Entering The Forest

"How long was I cultivating for?" thought Alex as he stood up and looked out the window. The moon was high in the sky, indicating that at least several hours had passed since he started cultivating.

"Weird, it felt like no time at all," thought Alex.

"Well, time for bed, I guess. Tomorrow is when the true journey begins."

It has been two days since Alex left the Dracon Clan. Following his departure, he traveled to a nearby town near his clan. He stopped for the night in an inn and decided to rest before continuing his journey. Alex went back to cultivating after settling into his room; once finished, he took a shower and went back to sleep.

The next morning, Alex sat up in his bed for a few minutes before getting up and walking out into the hallway. Downstairs, Alex noticed several men passed out at their tables in a drunken stupor.

After ordering some breakfast from the innkeeper, Alex sat down at a table and ate his breakfast.

"This might be the last good meal I have for a while," thought Alex as he scarfed down his meal.

After finishing his meal, Alex walked out of the inn and explored the town for a bit. The town had many different buildings, ranging from trade halls to brothels, but nothing of interest grabbed his attention.

"Guess I'll head out," thought Alex as he turned south of the town and headed towards the nearby treeline. The mountain range was visible in the far distance, its peaks jutting high into the sky.

After walking for a few minutes, Alex arrived in front of the forest and paused for a moment before heading in. The bright sunshine was immediately replaced with a darker atmosphere as the dense tree cover blocked much of the sunlight. Large trees, several feet wide and hundreds of feet high, could be seen everywhere.

Taking care of his surroundings, Alex ventured deeper into the forest. Unlike the forest surrounding the Dracon clan, the trees here were not marked at all, so Alex had to rely on his intuition on where to journey.

"From what I know, this part of the forest should still be a relatively low beast level area. As the road strays further northeast away from the mountains, the beast level will steadily rise. It should be a few days before I need to really worry about my surroundings," thought Alex as he ventured through the forest.

After walking for a full day, Alex still hadn't found any sign of a beast worth fighting.

"Although I saw some low level beasts earlier, those wouldn't have been much of a challenge. Oh, well. Exp remains Exp, no matter what; it will still help me get stronger. I'll set up camp for today and keep heading deeper into the forest tomorrow."

Alex quickly made a rudimentary campsite before sitting down and cultivating some more. Several hours later, Alex emerged from his meditative trance.

"Status"

[Name: Alex Dracon]

[Cultivation Level: Body Refinement Realm Stage 6]

[Stage 7: 1300/5000]

[Element: Destruction]

[Bloodline: ???]

[Physique: temporarily sealed]

[Techniques: Non-Dimensional God Refining Technique (???) |Sword Slash(1) |Ending Fist(1) |Force Dodge(1)]

"The requirement for Qi has gotten to a ridiculous amount since I reached the 6th stage of the Body Refinement Realm; luckily, I gather Qi after killing beasts, or it would take me a long time to advance," Alex thought to himself.

He took some food from his spacial ring and started eating; after he finished, he stood up, and Alex took out one of the items his father had given him and set it up. It was a small formation disk, and when activated, it set up an invisible perimeter around the disk. If anything moved within the hundred yard radius perimeter, Alex would be alerted. Having set the perimeter up, Alex fell asleep deeply.

The next morning, Alex woke up to the calls of various animals and insects echoing throughout the forest. After packing up the formation disk, Alex once again started walking deeper into the forest. Unlike the day before, instead of staying parallel with the road, Alex decided to stray a little bit farther from it, heading deeper towards the mountains.

Half a day later, Alex entered a large clearing in the forest and suddenly stopped, silently taking out his katana.

"That should be a Water-Scaled Crocodile. It seems as if it's equivalent to a 6th stage Body Refinement Cultivator," thought Alex as he stared at the beast.

About one hundred yards from Alex, the Water-Scaled Crocodile was basking in the sunlight next to a large, crystal clear pond. The beast was ten feet long and had razor sharp teeth. It was known for its deadly strong bites and powerful tail attacks.

