Raia went down to eat dinner with his family.
His father was watching news while his mother prepares the table with his sister.
A 5-year old girl jumped into Raia when she saw him.
"Elder Brother, you're here!"
"I've been away for just half a day and you already miss me?" Raia asked as she carried Rina in his arms.
"Of course I miss you already. Rome is always teasing me. He pinched my cheeks hard!" Rina complained Rina while glaring at the 8-year old boy sitting beside his father.
"Rome, you should stop pinching Rina's cheeks. You're hurting her."
Rome turned and looked at the two.
"I can't help it. Brother. And why are you stopping me from doing it when you yourself are doing the same thing right now?" Rome said as he laughed.
Raia froze. His hands were really pinching Rina's cheeks as they talk.
"Elder Brother!"
"I'm sorry. I also can't help it. Our Rina is just too cute." Raia explained.
At this moment, a beautiful lady walked out of the kitchen with a plate of food. This is Rhea, the second child of the family.
"Come on guys, let us eat." She called to them.
They sat around the table and started eating. Their dinner was rather simple.
"I can feel that you already broke through the Martial Physique State and even reached the 6th level. Seems like you bought something good this time." Hauran said after sizing Raia.
Although Hauran is just a low-level Martial Sprit State, his state was still higher than Raia so he clearly felt the difference in his strength.
Raia was not startled by the comment of his father. He was not afraid of them discovering his cultivation state because he already had devised a reason in his mind.
And that reason was exactly what his father said.
"Yes. I used my savings to buy a mid-rank 3 beast spirit crystal. Its energy was more than enough for me to break through and reach this level. I also had the crystals from the feral dogs so I had enough to reach this far." Raia answered.
Hauran nodded and smiled with satisfaction.
"Wow. You are already a martial physique state! H-How is it? Do you feel very strong?" exclaimed Rome.
"Of course I feel strong. Several folds stronger than before." Answered Raia.
"Kiiiee! I can't wait to start cultivating!" Rome shouted.
"Don't worry. I'll help you when I got to the university."
He will find a way to help his parents and Rhea raise their cultivation state and make sure his little siblings start cultivating.
His father is at 2nd level Martial Spirit State and his mother is at 1st level Martial Spirit State while except him and Rhea, his two other siblings haven't even started cultivating.
His parents stopped cultivating and just focused on raising them.
Rhea was already 15 and she was just at 3rd level Martial Foundation State.
Right now, he doesn't have any idea if he can bring out the resources from inside the orb or if he can bring another life form with him into the orb. If he can do even one of that, his family will be the first one to benefit.
"Are you going back hunting tomorrow?" asked Hauran to Raia.
Raia nodded. "I want to test my sword."
"Be careful. The sword is good and you are also strong but if you're not careful, you might lose your life. If you know you can't win, just retreat. Earning money is good, but remember that your life is more important." Hauran warned his eldest son.
Raia started venturing and hunting at the forest when he was just twelve years old. He wanted to help his parents and he knew that selling beast parts was one of the fastest ways to earn credits.
Seeing the determination of his son, Hauran and Rose didn't stop Raia from what he wanted to do. But they kept on giving him the best guidance they can provide him so that he can be safe outside.
During these times, Raia also used some of his credits to purchase some cultivation resources to start his cultivation journey.
With his hard-earned fund, the resources he can get were still the lowest grade. However, that didn't stop him from cultivating. Slowly, he reached what he has right now.
"I understand Father."
"The university entrance examination is only a month away. Do you have a university in mind?" Rose asked his son.
"No. But I will check them later and decide where I will go after graduation. I'll tell you when I have something in mind and hear your say opinion about it." Raia replied.
"Any university is fine for me as long as it is near." Rose responded and that made Raia laugh.
"Then basically you want me to go to North Ridge University. It is just at the other side of the city after all."
"What is wrong with it? It is a good university and it is near us. We won't be separated from each other." Rose explained to Raia. "Don't tell me you want to leave us all?"
"What? Mother, I didn't say that! How can I leave you all behind? I won't ever do that to you!"
"Then you will go to North Ridge?" Rose asked her son with anticipation.
"Uhm..that's.." Raia failed to give an answer.
"Hmph!See? I'm right. You want to leave us all."
"Elder Brother, you will leave Rina behind? No! I don't want you to go!" Shouted Rina then jumped into Raia and embraced him tightly. Then she started crying.
"No, Rina. I won't leave you." Raia rubbed her head.
"Really?" she asked with tears in her eyes.
"Yes." The little girl then calmed down.
"Rose, let Raia decide where he wanted to go. I don't have any complain if you want to go far. Just visit us regularly. " Hauran's words made Rina cry again.
Rose giggled. "I know. I was just teasing him. Just go to wherever university you want. But if you don't visit us, I will personally come to fetch you and bring you back home. Understand?"
Raia coughed. "Yes, mother."
