Pat. Pat.

A cloth damp with sweat gently patted Percival’s brow. Strands of his sandy-blonde hair were continuously tucked as the young man trained his body to the limit.

“One more! Come on; you can do it! You’re almost there!”

Circe encouraged Percival as he attempted to lift himself higher into the air.

“AGGHH!”

With a shout and a clear picture of his dream board in his mind, Percival’s taunt arms raised his body against gravity. Finally, the perfect push-up form was at the top of his effort.

“You did it!”

“Not bad, kid.”

Thud!

Utterly exhausted, Percival’s face hit the ground. His previous strength drained away into the dirt as he slumped like a limp noodle.

Due to intense physical strengthening, some of your body attributes have slightly increased.

To most players, the effort to raise attributes by only a slight amount would cause them to lose their training spirit. But for Percival, it seemed all the more worthwhile.

Small gains make big changes! Small gains make big—

As Percival chanted an inner self-help mantra, Circe’s hand cradled his loose jaw and forced a liquid down his throat.

The liquid felt cold, like a whole ice cream container was condensed into one bottle. But immediately after, the cold switched to heat as it entered Percival’s stomach, and a pleasant relief flooded his body with the necessary resources to continue.

The effect of Circe’s Training Potion IV has activated, and you have been fully healed.

Percival quickly regained feeling in his now-shaking body.

Yes, Percival shook, not because of physical tension but mental fear.

“All right, this next training regime is my favourite! Before long, we will have your body trained like mine!”

Goibhniu flexed his arm as he one-handedly picked up Percival and threw him over his shoulder. Circe followed a few paces behind as she fiddled with a few ingredients and a bottle of her latest training potion.

“Should I up the dosage? No… Yes? Ah, I’m sure he will be fine!”

Suddenly, a screech could be heard from far away. With a sharp glare, Circe looked up towards the lone mountain on the island and remarked to herself.

"Percival isn't the only one getting stronger..."

Circe looked at the potion again, and after another moment, Circe hurriedly took out a green powder and swirled it around the liquid inside the bottle.

BANG!

The sound of a tree crashing into something solid reassured Circe. Then, as Circe disappeared into the greenery of the forest, her voice drifted out.

“Maybe a few more grams wouldn’t hurt….”

Players in the area soon flocked toward the banging noise. They all fearlessly searched the site for the source but could only find odd human outlines carved into the ground and trees.

Unintentionally, they had found the start of Percival’s spartan training.

----------------------------------------

All Novus had time to do was channel everything he had into the sword in his hand. He didn’t even think as he raised his sword.

“AHHH!”

PEW!

All of Mino’s power came forward as it instantly turned the sword pitch black. The gathered mana from the mist outside was barely enough as it completely covered the sword.

SCRAAA!!

Alto’s cry mixed with the rushing wind as the beam tore at the tip of Novus’ lowering blade.

Novus’ body being blown apart instantly wasn’t observed as the black hue along the sword contacted the condensed beam of wind mana. Instead, the link between Mino and Novus was instantly supercharged.

The sleeves along Novus’ armour burst apart as his arms acquired multiple lacerating cuts. Novus’ heels ground into the rock under intense pressure.

Finally, a guttural yell emerged from deep inside Novus as the phantom of Mino appeared above Novus’ head.

“HAAAAA!”

The soul-training sword gained momentum against the beam of wind mana, and inch by inch, Novus cut vertically.

The black hue surrounding the blade elongated and left the sword as a pitch-black arc that ate through the beam and towards the diving Alto. As it travelled, it grew darker and extended past its initial length.

SLICE!!!

The black hue left a trail of mana-less air and cut through Alto’s beak, body, tail, and then the cave’s top and bottom rock walls before finally leaving a swirl of mist outside.

CRASH!!

Alto’s bisected body sailed past Novus in a blur and crashed into the nest behind as bones shattered and trees splintered.

Crack. Crumble.

Huff. Huff.

Plop.

The pieces of Novus’ soul-training sword crumbled and fell to the floor alongside a weary Novus. Novus heaved to find his breath. His eyes looked straight ahead at the clean line split into the cave opening and the mist that continued to swirl even when system messages blocked Novus’ vision.

Congratulations! You have successfully killed the unique monster Mountain Eagle King, Alto.

Due to killing the unique monster Mountain Eagle King, Alto by yourself, the title Named Monster Slayer has upgraded.

Would you like to announce your achievement to the player community?

Congratulations! You have connected deeply with the Soul Partner Black Prism Beetle, Mino and unlocked a new ability. The skill Fang Blade has now been added to the list of available skills.

Plop.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Novus laid down as he drew out a profound breath.

Whew…

Ha… Haha… Whew…

??? applauds your performance.

Novus' weariness quickly turned to its easiest route: anger.

“Wasn’t a performance.”

