6 Wilderness Survival 01

Baien's terrifying gaze lingered on Luo Jian for some time before snorting loudly. His gaze then shifted over to the still fighting Tieta and Ming Xiang before he said in a low voice, "Are you still not stopping?" His voice boomed like thunder, as the two people were struck by the loud echo, causing them to temporarily go deaf.

Tieta and Ming Xiang immediately paused; the moment they saw the vice headmaster. Tieta suddenly smiled with no small amount of excitement. Ming Xiang's face, on the other hand, changed into one full of fear.

Tieta walked up to Sasuke and slowly looked him over carefully. In a low voice, he whispered, "Shangyang Xiang Tian, are you hurt?"

Sasuke only shook his head before giving him a meaningful stare to stay silent.

Tieta only laughed in response; although he had the heart and body of a tiger, he could understand the meaning behind Sasuke's actions. Without saying anything more, he stood behind Sasuke and remained silent as per his wishes. However, Tieta still continued to look carefully at Ming Xiang and winked at him as if to provoke him. Clearly the fight he had just now wasn't enough for him to fully enjoy it.

The vice headmaster, Baien, shot a strong glance towards Luo Jian and Ming Xiang, "Luo Jian, you've already broken the rules of the academy; you know your crime."

Luo Jian lifted his head in aggravation, "Vice headmaster, giving pointers amongst students is very common. Shangyang Xiang Tian and I were only doing that and not anything else. As for me breaking the academy rules, your student inquires of you, which rule did I break?".

"Hmph, you still dare to quibble like this!" Baien growled, "Luo Jian, what is the 66th rule for Kargath Academy?"

Luo Jian titled his head in thought before answering, "The 66th rule is that fighting in the library and the destruction of the library is prohibited."

Baien continued to stare at him, "If it weren't for me blocking your Sword Energy, then I'm afraid that the library gates would have been broken by you. Luo Jian, do you recognize your crime now?"

Luo Jian's face suddenly dropped after hearing that; what the vice headmaster said was correct. If the Sword Energy he had shot out was dodged by Sasuke and continued onwards, then the library gates would had been broken beyond repair and might have also hurt the audience that was watching.

Whether or not Sasuke would had been able to dodge the Sword Energy, Luo Jian didn't dare to say. If he did voice out this scenario, then he was afraid of another charge being dropped on him. Because the school had clear cut rules, it said that students were free to give each other pointers, but if they were to intentionally hurt someone, then they would be severely punished. Besides, he had deliberately used his Sword Energy to injure someone who wasn't even a Saint yet, so the situation was even more complex. Although he had expected this type of end result, he had thought that he would be able to get away with more. But since the vice headmaster was here, the situation had developed into a way he hadn't expected. Right now, in Luo Jian's heart, he could only hope that the vice headmaster wouldn't give them too harsh of a punishment.

"Vice-Headmaster Baien, I am truly sorry.." He said in direction of the vice headmaster, he didn't dare be arrogant.

Baien snorted once more to himself before saying, "Luo Jian, you have already violated one of the rules of the academy, I therefore sentence you to the Contemplation Hall to reflect on your crimes for a month, do you have any objections?"

The Contemplation Hall was where students who had violated the rules of the academy would go to. Although it had the word "Hall" in its name, it was nothing more than a small stone house. It was smaller than a dorm room and could hold only one person within it. Once the door was closed, the person inside would be placed inside a pitch dark room. No matter how strong the outside light was, it would not be able to penetrate through the stone house. Aside from seeing nothing, no sound would be able to get across either, even if the strongest hail storm was happening, the person inside would not notice a thing.

"Luo Jian has understood with all of his heart, and has no objection." He said with a bow of his head. His tone was respectful, and no one would have thought that while he looked repentant, the poison in his heart was growing with his grievances against Sasuke.

The vice headmaster nodded his head, a jollier expression was returning to his face, "You may leave then and look for the Contemplation Hall yourself to reflect." Afterwards, Baien turned his eyes towards the anxious Ming Xiang. "Ming Xiang, even with your strength, to think that you were bullying a freshmen, our Kargath Academy has lost face because of you."

Ming Xiang expressionlessly said, "Vice headmaster's teachings are correct. Ming Xiang understands his wrongs, and will not repeat them ever again."

"Ming Xiang, I hope that you bear in mind, this is Kargath Academy, not your Hua Yun Sect. If you want to continue living within Kargath Academy, then you must learn to comply with the rules. Otherwise, even if you are the young lord of the Hua Yun Sect, you will be punished accordingly. I hope that there won't be a repeat of this event. You may leave." When it came to Ming Xiang, the vice headmaster was somewhat afraid of the consequences and didn't dare to punish him anymore.

Ming Xiang did not utter another word, as he and his followers quietly left the place.

Seeing the worst come to past, Luo Yun, Chen Feng, and Karl did not continue to stick around, and left dejectedly.

Once the crowds had dispersed, the vice headmaster's gaze rested on Sasuke, and he smiled, "You must be Shangyang Xiang Tian."

Sasuke nodded, and in a tone that was neither overbearing nor servile, he replied, "Yes, I am him."

The vice headmaster properly sized Shangyang Xiang Tian up, and his previously solemn expression disappeared. He smiled and said, "Having not yet achieved Saint level and yet still managed to force Luo Jian to summon his Saint Weapon; Shangyang Xiang Tian, you're quite good."

"Vice headmaster, you're exaggerating too much." Sasuke plainly replied.

As his eyes gazed at Sasuke's collected expression, vice headmaster, Baien, nodded his head in praise, "Shangyang Xiang Tien, you need to properly cultivate, and aim to become Saint level as soon as possible."

"Many thanks to the vice headmaster's concern. I will definitely continue to cultivate diligently," Sasuke smiled.

Afterwards, Baien's gaze returned to Tieta, "Tieta, although now that you're the headmaster's apprentice, your identity has changed, you must still remember that only by improving your own power by yourself will you really earn people's respect. Only that way can you support yourself in Tian Yuan continent. Do you understand?"

