Easy Progress
Before humanity first brushed against cultivation, demonic beasts had been the very emblem of terror.
Bodies that laughed at the laws of physics. The absurd strength and speed that followed. Hides that shrugged off bullets. Durations that treated nuclear missiles like afternoon snacks.
And all of that was still only the story of the first realm—Qi Condensation.
Once a beast crossed into the next realm, comparison itself became meaningless; they could no longer even be called the same kind of life-form. Humanity’s resistance, which had somehow weathered nuclear showers and biochemical weapons, was shredded like wet paper by a single Foundation Establishment beast.
…Or so everyone had believed they would forever reign as the apex of fear.
These days they’re just my next meal.
In the modern age they were nothing more than prey that couldn’t even match a cultivator of equal standing. Nain pulled out a Cleansing Talisman to shake off the sticky, sweat-soaked discomfort clinging to her skin.
The talisman stuck to her forearm flashed once, crumbled to ash, and the sweat and grime that had caked her body vanished without a trace.
Feeling markedly fresher, she reviewed the itinerary so far.
Seventeen danger zones marked on the map.
Demonic beasts were, at their core, territorial animals. Because of their ecology—blood-feeding, devouring other beasts to advance their realm—they required vast hunting grounds. The masters of those seventeen-plus zones were all mid-stage Qi Condensation beasts that commanded territories stretching for kilometers.
If I only had mid-grade talismans I could just detonate every last one without a second thought…
She pushed the regret aside and pressed on. She had covered barely a tenth of the distance; there was no time to dawdle. Soft thuds marked her passage as she leapt from branch to branch, her body light as a feather.
In twelve hours of work she had produced forty-nine talismans in total. Twenty of them were attack and guardian types; the remaining twenty-nine were specialty talismans prepared for every conceivable variable. Right now she had five of them active.
An Air-Rending Talisman that parted the wind’s resistance. A Marvelous-Stride Talisman that boosted her leaping power far beyond raw strength. A Soft-Fall Talisman that slowed her descents. A Concealing-Presence Talisman that erased her traces.
And a Flooding-Sense Talisman that sharpened every perception to a razor edge. All of them were deployed for one purpose: maximum speed.
The overlapping effects of similar talismans were no accident.
Pseudo-Talisman Record… I never expected it to work this well.
Rather than activating each talisman alone, she linked those of kindred natures into a single chain—an improvised technique usable only within the Qi Condensation realm. A pale imitation of the true Talisman Arrays wielded by Foundation Establishment cultivators.
Yet for Nain, right now, it was more than enough.
Bound after bound, she sprang ten-odd meters with every leap, gliding through the air as if sliding on silk. All the while she scanned the surroundings with fierce concentration, steering clear of any place that reeked of beast musk.
Boom. Rumble-rumble!!!
Even so, an encounter was inevitable. When the last usable branch vanished, Nain coolly assessed the situation.
“Kkirururuk!”
“Krarurararak!!”
A colossal monstrous bird scattering azure feathers clashed head-on with a ferocious green-furred bear. A single wingbeat snapped ancient trees that had stood for centuries; where the bear’s razor claws swept, the earth itself split open into a shallow ravine. Judging by the aftershocks of power, both beasts stood at the absolute peak of third-star Qi Condensation.
Whichever wins will step into the mid stage.
The battle was absolute. One of the bird’s wings snapped; both of the bear’s eyes were gouged out. Both fought with everything they had. Yet the outcome was already written.
The bird will win. It’s the clever one…
Bears were natural climbers even before they became demonic beasts; that trait remained. The bear kept scrambling up trees, trying to close the distance. The bird, however, deliberately shattered every tall tree nearby, denying any approach and calmly bleeding its opponent dry from the safety of the sky.
Thud.
At last the bear’s strength gave out and it collapsed. The azure bird, wings laboring, raised its head and loosed a cry of triumph.
“Kkirurururu!!”
Flap, flap!
The moment the bird settled lower, a sickening shlick rang out and its remaining intact wing was crushed and sheared away. The bear that had been playing dead roared and swung its claws in a final, desperate strike.
“Ku… ruruk…”
The bird’s throat was torn open in a single, hollow motion. But the bear that delivered the killing blow had already lost half its skull. Both corpses crashed to the forest floor together.
