The next morning, Leo woke up early.
After moving his body a bit, he left the palace with his stone knife, heading straight for the eastern hillside he had planned out yesterday.
Morning light filtered through the treetops, the mist in the forest hadn't dissipated, and the air was fresh.
With yesterday's experience, his efficiency in searching for ant nests improved significantly.
In less than an hour, he found his first target near a pile of rocks—a red ant nest built in the gap between three giant boulders.
Leo observed for a moment, confirming there were no other dangerous creatures nearby.
He found a thick tree branch, aimed it at the nest entrance, and stabbed it in with force, then stirred it rapidly.
Black-red ants poured out like a tide, but this time, Leo was prepared.
He was wearing pant legs and cuffs reinforced with large leaves, making it hard for the ants to crawl inside.
He swept the branch left and right, knocking down and crushing large numbers of ants.
The tattoo on the back of his hand continued to emit a faint warmth.
[Life Energy + 0.01] notifications appeared continuously.
After clearing this nest, Leo continued searching forward. By noon, he had successfully destroyed three ant nests of varying sizes, and his Rank progress increased from 31% to 68%.
During a short break at noon, he ate some berries he had gathered yesterday and replenished his water at the stream.
After his body was strengthened, his stamina consumption slowed significantly, and half a day of labor only made him feel slightly tired.
"At this rate, I can level up today."
In the afternoon, Leo expanded his search range. He not only looked for obvious mound-like ant nests on the surface but also started paying attention to nests built inside decaying wood or deep underground.
When the sun slanted west, he found his fifth ant nest of the day at the base of a dead giant tree; this nest was quite large.
It took Leo nearly half an hour to finish clearing it completely.
When the last batch of ants was swept away, the tattoo on the back of his hand suddenly emitted a stronger warmth than before.
[Life Energy + 12.3]
[Rank: Level 1 (5%)]
Success!
A warm current surged from the tattoo on the back of his hand, rapidly traveling through his entire body.
Leo could clearly feel his muscles swelling slightly, and his bones let out a faint cracking sound. After about ten seconds, the warm current gradually subsided.
He clenched his fist, and his sense of power had clearly increased.
Trying to jump, his body felt much lighter, and the height he could easily jump was nearly half as high again as before.
His vision also became clearer—he could see the texture of leaves twenty meters away.
Leo found a small tree as thick as a bowl to test his strength.
He wrapped his hands around it and pulled hard—the roots loosened, the soil overturned, and the small tree was slowly pulled about three inches out of the ground.
Although it wasn't enough to pull it up by the roots, this strength was already far beyond that of an ordinary adult.
"All-around improvement."
He concluded. It wasn't just strength; speed, endurance, defense, the five senses... everything had significantly enhanced.
He recalled the description of the basic physical abilities of a Nen User in "hunter x hunter."
An ordinary Nen User's physical strength is often honed through long-term training and nourishment by Nen.
And his method of direct reinforcement through Life Energy might be even more efficient.
"If I reach Level 25, even if I haven't activated Nen yet, my physical fitness alone won't lose to an average Nen User."
Leo calculated in his mind. This realization made him even more determined to level up quickly.
As the sky dimmed, he returned to the palace.
That night, Leo tried to make a fire. He found dry deadwood, used his stone knife to cut a groove, and chose a hard wooden stick as a drill.
Although he was rusty, his strengthened strength and control made it easier for him to apply force.
After trying repeatedly for two hours, smoke rose from the groove. He carefully added dry moss shavings and blew gently—
A flame sprang up.
Successfully making a fire was significant. Cooked food could provide more energy, drive away nocturnal beasts, and allow him to process prey hides to make simple equipment.
In the following days, Leo formed a fixed routine.
Departing in the morning, he searched outwards with the palace as the center.
He focused on ant nests and other social insect nests, while also keeping an eye out for small animals along the way—rabbits, gophers, birds—hunting them along the way.
Although these prey provided relatively less Life Energy, they added up, and they could provide meat.
His strengthened body doubled his operational efficiency.
Prey he previously had to approach cautiously could now be ambushed at higher speeds; large ant nests that previously took time and effort to destroy could now be cleared in half the time.
Three days later, he reached Level 2.
The improvement was equally obvious.
This time he specifically tested the data: his hundred-meter running speed was about two seconds faster than at Level 1; one punch could leave a clear dent in a tree trunk; jumping down from five meters was easy, with only a slight jolt to his knees.
His recovery ability also significantly increased.
Once, while clearing an ant nest, he was accidentally bitten by a few soldier ants; the wound stopped bleeding and scabbed over within half an hour, and it had basically healed by the next day.
Leo started making simple tools: weaving backpacks with animal skins and vines to carry more items; drying prey tendons to try and make bowstrings; collecting sharp stone shards and binding them to sticks to make spearheads.
