Chapter 20: Magical Beast
Leo walked slowly into the forest. He knew that it was risky going into a forest when there was a chance of encountering a Magical Beast, but he needed more Beast Cores to become a 1 Star Mage. He would enter the true path of mages once he did that. He couldn't let go of the opportunity.
He was very confident as well. With his body strengthening, he was stronger than the typical Apprentice Aura Knights. He was essentially as strong as a 1st Circle Aura Knight. However, it typically took more than two Aura Knights to kill a Magical Beast of the same level.
He walked in, searching for any animal that looked like it was on steroids. For almost two hours, he roamed around. Suddenly, he unsheathed his dagger. He realized that there was no way he wouldn't encounter at least one dangerous beast in more than an hour. It had been almost two since he had entered the forest.
The only explanation he had was that the monsters had sensed that a more powerful monster was there and had run away. This would mean that the Magical Beast was in his vicinity. He cursed in his mind while looking around carefully.
He suddenly started seeing the ground was a little unusual compared to normal. He noticed that the ground had a few blood spots tracing out a trail. He looked around and saw that the trail was leading from the Inner Forest. He bent down and touched the blood. It was still fresh.
"It must have been the blood." He said to himself. The animals must have smelled it and kept a distance. But the blood means that the animal was injured.
Leo knew that it was a bad idea to try and find a Magical Beast. But he knew that he wouldn't rise up in life without some risk. He was planning on killing the injured Magical Beast and taking its Beast Core. With it, he might have a chance of breaking through.
He walked slowly, using the blood trail as a reference. He kept notice of how long the blood trail went. He didn't want to get lost. He also didn't want to get too close to the Magical Beast without preparation. He observed where the blood trail led.
He noticed that it lead to the lake. He deduced that it needed water to drink. He started walking, looking out for the sound of the waterfall. After some time, he saw that the trail ended before reaching the lake.
He smiled. This meant that it was so weak that it couldn't even reach the lake to get water. He grabbed his dagger tightly and slowly walked forward. He looked around for a Magical Beast. He quickly found his target.
He saw a deer wrapped below a tree. He could see claw marks wedged into its body and saw it dripping on the ground near its body. The deer noticed him immediately. It stood up shakily.
He started walking toward it carefully. A cornered animal was the most dangerous, so he wasn't incredibly aggressive with his approach. His main concern was that it was a Magical Beast. His best plan would be to wait it out. If the blood loss became too high, it would die before getting to him.
His plan was all for naught. The deer started charging toward him. While it did, Leo noticed that its feet turned bright green. The deer suddenly got a lot faster. At this point, he already had his body strengthening on.
He reacted quickly to the charging deer. He jumped away. By the time he landed, he was met with a strong gust of wind that knocked him over. He was dumbfounded by the wind. Where did it come from?
While a part of his mind was confused, his instincts kicked in and he rolled away. He dodged just in time. The deer had gotten to where he was and had almost stomped his head into the ground.
He got back to his feet and immediately created some difference between himself and the deer. He could see the deer was in worse condition than before. He readjusted his plan back to waiting for the deer to die by itself.
He was going to focus on dodging, so he decided to keep his distance from the deer. He also had an idea that would hasten the process.
The deer quickly got ready for its next attack. It threw another gust of wind at him. He was caught off guard again and flew back. Instead of rolling far to the side this time, he only rolled enough to stay within reach of the deer.
When the deer stomped again, he wrenched his dagger into its side. he quickly rolled away, leaving the dagger in its body. He quickly dodged another gust of wind. This time he was prepared for the magic.
He saw the deer try to charge at him one more time, but by the time it closed half of the distance, it fell to the ground. He didn't approach it immediately. He waited for 2 minutes first. After making sure that it was dead, he went to claim his loot.
He walked up to it and took his dagger out. He then dissected the body of the deer. He had a lot of experience extracting Beast Cores from Pseudo Magical Beasts. The core was normally wedged in its head.
He took out the core and admired it. It was a lot more shiny compared to a Pseudo Beast Core. This was the color of an emerald. He could sell it for more than 30000 Star coins, but he had another use for it.
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