Nain drifted down like a falling feather. Sticky demonic qi coiled around her feet. She murmured in admiration and activated a Guardian Talisman and a Cleansing Talisman at the same time.
“…Incredible.”
She did not repeat the foolishness of the previous bird. Approaching the bodies with deliberate care, she waited until she was certain both were truly dead. These were the first demonic beasts she had ever seen with her own eyes.
Blood-scented hunters would be swarming any second. She finished her business first. With a wet, unpleasant sensation her arm sank into the carcass.
“Ugh…”
She lowered her synchronization rate with Geumhae to the absolute minimum and groped around. Near the hearts she found two tiny inner cores. Barely the size of a finger joint, yet unmistakably the cores of demonic beasts.
Thud!
Confirmation complete, Nain rocketed up into the canopy. She had to put distance between herself and this place at once. Holding her breath, she ran with everything she had.
KA-BOOM!
Moments later a massive explosion bloomed, visible even from far away. The shockwave reached her, gently stirring her white hair. She exhaled in relief and leaned her back against a giant ancient tree for a brief rest.
“Wa… wah!”
Geumhae’s usually expressionless face flushed with heat, eyes bright. That was how happy she was. Inner cores—actual inner cores!
What she had just done had been recklessly stupid. A few seconds of delay and she would have been caught in the blast, lost the opportunity, and only disappointed her family.
But it worked!
She turned the two cores over in her hands—one a pale sky-blue, the other a deep brownish-green. The total demonic energy contained in those luminous, saturated cores roughly matched her own spiritual power. Her heart thudded with pure excitement.
In truth a first-realm beast core was not especially valuable. Unless it came from an extremely rare species, one sold for around ten thousand credits. Practically meaningless to someone like her.
The reason for her excitement was different.
“They’re so pretty…”
To Nain, the cores were simply beautiful. They were the condensed history and traces of an entire life. That alone held endless fascination.
She blew the dust from them, polished them carefully, and tucked them safely into the inner pocket of her robe. Beast cores were strategic resources; they never trickled down to someone without connections who wasn’t even a combat cultivator. This might have been her only chance, so she had allowed herself a little recklessness.
“Haa…”
A brief moment of self-reproach later, she reined in her emotions and began moving again. This time she allowed no distractions. Even when beasts fought each other she ignored them and headed straight for the base. One deviation was enough.
Right now every effort had to be poured into securing opportunities.
One day passed, then two. She skirted danger zones, occasionally had to flee after being spotted, and still closed the distance with relentless speed.
Only about ten kilometers remained.
Perched on a branch of the second-tallest ancient tree in the area, Nain hid among the leaves so the flocks of monstrous birds would not notice her and gazed at the distant base.
A Crack Management Bureau “base” was not a building; it was an entire zone of control. It regulated gate traffic, policed the Beast Forest, and stood as the front line itself. Formations of staggering technological density hummed along the towering walls, and batteries of terrifying weapons pointed into the forest.
Having used up every last Cleansing Talisman and looking rather grubby, Nain paused in thought.
I avoided every danger zone where mid-stage first-realm beasts live… but I never expected something like that.
Demonic beasts possessed intelligence. The higher their realm, the closer their intellect approached a human’s. Beasts of that level rarely ventured near human territory unless they were extremely confident.
That was why no danger zones existed near the base.
And yet…
“…What is that thing’s problem? Does it just not think?”
Right in front of the wall, a beast had coiled itself and claimed the immediate surroundings as its territory. Its level was roughly the same peak of early Qi Condensation she had seen in the bird. It was a famous species even Nain knew of.
Supreme Solar Flood Dragon.
A strange creature that never blood-fed and grew solely by absorbing sunlight. Despite that gentle diet its temperament was vicious; not a single living thing could be found inside its domain.
Geumhae’s eyes lit with a dangerous glint.
She checked the remaining combat talismans in her pockets. After driving off a few attackers, seven Attack Talismans and six Defense Talismans remained.
More than enough.
“I was going to go around you, but this is your fault. Who told you to block the road?”
Activating her last Concealing-Presence and Soft-Fall Talismans, Nain slipped silently into the Supreme Solar Flood Dragon’s territory.
Ssshh.
I wonder what color the core of a photosynthesis-powered snake will be?
Anticipation swelled in her chest.