Emil visited the Merit Hall due to two reasons the next day.

Firstly, he needed to refill his stack of Potions and secondly, he was gonna take on a new mission.

It was about time he went out hunting after all the power upgrades he received.

He purchased a Mana Amplification and a Body Strengthening Potion, both of the highest purity, which ended up costing him about 500 Merit Points.

His heart bled as he the paid the price in full amount, which brought his balance down to a little more than a hundred Merit Points.

Next was picking a mission.

Emil scrolled through each tab until he eventually settled down on one.

"Hunt Three First-Stage Scarlet Rank Kurmushes.

B Rank. Type: Solo/Group. Time Limit: 2 Days.

Reward: 120 Merit Points."

A small grin formed on Emil's lips upon seeing the familiar quest.

It was the first quest he completed almost a month ago.

he couldn't help but notice something odd though.

Back then, he had to hunt only two Kurmushes for 120 Merit Points.

Now, he had to hunt three for the same amount of points.

What his uncles said was right.

The missions were getting more difficult as they were getting further into the school year, with the students' strength rising everyday.

Fortunately for Emil, it wasn't difficult enough for him not to be able to handle them alone.

So, without further ado, he accepted the mission and headed to the Monster Forest.

Emil was standing at a seemingly calm and inconspicuous clearing within the Monster Forest.

He was positioned on top of one of the only trees present, looking at the floor below.

At a specific spot, a dark patch of grass rested on the ground.

Emil was familiar with it.

It looked similar to the trap he'd fallen for on his first hunt, indicating that there was a predator nearby, a Kurmush.

Kurmushes lived in underground tunnels, and the fastest way of luring them out was using a bait.

In this specific scenario, Emil was going to use himself as the bait.

However, one thing made him hesitate.

He wasn't sure of the number of enemies at hand.

Kurmushes, sometimes hunted alone, sometimes in group of two to three, there was no telling.

All Emil could do was risk it.

Taking a Strength and Earth Element Resistance Pellet, he jumped into the trap.

The patch of grass his legs came into contact with gave way to a small crater a few meters deep.

As soon as Emil's feet touched the ground, the earth below started shaking and two claws stabbed out from it.

He rolled away as soon as he felt the shaking, but his left ribcage still fell victim to one of the claws.

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*Clang*

His armor protected him, keeping him from suffering any damage, but he still felt the force of the impact, disorienting his insides.

Emil jumped to his feet after the exchange, catching a glance at his opponents.

Two pairs of deep-red eyes were locked with his, informing him of the enemies' numbers.

Feeling the ground vibrate again, Emil ran towards the wall of the crater and started climbing up.

However, the rock he was using as a handhold slipped just as he was about to climb out, sending him falling to the ground.

'Dammit.'

Summoning Emerald Reflection, he stabbed the sword deep into ground and planted his feet on it, keeping his body from hitting the floor.

A large claw just a few centimeters from his feet spawned out as he did so.

That claw would have been up his asshole if he missed his landing.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Emil unsheathed his dagger from his waist and swung it at the fiend's claw.

But the Kurmush was too fast, or perhaps Emil was too slow.

It retracted its claws and dug back into the ground.

Before Emil knew it, another pair of claws spawned out of the ground, this time finding a firm grip on his left leg.

The black dagger quickly moved towards the claws, breaking through the beast's skin and penetrating its flesh.

The claws retracted soon after, however Emil's attack took long enough for the other Kurmush to grab onto his other leg.

Ultimately, he was still stuck, possibly even more vulnerable than before.

Emil found himself in a pinch.

The first Kurmush was firmly gripping onto his right leg and the other one was sure to attack any second.

He could stab his leg free, but not before the second Kurmush got to him.

Furthermore, Emerald Reflection was too faraway from his reach the only thing that could deal a critical enough blow to finish the Kurmushes for good.

Having no other choice, he started casting a spell.

As he was doing so, the second Kurmush jumped on him and stabbed its claw deep into his right shoulder.

Emil panicked, he was sure his right arm was gonna be cut off the moment that claw touched his shoulder.

His unaugmented body was as soft as tofu to the vicious Magical Beasts, there was no way his arms was gonna survive a direct slash.

*clang*

A soft metallic sound rang out as the Kurmush stabbed its claw bone-deep into Emil's shoulder.

Both Emil and the beast looked at each other in confusion.

This was not the outcome they were expecting.

Breaking out of his stupor, Emil yelled out "Attash Shamshir" before a fiery sword formed in his hand.

*Swoosh*

The fire sword burned through the air and lodged itself within the beast's body.

The beast didn't die immediately.

Emil's magic was as weak as it could get thanks to his low fire affinity and weak mana core.

However, it was still at the second order and strong enough to leave the beast half dead and vulnerable.

With one more slash, Emil finished it off for good before kicking his leg to the ground, keeping the remaining opponent who was trying to make a move in place.

The beast's claw didn't hurt him, they were stuck to his shin which was covered by a greave, protecting him.

After about another minute or so, Emil killed the last remaining Kurmush before climbing a tree, patching his shoulder's wound and eating a Healing Tablet.

He looked as his shoulder, which had stopped bleeding, with its wound closed.

His Light-Gray skeleton had come to his aid in the end. No way his shoulder bone could've survived the slash without breaking off, it definitely had something to do with the enhancement it received from the strange energy.

"Haaaa."

It made Emil heave a sigh of relief. Whatever was mended to his bones, probably wasn't a bad thing. At least he hadn't seen any side effects yet, and he was hoping not to see any in the future either.

Once he was done with the examination, he jumped down to pick up the corpses still lying on the ground.

This was when he noticed something.

"What the..."

He could feel mana leaking out of the corpses, in large amounts at that.

It was his first time experiencing such phenomenon. The strange thing about the mana was its overwhelming quantity, and perhaps even stranger was how it was blending with atmosphere.

And idea struck Emil's mind.

He grabbed the corpses and took them to the tree top before placing them next to himself and starting to cultivate.

One ability Emil had over the atmosphere's mana, was being able to control it to his will.

If his theory was correct, he could use the mana seeping out of the beasts as a cultivation source.

That was only if he could control and absorb it, and to find out, his only option was to try.

Emil's face turned delightful upon success at his first attempt.

He could indeed use the beasts' corpses as a cultivation source. Large amounts of mana was entering his core at a rapid pace, replicating an effect similar to Mana Enhancement Tablets.

After only a few minutes though, the mana ran out and Emil had to stop cultivating.

He opened his eyes and looked at the corpses. They still looked intact, fresh as it could get.

He examined them by touching them but nothing seemed different.

Emil's actions didn't have any physical effects on the corpses, or so it appeared, keeping their value at full price.

Storing the corpses away, Emil took a mental note to further study about this phenomenon later.

He then took a moment to appericiate his handiwork.

The battle was over with two corpses in his storage ring and him getting away with minor injuries.

The same two corpses that almost cost him his life just a month ago.

Emil was still far from powerful, but that didn't stop him from appericiating his own progress.

Thinking of his next move, he took a look at the still bright sky and decided to head deeper into the forest.

His hunt wasn't over yet.