15 Just Getting Started

By a stony creek in a valley, a black-clad young man was holding a black beetle with a metallic sheen that looked like a cross between a crab and a Hercules beetle.

Holding a dagger in his other hand, the young man swiftly cut the still-struggling claws off the beetle, revealing white and tender meat.

Almost without hesitation, the young man sucked the meat out of the claws as if he were eating a crab and swallowed it together with larger pieces of tougher meat.

{Black beetle killed. No beast soul gained. Eat the flesh of the black beetle to gain zero to ten geno points randomly.}

{Black beetle flesh eaten. Zero geno points gained.}

A strange voice sounded in Han Sen's mind, and some data also appeared.

Han Sen: Not evolved.

Status: None.

Life span: 200 years.

Required for evolution: 100 geno points.

Geno points gained: Ordinary geno points: 79.

'I have received zero geno points from more than thirty black beetles in a row. I must have eaten too much black-beetle flesh to evolve from it further. Zero points! When will I ever finish the first evolution and gain status?' Han Sen thought, looking frustrated.

Han Sen completed integrated compulsory education and entered God's Sanctuary when he turned 16. What he had learned from school was no more than the beginning level new martial arts that everyone knew.

As for beast souls, they were so expensive that Han Sen couldn't afford even the cheapest.

Without martial arts and beast souls, or even advanced man-made alloy weapons, Han Sen was only able to kill some low-level creatures to eat their flesh and evolve, and he was having a difficult time in God's Sanctuary.

But the more meat of low-level creatures he ate, the less effect of evolution he gained. Three months in God's Sanctuary and he still could not complete a physical evolution.

Han Sen had tried to kill some of the more powerful creatures, but even the weakest primitive creature, the copper-toothed beast, almost took his life. He had to rest for nearly a month before returning to God's Sanctuary.

By this time Han Sen had eaten all kinds of ordinary creatures around him, and it wouldn't help to eat their flesh any more. If he didn't risk hunting more advanced creatures, he would never evolve.

When he was about to try to go kill a copper-toothed beast, Han Sen heard a loud whistle and a small pebble hit his head. He immediately turned to the source of the noise, only to find a young man about his age looking at him with an amused smile.

"Yo." The guy sitting in the try said and waved his hand lazily in a manner of greeting.

"Man, what the hell was that? It spooked me." Han Sen asked in a somewhat confrontational tone.

He was blindsided, true, but the other guy looked to be his age. What's more, he couldn't see him wearing any beast souls. So yeah, the thought he could take him.

"You know, you are pretty good at assassination and your technique with that dagger is pretty good. But if all you do is always stay here hunting black beetles, you won't get far." The man in the tree said in a bored voice. "Don't get mad, I was just saying. Anyway, your technique is pretty good, so you shouldn't have a problem getting in a party. So why do you choose to hunt by yourself?" He asked just before leaping gracefully down the tree and started walking towards the young man on the side of the creek.

Hearing his words, Han Sen let a wry smile.

'It's not that I don't want to, and more like they just won't let me be. All because of a stupid mistake.'

"Well, I am not exactly the best liked person in my shelter. But what is it to you, anyway?" He responded. At his words, the man in the tree stopped walking for a second.

"You are Han Sen?" He asked him in a surprised tone.

'Of course he heard of me. Everybody has fucking heard of me stabbing that bitch's ass.'

"Yeah, right here." He answered dejectedly. This was the most normal conversation he had had after the incident, and now it was probably going to end.

"Huh, strange. I always thought you were a degenerate, not someone capable. Guess not all the rumours are true. But why are you just hunting these lowlifes? With your technique you could at least hunt primitive creatures." He said.

Han Sen was confused. Here was someone who dismissed the rumours as just that and instead judged him for what he had observed.

'If only more people thought like him'

But it was futile thinking about that.

"Well, last time I tried I almost got killed by a copper-toothed beast. That was why I was planning on getting as much ordinary points as I could, but it seems impossible now." Han Sen answered wryly.

"So it's a matter of armour, then. Don't you have one?" He asked doubtfully.

"Friend, if I had one I wouldn't be here hunting this scum" Han Sen answered.

"Well, only because I would hate to see your potential go to waste, I'll do you a favour, but you owe me." He said while a beam of golden light exited his forehead and entered Han Sen's.

As soon as he recovered from his shock, he checked his sea of soul.

"Black beetle: Sacred-blood armour beast soul"

'A sacred-blood beast soul. A sacred blood… A sacred…' As Han Sen recovered his shock, he quickly ran towards the guy who gave him the armour, intent on giving it back.

He really wanted armour, but this was too much.

"Friend, brother, I can't accept this, its too precious. You should keep it for yourself, for when you need protection. And besides, if people found out you helped me, they would hunt you down. Its not worth it." Han Sen was speaking but never made any decisive move to return the beast soul. The young man just smiled.

"Don't worry, friend. I am protected." As he said this his black sacred blood armour manifested on him. "And about the others… I won't tell if you won't." He grinned and started walking away.

"Friend… No, brother… No, uncle! What is your name?" He asked almost ecstatic. He had finally gotten a beast soul, and a sacred-blood one, at that. Only because a guy saw him murder black beetles repeatedly. He felt he was dreaming, but no matter what he did he didn't wake up.

Still, he wanted to know this saint's name.

