Chapter 46: Hunting

Chapter 46: Hunting

William admired his handiwork. It looked a bit awkward from the inside, but William could see anyone on the main path from inside his outpost.

With the help of his Concealment Array, no outsiders would be able to detect William unless they were more powerful Array Masters or had high Cultivation.

William felt he had done enough. He rested for half an hour to recover his Mana, then followed a Quest sheet that led him to Section 4. He had forgotten to ask the guards where Section 4 was located, but thankfully he had a Quest to kill five Sandicores and gather their claws.

The image of the Sandicore resembled a Manticore with a lion's head, a sandy-colored coat, and a scorpion's tail. William liked the play on words.

He followed the directions of the Quest sheet, entering Section 4 in under an hour, where he built another base camp of smaller scale. A benefit to the Arrays of this world was that they would naturally draw in Mana from the environment to sustain themselves. If the Arrays weren't constantly active, they could even last for years before they broke down.

William had yet to physically see a Magical Beast, but his Life Sense told him there were dozens within 50 meters of him. They had small Life signatures, so William assumed they were large bugs hidden under the sand, waiting for William to approach.

He walked closer to one of the Life signatures, finding his guess to be mostly correct. While starting directly at the Life signature, William turned off his Life Sense to find a pale yellow shell motionless on top of the sand. A passerby might think the shell was that of a dead animal if they didn't investigate further.Diiscover new stories at novelhall.com

[Bestiary] Desert Beetle: +1 Potential Point

William launched a fireball at the creature, instantly burning it to a crisp. There was a squeak from the creature as it died, similar to that of a mouse.

-Defeated Desert Beetle: +3 Potential Points

4 points for an easy kill? Not bad.

Normally a beast at the Foundation Establishment Realm would only give two points, but there was also the first time kill bonus and discovering the creature with his Bestiary.

While laying in a sleeping bag, William realized his Heat Resistance and Fire Affinity were quite effective at dealing with the desert heat. He felt comfortable, as if he could go for a ten mile run, despite the fact that it was probably over thirty degrees Celsius during midday.

He looked at the System Menu, surprised to see that he had 462 Potential Points, almost entirely gained from hunting and partially earned from creating new spells.

Come on, give me Cultivation Talent! System, purchase 3 Passive Talents.

--Talent Purchased: Cold Resistance

--Talent Purchased: Mind

--Talent Purchased: Regeneration

William couldn't be upset with those Talents, but he was a bit disappointed when Cultivation wasn't in the list. He looked at the description for the Mind Talent, finding it was the same one that would allow him to improve his skill in Arrays.

William felt that his memory had become much better and could easily remember what he had for breakfast a few months prior. It was cereal, but still impressive, okay?

William still had 87 Potential Points remaining, but he would need 175 to purchase the next Passive Talent. This was almost too much to bear, what if he never learns the Cultivation Talent? Would he remain a normal person forever and slowly grow old?

No! Something had to be done!

William couldn't sleep that night after having these thoughts, so he steeled his resolve and went out to the desert, eager to hunt more Magical Beasts and unlock the Cultivation Talent.

He would continue hunting Beasts for the remainder of the night, only stopping to recover his Mana. Because he wanted to earn more points and faster, William learned many more efficient ways to kill the Beasts. He could take out a Sandicore in just two spells, and a Desert Beetle at the Core Formation Realm wouldn't even know where its enemy was before it was crushed to death by the Earth Element.

William became an unstoppable killing machine, whose desire to crush Desert Beetle skulls could not be contained. He even passed up on collecting their materials until he was out of Mana, just so he had more time to earn points.

Without William's knowledge, Section 4 of the Foam Desert was completely cleared. He didn't stop, continuing to wipe out the enemies in Sectors 5 and 6, which consisted of many different beasts. The Marauder Scorpions were somewhat difficult for William to defeat, but even they didn't last long after he gained more practice fighting them.