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The man looked at Draven deeply, as if searching for something or trying to read his emotions.
"Wait … you're looking for an animal of what Qi Condensation level again?" the man asked quietly, suspicion written clearly across his face.
"Preferably the 1st level of Qi Condensation," Draven said casually, as if he didn't sense the change in the atmosphere.
But deep down, Draven was quite disturbed.
"But I can't sense your energy level," the man finally said, turning to open the black door.
Draven could now clearly see several animals—or rather, as he would describe them, beasts—chained in the corners of the room.
The man then took Draven on a slow walk, showing him different species and their Qi Condensation levels.
Before long, Draven finally settled on one of the beasts in the room, a muscular horse-like creature.
After a while of bargaining, they agreed on forty spirit stones. Draven made the payment and was about to leave with the beast when the owner stopped him.
"One more thing… this is actually a level 1 Qi Condensation beast. And from what I can tell, I don't think you've ever meditated in your life." He paused briefly, then continued.
"Look, I need you to take this." The owner handed him a purple pendant.
After hesitating for a moment, Draven collected it with a puzzled look on his face.
"This will help you tame the beast—but only under sunlight. It works because it's at level one Qi Condensation. But under shade, or inside your house, it becomes completely ineffective."
The man concluded and turned away to help his men attend to other clients. In his mind, he didn't believe Draven would even make it out alive. The only reason the beast wasn't already aggressive was because it was in the middle of its training.
Draven glanced at him as he busied himself with other customers.
Soon, he turned to leave—only to find the beast staring at him aggressively.
In a panic, he quickly wore the pendant over his head. The beast calmed down, and Draven began his journey back home.
It was nothing more than a fifteen-minute walk. But when he arrived, he completely forgot what the owner had told him and led the beast inside.
Immediately, he tied it in the corner and went in. But immediately he came back he could sense the change In aura.
He turned glancing in the direction of the beast whom was looking at him with fierce eyes.
And then with out warning,
It leapt forward, snapping the rope.
All of a sudden, Draven's eyes turned bright red.
Draven had been agitated, waiting for the beast to attack.
As the beast lunged, he struck its neck mid-air, his fangs sinking deep into its body.
Claws also extend from his hands digging into the beast's body and Within seconds, it was dead.
The body of the beast then turned cold and sharp fans extended out of his mouth as he digged into the neck of the beast and sucked it's blood into his dantian.
After about thirty minutes, he was done, and his eyes gradually returned to their original color.
Draven was shocked. He couldn't believe what he had just done.
The fact that he had sucked in the blood of an animal disgusted him.
He clearly remembered every detail, he still had many questions racing through his mind.
Firstly, how did he even know he had fangs? And secondly, he had never been strong enough to kill such an animal.
Even at that the speed in which the animal was killed still baffled him he was quite sure that fight didn't last up to 20 seconds.
Just as Draven was lost in thought, he heard a voice in his mind:
[New blood detected]
A screen appeared before him:
[Host: Demonic Beast]
[Qi Condensation: Level One]
[BP: +5]
Draven was quite pleased. All he needed now was to cultivate, and maybe he could finally break into the first level of Qi Condensation.
He started cleaning the place, picking up the beast's remains. The meat felt so dry it was almost as if it had been roasted.
Draven shrugged and carried it out, tossing it away.
He continued cleaning, and before long the place was tidy again.
Not long after, he sat cross-legged and began to meditate. It was much harder than he thought.
After about an hour without progress, Draven stood up, anxiety washing over him.
He never expected meditation to be so difficult.
"But I didn't struggle this much last time, when I was awakening the bloodline," Draven thought, reaching for the book in search of answers.
After skimming through, he came across a line that read:
"Meditation is always meant to start on a peaceful note."
Just as he was about to question this, he remembered—he hadn't truly meditated the last time. He had been performing a ritual.
After thinking for a while, Draven decided to give meditation another try.
He sat back down, feet crossed, and began again. Just like before, it was slow.
But after a long time of keeping his meditative state, something finally happened—energy from his dantian began circulating through his body.
Draven instantly got excited, and the flow stopped. It took him another twenty minutes to reach that state again, and this time, he knew he couldn't afford to celebrate.
Gradually, the energy flowed more peacefully, moving faster and faster with each minute. Before long, Draven finally sensed a change in the energy.
And then the system's voice confirmed it:
[Congratulations. You have just broken into Level 1 of Qi Condensation.]
Draven stood up, feeling stronger and more energized than before.
Looking out the window, he realized how much time had passed. The sun had already begun to fade below the horizon.
Draven breathed quietly. "System, how much time do I have left before the first mission?"
[You have approximately 14 hours, 46 minutes, and 6 seconds left.]
Draven's heart tightened at the words.
"That's approximately daybreak," he thought, his mind racing. He had just been excited minutes ago about breaking into the first level of Qi Condensation.
But now it all felt meaningless. The first level was still the weakest stage. He couldn't even stand a chance against someone at the second level.
And worse, it was the easiest level to break into.
Draven sighed in disappointment. He didn't know what awaited him in this first trial.
He stood silently, staring up at the sky, when suddenly an idea struck him.
"System are you can you reply me"
Draven asked in curiosity.
[yes I can depending on your question]
Draven's demeanor shifted a little he wasn't really expecting the system to be able to answer.
Quite happy and refreshed, Draven spoke again.
"System… I wish to understand the trials."