Tieta cleverly nodded, and replied in a muffled voice, "I understand."

"Good." The vice headmaster nodded, and continued, "Although you are at the peak of talents, and your future is boundless, you cannot, under any circumstance, become confident. You must always face everything in a calm and collected manner. You also cannot learn anything from those aristocratic families, since you are now the headmaster's apprentice. Your future training will be more arduous, and you will have to spend more time on cultivation. You definitely cannot waste the headmaster's painstaking efforts."

At these words, Tieta patted his chest and promised Baien, "Vice headmaster, don't worry. I, Tieta, will definitely cultivate diligently. I will absolutely not make master lose face."

The vice headmaster smiled and nodded, leaving the room. Once he had left, Sasuke and Tieta chatted for a bit longer, and after exchanging goodbyes, Sasuke returned to the library to read his books.

When Sasuke returned to the library, the students originally watching from within the library all disappeared without a trace. Not long after, the two moving news had travelled around the entire Kargath Academy at an unbelievable rate.

"The rookie competition's second place, Tieta, actually became Kargath Academy's headmaster's apprentice. Moreover, he had an intense fight with the cultivation genius, Ming Xiang."

"The rookie competition's Rookie Champion, Shangyang Xiang Tian, used only his bare hands, and managed to force a middle Saint level, Luo Jian, to use his Saint Weapon in a battle. Finally, Luo Jian disturbed vice headmaster Baien, and ended up being confined in the Contemplation Hall for a whole month as punishment."

These two pieces of news had already been spread to every corner of Kargath Academy in the short span of two hours time, shocking both teachers and students alike. At the same time, Tieta had become the most well-known celebrity in Kargath Academy. He was originally just a commoner, but now that his identity had gone through world-shaking changes, nobles that had originally looked down on him because of his background now looked at him with new expressions. From that day on, Tieta had also become the child that people with varying amounts of influence tried to rope into their families.

Although Sasuke's name had also spread around the academy, it had already completely been overtaken by the extreme radiance from Tieta's news. However, Sasuke paid no mind to it.

Despite this, there were still many female students that looked at Sasuke with gazes of infatuation. Sasuke's appearance was extremely handsome, and was definitely not any lower than any other male in Kargath Academy. Combined with his unique grandeur and his powerful abilities, he was definitely a lady killer. Thus, in Kargath Academy, Sasuke had become the dark prince in many of of the girls' hearts.

Ever since the battle at the library, Sasuke's days had been anything but calm. Every time he entered the school grounds, he would be swarmed by countless male students trying to come up with various excuses to fight him. Even when he went to the library to read, he would still be harassed by quite a few people, making it so that he couldn't even read peacefully. Up until now, Sasuke had also acted and disciplined a few people because they had been condescending children from rich backgrounds. However, perhaps because Sasuke was too forgiving in his discipline, his attempts had close to no deterring effects, and were pretty much completely overlooked. Finally, the helpless Sasuke was forced to bring the books back to his dorm to read under the vice headmaster's permission. Aside from reading, Sasuke spent almost all his spare time cultivating.

The time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, three months had already passed. It was morning, and the sun had just risen. Sitting cross-legged on his bed, Sasuke gradually opened his eyes, and in that instant, a light flashed within his eyes.

Sasuke lowered his head and slowly spread out his palms. He saw that his hands were empty, as the Class 3 Monster Core he had been holding had already completely disappeared.

Sensing the strong Saint Force flowing through his body in a manner similar to great rivers, Sasuke finally smiled —he had broken through to the 10th Saint Force layer.

After three months of cultivation, he had already broken through to the 10th layer. He was only one step away from reaching the Saint level, and could break through at any moment. The Class 3 Monster Core from the freshmen competition had already been completely used up by him. Although it was said that Class 3 Monster Core contained large amounts of energy, the amount that Sasuke needed for his cultivation was far greater than that of an average person's. After all, the abilities that he achieved through his cultivation were extremely terrifying. Thus, a Class 3 Monster Core that could allow an average person at the 8th layer reach a middle Saint level, could only help Sasuke reach the peak of the 10th layer.

Sasuke looked outside at the sky from his window. The sun had been out for a while, so Sasuke knew that it was no longer early in the morning.

Today was a special day for Kargath Academy since this was when they would hold a large scale event where all the students and teachers would take part in. This event was called the Wilderness Survival. Every student would have to leave Kargath Academy to live in the forest 20 miles away for 3 days. Within the 3 days, every student had to have at least 2 Class 1 Monster Cores. For those who reached the Saint level, then they would need 2 Class 2 Monster Cores. The amount of Monster Cores wasn't limited, but whoever got the most Monster Cores would be gifted with a rich reward–an earth attribute Class 4 Monster core as well as a Space Ring.

The reward was so tempting, that if put under the nose of the children from rich backgrounds, even they would become emotionally moved from it.

At the same time, any student that had reached this standard could also access the books about various battle skills and cultivation methods on the library's fourth level. This reward was especially enticing to those from average commoner families.

Battle skills were techniques that could create strong attacks. Along with the distinct uses of Saint Force, it could boost one's power to 120%, making them techniques that would completely surpassed one's original abilities.

On the other hand, cultivation methods could only be used when one reached the Saint level. Some commoner families didn't even know the lowest level cultivation methods and so children born in these families have to rely on the superficial breathing method given to them to cultivate Saint Force. These breathing methods were circulated around the entire Tian Yuan continent. Their steps were extremely simple, so most commoner families knew everything about these methods. The only downside was that these breathing methods could only help them cultivate to the 10th Saint Force layer, and were completely useless to people who had already reached Saint level. Thus, battle skills and cultivation methods were seen as unattainable treasures to commoners.

On Tian Yuan continent, all the battle skills and cultivation methods were divided into four levels: Human Tier, Earth Tier, Heaven Tier and Saint Tier. Every Tier were then split into 3 separate levels: Primary, Middle and Advanced.

