Chapter 28: Time To Hunt

Rayleigh continued walking after leaving the settlement, heading in the same direction the Intermediate-Ranked beast had emerged from.

He could have asked the Mulkan known as Jax where to find more beasts, but after spending a short time with him, Rayleigh had already figured out that getting a straight answer from him would probably take longer than finding the beasts himself. So he decided to do his own thing.

Rayleigh was specifically looking for a cave.

From what he knew, beasts usually made their homes in caves or secluded areas, and considering how dangerous the Intermediate-Ranked beast had been, there was a good chance that more beasts lived somewhere in this region.

It didn’t take long before Rayleigh found a cave. It was carved into the side of a rocky hill and its entrance was nearly wide enough for several people to enter at once.

Rayleigh stood outside for a moment before activating his Identity Scan.

►[ Lesser-Ranked Beast Detected ]

Rayleigh smiled. "A Lesser Beast. Perfect."

He was about to activate one of his weapons and end the fight quickly, but he stopped himself.

Now, Rayleigh had advanced weapons, thus, having the means to kill the beast easily, but that wasn’t what he wanted to do this time.

Rayleigh had always been fighting with something – a Dune Sword, Gamma Requiem, Plasma Stun Gun, Gamma Plasma Cannon. Even Meteor Summon.

He had never really tested what his own physical attributes could do. Then he remembered something: His ten available Attribute Points.

Rayleigh opened the system and navigated to the Attribute Tab. Sure enough, he had ten points available, and he could use them to increase any of his attributes.

After thinking about it for a moment, Rayleigh decided that the best attributes to upgrade were Strength, Agility, and Speed.

"Three points each to Strength Agility and Reaction Speed"

►[ 3 Attribute Points assigned to Strength. ]

►[ 3 Attribute Points assigned to Agility. ]

►[ 3 Attribute Points assigned to Speed. ]

That left him with one point. Rayleigh looked at his remaining attributes before making his decision.

"Cosmic Control."

►[ 1 Attribute Point assigned to Cosmic Control. ]

Rayleigh nodded in satisfaction.

It would be useful to have better control over his Cosmic Abilities when the time came.

He closed the system and looked toward the cave; the beast still hadn’t noticed him. Or perhaps it had but it simply did not consider him a threat. Rayleigh chuckled inwardly. The beast would regret that.

The Lesser Beast slowly stood from the cave, revealing its four powerful legs and a body that looked strangely similar to the animals Rayleigh remembered from Earth, except this creature was much larger and its muscles were far more developed. Dark fur covered most of its body, while two short horns protruded from the sides of its head.

The creature looked powerful enough to tear apart an ordinary human without much effort. Rayleigh, however, was more interested in testing himself.

"Let’s see what you can do."

He decided to test his new Special Ability as an added bonus whilst using his physicalattributes.

"Activate Drain."

►[ Special Ability: Drain Activated. ]

►[ Duration: 60 Seconds ]

The countdown began and Rayleigh immediately dashed forward.

With his Speed now at 13, he covered roughly ten feet in only two seconds, stopping directly in front of the Lesser Beast.

The creature groggily lifted its head and tried to swat him away like a fly but Rayleigh ducked beneath its paw. He gathered his strength and drove his fist directly into the beast’s underbelly.

POW!

The impact shook the creature’s body, forcing it backward. The beast roared in pain as its body shifted from its position. It was now fully alert, registering Rayleigh as the threat he truly was.

Rayleigh grinned. "Not so tough now, are you?"

A system notification immediately appeared.

►[ +1 HP ]

►[ HP: 21/20 ]

Rayleigh’s eyes widened.

"Wait..."

His eyes moved toward his health. He had actually gained siphoned the life force of the beast and added it to his. It seemed too good to be true.

Rayleigh’s momemt was shortlived when beast suddenly sprang forward. It raised one of its massive paws and attempted to swipe at Rayleigh once again.

The attack came down quickly, but Rayleigh simply shook his head in disappointment.

"That’s your top speed? I can’t believe I was once scared of your kind."

The paw came down and father than could getting out of its way completely, he rolled across the ground instead, allowing the attack to pass above him. Rayleigh continued rolling until he ended up directly beneath the beast’s belly.

Now, he had all the freedom he needed.

Rayleigh began throwing punches into the creature’s underbelly with each punch landing with enough force to create tiny ripples in the air.

But something strange was happening. Every time Rayleigh struck the beast, he felt stronger. His body became lighter, his movements became faster and his punches became harder.

Instead of becoming tired, Rayleigh seemed to grow stronger with every successful hit.

The beast roared and struggled to move away, but Rayleigh remained underneath it.

