Right after the voice stopped, a mature man with a scar on his left cheek came out of the bushes.
The mature man had black hair and red eyes.
A big axe was hanging on his back, and blood stains could be spotted in some parts of his clothes.
Anyone who saw him would know immediately that these blood stains were not from him but from his enemies.
The name of the mature man was Casen, an awakener at the Elite rank.
Casen was already in that area before Ren fought the Flame Cat. Even though he was shocked at how easily Ren killed the Flame Cat, he was not afraid of Ren.
He had never lost to someone of the same rank until now. And Ren was still young, so he was sure the possibility of Ren defeating him was zero, big zero.
"Hmm?" Ren turned his body toward the source of the sound.
'Is he the one who just talked to me?'
When he was about to say something, a quest popped up.
[Ding! The Flame Cat died at Host's hand, so it belongs to Host. Protect the beast core and kill Casen. Upon completing the quest, Host will be rewarded with 80 points, 50 system exp and one random card.]
'A quest?'
Ren was taken aback by the sudden appearance of the quest.
'I still haven't finished the previous mission, but I get another quest?'
He thought he would not get another quest before completing the previous mission, but he was wrong.
He suddenly remembered the condition for the quest to be triggered.
'I forgot about it.'
He finally knew why he got another quest.
"Young man, give that beast core to me." Casen repeated his words as he approached Ren leisurely. "Oh, and give me your money too."
Ren shifted his gaze from his system to Casen. "Who are you? Are we close?"
Of course, Ren would not listen to Casen's words. He was the one who killed the Flame Cat, so there was no way he would give the beast core to Casen.
Casen was unhappy with Ren's answer and behavior. "Young man, just give me your money and the beast core while I'm still being nice to you. Otherwise, you will lose your life later."
Instead of listening to Casen, Ren took the beast core and stored it in his system.
Casen was unhappy with Ren's decision.
He had given Ren a chance to leave that place in one piece, yet he dared to ignore his order, so a wave of fury crashed through him.
"It seems like you are tired of living." Casen grabbed his axe and slammed it to the ground.
The ground trembled, and a huge fissure spread fast toward Ren.
When Ren jumped to the right to avoid his attack, Casen's lips curled up into a grin.
'I knew you would do that.'
He rushed toward Ren while holding his axe with both hands.
All of his opponents always jumped to the left or right every time he used this skill, so Casen knew what to do next.
'Flame Slash!'
Yellow flame enveloped his big axe.
But before Casen's attack landed on his body, Ren disappeared from his place by performing the Lightning Movements skill.
The flame slash hit three trees: one was burned to a crisp while the other two fell to the ground, producing vibration in the air.
"Oh! You can avoid it?" Casen said in surprise.
Normally, his opponents would die instantly or at least they would be seriously injured because he had mastered this combination attacks and did it countless times.
However, Ren was different from them.
Not only could Ren avoid his combination attacks, but he was not injured, either.
Of course, Casen was still calm because he believed everything was still under his control.
'Then what about this?'
He rushed toward Ren again.
And like before, he failed to kill Ren.
Ren always disappeared right before his axe landed on his body, so all of his attacks only hit the air, not Ren's body.
'Damn it! He always managed to dodge my attacks.'
He started to lose his cool and curse venomously in his heart because all of his attacks never hit Ren until now.
'Then I will use my strongest skill.'
A powerful aura burst out of his body.
"Young man, I will end the fight now." Casen roared.
But before he used his strongest skill, Ren appeared behind him.
"You are right. Let's end this boring fight now." Ren used the Lightning Movement skill to appear behind him.
"Cough…" Casen coughed up blood before finally looking at Ren's sword that had pierced his heart.
'How? How could this happen?'
He was undefeatable every time he fought someone of the same rank, so he found it hard to believe what was going on.
Not only did he lose the fight, he even lost to someone much younger than him.
Something like this should not have happened.
He should be the one laughing in the end, not Ren.
So how?
How could he lose to Ren?
Ren even only needed one move to kill him.
It was as if the person with the most fighting experience was not him but Ren.
"I…did not expe-" before Casen had finished his words, he fell to the ground and died.
"You should not become a bandit if your skills are only at this level." Ren swung his sword once, removing Casen's blood from his sword.
[Ding! Host has completed the quest.]
[Ding! Host has received 80 points, 50 system exp and Donxi Antidote card (1). Host can find the card in the inventory.]
'Donxi Antidote?'
When he was about to read the description, other notifications popped up.
[Ding! The system has leveled up.]
[Ding! Appraisal Feature is unlocked.]
[Ding! Magical Beasts Assimilation feature is unlocked.]
An unexpected happiness consumed him after reading the notifications.
'Appraisal feature? Magical Beasts Assimilation feature?'
He immediately told his system to explain it.
[Appraisal Feature is a feature to check or analyze your opponent or items, Host.]
"Does that mean I can check whether the fruit is poisonous or not?" he threw a question at his system.
[That's right, Host. You can analyze everything, including weapons, armor, magical herbs, etc.]
The happiness in his heart grew bigger because it was a useful feature, especially in a dangerous place like a forest.
'Tell me about the Magical Beasts Assimilation feature.'
He was curious about this feature because it had the words Magical Beasts on it.
[The Magical Beasts Assimilation feature is a feature to help Host level up the system faster.]
His system said he would get exp after killing a magical beast, and the exp would go directly to the system exp.
The amount of exp he would get was like this.
Kill one 1-star magical beast = 25 exp.
Kill one 2-star magical beast = 60 exp.
Kill one 3-star magical beast = 150 exp.
Kill one 4-star magical beast = 400 exp.
Kill one 5-star magical beast = 1,000 exp.
Kill one 6-star magical beast = 4,000 exp.
Kill one 7-star magical beast = 30,000 exp.
Kill one 8-star magical beast = 1,000,000 exp.
Kill one 9-star magical beast = 5,500,000 exp.
Ren touched his chin and said, "So, there is another method to level up my system, huh?"
He previously thought he could only level up his system through quests, but he was glad he was wrong because, with this, he could level up his system faster.
[That's right, Host.]
'Now, let me check the Donxi Antidote card.'
He began to read the description.
Donxi Antidote was an amazing antidote because it could cure all poisons.
However, nothing was perfect in this world.
Despite having amazing efficacy, Donxi Antidote had after effects.
The person who drank this antidote would not be able to use mana or spiritual energy for seven days.
In other words, that person would become an ordinary person, not an awakener.
'What kind of antidote is this?'
Ren found it hard to believe what he was reading.
This was the first time he had come across this kind of antidote, so he did not know whether he should be happy or not.
'Doesn't this mean I will be in danger after drinking this antidote?'
He was in a dangerous forest, so his life would be in danger if he could not use spiritual energy or mana because this place was the home of magical beasts.
'Well, I got this card for free, so I shouldn't complain.'
He then shifted his gaze from his system to Casen's corpse.
'Now, it's time to get the main reward.'