Garen's strongest move could only scrape the Saint Realm Black Dragon King's skin. It brought Garen face-to-face with reality.
His overall strength was probably about equal to that of a human at the Saint Realm Mid-Stage, while his speed should be about equal to that of an ordinary Saint Realm peak expert. (Not counting the faster ones.)
His total battle qi was still nowhere near that of a Saint Realm magical beast—probably dozens of times lower. Even with the boost from the Laws and Mysteries, he still couldn't defeat a Saint Realm magical beast.
"The Saint Realm Black Dragon King's dragon might can still slow me down a lot. With a body that huge, wearing down his battle qi and then slowly killing him probably won't work either."
Garen didn't want to keep fighting the Black Dragon King. He turned his attention to the group of Black Dragons in the distance, but at the sight of them, his heart sank. It looked like his plan was going to fall through.
The Black Dragons in the distance were continuously spewing Black Flame, surrounding themselves with countless flames.
This was a move used against powerful magical beasts and human Saint Realm experts.
Anyone who entered the range of the dragon flames would have to expend a great deal of battle qi to withstand them.
Even Saint Realm experts couldn't use their bodies to resist the corrosive Black Flame.
Seeing the Saint Realm Black Dragon King flying rapidly toward him, Garen didn't hesitate any longer. He fled quickly eastward.
Once he was far enough away, the Saint Realm Black Dragon King's dragon might couldn't affect him. His speed surged, and he soon left the Black Dragon King behind.
"Huff, huff, huff..."
Garen stopped on a mountaintop and breathed heavily. He had flown more than a hundred kilometers before stopping.
After resting, he sensed the Golden Sun Eagle's location and sent him a Soul Transmission, telling him to hurry over.
"Not bad. I've got a rough idea of how strong I am now."
In the earlier battle, he had killed more than thirty Level Nine Black Dragons, gaining over thirty-eight thousand experience. He had also picked up a Socketing Stone and a Primary Experience Card.
Garen planned to add another socket to the God-Slaying Blade, but the system told him it had reached its current socket limit.
"Looks like I'll have to upgrade it to Divine Artifact level before I can add another socket."
But it didn't matter. The Gemstones were all Level 1, so their boosts weren't that great anyway.
Looking at his System Panel, Garen began to take stock.
Garen Warrior Level: Level 8 (197465/200,000 experience) Wind Element Laws and Mysteries: "Wind Element" (820,000/20,000,000 experience) Transformation Level: Level 9 Magic Level: Level 7 (15974/100,000 experience)
Once his Warrior Level reached Level 9, his transformation would reach the Saint Realm. He'd be at least ten times stronger than he was now.
But after he leveled up, Level 8 magical beasts wouldn't give him any experience. There weren't many Level 9 magical beasts, so leveling up would become even harder.
"Forget it. I'll take a break from leveling and grind some experience for a while. I'll raise my Magic Level first. Magic Level is tied to mental strength, and mental strength is incredibly useful. It can be used to attack, and the stronger it is, the easier it is to sense the Laws and Mysteries. As long as I don't go looking for trouble, I can already protect myself to some extent. There's no need to rush leveling up."
Just as he finished sorting out his thoughts, Xiao Pa flew over.
When they set out again, Garen decided to bypass the Sword-Back Dragon territory. Most Sword-Back Dragons were Level 9, but their defenses were famously absurd, so they probably wouldn't be quick to kill. More importantly, there was a Saint Realm Sword-Back Dragon. It would be hard even to pierce its defenses. It wouldn't be worth it if he only killed a few Level 9 ones before getting chased around by the Saint Realm Sword-Back Dragon.
They soon reached the territory of the Level 9 Silver Dragons. Looking at the more than two hundred of them, Garen let out a strange laugh.
"Heh heh heh... There's no Saint Realm beast this time. I can finally go on a killing spree."
Silver Dragons were Light Element magical beasts. They were fast, and their Light Element magic could cleanse battle qi and magic power. They also recovered quickly, making them extremely troublesome opponents for their level.
Garen had expected another easy massacre, but he ran into some trouble.
After he used his speed to kill several Silver Dragons, the rest realized their magic couldn't hurt Garen effectively and gathered together. Light radiated from each of them.
Whenever Garen got close, his magic and battle qi drained rapidly. After he killed three more Silver Dragons, he was completely out of both.
Now he could only rely on his body and the Laws and Mysteries to attack. Without the boost from Tiger Blood Battle Qi, he was like a child wielding a sledgehammer. His attack power dropped tenfold, and he couldn't kill the Silver Dragons in one blow.
Even when he gravely wounded one, the others worked together to shield it from harm. They recovered quickly, making it incredibly difficult for Garen to kill any of them. And under the holy light, the longer he stayed, the worse he felt.
After trying to attack several times without success, Garen left the Silver Dragon group.
"It looks like every species that survives has its own way of doing so. I can't underestimate any opponent."
Garen couldn't help thinking.
Standing on Xiao Pa's back and watching the Silver Dragons in the distance, Garen sank into thought. How could he turn them all into experience?
Experience, experience—it was all experience! As Garen scratched his head, trying to think of a solution, inspiration suddenly struck.
"Right, experience! Why am I in such a hurry to kill them all at once? It's just like playing a game. If I run out of mana while grinding monsters and don't have any potions to restore it, I can sit down for a while and wait for it to recover. Then I can go back to grinding, right? Ha ha, how could I be so stupid? I'll kill five or six at a time, then do it again a few more times. There's no way these Silver Dragons can escape!"
Once he'd figured it out, Garen sat on the Golden Sun Eagle's back and began recovering his magic and battle qi.
His exceptional elemental affinity and Tiger Blood Battle Qi both recovered quickly. In less than two hours, Garen was back to full strength.
And so Garen began patiently grinding the Silver Dragons. He killed a few, recovered, then killed a few more and recovered again, like an assembly line.
A few Silver Dragons tried to leave the group and flee, but Garen kept watch over them from the Golden Sun Eagle's back nearby. Once they left the group, a lone Silver Dragon was easy prey for Garen, who readily claimed the experience.
Then, at one point two days later,
Garen had recovered his battle qi and magic power once again and charged into the Silver Dragon group, swinging a blade imbued with the Law of Wind Element.
"Swish!"
Suddenly, a hazy golden light flashed within the blue blade-light. After the slash killed one Silver Dragon, it continued onward, unleashing terrifying power. It killed three more before the golden light finally faded.
The Critical Hit Gem had activated.
"Critical hit!"
Garen froze for a moment. Something suddenly boomed in his mind. He seized the feeling he'd experienced for that instant, then swung his blade, following that feeling.
"Boom!"
The strike was like a volcano erupting. Wild energy surged in every direction, its terrifying force unstoppable as it destroyed everything in its path.
More than a dozen Silver Dragons exploded, blown to pieces.
"Boom!"
Another slash, and more than a dozen Silver Dragons exploded, leaving no bones behind.
With several quick swings, Garen decimated the Silver Dragon group. The few dozen that remained could no longer threaten him.
Garen had killed them too quickly for the Silver Dragons to wear him down.
Silver Dragons were Level 9 magical beasts with high intelligence. Although they were social beasts, once they realized they couldn't work together to defeat or drive off their enemy, they scattered in every direction.
Garen chased after them and killed dozens more. By then, the rest of the Silver Dragons had vanished, but he wasn't the least bit upset.
Ha ha! He'd finally comprehended another Law and Mystery. What a rush!
(The End)
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