"Do you have any questions before you begin?"
"What if I need clothes or other items?"
"You won't need anything. This is also a test. The only thing that you'll get is an advanced ability book related to swords and the ability to purge impurities. Other than that, you will get a sword. Since you won't have a way to carry stuff, I recommend you refine the monster core one by one. Kill the monster, grab the core and bail, since other monsters will come because of the smell of blood. Find a safe place and refine the core."
Then Thomas gave four items to Kyle. A watch that also had a tracker. A purplish metallic sword. And two books. One was called Purgatory Sword Techniques, and the other was called Impurities Channel Cleaner.
"I'm going away, and I'll be back in a week. Remember to be here in a week before eight o'clock. Goodbye!"
Then Thomas started walking away. But his walking speed was simply incredible, in a minute Kyle couldn't see him anymore.
"System, is there a way to make a map so I don't get lost?"
[Order received; Map screen being created. You can now access map screen]
"Map!"
Soon a screen was shown in front of him. It had a huge black screen and in the middle there was a circle area that was painted like what Kyle could see. Right in the middle of the map there was white indicator icon that rotated as Kyle rotated his head.
"It seems that the map will only unlock areas as I pass through them. System, can you locate monsters and display them on the map?"
[Order received; Monster positions will be displayed on the map if your divine sense can find them.]
"Divine sense? That will take a while for me to unlock. But at least I know it's possible."
Divine sense was a skill he would unlock naturally with his cultivation. But it's some realms away.
Kyle then opened his books. It was best to have more skills before going out. It seems like he was at a certain safe place. So it was best if he could use this place for now to learn the skills without distractions. He wouldn't take long though, he had the system. As soon as he finished reading the Purgatory Sword Techniques a notification appeared.
[Acquired new skill: Purgatory Sword Techniques, rank high magic]
He didn't need the book anymore. Now it was everything saved in his head with the system. The next book was Impurities Channel Cleaner.
[Acquired new skill: Impurities Channel Cleaner, rank peak mythic]
"Wow, high mythic, this skill must be very valuable since it's regarded so high by the system. I wish I knew what the ranks and grades for techniques were though." Kyle thought.
[Order received; Ranks are Mortal, Magic, Extraordinary, Heavenly, Mythic, Divine, Ancient, Godly. Each rank has low, medium, high and peak grades]
"The system is so reliable. So, the rank of Impurities Cleaner is very high, I better cherish this opportunity." Kyle thought.
Kyle practiced the sword technique a few times and when he got the hang of it, he started to search for monsters. The Purgatory Sword Techniques were just a few methods to reinforce the sword, release sword beams and empower normal moves using blood energy. The name was tyrannical because the efficiency was very high and common attacks may result in death without using too much blood energy.
Kyle started exploring the area, and it took him a few hours to find the first monster. It was a giant brown rat that had some purple stripes on its fur. It was one meter tall when all four paws were on ground, but if it stood at only the back paws, then it was almost the same size of Kyle.
"Inspect!" Kyle ordered in thought.
[Poisonous Giant Rat]
[Elements: Wood]
[Level: Warrior Rank 2]
"Shit, rank two is at least a few times stronger than me."
Soon, the rat also spotted Kyle. The rat wasn't afraid of Kyle, since Kyle didn't emit a strong aura. Monster were quite sensitive to aura, since it could determine their survival if they faced against a strong opponent. The rat started running towards Kyle.
Kyle didn't waste much time and planned an ambush. The rat was coming with all his might and it was obvious it wanted to bite Kyle's head off, since it's mouth was already opening. Kyle thought that since this monster was stronger than him, his only option of winning was by playing dirty.
Kyle readied his sword and held it closer to his body. He pretended to try to defend the rat's attack. The rat mouth was wide open, and it wanted to bite Kyle's head. It jumped on the last moment and was prepared to use the momentum from its jump to pounce on its pray.
This was the moment Kyle was waiting for. Mobilizing his blood energy, he put his sword in front of the rats mouth and the sword penetrated the mouth ceiling, all the way to the brain. The rat died on the spot but it's body momentum as still there. They both fell on the floor with the dead rat on top of Kyle.
[Target killed. Power extraction complete]
[Body tempering absorbed: +82]
[Cultivation base absorbed: +31]
[Conditions met for breakthrough]
[Breakthrough complete! Congratulations! Now you body is at the Magic Refinement Realm Rank 1]
[Changing to conform with environment. Magic Refinement Realm changed to Warrior Realm]
[Do you want to use to the carcass of the monster to further improve your body refinement?]
[Yes] [No]
"Yes, of course!" Kyle said without thinking too much about it. He would do anything that would make him stronger without setbacks.
The body of the rat started to disintegrate and was turned into smoke. But the smoke wasn't evaporating into the atmosphere, but rather fusing with Kyle's body. It took one second, but all of the monster carcass and blood disappeared.
[Skill unlocked: Monster Absorption Lv. 1]
[Cultivation base absorbed: +42]
[Body tempering absorbed: +124]
"Wow, now I'm officially at Warrior Realm. This monster absorption skill is very handy as well. The system is full of surprises. But it also shows why father said that the system would help me to grow faster."
"Let's check the status again."
[Name: Kyle Goldblood]
[Age: 15 years]
[Strength: 31.92]
[Agility: 31.72]
[Vitality: 33.12]
[Stamina: 30.82]
[Power Index: 31.89]
[Qi: 4000]
[Blood Energy: 160.8]
[Cultivation Technique: Five Elements of Chaos Transformations]
[Cultivation Rank: Mortal]
[Cultivation Base: 732/1000]
[Qi Power: 7.32]
[Meditation Technique: None]
[Soul Rank: Mortal]
[Soul Power: 3.69]
[Body Tempering Technique: Sword Body Tempering]
[Body Rank: Warrior Rank 1]
[Body Tempering: 142/1500]
[Body Power: 16.08]
"It seems I won't be needing to consume monster cores like teacher told me. I only need to use the system. I'm starting to understand why they say that when they reach 20 in power index, they are considered Warrior Rank 1. It looks like they can't accurately measure body power but instead they use the power index, the thing is that body power and power index are closely related. The power index is somewhere double of the body power, but there are also the initial conditions of the body interfering with the initial power index."
"If I'm not mistaken, I can also increase my natural stats by training like a regular person. But it's not efficient, the increase in power is very slow. Hell, even training body tempering is slow. Cultivation is the fastest way since half of qi power is given to the body. The qi accumulated is passively supporting the body operation aiding in its strength. But the most efficient way is by killing monsters. The increase in power from killing a monster is the best."
After confirming his strength, Kyle started searching for more monsters. But the disappointing fact was that he couldn't find another monster during his exploration. He wasn't a tracker and neither had methods to discover monster locations. He had the option of using blood to attract monsters, but he knew that if more than one monster showed up, he would be dead for sure.
At night, Kyle decided to head towards a small river he had passed along the way. He was sweaty and smelly. He wanted to take a bath in the river before preparing a place for sleeping.
He had never taken a class of wilderness survival as they were supposed to be taught during the military draft. Thus, he didn't know he needed shelter, fire, a water source and a way to turn river water into clean water.
But so far, he didn't feel hunger and he was only a little thirsty. In fact, after absorbing the monster he felt extremely full and wasn't getting hungry at all. But his thirst was starting to add up and become a problem. His mouth was very dry, and it was distracting his thoughts. Luckily, he was already heading towards the small river he had seen on his journey.
But how could his first night be so tranquil. Surely something must happen.