As An Xuan left the Beast Pavilion, he decided to pass through the Mission Pavilion. The place was bustling with disciples, all moving around with purpose.
The first thing that caught his eye was the variety of robes people wore. Each robe was a different color, depending on the disciple's talent.
At their waists, they all wore a small jade pendant that read either 'Outer' or 'Inner,' showing their status within the sect.
Disciples were ranked by their cultivation: first, there were the outer disciples, then the inner disciples, and finally, the true disciples.
Once someone became a true disciple, they had the chance to either aim for an Elder position or take the bold step of joining one of the sect's twelve 'sequences'—groups made up of those with exceptional talent.
These twelve sequences were no small deal. Each member was a genius, someone with at least a Heavenly-level talent.
But even higher than the sequences were the Holy Son and the Saintess.
They were the sect's heirs, with authority just below that of the Sect Leader.
Traditionally, they would marry each other to keep the bloodline of the sect pure, but sometimes they were married off to other factions for alliances.
To become the Holy Son or Saintess didn't require the best talent, though. What mattered was being one of the twelve sequences.
From there, they would challenge the Sect's Twelve Pagoda Tower, which contained an image with the shadows of the previous Holy Sons and Daughters.
And then you just needed to win against them all to gain the position, but of course, it wouldn't be easy to defeat the previous Holy Son or Saintess.
After all, all of them were essentially peerless geniuses in their time.
"Senior Brother," An Xuan called out as he approached the reception area, cupping his hands in greeting.
"Ah, Junior Brother Xuan!" A voice called back in surprise.
It was Leng Fan, a disciple who An Xuan had met briefly before.
"What are you doing here?" Leng Fan asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I've come to take on a few beginner missions," An Xuan replied simply.
"Missions? Let me help you with that." Leng Fan motioned for An Xuan to follow him, and they walked over to a large bulletin board with sheets of paper pinned to it.
"Here's a Mission Jade," Leng Fan explained. "It works with the missions on the board. All you need to do is grab a mission, let the Mission Jade absorb it, and once you finish, just place the materials near it to complete the mission. Your points will be added automatically."
As he spoke, Leng Fan slipped an arm around An Xuan's shoulder and leaned in a little, lowering his voice.
"Now, keep this a secret, alright?" He pulled out a different type of jade and handed it to An Xuan. "This is an Immediate Mission Jade. You don't need to go back to the pavilion to get a mission sheet. Just insert your Qi into it, and missions will be registered under your name. You can follow the same process as the regular jade, but this one's much more convenient."
Leng Fan winked at him, flashing a small, playful smile.
"Since I've got two of them, you can take this one," he said cheerfully.
"Thank you, Senior Brother Fan," An Xuan replied, cupping his hands in thanks.
But before he could straighten up, Leng Fan waved it off.
"No need for that between us," he said with a grin. "You helped me out yesterday, remember? This is just me repaying you."
An Xuan smiled faintly, recalling how he made Leng Fan owe him a favor.
Just yesterday, as Leng Fan showed An Xuan his abode, a beautiful woman from the same sect barged in, accusing Leng Fan of going to a brothel.
However, An Xuan quickly explained that this wasn't the case since Leng Fan was busy showing him the sect.
And with that, Leng Fan said that he owed An Xuan a favor.
"But," Leng Fan added, his tone turning serious, "be careful. Some of these missions might be of a higher grade than they seem, and nobody's double-checked them."
An Xuan nodded faintly.
Since he now had a more convenient way to accept missions, there was no need to stay in the Mission Pavilion any longer.
"I'll take my leave then," An Xuan said, cupping his hands once more before turning to leave.
Leng Fan's eyes followed him for a moment, a thoughtful expression on his face. A small smile tugged at the corners of his lips.
"A worthless-level talent... What a shame. I hope he doesn't die too quickly," he muttered under his breath before heading off in the other direction.
Meanwhile, An Xuan made his way toward the mysterious forest, a place where he hoped he could get more evolution points.
It didn't take him too long to reach it.
"Haah..."
An Xuan gripped his sword tightly as he scanned his surroundings.
Rustle...
As soon as heard the faintest of noises, his eyes darted toward it, and before he could react, a large, scaly beast lunged at him.
It looked like a giant lizard, its body covered in dark green scales.
Its mouth opened wide, showing rows of sharp teeth.
"Shit!"
He quickly stepped back and raised his sword, swinging it in a wide arc, but the lizard beast hissed and jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding the attack.
It quickly turned around and charged at An Xuan again, its claws aimed straight at his chest.
Noticing this, An Xuan quickly rolled to the side, avoiding its attack. Then, he slammed his foot against the ground before dashing toward the lizard creature.
The giant lizard quickly reacted to his attack, and as An Xuan swung his sword, the lizard quickly caught it with its sharp teeth.
"Heh..." A small smile crept up to An Xuan's lips.
"Mei'er, use the Phantom Tentacles!"
From the ground, five transparent tentacles materialized, wrapping themselves around the giant lizard, and keeping him in place.
With that, An Xuan quickly took his sword out of the lizard's mouth and stabbed its head, letting the lizard's blood flow out like a fountain.
[You have killed a Middle Stage Apprentice Beast! +1 Evolution Point!]
"A single point? Getting points will be harder than I initially thought." An Xuan muttered slightly.
But then, he heard another rustling noise, but this time, it was from behind him.
He turned just in time to see another beast—a giant, six-legged wolf with glowing red eyes—charging at him.
"Mei'er, use Poisonous Ink!"
Mei'er nodded, her small form glowing brighter. She opened her mouth, and a dark, thick ink shot out, striking the wolf in the face.
The wolf howled in pain as the ink spread across its fur.
The ink seemed to burn as it touched its skin, causing the beast to stumble back.
