SSS Awakening: I Can Class Change at will - Chapter 360 First Hunt in The Second Sanctuary [2]
Chapter 360 First Hunt in The Second Sanctuary [2]
Barely five minutes had passed since they encountered the wolf before a pack of wolves emerged in their path, they were munching on the body of a poor Evolver that had clearly overestimated his own strength.
They were of the same species as the one he had just killed. Same coarse grey-black fur, broad skulls, and yellowed fangs dripping with corrosive saliva. But this time there were seven of them.
They spread out in a loose arc the moment they spotted Moon, flanking wide on both sides. Their pack coordination was immediately noticeable to anybody in the vicinity, much less Moon.
The largest one stood at the center, a step ahead of the others. Its pale eyes were fixed on Moon.
It had smelled its dead pack mate.
Moon’s grin hadn’t faded from the last kill.
“Perfect.”
The five elements once again began to orbit his body. More enemies meant more spiritual energy, and more chances to strengthen the foundation mid-combat.
He tightened his grip on Mirage’s mane. “Let’s take them all.”
Although Moon needed to grow stronger himself, he wasn’t selfish enough to let Mirage’s progress stagnate. The horse had immense potential, and leaving him on the sidelines with nothing to hunt would only waste it.
Mirage charged toward the pack with unwavering courage. Before they made contact, Moon leapt from his back and launched himself into the air, wind slabs solidifying under his feet, casting several wind and water-based attacks as he rose.
To ensure the skill was fully instilled in his acupoint, Moon cycled through every element that Advanced Elemental Body had in store. Fire followed the water. Earth followed the fire. Then lightning crackled from his fingertips to round it off.
Below him, on the battlefield, Mirage crashed into the pack head-on.
In the span of a few minutes, the fight was over. “Well, that was easy.” Moon sighed, landing softly on the ground.
Seven wolf corpses littered the clearing, their blood pooling beneath their bodies. Moon had killed five. Mirage had taken the other two.
Moon walked between the bodies carefully. He had been considerate in how he killed each one, avoiding unnecessary damage to important body parts. Thing such as torn pelts, crushed skulls, and burned hearts all reduced the selling price of beast corpses. Since he had the ability to kill cleanly, there was no reason not to.
The total lives gained came to around 180. Not a bad haul considering most of the wolves had been level 25 with the pack leader at 26.
More importantly, Moon had gained another portion of spiritual energy from the kills. His reserves were still low overall, but every beast added to the total inside his acupoint. At this early stage, even small gains were noticeable.
The integration of Advanced Elemental Body into his foundation was also progressing smoothly. The threads between skill and acupoint were growing thicker with each fight, each cycle through the skill reinforcing the growing bond. There wasn’t any complications or signs of backlash. Everything was settling exactly as it should.
Moon stored the wolf corpses in his ring and climbed back onto Mirage.
“Let’s keep moving.”
As they continued exploring the vicinity, the howling wind pressing against them with every step, Moon pulled up his status screen. —
[ Name: Moon ] [ Race: Human ] [ Class: Classless] [ Level: 28 ]
[ Lives: 47,386 ] [Super Lives: 0] [ Strength: 147 ] [ Agility: 207 ] [ Constitution: 168 ] [ Mana: 249 ] (+10 to all stats) [ Attribute Points: 0] [ Skills: Elemental Attack, Advanced Elemental Body, Tenacity, Golden Skin, Ignite, Dagger Arts, Rune Inscription, Eye of Truth, Thunderclap Raiju, Calmness, Beastmaster, Minor Mend, Purify, Stone Clasp, Heaviness, Air Step, Piercing Sword, Bird dance, Bullseye, Archery, Spear Arts, Feint] [ Talent: Grim Reaper ] [ Class Skills: Class Slot {0/1}, Life Burn]
[Beast Souls: Fire and Nature]
—
His lives had barely increased by an amount that was worth mentoning. The beasts he had killed so far were weaker than him, and weaker beasts meant smaller returns. He would need to find stronger prey if he wanted his reserves to climb at any meaningful pace.
His eyes drifted down to the bottom of the screen. Fire and Nature.
The beast soul.
Moon’s thoughts traveled back. He remembered killing the Fire Mountain Spirit and taking its core. He remembered the Druid that had nearly led Selene to her death, and how he had taken its core after putting it down. Two separate cores from two pseudo spirits.
Inside the Pavilion of the World’s Flaw, he had been forced to combine them to gain entry. After waking from that place, the result of that fusion must have remained dormant inside him without his knowledge. It had sat there, silent and invisible, until his evolution revealed its existence on his status screen.
It had to be from the pavilion. There was no other explanation.
Moon stared at the words for a moment longer. A spirit born from the fusion of fire and nature. Two opposing forces merged into a single entity.
Moon willed the Beast Soul to activate, and immediately he felt a new space open inside his mind. It was similar to the Beast Taming Space where Mirage resided, but more compact.
The Beast Soul emerged in a quick flash of light that barely lasted a second. Moon stared at what stood before him. The spirit was a druid. But not like any druid he had seen before.
It stood at roughly human height, its body split perfectly down the middle into two halves that should have been impossible to reconcile. The left side was alive with nature. Green, luscious leaves sprouted from its shoulder, arm, and the side of its head. Thick vines coiled around its torso, healthy and pulsing with vitality. Moss crept along its leg, and small buds of flowers dotted its surface like freckles.
The right side was burning.
Red and black leaves glowing with embers. Fiery vines wrapped around its arm with living flame that never quite died out. Half of its face was a mask with cracks running through it like magma, and a single eye of deep orange peered out from the heat.
