'Purple Qi Fruits, and an Earth Grade Scarlet Flame Wolf… can there actually be such a coincidence?'
Purple Qi Fruits – he had seen those in the Wyvern Woods all those months ago, but they were guarded by a pair of powerful gorillas. He had no choice but to give up on them. Back then, he was just at the 4th level of the Body Tempering Realm, and hadn't yet begun the Nameless Technique. If it were him now, he had the confidence to defeat the gorillas, but the fruits were long gone, presumably eaten.
And the Earth Grade Scarlet Flame Wolf – of course he was familiar with Scarlet Flame Wolves! After all, he was roasted alive by one just a few days ago.
But how could those items appear here?
Besides, the task was for getting Beast Cores, in other words, fighting Magic Beasts. That was the area Harry had the most experience in. This was just too much of a coincidence, wasn't it?
Unless… lost in his thoughts, Harry stood and stared.
"Why's James blankly staring at the task board?" some people whispered.
"Maybe he's a retard," someone from the Ivory Fist Clan aggressively suggested. But the moment he said that, everyone around him scattered, and he was left standing by himself. He paled in fright when he realized his situation – but luckily for him, Harry didn't hear him. He was too focused on the task board.
He could easily see why no one wanted to take this task. The task was to fight against dozens of Magic Beasts at the 9th level of the Body Tempering Realm. But for an Outer Disciple, that was no different than walking to one's death.
Besides, though Purple Qi Fruits may be useful, what would they use a Beast Flame for? Only Harry needed them.
'25 Purple Qi Fruits… I recall each one is like a high-quality Body Nourishing Pill. With all of them, along with those Qi Gathering Pills, I should be able to enter the 8th level. And the Beast Flame… I don't know how much I'll need,' Harry frowned.
Roughly speaking, he was a third of the way done with Burning Blood. With the Scarlet Flame Wolf's Beast Flame, he converted around 10% of the blood in the body. Using that as a baseline, he would need six or seven more Beast Flames.
But now that he thought about it… how was he supposed to receive a Beast Flame? It wasn't something he could just carry away. After all, it existed in the body of a Magic Beast.
'Well, I'll find out when I get the Beast Cores,' Harry supposed. 'For now, just aim for 50 Beast Cores, to get 5 Beast Flames, and another 25 for the Purple Qi Fruits. I can get more later. That's 75 in all.'
If his suspicions were right, the Purple Qi Fruits, and perhaps the Beast Flames too, were provided by the Exalted Cat. And the task was to kill Magic Beasts at the peak of the Body Tempering Realm, but it was only for Outer Disciples. Who else could the task be for? Perhaps among all the Outer Disciples here, only Harry reached his current level through fighting against beasts. Everyone else got resources from their families and sects.
The only question was how the Exalted Cat managed to get these items into the Missions Hall, but Harry guessed that it knew one of the Elders here, who put the reward up while the cat took care of its business.
Indirectly, the cat was sending him a message.
'Even now, you're still watching over me,' Harry gratefully thought. 'Thank you.'
As he turned to leave, a group of 15 Outer Disciples entered the Missions Hall. Harry recognized the man in the front as Wayne Hopkins, and his followers as the other Hopkins Clan cultivators. Upon seeing him, Wayne immediately walked over and stuck out his hand.
"My name is Wayne Hopkins. It's a pleasure to meet you," he said politely.
"Nice to meet you," Harry echoed, and shook the offered hand.
"James, let me get straight to the point. My clan members are interested in completing the task to collect Beast Cores, but we lack the manpower on our own. Would you like to join us?"
Harry was stunned. For a moment, he didn't even know how to respond.
His entire life, nobody ever invited him to do anything. This was the first time that ever happened, and part of him wanted to agree.
But in the end, he decided against it.
"Thank you for the offer. However, I'm not interested in teaming up. I plan to complete the mission on my own."
If he teamed up, he would be obliged to split the rewards. He needed these 25 Purple Qi Fruits, along with the Qi Gathering Pills, just to enter the 8th level of the Body Tempering Realm. He also needed the Beast Flames to finish Burning Blood. If he split them up, he wouldn't have enough.
And for some reason, in the back of his mind, he was getting a dangerous feeling from Wayne. From the moment Harry saw Wayne during the recruitment event, he felt there was something wrong about Wayne, something hidden, but he couldn't pinpoint what it was. He just didn't think too much about it at the time.
