THIS HUMAN IS A DEMON.
Cotton's mind was racing with terror and confusion.
MY HORN PIERCE! THREE YEARS OF CULTIVATION! MY ULTIMATE TECHNIQUE! SHATTERED! ON! HIS! LEG!
WHAT IS THIS CHILD MADE OF?!
SPIRIT STEEL?!
DIVINE IRON?!
THE FUCKING CRYSTALLIZED TEARS OF ANCIENT DRAGONS?!
The small human was walking now, carrying Cotton like a stuffed toy. And behind them, that sphere of absolute darkness followed, consuming everything it touched.
AND THAT BLACK SPHERE! IT'S EATING THE FOREST! THE TREES! THE GROUND! EVEN THE AIR ITSELF!
WHAT KIND OF CULTIVATION TECHNIQUE DOES THAT?!
Cotton tried desperately to wiggle free, but the child's hands felt like they were made of iron. Unbreakable. Impossible.
HE'S GOING TO FEED TO THAT SPHERE! COOK ALIVE! EAT MY CORE! USE MY FUR TO MAKE WARM SOCKS!
SOBODY! ANYBODY! THERE'S A MONSTER IN THE FOREST DISGUISED AS A SMALL HUMAN CHILD!
"You're so soft and fluffy!" the demon said cheerfully, petting Cotton's head with one hand while keeping him trapped with the other. "Taylor is going to love you so much! I'll brush your fur every day! And feed you the best spirit herbs! You'll be the happiest rabbit in the whole city!"
I AM THUNDERHORN, TERROR OF THE EASTERN CLEARINGS! I HAVE SLAIN SEVENTEEN LESSER BEASTS IN HONORABLE COMBAT! I AM FEARED BY TIER 1 PREDATORS ACROSS THREE TERRITORIES!
I AM NOT COTTON!
I AM NOT A PET!
I AM A PROUD WARRIOR!
What ca out: "Squeak."
"Aww, you're trying to talk! That's so cute!"
I'M NOT CUTE! I'M TERRIFYING! I'M AN APEX PREDATOR OF MY TIER! FEAR MY WRATH!
"Squeak squeak."
"You're making happy sounds! You must like your new na!"
THAT'S NOT—! I'M NOT—! THESE AREN'T HAPPY SOUNDS, THEY'RE DISTRESS CALLS!
The demon child kept walking deeper into the forest, humming a cheerful tune while carrying Cotton like a beloved stuffed animal.
Behind them, the ten-ter sphere of pure void consud everything in its path, leaving a trail of death and emptiness.
This is how I die, Cotton thought despairingly. Carried into the deep forest by a monster wearing child-skin, followed by a sphere that eats reality itself.
Mom was right. I should have stayed in the warren. But no, I wanted to be an adventurer. I wanted to explore. I wanted to prove I was brave.
Now I'm nad COTTON and being taken to et soone called TAYLOR.
Cotton gave up struggling and just lay limply in the demon's arms, resigned to his fate.
Maybe if I pretend to be dead, he'll lose interest and put down?
"Don't worry, Cotton! We're going to find so real spirit beasts now! Ones that are actually strong enough to fight! You'll be safe with while I practice!"
Cotton's eyes snapped open.
WAIT. WHAT. REAL SPIRIT BEASTS?! KID, I'M A REAL SPIRIT BEAST! TIER 1 IS REAL! THAT COUNTS!
AND WHAT DO YOU AN 'ACTUALLY STRONG ENOUGH TO FIGHT'?! WHAT ARE YOU PLANNING TO—
"Oh, there's sothing now! Perfect!"
OH NO.
Kai's spiritual sense detected a much stronger presence approaching fast from the northeast.
[Warning: Tier 2 Fire Boar detected]
[Distance: 400 ters and closing rapidly]
[Constitution: 700]
[Spirit: 700]
[Intelligence: 50]
[Comprehension: 50]
[Nexis Spheres: Approximately 2,400]
[Threat Level: Negligible to Host, extrely dangerous to rabbit]
"Oh good! A Tier 2 beast! That's better than Tier 1!"
Cotton, still trapped in Kai's arms, began squeaking frantically.
TIER 2?! KID, THAT'S A FIRE BOAR! THEY'RE CALLED "FOREST BURNERS"! THEY ROAST TIER 1 BEASTS ALIVE FOR FUN!
WE NEED TO RUN! NOW! IMDIATELY! THIS SECOND!
Squeak squeak squeak squeak SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAK!
"Don't worry, Cotton! I'll protect you!"
THAT'S NOT WHAT I'M SQUEAKING ABOUT! YOU CAN'T PROTECT FROM A TIER 2! WE'RE BOTH GOING TO DIE!
The Fire Boar burst through the underbrush ahead with the sound of splintering wood and crackling flas.
It was massive.
Nearly the size of an elephant—three ters tall at the shoulder, four ters long from snout to tail. Covered in bristling red fur that literally produced smoke. Its tusks glowed orange with heat, and actual flas leaked from its nostrils with each breath. Its eyes burned with Tier 2 beast intelligence—not human-smart like Tier 4 beasts, but smart enough to recognize prey when it saw it.
