Chapter 206: Half-Month Achievements

After dealing with those two troublesome magical beasts, Rod cautiously scanned the surroundings. Only after confirming there was no danger did he sit down, panting heavily!
One battle had already left him exhausted, not to mention he had almost lost his life, filling him with deep frustration.
One hundred! Future tasks would only get harder. It seemed everything was just the beginning.
Panting and lost in thought, he kept an eye on his surroundings. After some reflection, Rod identified three key issues.
First, this was merely the start—days ahead would become increasingly difficult. He needed to be mentally prepared for everything. Today it was two foes, and they were a combination of magic and martial arts. What about later? The number would keep increasing, and so would their strength.
Second, he still had many shortcomings. He roughly guessed Melon’s purpose for these stages: the first and second phases were mainly to train his patience and center of gravity control. Mastering one’s center of gravity allowed a warrior to perform at their best in any combat situation. It also involved using various conditions to enhance explosive power for decisive moments.
Finally, the third phase focused on cultivating composure and reaction speed. One had to be aware of everything around them—though the eyes couldn’t see, they had to use their mind to observe thoroughly. Fully unleashing their mental power and controlling it to the utmost could create a “third eye,” or the eye of the mind.
This concept was profound. Rod knew that once one reached a certain level of strength, in a battle where both sides reached perfect harmony, it would be difficult for the opponent to see one’s attack routes, forcing them to fight by intuition. If one had a third eye, the eye of the mind, their mental power could lock onto the opponent, allowing them to control them no matter how fast they moved. That was the key. Mastering this could ensure invincibility at that level—or at least a victory rate of over 70%.
Even now, at the early stage of the divine realm, he could already sense the opponent’s strength and speed. What about at intermediate and higher stages? Then, the third eye would play a crucial role.

Of course, the third eye alone is not enough; one must also rely on their ears to stay alert to every sound. Not a single subtle movement should be overlooked, which requires a calm mind, sharp judgment, and quick reaction skills! Only by achieving these two things can one succeed.
In past battles, or rather, in everyone’s battles, too much reliance was placed on the eyes to make judgments. What the eyes tell us isn’t always the truth. For example, his Shadowless Sword could often deceive almost everyone’s eyes. In such situations, it’s not surprising if the opponent is caught off guard. Only the heart—the third eye—will never deceive one; what it sees is absolutely true.
After understanding all this, Rod let out a sigh of relief, a faint smile appearing on his lips. Melon had indeed thought carefully; such training was truly important for him, with obvious benefits for the future. With clarity in mind, he quickly got up from the ground and took a piece of cloth from his pocket to cover his eyes, fully immersing himself in the environment!
The battle just now had been extremely intense. Although he suffered many injuries, it allowed Rod to roughly grasp the combination of mental strength and the heart. Now, he needed to integrate and strengthen this to perfection.
A month might not seem long or short, but it was enough time for him to train thoroughly.
Under these circumstances, Rod was strengthening his third eye every second, gradually becoming more skilled over time.
Melon, who was constantly watching Rod in the shadows, was shocked and helpless, yet also filled with admiration and envy. Such talent and comprehension were unprecedented. It seemed that killing a hundred magical beasts in a month would no longer be a problem! He remembered that it had taken him nearly a year to complete that task, and that was only with the full guidance of his mentor. Compared to Rod, he was far behind.
At the same time, he thought of an action that Rod would surely scold him for if he found out, and decided to intensify this training by raising the difficulty. The simplest way was to slightly increase the level of the magical beasts sent in each time, or add one or two more. Though it seemed like a small improvement, the difficulty increased exponentially.

Days passed by, and Rod spent almost two-thirds of each day in battle. Aside from the first day, he faced three magical beasts in every subsequent battle. Now, all the magical beasts he encountered were at the quasi-divine level—ranging from the early stage of quasi-divine to the middle and late stages! Through such trials, Rod felt that the energy he could unleash now reached the early stage of quasi-divine, indicating a significant improvement.

