A/N: Please make sure to leave a comment in the comments of the previous chapter or on the Discord server #events-committee.
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Josie knew immediately that the man before her was the same vermin she fought earlier in the quarantine. The stench exuded by his mana matched that creature's down to a 'T''. Josie knew that it wasn't the last she'd seen of that vermin. Except, she didn't expect their next encounter to be so soon, and that too with herself at such a massive disadvantage. In their last encounter, the creature was at the peak of the Foundation Establishment realm - merely a centimetre away from stepping into Core Formation. With a beast's inherent advantages covering for the gap in cultivation, the fight was only incrementally in Josie's favour. However, the creature had somehow broken through. Even after losing so much, it advanced into the Core Formation realm.
