Formless Ascension: My Affinity Is Limitless

"Come on you fucking reptile!" Uhtred yelled, breaking the beast out of its wary state.

It launched itself without hesitation, snarling with its maws open wide enough to chomp off a limb.

Uhtred timed his movement perfectly. As the lizard’s wide jaws reached for him, he ducked low and moved as if he were about to leap away. The creature reacted instinctively, reaching out with its powerful front claws to swat him out of the air.

But Uhtred didn’t jump.

By staying low, he had caused the beast to overextend, leaving its neck and underside completely exposed.

Like a snake latching onto its prey, Uhtred lunged into the beast and wrapped his arms around its thick neck in a tight, killing chokehold, locking his grip behind the lizard’s head.

"Grraahh!"

With a deep focus, he urged the warm energy from his core into his arms. Not just that, he siphoned every single drop of cosmic essence that was circulating in his legs and lower body, forcing it all to congregate into his arms and chest muscles alone.

He felt his biceps swell and his chest tighten as the power flooded in. But it wasn’t without a dire trade-off.

Without the energy stabilizing his lower body, his legs returned to their base enhanced strength, leaving him with no real way to anchor himself against the lizard as it went utterly berserk.

It thrashed like a wild bull immediately they crashed into the ground, its legs digging into the dirt and its powerful tail whipping around to batter Uhtred’s ribs.

Uhtred was swung around like a ragdoll. His back slammed into a tree trunk, then he was dragged through the brushes, his body hitting rocks and thorns and roots as the beast tried to shake him off.

It hurt like hell. Every impact sent bouts of pain jolting through his entire body, and his legs were being scraped raw as they trailed behind the beast. But his grip remained chain-lock tight regardless.

With all that energy concentrated in his upper body, his arms felt like iron bands. He squeezed with everything he had, his face turning red from the effort. He could feel the creature’s windpipe straining and the pulse in its neck fluttering frantically against his forearms.

The lizard’s struggles slowly began to weaken. Its violent thrashes turned into slow, spasming movements. It tried to let out one last hiss, but only a wet, choking sound came out.

Finally, the beast’s legs buckled. It collapsed into the ground, its body twitching rapidly a few more times, before going completely limp.

But Uhtred didn’t let up. He kept the pressure on, his muscles and his lungs burning, until finally, a blue window flashed in the center of his vision:

You have slain 1x {Brown Scaled Monitor Lizard - Level 5}

Trial Of First Blood: 1/10 complete

Time Left: {01:55:31}

Just five minutes? Uhtred panted, rolling over beside the beast’s corpse and staring up at the sky as he caught his breath.

The fight had felt longer than that to him. But in reality, only five minutes had passed.

"I need to move," he muttered. His body hurt like hell in a thousand places, but he knew staying here wasn’t safe at all.

The System continued to bring up prompts, but Uhtred waved them all away. They were most likely benefits and rewards gained from the fight, but this wasn’t the time and place to go through them.

With a grunt, he stood up and hissed sharply from the pain.

"There’s no way I’m killing nine more of these in my current state," he shook his head, coming to the realization immediately. The System surely knew killing ten beasts of this caliber was essentially impossible, especially within that two-hour time frame.

So Uhtred concluded there must be some other way. Something he was supposed to do to be able to complete the quest.

It’s likely tied to those rewards, he thought as he dragged himself away from the beast corpse and headed east in the direction of the river he’d seen earlier.

The System prompts kept popping up in his vision but he kept swiping them away, focused on the immediate task of putting enough distance between himself and the site of this fight. Checking rewards could come when he was somewhere safe.

But the System prompts remained incessant.

As if the System was fed up, Uhtred tried swiping another prompt away again, but this time it didn’t budge.

What’s this? He rushed as quickly as he could to a large tree some ways away, squatting low with a pained grunt as he hid himself while he focused on the System message.

[Priority Message: Basic Beast Core Extraction Artifact, gained]

Description: An utility tool designed to harvest a beast’s essence core. Compatible essence cores can be stored or consumed as a cultivation resource, enabling faster growth.

Uhtred’s eyes widened as he registered the text. "I was supposed to harvest the beast’s core? Shit! I have to get back there."

Ignoring the stabbing pain in his side, he turned and scrambled back toward the clearing where the dead lizard lay. He moved with silence, his eyes darting between the shadows of the trees warily as he knelt by the carcass.

"Okay, how does this work?"

As if in response, a cup-sized metal contraption materialized in his hand out of nowhere. Uhtred held it in stunned hesitation for a second, wondering how exactly this was supposed to harvest the beast’s core through its extremely tough skin.

But it turned out he was worrying for nothing.

Automatically, the container hovered close to the heart of the dead beast where its core lay, and easily punched a wide hole through its tough skin. A wet, sucking sound was heard right after that, and then the process was over.

You have gained 1x Level 5 {Agility & Toughness Attuned} Beast Core.

Requirement met: Low Mortal Rank cultivation manual shard available for use. Proceed to learn {Basic Essence Cultivation} now?

Comprehension time for {Primordial Talent Grade}: 20 seconds.

Note: Minor disorientation may occur after use.