'It has to be the crocodiles,' he decided. No one would compete with him for them, and he wouldn't get in the way of the fighting. And he already knew how he could kill them.
Though there were many of them, the crocodiles still managed to spread themselves out along the beach. They were grouped in smaller packs of 20 to 30 beasts, the closest of which were 250 meters away, but the furthest were many kilometers out. Luckily, the closest beasts were Ordinary Grade, while the Earth Grade ones were on the other end of the beast. As long as he didn't alert the entire horde, Harry knew he would be alright.
His mind made up, Harry began running over to the resting Vicious Freshwater Crocodiles. His target was peak Ordinary Grade beasts, so he set his sights on the largest crocodile in the nearest pack.
As soon as he got within 50 meters, the crocodiles sensed him running on the sand and opened their eyes.
And at that point, some Inner Disciples noticed Harry rushing over to the crocodiles, and cried out in alarm.
"That man… what's he doing? Does he want to die?"
"Hey! Get back here!" they started yelling. Though they didn't know this Outer Disciple, they weren't just going to let someone run off to his death.
"That idiot doesn't even have a weapon!" someone exclaimed, then abandoned his own battle to chase after Harry. The Elders, who were focused on the battle against the crabs and grindylows, were alerted and also began racing towards James. They never thought someone would actually go charging to the crocodiles, so they didn't pay attention to that area of the beach. They were more focused on monitoring the battle with the Inner Disciples, and Harry's actions caught them by surprise. But it was too late. Harry was already there.
20 Ordinary Grade beasts got up, and charged towards Harry in hopes of getting a meal.
Strengthening Flesh! Burning Blood!
With a savage grin, he leapt and soared the air, closing the distance. He landed right on the back of a larger beast, momentarily stunning it, then grabbed the crocodile by the jaw. His hands grabbed the top jaw, while he stuck his right foot directly in the beasts' mouth, anchoring the bottom jaw in place. The sharp teeth of the beast failed to pierce through his tough skin, and he yanked with all his might.
The last time he used Burning Blood against a Magic Beast, he was dead tired with exhaustion. He was an arrow at the end of its flight, and couldn't use all his strength.
But this time, he was full of energy. Actually, he was more than full, since his inner thoughts contained a lot of resentment from being whipped. He was itching for a place to vent his anger.
The Vicious Freshwater Crocodile under him suddenly realized something was wrong. It should have closed its jaws around a tasty meal, but instead, the meal was on its back, and keeping its mouth open. And under Harry's raging strength, it was powerless to move.
It squirmed its massive body, but Harry had just enough strength to keep it pinned. Its jaw was slowly forced apart further and further, until it reached the maximum angle it would open, then with a grunt of effort –
RRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIPPPPPP
A tearing sound echoed across the beach. The soft webbing that formed the beast's cheeks was the first to rip apart, followed by the rest of its head. Next, the scaly, armored skin running down its torso split, revealing the bloody flesh and pulsing innards.
This sort of armor was strong against head-on attacks, and very difficult to penetrate. There was no way Harry could have penetrated it without a sword. Instead, he took a lesson from the very first battle he fought in the Wyvern Woods – for these sorts of reptiles, the mouth was their weakness.
Using just brute strength, Harry ripped the peak Ordinary Grade beast right in two. From a distance, it almost looked like the crocodile's mouth opened at the middle of its body.
The Inner Disciples and Elders sprinting to save Harry stopped in their tracks, the worry on their faces replaced with shock and fright.
"J-just then, did you see that?"
"Yeah… what the fuck."
If it was just in terms of strength, a Qi Absorption Realm cultivator could perform the same feat. But it wasn't a question of having the strength, but more about having the guts. Did this boy not treasure his own hands and feet? If something went wrong, he would have lost his limbs there!
Harry reached down and dug the Beast Core out the animal's corpse.
"Watch out!" he heard a voice yell. Right after, another of the crocodiles clamped its jaw around Harry's leg, and violently twisted.
He was sent spinning, and was yanked to the ground. The crocodile's teeth were so sharp they actually pierced through Harry's ankle, but only a fraction of an inch deep. Further than that, and it was met with too much resistance.
Harry hissed as he felt his leg get bitten, but the pain was nothing to him. By now, he was an expert at enduring pain. Activating Burning Blood again, he reached over and forcefully yanked the crocodile's mouth open.
Burning Blood!
His blood was already simmering down, so he activated the skill again. He felt his arms burst with power, providing him a tremendous amount of energy. He knew this state would only last a short period of time, a couple seconds at most, so he needed to take advantage of this opportunity to the fullest.
