Volume One: The Arrival Chapter Twelve: The First Stage

The sword pierced diagonally upward through the giant wolf’s throat, penetrating its brain and killing it instantly.

The giant wolf was faster than the gnolls and possessed magical abilities, making it significantly stronger overall. Yet, Meng Xingchen effortlessly killed it without using any burst of inner energy. Compared to yesterday, his strength had indeed made a tremendous leap.

The kobolds had all retreated deep into their caves, and the once bustling valley fell into a deathly silence.

Meng Xingchen summoned his quest panel. The prompt at the bottom read: “Kill a first-tier magical beast Windwolf, gain 42 biological energy points, and 1 human contribution point.”

Switching to his attribute panel, the biological tier was displayed as zero tier, level 9 (507/500).

After leveling up, the biological tier advanced to first tier, level 0 (7/1000). Simultaneously, a system message chimed: “Congratulations, host evolved to first tier, gained 1 evolution point.”

Evolution point? Something new. Meng Xingchen examined carefully and found a new option under free attribute points—an evolution point display showing 1 point.

Focusing on the evolution point, an explanation appeared: it could be used to enhance skill levels.

Meng Xingchen’s mind stirred—enhance skill levels? Intermediate internal cultivation could be improved by training and wasn’t difficult; after at most two days of cultivation, it should level up. Using a precious evolution point for that wasn’t cost-effective.

Insight ability had been Meng Xingchen’s main reliance for growth so far, yet it had no means of improvement until now. This was a perfect opportunity to use the evolution point to upgrade it.

He focused on the Insight ability and silently commanded an upgrade. The label behind Insight changed from “beginner” to “mastered,” and the skill priority stars increased from one to two.

A new passive ability appeared alongside “Reality Break”—night vision.

Night vision: Allows seeing objects in dim light.

The detection radius of the comprehensive perspective expanded from three meters to six meters, and with his mental attribute reaching 10 points adding one meter, the total detection radius became seven meters around him.

His inner vision also evolved; besides viewing his own body’s internal condition, he could now detect the internal state of others through physical contact.

Finally, with the one free attribute point gained from leveling up, Meng Xingchen allocated it to agility, raising his agility to 10 points.

Similar to reaching 10 points in constitution, as warm blood coursed through his veins, his muscles and internal organs began to stir slowly. He felt noticeably lighter and, after casually moving a few times, his body’s flexibility had clearly improved.

Previously, when watching action movies, scenes where characters kicked their toes over their shoulders amazed him. Now, he could easily perform such moves.

As a first-tier magical beast, the Windwolf’s pelt was far more valuable than that of kobolds. Without Li Danniu and the others to handle such chores, Meng Xingchen had no choice but to imitate their approach and skin the Windwolf himself.

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With his current control over force and the long sword, the skinning task was surprisingly simple. He finally cut open the Windwolf’s chest and retrieved a thumb-sized blue magical beast core.

As Meng Xingchen examined the core in his hand, the system prompted that it could absorb biological energy and asked if he wished to absorb it.

When he absorbed the core of the juvenile shadow leopard, he had gained a hundred biological energy points. Now, leveling up required a thousand points. Even if the Windwolf’s core provided more energy, it likely wouldn’t exceed three hundred. Since he wasn’t in a rush to level up, he chose not to absorb it and kept it instead.

Looking up at the sky, Meng Xingchen noticed it was almost noon. Recalling the large, flat boulder at the cliff top where he had scouted the valley before, he was suddenly inspired. He chopped off one of the Windwolf’s hind legs, sheathed his long sword in the backpack on his back, and carried the wolf leg in his left hand as he climbed the cliff wall.

With his current constitution and agility, rock climbing barehanded was a breeze. Even carrying the wolf leg in one hand, he easily reached the cliff top and arrived at the boulder platform where Li Danniu and the others had rested.

He built a fire, gathered some smooth, fist-sized stones to roast in the flames, then dug a small pit beside the boulder. He lined the pit with broad leaves resembling banana leaves, then sliced the wolf leg meat into walnut-sized pieces and placed them on the leaves.

Sprinkling some salt he carried with him, he mixed it evenly before using sticks to put the heated stones into the pit, immediately hearing the sizzling sound of roasting meat.

Quickly wrapping the meat and stones with leaves, covering them with a thin layer of soil, and then placing the fire pit on top of the filled hole, Meng Xingchen reclined contentedly on the boulder.

Since the day he had crossed over and received the primary quest “Survive in the World,” his spirit had been tightly wound, always fearing for his life.

