Chapter 8: Ambushed

Chapter 8: Ambushed Xu Tao and Pepe walked onward with a bright outlook ahead. His steps were light and cheery, as if everything was finally going well—like nothing could get in his way anymore... But not for long. "...!" His senses warned him of another trap—another Sand Beetle Larvae lurking beneath his feet. The moment he detected it, he jumped back to steer clear. But that move turned out to be a fatal mistake. "Shit...!" His footing collapsed as he landed, revealing that the one ahead of him wasn’t alone. He had fallen right on top of another one. They didn’t burrow deep like the first one he encountered, but lingered near the surface, causing their attack to reach him fast. In an instant, his right arm was bitten—it felt like an alligator clamping down with enough force to make him bleed and scream in pain. "HAAAP!" But he didn’t cry like a baby, but rather, attacked like a man. Infusing his fist with Qi, he struck the monster’s head, crushing it like a melon. Sand exploded from the force of the punch, towering into the air. He raised his fist, staring at the now-battered head of the creature that bit him—dead beyond doubt. But it was just one of many. Dozens of monsters had appeared around him out of nowhere. He couldn’t even detect them until it was too late—until he’d already stepped into their trap. With his current strength, he could handle one or two at a time, even if ambushed... but twelve? That was an entirely different matter. "Fuck this shit...!" Xu Tao cursed, grabbing his injured arm. "Pui, pui..." Pepe just shivered behind him. Just as the first monster disappeared, turning into a small loot box like before— [Detecting a Monster Kill.] [Reward: 1 Small Loot Box, 1 System Point] [Opening Small Loot Box... You received 10 Gold, 1x Bread.] [Calculating Level Difference... 9 levels. Granting Experience Points.] [Congratulations! You have leveled up!] [Congratulations! You have leveled up!] [Congratulations! You have leveled up!] [You are now level 4!] [You have gained 12 free status points to distribute!] A flood of messages appeared, filling Xu Tao’s vision. He was pissed at first—his view was completely blocked, making him lose sight of his enemy for a moment—but quickly realized it was a blessing in disguise. With swift movements, he pulled up the main menu, tapped the Character panel, and dumped all 12 points into his Cultivation stat. From its previous 12, it now totaled 24! In a hurry, he arranged nine Drops of Qi in his lower dantian, eight in his middle dantian, and seven in his upper dantian. It was the most optimal distribution he could manage on the spot. "Great! Body Refinement 4th Stage!" Xu Tao grinned, feeling the surge of strength coursing through his limbs. The first to third stages were considered early stages—barely any difference. But once you hit the middle stages, the effects snowball. It was just one rank up, but his power had practically doubled! More than the physical boost, he appreciated the increase in internal energy. His Qi was now enough to finally use one of his "weaker" moves. "You beasts...!" he growled, gathering Qi into his fist. The heavens began to dim. Clouds rolled in mysteriously, out of nowhere, blocking the desert sun. Lightning fell like divine punishment, striking the sandy desert at random. Xu Tao didn’t flinch. This sight was normal to him—almost expected. His Qi-covered fist began to glow with a golden hue. No, it wasn’t just glowing—light began to swirl, forming the shape of a coiled dragon, ready to pounce. "Try this one for size! [Heavenly Fist Technique (Revised): Hungry Dragon’s Rampage]...!" He launched his fist forward—and the light exploded. A full-sized dragon, its head as tall as Xu Tao himself, burst across the desert like a living force of nature. It twisted, turned, and dove into the sand, hunting anything that he had considered as an "enemy." Within five seconds, the rampage was over. And Xu Tao dropped to his knees. "Haaah... haaa..." Sure, he’d had just enough Qi to activate this technique in its base form—but that didn’t mean he should have. His entire body felt like it had been crushed by an elephant. His internal organs almost failed him. Another second of using that technique, and they would’ve definitely ruptured. "But with this... the cost should be clear..." He muttered, his eyes blurry from exhaustion, pain, and blood loss. His right arm was still bleeding. His core was a mess. His limbs trembled from complete Qi depletion. He could barely stay upright, let alone move. Still... that wasn’t the end of it. [Detecting a Monster Kill...] [Rewarding...] [Calculating Level Difference...] [Congratulations! You have...] Notifications kept flooding his view. So many, they overlapped and pushed each other out of the way before he could even read them. He looked up—and saw the wall of notifications stretching as high as a building, vanishing from oldest to newest slowly. Curious, Xu Tao opened his Character page again... and froze. "My level rose to 11... and I gained 21 more free points..." He had no idea how the "experience" system actually worked, but he now understood one thing for sure: with the Lost System, he could cultivate faster by killing monsters! He hesitated for barely a second before dumping all 21 points straight into Cultivation, raising the stat to 45. Just like that, he broke through to Body Refinement 5th Stage. It felt almost anticlimactic. New Qi rushed into his system. First, he redirected it to circulate through his battered body, accelerating the healing process. He couldn’t afford to lie around in the middle of the desert after all. "Phew..." It took a full minute to consolidate the 21 new Drops of Qi. That was slow—slower than he liked. "This body’s really too weak," he muttered. "But I’ll build it properly this time!" Just as he stood up, ready to gather the loot from the defeated monsters— "Pui, pui~!" A cheerful chirp caught his attention from behind. He turned—and saw the little green pumpkin, Pepe, standing atop a pile of loot boxes. Before jumping toward Xu Tao’s chest. He quickly caught the creature, which felt lighter than he expected, and sighed. "...So you can help gather loot, huh? Guess you’re not just a freeloader." He smiled and gave the creature a pat on the head (or what he guessed was a head). It squirmed happily in his arms as he did. He glanced over the pile of boxes... only to notice one was about 50% larger than the rest. "If these small ones are Small Loot Boxes, then..." He paused, staring. "...this must be a Medium Loot Box!" Curious, he reached out and touched the lid. The moment he did— "No way?!" —a notification burst into view, shocking him. Updated from freewebnovel.co(m)