Only a solid body could serve as foundation for future training, which is required to become a Magus Warrior.
Stones carried by those kids were made of Qinggang, the hardest rock in the Southern Wasteland jungle. Each of those stones had been carved into a three-square-feet cube.
Also, the weight of the stone was used to measure strength. The weight of one stone cube was one unit of strength, called one ‘stone’. A Novice Magus of the First Level had the strength of ten thousand ‘stones’ and at the Second Level the strength increased to twenty thousand ‘stones’.
Ji Hao was a Novice Magus of the Fourth Level, which meant that his strength was equivalent to forty thousand ‘stones’.
“But...That guy Ji Wu...,” Ji Hao frowned.
After the fight in the meeting hall against Ji Wu, Ji Hao clearly realized that Ji Wu was way more powerful than him. The strong and fiery light emitted from Ji Wu’s body showed that he had reached the Tenth Level, and his internal power might have already been triggered[3]. If he went only two levels further, Ji Wu could advance to the ranks of Junior Magus.
With Ji Hao’s current strength and wizardry he had learned from the Maguspriest granddpas, it was not difficult for him to transform his body and have a few advantages. However, if he were to fight against Ji wu face to face, Ji Hao’s chances for victory would drastically decrease. Not to mention that even if he won, he would still have to face Ji Shu and his people.
“I have to eat more powerful beasts...,” Ji Hao talked to himself.
“How about asking Mr. Crow for help? Mr. Crow is on a level comparable to a Senior Magus; if I would ask him to hunt a hundred of Junior-Magus-Level beasts for me...”[4]
While Ji Hao was considering this, the smell of meat reached his nostrils.
Qing Fu walked into the yard, waved to Ji Hao, and said: “Hao! Come down. Your Abba has hunted you a serpent earlier this morning, come on in.”
Ji Hao looked at Qing Fu, leaped down from the roof and walked to the hall.
The bronze-furred bear, Ji Xia’s contract beast, was lying on his stomach in front of the door, looking at the roasted serpent and drooling.
Ji Xia glanced at the bear, then threw a human-leg-thick firewood towards the bear. The bear was hit by the firewood, howled in pain and rolled away like a ball of fur.
“Get away, you fatty!” said Ji Xia. “The only thing you understand is eating! Sooner or later you’ll be too fat to run; Then I could eat you and find myself another contract beast...”
While Ji Xia was yelling at the bear, Ji Hao walked into the hall and glanced at the roasted beast.
It was indeed a serpent. Its muscles were semi-transparent and its bones were metal-like, which meant that this serpent was a peak level Novice-Magus beast.
There were countless beasts living in the jungle, but a beast which reached this level was very rare and was hard to hunt.
“Abba!” Ji Hao walked to the fireplace and took a seat.
“Hao,” Ji Xia looked at Ji Hao and smiled, “You ate all of our meat last night. I was afraid that your hunger hadn’t satiated yet. Here, I got you a White Qui Serpent.”
White Qui Serpents were highly toxic, good at hiding and very difficult to hunt. Its bone marrow contained huge amounts of power.
Qing Fu walked inside, rubbed Ji Hao’s head, and said: “Hao, you ate that much meat yesterday, I saw your strength increase, which is a good thing. Here, you should eat more.”
Ji Xia and Qing Fu looked at Ji Hao with broad smiles on their faces. It seemed, they had no intention of asking Ji Hao about his behaviour last night.
Ji Hao looked at his parents and felt deeply touched. They never questioned him. They had always been protecting and supporting him as much as they could.
Yes, they were his parent, and as far as he was concerned, they were the greatest people in the world!
“Okay, I’m just a bit hungry! Abba...Amma..., thanks!” Ji Hao laughed.
He grabbed a knife and cut a, bucket-thick tail from the serpent off, stuffed it through his throat, without even chewing.
Once Ji Hao ate the serpent tail, he sensed that the serpent’s bones and muscles turned into a stream of heat, rushing towards the flame in his Dantian. Soon, a small strand of the flame was absorbed by his body.
Ji Xia and Qing Fu had noticed that Ji Hao’s muscles were swelling. At the same time, sounds of his bones snapping could be heard. Ji Hao even looked slightly taller than before.
They laughed happily.
Ji Xia Said: “Good, very good, Hao, just eat whatever you want; Abba can hunt you anything!”
Qing Fu rubbed Ji Hao’s head with a smile on her face.
Then, someone knocked the door.
They heard a mocking voice: “Is Qing Fu, the Maguspriest, at home? I have some drug-making problems that I would like to consult with her.”
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[4] All living creatures naturally have life force energy and internal power. They naturally learned to absorb life force energy from the nature to grow their internal power. The quality of internal power of a beast is as same as a Magus, therefore, it can be seeing as in a certain level as a Magus.