At range, the Purple Dragon Bow was more than enough now.
In close combat, he did all right after transforming. As a Tiger-Striped Warrior, his whole body became a weapon. Unfortunately, after transforming, he only gained experience from killing level-eight or higher magical beasts or humans. That meant he would miss out on a lot of experience for now.
In close combat without transforming, he still wasn't strong enough. He needed a good weapon.
o
So Garen used the Primary Enhancement Stone to upgrade the Steel Blade the system had given him.
Ding! The sturdy Steel Blade has been upgraded. It can deal massive damage to magical beasts below level five. (Upgradeable)
It still wasn't much use for now, but after a few more upgrades, it would be able to damage level-six and level-seven magical beasts. Then it would be useful.
No need to rush. Once he reached the Magical Beast Mountain Range, there would be so many magical beasts that he wouldn't have to worry about failing to get Reinforcement Stones.
Back on the road, Garen had walked less than ten kilometers toward the Magical Beast Mountain Range when he spotted a dozen or so red dots in a nearby patch of woods.
To avoid being spotted, Garen bent low and crept forward, his body completely hidden by the weeds.
"There are so many bandits on the outskirts of the Magical Beast Mountain Range. Should I make a loop around the outskirts first and take out a bunch of them? Bandits usually aren't very strong. Most are level four to six, and humans have weaker defenses than magical beasts of the same level, so they're easier to kill."
Ever since Uncle Luke's death, Garen had loathed bandits. So he decided to take out a group before entering the Magical Beast Mountain Range. He'd get experience for it, anyway.
When he reached the woods, Garen used the Levitation Spell to fly up to a branch and secretly watched the bandits from a few dozen meters away.
Once he got a closer look, Garen realized there were more than a dozen bandits up ahead. There was also a red dot in a pond not far from the woods.
Just as he was about to attack the bandits, six more red dots appeared by the pond ahead of the woods.
"Boss, we've got a catch! Two level-five Bloodthirsty War Pigs, and a few piglets."
A bandit nearby whispered excitedly.
"Boss, you picked the perfect spot. Adventurers passing by usually come over to clean up by the pond, and magical beasts often come here to drink."
"Yeah. Wait for my magical beast to ambush one of them, then we'll rush in and surround the other one. We'll take it down, and we can have the piglets for lunch."
The two large Bloodthirsty War Pigs and four piglets had reached the pond.
The two adults looked around, then lowered their heads and began gulping down water.
"Gulp, gulp, gulp."
The piglets ran over happily behind them.
Suddenly—
"Crack!"
A shadow burst out of the pond and sank its teeth into the male Bloodthirsty War Pig's neck.
It was a level-six Saw-Toothed Crocodile.
The female Bloodthirsty War Pig was about to use her tusks to pry the crocodile off, but it whipped its tail and dragged the male into the pond.
As the female paced anxiously on the bank, the piglets cowered beneath her.
Just then, the bandits charged out of the woods and quickly surrounded her.
"Damn, this is a pretty elaborate trap. They've got a level-six Water-style magical beast, a Saw-Toothed Crocodile, to ambush their prey and drag it into the water, then attack from both land and water. Even an ordinary level-seven warrior could fall for it if he let his guard down."
Garen couldn't help thinking to himself.
But these tricks were nothing in front of him.
He drew his bow and nocked an arrow.
"Whoosh!"
The bandits hadn't expected that while they were hunting a mantis, a yellow sparrow would be waiting behind them.
"Thud!"
The bandit leader fell. To catch the bandits, he had to take down their leader first.
Ding! You killed a level-six bandit leader and gained 271 experience points.
No equipment dropped.
Garen glanced at the body and frowned.
By now, the bandits had all rushed out of the woods and onto the open ground by the pond.
When they realized someone was attacking them, some of them picked up their bows and began firing back.
Garen jumped down from the branch and cast Extreme Speed on himself. He dodged from side to side, using the tree trunks for cover. The bandits couldn't hit him at all.
The Purple Dragon Bow had great power and a long range. Even against an opponent protected by a battle aura, Garen had gradually mastered the Rapid-Fire Arrow technique in his previous battles. He could now fire two arrows in a row: one to break through armor, the next to kill.
When the last of the bandits realized they couldn't win and fled in every direction, Garen began his hunt.
A few minutes later, the transformed Garen had wiped out the bandits. He let the Bloodthirsty War Pigs escape, though. Killing them wouldn't earn him any experience, and the piglets had just lost their father. Killing them too seemed a little cruel.
After stripping the bandits of everything they had, only the Saw-Toothed Crocodile remained.
It was a level-six magical beast. Killing it would earn him experience.
Garen jumped straight into the pond. The Tiger-Striped Warrior wasn't Water-style, but tigers weren't afraid of water.
Besides, with his level-eight strength, he could hold his breath underwater for an hour without trouble.
Garen quickly swam to the bottom of the pond and easily caught the fleeing crocodile by the tail. He gave it a quick shake, then flung it over a hundred meters out of the water.
After climbing out of the pond, Garen changed back into human form.
He drew his bow and nocked an arrow. The Saw-Toothed Crocodile was a sitting duck on the bank. Its hide was thick, but a few Gale Arrows pierced its scales, and one Explosive Arrow finished it off.
The Saw-Toothed Crocodile was done for.
Ding! You killed a level-six Saw-Toothed Crocodile and gained 135 experience points.
"Wait, why did I get only half the experience for a level-six beast? Is it because I transformed into a Tiger-Striped Warrior earlier? Is the system stopping me from exploiting a loophole?"
Garen was furious. The system was way too strict. It wouldn't let him exploit even the tiniest loophole.
But then he thought about how, without being able to transform and go into the water, he would have been helpless against the crocodile. If he'd jumped into the pond without transforming, it would have been anyone's guess who killed whom.
Huh? It dropped equipment.
Seeing the glowing orb float up from the Saw-Toothed Crocodile, Garen cheered up at once.
Ding! You obtained a Primary Enhancement Stone.
Perfect. He needed a Reinforcement Stone to upgrade his gear.
Without hesitation, he upgraded the blade.
Ding! The sturdy Steel Blade has been upgraded to an Alloy Blade. It can deal massive damage to magical beasts below level six. (Upgradeable)
Over the next half month, Garen cleared out all the bandits lying in ambush along the road from the Fenlai Kingdom to the Magical Beast Mountain Range. He wiped out six bandit gangs in total. Eight of them were level-six warriors; the rest were level-four or level-five underlings.
The gold coins and Magic Gold Cores he collected came to about sixty thousand gold coins—almost enough to pay for the Purple Dragon Bow.
The eight level-six bandits had dropped one Reinforcement Stone, which he used to upgrade the Alloy Blade again.
Ding! The sharp Alloy Blade has been successfully upgraded. It can deal massive damage to magical beasts below level seven. (Upgradeable)
It could deal massive damage to level-six magical beasts, so it was good enough for him to use in human form for now.
Garen
Warrior Level: 6 (16824/50000 experience)
Transformation Level: 8
Magic Level: 5 (1042/10000 experience)
Killing monsters was much faster than training, but the jump from level six to level seven was a major hurdle. He needed a full fifty thousand experience points, and leveling up would only get harder from here.
It was time to prepare to enter the Magical Beast Mountain Range for real.
***
Before you continue