The System-granted Steel Blade had been strengthened several times. It was now two meters long and weighed a hundred jin.
As Garen approached the Earth-Walking Dragon, the beast woke from its deep sleep.
Whoosh!
Its tail lashed out at Extreme Speed. Garen planted his foot hard against the ground, accelerating again, and barely dodged the blow. With a leap, he was already above the dragon's head.
He drove the tip of his blade down with all his strength.
Squelch!
The outer dragon scales barely slowed the blade before it slid straight in.
Roar...
The Earth-Walking Dragon bellowed in pain and thrashed violently, flinging Garen more than ten meters away.
Garen rolled with the impact and sprang steadily to his feet, completely unharmed.
Not far away, the Earth-Walking Dragon's head had taken a terrible blow. It thrashed wildly, knocked down several trees, then collapsed and died.
Ding! You killed a Level Six Magical Beast, the Earth-Walking Dragon. You gained 287 experience points.
"With the God-Slaying Blade"—a name Garen had come up with himself—"killing Magical Beasts of the same level is no challenge at all."
The Magical Beasts in this area were clearly a level stronger. They were mostly Level Five or Six, so Garen pressed on.
To hone his swordsmanship, he needed more opponents—and stronger ones.
Garen had the Map Function. In less than two minutes, he found another Level Six Magical Beast, a Tri-Horned Venomous Snake coiled around a tree branch.
Without the Map Function, it would have been hard to spot.
The Tri-Horned Venomous Snake was skilled at hiding and ambushes, and it was highly poisonous. If you were unlucky enough to get bitten and the venom entered your body, even a Level Seven warrior couldn't last more than a few minutes before dying. It was a fearsome killer in the Magical Beast Mountain Range.
The Tri-Horned Venomous Snake wasn't as large as other big Magical Beasts, but an adult still reached three meters in length. Its body was as thick as a grown man's arm, and its hide was exceptionally tough.
From a distance, Garen cast Wind Blade and cut through the branch the snake was coiled around.
The Tri-Horned Venomous Snake fell from the tree, several dozen meters above the ground, along with the branch.
By the time it reacted and tried to leap onto another branch, Garen had already jumped more than twenty meters into the air. He brought his blade down on the snake's weak point.
One slash cut it in two. It was dead beyond any doubt.
The God-Slaying Blade made short work of this kind of Magical Beast.
Against enormous Magical Beasts with thick scales, hide, and flesh, a single strike couldn't reach their internal organs or bones. He could only wear them down slowly. But against smaller Magical Beasts, the God-Slaying Blade's sharpness, combined with Garen's Level Six warrior's fighting spirit and strength, meant almost certain instant kills.
Ding! You killed a Level Six Magical Beast, the Tri-Horned Venomous Snake. You gained 265 experience points.
"Among Level Six Magical Beasts, there aren't any enormous ones. With the God-Slaying Blade, I can pretty much kill them at will. But if I run into something like a Velociraptor—more than ten meters tall and dozens of meters long—I don't think I can do much without transforming."
Garen felt that, with the God-Slaying Blade, dealing with Level Six Magical Beasts was far too easy. But against a large Level Seven Magical Beast, even one like Bebe—with teeth sharp enough to pierce defenses—he could bite dozens of times and still only leave minor wounds. Its scales and flesh could ripple and move across its whole body, making it hard to kill.
If he ran into a smaller one, he could partially transform into a tiger and reach the strength of a Level Seven warrior. With the God-Slaying Blade, killing it should be easy.
For now, he would focus on grinding experience and solidifying the foundations of his swordsmanship. Once he had mastered the basics and created a signature move of his own, he should be able to take down large Level Seven Magical Beasts more easily.
And so Garen continued rapidly grinding experience in the Magical Beast Mountain Range, steadily improving his swordsmanship.
Slash, chop, thrust, sweep. He repeated these basic moves countless times every day. Over time, the God-Slaying Blade began to feel like an extension of his own body.
One month later.
