22 Grinding Levels

Kai carefully peaked out of his hiding spot to see if there were any dangerous beasts around. To his relief, he saw nothing so stuck his head back under the vines where he felt safe.

The reason he stopped his hunt was that he had suddenly encountered a beast that wasn't a Slime Vine.

This new creature was over 3 meters tall and resembled an Ape with green moss covering its entire body. The beast had four thick arms that it used to swing around the massive swamp roots as well as razor-sharp teeth, indicating to Kai that it had to be a predator...

The system identified the beast as [Fungus-Ape [Grade-2] Qi 435].

This was the first [Grade-2] beast he came across in the wilds and it seemed too strong. Kai heard it roar and launch between the large swamp roots towards his location at high speeds.

Kai was instantly terrified by the beast's sheer speed and size, so he turned tail and ran as soon as he noticed it.

Luckily the beast was more interested in eating the [Slime Vine] carcasses that Kai had left lying around so it did not chase after him.

Kai had previously gone deep into the swamp to find more [Slime-Vine] so it took him a while to get out of the swamp even at full speed.

By the time he was out of the swamp, it was already dark, so Kai had decided to take shelter under the roots of a massive tree in the same way Mina had shown him when they had traveled together.

To take his mind off the traumatic event, Kai decided to instead check his newly filled Qi bar.

[Qi 299/300].

"Dammit, I was so close. If only that guy didn't show up I could have killed one more..."

Kai was annoyed. He had spent two nights in the Eastern Swamp hunting [Slime Vines] with little to no rest.

At this point, Kai had defeated well over 100 [Slime Vines], however, since he had to use some Qi to fight them, his current Qi gain was not reflecting the effort he had put in.

"I need a more passive internal manual, I can't imagine how many monsters I'll have to fight when I get to higher levels..."

Kai was quickly noticing the flaws of his only Internal Manual, [Dragon Subduing Law]. Just because he gave it an epic name didn't mean that the manual was that good.

Kai noticed that if the current pattern continued, then he would have to hunt over 100 monsters for every level. This wouldn't be a problem if he could hunt in this swamp forever, but Kai knew that wasn't possible after what had just happened. There were likely even stronger beasts that had yet to return to the swamp, so Kai was reluctant to stay in this place any longer.

He didn't want to travel at night when we couldn't even see a few meters ahead of him, so he stayed vigilant throughout the night and wait until morning.

A few hours passed with Kai being on edge when he was startled by a sudden system notification.

==[1 Qi] absorbed by [Dragon Subduing Law] passive]==

"Man that scared me...but this timing is perfect, I can level up now!"

Kai was feeling vulnerable and weak at the moment so he wanted to quickly level up, but at the same time, he knew he would lose all his accumulated Qi which was too painful to bare. If he got attacked while he had no Qi, that would be the end of him.

"Damned system, why would you make my experience and mana pools the same!...I demand an immediate patch to fix this!". Kai complained in his head but as usual, he got no response.

Kai decided to hold back on leveling up. He could do so once he was safely back in the city. Kai waited until first light so he could clearly see his surroundings then quickly left the vicinity of the swamp while backtracking his way to the city using the map.

The journey back was uneventful, but Kai did notice a lot more aerial activity. There were flocks of large bird-like creatures flying towards the South.

Kai assumed they were going back to their territories, but he couldn't be sure. The birds themselves didn't seem to care about his presence so he ignored them and kept running towards the city.

When Kai reached the gate, he had to pay another copper coin since his entry token had expired. Kai was running low on copper coins after buying Hunter's certification so he felt like he was back at square one.

Once Kai was back in Huang City, he decided to first go to the Hunter's Lodge main branch and get an updated map. The beasts were returning to their territories at a fast rate so Kai needed the most recent information to avoid danger.

Kai headed over to the affluent part of Huang City and entered the Hunter's Lodge. It was still early in the morning but the receptionist was still behind her desk waiting patiently.

"Welcome back," she said with a slight smile.

"Thank you, I'm here for an updated map please"

Kai was in a hurry to level up he didn't want to waste too much time here.

