Kai climbed up a tree, deciding to stalk the beast from a higher vantage point. He silently crept through the forest for a while before coming across a scene that made his pupils shrink.
A scaled bipedal creature was bent over the mangled corpse of a normal animal. Its back featured a pair of translucent wings and it had 2 pairs of arms, along with a pain of antennae on its head. Overall, it looked like a really large, bloodthirsty fly.
[Identifying Creature]... [Gorutan Beastman- Insect-type sub-specie (Feral)]
The Divine Mage System did the usual and identified the creature. With each chunk of flesh it tore out of the beast, its wings fluttered and buzzed in excitement. It really acted the part of a feral beast well.
Kai readied an arrow and aimed at a barely noticeable space in its scaled at the back of the neck. After taking notice of the wind's direction and adjusting his aim, he let it fly.
Whoosh!
The arrow tore through the air, silent and deadly. The Beast's antennae suddenly shot up and vibrated, followed by the beast dodging to the side.
Thud.
The arrow struck the bark of a tree nearby. The beast gave a shrill shriek and lunged for Kai. Its wings spread outward as it jumped up to his level, swiping at his face. With expertise, Kai leaned back, drawing his bowstring back again to fire another arrow at the beast from point-blank range.
[Impact Magic: Centered Force]!
The tip of the arrow took on a dim glow, gathering dense mana. Kai let the arrow fly loose as soon as the mana had finished gathering.
Thunk!
The arrow hit its mark but could not deal much damage, getting stuck between the beast's hardy scales. It let out a loud screech and swiped at him again. Kai leapt from tree to tree, firing arrow after arrow, trying to find a weak spot to exploit. Not long after, the arrows in his quiver were all spent.
'Divine Mage, is there anything I can do to stop this?' He yelled in his head while narrowly dodging another swipe at his leg.
[Scanning beast].
Class: Earth(Middle)
Status: Chaos Mind.
Chaos Mind: Target's mind is in a state of chaos. Intelligence will be reduced by 25%-40% randomly.
Weaknesses: Armor piercing shots, pure mana attacks.
---
[New Skill Set unlocked: Arcane].
[New Skills gained: Gene Liberation, Arcane Arrows].
'Hmm? Arcane arrows?' Kai took notice of the second skill he had unlocked. He focused on it, and a basic understanding of the spell flooded his mind. Mana gathered in his palm, taking the shape of an arrow as he pictured the process in his mind. He fixed the arrow to his bowstring, pulling back to take aim.
Whoosh!
With no fanfare, the arrow left the string and struck the beast's forehead. It met no resistance as it split open its head and buried itself almost completely within a tree.
Panting, Kai sat down on a branch to rest.
"Status."
[Status]
Kai
Race: Human
Tier: Earth (Early),
Health: Good
Stamina: 25/80
Mana: 40/100
Remarks: You have taken the first step in your journey to ascend to the higher realms.
---
"That took a lot out of me..." He whispered into the cool evening air.
[External Mana source detected. Absorb?] The body of the beast had an odd glow to it, with light particles rising off it and disappearing into the air. Those particles were basically the leftover mana in its body.
Kai jumped off the tree branch and landed beside the body. He prodded its side with his boot before replying to the system.
"Absorb." The stray mana particles suddenly gathered into a fist sized ball of light. This ball of light rose to Kai's chest before sinking into him.
[Mana +25]
Kai's overall Mana rose from 100 points to 125 points.
"Hmm, not too shabby. I should go out hunting more." He smiled a bit before turning to look at the carcass of the normal animal the beast was feasting on before he interrupted it. After some deliberation, he set it ablaze. It was the only form of burial he could give it since he didn't come prepared to dig a grave in the middle of the forest.
After taking care of that, his mind drifted back to the other skill that he had unlocked during the fight- [Gene Liberator]. A small description of it flowed into his mind.
[Gene Liberator].
The shackles that are the genes of humanity shall be overcome with this spell! In exchange for stamina, gain the ability to temporarily turn into a desired form.
Kai thought of the effects of the spell before deciding to test out the effects.
His skin stretched thin as he grew taller, his face felt longer, his fingers merged until there were only three of them left and scales covered his body.
"Status." He tried to speak out loud, but the only sound that came out was a buzzing sound as his mandibles clicked against each other.
[Status]
Kai
Race: Human
Tier: Earth (Mid)- (Transformation)
Health: Perfect
Stamina: 20/80
Mana: 100/100
Remark: Currently under a transformation to gain power beyond your reach. 10 Stamina will be consumed every minute.