On the fifth day, he reached Level 3.
At this point, his physical fitness was far beyond that of an ordinary person.
A full-power jump could take him up a three-meter high rock wall; he could break an arm-thick tree branch with his bare hands; his vision could see movement thirty meters away in the moonlight.
He also started encountering larger creatures.
A beast similar to a lynx once tried to attack him, but he killed it with a stone spear, gaining 8 points of Life Energy—although less efficient than an ant nest, it had the advantage of speed.
Leo realized that as his strength increased, he could appropriately challenge higher-level prey.
He started consciously looking for traces of medium-sized beasts while maintaining his efficient method of clearing ant nests.
On the evening of the seventh day, after Leo finished clearing a large ant nest built in a rock crevice, the tattoo on the back of his hand emitted a familiar warmth.
[Life Energy + 15.7]
[Rank: Level 4 (2%)]
One week, from Level 0 to Level 4.
Leo stood on the hillside under the sunset, overlooking the distant forest.
The changes in his body were revolutionary—now, his strength was several times what it was when he first arrived, and his speed, reflexes, and endurance had all improved comprehensively.
He tried to recall the plot of "hunter x hunter." This physical fitness likely already exceeded the level of the bottom-tier contestants in Heavens Arena and was approaching that of a mid-tier martial artist.
And this was only Level 4; there was still a long way to go before reaching Level 25 to lift the "Zetsu" state.
"If I can maintain this speed..." he estimated.
But he knew in his heart that as his Rank increased, the Life Energy required for upgrading would definitely increase.
Moreover, the number of ant nests in the forest was limited, and it was impossible to clear them indefinitely.
He needed to plan ahead.
He decided to expand his exploration range starting tomorrow.
On one hand, he would continue to search for ant nests, and on the other, he would move in the direction marked on the map to find new sources of prey for subsequent upgrades.
The campfire crackled. Leo roasted the rabbit meat he had hunted today, grease dripping into the fire, filling the air with fragrance.
He took a bite; it was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside—after having fire, the quality of survival improved significantly.
The dark red tattoo on the back of his hand seemed to flow slightly with life under the reflection of the firelight.
Level 4. 21 levels to go until the target of Level 25.
The road ahead was still long, but at least, the start was smooth.
The next day, Leo changed his strategy.
He was no longer satisfied with ant nests and small prey, and started actively looking for large creatures.
At noon, he found a target in a valley.
It was a Unicorn Bear—with a shoulder height of nearly two meters, covered in brown-black fur, with a gray unicorn horn nearly half a meter long on its forehead. It was drinking water by the stream, looking leisurely.
Leo observed from behind a rock. With this size, the Life Energy it provided would definitely not be little.
But the risk was also high; the Unicorn Bear's thick fur and that unicorn horn were both lethal weapons.
After weighing it for a moment, he decided to act.
The battle was intense. Leo relied on his strengthened agility to maneuver, constantly stabbing with his stone spear, but each time he could only cause flesh wounds.
The Unicorn Bear had terrifying strength, and every attack was fraught with danger.
Ten minutes later, Leo's left shoulder was grazed by the bear's paw, and his bone made a crisp sound.
The doubled pain made his vision go black, but he gritted his teeth and persisted, taking the opportunity to stab his stone knife into the bear's eye with his right hand.
The Unicorn Bear howled in rage and charged wildly. Leo was knocked flying. He spat blood and crawled up, seeing the Unicorn Bear losing its aim due to the eye injury and charging blindly into the rock wall.
He endured the intense pain, picked up the thickest wooden spear on the ground, rushed at the Unicorn Bear from behind, and stabbed with full force at its neck!
"Awooo—!"
The Unicorn Bear let out a final scream, its massive body collapsing to the ground with a thud, twitching a few times before stopping.
Leo sat slumped on the ground, panting heavily, covered in blood. His left shoulder bone was cracked, and he had multiple abrasions. The doubled pain almost made him faint.
But a strong warmth came from the back of his hand.
[Life Energy + 45]
[Rank: Level 4 (47%)]
One hunt, progress increased by 45%! Far exceeding the efficiency of ant nests.
The price was also heavy. Leo checked his injuries; his left arm could no longer be lifted. He struggled to treat the wound, used branches to fix his left arm, and tore off a piece of his clothing to bandage it.
Half an hour later, he could barely stand; two hours later, his left arm could move slightly; by the time he returned to the palace before dark, his injuries had mostly recovered.
"Recovery ability... is even stronger than I imagined." Leo was surprised.
This meant he could withstand higher-risk hunts, recover quickly after being injured, and not affect subsequent actions.
From that day on, his hunting strategy changed completely.