After leaving the dorms, Sasuke headed straight for the sports field. The event had already been announced three days ago and by now, almost all the students had finished their preparations for it by sharpening themselves to the peak of their abilities.

By the time Sasuke had arrived at the sports field, the place was already swarming with people. However, it was still obvious to see that the people were split into two groups; one of the groups was a gathering of all the nobles and the other group was entirely made up of commoners who did not have any major backgrounds.

All the students that had not yet reached Saint level were holding a steel weapon that were glistering under the sun. Since they were facing beasts, the school administration had allowed them to choose their own weapons.

Sasuke walked over to the weapons rack. However, when he saw all the weapons there, his brows could not help but knit together. The good weapons had pretty much all been chosen by the students already and the only ones remaining that were of decent quality were the heavy type weapons that required a lot of strength to use; they were not at all compatible with Sasuke.

Sasuke swept a glance over the entire weapons rack. When he noticed a fractured iron rod that was about the thickness of his finger, his eyes suddenly lit up. He exerted all his strength to pull it out, only to discover that the iron rod was about three inches long and its surface was already completely covered in dark yellow rust marks. One of the ends had an extremely sharp point.

Sasuke weighed the rusted iron rod in his hands and then tested its sturdiness, before nodding in satisfaction. This iron rod seemed somewhat unsuitable at a glance, but its heaviness and length were compatible with Sasuke and amongst the remaining weapons, only this iron rod would be able to bring out most of Sasuke's abilities.

At this moment, Tieta walked out from the crowd. On his back was an enormous axe that was practically as large as him. It made Tieta seem even more impressive and powerful.

Tieta walked up to Sasuke and his gaze rested on the stained iron rod in Sasuke's hands. His eyes could not help but show confusion as he asked, "Hai, Shangyang Xiang Tian, what are you doing with an iron rod?"

Sasuke laughed, "What else could I do with it, of course its to be used as a weapon."

"No way, Shangyang Xiang Tian, you're actually using this lousy iron rod as a weapon? You….you….is your brain ok?" Tieta asked in shock.

Sasuke chuckled and did not explain any further.

Although Tieta could not understand why Sasuke would use such a lousy iron rod as a weapon, he did not continue to pursue this question. Instead, he said, "Shangyang Xiang Tian, how about the two of us team-up? If we join hands, then none of the Class 1 magical beasts can obstruct us. We would even be able to overwhelm a Class 2 magical beast. Moreover, I've been hunting wild beasts in these types of forests since I was young, and I've gradually learned quite a bit of experience about surviving in the wild. If you're together with me, I promise that you won't have any hardships."

Sasuke considered it for a while. Finally, he nodded his head in agreement at Tieta's offer. The school did not prohibit students from forming groups of 3-5 people to kill the magical beasts, so many students ended up moving together as small groups.

At that moment, a handsome noble carrying an arrogant air walked up to Tieta and smiled, "Hello Tieta, my name is Xiu Mi Si. I'm at the peak of the 10th Saint Force layer. Do you want to become partners with me? I believe that if we join hands, hunting magical beasts will be much easier for us both."

Tieta glanced at Xiu Mi Si and shook his head, "No need, Shangyang Xiang Tian and I together are enough. We don't need anymore people to join."

Faced with Tieta's rejection, Xiu Mi Si did not show any despair. He turned to look at Sasuke, and his face immediately turned haughty, "This person must be Shangyang Xiang Tian, the fourth lord from Lore City's Shangyang clan. My father is the leader of the Xiu Mi clan in Forbidden City. Does junior Shangyang Xiang Tian welcome me into your group?" Although Xiu Mi Si's words were still in a relatively respectful tone, his words hid a threatening force behind them.

Forbidden City was a King City, and when it came to the Gesun Kingdom, Forbidden City was considered to be an Imperial City because the Imperial Palace was situated in Forbidden City.

Hearing the forcefulness behind Xiu Mi Si's words, Sasuke knit his brows. He swept his gaze over Xiu Mi Si's handsome face, and coldly replied, "We no longer need any additional people. After all, we're only facing Class 1 magical beasts, so we don't have the time to spare babysitting others."

Hearing this, Xiu Mi Si immediately turned the color of pig liver. His face darkened at Sasuke's meaning, and it was obvious that Sasuke was looking down on Xiu Mi Si's abilities.

Xiu Mi Si's face grew stormy, and he maliciously glared at Sasuke's indifferent expression, before coldly snorting and walking away.

After Xiu Mi Si left, quite a few people from complex backgrounds approached. These people did not want to greet Tieta, but only wanted to join his group. However, all of them were rejected. Tieta had no feelings for any of this people, and he was unwilling to interact much with them.

After everyone had left, a youth around 20 years old, with a tall and sturdy stature, not very different from Tieta's, walked over from the distance. He walked straight towards Sasuke, and reached his hand out to strongly pat Sasuke's shoulder and laughed, "Little Brother, you've become the school's celebrity now. Amongst all of Kargath Academy's students, I'm sure that at this point, there is nobody that doesn't know of your reputation. Not bad, not bad. You haven't lost Shangyang clan's face, and your older brother has been able to draw on some of your spotlight too." The sturdy youth was Sasuke's older brother, Shangyang Hu. He was currently sporting an extremely happy expression, and it was clear that his excitement was genuine.

Sasuke smiled, "Big brother, stop joking around. Oh right, you've come at a perfect time. Why don't we join groups for this event?"

Shangyang Hu shook his head as he seemed to have thought of something. He happily replied, "Little Brother, if you had asked me a week ago, perhaps your older brother would have agreed to form a group with you. However, I can't right now, because a week ago, your brother finally broke through to the Saint level, thus becoming a Saint. This means that during today's event, I will be entering the third layer to kill Class 2 magical beasts, so I can't be together with you." While saying this, a powerful Saint Force was emitted from Shangyang Hu's body, his hands glowing with a yellow light, forming a large, double-edged battleaxe. The battleaxe was about as large as a washbasin, and gave off a yellow glow.

