Stealing Ideas and Racking Up Points

Not waiting for them to attack, I quickly threw myself up and at the closest wolf-man. I didn't hold back and instantly sent a punch to it's head. The gauntlets I was wearing seemed to have an unnatural effect on my punching power, and taking inspiration from Chinese novels I'd read before I flooded my leading arm with Qi so as soon as my fist hit the wolf-man's head, it's skull was crushed inward and it dropped to the floor lifelessly.

I ducked down and aimed a leg sweep to the other wolf-man. It didn't expect such speed and brutal power from me - neither did I, truthfully - and it's legs were taken out from under it.

As soon as it was on the floor, I got on top of it and started to pound it's head in with my fists.

I didn't flood my arms with Qi because I didn't want to waste it, so it took more than a few punches before the wolf-man's head cracked open and it died.

Sighing, I got off the dead corpse before standing up and taking in a deep breath. I felt my Qi replenishing my stamina but I kept it from fully replenishing my stamina - I didn't want to waste too much Qi, after all. I only let it work in tandem with my natural recovery time which seemed to have been enhanced. Probably by whatever [Serpent Physiology Lv1] had done to me.

Looking around at the forest surrounding me, I quickly decided what to do and ran over to one of the trees nearby before beginning to climb it. I needed to see if there were any mountain caves or clearings nearby.

It didn't take long for me to get up the tree, my new body's strength, agility and flexibility helping a ton when it came to climbing.

Once I got to the top of the tree, I looked over the canopy of leaves and found a mountain a few hundred meters away. Getting down from the tree, I began to run toward the mountain. There weren't any clearings or anything but the mountain had a a strip of land where there didn't seem to be any trees or anything, so I was heading there. Hopefully there's some kind of cave. I need it for my unoriginal and stolen plan.

This new body's specs were truly good. Peak human good, if I had to quantify them.

A massive improvement from my overweight, slow and unhealthy body from before, either way.

So, because of this absurd body, I quickly made it over the distance between where I appeared and the mountain. Once there, I was surprised to see that there was a proper entrance there to some sort of hallway - why did I get spawned in the forest if this is here? If I remember correctly, the MC of 'Life Howling' had to exit something like this to get to the forest.

Then again, he was dealing with Zombies and Undead while I'm dealing with wolf-men. Maybe even some other types of beast-type monsters.

Clicking my tongue, I began to scout out the entrance and the hallway. It was dark but I could easily see in it - another benefit of [Serpent Physiology Lv1] I guess? - I even discovered the odd ability to feel the heat of the surroundings and map out a mental map inside my head. A new sensory organ, probably.

...Odd how that doesn't seem to unsettle me. Odd how none of this seems to unsettle me.

Though honestly, I can see why I'm adapting so fast. I was quite like the original MC in 'Life Howling'. No aspirations or dreams - I just lived and got through life without really doing much. Which meant that now the opportunity to focus on something was finally appearing in front of me...

Well, I took to it quicker than most would. Even if it was so dangerous like this is. Or maybe it's exactly because it is dangerous and I'm an adrenaline junkie and I never knew. Who knows.

I continued walking through the hallway before I came upon an empty room. Nothing in it.

Sighing at the wasted time, I turned around and began sprinting back to the entrance. Once there, I continued on until I reached a tree with some rather low hanging branches. Snapping one of them, I looked over it before looking at the trees, shrubbery and the other plants around. I quickly came to one conclusion.

They were quite dry.

Thinking back to my climb through the trees, the leaves were crinkly like leaves in autumn. This would work quite well for my plan.

Putting my newly acquired stick down, I took off the shirt I was wearing before ripping it into two halves - the front and back of the shirt. Taking the front part, I ripped that up into strips before wrapping the strips around the stick at my feet.

Once I'd done that, I grabbed some dry grass (and other bits for tinder), another stick and some loose bark before I got to work making the start of a fire.

It took the piss to sort it all out and even with my augmented stamina it was a bit tiring but in the end, it worked and the friction began to set the bark and tinder alight. I nurtured the flame until it was burning brightly and big enough for me to not worry about accidentally smothering it with the next step.

Picking up the impromptu torch I'd made (stick with one end wrapped in cloth), I held it over the small fire I had going until the strips of clothing were set on fire.

Standing up with the torch, I then proceeded to go about setting the trees and grass on fire.

And with how dry it all was, it went up in flames incredibly quickly. A wave of fire just flooded over the forest and meanwhile, I was safe and sound in the empty room at the end of the hallway. The hallway dipped into some stairs that went down before it got to the room, so there was very little chance the smoke would get in here because smoke rises and whatnot - but just in case, I'd covered my mouth with the remaining cloth just in case. It'd at least give me enough protection to get out of the room and hallway and find higher ground unaffected by the smoke.

But none of the smoke got in here. I was just stuck here, waiting. A pretty good and safe way of grinding points, right? A damn shame that it's so goddamn boring.

. . .

