He can't believe that even gold ranks are attracted by Wuk's evolution.
Knowing that he's no match against such an opponent, he run up to the three with dash and uses his legs to grab a hold of a branch while still carrying Wuk who turned into an egg.
MOO! The bull charges at the tree, shaking it violently.
Sean frowns and was about to move when he feels the air trembling.
SWOOSH! He barely dodges the dive of a large bird.
Another gold rank! Both of them are looking at the egg greedily.
'All of them are metal types!' Sean quickly realizes something, every mystique creature chasing after him are from the Golden Paradise, making them all metal types.
Wuk's evolution is definitely going to be related to metal, he already knows this but it seems that he's awakening something.
The tree he was standing on starts shriveling at a rapid pace as puts the egg on top of it.
A sound appears on his head and it's the system notifying him that Wuk's egg is absorbing every metal element it can to complete it's evolution.
Realizing this, he turns to the other trees and starts leaping towards it.
Meanwhile, the gold ranks are glaring at each other, not wanting to give the other the opportunity to take Sean and the egg.
For creatures as proud as them, Sean is no longer of worry.
For them, unless you're also a gold ranker, they wouldn't be worried about you.
Sean can sense this, it seems that the two already regarded them as their property and is now projecting their strength on one another, clearly telling that he belongs to either one of them.
'Come on! Absorb!' Sean screams inwardly, the egg was now growing bigger and heavier each time it absorbs the vitality of the trees.
ROAR! Suddenly, a loud roar was heard throughout the entire place.
Sean's expression turns pale, he can't believe that even that thing was attracted by the commotion of Wuk's evolution.
Gritting his teeth, he leaps to the other trees, not caring about any ambushing mystique creature since there are two gold ranks guarding him.
He was going deeper into the forest, absorbing the vitality of the trees to enhance the growth of the egg.
When it became twice as large as him, it stops absorbing vitality but he now has a problem.
He's surrounded.
A gold rank two headed ape, a gold rank four armed monkey, a gold rank large spider, a gold rank bull, a gold rank bird.
He's surrounded at all sides and has no escape, he looks up and an entity similar to the golden dragon was staring at him with greedy eyes.
Without hesitation, he throws to egg to the four armed monkey, it's eyes lights up and it opens its mouth to swallow.
Every gold ranks moved, their target was the egg, when it approached the mouth of the monkey, it suddenly disappears.
Sean, who had dashes towards the monkey, smiles but it was short-lived.
Angry that it was turned into a fool, it slaps Sean.
All his abilities are already active since the chase, so when the swipe was approaching him, the only cards he has left were his skills.
Impenetrable Fortress!
BANG! He was smacked away by the monkey, causing him to vomit blood but he feels that it was worth it.
BOOM! THUD! Crashing into a tree, he quickly operates Intermediate Cultivation Technique and watches the chaos unfolds.
All the gold ranks are now chasing after the monkey, they think that it had swallowed the egg and since there's no change on its presence, for them, it meant that it still hasn't refined the treasure.
'The gamble was worth it.' He thought, feeling his body creaking from under the pressure.
Cracks starts appearing on his body, clearly indicating the power of that strike.
Sean shakes his head, no matter how durable his body, one strike from a gold rank mystique creature broke most of it.
Fortunately, he doesn't have to regrow a limb and his body can regenerate itself just by absorbing the spiritual energy in the air.
He frowns suddenly, it feels like he doesn't only absorb spiritual energy but also something else.
[Congratulations! Intermediate Cultivation Technique has evolved.]
Intermediate Cultivation Technique: Has the same function as the Basic Cultivation Technique but absorbs spiritual energy much faster and can turn spiritual energy into vital force once refined by the body.
Gold Core Refinement (Lungs): Absorb the surrounding metal element and refines the vital organs with it, creating a core of the metal element.
A core! His eyes widens in disbelief, from his understanding, one can only start creating their core at gold rank, this is the path gold rankers take to reach innate realm!
[Creation of World Vein in progress...]
Wuk's evolution seems to be the trigger of this, even his body feels heavier than usual.
This sensation lasts for a short while before disappearing.
[Learn skill (Metal Coating).]
Like Heal, he learns a new skill connected to the World Treasure.
Trying it on, it's basically similar to Metal Element Imbue, relying only at his own spiritual sense and energy to be activated.
His hand turns into metallic black, he feels the power coursing through it.
'An active skill that increases my defense and strength, turning my physical attack into an elemental one but not decreasing the power of my attacks!' Unlike the skill he learned from the Tree of Life, the World Vein only empowers himself not others.
He sends a message to Jasmine to bring the silver ranks to him, he's going to use their corpses as nutrients for the rabbit grass and for him.
He might be injured but he still managed to level up from the amount of spiritual energy coursing through his body, he's also empowered by the metal element of this place.
He's going to use his current situation to increase his strength rapidly, he needs a lot of corpses to sell to the Federation.
Two minutes later, Jasmine arrives with a plethora of mystique creatures chasing after her but no gold rank, it seems that her illusions can't fool the bloodline of gold ranks when it came to treasure.
