To his astonishment — after the halo of light reduced by 50% — Naib's proficiency of the skill directly increased to the intermediate stage, saving him days or weeks of pure grinding.
Scratch~ Tear!
At the same time, when his mastery over the skill increased to the intermediate stage, a sudden change unfolded throughout his being.
His skin abruptly began showing signs of vague changes: the old skin, filled with a minute amount of impurities, marks, and calluses, began drying at a visible speed, turning wrinkled in an instant before separating from his body, akin to a molting snake, unfolding a new pair of smooth skin beyond that was vaguely reflecting light that touched upon them.
Still not done, his muscles churned slightly. The remaining halo of light that originated from the torn paper then seeped to his orifices and began tempering his muscles — slowly grinding his every fiber — making his figure more lean and athletic in the process.
This!?
Feeling the elasticity of his skin and its durability that noticeably increased after the process of imparting knowledge to his mind was done, Naib's eyes were instantly filled with joy. Although he didn't know to what extent his defense increased, it should be at least twice or thrice higher than earlier, right? Probably even 10 times more.
Unfortunately, other than the knowledge of how to become proficient with the skill and how to maximize different herbs to hasten one's practice of the skill, the knowledge that the system gave him didn't contain actual data about the boost he would get upon advancing through the different mastery levels of the skill.
It's as if the system wanted to leave him in the dark so he wouldn't be full of himself and take an unnecessary risk due to overconfidence.
As for trying his defense by cutting his skin using the yellow low-grade sharp sword that he received from the system, Naib would be an idiot if he did so.
Even if he doesn't add star force to the sword, Naib was sure that it could easily cut the skin of a peak-stage mortal realm beast, not to mention his fair skin! Hence, attempting to assess his current defense with it was futile and utterly dumb.
"Nevermind, there will be time when I can assess my current defenses; for now, I should ponder about the skill I wanted to learn. Although common skills' capabilities were quite low, their presence can save one's life in a critical moment."
Thinking of it, Naib touched his chin with his left hand, eyes darting around for a while before finally falling into a deep thought.
However, after a few minutes of thinking, Naib couldn't help but shake his head. Giving a self-deprecating smile, he then mumbled to himself.
"Do I even need to think about it when the answer is too obvious? Of course, I'll choose a skill that can boost my movement speed. With it, my safety would surely increase by a lot.'
If he encountered a beast that he couldn't beat, then his only option was to run; hence, choosing a movement skill would surely be the wisest choice.
Moreover, choosing these skills can also eliminate one of his current weaknesses; if he had had these skills weeks ago, then he wouldn't be that helpless when his bound beast steals his spoils of war.
In an instant, after deciding what skill he would choose, Naib, similar to what he did to the yellow-grade skill scroll, also ripped the blank common skill paper into two.
...
Ding!
[ Congratulations upon learning the "Instantaneous Movement (Mortal - Grade)" skill! ]
After experiencing the same thing when he had ripped the yellowish coarse paper earlier, Naib then clicked the skill he had just learned, wanting to see its full description.
Ding!
[ Instantaneous Movement (Mortal - Grade): Upon usage, one's movement speed would be momentarily increased by at least 5-25%, depending on the user's mastery of the skill and realm.
Current Mastery: Intermediate Mastery (1%)
Skill Activation: Active
Note: Upon gaining deep mastery, one's speed would be passively increased by 5%. ]
"Not bad. It's much better than the common skill available from that village.'
Finally finishing learning the two skills, Naib then excitedly went back to his hideout, planning to learn the spiritual manual he got from the system there and also spend the remaining fate points he had to buy items from the system shop...
Maximizing the time to strengthen himself.
***
"We are late. Based on the clues we gathered so far, this village has also been destroyed for more than a month or two."
At the same time, hundreds of miles away from Naib's location, a clearing filled with rubble, burnt wood, and crumbled stones lay upon the encompassing land.
Noticeably, traces of civilization can still be seen around, a testament that the place was once populated by intelligent beings.
Unfortunately, other than the proof of a civilization and some insects freely roaming around, not a single human can be detected in the place, making the Beast Student Realm humans who had just arrived at the place unfold a gloomy look on their faces, pondering what kind of beast was capable of causing this destruction.
Screech!
Soon, after a while of deafening silence, the sound of a screeching bird echoed from the horizon. Following the sound, the group immediately sighted an avian beast with frightful pressure emanating throughout its body, swiftly approaching their location. On the back of the bird, a silhouette of a person can be discerned.
Flap—
With a flap of its wings — sending dust and small stones through the atmosphere — the bird descended meters away from the group.
"How's it? Did you find something?"
Patting the head of the bird, a middle-aged man, wearing a light green vest and sitting in the back of the bird, asked the people below in a deep tone.
"No, we haven't seen anyone here like in the past villages; I think they all died from the beast wave." One of the people around answered respectfully while caressing the head of the jade centipede on his palm... While doing so, his eyes would secretly glance at the avian beast in the distance with unconcealed envy.
"I see. Summon the other people here; we will roam the perimeter of the forest for a couple of days before returning.
"This is a good opportunity for you all to gain experience." Unaware of the thoughts of the Beast Students below, the middle-aged man speaks impassively.
"Yes, right away."