After landing inside the hole in the tree, Long Tian unsummoned the wings.
He then started preparing the body of the sacred blood squirrel.
As he did not have a way to make fire here, he would have to eat it raw. It is normally not recommended to eat Gene Beast meat raw, as it is poisonous to normal humans.
But Long Tian, having 26 points of fitness and a level 9 S-Grade Gene Art that improved digestion, did not feel too worried about it.
After skinning and butchering the squirrel, Long Tian started eating.
The meat tasted bland, almost without taste. It was discovered that meat from Gene Beasts only has a taste if you cook them, which is a curious phenomenon.
There were almost 30 kilograms of meat.
Long Tian took three hours to finish it and had to relieve himself three times during this process.
Some unlucky beast might have been showered with the remains of a Sacred-Blood beast that was unfortunately already processed.
For those wondering, the leaves were very soft and served as a great substitute for paper.
'I really need to buy that art soon.'
Just after he finished eating all the meat, Long Tian felt a lot of information appearing in his head, even causing a slight headache. It was the fourth level of the Supreme Space Sword Gene Art.
Long Tian, having finished and feeling way stronger, opened his status.
'Status.'
[Status]
Name: Long Tian (Victor Smith)
Rank: Non-Evolver (First Sanctuary)
Age: 16(20)
Fitness: 34.5
Gene Points -
Ordinary: 100/100
Primitive: 100/100
Mutant: 100/100
Sacred Blood: 100/100
Super: 0/100
Beast Souls: [Super Giant Tree Tiger - Weapon: Naginata];
[Super Mountain Goat - Armor];
[Super Wood Python - Weapon: Javelin] x3;
[Super Grass Lizard - Weapon: Arrow] x5;
[Super Flying Squirrel – Flying: Wings];
[Super Bloodthirsty Rabbit - Weapon: Axe] x2;
[Super Small Green Bear - Pet] x3;
[Super Ambusher Boar - Weapon: Dagger] x4;
[Super Wood Spider - Weapon: Web Crossbow]x7;
[Super Forest Deer - Weapon: Staff] x2;
[Super King Gorilla - Weapon: Shield] x2;
[Super Giant Mouse - Weapon: Bow] x3;
[Super Green Beetle - Armor] x 3;
…
Gene Arts: [Supreme Space Sword Gene Art – Supreme Grade (1/4 Levels)];
[Dragon Foundation Cultivation Art - S Grade Basic Rank (9/20 Levels)];
[Martial Arts Essentials Martial Art - S Grade Low Rank (3/3 Levels)];
[Draconic Sword Martial Art - S Grade Intermediate Rank (0/7 Levels)]
Supreme Evolution Points: 3.2]
'34 of Fitness Index. That's actually pretty decent, from what I know, the majority of Super Beasts have a fitness index calculated to be less than 30, so I should be good.'
Confident in his new strength, Long Tian, without armor, summoned the Super flying beast soul from the squirrel.
The wings were a bit larger this time, reaching a wingspan of almost 4 meters when he stretched them, but were very compact in his back if he retracted them.
They looked thin, almost bat-like but not quite, just a thin membrane of flesh that was surprisingly resistant. He had poked it with a mutant sword before and it did not even make a dent.
It was a bright orange color, but with the white armor covering it, he should not attract much attention.
Long Tian then summoned the armor, becoming a white winged man with fur around his body and wings.
Flapping his wings, Long Tian disappeared, almost hitting a tree before controlling himself, staying still in the air.
"What a powerful wing."
Long Tian was surprised by the speed he had achieved just now. It was much faster than the sacred blood one.
"Time to hunt my first Super Beast."
Long Tian said to himself before disappearing.
He flew above the trees and went towards the direction of the first ring.
He did not know his speed, but he reached the mountains containing the first ring in less than a minute. It had taken him over 2 hours to reach the middle point between the two mountains, but he covered the same distance in less than a minute.
This was the power of flight. He did not have to fight and did not have any obstacles. And with his speed, no flying squirrel could reach him.
Reaching closer to the massive mountains, he started flying upwards.
He rose for well over 5 minutes, as going up was much slower than going forward.
Finally, he could see the top of the mountain.
Landing there, Long Tian saw the entire Ten Rings Mountains.
Behind him, he could see even the plains outside the Ten Rings Mountains, anything further away was simply too far for his eyes to see.
In front of him, there was the first ring.
It was truly a magnificent sight.
The first thing he noticed was the massive pillar in the middle of it all. It was supposed to be a mountain, but it felt more like a pillar going towards the heaven.
Even from this height, he could not see its top.
Then, there was the ring itself.
If the second ring had big trees, then what the first ring had were mountains in the shape of trees.
Hundreds of meters tall. He did not know how a tree could be so big.
What did not even cross his mind was that this was just the first sanctuary. Who knew what kind of incredible sights he would see in the other ones.
Suddenly, he could literally see a shockwave coming from somewhere in the first ring, approaching him very fast.
Seeing that, he widened his eyes and crossed his arms and wings in front of him.
"ROAAAAAAAAARRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!"
It was the loudest sound Long Tian had ever heard in his life; The shockwave almost made him move backwards.
'This Super Beast must almost be ascending!'
This was the only thing he could think of, to justify a beast to be so strong as to almost force him back just from a sonic attack from this far away.
Then, he heard loud sounds coming from a part of the forest before he saw a sight he would never forget.
Trees started shaking, some even falling, before a creature simply too gigantic took to the air.
Its body was very long, and it had a massive tail.
It had four limbs that ended in massive claws, a pair of wings flapped powerfully on its massive back.
It had a long neck that ended in an elongated lizard head.
Its skin had scales that were extremely shiny, looking like diamonds. Entirely black.
Long Tian knew exactly what this was. A Dragon.
