Chapter 104: Grinding
"It’s been a while since I’ve gone monster hunting. Should be a good opportunity to train with this sword."
Ren left the base and began heading into the forest. Even with the fact that he now had a ton of monsters under him, he did not really have any bias towards killing monsters, as long as they were not under him.
He walked in a straight line into the forest, walking for over a kilometer without finding any monsters.
"What the hell is happening? Where are they?" he asked.
[Your aura is far too powerful for the normal monsters. They are all fleeing.]
"I have an aura? How come no one told me?"
[Your subordinates have adjusted to you, but even they have to be very cautious when around you.]
"Tch, so how do I handle this?"
[Focus and suppress.]
Ren closed his eyes. "Focus," he muttered, pouring all his attention into finding his aura. It did not take long for him to sense it, and what he sensed immediately sent a shock down his spine.
"What the hell is this?" he cried out.
What he was looking at was an aura that covered over ten meters around him and rose high into the sky. It was like a raging sea.
"I would be scared if I saw this as well. Woah." He focused his mind on suppressing his aura, and slowly it reduced in size until it was pressed into his body. He managed to ensure that not even a single drop could seep out.
"Phew, that was a task."
Now that his aura was back in, he expected some monsters to come, and he was right, as in the next moment he sensed something rushing his way.
"Now what could it be?" he asked with a smile on his face as he drew his new blade.
The monster burst out of the bushes. A one-meter-large hog rushed out, its tusks several inches long. It bared its teeth at Ren and rushed in.
Ren waited until the hog was close. It launched at him with its teeth wide open and ready to bite.
Ren stepped to the side and evaded the hog before proceeding to attack with a clean slash. The sword extended and wrapped around the hog, slashing into its body so deeply that it cut through the bones, but it did not stop there.
Each slash from the blade drained part of the hog until it was a lifeless, dried-up corpse on the ground.
[100 EXP gained] x10
"Whoa, I guess that’s why he called you the Soul Eater. A fitting name."
He looked up ahead and scanned the area with his eyes until he picked up the next target. A few hobgoblins eating a smaller goblin on the floor.
"Hmm, feels kind of weird attacking goblins when I have a few under me, but then again, it is what it is."
The hobgoblins hadn’t noticed him yet.
Three of them were crouched over the smaller goblin, arguing over the last bits of it. Two more stood at the edges, watching the forest with the lazy attention of things that had never had a real reason to be alert.
Ren rolled his neck and walked forward.
The nearest one looked up just in time to see him close the distance, its eyes going wide. Ren stepped into its reach and swung once, clean and diagonal. The Soul Eater carved through it, and the drain followed immediately, dark wisps pulling from the body as it dropped.
[50 EXP gained] x10
"Pretty easy. Seems low-level monsters barely register to me."
The second one reacted fast, swinging a crude club from the side. Ren ducked under it, pivoted, and came back up with a horizontal slash that caught it across the midsection. The blade wrapped around the curve of the swing like it wanted to, the drain pulling the hobgoblin dry before it hit the ground.
[50 EXP gained] x10
The three at the carcass scrambled to their feet.
One grabbed a rusted blade from its belt and lunged straight at him, committing everything to the charge. Ren sidestepped it entirely, let it run past him, and flicked the Soul Eater across the back of its neck as it went by. It took three more stumbling steps before the drain finished its work, and it crumpled.
[50 EXP gained] x10
The fourth came in low, trying to tackle him at the legs. Ren stepped back once, read the angle, and brought the blade down in a short overhead arc that met the top of its skull. The drain was faster this time, the body going limp before it even fully reached the ground.
[50 EXP gained] x10
The last one stopped.
It looked at the four on the ground. Looked at Ren. Looked at the sword in his hand.
It turned to run.
Ren was already beside it.
One clean slash across the back, the Soul Eater doing what it did, and the drain pulled the last of it away as it stumbled and fell forward into the dirt.
[50 EXP gained] x10
Ren straightened up and looked at the five on the ground around him.
He exhaled slowly.
"It’s been a while since I did this." He stretched after killing all of them and pulled out his system screen to check his status.
[STATUS]
[Name: Ren Crimson]
[Race: Chaos Devouring Dragon]
[Level: 1]
[EXP: 3500 / 5000]
[Strength: 272]
[Speed: 276]
[Stamina: 276]
"Hmm, the EXP I gained is pretty good. A few more of these and I’ll be able to level up."
"Master." Remu flew down and landed beside Ren. He looked around and saw the goblin bodies before looking at Ren.
"What’s the issue, Remu?"
"Silas has finished his evolution," Remu said.
"Silas was undergoing an evolution? Why was I not informed until now?" Ren asked.
"Silas requested it. He asked that we should not inform you until he fully evolved and you got to see him in his new form," Remu explained.
"Fine, let’s go."