'But before that...'

Krune remembered the main reason why he needed to reach Foundation Establishment. That was because he needed to be in a human form to be able to leave this forest without being hunted.

​​

"Ruik, do you know how the human form thing works?"

Ruik, who was sleeping soundly, suddenly opened his eyes as he replied.

"Human form? Ah, right! The weaker the races, the earlier they can turn into their human form. Since you're a wisp, then you can probably transform straight away after reaching the Foundation Establishment Realm."

"Although I'll only be able to do that after I get to the late stages of Foundation Establishment or maybe even after the Core Formation Realm, I still know a thing or two about it. It seems like it's something that comes from your desires. As long as you wish for it, it should come as a matter of course. Just try it out."

Krune didn't expect it to be that easy. Though, since that was the case, he might as well try it out now. Krune willed it, and sure enough, his body started to transform straight away. His energy body started to become corporeal all of a sudden, while a head and four limbs quickly appeared. It was nothing special. Krune's body seemed to be that of a very ordinary human. The impressive thing was that he even had blood now that he had a human body.

The other parts soon came forward, and as expected, due to Krune's personality, he turned out to be a man. It was easy to identify that due to his little friend between his legs. The last part that took form was the hair. It was short, which was beneficial for him. If he obtained long hair, he would've definitely cut it off so it wouldn't get in the way.

Krune was now standing up in front of Ruik, Lakin, and the rest. Krune then opened his eyes, but he couldn't help but feel surprised.

"It's so different! My vision as a wisp allows me to see everything around me, but my vision as a human can only see what's in front of my face."

Ruik didn't think it was strange.

"That's how almost all races see the world. There are very few races capable of seeing more than what is in front of their eyes. Basically, they wouldn't feel anything strange about that after taking human form."

Krune agreed with that statement, but it was really inconvenient for him to be able to see so 'little.' Fortunately, he soon got an idea. Krune concentrated for a bit and let his wisp core release some of its energy around it. Sure enough, as soon as it took form, Krune's vision returned back to what it was. He even wondered if he should walk with his eyes closed from now on. Of course, he quickly discarded this idea as he would look like a weirdo that way. It was good enough that he could keep his human form while still retaining his full range of vision. He wanted to avoid attracting attention. Unfortunately for him, that would be impossible.

"It worked! As long as I release some of my energy out of my core, I can see everything around me again and still keep up my human form."

Ruik was a little surprised to hear that. He was a double-headed snake, but even though that was the case, he could only see what's in front of his eyes. But even if Krune took on a human form, he could still see everything in the surroundings.

"That's quite useful. You don't need to keep your Divine Sense active all the time to be able to see around you. I envy this ability of yours."

"By the way, why are you just standing there? Try using your body more and see the differences while moving."

Krune agreed with the idea, but as soon as he tried to take one step, he tripped and fell with his face on the ground. It even hurt a bit.

"Fuck me! How do I move this thing?!"

Ruik and Lakin burst out in laughter. The sight to them was very comical. Krune tried to get up, but he simply didn't know how to control his body. His arms and legs looked like worms, moving everywhere for no reason.

It only made Ruik and Lakin laugh even harder after seeing that. Krune was feeling gloomy, but that was to be expected. Krune was more or less a spiritual energy ball, and out of nowhere, he obtained a body with limbs. It would be a miracle if he could use it straight away.

Around ten minutes later, Krune finally got up. He was trembling while trying to keep his balance, though. Ruik and Lakin were still laughing by the side to the point where Krune pondered if he should give them a beating later.

With great effort and after several hours, Krune could finally at least walk normally. Though, he couldn't do any complex movements yet. It was then that he heard Ruik comment.

"By the way, why is your hair so... colorful?"

Krune was stunned for a second after hearing that. Colorful? He went beside the spiritual vein lake and took a look at his reflection. Sure enough, his hair was very colorful. It was just like a... rainbow! The weirdest thing was how the colors moved around in his hair. It even glistened from time to time.

Krune instantly felt immense despair! He decided to walk with his eyes open to not attract that much attention, but now it turns out that even with that, no one would attract more attention than himself.

"Oh, great! I already have the rainbow candy core. On top of that, I look like a real clown as well. At this point, I just need a few kids to entertain, and I might make a living in the city doing birthday parties."

Ruik and Lakin heard that and burst out into laughter once more. Unfortunately for them, they didn't laugh for long. That's because Krune had finally snapped! He returned to his wisp form and gave both of them a thorough beating. Ruik was left with a lot of bruises all around his body, and Lakin's energy body became very dim. They didn't dare to laugh any more after that. They found out for the first time that Krune was very scary when he was angry.

