"Here," I said, taking a dagger made from the fang of a three-eyed wolf from my spatial bracelet.
"Wow, a spatial bracelet!" Mo Fan exclaimed, seeing my actions.
"If you know how, you can earn well working as a hunter," Xu Zhao Ting chuckled again, showing his recently purchased bracelet.
"I see," Mo Fan said briefly, taking the dagger from my hands. "It's sharp; did you make it yourself?"
"Yes, just like the shields Xu Zhao Ting had," I said calmly. I'll need to repair them later before leaving.
"I understand. Will you make me some too?" Mo Fan asked, returning the dagger.
"Maybe; there were still materials left," I said, thoughtfully. Despite everything, I should help him with artifacts.
"And what are your hunter ranks? I heard all hunters are divided by rank," Jiaxing Xia interjected, driving up to Xu Zhao Ting and starting to heal his burns.
"We recently became high-ranking hunters," Xu Zhao Ting replied calmly, relaxing, the pain clearly gone.
"W-what!" Mo Fan almost jumped up from the ground when he heard Xu Zhao Ting's words. Yes, it seems someone's myth about his peculiarity was irrevocably shattered today. Although the original web novel does contain thoughts and moments showing that Mo Fan doesn't consider himself special, at least at this moment, this trait always manifests in his actions and character.
"Well, do you know how hard we had to work for this?" Xu Zhao Ting asked, slightly bewildered. "We killed monsters in the jungle until we were almost exhausted, so much so that we couldn't get out of bed the next day."
"Still, you became hunters only six months ago, and you've already reached the highest rank!" Mo Fan continued to shout in surprise.
"No one forbade you from going with us," I said, shrugging. "It would have been good for you to work on the accuracy of your spells. And Xu Zhao Ting lacks magic power; he should find some spiritual seed," I added, deciding to guide their training in the right direction, so to speak, an outside perspective.
"And what is this spiritual seed?" Xu Zhao Ting asked, slightly surprised, looking at me with wide eyes.
"You didn't know about them? They are one of the most important things for a mage's power!" Mo Fan said, laughing slightly. "Yes, as if you've known for a long time," I thought, slapping him on the face with the bottom of my hand.
"It's a kind of spiritual enhancer that can increase a mage's spell power several times," I said, saving Xu Zhao Ting from Mo Fan's mockery. "They usually form in places where natural elements are concentrated. You can buy them at auction, but they are expensive, around twenty to thirty million yuan. You can also try to find a seed yourself, but keep in mind that they might be guarded by strong monsters."
"I see, I should try to find one," Xu Zhao Ting said, scratching his head.
After that, another month passed roughly the same way. In the morning, Xu Zhao Ting and I would come to the apartment, where Jiaxing Xia would greet us. She would heal me, and then we would go and watch another fight between Mo Fan and Xu Zhao Ting. With each passing time, their skills improved, and what amused me the most was that they were constantly neck and neck; no duel ended with one of them winning. All of them were draws! Mo Fan was the most indignant about this result, at least at first; then he somehow got used to it. Xu Zhao Ting treated it much more calmly, systematically continuing to hone his skills.
Over this month, my internal energy finally calmed down and stopped changing my body. I don't know exactly what power I gained; there was nowhere to test it, and getting involved in constant duels between the two fighters. Firstly, they are too weak for me to unleash my full potential, and secondly, I definitely don't plan to show them my full strength.
Also, during this time, my cultivation speed returned to its previous pace, even becoming slightly faster. But there were no significant breakthroughs; I still have a long way to go to reach a new level in any magic. However, I realized what internal energy does to my elements: it condenses stardust, increasing its concentration. This, in turn, increases the volume of my magical reserves. This is actually very useful for me, as I can last a little longer in battle.
Today, I packed all my belongings and prepared to leave, as planned. There was no point in staying longer. It would only slow down my development. Everything with Xu Zhao Ting, Jiaxing Xia, and Mo Fan had already been discussed, and a reason for my solo journey had been devised for everyone. Xu Zhao Ting knew a little more, but still not the whole truth. I'm no longer as afraid of the guardians; they probably won't bother me for another month or two, being busy assessing my strength, and then they will be very cautious. After all, they are a small organization; they don't have a constant stream of mages at the peak of the mid-level or even higher-level mages to send on a risky mission.
My strength far exceeds my age, so it's logical to assume they think someone is behind me, protecting me. Until they are completely convinced that no one is there, they won't act rashly. After all, a high-level mage, or even someone stronger, might be behind me. So I felt relatively safe.
The reason for my departure, which I told Mo Fan and Jiaxing Xia, was a trip to Xi'an and my stay there with Lin Yun Er until the entrance exams. It's not that I wasn't going to go to Xi'an, but I planned to do it much later. My development was the priority; I need to test my strength before walking around the city. Also, the stage of accumulating internal energy required spending several months in nature, away from cities. Of course, one can return to the city, but it's advisable to minimize this time for better results.