"Little Brother, not bad, right? After I broke through to Saint level, I was shocked to discover that I actually have the earth attribute," Shangyang Hu said proudly. Saints that had attributes normally had huge advantages when fighting Saints without attributes. If the two had the exact same levels of strength and fought each other, under normal circumstances, the Saint with attributes would ultimately be the victor.

A person could only discover if their Saint Force had attributes after breaking through to the Saint level. Thus, anyone that had not yet become a Saint were not able to detect if their Saint Force had attributes or not. However, the chances of having an attributed Saint Force were extremely low. On average, 1 out of 1000 Saints could use attributes in their Saint Force.

In addition, pretty much all of the ones gathered in Kargath Academy were the ones that had the highest potential in all of Gesun Kingdom. That's why it was perfectly normal for many Saints to have attributed Saint Force amongst a group of a thousand students.

Seeing the double-edged battleaxe in Shangyang Hu's hands, Sasuke could not help but happily smile, "Big Brother, congratulations for successfully breaking through and becoming a Saint. You even have an attribute."

Shangyang Hu's expression was extremely happy, and he reached his hand to point at a few youths that were with him, "That's right, Little Brother, I must introduce these people to you. These are the relatively outstanding children directly under my command. Their names are Shangyang Ao Jian, Shangyang Feng, and Shangyang Xiao Tian."

"We greet the fourth master!" The three youths simultaneously bent over in greeting, their attitudes extremely respectful. The hierarchy in the Shangyang clan was extremely strict, so although they were the more outstanding members of the Shangyang clan, their statuses were much lower than Sasuke's. Even though they were all older than Sasuke, they still had to treat Sasuke with a respectful manner.

Moreover, while saluting the younger Sasuke, the three of them did not feel any traces of unfairness; on the contrary, they actually felt a sense of pride. After all, Sasuke had managed to defeat the Saint, Ka Di Yun, when he was only at the 8th Saint Force layer, and had managed to fight to a standstill while bare-handed against Luo Jian. Finally, he had even forced Luo Jian to use his Saint Weapon. All of Sasuke's achievements made the entire Kargath Academy sigh in admiration.

In the presence of the other members of the Shangyang Clan, they couldn't help but feel proud. Not just because Sasuke was a member of their clan, but that because he was the fourth lord of the Shangyang Clan.

After Sasuke introduced Tieta to his older brother Shangyang Hu and talked for a while before being split up by the vice headmaster Baien.

After the headmaster Baien had made a speech, he had the rest of the students clean up a bit before taking away everyone's Space Ring in order to prevent people from storing their own monster cores within it. He gave them a cheap Space Belt to compensate, a single one of these belts weren't all that expensive and were actually a very common item so the academy could afford to hand out a thousand of them.

Not that it mattered to Sasuke, he didn't have a Space Ring with him anyway.

The space within the belt was very small as well, and could only hold up to a meter squared. However, it was sufficient for holding monster cores, for now, each belt held a small amount of medication just in case of an injury.

Once all of the preparations were complete, all 1000 students left the academy in a grand exit. Heading for the forest 20 miles away, a few dozen teachers accompanied them. Their mission was to split up in the forest and rescue any student in a life threatening situation with the vice headmaster Baien to lead the group.

After exiting from the academy, everyone's speed gradually picked up. Since the weakest student amongst them was around the 8th Saint Force Layer, the speed could definitely be faster, although they were already traveling at very fast speeds.

After two hours of traveling, everyone finally reached the outskirts of the forest where they could all see a faint white light illuminating from within.

Sasuke looked strangely at the white light that covered the forest, he had read many books in the library, so he understood the reason behind the white light.

300 years ago, this place had been a grassy wasteland with no forest in sight. Using 1000 people from Kargath, they finally developed the area and after 1 year of work, a forest was created. Although at that time, the area of the forest was only 50 kilometers. After hundreds of years, the forest had developed into what it was today.

After the forest had grown, Kargath Academy's headmaster Brian personally spent 3 days and 3 nights in the forest and enshrouded it in light before splitting it into 3 regions. Each region had a strong enchantment on it, and in the middle of the forest the headmaster had released weaker magical beasts to breed so that they would create stronger magical beasts for the students from the academy to learn to fight.

Headmaster Brian had created this forest for the most talented Saints of Gesun Kingdom and expended a great amount of effort creating the forest. However, the headmaster Brian had long since retired, having another person take his role.

At that moment, the headmaster walked on over and said, "Dear students, starting from today, you will have to survive in the forest for 3 days and have to hand over two monster cores at the very least. If you give up halfway or do not obtain two monster cores, then that will be considered as a loss and you will not be rewarded." His clear voice was transmitted to every student's ear.

"Right now, everyone will be separated. Those students who aren't a Saint may partner up with someone in the second region to hunt for monster cores. For those students who are Saints, please make your way towards the 3rd region."

Afterwards, everyone started to scatter while Sasuke and Tieta naturally walked together. Because the area was enchanted against magical beasts, everyone who entered this area would not be attacked by any magical beast.

As they entered the enchanted area, Sasuke and Tieta were both already in the first region. The first region had beasts with very weak strength, so weak that they would be no match for a Class 1 Magical Beast. When it came to weak beasts like these, the entire Tian Yuan Continent just called them wild beasts, and it was only when they reached the first class that they would be considered a Magical Beast.

All 1000 students entered at the same time, scaring the wild animals into a sense of submission and made the trip relatively peaceful. Quickly the students all made it through the enchantments and into the second region. All of the monsters in this area were Class 1 Magical Beasts, so for those who weren't a Saint, even a Class 1 Magical Beast could pose a threat to them.

Entering the 2nd region, Tieta and Sasuke broke away from the rest of the students and headed for the dense parts of the forests. All around them were weeds that were as tall as a person and majorly impacted their vision. Not able to see see the road, they could only look down and track the footprints left behind by the magical beasts.

