Vergil rolled cleanly across the damp ground, barely dodging the heavy, crushing charge of the Dark Bear.
The exact moment he regained his footing in the slush, he pivoted toward the beast’s exposed flank and slashed outward with his blade.
A sharp, glowing streak of blue sword energy shot directly from his weapon’s edge.
Dark blood splattered across the cavern stone from the Dark Bear’s back as it roared furiously and spun its massive frame around.
The towering beast rose fully onto its thick hind legs, overshadowing Vergil like a jagged black mountain.
Then, it unhinged its bared jaws.
Corrosive dark energy rapidly gathered inside its open mouth before condensing into a dense, swirling black sphere.
Boom!
The condensed Dark Ball shot directly toward Vergil’s position like a sudden cannon blast.
Vergil did not make a single movement to dodge the incoming projectile.
Instead, he inhaled the cold air deeply, gathered a calculated trace of inner energy into his steel, and swung directly toward the incoming attack.
Bang!
The cold metal sword collided directly against the dense mass of the Dark Ball.
The resulting magical explosion blasted outward violently, the kinetic force pushing Vergil backwards across the stone.
His thick leather boots dragged heavily across the cavern floor, leaving twin tracks in the dirt.
The Dark Bear roared again, its red eyes locking onto its target.
Another identical Dark Ball immediately began forming within its maw.
Vergil calmly gathered his inner energy back into his sword once more and waited, balancing his centre of gravity.
The second dark sphere shot forward through the dim air.
Bang!
Another violent explosion erupted on impact.
Vergil was blown backwards again by the concussive shockwave, this time crashing firmly against a thick tree growing within the cavern perimeter.
Fortunately, his deliberate backward momentum had already slowed down considerably before the actual physical impact occurred.
The minor collision caused very little actual damage to his reinforced spine.
The distance between us is finally enough.
The beast shouldn’t be able to see clearly from that angle what happens when the Dark Ball directly impacts my blade.
The Dark Bear was officially classified by scholars as an inferior magic beast.
Its baseline strength roughly corresponded to human cultivators who had successfully formed standard Skill Seeds.
Most ordinary people in the surface world referred to this level of power as the Apprentice Realm.
The foundational realm itself possessed no official, tiered subdivisions within cultivation circles.
But the international Adventurer Guild divided all Apprentices into five distinct combat tiers according to their practical battle strength.
If Vergil successfully defeated the Dark Bear today, he would officially qualify as a Tier Three Apprentice.
Tier One represented the absolute weakest newcomers to the path.
Tier Five represented the peak, the strongest veterans of the realm.
Meanwhile, Vergil deliberately continued confronting the dangerous Dark Balls directly because his memories understood the species’ psychological weakness.
Once an enraged Dark Bear began firing consecutive Dark Balls at a single target, it would stubbornly continue shooting repeatedly until entirely exhausting its internal energy reserves.
And the primitive beast instinctively considered handheld weapons as an extension of the human body itself, failing to understand the deflection.
Another Dark Ball rapidly formed.
This time, Vergil decided to take the offensive initiative and attack first.
Moments before the dark sphere could reach his chest, he swung his sword in a fluid arc and whispered quietly under his breath.
“Water Wave.”
A vibrant wave of blue sword energy burst outward like a flowing river of water from his blade, colliding directly against the Dark Ball mid-air.
Bang!
The explosion erupted prematurely between them.
But this time, the hazardous shockwave failed to reach Vergil’s position entirely.
Again.
Another Dark Ball formed in the bear’s maw.
Again, Vergil precisely released the initial movement of the Water Wave technique.
Bang!
As the rhythmic explosions repeated across the clearing, Vergil carefully and unblinkingly observed the beast’s facial contractions.
Then, his sharp eyes finally noticed the indicator.
The fifth consecutive Dark Ball took noticeably longer for the beast to form.
And the underlying dark energy gathering process had clearly slowed down.
Most ordinary human fighters would never notice such microscopic differences in timing during a life-or-death brawl.
But Vergil had been staring at the bear’s chest continuously without blinking a single time.
He exploded another incoming Dark Ball only centimetres before it reached his face.
This time, the massive Dark Bear suddenly dropped heavily onto its front legs, its balance broken.
It roared furiously toward Vergil while panting heavily, strings of drool flying.
Its massive, furred chest visibly rose and fell with extreme physical exhaustion.
It’s finally reached its energetic limit now.
Even entering close physical combat won’t change the outcome anymore.