"It should be a bit stronger than the Ironskinned Gila I fought a while back," thought Alex as he slowly approached the Crocodile. After creeping up on the beast slowly, Alex stopped for a few seconds before laughing out loud in self shame.

"Hahaha, why am I being so careful? I'm using this journey to strengthen myself. Even if I sneak up on this beast and successfully kill it and gain experience points, I will gain no battle experience. Every fight of mine must be on the edge in order for me to advance the fastest that I can."

The sudden laughter and monologue afterward alerted the crocodile. The crocodile roared in rage as it saw Alex walk towards it. It quickly dashed towards Alex, arriving just a second later. Its head violently snapped toward Alex's waist.

"Let's play!" shouted Alex as he dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding being bitten in two by the beast. Alex punched the snout of the beast with his full strength, which pushed the crocodile backwards a few feet while it howled in pain.

Enraged by the sudden attack, the Water-Scaled Crocodile twisted its large body sideways and sent its massive tail whipping towards Alex.

"Boom!"

The tail crashed violently into the ground where Alex had just been standing, leaving a small hole in the ground and sending dirt flying in every direction.

"Wow, that tail has some serious power. I should try my best to avoid it," thought Alex as he dodged the tail attack. Using the opportunity that had just opened, Alex dashed forward and swung his katana down with all his might.

"Roar!"

The crocodile howled in pain as the sword sliced deeply into its back.

"Its defense is pretty tough. This attack would have sliced an Earth Wolf clean in half," Alex thought as he backed up quickly, narrowly avoiding another tail attack.

After dodging the attack, Alex once again dashed forward, his sword piercing towards the beast this time. Although it tried to avoid the attack, the crocodile was a hair too late, as the sword plunged into it all the way to the hilt.

Quickly pulling his sword out, Alex once again dashed backwards quickly as the crocodile tried to bite him in half.

"It's moving a lot slower now. The two blows so far have dealt critical damage, it seems. Time to end this," said Alex as he once again dashed towards the beast. Right as he was about to land the final blow, the Crocodile quickly whipped around, sending its tail crashing towards Alex.

"Gah!"

Alex barely raised his sword in time before he was sent flying backwards by the tail attack.

After sending Alex flying backwards, the crocodile opened its mouth, and a ball of compressed water started to materialize. The Crocodile fired the ball of water at Alex, hoping for a fatal blow after its successful attack.

Alex sluggishly stood up as he tried to stabilize himself, blood flowing slightly from his lips.

When Alex looked up, he saw the crocodile hurling a water ball at him. He stood up quickly and used 'force dodge' to avoid the attack.

"Boom"

The ball of water crashed where Alex was standing, sending droplets of water in all directions and making a hole in the ground.

Alex stared in disbelief at the hole in the ground, his heart racing as he realized how close he had come to being a crocodile's meal.

"Fuck," he cursed as he steadied his sword and prepared to attack.

He dashed at full speed, and as he got closer to the crocodile, it whipped around, sending its tail crashing back towards Alex in an attempt to strike him.

This time, Alex was prepared, and before the crocodile's tail touched him, he jumped into the air, swinging his sword in a powerful downward arc aimed at the crocodile's head.

"Thud"

The head of the crocodile was sliced from its body, and it dropped lifeless to the ground As the lifeless body of the crocodile hit the ground, a loud thud reverberated across the land.

"Ding"

[Host has killed a 6th stage Body Refinement Realm]

[+60 Exp]

Notifications sounded in Alex's head after killing the crocodile Alex felt a sense of relief as the notifications rang in his head.

Alex put his katana back in his storage ring after killing the crocodile and sat on the ground in pain.

"I got too overconfident at the end of the battle. Even a wounded beast is still deadly. I need to keep that in mind for future battles and never underestimate my enemy, no matter how grave the situation looks for them."

Alex took out one Wound Healing Pill that he had brought along and popped it into his mouth. He sat on the ground and focused on recovering, only standing up several hours later.

"Let's continue on. My first battle has already given me an incredible lesson. I knew coming out here was the right call," thought Alex as he continued to venture deeper into the forest.

To Be Continued...