When the boar spotted Kai—a small human child holding what looked like a snack-sized rabbit—it didn't hesitate even slightly.
Free al. Possibly two free als if the rabbit was tasty.
The Fire Boar lowered its head, its tusks igniting with concentrated fire Nexis, and charged.
The ground shook with each thunderous step. Trees burst into fla where the boar brushed past them. The temperature in the clearing spiked dangerously—this thing radiated enough heat to roast a normal human just by getting close.
It was the apex predator of this region. Tier 2, Fracture Body Realm 5th stage. It had killed hundreds of beasts, including several Tier 2 cultivators who'd gotten too confident.
Cotton closed his eyes tight, accepting death.
At least it will be quick. Better to be roasted alive than whatever the demon child had planned for .
Goodbye, world. Goodbye, Mom. I'm sorry I never beca the legendary beast you wanted to be.
Kai casually shifted Cotton to one arm—cradling the rabbit against his chest protectively—and drew Servy with his free hand.
The sword sang as it left its scabbard, void energy swirling along its purple-black edge with eager anticipation.
The Fire Boar was twenty ters away.
Fifteen ters.
Ten ters.
Five ters—close enough that Kai could feel the heat washing over him, hot enough to ignite normal clothing.
Three ters—
Kai waved Servy in a lazy horizontal arc.
No technique. No Law. No special moves. Just a casual slash perford at maybe 0.1 percent of his actual speed, like swatting at an annoying fly.
The Fire Boar's head separated from its body so cleanly that the beast didn't even realize it was dead.
The massive body took three more charging steps, flas still pouring from the stump of its neck, before its brain caught up with reality and the corpse collapsed.
The head hit the ground and rolled to a stop at Kai's feet, its eyes still wide with confused rage.
Total combat ti: 0.2 seconds.
Cotton opened one eye.
Then the other.
Then both eyes went wider than Cotton had thought physically possible.
...WHAT.
THAT WAS A TIER 2 FIRE BOAR.
FOREST BURNER.
APEX PREDATOR.
KILLER OF CULTIVATORS.
AND IT JUST— WITH ONE— THE CHILD DIDN'T EVEN— BUT THE BOAR WAS—
WHAT IS HAPPENING.
WHAT IS REALITY.
WHAT IS LIFE.
MAMA I MISS YOU.
"See, Cotton? Totally safe!" Kai said brightly, sheathing Servy with one hand while still cradling the rabbit with the other. "You don't need to worry when you're with !"
Cotton's brain was experiencing what could only be described as a complete ntal breakdown.
I am being protected by a demon child who just killed a Tier 2 Fire Boar with a lazy sword wave and is followed by a sphere that eats reality and apparently thinks this is normal.
This is fine.
Everything is fine.
I am Cotton now. This is my life. I accept this.
Squeak.
"That's the spirit! Now let's see what we get from this guy!"
The Fire Boar's massive corpse began glowing as attribute spheres started erging.
Dozens of them floated up from the body—more than the rabbit would have provided, but still relatively small and dim compared to what Kai had absorbed from Ice Wind.
[Death Absorption Initiated...]
[Target: Tier 2 Fire Boar (Fracture Body Realm - 5th Stage)]
[Processing...]
Physical Attribute Spheres:
[Constitution: 700]
[Host current Constitution: 1,500,000]
[New Constitution: 1,500,700]
[Relative gain: 0.046% increase]
[Assessnt: Negligible enhancent]
Soul-Based Attribute Spheres:
[Spirit: 700]
[Host current Spirit: 30,248]
[New Spirit: 30,948]
[Relative gain: 2.31% increase]
[Assessnt: Minor but asurable enhancent]
[Intelligence: 50]
[Host current Intelligence: 5,073]
[New Intelligence: 5,123]
[Relative gain: 0.98% increase]
[Assessnt: Minimal enhancent]
Nexis Sphere Absorption:
[Nexis Spheres: 2,400 absorbed from beast core]
[Converting to Void Energy: 2,400 ÷ 100,000 = 0.024 VE units]
[Distributing across 37 trillion cells...]
[Result: 0.000000000000648 VE units per cell]
[Cultivation Progress Impact: 0.0000000001%]
[Analysis: Essentially aningless for Stage 1 completion]
[Stage 1 requires 370 trillion VE units total]
[This Fire Boar provided 0.024 VE units]
[Would need to kill 15.4 trillion identical Fire Boars to complete Stage 1]
Technique/Skill Spheres:
[Charge Technique (Basic - 15% mastery): Fragnt absorbed]
[Fire Breath (Minor - 8% mastery): Fragnt absorbed]
[Fla Aura (Passive - 23% mastery): Fragnt absorbed]
[Thick Hide (Passive - 67% mastery): Fragnt absorbed]
[Intimidation Aura (12% mastery): Fragnt absorbed]
[System Processing: Converting techniques to comprehension insights...]
[Charge Technique → Movent Insight for Speed Law ( 0.003%)]
[Fire Breath → Heat Manipulation Understanding ( 0.02%)]
[Fla Aura → Energy Emission Insight ( 0.01%)]
[Thick Hide → Defense Comprehension (incompatible with energy body, discarded)]
[Intimidation Aura → Presence Control Insight ( 0.005%)]
Intent Sphere (Special):
[Fire Intent Fragnt Detected: 0.3% comprehension]
[This CAN be converted to Fire Law using Host's Comprehension attribute]
[Estimated conversion ti: 3-5 minutes]
[SUMMARY OF GAINS FROM TIER 2 BEAST:]
[Constitution: 700 (negligible due to 1.5 million baseline)]
[Spirit: 700 (minor but useful, soul stats scale better)]
[Intelligence: 50 (minimal)]
[Nexis Energy: 0.024 VE units (essentially worthless)]
[Fire Intent Fragnt: 0.3% (VALUABLE - can beco Fire Law)]
[Total Power Gain: ~0.00000012% of Host's current total strength]
[The ONLY valuable resource from this kill was the Fire Intent fragnt]
Kai stared at the information flooding his system interface, his excitent deflating like a punctured balloon.
"That's... almost nothing. The Nexis spheres barely even registered. I'd need to kill fifteen trillion Fire Boars to make aningful cultivation progress?"
[Correct. The power gap is too massive. Physical attributes show severe diminishing returns when the target is 2,000 tis weaker than Host.]
[Spirit and Intelligence provide slightly better scaling because soul-based attributes follow different progression curves, but gains remain minimal.]
[The Nexis spheres are the worst value—2,400 spheres converted to 0.024 VE units is essentially nothing compared to your 370 trillion VE unit requirent for Stage 1.]
"So hunting Tier 1 and 2 beasts is basically pointless?"
[For power gain: Completely pointless]
[For combat experience: Marginally useful for learning technique application]
[For attribute absorption: Waste of ti and effort]
[Exception: Intent fragnts from any tier beast CAN be valuable if Host lacks that specific Law]
"How much stronger do I need to hunt?"
[Calculating optimal targets based on Host's current power and needs...]
TIER 3 BEASTS:
[Average Constitution: ~9,000]
[Average Nexis Spheres: ~15,000]
[Nexis to VE conversion: 0.15 VE units per kill]
[Would need: ~2.47 trillion kills for Stage 1 completion]
[Assessnt: Still completely impractical]
TIER 4 BEASTS:
[Average Constitution: ~30,000]
[Average Nexis Spheres: ~150,000]
[Nexis to VE conversion: 1.5 VE units per kill]
[Would need: ~247 billion kills for Stage 1 completion]
[Assessnt: Impractical but theoretically possible with mass slaughter]
[Note: Tier 4 beasts possess human-level intelligence and Law comprehension]
TIER 5 BEASTS:
[Average Constitution: ~700,000]
[Average Nexis Spheres: ~4,000,000]
[Nexis to VE conversion: 40 VE units per kill]
[Would need: ~9.25 billion kills for Stage 1 completion]
[Assessnt: Still impractical but entering reasonable territory]
[Attribute gains would be more noticeable (each kill = 700k Constitution)]
TIER 6 BEASTS:
[Average Constitution: ~8,000,000]
[Average Nexis Spheres: ~100,000,000]
[Nexis to VE conversion: 1,000 VE units per kill]
[Would need: ~370 million kills for Stage 1 completion]
[Assessnt: Actually practical for long-term cultivation]
[Warning: Tier 6 beasts possess significant Law comprehension and combat experience]
TIER 7 BEASTS:
[Provide exponentially better resources]
[Single Tier 7 kill might equal thousands of Tier 5 kills]
[Warning: Extrely dangerous - many Tier 7 beasts stronger than current Host]
[RECOMNDATION:]
[Hunt Tier 3-4 hordes for combat experience (learn to fight multiple intelligent opponents)]
[Graduate to Tier 5 solo hunting for moderate power gains]
[Avoid Tier 6 until Host gains substantial combat experience]
[Alternative strategy: Focus on quantity over quality for now]
[Example: Slaughter 10,000 Tier 3 beasts in rapid succession for 1,500 VE units]
Kai nodded slowly, processing this. "So I should look for groups of weaker beasts to learn how to fight multiple opponents, then move up to stronger individual beasts?"
[Exactly. Quantity for experience, quality for power.]
[Current optimal path:]
[1. Master combat against coordinated groups (Tier 3-4 hordes)]
[2. Practice fighting intelligent opponents with Law comprehension (Tier 4 individuals)]
[3. Graduate to hunting Tier 5 beasts for aningful attribute gains]
[4. Eventually challenge Tier 6 when ready]
"What about that Fire Intent fragnt? You said it could be useful?"
[Affirmative. Fire Intent fragnt can be absorbed and comprehended to Law level using Host's Comprehension attribute (898.8) and Terran Bloodline acceleration (100,000×).]
[Estimated comprehension ti: 3-5 minutes to reach Fire Law]
[This is the PRIMARY value of hunting beasts - collecting diverse Intent/Law fragnts]
Kai's eyes lit up. "I can get another Law in five minutes?"
[Correct. Recomnd beginning comprehension imdiately.]
"Do it!"
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