Chapter 2: Kill and Awaken! First-Rank Martial Artist
Xu Chao froze for a moment upon seeing the monster!
Once he snapped back to his senses, he immediately dropped the umbrella in his left hand and bolted... "Fuck!... How could a monster appear here?"
Xu Chao felt as if ten thousand grass mud horses were stampeding through his heart!
After running a certain distance, Xu Chao realized something was wrong; the expected scenario of the monster frantically chasing him hadn't happened!
Something was off!
A monster would definitely attack a human the moment it saw one, so why wasn't it chasing him?
He stopped and looked back, hearing the continued crunching and munching sounds coming from behind the trash pile.
Xu Chao's brain rapidly analyzed the current situation, and he quickly reached a conclusion.
This monster must have been heavily injured by someone and fled into the sewers; driven by hunger, it had just emerged to scavenge for food in the trash.
The fact that the monster wasn't chasing him meant it was very severely injured... because humans were far more delicious!
A thought suddenly flashed through Xu Chao's mind.
His heart began to thud wildly!
The monster before him was badly hurt; if he could kill it, he would reap a decent harvest.
Then his tuition for the next semester would be covered. Monster corpses were very valuable, even that of the most common First-Tier Monster.
He had the strength of a Quasi-Martial Artist, and the dagger in his hand was an E-rank alloy weapon. It was extremely sharp and could deal fatal damage even to a Second-Tier Monster.
I'll risk it... wealth is found in danger!
Having made up his mind, Xu Chao began thinking about how to deal with the monster.
He planned to test his theory first.
He took off his backpack and placed it in a corner, then used his dagger to pry a fist-sized stone from a nearby exposed stone wall.
Once prepared, Xu Chao carefully crept forward.
When he reached a spot not far from the trash pile, he quickly darted out and hurled the stone in his hand fiercely at the monster. He then immediately ran back, watching the monster's reaction as he fled.
The monster seemed to sense the danger. As it raised its head, it was met by the stone Xu Chao had thrown. With a loud crack, the stone shattered.
"Roar... Roar..."
Incensed by the provocation, the monster bared its teeth and roared at Xu Chao with its mouth wide open. The roar seemed to strain the wound on its belly, causing a fresh surge of blood to flow out.
Presumably because its leg was broken, it didn't give chase; the roar was more of a deterrent and a threat!
Xu Chao judged that the monster was indeed very heavily injured.
It was worth a shot!
He crept forward again and, reaching the trash pile, grabbed a large bag of trash.
He threw it with all his might at the monster's head, simultaneously charging toward the beast.
The monster was also annoyed by this pesky human. It extended its front claw and swiped fiercely at the flying trash bag.
The contents of the bag scattered instantly, partially obscuring the monster's vision.
Xu Chao seized the opportunity, plunging the dagger in his right hand deep into the monster's neck and pulling it sideways. A spray of blood erupted... At that moment, the monster reacted, its body jerking violently as it slammed into Xu Chao.
Xu Chao felt as if he had been hit by a car. He was sent flying over three meters, unable to stop himself from spitting out a mouthful of blood. His entire body throbbed with pain.
But he didn't dare delay. He scrambled up immediately and ran back to attack the monster's neck with his dagger again before quickly dodging... The monster's injuries were compounded, and its strength was barely a fraction of its peak.
Even so, Xu Chao found the struggle difficult. At one point, he failed to dodge in time, and the monster's front claw caught his right arm, leaving several gashes that burned with stinging pain.
Just as Xu Chao was nearing exhaustion, the monster finally collapsed to the ground, twitching feebly.
Xu Chao still wasn't at ease. He went over and stabbed it several more times... Until the monster was completely motionless, he collapsed weakly beside the carcass, gasping for air.
Suddenly, Xu Chao's entire body shuddered.
Countless strands of strange energy from the surroundings burrowed into his body. He felt his physique undergoing a constant transformation, an indescribably pleasant sensation... it lasted for over a dozen breaths.
He felt the panel in his mind finally change. Focusing his attention, he looked:
[Name]: Xu Chao
[Level]: First-Rank Martial Artist
[Supernatural Ability]: E-Grade Shadow Evasion
[constitution]: 11 (+)
[Spiritual Power]: 11
[source points]: 45
Xu Chao was overwhelmed with excitement, his hands trembling. At this moment, he wanted to shout at the top of his lungs!
