Aren leaned his back against the rough and warm wall of the cave. His stomach was so full that he was even having trouble breathing. He had used Mana Reinforcement for so long that his mana was almost depleted.
His eyelids wanted to close as if each weighed a ton. He put his hand on his swollen stomach and patted it lightly.
"I have never felt this full in my life." Aren said, his voice coming out in a drowsy tone.
"I have no energy left to move. It wouldn't be bad if I slept for a few hours."
The heat of the meat he ate spread from his stomach to his whole body, dragging him into a sweet lethargy.
"Sleep?" Seraphina's voice was sharp and furious.
"That thing you ate is not ordinary meat! That is the meat of a creature filled with the pure fire element!"
"If you do nothing and sleep, ninety-nine percent of that energy will be lost!" Seraphina scolded.
"You will have only fed your stomach, not gotten stronger! Right now, that energy is trapped in your stomach and is struggling to be released. If you don't channel it, it will not only go to waste but also damage your internal organs."
The sleep in Aren's eyes vanished in an instant. "What do I need to do?"
"Get into a meditation position immediately." Seraphina said, her voice now more authoritative.
"Initiate the Divine Phoenix Mantra. But this time you will not draw the mana from outside, from the atmosphere. You will draw it from inside, from your stomach. Tame that wild energy and merge it with your own mana."
Aren sat up with difficulty. The feeling of fullness in his stomach was making him uncomfortable, but he heeded Seraphina's warning.
He crossed his legs, put his hands on his knees, and closed his eyes.
He took a deep breath.
He directed his mental focus to his stomach. There, a dense and scorching mass of energy resided, as if a sun had been swallowed. Aren began to repeat the 'Divine Phoenix Mantra' in his mind. At that moment, that stagnant mass of energy in his stomach went into motion.
"Focus on absorbing the energy." Seraphina said.
The heat in his stomach suddenly reached an unbearable point. It was as if a volcano had erupted inside him.
The meat he ate was dissolving rapidly, losing its physical form and turning into a stream of pure, crimson energy. Aren tried to control this flow.
The energy was wild. It carried that furious will of the bear.
As it progressed through Aren's meridians, it crashed against the walls, trying to burn and destroy. Sweat poured from Aren's forehead.
The color of his skin had turned pitch red. The steam emitting from his body was filling the inside of the cave. "It's... It's too hot!" Aren groaned.
He unleashed his own golden-colored mana onto that river of crimson energy. The golden mana wrapped around the crimson energy, compressed it, and dominated it.
The wild energy calmed down, became purified, and became obedient in the face of Aren's will.
3 days later.
There was no pain anymore.
Instead, it had been replaced by an indescribable sense of power.
The purified energy flowed into Aren's muscles, bones, tendons, and most importantly, his mana pool. The golden flame in his mana pool flared up as if gasoline had been poured on it. Aren had lost track of time.
Time slipped away as minutes gave way to hours. The bloating and heaviness in his stomach had completely disappeared.
When he trapped the last crumb of energy in his mana pool, a powerful shockwave spread from Aren's body. The ashes on the floor of the cave flew up.
Aren opened his eyes.
Inside the dark cave, his eyes glowed like two golden lanterns. He blew out black smoke from his mouth.
Aren looked at his hands.
When he clenched his fist, he felt the air explode inside his palm.
He immediately checked his stats.
Title: None
Level: 13
Name: Aren Khan
Race: Human
Physique: Spotless Physique
Bloodline: None
Age: 26
Height: 189CM
Weight: 86KG
Vitality: 60->65
Strength: 56->61
Agility: 49->55
Endurance: 70->77
Intelligence: 112->114
Wisdom: 102->104
Soul: 191->193
Mana: 93->100
Skills: Bloodlust (Passive), Advanced Sword Mastery (Passive), Phantom Step (Passive), Divine Phoenix Mantra Part 1 (Passive & Active), Basic Vision (Active), Mana Reinforcement (Active)
"Seraphina, is killing the only way to level up?" asked Aren.
Seraphina's voice echoed in his mind. This time, there was no mockery in her voice, but the seriousness of an instructor.
"Yes, killing is the only way to level up. When you kill someone, the 'system' takes the 'essence' of that entity and uses it to strengthen you." she said.
"What you ate didn't give you 'experience' points, but it directly strengthened your muscles, organs, bones, tendons, and expanded your mana pool."
"When you face someone at a higher level than you, your foundation will be much more solid than theirs."
Aren nodded in agreement.
"I understand."
Aren stood up. His body was completely cleansed of his previous fatigue. He was even much more energetic than before.
He was now completely full. He would have to wait before eating again. After putting what was left of the bear into his storage ring, he headed towards the exit of the cave.
Instead of putting his sword in his storage ring, he decided to carry it with him just in case.
The crimson forest outside looked even gloomier under the volcanic ashes. When Aren stepped out of the cave, the suffocating atmosphere of the Crimson Forest greeted him.
Aren took a deep breath and took his first step forward.
After a half-hour journey, thanks to Seraphina's guidance, Aren finally found his new prey.
Among the charred trees, ten ash-colored wolves, each the size of a human head, were standing. Their sizes were three times bigger than ordinary wolves. They were resting peacefully while their ash-colored fur rippled in the hot wind.
Aren hid behind a tree, trying to conceal his presence as much as possible, and activated the 'Basic Vision' skill. That golden gleam appeared in his eyes.
'They are not as strong as the bear, but they are not too far off from it either. Also, there are too many of them. I should run,' he thought, and then Seraphina's serious voice appeared in his mind.
