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nAfter watching the Wasteland for a while, Shang left towards the northeastern forest. He ran down the street at a comfortable pace, and a couple of minutes later, Shang arrived at the place where the road met the actual ground.

nShang looked at the sun to check where it was currently. He knew that it was the afternoon, which meant that the sun was in the west.

n‘Sure enough, the sun acts the same way in this world as it does on Earth. The road ends in the north, and the sun’s currently left from where I am. I doubt I will come out of the Wild Forest before the day is over. I think I should spend the night in the eastern forest and try to hunt as many beasts as I can.’

nShang checked if he had everything he needed and went towards the northeast.

nThe Wild Forest stretched for nearly a hundred kilometers into the east and the west. After a hundred kilometers on either side, one would reach the next Zones. If one went towards the northwest, one would eventually reach the wilderness of the Ice Wyvern Zone, and if one went to the northeast, one would reach the wilderness of the Empress Cobra Zone.

nThe borders between the Farm Line and the Wild Forest had very few beasts due to the scouts and guarding dogs. If Shang wanted to hunt beasts, he would need to travel into the Wild Forest for quite a few kilometers.

nShang charged towards the northeast, and as soon as he reached the forest, he jumped onto a tree. Walking on the ground would attract the attention of several beasts.

nUsually, Shang wouldn’t care about some beasts at the Soldier Stage, but the Wild Forest was under strict management. If Shang accidentally got noticed by a beast that he wasn’t allowed to kill, it could become troublesome. After all, the leaders of Warrior’s Paradise didn’t care if a hunter was attacked by such a beast. The hunter was not allowed to kill it, even if they were attacked.

nShang jumped from tree to tree, and only a couple of minutes later, he saw the first beast.

nIt was an orange lizard with red eyes. It was about a meter tall and two meters long. A red frill could be seen around its neck.

n‘I have no idea what kind of beast that is, but it doesn’t feel dangerous,’ Shang thought. ‘From what I’m feeling, I think that beast is in the Middle Soldier Stage. Sadly, killing it would be a risk since I don’t know if that thing is on the blacklist or not.’

nShang continued jumping from tree to tree as silently as he could, which wasn’t easy. However, he had had enough practice.

nOn his journey, Shang also saw a huge brown boar and bird with a very imposing and angry-looking face.

nThe name of a beast immediately appeared in Shang’s mind when he saw that bird.

n‘Grimface,’ Shang thought. ‘I remember looking at a mission that was about a Grimface. I guess that bird is a Grimface, right? I mean, the face certainly fits.’

n‘Sadly, I don’t know what the client actually wants from the beast. Additionally, I didn’t even accept the mission. I’m unsure if it’s a problem if I kill the target before accepting the mission.’

nShang continued traveling toward the northeast for another hour. By jumping from tree to tree, Shang’s speed had taken a considerable hit. At most, he was maybe ten kilometers into the forest.

nThat was when Shang found one of his targets.

nOn the ground in front of Shang was a one-meter-high and about ten-meter-long millipede. It was currently curled around a dying tree on the ground. The ground around it had sunken, and a smelly purple liquid was bubbling inside the sunken ground.

n‘I guess that’s a Swamp Millipede,’ Shang thought. ’50 Contribution Points for each. I only need to bring its two feelers to get the reward.’

nAt the moment, the Swamp Millipede was only moving slightly, which showed that it was alive. Luckily, it hadn’t noticed Shang yet.

n‘Middle Soldier Stage, just as the mission slip stated,’ Shang thought. ‘However, in comparison to Pest Cats, Swamp Millipedes have elemental attacks. I haven’t fought something with a Poison Affinity yet, but I can imagine that being hit by poison can be troublesome. I think I should avoid a direct confrontation if I don’t want my trip to be cut short.’

nShang slowly moved around the surrounding trees to check for the Swamp Millipede’s head.

nSadly, even after a full round, Shang couldn’t find it. ‘I can see its tail and basically its entire body, but the head is nowhere to be seen. Well, I know where the tail is. So, I just have to follow the body until I can find its head.’

nShang looked again, and sure enough, he found the most likely location of the head.

n‘Its head is inside the tree near the bottom. I can’t hit it from the outside, but I can behead it.’

n‘But there is an issue.’

nShang looked at the millipede’s body with a frown. A big chunk of its body had curled around the place where its head entered the tree. From the side, it was impossible to hit its neck without cutting through its body.

nHowever, cutting through its body might not kill it, and it might release some poisonous gas or something similar. Because of that, Shang wanted to kill it in one strike.

n‘I could hit it from above, but the dead tree is a bit far away. I also can’t land on the dead tree since it will notice me. Do I really have to fight it head-on?’

nShang frowned as he tried to think of a way.

nSuddenly, Shang’s eyebrows rose.

nThen, he looked at his left arm.

n‘I haven’t truly tried out my new abilities yet. I have a couple more blasts after meeting the dean. I wonder…’

n‘Would that work?’

nSilence.

n‘Well, I should try it.’

n‘It shouldn’t be able to feel the Mana since the Mana I give off with my abilities is not part of its Mixed Affinity.’

nShang went to a stable branch near the millipede’s head’s place and readied himself.

nThen, he jumped off.

nShang traveled into a long arc to gain more distance. He had to travel for nearly 15 meters, which was too much with only a jump.

nAfter around eight meters, Shang’s momentum started to go downward. As it looked right now, he would probably land around three meters away from the millipede’s body.

nWhoosh!

nShang pointed his left arm diagonally towards the ground behind him and used his Ice Blast.

nThe knockback of the Ice Blast pushed Shang forward and upward again, extending his jump.

nIn fact, the knockback was so powerful that Shang would hit the tree above the millipede.

nHowever, just before Shang hit the tree, he pointed his left arm towards the sky as he readied his sword with his right.

nWhoosh!

nA ton of hot wind came out of Shang’s left arm.

nShang’s forward and upward momentum was completely stopped as he shot straight towards the ground at incredible speeds.

nHe was directly above the millipede’s neck!

nBANG!

nShang’s body hit the millipede while his sword cut through its neck with ease.

nHis plan had worked!

nShang heard some scratching and thrashing come from inside the tree, and the millipede below him was also thrashing around.

nShang quickly put his nearly destroyed left arm at the millipede’s body and used his new ability with Darkness Affinity.

nShang felt his left arm being healed rapidly, and the body very quickly stopped moving.

nAfter a couple of seconds, the body below him shriveled up like it had lost all its life energy and water.

nShang remained on the Swamp Millipede’s body for a while, looking at his left arm with furrowed brows.

nIt hadn’t completely healed.

n‘I absorbed the life energy of its entire body, but it wasn’t even enough to heal my left arm all the way,’ Shang thought.

n‘Well, the Swamp Millipede was only in the Middle Soldier Stage. I guess that a more powerful beast would give me more life energy. Luckily, I easily have enough Mana in my body to heal the remaining injuries on my left arm.’

n‘Oh, it stopped moving?’ Shang thought as he noticed that he stopped hearing the sound of scrapping coming from inside the tree.

nShang stood up on the millipede’s body and put his sword into the cut-off neck inside the dead tree.

nAfter that, Shang pulled the head out. It wasn’t easy, but with enough force, it worked. The tree was dead anyway, so Shang didn’t care if he damaged it.

nThe head came out, and Shang quickly cut off its two feelers.

nHowever, while cutting off the feelers, Shang got distracted by the hole in the dead tree.

nThen, his eyes widened.

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