An Xuan quickly took advantage of the distraction and rushed forward, raising his sword, and striking at the wolf's side.
Splurt!
The sword cut deep, and the beast let out one final, blood-curdling scream before collapsing to the ground, lifeless.
[You have killed a Late-Stage Apprentice Beast! +2.5 Evolution Points!]
"A late-stage... apprentice beast? This Poisonous Ink is much stronger than I thought." He uttered, wiping the blood splattered on his sword using the beast's body.
"Good job, Mei'er." An Xuan reached out to pat her head.
"Mhm..." Mei'er purred as if she were some kind of cat.
But of course, An Xuan wasn't going to stop there as he quickly scanned the area around and found more beasts in the distance.
He quickly approached them, and finally saw their aspect; they looked like huge, twisted versions of boars with tusks as long as swords.
Their eyes gleamed with deep hunger.
"Phantom Tentacles!" he immediately ordered Mei'er.
With a nod, Mei'er's body shimmered, and suddenly, tentacles appeared around her.
They were long and translucent, like wisps of smoke.
Fwiip!
The tentacles lashed out, wrapping around one of the giant boars and lifting it off the ground.
The beast struggled, trying to free itself from the tentacles, but it couldn't do it, so An Xuan rushed forward, swinging it down, cutting into the boar's stomach.
The beast squealed in pain, but Mei'er's tentacles squeezed tighter, crushing it in a death grip.
[You have killed a Late-Stage Apprentice Beast! +2.5 Evolution Points!]
The boar's body fell to the ground with a heavy thud, and the other boars charged at them in fury.
Immediately, Mei'er summoned more tentacles, and this time, they wrapped around two of the boars at once. She lifted them high into the air, slamming them into the trees with tremendous force.
The boars crashed to the ground, their bodies twitching as the life drained from them.
[You have killed three Late-Stage Apprentice Beasts! +7.5 Evolution Points!]
"Uh... doesn't that make... seven tentacles?" An Xuan tilted his head in confusion.
In the description of the skill, he could only use three tentacles, but Mei'er could use more than five.
[Even though she can help you increase the mastery, the effects of the skill don't work on her whatsoever. She can release as many tentacles as she wants, she just needs enough Qi to do it.]
"Oh... That means, that we can use the technique at the same time?"
[Exactly, but Mei'er's is going to be much stronger than yours.]
"Well, that's obvious."
An Xuan sighed before turning around.
Since their hunt was going so well, it didn't matter if he went a bit deeper into the forest, did it?
But first, he grabbed the jade that Leng Fan had given to him and inserted Qi into it.
Then, he started looking at some missions and finally found a few that looked perfect to him; all of them needed him to kill late-stage apprentice realm beasts.
And An Xuan was confident enough to do that.
He started looking around for more beasts until he found a creature that had a similarity to a bear, but... it was strange.
It had a strange green color, pinching it slightly on the skin as if his body was rotting.
Immediately, he exchanged glances with Mei'er, to which, she nodded.
Puff...!
She opened her mouth, and more dark ink shot out, covering the creature's face.
"GRRRAGHHH!"
The bear snarled in anger, wiping at its eyes with its claws, but the ink had already begun to burn through its fur.
The creature howled in pain, but it didn't back down. It charged at them, its massive body thundering across the ground as it madly swung its claws.
An Xuan kept his distance from the creature as he hid himself between trees, however, it really didn't matter since just one attack from the giant bear split the tree in half.
"Shit...!"
At the incoming claw, An Xuan used his own Phantom Tentacles, which were absolutely snapped in half by the claw.
However, that had bought him enough time to roll to the side, and as soon as he did that, Mei'er's tentacles appeared, wrapping around the bear's legs.
"GRAUAGG!"
The creature stumbled, its balance thrown off by the sudden attack.
"My chance!"
An Xuan immediately dashed forward, gripping the handle of his sword tightly, as he swung it in a not-so-precise crescent arc, cutting deep into the bear's stomach.
Splurt!
The beast roared in pain, blood spraying out, and before it could truly snap the tentacles away, they tightened around its legs, pulling it to the ground with a loud crash.
The beast struggled, but the more it fought, the more it became entangled.
Then, as the plate was already served, An Xuan who was near, stabbed his sword directly on the bear's chest.
The quality of the sword was so good that it didn't take much strength to pierce it.
[Ding!]
[You have killed a mutant Middle Stage Novice Beast! +250 Evolution Points!]
"That much?" An Xuan's eyes widened, however, his happiness was short-lived.
[The usual value is 25 Evolution Points, but because it was a mutant beast, the value increased by ten times since mutated beasts are extremely rare.]
"Middle Stage... doesn't that mean that he's on the same level as Mei'er, how did Mei'er's tentacles keep him imprisoned?"
[...Don't compare beasts to your monster girl. Despite her common race, her power should be more than ten times a normal beast.]
"Ten times?" An Xuan frowned; it was too good to be true.
[A Monster Girl is a growth-type beast that can absorb any kind of race into their essence, strengthening themselves. There's no way an ordinary nor mutated beast can compare to it, maybe divine beasts like the Phoenix, or the Azure Dragon, but in the end, if your Monster Girl absorbs more and more races, it's just a matter of time until she reaches the same level as those divine beasts.]
"Ah... Then, we'll have a feast today..."
An Xuan licked his lips as his eyes scanned his surroundings.
"I guess I should set a goal for now... maybe... 5.000 Evolution Points? After all, that's just 2.000 Late-Stage Apprentice Beasts..."
To kill that amount of beasts, it would probably take more than a day, but An Xuan didn't even seem to consider that aspect.
He gripped his sword tightly before dashing forward.
"Mei'er, let's go!"
"Mhm!"