16

Somewhere in the shadow forest.

The sound of beast roars echoed every once in a while. A red tiger could be seen clashing with a black figure, the tiger had a savage aura around it while attacking the black beast ruthlessly using its sharp claws.

Nevertheless, the black beast was able to use its advantage to dodge most of the attacks coming its way. Even though it was in a disadvantage position, the black beast's speed and strength exceeded the tiger's, which was why it didn't lose in the face of the savage tiger. However, injuries kept accumulating on its body.

But, with each clash, the black beast movements became smoother and much more decisive. Unlike before, when the battle was one-sided where the tiger was the only one he attacked while the black beast dodged and ran away.

The black beast started attacking, it used its long tail to counterattack every time it received an opportunity to do so. A normal beast tail might not do much damage, but this beast tail had a sharp blade attached to it. It seemed to be a natural part of its body.

The black beast tail was like a whip, it was fast and caused a lot of pain. And with the addition of the sharp blade, the attacks became much worse, causing streaks of blood to appear all over the tiger's body.

As time passed, the tiger red and black fur turned completely red, as the battle progressed, more and more injuries appeared on its body. Causing it to be drenched in blood completely, the aura around the tiger became weaker as its breathing became heavy.

The black beast accumulated a lot of injuries as well, although it used its tail most of the time to attack, it wasn't able to avoid all of the tiger's attacks. Which caused it to be tired as well.

The black figure eye burned with determination and fighting spirit. it didn't lose at all and it was determined to win the battle.

The tiger seemed to become offended by the black figure's gaze, it roared loudly as it used all of its remaining strength to deal one last attack to its enemy.

It dashed towards the black figure and raised its giant claw, intending to tear the black beast head apart from its neck. Nevertheless, it didn't succeed as the black beast was alert all the time, which was why it was able to dodge the tiger claw safely.

The tiger saw that its attack failed, it tried to follow the black beast movements. But, it was rewarded with a shining blade that pierced through its skull, extinguishing its life completely. The tiger body slumped to the ground and the battle was concluded with the victory of the black beast.

...

'It finally died!' Ryan slumped to the ground as soon as he killed the tiger, he was drained completely. It was the longest fight he went through since he arrived in this world, bit it was worth it.

Ryan gained a lot through the battle with the tiger. Even though he won, he accumulated a lot of injuries on his body. He would probably need to recuperate for a while before he would be able to use his full strength again.

During the battle, Ryan gained a lot of experience and was able to realise a major flaw he had. He had strength but lacked experience. His previous battles were easier since his opponents were a bunch beasts who rely on instincts more than brain.

He was able to win against the tiger because of his recent achievement in body refinement cultivation. So Ryan decided to focus on fighting more beasts in the near future, so that he could have enough experience to avoid any dangers in the future.

Ryan was thinking of a way to train himself when the system notification interrupted his train of thoughts.

[You have killed a low-level first-stage beast: Crimson tiger! You have received 120 SP.]

Ryan received the system points he was waiting for and became excited. He ordered the system to recycle the tiger's corpse.

The while light shot from his forehead and covered the tiger's dead body, it disappeared after a few seconds and another notification rang inside his head.

[Recycling completed. You have received 100SP.]

Adding to the 120 system points he earned previously, Ryan received a total of 220 system points from the tiger alone, which was the highest number he received through killing and recycling a magical beast so far.

Now, Ryan had a total of 1030 system points in his pocket. He became excited and expectant, by using 1000 system points, he would be able to unlock the skill tree for Shadow. Which would grant him another Divine art and new skills that could improve his combat style.

Nevertheless, he decided to calm down and find a place to rest first. He was tired and injured, so he didn't act rashly and decided to rest first.

He would unlock the skill tree anytime he wanted after he had enough rest. Ryan moved his tired body and started to look of a place to rest.

...

A day passed.

Ryan woke up the next day feeling better, the injuries covering his body were healing rapidly. They would probably take three to four days to heal completely.

During that time, Ryan decided to unlock his skill tree and cultivate.

At this moment, he was lying inside a cave, he found a cave yesterday and after he was sure that it was completely safe, he decided to rest inside it.

As he was lying on the hard ground, Ryan didn't feel uncomfortable. With his strong body, he was able to endure the feeling of the hard ground without any troubles, it was just a bit uncomfortable, but it was bearable.

Ryan eyes shone brightly, he will finally take his first step in his adventure by unlocking the skill tree.

"System, unlock the skill tree." As he spoke, fhe system mechanical voice echoed inside his head.

[Do you wish to spend 1000 system points to unlock the skill tree for the monster: Shadow?]