Legends: The Emerald World

Ase lept out of the water and ran as fast as she could, using her claws to gain more traction as she jumped from one tree to another. Shin on her back focused on hiding her aura, keeping it out of the dragon's vision.

He looked back, 'The dragon is too proud to kill the captain quickly, he'll toy with him for several minutes at least. Judging by how far Char could see from atop the trees, we should be able to get out of the forest before that.

Even if they didn't get out of the forest, the dragon would just assume they were buried beneath the chaos of the battle. No matter how smart a human is, it's extremely plausible that they won't even bother finding a dead bug. The dragon is the same.

Ase zoomed across the forest, flying through the massive oak trees like the wind. After just a few moments, she came upon a massive cliff.

The cliff wasn't perfectly vertical, but it slowly tampered down due to the frequent mudslides plaguing the rainy forest. Ase didn't slow down and instead jumped, running down the massive cliff like a cat coming down a massive tree.

Running on two legs wasn't enough anymore so she bent down and ran on all four, racing the rocks tumbling beside her.

As she closed on the bottom of the cliff, she jumped at the sea of trees facing her, swinging from one branch to another before landing on the ground, sprinting at full speed. She could still hear the dragon's roars behind her, the beast was still fighting the captain, and she hoped the captain would last longer.

After almost an hour of running, Ase was reaching her limit, almost unable to take another step. Shin who kept looking back tapped her back with a smile, the dragon's aura had disappeared.

The fight between the dragon and the captain has ended, and the dragon has left the area. They weren't being chased anymore, and they should be safe to rest and recover for a while.

"Let's find a place to rest. The dragon is gone." Shin smiled and Char looked around as Ase crawled to a tree and sat beneath it, panting like a wasted cheetah as she dripped with sweat.

"Ase, put me down." Shin asked and she barely managed to reach back with her claws and undo the rope tying him to her. Using all his might, Shin crawled to a tree and sat beneath it crosslegged, taking a deep breath.

"Let's rest for a while, we can look for food afterward." He smiled.

'You did nothing! Ase did all the running.' Char waved her arms at him.

"I kept our auras faint so the dragon wouldn't notice our escape. We would've died if I didn't keep that until we were safe." Shin explained, but he didn't expect Char or even Ase to understand what he was saying. Even he took several decades to understand how to control aura.

'Fine, I'll go look for some food, you two rest.' Char crawled away and left them to rest. While Ase closed her eyes to take a short nap, Shin closed his eyes for something else.

He quickly focused on his aura, his burning core, and then the tree behind his back, sensing its life force.

In his past life, he was quite generous with his knowledge and had shared his technique with all of his disciples, but not this time, he had seen it all, how knowing this had led to the world's destruction. In this life, this power would be his, and his alone.

Just like how he could mask, snuff, and cover his and Ase's cores, he could reinforce it using life force drawn from other living beings. The tree behind him was alive, brimming with energy that it had gathered through decades. It might not compare to humans and monsters, and siphoning it might be inefficient as his cultivation level, but he has no other choice.

The tree behind Shin withered as he absorbed its energy to cultivate his core, growing stronger by the second.

{Notice: Experience gained, Level increased.}

{Notice: Two stat points gained, two stat points are available.}

{Notice: The side quest {Reach Level 2} finished, experience gained, two stat points gained, four stat points are available}

Shin ignored the constant notification and kept absorbing the tree's power, feeling its energy feeling his weak and starved veins and bones.

{Notice: Experience gained, Level Increased.}

{Notice: Two stat points gained, six stat points are available}

The tree behind Shin withered and its leaves fell, but he kept absorbing more and more from the nearby trees and vegetation, he couldn't let Ase carry him for the rest of his life.

{Notice: Experience gained, Level increased.}

{Notice: Two stat points gained, eight stat points are available.}

{Notice: Experience gained, Level increased.}

{Notice: Two stat points gained, ten stat points are available.}

{Notice: Experience gained, Level increased.}

{Notice: Two stat points gained, twelve stat points are available.}

{Notice: Experience gained, Level increased.}

{Notice: Two stat points gained, fourteen stat points are available.}

{Notice: Experience gained, Level increased.}

{Notice: Two stat points gained, sixteen stat points are available.}

{Notice: Experience gained, Level increased.}

{Notice: Two stat points gained, eighteen stat points are available.}

{Notice: Experience gained, Level increased.}

{Notice: Two stat points gained, twenty stat points are available.}

{Notice: Experience blocked, unable to level up further due to unfinished quest.}

{Notice: Unfinished quest, Breaking the wall must be finished before leveling up further.}

'As expected, I've hit a wall, I can't reach the second stage of the mortal core by simply absorbing energy…I must refine some things first.' Shin took a deep breath, focusing on the energy he already absorbed.

'First, I need to do something about my body, starvation has done me dirty.' He focused half of the life force he absorbed to reinforce his body and regain a healthy self.

{Notice: Ten stat points spent. Ten stat points left.}

{Notice: Constitution Increased from 4 to 14.}

{Notice: Health Increased from 10 to 350.}

{Notice: Stamina Increased from 10 to 350.}

Shin's breath slowed down as his skin regained its color and his limbs felt warm, the headache and hazy feeling that plagued him faded like it never existed before, and he could finally lose that sore taste in his mouth.

'I'd also love to start using my qi…but I'd rather be able to move and run on my own…' Shin focused the rest of his energy on that.

'To be a functional human being, I must refine my muscles first. Slow twitch muscles for strength and fast twitching muscles for speed.' He split the energy remaining inside his core equally between those two, feeling his muscles expand and pump up.

{Notice: Five stat points spent. Five stat points left.}

{Notice: strength Increased from 7 to 12.}

{Notice: Five stat points spent. No stat points left.}

{Notice: Speed Increased from 4 to 9.}

Shin finally could stand up with ease, he flexed the muscles on his arms, sensing the power surging in them, it wasn't much, but far better than before.

Ase opened her eyes, looking forward with a sleepy stare. Her eyes immediately landed on Shin flexing his muscles beneath the god rays, looking like a blessed homeless man with two flies buzzing beside his bushy and mud-filled hair, standing alone amid a withering forest.

His charisma still had a value of 2.

{Skills/ Quests/ Classes/ Stats}

[{Level: 10}===={Name: Shin}===={Race: Human}]

[{Health: 350/350}{Stamina: 350/350}{Mana: 12/12}]

[{Strength: 12}==============={Intelligence: 12}]

[{Speed: 9}=================={Wisdom: 17}]

[{Dexterity: 5}================{Charisma: 2}]

[{Constitution: 14}==============={Spirit: 21}]