It was a bit like with those Ox Ford Sect disciples, who seemed friendly at first. But this was different. As far as he could tell, Wayne was truly a genial cultivator, a rarity in this world. Yet, at the same time, something about Wayne made him feel uneasy.
"James, I admit you are very powerful, but you should reconsider. After all, these are peak Ordinary Grade Beasts! I know the rewards are tempting, but they come with great danger. With you and us working together, we have a much better chance of succeeding. And on my word as the Young Master of the Hopkins Clan, I guarantee we will split the rewards in a fair manner. We definitely will not withhold your share of the reward."
But Harry just shook his head. Though Wayne's words had some truth to them, he had to do this mission on his own.
"Thanks again, but my response is the same. Excuse me, I'm going to Beast Surge battlefield now," Harry said. He walked around and past the Hopkins Clan, exiting the hall.
When Harry was out of sight, Wayne dropped the amicable look and put on an ugly expression.
"Wayne, what do we do? Should we force him to come back?"
Wayne just snorted.
"Can you force him to come back?"
"I guess not," the disciple had no choice but to admit. He was in the classroom earlier today, and witnessed how James savagely beat the teacher. In fact, he was sitting near the front, and had a good view of the entire incident. If he was that teacher… a shudder ran down his spine.
"But are we just letting him go?"
They were the Hopkins Clan, one of the local overlords of the area! It was always others wishing to work with them, not them wishing to work with others. Even more vexing, their Young Master personally made the request, with full sincerity. Yet, James brushed him off and left.
"It's fine," Wayne conceded. "It's best to not force him. He has no impulse control, and he'll do anything without thinking of the consequences."
"Besides, I don't believe he can kill peak Ordinary Grade beasts. Let him go to the battlefield, he'll either die or come back empty-handed. If he dies, that's less competition for us. If he returns, then we can bring up cooperation again."
"Right, that's true," his clan member agreed. After all, in a fight between a Magic Beast and a human, the beast always had the advantage. They were physically stronger, and evolved specialized body parts for fighting. And humans lived in civilized places, without the need to always be fighting. In contrast, the life of a wild Magic Beast was one of constant battle. In a 1-on-1 fight, it was practically impossible for Body Tempering Realm cultivators to defeat peak Ordinary Grade Beasts.
"But, James, he scored 236 on the test," one of them brought up. 236… what sort of score was 236? With that much brute strength, perhaps killing a peak Ordinary Grade Beast was a possibility.
"He is extremely strong," Wayne agreed. "But it's more important he has experience fighting against beasts. Our clan's Elders would never allow us to fight against peak Ordinary Grade Beasts, even if we went as a team, and an Elder was protecting us. It's just too dangerous. How would James have that kind of experience?"
"Right, that's too dangerous," his friends agreed. What sort of parent or Elder would allow a teenager to train like that? No one sane, for sure.
"Let's make a plan to complete the other tasks. And one of you should follow James, and report on his movements."
Just as Harry left the Missions Hall, he suddenly remembered a critical detail – he no longer had a weapon. He lost his sword after he foolishly threw it at Robert.
He could go to the Blacksmith Hall, where weapons were produced and sold, but he didn't have any merit points or Qi Crystals to purchase one. He doubted they gave away weapons for free.
'Should I go take a look anyways?' he wondered.
But eventually, he decided not to. He knew his strength was now past the Body Tempering Realm. His old sword had already been riddled with dents. He felt like he needed an Earth Grade weapon, which were made of stronger materials.
But when he couldn't afford an Ordinary Grade weapon, there was no point thinking about Earth Grade ones.
'The cat always said I was too reliant on my sword,' Harry supposed. 'I'll just fight with my physical body. It'll be a good opportunity to practice Burning Blood.'
His mind made up, he started walking towards the beach where the Beast Surge was occurring. It took a while for him to get there, as the residential areas of the Swan Sea Sect were quite far from the Swan Sea.
The Beast Surge battlefield was located on one of the many beaches of the Swan Sea. When Harry got close, he could see dozens of hastily constructed buildings and tents, where groups of Inner Disciples were resting. A number of Elders, Harry counted six of them, stood nearby overlooking the battlefield.
There were also a couple Outer Disciples there, but they were just spectating, perhaps out of interest. They certainly weren't qualified to join the fighting.
