"I can't believe a month passed so soon...this had been one hell of a month. I don't think I will ever be able to forget it…", Max murmured.

"Let's go today….I either succeed or die trying."

Max took a step with the spear on his back and the dagger on his waist. He was wearing a crudely made armor from a 2★ ore which he found a few days ago. There was a grim look in his eyes. He felt his blood boiling.

Max had managed to break through the second layer of the Ancient Manual a while ago and had been stuck in the third layer for almost 15 days.

His elemental abilities were restored up to the level of Low level Mage. But it didn't help much in front of a Savage beast.

Max realised that rapid progress earlier was only due to the fact that the system had made him familiar to this possession of strength. But now, it ended.

His body was at the level of Mid Tier mage. With his beastmen ability, he could survive an encounter with a savage beast. But there was no answer whether he had the ability to kill them.

"I can't make a breakthrough unless I put everything on line…."

Max unfurled his wings and flew towards a specific direction. The home of the strongest beast that he believe he could take on right now.

The Water Cobra.

"If I could come out of this alive, I can push my water element to a greater level and make it my spear in the Trial of God."

…..

Within a few minutes, Max reached the place where he last met the Water cobra.

"It isn't here…"

Max slowly emerged from his stealth. He could clearly sense that there was no living creature nearby.

"When I need it, it's gone on a vacation.", Max grumbled.

He moved towards the Elemental tree to pluck the fruits. He couldn't let the fruits go after all.

He planned to go searching for another beast after getting the fruits.

" Hm….why is there a single fruit?", Max murmured as he realised that two of the fruits were missing.

At this moment, Max noticed a glittery piece of vine on the ground beside the tree. He moved towards it in curiosity and stopped below to pick it up.

When Max touched the thing, he realised that it wasn't a vine. But a layer of skin.

"F*ck!"

"Hiss!"

Max realised that he had just f*cked up. Even though he had come up with a resolve, prepared for death. But that was only with a fighting chance, not to get squashed to death.

He turned around and saw the Water Cobra emerging from the thick canopy. It's body was half visible.

"It not only became gigantic but also obtained a camouflage ability.", Max smiled as sweat began to slide down his forehead.

Snakes were good at moving stealthily and now with a camouflaging ability, it had truly become a monster that even Max couldn't sense.

" It really evolved into a scary thing…"

This bastard had evolved again after consuming the two Elemental fruits. It looks like it was close to having a breakthrough during the previous encounter. This was the reason that it desperately defended the elemental fruits last time.

"Zap!"

Suddenly, the tail of the beast emerged out of a thin air. Max couldn't get out of the way in such a short time.He brought the spear forward and tried to block.

"Bang!"

The spear bent in and Max felt a huge force as if a truck had rammed into him. His ribs crackled and Max felt a sweet taste in his mouth before he felt his feet leaving the ground.

Even in those situations, Max managed to grab the last remaining elemental fruit as he flew away.

The Water Cobra immediately chased after Max. This time, it didn't plan on letting Max live.

Max flapped his wings and flew like a bullet through the air. After a month of practice, he had improved a lot. When flying in a straight line, he could move faster than a low level savage beast.

The Water Cobra wasn't any slower than Max instead it seemed to be slowly closing in on the distance between them.

"F*ck! I can't hold on much longer. It definitely cracked three of my lower ribs.", Max cursed with blood leaking out of the corner of his mouth. His armor was destroyed even after he blocked the attack. If it was a head on attack without an armor, Max could imagine losing much more than 3 ribs.

The chase continued for a while and Max could see the river area only a few kilometers away. But he had reached his limit. His wings hurt and it seemed he couldn't fly any longer.

"F*ck! I am not fast enough on foot."

Max cursed when he suddenly looked at the blue colored fruit on his hands.

When he was hesitating, his wings went numb and stopped in the mid air. The moment it happened, Max dropped all his hesitation and stuffed the fruit into his mouth before directly swallowing it.

Max felt mana bursting into his body a second later. Usually this was the time to concentrate on refining the core while grabbing on the feeling of pure water elemental mana.

But Max used this energy to boost himself temporarily. He released the excess mana through the sole of his feets instead of circulating it and the moment his feet touched the ground, he dashed.

"Hm..."

Max felt something odd. But he didn't give it too much of a thought. He felt that the ground was pushing him ahead. He was moving faster than expected as if he was a fish in the pond.

He was feeling the water element and was comprehending something. But he himself had yet to realise it.

As he moved, Max felt the Flow energy seeping into his skin. The second layer of Ancient Manual began to revolve. But it was far from making a breakthrough.

….

Max finally could hear the river flowing. Only a few more meters.

At this moment, the Water Cobra opened its mouth.

Max felt a terrifying fluctuation behind him. He turned his head around and saw the beast preparing for a breath attack.

Max immediately decided to dodge but the next instant, he stopped. He had a terrible idea. His body was trembling from the very thought of it. But Max clenched his fists and punched his legs to stop the trembling.

He then turned around and pushed the second layer of Ancient Manual to its limit.

"Bring it on!"

Max mumbled as he brought his hands in front of him and lowered his stance.

The Water Cobra attacked and Max saw the terrifying attack with a tremendous pressure moving towards him.

It was terrifying. But Max didn't move an inch and the blinding light engulfed him.