Vergil waited patiently for the desperate beast to charge forward one last time.
Instead, the stubborn Dark Bear rose onto its hind legs once more, gathering the remnants of its dark energy.
This particular Dark Ball was completely different from the previous iterations.
It was significantly larger.
Denser.
Far more unstable to the naked eye.
Then, it shot forward through the air with a terrifying, whistling speed.
Vergil’s calm expression immediately turned dead serious.
Moments before the massive impact, he swung his sword with absolute precision.
A blue, wave-like burst of sword energy exploded outward from the steel.
Water Wave.
The attack collided directly against the massive Dark Ball.
Then, Vergil immediately and seamlessly followed through with the second fluid movement of the technique.
Another sharp slash.
The second blue wave pushed forward directly into the centre of the dark explosion itself, cancelling the blast.
The Wave Sword Technique contained exactly three connected strikes.
Each successive movement possessed far greater kinetic power than the previous strike in the sequence.
Gradually, the violent, dark explosion completely subsided into smoke.
Vergil lowered his sword slightly, his breathing steady.
The Dark Bear remained alive on the stone.
But it was barely clinging to consciousness.
The heavy beast had collapsed fully onto all fours, its mouth hanging wide open while desperately gasping for shallow pockets of air.
Vergil slowly and cautiously approached the fallen giant.
The Dark Bear roared weakly toward Vergil, approaching footsteps, swinging its heavy claws threateningly through the empty air.
But Vergil’s hunter training could clearly see through the desperate display.
It was merely bluffing to protect itself.
The beast tried standing once more onto its massive hind legs to assert dominance.
Instead, its muscles failed, and it collapsed flat back onto the stone immediately.
Now, it could not even properly support its own massive weight on four legs.
From his sash waist, Vergil carefully removed a strange, highly custom-made iron weapon.
It closely resembled a tiny, sharp pike barely larger than a standard skinning knife.
At its very tip existed a hollow opening leading into a small chamber.
Essentially…
It was a crude, heavy-duty syringe.
Originally, Vergil had wanted to order a proper medical syringe from the storehouse.
But absolutely none existed within the technological level of this world.
And even if they did, he doubted ordinary glass or thin metal needles could ever successfully pierce the dense muscle fibres of a magic beast.
So he had spent exactly four hundred hard-earned contribution points commissioning this specialised piercing weapon instead.
Slowly and silently, Vergil circled behind the completely exhausted Dark Bear’s blind spot.
The beast weakly attempted to turn its head, but only pitiful, low whimpers escaped its throat now.
For the absolute first time, genuine despair appeared clearly within its red, glowing eyes.
Then, Vergil plunged the hollow pike weapon directly into the large muscle hump on the Dark Bear’s upper back.
The beast roared out in sudden, sharp pain.
Moments later, the heavy tranquillising medicine stored securely inside the weapon chamber began rapidly taking effect.
The Dark Bear’s final, weak struggles weakened at an exponential rate.
Then finally,
Its heavy eyelids slowly closed, and the massive Dark Bear collapsed entirely unconscious onto the cold cavern forest floor.
Vergil immediately ran toward the dark leather satchel he had left resting beside a nearby mossy tree trunk.
Opening the flap quickly, he pulled out several thick, heavy-duty ropes woven tightly from specialised magic plants.
Using the durable ropes, he tightly and systematically bound the Dark Bear’s powerful limbs and torso together, deliberately leaving behind a long, braided U-shaped pulling loop firmly attached to the main restraints.
Afterwards, he returned to the satchel, slung it securely over his shoulder, grabbed the pulling rope with both hands, and began dragging the heavy, unconscious beast away through the undergrowth.
Exactly seven months had already quietly passed since Madam Sierra had first introduced their captive group to the foundational movements of the Wave Sword Technique.
And exactly two weeks ago, through relentless physical repetition and visualisation, Vergil had finally mastered its intricate pathways completely.
The exact moment he mastered the final movement of the manual, he successfully formed a brand new Sword Skill Seed inside his Spirit Space.
The defensive Water Wave movement became the very first official sub-ability granted to him by that newly formed Skill Seed.
After successfully forming the martial seed, he was finally granted permission by the camp authorities to leave the perimeter of the underground town to hunt and scavenge within the cavern itself.
The subterranean cavern was unimaginably, breathtakingly vast.
A dense, silent forest ecosystem existed entirely along the western side of the massive cavern walls.
Meanwhile, the fortress-like underground town rested heavily against the eastern cavern bedrock.
