13- Titanium-Nosed Addax
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As they were making their way inside, a large, though fairly unusual sort of beast that resembled a mammal appeared on the vast forest, blocked their progress.
It was the size of a lion, with extended legs and limbs, as well as a twisting tail.
It also wore the 'mane' that lions had around their necks.
This beast could only move around by sound and scent because it couldn't sight despite having small, beady eyes. It was only that their vision was a little shaky for them to rely on.
Though its prowess was towards the middle of the first step, it was one of the simpler beasts to kill because it relied on sound assaults.
Katrina suddenly projected her voice as energy to Adel's ears, exclaiming anxiously: "Be wary! The Titanium-Nosed Addax is the name of this beast! A first step beast in the mid stage on the verge of breaking through to the high stage!
It could come after us if it detects us, seeing us as a relatively easy target due to the lack of energy flowing from you." She came to a halt when she realized she had implicitly assured him that her energy would not seep out, before sighing and stating, " You've already put your faith in me by telling me about your strength, so it's only right that I reciprocate.
But not right now, as we have to combat this beast."
The voice then faded away. Katrina then turned to look at Adel with a serious expression, before she nodded calmly, continuing: "This type of beast makes sounds ranging from slightly high pitched to extremely high pitched and has a limited range of sounds depending on their senses that they use to predict breakthroughs, dangers, and otherwise communicate with its species.
So, if you see the beast opening its lips, quickly close your ears and utilize your energy to seal your hearing sense.
After all, if the attack reached you, an early step cultivator, you would be gravely harmed, even if you wouldn't die as a result of my presence."
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Adel simply nodded his head. Though he was surprised she would reveal her artifact's secret to him immediately...
He shook his head, not wanting to think about it at this moment, before ultimately standing motionless in his spot without making a sound.
This entire conversation took place in a matter of seconds.
CREEK!
Suddenly, a stone was hurled at Katrina, who dodged immediately. However, it was clear that its initial intention was not to strike her...
ROAR!
When the beast heard the voice of a stone being hurled in some direction, it began to gallop towards them...
Adel's face became gloomy as he turned his head and noticed a disciple wearing robes, indicating himself as a core disciple...
Since when did the core disciples enter this tunnel? But he shook his head, his frown deepening as he glanced towards the beast, but he didn't do much as he pushed back his hearing senses as the beast let out the roar.
The beast was getting closer and closer to them when it began furiously shouting, attempting to kill them with its vocal assaults...
Adel took a fighting stance before...
*BOOM*
He quickly moved, hitting the acupoints of the beast, making it immobile for some time.
He utilized the Cankili martial art he'd learned in his previous life.
Even if he wasn't a grandmaster in this body yet to employ inner energy, that didn't mean the attack was pointless because he'd learned it with his soul and simply required his body to adapt to it.
After all, if he wanted to, he could slay the beasts quickly without relying on the aforementioned martial art.
But he came to the Residence of Beasts to hone his combat skills and to practice certain martial arts moves that he couldn't do before.
Other than that, he had another reason for displaying it now. It aimed to show Katrina the power of martial arts. It was to make her start training in them, rather than only using spells to fight.
Which worked wonderfully because Katrina's face was flabbergasted when she didn't recognize Adel's actions.
After all, she had known him since he was a child and had never seen him use it, so how did he learn such a powerful martial art?
As for how she knew about martial arts, it was as previously stated—she knew a thing or two about them from mortals, as to why she could even know what a Grandmaster was before.
Had he been waiting for a difficult battle to demonstrate it in front of me and impress me? - She smiled foolishly in her thought.
But she was again taken aback when she saw the breast vanish into thin air...
It wasn't thin air, but rather energy.
That wasn't what had her taken aback, since she had witnessed several similar instances, albeit on a rare basis.
It was the energy flowing directly into Adel's dantian that caused his energy fluctuations to get stronger by the second...
Adel's energy fluctuations stopped changing after a few seconds, when it reached the pinnacle of the early stage.
Adel sat cross-legged, even though he wasn't finished, as he sensed a breakthrough in both his body and soul cultivation...
He felt his soul energy rapidly converting from liquid to gas before forming a highly pure drop at the upper section of the skull's brain...
*BOOM*
He ended up making it in another cultivation system!
But before he could rise up, he felt excruciating agony all over his body, but he gritted his teeth and pushed through it, which resulted in the predicted results...
*BOOM*
His cultivation stabilized at the peak of the early stage of the first step in all cultivation systems, astounding Katrina, who beamed even more, believing that her 'future man' was becoming stronger...
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Adel, on the other hand, was startled to discover that the energy transformed itself from the beast's corpse to around 75% Qi energy, 10% Ki energy, and 15% Nao energy...
Wasn't the "Primordial Cosmos" technique just designed to cultivate the energy cultivation pathway?
But what was it that gave him the energy to cultivate the other two systems?
And how come, even after consuming 80 percent of the energy in the energy cultivation system, there was no slight breakthrough to another step, but just in the stage itself?
He could see his dantian was strong and extended, but that didn't explain how 80 percent of the energy was used.
Adel ultimately gave up after a few seconds of contemplation since he still couldn't come up with a solution to his questions...
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When he turned around to look at Katrina, he saw a shocked, puzzled, and... proud expression on her face...?