"Shangyang Xiang Tian, from here on out magical beasts will be appearing often, we definitely can't be careless." Tieta said with a solemn face. He had been hunting in forests for magical beasts since he was young, so it could be said that he had a rich experience about them. He also understood the dangers that lived within the forests, and if one wasn't careful, then they would lose their life easily.

Sasuke's face contained a look of anticipation as he spoke, "Don't worry, even if you run into trouble, it doesn't mean that I'll run into trouble."

With the memories from his previous world, he did not take this forest lightly. In his previous life, he along with Naruto and Sakura had encountered many Life and Death situations in the Forest of Death at Konoha, he was definitely experienced in traversing through dangerous forests. Combined with the fact that Sasuke had read up on magical beasts in a book, he learned a great deal about the magical beasts in the forest.

Tieta held onto his giant battleaxe as he watched around himself with no small amount of vigilance. "Although I've killed many beasts in the past, I've never killed a Magical Beast. They have the same strength of a Saint, so even if one was a Saint, it wouldn't be a definite kill. I'm not sure if we would be able to kill a Class 1 Magical Beast if we come across one, and if by chance one runs away, we won't be able to catch up."

Sasuke smirked and said, "Tieta, could it be you don't have that much faith in your own strength?"

Tieta's face started to redden as he scratched his head. With a honest answer, he said, "It's not that, I have faith in my own strength. My teacher even said that my strength was strong enough to defeat the regular Saint. But I've never killed a Class 1 Magical Beast, let alone seen one…"

While Tieta was speaking, Sasuke's face gained a focused look before bringing his hand up to stop him from talking. His eyes narrowed slightly as he started to look around.

Noticing how Sasuke suddenly became serious, Tieta realized that danger was approaching. Holding his battleaxe in front of him, he cautiously looked around at the surrounding grass.

Sasuke stared around himself for the most potential spot of danger, but the grass had been growing unhindered and healthy for years and obstructed his view; so Sasuke wasn't able to see anything.

Sasuke's right hand clenched onto the iron rod in his hand as he blinked once. His ears started to shake as he strained to listen to his surroundings.

A few deep breaths later, Sasuke suddenly opened his eyes. Straight away, Sasuke stamped forwards with the corroded iron rod in his right hand starting to exude a bright yellow glow. Just like lightning, the rod shot forward with a whooshing sound.

At the same time, a green stick suddenly flew forward from the grass like a bullet and quickly approached Sasuke with frightening speeds. The Uchiha immediately activated his Sharingan to counter the fast approaching entity.

In midair, Sasuke's rod and the green stick collided with each other, causing the green branch to stop moving. As it slowly stopped, Sasuke saw that the iron point of the rod had pierced straight through the body of it, and deactivated his Sharingan.

At that moment, the two of them suddenly realized that the stick was actually a green viper. It was as thick as an adult's arm, and the part of it that was currently visible was 2 meters long.

A powerful wind rushed past Sasuke's ear, as he saw Tieta swipe his large battleaxe towards the viper with an ear-splitting noise.

The large battleaxe slashed at the viper's body, and its power was so strong that the viper was flung almost 10 meters backwards before it fell to the ground with a soft noise. However, the weeds around their current location grew so lush that, putting aside 10 meters, Sasuke and Tieta could barely see 5 meters ahead of them.

"We must chase it. We cannot let it hide itself." Sasuke clearly understood how unfavorable the situation was for them. His body flashed as he chased after the viper at high speeds. Under these circumstances, if the viper managed to carefully hide away from sight, then the two of them would be in huge trouble. After all, every step in front of them was covered with weeds, and it was difficult to see anything on the ground. It would be extremely difficult to defend against the viper if it prepared to lie in wait.

Without any hesitation, Tieta ran towards the direction that Sasuke had raced in. Once Tieta caught up with Sasuke, Sasuke had already stopped moving. About 3 meters away, that viper had lifted its head up high, its ice-cold eyes looking at them, its forked tongue flicking in and out.

When the viper lifted its body, it was 1.5 meters tall. Its body, which was as thick as an adult's arm, had two wounds on it. One of them was the bloody hole that Sasuke had left; it was so deep that the viper's bone could be seen. The other was the long wound that Tieta had left; it stretched down the viper's thick body. The outside of the wound was a mess of flesh, with fresh, red blood pouring down ceaselessly from it.

Sasuke cautiously followed the viper's movements. Although the viper in front of them was a species with relatively weak attack, it was still a Class 1 Magical Beast. Its power would not be any weaker than a Saint that had already condensed his Saint Weapon.

Tieta looked at the viper with a serious expression. The veins on his hands popped out as he gripped his battleaxe tightly, prepared to attack with all his strength at any moment.

While both parties were in a deadlock, Sasuke finally acted. The short 3 meter distance was nothing to him, and with a sway of his body, Sasuke had already covered 2 meters of distance. In an instant, he appeared in front of the viper. The iron rod in his hand made an ear-piercing cry as it was thrust forward faster than the naked eye could see, headed straight for the viper that was currently seven inches away.

The viper gave a rough cry as it nimbly darted its body to the side to evade the fatal blow.

Despite this, that corroded iron rod still managed to deeply pierce a hole through its body, the sharp tip poking out through its other side.

The strong pain made the green viper cry out hoarsely, its mouth open wide.

Tieta's movements were quick, as he used all his strength to slash his battleaxe down hard towards the viper's head.

The battleaxe passed through the fist-sized viper's head, sending it flying high up into the air. A rain of blood fell down, and fresh blood crazily spurted out from the wound on its green body. In an instant, the surrounding weeds were covered in red.

Looking at the detached head spin through the air as the body spasmed spraying blood, Tieta's face was full of alarm. At this moment they had easily killed a Class 1 Magical Beast, allowing himself to feel more confident about his strength. The cyan colored viper hadn't even made Tieta expend a great amount of his energy at all.