Beyond the tents was the beach, and by the shoreline, Magic Beasts and Inner Disciples were fighting. One section of the shore was ringing with noise, as teams of Inner Disciples fought against a huge swarm of grey, armored creatures with two large claws. It took a while before Harry realized they were crabs, since they looked like porcupines, or sea urchins. Rows of sharp spikes grew out of their back shell.
There were two sizes of crabs – the regularly sized ones, and then the ones that were as big as dogs. Their spikes were many inches long, and their enormous claws looked like they could chop a man's hand off. They were obviously Earth Grade beasts.
'There must be at least 50 of those,' Harry thought in fright. 50 Earth Grade beasts! And 30 Inner Disciples were fighting against them.
Despite being outnumbered, the Inner Disciples had the advantage, because the crabs were dumb creatures with limited range. As far as Harry could tell, they didn't have a long-range attack like that Scarlet Flame Wolf, which could launch fireballs. These crabs used Qi in a defensive manner to strengthen their shells.
Meanwhile, the disciples used long-range attacks to separate small groups of beasts away from the swarm, towards where pairs of disciples were waiting. There, one person distracted the beast while another used a full power strike to smash through the tough shell.
It was a slow strategy, but the safest and most reliable. It also yielded good results.
For the long-range attacks, the Inner Disciples were using what Harry could only describe as a palm attack. They thrust out with their palm, and then another palm, made of Qi and considerably larger, materialized. That palm then shot forward, pushing everything in front of it away.
Harry watched with great interest. He'd never seen such a technique before, and wondered how it worked. Judging by how many disciples were using it, it was clearly some sort of standard fighting technique, maybe available to all Inner Disciples. He could tell the disciples were manipulating the Qi around them.
The difference between cultivation realms wasn't just strength, but also new abilities. The Body Tempering Realm just involved strengthening the physical body. In theory, a bodybuilder who exercised, but never cultivated, could still have the same strength as a low-level or even middle-level Body Tempering Realm cultivator.
But no amount of physical training could replicate the Qi Absorption Realm, because at that realm, one gained the ability to absorb and manipulate Qi. It was the first step towards magic, and the only way to take that step was through cultivation.
And at the Qi Absorption Realm, the variety of cultivation techniques grew. Ordinary Grade techniques were all just methods of strengthening the body. But Earth Grade techniques involved the application of Qi, and the possibilities of using it in combat were endless. Harry saw people using Qi to coat their fists like armor, or forming weapons out of Qi to attack. Others were using movement techniques to evade the beasts' attacks. He knew their moves were augmented with Qi because their movements were like a blur. Harry could barely follow them with his eyes.
As the group of crabs were slowly killed, another wave, this one larger, scurried out of the water. Cursing, the Inner Disciples backed up, and yelled for reinforcements.
"Team 6, move out!" one of the Elders called. 20 resting Inner Disciples picked up their weapons, and charged into battle.
Leading Team 6 were two men, who Harry could instantly tell were from the Ivory Fist Clan. Their enormous bodies and dumb facial expressions gave them right away. The moment they entered the battlefield, they displayed the Ivory Strengthening Technique, causing their bodies to be coated in a thick layer of ivory. Compared to what Maynard displayed, their mastery was much greater. The ivory covered their full body, and was much thicker. They looked like knights entering battle.
Both of them were wielding huge war hammers, which they used to smash the crabs apart. Not a single beast could withstand their attacks, while their armor was powerful enough to defend against the crab's iron grip. The two of them carved a path through the wave of beasts themselves.
'Those two… their fighting style is kind of like mine,' Harry awkwardly noticed. So, this was what he looked like in a battle.
But just as Team 6 started to clear up the battlefield, the tides came in, bringing in yet another wave of beasts. A huge, uncountable mass of crabs joined the fray, along with dozens of seaweed-looking green creatures that walked on six tentacle legs. They had sharp fangs and horns, and were about the height of Harry's waist. Immediately, they leapt out and savagely attacked the humans.
"Why are there so many?" one of the resting Inner Disciples complained. "How many Iron Grip Spiny Crabs can there be in this damned sea? There's no end to this!"
"I've never seen so many Sharp Fanged Grindylows at once," another remarked.
"Teams 1 and 7, move out!" an elder called.
Finally, Harry tore his eyes away from the battlefield, and looked towards the rest of the beach. Around 250 meters away, hundreds of logs were lying on the beach. They were haphazardly arranged, widely-spaced apart, and stretched along the beach as far as the eye could see. He was wondering why someone would chop up wood and toss them onto the beach – and then he saw their eyes.
