Astonishing Prowess

Once again, Mane appeared in a familiar field of green. This time he did not look around much, just staring at his opponents. The alpha growled, clearly trying to instill fear into its prey, but it soon realised its fear skill did not work. It bent its limbs, preparing to attack.

Mane looked at the wolf that was preparing to pounce. He gathered strength in his legs and sprinted forward with great speed, stunning the attacking alpha. Mane did this to catch the creature off guard. As a simple minded beast, the attacking wolf expected its target to evade, not attack, hence it was momentarily stunned. When Mane was within a distance of 2 metres away from the alpha, he deftly changed his direction, aiming for the wolf at his left. The wolf was dazed. It was not expecting this human to ignore its boss and attack it. 

Mane quickly reached the wolf, which had already recovered from its initial surprise. It pounced at Mane, swinging its paw at the blond haired boy. Mane bent down slightly to evade the attack that was coming his way and slid under the wolf. Once the attack missed, the momentum of the strike caused the wolf to move forward involuntarily. This prevented it from delivering a continuous attack sequence and deprived it of its ability to defend.

Mane was expecting this result. He gathered strength in arms and struck the abdomen of the wolf with ferocity.

*BOOM*

The wolf yelped in pain as it flew three metres in the air and landed a few metres away from the alpha. Mane was very observant, and this always paid off. He just needed to be calm and composed to exploit this resource. He had noticed that the fur of the wolves glimmered faintly under the sun. That was qi! The wolves had coated their fur with qi to protect them. But, their bellies had far less fur than the other parts of their bodies. Because of this, the defence there was far lower. That was why he had targeted the underside of the wolf since the very beginning!

Looking at the wolf that lay limp at its side, the alpha did not need to check whether it was alive or not. It knew it was dead! This human had killed his subordinate in a single punch. It looked at Mane in rage as it swung its paw at him. A wind blade that was half a meter in length flew towards the boy at a fast speed. To normal adults, this wind blade would be about a third of their height and hence, would not be so threatening. But Mane was a six year old boy, and had a small stature. This wind blade was as large as him and could easily cut him in half. 

Mane twisted his body to the side to avoid the wind blade and made a 360 turn to face the beast again. He had just finished his spin when his instincts screamed at him at duck. Mane immediately obliged, bending his knees and leaning forward to avoid an attack from behind. The attack he had just avoided came from the other wolf he had ignored since the beginning of the battle. The sneaky beast had swiped its paws at him from behind. 

Mane regained his footing, and sent a right hook towards the rash creature. His fist was coated in qi, and full of the power of a level 1 mortal realm cultivator. 

*BAM*

The creature slid back for about 2 metres, creating two long lines with its paws. The creature had great battle awareness and had used its back to receive the punch, reducing the impact of the punch. It was severely wounded, but not dead. Mane was astonished, not because the creature used its back to block the punch, but because he did not expect his punch to severely injure a creature which shared the same level of cultivation with him. He was surprised at the power of the punch. He had not used any techniques, yet the power was this astonishing!

Unfortunately, he did not have the luxury of admiring his power for long, as the alpha was currently sprinting towards his direction with great speed. It was impressive, that a beast so large, could run so fast. Mane turned away from the wounded wolf and run toward the alpha. When he was about six metres away from the alpha, he deployed his movement technique. 

"Star flicker"

The immature voice carried a surprising amount of authority, as Mane's speed increased by three fold. In the eyes of the alpha wolf, the little boy had appeared before it instantaneously, giving it no time to react. When Mane was practicing the star flicker technique earlier, he realised that if he reduced the effective range to within seven metres, only twenty percent of his qi was consumed. This was a huge contrast to the fifty percent qi for an effective range distance of ten metres. This left Mane with about seventy to eighty percent of his qi.

Upon reaching the wolf, Mane immediately activated his offensive technique, triggering a 'star flicker, extreme burst' combo.

Extreme Burst: First Stage, first move!"

Immediately after activating the technique Mane delivered a right hook to the alpha.

*BAM*

The poor creature was knocked back for about three metres, but it still had its feet firmly on the ground. It felt a little dizzy from the attack though. It had barely regained its composure when it heard the boy speak again.

"2nd move!"

Mane gave the wolf no time to regain its vision. Using his earlier momentum, he spun midair, and delivered a spinning heel kick to the dazed wolf.

