Magical Beast Mountain Range

For long-range, the Purple Dragon Bow is already more than enough.

As for melee, it's fine after transforming. Once he transforms into a Tiger-Striped Warrior, his entire body becomes a weapon. Unfortunately, after transforming, he only gains experience from killing level eight or higher magical beasts or humans, which undoubtedly means he will be getting much less experience for now.

Without transforming, his current melee ability is insufficient, so he still needs a reliable weapon for the time being.

Garen directly used the Primary Enhancement Stone to upgrade the steel blade gifted by the system.

Ding, the sturdy steel blade has been upgraded. It can now inflict massive damage on magical beasts below level five (upgradable).

It's still not quite usable for now, but as long as he upgrades it a few more times so it can damage level six or seven magical beasts, it will be ready.

No rush. Once he reaches the Magical Beast Mountain Range, with so many magical beasts around, he doesn't have to worry about failing to loot an enhancement stone.

Back on the road, Garen walked less than ten kilometers toward the Magical Beast Mountain Range when he once again discovered over a dozen red dots in the woods not far ahead.

To prevent them from discovering him, Garen bent over and moved forward, his figure completely covered by the tall grass.

"I didn't expect there to be so many bandits and outlaws on the outskirts of the Magical Beast Mountain Range. Should I circle the perimeter first and wipe out a wave of bandits? Bandits generally aren't very strong, mostly level four to six. Humans have weaker defenses than magical beasts of the same level, making them easier to kill."

Ever since Uncle Luke died, Garen has harbored a deep hatred for bandits, so he decided to kill a wave of them before heading into the Magical Beast Mountain Range; he'd get experience either way.

After approaching the woods, Garen used the Levitation Spell to fly onto the branch of a large tree, secretly observing the group of bandits from several dozen meters away.

Once he got closer, Garen realized there weren't just a dozen bandits in front; there was also another red dot in a pond not far from the woods.

Just as he was preparing to strike at the bandits, six more red dots arrived at the edge of the pond not far in front of the woods.

"Boss, the goods have arrived. It's two level five magical beasts, Bloodthirsty War Pigs, plus a few piglets."

A bandit not far below whispered excitedly.

"Boss, the spot you picked is perfect. Adventurers passing by this area usually come over to wash up and tidy themselves when they see this pond, and magical beasts often come here to drink water too."

"Hmm, wait a moment. Let my magical beast ambush one first, then we'll charge over and surround the other one to finish it off. There are a few piglets too, we'll eat those for lunch."

By now, the six Bloodthirsty War Pigs—two large and four small—had walked to the side of the pond.

The two large Bloodthirsty War Pigs scanned their surroundings before lowering their heads to drink water in large gulps.

"Gulp, gulp, gulp."

The few piglets also ran over happily behind them.

Suddenly.

"Snap."

A black shadow lunged out of the pond and bit the neck of the male Bloodthirsty War Pig in one go.

It was actually a level six magical beast, a Saw-Toothed Crocodile.

The female Bloodthirsty War Pig was just about to use her tusks to pry the Saw-Toothed Crocodile off, but with a flick of its tail, the crocodile dragged the male Bloodthirsty War Pig into the pond.

While the female Bloodthirsty War Pig was pacing back and forth on the shore in a panic, the few piglets were so scared they hid under her belly.

At this moment, the bandits in the woods rushed out quickly and surrounded her.

"Damn, this setup is pretty deep. They actually used a water-type level six Saw-Toothed Crocodile to ambush them, dragging the person or beast into the water before launching a coordinated land and water attack. An average level seven warrior, if caught off guard by this, would probably fall for it too."

Garen couldn't help but think.

However, these tricks were nothing in his eyes.

He drew his bow and notched an arrow.

"Whoosh."

The group of bandits never expected that while the mantis stalks the cicada, the oriole is behind.

"Squelch."

The bandit leader fell to the ground; capture the ringleader first to capture the rest.

Ding, killed a level six bandit leader, gained 271 experience.

