Chapter 17: I'll be with you every step

Seeing such a creature bring such a change to the battlefield astonished him. Were beast tamers really that powerful??

Calming down his racing mind a bit, he quickly felt his energy control had risen tremendously compared to before. Previously some moves like coating his hand in his energy were possible but difficult and would take time.

Now he can do it instantly with ease which made him wonder, what other things were possible now. Looking at his warn-down blade just from a few battles, he knew it wouldn't last much more.

"Could I coat my blade in my energy?" thought Jun. Looking around and seeing no one approaching their group, he decided to try it out.

Focusing on his sword, he imagines his energy enveloping his sword to form a not too thick and not too thin layer and compress it enough to hold serious power and defense.

Surprisingly not even a second later his sword was glowing a fiery red. Just looking at it, he knew it had increased in defense and attack. Previously his sword was only a low-level yellow sword but now it felt like a top-level yellow sword which stunned him.

Did he just invent a new skill? 

"System where is my prize, isn't my genius going to be rewarded"

[Congratulations! You have created the first-ever sword enhancement technique]

[Reward: Yellow top-rank (Everglade Star Sword)]

"haha Now that's what I'm talking about" said Jun while quickly putting away his old sword in the system storage and taking out the new one.

Looking at the pitch-black blade with a beautiful green handle made him excited. Right now he wasn't low on energy much thanks to his energy manipulation which made for less consumption and more damage which made for a huge advantage over normal cultivators.

Coating his sword in his energy, he felt this sword now able to handle more energy so he tried compressing it further. Within 3 seconds the sword slowly swayed into a reddish-orange sword exuding an even more dangerous feeling than his previous one.

Seeing the transition from a red color to orange, he knew he had stepped into the threshold of the next level of compression. Focusing back on the battlefield, he saw countless cultivators teaming up to try and defeat the mammoth going on a rampage.

But without fail, all of them became nothing more than roadkill or food for the beast. As for the master of it, he was seen riding the beast with a saddle on it.

"Move out the way you low-level garbage, the position of Sky Palace belongs to my Li fami-"

Before he could finish, a spectacular scene happened, the giant beast was sent flying at an extraordinary speed, but what was unfortunate was that in the direction it was sent flying...

Seeing a giant behemoth headed your way at an astonishing speed is possibly one of the most frightening experiences things Jun has ever encountered.

"OF FUCK!!" Turning around, he quickly jumped at Yinling to get out the way.

Narrowly dodging, he felt the airforce produced by the beast sent them flying accidentally decapitating some people along the way. Landing, he felt his bones rattled but nothing major, his superficial injuries were healing at a much faster rate which he attributed to his Light attribute working wonders.

"Jeesh talk about lucky, if I hadn't had the light attribute increase my reflexes I would have been squashed to death by that thing" thought Jun.

Looking at Yinling in his arms he asked "Yinling! Are you okay do you need me to heal you?"

Seeing the concern on Jun's face made her heart feel warm, when was the last time someone asked her that out of sincerity? Never...

"I'm fine, Thank you Jun, although I don't feel anything broken I feel a little shaken up" spoke Yinling.

Nodding, he got up and helped her stand up, seeing the aftermath of from the mammoth being sent flying made him question if he was going to get out of this alive.

The giant beast had made a ravine of hundreds of corpses and limbs. Looking at the giant fist imprint on the side of the still-twitching animal struggling to get up after getting caught off guard sent a shiver down his spine.

As to what caused the creature to be sent flying, turning around, he saw a giant crater around a muscular man with his fist still outstretched, vapor slowly seeping out of his fist from the heat produced by the impact.

"tch, that damn Li Yi was getting on my nerves" spoke the muscular human.

After the impact and smoke settled down, a loud shout was heard echoing on the silent battlefield after witnessing such a frightening scene.

"YU CAO YOU BASTARD HOW DARE YOU ATTACK ME!!"

"HoW DarE YOu AttACk Me" Yu Cao retorted mocking the beast tamer.

Hearing him make a mockery of him made him furious, after destroying the image invisibility he built to these low-level vermin, this bastard Yu Cao shattered it in such a humiliating way.

"XIAO MAMMOTH GET OFF YOUR ASS AND HELP ME DESTROY THIS WASTE!" roared the beast tamer.

Seeing the mammoth slowly get up and wipe away some chunks of humans on it was a cruel site in itself. Once living and breathing humans with families of their own, now reduced to nothing more than chunks of meat paste.

Seeing such a site made him feel conflicted, on one end he understood that in this world, strength is the law and the weak perish, but on the other hand, seeing them kill and almost relish in the feeling just didn't sit right with him. 

Turning his head he saw Yinling had the same expression as him, just like Jun, she felt conflicted at such a sight but could understand. But understanding and agreeing are two completely different matters.

"Yinling... promise me if I ever become like those two please tell me" 

Seeing the solemn look on Jun's face saddened her "Jun... " She couldn't look him in the face "I don't know If I can promise you that..."

"Why..." he asked already knowing the answer, it was made all too clear to him in those novels he had read before. But perhaps it was just his previous life morals making one last-ditch effort in this hell.

Hearing her silence made him frown more, he imagined himself reaching the top of this world and being able to change the world with a swipe of his hand, but he never thought just how much the world would change him in the process. 

Would he even be the same person? In his previous world, they called it the rat race. In the pursuit of money, many have lost themselves. Is it the same here? the pursuit of power?'

"Jun..."

Hearing Yinling talk jumped him out of his focus in time to see a smile bloom on her face.

"I may not be able to promise you but I know this... I will be there with you every step of the way so don't get that ugly look on your face" 

Stunned he replied, "I..is that a love confession??!!"

Yinling's playful slap and scolding brought a light moment to the grim battlefield.

"Thank you, Yinling..."