Welp, three hours after I figured out how to use Spirit Stones, I found myself with a small pile of inert dust hovering around me. I had also broken through to the second Stage of the Saturation Realm, having primed over five billion cells.
It was pretty anticlimactic as I didn't really feel like much of anything had changed. Then again, I also didn't feel anything after reaching the first Stage, and at that level I could run at forty miles per hour and grind Fractured Spirit Stones to dust with my fingers. I guess only by going on another hunting trip on the grassy fields would tell me how far I'd come along.
…
'Well, never mind then,' I thought to myself as I took in the scenery around me passing by at an alarming rate. What felt like a jog to the current me, easily surpassed what I was capable of when running for dear life from the baby Nejo earlier. Clearly, I was much more capable.
Sadly, that didn't change the fact that I had no idea how to track and search for Demonic Beasts to fight with, so I would end up spending over half an hour running around before finding another baby Nejo. I must have just had great luck encountering the first one by the city limits.
Much like my first encounter with the horn rabbit species of Demonic Beast, immediately after spotting me, the Nejo tried to stab me with a charged jump; though, to me, it seemed much slower this time around. I didn't even feel the need to step out of the way as I easily caught the airborn rabbit as soon as it was within range and made to snap its neck like I did the first time around.
Cra—
"…" I was speechless as rabbit blood shot out of the decapitated corpse in my hands and sprayed all over my face in shirt.
'Note to self, you now have certified super strength. Fucking make sure to test and adapt to it before going out for future hunts,' I thought as I chucked the mangled rabbit corpse and head into my Bag of Holding. Sure, it would be a pain having to clean it later, but I wasn't going to just leave my spoils because such a minor inconvenience.
Fortunately, I spotted a narrow river running along the grassland earlier. So, after I made my way over to its location and cleaned up, I was good to continue hunting. Hopefully, before nightfall, I'd learn how to keep my insane strength in check.
It was tricky, the next five or so encounters with baby Nejos in the grassland plain. Maybe it was because I could only find one every couple dozen minutes depending on my luck, maybe it was just hard to quickly adapt to major increases in strength. The point is, many poor horn rabbits died gruesome deaths before I found the appropriate amount of strength needed to only snap their necks and end their suffering.
Then, just as the sun was starting set and I had thoughts of returning to the city, the routine I'd grown accustomed to was broken with the advent of a new and foreign Demonic Beast. A type of scaly green and yellow reptile was currently hissing at me, while it's slit narrow eyes stared at mine.
At first, I ignorantly thought the fight would be instantly over as the reptile charged at me slower than the baby Nejos I'd grown accustomed to. But, when I caught it and tried to snap its neck, it only hissed louder and started thrashing it's tail randomly.
"Ow! Fuck," it's tail hit my arm and I was reminded of few beatings my mom gave me with her flipflops when I was being an insufferable child back on Earth. The memories of a "chancla" wielding demon scared me into throwing the reptile away and reconsider my options.
Given the higher defensive prowess the new Demonic Beast displayed, I guessed even a full powered neck grip would be futile, so it was time to step up my game and…
Kick!
"Ok, I know I have super strength, but did it really have to go flying like that? It's sailing like a football at kickoff, despite being a fucking meter long and not at all aerodynamic!" I had no idea what it weighed, seeing as it felt weightless when I suspended it in the air from its neck, but the thing looked like it had to be at least thirty kilograms.
"Welp, that's probably another overkill, so—" I didn't finish the thought as the stupid thing was charging at me like I hadn't punted it several dozen meters away.
"Alright motherfucker, you want a fight, I'll give you a fight!" I charged at it, seeking out the fight for the first time, but I overshot the distance as my emotions got the better of me and I sprinted for the first time since reaching the second Stage.
"Fuck!" It was humiliating, actually being looked at disdainfully by what was probably a Demonic Beast as unintelligent as a baby Nejo. My own insecurities and shame were also most likely just attributing a look to the reptile, but I didn't care.
I found myself a step away from the beast and this time, instead of kicking, I stomped on it as hard as I possibly could.
Thud!
A fucking crater, though one only a centimeter deep, formed underneath the reptile's pinned body, but the beast itself looked only mildly wounded.
'So this is one of those battles of attrition, then? Fine! I'll just punch you to death!'
And I did.
I punched harder and faster than any person had a right to be punching, and in a few short seconds, the only thing that remained of the reptile was a paste of ruined flesh and bone. Underneath it, the crater had expanded to almost a foot in length and doubled in depth.
…
"Kid… I know the Tijitas are an annoying bunch, but did you really have to tenderize it so? Did it steal your lunch or something?" Osen asked. He was still at his stall when I got back to the city, so I visited him to sell the spoils of my hunt.
"No? I just didn't have a weapon to kill it faster."
"Wait a second. Are you saying that you did this—" he gestured at the brutalized corpse, "—with your bare hands?"
"Dude, I came to your shop earlier without knowing what a Spirit Stone was. I didn't even have a Bag of Holding. Did you really expect me to have something as luxurious as a sword or something?"
"Ok, ok. But that doesn't explain these other baby Nejo corpses."
I had the decency to shy away from making eye contact and look bashful as I said, "I, uh… was having trouble controlling my strength after I broke through to the second Stage of the Saturation Realm."
"Ha! Good one," he chuckled. "That'd be the day pigs fly!"
"Uh… Why?"
"Can you imagine someone skipping at least four stages in combat prowess? There's no way someone in the lower three levels of the Saturation Realm can match a High F Ranked Demonic Beast. Well, maybe some super genius with top tier Martial Arts. But, certainly not someone clumsy enough to simply beat the poor thing to death," He casted a pitiful look at the reptile's disfigured corpse.
"Hmm… You sure know a lot about Demonic Beasts," I refrained from clarifying his doubts. "Do you know where I can get a book to be at least a little less ignorant?"
Without batting an eye, he stuck his hand into his personal Bag of Holding and tossed a book at me.
"Immortalized Myths: A Compendium Of All Known Demonic Beasts… Alright, how many Spirit Stones do I have to sacrifice?" I asked, preparing for the worst.
"You can keep it for free, if you sell me all these all these Demonic Beast corpses for… 87 Fractured Spirit Stones."
"Is this a joke?" I thought he was making fun of me, given that the value of the information in the book was probably astronomical.
"What? Were you expecting that I buy at the same price for these decapitated and disfigured corpses as I did for the ones in better condition?"
"No, I mean, the book. Like, why are you giving it to me for free?"
"Oh, I already memorized all of its contents. That and the fact that it sells for dirt cheap like those worthless and outdated cultivation techniques, are plenty reason enough for me to just give it away as a bonus for a relatively big transaction like this."
Worthless? I hope he wasn't including the Path of the Archfiend in his list of worthless and outdated cultivation methods, seeing as he's overestimated my cultivation base by five Stages.
I didn't make an effort to retort. I simply accepted the transaction and headed back to the Harbinger Sect Compound, almost a hundred Spirit Stones richer and with a new book worth studying.