Chapter 210: Green and Blue Monster Cores

The moment the monster got closer to him, he turned around and unleashed a sudden kick towards the monster's lower part. This sudden kick landed in an angle that pushed the monster forcibly high in the air, while the fire ball added more power to the kick, causing a faint explosive sound to echo in this place.

And then Jim jumped off the ground, flying high in the air in a level that was slightly higher than the off balanced monster.

"Die you freak," Jim held the sword hilt with both hands before landing his sword heavily with all his might and weight over what he saw as the monster's head.

The sword cut through the monster's skin like a knife cutting through butter. Jim didn't feel much resistance before he finally cleaved the monster in two halves just before landing on the ground without any wound.

"Finally it's over."

"Crack!"

Just as he muttered that he heard a faint sound that started to grow in intensity. "Damn it! That small piece of rock is going to crash down," he didn't wait any more and jumped fast to the two parts of the monster, taking both inside his ring before jumping in the last second off the rock that crashed next into tiny pieces of rocks and fell deep down the abyss.

"Tuck!"

His sword managed to insert itself inside the wall of this pit before he fell for a few meters due to his weight and momentum. And then his body stopped moving.

"Finally it's over," he glanced all around before seeing the edge of this pit tens of meters above, "I'll have to climb all that," he said before taking a deep breath and started to climb the wall with extreme care.

The moment he pushed his body over the edge of this bottomless pit he rolled over the ground and landed on his back. "'Easy there," yet the next moment Don jumped like a loyal dog and started to rub his head against his body and jump around like joyfully celebrating his safe return.

He patted on his head while smiling. "Thanks for the help back there," he knew part of what happened back there was thanks to his good luck and part was due to his pet's luck.

"Now I need to get as much of this ore as possible," once he restored his calm and stood up, he turned to the abyss where his sight could only reach tens of meters down there without showing anything else.

The darkness there seemed quite heavy and eerie. Jim was quite sure that this pit contained far deadlier monsters than the one he just killed.

And that made him pretty much hesitant about what he should do towards this place.

"It was supposed to be my own safe hole," he muttered while returning to the entrance, "but now it's full of deadly monsters. I can't risk even sleeping here."

'But you can rest,' the old man said, 'at night this might be a good place to hide, and in the morning you can search for better places.'

"I need to first find my team," he said, "and kill as many monsters as I can."

'You already have two monsters' cores,' the old man said, 'you should dissect the monsters and get these cores first.'

"What are these cores used for anyway," he asked while taking off the first monster he killed. Its giant body landed heavily on the ground while Jim worked on its body and opened it apart. "Where can I find these cores?"

'They usually lie just beside the heart,' the old man said, 'and I believe you got some higher grade cores this time.'

"Really?" Jim kept cutting the monster's belly and chest and started to look for the core under the bright red light of his nearby ore. "What are these grades anyway?"

'They are stratified according to their colors,' the old man said, 'the base is white, then green then blue, silver, bronze, and golden up to the level of the legendary transparent cores.'

"Impressive," Jim said before finally finding a small rounded and shiny piece that resembled an orb the size of his fist. "Is this it?" he asked while taking out the green shining core and examining it. "It's only green," he disappointedly said.

'That's considered great,' the old man said, 'it's not common for a disciple in the first three grades to be able to kill a green grade monster.'

"But it's still the second bottom ranking core," Jim was still dejected as he stored it away along with the body of the monster. "Let's see the other one, I hope it will contain a better core."

'It will,' the old man firmly said, 'I think it will be a blue core monster.'

"I hope it will be golden," Jim said with much anticipation.

'Hahaha, don't dream about this far boy. Golden monsters are much stronger than this little one you killed.'

"Can't you hope for better? Can't I have dreams then?" Jim was annoyed with his mentor's words and continued to dissect the monster at a slower speed.

"It's... blue one," he took the core in his hand while examining it. The shape of the core made him recall the orb Mark once used to assess their magic powers before, swirling with blue fog while he couldn't see anything through.

'Your luck is pretty much great,' the old man said, 'this little piece in your hand worth one thousand white cores y'know.'

"That high?" Jim was surprised, "what does it is used for then?" he asked while casually throwing it inside his ring along with the carcass of the monster.

'Usually you can use it in making potions and gears. Also you can absorb the power inside to replenish yours.'

"Just like what I'm doing with ores, right?"

``The same way but it's given for anyone to do that,'' the old man said, ``but in your case you can absorb a greater amount of power than anyone else.'

Jim wasn't excited about these words and as he leaned his body against the rocky wall he muttered, "I hoped for something epic, something that could turn on my power fast."

'There is no free lunch in this world boy,' the old man wisely said, 'and nothing comes without a price to pay.'

"Yeah, I can tell," Jim took a deep breath before glancing at the entrance of the cave and the depth where that frightening abyss was. "I need to gather more ores then before I leave."

Despite him being unwilling to leave such a treasure trove, he decided to do so in the morning. This place was a nightmare, and if he couldn't get some rest and sleep then he would prefer to look for another hiding hole then.