Krune then returned to his human form after that and kept practicing. That's why there was the saying 'practice makes perfect.' It had only been eight hours since he first took human form, but he could finally run a little. He was still tripping up here and there, but it was already a lot better than not being able even to stand up properly.

There was one thing that no one here took note of, though. During all this time, Krune has been... naked! If someone from outside could see it, they would wonder whether Krune was some kind of exhibitionist. A grown-up man with rainbow hair kept running around with his third leg dancing with the wind all this time. Truly a sight to behold... maybe not.

It wasn't as if no one noticed that. Be it Ruik, Lakin, or Krune, they knew very well that he was naked. But two of them were wisps, while the former was a demon snake. None of them had ever used clothes to start with. For them, it was merely natural to not have clothes on.

Suddenly, Krune heard a weird sound come from his belly. Not only that, but he felt like he needed more energy. Though, even after absorbing spiritual energy to feed his wisp core, he still felt like he was becoming weak. He then asked Ruik if he had any idea. After hearing that, Ruik didn't know if he should laugh or cry.

"Are you an idiot? Haven't you fed those Lizard Dragons for a long time? Let me ask you, why do they need to be fed?"

Krune immediately understood. He was... hungry! Such a weird feeling. Wisps only needed spiritual energy to survive, so he didn't know that his human form would require food. Unfortunately for Krune, there were only some carcasses outside the cave room. When he looked at the Lizard Dragons eating, he felt that it was horrible to even look at. Krune then remembered the time that he looked around the villages close to the forest. The people there would burn the meat and eat fruits. With that, Krune tried to do the same. After taking a few slices of the prey, he put on some fire and... turned that meat into crisp in a second!

Of course, it was a failure. Krune had never cooked before, and he didn't even know the word 'cook' to start with. Then again, practice makes perfect! Several tries later, he finally cooked some meat. The taste wasn't good, though. Unsurprisingly, it looked much better to the eyes than the raw meat, and it was tastier as well. He also went out and collected some fruits after that. This time, he finally understood what the word tasty meant. The fruits were delicious. He felt like he could get addicted to eating if he didn't control himself.

"The feeling of eating something is great! Ruik, you should have told me how good it is before!"

Ruik looked at him like someone looking at an idiot. He has always eaten ever since he could remember himself, and it was akin to breathing for him. Sure, eating when one was hungry felt good, but is it necessary to be this excited? He just ignored Krune and went back to sleep.

It had been two days since he started to practice with his human body. By now, he wasn't entirely naked anymore. Though, the reason for that has nothing to do with being embarrassed. It's just that every time he moved, his third leg would be jumping around. That really bothered him, so he made something to hold it, that's all.

'I should be able to battle now even though I'm in my human form. Although it's inconvenient compared to my original fighting style, it shouldn't be a problem as long as I get used to my Wind Movement in this form.'

Krune then told Lakin that he would go out to practice for a while before leaving. He decided that there was no point in looking for Qi Condensation demon beasts anymore, so he went further into the forest.

He spread his Divine Sense to the maximum range it could go. Krune was curious to know how far it would reach after his soul had been tempered even further by the Tribulation Lightning. It turns out that he could now see everything within a radius of 5300 meters. This was just unbelievable. Such range could only be achieved by late-stage Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators!

Krune decided to use it once every few minutes. He couldn't keep it activated all the time since it spent a lot of spiritual energy. Sometime later, he eventually found a Foundation Establishment Realm demon beast, a Three Horned Buffalo at the 2nd Stage.

"This is perfect. Let's check if he can feel my Divine Sense."

Krune kept using it, scanning through the buffalo several times. Surprisingly, the buffalo had no reaction. It couldn't feel Krune's Divine Sense at all!

"As I thought, my Divine Sense is several times stronger than any other beast around my level, so they can't feel it. I guess only a demon beast at the 4th or maybe 5th Stage of Foundation Establishment would be able to feel my Divine Sense. Then again, even if they do, they wouldn't be able to tell where I am. The range of my Divine Sense is much bigger than theirs, so this will help me assure my safety. Now, then. Let's try and challenge this Demon Buffalo."

Although Krune's Divine Sense was as powerful as late-stage cultivators, his battle prowess definitely wasn't that great. Though, with his Universe Foundation, he was definitely stronger than ordinary 3rd Stage Foundation Establishment cultivators. He should have no problem putting up a fight against 4th Stage ones.

The reason he decided to challenge this demon buffalo was that he was in his human form. Krune needed practice to get used to it. So, to be safe, he wasn't going to risk it.

Krune then got close to the spiritual vein that the buffalo was overseeing. He purposely lessened the power of his Divine Sense so that the buffalo could perceive him. Sure enough, when the buffalo noticed his Divine Sense, it spread out his own and soon found Krune outside his lair. It then went outside to check.

