Spirit Magi stayed behind and floated in place, as it watched Noctis come out of hiding to face the Forest Wild Boars. The spirit's abilities were limited, as it couldn't help Noctis out regarding a lot of things, but could only support him through other means.
This was a minor reason... the main reason why Spirit Magi didn't want to interfere because it had already decided that it wouldn't help Noctis unless he was in extreme danger of losing his life. If the spirit always helped out Noctis, then there would be no point in giving him Old Great One Animo's divine power and assigning him the three life-long tasks that he had to accomplish.
Noctis would have no experience to gain if his path was already forged for him and if he always had aid by his side, so it was ideal if he did most things by himself including fighting in combat and deciding major decisions.
Noctis knew that his current path in life would definitely not be normal upon accepting Old Great One Animo's inheritance. He would face a variety of adversities in the future, and that he would most likely find himself risking his own life to reap rewards and to stand above others! He was confident that it would all be worth it and that there would certainly be interesting things along the way…
This was the inevitable path that he had chosen, and the path of being the sole inheritor of an Old Great One!
…
"Kid, I don't need to remind you that my life is practically bound to yours now; same with that dragon-head shape Magi over there that's just peacefully floating next to those bushes! I'm not gonna tell you what that means since you're smart enough to piece it together… Just don't disappoint this old one too much hahahaha…" |
Noctis heard Spirit Ster's voice with an unserious and lighthearted tone, as it expressed a warning that was seemingly made in a thoughtless manner. The spirit sense between the both of them got cut off and Noctis didn't think much of it before he quietly stopped in place and crouched down.
Noctis was now several meters away from the Forest Wild Boars without getting detected and noticed that there were only five in the group that he was looking at. He thought to himself that it was best to kill one or two in a surprise attack since he was able to cover the distance within a few seconds.
He gathered the natural energy of the world and circulated it within his body, which also cleansed his mind as he became more focused. The basic insight that every cultivator had touched upon when starting the cultivation path was known as 'Qi Essence,' and it is widely known as the most crucial insight to the 12 Prime Insights.
This allowed him to gather the qi essence that was a part of the natural energy of the world to manipulate it as a type of phenomena and use it to do functions that are greatly above normal.
In this way, Noctis had condensed the qi essence towards his hands and legs as he suddenly moved with explosive speed and was able to cover the distance between him and the Forest Wild Boars within a very short amount of time!
The Forest Wild Boars weren't able to react in time at all before Noctis arrived between two Forest Wild Boars as he fiercely struck the neck of both of them simultaneously with his two palms!
A loud bone-wrenching sound could be heard as Noctis put as much power to his palms and was able to successfully break the neck of the two Forest Wild Boars. Upon being struck, they had given out a dramatic squeal before being drawn out to a last whimper as they quickly dropped to the ground and died.
The other Forest Wild Boars finally took action from the unexpected arrival of Noctis, and had scattered as a direct response before shortly coming back to surround him. Before they were able to do anything, Noctis still had his palms on the two Forest Wild Boars that he killed, but then he circulated the qi essence through his upper body and arms as he wrapped it around one of the dead Forest Wild Boar's lower neck-region.
This allowed Noctis a sudden increase of strength and with a roaring grunt sound, he had picked up the entire dead Forest Wild Boar's body from where he had grabbed, as he twirled and threw it at two nearby Forest Wild Boars that had just grouped up.
BANG!
The dead Forest Wild Boar's body made a large impact and was able to push back the two unfortunate Forest Wild Boars that were hit. They were rather smaller in size, so being hit hard in the head by a larger body had momentarily dazed them. This allowed Noctis to quickly move again as he ran a few meters forward before jumping high up into the air.
This angle gave enough momentum and time for Noctis to transition the qi essence towards one of his legs, as he condensed it to his entire feet and then fiercely landed on the head of one of the Forest Wild Boar that had just barely recovered.
Another loud cracking sound could be heard as Noctis crushed the skill of the Forest Wild Boar and had died practically on impact. The other Forest Wild Boar was able to recover the same time as this happened and was able to take a couple steps away. Noctis circulated his qi essence towards his hands and was about to rush forward to deal the killing blow, but before he was able to, his heightened senses informed him that the last Forest Wild Boar was charging towards his way from the side!
Noctis had barely been able to react in time as his body involuntarily moved such that instead of dealing the killing blow towards the intended Forest Wild Boar, he had actually used its body as a pivot to propel himself upwards and to completely somersault over it!
