Dzifa

It had already been a few days since Lin began hunting for beasts. He had already killed the beasts required for his levelling, but strangely, he found out he could not level with beast cores as he used to. During this time, he had already killed two ranked 11 flame element beasts and lightning beasts in addition to a rank ten metal beast, raising his kill count over the past few days to six.

As he broke through a thicket of trees, Lin was unrecognizable. His yellow hoodie was now caked with dry blood making it look brown. He walked barefoot with a badly damaged pair of trousers as he had no footwear. Mud and blood covered his face. It was dead of night, and he was walking towards a mountain range. Per his movements, he appeared to be tracking a beast.

"It's been over two weeks, yet I haven't progressed much in my levelling. Though, I did gain some experience battling rank 11 beasts. Killing them now is not much, but do I require more beast cores to level up? The system had connected to the nucleus and has become completely unresponsive since then. I have no idea how long that is going to last."

Lin stopped near the foot of the mountain and observed the plants around. They were yellowed out and had some fur around them. "Looks like it went this way", he looked up the mountain when a sudden shriek came from atop it. He had a deep frown on his face after hearing the shriek. Without wasting any time, he dashed up the mountain. Few trees were growing along the peak, and it appeared steep. He jumped from tree to tree and shot himself airborne as he approached the mountain peak.

Shrouded in black flames, Lin shot up and looked down the peak. A wounded woman was on the ground with a lightning beast before her. She was terrified. Her face had contorted into a weird shape. By looking at her eyes, one could tell her regret and sorrow. As the beast opened its mouth to attack her with lightning, she closed her eyes and awaited her death. "This is the end of the line for me. Sorry, Mom and Dad", tears trickled down her cheeks as her face turned ghastly pale.

The sky suddenly changed colour as black lightning struck the beast before her. "At least fight back, you dimwit. Don't just sit there waiting to die", a voice beckoned to her. She opened her eyes and saw a man wrapped in black flames standing between her and the beast. "Yo…you! Bastard!" she pointed and yelled at Lin. She suddenly seemed to have forgotten about her current predicament. "You are welcome", Lin said nonchalantly while pretending to pick his ears.

"This is all your fault", she said. "If you hadn't stolen that beast from me, I wouldn't have been here in the first place", Lin put on a smug look and scratched his chin and said, "Don't know what you are talking about".

"Shameless", she shouted angrily.

"Hey, now is not the time to argue, we have to deal with that thing first", Lin said, pointing towards the lightning beast before them. "After all, I'm not confident I can defeat that beast alone", he added with a wry smile. He had already used his element sense to detect the beast's rank and noticed it was a rank 12 beast. Fighting a rank 11 beast was plausible, but battling a rank 12, was a bit much even for him.

"You just wait", She gritted her teeth and spoke through them. She summoned a silver staff with a wolf head sculpted on it. A white glow surrounded the staff as she prepared to attack the beast from behind Lin. "You are a rank 11, shouldn't you be on the front lines?" Lin asked with an exasperated expression.

The beast before them was about five meters tall and had thick grey fur. It stood on four legs with its sharp fangs sticking out of its mouth. Yellow lightning crackled about it as it gathered lightning in its mouth to attack the two.

"After getting the Scopenet, I learned a few spear techniques available online for free. I had to modify them to suit me, but, it's still not enough to rival stronger opponents. I need to learn more skills to take down stronger opponents in the future." Lin smirked and took out his spear. "If I don't go all out, I would be in trouble. Since she can't see my face, it should be alright if I use both elements".

Lin spun the spear extremely fast and dashed towards the beast, "Cover me from where you are", he ordered. "Don't order me around, you crazy b!@#$%^&", the woman said, seething in anger. Her staff glowed brightly, and she shot beams of light at the beast. The beast fired lightning bolts from its mouth to counter the light beams. It roared and charged at her, but Lin intercepted it with an element ball of his own.

"Let me introduce you to something I picked up along the way".

<Flame and Lightning Fusion Skill: Dark Ember>

A dark energy orb twice the size of a football manifested in Lin's hand, and he threw it at the beast. It released its dark yellow lightning bolt to intercept Lin's. The orb and bolt collided, creating a huge explosion atop the mountain. Lightning covered the entire mountain top. Lin bore the brunt of the attack while shielding the woman. He was pushed back several feet before coming to a stop. He coughed up blood and dropped to his knees.

"This is crazy. In just a single attack and my strength is already severely drained. I only showed up here because I owed a favour." He turned his back and noticed the lady was not spared from the attack either, as blood leaked from her lips. "What's your name", he asked as he picked up his spear. Meanwhile, the beast was already charging at them once more.

She gritted her teeth and stood. Her expression suggested she wanted to argue, but she held it in and answered him, "I am Dzifa". Lin smiled wryly and said, "Dzifa, I will need you to run an errand for me when this is over. Deal?". She was a bit hesitant, but seeing it was the least she could do, she ultimately agreed, "Deal, but on one condition, make sure I get out of here alive".

"Hahahaha" Lin laughed loudly, "I would need you alive if I want that errand run anyway. Deal."

<Phantasmal Flow Dance Form 2: Menace>

<Lin's spear technique: Black Lightning Spear>

Lightning appeared under Lin's feet as he dashed towards the beast. The lightning crackled along the spear. Using flames to boost it, he threw it at the beast. The beast roared and moved to the side to dodge it. However, the spear scratched it, and the black lightning latched onto it, stunning it. He summoned the spear, and using the footwork of the menace, Lin launched several spear attacks at the beast.

The beast dashed at him and knocked him to the ground. Broken rocks scattered everywhere as Lin got buried in there. He gushed blood, and his body ached all over. Dzifa charged a beam and fired it at the beast, sending it three feet backwards.

<Light Shower>

She used another skill which caused small spheres of light to appear in the sky as beams shot the beast in torrents like rain. The beast growled and shot a bolt of lightning at her. She managed to avoid a direct hit but got knocked out by the force of the attack.

Lin struggled to his feet and looked towards the beast which had turned towards him. "That beast isn't even severely wounded, yet I'm already at my limit. If I want to win, then I would have to push past my limits".

Lin's power exploded like a broken dam. Elemental power flowed through him like mad. Lin's eyes suddenly changed. His pupils and the halo surrounding it switched to colour, with his pupils becoming black and the halo around it becoming red. Half his red hair was now pitch black and flowed upwards with a red crown-like halo above his head.