Chapter 12: Instinct (Fourth Update)
After overdrawing her perception for the first time, Sha felt so miserable she wished she were dead. Back then, at only 17 years old, she cried like a mess.
Su Xiao was now experiencing the same sensation. His brain felt as if thousands of needles were stabbing it. Whenever his perception touched anything around him, it sent back excruciating pain, piercing straight to his heart. And for the moment, he couldn't retract his perception.
However, compared to when he awakened his innate ability, Soul Devourer, this was much more bearable. That experience had truly been worse than death, making him want to slit his own throat.
Su Xiao leaned against the wall, lit a cigarette, and held it in his mouth without moving.
"Hey? Dead?"
Seeing Su Xiao's reaction, Sha stopped chewing on her dried pineapple. She thought he was about to kick the bucket—his response was too abnormal.
"For now... not dying."
Su Xiao exhaled a puff of smoke.
"This isn't right."
Sha started to stand up, but Su Xiao raised a hand to stop her.
"Don't come near me. My perception is stinging."
"Perception stinging... That means the side effects of overdrawing perception have kicked in. Your pain tolerance is impressive."
Sha felt a bit disappointed. She had been looking forward to seeing Su Xiao in agony, questioning his existence.
"Enduring pain is part of self-cultivation for growing stronger."
Su Xiao felt the stabbing in his head gradually fading.
"Disappointing."
"Sorry to let you down that I'm not writhing in pain."
Su Xiao had already realized the danger of learning Beast Instinct, but at this point, giving up halfway would be foolish.
Time passed. About an hour later, Su Xiao opened his eyes. He had a feeling that overdrawing his perception earlier had actually strengthened it a bit.
"My perception has grown stronger. Is that normal?"
"Of course. Once you master Beast Instinct, your perception will grow even faster. Most people let their perception develop naturally—low risk, sure, but the end result is that perception can't keep up with combat power. For close-range fighters, perception is directly tied to survival."
In the past hour, Sha had devoured who knows how many of Bubu Wang's snacks. Bubu Wang was lying on the ground, seemingly lost in thought. Sha had apparently taught him some technique earlier.
"We can start now. First, you need to understand what Beast Instinct is. You can ignore the 'Beast' part—that's just what the namer liked to call it. What you really need to know is what 'Instinct' means..."
Sha began explaining the knowledge related to Beast Instinct. Su Xiao listened silently.
[Tip: The Hunter has received guidance from the plot character 'Sha.' Obtaining information on 'Beast Instinct'...]
[Guidance in progress...]
[Tip: Detected buff effect 'Alice's Gift.' The Hunter's efficiency in mastering Beast Instinct has significantly increased.]
...
Earlier, Sha had said something: "With that bitch Alice's help, you'll pick up these skills quickly."
And indeed, Sha wasn't lying. Under the boost of 'Alice's Gift,' Su Xiao's thinking became much clearer, and his ability to learn Beast Instinct greatly improved.
Two hours later, Su Xiao understood what Beast Instinct was. It was a ability similar to Mind's Eye, but far more efficient. If Mind's Eye was about sensing with the 'heart,' then Beast Instinct was about sensing enemy attacks through instinct + perception + the body.
Instinct was vastly different from basic perception. Basic perception had a wide range—if Su Xiao focused his perception in one direction, he could sense things hundreds of meters away. Instinct's initial range was only eight meters. Even leveling up the skill wouldn't increase this range much. Sha's Beast Instinct, at Lv.59, only had a range of sixteen meters.
If a hyper-speed bullet was fired from five hundred meters away, using basic perception, Su Xiao's chance of dodging it was about 6% to 8%. But with Instinct, his success rate would be at least 90% or more.
Yes, it was that exaggerated. Basic perception involved sensing the bullet, relaying it to the brain, and then Su Xiao making a dodge—a process that took too much time. Even sensing it five hundred meters out didn't guarantee a dodge.
Beast Instinct's range was only eight meters, but the moment a bullet entered that eight-meter zone, Su Xiao would instinctively dodge. Whether his conscious mind was alert or not, his instinct would already be prepared for the best evasive action.
A longer perception range didn't mean faster reactions. And the biggest feature of Instinct was that it was a 24/7 passive skill.
That's right—always active. If activating Mind's Eye placed a burden of 100 on perception, then activating Instinct only placed a burden of about 1 to 3.