Metal Coating!
Jade Skin activate
Titan Body activate!
Berserk!
Intermediate Cultivation Technique!
Flicker jab! His body explodes with power as his left hand seems to disappear.
BAM! BAM! BAM! His fists starts flying everywhere, all the bronze ranks that were hit are either killed or are now dizzy from the impact.
Sean frowns, jab is strong but it wasn't a killer move, even with the power of his abilities and skills, it can't compare to techniques that uses vital force.
'What if?' He tries again, his attacks halts the hundred silver ranks from their tracks as Jasmine turns off her Charm and Illusion.
'The speed of release is just too fast! I can't generate enough vital force before the release, causing it to be wasted.' He thought, deciding to study it later.
Looking at the hundred or so mystique creatures consisting of mostly silver ranks, a glint of excitement appears in his eyes.
Trusting on his absurd recovery, he charges at them with a ferocious look.
Vajra Kong Punch!
A combination of King Kong Punch and Metal Coating.
BANG! A bull that is related to the golden bull was killed in one punch.
Every mystique creature are attracted by him with his Charm activated.
CQC State!
Entering the extreme focus state, he managed to see all the attacks directed at him.
Parrying one of the attacks towards him, he directs it to the nearby mystique creature, he then flips and spins a kick that hits every creature around him.
Flipping up, he punches one of the stronger silver ranker.
King Kong Punch!
Another King Kong Punch!
Two silver ranks were killed but when he tries for another one, his expression changes.
The stronger silver ranks has arrived, a white tiger clearly different from the others tanks one of his attack.
ROAR! It let out a loud roar, unfortunately, this attack doesn't work on Sean.
Vajra Kong Punch!
BANG! The head of the tiger cracks but it's still alive.
'At least an excellent grade mystique creature.' He immediately thought.
BANG! He was hit by a powerful attack and was immediately surrounded by ravenous beasts.
Impenetrable Fortress!
Gatling Ironfist!
Punches flies around Sean, this wasn't a jab but an incredibly fast punches that are empowered by his own strength and Metal Coating.
BANG! He was hit once again but this time, he was prepared and blocked the attack.
He stares at the one responsible for this quick attack that even slightly injures him.
A horse with a horn appears, it doesn't look like a unicorn but more like a wild beast.
Raising it's hooves, it tries to crush him with it but he dodges, only to sense an incoming attack and reacts.
He punches the attack, only to feel the wind on his fist and something wrapping on his hand.
A black metallic snake, it hisses at him and pulls him.
'What strength!' He's shocked, this is the first time he lost in a contest of strength from such a direct clash.
He tackles it with Dash and attacks it with Vajra Kong Punch!
The snake twists and dodges the attack, opening its mouth, it tries to bite him.
BAM! A uppercut counter hits it's jaw, since it's reaction speed is much faster than him and has a body capable of twisting and flexing to a degree he can't imitate, he decided to opt with a defensive strategy.
No matter how strong this snake is, it can't defeat him without attacking, in that way, he'll just wait for it and attack, a blow it can't dodge.
'Once more!' While it's still suffering from his attack, he prepares for another one.
His expression changes, raising his head, a large golden eagle was swooping down at him with incredible speed.
His expression turns ferocious, raising his two hands, he hardens his body as much as possible, only blocking the vital parts.
BANG! The golden eagle is confident from its attack, it's beak can even pierced through diamond much less flesh.
When it looks at Sean, a giant fortress appears on its eye, seemingly dwarfing everything.
[Congratulations to the host for manifesting an aura!]
Impenetrable Fortress has broken through.
Together with Metal Coating, he manifested an aura.
Durability (Stackable), (Mid-tier): Increases the defense and toughness of the user, inducing despair to the attacker.
Ironfist!
Ironhide Skin has disappeared making it a bit uncomfortable to call the combo of Jade Skin and King Kong Punch an Ironfist but Metal Coating is different, it's a true Ironfist without the need to use King Kong Punch.
The bird covers itself with it's wings, Sean expects this punch would hurt it but it was able to block it unharmed.
'Speed and the ability to take a hit, what a tough opponent.' He thought.
'It seems that I'd overestimated myself, I can take common grade silver rankers even those at rare grade but taking excellent grade is a bit difficult, especially in a group battle.'
He escapes the clutches of the snake and dashes towards one of the tree, using all his limbs to escape.
The mystique creatures were startled, they didn't expect for him to escape, especially in such speed.
Meanwhile, Sean was unaware that multiple people watched his fight and they were awe at his performance.
"I already knows that he will surpass me but I never thought it would be this fast." One of the person sighs.
It was Iron, the people that witnessed the battle were from the Black Ape Dojo and Gold Family.
"No wonder he can come and go in this place, he's treating it as a training ground rather than a forbidden place." Zack mutters.
Hie eyes are gleaming brightly, in the eyes of the people in this world, Sean is the perfect candidate for a son-in-law.
"Do you think that if I act as the matchmaker between him and my daughter, will he accept?" He asks to his group.
Meanwhile, the people from the Gold Family frowns, they all look at Zack with vigilance.