I got out of the hallway built into the mountain and looked out at the barren plain where there used to be a forest.

It'd practically burnt itself into a plain of ash that was still smoking or even on fire in some places.

From a lush forest to something that looked like hell on Earth. Guess this says something about my methods, huh? That they're pretty goddamn effective, if I had to guess.

Smirking to myself, I saw something that seemed to have survived the burning of the forest but only barely. It looked like the wolf-men I'd seen up until now but it was utterly massive and much bulkier. About 6 and a half feet of pure muscle. Looking north of 250 pounds, easy. So about 50lbs heavier than my current body and nearly half a foot taller than me.

Though despite it's intimidating appearance, it's fur was incredibly burnt in some places, showcasing red raw skin that was beginning to blister. He obviously got caught in the fire. Stupid dog.

Making my way out onto the field of ash he was wandering around, I picked up speed into a near silent sprint before flooding my arms with an even amount of Qi and kept the flow up and steady.

Despite how silent I thought I was running, the wolf-man quickly heard my steps and once he'd done that, it wasn't exactly hard to see who was making the noise. I was the only other living thing in this whole forest, after all.

It roared out at me before blasting toward me, practically disappearing from my vision and making me throw up my arms on instinct to guard from an attack I couldn't see but could somehow tell was coming for my head.

The clawed hand hit my gauntlets and the claws dug into the gauntlet but didn't manage to fully make it through the tough and durable material they were made of.

Bringing the gauntlet that behind my leading hand for the block, I planted a hard fist into it's stomach, sending it back a few steps and freeing up my other arm. Washing away the sore feeling in my left arm's bones with a small wave of Qi, I sent a wave of Qi to the base of my feet and pressed off the ground, bursting forth with double my normal speed and sent a flurry of punches toward the wolf-man.

I didn't know Qi would do that. Speed me up, that is. I was just taking stabs in the dark with information I'd read in Xianxia and other Chinese cultivation/martial arts novels and going out on a limb because it seemed to just enhance the body part I infused with it. Luckily, it worked.

My leading fist slammed into the wolf-man's fur-less snout, sending it reeling but no matter how much it flinched back, I kept close to it. It had the advantage in raw strength and reach - I couldn't allow it to have the distance needed to throw out a full-powered swipe/attack. That'd be like asking to get abused.

So, using my [Unarmed Combat Mastery Lv1] to the maximum, I stayed close and focused on sharp and quick but damaging body shots with the occasional hit to it's burnt face where the skin was especially weakened.

It got a few attacks in on me and I was currently bleeding quite a bit from my torso and stomach but I was in a much better state than my opponent.

Especially after I took out one of it's eyes and then stuck to it's blind spot. It couldn't even defend itself properly. I would've felt some pity for it if it weren't for the fact this fucking thing had tried to cut me up like a goddamn turkey and somewhat succeeded in it's efforts. Anything that comes at me with the intent to kill me can just fucking die, in my opinion.

...Don't know whether that's coming from me or my new instincts but I'm not exactly gonna suppress it or stop myself from doing it. It's the proper course of action, honestly.

After landing a particularly brutal punch on it's throat and packing most of my Qi into the attack, the wolf-man just dropped to the floor before it began to disperse into motes of light.

"Fuckin' hell," I spat out, utterly exhausted from having to try so fucking hard not to get gutted by that wolf-man. Luckily, nothing popped up to surprise me and the surroundings started to become white, lines of light appearing on the ground to form a grid of sorts before the ash and the fire disappeared from my vision, replaced by the expanse of nothingness I'd seen earlier.

[Use your points for rewards (1 Hour Time Limit)]

Taking a deep breath, I sat down before summoning the shop, "Defense reinforcement," I said and a rather short list of skills appeared in front of me, followed by their price.

Though before I looked at it, I looked at my points.

[3791 Points]

...Jesus fucking Christ. That's a lot of points, ain't it?

[Iron Body Technique - 500 Points]

[Skin Strengthening - 5 Points]

[Bone Strengthening - 5 Points]

[Muscle Strengthening - 5 Points]

[Body Strengthening - 10 Points]

[Physical Resistance - 10 Points]

[Chunbu Outer Technique - 20 Points]

[Golden Indestructible Body Technique - 500 Points]

[Steel Body - 10 Points]

[Regeneration - 10 Points]

And that was the end of it. Like I said, a rather short list. But, it didn't really matter. I didn't need a lot of things to chose from - plus, there isn't much else you can do for defense other than what's here is there?

Anyway, I had something I wanted to try.

��Buy Skin Strengthening, Bone Strengthening and Muscle Strengthening," I said and instantly I felt a wave of heat flooding my body and rearranging my body, strengthening it. It felt uncomfortable but it wasn't outright painful or anything like that. More like an itchy sensation if I had to describe it in any way.

The strengthening was soon over and my body felt even stronger than it did before, but I didn't stop to admire it and spoke again as soon as I saw that [Body Strengthening] hadn't been grayed out or disappeared from the menu, "Buy Body Strengthening."