The symbol of his clan. The name of the list of the strongest humans in existence.
Dragons were considered the strongest beasts in the sanctuaries. All of this fame came from one thing. Their absolute terror.
"ROAAAAAAAAARRRRR!!!!!!!"
Another shockwave came from the mouth of the dragon, forcing Long Tian to once again defend himself.
Long Tian was astonished. He had never expected that the super beast that had been terrorizing all the beasts was a Dragon.
Suddenly, Long Tian felt a presence appear near him.
Purely on reflex, Long Tian summoned the Naginata and turned around, facing this threat.
However, what he saw was not something trying to kill him, it was a beautiful mature woman.
Her hair was black and long, falling straight to her lower back. Her skin tone was actually similar to his lightly tanned skin, just a little bit lighter.
Her face was beautiful and sharp, but what caught his attention beyond her great figure was her eyes. Deep Red, exactly like his.
Seeing her figure clad in a black suit that hugged her skin, he immediately knew who she was.
"Greetings, Overseer."
Long Tian said with a nod.
She was the person that saved him that night, killing all those absurdly strong assassins like nothing.
"I have to ask you to stop here, Young Master."
The woman said with an even voice.
"Because of that?"
Long Tian asked, pointing at the massive black dragon in the sky.
She nodded.
"You will only get yourself killed if you go against that beast, even with your Super Armor."
She said the last part with a curious glint in her eyes, never having seen Long Tian kill a Super Beast.
She initially suspected that someone in the clan gave him these beast souls, but everything around Long Tian in the clan was monitored, even more strictly than inside the sanctuary.
So she was truly at loss at how he managed to get so many Super Beast Souls, even a flying one.
She obviously realized that their types were exactly the same as the sacred blood beasts he killed, but she refused to associate one thing to another.
How could one kill a Sacred-Blood beast and gain a Super beast soul?
"Look, I know you are looking out for me, and I am grateful for that."
He started lightly.
"But this is my test, and I need challenges to grow. I have already prepared myself, I won't die that easily, even to a dragon."
He said firmly.
She just looked at him for a moment before shaking her head and disappearing.
He truly did not know how she did that. He could not sense her even with the Space Art.
He took off flying towards where the Dragon was.
As he started descending in altitude, he could see that the forest was extremely damaged, with fallen trees everywhere.
As he approached the Dragon some more, he finally understood why it seemed so angry.
Two massive beasts were on the ground, looking at it.
Neither was as big nor felt as strong as the Dragon, but both were Super beasts.
A white lion that was 20 meters high and 40 long.
And a massive gorilla.
The Gorilla was almost the same height as the Dragon actually, probably 30 meters tall.
The Dragon was 35 meters tall, and he did not even know how long its body was, probably over one hundred meters without counting the tail.
Killing it would be extremely difficult.
As he approached the three Super Beasts, Long Tian started formulating a plan.
He could see that both the lion and the gorilla were working together to match the dragon, but they were still getting suppressed.
He could see that the lion was the weaker of the two, only serving as a distraction while the gorilla faced the Dragon head on whenever it went down.
He remembered very well what type of beast soul the White Lions dropped, and he had a hunch that the beast soul dropped by a Super Beast and evolved by the system would not disappoint him.
So he would first kill the lion and then use the sword that dropped from it to kill the Dragon.
His plan of action decided, Long Tian continued approaching until he felt he was about to be detected by the beasts.
He then started going around the fight, as he had been approaching by the side where the King Gorilla was.
When he reached a spot directly behind the White Lion, Long Tian prepared.
Naginata in hand, he had another Super Armor from the green beetle. But the entirely emerald-green armor was too hard.
He tested it and it worked better against cutting attacks but against impact, it was a lot worse than the one he was using. And against these giant beasts, he faced the risk of being smashed, not cut.
Feeling ready, Long Tian took a deep breath and launched forward. Using the entire speed he could get from the Super wing.
As the surroundings blurred by and he approached the back of the lion, the Dragon once again dived into an attack at the gorilla, just as he had timed.
The lion was preparing to jump on the Dragon when it felt an immense threat from behind.
It tried to dodge by jumping away but it was not fast enough.
Long Tian hit the lion on the back of its neck with the point of the naginata.
The lion's head snapped forward with tremendous force, and Long Tian almost lost the naginata inside the head of the lion.
The lion immediately roared in pain and started bashing its paws against the back of its head, where it felt someone.
Long Tian, seeing those massive paws approaching, left the naginata embedded inside the skull of the lion.
He put his foot against the base of the pole that was sticking out of the wound and used all his force to jump forward, dodging the attack and causing the naginata to completely enter the skull of the lion.
As he soared into the air again, Long Tian turned to see the lion trashing around on the ground while roaring in pain.
As Long Tian watched the lion trash around and become increasingly weakened, he heard a loud scream from the direction of the Gorilla.
The Gorilla was pinned down by the Dragon, its front claws holding the Gorilla down while it tried to bite its face.
However, the gorilla suddenly threw what Long Tian could only call a punch with its hands. The force of the punch so big that it caused the Dragon to be thrown back a bit, its neck and head thrown to the side.
But the gorilla was already injured, with deep gashes in its chest that were heavily bleeding.
Long Tian then decided to end the lion fast before the fight between the two ended.
The lion was still trashing around but was clearly having difficulty moving.
He then summoned a massive red axe. This was the beast soul of a Sacred Blood Bloodthirsty Rabbit, a nasty beast that attacked anything on sight.
He then swoped in for the kill. He reached the side of the Lion's neck and hacked down with the massive axe.
"Whimper…"
There was a low whimper from the Lion before it fell down, still alive.
Long Tian was undeterred and once again brought the axe down on its neck.
After repeating this for 5 more times.
*Ding*
And Long Tian almost passed out from pain.