Max had a relatively good night's rest. It was uninterrupted, which was a godsend, but it was only as good as it could get from sleeping in a dirt hole in the ground. From just next to the hole, he could hear light snoring sounds. When he looked over the hole, he saw the outline of Ma Erk fast asleep. Every now and then, he would wiggle his snout like he smelled something good.

‘Well, so much for having a guard wolf. I’m amazed at how much he could sleep’

Max climbed over and out of his hole and got himself a bucket of semi-fresh stream water. After taking a few mouthfuls he turned to inspect the two wolf bodies. He had covered them up the best he could with the feathers he had remaining. They seemed to be doing fairly well, there was no stench coming from them aside from the normal wolf smell that Ma Erk also had. Now thinking about it, the hawk had also been dead for some time and that body had been in the sun when he had found it but also had not seemed to be spoiled.

Walking out of the cave, Max checked the meat that had been sitting on the ledge. It also looked to be in good condition, there were no flies around. He hesitated to describe any innards as “fresh”, but it was. They looked the same as yesterday when he had removed them from the wolf, aside from the fact that parts of it were gone.

Musing to himself, “Is decomposition not a thing in this world?”

Armed with the knowledge of high school biology he knew that if things didn’t decompose, the world would just be a giant landfill. At the same time, this was a different world so it was not a null possibility. As this internal conversation went up, Ma Erk padded out of the cave. Max motioned for the wolf to come over. The young wolf was already on his way over for breakfast when he saw his pack leader’s gesture and hurried over.

After asking the question in a few different ways since the word “decomposing” didn’t seem to be in Ma Erk’s vocabulary, Max learned that spirit beasts take a longer time to be spoiled. The stronger they were, the longer their bodies remained fresh.

Max had guessed that it was something along those lines. That also meant that his body was likely also changing on a fundamental level where even decomposition happens at a slower rate. Mulling it over for a bit, he realized that it was nothing new, he already knew his body was changing, the character sheet had spelled that out for him.

‘Adapt or die, huh?’

Something still bothered him though. The meat had been left mostly in the open for the entire day yesterday and the whole of last night, shouldn’t the scent of blood have attracted some of the predators. But none came, not that Max was looking for trouble. In retrospect, he should have probably done something about it. Did he just catch a lucky break? He didn’t think the few feathers that he had used to cover it, did much in terms of masking the scent.

Ma Erk was about halfway through it and judging from how fast he had been inhaling it, it would probably be gone today.

“Boss, Fire?”

Hearing Ma Erk asking for fire, a new idea came to mind. He could cook all the innards and bring them inside the cave just like the meat he was eating. That would likely trap some of the smells. It’s not perfect, but the best idea he could come up with for now. Bringing out a few slabs of cooked meat and some more berries, Max started making breakfast. After having done this a few times, he had gotten a lot more efficient with making the fire. The pair enjoyed their first meal of the day while looking out into the horizon and watching the tail end of the sunrise.

After breakfast, the work began. He initially planned on working out after breakfast. But seeing how “effective” the young wolf was for alerting him to danger at night, he instead decided to create a spiked pit right on the other side of the formation. Max went back down the cliff to find a log that he could use as a shovel or a hoe. After some searching, he found a log with a short branch sticking out from it. The branch was shortened to make it resemble more of a hoe. Not seeing any better options at the moment, his new hoe was brought back up the cliff.

Over the next two hours, Max dug a hole that was close to waist high that pretty much covered the entire entryway and roughly two feet deep. Instead of moving the dirt outside, he used it to cover the hole left behind by the massive Space-Attributed Chi stone that he had used up. As fond as he was of the hole, it was impractical to sleep in. The collection bowl was removed before he started filling the hole. After the hole was dug, he waited for the dew to condense before removing the bowl, for him to not miss a drop. It was much easier filling a hole than digging it. With Ma Erk’s help, it had taken no more than half an hour. The hole was padded down every few layers to make sure it wouldn’t sink in the future.

As an added benefit, his digging had also progressed his cultivation. He could have taken it slow, but instead, Max used this opportunity to work on his arms strength, he purposely smashed the hoe-like log into the ground as hard as he could with his strike. He had broken the first hoe one but found a larger and heavier one as a replacement.

Once the hole was done, Max sharpened the other end of the spears he had made the night prior and drove them into the bottom of the ground. He made sure they were deep enough so they wouldn’t simply fall over if someone or something landed on them at an odd angle. To finish it off, a few large branches were tied together for a makeshift covering. The covering would be placed over the trap during the day. It likely wouldn’t be able to bear his weight for long, but he didn’t intend on using it. He was just going to jump over the hole. Although it was somewhat inconvenient, he valued his safety a lot more. The covering was mostly there for the little wolf to use.