Another wave of heat flooded me and I felt the strengthened muscles, bone and skin get even stronger. It seems my thoughts were correct.

The [Muscle Strengthening] gave me more strength per level but it only focused on my muscles, leaving my skin and bones weaker. Same goes for [Skin Strengthening] and [Bone Strengthening] - they were focused strengthening. [Body Strengthening] was more like a general strengthening which raised all your attributes but didn't raise them too much per level...and I wasn't really about being a jack-of-all-trades who would be good all around but weaker than people who specialized. So even if it took more points, I'd still focus on raising everything about my body as much as possible.

Leaving upgrading the skills until later, my instincts telling me that this would be beneficial, I then went on to buy the other skills, "Buy everything in this list other than the [Iron Body Technique]," I said. My reasoning for not buying the [Iron Body Technique] was because there'd be a Class-Only version for me which would suit me better.

Multiple changes began happening as soon as I spoke and I grunted in displeasure as the itching returned but even worse and even more invasive throughout my body.

Information and how to activate the [Golden Indestructible Body Technique] and the [Chunbu Outer Technique] appeared in my head as well.

[Golden Indestructible Body Technique - When the technique is activated, Qi lines the bones, muscles, organs and skin of the practitioner in a special and very unique way like chainmail made of Qi but much, much harder than actual chainmail, increasing their defense many fold along with boosting their strength as a result. Passively increases the body's toughness and stamina even when inactive.]

[Chunbu Outer Technique - When the technique is activated, a minimal amount of Qi is used to excavate the full potential from the practitioner's body giving them a boost in overall strength as they use 100% of their power. Passively increases the body's strength, stamina and reflexes.]

Mentally, as I stood here, I activated the two of them and found that they worked pretty much in sync with one another. I felt my body getting stronger and tougher and I felt about double my original power but at the cost for over half my Qi.

Even then, I found that I could infuse even more Qi into these techniques to boost their effects, so this would help a bunch. Now I just need to upgrade my Qi amount.

"How do I upgrade my maximum Qi capacity?" I asked aloud and a screen popped up. Though it didn't give an answer I wanted and I scowled at it.

[Cultivate.]

"Tch," I clicked my tongue before speaking again, "Whatever. I'll work on my base strength for now. Buy the skill [Agility Enhancement]," as I said this, I deactivated the techniques I had on and the flow of Qi and power stopped.

[Agility Enhancement - 10 Points]

Instantly, as soon as I'd done this, another flash of light came from the screen and I felt my body being changed once more. Being made even more flexible than it already was. Nice. I also felt quicker and, surprise surprise, more agile. A quick jump up and down and a few side steps told me my explosive and directional speed had been enhanced by a small but decent amount.

But as soon as I brought this skill and it's effects had taken place on my body, I felt my body begin to burn. It was light at first, only feeling like a wave of warmth. But quickly, it became more like having scolding hot water flowing through my veins and between my muscles and organs.

I collapsed to the floor, gripping at the white that it was made up of and I clenched my teeth so hard I felt blood seeping from my gums.

It could've been a few seconds or it could've been a few minutes but when it finally stopped, I collapsed to the floor, spread out like a starfish.

...That really fucking hurt.

I took in a few more calming breaths before I subdued the exhaustion and the remaining pain lingering in my body before I forced myself up and onto my feet. Looking toward the screen for some sort of explanation, I wasn't disappointed, surprisingly.

[The skills 'Skin Strengthening Lv1', 'Bone Strengthening Lv1', 'Muscle Strengthening Lv1', 'Body Strengthening Lv1', 'Physical Resistance Lv1', 'Steel Body Lv1', 'Regeneration Lv1' and 'Agility Enhancement Lv1' have been effected by the skill 'Serpent Physiology' and have combined with one another to make a skill of superior ranking. The skill 'Beast King Body Strengthening Lv1' has been made.]

Huh. Did I just become one of those MC's that gets lucky as fuck all of a sudden?

"How much would it cost to upgrade [Beast King Body Strengthening Lv1] to level four?" I asked with a smile, feeling in a good mood. I had no idea what the rankings for skills were but I could only guess that the higher the ranking, the better the skill and it's effects. Though I wonder how I can see the ranking of skills? I hadn't seen anything like that so far...so maybe it was a sort of hidden stat and you just had to get lucky. Seems kinda bullshit, honestly, but whatever.

[620 Points]

Well damn, "Upgrade [Beast King Body Strengthening] to level four, then," I smiled wide and with excitement. Wasn't this too cheap? To raise a supposedly higher ranking skill made up of eight skills to level four for only 620 points? If I remember correctly, level four was around the time when the MC became pretty much bullet proof for medium to small caliber rounds. Shot himself in the foot from point blank and his foot only began sore!

So, with eight skills like that becoming level four...I was about to get a pretty decent boost in power and I still had so many points to spend afterwards! Let's get spending~!