Of course, to unleash the most powerful attack, on par with that of a warrior at the late stage of quasi-divine, required explosive power—a feat he could never have achieved before but now can. This was progress.

Breaking through from a suppressed holy-level strength to a quasi-divine level was already a huge advancement. Rod clearly sensed he had hit a bottleneck—between the early and middle stages of divine level. The effects of suppressing his combat energy were indeed remarkable!

Feeling this, Rod was extremely excited. Once he overcame this bottleneck, he would reach the middle stage of divine level. If that happened, it would surely make countless people envious.

Having only reached the early stage of divine level about two months ago, breaking through to the middle stage was, if not unprecedented, certainly an extraordinary achievement. Most people would need at least ten years to achieve such a rise, and even those with exceptional talent would need over five years. Few had ever managed to do it in five years, yet Rod had done it in just two months. Thinking about this, he even felt a bit ashamed. Was it his luck, his good character, or truly monstrous talent?

Yet Rod forgot that he had paid a corresponding price for all this effort. Moreover, his previous improvement was nothing short of monstrous—such rapid progress was truly unprecedented.

With the same tasks every day and a major battle each day, Rod continued to improve through combat. Melon was also fair enough—not utterly shameless. He sent in a group of magical beasts per day. At least up to now, over the past half month, each group still consisted of three beasts. In other words, with the last beast just killed, Rod had already slain 45 magical beasts in just half a month—a truly insane achievement.

With great joy, he promptly gathered the cores and materials of the magical beasts—he certainly wouldn’t foolishly give them up, as they would be useful in the future! At the very least, he could use some of them to buy things; leaving them here would be a waste, and Rod certainly wasn’t stingy.

The magic bag was already half-filled with these materials and cores, which made Rod grin broadly—now he was a little wealthy. Though not as rich as the four great families or the demon race, nor as powerful as elite clans like the Purple-Winged Thunder Eagles, or even some minor families at the bottom of the hierarchy, it was more than enough for him.

Half a month of training had allowed Rod to maximize the use of his Mind’s Eye, enabling him to keep a clear track of every magical beast’s movements. His opponents were much stronger now, but still far better than those in his first battle.

Of course, the battles weren’t easy. Facing three magical beasts whose strength was on par with his own after being suppressed, it was inevitable that there would be many dangers and injuries. Yet surprisingly, Rod found his recovery speed to be terrifyingly fast.

It seemed as if all the magical energy in the cave could be utilized by him—each time he trained, it flowed into his body, gradually integrating into his dantian and being absorbed by his core. Now, his combat energy core had turned a strange black color. Yes, black—filled densely with elemental combat energies representing his three attributes: blue for lightning, red for fire, and black for darkness. There was also a greenish energy he couldn’t identify. He had tried to figure it out once, only to sense something extremely evil, which made him break in sweat and avoid further exploration for fear of consequences.

Under such circumstances, his combat energy core was a dazzling array of colors, dazzling to the eye. The gases surrounding it turned into thick black mist, enveloping the core like fog and giving it a mysterious aura.

After these black gases merged in, his body’s recovery speed increased dramatically. Every time he was injured, he could feel the black gases inside him starting to heal, with the external magical energy aiding the process. Minor injuries could heal within the same day, while slightly more serious ones required only two or three days.

It was fortunate enough that this was the case; otherwise, Rod wouldn’t have known he could achieve such feats in just half a month. After all, he suffered injuries and setbacks in every battle, and without rapid recovery, he would have wasted a lot of time recovering.

In the blink of an eye, twenty days passed. In those twenty days, he killed sixty monsters, plus the rest day on the first day, meaning twenty-one days in total. Rod had fully adapted to life in the darkness. Calculating the time, he couldn’t help but feel anxious: “Brother Melon, speed up! Let’s finish it within a month!” That day, Rod couldn’t hold back and shouted outside, knowing that Melon could hear him. Rod didn’t want to waste another single day here.