This allowed him to narrowly dodge the charge attack from the Forest Wild Boar that came from his side, and had arrived at the opposite side!
Noctis didn't have much time to think after he had vaulted over the Forest Wild Bear that he was originally going to kill, so he immediately dealt the killing blow. Noctis brought one of his palms forward that was condensed with qi essence and firmly struck its neck before it fell to the ground and died.
After he had done so, he rapidly moved himself back several meters while his body was still facing the Forest Wild Boar that had charged him.
Noctis took this time to relax himself and catch a quick breath as he circulated the natural energy of the world throughout his body. He didn't spend much physical energy because he spent a short amount of time to kill the four Forest Wild Boars in succession, but the problem was that his qi essence supply was depleting at an astonishing rate.
This was mainly because he was still in the First Level of the Mortal Blood realm, which meant that not only was he using up his qi essence fast, but he didn't have a lot of supply to begin with!
The regeneration of qi essence is at a much slower rate compared to using it, but it's not like one wasn't able to increase its rate. There were two general ways to increase the regeneration of qi essence that was publicly known to everyone, and it is to increase one's insight knowledge of 'Qi Essence' and to increase one's cultivation base.
This is also the same regarding the amount of supply that one could have, which is why practically every cultivator mainly focuses on increasing the cultivation base and the 'Qi Essence' insight!
The 'Qi Essence' insight was not only the most crucial to one's cultivation path, but it was also the easiest to comprehend and to use out of the 12 Prime Insights!
Another matter that was greatly related to this insight was that Noctis was able to abnormally transition his qi essence to several areas of his body and condense it, all within an extremely short amount of time… this skill was basically unheard of for those that were just in the First Level of the Mortal Blood realm!
One would be able to do this much faster to a point where it becomes instantaneous, but only to those that had reached the high stages of the 'Qi Essence' insight and a general high cultivation base. It was obvious that Noctis was very talented in this area and that he was quite accustomed to the state of energies within his body for him to be able to easily do it!
Noctis closely stared at the last Forest Wild Boar while he was regenerating his qi essence, but before he was able to take a step forward, the Forest Wild Boar loudly squealed as it pawed the ground and raised its snout to the sky.
Noctis widened his eyes and felt like this was a bad sign because he realized that the Forest Wild Boar was clearly aware that it was pushed into a corner where it could undoubtedly die.
He relaxed his mind and concluded that it was calling out for help to the other Forest Wild Boars that were in the surrounding area. He didn't panic because he knew that it was going to happen eventually and that he needed more pressure to breakthrough!
Noctis quickly moved and decided to kill this Forest Wild Boar before the other Forest Wild Boars came. As soon as he lunged forward, the Forest Wild Boar also charged at him and had picked up speed.
Noctis didn't slow down his own speed, but instead raised one of his hands towards the center of his chest and curled his fingers slightly inward. If one were to closely observe this action, then one would realize that there were formless energy strands that were coming out of his chest and were being drawn in towards the center of his hand. It was actually forming into a small 'ball' of energy and it wasn't just ordinary energy, but qi essence!
This happened almost instantly... Noctis didn't have much time left before the Forest Wild Boar closed in on him, so he suddenly made a throwing motion with his hand and hurled the small 'ball' of qi essence towards it.
BANG!
The small 'ball' of qi essence struck one of the eyes of the Forest Wild Boar and the remnant energy had dispersed to the rest of its face. This had practically blinded the Forest Wild Boar, as it steered off course and crashed onto the ground. Shortly after, Noctis moved to where it had crashed and dealt the killing blow before it had any time to do anything else.
Noctis was successful, but as soon as he killed this Forest Wild Bear, he heard more of them come from behind!
Noctis furrowed his brows while his eyes revealed a sharp glare, as he slowly looked behind him. He saw two more groups of Forest Wild Boars, which means that there were around 10 of them that were currently surrounding him!
They were all varying in sizes, but they looked similar to one another regarding appearances. They had dark brown-black bristly fur on their bodies, and large black and thick legs that could make deep marks on the ground. The most prominent feature that they had was a light grey patch that was extending from the cheeks to the ears on their face, but a few of them also had tusks that were growing from the sides of their mouth.
Noctis closed his eyes and breathed in some fresh air before expelling it out as he tightly clenched his fists. He opened them again and decided to make the first move!
He thought to himself that by the end of this, the pressure should've been able to let him breakthrough to the Second Level of Mortal Blood realm!