Testing the limits

The encounter felt like a second, when he saw the Evolved Predator Tiger before he was scared stiff, just by its presence alone he could tell the difference.

The Great Serpent gave no less of a pressure when he felt it, the instinct of a beast in danger.

Unlike him, Kirin was already prepared for the fight, without hesitation in striking his weak point.

While he was planning his attack when it emerged, Kirin was executing his kill when he first sensed it emerging its head on the ground.

He was planning to kill it after finding out there was only one of it, but Kirin already took the lead after he confirmed it.

...Now he knew why most main characters pause when they see a villain does a transformation phrase, he felt like when he was watching dragon balls, waiting for a goddamn seven episode for Goku to use his gigantic Kamenamehan!

If this was a game, he would strike the enemy when it was charging an attack, but he stood like an open target!!!!

He felt like such a noob!!!!!

He then gave a resolution to get use to being vigilant, since he can't rely on his familiars all the time, and he had to at least be capable or he would put his new life to shame!!!

"In any case, he sure moves fast as hell..."

When he was about to charge, Kirin did a quick dash and severed the neck, maybe it was the difference in stats.

"Your right master, he was fast, since he was focusing his Zen energy in his whole body."

'Zen Energy can even do something like that...'

Thus Hilda lectured him on how Kirin was able to move in the speed of light.

Heavenly Beast are born with Zen energy, hence they have natural talent and senses on how to use it, like how the Great Tiger released an oppressive aura around it.

In Kirin's case he used it's Zen energy and focused on speed at that moment.

"You can even compare it to that cultivator with the hammer when he focused his energy to his hammer. All cultivators can do it, but the difference in energy is still present, so if master where to do it in your current level, you can only cover a thin layer like a veil and it would easily be ripped of if someone, in the higher Tiers, were to attack you would be covered in bruises."

"Anything else I say is reference to an old master who came up with the theory. So don't be discouraged and try your best Master!!"

He didn't need to hear it from her but she was right, he has the knowledge but putting them to actual practice is another story.

Looking at Kirin, it was dragging the rest of the body on the ground, afterwards the sound of tearing flesh was heard, so he looked at its head but decided to not get the core inside the head.

'Since Kirin killed it, it belongs to him.'

He then tried to looked through the damaged lands to look for his kills, but with the continuous thunder strikes most of them are burned, so he can only salvage the cores, which numbered over forty to fifty.

Pondering on what to do, he used his skill and he checked all his options.

[Name: Stigma Falsus

Age: 10

Rank: Unique

Skill:

Essence Reader(III) 45%, Poltergeist (III) (1) 60%, Soul Eater (IV) 50%, Taboo(III) 45%

*

Current Souls Absorbed: Soul of Impurity, Wolf Soul, Snake Soul, Stag Soul, Bear Soul, Eagle Soul, Bull Soul, Boar Soul, Monkey Soul, Cheetah Soul, Rabbit Soul, Rat Soul, Goat Soul

*

Pure Energy: 220%

Grudge Energy: 104%

Wrath Energy: 140%

Zen Energy: 260%

Fire Energy: 104%

Earth Energy: 103%

Water Energy: 20%

Light Energy: 4%

*

Souls: Soul of Wrath

*Familiars:*

1. Dusk (1)

2. Brunhilda (1)

*

Tiger Soul: 30%

Snake Soul: 80%

*

Skills: Throwing (II) 29 %, Knife Mastery (II) 31%, Hunting (II) 21%

[Cooking, Farming, Hunting, Blacksmith, Glasswork, Masonry, Sewing, Calculation, Riding, Archery, Wood Carving, Animal Breeding, Herbalist, Pottery, Brewing, Dancing, Musician, Alchemy, Fishing, Penmanship, Butchering, Decipher, Spear Mastery, Ax Mastery,Wind Rush, Tracking]

Skill to learn: [YES] [NO]

***

Essence Reader – (III) 5%

*A skill that allows to read the aura, after leveling up more information can be seen if user desires it*

Poltergeist – (III) 15%

*A skill that summons servants that obeys the user's absolute command, after each level abilities will be raised*

Soul Eater – (III) 10 %

*A skill that allows user to absorb foreign and atmospheric energy, after each level range of absorption will increase*

Taboo(III) 45%

*A skill that makes one release a aura of death, darkness will follow the user, instant death skill are ineffective to user but darkness skills used will be increased by 100%.

For know he would avoid using the Soul Eater skill, until he can individually extract the souls, then having them coming after him all at once.

On a side note, if he were to absorb all heavenly beast, he would have an easy time in fighting and might discover some revelation on how his abilities work.

He was also curious about some ideas that would work, if successful he can use it to make an artificial army, but he would need a lot of souls including materials to do it.

But if he were absorb every animal, it would leave behind a lot of incidents, the last one had been covered up with Wade taking the blame. But doing it repeatedly is announcing someone else is pulling the string, which he wanted to avoid since he had no organization to rely on.

Plus, he already had the snake soul, one would think that having a spare one would not be bad, but with his current dilemma in adjusting his new abilities, adding it would add more problems than benefits.

Looking at his pros and cons he decided to accumulate the souls first, then absorb it on a later date once he was enough power to backing him.

"Soul Eater!!!"

The souls started to appear out of tin air and started to swarm him like fishes, seconds later he heard a notification.

*BING!*

[Souls of the shrewd serpent have been absorbed, Soul of the Snake at 80%]

'So not all of them are strong, so most of them are Zero Tier', while some of them are 1st Tier and only a one 3rd Tier.'

'Now that I think about it, what was I aiming for as a cultivator...close range, long range, or mid range, or a supporter...'