"Certainly, may I have your map please?".

Kai handed over his map and the receptionist hovered her strange glowing orb over it. As if by magic, the words and details on the map changed. Kai was completely dumbfounded.

Despite his face being mostly covered, the receptionist still noticed Kai's shock and gave a slight giggle.

"You left in a hurry last time so I didn't get a chance to explain. These maps are talismans that record changes in surroundings. This is how we can update our maps daily. But don't worry, they cannot record any personal information of your personal information"

Kai quickly used [Qi Detection] on the map and subconsciously mocked himself for not having checked it earlier.

[Low-Rank Recording Talisman [Qi 80]

Not only was he carrying the tracking talisman disguised as an entry token, but he was now also carrying a recording talisman disguised as a map...and worse yet, he was paying 1 copper daily for each of them!..

Kai was annoyed and felt like throwing both of these "invasions of privacy" away to go live in the woods like a hermit, off the grid.

But when Kai thought about the dangers out in the world, he quickly calmed down and decided to give it some more thought before making any drastic decision.

The receptionist was unaware of Kai's internal frustrations and continued to speak.

"Based on your contributions, you have earned a total of 2 Silver and 12 copper coins. Would you like to receive the payment now?".

"Contributions?...what do you mean?".

The mention of money brought Kai back to reality very quickly and so he put the privacy issue aside for now.

The receptionist smiled and continued to explain.

" 112 [Grade-1] [Slime-Vine] were recorded as defeated by you in the Eastern Swamps. These translate to 1 contribution point per kill. You also discovered vital information regarding the [Fungus-Ape] and [Terror-Birds] returning to their territories which is rewarded with 50 contribution points each"

Kai was doing the calculations in his head as she spoke. He got to a total of 212 contribution points but wondered how this equated to money.

"Your total is 212 contribution points. Each contribution point can be exchanged for copper at a 1:1 exchange rate

Kai now understood how Hunter's made money other than selling the beast's carcasses. He also realized that the recording device had been keeping track of changes in his surroundings, as well as recording the wild beasts he had been killing.

"So this is map is the method the Hunter"s Lodge uses to track individual contributions?...then what if I was in a team?...". Kai was curious about this part.

Kai had to admit that he was still too weak to do everything himself. In gamer terms, Kai needed some higher-level players to carry him.

"If you are registered in a team, the contributions will be split equally between all team members", the receptionist responded simply.

Kai nodded his head. "Just as I thought... but there is safety in numbers, and all I care about is getting Qi so joining a team wouldn't be such a bad idea" Kai murmured under his breath.

"Would you like to exchange your contribution into coins!", asked the receptionist again with a patient smile.

"Before that, what else can I use contribution points for?"

"Well...as a Copper Hunter, you can only exchange for coins and low-level information. However, if you register as a Silver Hunter, you will have a lot more options"

"Ok. That makes sense. So what kind of information can I exchange for now?"

The receptionist gave Kai a once over, seemingly impressed with his question. She waved the glowing orb in front of Kai and continued...

"Anything you desire. Just ask the question and a price will be given. If we have the information is available that is"

"Do you have information on the basics of alchemy?" Kai asked wanting to know if this was possible. He had walked by quite a few pill shops in the affluent area and noticed the exorbitant prices that the pills were going for. That seemed to be a cash cow that Kai wanted in on.

The orb in the receptionist's hand glowed faintly after Kai spoke.

"Basics of Alchemy. You need 10,000 contribution points to exchange for this information..."

Kai knew it would be expensive, but this was beyond his expectations. If converted to coins, 10,000 contributions points would be 10,000 copper, which is 100 silver. That's 1 whole Gold coin!.

'According to Mina, her entire village could buy enough grain to last 10 years with just 1 Gold, and here they are asking the same for some basic alchemy information'

Kai didn't hide his shock this time which made the receptionist giggle.

"Well the information isn't going anywhere so you can always save up and buy it later"

Kai agreed with what she said. He decided to withdraw 1 silver and the loose 12 copper, for now, leaving an even 100 contribution points.