He no longer relied solely on ant nests but actively looked for large creatures: Unicorn Bears in the valley, Saber-toothed Tigers in the forest, Giant Crocodiles in the swamp... each was dangerous, but provided rich Life Energy.
Of course, he still cleared the ant nests and social insects he encountered along the way; these were stable income.
Days passed by.
Leo became increasingly familiar with the forest.
He knew where to find specific prey, how to use terrain advantages, and knew the weaknesses and attack patterns of each creature. Combat experience accumulated rapidly.
A month later, he reached Level 8.
At this time, his physical fitness had reached an astonishing level: he could fight medium-sized beasts with his bare hands and jump down from ten meters high without injury.
Two months later, Level 12. He started challenging more dangerous areas, even actively entering the territories of some powerful creatures.
Three months later, Level 16. Ordinary beasts could no longer pose a threat to him; he needed to find stronger prey.
At the same time, Leo also discovered a pattern: as his Rank increased, the Life Energy required for upgrading increased, which meant he needed more and stronger prey.
He started systematically sweeping through every part of the Secret Realm, and every corner of the forest had been explored.
Time flew by.
Half a year later.
Somewhere in the Secret Realm forest, a Rhino-Armored Beast the size of a small elephant crashed to the ground.
It was covered in thick, bone-plate-like skin, and ordinary attacks couldn't hurt it at all, but at this moment, there was a fist-sized bloody hole in its throat—a fatal blow.
Leo stood beside the corpse, shaking the blood off his hands.
He had changed immensely. His height had grown from one meter seven to nearly one meter eighty-five, his physique was lean and tough, and his muscle lines were like carvings.
His skin was wheat-colored due to long-term life in the wild, with many faint scars—all marks left by half a year of fighting.
His eyes were sharp like an eagle's, revealing the calmness that only comes from experiencing life and death.
He was wearing self-made leather armor, pieced together from various animal skins, with bone fragments embedded in key areas. A stone knife hung from his waist—and a few bone throwing knives.
And during this half year, Leo also consciously trained his body. Thanks to his powerful physical recovery ability, he self-destructively tempered all parts of his body, gradually adapting to the doubled pain.
The dark red tattoo on the back of his hand was slightly hot.
[Life Energy + 120]
[Rank: Level 23 (10.8%)]
"Level 23." Leo muttered.
Half a year, from Level 4 to Level 23.
He had walked through almost the entire Secret Realm; the large creatures in the forest had been hunted seven or eight times over, and the remaining creatures were relatively powerful, which he couldn't kill for the time being.
Now, it took a lot of time every day to find suitable prey, and the upgrade speed had slowed down significantly.
But his strength had been turned upside down.
He had tested it: a full-power punch could break a waist-thick tree trunk; a hundred-meter dash took less than five seconds; his vision could see wormholes in leaves a hundred meters away; his hearing could capture subtle sounds within a hundred meters.
His recovery ability was even more terrifying. A week ago, while hunting, he was bitten by a poison lizard; the potent toxin paralyzed half his body, but the toxin was metabolized within three hours, and the wound healed the same day.
"Two more levels to go." Leo looked toward the east, the direction of the Secret Realm exit. "Once I reach Level 25 and lift the 'Zetsu' state, I can leave this place."
He shouldered the most valuable horn of the Rhino-Armored Beast—this material was hard and could be used to make weapons.
On the way back to the palace, he cleared two small ant nests along the way, gaining a few more points of Life Energy.
At night, by the campfire in the palace.
Leo roasted beast meat while sharpening a newly made bone spear.
In half a year, this palace had been transformed by him into a temporary base: there was a cellar to store food, a tool area to process Materials, and a resting place paved with animal skins.
"The last two levels... might take over a month." He estimated. Prey was becoming harder to find; sometimes he wouldn't encounter a suitable target for days.
Just at this moment, in the cave at the end of the forest on the east side of the Secret Realm.
The calm seawater suddenly rippled. On the rock wall, ancient patterns lit up one by one, emitting a pale blue light.
The light gathered, forming a rotating light gate in the center of the cave.
Ripples undulated, and three figures emerged from the light gate.
Leading them was a tall, thin middle-aged man wearing an exquisite suit with an elegant demeanor.
He held a dark gray stone slab in his hand, the very one that had fallen into an Urubian Continent town half a year ago.
Behind him followed a man and a woman.
The man was young, wearing glasses, carrying a large backpack, looking like a scholar.
The woman had red hair, a fit figure, a short blade at her waist, and alert eyes.
"We succeeded!" the young scholar Caspar said excitedly. "Mr. Satz, we really got in!"
The red-haired woman, Serena, pressed her hand on her sword hilt, observing vigilantly.
"The air is circulating, there are plants growing; this Secret Realm is still operating. Be careful, there might be guardian creatures."
The three of them activated their lighting equipment and started to explore outwards.