No equipment dropped.

Garen glanced at the body and frowned.

At this moment, the bandits had all run out of the woods and were in the clearing by the pond.

Discovering they were under attack, some of them picked up their longbows to fight back.

Garen jumped down from the tree branch and cast "Extreme Speed" on himself, dodging left and right. With the tree trunks providing cover, the bandits couldn't hit him at all.

His Purple Dragon Bow had great power and long range. Even with battle aura shields, he had gradually mastered the Rapid-Fire Arrow during his previous battles. He could now fire two arrows in succession, perfectly suited for one arrow to break the armor and the second to kill.

When the last of the bandits realized they were completely outmatched and scattered to flee, it became Garen's hunting time.

A few minutes later, Garen, in his transformed state, had killed all the bandits. However, he let those Bloodthirsty War Pigs go; there was no experience for killing them, and there were a few piglets who had just lost their father—killing them seemed a bit cruel.

After looting the bandits clean, only the Saw-Toothed Crocodile remained.

This was a level six magical beast; killing it would grant experience.

Garen jumped straight into the pool. Although a Tiger-Striped Warrior was not a water-type, tigers were not afraid of water.

Furthermore, with his level 8 strength, holding his breath underwater for an hour was not an issue.

Garen swam quickly to the bottom, easily grabbed the tail of the Saw-Toothed Crocodile as it tried to flee, gave it a light shake, and then flung it over a hundred meters out of the pool with a powerful heave.

After leaping out of the pool, Garen reverted to his human form.

He drew his bow and nocked an arrow; on land, the Saw-Toothed Crocodile was a sitting duck. Although it had thick skin and flesh, a few Gale Arrows pierced through its scales, followed by an Explosive Arrow to finish it off.

The Saw-Toothed Crocodile croaked its last.

Ding, killed level 6 Magical Beast Saw-Toothed Crocodile, gained 135 experience points.

"Hmm, why did the experience get cut in half when it's still a level 6? Could it be because of the Tiger-Striped Warrior transformation earlier, and the system won't let me exploit a bug?"

Garen gritted his teeth in frustration; this system was too pedantic, not letting him take advantage of any loopholes at all.

However, he realized that if he hadn't been able to transform and chase it into the water, he really wouldn't have been able to do anything about this Saw-Toothed Crocodile. If he had jumped into the water without transforming, it would have been hard to say who would have killed whom.

Hm? It dropped loot.

Looking at the ball of light floating from the Saw-Toothed Crocodile, Garen instantly became happy again.

Ding, obtained Primary Enhancement Stone.

Not bad, not bad; he happened to need an enhancement stone to upgrade his equipment.

Without hesitation, he performed the enhancement immediately.

Ding, the sturdy Steel Blade has been upgraded to an Alloy Blade, capable of dealing massive damage to magical beasts below level 6. (Upgradeable)

Over the next half month, Garen cleared out all the bandits lying in ambush on the route from the Fenlai Kingdom to the Magical Beast Mountain Range. He wiped out a total of six bandit gangs, which included eight level 6 warriors, while the rest were level 4 or 5 lackeys.

The total harvest of gold coins and Magic Gold Cores amounted to roughly 60,000 gold coins, just about enough to pay off the debt for the Purple Dragon Bow.

The eight level 6 bandits he killed later dropped one enhancement stone, which he used to upgrade the Alloy Blade once more.

Ding, the sharp Alloy Blade has been successfully enhanced, capable of dealing massive damage to magical beasts below level 7. (Upgradeable)

Being able to deal massive damage to level 6 magical beasts was enough for his current needs in human form.

Garen

Warrior Level: 6 (16824/50000 experience)

Transformation Level: 8

Magic Level: 5 (1042/10000 experience)

Although killing monsters was much faster than cultivation, it was a pity that the jump from level 6 to level 7 was a major hurdle, requiring a full 50,000 experience points; leveling up was becoming increasingly difficult.

It was also time to prepare to officially enter the Magical Beast Mountain Range.