*huff*
Tired and exhausted Alex returned to his cottage after a long stomach emptying exercise.
"Swear, I never trained my previous body like that it was already battle hardened since my birth"
"It's really tiring to have a useless body, it's not even made to even cultivate, and how are those villagers even surviving with only the ability without any bit of cultivation, what kind of place have I reached, in the past every household had a cultivation technique no matter how lousy."
"And.. this energy here just what's wrong with it, it shows no resemblance with mana... For now let's name it eon, it's like a simplified version of mana..." Alex out of his episodes, began thinking about the peculiarities, but once again he cursed out "holy chickens, just which part of the enemy empire, have I regressed in??"
Alex grumbled, his daily workout getting to his mind, it's been 14 days since he joined the hunters, but all he has done till now is to exercise, and even that was getting easier since he was strengthening his body every day.... In a few days he will reach the saturation point, to progress further he will need to start cultivating.
Do I just go with for now and start, but won't that make me permanently blank? No, but if I wish to leave this place, and get back to my family, only the resources there will help me get stronger faster
Soon Alex started skimming through his memory to find a technique which he could use as of now with limited resources to give him a quick boost in strength..
"Ha, even the memory holding capacity of this brain is weak, man what kind of body is this? "
Soon sparks flew out of Alex's Mind Scape.
"Hmm this could be possible, but for that I need to get to the forest to hunt, it might also allow me to progress a bit in cultivation"
...
So did Alex began, nagging Kent, just so that he could be allowed to come together with hunter. He kept on throwing tantrums day and night, leaving not a moments rest, Kent finally had enough and allowed him.
In the dense forest surrounding the village, a team of hunters were butchering through the hord of panthers.
"Wow, damn how the hell are they able to use their abilities to such an extent " Alex was dumbfounded seeing the once weak villagers, at least he thought so, now butchering the panthers even though the panthers were felled at the second form below in strength vise ranking of the beast but still see them butcher them like cutting butter with a hot knife shocked Alex.
But what picked his attention was a guy, at the back, with the most common ability, shield. Rather than acting as a tank, he supported the team from the back, manifesting platforms for the hunters, and using them to propel the team, due to him the hunters spent most time in the air, using the momentum to slash through
"Alex you haven't even killed one of those cats, how are you going to survive this forest" Kent mocked Alex with a cold laughter, he was getting back at Alex for his tantrums.. And started to sprint even faster.
"Hey you blank , sprint fater Or we will need to leave you behind" A person of the team left the remark and left Alex falling behind.
"No worries you can continue, I will collect some herbs and join you guys later." Alex replied
Soon the cohort left him behind. Now Alex was all alone in the jungle surrounded by the lifeless bodies of the panthers all over the grass land. They didn't even bother to collect the panther's bodies, as rarely anyone preferred to eat them.
"Any panther who is on last breath... Hmm there you are" Alex leapt to a panther who was on his last breath, breathing roughly wanting to just die to end his suffering.
"Sorry but you need to suffer just a bit more my friend" Alex said as his hands reached out in a sack striped to his back.
Keeping the sac down Alex started removing some medicinal herbs and knifes.
"C'mon, be a good guy and stop resisting I am just ending your pain" Alex was enjoying every moment of it, in the end he was too petty to let it go.
Alex took out a knife and started creating an incision on the panther's chest, having trouble tearing through its thick hide. Thankfully for Alex, the belly side of the panther wasn't as thick.
He used more strength to make the incision, but enough to not pierce through its skin, his hand moved meticulously.. Soon Alex finished making the incision, and the panthers internal organs were bare naked. The panther still alive, growling in pain.
"Though it doesn't have much life force left it will do, now to the main part" Alex said as his face turned serious.
He used his knife to slowly remove the heart, making sure not to damage it, soon as the heart detached from the body, the panther's body shrivelled up, leaving just a husk, Alex stared at the pulsating heart within his hand, with a grin on his face.
He used the hand in which he held the heart, as a medium, and formed a small orb of condensed eon within the heart, enough to keep the heart in optimal condition for few hours. He then stored the heart in a jar filled with a viscous fluid, to prevent it from damage as he moves around, and stored the jar in his bag.
Alex then sprinted around trying to find more panthers on deaths verge, but in a better condition, and began repeating the same process with it, he kept on repeating this until he collected a total of 9 hearts, along the way he also collected some herbs he found, to keep up the facade.