03 - Growth

"SHIT!" Fang Lin quickly duck as he felt wind stirring at the back of his neck rolled. Whether or not it is the instinct of Fang Lin himself that was honed over past month surviving in the forest, or the effect of 'Sword Mastery' is unknown however, before his assailant even realised his attack failed, the tip of a very sharp blade already struck its abdomen. Being stabbed is what not what actually killed it but the forward momentum of its own attack, which caused the blade to easily slide across its underbelly essentially gutting it. One could tell just how sharp the blade is by how effortless it looked to slice through the beast without even trying.

"Hu.. hu..that was close..."

With his senses now more alert due to that ambush, he's finally noticed that he's being surrounded. Shooting a quick look at what attacked him earlier made him frown from what he saw. It had dark gray fur, sharp claws that can easily tear through the bark of a tree, and a little horn protruding out of its forehead. It is precisely the corpse of a 'Hornet Wolf'.

"Ah shit... one of those things. Don't they always hunt in groups of 3-4? Should've bought some 'Max Repel' before I left the camp this morning" said Fang Lin as he slowly edged towards a tree with his back facing it. "I can already tell... this is going to be a very long day again."

With their 'prey' seemingly cornered, 3 'Hornet Wolves' appeared in all directions except his rear. Seeing that all of them were only between Lv11-Lv14, Fang Lin smirks and decided it was a smart idea to provoke his ambushers as he is already Lv19 himself and could take them on even if they were at the same 'level' as him

.

"Finally decided to show up huh...? Well, what ya waiting? Come!" (If I take things slowly and carefully, even if its a 3vs1, I could still beat them without too much damage!) thought Fang Lin. Fate however, did not seem to agree with Fang Lin's plan as a moment later another figure slowly revealed its form from the trees' foliage.

(Not good! It's an alpha!) Naturally, what worried Fang Lin was not the fact that another wolf had joined the fray nor is it because of its 'Alpha' status. The biggest issue is the fact this 'Alpha' was at Lv20! Even though there is only a 1 level difference between Fang Lin and the 'Alpha', that '1' level represent an almost insurmountable gap and he's still got that two fingers thick piercing scar on his abdomen as a reminder. What's even worse is that it's not alone! Right! There are still 3 other wolves here to both block and corner me while it can also use them to prevent me dealing any critical damage.

"Damn, isn't this a pretty bad situation...?" asked no one in particular as Fang Lin unconsciously gripped the 'Black Dao' even tighter. As if sensing his intentions, the alpha howled towards the sky which cause the three wolves dashed forward signaling their intention for a pincer attack. Eyes narrowed, Fang Lin step forth ready for the on-coming confrontation while still keeping the alpha in his periphery. Rather than despairing at this seemingly hopeless situation, Fang Lin was actually a little excited to test himself against these powerful foes. Thinking this, he can't but remember back to a month ago.

**********************************************************************************************************

When Fang Lin woke up the next morning, he practiced on an imaginary enemy using 'Black Dao' to get a feel of what he can do with 'Sword Mastery'. Although his movements are swift and flexible as if he's practiced with the sword for countless decades, there were still many maneuver he couldn't yet perform and some not as precise as he wanted.

"It seems my body isn't strong enough yet. Guess I need to level up some more. Next up is testing his sword's sharpness..."

Saying so, Fang Lin walked up to a small tree and promptly slashed at a branch, 3 adult's fingers thick in diameter, that was sticking out. The result made Fang Lin frown as it wasn't a clean cut as he'd hoped. Looking at the cut off branch, it seems his 'Black Dao' cut through only 3/4 of the way while the force of his swing did the rest to break off the branch.

"Damn, even if it's a weapon with future potential for growth, it's still got to start somewhere huh? Next is some scouting and hopefully a prey to help me level up." With a plan set in his mind, he chose a direction a walked outward while marking the trees along the way lest he can't find his way back to camp site. After about 15 minutes or so of walking, Fang Lin spotted a fluffy ball of white fur. At the size of a 2 year old toddler, it has long ear pointing 45 degrees upwards, large ruby colored beady eyes, long whiskers attached to its cheeks, and sharp fangs that it probably uses to tear through the hides of its prey. It is precisely a 'Fanged Rabbit'. Fang Lin of course didn't actually know the name of this creature. What drew his attention was the 'Lv3' text harmlessly floating above the rabbit.