He continued punching.

►[ Drain Effect Active ]

►[ Target Health Decreased ]

►[ Host Health Increased ]

Rayleigh’s grin widened. "So that’s how it works."

The beast tried to move again, but Rayleigh didn’t give it the chance. He pulled his fist back one final time and drove it directly into the creature’s gut.

His fist broke through the flesh; blood splattered across his arm as his punch ripped through the beast’s body.

The creature released one final dying groan before collapsing onto its side.

Rayleigh slowly stood up, wiping the blood and body parts from his clothes. "That was easier than I expected." He muttered, looking down at the dead beast.

Wasting no time, Rayleigh searched the insides of the beast and retrieved its crystal.

He immediately stored it inside his Inventory.

►[ 3/10 Items Stored ].

Due to his recent level-up, his Inventory had also been upgraded to Level 2.

He could now store ten items. The only problem now was that he needed thirty crystals. Thirty crystals obviously wouldn’t fit inside an Inventory that could only hold ten items.

"I’ll figure something out."

For now, Rayleigh simply continued hunting. He spent the next several hours tracking down beasts and killing them.

◇◇◇

Rayleigh had now collected eight Lesser Beast Crystals. Added to the Intermediate Crystal, he had nine crystals in total stored in his inventory.

He continued walking for some time before finally realizing that the sun had gone down; Night had fallen over Mulka.

More than ten earth hours had passed since he had left the settlement. Rayleigh also realized that he had been hunting on an empty stomach; he hadn’t eaten anything yet.

Rayleigh touched his stomach and it grumbled like it was alive.

"Yeah, I’m going back."

He turned around and began heading toward the Mulkan settlement. By the time Rayleigh arrived, the settlement looked completely different from when he had left.

Rather than fear, willful chatter filled the air as people moved around with purpose. It was hard to believe a beast attacked a few hkurs ago because of how casual everything seemed.

There was a fire burning somewhere nearby, and a sweet smell entered Rayleigh’s nose. His stomach growled again.

There seemed to be some sort of celebration taking place.

Rayleigh barely had time to wonder what it was before someone approached him.

"Ray!" Jax appeared from nowhere, looking genuinely surprised. "I thought you had become dinner for the beasts!"

Rayleigh sighed. "I’m still in one piece, unfortunately for you."

Jax looked him over before smiling. "I can see that." He then pointed toward the fire. "You must be hungry. Come, eat something."

Rayleigh followed without protest.

The food looked strange. He had no idea what it was but it sure smelled good and after going hours without food, Rayleigh wasn’t interested in asking questions.

He grabbed the food and began eating. He ate quickly, ravaging through the food like an animal.

"Is this how Earthlings eat?" Jax stared at him in shock?

Rayleigh continued devouring the food like a starving animal, ignoring Jax all the way.

"You really were hungry," Jax muttered. "Anyway, word has already spread throughout the settlement about you. Everyone knows that you fought the beast and saved the settlement. They see you as a hero." Jax said after a while.

"I’m no hero." Rayleigh muttered through a mouthful. "I’m not anything."

Jax looked at him for a moment before changing the subject.

"So, how many beasts did you kill?"

"Seven."

"Seven?! Seven beasts?"

Rayleigh paused. "Plus the Intermediate one." he shrugged.

"That is impressive... I can store them for you, if you need safekeeping."

Rayleigh immediately shook his head. "No, I’m good."

"Why?" Jax asked with a frown.

"Because I can store them myself."

Rayleigh had no intention of handing over valuable crystals to someone he had met few hours ago..

"Well... whether you like it or not, those crystals will eventually end up in my hands."

Rayleigh narrowed his eyes, finally sparing Jax a full look. "What?"

"You won’t be able to enter the city and buy your fuel."

"Why not?"

"You’re an alien and you came here illegally. I’m almost certain of that. The city does not take kindly to aliens."

Rayleigh thought about it and realized: Jax was right. The leaders of Skylark wouldn’t want aliens stepping into the city casually.

If the Mulkan city really did not allow aliens inside, then walking around with eight beast crystals wouldn’t help him much.

Besides, his Inventory was already almost full. He needed the remaining space for tomorrow’s hunting.

"Fine."

Rayleigh opened his Inventory. He navigated through the interface and selected the crystals.

Suddenly, several glowing crystals appeared out of thin air and they all dropped onto the sand one after another.

Jax jumped, slightly startled.

"Magic..."

Nine crystals had fallen onto the ground, along with a single stack of paper.

"What is that?"

Rayleigh barely looked at it.

"Nothing... just a reminder of my earlier victory."