He calmly took a look around him for any weapons he could use. Apart from the rocks and sticks around him, he could find nothing that could help.

He relented as he grabbed onto a small rock nearby him.

The beast let out a final roar as it sprinted toward them with uncanny agility. It crossed half the distance in a matter of seconds, approaching at a quick pace.

Lucian got into his fighting stance as he prepared mentally. This was the first time he was using his soul technique in a while, so he felt a bit rusty, but a menacing grin slowly grew on his face. "Let's see how my soul techniques compare with this beast."

It reached his location in a matter of moments. It immediately raised its left claw as it slashed down at his shoulder.

In the moments he saw the attack released, he reacted, dodging to the side while twisting his waist the opposite way. He immediately felt a drastic difference in how this body moved compared to his previous body. If this body was as agile as a cheetah, his last body was a tortoise. It was a drastic difference that was reflected in his attack's execution.

Using the momentum from the dodge, he delivered a powerful kick to the beast's side, causing it to be knocked a couple steps back. However, it seemed unperturbed by the attack. He only grew angrier.

Releasing another loud roar, the beast turned towards Lucian as its shadow began to expand. The shadow turned into a shadowy claw as it raced towards Lucian, the ground rendered apart as the attack approached.

Lucian immediately grew surprised at the amount of power released by that attack. It wasn't an exaggeration to say he would be dead instantly if hit by that thing. In addition, at the speed it was traveling towards him, he knew most people wouldn't be able to dodge.

A Level 9 beast was truly powerful.

Luckily he had stronger stats as well as a gift that could help. He Instantly activated [Primordial Bone Burst] as he gained incredible speed for the briefest of moments. Lucian then started his first technique. Channeling part of his soul energy into his body, he performed one of his signature moves back on earth. He called it [Phantom Body]. Back on earth, he spent a lot of his time developing serums and techniques that enabled the human body to go faster and stronger. This technique was one of his best. It enabled his body to move through the world more freely, ignoring the limitation put on his body naturally. The more powerful the body he had, the faster he could move, but the more powerful his soul, the quicker his reaction speed was!

Immediately, Lucian felt the whole world slow down significantly as he stacked the two moves. At this point, he was moving so fast, and his reaction was so quick that the beasts could barely react, simply sitting still. Lucian knew it wasn't the world slowing down but his senses, mind, and body working on overdrive. However, He also knew he couldn't keep this technique on for too long, so he acted quickly.

Rushing towards the beast, he delivered a smash with his rock directly between its eyes before moving to its side, delivering another damaging blow to its front leg. By that time, the beast seemed disoriented as it slowly began to fall.

With little time left, he decided to deliver the finishing blow. Twisting his waist once more, he delivered a roundhouse kick as a wave of soul energy smashed the jaguar at its side, sending it flying through space. [Phantom Body] and [Primordial Bone Burst] durations ended simultaneously as everything returned to normal.

The beast was sent flying, smashing through multiple trees on the other side of the river.

Lucian fell to one knee as he breathed heavily. Usually, [Phantom Body] was less potent than it is now. It unusually increased his physical power overall and his reaction slightly, but with the incredible power of his soul, it transformed into something much stronger than before. However, it was much harder to keep active than before. Coupled with his gift, it became almost impossible for his body to bear at once.

"My body is too weak..."

Ruffles entered his ears as he saw the beast slowly get up again, a bruise on the side that he kicked. The beast turned towards him as it showed its fangs.

Roaring, it crouched as shadows began to gather around it once again. This time, they formed a shadowy armor all over its body, its aura growing in pressure.

This was getting out of hand.

Lucian knew he wouldn't be able to do significant damage to it unless he found a weapon but apart from the rocks, there was nothing that fit the bill. He needed to take more drastic measures.

"I didn't want to use this technique due to its immense drain on my body." He mumbled as he shaped his right hand into a blade.

Condensing his soul energy, it surrounded his hand as it slowly grew brighter and sharper.

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"Let's see if you can block my [Soul Cutting Edge]," He mumbled under his breath as his eyes focused on the beast.

Seeing this, the beast moved like a shadow. Not even its breath could be heard as its agilely clawed at Lucian, sending a claw of shadow energy his way.

He activated [Phantom Body] and [Primordial Bone Burst] simultaneously once again as he quickly side-stepped the wave of energy. He rushed towards the beast as its paw was still in the air. He delivered a fatal stab to its neck with his [Soul Cutting Blade], deactivating it right after.

The world went back to normal speed as Lucian removed his hand from its neck, blood spurting from the wound.

It gagged in confusion and fear as it fell to the ground. The blood flowed onto his feet as Lucian watched it struggle. He picked up a rock from the ground, delivering a final blow to its head, killing it for good.

