After the first confrontation, Dante was not so lucky. He must have walked for over ten minutes, and still hadn't found any more monsters.

Nevertheless, in the first few minutes of searching, he found a few bodies of those E-Class rabbits, which used Earth Qi.

Taking this into consideration, as he walked, he mainly looked at the ground for any disturbance in the soil, hoping to find some rabbits still alive.

The heat was becoming increasingly unpleasant. Not that the sun had gotten any hotter, but Dante's endurance was being put to test after the first slaughter.

He couldn't help but wonder if Hector, Rim and Sabrina had already completed their mission. Surely they had. Dante did not know why he had been put on a team along with them. It wasn't hard to see that among all the cultivators there, the three of them easily stood out.

As far as Dante could remember, it was unusual for someone already at the Gold level to join one of the great sects by some trial. This was because it was assumed that if one had enough resources to get to gold before entering one of the great sects, his family had enough resources to continue his journey, or to enter one of the great sects directly, without going through the initial screening.

Of course, not that any of his companions were Gold. But Dante suspected Hector was not far off, taking into consideration the initial display of skill.

"Aha!" Dante said, as he visualized a small ripple in the ground. Something was moving under the earth.

Deciding that his best chance would be to take the monster by surprise, Dante closed his fist and concentrated his Qi on the area. Once again, he would attempt to use his main technique. Struggling to endure the pain as the Qi flowed through him, he was only satisfied when his fist was already glowing, like a piece of newly forged metal.

Well, at least after the changes, his damage potential had certainly increased. Although he didn't know exactly what was going on, at least the changes weren't all for the worse.

With a quick strike, he brought his fist to the small bulge in the ground, and as soon as he felt his skin contact the ground, he released his Qi to do damage to the area.

After the blow, he jumped back, preparing for a possible counterattack. Since he didn't know exactly how strong those monsters were, it would be frivolous to place the certainty that he could defeat the monsters with just one attack.

Contentment overtook Dante as he surveyed the area on the ground. Where he expected to find only a blow mark, he found a crack, as if some beast was residing there.

Moving closer for a closer look, he verified that the monster was indeed dead. Taking his harvester from his bag, he approached and absorbed the energy of the corpse.

It didn't take long for Dante to locate two more rabbits in a nearby ravine.

There, he executed the same strategy against the first, but missed the second, and a brief struggle ensued. However, the monsters seemed to concentrate only on ground mobility, so they presented little resistance to Dante's blows.

After absorbing them again, he found a relatively protected spot and decided to cultivate. The fighting had left him exhausted.

The bright side was that the battles that had just taken place were proof enough to attest that Dante had grown. While he had just reached the silver level, he could not perform his technique more than twice. Now he had performed it three, and still possessed some Qi, though not enough for one more time.

As he positioned himself, he concentrated on his core, as well as his Qi channels. Besides regaining some energy for the next fight, he hoped to better understand what had happened inside himself.

Visualizing the center of his body, in the region where his core was located, he focused on his Qi. Previously, his Qi had a crimson color, as if it were fire mixed with energy.

Now, instead, there was something bright, as if someone had used a thousand candles in one place.

Concentrating on trying to absorb the ambient Qi so that he could regain just a little of his energy, he found he could absorb it much more easily. He focused on the Qi being absorbed so that he could identify what element the change was coming from, he felt a significant force coming from... sunlight?

"I've never heard of such a sudden change in Qi type," Dante said to the wind, as if the air currents were going to offer some response.

It was not unusual for a cultivator to slowly change the type of Qi cultivated. However, such a change was always gradual, and required great care, lest the core end up in a big mess. Of course, it also required a change of core, which was very dangerous.

After spending a few seconds analyzing the situation, he let himself be drawn into cultivation. The energy absorbed was very well received by his channels, which drank it up as if they were thirsty.

After spending some time cultivating, he was satisfied with the amount of Qi he had accumulated. It would be enough for him to perform his technique at least twice.

When the young cultivator opened his eyes and stood up again to continue his search for the monsters, Dante thought it was time to give his technique a name. It wasn't as if blows that condense and cast Qi were rare, but it seemed to make sense in his mind that the monsters would hear the name of the blow that killed them. Well, maybe that was just a similarity to the thousands of fantasies Dante had read. Just maybe.

Deciding, he walked carefully through the forest. Dante assumed that the Class D monsters would be the crocodiles, as both Class F and Class E were the same ones shown by Fig during the explanation.

Several names ran through his mind, but none seemed to match his technique perfectly. Distracted, he removed his harvester from his clothes. Looking at the object, he wondered how the thing worked. Goblins possessed neutral, pure Qi, while Rabbits possessed earth Qi. Perhaps the object could make a differentiation, since it absorbed the remaining energy left behind by the monsters.

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While thinking about this, all Dante could do to defend himself from the impending attack was to crouch down. A sudden change in wind speed was enough to alert him to his new enemies. He remembered well that crocodiles possessed air Qi.

As he ducked, he again felt a new current of air coming from another direction. In order to avoid it, he rolled to the side, hoping it would be enough to deflect the unknown attack.

Circulating Qi throughout his body, Dante ran so fast that he didn't even see the body of a rabbit, which caused him to stumble and lose his balance.

The monsters wasted no time. As soon as Dante lost his balance, they attacked with precision. The first crocodile used the wind to propel itself, becoming a bullet in the air.

As it approached Dante, it opened its mouth so that Dante could see its blood-smeared teeth, which seemed endless. It was not the prettiest of visions.

Still stunned, Dante tried to deflect the attack. However, it was not enough. Although he was not completely swallowed, he felt a sharp pain in a part of his arm. The monster's fangs must have grazed his skin.

With no time to waste, he turned his focus to the other monster, which used a more subtle approach. Instead of trying to bite Dante directly, the second crocodile used Qi from the air to propel its tail, which struck him right in the leg.

