Growth

"Just as I thought!" Li Lei's pupils contracted when he saw Su Bai's Sharingan. He exchanged a glance with his wife, Miao Qiu.

Chu Yuan continued teaching, and the two watched with rapt attention. These were things they couldn't learn at school.

Chu Yuan spent nearly ten minutes teasing the Long-Eared Rabbit back and forth before finally calling out, "Su Bai, Xueqing, come over here."

"This rabbit is yours."

"Okay!"

They answered together and quickly ran over to surround the Long-Eared Rabbit.

"Eek! Eek! Eek!"

The Long-Eared Rabbit cried out anxiously. Under the two of them' watchful gazes, it felt a chill creeping over it, as if some great terror awaited!

Chu Yuan stepped aside, and Su Bai immediately took his place, standing directly in front of the Long-Eared Rabbit.

"Xueqing, I'll draw its attention. You use Gentle Fist to damage its meridians!"

"Got it!"

The meridians beside Xia Xueqing's beautiful eyes bulged slightly. She had activated her Byakugan.

To be honest, standing in front of this enormous rabbit—two meters tall and five meters long—made Su Bai feel a little nervous.

The Long-Eared Rabbit's massive body and the vast chakra radiating from it both made it hard for him to breathe.

"I didn't think much of it when I watched Brother Chu toy with this rabbit just now, but standing right in front of it, I can finally feel how terrifying it is!"

Su Bai stared intently at the Long-Eared Rabbit with his Sharingan.

The Long-Eared Rabbit wasn't especially fast as far as he was concerned. The Sharingan was like slow motion, letting him see even the fastest movements clearly!

The trouble was that his brain could react, but his body couldn't keep up.

When the Long-Eared Rabbit saw Chu Yuan leave, it immediately charged at Su Bai. It barreled toward him like a runaway car, and Su Bai figured it was moving at least 200 kilometers per hour!

"So fast!"

It was Su Bai's first time facing a Magic Beast, and his nerves made him hesitate for a moment. Chu Yuan nearly stepped in!

Fortunately, he reacted in time and dodged the Long-Eared Rabbit's charge. Its huge body slammed into the hospital wall behind him!

BOOM!

A deafening crash rang out!

The Long-Eared Rabbit smashed through the reinforced concrete wall, which had stood for two hundred years. The force of the impact made Su Bai's heart pound!

If he hadn't dodged in time, would he have been smashed into a pulp?

Xia Xueqing got nervous too. While Su Bai was drawing the Long-Eared Rabbit's attention, she hadn't attacked right away!

"Haha, what green little kids! Seeing them reminds me of how I used to be!"

Three kilometers away, a bald man sat on the roof of a building and laughed heartily.

His Byakugan let him see every detail of Su Bai and Xia Xueqing's reactions. He was Xia Ling, the second strongest member of the Xia Family, sent by Xia Hong to protect his daughter!

After laughing, he rubbed his chin, puzzled.

That kid Su Bai had kept his Sharingan activated for over ten minutes, hadn't he?

How could a Genin manage this?

Why hadn't he been overwhelmed by the Sharingan's tremendous mental strain?

Could he have been born with exceptional mental strength?

At that moment, Su Bai and Xia Xueqing were desperately dodging the Long-Eared Rabbit's attacks in his eyes.

"What are you two looking at? It's behind you!"

"Su Bai, what are you doing? Didn't I tell you not to use Hand Seals? Use Taijutsu to keep it busy!"

"Xia Xueqing, are you tickling its ears? Hit it hard with your Gentle Fist!"

Chu Yuan stood nearby, shouting at them sternly!

He seemed to have returned to his usual strict self, instructing the two on how to face a Magic Beast.

BOOM!

BAM!

Su Bai stumbled through a clumsy roll, narrowly dodging the Long-Eared Rabbit's attack once again. Xia Xueqing hurried over to him.

"Su Bai, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Su Bai got up from the ground with a bitter smile.

Chu Yuan had insisted that he and Xueqing fight using Taijutsu alone. He was beginning to understand why.

Li Lei watched them and smiled.

"Those two kids are both talented. They're a lot better than I was back then; they're just a little timid."

"Yeah? Then who was it that told me he nearly pissed himself the first time he saw a Magic Beast?" Miao Qiu gave Li Lei a sidelong glance, and he immediately burst out laughing to cover his embarrassment.

After speaking, Miao Qiu turned to Chu Yuan with some concern. "Xiaoyuan, they've been holding on for three minutes already. I think we should leave the training at that for today."

"No rush. They haven't reached their limit yet. Let's wait a little longer."

Chu Yuan watched the two of them grapple with the Long-Eared Rabbit. Lightning flickered faintly in his palm as he continued to shout at them, pointing out their mistakes!

Despite his harsh words, he was quite pleased with how they were doing.

He knew that every ninja got nervous the first time they faced a Magic Beast. It was a normal reaction. If someone didn't get nervous when they saw a Magic Beast, that would be abnormal.

Su Bai and Xia Xueqing were getting better and better at dodging the Long-Eared Rabbit's attacks.

