It had been a week since Master's Luca's first class. Jake had learned everything he needed to know about cultivation. Though he only knew about the first realm of cultivation, it was enough for him...for now.

So far, Cultivation has been difficult for Jake. All the training he had undergone proved vain. And he knew why….

Apart from cultivation, Master Luca had also taught them about the cultivation world. He said it was vast and dangerous and just in Aztec Kingdom alone, there was an average of ten deaths per day. It was a world ruled by the strong and the talented. Yes, talented. Only the talented could survive….and sadly, Jake didn't have the talent.

An ordinary person would spend at least five years in the Physique Modeling realm, while a genius would spend at least three years. While Jake had spent a week aiming for the first stage, he didn't feel an ounce of progress. He realized if things went on, he would spend five years in the first realm, a good example of an ordinary person. He was ordinary, destined by his non-existent talent to be cannon fodder.

"Preposterous!" It was livid to Jake. All through his life, he had grown up being special, now, after his rebirth, he realized he was nothing special. Jake felt strange and defeated.

It was even more tragic when he learned that he had missed the ideal age to start cultivation. Cultivation was best started at age 10, and Jake was 15 years old.

Disappointment filled his eyes when he heard that, but luckily he was cheered up by the next words of Master Luca. The master said that if he wanted to speed up the process that he should engage in a lot of battles. It was easier to break through during battle.

So, after a week of frustration, Jake decided to seek battle in the only place he knew, the dark forest, different from the zombie mine.

The Dark forest. It was an immensely large forest connecting the four kingdoms in the southern continent. It was a forest filled with demonic beasts; ferocious creatures without intelligence.

Demonic beasts are beasts that grow stronger by directly devouring Spirit Essence. They start from normal animals to [Feral Beasts], which correspond to the preliminary cultivation realm, [Physique Modeling Realm]. After that, they evolve to [Graded Demonic Beast].

Graded Demonic Beasts are ranked from Grade 1 to Grade 9, further divided into three sub-stages; low, mid, and high. The grades correlate to the realms of cultivation.

The demonic beasts possess astonishing strength and could rival cultivators of the same realm. The only reason they are preyed on is that they do not possess sufficient intelligence. However, they become smarter as they continue to devour spirit essence. Demonic beasts possess varieties of innate abilities that counter the techniques of cultivators.

Demonic beasts of the southern continent resided in the dark forest.

Just like the Zombie mine, the dark forest is protected by a barrier. It was made by the four kingdoms. Despite the danger, the dark forest remains a huge source of resources. Items from demonic beast are high on value. They could be used for a lot of purposes. Their furs could be used to make armor. Their bones, fangs, and claws could be used to make weapons. Their blood and inner cores could be used for pills. Everything about a demonic beast was precious.

For the past week, Jake hadn't just been training. He had gathered a lot of information about his location. For instance, the continent he was on was called the southern continent. The southern continent has four kingdoms; Aztec Kingdom, Brilliant Kingdom, Lahote Kingdom, and Silver Kingdom. In the past, there used to be a lot of wars, but due to the emergence of the Netherans, the four kingdoms form a united force.

Jake was in the Aztec Kingdom, a kingdom that is known for its cultural diversities, the second largest kingdom on the continent. It was the strongest kingdom in the southern continent. The social structure of the four kingdoms, including the Aztec Kingdom, was the nobility system. At the head of the kingdom is the Royal family, followed by the royal dukes, who are distant members of the royal family. After the royal dukes are the dukes, marquis, earls, viscounts, and barons. The last on the nobility system are the commoners.

The cities and towns are managed by the marquises, earls, viscount, and barons, while the dukes and the royal family reside in the capital. Gavin Elliot was the son of Viscount Elliot, the city lord of Pinesun city.

This information flowed through his head as he headed to the Dark forest.

….

The Dark Forest was at the east of Aztec Kingdom. It was connected to many cities located in East Aztec. One of them was Pinesun city.

Jake walked to the forest, crossing the barrier. He was dressed in light armor. On his waist was a sword, he had purchased from a shop.

"Despite the name, the Dark forest is green and full of nature," he remarked, upon seeing the beautiful scenery.

"I need to be careful," said Jake.

"It was said that when in the Dark Forest, one had to be silent and alert."

