As the body tempering pill melted, its energy enveloped the body of Raia.
However, a few moments later, it began fading before completely disappearing.
"As I expected. This grade of pill won't do anything to my perfection state body. Maybe the highest grades will but those are hard to find."
Next, Raia looked one of the mid-grade 3 energy pills.
This mid-grade 3 energy pill is equal to a mid-rank 3 beast spirit crystal. Their major difference is that energy pills were easier to refine than beast spirit crystals. Their energy was more stable after all.
For normal cultivators in the same state at Raia, it would take a few hours to refine a single mid-grade 3 pill. However, it will only take him a few seconds to absorb all the energy contained in the pill and it won't affect his cultivation at all.
"These pills were already useless to me." He sighed as he put back the pills to his spatial ring. He didn't even bother consuming them.
He then took out the weapon that was included in his reward. It was a peak-grade 3 sword. Raia remembered that he still didn't have any weapons with him in the world inside.
Hauran couldn't create him a high-grade one for now because of his cultivation state. However, Raia was hoping he could get a new weapon before he leave for the entrance exams. He knew the basic of blacksmithing but he wanted to let the expert do the work. Although his learning capability is good, he couldn't beat the experience that his father have in terms of blacksmithing.
"This sword is good enough for me now. I'll use it to hunt beasts in the forest. But what I really need now is a weapon for the world inside. A high-grade weapon would increase my destructive power significantly."
After pondering for a few minutes, Raia asked himself. "Should I expand my skills in blacksmithing and just forge the weapon myself?"
"The only thing I can bring from here to the world inside is my own self. If that is the case, then I'll just equip myself with all the knowledge and skills that will help me greatly in the world inside."
"I'll start with blacksmithing. Maybe I can build my own smithy in the world inside."
After coming up with the decision, Raia prepared himself and went to the world inside.
…
In the living room of their home, Jacob was talking with his father.
"I thought you said that you'll get the first rank. What happened?" Matt asked his son.
Jacob sighed and replied. "I didn't expect Raia is really good. I let my guard down."
"I remember that he is the one that your school is calling a prodigy. Is he really amazing?" Matt continued.
"He got a perfect score in the final exam, has a strength of 5,000 and a 5th Martial Spirit State combat power. If he is not amazing, I don't know who is." Jacob answered.
Matt raised his brows and threw another question to Jacob. "What happened? I expect you to be more disappointed than this."
"I am disappointed but that won't change anything. I'd rather cultivate and work hard than bury myself in regret." Jacob responded with a serious tone.
Matt chuckled. "You're right. What good would sulking do to you? So what did you do to Raia? Did you declare war on him? Fought him after the ceremony? What happened?"
"What?! Why would I do those things? I won't do that!" Jacob shouted as he denied his father's words.
Mat laughed at his reaction. "I am just kidding. I know you won't do that. However, knowing you, you have said something to him have you?"
Jacob fell silent for a moment. "I..have…"
"I knew it."
"B-but that happened yesterday, before the exams!" Jacob clarified.
"What did you say to him?" Matt was curious.
Jacob then proceeded to tell his father about his encounter with Raia in the beast pet shop.
"Is he angry at you?" Matt asked.
Jacob shook his head. "I feel that is not the case. He still talked to me after I congratulated him like nothing happened. It's like he didn't put me in his eyes from the very start."
"Or maybe he is just nice. Don't overthink it." Matt told his son.
"Whatever the case, I feel like he is looking down on me!" Jacob shouted.
"I think you are really overthinking things…. So what is your plan now?" Matt kept asking Jacob.
"I will go to Wolford Central University as decided and become stronger! Then I will challenge him one day and defeat him!" Jacob said as he clenched his fist.
"Whatever kid, but if you do something bad to him, I'll punish you myself." Matt warned.
"Dad, I am not that petty to scheme against him. If I will defeat him, it is not because of petty schemes but with my own strength." Jacob assured.
"Good. Ah, right. I got some info. Raia is also going to Wolford Central University." Matt revealed.
After hearing it, Jacob sighed. "Of course he is going there."
"And he seemed to have a physique talent." Matt added.
Jacob froze and after processing Matt's words, he spoke. "I-I just need to work harder!"
However, he is already doubtful if he could really defeat Raia.
"That is the spirit." Matt nodded in satisfaction. 'Some of us needs a rival to keep us motivated and determined at all times.'
…
Meanwhile in the world inside, Raia had already begun his hunt.
After a few hours of hunting, he finally found one of the things he was looking for.
A beast lair!
It was beast lair of armor rabbits like the last time. Without hesitation, Raia entered the lair. He slid down the hole and arrived at the center area of the lair.
"This is way bigger than the last lair." The area of this new lair was about three times the size of the first one.
Scattered around the area are more than five hundred armor rabbits.
"There you are, gorgeous." Raia said as he stared at the pile of green spirit stones located at the center of the place. It was obviously more than what the last armor rabbit lair had. More armor rabbits meant more green spirit stones.
The armor rabbits noticed Raia's presence and glared at him. Raia did a few seconds of stretching before gunning himself towards the armor rabbits.
"Ha!" He shouted as he punched the first armor rabbit.
'Bang!'
