The First Battle
"What the heck is that!?" Young shouted as he attempted a backstep. The large, grub like creature nearly fell on top of him. Young's face contorted as he examined the creature. It's skin was shiny and pale, its body was slimy, wiggly and writhing and along each side there were six small insect legs which resembled that of a caterpillar.
"That's so gross…" Young said as he took a step backwards.
[Cave Grub (Lesser Monster)
A nocturnal creature that consumes flesh of all types -necrotic or living. Deathly weak to the elements. Known to spit strong acidic--"
Young barely had time to finish reading the description that appeared for the Cave Grub before a deluge of viscous green liquid shot forth from the creature's fang ridden mouth. Young barely had time to dodge, the acid sailed by him and began to disperse in mid air forming a wide spray dispersal. The acid slapped against the ground, the sound of crackles and sizzling accompanying the pool of goop.
"No freaking way." Young thought to himself as he glanced over to his side. The ground had already begun to burn. Luckily the goop dissipated against the air quickly but it was obvious -- if that managed to hit Young Jade he would be in for a world of hurt.
He carefully watched the creature as it turned its mouth to face him once again. It seemed very slow to pivot or change direction, this was something Young Jade could take advantage of.
He waited until the creature faced him once more and lingered for just a moment longer so that the Cave Grub lurched in an effort to spray more acid. He then darted to his left and circled around the creature, getting behind it before it could react. It's long, thick body prevented it from moving its head freely and thus Young Jade pierced the creature with his blade. He buried it to the hilt, partly due to the fact that the creature's flesh was soft and easily damaged. Green blood burst forth in a thick spray, covering Young's face but this didn't deter him.
He stabbed the creature several more times, ending with a well placed stab to the creature's head -- at least what he believed to be its head. The creature shuddered, its squishy body wiggling as green life fluid drained onto the cavern floor.
"That wasn't too bad. A little gross though.." Young remarked as he wiped his face with his gi. The stench of the blood reminded him of minerals and rotten eggs.
He then noticed a small orb rise from the creature's body and hover over its corpse.
"This must be the monster energy.."
Young drew closer and reached out to touch the shining yellow orb, as he did so it floated towards him and into his body.
[Cultivation level has risen from 16 to 18.]
"Two levels just from killing a grub? Wow." Young was amazed. During the four days of training he'd only managed to gain thirteen levels or so -- getting two from a single encounter seemed too good to be true.
Just as Young congratulated himself on a job well done he heard the sound of movement against the cold cavern floor. He turned to face it only to realize he was under attack. He attempted to side step but it was much too late, his left forearm was completely doused in a Cave Grub's acidic saliva. The substance immediately began to corrode his clothing, forcing Young to take off his shirt and toss it aside. His hand wasn't so lucky. A portion of the fluid oozed down and covered his thumb. Even though the acid was quick to dissolve it still managed to burn several layers of his skin off.
[-15 HP 126 / 141 ]
"This freaking hurts!" Young grunted as he tried to block out the pain and focus. That's when he noticed three more Cave Grubs inching into view. Faced with a disadvantage Young decided to rely on the power of his Beast Spirit Short-sword. He focused, flowing his energy into the blade then swung it forth with all of his might as the electrical energy issued forth. The lightning bent, touching the ground as it simultaneously extended outward.
It was deceptively difficult to control, especially from a distance but the attack managed to arc out and strike one of the creatures. The moment the lightning made contact it's body exploded with a loud pop, showering the area with chunks of Cave Grub.
['Beast Spirit Short-sword' 3 / 5 Uses Remaining]
"Tsk. I didn't even want to use that.." Young thought to himself as he looked upon the result of the Arcing Lightning technique. In the one second Young stopped moving the other Cave Grubs attacked without hesitation. Having learned from the first experience he ran forward and then side stepped to avoid the expanding reach of the flying acid globs. He then dashed towards the nearest Cave Grub and slashed downward against its rotund, oblong shaped body. The blade cut clean, but was less effective due to the sheer girth of the creature.
"Kshht! Kssht! Ksst!" The sound of more acid being launched forced Young to retreat before he could finish the wounded creature off. Having to deal with three of them at once was proving to be tricky. He decided once again to attempt to use their mobility against them. He baited their attention to the far cavern wall and paused long enough so that the creatures began to fire, he then dashed away with all of his might and speed. Rather than attempting to curve around like last time he would use two straight movements to cut the amount of time needed in half.
He paused just long enough to pivot and change directions before he burst forward with all of his speed once again. As he dashed forward he charged his blade once more in preparation for technique use. The bone blade began to crackle with charged electric energy as he drew near to the closest creature and slashed, this time aiming at the creature's mouth. He cleaved the Cave Grub's face in half, green blood spurting everywhere.
"Now is the time! Arc Lightning!" He shouted as he sliced his blade in a downward cleaving motion. Like before the lightning poured out of the tip of the blade and found its way to the ground, but because Young Jade chose to line his enemies up along his strike angle they were ripe for the picking. The lightning quickly ate into the nearest grub, rather than exploding it the trail of lightning cleaved it in two. The remaining two grubs met the same fate, one bursting from a stray lightning arc and the remaining one being cleaved completely in two the long way.
['Beast Spirit Short-sword' 2 / 5 Uses Remaining]
Young Jade could hear the Beast Spirit Short-sword cracking within his grip, each usage causing the weapon to rapidly deteriorate.
"Ksst!" The unexpected sound of an acid attack pulled Young's attention to the final of six Cave Grubs. Unfortunately he could only react too late. He spun around on his heels to face the direction of the creature, only to find that the acid attack had begun to fan out as it traveled.
Young did the only thing he could think of -- mutual destruction! He forced his qi into his blade quickly and swiped hard at the traveling mass of acid. The lightning shot forth from his blade and directly impacted with the acid causing it to pop and sizzle. The acid turned into a fine mist as the Arcing Lightning technique roared forth and completely decimated the final of the Cave Grubs.
"Ha. Ha ha ha!" Young laughed loudly as he fell backwards, dropping his weapon in the process. The sword fell to the ground with a dull clang then disappeared, recalled into his soul sea.
['Beast Spirit Short-sword' 1 / 5 Uses Remaining]
[-42 HP 84 / 141 ]
He was then greeted by a different alert, along with a world of pain. The fine mist of the acid hadn't been destroyed , rather it dispersed into tiny particles and covered his right hand, right forearm and half of his chest.
The acid covered his body and began to eat away at his flesh, ceasing only after the liquid had done it's wicked work.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone