Exceptional Talent, Dogmen

Lu Yuan flipped his right hand and took the Blacklight Alloy Sword out of his War Rune Space.

The blade reflected a dim gleam beneath the scorching sunlight.

Lu Yuan crouched low and carefully approached the Graystone Beetle.

When he was about twenty meters away from the Graystone Beetle, it suddenly paused while eating a rock. The two antennae on its head twitched, and it turned around.

When it saw Lu Yuan, it froze.

Lu Yuan froze as well.

This little thing had rather sharp senses.

After the two stared at each other in silence for a moment, the Graystone Beetle let out a series of squeaks and charged at Lu Yuan on its eight stubby legs.

The Graystone Beetle was only the size of a puppy, reaching roughly Lu Yuan's knees, but its vicious mouthparts still looked rather terrifying.

After all, it was an insect. In his previous life on Earth, Lu Yuan had never seen bugs this large. It was not like this was Alien.

However, Lu Yuan had strength now, so he was naturally not nervous.

When the Graystone Beetle rushed in front of Lu Yuan, it opened its ferocious mouthparts and bit toward his lower leg.

Both the Military Body Fist and Military Killing Sword Lu Yuan practiced had evasive footwork. With a sidestep, he easily dodged the Graystone Beetle's pounce.

The Blacklight Alloy Sword in his hand slashed down onto the Graystone Beetle's head.

Crack!

It was as though the Blacklight Alloy Sword had struck stone, producing a dull sound as the blade became stuck in the Graystone Beetle's head.

This was completely different from the power of the Cat Person Archer's arrows Lu Yuan had seen earlier.

He understood that this was probably the difference between a Gene Armament and an ordinary weapon.

But he was poor and could not afford a Gene Armament. What could he do about that?

The Graystone Beetle was incredibly strong. Lu Yuan's slash wounded it, making it emit a piercing shriek as its body twisted wildly.

The tremendous force nearly made Lu Yuan lose his grip on the sword. The blade slipped out of the wound, and the Graystone Beetle bit at Lu Yuan again.

They were so close that Lu Yuan could see its terrible mouthparts opening and closing.

He suddenly leaped backward.

Crack!

Its mouthparts snapped shut in front of Lu Yuan's feet.

The shock even brought cold sweat to Lu Yuan's back.

Seeing monsters in forum posts was completely different from encountering one in real life, all right?!

The strength inside the Graystone Beetle's tiny body was actually a little greater than his own.

Is this what monsters in the Origin Land are like?

Thankfully, he had not come in immediately after awakening. Otherwise, he would definitely have died horribly.

The wound enraged the Graystone Beetle. Seeing Lu Yuan evade, it pounced again.

The Graystone Beetle's attacks were very simple. With some experience, Lu Yuan could now dodge them easily.

As he evaded, he also left wound after wound on the Graystone Beetle's head.

Only after slashing the Graystone Beetle five times did the sword in Lu Yuan's hand pierce through the thick shell on its head and completely stab into its brain.

The Graystone Beetle squeaked as it collapsed, its eight stubby legs twitching constantly.

Dead.

Lu Yuan looked at the dead Graystone Beetle and let out a faint breath.

This life-and-death battle was completely different from practicing martial arts at a dojo. Sweat had formed on Lu Yuan's forehead.

Fortunately, it was an unintelligent creature, so the difficulty was not too high.

At that moment, white light flickered over the dead Graystone Beetle's body. The light gathered before it, forming a thumb-sized white crystal.

His eyes lit up, and he smiled.

This was one of the most enticing things in the Origin Land.

A crystal formed from the life energy condensed when a monster died: a spirit crystal.

Not only were spirit crystals easy to absorb, but they were also the basic unit of currency for trade among all races. They were extremely valuable.

Essentially every monster dropped spirit crystals, though the quantity varied.

For a weak monster like a Graystone Beetle, dropping one was already the maximum.

Lu Yuan had read about this in newbie forum posts before.

A tiny spirit crystal like this could be absorbed by an apprentice-level Gene Warrior in roughly ten minutes to half an hour. It was comparable to the results of several hours or even a full day of cultivation for an ordinary person.

Lu Yuan picked up the spirit crystal.

After thinking about it, he decided that he had no other use for the spirit crystal right now, so he might as well absorb it and see the effects.

But he first needed to find somewhere safe. Being unable to move for ten minutes was still rather dangerous.

He would deal with this Graystone Beetle first.

Using the alloy sword, Lu Yuan cut a thick piece of Gray Stone Armor from the Graystone Beetle's back.

It was forging material that could be sold for money outside.

After putting away the Gray Stone Armor, the Graystone Beetle no longer had any value, and Lu Yuan left.

Before long, he found a secluded cave beneath a rocky desert.

He entered the cave and sat down before taking out the spirit crystal from earlier.

Following the information from the forum posts he had read, Lu Yuan held the spirit crystal in his hand and activated the Spirit Qi Guiding Art.

