The air was filled with the distinct stench of mythical beasts, which made Ethan frown
Bang!
Suddenly there was a loud noise!
Ethan reflexively slapped towards the side!
Boom!
Boom!
"Ding! Progress points +5!"
The system's voice rang out.
Ethan stopped in his tracks, looking at the remains of the snake.
"Well, now I've unintentionally killed it, without even being able to see its strength."
He murmured under his breath, somewhat frustrated.
Just as he was wondering how to determine how many points he could earn from leveling up, he suddenly heard a raspy, deep breath.
After the activation of his Black Steel Gene, Ethan's senses had become frighteningly acute.
He immediately pinpointed the origin of the sound.
Several hundred meters away, a long-haired wild boar over two meters long was scratching its back against a giant cactus.
In Ethan's mind, he deduced: "Based on the map, the strongest mutated beast in this area is just at the initial stage of the Battle General."
Saying this, he pulled out his Sky-Cleaving Great Axe.
"It's your turn!"
The next second, Ethan, carrying a thousand pounds heavy axe, rushed toward the wild boar.
The wild boar, who was comfortably scratching itself, sensed the human's approach, and immediately stopped its actions, snorting out two streams of white mist from its nostrils, appearing extremely agitated.
"Grunt! Grunt!"
The wild boar made threatening sounds, digging its hooves into the ground a few times, then seemed to rush towards Ethan like a heavy tank.
In a blink of an eye, the distance between the two was shortened from several hundred meters to less than half a meter.
The air was filled with an impending tension, a man-beast battle was on the horizon!
Ethan raised his Sky-Cleaving Great Axe, his arm muscles suddenly bulging—veins throbbing vigorously, as if filled with infinite strength.
His eyes sparkled with excitement, a wave of boiling blood surged in his heart.
Boom! A loud bang!
Powerful air currents scattered in all directions, blowing down several trees in the vicinity!
Huff! Huff!
Ethan was panting heavily, upon closer look, the wild boar had been split into two halves.
"Did my strength increase again?"
He glanced at his slowly recovering arm and checked his system panel. His gene awakening level remained the same.
"It seems like an explosive power that I unconsciously unleash during battle." Ethan pondered.
After bringing down this Warrior-level wild boar, he directly gained 10 progress points.
"Earning progress points is quite easy, just slay more beasts."
Ethan was thrilled, seeing the progress points shoot up trend was much more exciting than doing exercises at school.
He cut off the most aromatic snout meat of the boar and hurriedly left.
The smell of wild boar blood would rapidly attract many bloodthirsty beasts.
Ethan didn't want to get trapped. It would be too troublesome.
Next, he roamed about, preparing to find a few otherworldly beasts to practice his skills.
In order to enhance his combat abilities, Ethan kept away his Sky-Cleaving Great Axe and battle armor, planning to engage in hand-to-hand combat with these creatures.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
A silver light was darting around Ethan, constantly bumping into him.
Ethan's clothes were all torn, but his skin wasn't harmed at all.
After several fights, Ethan realized just how powerful the Black Steel Battle Body Gene was.
Any Warrior below the rank of Battle General couldn't even break through his defense!
This must be the work of his formidable resilience.
Even if his defense was broken, he had endurance and innate healing to fall back on!
Plus, his monstrous strength.
This was like being tough enough to take blows and strong enough to deal them!
Ethan narrowed his eyes, all of a sudden, he reached out and grabbed!
Smack!
He caught the silver streak.
It turned out to be an entirely silver ugly bird, being seized in Ethan's hand.
This was a Silverwing bird, a creature with an incredibly hard body and lightning-fast speed that could puncture an armored vehicle.
The one Ethan grabbed was just a small one, but it already possessed the power of a quasi-Battle General.
Just as Ethan was about to squeeze it to death, he suddenly heard rustling noises around him.
A young man and woman meandered over, escorted by several burly men.
Ethan was unfazed, not even bothering to bat an eyelash.
Out in the frontier, he had already had his fill of these so-called "rich kids' training squads."
"Master Leo, our training quota for today is about done. We should head back now," one of the burly men kindly pointed out.
Julian Vance, however, merely scoffed, looking utterly unconcerned. "Let's just slay a few more. If the count's too low, my dad will surely think I'm slacking off."
Just then, Julian caught sight of Ethan.
Seeing Ethan's tattered attire, Julian couldn't help but chuckle.
"Paupers shouldn't come to the mutated beast zone to create a crowd," he mocked inwardly.
"Babe, look at that man, he's so funny!"
A girl next to Julian pointed at Ethan and giggled non-stop.
At this moment, Ethan was a sight, with his tattered clothing, a face covered in splattered beast blood, and hair that was a complete mess.
He was indeed in a pitiful state.
Julian raised an eyebrow contemptuous, his eyes full of scorn.
"Huh?"
Suddenly, Julian's gaze was drawn to something in Ethan's hand.
"Is that... a Silverwing Bird? A juvenile one?"
Julian's eyes widened in surprise.
The adult Silverwing Birds were as powerful as Battle Generals, and they were small in size, so they didn't consume a lot of resources.
The rich families in the Sterling City area had been secretly raising these creatures.
Julian had always wanted to have one to play with, but his father sternly disapproved.
"Hey, little man, Let your brother have a look at that Silverwing Bird in your hand."
Julian's eyes were fixed on the Silverwing Bird barely hanging on in Ethan's hand, glinting with a greedy light.
Ethan glanced at this self-important young master and decided to ignore him, turning to leave.
He wasn't unfamiliar with Julian, they both went to the same school and were in senior year, class one.
The arrogant girl next to him was his girlfriend, Selene Croft, who was also a class leader.
This prickish couple dominated the school on ordinary days, acting as if they were superior to all.
"Hey! Are you deaf? Can't you understand human speech?"
Selene's eyes widened angrily when she saw Ethan try to walk away.
Ethan, however, continued to ignore her.
A hint of cruelty flashed in Julian's eyes, and he gave a signal to the three strong men behind him.
The trio charged up instantly, surrounding Ethan.
Ethan furrowed his brow, eyeing the three vigilantly.