Each of the logs was actually a crocodile! He gulped when he started counting… there were, at the very least, 300 of those creatures innocently lying there on the beach.
It was no wonder these events were called Beast Surges. Actually, he felt like "surge" wasn't strong enough of a word. Adding the crocodiles, crabs, grindylows, and all the other beasts Harry hadn't seen yet together, and considering how many days the fighting had been going on, perhaps over 2,000 Magic Beasts had invaded the shore.
He'd never seen so many beasts at once – in fact, he never even thought there could be so many together. Even while in the Wyvern Woods, which were teeming with beasts, there weren't so many. Perhaps he just hadn't ventured deep enough.
But, he finally reasoned, it did make sense that there were more beasts here. After all, the number of creatures living in the water far surpassed the number of creatures living on land. The majority of the world was covered in water, so aquatic Beast Surges must be much deadlier than Beast Surges on land.
He took another look at the crocodiles. The ones closest to his location were three-meter-long Ordinary Grade beasts, and comprised around 60% of the total number of beasts. But further away, far larger crocodiles were resting, which must have been at the Earth Grade. They were easily twice the size of their weaker kin.
"Is anyone going to fight those crocodiles?" Harry asked a couple of the resting Inner Disciples.
"Are you kidding?" one of them asked incredulously. "Don't you see how many there are? Last week, when there were just 50 of them, a team tried to fight the beasts off. They killed two, then nearly got torn into shreds. They're still recovering now. And since then, the crocodiles' numbers have multiplied dramatically."
"There's just too damn many of them," another complained. "If you get close, dozens will charge at you together. How can you fight against a dozen Vicious Freshwater Crocodiles at once? If you spend a minute to kill one, by that time, the other 10 would rip you apart. Fighting those beasts is way too risky. In comparison, the crabs and grindylows are much safer."
"Besides, the crocodiles are fierce, but only when provoked. They mostly just lay on the beach, and don't bother us."
"Why don't the Elders kill them then?" Surely, the Elders were strong enough to drive back these beasts.
"There are two reasons. One is that they want us to gain experience, so they're just here to direct the fighting and rescue us if it becomes necessary. They form the last line of defense, in case we get overwhelmed. Unless they absolutely have to, they won't join in on the battle."
"The second reason is that, well, the Elders tried last week. On the second day, due to the suddenness of this Beast Surge, we were overwhelmed and the Elders had to step in. When they joined the battle, most of the beasts were killed, but then a massive Heaven Grade beast – it was huge octopus – emerged from the water, and began attacking. Man, it was fucking gigantic, the biggest beast I've ever seen. It was the size of a house. Hell, it was the size of two houses. That one monster was able to fight all the Elders to a standstill, all while injuring over 30 Inner Disciples. Thankfully, it eventually got tired and left."
"A Heaven Grade beast?" Harry exclaimed. There was actually a Heaven Grade Beast lurking in the Swan Sea? And not even the Swan Sea Sect Elders working together could overcome it?
Since Magic Beasts grew larger as they cultivated, it became more and more difficult for humans to match them in physical strength. Humans had to use cultivation techniques and weapons to close the gap.
"You don't need to worry about it," the Inner Disciple quickly said. "If it shows up, the Elders will protect us. But if the Elders join the battle, the Heaven Grade beast will too. Therefore, there's sort of a standstill going on. That's why only us Inner Disciples are fighting."
"I see," Harry nodded. In battle, there was a common saying, 'generals fight generals, and soldiers fight soldiers'. Otherwise, because of the vast difference between cultivation levels, the generals would just slaughter the soldiers on the other side. This was a principle that even Magic Beasts understood, and neither side wanted.
He turned his attention back to the battlefield, and just spectated for a while, observing both the Magic Beasts and the Inner Disciples.
As the battle dragged on, the Inner Disciples rotated. The first group came back and got a rest, while the disciples Harry was chatting with went off to fight. When a disciple was injured, an Elder would use his power to drag him out of the battlefield, and send him to the medic tents.
Could he beat one of these Iron Grip Spiny Crabs? Without a weapon, there was simply no way. If he used Burning Blood, even if he smashed the shell apart, those long and sharp spikes would pierce through his hands. It would be like punching a wall of needles.
What about the Sharp Fanged Grindylows? But when he examined the beasts more closely, he realized that they were all Earth Grade beasts. There weren't any at the Body Tempering Realm.
In the end, he looked back towards the peaceful area of the beach, where the crocodiles were resting.