The giant Azure Blade carved a massive wound across both of the Berserk Bear’s paws, nearly severing them, and even slashed into its shoulder, leaving a gash deep enough to see the bone!
After unleashing this all-out strike, the Azure Blade Wolf collapsed weakly to the ground.
“Roar!!” Despite being heavily wounded, the Berserk Bear didn't falter. Instead, it let out another roar and lunged at the Azure Blade Wolf.
Seeing this, a look of sorrow appeared in the wolf’s eyes. It wanted to flee, but its exhausted mana and physical injuries left its limbs powerless. It could only watch helplessly as the Berserk Bear lunged toward it.
“Light Wings, Unfold!”
At that moment, thirty light rays suddenly appeared, slamming violently into the Berserk Bear’s back.
This time, Zhang Ye went all out!
He consumed nearly four-fifths of his mana to unleash a thirty-fold 【Light Ray】.
At this distance, it was impossible to miss a target as large as the Berserk Bear.
Boom, boom, boom... A series of muffled impacts echoed from the bear’s body. Its frame shuddered violently. Once the rays dissipated, it was covered in blood and emitting trails of black smoke before finally collapsing with a heavy thud.
Zhang Ye panted slightly. Consuming so much mana at once was taxing even for him, but killing the Berserk Bear made it all worth it.
After unleashing the thirty-fold 【Light Ray】, Zhang Ye didn't rush forward. He noticed that he hadn't received any energy surge, which meant the Berserk Bear wasn't dead yet!
So, he waited in place for a while. Once his mana had fully recovered, he fired another thirty-fold 【Light Ray】!
Ella: “...”
Could you at least act like a normal human?!
What kind of mage unleashes a thirty-fold spell the moment they make a move?!
Thirty light rays bombarded the Berserk Bear. This time, it was truly finished. After letting out an unwilling low growl, it lost all signs of life. Zhang Ye felt a significant boost to both his physique and spirit.
“Total kill. Beautiful!”
Zhang Ye breathed a sigh of relief and then looked at the Azure Blade Wolf, which was currently in a state of shock.
Now that the Berserk Bear was dead, it was the wolf's turn.
Just as Zhang Ye was about to finish it off, the Azure Blade Wolf suddenly lowered its head and let out a series of whimpers. Its beastly eyes stared at Zhang Ye, filled with pleading.
Zhang Ye could tell it wanted to live, so he slowly lowered his raised hand.
Seeing this, Ella asked, “You’re not actually going to spare it, are you?”
Zhang Ye smiled slightly. “I wonder if you’ve heard a certain saying?”
Ella was taken aback. “What?”
“If a wolf turns back, it’s either to repay a kindness or to seek revenge!” Zhang Ye said excitedly. “If I don’t kill it now and it comes back to repay me, won’t I have a wolf mount for myself?”
“Man, just thinking about it gets me a little excited!”
Ella: “...”
Zhang Ye looked at the Azure Blade Wolf and waved his hand. “Go on, get out of here. I won't kill you.”
“Remember to repay me later. It’d be best if you turned into a beast-ear girl, hehehe...”
Ella: “...”
That’s quite enough out of you!
The Azure Blade Wolf gave Zhang Ye a grateful look, then forced its body up and limped away into the forest.
Ella watched the wolf’s departing figure and said to Zhang Ye, “Doesn't this make you a bit of a bleeding heart?”
Zhang Ye gave a self-deprecating laugh. “What kind of bleeding heart waits for the fisherman’s advantage to kill a Berserk Bear?”
He shook his head. “It’s not about being a saint; it’s about following my heart. When your strength matches your will, whether you kill or spare is up to your whims. Even a demon has moments of softheartedness, and even a saint has moments of malice.”
“So, in order to live and act according to my own will, I have to get stronger as fast as possible. Stronger and stronger!”
Ella couldn't help but nod at his words.
“Of course, I mainly let it go because it looked pretty cute. I usually don't spare the ugly ones,” Zhang Ye added suddenly.
Ella: “...”
“It’s getting late. Let’s call it a day and go back to roast some rabbit!” With that, Zhang Ye started heading back.
However, he soon circled back and ran over to the Berserk Bear’s corpse. He condensed a metal blade and, enduring the nausea, sliced off the bear's front paws, muttering to himself, “Almost forgot. Bear paws are top-tier ingredients; can't let them go to waste...”
Ella: “...”
“By the way, does this Berserk Bear have a magic core?”
“It didn't have a mana convergence point in its body, so no magic core was formed,” Ella said.
“Alright then.” Zhang Ye nodded with a hint of regret, then picked up the bear paws and left, humming a tune.
Soon, night fell. Long after Zhang Ye had departed, a massive figure appeared beside the corpse of the Berserk Bear cub. Looking at the body on the ground, it let out a heaven-shaking roar. Its crimson eyes scanned the surroundings before finally locking onto the direction Zhang Ye had gone.
...
In the cave, Zhang Ye, who was roasting the bear paws, suddenly shivered.
“Hiss... I feel a sudden chill down my spine. Could something bad be about to happen?”
“Right, you mentioned that Berserk Bear was a cub. If I killed it, will its mother come looking for trouble?” Zhang Ye suddenly remembered and asked.
