Before setting back out towards the Center Spawn, I handed over three of my Space Rings. To help the house's remodeling and rebuilding go a bit smoother, however, I did make sure they were empty beforehand.
Upon reaching the Center Spawn, I knew that I was going to have to work far harder than before, because of my ideal weapons; Nunchucks. There was no sharp point or side that I could use to dig into my enemies to hasten their death, at most I could bruise or knock them out.
'Although now my strategy for fighting beasts will have to change, after all there will no longer be anyone to do the heavy lifting. I could alter my nunchucks however we're already running low on funds as is and so I'll just have to make due.' I thought to myself before entering the Center Spawn.
Upon my first encounter, I realized something, I have no way to sense the beast's strength without either testing it out in combat or using Ki to sense it like the other members. But there's one big problem, I've yet to master life force thus I can't utilize Ki.
The beast was around five feet tall, and it held the same features that one would expect from a cheetah. Although it didn't move nearly as fast as one.
'From past battles and from my experience from fighting the Wendigo, I would say it's at least in the first Rank.' I spoke inwardly while zipping past the foreign beast.
Once I was around its face, I wound up my nunchuck from within my right hand and let it fly, directing contact on the beat's face. Then a noise was heard…
Crack!
'Did I just damage its skull?' I thought while slowing down my pace and distancing myself from the cheetah-like beast. After I had learned a little while fighting the beast from here.
'That reminds me, wasn't I supposed to give up my share of the beast corpses?' I thought while taking my eyes off the beast and looking up at a tree.
Then suddenly I was sent flying into another tree just like before, and all I could think was,"fast". Fast, it turns out this beast was very fast, even faster than me and it must have high regeneration abilities because even though it's skull had cracked a bit it never once let out a cry of pain.
'Ding!'
[-3 Life Force!]
[7 Life Force remaining!]
'Dang that hurt, why did it decide to attack now off all time?! Was it because I let my guard down, or rather was it because I took my eyes off it?'
I thought while attempting to stand back up, and once I had gathered my barings, I began with a different approach.
'It's painfully obvious that I won't be able to use my hit and run strategy, so I'll optimize for a more adapted one.' I thought before finishing my plans before being spotted by the beast.
After noticing that I was spotted, I began circling the beast from a distance until I soon used all of my power to push off the ground and into the trees. After doing this a few times, I finally learned which branches looked like they could support my weight and which couldn't.
Soon I descended from the tree tops and landed aback the beasts to which I heard another loud crack, followed by my swings to its thighs. Then I jumped off the beast and finally to my delight heard it whimper in pain.
That's when I took a bit of a mini rest and got back into the action. If I was going to make this a fair fight, well then I was going to need to somehow put a cap on its speed. Then while charging at the beast, it suddenly swung its body to the right with its head now facing me and it rear away.
Then the beast began trying to use its claws to its advantage, it even tried biting until it saw me leap away.
'Far to close, it seems that it relies mostly on its instances, fitting of a beast.'
I thought before planning on finishing the beast with these next moves.
I once again jumped down from the tree tops, to which the beast performed its head and rear flip like before however this time I wasn't charging, only analyzing.
That was until suddenly I noticed the beast going for the offensive and then I rolled to the side narrowly avoiding its claws. Then I replied by dashing after the beast and striking at all four of its legs.
If you haven't guessed by now, well then I'll just tell you. I was trying to dampen its speed. After I finally saw a visible decrease in its speed I put all of my speed and power into one final strike.
Then like a small flash of lightning I struck the beast's head faster than even it could react to. This caused the beast to be sent flying, however it was only one foot off to the side.
But the beast was definitely not close to getting back up, although for some reason after further inspection it still wasn't dead. Its will to live was simply commendable, for that I admired the beast, after all we shared something in common however prey was prey.
I stood my left foot hard on the beast's neck and placed my hand on its back. I just wanted to know if I could absorb some of the beast's Ki or if it even had any in the first place.
'Let's give it a shot.' I thought before activating Ki drain.
[Would you like to activate Ki Drain?]
[…]
[You've amassed seven points of Ki!]
[Ki Needed: 78!]
'Wait a minute, beasts actually have Ki?!'
I thought in shock, which had led to my foot releasing a bit of its hold over the beast to which it used to its advantage to try and bite it off.
"Bad kitty!" I said before finishing the job, thus with two shots of my full strength to the beast's head, I ended it off.
[You have slain a Rank Two Lower Beast!]
[You have not received any rewards…]
'Dang it, after all that work it still didn't get a Beast Jewel! Well I could have finished it off faster if I had used some of my skills, however when coming into the battle I wanted to know if my base stats could help me defeat the beast.'
'Although with a lousy seven Ki, I should have just ended it off with a few basic punches while using Partial Transformation.'
'Anyways, I guess I was wrong with my assumption, it wasn't a rank one beast but a rank two one, ha lucky me.'
'Crap I almost forgot! I need to do my daily tasks!'
A few minutes later, I completed all my daily tasks and earned six points of Ki. After comparing the two amounts of Ki I got, I figured that it was better I absorbed Rank Two Beast Ki seeing as it gave me more than my daily tasks, only because I refuse to eat human flesh.
'Although I reckon it tastes far better than beast meat, no, but I have eaten a Human brain before.
Anyways…
just why do beasts possess Ki and why don't they use it?'
[Ki needed: 72!]