"To think that we would meet a Crystal Monkey here," Mane smiled bitterly and said. Unlike Lily he still had his blades sheathed. Which meant that he didn't feel that the Crystal Monkey was life threatening.
"I have never seen one before. And I have been to several worlds." Hildegarde stated as she admired the beautiful beast. Although the Crystal Monkey definitely wasn't here to make friends with them or invite them over for tea, Hildegarde was gazing at the creature with a slightly infatuated look on her face.
"Wish you could take it with you?" Mane smiled and teased.
"Actually, yes," Hildegarde smirked and replied. Her reply almost had Mane laughing, but ultimately the presence of Lily was enough of a reminder that he was not alone here. He didn't want to explain why he was laughing all of a sudden like a crazy person. It wasn't like he could use Lock-On for that.
Crystal Monkeys weren't primitive to this world only. In this world they were seen as a myth, but in the True Universe they were considered rare and precious beasts. Mane had read about them when he was back on Zandor, and he knew quite a bit about their rarity. Even his masters didn't have the luck of meeting a Crystal Monkey. Well, only one of them did. 2nd was the only one who had seen a Crystal Monkey before. The others hadn't. Even 1st who was the oldest had never seen a Crystal Monkey in his long, unending life.
Crystal Monkeys were Earth Elemental Beasts. In this world they were considered to be Magical Beasts of the Earth Element. Either way, they were still beasts that had the ability to call upon the earth for aid. As a Pseudo Legendary Class Magical Beast it was more intelligent than many other beasts, and had a bit more skills.
The Crystal Monkey wasn't an existence at the peak of the food chain. In fact, the strongest Crystal Monkey recorded was only at the level of a Heaven Realmer or as they referred to them in this world, Nightmares for humans, and Legendary Classes for Magical Beasts. It was because of the fact that they were beautiful beasts and were rare that made them so precious. Also their bodies didn't decay and their crystalline body could be mined to create precious weapons and artefacts. So they were highly regarded. Maybe that was the reason why they were so rare: because whenever anyone found a Crystal Monkey, they would kill it immediately if they had the strength to do so in order to harvest its corpse.
This particular Crystal Monkey was only at the 7th level of the Earth Realm. Mane could tell from the beast's aura that it wasn't any stronger than that. And that was why he didn't see the need to unsheathe his blades. Right now Mane was very strong. When Lam fell, it wasn't only Mane's Scholar Level that had improved, but his Soul-Body Integration had grown as well.
Name: Mane
Age: 15
Current Setting: Healthy
Energy Level: Earth Realm Stage 1
Test Difficulty: Chaos
Testing Ground: Chaotic Era
Daily Quest: Go to the Dark Valley [Completed]
Tomorrow's Daily Quest: [Not Applicable]
Goal: End Goal – Become Chaos
Completion Rate: 15.17
Skills: Speedy Chaos [Active skill] – You have caused chaos after only one month of entering the testing grounds. You run towards chaos, and it runs towards you. Run Wild Supreme. Be Chaos! {Permanent increase in Agility stats by 1.5. Additional 10% increase in speed when activated}.
*Devour: You have been blessed by the powerful Selfish Titan King with the ability Devour. You can now devour Edict unscrupulously from the living and the dead; from elements and from nature.
*Soul-Body Integration: 77%
This was Mane's new Status Window, and there were some changes. Of his two skills, Mane hadn't used Speedy Chaos before. He hadn't yet fought against anyone who would push him to use the skill that was expected to increase his speed by 10% when activated. Devour was the only skill he had used before, but that was a skill he got from Cronos, not the Fairy System.
The changes in his status weren't limited to just his Energy Level. These changes extended to Mane's completion rate and soul-body integration. Mane's completion rate had gone up by more than 6 points. And that was after Lam was injured. Before then it had been stuck at 7.25. But Mane wasn't able to smile when he saw the change because it came at a price he would have rather not paid.
The second notable change was what was mentioned earlier. Mane's Soul-Body Integration had moved from 57% to 77%. It was an entire 20% increase! And with that increase came a boost in power that couldn't even be ignored. Mane's Enlightenment had merged his inner and outer energy and made him much stronger than he was before. And although he told Hildegarde that he had never tried to merge the two energies before, it wasn't true. Back on Zandor he had experimented with the merge, and had even used it when he faced the Master – Dominic. He was only able to maintain it for a short while at the time, and he dreamed of the possibility of being able to maintain it for a significantly longer period. He didn't tell Hildegarde the truth because he didn't think it was necessary to. However, his Enlightenment had done his assignment for him, and his Edict was now whole.
