Page 11: Status
The previous days were not exactly filled with lax moments. Although Long Bai has made a lot of rounds in the slums, he gathered information as much as possible in listening to people's stories. A day has passed and right now, he's waiting for his chance to execute his plan.
After learning about the Purple- Maine cat's routines, Long Bai is now ready. At least every 2 hours, all of the Purple- Maine cats stay inside the cave. The roughly two hours is a window in which the five of them go back from hunting. Long Bai had been waiting for this moment.
Long Bai started blocking the mouth of the cave with the twigs and sticks he gathered from waiting. After learning that these low-level animals are still strongly dependent on the world's air, he immediately thought of this plan. Of course, if it was a beast that was able to integrate essence consciously, suffocating them with smoke will not work since they can utilize the essence to strengthen themselves. But because these Purple- Maine cats are not yet on such a level, the plan can work.
Everything is ready and Bai had just ignited the firewood. Immediately, the fire spread at the entrance of the cave producing thick smoke. Looking at the spectacle, the cave almost resembles a dragon breathing out its iron-melting flames. On the entrance, there was no sign of struggle from the cats. Bai was expecting that the ones inside would try their way out of the cave however the flames might have been too much for them.
Fifteen minutes have passed and the cave has shown its mouth again. At this moment, Bai entered the cave while staying on guard. In his right hand is a knife while his left-hand holds a wet cloth he used to cover his nose. At the furthest area, there he found all of the Purple- Maine cats lying on the floor. There were the five hunter cays and the largest which can be assumed as the leader. Long Bai first approached the largest and immediately plunged his knife as deep as he could on its neck. Blood sprayed on the floor while Bai watched it make its last squirm. He approached the rest of the group and did the same.
There was another reason why Long Bai opt to slit the throat instead of striking the chest. Since Bai is not yet well versed about this world's anatomy and physiology, there might be a chance that he would shatter the essence crystal. It would be a waste if such a case would happen.
Long Bai gathered the bodies and took their essence crystals. And for the meat, bringing a large beast would be suspicious so taking a good marbled part is the best thing to do. Bai essentially butchered the bodies and took the meatiest parts. He took some broad leaves and used it to wrap the meat and hung it near the fire. In the meantime, Bai returned to the cave since the smoke has cleared out.
'I had a good harvest today. Now that I have an orange shard and five red shards, I might be able to access the system. Alright, might as well start with the two red shards'
[System alert: The system initiated the essence absorption. 80% has been utilized by the system.]
[System notice: % requirement remaining is 60%.]
'Opening this system costs this much? Ayoo. Should I use this orange one instead? Well, this is better than using all the red shards.'
[System alert: The system detected the abundant essence. The system has taken 90% for system initiation and integration. This process will take two minutes.]
'Oh yeah? It's a good thing I can still move while absorbing the essence. From what I heard, doing so requires concentration and a disturbance can waste the essence since it would just freely escape. Is this the benefit of the system? I feel like I'm becoming the Gamer* or something.'
[System notice: You have successfully activated the system interface. You may now access it using the commands "Status" ]
'Ohhh... Let's do it then.
'Hmm... I see. my cultivation is at this level. and my skills are as much. If I keep up, I can continually grow stronger'
[STATUS:
Cultivation: Flesh Tempering stage (initial -1st)
Skills:
Movement skills:
~Flash Steps (mastered)
~Ghostly steps (untrained)
-(can be evolved upon mastery)
Martial art skills:
~Sword of twelve critical strikes (advanced)
-(can be evolved when requirements met)
Cultivation Base: (none). ]
'Even though I don't have an essence core, I was able to reach the 1st layer of Flesh Tempering. According to the system, There are nine layers before reaching the next step, the middle success which consists of another nine layers. No wonder there are a lot of strong old folks. It actually requires much time to cultivate.'
After checking and learning everything about what the system can currently offer, Long Bai checked the walls of the cave. The stones embedded were still emitting light. Upon touching the stones, the system identified the object as a "light stone". These rocks were exposed to a certain level of essence emitted as light by something and in this case, the culprit was a shining mushroom.
Long Bai checked the mushroom and it was identified as an alchemy ingredient. Since Long Bai has still some shards remaining, he decided to leave it and take it when its use will arise. For now, returning to the slums is his next mode of action.
Before leaving the cave, Long Bai covered the entrance with plants. In the future, he thought of making this a secret base. Maybe not permanently but it is something that may of use in the future.
Returning with newfound strength, Long Bai was in high spirits. His mastered Flash steps have brought him to another level which allowed his steps to dash instantaneously to 25 meters/second. Now, traveling in the forest became easier as he could just jump from one tree to another.