Chapter Eight: Slaying the Savage Ape

After clearly seeing the Iron-Armed Violent Ape’s attributes and skills, Chen Qi no longer showed any fear.

He pondered to himself:

“Although the Iron-Armed Violent Ape’s strength of 18 points is formidable, it isn’t enough to send me flying in a single blow. That must be the effect of its charged attack. And this detection skill is impressive—it can actually reveal one hundred percent of the ape’s attributes and skills.”

His mind racing, Chen Qi rolled along with his falling momentum, narrowly dodging the two shadows of rocks hurled by the ape.

Enraged at missing its target, the Iron-Armed Violent Ape closed in, its two pairs of powerful long arms drawn taut like a bow.

The ape’s posture startled Chen Qi—he hadn’t expected this fierce beast to be able to charge up while moving.

Seeing the ape near, Chen Qi’s thoughts whirled. Their agility was about equal, so dodging was not an option; he had no choice but to face the beast head-on.

He swung his blade at the Iron-Armed Violent Ape with great force. When the edge collided with the ape’s iron arm, the blow suddenly felt light in his hands.

It turned out that Chen Qi had relaxed most of his strength. Sensing the immense force transmitted back along the blade, he didn’t resist but instead let himself retreat with it.

With just a light touch and a retreat, Chen Qi dodged the ape’s other swinging arm.

“Bang!”

The ape’s iron fist missed Chen Qi, but it didn’t stop. He saw the ground ahead cave in, a small pit gouged out by the blow.

Witnessing the devastation to the earth, Chen Qi was determined not to let the same happen to himself.

Seizing the moment while the ape was recovering from its swing, he pressed in close, not giving it a chance to charge up again.

“Clang! Clang! Clang!”

Blade and iron arm clashed repeatedly, sending sparks flying through the air.

Just as Chen Qi had anticipated, the continual impacts only left his arms numb, but there was no overwhelming force.

“That’s all you’ve got?”

Chen Qi forced a fiercer expression than the ape’s and launched another flurry of attacks.

The rapid clashes made his blade feel scorching hot in his hands. Several times, the ape tried to pull away and charge up, but Chen Qi stuck to it like glue, using the most basic footwork to keep close.

He could clearly smell the scorched, acrid stench coming from the ape’s fists, which only made his strikes more aggressive.

Suddenly, the ape took a slash to the waist in order to force some distance, charging up as it retreated.

Chen Qi, sensing an opportunity, didn’t close in but instead widened the gap between them. He took the chance to shake out his aching arms, relieving the soreness a little.

Not far away, the ape had built up its power, its eyes bloodshot, snorting as it lunged at Chen Qi.

Seeing this, Chen Qi simply turned and ran, keeping a distance of about three meters between them at all times.

Realizing its fists couldn’t reach, the ape furiously smashed the ground again!

“Boom!”

With all its strength behind it, the iron fist pounded a deep pit into the earth, with fine cracks radiating outward.

Hearing the huge impact behind him, Chen Qi instantly understood what had happened and quickly turned around.

He faced the Iron-Armed Violent Ape, now livid after its failed attack.

Seeing the ape’s trembling hands from the excessive force, Chen Qi knew this was his chance and hacked away in a wild flurry.

The ape managed to block the first few strikes, but Chen Qi’s blade still cut it again and again, the wounds multiplying.

The blood-stained blade looked almost demonic. On his retina, the ape’s health bar had dropped by half—he knew a frenzy was imminent, so he eased his assault, even pulling back a strike he was about to deliver.

The ape glared at him with blood-red eyes, pain fueling its rage, but it seemed to be holding back.

Chen Qi noticed the ape’s wounds were still bleeding heavily. He knew the frenzy was about to erupt.

Taking a deep breath, he closed in again, hoping to end the fight in the instant the Iron-Armed Violent Ape went berserk.

The agony made the ape react a beat slower; Chen Qi dodged a curled iron fist and delivered a vicious slash to its abdomen.

The ape’s other fist tried to block, but the slowed blade got through, leaving a deep wound as the sword became lodged in its waist!

The ape’s eyes widened even further, blood surging within it. It pounded its chest with both arms, the picture of rage.

Chen Qi was unmoved by its display. He activated Focused Burst.

His senses sharpened anew, and he poured all the strength in his upper body into pressing down on the sword jammed into the ape’s waist.

He actually intended to sever the ape at the waist!

Chen Qi felt the blade drive forward a bit further, shattering several of its bones.

Driven by mortal danger, the ape’s fist flew even faster, whistling toward Chen Qi’s head.

Some sliver of reason remained in the beast, enough to know this was its strongest punch ever—if it hit, it would surely smash a crater into that damned human’s skull.

Chen Qi showed little panic, gripping his sword tightly as he pushed forward and unleashed his skill: Blood Surge.

He felt all his vitality rushing forth, a surge of energy bursting from his heart and enveloping him in a blood-red aura—colliding head-on with the ape’s iron fist.

The fist halted abruptly, unable to strike again.

Because Chen Qi had severed its waist halfway through, blood and viscera spilling out.

The ape’s crimson eyes gradually dulled, and its once-invincible iron fists dropped to its sides.

A prompt from the “Sprout Space” immediately appeared:

[You have slain the Iron-Armed Violent Ape.]

Chen Qi picked up the green box the ape had dropped and opened it. The chest emitted a dim green glow.

[You have opened a (Green) Chest and obtained the following items:]

[Universal Points: 1500]

“That’s it? Really?”

Chen Qi stared blankly at the chest, wondering if there was something hidden at the bottom.

As the chest slowly faded away, he could only accept the harsh truth.

Defeating such a powerful foe without a significant reward left him frustrated, so he promptly decided to upgrade [Focused Burst] by one level.

[Upgrade skill: Focused Burst Lv.1? Requires 2000 Universal Points and one Basic Skill Point.]

[Skill: Focused Burst has been upgraded to Lv.2.]

[Focused Burst Lv.2]

Skill effect: Consumes 20 mana points. Upon activation, neural firing speed increases by 350% for 2.2 seconds.

Note: The base cooldown is 5 minutes. Forcibly using it during cooldown will greatly extend the cooldown and cause injury (within a single world, it can only be forcibly used once during cooldown)!

...

Seeing the duration increased by 0.2 seconds and the neural speed boosted by another 50%, Chen Qi felt utterly satisfied—he felt himself growing even stronger.

At this moment, he still had 2600 Universal Points and four Basic Skill Points in his storage space. He hesitated about upgrading again.

Soon, however, he gave up. The skill’s first major breakthrough was at Lv.4; upgrading now wouldn’t give the best returns.

There was another reason—he still owed the Universal Commerce Guild 5000 Universal Points. Since it was his first time being in debt, Chen Qi couldn’t help but feel a bit anxious.

He quickly finished processing the Iron-Armed Violent Ape’s materials.

Looking at the two heavy arm bones, he tried flicking one with his fingernail, only to feel a sharp jolt of pain.

“Ouch! I’ll never mess around again!”

Rubbing his sore nail, Chen Qi headed toward the hilltop—he just wanted to go home...