In the dark forest, the loud noise echoed.
A towering tree trembled incessantly, its branches and leaves rustling wildly.
Yan Luo stood in front of the tree, silently using his body to strike the trunk, each hit exerting his full strength.
Although he was eager to see the Blood Lake, Sasa’s plan indicated that at this stage he was better suited for hunting in the Dark Forest.
The environment of the Dark Forest is complex, with many things to help Yan Luo exercise his body.
For example, the Strong Tree.
This tree’s texture is tough, yet not absolutely hard, so when Yan Luo’s body collides with it, it provides some cushioning.
Once Yan Luo’s defense becomes stronger in the future, he will need to switch to other materials to hone his body, but at least for now, the Strong Tree is the most suitable tool for his exercise.
Currently, it’s Yan Luo’s hundred and seventh hour in the Abyss, throughout these four plus days, he has done little else but hunt demons and exercise.
Within a twenty-kilometer radius, all Dangerous-level Demons have been eliminated by him; even ordinary-level and harmless-level demons, if discovered by him, cannot escape his deadly grasp.
It has been proven that exercising indeed accelerates the digestion of Magic Power.
During exercise, Yan Luo can feel his muscles tearing repeatedly and his bones cracking again and again, but Magic Power accelerates the healing of these injuries, and the more Magic Power present in the body, the faster the recovery.
And once the injuries heal, his body becomes stronger.
This change doesn’t just occur in the exercised areas; Magic Power strengthens Yan Luo’s body entirely, so if one part is exercised, other parts can replicate the results.
Now, the resilience of Yan Luo’s entire body’s skin has greatly improved; when he gently grips the blade, the skin on his palm is not cut by the blade.
He must remember, the melee weapons he uses can even cleave the skin of lethal-level demons, a testament to their sharpness.
Perhaps regrettably, skin resilience cannot be quantified, Yan Luo is unsure how strong his body’s defense has become, but at least with bare fists and full force striking the Strong Tree, his fist no longer breaks the skin, and the capillaries under his skin don’t rupture.
"The next training task is..."
Yan Luo ended the Strong Tree collision training task and opened the training scheme Sasa devised for him.
He was slightly startled when he saw the next task.
"——Hand-to-hand combat with Dangerous-level Demons?"
Given Yan Luo’s current physical capabilities, he indeed has the ability to engage in hand-to-hand combat with Dangerous-level Demons.
The issue is that Sasa specifies in the training plan that he should not use any weapons, solely relying on his body to fight Dangerous-level Demons.
Even among the melee fanatics within the Engravers, no one would do such a thing!
Although melee fanatics are passionate about close combat, experiencing pleasure from it, abandoning weapons and armor entirely and relying solely on their abilities to engage demons in close combat is a different story.
Without weapons, Yan Luo cannot even break through the demons’ skin.
Humans’ greatest advantage over demons is their use of tools; Sasa wants Yan Luo to abandon this human advantage, transforming into a beast to fight demons.
Is this really not a joke?
With a head full of questions, Yan Luo flipped through the training plan, finding that Sasa was indeed not joking.
In the notes under the training task, Sasa explains that engaging in hand-to-hand combat with Dangerous-level Demons can strengthen his physical strength, nerve response, and recovery ability; during the fight, body hormones spike, promoting spontaneous bodily strengthening towards resilience.
If he cannot accept directly engaging in close combat with Dangerous-level Demons, he can first try close combat with some more formidable ordinary-level demons.
To sum it up in one sentence——Get hurt more!
Abandoning all armament to engage Dangerous-level Demons in close combat will undoubtedly lead to bodily harm, but only through getting hurt more can the speed of bodily strengthening be accelerated.
"Who are we underestimating?!"
Yan Luo snorted coldly, closing the training plan, and began contemplating which Dangerous-level Demons are suitable for close combat.
Monsters like the Fire Python are definitely impossible for close combat; currently, he cannot withstand the high temperatures emitted by the Fire Python’s body, if entangled by it, he’s certainly doomed.