Despite the massive invasion of privacy, Kai was still pleasantly surprised by the contribution point system. He hadn't collected the corpses of the [Slime-Vines] since all he wanted at the time was Qi, so this would solve his current money problems.

Kai thanked her again and left the building. This time he left his map with the receptionist under the guise of 'safekeeping', but in reality, he just didn't want to be recorded. Before he left the city to go hunting again, he would just come by to pick up the map.

Kai went back to the Inn and asked for a private room this time. He paid 5 copper for the night and went up to the room. The room was similar in size to the shared room, however, it had a larger single bed as well as a writing desk and cabinet for storage. There was also an attached washroom with hot water.

Kai also noticed that the room was a lot better decorated than the shared room. Lastly, this room came with complimentary breakfast and Dinner, so Kai wouldn't need to worry about meals during his stay. Considering the price, it was quite good.

Kai didn't choose the private room because he wanted an upgrade, but rather he didn't want to share a room with a group of strangers if he could avoid it. He had too many secrets.

Kai took a shower then changed out of his ragged fisherman's clothes and back into his comfortable white robes. Once he was comfortable, he sat cross-legged on the bed and looked at his current Qi.

[Qi 300/300]

"Let's break through!"

Kai didn't waste any more time. He began circulating his Qi while following his manual [Dragon Subduing Law].

The process was similar to the previous breakthrough, however, Kai noticed that it was a little more difficult this time.

Previously he felt more like a passenger in a self-driving car, however this time he had to actively make slight adjustments to keep the car from going in the wrong way.

"Is it getting more difficult?..."

Kai was curious as to why this was happening, however, he didn't have time to think about it and kept concentrating on his breakthrough.

After about 10 minutes of circulating Qi within his body, Kai's Qi channels had been expanded yet again, allowing more Qi to flow through to his core at a faster rate. His core had also increased in size by a small amount.

==[Congratulations, Host has broken through and reached the Third Level of Qi Condensation]==

Kai's Qi pool got another expansion which was within his expectations.

[Qi 0/400]

Before Kai could check all the changes, he got another bunch of system notifications.

==[Host has unlocked 3rd Martial Arts Manual Slot]==

=[System Note: Unlearned Martial Arts Manual detected. Would you like to learn it?]=

"Yes!" Kai said excitedly.

He hadn't forgotten about the first E-Rank Martial Arts Manual he had gotten. He just didn't want to part ways with his current skills so he held off on learning it until this moment. But to avoid losing it, he hadn't created any new manuals.

=[Martial Arts Manual learned. Please give it a name]=

Kai wanted to start a Dragon theme going since he thought it sounded cool so he decided to call it [Corrosive Dragon Stance].

=[New Manual Recorded]=

=[Martial Arts Cultivation Manual]=

>[Corrosive Dragon Stance] [E-Rank - Based on [Grade-3] [Roaming Spider Venom]

[Ability 1, Active]: Add corrosive attribute to physical attacks

[Cost]: 2 Qi per attack

[Ability 2, Active]: Infects any attacker with corrosive poison

[Cost]: 1 Qi, lasts 30 seconds

With this new skill, Kai's combat effectiveness had increased by a large margin.

Kai hadn't slept in two days but the breakthrough had slightly revitalized him so he felt energetic.

"I need to find another hunting ground with weak mobs to keep this momentum going. The Eastern Swamp is out of the question, but according to the map, there aren't any other places with only [Grade-1] Beasts around..."

Even with the new skill, Kai was still afraid of the Grade-2 [Fungus-Ape]. He wasn't confident in surviving even a single punch from it, let alone an entire drawn-out fight.

"I guess I have to look for a team. If Mina and Ryu were strong enough, I'd just take them with me, but for now, I guess I need to join a team of randoms."

Kai made up his mind and decided to head over to the bar the Hunter's Lodge receptionist had mentioned. There he would look for a suitable team to join. After what happened today, Kai accepted his weakness and decided to put his pride aside for the sake of preserving his precious life.