<"Ding! Host received the title 'First Kill'">
Lushan stood there in awe as he was looking at the body of the beetle.
'My first kill!' he is shouting in his mind. After taking a few seconds to calm down he quickly rushes up to the corpse and hopes to absorb it quickly in case there are any other predators that might be wanting to snatch his kill.
'Consume' he tells the system
Immediately after doing so, the beetle body then starts to condense into a ball of light and is then absorbed into his body, in exactly the same way as happened with the centipede body.
<"Ding! The host has absorbed 20 essence. Please choose between SP or cultivation">
After he got the notification Lushen starts running up the tree and back to his home to hide. For now, he is ignoring the message in his head telling him to choose, as just as he was absorbing the body, he caught the smell of a very powerful odour going past this area.
After getting back to his home, Lushen decides to think about what to put the essence points into. He knows that this amount is enough to get him to the next cultivation level or it can be used to purchase some skills in the shop.
Lushen spent around 10 minutes going over the pro's and cons and finally made a decision.
'System please put the essence points into my cultivation' After saying this he once again felt a surge of power flow though his body, this time he notices that it is mostly concentrated at his flesh, and he feels it getting stronger and harder. He then checks his stats.
Title: 'First Kill'
Name: Lushan Crest
Species: Common Forest Centipede
System Points: 0
Cultivation Realm:
(0/40 Essence)Body Realm:
Soul Realm:
Bloodlines:
Bloodline Skills:
Attributes: Wood (minimal -> Very Low), Poison (Very Low)
Skills: Bite (lvl:1)
Abilities: Consume (lvl:Max)
'Oh, so the title I got earlier automatically equipped. I wonder if the system will tell me about it or will I have to purchase something again.'
<"Ding!" The host can access details relating to owned titles">
<"Title: 'First Kill' - This is awarded to the host for successfully killing his first living creature. This title grants the host the skill: 'Bite'.">
'Ok, so the title gives me my first skill. Nice!'
"System tell me information about bite"
<"Skill: Bite (lvl:1) - This skill allows the host to increase his biting power by creating a shadow that overlaps with the hosts bite. Effect: 25% extra damage">
Upon seeing what this new skill does, he immediately wanted to give it a try. So he faced the wall and shouted in his mind "Bite" when he attacked. After doing so he noticed that there is a solid shadow that looks like a bigger pair of his own mandibles that is overlapping his mandibles.
When he bit at the wall, he noticed a deep gash in the wall of the wood. 'Wow, this is very effective. It says 25% increase in attack, it didn't mention that the size of my bite would increase along with its overall damage.' Lushen was very happy with this skill as it would allow his biting attacks to do a lot more damage and even bite at larger prey.
After spending a little more time experimenting with his bite skill, he finds out that using the skill will consume stamina. In his current state he can only use it 5 times before needing to rest.
He was so caught up with his new skill, he just remembered that his wood attribute affinity evolved from 'minimal' which is the lowest to 'very low'. 'So my wood attribute is now on the same level as my poison, huh. Well its not like it matters since I can't use the wood attribute in any of my attacks. I wonder if it will increase my natural regeneration? After all the wood attribute is most well-known for its vitality'.
After checking out all the changes in his stats, he starts to reflect on his battle against the beetle. He thought he did quite good, though he didn't get much face to face combat experience since the poison basically stopped it from moving. He thought his strategy was good at the beginning, but then he thought about how the beetle flung him, if he hadn't been able to cling back onto the tree in time, he would have fallen a long way down.
'Next time I should plan ahead more and think of what their possible reactions might be. The next time I fight a creature that uses more brute force, I should be quick and nimble, to prevent them from being able to touch me. I should also be quicker when injecting the venom, so I can back off sooner'. The reason Lushen thought this was because it was his first battle in his new body, so he was very stiff and things where not done effectively as they could have been.
Once again thinking of the beetle's strength, along with the amount of essence he gained. He thinks the beetle was in the body refining realm level 1, along with the centipede. The centipede gave 15 points whereas the beetle gave 20. There was a difference in points even though they were in the same realm. Lushen thinks that it was because even though they were in the same realm the beetle is a naturally stronger creature, hence its worth more points.
Looking outside, Lushen notices that its becoming mid-day. He has around 8 hours to get what he wants to do, done. He needs to find a water source, scout the area and try to find a way to secure the entrance to his home. Leaving the hole open means he's vulnerable to attacks when he is sleeping.
He would also hunt if there was any time left before night. Though he can stay out during night as he mainly uses his antenna to sense things, he also knows that there are likely a lot more dangerous creatures out at night. So, for now he will restrict himself to daytime hunting.
First thing he does is take a short nap for 1 hour, since he used lots of stamina in the fight and when checking out his new skill.
...
Roughly an hour later, a small centipede the size of ones palm, could be seen carefully exiting a hole in a ginormous tree. The centipede climbs up to a branch and hides within its shadow, it is completely stationary, except for 2 small antenna constantly wriggling around as if they were searching for something.
This centipede is obviously Lushen, he has just exited his home after his nap and is now searching for water, as he is currently very thirsty. Using his antenna, he is able to detect water vapor within the air. He notices that there is water vapor surrounding him, this is very common within a forest as there is constant rain in order to keep the forest alive.
Due to there being so much vapor in the air, Lushen knows that he will have to focus more and find a place where there seems to be a higher density of vapor. This is his best option in order to find a water source for him to use.
After spending a few minutes, he finds a high density to the east. He knows that it is east because that's where the sun rises from, though he doesn't know if east/west works differently due to having different laws, it will still work as a compass though.
He starts making his way east. Tree by tree Lushen is using branches as bridges and gracefully traversing the forest. He always makes sure to stay within the shadows as much as possible and also to avoid the ground if possible.
After an hour long journey he finally sees a small river. Along the way to reach the river Lushen came across multiple different types of beasts. For example, he saw a giant black wolf with crimson red eyes, a giant bear that is covered in rocks, and many other creatures. Fortunately for him a tiny centipede is nothing in their eyes so they didn't even notice him.
His biggest scare was when he saw another centipede, he knew it wouldn't be friendly so he didn't try to greet it, but instead spent a few minutes watching its moves. He saw it fluidly move around on the floor and also kill a few small bugs, but just as he was about to get a closer look at its moves a white and blue bird came swooping in and crushed the centipede under its claws, before flying back with it drooping dead within its beak.
After that he just continued his cautious journey without stopping for anything.
Gazing at the river in front of him, he just stares at the beautiful scenery. He has always stayed at home in his past life so he never got to see something like a beautiful crystal-clear river meandering through a forest. As he was taking in the scenery, he see's something which made him feel terror all the way to his soul. An alligator lazily floating along the river in search of prey. Its size was comparable to the tree he is currently living in.
'That alligator is fucking massive. Is that this rivers king?'.