Looking at his status and skills, it was very unbalanced, he had deducted that all these skills are meant for long or mid range as a supporter build in mind.

But by absorbing all the beast souls, he was able to cover the weakness and enter the front lines as a vanguard.

'So that means I should have better control over the Zen energy...'

He had an idea he wanted to try, putting all the cores inside his sac and sat down to form his Grudge energy he had and molded it.

He always assumed that these energy had only one type like the fire, so he thought the grudge energy was like a gum like substance.

But when Hilda explained that energy can change shape, he tried to form the energy to his fist.

After molding it from time to time, he felt like it would be his past time, since he assumed the form of entertainment would be limited in this realm for his taste.

Now it was his clue on how to fight properly, he wasn't much of a sword man, and using such heavy weapons are likes sticks to him since his enhanced strength.

He had an idea since he remembered using Wrath energy on the jug of blood.

So he experimented on his grudge energy to form a form of armor, since it was like a sponge when energy was involved it would be effective in cultivators.

But his idea was biased since he felt the impact of Wade's kick, so it was a major loophole in terms of defending an attack without energy.

So to try something else, he started forming the energy in a form of a claw.

At first it looked crude like a poorly made knife, but after constant practice the claws started to look like Dusk's.

He wanted to form the legs as well, but stopped at his hands, since it was stretching to its limits.

He tested it by slamming at the tree and the claws broke apart just by touching it, so focusing on his claws, he was able to cleave a large chunk.

'Hmm, needs more practice, gotta have it form faster...'

***

His practice went on for two hours until he finally had a good feel like they were his natural arms.

During that time, Kirin was dashing around helping his master get use to his speed by having Stigma chase him around, six out of ten, he was able to catch up by using tricks in getting closer, but was less faster to it all together.

He noticed that he was capable in using hand to hand combat, and when he used Hilda in slicing a tree, it was cut in half and he felt no resistance.

While he was at it, he tested his physical limits.

He first tried to jump in the sky and he got up to ten feet, nest his grip strength and found it was extremely difficult to even grasp a rock.

After breaking about sixty rocks he was able to grasp one and started to juggle them one at a time, he finally did about five rocks with both hands.

Anymore would be pushing it, but he had found a good training method in the future in how to control his energy.

He tried to pull a tree like those in Judo training, but he didn't expect that it would uproot after the first pull.

He did other physical exercise that an athlete would do: Punching against a tree, kicking against a tree, doing push - ups with Kirin on his back, sit ups on a tree branch, pull ups with a rock until he felt his arm feel numb.

Even an occasional shadow boxing, which confused not only Kirin but Hilda as well, she was aware of the training methods such as punching and kicking against an object.

But she was amused and surprised about the concept he used for training, her previous would just challenge powerful cultivators for training or killing a heavenly beast of legends.

But Stigma's method was both safe and logical, since he can challenge himself with his own restrictions and does not pose any life threatening situations

The entire process took about about three hours, his back was now resting behind a tree trunk, he felt exhausted but great.

His training with his physical strength left him some good results so he used meditation to mold zen energy, which helped him in continuing his self training.

"Good work Master!"

"Bark!"

Hilda was a sword so she stayed in the same spot leaning against a tree trunk and Kirin was guarding her.

Kirin then moved closer and slouched his head onto Stigma's lap.

In fact, Stigma was not only training himself but the puppy as well, but chasing after him numerous time and playing catch.

Around him he can see bones that looked like they belonged from the serpents from before, when it killed the 3rd Tier beast he presented the core, which he gladly accepted.

As for Hilda, he checked her skills and began her training hours ago.

[Name: Brunhilda

Species: Demon Sword

Rank: Unique (I)

Skills: Erode(IV), Possession(II), Curse Body (I)]

*

Erode (IV) 80%

*A skill that absorbs the stored energy and weakening the structure upon contact, as well increase self-healing. Each level gained will increase speed of absorption, and increases weakening effect.

Possession (II) 24%

*A skill that possesses the body of its user and increases physical abilities depending on the level. Each level increase will affect more of the body.

Curse Body (I) 10%

*A skill that uses the body as a vessel and control Grudge energy stored in the body. Abilities of curses when used will increase.

***

With Hilda he had her try using her skills.

Her first training was to use Erode as he swung her against a tree, which lead to him cutting not one but three after one swing.

He then tried using the possession skill, the skill itself can be useful but the thing is she can only control up his whole hand.

Since she had no idea how a hand worked he had her use his hand to understand, but it lead him to have a cramp and almost twisting his entire wrist to entire 180 degrees.

So to make full use of the skill he had her use it to control the joints of the body, she had some difficulty since she had no actual practice, so he made her use his left hand as practice when he was not using it.

She finally tested the limit by having her use Stigma's leg to kick a tree, which lead to him leaving a huge hole on the tree.

She later apologized repeatedly that it was her fault, which he forgave her since she was not aware.

As for the Curse Body skill, she was able to form energy around her when he covered her in Grudge energy.

He tried to use her on a tree and what happened was the tree slowly withered on the slash marks, his hands showed the same results when it latched on so he decided to use it when necessary since it was dangerous.

He then felt a sensation behind his neck, which indicated his familiar was drawing near.

"Hmm, he's near..."

"He must have found it then, it took forever though!"

"Bark! Bark!"

Two were voicing out their anger due to them being bored.

He had three familiars and one of them was ordered to follow another man to reach a certain destination.

Moments later a figure had walked out of the forest.

"You found it..."

Dusk was nodding its head and pointed towards the direction.

"Then lead the way!"

It took awhile but he can finally get some supplies.