Novus felt strength re-entering his body and struggled to swipe away the messages. Then, he slowly got up and wearily walked to one of the split halves of Alto while munching on some recovery herbs. Unfortunately, it seemed that Novus would no longer be getting the brilliant level-up recoveries anymore.

I probably would have gotten quite a few levels from killing an iron-rank monster.

Novus reached one of Alto's split halves and was about to imbue his knife with Mino’s powers before holding himself back.

Rest easy, little guy. I’ll have to handle it myself.

Favur’s voice spoke out as she saw a carving dagger appear in Novus’ hand.

Human! Summon me right now!

Having been slightly traumatized by letting Aeon out earlier, Novus questioned Favur first.

“Why?”

Food! Quick! Before it escapes!

Novus was cautious but ultimately relented and summoned Favur as he felt no desire other than hunger from her. The markings on Novus’ forehead glittered into being, and Favur materialized on the ground beside a split half of Alto’s body.

“Huh? Ah.”

Favur has two forms already? I guess it’s possible with two tails, but usually, you would need at least three tails for both a physical and mana body.

The little lavender-tinted fox sniffed Alto’s body cutely before quickly hopping and phasing through it. Novus watched as Favur reappeared with a glowing green wisp in her teeth on the other side.

Feeding on souls. That’s rare, too. Most kitsunes prefer to gather mana and convert it to mental energy. The only downside is—

“Thanks. You can unsummon me now.”

Novus’ thought was interrupted as he unsummoned Favur and watched her turn into glittering purple lights that phased into his forehead tattoo.

Novus continued to think about his Soul Partners’ odd eating habits and laid a hand on Alto’s split beak.

“Carving.”

Carving skill detected. Would you like to carve the items from this body automatically?

Having learned of Percival’s convenient carving method some time ago, Novus usually bypassed the message and carved for himself. Like the rest of his skills, Novus was sure that doing it manually was better for skill development. Plus, how could Novus lose his carving touch?

However, with the hardness of Alto’s bones and feathers, Novus was forced to return the comparably brittle carving knife to his inventory and let the system do its automatic carving.

Novus happily pressed the accept button, and starting from the area around Novus’ hand, strands of light blossomed and wreathed Alto’s body. The light strands briefly lit up the comparably darker cave before slowly dimming as they vanished into thin air.

Carving successful! Due to carving a unique monster, the Carving skill proficiency has significantly increased.

When Novus finished watching the light show, he observed a new system message appear that held icons of various items. The idea of items magically appearing from corpses was still foreign to Novus, but he gladly accepted this way of obtaining items. Novus slowly reviewed the items as he dragged them from the screen to his inventory, which had also appeared alongside the system message.

Excitedly, his problems with the system not giving him equipment seemed resolved.

Or perhaps, I can only use the system to get equipment out of random enemies.

Novus would test that out later.

Ring Equipment – Soaring Eagle

A fierce silver ring adorned with the inscription of a flying eagle. Wearing the ring makes one feel the burning desire to fly as high in the sky as an eagle.

Rank: Iron (Middle Tier)

Effect: Iron Rank Wind-based spells have their effects moderately increased.

Durability: 100%

As expected of Novus’ pitiful luck, the ring was the only piece of equipment that dropped from killing Alto. Unlike BOSS monsters, unique monsters weren’t guaranteed to drop their rarest items. Of course, most players would be upset and complain, but Novus wasn’t like most players.

“I better reinforce the ring before I melt my hand away again….”

Now thinking of Goibhniu’s smithy, Novus looked over the rest of the materials he had acquired from Alto’s body.

Crafting Material – Mountain Eagle King Beak

The highly sturdy beak of the king of all Avalan Mountain Eagles. Amidst battle, this beak was cut and damaged.

Rank: Iron (Middle Tier) – Damaged

Crafting Material – Mountain Eagle King Feathers

The beautiful feathers of the king of all Mountain Eagles of Avalan. Despite the fierce battle that killed the Mountain Eagle King, the feathers remain in good condition.

Rank: Iron (Low Tier)

There were numerous Mountain Eagle King materials, including meat, bones, eyes, and more. Most of which were either in good or damaged condition. However, there was one undamaged item that Novus looked forward to the most.

Unique Crafting Material – Alto’s Mana Core

The condensed mana core of the Mountain Eagle King, Alto. This core contains a dense collection of wind-based mana and Alto’s remaining beast will.

Rank: Bronze (Lowest Tier)

Novus’ eyes shined upon taking out the green sphere from his inventory.

For most summoners, the core was the basis of their contract with the beast’s will. Using it, they could summon spectres of powerful beast familiars. Using this core as a spell medium for druids could empower themselves with animalistic power. For any adept crafter, the core could improve equipment enough to gain characteristics of the original creature and, with any luck, improve the equipment’s natural rank.

These were only some of the numerous ways to use the beautiful core in Novus’ hand.

However, Novus had a different use in mind.