"What do you want? This is my Spiritual Vein. If you want to take it, you definitely won't have a good time."

The buffalo then looked at Krune. Although Krune was using his human form, the buffalo could tell that he wasn't a human because of his aura. Real humans had a different aura around them, and this buffalo obviously know that.

Krune just looked at him and smiled.

"I don't need your spiritual vein, but I want all the spirit stones in it."

The buffalo was immediately enraged. A puny 1st Stage Foundation Establishment Realm demon beast wanted to take his spirit stones away. If he let that guy do as he wished, he might as well leave this place forever.

"I will only say this one more time. Get the fuck away before I lose my patience."

Krune just kept smiling, though.

"Then, I think I have no other choice. I'll have to take your spirit stones by force."

The demon buffalo didn't say anything anymore. And soon, it immediately charged at Krune at full speed.

Krune was already expecting that, though. In response, he activated his Wind Movement and got out of the way. At the same time, he was about to use ten wind blades. Unfortunately, he tripped again and rolled quite a few times. The buffalo was surprised at first when he saw Krune dodge his charge. His charge wasn't something like simply running ahead. With the use of his Divine Sense, he could lock onto Krune and make adjustments if Krune tried to move away. But in the end, Krune still dodged that.

Though, it never thought that after such terrifying speed, the guy would trip and roll away. When he saw Krune get up, he could see quite a few bruises on his body.

Krune gave a bitter smile in response. When he was preparing to use his wind blades, he didn't pay attention to where he was walking anymore. That was to be expected, though. Krune was a wisp. He was supposed to be floating, so there wasn't supposed to be anything that could make him trip. But now, he had legs, plus he couldn't float either. So, it went without saying that he would definitely experience some difficulties.

'Good thing I challenged a low-level demon beast. If it was someone at the same power level, I might have gotten into trouble.'

The buffalo was only slightly surprised before immediately charging once again. This time, while it was charging, it used an Earth element skill to try and bind Krune's legs. Sadly for the buffalo, Krune wasn't slow. Even if he was in his human form, he still had his 360-degree vision and his Divine Sense. He noticed the changes on the ground and jumped away once more. This time, he paid attention to where he was stepping and readied ten wind blades once more. As soon as the buffalo came at him, he shot the blades. After breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Realm, Krune's spiritual energy was much stronger now. Even if he didn't use his Blazing Wind Blades, the normal wind blades were powerful enough already.

The wind blades soon hit the buffalo, leaving behind quite a few cuts. Then again, the buffalo was a strength-type beast, which meant it has sturdy defenses. It ignored the pain it felt as it kept charging at Krune. Every now and then, it would use its Earth element attacks to try and bind, block, or attack Krune. It was a Foundation Establishment Realm demon beast, after all. It had a lot more spiritual energy than Qi Condensation beasts.

Unfortunately for the buffalo, Krune was just too fast. The buffalo couldn't understand how a 1st Stage Foundation Establishment Realm beast could be so much faster than him. Not to mention, those wind blades were really annoying. On top of that, there were times that guy would also use Earth element attacks just like him. Every now and then, an Earth Wall would block his way, or some Earth Spike would shot from his side. Fortunately, the buffalo was also an Earth element user, so it was very sensitive to the earth around him changing. It allowed it to defend or dodge those attacks.

Time quickly passed, and after twenty minutes of fighting, the buffalo was finally out of spiritual energy. Not to mention the hundreds of cuts, big and small, all over its body.

With that, it finally gave up and shouted back through its Divine Sense.

"Alright! Alright! You can take the spirit stones! I can't beat you! It's your win!"

Krune smiled at him again as he said.

"That's very kind of you. Then, I won't be polite."

Krune then took all the spirit stones in the spiritual vein before leaving. He didn't come here to kill anyone to start with. Although he doesn't mind killing when necessary, the fact still stands that he didn't like it. So, as long as there wasn't a need for it, he wouldn't be taking lives. Things like provocation and benefits were far from being enough to force his hand.

After Krune moved far away from the buffalo's lair, he sat down and cultivated to recover. Through the use of his spiritual energy, the injuries on his body started to heal at a fast pace. Krune might have a human body, but it had taken form using his spiritual energy as base after all. While he was recovering, Krune started to ponder over his battle with the Three Horned Buffalo.

'As expected, the human body is too inconvenient. Although it has a higher level of defense compared to my wisp body, I can't move freely at all. I tripped quite a few times as well, while I also have to pay attention to the movements of my own limbs while using my skills. Sadly, I have no choice. Unless I get into a life or death situation, I can never show my true form as a wisp to anyone outside, so I need to get used to it.'

Time passed by after that, with Krune being out for a week already.