Chapter 308: The Hard Path

Right there at a spot within the forest canopy, atop a high, sturdy branch of a tree in the far distance, threads of essence danced and moved, drawn toward a central figure like a well.

The figure had their sights set on him. Uhtred could feel their gaze even though he couldn’t make out their silhouette very clearly.

Still, that was enough to pry for information. He switched from general observation to the insight ability of his Gnostic Eye, staring at the figure in question.

Their details popped up in his vision, and the moment they did, Uhtred’s brows shot up dramatically.

"It’s a fucking beast?!"

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[Beast Name: Killer Apetitan]

[Species: Valerian Ape]

[Core Rank: Nascent (Lightning, Space, Air, and Piercing Esoteric Essence-Attuned)]

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[Attributes]

Strength: 396

Agility: 404

Endurance: 382

Vitality: 295

Intelligence: 29

Perception: 555

Willpower: 300

Luck: 10

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[Innate Skills]

Sure-fire Pierce

Spatial Locate Prey

Apetitan’s Stride

Calm Mind

Apetitan’s Lightning Fury

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Discovering that his attacker was just a beast rather than another champion caught Uhtred completely off guard. Whatever this Apetitan was, it was easily the smartest, most tactically sound beast he had encountered to date.

Not only did it choose the most efficient way to attack — from long range — but it did that while having stats that showed it could comfortably hold its own in a close-combat fight. That degree of calculated strategy was something Uhtred had never seen in a wild beast before. It was no wonder he had assumed he was being ambushed by a champion in the first place!

Well, it’s not a champion, but I reckon I’d still get a whole lot of points for killing something like this, Uhtred thought.

He kept his gaze on the Killer Apetitan, watching carefully for any movement. He had purposely widened the distance between them so as to test how far the Apetitan’s range was.

Seeing as the beast hadn’t attacked yet, Uhtred had first thought he was out of its effective range. But after peering at its details and seeing how intelligent the beast was, he realized it could actually be a ruse — a fake show of effective range to lull him into a false sense of security.

He could think he was safe, but when he least expected it, the Apetitan could launch a surprise shot from its position.

How’s it even shooting anyway? Uhtred thought, staring down the beast. It didn’t move from its spot at all, staying still like a patient hunter watching its prey.

"This fucker." Uhtred scoffed, realizing the beast’s plan. "It’s confident that I’ll come after it, so it doesn’t even bother to move..."

"Well, two can play at that game."

He also stood where he was, continuing to cycle his newly learned healing magic, slowly healing the wounds on his shoulder. If the beast wanted a battle of attrition, then it would come to realize that he was the worst person to try such a tactic against.

He began replenishing his reserves, cultivating with Essence Crystals right where he stood. He made sure to keep his attention on the beast, but he used the lull to recover to peak condition as much as he could.

At the same time, he began to cycle through different plans to take down the beast, but all of them still revolved around using Slipstream Stride. And even then, he was expecting to take several shots before coming close to the Apetitan’s position at all.

I really have become very dependent on Slipstream Stride, Uhtred thought with a shake of his head. But how could I not when the technique is just so powerful...?

Still, though, for a few seconds, he considered a plan where he wouldn’t use the movement art and still have a chance against the Apetitan.

He couldn’t come up with anything tangible... at least not with his current arsenal.

...If only I had some extreme long-range attack like the Apetitan. Uhtred sighed.

Of course, there was the Unified Elemental Strike, but that was his end-all spell. The idea of using a grand trump card like that was even more unappealing than using Slipstream Stride.

Just like Slipstream Stride, the Unified Elemental Strike was also a spell he’d learned from a powerful entity — the Sovereign of Chaos, Drakgon’s memory.

Perhaps it was childish or petty, but against an opponent like this, Uhtred found that he really didn’t want to resort to spells he didn’t create on his own... Spells that were, in a way, gifted to him.

He wanted to tackle this challenge out of his own ingenuity — which was saying something, considering he’d been focused on racking up points to catch up to the number one ranker on the leaderboard.

By all logic, using the Unified Elemental Strike would help him a lot with that. Its area of effect and power grew the more distance it covered. And even with the Apetitan’s space magic, it would have a hard time tanking such an attack or even evading at all.

Yet Uhtred didn’t want to use it... and that was for one simple reason.

His Formless class.

Uhtred had subconsciously come to a realization: He was not using his Formless class to the fullest.

Learning spells from others, using different affinities — all of that came naturally to him. But that was not the full extent of his potential.

There was no manual on how to develop his class to its fullest ability. He could continue as is, learning powerful spells from powerful entities and using those spells to dominate fights... but that was not the kind of ascender he wanted to become.

Rather, he wanted to become someone like the Sovereign of Chaos, Drakgon... and even greater.

The Sovereign of Chaos was someone who embodied the word, "Versatile."

Uhtred wanted to become the true embodiment of the word "Formless."

To do that, he needed to consciously push the limits of his Formless nature. His class afforded him the power to become lax, to dominate fights easily. But it was up to him to choose the harder path... to force himself to come up with new spells on the fly... new ways to deal with problems without relying on the obvious solutions...

Uhtred let out a slow sigh, his eyes filled with conviction.

For this fight, I must create a new long-range spell, he decided. And I think I have an idea already...