Reaching the village’s boundary, he took a deep breath before stepping forward. The noises of the survivors completing their chores or training with Cards were subdued as he paved his way through the outskirts of the forest. A gentle breeze was blowing, making the leaves rustle but otherwise, the forest seemed quiet.
Xavier kept walking ahead and soon spotted some monster herds passing by. The late afternoon sun shone on them, highlighting their hideous scars and yellow teeth as they made their way towards their destination. Most of them were walking by peacefully and Xavier did not intend to just jump in their herd and start killing them.
So, he waited for them to pass by silently before beginning to move again. After crossing the distance of a few meters, he entered a slightly denser area of the forest. Here again, he saw some monsters basking in the afternoon sun while a few were fighting each other. Out of curiosity, Xavier used Judgment on some of them but continued to move.
The things he saw with Eye of Evolution were quite interesting. The Rare Card’s passive effect was quite good as well. It showed him how much innate potential a monster had, which was quite helpful in preparing for battle.
Monsters with high innate potential were more likely to have attained a certain degree of intelligence. Thus, it was highly likely that they would evolve at some point. Dealing with them before they could turn into a real problem was the best solution to keep Haven safe.
Actively utilizing Eye of Evolution and Judgment improved his control of World Energy. It was too potent to get a hang of immediately, but Xavier was quite satisfied with the results of his hard work.
His mood was quite good today. The pain they had endured together had been worth it. Both Xavier and Glut were fueled with motivation and energy to complete their tasks for the day. All these days, there had been a constant worry of dangers at the back of his mind but now, for the first time in many weeks, he allowed himself to relax a little. Glut too added to the playfulness as he would circle Xavier’s head and purposely ruffle his hair, making Xavier chuckle.
However it was not as if Xavier had completely forgotten the dangers of roaming carefree in a forest filled with monsters. It was just that he was much more confident in his capabilities of killing the monsters he’d seen so far around if the need ever arose. That was not his intention today.
He was in the mood to conduct some experiments right now.
It didn’t take long to find a suitable target for his experiments.
He heard some noise of snarling and chewing from behind a small patch with dense bushes. Xavier peered from a distance by crouching down on his knees and parting a few blades of grass apart. Just a few feet away from him was a three-meter-long lizard feasting on its most recent kill. The lizard looked like it weighed a ton – probably more – and had thick scales all over its body. It was dark brown just as the soil that it was standing on while burying its tapering head inside the corpse of some monster.
Xavier couldn’t tell what monster it was feasting on but it seemed to be an insect of some sort. The only difference was that it was as big as a dog, probably due to mutation. He ignored the corpse and focused his attention on the lizard. It was oblivious to Xavier’s presence and continued feasting on the fresh kill. Its long head was smeared with the monster’s blood making it look even more hideous. Its round, slit-like yellow eyes darted around as it kept tearing the corpse apart viciously.
A yellow hue shrouded the monster, indicating that it was strong and that he should pay attention. But that was quite obvious. The lizard was twice the size of an ordinary crocodile and he did not even want to calculate the bite force of its massive maw. Shaking his head, Xavier used Judgment.
Gluttonous Lizard – 319 – Vitality
A Foundation of 319 and Vitality is the highest? That’s feasible.
The good thing about Judgment was that he could see the target’s most advanced Foundation Star as well. Every piece of information was helpful to know before the battle. That was also why Xavier didn’t attack immediately. He observed the Gluttonous Lizard first to gauge how advanced its Foundations were and whether it had a special trait or something else that he had to pay attention to.
It’s heavy and slow. Turning around takes a while as well. It hasn’t even noticed our presence yet. That means it’s Perception, Dexterity, and Agility are on the lower side.
As Xavier observed the huge reptile, the Gluttonous Lizard seemed to have finished eating. So, without a backward glance, it left the mangled, half-eaten corpse of the insect behind and moved through the forest.
Xavier followed it closely but ensured that he did not make any sound to alert the monster. Its huge belly hung down, almost touching the ground as it prowled through the forest. But Xavier noticed that neither its huge and bulky body, nor a full stomach slowed it down by much. It was only treading carefully while its yellow eyes were forever scanning the surroundings. Xavier was glad of the dense vegetation around that served as a camouflage as he trailed his target.
The Gluttonous Lizard feet sprayed loose soil and small stones as they sunk into the soil to help it move forward. Despite that the reptile wasn’t making much of a noise.
Despite its heavy weight, the Gluttonous Lizard is extremely silent. Is its Wisdom Foundation High? Oh. What?! That’s some tremendous power!
Xavier witnessed the Gluttonous Lizard attack another insect. He’d used Judgment on the insect and found out that it had a Foundation of 100 with its strongest Foundation being Vitality as well, yet a single bite was enough to tear the insect’s carapace into shreds.
Alright. Its’ Wisdom is somewhat advanced, but the strongest Foundations are definitely Strength and Vitality. But they’re not yet at the Basic rank. Perfect.
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Upgrading a Foundation Star once would advance its rank from Inferior to Novice. The qualitative changes of the first upgrade were already pretty intense. However, upgrading a Foundation Star a second time resulted in even more pronounced changes. The second upgrade advanced the Foundation Star’s rank from Novice to Basic.
A single Soul Essence integrated into a Basic Foundation Star created various changes. It was a gamechanger and also the reason most Card Holders considered Xavier insane for risking his life for ten weeks just to pick his Unique Class Path. The others would rather pick a lower-ranked Class Path to ascend to Stage 1 faster just to upgrade their Foundation Stars a little bit earlier.
