In the desert between the sect and its walls, Desper was standing atop a large rock. That rock was one of many arranged in a closed circle. Inside the circle, there was a disciple fighting two furless wolves, their claws and jaws stained red.
"Three months passed that quickly," Desper sighed deeply.
Today was an obligated-to-succeed test where a disciple must kill some monsters. The test was mainly meant to help new disciples overcome their fear of monsters before they went on any mission outside the sect.
Desper watched what was happening in the arena with pity. The disciple was covered in his own blood, which was pouring out from many bite and scratch wounds.
"Please… let me… out…" he cried in pain.
The wolves themselves were weak; any Bone Cultivator could take care of them, but the disciple was too afraid of them.
The wolves didn't care and rushed at him again.
"NOOOOOOO…!" the disciple screamed.
Suddenly, a stone pillar rose beneath the poor disciple, lifting him up.
"Failed," an old man with mixed black-and-white hair and brown eyes said. "Take him to the Medical Pavilion."
His clothes were the reverse of those of the disciples: they were black with irregular orange lines, which meant that he was an Elder.
"Yes, Fifth Elder," two other disciples responded.
While carrying him away, the injured disciple was still crying.
The Fifth Elder didn't care and said, "Remember, your wounds will be healed by tomorrow. You will redo the test again tomorrow. And if you fail again, we will repeat this cycle again and again until you succeed. Your tears won't help you."
His words were cruel, but the world was even crueler. If the sect hadn't forced disciples to fight monsters, humanity would have gone extinct a long time ago. It was unfair for the cultivators, but there was no other choice.
"Next. Disciple number 1855, Desper," the Elder called.
Taking a deep breath, Desper walked to him and handed him his token, a fait smile on his face. The dark circles could no longer be seen under his eyes.
In the last month, he had realized that he wouldn't gain anything from fear and anxiety, so he made up his mind. He no longer cared about the clan, the sect, or the monsters.
'Let what is going to happen just happen,' he muttered in his mind.
On the other hand, the Fifth Elder had a surprised look on his face as he read the words glowing at the bottom of the token.
"Third Stage of Muscle Cultivation?!" He looked at Desper and memorized his face.
A normal cultivator would barely reach the First Stage of Muscle Cultivation after three months of cultivation; some couldn't even do that and remained in Bone Cultivation. But Desper had achieved the Third Stage of Muscle Cultivation, meaning he was very talented.
Of course, Desper couldn't achieve that without his Svikari Power, but he would never say that.
He was slightly dejected. 'If I activate my Bloodline, I will be at the eighth stage… unfortunately, I can't use it freely.'
"Good job, Desper," the Fifth Elder praised. "As a reward, you will get 100 Red Essence Stones."
"Thank you, Elder," Desper cupped his hands as he spoke.
Desper was really happy. In his first days of cultivation, he used one-third of the Essence in his Origin per day, which was very little for him. However, when he started using his Bloodline while cultivating, this amount doubled. At first, it wasn't a big problem for him since he had a large Origin, and it completely refilled itself within 24 hours.
The problem started when he began cultivating his muscles when the amount tripled. Without his Bloodline, he used all the Essence in his Origin per day, but when he used his Svikari Power, he needed double that amount again. That meant he needed three Red Essence Stones a day so that he could maximize the benefit from his Bloodline ability.
Last month, Varik gave him 100 stones to help him with that. Desper was grateful to Varik for everything he had done, but at the same time, he felt uncomfortable. The more Varik helped him, the more he worried about what he might ask for in return in the future.
"Okay, let's get back to the test." The Elder nodded and asked, "Have you ever fought or killed a monster before?"
"Yes, I killed many monsters before when I used to live in my village," Desper replied. A hint of sadness appeared on his face as he remembered the village and… Amal.
"Good, that will shorten the test," the Elder responded. "First, prove your words and kill these two B-Rank wolves."
The monsters were divided into three ranks: B-Rank, M-Rank, and O-Rank. They corresponded to Bone, Muscle, and Organ Cultivation respectively. M-Rank and O-Rank monsters were subdivided into ten levels, like the stages of Muscle and Organ Cultivation.
B-Rank monsters weren't subdivided, as they were so weak that even commoners could kill them.
There were also higher ranks, but the disciples wouldn't have to deal with them.
After saying that, the Elder waved his hand. The rock beneath Desper started to sink into the ground, leaving him inside the circle with the wolves. The monsters noticed that and charged at him.
Desper didn't unsheathe his swords. Instead, he took out two daggers from his clothes. He had decided to carry two daggers after thinking about what would happen if he lost his swords during a mission.
Desper didn't wait for the wolves to reach him and launched himself at the one on the right.
The monster jumped with its mouth open toward Desper's neck.
Desper simply dodged to the right and, with a swift move, stretched his arm under the monster's neck and pulled it back. The sharp dagger slashed through the skin with ease.
After becoming a Muscle Cultivator, his strength and speed had increased significantly. These B-Rank monsters were nothing to him.
Desper stared at the other wolf coming at him. He didn't move. Instead, he raised the other dagger behind his head and—
Swoooosh…
He threw it.
"Tsk," Desper muttered in annoyance as the dagger missed the wolf.
He had only started using daggers about 20 days ago, so he wasn't very skilled with them yet.
Drawing one of his swords, he waited until the monster reached him.