He had finally awakened.
He had become a First-Rank Martial Artist!
From this moment on, his life would never be the same.
When everyone awakens their Supernatural Ability, they undergo an energy infusion. Not only does it unlock their genetic lock so they can cultivate, but it also directly boosts their strength to that of a First-Rank Martial Artist.
To advance further, one would have to cultivate slowly.
Martial artists are ranked from First-Rank to Ninth-Rank based on strength, and it is said there are experts who exceed the Ninth-Rank... It is precisely because of the birth of such peerless experts that humanity has been able to protect a small corner of the world amidst the rampage of countless monsters... On September 18, 2031, of the Blue Star Era, the Spiritual Energy Tide swept across the globe, and humans, animals, and plants all began a period of frantic evolution.
Some humans and animals awakened Supernatural Abilities and gained special powers, becoming increasingly powerful. This year was dubbed the "First Year of the Great Nirvana Era."
In the early stages, because animals absorbed spiritual energy and evolved faster, a few powerful Evolution Beasts organized into Beast Tides to attack human cities.
Humanity relied on firearms and a small number of evolved individuals to put up a difficult resistance.
As the number and strength of the Evolution Beasts grew, firearms were no longer able to inflict effective damage.
Furthermore, vast numbers of oceanic Evolution Beasts joined the invasion of the land, and human cities were breached one after another.
A massive number of humans were slaughtered by Evolution Beasts, the global population plummeted, and large territories were occupied by the creatures.
The human leadership reached a consensus; nations were forced to abandon most of their territories and cities, gathering the population into several super Base Cities.
Each Base City was guarded by a large array of cutting-edge weapons, soldiers, and powerful evolved individuals.
There were instances where local Base Cities were breached, and those scenes... were a living hell!
More than 50 years have passed, and China still has eight super Base Cities... After a while, Xu Chao finally calmed down.
He looked closely at the panel; he had been too excited to examine it carefully just now.
Then, he became suspicious. Why was his Supernatural Ability E-Grade Shadow Evasion?
He remembered that he had previously awakened SS-grade Endless Devouring. Thinking of the panel in his mind, could it be... he had a theory: it was possible that the unknown mysterious fragment had fused with his awakened SS-grade Endless Devouring ability to become the current panel.
However, this was just a guess. He would need to explore it slowly once he became stronger.
As for why he now had the E-Grade Shadow Evasion ability.
He looked at the rodent-like monster beside him and suddenly remembered reading in monster profiles online.
A few monsters could also awaken special innate talents, and among them, a type of rodent monster called the 'Shadow Rat' awakened with the Shadow Evasion ability.
Did the panel also have the capacity to acquire the innate talents of monsters?
If the panel had this ability, it would be terrifying... but the existence of the panel itself was already incredible, so having some overpowered abilities was probably reasonable!
He would find an opportunity to kill another monster with a Supernatural Ability later to verify it.
Thinking that the monster was a Shadow Rat, everything was explained.
No wonder it could sneak into the Base City and still manage to escape after being heavily wounded!
Unfortunately, its injuries were just too severe. Even so, it took Xu Chao quite a while to successfully kill it, and he had even been injured by it!
After figuring it out, Xu Chao looked at the panel again.
What did the '+' after 'constitution' mean? Could it be that he could add points to his attributes?
He would know after trying it.
Acting on the thought, Xu Chao mentally focused on clicking the '+'. He immediately felt wisps of energy entering his body, and he felt his physical fitness become slightly stronger!
He hurriedly looked at the panel:
[Name]: Xu Chao
[Level]: First-Rank Martial Artist
[Supernatural Ability]: E-Grade Shadow Evasion
[constitution]: 12 (+)
[Spiritual Power]: 11
[source points]: 35
Huh!
'source points' had decreased by 10, meaning it took 10 source points to increase constitution by 1 point.
As for the source points, they must have been obtained from killing the Shadow Rat just now.
Since the '+' didn't appear after Spiritual Power, Xu Chao guessed it might be because he didn't have enough source points. He didn't know how many source points were required to increase Spiritual Power by one point!