They couldn’t even say that they felt safe and sound with one or even two Basic rank Foundation Stars. Hence, it was a mystery to them to understand how Xavier fought at the frontlines without a single Basic Foundation. His strength was distributed rather evenly as well. Xavier was not even close to reaching the Basic rank with any of his Foundation Stars.
Xavier licked his dry lips as he watched the Gluttonous Lizard feast on the insect monster. He stalked his prey through the thicket silently and thought of a plan to finish off the monster in one go.
The final plan was rather simple. Xavier used Air Bullet and conjured it at once. Controlling the Air Bullet made with World Energy was not easy but it worked better than before.
Xavier followed up his attack by using Borrow and Coat of Fire simultaneously. He used Glut’s fire affinity to amplify Coat of Fire which he’d applied to the Air Bullet. The Air Bullet transformed into a brightly flickering fireball that threatened to destabilize and explode.
The World Energy coursing through his hand burned fiercely, but Xavier controlled the fire-coated Air Bullet with tremendous focus. He took aim and released the bullet with a burst of World Energy.
A reddish-orange flash sizzled through the air with the top speed of the Air Bullet and the destructive power of a fireball. The Gluttonous Lizard’s head shot up, but it was already too late.
The projectile impacted hard and exploded, tearing the Gluttonous Lizard’s neck into shreds. Following that an angry and pained hiss-like growl escaped the reptile’s mouth. A fountain of warm blood spurted out of its neck that now looked like a patchwork of delicate flesh and shredded scales. Hit by an unexpected attack, the reptile thrashed its massive body trying to shake off the invisible predator. Alas, the predator was safely tucked away behind the bushes, waiting for the reptile to die suffering slowly.
No message? It’s still alive!
Xavier realized that the attack was unlikely to kill the Gluttonous Lizard instantaneously, but he had been hoping for a little surprise. The combination of Coat of Fire, Borrow, and Air Bullet used with World Energy should have been enough to create such a surprise.
Unfortunately, the Gluttonous Lizard had a higher Vitality than he’d expected. Of course, that didn’t mean his attack failed. That was not the case, at all. He succeeded.
The reptile might not be dead yet but it was struggling to stay upright. The single injury caused by Xavier’s powerful attack was enough to make it bleed profusely. Blood was flowing down its neck and body, pooling down in the soil, turning it crimson.
Its initial angry roar was now replaced by slightly pitiful sounds as it seemed to struggle for breath. Its neck was held together by barely a few threads of flesh and Xavier could see the inner veins and muscles quite clearly. The Air Bullet conjured with the help of World Energy and boosted by other Card’s effects turned into a lethal weapon that inflicted a gruesome injury on the Gluttonous Lizard.
That was much better than he’d expected!
Seeing his prey turn slow and weak, Xavier jumped into action.
Xavier kicked the ground with all his might and turned into a flash by using Dash. He crossed the distance to the Gluttonous Lizard in no time. The monster roared loudly and desperately when it saw him, but Xavier ignored the thunderous roar. He condensed several Air Bullets with World Energy and hurled them against its tail and head.
Glut didn’t remain idle either. The Ember Sparrow released a highly-compressed ember from above. The Gluttonous Lizard had not even noticed Glut until now. However, it was too late already. The searing-hot ember landed on the monster’s open wound and burned through its tender flesh fiercely, scorching the lizard’s neck.
The smell of burned flesh wafted in the air as Xavier arrived, the ruby katana shrouded in blazing flames.
Xavier thrust the ruby katana deep into the Gluttonous Lizard’s neck. He twisted the blade and allowed the flames to burn the monster from inside out.
He stared deep into the Gluttonous Lizard’s eyes. The once vibrant eyes dimmed, and the immense anger and hatred inside them dispersed shortly thereafter.
Gluttonous Lizard has been slain. +2 Soul Essences
Hunt or get hunted. Kill or get killed. If you regret dying, you should have been stronger. There is no need to be angry at me. I killed you just like you killed those insects.
Sometimes, Xavier felt bad about hunting monsters. However, he knew that he would regret not giving his utmost to grow stronger at some point. He was in dire need of strength to protect himself and those he held dear.
Killing was the most efficient way to attain strength. He couldn’t afford to sit back and pity others just because he was bombarded by a series of overwhelming emotions.
At the end of the day, he didn’t regret hunting all those monsters. If he hadn’t killed them, they would have ended up killing him in the long run. Even if they wouldn’t have killed Xavier, others would have eliminated them to grow stronger. Why should he give other monsters to grow stronger and come back to harm him?
Glut chirped excitedly, happy to have helped Xavier kill yet another monster. Xavier had not exerted much effort yet the thought of having killed such a powerful beast made mixed emotions churn through him.
Pulling the katana out of the now-dead Gluttonous Lizard’s corpse, he wiped the blood away with the leaves…or tried to.
The reptile’s large, lifeless eyes were staring at him, the predator who was the last face it saw before meeting its death. That reminded Xavier yet again of the bitter truth.
Strength ruled supreme but brute strength without a tactic wouldn’t take anybody far. This was war and a game of survival. Crying and complaining about the dangers of the world wouldn’t take you far. It would only make you feel miserable.
If you desired something you had to fight tooth and nail for it, and want it as desperately as your next breath. If you weren’t even able to fight for your own beliefs and wants, you had no right to grumble. The world was never fair but everybody received ample opportunities to rewrite their destiny. If you failed to do it, that was not the world’s fault. Nobody would be responsible for your doom…except you.
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