"With your level, you can try the better university. There will be much competition but the benefits will be better. Use your remaining time in high school to increase your level even just a little." Hauran advised Raia.
"I will do my best."
They continued eating and after they were done, Raia washed the dishes. He went back to his room after and threw himself to his bed and fell asleep immediately.
…
Early the next morning, Raia woke up and prepared to head out.
He went down and saw that his mother was already awake. She walked towards Raia and handed him a lunch box.
"Here. Eat this when you are hungry. Be careful out there." She said with a worry on her face.
"Thank you, mother. I'll be back before dark so don't worry."
After he left, he went straight to the shop of Gran. Gran was preparing inside his shop when Raia entered. He was shocked when he saw Raia's level.
"You don't have any mid-rank 3 beast crystal so I bought it outside. Sorry." Raia clarified.
"No, don't be. It's completely fine. I am just happy for you, kid." Gran said with a smile.
Raia bought one mid-grade and two low-grade recovery pills from Gran. Outside the door, he immediately took the mid-grade recovery pill to completely heal his wound yesterday.
He left and reached the south gate. There he greeted Dan.
"You broke through? And also a 6th level!" Dan exclaimed.
"Yes. I bought something good using all my credits." Raia answered.
"Good for you kid! Congrats! Here bring this with you outside." Dan said as he handed two mid-grade recovery pill to Raia. The young man wanted to refuse it but Dan insisted him to accept it.
"Be careful, kid."
"Thanks, Dan." Raia went straight to the forest.
'I have two extra mid-grade recovery pills now. This is good.'
The sun was already shining when Raia arrived at where he wanted to start hunting.
'I will start with feral dogs first then try werecats next.'
Werecats were high-rank rank 2 beasts that also reside at the outer part of the forest. They were fast and very agile but unlike the feral dogs that sometimes move in packs, werecats were always alone.
That makes them a perfect target for Raia at his level. He can gauge his strength while not risking anything.
He then walked around and found a pack of feral dogs feeding on the corpse of another beast.
Raia drew his sword and charged to them. The nine feral dogs quickly roared and rushed towards Raia.
The first dog to get near him leaped and with its wide opened mouth, planned to bite Raia. However, Raia was faster and he already slashed the body of the feral dog while it was still mid-air. It was cut into two with ease.
Raia shifted his attention to the next feral dog and just like the first one, it died before it even attacked Raia.
A few minutes and all the nine feral dogs were scattered to the ground. They were either sliced into two or decapitated.
"Well, this is way easier than I expected. Father gave me a good weapon." Raia was satisfied. He immediately dismantled the bodies. However, this time, he just collected the horns, fangs and spirit crystals of the feral dogs. The skin will take a lot of space on his backpack and it won't sell for more than the value of the three materials combined.
Raia nodded and smiled. "This is a good start."
He then left and resumed searching for feral dogs.
Half an hour later and he found another pack of feral dogs. He killed all of them, collected the materials and moved on.
…
A group of five hunters entered the forest. Three of them were men and the other two were women. Their average cultivation state was the mid level Martial Warrior State. In the city of Forzen, they are considered average party.
Martial Warrior State is the state after Martial Spirit and it is before the Martial Master State.
The first five cultivation states would be in the sequence of Martial Foundation, Martial Physique, Martial Spirit, Martial Warrior, and Martial Master, respectively.
The party was talking while they travel towards the deeper part of the forest.
At this moment, their leader, Frid, halted his steps abruptly.
"Frid, why did you stop?" asked a handsome young man. The others were curious too. They all turned their heads to where their leader was looking.
They discovered a group of bodies of feral dogs. The corpses were cut into two pieces neatly.
When they observed the bodies, they discovered that their fangs, horns and spirit crystals were gone.
"Did someone got bored and started a killing frenzy here?" A short-haired woman asked.
"No, he needed the other materials. He just left the skin maybe because it eats up a lot of space inside his backpack." Frid answered.
On his mind, this person definitely needed money if he wanted to hunt this many feral dogs but didn't possess any spatial ring because if he had it, he will definitely get the corpse and just sell it as a whole. However, this person just collected the three parts and left the bodies.
"He still uses backpack while hunting? This person can already kill these dogs easily and he still didn't have any spatial ring?" The handsome man commented.
"Maybe he didn't have any money to buy one. That is why." Frid said. "Come on, this is nothing. Let's move on."
They pressed forward and left the place. They treated the scene as nothing because it is a common thing to leave bodies of the beasts that are worthless to you inside the forest. They too left corpses of low rank beasts before because they take extra space inside their spatial ring while basically being of no use to them.
Half an hour later and they found another group of dead feral dogs.
…
Meanwhile, on a certain foot of a mountain, Raia was facing a huge pack of feral dogs. There were about a two hundred of them. At the center of the pack, there stood a dog twice as large as the normal ones.
"A feral alpha. Let's dance, shall we?" He smirked and charged forward.