After finishing the fight, Alex crouched down and carefully extracted the monster cores from the two beasts. The small crystals glimmered faintly in his hand before he placed them inside his bag.
He straightened up and looked around the quiet forest.
For a moment, everything seemed peaceful again. The rustling leaves and distant sounds of insects filled the air as if nothing unusual had happened.
Alex adjusted the strap of his bag over his shoulder.
'I think this will be enough for today.' he thought.
The bag already held several herbs and a few monster cores. For a first hunting trip, it wasn't a bad result.
He was just about to turn back toward the direction of the city when—
~WUSHHH! ~
A sudden blur shot through the air.
Before Alex could even react, a powerful force slammed directly into his body.
The impact was overwhelming.
His feet left the ground as his body was thrown violently through the air. A moment later he crashed hard into the trunk of a nearby tree.
~THUD! ~
The force of the collision knocked the breath out of him.
Pain spread through his back and chest as he fell to one knee, struggling to inhale properly. For a brief moment, his vision blurred and the world spun around him.
'What… just happened?'
Alex forced himself to look up.
Standing several meters away was the creature responsible.
It slowly stepped out from the shadows of the forest, its presence alone making the air feel heavier.
The monster's body was larger and far more intimidating than the beasts he had fought earlier. A faint but oppressive aura surrounded it, making the difference in strength immediately obvious.
Alex could feel it clearly.
This creature was on an entirely different level.
His expression tightened as realization struck him.
Foundation Realm… fourth Layer. Same as him.
The monster moved toward him at an unhurried pace, its presence heavy with unmistakable killing intent. Its eyes remained fixed on Alex, cold and unwavering, as if it already saw him as prey that could not escape.
Alex clenched his fists and forced himself to stand firm. His body still felt the strain of the earlier exchanges, but he pushed those sensations aside and focused on the fight in front of him. He had no complicated strategy, only the same simple approach that had worked against the previous monsters.
Wait for the attack.
Dodge at the last possible moment.
Then strike back.
It was risky, but it was the only method he trusted.
The monster suddenly burst forward.
Alex reacted instantly, shifting his body just in time to evade the incoming strike. At the same moment, he launched his own counterattack, driving his fist forward with everything he had.
For a brief instant, it seemed like the punch would land.
But the creature moved with frightening speed.
Its body twisted away from the attack at the last moment, avoiding the blow by the smallest margin. Before Alex could even regain his balance, the monster retaliated.
The counterattack came immediately.
Alex's eyes widened in shock.
In that single moment, he understood the problem.
He was too slow.
A powerful force slammed into him before he could react. His body was thrown backward, crashing hard into a nearby tree with a heavy impact.
~THUD! ~
Alex's body crashed against the tree with a heavy impact, the force of it leaving him momentarily disoriented. For a few seconds, the world around him blurred, and a dull ringing filled his ears.
The truth of his situation became painfully clear.
He had no techniques.
No weapons.
And no real combat experience.
Every advantage in this fight belonged to the monster.
Alex coughed harshly, struggling to steady his breathing. A mouthful of blood spilled onto the ground as he leaned forward, trying to stay conscious. His entire body felt battered. Cuts and wounds covered his skin, some shallow, others deep enough to send sharp pulses of pain through him whenever he moved.
But then something unexpected happened.
The intense pain that had gripped his body moments ago began to weaken. The burning sensation in his wounds slowly faded, and the bleeding started to slow. Alex blinked in confusion as he noticed the injuries on his body beginning to close.
They were healing.
And not slowly.
The change was visible to the naked eye.
Even Mai Lin became surprised seeing this seen.
A short distance away, the monster had stopped advancing. It watched him silently, its gaze cold and cautious. The creature seemed to be waiting
Minutes passed.
It seemed to be waiting, checking if he was truly dead.
But instead of lying there, Alex slowly rose to his feet.
His breathing was heavy, and his body still trembled from the earlier blows, yet a quiet determination filled his eyes. The pain had not disappeared, but it no longer controlled him. If anything, it had only sharpened his resolve.
