Rise of the Alchemy God

Chapter 45: Killing the Beast

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He didn't want to come up with a fancy name for this attack, so he went with the traditional name for such an attack that he'd often seen in various TV series.

Looking towards the mountain goat, which had stopped eating and started looking around, Ethan thought, "It seems that it finally managed to perceive the fluctuations of the attack," as he prepared to strike.

Although he had distanced himself quite a bit from the area where the beast was, he was sure that his attack would not go unnoticed.

He knew he couldn't move any farther away because then he wouldn't be able to hit the beast accurately, so he decided to take the risk and attack from a distance that was within his range.

After all, he had only one chance and didn't want to mess it up.

The beast continued to look around, searching for the source of the danger it had begun to perceive.

After a few seconds, it identified the direction of the threat and, somewhat uncertainly, started moving towards it.

Although it sensed a bit of danger, it wasn't enough to scare it.

Being a naturally proud and combative beast, it decided to confront the threat.

Seeing it move away from the small field of refreshing herbs, Ethan sighed in relief.

He had intentionally prolonged the duration of the attack to lure the beast away from the herbs.

The last thing he wanted to do was hit the beast and end up setting the nearby herbs on fire as well.

Watching it approach him, Ethan prepared to attack. He took a deep breath and then hurled the fireball with all his might.

The sphere cut through the air with a sharp whistle, finally catching the beast's attention.

The goat, which had been slowly advancing towards Ethan, finally noticed the attack. The beast didn't waste any time and, with a swift movement, successfully dodged the attack.

Seeing this, Ethan didn't lose heart; in fact, he had a smile on his face.

"Gotcha," he said, watching the fireball that had hit a tree two meters away from the beast.

BOOOM!!!

The sphere exploded in a violent burst of flames, instantly engulfing the tree and everything nearby.

Ethan wasn't sure if he would hit the beast, so he had planned the attack trajectory such that even if he missed, it would still explode close by.

The beast, which had just leapt to the side to avoid the attack, was thrown by the blast wave, and its body ended up being covered in blue flames.

BEEE!

The goat, thrown by the force of the explosion, fell to the ground writhing in pain as the blue flames began to spread over its body.

The beast twisted and turned on the ground, trying to extinguish the fire.

Seeing that the beast was hit, Ethan wasted no time.

He drew his sword from his dimensional space and rushed towards it.

He had no intention of losing this opportunity to deliver a lethal blow, so with all his remaining energy, he gripped the sword and aimed it at the beast's neck.

Sensing the danger, the beast tried to get back on its feet to avoid the attack, but it failed.

The damage caused by the earlier strike had done much more harm than Ethan had anticipated.

In a second, Ethan closed the distance between him and the beast, and without hesitation, struck the beast's neck.

STAB!

The blow managed to penetrate the goat's defenses and plunged into its neck.

The wave of heat and light enveloped the goat, burning its skin and lowering its defenses, allowing Ethan's attack to damage the beast.

The sword went deep into the beast's neck but stopped halfway.

"Sh*t," Ethan cursed as he moved to the side, away from the burning beast.

He knew he didn't have enough strength to completely sever its neck, but that wasn't his intent.

Seeing blood starting to pour from the neck wound, Ethan sighed in relief and kept a safe distance from the beast, waiting for its end.

"Sorry, friend, but I'm not strong enough to spare you this suffering," Ethan said, offering his condolences to the dying goat.

Ethan watched closely, ready to react if necessary. After a few moments, it was all over.

The goat lay on the ground, defeated.

DING!

[Congratulations to the host for killing his first spiritual beast!]

[You have gained 50 QI]

Ethan was pleasantly surprised by these notifications from the system.

Although he imagined he could gain experience by killing monsters, he wasn't entirely sure.

After all, he hadn't had the chance to kill a spiritual beast yet, and since the system seemed to focus a lot on alchemy, Ethan wondered if he could gain something from hunting beasts.

Ethan had to admit that it was much simpler to create 10 low-grade pills and gain 50 QI than to hunt beasts to get the same amount.

He opened the mission screen and saw that more than 15 minutes had already passed.

Ethan wasted no time and approached the beast.

Without hesitation, he pulled out the sword that was still stuck in the beast's neck and pointed it at the beast's head.

With a strong strike, Ethan managed to pierce the beast's skull and open it.

Taking a look inside, he managed to spot something small and shiny within.

Without hesitation, he reached in and extracted the shiny object.

He pulled it out and raised it slightly to get a better look.

What he had in his hand was a small black sphere.

"A beast core," he said excitedly as he examined the sphere in his hand.

Just like humans, spiritual beasts also had their own core, and depending on the beast, this core could be located in the abdomen, like in humans, or in the skull, as in this case.

Seeing the small spherical object in his hand, Ethan's eyes sparkled.

Beast cores could have various uses, and depending on their grade, they could be sold at a good price.

What Ethan had in his hand was a level 1, medium-grade beast core.

According to what little Ethan knew, it could be sold at the market for up to 5 low-grade spirit stones.

Essentially, he had already earned half the amount for the exam registration fee.

Ethan carefully cleaned the beast core, as if it were his child, and put it away in his dimensional space.

He stood up and prepared to head towards the area of the refreshing herb field.

Before leaving, he glanced at the beast's corpse, and seeing that it had been incinerated to death, Ethan shook his head and hurried to leave.

He had withdrawn the flames from the burning tree, preventing the forest from catching fire.

Without wasting time, he moved to collect the herbs.

The last thing he wanted was for another beast to show up and eat the herbs he had worked so hard to get.

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FRANK_LEE_JUNIOR:

Here's today's chapter. I hope you enjoyed it.

As usual, if you have any comments, suggestions, or errors to report, you know where to do it.

See you tomorrow.