C42 Cool as a Cucumber! 

Just as Zhan Tianming was wondering...

Suddenly!

"Roar!"

A ferocious tiger roar resounded in the forest. The roar was so loud that it gave rise to mighty squalls in a seemingly desolate forest.

Rustling...

Rustling...

Before he knew it, Zhan Tinaming was surrounded by a mass of swirling leaves, cutting all his escape routes.

In an instant, those withering leaves swirled over and engulfed Zhan Tianming within them.

Zhan Tianming covered his face with his hands.

He only felt the dead leaves constantly whipping his arms and body, his ears filled with harsh swishing sounds.

His body was almost blown away.

"What a fierce wind!"

Zhan Tianming never thought that there would be such a strong gust in the forest.

Right, there was also a sort of fishy smell to the wind.

Apart from the fishy smell, it was filled with a thick stench of blood that made one feel queasy.

However, the smell soon disappeared.

Zhan Tianming saw the source of the smell clearly, though.

The source was a giant tiger-like demonic beast.

Its four legs were as thick as full-grown trees, and its claws were so sharp that light reflected off them perfectly. Its four curved canine teeth were stained with blood, and it only had half a tail.

From the looks of it, it lost half of its tail to some past opponent.

"System check."

Zhan Tianming calmly looked at the beast as he opened the system interface.

Demonic Beast: Blood-Armored Savage Tiger

Level: Peak of the second grade.

Description: A type of Grade Two Demonic Beast with very high defense and offense capabilities. It can easily tear apart various demonic beasts of the same grade. {Note: Among demonic beasts of the same level, the Blood-Armored Savage Tiger only has one natural nemesis: Wind Wielding Worms.)

"Wind Wielding Worms?"

Zhan Tianming had never heard of it before.

But it wasn't strange.

There were many Demonic Beasts he had never heard of.

Besides, this wasn't the time to think about it, was it?

The tiger was staring at him.

And, its eye had no kindness to them. Cold and cruel—that was what the tiger's eyes told about it.

"This is going to be troublesome."

Zhan Tianming was actually very calm right now. It was something he had learned after playing games for years.

Situations with high stakes called for a calm dealer.

It was only because of this mentality that he had always been successful in the game.

One's mental state was a crucial factor in a fight.

So, not a trace of fear could be seen on Zhan Tianming's face.

There was only calmness.

He was calm as Buddha.

However, the calmness didn't last long as he was suddenly stunned.

The calm façade tuned into a dumbstruck expression.

"It can't be..."

Zhan Tianming was stunned as he looked at the tiger that was meters away. Initially, the tiger's HP was full; suddenly, and for no apparent reason, it began dropping like crazy.

The tiger was just standing there. No one was attacking it, yet its HP was dropping.

'What's happening?'

Zhan Tianming was confused.

In the blink of an eye, the tiger's HP was reduced to only a few dozen points.

Zhan Tianming crazily roared:

"Damn it!"

"You are mine! No, I mean, your experience points are mine!"

His hand moved, leaving behind afterimages.

Swish! Swish!

Puff! Puff!

Two flying rocks struck its eyes.

The last few dozen HPs were instantly gone.

"Ding dong!"

"Congratulations! Host Zhan Tianming, you have killed a Blood-Armored Savage Tiger. You are rewarded with 19,000 experience points, 1 Blood-Armored Savage Tiger head (Quest Item), 1 Blood Armour, Blood-Armored Savage Tiger's blood essence, 70 Berserk points, and 1 piece of tiger meat."

"Congratulations! Host Zhan Tianming, you have obtained a second-grade Fire Attribute demon core. Would you like to absorb it?"

Zhan Tianming was ecstatic.

It was literally like picking up a fat wad of cash on the road.

However, now that he was no longer in danger, his state of mind was zen.

"Absorb!"

"Ding dong!"

"Successfully absorbed! Your Fire Attribute has become stronger."

"Congratulations! Host Zhan Tianming, your Fire Attribute has leveled up to Level 4."

Right now, Zhan Tianming wasn't paying attention to all those systems prompts.

Instead, he was looking around.

"What actually killed the Blood-Armored Savage Tiger?" Zhan Tianming muttered to himself.

Obviously, someone capable of killing a Grade Two Demonic Beast so easily could kill Zhan Tianming just as effortlessly.

Prevention was always better than cure, and Zhan Tianming believed firmly in the motto.

He had to be careful.

Just as Zhan Tianming was looking around, a small, transparent bug the size of a thumb crawled out of the Blood-Armored Savage Tiger's mouth.

It looked at Zhan Tianming with a nonchalant look.

At this time, Zhan Tianming also detected the little guy's HP with the help of the system interface.

"This is... Transparent?"

Zhan Tianming was startled.

If he did not have the system, he would have never discovered the little fellow.

"Check."

Demonic Beast: Wind Wielding Worm.

Level: Second Grade.

Description: A transparent insect that prefers to eat the brains of demonic beasts. On a full stomach, it doesn't target human beings.

"It seems like I'm lucky!"

After reading the description, Zhan Tianming heaved a sigh of relief.

If it were not for that tiger, he reckoned that he would have been lying on the ground, his brain sucked dry.

"Was ... Was this little thing the reason behind the Crimson Flame Ape's fear?"

Zhan Tianming stared at the Wind Wielding Worm for a moment.

"Hmph, I'll definitely kill it."

Looking at the little bug that was lazily lying on the tiger's body, the corner of Zhan Tianming's mouth curled into a smile.

"Its HP is only 180, so low."

"But I wonder how strong his defense is?"

Zhan Tianming did not immediately take action. Instead, he recovered some true Qi while pondering.

"It's a transparent bug, so how strong could it be? However, it lies in front of me so brazenly, as if it is not afraid at all, as if it is not worried that I will kill it."

His thoughts raced.

Zhan Tianming was by no means a reckless human.

Each and every one of his steps was precisely calculated.

Right now, he was a mere one-star Martial Practitioner and was also low on true Qi points, so any reckless action could bring about a catastrophic result.

Believe it or now, this level of calmness was a side-effect of playing games.

Cool as a cucumber.

Serene as the winds.

This attitude had helped Zhan Tianming kill many enemies at the same level as him.

His calm and critical thinking had also helped his teammates on multiple occasions.

In the blink of an eye, Zhan Tianming had already considered all sorts of possibilities.

Suddenly!

Zhan Tianming immediately sat down cross-legged and began circulating True Qi Return.

Under the circulation of the True Qi Return, his true qi recovery speed was almost 10 times the normal.

In the blink of an eye, his true Qi had recovered.

Suddenly!

He opened his eyes.

'Attack!'

Without any delay, Zhan Tianming threw ten consecutive stones.

Swish, swish, swish...

A row of stones quickly flew out.

Puff, puff, puff...

However, a mere 10 points of damage was dealt to the worm.

It was a laughable excuse of an attack.

'Such little damage?'

...

All of them struck their target.

Yet, not one dealt two points of damage.

So high was its defense?

Insanely high!

The seemingly weak worm was not as weak as Zhan Tianming had imagined.

However, this was all within his expectations.

With a leap, Zhan Tianming's body rushed into the sky.

"Flying Dragon in the Sky!"