It wasn't because they were especially quick learners. Rather, their eyes gave them an innate advantage.

They could clearly see every movement the Long-Eared Rabbit made, giving them more time to react than ordinary ninjas.

About ten minutes later, the two of them were almost able to face the Long-Eared Rabbit with a clear head. Then Chu Yuan suddenly called out, "You can use anything you have to finish it off now!"

"Yes, Brother Chu!"

They answered loudly, already getting fed up with the Long-Eared Rabbit's attacks!

"Xueqing, leave this to me!" Su Bai rapidly formed Hand Seals, and Xia Xueqing immediately backed away!

"Earth Release: Headhunter Jutsu!"

SWISH!

With the Hand Seals complete, Su Bai vanished on the spot. In almost the same instant, he appeared beneath the Long-Eared Rabbit, grabbed one of its legs, and dragged its enormous body into the earth!

"Eek! Eek! Eek!"

The Long-Eared Rabbit struggled fiercely underground!

After all, it was a Magic Beast, and its body was countless times stronger than a human's. The Double Suicide Decapitation Technique couldn't hold it for long. It looked like the Long-Eared Rabbit was about to break free!

Just as Xia Xueqing was about to rush forward and help Su Bai finish it off, he formed Hand Seals again. His blood-red Sharingan met the Long-Eared Rabbit's eyes, each as large as a car headlight!

"Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique!"

WHIRR!

The Long-Eared Rabbit's body suddenly stiffened. Its fur stood on end, and its huge pupils stopped moving, as if it were dead!

"What..." The four of them stared in shock.

"Su Bai used a D-Class Genjutsu, right? It actually worked on a Magic Beast?" Li Lei asked uncertainly.

It was common knowledge that on Blue Star, every ninja agreed Genjutsu was the worst and most useless of all!

What Su Bai had just done had completely shattered the four of their understanding!

A Genin had actually used Genjutsu to take down a D-Class Magic Beast?

It was simply unbelievable!

Chapter 53: Growth

Su Bai held a dark golden longsword and slashed a deep gash across the Long-Eared Rabbit's neck!

"Splurt! Splurt!"

Blood poured from the Long-Eared Rabbit's neck, spraying more than ten meters and staining half of Su Bai's body red.

"Eek! Eek! Eek!"

The Long-Eared Rabbit struggled frantically. The threat of death jolted it awake from the illusion!

But it was too late. The wound on its neck was too severe. Within three minutes, the D-Class Magic Beast was dead.

"I killed a Magic Beast?"

Su Bai stared blankly at the Long-Eared Rabbit's stiff body on the ground, his heart beating a little faster.

He had been in this world for several days. He'd gone from being shocked by Magic Beasts to accepting their existence, and he'd thought he was already used to them.

But after actually killing one, he realized it wasn't as easy to accept as he'd thought.

Chu Yuan walked over and patted Su Bai on the shoulder.

"How do you feel? A little hard to believe?"

"Brother Chu?"

"It does feel like a dream. I can't believe I actually killed a Magic Beast," Su Bai said in a low voice.

Chu Yuan smiled.

"Take it slow. Everyone feels this way at first. You'll get used to it eventually."

Chu Yuan's years as a ninja had taught him a profound lesson: not everyone was born with nerves of steel or the ability to accept things easily.

Most ninjas reacted worse than Su Bai the first time they killed a Magic Beast. Some even got dizzy and threw up, their bodies going limp... At least Su Bai was still standing.

Xia Xueqing was also stunned. It took her a while to come to her senses, and then she ran over to Su Bai in delight.

"Su Bai, you're amazing! You actually killed a Magic Beast all by yourself!"

"Heh, if you hadn't attacked the Long-Eared Rabbit earlier, I wouldn't have taken it down so easily."

Su Bai shook his head and wiped the blood from his sword. Then he looked at the Long-Eared Rabbit's corpse, unable to hide his excitement!

This was a D-Class Magic Beast!

Back when he'd visited a barbecue restaurant in the City Center, a single Long-Eared Rabbit leg had cost twenty thousand Federal Coins!

Granted, that restaurant charged a premium, so the market price wasn't nearly that high.

But from what Su Bai understood, merchants paid over a thousand Federal Coins per jin for Long-Eared Rabbit meat!

What did over a thousand Federal Coins mean?

Three jin was equivalent to his mother's monthly income?

Five jin was equivalent to his father's monthly income?

How much did this Long-Eared Rabbit weigh?

At that size, it had to weigh at least two tons, right?

Even after removing the bones, draining the blood, and trimming away the cheaper organs, there had to be at least one ton of pure meat, right?

One ton was two thousand jin?

Two million Federal Coins, just like that?

More than twenty years of his parents' combined income, without spending a single coin?

Su Bai's head was buzzing.

He was even more excited now than when he'd gotten those three Ninjutsu Scrolls!

After all, he'd hunted this Magic Beast down with his own strength!

A house in the City Center cost at least a hundred million Federal Coins, but Su Bai felt the day when he could buy a house for his family wasn't far away. He'd make it happen soon!