battle-ready stance and got prepared to take on any challenge.

He slowly walked into the nest while cautiously looking up and around. Suddenly, A volley of spiked rocks went flying towards him, but he was prepared for it this time.

He strafed towards the right, effectively dodging the spiked rocks. Kai looked up and found the source of the attack.

[Grade 2] [Rock-Wyrm Adult] Qi 366]

"We meet again bug monster, you should have run away while you had the chance!". Kai clenched his fists as a sinister smile crept onto his face.

He Qi-enhanced his body and leaped up into the air. His newly upgraded body plus the newly refined Qi worked to give him a ridiculous speed boost. He appeared right in front of the beast which startled it for a moment.

The [Rock-Wyrm Adult] tried to use its massive pincers to snap at Kai, but it was too late. Kai's Qi-enhanced fist had already slammed onto its hard rock shell. A loud cracking sound reverberated throughout the tunnel but Kai wasn't done yet.

He grabbed it by the tail, forcefully yanking it off the ceiling and throwing it down to the ground. It landed heavily on its back with a second crunching sound that echoed through the tunnel. It painfully turned itself over and was about to flee when Kai landed on its back again with a heavy stomp, fully cracking its hard shell and splitting the beast into two, killing it instantly.