Crack! Crack! The frost poison spread through the tree, making loud, crackling noises. The leader Snow Viper whipped its tail at the frozen trunk. With a thunderous crash, the tree broke and fell towards August.
"Shit," he cursed, quickly dodging to narrowly avoid it.
"Haha, yeah, it's angry," August laughed awkwardly.
"Aurora, use Mist Veil," he commanded, his expression sharpening as he took a deep breath.
Aurora gathered her mana, releasing a thick mist from her mouth that quickly enveloped the area around them.
The leader Snow Viper became disoriented by the sudden mist obscuring its vision. Despite having survived the harsh environments of this world, it couldn't see through the thick fog.
A sudden burst of dark energy struck its body from behind, leaving a deep gash on the back. The leader Snow viper let out a piercing screech and recoiled in pain.
"Did I not apply enough mana to the strike?" August murmured as he emerged from the mist, glancing at the bleeding wound.
Whoosh! Four ice spikes shot towards him. He slashed two of them, shattering them into small pieces, and dodged the other two.
"Ssst!" August glancing in the direction of the attack. He saw four Snow viper advancing through the mist.
"They must have come after hearing the leader's cry," he concluded.
"Let's finish you all off first," he decided, preparing to attack.
"Aurora, use Ice Spike on them," August commanded as he sprinted towards the minions.
Aurora conjured four ice spikes and directed them toward the Snow Vipers. The spinning ice spikes accelerated through the air, heading precisely for their targets.
The power of an ability depends on its rank, mastery, the core rank of the beast, and the bloodline rank.
The ice spikes struck the beasts one by one, making them shriek in pain. August closed in on them, cutting them in half with his blade.
After finishing the last minion, August sensed an attack coming his way. He raised his blade in defense.
Clank! The leader's tail whip collided with his blade, producing a resounding clunk and pushing him back.
"What power," August muttered, glancing at his hand, which shook from the impact.
The leader beast prepared to attack again, but Aurora fired multiple ice spikes. It dodged most of them, but one spike hit its eye, making it shriek in pain.
"Let's end this," August growled, his voice filled with determination. He got into a combat stance, drawing mana into his blade and coating it with a shadowy aura. He sprinted towards the leader beast.
Hissss! The leader beast hissed in rage, ignoring the pain as it gathered mana in its fangs, imbuing them with chilling cold energy.
As they closed in, the leader beast lunged at August, baring its fangs.
August used the Shadow Dance technique, making him appear as a mere shadow. The beast, confused, tried to bite the shadow, but its fangs snapped at empty air.
"Got ya," August said, appearing behind the beast. With a precise strike, he sliced the beast's neck.
The leader beast's head dropped from its body, blood spurting from the cut.
August sheathed his blade and approached the body. He retrieved a glass bottle to store the beast's blood.
After storing the blood, he used his extraction ability on the corpse. A notification appeared in front of him.
[You have used Ability Extraction on the beast Snow Viper. Choose an ability to extract:
- [Ice Spike F6]
- [Frost Poison F4]
'Hmm, should I extract Ice Spike or Frost Poison? I could give her a new ability or upgrade her mastery over Ice Spike. If it reaches level 5, she might awaken an additional effect.' August pondered.
"Let's select the Ice Spike ability," he decided, hoping Aurora could awaken the additional effect.
'I can come back tomorrow and get the Frost Poison from the other Snow Vipers anyway.'
[You have chosen to extract the Ice Spike ability F6 from Snow Viper.]
[Ding! You have successfully extracted the Ice Spike F6 ability.]
[The ability has been stored in the temporary ability slot.]
"Be ready, Aurora. I will assign the ability to you," August warned. Aurora replied with a confirming hiss.
"Assign the Ice Spike ability to Aurora," August instructed the system.
[You have chosen to assign the Ice Spike F6 ability to your pet, 'Aurora'.]
[Transferring in process.]
[Ding! Transfer completed.]
[Your pet's mastery over the ability Ice Spike has been upgraded from F4 to F5.]
[Your pet has awakened Ice Spike's additional ability.]
"Yes!" August exclaimed, clenching his fist in excitement after hearing the system prompt.
"Aurora, try attacking that tree with Ice Spike," he said, eager to see the new ability effect in action.
Aurora's eyes gleamed with excitement as she hissed in approval. She quickly formed a larger ice spike than before and fired it at the tree. The ice spike spun and accelerated, penetrating the tree before shattering and freezing the area where it landed.
"It has the same effect as the leader Snow Viper's attack," August pondered, feeling pleased. With this ability, Aurora could hinder enemies by lowering their mobility with the freezing effect.
After the experiment, he retrieved a knife imbued with a sharpness rune he had bought yesterday to properly cut the beasts. He swiftly cut open their bellies to retrieve their cores.
"Here," August said, handing the leader beast's core to Aurora, who quickly swallowed it without hesitation.
"You can eat the leader beast's body," he added. Aurora eagerly began consuming large chunks of the beast, surprising August with how much she could devour despite her small size.
'It must be because of her devour ability,' August thought.
"Hey, system, I have a question," he said.
[Host can ask anything within his authority.]
"Okay, I want to know if storing the body of a beast in the inventory will affect the duration of the death time for extraction because of the inventory's time-slowing effect."
[Host is mistaken. The inventory is a time-stopped space, not a time-slowing space.]
"So, the inventory is a time-stopped space. I can store a beast's body and retrieve it two days later, and still use the ability extract?"
[Yes, the system does not limit the host from being creative.]
"Got it," August said, quickly storing a Snow Viper body with a higher level of mastery in Frost Poison than the rest. He could utilize the ability extract feature more effectively when it reset after 24 hours.