Confirming it was dead, he was just about to begin dragging it back when he was hit by a spell of dizziness. Lucian fell to the ground heavily as he breathed heavily. Crackling sounds escaped his body like popcorn as his muscles twitched in protest of his actions.

"I overdid it this time," He mumbled to himself as he lay on the ground stained with blood.

He couldn't lay here for long lest the blood attracts other stronger beasts here, but he definitely needed a breather after that one.

"My body can only handle using [Phantom Body] and [Primordial Bone Burst] once together. It takes too much of a toll. I'd need to be careful for now not to go overboard to prevent myself from being such an easy target," he thought to himself as he paid attention to his surrounding. With how weak he currently was, any monster that wanted to could easily deliver an attack, and he wouldn't be able to defend whatsoever.

"I need to get strong enough to use both comfortably. The amount of power both give is staggering!" He exclaimed. If he had a weapon, that fight would have ended easily. That beast couldn't follow his movements at all. He could only rely on [Soul Cutting Blade] to deliver damage to it. But if he could use a weapon, that would wholly change.

He looked at the corpse of the jaguar, particularly its fangs. That would do just fine for now.

After a couple of breaths of rest, he got up and walked towards the beast. He took a look at his status.

*Ding*

[Dark Jaguar(Common) - LVL 9 Killed]

[Error*]

[You have not currently chosen a Cultivation Technique. As a result, you cannot level up]

[Redistributing Experience...]

[Congratulation! You have killed your first monster! Let this be the start of your bloody journey!]

[Skills/Abilities System Acquired]

[New Skills Acquired!]

[You gained 2 Titles!]

"Hmm... So I must find a cultivation technique to actually level up? I guess now I have another reason to reach the nearest town." He thought to himself as he continued reading.

"Redistributing Experience? Where is it redistributing my experience?" He asked as he looked at his new stats.

Strength - [0.12][0.28]

Constitution - [0.11][0.22]

Endurance - [0.13][0.29]

Perception - [0.11][0.24]

Agility - [0.11][0.22]

Dexterity - [0.13][0.29]

Willpower- [0.1][0.45]

Intelligence - [0.1][0.45]

Soul - [0.4][0.8]

Health [13]

Stamina [9]

Physical Attack [13]

Magical Attack [25]

Mana [9] (NULL)

Critical Chance [0.08%]

Critical Dmg [1.5]

Health Regen [0.66/Min][0.011/sec]

Stamina Regen [4.6/min][0.076/sec]

Mana Regen [0.17/min][0.003/sec] (NULL)

Soul Essence [9]

Soul Essence Regen [4.2/min][0.07/sec]

Skills:

Universal Language LVL X

Phantom Body (Unique)(Unranked) LVL 2

Soul Wave (Unique)(Unranked) LVL 1

Abilities: Evolving Slot 1 [Empty], Evolving Slot 2 [Empty], Slot 3 [Empty], Slot 4 [Empty]

The first thing he noticed was the increase in his stats which was always welcome. He planned on reaching the black limit in all his stats before leveling up, so the faster he could get there, the better.

"Hmm, so my skills are now integrated into the system. Does it affect how I use them?" Lucian said as he focused on his abilities. As he concentrated, the words immediately expanded to give a better description.

Phantom Body - Channel Soul Energy into your body to unshackle your body's limitations. Increases the body's movement speed, strength, body lightness as well reaction speed, and movement speed at the cost of stamina and soul energy.

"Interesting. I can hone my abilities to become stronger with the help of the system. However, it seems my skills are deemed unranked. Is that weak? I wonder how much I can improve my skills?" he said with a slight smile. It seemed most likely, his experience went toward his skills since it was now level 2, which he was fine with since it only boosted his survivability further.

"What is the difference between skills and abilities? Abilities also seem much more limited compared to skills. Does that mean they are stronger?" he thought. However, he decided to focus on the task at hand.

Finally, he decided to take a look at his new titles.

[First Kill I - You have killed for the first time. You have taken the first step on the path of a killer.]

[Jaguar Hunter I - You have killed your first jaguar. Good job! Now kill some more! 5% increased damage to jaguars.]

"Not bad," Lucian commented once he saw the titles. They weren't as powerful as his others, but he didn't expect them to be anyway. They also seemed to be part of a series of titles, so there would likely be a lot more powerful titles the further Lucian went through the series. Overall, he gained a lot from the kill. However, there was one more thing he needed to do.

"Right now, I should focus on harvesting the corpse of this beast."

Taking the corpse on his shoulder, he walked it back toward the side of the river. However, he grew quiet just as he was about to call for the injured beast. He couldn't see it anywhere.

It had run away, just like that.

Lucian shrugged. More food for him anyway...