Immediately, the spirit crystal turned into strands of spirit qi that Lu Yuan absorbed. They passed through the white mist and eventually merged into his Gene Chain. The lowest Gene Chain lit up by another small section, roughly equivalent to the results of an hour of diligent cultivation.

Lu Yuan: "..."

Lu Yuan, who had just closed his eyes, opened them again. He stared blankly at the spirit crystal powder in his hand, unable to react for a moment.

It's gone?

That's it?

Didn't they say it took at least ten minutes?

Is... my sense of time broken?

Lu Yuan was a little dumbfounded.

He realized that his situation seemed different from everything described in the forum posts.

They had said it took several days to sense and absorb spirit qi, yet he had absorbed it the moment he closed his eyes.

Now they said absorbing a spirit crystal took at least ten minutes, but he had finished it all in just a few breaths.

Then Lu Yuan thought about it and felt relieved again.

That made sense. When he had first absorbed spirit qi before, it had been the same. He had absorbed it immediately, without even needing preparation time.

"Exceptionally talented" must be talking about me, right?

Lu Yuan felt a little pleased with himself.

Wait...

At that moment, Lu Yuan thought of something, and his eyes suddenly lit up.

Other people needed ten minutes to absorb a spirit crystal, so they naturally had to collect them and find a safe place to absorb them together.

But he was different. He only needed one or two breaths.

Did that mean he could absorb dropped spirit crystals while hunting monsters?

If so, would his growth speed not be far faster than everyone else's?

Not only that, the spirit qi within spirit crystals could replenish the spirit qi he consumed.

He did not need to consume much spirit qi right now, but after he engraved genes in the future, using gene combat techniques would require a great deal of spirit qi.

Did that mean he could replenish spirit qi while consuming it?

A perpetual-motion machine?

For a moment, Lu Yuan had several bold ideas.

This talent of mine is way too awesome, isn't it?!

Lu Yuan calmed his excited emotions, left the cave, and prepared to continue hunting.

After gaining combat experience once, Lu Yuan had a rough understanding of his current strength.

With his current strength, dealing with one Graystone Beetle was easy. He could handle two as well, but he would probably need to run from three.

He continued searching for prey, intending to find only lone Graystone Beetles.

Fortunately, Graystone Forest was vast, and there were many Graystone Beetles. There were also quite a few wandering alone.

In a little over an hour, Lu Yuan found seven lone Graystone Beetles.

After defeating the Graystone Beetles and absorbing their spirit crystals, the spirit qi he gained was already comparable to a full night of diligent cultivation.

This cultivation speed was already roughly ten times his original speed.

And this was only the beginning. As his strength increased, his speed in hunting Graystone Beetles would only become faster, and his rate of improvement would only continue accelerating.

Splat!

After several exchanges, Lu Yuan thrust his sword into the lone Graystone Beetle's head.

He skillfully picked up the spirit crystal from the ground and cut off the Gray Stone Armor.

Just as Lu Yuan was about to leave, he heard footsteps coming from behind him.

Turning around, he saw two dogmen walking around the stone pillar. They wore black leather armor and carried long sabers.

The two dogmen froze when they saw Lu Yuan.

They immediately gripped their weapons tightly and warily looked around.

But after discovering no one else nearby, the two dogmen exchanged looks. Their smiles gradually turned savage as they looked at Lu Yuan.

"Look what we found. A lone human!"

"Human, what do you think we should do with you?"

Lu Yuan frowned slightly as he watched the two dogmen slowly approach.

He had anticipated this possibility before.

After all, this place was a mixed bag. When Gene Warriors died, the things they had acquired would fall out of their War Rune Spaces. It was entirely possible to encounter people who robbed and killed others.

That was why Lu Yuan tried to hunt monsters in deserted places.

After all, he knew his own limits. His current strength was still far inferior to Gene Warriors who had awakened much earlier.

He had not expected to encounter people despite being so careful.

"Hehehe~ Human, just stand there obediently and don't move. My blade is fast. You won't feel any pain."

One dogman wielded his saber with a lecherous smile on his face.

The other dogman smiled even more broadly and licked the corner of his mouth.

"I'd rather you put up a little resistance. That way, we can have a bit more fun."

Lu Yuan looked at the two dogmen with a smile on his face.

"My friends are nearby. Are there really only two of you?"

Hearing this, the two dogmen halted and looked around uncertainly.

"Your friends..."

One dogman found nothing unusual. As he spoke, he turned back toward Lu Yuan, only to discover that Lu Yuan had already run dozens of meters away.

The dogman immediately flew into a rage. "Damn human! You dared to trick me!"

"Chase him! Kill him!"

Lu Yuan looked back at the two dogmen chasing after him and grinned.

"I'll remember you two! Just you wait!"

Damn it.

Lu Yuan felt miserable.

Looking at the equipment on the two dogmen, Lu Yuan knew he could not beat them.

If he could not win, he could only run.

He had not expected these two dogmen to really chase after him like dogs.

At that moment, Lu Yuan's head was starting to ache.