A beast that resembled a wolf, yet it was unlike any wolf Caelum had ever seen before. It lay on the ground, enjoying its meal. Its prey? A horned rabbit.
As soon as Caelum stepped into the clearing, the beast's ears twitched, and it turned its head to face him, its piercing eyes seemingly appraising him as prey.
The blood covering its open mouth and sharp canines created a chilling sight, but Caelum had reached a point where displays of gore no longer fazed him.
A cruel expression flashed across the beast's face as it rose and stood on its four powerful legs.
In terms of height, the creature was slightly taller than Caelum. It charged toward him with incredible speed—the kind a regular human could barely react to.
Fortunately, Caelum's enhanced speed stat also boosted his reaction time. As the beast lunged, its neck extending in an attempt to bite him, Caelum dodged sideways, attempting to circle around it.
He slashed at its side with his sword, but the beast's agility outmatched his timing, allowing it to easily evade the attack.
Unbeknownst to Caelum, the air around the creature's feet swirled unnaturally, subtly aiding its movements.
The beast didn't just dodge—it counterattacked. Before Caelum could react, he felt an invisible force slam into him.
The impact blew him off his feet and sent him crashing into a nearby tree.
Pain radiated from the right side of his torso as he hit the trunk with considerable force. For the first time, Caelum experienced the devastating power of a Dao Technique.
What he was facing was no ordinary wolf—it was a Windfang Lupine, a beast born with an innate affinity for the Wind element.
The lupine was relentless. Even before Caelum's body hit the ground, it had already begun closing the distance, its jaws snapping open to end his life.
Caelum recovered just in time. Still lying on the ground, he kicked the beast's face with all the strength he could muster, buying himself precious moments to roll out of the way of its razor-sharp claws.
Gritting his teeth, he pushed himself upright and widened the gap between himself and the beast. This was not going to be an easy fight.
The Windfang Lupine paused, reassessing the human it had deemed prey. At first, it thought the fight would be simple because it had failed to sense any Qi from him. But even without Qi, Caelum was putting up a fight.
After circling each other for a while, the human and magical beast engaged once more.
From her nearby hiding place, Saya observed her Young Master's first fight against a true magical beast. The muscles in her body were taut, and she remained ready to circulate her Qi the moment the situation called for it.
Seconds turned into minutes.
Five minutes… then ten… and then fifteen.
She watched as Caelum held on for much longer than she had expected. After all, the enemy could use techniques imbued with Qi while he could not.
Still, she felt it was only a matter of time before she would need to intervene. Caelum was starting to show signs of exhaustion.
But the fight ended in a way she did not expect.
It wasn't Caelum who ran out of stamina first. It was the Windfang Lupine, which seemed to deplete its Qi reserves.
All of a sudden, its movements became much slower, and the annoying wind attacks it seemed to shoot from its mouth grew less frequent.
Caelum's body had already sustained many injuries from that skill.
After a few more minutes of fighting, the Windfang Lupine, bleeding profusely from several wounds, finally collapsed from blood loss, allowing Caelum to deliver the finishing blow.
Caelum touched its now lifeless body and activated [Devour].
As soon as he confirmed that the ability triggered successfully, he slumped to the ground, eventually lying flat on it.
His superficial injuries began to heal under the effects of [Devour], but the physical and mental stamina he had expended during the fight would take more time to recover.
Saya emerged from her hiding spot and stood close to Caelum, letting him recover in peace.
[You have successfully devoured your target.]
[Your Strength has increased by 2.]
[Your Speed has increased by 3.]
[Your Defense has increased by 1.]
[Your affinity with Wind has increased.]
[The skill [Gale Steps] has been acquired.]
[The skill [Wind Burst] has been acquired.]
[Your cultivation has increased.]
[You have accumulated Madness.]
'Skills! Affinity!' Caelum exclaimed inwardly.
He had not forgotten the [Beginner Cooking] skill he got from devouring the mortal woman in the family dungeon. She had been imprisoned there for trying to poison someone from the Goldheart family.
Caelum just did not bother with that skill because he deemed it to be useless.
Looking at his system interface, Caelum noticed several changes.
First of all, his cultivation progress in the Bone Strengthening stage had gone from 15% all the way to 40%.
'As expected, quality over quantity is the way to go.'
The affinities section also had a change.
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***[Affinities]***
Wind: 5%
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'Normally, affinities are determined by birth. The fact that I can increase my affinities like this is pretty amazing.'
An affinity with an element offered comprehensive advantages to all abilities of that element, including increased power, reduced qi consumption, and shorter activation time.
And all these benefits increased exponentially with higher affinities.
Finally, Caelum focused his thoughts on the two new abilities he had gained.
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[Gale Steps]: A movement technique that lets you move faster by harnessing the power of the wind.
Cost: 0.1 Qi / second
[Wind Burst]: Create a concentrated sphere of wind that you can then launch at your foes.
Cost: 2 Qi
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Caelum's joy deflated a little when he realized he currently had no Qi at all and hence couldn't use these abilities.
'Getting to Qi Gathering is a priority now.' Still, that fact only served as motivation.
Done inspecting his interface, Caelum just lay down on the ground and relaxed. It was going to be a long day for him.