A wide, straight dirt road connected the main town gate directly toward the cavern’s only known exit to the surface.
The very first time Vergil had officially exited the town gates, he had analysed that exit route clearly from a distance.
A heavily fortified stone fortress had been constructed directly over the mouth, completely sealing the narrow passage from wall to wall.
Since that day, he had repeatedly and meticulously explored the jagged cavern walls during his free hunting hours, searching desperately for alternative exits.
Even after subtly questioning Gregory, he learned the exact same discouraging answer repeatedly.
No other secret exits existed outside of this cage.
There was only the heavily guarded, elite-controlled fortress passage.
However, while exploring meticulously near the dark northern cavern wall weeks ago, Vergil had eventually stumbled upon a hidden, narrow cave opening masked by boulders.
Now, he was manually dragging the heavy body of the Dark Bear toward that very sanctuary.
Back in the camp library, Vergil had read many ancient books describing how ancient martial arts and primitive combat techniques were originally created by human ancestors studying the natural movements of magical beasts.
So now,
He wanted to attempt the exact same developmental process entirely on his own.
Fortunately, no other roaming magic beasts appeared to ambush him while he dragged the unconscious Dark Bear across the silent cavern forest.
By the time he finally reached the coordinates of his hidden cave, Vergil quietly sighed in immense relief, his skin slick with sweat.
Stopping briefly on the stones, he released the coarse rope and rotated his aching shoulders and burning arms.
Dragging a multi-hundred-pound Dark Bear across such rough distances had exhausted his physical stamina considerably.
After stretching his limbs for several silent moments to clear the lactic acid, he grabbed the pulling loop again and continued.
Upon reaching the cave entrance, he used the excess rope to tie the heavy Dark Bear upright against a massive, smooth rock outside the opening in a secure, seated position.
Then, Vergil entered the dark mouth of the cave briefly to retrieve his stashed supplies.
Moments later, he emerged back into the crystal light carrying:
A sturdy wooden painting board
A completed wooden painting frame
Several sheets of blank, thick paper
He entered the dark cave space again, moving efficiently.
This time, he returned carrying the remaining apparatus:
A small wooden stool
An open wooden box filled with various small, vibrantly coloured ink bottles
Vergil placed the wooden stool down carefully beside the tightly tied Dark Bear.
Then, he arranged the various ink bottles neatly on a flat stone surface within arm’s reach.
Finally, he pulled a fine paintbrush from his robe pocket and began methodically painting the restrained beast along with the surrounding cavern scenery.
During the past seven gruelling months of camp training, Vergil still had not successfully formed an official Painting Skill Seed inside his spirit.
But through raw, continuous manual practice in his room, his baseline painting ability had improved dramatically.
So this time, after several focused hours of continuous brushwork, he successfully completed a highly detailed, accurate painting of the Dark Bear without a single mistake.
He silently and critically examined the finished work for several seconds, letting the ink settle.
Then, he returned inside the cave once more and emerged carrying a dry pack of salted meat.
Sitting nearby on a boulder, he calmly and silently began eating his rations to rebuild his energy.
At that exact moment, the heavily bound Dark Bear slowly began waking up from its forced slumber.
Its massive, furred body twitched weakly against the magic plant ropes.
But Vergil showed absolutely zero physical reaction, continuing to chew his meat calmly.
Soon, the beast fully opened its red, glowing eyes and immediately began struggling violently against the tight ropes, roaring furiously into the valley.
However, its massive body still had not recovered its baseline physical strength.
The tranquillising medicine continued to circulate heavily through its sluggish bloodstream.
And more importantly,
Vergil never, under any circumstance, intended to let it fully recover its power.
He deliberately and strategically planned to keep the apex beast permanently weakened and compliant.
He would provide just enough food for it to survive.
But never enough nutrition for it to regain its full, explosive physical strength.
Once he finished eating his meal, Vergil checked the completed canvas and confirmed the black ink had dried properly.
He carefully stored the finished, detailed painting deep inside the dry cave.
Then, he pinned another fresh, blank sheet of paper onto the wooden board.
This time, his artistic goal shifted entirely.
He no longer painted the external, physical appearance of the Dark Bear.
Instead,
He attempted to completely capture and paint its raw, primal emotions.
It’s exploding anger.
It’s physical exhaustion.
It’s a frantic panic.
It’s a deep-seated fear of captivity.
Again and again, Vergil painted with intense focus.
Again and again, his brush strokes failed to capture the essence.
