The Difference of Spirit Beasts

Some changes could be seen in the dark blue wolf. The fur and mane were glossier and tougher while the claws and fangs became sharper. Though the size of the body did not change, Yeshua could feel that he became stronger and faster. This was the effect of the increase in his attributes.

Yeshua could also feel that his control of the genome sequence became smoother as his connection to it became deeper. Though the savageness was still strong, he could feel that it was also weakened.

"Hah, this feeling of strength… Though the savageness weakened, this euphoric feeling is making me want to stay in my Alter form. No wonder even those Alterers with higher soul cultivation are still possible to lose control. I really have to firm my will, so I will not lose myself in this feeling."

After experiencing the sudden increase of his strength, Yeshua remembered what his father told him. He said that Alterers were people who were constantly fighting the savageness of themselves while also fighting the savageness of the world.

Such was the fate of Alterers.

Yeshua looked around him and used his senses to check if the place did not have any dangers anymore. After ascertaining his safety, Yeshua controlled his genome crystal to turn back into a human. After a flash of light, Yeshua was back to his human form.

"Aww, I feel some of my bones are broken. This really hurts." Yeshua then searched the satchel on his back for healing medicine. He then drank the green liquid in the vial. Though it would still take some time to completely recover, he felt much better.

Yeshua then looked at the bloody heart in his hand. With calm eyes, he dug his hand inside it. After a gruesome scene, he now held in his hand a red crystal with a glowing double helix inside.

This was the genome crystal of the Forest Orc. Same with Alterers, the genome crystals of the spirit beasts could also be found in their heart.

"Oh, this is the first genome crystal that I got from hunting!" Yeshua's voice was filled with excitement while looking at the genome crystal in his hand.

After feeling proud for himself, Yeshua then kept the genome crystal inside his satchel. Yeshua then walked to the body of the Forest Orc.

Looking at the Forest Orc, Yeshua could not help but mock it. "Heh, see. I took you down with my small claws, hehe."

After satisfying his ego, Yeshua focused on what he needed to do. It was time to harvest the gene materials of this spirit beast.

Genome crystals were the same at each level regardless of the stage of the spirit beasts. So, the one Yeshua dug out from the heart would be the same with a genome crystal of stage 1 spirit beast despite coming from a stage 2 spirit beast.

So, what was the difference between spirit beasts, then? How did their strength differ from one another if they had the same kind of genome crystals?

Gene plants, gene minerals, and even the materials that came from spirit beasts were collectively known as gene materials. Any materials that had the presence of spirit genes were considered gene materials.

And these gene materials that came from spirit beasts were one of the differences between spirit beasts to each other. When the spirit beasts advanced their stage, the spirit genes strengthened the spirit beasts' bodies. They not only increased the strength of the spirit beasts but also the quality of the gene materials. The higher the stage and level of the spirit beasts the better the gene materials would be.

"This is a giant type beast. The gene materials that I can get from it are its stone skin, its fangs, and its bones. But this is my first day here. I will be staying in this forest for at least a month, so I can't carry many things with me.

"The stone skin and the bones are not easy to keep while in the forest. The fangs can be turned into weapons. Maybe I'll just keep it for now. It's better than the tusks of that savage beast. Sigh, a hunting knife will be better but it's really hard being poor. I'll just have to become resourceful for now."

Yeshua then used his strength to extract the lower fangs of the forest orc. Even after pulling the fangs out, Yeshua was not done with the spirit beast.

Yeshua put his hand inside the bloody hole at the back of the spirit beast. He then rummaged the insides of the forest orc as he was looking for something. Blood splattered as another gruesome scene happened.

After a while, Yeshua violently pulled out his hand. His hand was bloody but a glowing fist size core could be seen inside his hand.

"This one at least will sell for quite a price," Yeshua mumbled as he stared at the energy core in his hand.

Energy core was another difference of spirit beasts from one another. The higher the level and stage of the beast, the more energy was stored in the energy core would be.

This was the difference between Alterers and spirit beasts. Alterers used the power of their soul to control the genome sequence to transform and unleash abilities. Their soul energy would be consumed in the process. But spirit beasts relied not on their soul but on the energy that was stored in their energy core to unleash their abilities.

When they unleashed their abilities, the energy in their energy core would help them to gather the spirit particles around them to amplify their abilities.

When the energy of the energy core was saturated after the beasts consumed a lot of genetic materials, they would advance to their next stage. This was how spirit beasts strengthened themselves.

Alterers did not have energy cores in their bodies. Alterers forcefully evolved themselves using the power they got from spirit beasts. This forceful evolution fused their human body to the beast genome sequence, thereby turning them into humanoid beasts. But they were not completely a spirit beast despite having their genome sequence. They were maintaining the balance of being human and using the power of the beasts.

But once Alterers turned into a feral, an energy core could be found inside their bodies. This was an indication of completely losing control. By that time, they would not only exhaust their soul energy but they would also siphon energy from their energy core. That was why a feral was stronger than before they turned.

The energy in the cores could be generalized as spirit energy. This energy was a pure energy that was another result of spirit particles' reaction to one another. But the spirit energy was also dependent on the affinity of the spirit beasts.

"This energy core has earth affinity spirit energy inside. If I have an earth affinity Alter Beast, then I can use it to refine the energy in this core to increase my soul temperance. This is another way of speeding up the cultivation of the soul. Resources are really important to Alterers. Anyway, I can still sell this energy core even if I can't use it."

After checking that he did not forget anything, Yeshua then left the place leaving the bloody corpses of the forest orc and the savage beast behind. He just let nature take care of them.

Yeshua then walked deeper into the forest to continue his hunting and training.

…

Boom!

The ground quaked violently and produced a gravitational wave that stunned the werewolf Yeshua!

For a second, Yeshua would not be able to move his body. In this second, many things could happen like being bashed by a roaring angry bear.

Bang!

The werewolf Yeshua was blasted away as his breath stopped for a moment. His arched body slammed to the ground and slid violently for a few meters before stopping.

"Argh! That hurts!" Yeshua growled as he raised his body from the ground.

Though Yeshua said that the attack hurt him, only minor injuries could be seen on his body despite being slammed to the ground. The brown bear instead was full of bloody cuts and was breathing hard.

Yeshua was currently facing an Earth Bear. Looking at the state of the two, it was obvious that Yeshua was having the advantage in this battle.

The Earth Bear used its Earth Stomp ability to stun Yeshua and attacked him using Violent Bash but Yeshua did not suffer much damage to its dismay.

This Earth Bear felt pitiful as it looked at the wolf pretending to be a pig Yeshua. It really believed that their battle should be a match since it felt that both of them were at stage three but this wolf Yeshua was bashing it with impunity.

The Earth Bear felt like a child being bullied by an adult. It looked at Yeshua scornfully like it was rebuking him for bullying it.

"Why are you looking at me like that? This is a fair fight, you know! Don't look at me like I'm bullying you. I'm just more handsome than you, so I'm blessed by Lady Luck. Yeah, that's right! I'm just lucky in this battle. I'm not really bullying you, you know."

Yeshua, who was bullying, ahem, fighting the bear, was awkwardly explaining himself to the bear. His playful attitude showed his confidence in this battle. Though, it was also his playfulness that caused him to be stunned and smacked by the bear.

"Okay, I'll stop teasing you now, little bear. The 7 moons are already peaking from the sky. I have to look for a place to stay for tonight."

Yeshua then dashed towards the brown bear.