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.

[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.

William continued hunting down the Desert Beetles, as they didn't fight back if he killed them in one hit. William was able to clear out the area closest to his base camp in just thirty minutes, collecting 15 Sand Husks and earning another 30 Potential Points.

William became addicted to hunting. He could earn hundreds of Potential Points from upgrading titles, but nothing was more satisfying than doing the same by killing Magical Beasts. He stored all the Sand Husks in his Space Ring and searched for more.

The hunt for Desert Beetles was paused when William spotted a Sandicore and a Massive Desert Beetle battling. They both looked to be in the Core Formation Realm and were evenly matched in their fight.

The Sandicore stabbed forward with its tail to poison the Desert Beetle, but the attack was blocked by a tough shell. The Desert Beetle dove underground, then crawled through the sand at a fast speed before jumping up from underneath the Sandicore, stabbing into its underbelly with a hard horn.

The beast was thrown back and bled a bit, but managed to stab the Desert Beetle in the face with its tail, causing a minor wound. The wound began to fester as poison from the scorpion tail entered the Desert Beetle's body.

William saw this opportunity to attack. He threw out a Giant Fireball that was amplified by the Wind Element, striking the Sandicore on the side and blasting away both Beasts. The blow didn't kill either of them, so a second Giant Fireball was thrown, quickly finishing off the pair.

-Defeated Sandicore: +4 Potential Points

-Defeated your first Core Formation Realm Beast: +50 Potential Points

-Defeated Desert Beetle: +3 Potential Points

William was enthusiastic about his gains. If he earns 50 Potential Points for killing a Core Formation Realm Beast, how much would a Nascent Soul or better give him?

His excitement died down when William realized all his gains so far today amounted to around a hundred Potential Points, which was barely enough to purchase one Passive Talent from the shop.

Things are getting a bit expensive now. William was starting to understand when the System said it wasn't unbalanced. Upgrading his Manamatus title was nearly impossible without a few thousand Potential Points, so William would need to hunt quite a few beasts.

He harvested the materials from the Sandicore and the Desert Beetle, then continued his hunting spree.

By the end of the day, William had cleared out half of Section 4, earning 150 more Sand Husks, 64 Sandicore Claws, and 16 Sandicore Tails. He had yet to find Marauder Scorpions or any other beasts, so William organized the items and returned to his smaller base camp to rest.

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.