With a roar, he shoved his other foot into the crocodile's mouth, practically down its throat, forcing the squirming creature still. He pulled as hard as he could. Another grisly tearing sound could be heard as the second beast was ripped apart.
Blood, guts, and other pieces of flesh splattered across the beach. Under his feet was the bottom half of a crocodile, while the top half was in his hands. If the other crocodiles weren't paying attention before, they were now.
After activating Burning Blood twice, around two-thirds of his transformed blood went into recovery. He only had a third left to use, enough for one more attack. He briefly considered killing another, but decided it was too dangerous. If something went wrong, he'd have no way of retreating. He pulled out the second Beast Core, knocked one of the nearby crocodiles away, then slung half a carcass over his shoulder and bolted.
Behind him, a hundred crocodiles were on their feet and giving chase. It seemed like all the Ordinary Grade crocodiles were after him, while the Earth Grade beasts didn't pay him any attention. At this moment, Harry couldn't be bothered to figure out why.
But the answer became clear right after. The beasts weren't chasing him for revenge, they were chasing him for a meal. The majority of the beasts stopped to fight over the two carcasses, and only a couple were chasing after Harry. More precisely, they were chasing after the meat he was carrying.
These crocodiles weren't just carnivorous, but also cannibals. Over the past week, the Inner Disciples saw many fights break out among the beasts, which always ended with a couple dead and devoured down to the skin and bones. This situation was no different. In just a few minutes, the one and a half carcasses were gone, now in the bellies of their kin.
Thankfully, the Earth Grade beasts couldn't be bothered to eat their Ordinary Grade kin.
As Harry ran, he glanced back, only to see 10 beasts in hot pursuit. Despite their short legs, they were actually fast runners, and were catching up.
'Damn,' he swore. The huge piece of meat he was carrying, which weighed at least 50 kilograms, was slowing him down. He considered ditching it, but his stomach couldn't bear to.
Burning Blood!
He gritted his teeth and activated his ability one last time, focusing on his legs. Immediately, his thighs exploded with strength, and his speed doubled. He leapt five meters with each step. Before long, he outpaced the crocodiles, and sprinted past the thunderstruck Inner Disciples and Elders.
"Alright, let's go with that plan, William, you lead your group to Alchemy Hall, and complete the missions there. Wyatt, you go to the marketplace, and inventory the items on sale. I'll lead the rest of us to the Blacksmith Hall. After two weeks, we'll pool our earnings and start buying cultivation resources."
The 15 members of the Hopkins Clan were together, going over their plan to earn merit points. Once they had enough, they'd buy pills and other resources so all of them could enter the 9th level of the Body Tempering Realm. Afterwards, they would work together to defeat the Ordinary Grade Magic Beasts.
Looking over the paper with their calculations and agenda, they nodded and felt it was a reasonable plan. If they all worked hard and things went smoothly, in two weeks, they could set out to get the Purple Qi Fruits. That would allow half of them become Inner Disciples.
After their collective brainstorming, this was the fastest plan they could come up with.
As they got up, the door burst open, and the last member of the Hopkins Clan ran in, panting and out of breath. He had a look of terror on his face.
"Wade? What's wrong?"
"I – I – James!"
"What is it? Did he do something to you?" Wayne asked urgently.
"No, no, he, he already killed two peak Ordinary Grade beasts!" the man blurted out.
"What?!" they all exclaimed.
"You – are you sure?"
"I'm positive. I saw it with my own eyes! There were over 200 Vicious Freshwater Crocodiles lying on the beach. Not even the Inner Disciples dared to go fight them. But James ran over, grabbed a beast's mouth, and ripped the massive creature in two. Blood went everywhere! I-I've never seen anything so gruesome. He just used his bare hands, he didn't even have a weapon!"
"Wade, are you sure you saw – "
"I swear!" he insisted. "A hundred Inner Disciples saw it too! Just go and ask any of them!"
They didn't want to believe it, but they felt like Wade was telling the truth. That sort of frightened expression couldn't be faked. And Wade was their clan member. There was no reason for him to lie.
The Hopkins disciples looked again at their well-laid plans, and thought of the two weeks they allocated for themselves. Suddenly, they all felt like idiots. While they were still making plans, someone else already went ahead and began completing the task.
They thought of their offer to team up, and their comments after James rejected them. From James' perspective, they must have looked like a group of fools.
"Wayne, what do we do? Should try to get some rewards before it's too late?" one disciple asked.
Wayne looked around the room, but finally sighed and shook his head.
"No, it's too dangerous. Unlike that madman, I value my own life. I'm confident I can kill one of those beasts in a controlled setting, but I'm not confident enough to fight so many on a battlefield. And I don't want to risk your lives. We'll continue with our plan, but forget about the Purple Qi Fruits."