Once Su Xiao mastered Beast Instinct, against an opponent of equal strength, it would be nearly impossible to ambush him. In Sha's words, "Those who master Instinct only die in fierce combat, never from ambushes." That might be an exaggeration, but it showed how strong Instinct's warning capability was.
Activating Beast Instinct didn't require deliberate focus, freeing up Su Xiao's mental energy. Outside of combat, it saved stamina and prevented mental fatigue from constant tension.
If Instinct couldn't dodge an attack, full perception wouldn't help either. It was better to conserve mental energy and keep combat thinking flexible.
The more Su Xiao learned about Beast Instinct, the more he wanted to master it.
"That's the gist of it verbally. Next is awakening your Beast Instinct. We've come this far, and with that bitch Alice's help, awakening it won't be hard. What you need to worry about most is not losing your life during the process."
Sha handed him the black cloth strip. Su Xiao's eyelids drooped, and he silently cursed, "Damn it," before putting on the blindfold. He suspected this woman might have been locked up too long and developed a sadistic streak.
The wooden door closed tightly. From inside the room came sounds of thuds and blunt impacts.
Three sneaky figures crouched outside the wooden door.
"Big bro, it's been hours. Brother Bai Ye sure is persistent."
"Tsk tsk."
"That woman is my type—wild, lean figure, and those abs. Damn it, big bro, do you think I've been cuckolded? My heart suddenly hurts."
"Stop thinking useless crap. If it weren't for your loose tongue, we'd still have a chance."
The leader of the Three Brothers of National Football punched the second brother on the head. The third brother grinned foolishly.
In truth, the three brothers' compatibility with Sha wasn't bad. Plus, they had provided a special letter of introduction from the Wolf Butler, so Sha had agreed to trade with them.
But just after mastering a divine skill, the second brother couldn't help showing off, and the first and third brothers followed suit.
Sha was so furious she nearly bristled. When had this woman ever been 'teased' like that? She kicked the three brothers out.
The three weren't stupid. After seeing Sha's abilities, they realized they weren't a good fit. More importantly, when it came to Soul Crystal reserves, they were a broke trio. The Soul Crystal (Medium) in their team space was something they couldn't bear to use themselves. Even if they gave it to Sha, the returns wouldn't be worth it for their improvement.
The three brothers' tactic was: open combat with a small energy hammer to stun the enemy from range, then close in with a big energy hammer. If the enemy managed to create distance, switch back to the small hammer. Small hammer for forty, big hammer for eighty—take turns until the enemy was crying for their parents, bruised and battered.
...
Sixteen hours later, inside Su Xiao's room.
Whoosh~
The wind from a punch ruffled Su Xiao's short hair. His eyes were covered by the black cloth strip, yet he still dodged the attack.
Sha's fists came like rain, but Su Xiao swayed his upper body left and right, evading each one. Even more impressive, he was quickly twisting a Rubik's Cube in his hands, showing that his attention wasn't on dodging but on the cube.
Seeing this, Su Xiao's heartbeat quickened. Undoubtedly, if Beast Instinct was further developed, its potential was enormous. What's more, this skill had strong compatibility. His Mind's Eye skill had disappeared, replaced by a brand-new one. This meant Beast Instinct could also integrate other perception abilities, like Observation Haki. According to Sha, her Beast Instinct had already integrated over 30 perception abilities.
"Excellent. You've preliminarily mastered Beast Instinct. Since you had Mind's Eye as a foundation, your Instinct, even at this initial awakening, is far ahead of a beginner's."
Sha stopped throwing punches. Su Xiao had already solved the Rubik's Cube.
"Deal's done."
Sha flopped onto the bed with a thud.
"Is there a way to strengthen Instinct?"
"Yes. Trade me pure souls."
"Deal."
Su Xiao pulled out a Soul Crystal (Medium). Sha's eyes went wide.
Whoosh~
Sha lunged at him. Su Xiao instinctively dodged, and Sha, missing her target, looked annoyed.
Su Xiao tossed the Soul Crystal (Medium) over. He planned to level up Beast Instinct and also check its stats.
PS: (This is the chapter I owed from the day before yesterday. I know I still owe many chapters, but I'll work hard to pay them back. The pressure of maintaining three chapters a day is tough, so please understand.)