Sasuke slowly separated the body of the viper from the iron rod and wiped the blood onto the surrounding grass. It had actually been Sasuke who contributed the most in killing the Class 1 Magical Beast; if it were not for his lightning quick thrust through the viper's body and dealing it a huge wound as it was pierced, then Tieta's battleaxe would not have been able to sever the snake's head.

Recollecting his battleaxe, Tieta's face looked at the detached head proudly while stepping on the viper's dead carcass. "Shangyang Xiang Tian, this is a Class 1 Magical beast? How weak it was!"

Sasuke smirked as he heard Tieta, "It's not that the magical beasts are weak, it's because us two combined are too strong. Besides, this Class 1 Magical Beast wouldn't give much trouble for even a person who just recently broke through to becoming a Saint."

Tieta returned Sasuke's smile and wiped his battleaxe dry from the blood. Bringing it to his shoulder, he let loose a laugh and said, "If you say that, then doesn't that mean we can casually walk around and kill Class 1 Magical Beasts?"

It looked as if Sasuke had came to a realization and spoke, "Not bad, with our two strengths, even if we were to fight against a Class 1 Magical Beast by ourselves we would be able to kill it easily. But if we were to join together, then no magical beast in the 2nd region would be able to bring us trouble. The magical beasts here aren't strong because the academy had meant for them to be for students to help pick up battle experience. There won't be any strong magical beasts here, except…" He trailed off in thought.

Sasuke's silence caused Tieta to pause, "Except what…"

"Unless we come across a group of magical beasts. However, we still don't know what's here or not." Sasuke's face was serious as he spoke. With his strength, Sasuke would not find any problems if he came across a Class 1 Magical Beast, but if he came across a whole group of them, then there would be no way at all.

Tieta wrinkled his eyebrows together and said uncertainly, "That shouldn't be likely. I've been in the forests many times and never saw a whole bunch of magical beasts together."

"It's not for sure we won't, I've read up in the library on books pertaining to magical beasts. There are a few types of magical beasts that all live in a group together. Together, their power is strong and very rarely do they travel by themselves." Sasuke walked over to where the decapitated snake head was and only then did he realized that the viper was only 6 to 7 meters long. Using the iron rod to cut 7 meters in, he took out the rod from the viper's body to reveal a bloody crystal.

Within the Tian Yuan continent, there were many different types of monster cores, while their monster cores were not at all like each other. Some magical beasts had their monster core in the head, some in the pit of their stomachs, and some in their abdomen. The viper for example had its monster core within it's tail, but Sasuke had already known that a long time ago.

Tieta brought down the battle axe on his shoulder into a tree. It sunk into the tree as smoothly like water in a bucket before he cried out loudly, "If there really are magical beasts that are in a group, I Tieta will definitely kill them all!"

Sasuke held the monster core he got from the cyan viper and rubbed it clean of blood with the nearby grass. Throwing it to Tieta, he shook his head and spoke amusedly, "Alright, there's no need to yell. There's a lot of magical beasts that travel in herds in the Tian Yuan continent, but it doesn't mean we'll meet up with one for sure. Nothing is for sure, after all, this is the magical beast forest."

Tieta snatched the monster core thrown at him and looked at Sasuke weirdly, "What are you doing giving this to me?"

Sasuke smiled, "The viper was slain by you, so this monster core is yours by rights." Seeing Tieta trying to find a way to find a reason against this, Sasuke continued to say, "This monster core is yours, don't say otherwise. Just take it. After all we still have 3 more days, at our current rate we'll definitely be able to get a lot more, so I don't really care for this one monster core."

"Haha, okay then. I'll be taking this monster core. The next monster core will be yours no matter who kills it then." Holding the bloodstained monster core high up in the air, Tieta was extremely happy. Though that was for sure since this was the first monster core he had gotten after killing a Class 1 Magical Beast.

Afterwards, the two of them continued on their way. Now that he knew that Sasuke had an acute sense for detecting danger, Tieta had simply handed the patrolling duties to Sasuke. On the other hand, he began to ceaselessly hack at the grass in front of them to clear their path. Although constantly waving the heavy battleaxe around expended a great amount of energy, it was as simple as eating a meal to Tieta, who had godly strength. To him, this action wasn't the slightest bit taxing; after all, his strength was great enough to frighten others, and he seemed to have infinite amounts of energy as well. Thus, it was impossible for him to become exhausted in a situation like this.

Not long after the two had left, Sasuke's eyes narrowed, and his footsteps came to an abrupt halt. He stretched his hand out towards Tieta, who was currently slashing at the grass in front of them, and gestured at him to be silent.

Tieta intuitively understood the situation, and stopped his attempt at hacking through the weeds. Tightly gripping the battleaxe, he returned to Sasuke's side, and stood shoulder to shoulder with him. Tieta's eyes flashed, as he inspected their surroundings with caution.

Their breathing became very faint, as their expressions were filled with caution. The difference between the two was that Tieta was constantly looking around, while Sasuke had gently closed his eyes in attempt to sense everything around them.

It was currently extremely difficult to discern anything among the grass. Even if there really was an unknown danger lurking around, it would unfortunately not be something that one could use the naked eye to see. Thus, Tieta could not discover anything despite sweeping his gaze around all four corners for a long period of time.

Sasuke lightly closed his eyes, his keen ears twitching periodically as they tried to catch all noises coming from his surroundings. His concentration entered an extremely high state of awareness, just like a veteran Shinobi.

However, what made Sasuke feel regret was that after entering this world, Sasuke could not use his Chakra in a similar manner, and could only rely on his instincts and reflexes. An even bigger regret was the inability to use the Rinne-Sharingan, something that would allow him to have piercing almost x-ray vision.

Otherwise, this dense forest would not give Sasuke any difficulties at all. Searching for a hidden magical beast would be extremely easy.

As the Uchiha concentrated, Sasuke's Saint Energy densely concentrated together, and he exerted all his efforts to sense his surroundings. Slowly, his spirit entered a unique state; although he had not extended his Saint Energy, at that instant, his spirit seemed to have established a subtle relationship with the various plants around him, fusing together. This feeling was extremely mysterious.

