Chapter 21 : Ragna's Power

Inside a forest, a few bears were chasing after someone. The bears had a height of more than 2 meters. Their claws were glistening with a silvery luster. One look and people could tell that their claws were made from silvers. It was the Silver Clawed Bear!

They had a few bruises on their bodies. It seemed like they had suffered an attack which aroused their anger. They charged madly, trampling the forest with their huge body. Suddenly, a wall made from earth sprang at the spot in front of them!

Using their momentum, they charged at the wall. Even though the wall was quite sturdy, it still couldn't stand to their combined might. The combined power from more than 6 bears charging was indeed very terrifying.

It was at this moment that the bear who charged at the very front saw an earth spike protruding from the ground toward him. The spike was placed at an angle which could easily skewer anything that charged through it. The bear, after having lost its energy from destroying the wall, went pale. It wanted to stop, but how could it be easy?

The spike skewered through the bodies of two charging bears at the very front. The bears behind them also stumbled, unable to move.

All of a sudden, one of the bear was pierced through by other spikes, rendering it unable to move!

From the original seven, now there were only four of them which were capable of moving.

Ragna suddenly showed up from the bushes! He already prepared the first earth spikes beforehand, then he chanted the earth wall to cover it while running. After that, he ended the trick with another earth spikes.

His hand radiated the combination of red and white color. The pressure it emanated was enough to make the bear shivered. It was his soul strike!

Whuung! Bang!

He released his soul strike toward the bear right in front of him. The bear was blasted away backward, smashing its another companion. They both flew toward a tree and slammed right into it. The tree was destroyed upon impact and both of the bears was seriously injured internally.

It was the power of Soul Strike! It used Ragna's gathered energy to strike an attack toward the enemy soul. No matter how high the opponent's defense was, the attack would still inflict a serious blow!

Ragna used the blood from the skewered bears to form a few Blood Orbs which hovered in the air around him. He charged toward the remaining bears. Whenever the bears tried to attack him from a different direction, he commanded the orbs to strike them, rendering them incapable of counterattacking.

The Blood Orbs was one of the skills Ragna inherited from the Ancient Blood Master. It was the only genuine mage skill that the Blood Master passed him. Both Earth Walls and Earth Spikes was learned from the 1st Sentinel's essence. If it weren't for those skills, Ragna couldn't even be counted as a mage.

After a few exchanges, the Silver Clawed Bear dropped to its knees. Raka quickly changed his target to the other bear. It was also at this moment that the bear which were skewered and blasted away came charging into him!

Even though they were badly injured, their health still wasn't depleted. 'Maya' was different from the real world. Even if a character only had 1 health left, it can still fight. Of course, there was also penalties which applied when it entered critical strike. Though, some classes or skills were able to use the critical state as a means to counterattack.

As an example, the bear which was skewered by his Earth Spike was currently bleeding and had its health decreased constantly. It also suffered a movement speed debuff because of its status ailment and critical health. On the other hand, because it entered critical health, it also entered an enraged state which increased its attack damage.

Maya tried to give the player the best sense of reality they could achieve. Of course, everything included senses, sceneries, and the most important thing, the combat.

When Ragna fought the Giant Ape, he continuously attacked its right knee because he wanted it to stay passive and not move around too much. Though, it was useless because of the ape's evolution.

The bears were getting closer and closer to him. They completely surrounded him from each direction!

Suddenly Raka closed his eyes, he felt every essence around him vibrated with power, it was the bears' attack!

The Essence Manipulation!

He quickly used his perception to avoid their attack one by one. Of course, he didn't need to avoid all their attack. He only moved and dodge a bit before they stumbled into each other. Ragna used this opportunity to release his soul strike, he had absorbed some of their essences from the attack.

BAM!

His attack hit both of the bears which were skewered before. They didn't even have a chance to react before being blasted by him. They slammed into another tree and stopped moving. They were already dead.

Ragna felt another attack closing behind him. It was the remaining bears that tried to attack him. He dodged beautifully and sent another counterattack toward them!

The situation was already inside his control. No.. in fact, it was already inside his control since the very start of the battle!

Ragna quickly finished the remaining bears. Then, he felt a familiar sound ringing coupled with a white light enveloping him. It was the sign of him leveling up.

"Finally level 10, now I can enter the city without making much attention" Ragna smiled happily, his leveling speed was unprecedented. He raised to level 10 in just a day. It was normal because he only hunted Silver Clawed Bear which were at level 15.

Of course, the word 'normal' he referred to was the one inside his dictionary. As for other people, they would only mark it as impossible.. and crazy.

He was leveling silently inside the forest near the city because of his level. Normal people could only change class when they achieved level 10. Before that, the only possibility was hidden or secret class. Naturally, Ragna didn't want to reveal his hidden class that early.

Actually, his leveling speed could be much faster. Unfortunately, he had no potions to replenish his mana and soul. Because of that, he needed to spend more time resting before continuing his hunt.

The problem with mana could easily be solved when he entered the city.. as for the Soul. He didn't have any idea on how to instantly recover it when he was in a battle!

Soul Strike, Blood Orbs. All of his stronger skills rely heavily on the Soul. If he couldn't find a way then his combat ability would be instantly reduced when he ran out of the Soul.

Raka looked at the bear's corpses littered around him. He quickly sat down and used his last skill !

Blood Essence Refinement!

The blood which flowed inside the bear's bodies slowly congealed into the air in front of him. They slowly coalesced into a single drop of blood. The blood was a bit dark, showing the impurities within. Ragna shook his head, he failed again this time.

Actually, Ragna already tried to refine the bear's blood multiple times. All of them was unable to be consumed by him using his Essence Mastery. He felt tempted by the permanent increase in power it said. He had refined dozens of bear and it still failed.

Wait.. Impurities..?

Ragna felt something was wrong with his way of refining. He quickly took other failed essences from inside his bag. He put them in front of him and tried to refine it once more. He wanted to try his new idea!

He quickly activated the Blood Essence Refinement again. The difference was that now he wanted to refine the essence from another essence, not from the corpses like before!

Whuush!

The essences flew into the air in front of him and coalesced into one big drop of blood. He quickly rotated the essence in front of him, trying to remove the impurities! If it was before, the essence would spread out and vanish. But now, he had enough blood essence to do it!

The essence rotated slowly. It slightly dark color grew brighter and brighter. After a while, the essence shined with a bright red color! It was a success!

You have successfully refined an item :

Silver Clawed Bear's Blood Essence

Ragna quickly absorbed the newly acquired essence. He felt a warm current flowing inside his body. His muscle was contracting at a terrifying rate. He felt stronger!

You have absorbed the Silver Clawed Bear's Blood Essence.

Effect : Permanently Increase the Strength and Endurance by 1

It was a huge success!