{Ace Underwood has completed half of the Goal.} {Jim has completed half of the Goal.} Ace and Jim’s announcements followed shortly after Skyler’s announcement was made by the Simulation Chamber’s AI. Surprised that Skyler made it first, Ace breathed a sigh of relief. Knowing that she was doing well for herself, he had no reason to worry about her well-being anymore. He was now able to handle himself fully without any worrying thoughts. As for Jim, he didn’t care whether he, Ace, or Skyler completed before him. What was crucial for him at this moment was his growth. For days, the Golden Blood Mutant put himself through a series of training so difficult that he nearly tasted death countless times. Pushed by the urge to grow in strength, Jim focused his thoughts on becoming stronger than Ace when he was at his Blood Knight rank. ’I’ve not gotten at the Blood Knight rank, and yet these two siblings are ranks ahead of me,’ he mumbled, clearly pissed by how even Cherry rose a rank higher than him. ’...still, what makes me different from her is I’m getting there on my own.’ Once he was finished with the fifth Scaled One, Jim raced through the canyon looking for the others. His eyes peeled, ears wide open, and even nose sniffing for any odd smells, the Golden Blood Mutant was more than ready to kill. "Found you!!" With his hands raised above his head, Jim compressed a ball of blood between his palms and shot it out in the form of pressurized streamlined Blood Projectiles. Once fired, the Blood Projectiles tore through the Scaled One’s back, rendering its lower limbs useless. Due to its injuries, the creature couldn’t use its camouflaging abilities anymore and instead revealed itself. Barely standing on its two front legs, the Scaled One froze in place as Jim leaped in the air with a Blood Axe forming in his hands. Two quick slashes were released and the end result was a decapitated Scaled One with its head and lower body separated from its mid-section. "Six down," Jim muttered. "This section of the canyon has become much more narrow with less fighting room. I think it’ll be best for me to make it to the top." Using his claws and tendrils, Jim scaled the canyon walls until he made it to the top of the canyon. Now at the top, he was able to scout the area easily while mapping out his route. To his left was a narrow path with limited fighting room. To his right was a slightly wider path with more ridges that made it a possible breeding ground for the Scaled Ones. As he stood at the top of the canyon, he managed to spot about eight of the Scaled Ones with a few other beasts roaming. With his mind made up, Jim scaled down the right side of the canyon and slowly crept up to a group of three Scaled Ones. Once again, the Golden Blood Mutant pressed his palms together with a ball of Blood in the middle. At the right moment, he shot the compressed Blood Ball and released three streamlined projectiles at the three Scaled Ones. With the speed at which the projectiles moved, he was more than certain that they would suffer deadly injuries. Just as he had hoped, his attack worked successfully. With his opponents disorientated and injured, the Golden Blood Mutant got to work quickly. Using the six tendrils on his back and both arms stretched forward, he began to drain the blood from the creatures while turning it into Blood spears which he threw back with the help of his tendrils. After a moment, the three creatures dropped to the ground and died. Impaled and void of blood, their bodies remained lifeless with no movements whatsoever. As for Jim, he was pleased with how he executed his attacks, his strength, and the fact that he only had one more to go. "I could decide to kill one more and run from the top of the canyons to cheat my way out of this, but that won’t help me grow the way I want to." After giving it much thought, Jim decided to continue in the path he was in so that he’d kill more creatures, grow stronger, and even hopefully get to the finish line with a higher kill count...that was if Ace wouldn’t do the same. --------------------------- [Blood Mana: 28/4000] +30] With six kills down, Ace Underwood felt exhausted due to how challenging the Scaled Ones were. Their camouflage abilities, incredibly strong hits, and quick reflexes became more of a challenge for Ace to deal with. Despite this, the Blood Bishop did not waver in his attacks. Using his Blood Skills, Ace took down the creatures one by one with the help of his surroundings. Also, thanks to his new System Update, he grew exponentially quickly just by fighting only six of the Scaled Ones. He never expected to have ever gotten so many of his stats leveled up so quickly. "This Update’s proving more helpful than I expected." He mumbled to himself while resting for a moment. "I wonder what I’ll be able to get from the Blood Store." [Congratulations. The System has deemed the enemies you have killed as challenging.] [You have received Six Blood Coins.] As soon as he read the system’s notification, another panel appeared before his eyes with the words [Blood Store] engraved in a scarlet-red metallic font. However, as soon as Ace tried to open the Store’s Panel, he was hit with a message that sent him grumbling. [Insufficient Funds to Access the Blood Store.] The latest_epɪ_sodes are on_the 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝⚑𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖⚑𝕟𝕖𝕥 [Blood Coins can be acquired through completing quests or by killing challenging enemies.] [Complete the Quest you are on to receive Blood Coins so that you may Access the Blood Store.] Disappointed but motivated at the same time, Ace got back on his feet, replenished his lost strength and moved on with the training sequence. Whatever it took, he was more than certain to complete all ten phases, despite his system making it seem as though he wouldn’t.