The armor rabbit flew tens of meters away but it was still breathing. This scene didn't stop the other armor rabbits from charging at Raia.
"Come on!" Raia punched his two fists together as he taunted the rabbits.
An armor rabbit kicked the floor and balled itself mid air like a projectile. It approached Raia at a fast speed.
However, Raia had fought more than a hundred armor rabbits at the first lair so he already had some ideas on how to kill these beasts.
He caught the armor rabbit with his two hands and quickly slammed it against his knees.
'Bang!'
The armor rabbit loosened its form and revealed its weak points. Raia didn't waste any second and attacked its head causing the armor rabbit to die instantly.
He still hadn't recovered his arm when another rabbit attacked him. He didn't have the chance to block it and was hit directly to the chest.
'Boom!'
Raia was sent flying until he crashed to the ground.
'Swoosh!, Swoosh!, Swoosh!'
Before he could stand up, he lifted his head and saw a multitude of armor rabbits approaching him like a barrage of cannon balls.
Raia cursed but still managed to stand up and moved before he was hit by the armor rabbits. He continued to run in order to evade the barrage of armor rabbits. He didn't want to be cornered and placed in a disadvantageous position after all. Also, receiving fifty attacks at the same time would give his body some damages.
When he found a small opening, he charged again towards the armor rabbits while the others were still scattered around.
After killing a few rabbits, he retreated to a better position then began his attacks again.
The long fight against the armor rabbits began.
…
About four hours later, half of the rabbits died but there were still about three hundred rabbits left.
Another hour passed and Raia felt the stress on his body. Attacking a high-rank 3 beast and running at the same time consumed his stamina steadily. His stamina was huge but a fight against hundreds of high-rank 3 beast non-stop is really a tiring work. This was even more difficult than fighting the peak-rank 3 alpha green tiger. At least at that time, he battled the alpha green tiger one on one.
The attacks of the armor rabbits began penetrating his defense too resulting into wounds on his body.
'I won't stop now!' He gritted his teeth and continued fighting.
Raia didn't want to leave now because he suspects that the armor rabbits would move the green spirit stones to a different place. He also didn't want the armor rabbits to escape after he left because their spirit crystals were important for him.
'I also want to test where the limit of my strength is.'
With these things in his mind, Raia carried on killing the rabbits like a mad man. The one thing he was glad about was that the armor rabbits fought him head on. They didn't try to escape and kept charging at Raia.
Time passed by.
Finally, after a total of eight hours, the last armor rabbit collapsed lifeless to the ground.
Seconds later and Raia also let himself to lay on top of the bodies of the armor rabbits. He was panting intensely and was wounded all over his body. Fortunately, none of them were fatal and he would likely to heal after taking a high-grade recovery pill.
'It was finally over. This is really exhausting.' He tried to catch his breath and recover some of his strength.
Raia rested but was still cautious because the other armor rabbits that might be returning to their lair. He didn't have enough strength left to seal the place.
'I'll rest first…'
…
Raia rested for an hour before standing up. He recovered some of his energy just enough so that he can move around.
He first sealed the central area from the outside.
Then he proceeded to dismantle the bodies of the armor rabbits separating their armors, skin, and spirit crystal from one another. It took him a long time before he was done with this process. There were six hundred armor rabbits after all.
Raia walked to the mountain of glowing green spirit stone and sent them all to the storage space. There were about six hundred half-fist sized glowing green spirit stones that were enough for Raia to have a bright smile on his face.
"I'll deal with you later." He wanted to go out and heal first before refining the green spirit stones.
After checking that he didn't miss anything, Raia exited the world inside.
…
Back in his room, Raia quickly took a high-grade recovery pill to heal his wounds.
"I need to repair my clothes." They also sustained some damages after all. He has many materials to use so mending the clothes was nothing.
After repairing his damaged clothes, he took a shower first before heading to bed as he decided to refine the green spirit stones the next day.
…
Morning came. Raia ate breakfast with his family and head to the smithy with Hauran.
"You want to learn blacksmithing? Why the change of mind?" Hauran asked his son. He was surprised to see that Raia came to him to learn about blacksmithing. He was not like that in the past after all.
Raia doesn't hate blacksmithing but he also was not passionate about it. He learned the basics to assist his father but that was it. He knew how to sharpen blades and do some hammering of the low-rank metals but besides that, he was just running simple errands inside the smithy. He was only at Martial Foundation State at that time so his movements and the things he could do inside the smithy were limited. However, he was now at Martial Spirit State and he can do the things he couldn't in the past.
"Uhm..Nothing, it's just suddenly wanted to learn. I want to give it a try because I plan on taking a blacksmithing class in the university." Raia explained.
"Why? You wanted to create your own weapon?" Hauran followed up a question.
Raia just nodded. "Something like that."
His father looked at him and spoke. "Alright, I'll teach you the skills and knowledge every blacksmith must have. Beyond that, is just all about experience."
"Thank you." Ria slightly nodded his head.
"Okay. Let's start today. You already know the steps in blacksmithing so I will just explain them in a more expound details." Hauran said then pointed at to a certain shelf. "Go get me a block of mirtan iron. I will talk while smithing."
"Alright." Raia left to get a block of mirtan iron. When he returned, Hauran began his lesson.