A few minutes later Gustav had arrived back in his neighborhood. Only one daily task was left for him to complete at the moment.
The time was already ten pm which meant he still had two hours before the day ended.
Gustav sighed in relief.
His plan for completing the last task required him to head towards the forest area.
He activated dash again and ran towards the forest area.
Zwoosh!
In a few seconds, his silhouette streaked past the last apartment in this residential area and headed for the sparse forest up ahead.
When dash ran out he had arrived in front of a tree in the middle of the sparse forest region.
The tree was about nine meters tall with green and blue shades.
The width of the tree was comparable to that of four people placed together.
Gustav stood in front of the tree and stretched out his hand to touch it.
"This one is good," He muttered after feeling the tree up with his palm.
Gustav clenched his fist, drew his arm backward, and punched out.
Bam!
His fist collided with the tree causing a loud blast to ring out.
A four inches deep hole was formed within the tree and Gustav's fist was buried inside.
Gustav pulled his arm out of the hole and placed his fingers on his chin.
'With my normal strength, I can only do this much... Let me put my back into it,' Gustav said internally as he got into a battle stance.
"Fuu," He breathed out and arched his arm back to the limit before throwing out another fist.
Bang! Cracccckkk!
Upon collision, this time, Gustav's fist blasted a ten inches deep hole into the body of the tree. Cracks spread from that point to the other parts of the tree but it was still far from falling.
"I guess this is as much as I can do with my normal strength," Gustav realized that his strength was still pretty low and his win against the bloodwolf came from combining his strength with that of beast transformation.
He had no idea that his normal strength was rivaling third step Zulu ranks.
'Partial mutated beast transformation,'
Gustav activated the beast transformation bloodline and started to grow in size.
His body bloated and almost tore apart his sweater. If not for the elasticity of this one surpassing the former it would have torn already.
In this state, Gustav was over eight feet tall.
He clenched his fist again, "Let's try that again," He muttered with a deep voice.
Bang!
He punched the tree again causing splinters to fly everywhere as his fist penetrated deep into the middle of the tree. The trees was still standing but only slightly.
Gustav dragged the right arm back while throwing out his left one.
Bang! Craacckk!
His left fist collided with the tree and it finally gave way. The tree which was standing proudly earlier split apart from the bottom area.
Krracckk!
The wood at the stem area could no longer support its weight as it came crashing down.
Bang!
It slammed to the ground on Gustav's left.
Gustav didn't transform back into his normal form, instead, he walked towards the fallen tree.
Since it had been broken down it was now about seven meters tall.
Gustav crouched and placed his palm on the tree before gripping it.
"Ugh," He grunted while lifting the tree above his head.
Just once was enough for him to hear the system notification ringing in his ear.
[Daily task completed (3/3): Carry a total of 2750 kilograms ✓]
Gustav crouched down and dropped the tree gently. He slowly transformed back into human form.
Just as he had expected, this tree weighed more than enough for him to complete his daily task.
There were smaller trees in the area but he decided to use them to make sure he completed the task in one go.
"Done... I need to start putting my daily tasks first before doing anything else for the day," Gustav said with a contemplative gaze.
He has been researching mixed-breeds since the night before. Since he could get EXP from killing mixed-breeds and also selling their body parts, it would be a two times win for him if he decided to start hunting them.
The problem was where to look without getting himself killed since there were mixed-breeds that were more powerful than he was currently.
Gustav sat down on the tree and opened the system interface.
When it appeared in his line of sight he called for skills and abilities panel to be displayed.
{Skills and Abilities]
»Dash - Level 4
»Sprint - Level 3
»Regeneration - Level 3
»Shapeshifting - Level 1
»Joint movement - Level 3
»Toxin immunity - Level 3
»Recreation - Level 3
»Bloodline acquisition - Level 3
Gustav's eyes were focused on shapeshifting he wanted to know if it was what he was thought it was.
»Shapeshifting - Level 1
(Ability to copy the looks of a person when the right requirements are met)
"It's truly as I thought," Gustav felt like he was dreaming.
He never knew he would get such an ability at a time like this.
'This makes everything much easier,' Gustav was already thinking about how he was going to make use of the ability to the best of his benefit.
He had never seen someone with a shapeshifting ability before so he believed it must be pretty rare.
Gustav decided to head back to his apartment after a few minutes of sketching plans.
It was past ten pm at the time when Gustav entered the building.
He got to the last floor in a few seconds and walked through the corridor that led to his apartment.
"Hmm?" He noticed the silhouette of a person sitting in front of his apartment door.
The lights in the corridor were dimly lit which was why Gustav couldn't see this person properly but due to perception he had already noticed the person from far away and he could tell that this person was a female.
Gustav walked silently towards the person with a suspicious expression on his face.
He was preparing to attack or counter any form of attack if this person happened to be dangerous.
He moved silently until he was only seven feet away from the person. He could finally see the person clearly.
"Angy?" He muttered with a bewildered expression as he walked towards her.
Angy was seated in front of his apartment in such a way that her knees were hugging her chest. Her arms were placed in a crossed format on her knees and her forehead was resting on her arms.
Occasionally her head would tilt to the side and fall off her arms only for her to subconsciously place them back on her arms.
"Angy," Gustav got to her front and called out.
Flicker!
Her eyelids trembled and she opened her eyes which were still heavy with sleep.
"Huh?" She muttered with a confused look as her eyes cleared up and she noticed Gustav standing in front of her.
"Gus-tav! You're ba-ck," She jumped up with a look of embarrassment and cleaned the drool from the side of her mouth.
"Yes I'm back, what are you doing here?" Gustav asked with a confused look.
"Ah, well I noticed you weren't back since you left an hour ago so I decided to wait in front of your apartment so I would be able to call the police or alert the neighborhood on time if you didn't show up... just in case you were in any form of danger," Angy had a look of relief as she said that.
Gustav eyes widened in shock, 'She did this to ensure my safety?'
He wanted to say something after hearing her explanation but he couldn't find the right words.
He just kept staring at her as the seconds counted. He felt a rush of indescribable emotion welling up from inside him as he noted the look of concern on her face.
Angy was also staring back at him. The atmosphere was starting to turn awkward as both of them stared into each other's eyes.
"I-t's go-od that you're back now," Angy finally spoke to break the silence.
"I'm going to bed now, goodnight," Angy turned around to head towards her apartment as she waved at Gustav.
"Go-od night," Gustav's voice sounded croaked as he replied to her.
She turned around and smiled at him warmly before entering her apartment.
Gustav got his keys and opened his door before walking in.
Pat!
A drop of water fell to the floor a few centimeters ahead of Gustav which brought his mind back to his surroundings.
"Huh? What's this?" Gustav touched his cheek and felt wetness.
"Am I crying?"