"This... Finally, I found a congealed stone!"
Much to Naib's excitement, after prying the skull of the mutated fire hound, a small crystallized stone, with a size comparable to a pinky nail and fluctuating with star force, appeared before his eyes.
Although its size can be considered small, the star force it contained should be enough to enhance his meditation speed by folds! Akin to a person who was meditating for 3 days despite only spending one day running his/her spiritual manual!
"Great! With this, I will be able to advance toward the mid-stage of the apprentice realm much earlier.'
With that though in mind, Naib, with a somewhat trembling hand, carefully took the congealed stone from the mushy brain of the beast, hiding it within his pocket before rushing toward the direction where they had left the earth centipede, planning to see if it also had congealed stone to offer.
Unfortunately, after arriving at the place, the body of the earth centipede had already vanished, probably already being sighted by an unknown beast, or probably even still alive — using the brief opportunity presented to itself when Naib was being chased by the mutated fire hound to flee.
"Hmm, I can't be too greedy.'
Shaking his head, slightly releasing a sigh of exhaustion, Naib then looked at the rusty sword in his hand, only to notice that its edge already showed signs of being chipped off, making the side slightly uneven and obtuse.
If he continues using the sword in his hand to pry open beast skulls, it's almost certain that it will break in a couple of weeks! Probably even days if his luck runs out.
"If this sword really shatters, then my overall strength would plunge to its lowest, only making me slightly better compared to an adult human who hasn't become a beast apprentice.' Pausing for a while, Naib then spoke in a low tone.
"In the end, I still need to complete the first quest of the system."
Shaking his head, Naib then went back to the location of the mutated fire hound, slicing part of its flesh before returning to the place where he had spent his night.
Tossing the more than 10 lbs of meat in the corner of the cramped space, Naib then skillfully climbed down the tree — moving to the clearing in the short distance before manipulating his star force, planning to increase the proficiency of his skills first before thinking of how he will finish the 1st quest.
Since fighting the mutated fire hound, and in addition to the familiar scent of death that sent chills down his very core that he had sensed earlier, Naib became aware that he couldn't continue like this — he needed to increase his strength for assurance!
It could be said that, although he knew the risk of wanting to complete the first quest of the system, he hadn't expected that the danger it contained would possibly involve his life!
Huff~
"This is probably the problem of transmigrating; although vague, it gives me a sensation that I'm a main character from some sort of game, causing me to do reckless action...
"In the end, I am still human that can be killed anytime.'
Sighing inwardly, Naib then closed his eyes, taking a light breath before suddenly twisting his soles. In an instant, his figure suddenly moved a meter away, akin to a weightless feather that was being guided by the wind, both silent and unpredictable.
However, despite that, upon landing, his figure shows signs of imbalance, a testament to his meager skill.
Not caring about the mistake, Naib then raised the sword in his hand, moving crudely before swinging it toward his side with force, generating a weak gush of wind before halting.
"It's much worse than earlier, I wonder how I managed to kill that mutated fire hound with these flawed movements of mine.'
Again!!
Shaking his head, unsatisfied about his poor skills, Naib then continued practicing the only two skills he knew, moving back and forth in a small clearing while swinging the sword in his hand endlessly, generating a faint sound of sharpness akin to a breeze that didn't even add a sound in the serene forest.
Based on his memories, although the grade of these two skills was only at the Mortal grade, which was the lowest grade, their strength upon reaching peak mastery should be enough to allow an early-stage apprentice person like him to contend with a late-stage mortal beast without falling into disadvantage!
Of course, he was only talking to the weakest late stage of the mortal beasts.
As for those beasts with high bloodlines, he can only avoid or flee upon encountering them. Fortunately, with the talent bestowed by the system, he wouldn't make another simple mistake like that.
...
Skill grade mastery is divided into 4 small realms, known as Basic Mastery, Intermediate Mastery, Late Stage Mastery, and Peak Mastery.
Although the difference between the realms seems small, in fact, the discrepancy between the Basic Mastery and the Intermediate Mastery is sizable, akin to a bowl of water and a bucket of water — same applies to the late stage mastery and the peak stage mastery; the only difference is that the former is akin to a stream of water while the latter is akin to a river!
Right now, with Naib's basic mastery, he can only use the two skills crudely; not only was the two skills' strength subpar, but he can only utilize them with a limited amount of star force.
It could be said that, even if Naib wanted to feed 50% of his star force to the sword in order to generate more power, he wouldn't be able to, since his body would likely crumble first before he could even release the attack!
However, if he can successfully break through to the next stage of the basic sword style skill, although Naib still wouldn't be able to utilize 50% of the star force to unleash a single devastating attack, he can at least increase the star force he can feed to his basic sword style skill by another 5 to 10%, causing the sword strength to increase by another level and be more flexible based on the situation.
However, in exchange for that, his pitiful reserve of star force wouldn't be able to sustain a long-term battle; hence, it's still necessary to increase his realm.