Perfect-Level Movement!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

On the desolate, ruined street, Yang Zheng shot into the herd of One-Horned Wild Boars like a bullet. With the strength of an Advanced General Level spirit reader to fall back on, he could swiftly escape the herd even after exhausting his stamina.

Growls immediately rose from the herd of One-Horned Wild Boars. Their eyes gleaming with murderous intent fixed on Yang Zheng as he slowly approached them. Suddenly, an angry roar erupted from among the boars.

"Hrr-hrr-"

Growls immediately rose from the herd of One-Horned Wild Boars. Eyes gleaming with murderous intent fixed on Yang Zheng as he slowly approached them. Suddenly, an angry roar erupted from among the boars.

The entire herd of One-Horned Wild Boars broke into a furious charge toward Yang Zheng, their hooves making the whole street shake.

Rumble~~~

As the One-Horned Wild Boars charged, they were like tanks speeding down the street. Abandoned cars were knocked flying, tumbling over several times.

Car bodies weathered by decades of sun and wind broke apart, their wheels coming loose and crashing into the abandoned buildings on either side.

Slash! Slash!

Yang Zheng moved through their midst as casually as if he were strolling through a courtyard. Two seemingly simple, offhand swings of his Alloy Battle Blade instantly slit the throats of two Beast Soldier Level One-Horned Wild Boars.

The herd of One-Horned Wild Boars looked formidable, but their massive bodies meant only two or three could reach Yang Zheng at a time. They were all merely Beast Soldier Level monsters. How could they give him any trouble?

"For me, actual combat really is the fastest way to improve. If I keep fighting like this, my movement should soon reach the threshold of the Perfect Level!"

Yang Zheng stopped projecting his spiritual force outward, trying instead to rely on his brain's processing speed to calculate the boars' attack trajectories and track changes in his surroundings.

Above the Micro-Level of movement was the Perfect Level. At the Perfect Level, one mastered the surrounding environment, making use of anything nearby, such as living creatures, stones, buildings...

Making perfect use of the environment while dodging with the utmost precision-that was Perfect Level movement.

Compared with other warriors or spirit readers, Yang Zheng had an overwhelming advantage. He did not need genuine life-or-death combat. He only needed to adjust his approach and light up that crucial first 1% of the progress bar.

Perhaps...

Only when he reached the Artistic Conception Level would things become somewhat difficult for Yang Zheng.

The Basic Level, Micro-Level, and Perfect Level were all classified as foundational stages throughout the universe. Above them were the Artistic Conception Level, Domain Level, and World Level, and the gaps within the same stage were not particularly large.

"Roar-"

Seeing a lone human charge straight toward it, the Intermediate Beast General Level One-Horned Wild Boar immediately roared in fury. Its speed shot up to a hundred meters per second as it aimed its horn squarely at Yang Zheng.

With its bulk and the force of its charge, even a massive truck blocking its path would have been smashed in two.

Holding his Alloy Battle Blade, Yang Zheng maintained a speed of a hundred meters per second and charged straight at the herd's leader, a One-Horned Wild Boar.

Just before they collided, Yang Zheng nearly doubled his speed. With a dodge precise to the centimeter, he slipped past the One-Horned Wild Boar's charge.

Swish!

The Alloy Battle Blade swept diagonally upward. Two bursts of hidden force accelerated the blade until it became a hazy blur, its cold gleam flashing across the One-Horned Wild Boar's neck like lightning.

Slash!

Blood gushed from its neck. Already dead, the Beast General Level One-Horned Wild Boar continued running for another dozen meters under its own momentum before crashing to the ground and slamming into the rubble.

"Rumble~~~"

With their leader dead, the remaining One-Horned Wild Boars scattered and fled. Although Beast Soldier Level monsters had little intelligence, they still possessed an instinctive sense of danger.

Swish!

Reaching the herd leader's corpse, Yang Zheng planted his Alloy Battle Blade in the ground, took the dissection tools he had prepared from his backpack, and began extracting the valuable materials.

"Hm?"

"Whoosh!"

A cold glint flashed past, and a figure crashed to the ground. It was a canine monster with blood-red fur-a blood mastiff, one of the hunter series. Extremely fast, it excelled at ambushes.

"I was ready for you!"

Yang Zheng continued dissecting the corpse without pause. A spirit reader's telekinetic attacks came from unpredictable directions, and their terrifying lethality made them impossible to guard against. Once an attack struck a weak point, death was all but certain.

Aside from overwhelming brute force, the most efficient way to kill a monster was to target its weaknesses.

For most land-dwelling monsters, the weak points were their eyes, anus, throat, and mouth. Their soft abdomen, the back of their neck, and their horns were secondary vital points.

But monsters were not stupid. They protected their weaknesses too. Apart from unpredictable telekinetic attacks, ordinary warriors had difficulty striking those vulnerable spots.

At some point, the sky had turned overcast.

Alone, with a shield in one hand and a blade in the other, Yang Zheng roamed the streets and alleys of City 0877.

Sometimes he faced solitary Beast General Level monsters; sometimes he provoked enormous herds.

"Spurt!"

"Slash!"

Blood sprayed, and severed monster limbs flew.

Amid these herds, Yang Zheng repeatedly used the second layer of the Nine-Layered Thunder Blade. In just one morning, he pushed its progress to 65%. Barring any surprises, he would reach 100% that day.

He also reined in his outward projection of spiritual force. As he fought the herds, he repeatedly pushed his movement to its limits, trying to use the other monsters and the surrounding environment to aid him in battle.

"Spurt! Spurt! Spurt!"

More than half a day passed, and even Yang Zheng began to feel mentally weary. The blade in his hand, which had never stopped moving, swung again, drawing furious, agonized howls from the monsters.

Three jets of blood spurted in succession. Seeing the danger, the remaining monsters surrounding Yang Zheng immediately fled.

Nearly a thousand monsters had died at Yang Zheng's hands. But monsters reproduced so rapidly that the number he had killed barely made a ripple across the county town.

Even without Yang Zheng killing them, the monsters would hunt one another to survive, slaughtering and devouring the weaker ones.

Time passed, and two days went by.

Beneath the overcast sky, Yang Zheng stood on the balcony of a top-floor room in a dusty, dilapidated eighteen-story building. Dressed in combat gear, he silently watched the streets below through binoculars.

"I'm running out of food!"

Yang Zheng took out a piece of jerky, bit off a mouthful, chewed, and swallowed. Then he took out his water pouch and had a small sip.

Warriors in the Wilderness Zone

could not carry much food to begin with, and prolonged fighting required enormous amounts of energy.

Even high-energy food could not withstand such prolonged consumption. Yang Zheng had been in the Wilderness Zone for almost ten days. His food could still last another day, but his water would last half a day at most.

Yang Zheng focused his awareness deep within his mind and looked at the two illuminated progress bars.

[Perfect Level Movement] (19%)

[Nine-Layered Thunder Blade, Third Layer] (100%)

How could any amount of practice compare with fighting monsters at close quarters? Just two days of honing himself had sent Yang Zheng's strength soaring once again.

"I'll head back first thing tomorrow morning!"