Ultimate Rice System 63 Primal Orb

"Hoo...this guy is durable."

Xin Fan could feel the temporary high from the breakthrough. Despite it being only a minor breakthrough, he felt like he could do anything. Chilong rushed in with his axe high and once again slashed down upon the beast cutting away a hole in its wing. The beast retaliated by striking back with a bite. However, before it could make contact, Chilong disappeared and reappeared on a nearby tree, right next to Xin Fan. Xin Fan took out a scythe from his inventory and swung it around over his head. It emitted a faint glow of light blue energy, purer than what he had ever released. Xin Fan gently jumped down and flashed behind the beast with the blade of the scythe around the neck. He pulled back with the blade only to be blocked by the chain holding the orb. It didn't seem to be anything ordinary as Xin Fan's blade can cut through ordinary metal.

The bat swung its wing around trying to land a blow on Xin Fan only to be effortlessly dodged. Besides from an improvement in qi quality, the breakthrough raised the limits of Xin Fan's fleshly body and he could move better than before. He felt that now his body could once again improve. Chilong was just about to jump down before Xin Fan stopped him.

"It's injured. I think I can handle this. Just stay back to heal up."

The bat struck forwards with it's now tattered wings using the claws at the ends to cut through Xin Fan. Although its wings were weak, the arms that held them were in no way a force to be underestimated. Each claw was razor sharp, enough to cut trees into two. Xin Fan had the luxury to no longer have to deal with the tail of the beast as Chilong already cut it down. Xin Fan using the base of the scythe stabbed forwards knocking the air out of the bat's body. He didn't want it to scream once again. Releasing his sh.e.l.l on his scythe, he made it once again elastic, whipping the beast and hardening it upon impact.

"Break!"

Xin Fan slowly broke through the defenses of the beast and finally broke even the hardest defenses. The scythe glowed brightly as he lifted it up high. Xin Fan took one step forwards then spun slas.h.i.+ng sideways. A bright blade of energy cut through the darkness illuminating the night, cutting right through its stomach.

*KEEE*

A black liquid started to flow out of the wound. No mattered what the bat did, the bleeding wouldn't stop. Bit by bit, the movement of the bat became sluggish. The orb on it's chest glowed an intense black as it started to cover up the wound. Xin Fan saw as a film started to connect the two sides.

"No you don't!"

Xin Fan twisted his scythe and slashed down breaking apart that final piece of resistance. The bat slowly collapsed onto the ground. Xin Fan poked it a few times before letting out a sigh of relief. The beast was officially dead. He looked over at his pendant and checked the score. The score has increased by 35.

-

[ Conviction ]

Score: 850

Rank: 3

Teams Remaining: 23

-

"Xin Fan, is he finally down?"

Tianfei climbed out from behind the bushes. She seemed to be patching up her injuries while Xin Fan was fighting. She was carrying a bandage in her arms as she hurried to Xin Fan.

"Are you okay?"

"Ah...I don't really need that now. You should attend to Chilong."

"Hmm...fine..."

Chilong was slowly stumbling over to rejoin the group. Blood was slowly leaking out of the gaping hole in his stomach. Tianfei slowly headed over to him and patched up the wound. Thankfully, he didn't loose too much blood and could still stay conscious. Chilong slowly stumbled over to the side and rested his back against a tree.

"Oh...the trees are already regrowing. Expected no less for the abyss."

It was as he said. The trees that were all destroyed in the battle already had saplings growing over them absorbing all the nutrients of the fallen trees. Even the flora in the abyss is unforgiving.

"So what rank are we at now?"

"We're third. It seemed like the demonic beasts that were killed during the battle as collateral damage."

Xin Fan headed over the bat and generated a blade from his wrist. He carefully pried away the orb that was hanging over the neck of the beast. The orb was translucent and Xin Fan could see the embedded symbols using the moon as a back light.

"This kept glowing during our fight."

"What is it?"

"I don't know."

Xin Fan experimented a bit. He injected qi into it. He hit it. However despite all his efforts, he couldn't do anything to it.

"Pa.s.s it over."

Chilong who was still injured and leaning against the tree caught the orb with a single hand. After observing it for a few minutes, a wisp of white shot from his fingers and penetrated through the casing of the orb. The symbol in the orb s.h.i.+ned white before shooting a light towards Tianfei. Tianfei stepped aside and looked at the path it took.

"That is probably where the ruins are at."

"So this light would take us there."

Chilong nodded his head as he threw back the orb. He slowly tried to get back up however just stumbled and fell back down.

"Get back down. We should rest for the night. I'll keep watch."

Xin Fan watched as his two companions started to doze off. It was at moments like these where he had to be vigilant. He could see how tired both of them were. In normal scenarios, they could manage to take s.h.i.+fts to cover the night however looking now, this wasn't possible.

'Xin Kong...are they all collected?'

'Yes, I count 50.'

'Sell 40 of them. We should get 92g if my calculations add up'

'We now have 110g to spend.'

'Buy 1 Sealing Rice.'

[ User has purchased 'Sealing Rice' ]

[ By unlocking 3 different Rice, User has gained the function Almanac ]

Xin Fan was surprised by the introduction of a new feature however refrained from entering the domain.

'Can you check out the almanac?'

'Hmm...It seems to be an information menu for your rice. It even goes over the time it takes to grow each rice. Judging from what I am seeing, the Fire Soul Rice should be done in around 10 days. The plants growth seems to be variable.'

'Good, anything else?'

'Well, the sealing rice seems to be a supplementation ingredient. It seems like it could be used to seal different things. For example it says here that when used with Fire Soul Rice, can create a dish to force out a Primal State.'

'I see...'

Xin Fan stared up at the moons as it once again realigned into a new constellation signally the pa.s.sing of another month. It was the ninth month now and Xin Fan looked back at his journey to now. To think that nine months ago, he was still some weak child in a mountain village. The moons slowly stopped moving to create the shape of an ox. The sign of perseverance and tranquility. Xin Fan only hoped that this was going to be a good omen for the upcoming month.