Chapter 176 Lifelike
Adam firmly stood in his position, vigilantly looking at the Dark Leopard approach him. He got into a fighting stance and patiently waited. This was an unknown enemy after all.
Apart from what the old baboon leader had told him, he didn't know anything about this magical beast. He thought it wise to find out all about the beast's fighting capabilities before killing it.
Moreover, he was also quite interested in the Dark Leopard's illusion magic. He wanted to see how it worked. He wanted to learn from it.
When the beast was only a few meters away from him, it released a guttural growl. The beast crouched low, its muscles coiling like springs. The next moment, with incredible speed it closed the distance.
In the blink of an eye, the Dark Leopard had already arrived right in front of Adam. It raised its paw and viciously hacked at his face.
Adam was taken by surprise. Not only because of the beast's lightning speed but also the fact that it chose to fight him so directly instead of using illusions like he'd expected.
But the next moment he thought of a shocking possibility. As if to confirm his speculation, the beast in front of him passed right through his body as if it were nothing but a mirage.
Meanwhile, behind Adam, a pair of emerald eyes gleamed with a cold glint. The owner of these eyes suddenly appeared from the shadows and opened its maw. Then, it mercilessly pounced on him.
Adam's face was filled with panic and fear as he managed to turn his head around at the last moment. He gazed straight into the eyes of the Dark Leopard, who was only inches away from biting his head.
But suddenly!
Adam's lips curled up into a mocking smirk.
The Dark Leopard's jaws which were filled with jagged, razor-sharp teeth went straight through Adam. The beast's eyes widened in shock when it saw its prey dissipate into gray smoke as its body passed through him.
"Oho!" An amusing voice drifted into the beast's ears. "Your illusions are so lifelike. Very impressive."
The beast's hair stood on end as it hurriedly turned around and looked in the direction the voice came from. There it saw Adam standing with his arms crossed and leaning against a tree trunk, looking at it with a bored expression.
Adam glanced at the beast's tail, more precisely the chunk of muscle at the end that resembled a spearhead. "Is that where you cast your illusion from? How fascinating!"
The Dark Leopard instantly realized that this was not an opponent that it could fight against. As a user of illusion magic, the beast knew exactly how deadly illusions could be.
And now that he crossed paths with a human whose illusions seemed far superior to its, the beast's instincts screamed at him to do one thing and one thing only.
It instantly turned around and fled for its life.
"Huh?" Adam was speechless. "Did it just…"
"Myu!" Valerian nodded with his arms crossed, seemingly not impressed with the beast's behavior.
"Hah…" The youth shook his head and started to give chase. "What a drag."
…
For the next hour, a strange game of cat and mouse took place in the heart of the dark woods. Ironically, it was the feline magical beast that was now playing the role of a mouse.
The Dark Leopard was a sly creature. Despite having the strength equaling a Neural Stage Magus, it used unscrupulous methods—illusions, mostly—to hunt down its prey.
And as it turns out, the beast used the same deceitful methods to escape from Adam.
It was an eye-opening experience for the youth. Just witnessing the beast ingeniously use illusion magic to escape from him was a great learning experience.
Alas, the beast's attempts at escaping were futile.
For years now, Adam has been host to the white lotus. Having it permanently reside in his spirit sea had fundamentally changed not only his soul but also his eyes.
After all, it was said that the eyes were the windows to the soul.
Adam's eyes could see through all illusions no matter how powerful they might be. So how could he fall for the petty tricks of a mere Rank 1 magical beast?
After confirming that there was nothing more that he could learn from the Dark Leopard, Adam effortlessly killed it with a basic Magic Missile.
The orb of pure mana stabbed straight through the beast's neck, instantly creating a gaping hole. The beast gasped for air as it struggled to cling onto the last vestiges of life. But soon the light in its eyes dimmed and it perished.
Adam indifferently stared at the beast's corpse and coldly muttered, "Serves you right for what you did to those kids."
The youth then crouched down and skillfully skinned the beast. He figured that its tough hide would come in handy. After skinning the corpse, he took anything else that he deemed valuable.
"Ah, there it is!" Adam glanced at the blood-stained, black, crystal core that he fished out from inside the corpse.
This was the beast core that was present in all magical beasts. It was where the beast's mana was stored. Beast cores were valuable items that were mostly used as main ingredients in potions. They were also used as raw materials by Artificers.
Just as he cleaned the black beast core and was about to put it away, Valerian reached out for it. "Myuuu…"
Adam raised his eyebrows. "What is it, Val?"
Valerian pointed at the core while drooling. 'Gimme! Gimme!'
"You… want to eat it?"
"Myu!"
Adam was speechless. It had to be known that a beast core was very hard to bite into. That's why people usually consumed it after it had been liquified with other ingredients and made into a potion.
Still, he decided to humor the young dragon, curious about what he would do. "Alright, but be careful, okay? The core is pretty durable—"
CRUNCH!
"Eh?" Adam turned speechless as he saw the little guy snatch the core from his hand, effortlessly biting into it and then swallowing it.
"Myuuu…" Valerian displayed a satisfied expression as he stroked his tummy.
Seeing this, Adam shook his head with a sigh, "As expected of you, I guess. You really are a dragon."
He then put the rest of the corpse inside his earring and then turned around to leave. As he ran through the dark woods, he suddenly asked, "So which one do you like more? Meat? Or the core?"
Valerian started to sweat and his expression turned extremely conflicted. This was the most difficult question he had ever been asked in his life.
After thinking for a long time, the little guy still couldn't come up with an answer. In the end, he cast a sideway glance at Adam and then harrumphed, seemingly angry at the youth for putting him in such a dilemma.
He then turned into a gray flash and returned to the youth's spirit sea.
"Pfft—HAHAHAHA!"
Adam's loud laughter echoed in the dark woods for a long time.
A very long time.
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