*BAM*

This time, the alpha was sent flying in the air, landing on its back a few metres away. Mane continued his onslaught, kicking powerfully at the ground and leaping into the air. He looked down at the alpha whose eyes were no longer filled with rage, but fear, and gathered power into his fist as he descended with a tornado punch.

"3rd move!"

*BOOM*

Mane stood straight on the corpse of the alpha, looking into its dead eyes. The man-made crater that had a radius of about three metres was testament to the power of his punch. He had used up about ninety percent of his qi! The skill, 'extreme burst', was especially draining. It took up almost seventy percent of his qi. Even then, he wasn't able to use the fourth and fifth strikes of the first stage. He estimated that he would need to reach the 3rd level in the mortal realm to use the fourth move, and the sixth level of the mortal stage, just to use the fifth move!

A low whine awakened him from his thoughts. He got off the dead alpha and looked at the last wolf that remained. It was severely injured and was finding it difficult to stand. Its eyes looked at Mane in pity and fear. The one they had regarded as their prey, was not a prey at all! He was more ferocious than the alpha, which he had killed with a barrage of kicks and punches. The prey was actually the predator!

Looking at the eyes of the wolf, Mane felt some compassion. Though the wolf was his enemy, it had no fighting power left. He had fought the death match to prove himself, but he wasn't a cold blooded killer. There was no way he would attack a creature that had no power to resist.

"Kid, see if you will find a magic core from the alpha. The wind blade it utilized is enough proof that it awakened a wind based bloodline. Every beast with a bloodline, has a core. Check the area around its chest, there should be a faint glow there"

He turned away from the injured creature, and walked towards the deceased alpha. Sure enough, there was a faint glow on the chest of the alpha. Mane picked up a relatively sharp stone from the ground, and stabbed its chest. Mane was expecting some resistance, so he used a lot of strength. He was extremely surprised when the stone entered the flesh of the wolf without any trouble. After his initial surprise, Mane realised it wasn't that odd that the stone entered so easily. Since the creature was dead, its body was no longer coated in qi. Hence, it was easier to cut it open.

Looking at the blood on his hands, Mane felt nauseous. He immediately sprinted to a bush nearby and puked his guts out. When Mane was feeling relatively better, he returned to continue his dissection. The process took longer than usual, not just because it was his first time, but because he spent most of the time throwing up. The 6th jeered at the young boy whenever he threw up, calling him soft.

When Mane finally pulled out the core, he noticed it was violet in color. It did not shine as brightly as the ones in his cultivation room. The 2nd mentioned that the brighter the core, the higher the level of the creature. For instance, if this creature was a level 3 mortal stage beast, the violet core would be brighter than the one he currently held. Mane had no use for the core. He had much more in his cultivation room, each with an extremely high level of purity, and of higher grades. He nonchalantly threw the core towards the injured wolf.

The wolf looked at him in surprise, not sure what the human boy was up to. Mane realised he was wrong in his initial analysis. This wolf was not simple minded. He smiled as he gestured for it to take the core.

"You can have it. It's yours." The wolf cautiously tapped the core with its left paw. Realizing that the human boy was serious, it brought the core closer to its mouth, as gulped it down. After swallowing the core, the fur of the wolf grew brighter, and it stood up. It seemed to have recovered some of its strength. It limped towards Mane and bowed its head to thank the young human. It then walked away.

Mane was astonished, but he was not the only one. The 1st exclaimed in wonder, "This…this does not seem to be just a simple simulation. I feel as though everything is real." Mane nodded his head, as the simulation ended, and he reappeared in the simulation chamber. The sat cross-legged to cultivate and recover his qi.

Mane stood up from his meditation position, fully recovered, and full of energy. He walked toward the central panel, and chose to fight again to hone his skills. He felt that he could reduce the amount of qi he uses to execute his techniques. 

As the bright light faded, the little boy stood upright, staring at his next opponents- three large bulls with extremely long horns. Two of them were at the 1st level of the mortal realm, the other was at the second level.

Mane grinned at his prey, exuding the bearing of a hunter. The nine could feel the pride that emanated from the boy, with the laughter of the 7th resounding in his mind space. "This kid is a perfect fit for the prideful sword technique. Hahaha!"

Mane did not hear the words of the 7th. He was too focused on his targets to pay attention to what was happening in his inner psyche. The bulls seemed to feel the aura of a hunter from Mane. They trembled in fear and took a few steps backward. It was a comical sight. Three large creatures, terrified of a tiny figure that stood a few yards away. Mane's smile widened as his voice rang out.

"COME AT ME."