"I'm Ling Yun. Nice to meet you." He said with a smile before summoning a lizard and getting away on his back.

Han Sen stoop rooted to the spot before snapping out of his trance and smiling to himself.

"What a nice guy." He said and started going on his way back to the shelter.

Meanwhile, Ling Yun was already in his room. After thinking about the past month, he smiled and gently touched his armour. He then proceeded to call out his profile.

Ling Yun: Not evolved.

Status: None.

Lifespan: 200 years.

Requirements for evolution: 100 geno points.

Geno points gained: 100 ordinary geno points; 87 primitive geno points; 20 mutant geno points; 10 sacred-blood geno points; 0 super geno points.

Bluefire Ripper Griffon: Super Pet Beast Soul.

Nightmare Centipede: Sacred-blood Pet Beast Soul. Onyx Panther: Sacred-blood Armour Beast Soul.

Jet Lizard: Mutant Mount Beast Soul. Desert Scorpion: Mutant Weapon Beast Soul (Spear). Metal Gorilla: Mutant Shapeshifting Beast Soul. Black-Feathered Hummingbird: Mutant Weapon Beast Soul (Bow).

Bloody Bee: Primitive Weapon Beast Soul (Arrow) (Upgrading).

Mantis Reaper: Primitive Weapon Beast Soul (Sword). Swift Mosquito: Primitive Weapon Beast Soul (Arrow). Blue Eagle: Primitive Weapon Beast Soul (Arrow). Flesh-Eating Cocoon: Primitive Shield Beast Soul. Winged Salamander: Primitive Flying Beast Soul. Horned Thunder Python: Primitive Pet Beast Soul. Black-Clawed Emerald Falcon: Primitive Flying Mount Beast Soul. Tri-Horned Shark: Primitive Aquatic Mount Beast Soul.

'Yes, life's good.'

Ha had maxed out his ordinary geno points and was very close to doing the same with the primitive ones. The problem was, the system's method was so efficient, he just couldn't get any more geno points from the ordinary creatures around Steel Armour Shelter anymore.

'Ordinary people didn't have this problem, but as Anne explained it, the pieces of flesh I consume from the creatures are saturated in genetic nutriments that boost my own evolution. Not only will I get a slightly better fitness than any other person with the same number of points, but I will also have more potential. The problem is, the more I eat a certain creature, the less effective this is.'

Actually, Ling Yun could only get the ten whole points from a carcass the first time he eats it. After that, if he were to consume the same species of animal, the gains would diminish to seven or eight points. On the third time, it might decrease to five. The fourth, he would only get a couple of geno points. Starting from the fifth he would get absolutely nothing. This meant he could, on average, only get 25 geno points from any type of creature no matter how many of them he ate.

Of course, this was no big problem for the ordinary creatures, since they were abundant like rats. But the rarer primitive creatures were another matter altogether.

Ling Yun was waiting to upgrade more of his beast souls to the mutant grade and, if possible, some of them to sacred-blood before venturing to anther shelter.

Especially considering his fitness was barely hitting ten. The martial arts competition was starting in two months, so it was not likely he would make a lot of progress on that area. So, if he wanted to get a good position, he would need to have a superior strategy, superior techniques, or superior beast souls.

Strategy was off the table since he had no idea who his opponents were going to be and even if he knew, it was not unusual for smart people to keep a powerful beast soul secret as a trump card. That was exactly Ling Yun's plan for the Metal Gorilla, after all.

His techniques were coming along nicely, and he had a number of B-class techniques under his belt, but only one A-class one and no S-class. He had only been in the sanctuary for a month, after all. Compared to those young men from prominent families that had been training since they could walk, it was a really low number. Still, with eight out of the nine preparatory stages of his scriptures completed, he didn't think he was disadvantaged. He was, in his opinion, on the same standard. If he could get the hang of foresight, it would be best, but it was looking like a fool's dream. He still hadn't made any progress.

And his beast souls, well, at the moment they were sub-standard. His opponents would undoubtedly have at least sacred-blood armor, weapon, and a couple of trump cards. One of the chosen or an elite with a sacred-blood shapeshifting beast soul would be beyond troublesome, considering his fitness index.

Because as it stood, he could only transform for thirteen minutes without harming his body. And those veterans would probably have maxed out their mutant geno points and had at least fifty sacred blood ones, which would mean at least an hour of transformation time.

His only hope was to upgrade the Metal Gorilla to berserk sacred-blood grade, but that would take four weeks, and he only had about eight and a half.

Or maybe he could upgrade the Onyx Panther to berserk. It would only take two weeks and it could be used while shapeshifting.

Or perhaps, the best option would be to upgrade his wings, bow, and arrow and hunt them all from the sky. That way defense should be only a secondary concern, since he would be out of their reach. But if other people had countermoves for that strategy, he would be doomed to fail.

'Decisions, decisions. Why did I have to enter so late? If I only had a couple of more months, I would be sure to bag at least a spot in the top three.' Ling Yun smiled wryly. But whatever the choice he made, one thing was for certain.

'It doesn't matter what I do, if I am not in another shelter in two months all my plans will be for naught. But in order to leave, I need my armor, my weapon, and mount on sacred-blood grade. And so far, only the armor is there. The mount and weapon are only on mutant standard. It would take a month for them to reach sacred blood.'

Ling Yun shook his head in helplessness. He really needed more time.