After the call ended, Kenji turned back, took the [Skill Manuals] from under his bed.

  With the blessing of his Gift [Rapid], Kenji arrived at the library in a quarter of an hour.

  “How is your progress on these?” As Kenji arrived at the library, Mary was already waiting for him.

  “I am close to mastering [Beam]; it will take less than a week. But I can't say anything about [Enforce], I haven't put much work into it.”

  After hunting, Kenji could only put an hour or so into practising skills, which was why he hadn't made much progress yet.

  “That’s still fast. I found an interesting [Skill Manual] for you. After you finish mastering [Beam] and [Enforce], I will borrow it for you.” Mary said before heading inside the library.

  Wondering what type of skill Mary was talking about, Kenji grabbed some food and headed to meet up with the others.

  “Let's go.” Currently, Zhen was very close to getting all the materials for his third gift, and he didn't want to waste a single second.

  Kenji was a little surprised to see Anon in great condition.

  Staring at the arm he once lost, he followed them out of the city.

  Entering the Evergreen Forest, they soon arrived at the Howlers’ territory.

  Under Zhen's guidance, it wasn't long before they came across a small group of Howlers.

  “Kenji, if there is a Howler with [Transparent], you need to help Anon fight it.” Before heading in, Zhen made sure that Kenji understood the agreement.

  Soon, they all charged at the group of Howlers, and in just 10 minutes all 6 Howlers were on the ground, lifeless.

  Resting for a while, they headed for the next group.

  Just like that, at the end of the day they had hunted a total of 37 Howlers.

  [Ki: 1,174→1,544]

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  “Here,” giving Kenji his share after deducting the money for the healing potion, Zhen and the others left.

  Taking the money, Kenji met up with Mary, grabbed something for dinner, and returned home with two [Skill Manuals] in his hand.

  [Ancient Calendar: 29 Mar 0001]

  The next day, when Kenji arrived at the usual meeting spot, Zhen was standing in place proudly while Anon and Joon's faces were filled with excitement.

  “Today I am going to unleash a massacre.” Zhen announced, while Anon and Joon, like little fanboys, started cheering him on.

  “Yup, today we are going to make a record.”

  “I wonder how many gold coins we will make today.”

  “What's…..” Before Kenji could ask the reason behind all the excitement, Joon said excitedly, “Zhen has gotten his third gift.”

  “So… soon,” it had been hardly a week since Zhen established the so-called ‘team fund’, and he had gathered all the money for materials.

  Under Zhen's leadership, they entered the Evergreen Forest with newfound confidence.

  “Attack.” Finding a group of Howlers, Zhen charged without much thinking, as he was dying to test his strength.

  Without using the movement skill, Zhen arrived before the pack in seconds and started a massacre.

  Before the others could arrive, 3 of the 7 Howlers were dead.

  The rest, even after transformation, couldn't even catch Zhen’s shadow, and with the help of Kenji's [Ki Blade], all Howlers fell in a few breaths.

  “I did this.” After the battle, Zhen looked at the 5 Howlers that died under his sword and felt a sense of pride.

  Even if Kenji hadn't helped, Zhen was confident that he could kill all of them by himself.

  “Let's continue.” Helping hide the Howler carcasses, Zhen ordered them to continue heading deeper into the Howlers' territory.

  As they entered deeper into the territory, the number of packs they came across continued to increase, but with Zhen’s massive strength boost and Kenji's [Ki Blade], there was hardly any pack that got away.

  Even if some Howlers tried to run, Joon made sure that they didn't get too far away.

  By the end of the day, they had hunted a terrifying number of 64 Howlers.

  “If we continue on like this, then after the next monster tide, we all would have D-rank gifts.” Joon said, while counting the total number of Howlers they killed today in his head.

  “So true.” Although the next in line to get the D-rank gift was Joon, Anon was still very happy.

  Before, he thought Zhen's whole idea of pooling everyone's money was bullshit.

  But now that Zhen has gotten his third gift, their efficiency of killing monsters has doubled.

  If Joon also gets one, Anon could see that the day when he gets his D-rank wasn't that far away.

  Along with the others, Kenji was also happy because, just like yesterday, he collected all the Ki, and now his Ki has reached more than 2,000 units.

  [Ki: 1,544→2,184]

  “Joon, go and get the workers, and remember, if they aren't willing to carry 3 Howlers, don't hire them.” Zhen ordered Joon to get workers.

  “Don't just lie there, get up and start looking for anything precious.” As Joon left, Zhen turned to Anon and Kenji, who were resting after fighting for the whole day, and asked them to scavenge the area.

  Today, they had just killed a pack of Howlers, hid the bodies, and moved on to the next area.

  Since they were pretty deep in Howlers' territory, the chances of the area being untouched by humans were pretty high. They could surely find some good stuff.

  “Zhen! Kenji!” Just a few minutes had passed when Anon's terrified cry was heard.

  “What happened, is it a monster?” Hearing Anon's unusual voice, Zhen rushed over. After all, monsters wandering into other territories is pretty common.

  “Look there.” When Zhen arrived, Anon pointed at the tree with a trembling finger.

  When Zhen looked at the tree, he didn't find anything out of the ordinary, aside from something stuck inside it.

  “Is it what I think it is?” Zhen's eyes lingered on the golden thing stuck inside the tree for a few seconds before widening with shock.

  “I think so.” From Zhen's reaction, Anon confirmed that he wasn't hallucinating.

  Both of them slowly approached the tree and found that the object stuck inside it was indeed a Golden Treasure Chest.

  By the time Kenji arrived, they had already taken the Golden Treasure Chest out of the tree.

  “Is… that a…” Even Kenji was dumbfounded at the sight of the Golden Treasure Chest.

  “Yep, a Golden Treasure Chest, the third of its kind.” While speaking, Zhen kept thinking about whether to open it or not.

  __________

  Author’s Note:

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