A God in a Xianxia world

Chapter 52 - Red Skinned Boars (1)

"I reckon I'm eating meat tonight" replied Tom, eliciting a laugh from Adam.

"Hmm, but I'll only be able to take on one of them, the smaller one at that" said Tom regretfully. He found it a great pity that he was still stuck at such a low level of strength where he could barely take on one wild pig.

"That's ok. There's no pressure anyway. After all, this is mainly for training purposes, it doesn't matter even if you fail" said Adam reassuringly.

"I assure you, I won't fail" said Tom somewhat arrogantly, though to Adam and the others it came across as confidence.

[Even if it's stronger than me, in the end, it's just a dumb animal. The bigger one is still a bit out of my reach but I refuse to believe I can't even take down a single wild pig] thought Tom.

[Good, he seems confident. He must have already formulated a plan] thought Adam as he smiled at Tom.

Adam was feeling more and more excited about what was to come. As well as wanting to go on a hunt with Tom and fight qi beasts together with him, Adam also wanted to essentially one up the experience Tom had had with Rowan where they had hunted and killed a mature Blue Devil Beetle and Giant Velvet Worm.

He had intended to do this by hunting a powerful qi beast with Tom, however, he also knew that that would be pretty reckless and would put Tom in danger. Well, technically just being in the Tainted Forest was dangerous, but, there was still a limit to the risk Tom should be exposed to at his current level of training.

However, right now, they were about to go off and fight with a couple of Red Skinned Boars, some of most powerful qi beasts that were commonly seen close to the forest boundary. They couldn't compare to the defence of the Blue Devil Beetles that naturally made them tough for body strengthening cultivators to harm, nor could they compare the Giant Velvet Worms' glue-like slime and ability to use qi, however, their greater physical strength still put them in about the same league as them, though a bit lower because they were easier to handle than the other two and had a much lower economic value.

"Alright, so we don't endanger the horses, we ought to dismount here and approach them on foot" said Adam.

He'd heard about what had happened on the last hunt and didn't want a repeat of it. Three horses had been lost on the last hunt and it would be pretty bad if they kept getting their mounts killed.

It wasn't like they wouldn't be able to afford more horses but it would still set them back a bit. Besides, what kind of psychopath would have such a blasé attitude about the situation that they would take keep taking horses into the Tainted Forest only to continuously get them killed and then get a new horse? There would always be accidents and unfortunate incidents of course, but still, there's a limit.

"Marcus, can you look after the horses?" Adam asked his friend as a back-up safety measure.

"Sure, no problem" replied Marcus.

"Thanks" said Adam, before he turned to look at Tom again.

"Anyway, I'll take care of the big one and then you can have a go at the smaller one on your own. If you need any help, just ask for it and if you're really struggling, I'll step in to make sure you don't get seriously hurt" said Adam, assuring Tom that he'd have the freedom to move about without having to worry about any greater danger.

As far as Adam was concerned, Tom was still inexperienced and wouldn't necessarily be able to adapt to and perform his best in a dangerous situation. After all, it was common for people new to fighting to hesitate at crucial moments and be distracted by the things going on around them and then fall apart from the pressure.

He wanted to create the best possible environment for Tom to gain experience, where he could be free from distraction and focus solely on the task at hand and where his performance wouldn't be affected by the mental pressure that so often accompanied danger. Learning to react to multiple targets and other things going on around him at the same time as well as the mental fortitude to be unshaken in the face of adversity could be slowly learnt and built up over time.

Little did Adam know though, there was no chance of Tom doing something like hesitating in combat, nor was there anything that would cause him to feel fear. After all, killing wasn't exactly something that fazed him and even if he was killed on this planet, at worst he would only lose his bet with Methis and have to wait an untold amount of time before he was finally able to become a Full God or was able to garner someone else's assistance in helping him populate his world.

Although there was no danger of him hesitating or falling apart in combat due to fear or mental stress, it was possible that he might become a bit hot headed and reckless, as fights would often get his blood boiling. Nevertheless, even when such a thing got his heart pumping he still tended to remain calm, with a clear and focused mind, and had great instincts anyway so it shouldn't be a cause for concern in regards to fighting.

Furthermore, there was little risk of Tom being distracted in combat or unable to react to the actions of multiple combatants. He was someone with a vast array of fighting experience and wouldn't become muddleheaded just because he had to split some of his attention to the things happening in his surroundings or to the actions of multiple enemies he was engaged in combat with.

Also, ever since he had been snuck up on and attacked in Hill City, Tom had woken up to the fact that there was a lot of danger on this world and that even if the various dangers that existed here were nothing to him while he was at his peak, he couldn't afford to ignore them as he was now.

That was why ever since then; he had made more of an effort to not be indifferent to the things going on around him. This was further reinforced when he saw the bodies that were the victims of the mimics. Since then, he made an even greater conscious effort to stay vigilant and pay attention to what was going on around him.

After all, it wouldn't do him any good if his time here was cut short just because he had done something foolish like underestimate an opponent or got caught completely unawares because he wasn't paying attention to his surroundings. Just imagine if he suddenly got killed and didn't even know how it had happened, if something happened and he wasn't able to react to it because he wasn't paying attention. That would make him a complete and utter laughing stock.

"Like I said, I won't fail. Now let's do this" said Tom.