Max placed the covering over the hole and carefully had Ma Erk test it out. It was easily able to handle Ma Erk’s weight. Coincidentally, by the time everything was finished, he heard the familiar sound of a drop of dew hitting his collection bowl.

Max walked to the bowl, which now sat on the flat ground, he did a quick check and found he had 18 drops of Midnight Dew. That was enough to push him to the next cultivation stage. The experience gained that came with a cultivation increase would also level him up. He had enough dew to do it sooner, but he wanted this to be his reward for finishing his booby trap.

Max had gained 2 more points in his progress while digging the hole, putting him at 86 out of 150. He would need to consume 13 drops of the Midnight Dew to get him past the threshold.

Excited, his hands were somewhat shaky as he reached for the bowl. “Well, it’s time.”

Taking a larger sip this time, he timed it perfectly for 13 drops. As the last drop diffused into him, the notifications started piling in.

Status effect - Greater Enhance Regeneration

For consuming the Midnight Dew (x13), gain a 500% increase in health, stamina, and chi regeneration for the next 52 hours.

Congratulations on reaching the Body Tempering 4th Stage.

For reaching the Body Tempering 4th Stage, you gained the following:

+1 all physical stats

+90 experience points

Level Up.

For leveling up, you gained the following:

+2 free stat points

“Woah…”

Max felt amazing, the fatigue that accumulated while he was digging the hole had completely vanished. He felt his muscles tighten, there was a sense of denseness to his body that wasn’t there before. When Max made a fist, he heard his knuckles crack. It felt like this was the first time in his life that he made a proper fist. He made a quick jab into the air, and he marveled at how fast it was. The force behind the punch had increased. Lastly, his eyesight had also sharpened; before inside the cave, he could only see outlines, but now some colors and details were also visible.

Max called up his character sheet and he saw the following:

Name:

Max Oxford

Level:

6

Cultivation:

Body Tempering 4th Stage

Age:

23

Progress:

37/145

Progress:

1/200

Status:

Greater Enhance Regeneration

Titles:

System Pioneer

Realm Walker

Cultivator

Traits:

Quick Learner

Cultivation Body

Skills:

Analyze

Common Tongue

HP:

66/66

SP:

70/70

CHI:

NA

HP Regen:

100/hr

SP Regen:

110/hr

CHI Regen:

NA

Stats (Multiplier:1.3x)

Strength:

14

Perception:

18

Constitution:

26

Agility:

16

Dexterity:

16

Intelligence:

22

Endurance

18

Spirit:

1

Vitality:

14

Free Stat Points:

4

The first thing he noticed was that the “Weakened Body” status was completely gone. That explained a lot. With that gone, his based physical stats all increased by two. His cultivation gave him an additional point. On top of that, his stat multiplier from System Pioneer and Cultivator gave him even more points. Five out of his seven physical stats had increased by four points. It was only his Dexterity and Agility that increased by three.

Max did some quick math, after taking Midnight Dew, his total stat points had skyrocketed from 119 to 145, a 26 point increase, not counting the two free stat points that he got from leveling.

“No wonder I feel so good…”

Taking a few minutes to admire his new stats, Max felt a sense of accomplishment. If he included that first night he spent in the cave, this was only the fifth day in this new world. Since then, his body had undergone a metamorphosis. The body he arrived in this world was worn down by IDK-25 and months of muscle atrophy. Now, he was likely, no, definitely, at the peak of his physical condition.

Max wasn’t sure if it was overconfidence or something else but felt like he was stronger if not just as strong as professional athletes. He wondered how he would match up against boxers and MMA fighters. That jab he executed seemed to be faster than some of the ones he saw on TV.

‘Alright, now let’s see what’s up.’

Starting with his notifications, he saw he gained 90 experience points for reaching the 4th stage of Body Tempering. He had remembered it was 70 for the 3rd stage, 50 for the 2nd stage, and 30 for the 1st stage. Assuming the growth in experience was linear, that meant he would get 110 experience points when he reached the 5th stage. Which was great because he only needed 108 experience points to level up again to level 7.

‘Ohh, that’s coming in clutch. With the 12 drops of Midnight dew, which equals 60 points in cultivation and an additional six to eight points for the intensive workout, it should only take me another three days to hit the next stage and level.’

Nodding to himself, Max was pleased with that speed.

There was also a pattern with his leveling experience needs and cultivation progress. After doing some mental math, each level’s experience requirements inflate by 30% from the level prior. And the cultivation’s math was even simpler, it was just a 50 unit increase. Meaning that his next level-up experience would be 188 and his cultivation increase would be 250.

Max ran through his character sheet one more time and saw that he hadn’t missed anything. He then turned and set his attention to the chest.