Chapter 52: Black Hush

"This place looks like a good place to set up a camp, when that's done, I will set up exploding sun array around our camp for extra defense…" Hex said and Brian agreed but Lucien had other plans 

Turning his attention to the duo and giving them a meaningful gaze, he had no intentions of revealing the system to them but he also knew it is necessary for him to come up with an excuse if he truly wants to ditch these people and fight as many magic beasts as he can.

"While you guys set up camp, I believe its best I scout the area and know the kind of monsters that reside around here, that way we can plan ahead" Lucien said casually.

"But…" Hex was about to refuse but Lucien cut him short.

"But nothing… I am the fastest and the strongest here, I promise I won't venture too far and you have to worry about me finding my way back, I will just leave clues along the way" Lucien said with a stern look on his face.

Seeing Lucien had no intentions of backing out, the duo had no other choice but to agree. They watched Lucien effortlessly summon his wind wheels and speed off, entering the thick forest and vanishing from their view. Neither of them felt like they should speak on this issue so they got to work. 

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Shooting through the forest at an incredible speed, Lucien was like a beacon to all monsters around but even now he was too picky. With the presence of the beast assimilation ability, Lucien had taken his time to touch every beast-related book in the school library and have the system record them.

Apparently, beasts in this world cultivate, and the higher their realm, the greater their power and intelligence. It is said that all the god beasts in this world all started from minor low-level beasts like the wind creek which is the low-level form of the god beast, Raizen. According to the beastology books in the library, Beasts have three phases, there is the infant phase, the Adolescent phase, and the adult phase. 

These phases have nothing to do with their levels or cultivation realm, but with each phase, a magic beast gains a new ability, a stronger body, and a certain level of intelligence. In the cultivation realm, there are magic beasts which is the lowest realm for beasts and then there are soldier level magic beasts, General level beasts, King level beasts, Emperor level beasts, God beasts, and thanks to the system he also found out about Celestial beasts. As a human realm cultivator, any beats beyond the magic beast realm is too much for them, a single soldier-level magic beast is enough to kill a good number of human realm warriors and mages.

While studying about beasts, Lucien didn't hesitate to check on the location of the magic beasts he considered unique and one of them is very common in the beginner area, it is called the Black hush.

The black Hush is a shadow-type creature that excels in the shadow section of dark magic. It is said to be a double-tailed cat magic beast whose body is normally encased in darkness aura. Its mobility is astonishing as well as its attacks which are infused with dark magic and has a weakening effect on all those hit by it.

While shooting through the forest, Lucien came in contact with a few magical beasts but he didn't bother to spare them a single glance since he already knew what he came for. Going deeper and deeper into the forest, Lucien kept moving until he reached what looked like the largest tree he has seen all through his life, and atop the countless branches of the tree were at least ten Black hush magic beasts gazing down at him coldly.

"Did I also fail to say that these beasts live in groups… That way if I can kill a good number of them, I can improve the assimilation rate of that magic beast to a very high level." Lucien said as he did what the book specifically advised people not to do.

Look the magic beast in the eye!

Meeeeoooowwww!

The magic beast's roar was soft and cute but Lucien could sense the intense murderous intentions directed at him. He still stood atop the wind wheels and with his hands placed behind him, coupled with his silver kimono and his long silver hair, Lucien looked like one of those ancient grandmasters or sect leaders who smirk in the face of danger…

"Come at me, little ones" Lucien chuckled as he saw numerous balls of darkness shooting towards him.

"Lightning magic: Surge!" 

Knowing fully well, the enemies were close combatants, Lucien did not hesitate to cast the tier one lightning spell: Surge! Releasing numerous bolts of electricity around him was enough to discourage the black Hushs from approaching him, giving him the opportunity to strike first as well.

"Wind magic: wind blade!" Lucien growled as a wind star pattern appeared beneath his feet.

Under the watchful gaze of the black hush's five wind blades took shape before shooting sporadically. Depending on their quick reflexes, black hush's moved quickly, evading the wind blades but unknown to them, this was only a decoy.

"Many think my greatest strength now is my magic but that's wrong!" Lucien muttered as his figure blurred and the next second he was shooting towards a black hush that just evaded a wind blade.

Hayai-Ken; First form: Lightning Jab!

Instantly the Black hush felt like the temperature of the room had dropped by leaps and bounds. It was still in mid-air but it looked like time had stopped for it but Lucien was still perfectly fine.

Huuuufffffff!

Lucien exhaled heavily as his eyes lit up with power and his hand transformed into a talon while the Raizen god beast figure appeared behind him. The wind blade beneath his feet spun crazily as his body jerked forward abruptly and all the Black Hush could see was a bolt of lightning speeding towards it. Before it could even blink, It felt a piercing pain invade its body and the darkness around it vanish instantly, looking up it realized that the invader struck it even before it could fall to the ground.

The entire scenario played out in less than a second but in its mind, Lucien's preparation and the attack took at least one minute.

DING!

[Black Hush killed…]

[First time kill +200exp]

[Beast assimilation successful]

[Beast assimilated…]

[Shadow death God beast]

[Phase: Infant]

[Beast name: Black Hush]

[Assimilation progress: 1%]

[Assimilation progress low… No abilities unlocked yet…].

Lucien gazed at the notifications and frowned, not only did he get only a one percent assimilation rate from killing a single Black hush which means that he has to kill at least ten or more to get reasonable results. Also, this confirmed his theory, the stronger the beast or the person wielding the bloodline of the god beast, the more assimilation rate he gains. Meaning, if he wishes to make any real progress, Lucien will have to put aside everything else and search for more powerful variants of the Black Hush.

Gazing at the dead feline in his hand he realized that the only reason he is able to beat these monsters easily is not that he is far stronger but it's because he is superior to them in their main aspect of power. Since they relied on speed and he is much faster, they will find it really hard to put up a fight against him, unless they have the numbers advantage and this also meant that if he fought someone faster than him, he will end up in a similar condition.

"Sad…" Lucien muttered before he caught something approaching fast from the corner of his eye!

Swoosh!

Bang!

Performing a side flip, Lucien had just evaded a claw attacked infused with dark energy.

"I need to pay more attention!" Lucien was barely done with his speech when more enemies pounced on him.

Whoosh!

With the wind wheel making it looked like he's levitating, Lucien jerked backward with moving a muscle, thanks to his spell he could move without actually moving!

Swoosh!

Whoosh!

One attack after the other, Lucien kept retreating tactfully while intelligently gathering the magic beasts together. 

"Wow!" Lucien cried as he jerked backward one more time in a bid to escape an attack but then he saw another black hush right in front of him with its paw raised!

"Crap!" Lucien cried as he had no intentions of finding out how powerful their attacks are, so he quickly summoned his Wind creek dagger into his hands.

"Charge!" Lucien cried out as his lighting aura surged around the blade and he quickly swung the blade as the incoming paw!

Peng!

[-3HP] 

"So strong!" Lucien commented since he didn't expect the enemy that had such a small and fragile body to be able to release so much power.

Meow!

The black hush cried as it followed up another attack but this time with its companions surrounding Lucien and lunging forward at the same time!

"Perfect! Tier two magic: Lightning Rampart!"