...

One week later. East Pinesun city, Dark forest.

"Huff--Huff," Jake gasped for air. He was being chased by a feral demonic beast, Flaming Corpse Rat.

It was due to the events that occurred yesterday. Yesterday, he saw a cave and decided to rest there for the night. He didn't know that the cave was already marked by the rat and its family. Imagine his expression, when he was multiple red eyes in the dark cave. Horrified, he slashed at the red eyes, killing a couple of them before he managed to escape. What he didn't know was that he had killed a feral beast rat's children and now the mother was out for revenge. One cannot underestimate the extent of a mother's revenge.

Currently, Jake was running away from the beast. The mother rat was a feral demonic beast. One had to know that Jake had not begun his cultivation journey. He had not even started the Physique Modeling realm, which is otherwise known as [Realm 0]. A cultivator at [Realm 0] can only combat a feral demonic beast.

'I'm getting exhausted. I can't go on like this,' Jake desperately sought a solution.

'Wait, Didn't I come to the Dark Forest for this? The feeling of danger. I can feel it coursing through my veins. The line between life and death is helping me get stronger. My senses are incredibly sharper,' thought a twisted Jake.

'For the past one week, I have acted carefully. I have not been able to break through to the first stage. I have a feeling that if I slay this beast, I would breakthrough. I have to risk it! What is life without danger?' shouted internally Jake, with a determined face.

He stopped in his tracks and faced his pursuer.

Jake had his fair share of combat experience. His master, M, had made sure to train him thoroughly. Now, it was time for him to use it.

Analyzing the beast, he thought, 'Its speed is faster than mine. Its claws are sharp, able to cut down a tree. I need to look for a weak spot, but I can't find any. Damn, this is going to be difficu--'

Before he could react, the rat caught up with him. It swerved its body, slamming its tail into Jake.

Jake flew thirty feet away, hitting a tree as he stopped.

*Cough*

He coughed out blood. The force of the tail slap was immense. Jake could feel some of his broken bones.

"What?!" as he was adjusting himself, the rat rushed at him. It raises its claw, intending to cut Jake apart.

*Peng*

Jake swiftly reacted with his sword. It was a cheap sword he bought at a weapon shop. Hence, it broke upon impact.

Luckily, Jake moved back before the claw could get him. However, the claw managed to get in a few scratches.

Standing close to the beast, Jake finally got a good look at it.

The rat was huge, about the height of an average human. It had black and red fur…. with boils all over it. That was the breaking point for Jake

"Why do you have to be so ugly? I can't even look at you properly. What a sad life!!" He bitterly cried

"You are so far from perfection. For your sake, I have to put you out of this sickening fate!" his voice was colder than normal. With his newfound motivation, he decided to purge such ugliness from the world.

*Squeak* *Squeak*

As if understanding his words, the beast raged. It attempted to bite Jake, but Jake rolled to the left, efficiently dodging.

Still holding his broken sword, he fiercely threw it at the beast. The sword hit its target, the eye of the beast.

The beast rolled on the ground in pain. It wobbled and danced like an earthworm sprinkled with salt. It took a while before it adjusted to the pain.

*Squeak*

Looking around, the beast could not see his prey. It focused on its innate ability, super smell, trying to scent out its prey.

It caught on his scent, but something was strange. The smell wasn't coming from his nearby, instead, it was coming….from above!

Immediately, the rat felt a weight on his back.

It was Jake!!

The sword he threw was just a distraction. He was betting on the reaction of the beast. And the beast reacted just as he planned.

While the beast was squirming in pain, Jake climbed on a nearby tree. He then jumped on the back of the rat!

Ruthlessly, Jake roughly drew out his sword from the beast's eye.

Feeling a hot rush building up in him, Jake proceeded to stab the beast, multiple times.

The beast tried to shake him off, but Jake wouldn't let go. He continued stabbing the beast, bleeding out the beast.

After a lot of stabbing, the beast finally died due to blood loss.

"Whew," Jake sighed as he fell off the beast.

"That hot feeling I felt. Could it be a sign of breakthrough?" the more he thought of it, the more assured he was.

"Hahaha, I finally broke through. I am finally at [Stage 1]," Jake's laughter echoed through the forest.