Chapter 3 - Solo Hunting

Going back to the contribution hall, the boy who had a Foundation Body second stage explained to the person who assigned contribution points that it was only Aster Wen who had directly attacked the bird, and the boy who had the bow made it leave the nest. As a goodwill gesture, he asked them to give the contribution points of the one's who didn't contribute to the archer and Aster Wen. They agreed, meaning Aster got another ten contribution points instead of just five. Going over to the processing station, they distributed the monster beast amongst themselves.

With two tasks under his belt, and his understanding of his ability to deal with beasts, Aster Wen decided to take a solo hunt mission. Though more dangerous than group hunts, they offered more contribution points. One hunt would give him ten contribution points, and as he took it down by himself, he would also get the core. Monster cores could be used for many things such as alchemy, artifact refining, cultivation, and you could sell them as well. Though at his level he couldn't do anything with them, he would only sell them if he couldn't use them to learn anything. With his level of knowledge and comprehension of the martial dao, studying them was the best choice instead of selling.

Looking at the solo monster beast hunting tasks, he took the task to hunt the Five-Colored Toad. Even though it was a Foundation Body first stage, it was one of the hardest to kill in that stage, and was therefore worth an extra five points, for a total of fifteen. Aster Wen took this task to also see if this was his limit of monster beast, as he hadn't even entered the Foundation Body first stage yet. If he took the monster beast down, and it was easy, he would take a task to hunt a Foundation Body second stage. If not, he would stick to the first stage monster beasts.

The Five-Colored Toad used its tongue as its main weapon, and its saliva would burn the skin of the victim. Though not deadly in and of itself, if not washed away thoroughly, it can cause severe burns and infection. If you had been stricken by its tongue, it was best to try and have that one spot struck again rather than another spot.

Setting out into the mountain once more, this time on his lonesome, he ventured towards a pond that was inhabited by many of these toads. Even though many of these toads existed at the same place, if one was attacked, the others would not intervene, which was the only reason it was allowed to be a solo hunting task.

Arriving at the pond, Aster Wen found one of the toads was on the outskirts of the pond and began sneaking up on it. As he neared it, the toad heard him and turned towards him, puffing out its body to intimidate him. Without the chance of a sneak attack, he could only face it head on and rushed forwards with his dagger. The toad threw out its tongue and hit Aster Wen's arm. The saliva burned his arm and he was forced to take a few steps back, nearly dropping his dagger from the pain. Though he knew the saliva would burn, he didn't know how much pain it would cause. Thinking back to his brother, he remembered that he once told him that some things could be used to temper the body if used properly. He wondered if the saliva of the Five-Colored Toad could be used as such. He knew that it could even cause Foundation Body ninth stages to experience pain. If he made progress in alchemy, maybe he could use its saliva to temper his body then?

But that was for the future, right now, he had to focus on fighting the toad in front of him. Ignoring the pain in his arm, he rushed forward again and allowed the toad to let his tongue hit the same spot on his arm, making the pain not increase. This let him get close enough to stab the dagger into the body of the toad. The toad puffed up and spit out its tongue again, making Aster Wen pull out the dagger, and quickly move his arm, so the tongue would hit the same spot on his arm again. The tongue hit a little new area on the arm, but not enough to cause as much pain as the first time he was hit. Even though he had stabbed the toad already, it didn't seem to be that injured. The next time he stabbed at it, he would have to go for the head.

Going forward again, he blocked the tongue with his arm, switching the dagger into his other arm, raising it above the toads head, and stabbing down as hard as he could. Piercing the toad's brain, it died in an instant under his hands. He washed off his arm in the pond, and then picked up the toad to go back to the contribution hall.

He gathered his spoils, sixteen more vials of blood, and a monster core. Now he had a total of twenty-four vials of Foundation Body first stage monster beast blood. This was more than enough blood to be able to have a success in making the pill. With thirty-five contribution points, and the Body Foundation first stage beasts being easy to hunt, he decided that he would take on the task of hunting a Body Foundation second stage next.

Looking at the solo hunting tasks of Body Foundation second stage monster beasts, he took the task to hunt the Burning Mongoose, which was worth twenty contribution points. Scorching the ground where it walked, it could cut into you and the wound would cauterize. The monster core was useful in alchemy to improve the manipulation of the temperatures needed to create the pill. As he wanted to start the process of learning alchemy early, this was a perfect opportunity to get a material to use for that purpose.