With a loud thump, Crux toppled over onto his rock hard bed. After spending all day cleaning out sewage, he is completely exhausted. His nose had gone numb to the stench that was radiating off of his body.

As he began to doze off, his nose began to loosen up. As he took a wiff of his body odor, Crux shot out of his bed without delay towards the river to wash off the filth.

...

Having made it to the river once more, Crux whipped off his stained, tattered slave tunic and threw it to the side and jumped straight into the ice cold river.

After bathing, Crux stood stalk still as he gazed at his reflection within the water. He was greeted by his usual slightly childish, rough face. Two little scars on his left eyebrow from past accidents, along with a mole an inch to the left of that same deep blue eye. Slightly tanned skin from working outside for the past ten years. However, his dried skin of old seemed to have gained a newfound moisture after clearing his meridians, removing the blackheads and blemishes that used to accompany his upright nose and cheeks. His long brown hair that reached straight down to his shoulders, one could say he looked quite handsome. If it weren't for the circumstances, one could very well mistake him for a young noble of the Whitedrake Empire.

All of a sudden, Crux watched as his face began to contort. His original tanned skin began to pale, his nose began to change shape and got slightly longer and pointier, his deep blue eyes changed color to a greyish brown, and his long brown hair began to shorten into a black haired quiff. The result of him activating the Truth Mask that he contracted that morning.

With a satisfied smile, Crux walked over to his dirtied tunic. With a wave of his hand, the tunic disappeared. With a snap of his fingers, a black robe appeared within his hand. This was the black robe that was within the unlocked section of the Bloodsworn Ring.

Slipping into the black robe, as Crux began to walk, the original black, long robe began to contort into a form fitting leather suit, resembling an assassin of the night.

After giving a once over to his surroundings, Crux once more crossed the river to where he once met with the bloodied man. Taking a deep breath, Crux made his way into the depths of the forest in the dead of night.

...

In Dhylia City, Baron Aschembre, whom could be considered Crux's slavemaster, has his manor situated on the southeastern area side of Dhylia City. Crux's slave quarters are outside the boundaries of the city walls, a few miles from the city gate.

The river where Crux is is just south a mile from Crux's shed. The opposite side of the river is the Forest of Thousand Beasts. Within the forest are multitudes of Magical Beasts, ferocious beasts that naturally absorb World Qi. Naturally, Dhylia City sends loads of patrols, adventurers, and mercenaries to keep the borders of the forest clear of dangerous beasts. The borders of the Forest of Thousand Beasts is conisdered the safe zone. However, if one were to trek deeper into the forest, uncountable amount of dangers are lurking within the dark. 

As of now, Crux has just past the safety zone of the Forest of Thousand Beasts. Since clearing his meridians, Crux hadn't an idea of his true strength. He had taken a few hits from the warden, but he wasn't sure how much power was in those hits. He also hadn't been able to fight back. 

According to the Demonic Subduing Qi's manual, the Clearing Meridians stage is simply setting a foundation for the cultivator, one's strength will not spike explosively compared to the Cleansing Body stage, much less the Strengthening Body substages. 

However, with Crux's complete lack of cultivation prior to cleansing his meridians, his strength still had an explosive leap. Prior to cultivating the Demonic Subduing Qi, Crux's strength couldn't hold up to the weakest of Foot Knights. Naturally, as a slave, Crux hadn't been able to train in Inner Force much less be tested as a Mage. 

Thus, Crux had passed through the safe zone in the Forest of Thousand Beasts to find a level one Magical Beast to test his strength. In the Whitedrake Empire, as well as the whole Charel Continent which Whitedrake Empire is on, level one Magical Beasts' have strength classified from Foot Soldier to Low Knight. Naturally, there are weak level one Magical Beasts as well as peak level one Magical Beasts, which have the same strength as a peak Low Knight, or a newly appointed Journeyman Mage. 

Since clearing his meridians the night before, Crux had been naturally absorbing World Qi into his body, sending the World Qi through his meridians to remove the impurities from his body, which is the Cleansing Body stage. Along with cultivation, Crux can consciously move the World Qi frantically through his body, to give himself an explosive power. Having only just started his cultivation journey, Crux hadn't been able to absorb large amounts of World Qi. Therefore, the power is limited. However, Crux still came out of the safe zone to test what sort of power he can gain with the help of World Qi.

Ever since leaving the safe zone, Crux had been on his highest guard. If he were to run into something he couldn't handle, the chances of getting saved are close to null. Mercenaries and adventurers might be out and about, but the forest is massive, chances of running into someone else compared to running into a strong Magical Beast's habitat, is much lower. 

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

...

Standing with his back to a tree, Crux peered around the tree to silently watch an adolescent Direwolf two meters long and about three feet tall he'd been tailing for awhile now. Normally, Direwolves would hunt in packs. However, some adolescent Direwolves are sent away from the pack for experience. Direwolves are level one Magical Beasts within the forest, with the strength of Foot Soldier to King Direwolves being as strong as a High Knight. 

Crux estimated the adolescent Direwolf infront of him to have the strength of a middle level Lesser Knight. Currently, the Direwolf was feasting on a little rabbit it hunted down just recently. In the back of his mind, Crux wanted to just charge out immediately. But, he was still apprehensive do to not being sure if there were anymore Direwolves nearby. If he were to run into a Direwolf pack, he would be dead for sure. 