Adhering to the principle that as long as his strength grew fast enough, the quests couldn’t outpace him, he had been constantly seeking ways to improve himself. Only after effortlessly killing the Windwolf, which wielded supernatural powers, and evolving to first-tier life did he finally feel his life was secure.

After a brief rest, Meng Xingchen stood again, sword in hand, and began practicing basic sword techniques.

Judging by the Windwolf’s strength, a first-tier magical beast could no longer threaten him. As for second-tier ones, lacking samples, he couldn’t assess. But as long as second-tier beasts weren’t exponentially stronger than first-tier, he was confident he could escape in a burst of inner energy.

Yet, Meng Xingchen hadn’t forgotten the juvenile shadow leopard he encountered on his first day here. According to Li Danniu, adult shadow leopards were third-tier magical beasts. Following the usual web novel pattern, killing the young would surely attract the adults. He had a premonition that a battle with an adult shadow leopard was inevitable.

Given his current strength—even with his talent ability that countered the shadow leopard—it would be difficult to deal with a third-tier beast whose constitution and agility both reached around 20 points, even in an inner energy burst state.

So, it was not time to relax yet. Leveling up now required a thousand biological energy points, and it would become increasingly difficult. Attribute growth would no longer be as rapid as before, so skill refinement was essential.

Continuously repeating the twelve basic sword forms in coordination with fundamental footwork, Meng Xingchen practiced until his stomach growled loudly. Wiping sweat from his brow, he finally stopped.

By then, the wood on the fire had burned out, leaving only a few embers emitting faint red light.

He moved the embers aside, dug into the soil covering the pit, used earth to smother the remaining embers, and peeled back the now slightly yellowed leaves. A rich aroma of roasted meat wafted up.

Breaking two twigs into chopsticks, Meng Xingchen began to eat heartily.

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The stones’ roasting gave the meat a lightly charred fragrance. The meat was braised, juicy, and carried a fresh vegetal scent. Although seasoned only with salt, leaving a slight gamy taste, Meng Xingchen ate with great relish.

After devouring all the meat, he grabbed his water pouch and gulped down several mouthfuls, letting out a satisfied sigh.

After a short rest, Meng Xingchen packed up and began his journey back.

On the way, he often veered off the path to observe his surroundings. Although he saw many wild animals, he didn’t encounter any magical beasts or gnolls.

Near Li Family Village, he casually picked up a stone from the ground, smashed it, and killed a plump rabbit to bring back.

Returning to Li Danniu’s small courtyard, he found it still early and Li Danniu hadn’t yet returned. Meng Xingchen placed the rabbit in the kitchen and spread out the Windwolf’s pelt to dry, then resumed practicing basic sword techniques in the courtyard.

He had new ideas he wanted to test regarding swordsmanship. Since these required consuming inner energy and mental focus, practicing outdoors was unsafe. He preferred to try after returning to the village.

First, he practiced sword techniques while activating comprehensive perspective and inner vision, closely monitoring his movements from inside out, adjusting his form and power application based on actual effects.

This experience was extraordinary. Under comprehensive perspective, he could clearly see every motion. Through inner vision, he understood exactly how his muscles engaged and how blood flowed with each move.

In such a state, after repeating each basic sword form a few times, he could identify the most effective and suitable movements and power techniques for himself.

After perfecting all twelve basic sword forms tailored to him, the system chimed in his mind: “Ding, host has learned skill: Basic Sword Technique. Details available in attribute panel.”

A pleased smile spread across Meng Xingchen’s face. Summoning the attribute panel, he saw a new skill listed: Basic Sword Technique. Its effects were twofold: first, +1 to constitution and agility; second, when fighting with a sword, it enhanced attack power and reduced stamina consumption.

Unlike internal cultivation and supernatural abilities, the Basic Sword Technique had no skill level or proficiency bar—you either mastered it or you didn’t. The second effect’s description was vague, showing that the system couldn’t quantify all his abilities as precisely as in an online game.

After a short rest, Meng Xingchen began experimenting with reinforcing relevant body parts with inner energy while executing basic sword moves.

For instance, during a basic thrust, as the long sword pierced forward, not only did his arm exert force, but his waist and hips also engaged. The arm wielded the sword forward while the body twisted slightly, accelerating and strengthening the thrust.

Meng Xingchen applied inner energy to strengthen his waist, hips, and arms as he thrust, noticing a remarkable effect. The speed and power of the thrust increased significantly with inner energy reinforcement.

He laughed heartily—the most unrestrained laughter since crossing over. His strength had improved greatly once again, and he believed he had decisively outpaced the quest difficulty.