Strange forest

By the time Kane woke up, he was back in his tent. He could already see the sun through the walls of his tent. His body ached all over and it was heavily bandaged.

He knew that his master had helped him. He carefully stepped out of his tent and saw a pile of cores on the floor and a note. He counted the cores and there were eleven small cores and one that was as big as an adult human's first.

He picked up the note and read its contents. "Good morning Kane, it's nice to know that you have recovered. So, how was your second life and death encounter?

I'm going to point out what you did wrong and what you did right. First of all, under normal circumstances, your choice of campsite was correct. This part of the forest is frequented by humans and the beasts in this area have been wiped clean, other beasts do not enter this area without an important reason.

Your decision to kill both deer was also correct, you needed the meat. Since this area has no beasts in it, making a campfire was also correct, this decision helped save your life and allowed you to notice the ambush on time.

The decisions you made during the battle were alright, for someone who was ambushed by a pack of wolves and with little to no combat experience.

Now what you did wrong was very simple. You were not prepared. You are in a hostile environment filled with danger and I expected you to purchase supplies with your contribution points when you first pitched your tent.

Items like health potions, ammo, and better weapons would have helped you a lot and you might have been in a better shape when you faced that tier 9 wolf.

All things considered, you did great. I helped you extract the cores from the wolves and roasted their meat. They are in your waist pack.

And before I forget. I used a health potion on you so you owe me 1,000 contribution points.

There is something fishy going on in Sharphorn ruin especially when they go out of their way to eliminate a human who was in the outskirts of the forest. I highly suggest you use these cores as soon as possible and see if you can quickly become a mutant. Only then will you be able to learn actual skills and increase your combat efficiency.

So remember to buy more skills and items according to what you need. Upgrade your weapons to match your class. A weapon with a power rating lower than your class would be considered a toy at most.

Remember, since you are being hunted, I suggest you do not stay in the same place for prolonged periods.

Happy hunting from you dearest master, Abel. 'smiley face' ".

Kane kept the note in his waist pack after reading it. His master was right. He was not prepared, he did not even have items like healing potions that were a must for every hunter.

He quickly took out his hunter association identity card. His contribution points had increased.

Class: Grunt realm, tier 6

Status: Novice (313,500 contribution points)

Contribution points: 138,200

He earned a total of 13,200 contribution points from the wolves. He quickly entered the marketplace to buy the items he needed.

He bought ten vials of healing potion at the cost of 1,000 contribution points for each vial. Two vials of generic antidote at 2,000 contribution points each. A katana rated at tier 9 grunt realm which cost him 45,000 contribution points.

He also bought a movement skill called agile feet that could allow him to be able to change directions almost instantly when running even at full speed without losing too much of his speed and momentum. This skill cost him 6,000 contribution points.

He bought a Hapkido manual to improve his hand-to-hand combat ability for 6,000 contribution points. He also bought moon slash, a sword skill in which the user performs a circular attack that hits the target twice. This skill also cost him 6,000 contribution points.

The total cost of his purchases amounted to 77,000 contribution points. He was now left with 61,200 contribution points but he did not feel regretful as his expenditure was definitely worth it.

He quickly kept the items that had been teleported into the area in front of him in his waist pack. He then had a big breakfast of compressed biscuits and roasted meat. After eating he took the cores and began to crush them for making the core and water solution.

After about two hours of preparation, he had twelve bottles of the solution before him. He hoped that he would be able to break through to the mutant realm with this amount.

After deliberating briefly if he should move from this location because of safety, he decided to stay put and advance here since his master was looking after him.

He moved back inside his tent and drank the first bottle of the solution before sitting down to feel the changes in his body.

…

In a part of the forest that was close to the city gates of the former Sharphorn city, there were two beasts who were currently speaking with each other.

One was a large silverback ape that was already six feet tall when it was on all fours. It had black eyes that were pitch black and bulky firm muscles that filled every inch of its body. It was carrying a huge white pillar on its shoulder with one hand.

The other was a giant green snake that was ten feet tall. Its scales seemed like it was made of metal and was glistening in the sunlight.

"That wolf did not return," the snake said as it flicked its tongue at the ape. "I am not surprised. Failure should always be expected from these low leveled animals with little to no intelligence. They obviously can't get past their primal instincts and fall easily when their opponents are a little bit smarter or stronger" said the ape with a look of incredible disdain in his eyes.

"Kekeke... You don't have to sound so disappointed Mo, once upon a time you were an unintelligent monkey that scratches his butt and liked to…" the snake was about to complete his sentence when he was directly interrupted by Mo, the silverback ape "I took my destiny by the throat and chose to break the cycle of being content with what I had and look at where that got me.

They on the other hand relax and go with the flow, oblivious to their obscurity. That is by the way. I want you to personally head back and take over the investigation of this matter. If the human is not in a higher realm, you can directly kill him. If he is in a higher realm then immediately retreat and make a report to the elders."

"Very well. I shall be on my way" said the snake as it slithered away into the forest. 'This should not escalate past this point or the elders might question our competence' Mo thought to himself as he looked at the departing snake with apprehension.

He turned around and headed back into the city. There were still many preparations to be made.

…

Kane had just drunk the third bottle of the core and water mixture when he began to feel the painful restructuring of his bones and organs. He was pleased with the change. This was because only when the core had absorbed enough energy for upgrading his body to the next tier would he feel pain.

Popping sounds were occasionally heard from within his body as his muscles and bones were reconstructed making them stronger and more durable. Advancing through tiers in the grunt realm focused on improving the cultivator's fleshy body.

After spending two hours in that state he felt a wave of cool energy permeating every cell of his body. He had broken through to tier 7 of the grunt realm. He felt like he was at least four times more powerful than he was when he fought the huge grey wolf. At least he would not be thrown around like a rag doll.

He stepped out of his tent to stretch his body and do some simple exercises to get used to his strength. He had spent six hours in his tent when he was absorbing the energy from the three bottles of core and water mixture.

Kane's progress was simply blazingly fast. He had dashed through six realms of the grunt realm in less than a month. It should be known that genius cultivators who had special mutations would spend at least three years advancing from the grunt realm to the mutant realm. This was because after absorbing core energy from the core and water solution, their core would need a recovery period to fully digest the absorbed energy.

If one were to force it, they would damage their core and foundation thereby permanently limiting their potential. In extreme cases, their core would directly overload and they would perish on the spot.

After his exercise, Kane had his lunch before resting. A while later, he entered his tent. He was going to continue his advancement.