As the morning sun rose, Langdon stepped out of the cave and headed toward the colony.
He resumed slaying the mushroom creatures using the same method he had devised the day before.
With mechanical precision, he spent the day executing the monsters.
By midday, he had already eliminated dozens.
Each time, he sat beside their lifeless bodies and absorbed the mana from their small cores—
Until he noticed something strange.
"Hm... after killing a few, it doesn't feel as efficient anymore!
I've made good progress with the mana I absorbed.
Now I can fully form my body, and the glowing mist has transformed into a dark gray smoke.
I'm still not sure how resistant it is—that'll require testing.
Before, every bit of mana made a huge difference, but now... not so much.
Even after all that effort, I'm still just at the early peak of level one.
I need to test my limits again.
This tree should do."
Willing it in his mind, he released the dark gray smoke from his core.
It formed his full body.
Taking a step back, Langdon punched the tree.
BAM!
His hand shattered, leaving barely a mark.
"Damn it. I'm still weak.
I don't have enough Stellar Dust!
If I don't start thinking smart, decades will pass and I'll have achieved nothing!
I need more physical resistance...
Maybe I could make a temporary body out of wood?
Forget it—
I know nothing about carpentry. I'd waste days building that puppet,
And there's a good chance it wouldn't even work.
If I surpass the wood's damage threshold, the whole thing would be useless.
It'd only slow me down."
While Langdon thought, a small rodent approached, foraging around the ground.
It found a tiny fallen fruit, grabbed it, and began to eat.
Seeing this, Langdon had a sudden spark of inspiration.
"Oh! A little rat!
How jealous I am, little guy—able to enjoy the sweetness of that fruit while I can't.
Truly comical...
Wait.
You've given me an idea, my friend.
I've been a fool—clinging to the idea that I'm still a normal human,
Still attached to this form.
Maybe the secret is in using a smaller shape.
That way, I could make my body much denser.
Alright, let's try turning into a rat—just like you."
Focusing his mind, he began to condense and compress the gray mist until it resembled a rat.
When he was finished, he looked surprisingly close!
Of course, it was his first attempt,
But still—pretty good for a first try.
Up close, anyone could tell it wasn't a real rat.
It looked more like a shadow shaped like one.
He tried punching the tree again—
BAM!
This time, the damage was considerable.
Encouraged by the result and noticing he still had mana left,
Langdon formed small wings on his back and tried to fly.
It worked!
He trained for a while, flying and crawling around the area,
Feeling deeply motivated by his discoveries.
This completely changed his plans.
"Haha! Now I can move way faster than before.
That means it's worth going back to the city.
There's a library there—with books on Stellar Dust cultivation.
With my old salary, I never could've dreamed of buying one.
Only nobles and merchants could afford grimoires like that.
But now, with everything destroyed...
Who would even notice if something went missing?
I need to hurry.
The kingdom will send scouts to investigate the city's condition.
I have to get there first!"
Spreading his wings, Langdon took off, flying toward the city.
He arrived in half the time it would've taken on foot—
A huge advantage.
Once there, he searched through the ruins of what was once the library.
He didn't find anything at first...
Until—
"Hiss..."
SCRATCH!
The attack grazed him—
But even so, it dealt significant damage, throwing him a few meters back.
He quickly recovered and hid.
"Gah... Damn it—
Where did that tiger come from?!
It has a single horn on its forehead and spines on its tail...
It must be a powerful monster.
That strike slightly cracked my core...
Lucky that's all it did.
I could've died.
Still... I think I can kill it.
I'll take my chances!
If you never gamble big at least once, you'll stay stagnant forever.
Too much caution will only block my evolution!"
Emerging from the rubble, Langdon realized the feline hadn't spotted him yet.
Seizing the opportunity, he launched into the air—
"Whoosh!"
He took aim and dove at full speed—
"Vshoom!!!"
At the last moment, he focused all his power to shape a kind of spear—
And struck!
"Squirt!!"
Blood gushed from the beast and splattered the ground.
"Splat!"
It roared in pain—
Then attacked again.
"SCRATCH!"
The swipe missed—
"Swish!"
Langdon dodged.
But before he could land, a spine from the beast's tail pierced the side of his core.
"Stab!"
It chipped a shard from Langdon's core.
Reacting quickly, he shot down—
"Whoosh!"
—and pierced the beast's core, right in its chest.
The monster let out one final screech before falling silent.
"Holy shit... haah...
That was insane.
I nearly died!
I hope it was worth it.
I need to meditate and recover—then get back to searching for that grimoire."
Sitting near the beast's cracked core, he absorbed the mana.
The Stellar Dust within him multiplied—
Pushing him to the mid stage of level one and healing his injuries.
Once done, he resumed his search.
He found several books—
But most were useless, given his current condition.
"Damn it...
Still nothing.
I can't waste time here.
There could be more beasts—or worse, people with bad intentions.
I can't make a sound, so there's no way to communicate.
And even if I could... they'd probably think I'm just another monster."
After a bit more digging, he finally found a red book with golden details.
The title read:
"Introduction to Mana Usage and Stellar Dust Cultivation"
Beneath the title, a smaller subtitle explained that the book covered cultivation up to the second level of the Stellar Core.