The abstract emotions never fully appeared on the paper in the exact way he vividly envisioned them in his mind.
Eventually, a sharp hunger interrupted his continuous focus.
Vergil ate more dried meat before using a long, sturdy wooden stick to carefully feed several large pieces of raw meat to the weakened, snarling Dark Bear as well.
Afterwards, he returned inside the safety of the cave to sleep, letting his mind rest.
The isolated routine continued repeatedly over the following days.
Wake up in the dark.
Eat basic rations.
Paint the beast.
Eat again.
Paint again.
Feed the bear.
Sleep.
Again.
And again.
And again.
By the fourth complete repetition of the cycle, the captive Dark Bear had become severely, profoundly weakened.
Vergil finally judged through observation that the beast no longer possessed enough remaining internal energy to use its dark magic or break the ropes.
Even so, he still approached the predator cautiously from behind its blind spot, keeping his centre of gravity low.
Slowly and deliberately, Vergil placed one bare hand firmly against the thick fur on the back of the Dark Bear’s head.
He carefully and precisely channelled a trace of his internal energy into the Dark Bear’s biological system.
Then, he closed his eyes, cutting off the outside world.
His internal perception slowly and methodically expanded inward, mapping the alien anatomy.
Seconds passed in total silence.
Then minutes.
Then hours.
Vergil remained completely motionless beside the restrained beast, utterly absorbed in perceiving the complex interior structure of its magic-attuned body.
Eventually, he finally opened his eyes and slowly withdrew his numbed hand from the fur.
He stood there silently on the cold stone in deep contemplation.
Closing his eyes once more, Vergil mentally gathered together everything his energy had just perceived.
He had clearly sensed trace amounts of raw magic energy actively entering the Dark Bear’s body from the surrounding cavern environment.
However, the total amount of environmental energy absorbed remained extremely insignificant.
The Dark Bear remained structurally alive and powerful, not because of ambient magic energy itself,
But explicitly because of the highly specialised way its physical body circulated and utilised that residual energy.
Vergil recalled the biological pathways carefully, etching them into his visualisation space.
The specific flow.
The unique movement.
The complex circulation pattern throughout the Dark Bear’s physical vessel.
Standing there silently inside the cave mouth, he attempted to circulate a thread of his own internal energy according to that exact same predatory pattern.
The very moment his energy shifted into the formation,
A sharp, agonising pain immediately erupted through his right thigh muscle.
Vergil grimaced tightly and instantly stopped the energy circulation, breathing heavily.
Before I experiment any further with beast cultivation pathways…
I fundamentally need proper, comprehensive medical knowledge.
His eyes slowly turned toward the heavily restrained, whimpering Dark Bear.
But until I can acquire and learn professional medicine…
this beast will already be long dead and rotten.
A moment later, another cold, logical thought appeared in his mind.
Then I should visually record every single detail of its internal structure first.
He walked back into the dark cave and retrieved his sharp steel sword.
Standing directly before the severely weakened Dark Bear, Vergil slowly and smoothly drew the blade from its sheath.
The Dark Bear quietly looked up at him, its red eyes dimming.
Then, its gaze shifted toward the cold gleam of the sword.
Strangely,
A distinct look of profound relief appeared within the beast’s eyes.
The intelligent animal fully understood that it was finally going to die.
And compared to the torment of continued, weakened captivity, death itself had officially become a mercy.
Vergil’s heart tightened slightly at the realisation.
For a brief, fleeting moment,
He truly, genuinely wanted to cut the magic ropes and release it back into the wild.
But in the end,
He still swung the sword.
The sharp steel blade sliced cleanly and flawlessly across the Dark Bear’s exposed throat.
The beast released one final, low cry before dark crimson blood slowly poured out onto the grey cavern floor.
Its massive body eventually shuddered once and went completely still.
Vergil silently stood there, staring at the fresh corpse.
He felt a genuine sense of pity for the fallen beast.
But who on earth would ever feel pity for me if I fail?
The brutal circumstances of his current life simply did not permit a single shred of emotional weakness.
If he wanted to survive,
If he wanted to secure his absolute freedom,
Then he had to continue growing stronger, no matter who or what suffered along the way.
Otherwise, he himself might not live long enough to ever regret his choices.
Vergil methodically untied the ropes from the corpse.
Then, he began skinning the Dark Bear carefully with his knife, preserving the pelt.
After removing the thick skin, he pinned a fresh sheet of paper and painted the exposed musculature in precise detail, memorising every visible fibre and muscle structure.