Taking a deep breath, Crux tightened his hand around the grip of a hatchet he snatched earlier near the lumberyard, he slowly made is way towards the back of the Direwolf. 

While feasting on its meal, the Direwolf's senses were slightly dimmed down. 

Once Crux was within ten feet of the Direwolf, he abruptly shot out from within the underbrush, brandishing his hatchet high in the air. With World Qi swirling within his right arm that held the hatchet, Crux slashed down straight towards the spine of the Direwolf. 

Startled, the Direwolf swerved its head and opened its blood-filled maw and chomped straight toward Crux's forearm, staring at Crux with blood red eyes full of anger.

Crux, not expecting the Direwolf to react before his hatchet slammed down, wanted to immedately pull back his slash in fear of getting his arm ripped off by the Direwolf's bloodied canines. As he was about to abruptly stop his attack, Crux felt a bit of World Qi unconsciously revolve towards his brain, restoring him to a never before state of calm. 

With his state of mind refreshed, instead of pulling his arm back and risking injury from stopping the force, Crux put forth every ounce of strength into the strike to follow through. 'Let's see who gets hit first, shall we.' 

A loud crack sounded out, and blood splattered everywhere as the hatchet slashed through the Direwolf's hard fur unimeded, and crushed its spine. 

With a whimper, the Direwolf's bloodied maw abruptly shot down, one of its upper canines catching Crux's bicep. As the Direwolf crashed down, its tooth left a long gash across Crux's bicep. 

Hissing, Crux stumbled backwards letting loose his grip on the hatchet, still stuck in the Direwolf's back as blood gushed out from his arm.

Paralyzed, the Direwolf slumped to the ground and began to howl with every bit of strength it could gather.

Crux's expression immediately changed. He charged forward despite his arm going numb, and stomped down onto the throat of the dying Direwolf. World Qi gushing down into his leg, Crux's foot crushed the Direwolf's throat. 

The Direwolf's howl was abruptly cut short. However, Crux could hear howls in the distance. Ignoring the gash on his arm, Crux dislodged his hatchet, and swung down, seperating the Direwolf's head from its body. With a wave of his hand, the hatchet, along with the body and head of the Direwolf, disappeared into his Bloodsworn Ring. 

Covering his arm from dripping blood onto the ground, Crux darted with all of his strength towards the safe zone.

...

Despite making it into the safe zone, the howling of Direwolves only got closer. The smell of their bretheren was all over Crux's body. Panicing, Crux urged all of the World Qi within his body into his legs, to gather every ounce of power to escape towards the river.  

After running for a few miles, Crux was able to see the river just infront of himself. Swerving his head to look back, Crux's pupils immediately contracted. A giant pitch black Direwolf was crashing through the trees barely a mile behind him. With a mile to the river, and a Direwolf mile behind him, Crux found himself not panicing, but rather excited. 

As the the excitement got to his head, Crux found the World Qi surrounding him begin to gush towards him. The Demonic Bloodsworn Ring began to revolve throughout his body, guiding the World Qi throughout every section of his body, removing the impurities throughout his body, as well as sending World Qi to heal his wound. However, Crux didn't have the time to marvel in the wonders of cultivation. 

Half a mile away from the river, Crux's arm gash had already scabbed over. However, the massive Direwolf was less than that away from him. However, Crux's speed was only picking up. As World Qi continued to gush into his meridians, Crux only found himself growing stronger. As he grew stronger, Crux found himself wanting to even turn around and tussle a few rounds with the massive Direwolf. His will for battle abruptly shooting up. However, he could only shake away those thoughts. For he knew instinctively, that Direwolf would instantly kill him. 

As the idea of battling the Direwolf faded away, the World Qi slowly stopped gushing into his body. However, the river was just fifty feet away.

Coughing up a black substance from his mouth, Crux dove straight into the river, hoping the Direwolf won't chase him this far. 

Crux only resurfaced after counting out thirty seconds. After his hid resurfaced, Crux looked towards the shore from where he had dove into the water from. However, he didn't see the Direwolf. As he began to listen closer, he heard the sounds of shouting, and loud bangs like trees crashing to the ground. However, Crux quickly deducted that that's only normal. This is nearing the city, even almost out of the safe zone of the forest into populated territory. It's only natural that the city was alerted and sent some guards. 

With curiousity getting the better of him, Crux pulled himself out of the water, and looked towards the trees from where the sounds of fighting were coming from. 

As he looked closer, he saw the body of the massive Direwolf, bloodied and mangled. Fire burning its fur, bloody gashes all over its body. Most frightening of all, a towering man stood before the decapitated head of the Direwolf holding a bloodied greatsword. 

Looking at this scene, Crux was completely dumbfounded. With water dripping from his clothes, Crux took a step forward to say something, but, as he opened his mouth to speak, exhaustion took over, and he slumped to the ground effortlessly. 

As he began to lose consciousness, his ears picked up a few muffled voices, and he felt someone's soft hands supporting his back. 

Making the logical assumption that these people are helping him, Crux let himself drift off to sleep.