Chapter 104: Seeking Death on One’s Own

Thinking of this, he inwardly groaned. His loud cry must have attracted the attention of the other mercenaries, among whom there might be ruthless bandits. Hill’s lessons had taught Rod that in this forest, the most terrifying threats might not be the powerful magical beasts but rather greedy humans. The number of deaths from mutual slaughter could far exceed those caused by magical beasts.
This was the ugliest side of humanity. With this lesson in mind, he knew he had to guard against not only magical beasts but also those damned bandits in Collins Forest, moving carefully with each step.
At the same time, Rod realized his cry must have alerted the sensitive magical beasts in the vicinity. For safety’s sake, without hesitation, he exerted force from his feet, leaping upward, then fleeing swiftly like the wind into the distance.
He ran frantically, dodging through branches, moving as nimbly as a monkey, racing through the dense jungle for over ten minutes. Only when he glanced back and saw endless green mountains did he breathe a sigh of relief. He must have run at least five or six kilometers—enough to stay out of those scumbags’ sight.
Thinking of this, he sat down on the ground, panting heavily. Though he had trained for some time, he still felt mentally exhausted. Looking at the sky, it was still afternoon. After pondering for a moment, he decided it was better to find a place to rest first, regain his strength, and then fight again. There were still three days left. His target was just the Wind Leopard—shouldn’t that be a problem?
After searching, he nearly found a quiet spot: a small canyon, perhaps only dozens of square meters in size. Earth mounds on all sides covered it, with just a few ancient trees, grass, and vine-like plants inside. The grass was about half a person’s height, forming a natural barrier to hide him.
After checking the surroundings and confirming nothing was amiss, he felt relieved. Remembering that he had become a Silver Warrior, his mood improved again. On a whim, he activated his internal energy. Instantly, dense combat energy spread around him, creating a silver-white glow that protected him like armor. This refined combat energy was far beyond what he had as a Bronze Warrior.
Though he had only just reached this level, he could sense its power. Rod was confident that if he encountered Hill now, he would have a real chance to compete and stand a good chance of winning.

Within the silver-white combat energy, there was a faint trace of pale green—this was the bronze combat energy that hadn’t fully dissipated. As long as he continued to strengthen it for a while and made slight progress, he would be able to completely get rid of it. Rod was quite aware of this. Reaching the rank of Silver Warrior meant having reached the stage where combat energy could be condensed. What remained to be done was to refine his combat energy, making it purer and more solid, in preparation for the next stage of forming a combat energy body.

Retiring his internal energy, with a hint of satisfaction on his face, Rod slowly lay down on the ground, ready to rest for the day.

As soon as he touched the grass, he was immediately submerged in it. A soft sensation spread through his body—very comfortable, hardly any worse than a bed.

Having not had proper rest for several days, he fell into deep sleep in just a short while.

……

Not long after Rod fell asleep, about a hundred meters away, a snow-white creature was slowly approaching. From time to time, it sniffed the air, following a strange scent toward him.

Getting closer and closer, it soon reached above the small basin where Rod was resting. Looking down at the grass, the creature’s expression suddenly changed, and it bent over, slowly moving closer. In the grass, it moved like a nimble snake—impossible to spot if one wasn’t paying attention.

“Swish swish swish…” While asleep, he faintly heard some noises!

He turned over and continued to sleep soundly. But moments later, he suddenly opened his eyes. No—this sound was strange. How could such a sound exist? He had almost been deceived by his sleep.

He quickly grasped the Dark Dragon beside him, his muscles tensing instantly. Narrowing his eyes, he scanned the surroundings, fully prepared to launch an attack or counterattack the moment the enemy showed itself.

Sure enough, soon he saw the grass a few meters away move slightly before stopping and returning to calm. Yet the grass from that direction showed signs of being trampled.

“Damn beast seeking death!” His expression turned cold. It dared to disturb his rest. Clearly, that creature had grown bored. With a cold snort, he silently got up, staring at the creature across from him. Rod knew that at this very moment, the other creature must also be staring at him!

In an instant, his figure swelled as he raised the Dark Dragon high. With a loud shout, he rushed forward at top speed and swung his sword in that direction.