“It’s possible,” Ella said.
Zhang Ye sucked in a breath of cold air. “If its mother comes knocking, I’m probably dead meat...”
An adult Berserk Bear possessed at least Tier Seven combat power. If the current Zhang Ye encountered one, it would definitely be a dead end!
“Don't worry. With Leona’s mana fluctuations here, even if an adult Berserk Bear finds you, it won't dare get close,” Ella said.
Zhang Ye breathed a sigh of relief and nodded. “Then there’s no problem... Wow, these bear paws smell amazing!”
“Just need a little more honey...”
...
After a night of cultivation, Zhang Ye opened his eyes.
“Your mana fluctuations have already crossed from Newly Advanced Tier Three to early stage Tier Three. I expect you’ll be able to break through to Tier Four in another three days,” Ella said.
Zhang Ye nodded. “Moving from Tier Three to Tier Four should be a bottleneck, right?”
“Yes. Those below Tier Four are considered Low-level Mages. Reaching Tiers Four, Five, and Six makes you an Intermediate Mage. Tier Seven is a High-level Mage, Tier Eight is an Archmage, Tier Nine is a Magister, and Tier Ten is a Great Magister. Beyond Tier Ten is the Saint-tier, also known as a Saint Magister.”
“Within the first ten tiers, each rank is divided into Newly Advanced, early stage, mid stage, late stage, and peak. Within the same tier, every minor stage represents a different level of combat power,” Ella explained, though she then gave a slight shrug of her elegant shoulders.
“However, for you, the division of minor stages in the early ranks isn't that important. With your no-cooldown magic casting, you’re essentially invincible within the same tier and can even fight those at higher tiers.”
“That’s for sure!” Zhang Ye said confidently. After running off to handle breakfast, he sealed the cave and prepared to head back into the forest to grind monsters and level up.
In Zhang Ye’s view, what he needed most right now was to improve his combat techniques, such as spell casting, spell chaining, and the application of pure mana.
In this world, mana had many wonderful uses. For instance, mana could be directly converted into various elemental powers—metal, wood, water, fire, earth, light, dark, ice, wind, and lightning. All were possible, but because of an individual’s specific attributes, the efficiency of converting mana into different elements varied.
For example, if someone had a fire-attribute constitution, their efficiency in converting fire-attribute mana would be higher than others. They might be able to convert one point of pure mana into two points of fire mana.
But if they tried to convert it into water-attribute mana, which is the opposite of their constitution, they might only get half a point of water mana for every point of pure mana.
Furthermore, with constant practice and conversion, the difference in efficiency would only grow larger.
These differences might not be obvious in the early stages, but the further one progressed, the more pronounced they became. This was one of the reasons why mages needed to confirm their development path after reaching Tier Three.
If a fire-attribute mage insisted on practicing water mana conversion, their achievements would certainly be inferior to mages of the same tier due to extreme inefficiency.
However... Zhang Ye didn't have this problem.
He had Full Attribute Compatibility!
Therefore, no matter what attribute he converted his mana into, his conversion rate was always at the maximum!
Pretty sweet, right?
So, as Zhang Ye walked, he constantly converted the mana orb in his hand into various attributes to practice mana conversion and improve his efficiency.
He walked along a forest path, one hand gently stroking Gujiu on his shoulder while the other held a glowing orb of mana. The orb constantly shifted through various colors—red, yellow, blue, green, black, white... it was multi-colored and quite beautiful to behold.
However, after practicing for a while, he started to feel a bit dizzy.
After asking Ella, he learned that converting mana consumed mental strength. He had been practicing all the way, and his mental strength was heavily depleted, which was why he felt dizzy and drowsy.
He had no choice but to stop practicing.
Mental strength wasn't like mana; it couldn't be recovered through cultivation. It had to recover naturally, or through the use of corresponding potions and magic circles.
However, for Zhang Ye, there was another option—killing monsters.
He planned to kill a few magical beasts later to increase and replenish his mental strength.
But after walking for a long time, he hadn't found a single magical beast, even though he had already traveled seven or eight li.
Moreover, the surrounding forest was deathly quiet. There wasn't even the sound of an insect or a bird; it was eerily silent.
It was so quiet that Zhang Ye’s scalp began to tingle.
“Usually when I get this far, I can hear something, but why is it so quiet today...” Zhang Ye swallowed hard. “In movies, this is usually when something is about to happen.”
The more he thought about it, the stronger his ominous premonition became.
So, he made a snap decision and turned to leave.
“Eh?” Ella looked at him, bewildered. “Aren't you going to grind monsters to level up?”
“I have to ensure my safety first. The further I go, the more things feel off. Even though I haven't developed any danger sense yet, I trust my judgment. There’s likely danger ahead, so I’m making a tactical retreat!”
Ella was somewhat speechless. “Aren't you being a bit too cowardly?”
Zhang Ye glanced at her. “Hey, what do you mean cowardly? This is called being cautious!”
“I’m not some brainless protagonist who just charges in blindly. I haven't finished growing yet; if I’m going to act reckless, it’ll be later—”
“ROAR!!!”
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