However, as soon as Sasuke entered this state, he senses immediately shot up to new levels. Finally, a barely discernable breathing sound entered his sensing range. The breath was so faint that even if one stood next to it, one most likely wouldn't have been able to hear it.

In an instant, Sasuke's opened his eyes, and in a flash, he had already disappeared from his original location, and was flying towards the side at high speeds. While moving, Sasuke constantly twisted and adjusted his body to evade the branches obstructing his path.

In an instant, Sasuke had already crossed over a distance of 10 meters. He quickly thrusted out the iron rod in his hands at lightning fast speed, silently cutting away the surrounding leaves and weeds, the tip aimed towards the the black figure hiding within the grass.

A shriek of pain suddenly rang out, as a dark shadow jumped out from the grass, leaping towards Sasuke with its ferocious mouth wide open.

This was a black panther, around 2 meters long. Its head had an open wound where fresh blood was pouring out from. The blood flowed down through the black fur on its face, intensifying its fierce appearance.

Sasuke's gaze was as sharp as a sword as a sneer began to form on his face. He shook his arm, and once again lashed out with the iron rod in his hand at an unfathomable speed, his objective being the black panther's neck. He activated the Sharingan briefly, and saw the black panther's speed reduce tenfold. He quickly memorised the movements of the beast, and formulated an action plan.

Up until the end, the black panther had absolutely no time to react, as the iron rod's sharp point plunged deeply through its throat. In addition, since the black panther's body was currently lunging in the air, its heavy body quickly dropped downwards, pushing the iron rod deeper and deeper through its neck. Eventually, the point had drilled a hole directly through, and the end had come out of the other side.

This time, the black panther didn't even have the time to cry out before it had already died. It fell to the ground with its eyes wide open, grief instilled in its gaze.

At that moment, Tieta finally caught up from behind. When he looked over at the ground, he saw the corroded iron rod pierced through the black panther's throat. Immediately, his eyes widened in extreme shock.

"Shangyang Xiang Tian, this….this….did you kill this?" Tieta's voice was trembling in shock. Even though he had witnessed the moment that Sasuke's weapon had pierced through the black panther's throat, he still couldn't believe the scene no matter how hard he tried. That was because the period of time that had passed was way too short; when Sasuke had charged over, Tieta had already followed behind at his fastest speed. However, by the time he had caught up, all he saw was the Class 1 Magical Beast dying by Sasuke's hands. The amount of time that had passed was definitely not even long enough to take a breath, or even half a breath.

Being able to kill a Class 1 Magical Beast in half a breath's time was natural for some professionals. However, Tieta clearly knew that Sasuke's abilities had not yet reached Saint level. Moreover, the weapon he was using was a mere corroded iron rod.

Sasuke placed his foot on the black panther's head, and gradually pulled out the iron rod. As if nothing had happened, he said, "That's right, I killed it. However, it was just a coincidence. Originally, there was no way it would've died so quickly. However, it kept approaching my weapon, and in the end, its life was extinguished before it could even cry out in despair."

Hearing this, Tieta rubbed the back of his head, and doubtfully glanced at Sasuke's indifferent face. In disbelief, he asked, "Is that true? You're not lying to me?"

Sasuke chuckled, "Of course it's true. Why would I lie to you?"

Seeing Sasuke's sincere expression, Tieta was beyond puzzled, and muttered, "Do such stupid magical beasts really exist, to actually give itself up to a weapon?"

Taking out the black panther's monster core, Sasuke and Tieta continued on their trip to kill magical beasts.

To easily kill a Class 1 Magical Beast while not having the strength of a Saint was something that any new student would have said was an incomparably difficult task. Life threatening dangers could happen at any time, but to Sasuke and Tieta, it was almost as if they were playing a game. The 2nd region was like a treasure trove of monster cores for those two.

The day passed quickly and nightfall came, both Sasuke and Tieta found an open area in the forest to camp out in. Between them was a campfire with a fire that pulsed as it illuminated the pitch blackness. The two boy's shadows danced behind their backs, making their reflections seem like devils threatening each other.

The darkness surrounded them from all four corners, and if they were to go outside the range of the bright fire, then they wouldn't even be able to see their own hands in front of their faces in the darkness. It wasn't that peaceful however, as somewhere in the distant forest, a magical beast could be heard howling away. Just the sound of it would terrify anyone, and for someone who was absolutely scared already, the sound would cause them to be scared stiff.

Tieta turned the monster core in his hand over the fire, causing the light of the fire to shine on it. One look at the two boys revealed that their clothes were not in great condition and were splattered with blood.

The blood was all from Magical Beasts while their clothes had been cut open due to the thorny shrubbery.

"Shangyang Xiang Tian, you're really awesome! I didn't think that you would be able to wield a corroded iron rod to such an amazing degree, all of the magical beasts we fought against today were killed by you! It was only the initial viper from earlier that I managed to kill." Tieta exclaimed as he heaped praise onto Sasuke.

Sasuke's face had a big smile on it, "I only took a chance when I saw one, if it weren't for you dealing out damage with your axe, then it would have been even harder to kill those magical beasts."

Tieta laughed, his heart finally taking comfort in his words, "Shangyang Xiang Tian, could you tell me, how is it that you're able to tell if we're near a magical beast or not?" Tieta was naturally very curious about this, the whole day he had been puzzling over it, but it was only now that he found the perfect time to ask.

Sasuke didn't bother to hide anything and instead pointed at his ear and head, "I used this and this."

Tieta looked at Sasuke point at his ears and head in a curious way before asking, "You use your ears to listen and your mind to think?"

"You're only half correct." Sasuke took the iron rod by his side and began to polish it on a small chunk of rock. Absent mindedly responding, he said, "Aside from relying on my ears to listen, I use my spirit to feel my surroundings. However, this method would be too difficult for you to do."

"Oh!" Tieta nodded his head in understanding while thinking it over in his head.