Aren silently turned his back and started to get as far away from the wolves as possible with silent steps. A few minutes later, one of the wolves must have caught Aren's scent, as their wild howls echoed in Aren's ears.
Realizing that the wolves were coming after him, Aren pushed his legs to their limits and glided through the trees like a shadow.
However, the growls behind him weren't diminishing; on the contrary, they were getting closer.
'They are too fast.'
Aren's agility was very high. However, despite this, the wolves seemed faster than him.
A gray blur passed by his right side. Another by his left. A third one jumped in front of him and blocked his way with a growl.
Aren stopped suddenly. His feet dug into the volcanic soil. He was surrounded. Ten pairs of hungry and savage eyes were locked onto him.
"There is no escape." said Seraphina, her voice calm. "You have to fight."
Aren took a deep breath and gripped his sword tightly.
The closest wolf tensed up like a bow and lunged towards Aren's throat.
Aren blocked that wolf with his sword; another wolf coming from his left side sank its teeth into his calf. At the same time, another one from behind jumped onto his back.
Aren gritted his teeth, waiting for the teeth to sink into his flesh and his bones to crack. However, the pain he expected didn't come.
He only felt a hard pressure.
The moment the wolf's razor-sharp teeth touched the Royal Dragon Silk Robe on Aren, the crimson dragon embroidery on the robe glowed faintly. The fabric became harder than steel, preventing the teeth from reaching the skin.
The wolf growled in surprise and tried to tug at the fabric, but to no avail. The robe didn't tear, didn't puncture; it merely stretched.
Realizing that his defense was impenetrable, Aren's hesitation vanished instantly. All he had to do was protect his head.
He released the energy in his mana pool.
Mana Reinforcement.
The black sword was coated in golden flames. Aren struck the head of the wolf clinging to his leg hard with the hilt of the sword.
The wolf fell backward, stunned. Aren didn't miss the opportunity and brought his sword down onto the wolf's neck.
The headless body collapsed to the ground.
Experience gained.
The other wolves attacked en masse, uncaring of their friend's death.
But Aren was no longer fleeing prey, but a cornered predator.
He crushed the wolf that jumped on his back by slamming his shoulder hard against a tree. He kicked whatever came in front of him, swung his sword.
While his robe absorbed claw strikes and bites, Aren focused solely on attacking.
The sword drew a golden arc in the air and split another wolf in two.
It pierced through the heart of another.
The floor of the Crimson Forest was watered with the crimson blood of the wolves. When the last remaining alpha wolf saw that its pack was slaughtered, it attempted to flee, but Aren didn't give it that chance. He gripped his sword tightly and threw it with Mana Reinforcement. The sword shattered the wolf's skull like a bullet.
Experience gained.
CONGRATULATIONS!
Level 13 > Level 14
Your stats have increased by 1 point.
Silence returned.
Panting, Aren stood in the middle of the corpses. There wasn't a single tear on his robe, only the drool and blood of the wolves.
"This forest is more dangerous than I thought." said Seraphina. "But you were very careless. If it weren't for that robe, even if you hadn't died right now, you would have definitely lost a few limbs and been severely injured."
Aren said in a serious voice, "You are right. I will be more careful."
He took a deep breath, trying to calm down. The adrenaline was slowly receding, giving way to a sweet ache in his muscles.
Aren walked over to the Alpha wolf lying on the ground.
The black sword was plunged deep into the creature's skull. He held it by the hilt and pulled it out with a single, hard motion. The blood on the sword flowed off without leaving a stain.
'My mana is almost depleted. I can't continue like this. I must rest.'
Aren set off towards his cave, following the tracks he made, in the increasingly darkening crimson darkness of the forest. The way back was silent. The smell and noise of the massacre just now must have drawn other predators to that area, but Aren had already gotten far away from that area.
This narrow, low, and sulfur-smelling hole was his castle right now.
Aren sat down, leaning his back against the wall of the cave. He was starving. He had spent a lot of energy in the battle with the wolves. His mana pool was almost empty, and his muscles had started to tremble from fatigue.
Without wasting any time, he took the bear meat out of his storage ring. The meat was still hot. Steam was smoking off it.
"Feeding time." Aren said and took a large bite.
That metallic, spicy taste spreading in his mouth, and immediately after, the scorching heat going down his throat...
Seraphina's sullen voice echoed in his mind. "Eat slowly, you will choke." she said.
Aren didn't listen to her. He was as hungry as a wolf. He devoured a huge chunk of meat in minutes. When he swallowed the last bite, the heat radiating from his body was enough to warm the inside of the cave. His eyes wanted to close, but his mind had become exceedingly clear.
Getting into a meditation position, Aren started to repeat the 'Divine Phoenix Mantra' in his mind.
That dense mass of meat in his stomach slowly began to dissolve along with the ancient rhythm of the mantra. The wild energy in the bear's meat submitted to Aren's will and turned into a pure power, flowing into his meridians and his body.
Aren was advancing like a ghost through the dense vegetation of the Crimson Forest. The fatigue in his body was completely erased.
The nutritious bear meat had made him more vigorous than ever.
"Left side. They looks like human." Seraphina said suddenly.
Aren stopped.
He pricked up his ears in that direction. Through the wind and the rustling leaves, the sound of metal clashing against metal and muffled shouts were coming.
These sounds didn't belong to an animal.
A momentary hesitation appeared in his eyes but disappeared immediately.
He silently glided towards the source of the sound.
About a hundred meters ahead, in a small clearing where the trees were relatively sparse, there was a group of four people.