"Huh, it seems the system can passively scan my opponent's level... I wonder up to how many levels can I scan..." mumbled Fang Lin. This however turned out to be a mistake because the moment he noticed the 'Fanged Rabbit', it in turn also noticed Fang Lin. During this interval while he was contemplating the system's scanning capability, the 'Fanged Rabbit' shortened the distance and tackled him in the abdomen sending Fang Lin flying for a meter or two.

"Ooof" Fang Lin grunted as his 'Sword Mastery' skill kicked in and he rolled himself back to his feet while withdrawing 'Black Dao' from his inventory. "Shit that hu---" before he could finish his complaint however, 'Black Dao' was raised to his torso with flat end towards to the speeding object flying towards him with the intention to block. The impact sent him skidding back for over a meter.

"Shit, if that actually hit me head on I definitely would have passed out. Why the hell is a goddamned rabbit so strong!?" Fang Lin wondered out loud as he lowered his stance.

Fang Lin and rabbit are now warily eyeing each other as if looking for an opening to finish off their respective foes. For a seemingly long time into their staring contest, the 'Fanged Rabbit' lost its patience first and charged again while he stood still. At the last possible second before their contact, Fang Lin side stepped and lashed out and hit the weak spot of any living creatures, the neck area, ending its life even as it was flying through the air. At that moment when the beast lots its life, 'Black Dao' gave a small almost imperceptible glow and disappeared almost as soon as it soon it appeared.

*DING!*

[Lv0 -> Lv2 (8%)]

At that notification, his body now felt cool and refreshed. Most importantly he felt his body stronger, as if he just broke through a shackle. He savored this feeling but still staying alert to his immediate surrounding. With his adrenaline still high from his first battle, Fang Lin whose senses are heightened at the moment had noticed this and came to a conclusion. "Is this how 'Black Dao' grows? I need to kill things with it? Shit what a sinister sword... I wonder if it also works on humans?" Fang Lin shook his head to stop his thought from steering into a dark direction, he walked towards the corpse of his earlier opponent while still keeping his 'Black Dao' on him.

"I wonder if I can eat this...? The 'Fasting Pill' is nice and all but it tastes like cardboard..." said Fang Lin as he crouched down and grabbed the corpse with his unoccupied hand. The moment he did a message popped up which made his heart skip a beat as he didn't expect that to happen.

*DING!*

[Corpse of an 'Unranked' magical beast detected. Do you to convert this 'Item'?]

[Yes], [No]

"Hum.... it seems like I can farm for both levels and system points at the same time." With a glint in his eyes, Fang Lin decisively agreed to the conversion. As he did so, the corpse turned into a particle of light and floated towards Fang Lin as if being absorbed by him.

*DING!*

[IP: 800 -> 830]

"So little? Well it was only a low level of 3 after all..."

With his first battle successful, Fang Lin to decided to hunt a bit more before heading back to camp. In that time he's found and killed 3 more 'Fanged Rabbit' with two at Lv3 and the other Lv4.

[IP: 830 -> 930]

With the last hunt, Fang Lin came to a conclusion that the point conversion is just their (Lv)x(10), at least for these guys. And finally they only he can only get IP from beast corpse and not the others. This left him in a bind as this meant he couldn't get stronger abilities and most importantly, left him unable to summon any 'Unit' in the future.

The next day and so forth, Fang Lin continued this life style of morning training, hunting rabbits, and going back to sleep then rinse and repeat. One week later, Fang Lin has reached Lv9 and been stuck there for the last three days. He concluded that from Lv9 to Lv10 must be huge gap between one stage to another. Not giving up, Fang Lin continued hunting and on the tenth day, he's found a Lv10 'Ironhide Boar'. As they only have a 1 level gap between them, Fang Lin didn't give it much thought and promptly decided to challenge the boar. This in turn would be a battle that scarred him, literally, for the rest of his life as he learned that huge difference in stage meant... even if its only one level different. This is also how he unwillingly gained another 'Trait'.

**********************************************************************************************************

stats update;

***************************Status***************************

Name: Fang Lin

Title: "None"

Lv: 19 (95%)

Tier: "Mortal"

Traits: "Serene Mind", "Pain Tolerance"

Skills: "D-Sword Mastery", "D-Cooking Mastery"

Bloodlines: "None", "None"

Equipments: "Black Dao (Unranked)"

Items: "Basic Camping Set"

Summons: "None"

AP: 1,800

EP: 0

IP: 6,400

UP: 1000

************************************************************