Sasuke felt the fine point of the iron rod before putting it down. Grabbing onto his Space Belt, he said, "Tieta, let us check out our earnings from today." Shaking his Space Belt, the stored monster cores began to fall out.

One after another, monster cores started to drop out from the space belt and gradually the spot in front of Sasuke began to pile up with monster cores until it was a foot high.

Tieta followed suit and started to shake his own Space Belt. In the end, a small mountain piled up in front of him as well.

"I have 48 monster cores here." Sasuke smiled, his profits for today had been huge.

"I have 49 here, I've beat you by one." Tieta was extremely happy, he had never seen this many cores before. This was a first for him, since he had never even seen a single monster core before. To Tieta who was born in a common household, these monster cores had a huge price tag on them despite all of the cores being Class 1.

"For the first day to be this profitable, not bad! I don't know how many monster cores we'd need in order to be the ones with the most monster cores. After all, the prize is quite rich; a Class 4 Monster Core and a Space Ring." Even Sasuke had been tempted by the prizes, he really wanted that Class 4 Monster Core, the energy inside would be many times stronger than a Class 1 Monster Core.

At this moment, Sasuke's eye suddenly grew cold as he whispered, "Quickly store all of the monster cores, people are coming." After saying that, he immediately started to store all of the cores into his belt and put it back on.

Tieta moved quickly as well, the moment he heard Sasuke start, he had already started to store all of the monster cores. Tieta had finished by the time Sasuke did.

After the two had stored their monster cores away, after a few nervous breaths, the distant grass moved to the side with a rustling sound as a very thin person came walking out. The moment the person saw both Tieta and Sasuke sitting by a fire, a look of surprise came over their face before suddenly letting loose a cry of joy. It was a weak little lady holding onto a rice straw for support who came stumbling over.

"I finally found someone, I finally found someone! I beg of you, please don't leave me behind. I'm afraid, really really afraid. The magical beasts want to eat me…" The person's voice was fairly frantic and was full of panic; however, her voice was still gentle somehow.

Hearing her, Sasuke and Tieta then realized the person in front of them was a girl as the fire behind them illuminated her body, showing her Kargath Academy uniform to the both of them. However, the uniform had been cut open by the branches and thorns, some parts of her body could already be seen underneath and even her underwear could be seen poking out. The uniform itself was muddy as if she had fallen multiple times.

The girl's face was dirty with mud to the point where her appearance couldn't even be seen clearly. However, on her face could be seen evidence of her crying as she pleadingly looked at Sasuke. Looking at the pitiful sight, there was nothing but helplessness reflected in her eyes.

"Sit down." Looking at her situation, he had guessed what type of trouble had taken place. In this environment, even the most reckless of boys would feel horrified, let alone a little girl.

Seeing that the person was actually a pretty girl, Tieta's guard loosened. Carefully putting down the battle axe in his hands, he looked at the girl curiously.

Sasuke calmly looked at the young girl, and calmly asked, "What is your name?"

"My…my name is Liang Xiaole," The young girl stuttered back. Seeing both Sasuke's and Tieta's eyes flash, she could not help but feel fear, as well as some faint traces of concern and insecurity.

"Why is a lady like you not with others? If you're so afraid, why would you walk through this forest alone? Just a few random sounds have even scared you to such an extent," Tieta asked in a muffled voice.

Liang Xiaole looked at Tieta timidly before she said quietly, "I came here with a few friends at first, but unfortunately we came across a magical beast. That magical beast was quite strong, and my group of friends weren't able to beat it. Soon after most of us were injured and we all scattered to run away, but I got lost."

Hearing this, Tieta began to choke on his own saliva before saying, "Even with a group you were unable to beat a Class 1 Magical Beast? How useless, just Shangyang Xiang Tian and I have already killed over 100 magical beasts today." A proud look came over his face as he remembered that fact.

At that moment, a strange sound suddenly rang out. In an instant, Sasuke and Tieta both directed their gazes to the origin of the sound. It turned out to be Liang Xiaole's stomach, which at the moment, still would not stop grumbling loudly.

"You must be hungry," Sasuke spoke.

"Yes!" Liang Xiaole nodded in embarrassment, and delicately said, "I haven't eaten all day." The corner of her eyes could not help but light up as she glanced at the bonfire, where the finely cooked, golden magical beast meat was currently dripping with rich oils. She greedily inhaled its aroma, but the more she did this, the louder her stomach grumbled. Eventually, both Sasuke and Tieta could only hear rumbling sounds in their ears.

Sasuke shook his head lightly. He picked up the skewer with the magical meat on it, and unafraid of the heat, directly used his hand to tear off a large chunk of the meat. Handing it over to Liang Xiaole, he said, "Go on and eat this."

Liang Xiaole twisted her hands, and ripped the corners of her clothes to wipe clean the dirt on her hands. Tenderly, she reached over to receive the magical beast meat. Once it had cooled down, she directly ate it with large mouthfuls, not caring to keep up her appearance in the least.

Liang Xiaole was probably starving, because after she quickly finished that large piece of meat, she still gazed at the remaining piece with a wistful look in her eyes.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, and ripped off another large chunk of magical beast meat. He handed it over to Liang Xiaole and said, "Here, take it."

Seeing the piece of magical beast meat that had placed in front of her, Liang Xiaole hesitated for a bit, and in the end, still didn't reach out to receive it. Instead, she gazed at Sasuke and Tieta and softly asked, "If I finish it, what will you guys eat?"

Tieta laughed, "Don't worry, we still have another one left. Look under that tree." As he said this, Tieta extended a finger to point in the direction.

Liang Xiaole looked at where Tieta was pointing, and sure enough, she noticed that underneath a large tree nearby, an unknown magical beast had fallen to the ground. One of its legs had already disappeared, and the ground was covered with fresh blood marks.

Staring at the magical beast's corpse, Liang Xiaole swallowed hard and said, "You guys are really formidable. To think that the two of you alone could kill a Class 1 Magical Beast."