Fortunately, Yan Luo had stored a lot of demon information in his mind; in a moment, he had thought of several appropriate targets.
Yan Luo donned the exoskeleton and mounted his motorcycle, setting off to find traces of Dangerous-level Demons.
Even though there are few hunters active in the Abyss, scattered across the multiple zones of the Crimson Abyss; the hunters in each zone are rarer still, yet an encounter is still possible.
Yan Luo doesn’t want his secrets exposed to others’ knowledge, so he needs to wear the exoskeleton armor for disguise.
The motorcycle sped through the forest, shadows and moonlight flitting over Yan Luo, with the rustling sound of foliage and whispers in the breeze blending somewhat with other sounds, like the low mutterings of an unintelligent beast.
Yan Luo had long been accustomed to these noises, unfazed and mentally stable.
The radar emitted externally, consistently monitoring the surrounding environment for Yan Luo.
Meanwhile, Yan Luo also visually scanned the surrounding area, seeking traces left by Dangerous-level Demons.
"Fire Python, no... Stone Armored Bear, no... Shadow Wolf, but it’s just ordinary-level..."
Yan Luo’s eyes were like a precision instrument, easily discerning the traces he found belonged to which demons with a sweep of his sight.
When his body was strengthened, Yan Luo’s mental agility also improved somewhat; his current ability to quickly distinguish the owners of traces is one aspect of this mental enhancement.
Yan Luo stopped the bike, disembarked and carefully examined a footprint imprinted on the ground, then looked in the direction the tracks extended.
This footprint was left by a ferocious wolf, a medium-sized demon, even a Dangerous-level ferocious wolf is only comparable to a Siberian tiger in terms of size.
As the name implies, the ferocious wolf actually doesn’t possess superpowers, its strong physique is purely physical.
Compared to other demons with strange abilities, Yan Luo indeed prefers to find those with formidable physical abilities for close combat.
Human physical defensibility is a weakness, even after multiple enhancements, Yan Luo’s body still doesn’t change this fact.
Compared to other aspects, Yan Luo’s body defense is weak and can’t withstand a hit.
Yan Luo pursued the footprints, and as he neared the target, he heard wolf howls and roars.
The ferocious wolf has engaged with another demon?
Hearing the deafening roars, Yan Luo furrowed his brow.
That roar, he’s familiar with, having heard it personally before.
——Stone Armored Bear!
Yan Luo stopped the motorcycle, grabbed a few pieces of equipment, and stealthily approached the location of the battle between the two demons.
Although eager to progress and grow, he’s not reckless enough to intervene bare-handed in the fight between two Dangerous-level Demons.
As he neared the battlefield of the two demons, Yan Luo discovered the battle was nearing its end.
The ferocious wolf is quite powerful among Dangerous-level Demons, but the Stone Armored Bear is even stronger.
Even after exerting full strength, the ferocious wolf only managed to crack half of the Stone Armored Bear’s rocky exterior, tearing a bit of fur, while itself getting battered into a limp state with bent legs by the Stone Armored Bear.
What Yan Luo saw now was the ferocious wolf being pressed to the ground and violently attacked by the Stone Armored Bear.
The ferocious wolf’s head exploded under the Stone Armored Bear’s attack; the Stone Armored Bear stood upright and roared furiously at the sky.
Postmortem, the ferocious wolf’s corpse transformed into a Magical Power whirlwind, consolidating into a slab of flesh exuding a fragrant aroma.
Seeing the meat slab, the Stone Armored Bear became even more excited.
Just then, a shadow darted from behind a distant tree, swift as lightning and approaching in an instant.
Yan Luo snatched the slab from the ground, opened his mouth wide; not minding the jaw dislocation, he devoured the meat entirely, then propped his chin with a hand forcefully to fix the dislocated joint.
The Stone Armored Bear stood dazed, blankly gazing at the small figure that suddenly appeared before it.
The next moment, all excitement and confusion turned into rage, and the Stone Armored Bear furiously swung a palm down.