“Roar…” After a loud roar, a snow-white figure leaped to the side. The attack missed, and it quickly turned, gathering all its internal energy before chasing after with a howling momentum.
A layer of silver-white combat energy radiating from its body indicated that Rod had used every ounce of his strength, leaving nothing behind.
Roar… Two wind blades were spat out from that guy’s mouth, attacking him.
“Trivial tricks!” With a cold snort, he raised his sword, sweeping and slashing. After a brief pause, he charged forward again. It was a wind-based magic, seemingly only an intermediate spell—such a weak magic was utterly insignificant against him now.
After dispelling the magic, he continued to slash forward. It was at this moment that Rod finally saw clearly the creature that intended to ambush him.
What took great effort to find turned out to be nothing at all—it was the Wind Leopard! With its snow-white body and pure white fur, it looked exactly like a leopard, almost identical, with perhaps only its eyes differing—blue, truly befitting a wind-type magical beast.
Seeing Rod charge at it again, the Wind Leopard let out a long howl. This time, it was panicked—the human before it posed a threat. That silver-white combat energy made it realize it had encountered a powerful enemy, and the killing intent made it feel a hint of fear.
As a bronze-level magical beast, it could also be considered mid-tier. Such beasts generally had high intelligence and would make wise decisions by assessing their enemies and their own capabilities, unless forced otherwise.
Just like now—after casting several intermediate spells, it waited briefly before unleashing a high-level spell as Rod approached. Several wind blades and a tornado forced Rod to stop his pursuit.
“Bastard, trying to escape?” With a furious roar, he didn’t expect that damned guy to take advantage of his pause to flee, turning and running away at top speed.
Fueled by anger, he let out another howl, concentrating all his combat energy in his feet. In an instant, he shot forward like an arrow released from a bow, turning into a white streak.
His rapid pace was almost on par with that of the Wind Leopard, as he closely pursued at that distance!
“I’ll see how far you can run!” With a cold snort, Rod muttered to himself.

As expected, his judgment was correct—feline animals are good at short sprints but not long distances. Under Rod’s pursuit, the Wind Leopard’s speed gradually slowed, and it became even slower over time. Seeing this, Rod gathered his strength and kept closing in until he finally stopped the opponent after about five minutes.

“Hehe, little thing, I’ll take your essence core today!” Without giving it a chance to catch its breath, he drew his sword and launched a barrage of attacks. With its strength severely depleted, the Wind Leopard had no energy to fight back as sword strikes rained down on it.

In less than a moment, the Leopard’s once-white fur turned blood-red, and blood kept flowing from the wound in its neck. It could no longer roar or dodge, and even standing became difficult. It trembled as it stared at the human before it, its eyes growing dimmer. Against such overwhelming strength, it had no chance to resist. It had chosen the wrong target, and the price was death.

“Die!” He delivered another punch, sending it flying. Watching the Wind Leopard lie on the ground, trembling and convulsing, he smiled in satisfaction. Good, everything went smoothly—the mission was completed earlier than expected.

He quickly began collecting the loot. The first target, of course, was the essence core. He cut open the Leopard’s belly and fiddled inside, a smile slowly spreading across his lips. There it was! He pulled it out forcefully—a green bead the size of a quail egg, still dripping with sinister blood.

Satisfied, he tucked it away. This was part of his mission reward, worth dozens of gold coins—something he couldn’t afford to lose. Although he relied onHill, Rod was now wealthy, but he wouldn’t give up such profits.

Next, he collected the rest—fur. The pristine white fur of the Wind Leopard was highly sought after by wealthy ladies. This material could probably sell for a dozen gold coins! After finishing everything, he put it in his magic bag, exhaled, and quickly left the bloody scene. Otherwise, powerful magical beasts might be attracted.

“Damn it, this is…” In the next moment, Rod’s expression changed drastically. He had been too focused on chasing the Wind Leopard and hadn’t paid attention, ending up in the middle layer—nearly three kilometers away from where he started.

Realizing this, his face turned pale. This wasn’t a place suitable for him right now. He hurriedly packed up his Dark Dragon and headed outside. Unfortunately, it seemed his reaction was still a step too late.