MTLNOVEL Chapter 16: Two months of hunting
For the past two months, I have hunted by day and rested by night. The cold cave has become my shelter, the endless battles my routine. Every day, I search for monsters to fight, to test my strength, refine my techniques. And every night, I retreat to my hideout, reviewing my fights, and meditating on how to improve.
At first, I relied purely on what I had learned from Qin Shi Huang in the first Nightmare—Chi You Style—but I soon realized that its forms were designed for fighting humans. The creatures of the Dream Realm were different: faster, stronger, more durable, and most importantly, their shapes were very diverse. I had to adjust.
I reworked the entire Chi You Style, reshaping it from a martial art meant for human duels into a system designed to combat monsters.
The Heavenly Hand of Defense was the first to change. Against human opponents, it allowed me to intercept and redirect attacks. But against beasts, absorbing an attack often meant disaster—many creatures struck with far more force than I could safely redirect. Instead, I modified the technique to focus on deflection rather than absorption. A slight redirection of force was enough to throw a creature off balance, giving me an opening without risking my own body.
The Mount Tai Dragon Claw evolved as well. A simple piercing technique was effective against humans, but monsters often had thick hides, exoskeletons, or multiple layers of muscle. I refined the motion, incorporating rotational force—if I couldn't pierce straight through, I'd tear through flesh, creating wounds that bled heavily and restricted movement.
The Tortoise Ripple was originally meant to disrupt an opponent's internal energy flow. Against humans, a precise burst of air could interfere with their energy, weakening attacks or neutralizing defensive techniques. But monsters were different. Their energy flow was still visible to me—my eyes could see the pulsing currents running through their bodies—but disrupting it was far more difficult. Their diverse outer layers, whether thick hides, chitinous armor, or skeletal plating, acted as natural barriers, making the precise interference nearly impossible.A simple puff of air, effective against human fighters, was useless against most creatures. No matter how I adjusted, I couldn't find a way to apply it effectively in battle. For now, Tortoise Ripple remained a technique specialized against humans—a tool I would have to set aside until I found a way to refine it further.
White Tiger Crescent Moon, designed to decapitate a human in one swift motion, was ineffective against multi-headed beasts or creatures with reinforced necks. I adjusted it, making it a more versatile cutting technique, focusing on severing tendons and ligaments rather than aiming for a clean kill. If I couldn't take off a head, I'd make sure the creature couldn't move properly.
Finally, the Shi Huang Yan Cut, a powerful sword strike meant to overpower an opponent with sheer force, was reworked into a technique that used momentum and precision instead of brute strength. Monsters often had a size advantage, so I made sure my attacks wasted no energy, striking only when absolutely necessary.
One of my first major adjustments came while fighting a Bone Hound—a skeletal beast with jagged ribs that extended like blades from its sides.
When it lunged at me, I instinctively tried a lateral sidestep, as I would against a human opponent. The creature twisted mid-air, one of its exposed ribs slashing at my side. I barely managed to twist away, feeling the cold bite of bone graze my ribs.
I adjusted. Instead of moving around, I moved under. When it leaped again, I ducked low, sliding beneath its belly, and drove my foot up in a modified Crescent Moon kick—not aiming for a clean decapitation, but using the impact to break the spine. The beast crashed onto the ground, unable to move, and I finished it off with a downward stab.
From then on, I fought more monsters, refining new strategies.
Iron Spiders: Too armored to cut cleanly, but their joints were weak. Instead of slashing, I started using precise thrusts at the leg joints, crippling them before finishing them off.
Shadow Eels: Fast, elusive, and dangerous in groups. Instead of chasing them, I adopted a bait-and-punish strategy—letting them lunge at me before countering with a piercing strike.
Each battle sharpened me further. The creatures were relentless, but so was I.
While i was hunting i was lucky enough to get two memories, both of them i needed greatly.
Memory Name: [Second Skin]
Type: Armor
Rank: Awakened
Description: [Darkness slithers and coils, swallowing the light. A second skin, shifting, alive, a whisper between the worlds. It does not protect you—it makes you part of the unseen.]
Its a dark colored leather armor with a sticky exterior, quite disgusting if you ask me, but better than being naked.
Memory Name: [Casket of Forgotten Threads]
Type: Tool
Rank: Awakened
Description: [Forged within the iron limbs of an ancient arachnid, this bag pulses with a hollow, rhythmic ticking as if time itself is caught in its weave.]
Its a sack like bag made from the irony silk of spiders, it has some timestop within, as the stored things remain the same even after storing for a longer time.
Over time, I started to notice something. The further I ventured from my hideout, the more frequent and aggressive the Iron Spiders became. It wasn't random—they were defending something.
After two months of hunting, I finally found it.
A massive cavern, deeper than any I had explored before, filled with thick webbing. The air was damp, reeking of decay. Bones littered the ground—some from Nightmare Creatures, others disturbingly humanoid. The walls shimmered in the dim light, coated in layers of hardened silk.
At the far end, I spotted a passageway leading deeper inside. The moment I saw it, I knew—this had to be where the Mother Spider resided.
My fingers tightened into a fist.
For weeks, I had been fighting her offspring. If I wanted to claim this territory, to solidify my strength, I had to eliminate the source.
I exhaled, steadying my breathing.
Tomorrow, I fight the Mother Spider.