Now was not the time to save Qi. With this mindset, Dante quickly accessed his core and reinforced his body with all the Qi he still had. This would mean that it would no longer be possible to use his as yet unnamed technique, but not having his core attack was better than having no defense at all in this situation.

Moving at a speed that only a cultivator could manage, Dante jumped backwards to observe his enemies.

Well, at least it looked like there were only two crocodiles. Not knowing if he could win, he considered running away.

No.

This was not the mentality that would make Dante stronger. Not with this mentality would he reach the apex.

Resolute in his conviction, he ran towards the crocodile that seemed to be the least, hoping that his attacks would be more effective. Since crocodiles needed space to bite successfully, Dante relied on his speed to avoid being hit.

As he approached the Beast, he braced himself.

As soon as the crocodile opened its mouth, he ducked down and landed a blow on its belly. Taking advantage of the momentum created by the first attack, he punched the monster two more times on the ground.

Wasting no time, he turned his attention back to the other monster, which was already heading towards him again.

As he was preparing to use the same strategy, he felt a sharp pain in his calf. A brief turn of his face was enough for him to see what had happened.

The crocodile that had gone to the ground clung to his leg, its mouth wide open.

Desperate, Dante tried to free his leg from the monster's jaws. Unsuccessfully, he didn't notice when the other monster approached and bit his arm.

The pain, which was already severe, now became unbearable. He felt blood gushing from his wounds, straight into the mouths of the monsters, who seemed to enjoy the moment.

"Uhh, it won't end like this," Dante said, in despair.

In desperation, he tried to access his core to pull in more Qi. Surprisingly, he felt extra energy circulating in his channels.

Without having time to understand why, after a few attempts to move his leg, the bite seemed to give way. By forcing it a few more times, he freed it. However, no matter how many times he tried to force his arm free, he couldn't.

He tried again to access his core and circulate more Qi over his body, hoping to get rid of the attack. After the first attempt, the rest was more like pleading. Dante begged for something, or someone, to help him defeat those damn monsters.

However, each new attempt was answered with nothing. After all, it seemed he was not born to be a protagonist. There would be no divine salvation.

So, for a few more seconds, he continued to fight. Doing his best, he did what he could to make sure that the attacks of the monster that had left his leg free would not take away any of his vital parts.

When the sweet kiss of darkness offered itself, he no longer had the strength to deny it.

The last thing he remembered, when his vision was taken over by emptiness, was seeing some figures traversing the trees.

--

8 Class F, 5 Class E and 3 Class D. Sabrina doubted anyone had killed more monsters in the time she had been there.

But, being the top killer of her class would not satisfy her. Satisfaction would come, but with a different blood. It wasn't monster blood the girl was looking for, although the culprit could be classified as such with ease.

A great relief came over her body as she stepped back into the closed woods of the first part of the forest. The shadows freed her, made her strong.

Allowing her Qi to be free while no one looked, Sabrina let her hair down. In the wind, her locks danced as if they were small snakes.

As she moved through the shadows, Sabrina heard a high-pitched scream. She knew its meaning all too well.

Pain.

For a brief moment, Sabrina thought about simply making her way back to the teacher. She had completed the test, and had probably done so in record time. There was no reason to waste any more time there, in that lame-infested forest.

Ignoring the appeal of her rational side, she headed for the sound. As she approached it, she felt a slight chill in her stomach. That damned boy again!

It wasn't enough that he had been knocked unconscious. It wasn't enough that he had interrupted her class, and they had put him on her team!

The situation bordered on the absurd.

Of course, she was not stupid. She knew that she and her classmates differed from the others. It just took a little more than that careful analysis to find her differences with the other participants.

Not that it was that important. For Sabrina, comparing herself to the other students was like a wolf petting a rabbit.

Her target was higher, beyond the heavens. Beyond the realm of mortals.

A new cry of pain could be heard.

Climbing a tree to better view the scene, Sabrina swallowed hard. On the ground, there were two dead rabbits. Meanwhile, Dante was still facing two flying crocodiles. The boy was losing, and losing badly.

Dante was limp and bloody. The young cultivator seemed to be on the edge of consciousness. A few more seconds would have been enough.

Coldly, as she waited until Dante was unconscious, Sabrina prepared her technique. One after another, shadow hands jumped out from beyond. Most of them came from her hair.

Almost there. Come on stupid boy, give it up. The sooner you do it the less you will suffer.

Yet Dante seemed to refuse to fail, to fall. The boy seemed to draw strength from nothing, and did his best to scare the crocodiles away with his hand that was still usable.

For a few more seconds - too long - the boy tried.

The moment of defeat came when one monster grabbed Dante's good hand, and he seemed to have reached his limit.

"Tomb of Shadows," Sabrina shouted as she ordered her attack.

Quickly, dozens of hands made with black Qi advanced towards the monsters.

In a few moments, the monsters were completely sealed, harmless.

In a few more moments, they were dead. Definitely harmless.

Sighing, Sabrina walked down to where the Dante's body lay. A strange reaction seemed to happen. At the edges of his wounds, it seemed that some kind of Qi was regenerating the skin, bit by bit.

She couldn't help but admire the boy, at least a little. One exception recognized another. Few could resist fighting as long as he did, with no knowledge that they would be saved.

What would be the source of such willpower? Was he also seeking revenge, just like the lady of the night?

Leaving the questions for another time, Sabrina's Qi lifted Dante off the ground with ease. Taking care not to choke him, she left him in a fixed position above her head.

Satisfied with the result, she collected the monster's core with the boy's harvester. If anyone deserved it, it was him. It was time to see if her time was still worthy of a record.

If not, no problem.

A fresh surprise was always worth a little lost time.