With a decidedly bleaker mood, the Hopkins disciples finished their preparations and left to start completing their tasks. Only Wayne was left in the room, staring at the walls with a darkened face. He was deep in brooding thought.
'James Evans, my Magic Spirit says I must get rid of you. But how?'
And behind Wayne's back, an ominous black light flickered and vanished as quickly as it appeared.
Back at the beach, the smell of roasted crocodile meat wafted across the battlefield. By the safety of the tents, Harry started a fire, and was happily munching on a large piece of crocodile steak.
'In the end, food I cooked myself is still the best,' he thought contentedly. His hunger was driving him crazy, and he ate like a starving dog.
As magical creatures, Magic Beasts used Qi to grow and strengthen their bodies. The stronger the Magic Beast, the more nutritious their meat was.
'Surprisingly chewy,' he munched. It tasted like fish, but not as soft.
"Hey, mind if we join you?"
Harry looked up, and saw some of the Inner Disciples he was chatting with earlier.
"Sure," he said in between mouthfuls of meat.
They sat down near him, and awkwardly looked at each other, as if they were trying to get each other to say something. Finally, one of them found the courage to speak up.
"My fellow disciples have been fighting all day, and are very hungry. Would you mind if we had some food with you?"
"Go ahead, you all can take some," Harry agreed. There was over 50 kilograms of meat in front of him, and there was no way he could finish it all.
"Really? Great! Thanks!" the Inner Disciples began carving out chunks of meat. Pretty soon, the huge carcass was divided up into crocodile steaks.
"Don't you guys have plenty of meat there though?" Harry pointed towards the piles of Magic Beast corpses. Whenever a beast was killed, one of the Elders used his powers to lift it out of the battlefield.
"Oh no, those get taken away. Some get served in the cafeteria, though those meals are pretty expensive. But most go to the Alchemy Hall, either for pill ingredients or fertilizer. We don't get to eat any of it," one person explained.
'That's basically stealing,' Harry glared. How could they just take away his spoils like that?
"You don't need to look like that," one of them quickly said. "I don't think the Elders will take any from you."
Right, after seeing that savagery, who would try to take this Outer Disciple's food?
"Well, even if they do, I'm going to get more later," Harry shrugged as he looked over to the crocodiles. The few Ordinary Grade beasts that were chasing him were easily driven back by the Elders. The beach was already peaceful again, as if the bloody fight had never happened.
The Inner Disciples choked when they heard his words.
"You – you're planning on getting more?" one asked incredulously.
"Yeah, I'm working on the mission to get the Purple Qi Fruits. I still need a lot more Beast Cores."
The Inner Disciples didn't know how to respond to that. They heard about that mission, but dismissed it as impossible for an Outer Disciple. Most people even thought it was irresponsible for an Elder to put that task up, as it would lead to injury, perhaps death. None of them expected someone to actually attempt it.
"Well, be careful," one finally said. "I'm Shaun, by the way."
"I'm James," Harry lied. The rest of the Inner Disciples also introduced themselves. Normally, they couldn't be bothered to interact with the Outer Disciples, but James was different.
"James, don't you have a weapon?" Shaun asked.
"I lost mine," Harry admitted. "And I don't have enough merit points to buy another."
That response just got him more speechless looks.
'You actually charged at the Vicious Freshwater Crocodiles without even having a weapon?' they simultaneously thought. Suddenly, they all had a better appreciation for the guts of this person eating with them.
"James, your name sounds familiar… wait, don't tell me, you're that James? The one who attacked Maynard?" one Inner Disciple yelped.
"Yeah, that's me."
"You – you – you're actually even crazier than the rumors! Don't you know who the Ivory Fist Clan are? Don't you know who Maynard's father is?" another urgently asked.
'I wonder what they'd say if they knew I beat a teacher up,' Harry thought wryly.
Before he could respond, another person interjected.
"You're James?"
A loud, sharp voice thundered across the beach. It came from over by the tents, where the two Ivory Fist Clan's members, the leaders of Team 6, stepped out.
With a few large leaps, they appeared in front of Harry. Their massive frames towered over him. Sitting down, Harry just barely reached their knees.
Harry took a good look at them. They resembled Maynard, but even bigger. Their bodies were packed with muscles, rare for cultivators in the Qi Absorption Realm. Their faces were like shovels, and their hands… were also like shovels.
"Boy, are you deaf? Didn't you hear us ask you a question?" the other man aggressively asked.
Harry casually finished chewing, then looked back up at the two apes staring down at him.
"Yeah, I'm James. Tell me, is your Young Master doing well?"