Kirian immediately felt the effects. He had roughly 3,000EUs worth of energy, so under half his max capacity. With this he decided to launch 2-3 larger powered attacks to settle this battle. The serpent lashed out and Kirian blocked it with his sword. As he pushed the serpent back, he tossed a few short daggers at him. As soon as they left his hand, he activated air walk. The beast evaded and deflected the daggers, but immediately after Kirian appeared. He channeled his energy force into his arms as he used his act 1 sword technique. Kirian spent 2/3rds of his energy in this combination. The serpent had to block the technique head on. It let out a hiss and slithered back a few meters.

The serpent shook off the attack, blood streaking down its body. The serpent shot out his poison cloud continuously as it closed the gap between the two. The cloud grew quickly and Kirian found himself being engulfed. His shirt started to disintegrate as he held his breath. Thankfully, cultivators could hold their breath longer than the average human due to their enhanced bodies.

As Kirian held his breath, he blocked a few incoming strikes. He threw a few more Energy Saviors into his mouth. Tsk. He clicked his tongue as he started thinking of his next move. After thinking of the possibilities, he settled on using his act 2 sword arts. While he has not mastered it like act 1, it would provide a surprise to the serpent while providing a heavier attack than the mastered act 1.

Once Kirian mastered this move he would be able to dish out roughly 3,000EU which could easily settle most cultivators in the Initial Awakening stages. This would be a little less than half of his total EU expenditure at yellow grade 4.

Kirian continued to exchange blows with the enraged serpent. He was waiting for the Energy Saviors to finish processing so he could unleash a final blow. After a few minutes he instantly felt more energetic. He waited for his opening and unleashed act 2 of his sword arts. His act 2 encompassed 3-4 movements. If executed correctly this would strike the serpent twice. The first hit would be up high and the second down low in a fast-continuous movement. Each strike inflicting equal damage.

Sweat dripped down his face as his chest moved up and down from over exhaustion. This sword combo quickly fatigued him. Kirian knew he had to follow-up with a few more strikes if he wanted to finish off the serpent. Pushing his body to his limits he activated air walk and threw out some punches and kicks. After act 2 made contact with the serpent it was bleeding close to its head while dripping blood from its stomach. It did not react fast enough, and under the pain only avoided a few of the kicks. The serpent made a desperate attempt and unleashed its final move.

Serpent beasts have a life-stealing move. When there is no hope for survival, they can inflict heavy damages on an opponent by choosing to break-off and projectile launch their poison fangs. While this alone will not kill a serpent, those fangs do not regrow, so the species chooses to use it as a last-ditch move. If they somehow survive their future battle prospects are diminished. This serpent’s lover had died, and it was pushed to the edge. It clearly had no reservations and launched all 4 of its poisons fangs as it got blasted back by Kirian’s last punch.

Kirian was expecting to face off against at least 1 fang, but all 4 would be a challenge for him to avoid in his current state. As he was past his limits, he was relying on endorphins to keep him going. His sword managed to block 1. The second fang barely missed him as he was pulling away. The third poison fang skinned his thigh while the fourth fang was aimed right at his chest. Due to his rigorous training his body moved quick. Kirian managed to turn the left, sucked in his stomach, and raised his left arm. With the momentum, the fourth fang missed his chest. It did graze his ribs, but he managed to not take a fatal direct hit. With the snake dead and Kirian in rough shape he quickly backed away and found a nearby place to rest.

As Kirian settled down at the base of a tree he took notice of his injuries. His rib and thigh each lost some skin, but the fang did not pierce too deep. This made the situation easier to deal with. The poison on each fang was entering his body, but at least it was not directly into his bloodstream, which would have been fatal.

Kirian quickly consumed his 2 D ranked Healing potions. While they couldn’t directly rid the poison, they would heal his skin while removing most of his fatigue. A little while later the color on his face returned and his breathing had steadily. From the outside, Kirian looked fine. Kirian was inspecting his internal damage. The poison had started making his way near his blood vessels, but as a cultivator he could mitigate most of this by channeling his energy force through his meridians. This would help detoxify his blood and skin cells while restoring his body. It would probably take ½ a day of rest to completely heal.

After resting for an hour, he finally had extra strength to start moving. He went back to where the level 3 and 4 serpents were killed. He was not able to harvest any beast meat since the Serpent was from a poison type. Kirian managed to remove the fangs of the level 3 serpent which could be refined into pills and removed some of the course snakeskin which could also be sold for materials. The level 4 serpent took too much damage to harvest anything he could sell.

Kirian headed back for his hideout in the hopes of clearing the rest of the poison and consolidating his gains. Over the next 1-2 days, Kirian was focused on reviewing his fight in his mind. This allowed him to gain battle insights, temper his will, and eventually start breaking through to the final Yellow stage. On the 4th day he started sweating and you could see his teeth clenched together. He had finished his revolutions and was expanding his meridians. A cloud of black smoke exited his body. This proved that he had reached Yellow Grade 5 (7,500EUs).

With a renewed body and fresh mind, Kirian hopped up and cleaned up his hideout. He was now ready to set off to White City.