The city of Bo became the place of my forced exile, or rather, the forests surrounding it. Why this particular place? Well, it's my homeland, plus, I'm familiar with the types of monsters here, and most importantly, the presence of three-eyed wolves, from whose fangs I plan to craft several artifact daggers. True, their fangs aren't very suitable for creating artifacts, but there are ways to fix that, though they are very complicated. However, it's worth it for myself.
All the necessary items and food supplies were hidden in a spatial bracelet, which was already almost full. I only bought it recently, and it's already not enough, what a shame. I reached the city of Bo quickly, first by train, then by bus, which had started running again. I didn't linger in the city itself for long; there was nothing to do there. Mostly, I observed how in half a year it had been rebuilt from ruins into a militarized fortress.
Next, my path led to the mountains, into the forests. I had to walk for quite a long time; after the catastrophe, an extensive clean-up was carried out, and we even participated in it with Xu Zhaoting. After a day of walking, I ventured quite deep into the forest and began to look for a worthy opponent. Ideally, I would find a one-eyed wolf to test the strength of my body. However, I was only half lucky. I found a one-eyed wolf, but not alone, but a pack of four. Well, reducing their number is quite simple.
The pack was moving somewhere through the forest, while I hid in the bushes, starting to compose a couple of star paths of lightning's wrath to quickly get rid of the excess. Everything was generally normal, but the lightning energy began to literally stream through my body, heading towards my hands, constantly interacting with my internal energy. An electric current passed through my hands, caused by my internal energy! It was unusual, but it didn't cause me any further problems.
Soon, the spells were ready, and two bolts of lightning's wrath flew at two one-eyed wolves. Both wolves were essentially torn to pieces, which attracted the attention of the other two. However, another wolf died, torn to shreds by the blade of wind. And in the case of this spell, the wind energy passed through my arm; I felt as if a light breeze was blowing on my arm! I had heard about this phenomenon, when magic goes beyond the inner world and merges with a person's body. This allows a mage to create transcendent power, but this is only possible at the highest level! But it seemed to me that this was something else.
In any case, I achieved my goal, and only one wolf remained among my opponents, which looked at me with fear in its eyes. But perhaps, wishing to avenge its comrades, it lunged at me. Or maybe it thought it would die anyway? I gripped the daggers in my hands tighter, my heart pounded wildly, and my hands trembled slightly; after all, this was the first time I had faced a monster of the mid-servant level, intending to kill it solely with my physical strength.
However, I could not just keep up and track its movements; I had enough time and speed to dodge its attacks! And this was without using the wind step as before. The wolf rushed at me, jumped a couple of meters forward, extending its paws. I instantly ducked, and as it flew over me, I thrust my dagger into its belly, then immediately pulled it out so as not to fly with it. The wolf howled from this and clutched its stomach, rage flashing in its eyes.
"Come on, fight him like two beasts fighting for meat!" Asura's demonic laughter echoed in my head.
I didn't object, as I myself felt excitement and... perhaps incredible thrill and anticipation of battle. A fight with an equal opponent, like a street brawl without unnecessary tricks called magic here. I liked this immensely, and my blood boiled as if I were truly a monster, and opposite me was just one of my competitors for food. At that moment, I felt my internal energy surge as well, swirling in my body, strengthening and fortifying it. But besides the internal energy, magical energy also began to emerge from my inner world, gradually breaking out of my body in gusts of wind and weak electrical discharges.
It was strange, and it seemed like my magic was out of control, but there was no time to think about it now; the wolf had already recovered and was rushing towards me at full speed. I didn't stand like a statue and also ran towards it, preparing to deliver the decisive blow. Without a word, at the same distance from each other, we jumped, continuing to approach our respective goals.
I jumped a little higher than the wolf; clearly, it didn't expect a human to jump so high. We met in mid-air; my daggers pierced its head and shoulder. From the impact, the wolf, along with me, flew back a couple of meters and crashed to the ground, already dead. I got up and straightened myself; there were no intact souls, what a shame. The elemental energy that was gushing out of me began to gradually calm down, and I shook the blood from my daggers and moved on; I didn't need anything from the one-eyed wolves except their souls.
By the end of the day, I had killed about sixty wolves, having wandered extensively through the forest. Each time I entered a battle, whether hand-to-hand or using magic, elemental energy began to seep from my inner world, through my body into the surrounding environment. By the end of the day, when I sat down to cultivate, I was able to understand what was happening.
I don't know what to call this phenomenon, but my internal energy, in a way I don't understand, has connected my inner world and my body. The internal energy, circulating through my body and entering my inner world, takes some elemental energy from there, which then spills out into the surrounding environment. This process is constant, but usually barely noticeable, but in battle, under the influence of emotions and spell composition, it intensifies, acquiring a visible effect. Unfortunately, it's not harmless for me; if I hadn't awakened my internal energy, which strengthens my body and speeds up regeneration, my body would have simply become unusable after a couple of minutes. So it turns out that the cause of everything also saves me from death. It's quite funny. Only besides this, my own energy is also spent, so I must try to learn to control it.