Back in the True Universe, Mane was able to handle wielders who were an entire realm above him. He was able to face the Master of the Eastern Empire who was a 3rd Level Heaven Realmer with his strength only being at the 1st Stage of the Earth Realm. Granted he was lucky to win that fight, but Mane was able to handle 1st Stage Heaven Realmers with ease at the time. Now he was even stronger. And that was because of his energy merge and Devour. Although Mane's Soul-Body Integration was only at 77%, he was stronger than he was in the True Universe!
Before, with his integration at 57% he had the power of his past, being able to face wielders an entire realm above him! Now that his Soul-Body Integration had improved and his actual fighting ability from the True Universe was merging with him, his strength was now comparable to a mid-stage Heaven Realmer. Mane reckoned that he could handle up to the 6th or 7th stage. But since he hadn't fought with a Heaven Realmer yet, he couldn't be sure. One could only imagine how strong Mane would become when his Soul-Body Integration reached 100%.
*Roar*
The Crystal Monkey beat its hardened chest angrily and roared at Mane when it realised that the young boy wasn't even paying any attention to it. It struck the floor furiously, causing an earthshattering boom, and dashed towards Mane.
Mane admired the large crater that the Crystal Monkey had made. Looking at the pit Mane couldn't tell how wide it was because the light wasn't expansive enough. But it seemed very wide. A simple punch from the beast had been able to create such a large pit. It was very impressive indeed. However, he couldn't ignore the monkey forever, especially when it was right above him.
The Crystal Monkey unleashed a furious bellow and curled its fingers into a fist. It descended from the sky with a lot of power, intent on smashing Mane into several tiny bits. Its punch reached Mane quickly, and the smashing might of a giant meteor threatened to crush the head of the Supreme.
"Pseudo Legendary Class Magical Beasts sure are different," Mane mumbled admiringly when he felt the powerful aura of the Crystal Monkey reach him. The aura was strong and full of power, and even Mane was drawn to it. Seeing the fist that was approaching from above, Mane didn't show any signs of panic. He curled his fingers into fists and responded in kind. His aura was still largely serene, and the Crystal Monkey couldn't make out how strong Mane was because it couldn't sense anything.
*Bang*
The two fists met and produced results that the Crystal Monkey didn't expect to see. Its fists were several times bigger than Mane's. In fact, its hands were as large as Mane himself, and it expected that it should be able to smash Mane apart with no problem. But it was wrong.
Although the impact from their clash caused the ground beneath Mane to break apart and the trees that were hidden in the darkness to snap into two, the young man was mostly fine. Rather, it was the Crystal Monkey that was sent flying due to the clash.
*Boom*
The Crystal Monkey landed on the ground with a confused expression on its face. It gazed at its hands and scratched its head as it struggled to come to terms with what had just happened. It looked at Mane, and then its hands. And looked at Mane again.
"You can look all you want buddy. It's not going to change what just happened." Mane smiled and said. One can imagine how the Crystal Monkey took his teasing.
*Roar*
Not well. It took umbrage at his remarks and struck its chest repeatedly. A golden yellow light surrounded its body and when it disappeared, an earth armor covered its entire frame. It looked like a war general with its excessively large build and armor-clad self. Its hands were covered in large gantlets that had spikes on them. Its appearance was imposing enough, but it wasn't done.
*Roar*
It roared again, and another golden light was summoned. This time however, the light only gathered at its shoulders and two large canons were formed. The canons looked like large guns when they were placed on the Crystal Monkey, and they attached themselves to the beast's shoulder pieces.
"You just had to annoy him, didn't you?" Hildegarde laughed bitterly seeing the drastic changes the Crystal Monkey had gone through just because of Mane's comments.
"How else would it go all out," Mane shrugged and said. He smiled gleefully and used earth himself, and his hands were covered by earth gantlets. A golden light surrounded him shortly after, and an armor that wasn't any less imposing covered his entire frame. But Mane wasn't done. To truly enjoy the upcoming fight he had to do something else.
Suddenly Mane exposed his aura to the Crystal Monkey, and its confusion only grew. The aura it felt was that of Predator! How was this person able to hit it back with such meagre strength, it wondered? Of course it didn't know that before Mane wasn't this weak. He had compressed his strength to a much lower stage. That's right. Mane reduced his strength to the 1st Level of the Profound Realm! It was amazing that he was able to swiftly compress his strength to such a low level, but he did. Since he didn't really know where his limits lay concerning his newfound battle strength he thought he would test it out.
Ignoring the look of surprise on the face of the Crystal Monkey, Mane sighed in pleasure,
"It has been so long since I got to fight with earth. Prove yourself worthy Battle Beast."