Then, he slowly and anatomically dissected the muscles layer by layer.
Each flesh layer was carefully studied.
Carefully memorised.
Carefully painted with his brush.
Finally, only the bare white skeleton and the translucent energy pathways remained.
Vergil then painted the entire intricate energy vein structure of the Dark Bear in painstaking, microscopic detail.
Only after completing the final brush stroke did he finally clear the bloody workspace and start a small campfire.
Soon, choice pieces of Dark Bear meat began frying loudly above the crackling flames.
While he worked, a familiar, smoothly seductive female voice suddenly sounded out from the shadows directly behind him.
“Smells surprisingly good.”
Vergil’s hands trembled violently at the unexpected voice.
The half-fried piece of meat slipped from his fingers, falling directly into the centre of the open fire.
He turned his entire body around instantly, his guard raising.
And saw Madam Sierra standing there calmly, her arms crossed beneath her chest.
Vergil immediately lowered his gaze and bowed respectfully.
“Miss Sierra.”
Sierra slowly walked closer to the fire, surveying the surrounding cave area casually with her sharp eyes.
Vergil silently released a held breath of immense relief.
Fortunately,
He had already securely hidden the deep anatomical paintings containing the forbidden energy vein diagram inside the cave depths.
Sierra glanced around the blood-stained rocks before speaking calmly, her voice melodic.
“N-25.”
“You were noticeably absent from today’s weekly courtyard competition.”
Vergil replied cautiously, choosing his words with absolute precision.
“Miss… you previously stated during the lectures that those captives who successfully formed their initial Skill Seeds no longer needed to participate in the weekly baseline competition.”
Sierra paused briefly, her green eyes reflecting the campfire light.
Then, she nodded her head slowly.
“I did indeed say that.”
“But everyone else with a seed still attended to show off their progress.”
“Except you.”
Vergil lowered his head slightly further, feigning submission.
“My deepest apologies, Miss.”
Sierra slowly approached his position, her steps silent on the stone.
Then, she raised her pale hand gently toward his face.
Her long, sharp nail slowly and deliberately dragged down across his left cheek.
A thin line of red blood immediately appeared on his skin under the pressure.
Vergil felt a stinging physical pain.
But he did not react or flinch a single millimetre.
He remained perfectly, chillingly still with his head respectfully lowered.
Sierra leaned in close, speaking softly into his ear.
“If your physical performance in the upcoming monthly tournament disappoints my expectations…”
“Then you’ll learn exactly what horrific things I am truly capable of doing to your body.”
Then, she gently patted his bleeding cheek almost affectionately with her palm.
“N-25.”
“You must understand, I am doing this entirely for your own good.”
“If you truly want your physical freedom from the Hunter Family…”
“Then you must ruthlessly rise to the absolute top of this camp and earn a qualification slot for the grand Gladiator Competition in Mercury City.”
“In the massive audience there…”
“The truly powerful Underdark clans will be actively watching the matches.”
“So will the elite surface academies looking for rogue talent.”
She slowly withdrew her hand, wiping a trace of his blood away.
“That tournament is your only actual chance at a future.”
Then, Sierra turned her body around and left the cave perimeter, disappearing into the forest shadows.
Deep inside her own mind, Sierra genuinely believed that N-25 and N-03 currently possessed the greatest overall potential among all thirty-six captives.
Perhaps,
Just perhaps,
They might actually survive the meat-grinder of the gladiatorial competition alive.
And for once in her life, she had not spoken a complete lie to a slave.
If one of them performed brilliantly and ruthlessly enough on the grand stage, a powerful master in the VIP audience might choose to step in and take them as a personal disciple.
At that exact point, even Almus Hunter would instantly lose the political ability to control their fate.
Though honestly, looking at the statistics…
Sierra considered such a miraculous outcome to be highly, highly unlikely.
Still…
A tiny, microscopic possibility existed.
Vergil remained standing completely motionless until her footsteps vanished completely from the forest.
Only then did he sit back down on his stool and continue frying the remaining meat calmly, his hand steady once more.
As he watched the orange fire crackle loudly beneath the sizzling Dark Bear flesh, he quietly and deeply contemplated Sierra’s parting words.
How much of that grand speech was the actual, objective truth?
And how much of it was merely another layer of psychological bait,
A sweet, poisoned fruit deliberately dangled forever just beyond his reach to keep him running?
But regardless of the true underlying answer…
He currently possessed absolutely no choice except to continue chasing it with everything he had.
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