A ferocious beast

"Are you a snail or something?! Even my grandma can move faster than you!"

"Like hell she could! Why dont YOU make YOUR attacks slower instead?"

Luriel avoded yet another mana slash coming at him. This was the second day of his training and he was getting fed up.

The mysterious man, who he now knew was named Hans, attacked him at every possibility with just enough speed so that he could avoid it barely.

Naturally, he received various wounds on his body that, althought shallow, still hurt like hell due to something Hans introduced as cultivation techniques- a way to utilize mana to give it special properties.

And the special property of this technique was 'pain'.

He couldn't even complain about it because it was actually making him stronger! His reaction speed improved exponentially and his pain tolerance skyrocketed. After merely 2 days ot training, he felt like he could beat 5 of the previous him!

He remembered his grandfather's words when he tried to complain to him.

'Grandpa! You have to make him stop! That devil is beating me up all day, bullying the poor weak me!'

Thul however, wasn't having any of it. As a warrior, he was naturally sensitive towards others' aura and power. The aura his grandson was releasing was several times stronger than before.

Therefore, he did the only logical thing when he heard of this 'bullying'.

'Ungrateful brat! Sir Hans was benevolent enough to train you yet you still whine as if you aren't reaping all the benefits!'

He hit Luriel with his cane until his head became swollen.

Back to the present...

"Hm, if it were any slower, would you still improve? You're lucky that the demonic beast mainly uses long-ranged attacks, else I'd throw a couple punches in there too!"

Althought he was scolding Luriel, Hans was astonished upon seeing his growth.

'I heard he was one of the best hunters in the village. His senses were better than expected so I increased the difficulty a little and even then, he adapted so quickly.

The current slashes are strong enough to kill most 3rd stage cultivators. I'd normally stop here and go hunt the beast. However...'

The reason he decided to continue the training was because of Luriel's mana. It was moving in the direction of the fourth blockage, signaling a breakthrough to the 4th stage.

The Broken Vessel realm is called such because of the actions that trigger breakthroughs. There are 10 blockages in a person's body that can only be unblocked by breaking them with mana.

With each advancement more mana is released in the body and by the end, the body is basically 'broken' because the blockages that support the body are unblocked, requiring the usage of mana to maintain it.

That's why cultivators are especially vulnerable when breaking through to the second realm.

-Boom!

A tremor was felt in the surroundings and Luriel felt a sudden burst of strength. The current him was about 1.5 times stronger than the him a few seconds ago.

"Congratulations on your breakthrough! You're a slightly stronger ant now!"

Hans exclaimed with an exaggerated expression. No improvement below the 7th stage meant something major anyway, he could beat dozens of stage 4's without breaking a sweat. What bothered him however...

'He isn't practising any cultivation manual. The breakthrough also went unexpectedly smoothly too, almost as if the mana he used was inside him all this time, as if it were instinctively aiming for the blockage to weaken.'

"Does that mean I can finally stop getting beat up?! Yes! Haha, let's go beat the demonic beast and get it over with!"

The current Luriel was ecstatic after his breakthrough and wanted to end things as soon as possible.

Hans had already told him about the recruitment and he naturally had no problems with it. Opportunities like this don't come very often and he had no reason to refuse.

He would still miss his fellow villagers and his grandfather, but it's not like he'd be gone forever.

"Right, with this, your training is over. I'll briefly explain the situation now. The beast we're hunting is called the Thunderclaw Bear, a fierce stage 6 Broken Vessel realm beast.

Althought its physical abilites are at the sixth stage, it lacks intelligence and even you might be able to defeat it with some preperations.

It's been hunting near a mortal village that's affiliated with our sect, so we were forced to help. Any questions?"

Luriel nodded, his blue eyes revealing a trace of excitement. He was going to face such a strong beast and could potentially win, the young teen was looking forward to test his abilities.

"If the Thunderclaw Bear is only at the 6th stage, why are you here?"

Hans had explained the difference between the 7th stage and all the other stages below it. It was practically impossible to defeat someone at the 7th stage if you're stage 6 or below.

This was due to the ability to manipulate mana outside the body and using long-ranged attacks, such as the slashes he used against Luriel before.

"You're not wrong to think so. A 6th stage beast is generally no problem for someone like me, even a 6th stage cultivator could beat it as long as he doesn't let his guard down.

The problem is that the Bear is at the very peak of the 6th stage and could break through at any time. Just like humans, beast also gain a special ability at the 7th stage, so I volunteered to deal with it."

Luriel nodded in understanding and his previous excitement had died down a little. The fight was going to be a tough one for him and he might even die if he fights alone. That's when he remembered something and turned to Hans.

"You previously said that the Thunderclaw Bear mainly uses long-ranged attacks. How is that possible if it isn't at the 7th stage yet?"

"It's because it's at the very peak of the 6th stage, a semi-stage 7, if you will. Since it only needs a very slight push to advance, it has already learnt how to manipulate mana outside its body.

It's not wrong to call it an early seventh stage beast since it only needs to strengthen its body a little to advance."

Seemingly expecting such a question, Hans answered in the simplest way he could think of. There was more to it but Luriel wouldn't understand even if he told him the details.

After informing Luriel about some vital knowledge, Hans told him they'd depart in two days, after he had broken through to the 8th stage Broken Vessel realm.

He'd been at the peak of the 7th stage for a while now, there's no telling what ability the Thunderclaw Bear might awaken if it broke through, so he wanted to be safe just in case. He had to protect Luriel as well, after all.

Two days later, Luriel and Hans were outside the village, ready to embark on the hunt.