There was a soft rustle of leaves and he was on guard right away. His luck had run out. This exercise was meant for two days. Sunrise would signal the end of it. Snow Gem had spent that time shitting and running away from any beast she’d encountered.

He felt something moving out there just beyond the edge of his sight. Goosebumps rose up on his neck and he turned around.

A leopard-like creature had its mouth wide open, its jaw wide enough to swallow his face whole. His hands moved by themself and he grabbed onto its jaw.

It was too strong. It clamped down on his fingers. He pulled his hands out but long bite tracks were left behind. The pain hit him like a truck. He hadn’t felt this ever, in his life.

The weight made him stumble back and he fell down. The creature started scratching him up.

His face, his chest and arms were covered in scratch marks. He managed to grab a dagger on his hip. He shoved it straight into its throat.

The creature paused and looked at him, confused. How could such a pitiful being manage a strike like that. Musnaf started into its eyes and pulled.

A geyser of blood exploded out, it was thick and vicious, jellylike. He threw the creature away and backed off. He was huffing, puffing, out of breath and delirious. This was the first time in his life he’d killed a living creature.

He felt nauseous and off-balance like he was in a spinning ride at a carnival. He grabbed a tree and started dry heaving. He threw up and sat down on the ground.

The creature was taking in sharp in-takes of breath. It was loud and deep, like his entire being was crying out for oxygen. Musnaf tore his eyes away, his hands were trembling. He’d written so much about killing creatures yet, why was he so pathetic in this situation?

He wanted to just go back, crawl in his bed or just lie down on the couch. It was great that he was in a world he’d created but he would much rather be back there. Part of him revolted at the thought. He’d thought more than once about being here.

He started taking in deep breaths. Killing it triggered a few more memories. Most of them pertaining to how to skin it, get at the beast core within and the most valuable components.

He decided to get down to it, not after much deliberation. This wasn’t an easy world by design. If he couldn’t do this much, he would be dead in the blink of an eye.

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He took out his rope and tied it up by its legs. His gaze dropped on the creature’s face and he couldn’t help but look into its eyes. They’d lost their ferocious light and were dimmed down.

He decided to offer a prayer, he wasn’t religious but he did it anyway. Lord, forgive me.

He picked it up and tied it upside down on a tree, he started from the left foot and made a cut all the way down to the anus. Newer memories rushed in and he started holding the knife differently: he moved his hand up all the way to the blade’s edge and held it between his thumb and index finger’s knuckle. It provided greater control.

He moved from the anus up to the right leg. The rest was going to be hard work. He had to pull the skin off like a sweater. It was hard but he did it.

He folded the skin up and made an incision on its chest. He took out the heart and felt around the veins. He felt something rock-like and pulled it out. It was a light blue, he slipped it in his pouch. He folded the skin up and put it in the pouch.

He started descending the mountain. Once he reached the base there were a few tents out there. Boiling hot cauldrons were erected around the site.

His stomach grumbled and he wanted nothing more than to get him a bowl but first he had to turn in the skin.

“Oh~the little piggy got herself something.” Musnaf heard that and turned around to find a trio of girls. The alpha had a head full of light blue hair. Her name was Autumn Peace, she triggered a lot of bad memories in Musnuf’s head. She’d been the cause of much misery for Snow Gem.

Musnuf ignored her. He didn’t need this right now. A long table had been erected. He was part of the last few to make it out. He made his way to the table and plopped down the skin and a beast core.

“That’s it?”

He nodded. The disciple had a large scroll spread out on the table. It extended from one end to the other. Musnuf’s eyes scanned over it. He could read it with ease despite the foreign tongue. One number was larger than any other. 89 and 78. Eighty-nine beast skins and seventy eight beast core’s. The name was Enduring Wave. He made note of it.

It made sense for the sect to seize the beast core's. These were quite dangerous in the right hands or any hands for that matter. A concentrated pin-prick of essence shoved in at the right spot would collapse the delicate balance of forces composing the core and result in a spectacular explosion. Doing so, would be a phenomenal waste. These things had other better uses.

A round sphere, light blue in color and semi-transparent was handed to him. It was a spirit stone. These had a very interesting manufacturing process, he’d gone on a weird tangent about it in the webnovel.

He walked away and slipped it in his pouch. He saw Autumn Peace beckoning him to come over. She was snapping her fingers like he was a dog. A blaze of fury rose up from his gut but he repressed it.

He ignored her and kept on walking. A sphere of blue light appeared in the air and something was triggered in Snow Gem’s memories.

He knew what was about to happen next, he was about to get a beatdown.