Before the monster had a chance to react, Alex suddenly surged forward. Ignoring the pain still lingering in his body, he pushed himself to move faster, gathering every last bit of strength he had left.
His heart pounded heavily in his chest as he closed the distance. There was no room for hesitation now. This moment would decide everything.
Drawing in a deep breath, Alex focused all his strength into a single strike. Every ounce of power and Qi he possessed flowed into his arm as he drove his fist forward, determined to end the fight.
The blow landed with tremendous force.
The monster was knocked completely off its feet, its body hurled backward as it crashed across the ground.
~THUD! ~ THUD! ~
It tumbled violently before sliding to a halt several meters away.
Alex stood where he was for only the briefest moment, his chest rising and falling as he struggled to catch his breath. His arm still trembled from the power he had poured into that single strike.
But he knew the fight was not over yet.
Without allowing the monster even a second to recover, Alex forced his exhausted body to move again. Ignoring the fatigue weighing down his limbs, he rushed forward, determined not to let this opportunity slip away.
He rushed forward without hesitation and struck again, driving his fist down with the same fierce intensity as before, perhaps even greater.
~THUD! ~
The impact echoed through the quiet forest.
For a few tense seconds, nothing moved.
Then the monster's body went completely still.
The fight was finally over.
"Hhhh…"
Alex staggered back and collapsed beneath a nearby tree, his back pressing against the rough bark as he struggled to breathe. His chest rose and fell rapidly, each breath heavy and uneven. Every muscle in his body trembled from exhaustion, the battle having drained nearly all the strength he had left.
For a while, he simply sat there, letting the silence of the forest settle around him.
Slowly, his breathing began to steady. His wounds starting to close.
The pain in his body was still there, but it no longer felt overwhelming. What replaced it instead was a quiet sense of relief.
He had survived.
After resting for a few moments, Alex pushed himself up again. His legs still felt weak, but he forced them to move.
Step by step, he walked toward the fallen monster, his gaze fixed on its lifeless body.
Alex crouched beside the fallen creature and began carefully extracting what he needed. With steady hands, he removed the monster's core and then collected its fangs and teeth, placing them securely into his bag.
"That was… really sudden," he murmured to himself, his voice low in the quiet forest.
The fight replayed briefly in his mind. Only a short while ago, he had been certain he might die there. Yet somehow, he had managed to turn the situation around.
After finishing his work, Alex rose to his feet and began making his way out of the forest. The towering trees gradually thinned as he walked, and before long the massive city gate came into view in the distance.
As he walked, his thoughts returned to the strange moment during the battle.
'System, why was I healing so fast?' he asked silently.
A response appeared almost immediately.
Alex nodded slightly as he processed the answer. It made sense, but another question soon surfaced in his mind.
'Earlier you said I didn't have enough authority. Now you're explaining this to me. Why?'
The system responded calmly.
Alex fell silent for a moment as he thought about those words.
Slowly, he began to understand.
Some knowledge could only be explained after it was witnessed firsthand. Just like someone could not truly understand walking until they had seen it done.
The system seemed to follow the same principle.
Lost in thought, Alex continued toward the city gate. As the events of the battle replayed in his mind, another realization suddenly surfaced.
A new thought suddenly surfaced in Alex's mind as he walked.
He slowed his steps slightly, recalling something he had seen countless times in the novels he used to read.
Many of the characters in those stories consumed monster cores to gain energy and strengthen their cultivation. The idea had always seemed fascinating to him back then, but now that he stood in a world where such things were real, the thought felt far more meaningful.
'System, can I eat monster cores?' Alex asked inwardly.
The answer came almost instantly.
Alex considered the response carefully.
So, it was possible, but not without limits.
If the core came from a monster stronger than him, the energy inside it could become dangerous instead of beneficial.
"Alright… I understand," Alex murmured quietly, giving a small nod as he continued walking.
His hand instinctively brushed against the bag hanging at his side, where the monster cores rested. A faint sense of curiosity stirred within him.
Now that he knew they could be used this way, those small objects suddenly seemed far more valuable than before.