When the wolf was one meter away, Desper stepped aside and arced his sword downward.
Groooooooo…
The wolf screamed before falling to the ground, split in two.
Desper wiped his sword and the dagger on a clean part of the wolf's corpse, then picked up his other dagger from the ground. He turned his gaze toward the Elder.
The Elder nodded at him and said, "Good job. Since you proved what you said, we can move on to the last part of the test."
The test was supposed to start with one monster, then two, then three. Of course, all of these monsters were weak, like those wolves. They were just meant to break the barrier of fear for the new disciples. The last part of the test was to fight a single monster at the same level as the disciple.
"Unfortunately, we don't have an M-3 monster right now," the Elder stated, "but one of the monsters we captured is blood-evolved. You will fight it."
Desper's eyes widened.
An evolved monster was a monster that had a special ability. For example, the huge rat Desper killed in his village was B-Rank like the other small rats, but it was a Mass-Evolved monster, which increased its size significantly without increasing its rank.
A blood-evolved monster was one whose strength increased the more it was injured. This kind of monster was one a cultivator had to be careful when dealing with, even if it was weaker than him or her. If the disciple didn't kill it fast, he or she might be the one who died.
Desper frowned and unsheathed both of his swords. He couldn't lower his guard anymore.
The Elder waved his hand, and one of the rocks that formed the arena cracked open. Inside it, there was an orange ape.
The monster was as tall as Desper, but its body looked too weak, as if it hadn't eaten for days. Six sharp claws protruded from each hand. Its eyes were fixed on Desper, saliva dripping from its mouth.
Desper observed it and reckoned that the monster was a B-Rank one.
"It should be easy to kill it in one move."
Desper didn't want to inflict any unnecessary wounds on the ape and wanted to kill it before it got stronger.
"Do you think I don't know what you are thinking?" the Fifth Elder smiled as he moved his fingers. Small stony spikes emerged from them and were shot at the ape.
They hit different parts of its body: both ears, the nose, two fingers on each hand, and many parts of its skin.
GRAAAAAAAAAAAA…!
The ape screamed in pain. Its eyes turned blood-red.
"Tsk," Desper clicked his tongue in annoyance.
The ape was furious and tried to climb the rocks to reach the Elder, but the rocks were too smooth.
Its attention shifted to the only human in the circle.
The ape rushed forward on its arms and legs, ignoring the pain from its injured fingers.
GRAAAAAAAAAA…
Despite not lowering his guard for a second, Desper was still shocked by the monster's speed. He barely moved his body to avoid the attack, but his shoulder was still scratched.
"What is this?!" Desper was stunned. "This is not…"
Desper looked at the Fifth Elder and found that he was grinning at him.
The Elder was supposed to weaken the monster until it was at the same level as Desper, but clearly, he had overdone it.
"Are you kidding me?!" Desper screamed in his mind.
He focused on the monster and didn't try to attack even once, instead continuously evading its attacks. If he inflicted more injuries on the monster, he wouldn't be able to avoid its attacks anymore.
Desper needed to kill the monster in one attack or wait for it to die from bleeding.
Again, the monster lunged at him. Desper dashed to the right, making the monster miss him.
Booooom…!
Desper's face turned ugly as he realized they were close to the large rocks forming the arena. His dodging made the monster crash into them.
Out of the dust, the monster leaped high into the air toward him; its speed was higher than before. Desper noticed a new wound on its forehead.
"Are you kidding me?!"
He didn't hesitate to duck, but suddenly, the monster stretched its leg and struck Desper's head.
He felt the world spinning around him, but he could still hear another crashing sound as the monster hit a rock again.
Desper was about to cry.
The monster charged at him again. This time, Desper was too slow to avoid the attack. The ape grabbed his neck, its talons piercing deeply into his skin. Desper saw its other hand coming to slice his face. He knew he had to do something.
He wished he could use his Svikari Power, but there were too many people watching.
The angle didn't allow him to reach the monster's neck with his swords. Desper regretted not using his daggers instead. He gathered all the strength he could into his right arm and struck his sword at the ape's arm that was gripping his neck. After freeing himself, he ducked away, evading the other arm.
Desper breathed heavily. He could hear his rapid heartbeat. The embedded claws kept the ape's severed arm hanging from his neck. He felt that there was something strange about the arm.
"Is it broken?"
He guessed that the second crash had broken the monster's hand, which saved his neck and his life.
GRAAAAAAAAA…
The ape screamed in pain as blood streamed out of its severed. Even though it now had only one arm, Desper wasn't relieved at all.
GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA…!
The ape shrieked again. Blood ran down from its crimson eyes.
In the next moment, Desper didn't know how, but the ape suddenly appeared in front of him, its open maw only a few centimeters away from his face that close that he could see inside it.
'I'm dead.'
He didn't have time to react or even activate his Bloodline.
Swoooosh…
Suddenly, a large spike emerged from the ground and impaled the monster's head.
Desper dropped to his knees, supporting himself with his swords, gasping for air. The ape's blood splashed over him, the severed arm still hanging from his neck.
His eyes remained open as he heard the Fifth Elder's voice.
"Success. Good job. Consider this a lesson. Even if you are talented, you shouldn't overestimate yourself. One single mistake, and you are gone," he said, smiling. "Tomorrow, you will take your first mission."
'Who said I overestimated myself?' Desper thought. '@!#%!#$'