The next morning, Clarence awoke with a slight dizziness. He could only get drunk even after being a rank one was because he was impeding the mana from purifying the wine. It prevented the wine from being broken down, allowing it to do its work unhindered.
As soon as he woke up, he first concocted a potion from the paste of various plants he collected while strolling in the forest to get rid of the dizziness.
Simple potions like these were rankless, which meant that even the common population could make them if they had the necessary ingredients.
However, the recipe was not widespread because it was controlled by the higher echelons. Even if a common man acquired it, procuring the ingredients would be difficult because not everyone has the courage to travel to dangerous locations such as the Bluemist mountains, where the ingredients commonly grew.
Some of the higher echelons even had their own farms of the ingredients, giving them a steady source of income and eliminating the need to venture into the forest to collect it.
When he felt that he had sobered up a bit, Clarence packed up all the mess he had drunkenly made the previous night. He looked at the books a little longer before putting them in his spatial bracelet too.
He exited the cave and went about his daily routine, working out and then taking a bath. After a refreshing bath, he was in a jolly mood today after yesterday's battle.
He didn't use dagger techniques, but he did break it down into segments and use them individually. But he couldn't get rid of side effects when he used the technique in segments because it hadn't been long since he acquired it.
Its strength had been significantly reduced, but it allowed him to be more flexible. Clarence still thought he could disassemble the technique without compromising the individual strength of segments. Just that it'll need more research and experiments.
Clarence was strolling around collecting different plants, stones, or anything of even little worth. Being a rank one, he didn't have much need for higher ranked supplementary things, even rankless ones would support him well.
*CLING*
He suddenly heard a sound not too far away from him when he had bent down to collect a flower. Without hurrying, he carefully collected the flower and put it in his spatial bracelet.
He then stood up and approached the source of sound. The same teen he met back then was the one fighting two rank two lions.
He was wielding a sword and facing the two lions with a stance that was far more firm and stable than his own.
Clarence sat on a tree branch the entire time, watching the battle. It would be an understatement to say he was impressed.
The teen had a completely different battle style than his own. Unlike him, who changed course of attack to divert its strength, attack with minor cuts to immobilize, then going for a one-hit kill, the teen faced all the attacks head on and overpowered them.
It wasn't to say that he fought without brains. He knew when to dodge and when to block. At times, he countered, grasping perfect opportunities, which even he overlooked. He even hit vital points to injure the lions and finally killed them.
But if one were to just talk about the vibe of the battle styles, Clarence's battles looked like tricks upon tricks, whereas the teen's battles looked quick and straightforward.
This didn't mean that Clarence had a superior style; for example, if he were to face an opponent or a beast which had enough regenerative speed to overpower the minor injuries he stacks on them, then he would be put in an incredibly tough spot.
After the teen was done fighting, he looked in Clarence's direction to show that he could sense him, before proceeding to put the two corpses into his spatial bracelet.
Clarence was a bit surprised the teen could sense him, even though he was just spectating while running his mana. He hadn't missed a day of training his mana.
Which meant he already had quite a good range for someone in rank one, but the teen could still sense him, indicating he wasn't any weaker.
Like the previous time, the teen turned around and walked away without interacting, to which Clarence just shook his head.
But just a few seconds later, his expression turned serious as he sensed a horde of beasts coming this way. He quickly set up a few traps and clutched his daggers.
*CLING*
He channeled his golden blue energy and could now sense that the teen who had walked away had already engaged with the horde.
It was an extremely small horde with only around thirty beasts. Just as he was about to go ahead and engage with them, he could see a few people rushing towards the beast horde and start fighting it.
He came to a halt and observed them for a few moments before realizing they were members of the Scavengers group.
Upon seeing that they were more than enough, he took a step back and just observed the battle, as he just wanted to chill and rest today after fighting continuously for a few days.
The beasts' side was losing the battle heavily. They were basically being slaughtered because the highest rank among them was a single rank three panther, while the Scavengers had three of such rank among them.
A few minutes later into the battle, Clarence was pretty much enjoying it. It was satisfying to see the techniques and skills he only ever learned theoretically being used in an actual battle.
Just as he was concentrating on how well-synchronized the Scavengers' fighting style was, he, or rather everyone, was interrupted by a loud voice.
"This is my prey!"
Clarence turned around to see it was the teen who had just yelled, but that didn't interrupt his battle with the beast. With an irritated expression, the person next to him replied,
"I was just looking to help after seeing how you were struggling. No need to get so worked up over it."
After saying his part, the young man changed his direction and went elsewhere to assist with the battle.
The teen ignored the young man and continued his tough battle. From the exchange earlier, it was clear that he didn't appreciate help with fighting the three rank two beasts.
As his battle continued, the surrounding people were gradually done with their respective fights. They either watched the teen's ongoing battle or harvested their loot.
After quite a few more minutes, the teen's body was completely covered in claw marks and bruises, but not once did he fall or let out a sound which indicated his pain.
The battle finally ended after a few more minutes, with the demise of the three beasts. As soon as the battle ended, the surrounding people clapped and cheered for him. Clarence also whistled loudly to join in on the fun.
The teen straightened his back seeing all of this and went ahead to put the beasts in his spatial bracelet. He turned around and thanked the Scavengers before leaving with his head held high.
Even though he was hit badly in the leg and bleeding from a lot of places, he was walking with a steady form, straight back and head held high.