The night in the forest was cold and dark. It was a moonless night after all. As darkness prevails, the atmosphere becomes lonely. The participants had hunted almost all of the beasts within the forest, so there was no howling of beasts, neither was there any sound of fighting. There was only eerie silence lingering in the atmosphere. All the participants were resting somewhere within the forest, recovering their strength so that they can return with their harvest of the beast-cores.
Edward was in a half-asleep half-awake state. He had finished eating the grilled beast meat. At that moment, he was almost completely recovered. While half-asleep, he was deeply concentrating his mind to build up the energy he got from eating the meat of the 9th level beast and trying to utilize it to build up physical essence. With the help of all the training, combat experience, and nutritious beast meat, the ninth physical essence ring was more than 70% formed. Edward knew it was quite easy to break through to the next levels in the Physical Essence realm. With a strong foundation, there should be no problem in rising to the peak of the Physical Essence realm. But things start to get harder after that. Breaking through the Body Metamorphosis realm was where the challenge begins. From that point on, things start to get tougher and tougher.
Edward suddenly remembered his childhood. He remembered how his father was proud of being a soldier. His mother was a young and beautiful woman, and when Edward was 7 years old, they were having thoughts of having another child. His father used to say that soon, he would have a brother or sister. But it could not happen. Even before his parents realized, a fierce war broke out. His father had to leave home to join the frontlines. He never came back, and his mother died suffering. Now that he thinks back, judging from his father's strength, his father might have been at the 7th or 8th level of the Physical Essence realm. When countries were at war, what could a below-average martial artist like him accomplish?
Edward did not understand that much when the news of his father's death reached his mother and him, but he understood more than any other 9-year-old child. Edward was born sharp. Only at the age of one, he started talking and before two, he could speak like an adult. At the age of three, he learned to read and write from the books his father brought. His parents thought Edward was just a bit exceptional, but they never knew how extraordinary he was. Even as a nine-year-old kid, he had the ability to analyze and understand various situations the adults talked about, and he was even adept in critical thinking and problem-solving. At that time, Edward did not know whether that was a good thing or not. Due to his early maturity, he could never get along with other kids in the village. Childish things that other kids enjoyed, he could never enjoy them. While other kids played, he would just read books of history and politics and think about the world. While reading the history of the country, he came to know about martial arts and martial artists. The topic interested him at first, but soon he lost interest as he found out that martial artists also had their limits. Even the top martial artists in the known history of Green Veil country could only jump very high and shatter large boulders. They were amazing, but not as amazing as the fantasy stories he read where martial artists could fly above the clouds, destroy mountains, and create storms. He came to realize that life wasn't fantasy, and reality was harsh. Then he wondered, what was the ultimate truth of life? And what is it that a person should truly pursue? In the end, he had no answer. That was until he met Snow. When he first saw her fighting those demons, he realized that there is a world he had not seen, and he was just a frog at the bottom of a well. But he wasn't disheartened. Instead, he was excited. And finally, when he heard about the Nine Paragons, the Nine Major Races, and all those things about the world of cultivation, his blood boiled. In the end, for a person of wisdom like him, what was more tempting than wandering across the universe and unraveling all its secrets?
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Edward was lost deep in thoughts. The aroma of grilled meat still lingered around the air. Edward kept cultivating with deep focus. Soon, the night became even darker, as midnight was approaching. The wind had changed directions, and clouds passed by above the forest.
A growling sound came from far away. It soon turned into angry howls, and it was coming closer. Soon, it came so close that it alerted Edward. Edward opened his eyes and stood up. It seemed that some beast was coming towards his location. He was confused. How could a beast dare to come inside the territory of a level 9 beast? Ordinary beasts should not dare to come here unless it was a level 9 beast. But there should not be any level nine beast left in the forest, and even if there was one, it shouldn't dare to come here, as the dark panther was the king among level 9 beasts in this forest according to the manual given by the academy elder. So, no beast should come here, unless......
"ROAAAAARRR!!!!!!!!!!"
His thoughts were interrupted by an ear-splitting roar.
"Damn it. Just as I thought, it really is one of the two Grade Two beasts in the forest! That's a real king!! Run!!!!!!"
He ran without a second thought and a gigantic wolf-like beast ran after him.