Garen
Warrior Level: Level 6 (49,892/50,000 experience)
Transformation Level: Level 8
Magic Level: Level 6 (39,295/50,000 experience)
God-Slaying Blade: Deals massive damage to Magical Beasts below Level Nine. Gemstone smelting unlocked (two sockets)
Level 1 Sun Stone: Increases the power of the character's Fire-style magic or fighting spirit by 10%
Level 1 Breeze Stone: Increases the power of the character's wind magic or fighting spirit by 10%
Tiger God Armor (the name he gave the armor granted by the System): Provides strong protection against Magical Beasts below Level Eight. Gemstone smelting unlocked (one socket)
Level 1 Black Gem: Increases the character's speed by 5%
After a month of fighting, Garen had finally raised his Magic Level to Level Six as well.
He could have raised his Warrior Level to Level Seven much earlier, but he knew that once he reached Level Seven, killing Level Six Magical Beasts would no longer grant experience. And since leveling up his Magic Level through meditation was harder than improving his Warrior Level through training, he had stopped just short of Level Seven and put all the experience from the Magical Beasts he killed afterward into his Magic Level.
That month, Garen had killed hundreds of Level Six Magical Beasts and more than a dozen Level Seven ones.
He had also killed several assassins training in the Magical Beast Mountain Range. They were easier prey than the Magical Beasts. With the System Map, no matter how carefully they hid or concealed their presence, he found them with ease. Before they even noticed him, he shot them dead with the Purple Dragon Bow, since they didn't activate their fighting spirit shields while hiding their presence.
The equipment that had dropped over the month had let him strengthen both the God-Slaying Blade and the Tiger God Armor several times. He had also obtained some Socketing Stones and Enchanting Stones.
Though he had only socketed Level 1 Gemstones so far, and the enhancement might not seem like much, the System had already informed him that two Level 1 Gemstones could be combined into a Level 2 one. Higher-level Gemstones would surely have a substantial effect.
He still had two Level 1 Gemstones in his inventory, but without Socketing Stones to make room for them, he couldn't use them yet.
He had also gotten a few Primary Experience Cards. He'd saved them for later, treating them as trump cards.
The Purple Dragon Bow's power had increased considerably too. He had replaced the two Level Six Magic Crystal Cores originally socketed in it with Level Seven ones.
Garen planned to gradually modify the Purple Dragon Bow once he grew stronger. After all, he had gotten used to using it.
Garen was beginning to feel that the Upgrade System was becoming more and more like a game. It had even introduced Gemstone sockets. Who knew what other flashy features it might add later?
"Will the Pet System unlock once I catch a pet, and the mount system once I get a mount?" Garen wondered.
As Garen's thoughts wandered, the ground suddenly began to tremble faintly. Then countless red dots appeared on the Map Function.
A few seconds later, Garen saw countless Magical Beast rats—more than ten thousand of them.
At their head were two golden Stone-Slaying Rats, each half a meter tall.
"Holy crap!"
Garen let out a startled yelp, transformed into a Tiger-Striped Warrior, and instinctively fled in a panic toward the outskirts of the Magical Beast Mountain Range.
Several hours later, Garen finally escaped. He leaned against a tree, gasping for breath.
"Damn, that was close. I almost got killed."
Those two Stone-Slaying Rats were probably Level Nine Magical Beasts. Even in his Tiger-Striped Warrior transformation, they had nearly caught up to him. He'd turned and struck one, but only managed to cut off a little fur. At the last moment, he had cast the Level Six Extreme Speed spell on himself as well, and only just managed to get away.
At least this time, he'd run into a Level Nine Stone-Slaying Rat Tide, so he had a slight advantage in speed. If he'd encountered a Level Nine Shadow Rat Tide, he'd probably have gone straight to the Underworld. Still, the Stone-Slaying Rats' defense truly lived up to their reputation as the toughest among Magical Beasts. The God-Slaying Blade hadn't pierced their defenses at all.
This experience taught Garen why people said Rat Tides were the most terrifying things of all.
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