The realization that he was in a different world threw him off greatly. But Sorin quickly regained his wits after the traumatizing events.
"First of all, if this world is what I think it is, I need to find civilization and get out of the wild. I don't know what dangers await me out here, so it would be best to leave."
Those tremors in the distant chilled Sorin to the bone; beings like that had no business dwelling in the same world as him.
Sorin studied the nearby black mountains and noticed a small pathway at the foot of one of them.
'I don't know where that leads, but I want to get as far away from that battle as possible.'
Sorin started moving towards the mountains but paused.
'Wait, before that, let me check something out.'
He closed his eyes and tried to focus. Suddenly, a screen with radiant light appeared in his head. Sorin did not know if it would work, but the process was surprisingly natural to him. Looking at the menu, it read.
[Name]: Sorin Ren
[Skills]: Martial Master(SSS)
[Style]: Thousandfold Lotus Style
[Steps Achieved]: 0/9
[Qi Stage Refinement]: 0/9
Stats:
[Strength]: 10
[Speed]: 12
[Endurance]: 10
[Skill]: 20
[Health]: 10
[Qi Control]: 5
Seeing his stats, Sorin couldn't help but grin.
"It seems like my ability to learn martial arts will be faster on top of having a special style, lucky me."
Looking up, he placed his hands on his chin; another thought crossed his mind.
"Hold up, if all of this is status-based, does that mean I need to go around slaying monsters to increase my stats? I won't know until I do anything, so I'll keep that in mind for later."
Having finished up his business with the system, Sorin headed for the path at the foot of the mountain.
**
Hours passed, and luckily, he had encountered no creatures on his way to the mountain. Now that he was at the foot of the mountain, the perspective of things came into view. The mountains seemed like a black wall that had no top and was infinitely tall.
Sorin sighed, "Let's get this over with, shall we?"
His intuition was screaming, telling him to turn back. But he had to move forward nonetheless. Whatever was beyond the field was far more terrifying than anything in this dark tunnel, so he wasn't in any rush to leave the path.
Walking through the tunnel, he felt as if the walls were pressing down on him, but he ignored the ominous feeling and continued.
Hours passed, and he was finally free from the tunnel. The morning sun was radiant, and it reflected off his porcelain skin.
An oppressive weight was lifted off his shoulders, and he was finally free to continue forward without any cares now that it was morning.
What lay ahead of Sorin was a vast forest shrouded in fog and mystery.
Sorin grinned and looked ahead, "Great, even more mysterious places to explore." Taking a couple of steps forward, he was about to cross into the forest.
However.
At that moment, the sound of a razor-sharp blade scratching against stone echoed throughout the cave.
CHRKKKKKK.
With a worried expression on Sorin's face, he glanced back at the cave.
Then, suddenly and without warning, the dark figure of a Mantis sprang from the cave and was upon Sorin.
Its claws lashed out at Sorin, with the goal of decapitating him, but due to beginning lower on the hill, he fell down and luckily avoided the attack.
"Crap, screw me and my luck." Sorin gritted his teeth as he tumbled down the steep slope towards the forest.
Sorin hit the ground with a large thud but quickly found his way to his feet and dashed through the forest.
The mantis was still hot on his tail, however, and wasted no time in pursuing him. Speeding past trees, Sorin glanced back at the mantis. It looked like an abomination that crawled from hell.
It was the size of a moose, and its carapace was black with horns protruding from its head.
Sorin cursed under his breath, "Why is a creature from hell chasing me, goddammit?"
However, before he could escape its clutches, the mantis jumped up into the air and appeared before him, as if it had teleported.
He stopped in his tracks; he was now face-to-face with the abomination.
Thinking about his options, a wild thought appeared in Sorin's mind.
'Wait, what if I practice my new martial arts style on this beast?' Sorin knew it was a gamble and could result in his death, but would a better opportunity than this appear?
Steeling himself with courage, Sorin took a martial arts stance, similar to the one he had seen in movies as a kid.
For some reason, everything felt right, like he had been a martial arts master in his previous life.
[Thousandfold Lotus Style]: Activated
A grin appeared on his face despite facing an abomination, "Sweet, I know I can do this!"
Without warning, the mantis from hell lunged at him. Its two claws came down on him like two death scythes, aiming to reap away his life.
However, Sorin effortlessly dodged to the side and landed a punch of his own on the creature. The creature was sent flying through the woods and crashed into a tree.
"I'm amazing," Sorin said, looking at his palms and gripping his hands.
"I guess the system strengthened my body; I would never be capable of that in my previous life."
Turning back to the creature, Sorin studied it some more. It rose to its feet and was mangled. One of its claws was broken, and it had a gash on its head.
It let out a deafening roar, unbecoming of a mantis, and leaped at Sorin once more. Sorin sighed and dashed before the mantis like a gale of wind.
He then delivered a fatal uppercut to its jaw, sending its head flying, giving it no chance to resist. It was a one-sided slaughter.
At that moment, the menu popped up in his head once more.
[You have slain a Magical Beast: Praying Mantis!]
'Hmmm, so Magic Beasts do exist in this world, interesting.'
[Your stats have risen...]
[First stage of style achieved]
A smirk appeared on Sorin's face, and he took a glance at his stats to see if anything had changed.
[Name]: Sorin Ren
[Skills]: Martial Master(SSS)
[Style]: Thousandfold Lotus Style
[Steps Achieved]: 1/9
[Qi Stage Refinement]: 0/9
Stats:
[Strength]: 10 -> 12
[Speed]: 12 -> 14
[Endurance]: 10 -> 12
[Skill]: 20 -> 22
[Health]: 10 -> 12
[Qi Control]: 5
Sorin tilted his head a little.
"That's weird, everything except the stats relating to qi didn't improve."
Sorin sighed and came up with a faulty conclusion as to why his Qi Control or Refinement hadn't improved.
"I probably have to meditate or something like that. No matter, all I need is my martial arts to take this world by storm."
"I might even be strong enough to take on cultivators right now. I can't even imagine how strong I'm going to be at my peak."
With his newfound confidence, he turned away from the corpse of the mantis and proceeded into the woods.
However, at that moment, the ground beneath him shook violently as if the end of the world was upon him.
Sorin stumbled onto the ground, failing to stop his fall.
All around him, Sorin could see lightning covering everything in sight and tearing down the trees. The air around him heated up, and the lightning seemed to come from a single being.
It was a cultivator.
And a strong one at that.
The young man floated in the sky, above the trees, and looked down at Sorin with indifference. He wielded a mystical glaive that held the properties of lightning.
The young cultivator wore a blue robe and was adorned with a crown in the shape of a thunder dragon.
He had dark obsidian hair and deep azure eyes that struck fear into Sorin's very being.
The cultivator stared deeply at Sorin and then spoke in a deep voice that held authority, which was befitting of the cultivator who held such power.
"A martial artist, huh. You look like you could give me a decent warm-up. How about it?" A devilish grin appeared on the cultivator's face, and he raised his glaive.
"Wait, why don't we talk about this? I'm sure you're a very reasonable man." Sorin raised his hands to try to calm down the cultivator, but it was to no avail.
'He's a madman!'
Sorin got into a defensive stance and sighed.
Without fail or warning, the divine cultivator lunged at Sorin with a grin on his face.
'I'm so screwed!'