The legendary warrior

Ricky immediately jumped down from the huge tree and swung his arms before sidling up to Heather. He looked into her eyes which were wide open in shock and said smugly, "Hey, cutie, how do you like me now? I must be the man of your dreams."

"Dream on!" Heather said disdainfully after hearing what Ricky had said.

Despite her retort, the shock wouldn't vanish from her heart in a short time. He was right that she was becoming more attracted to him, but she wasn't about to let him know that.

She knew that Ricky had been at the seventh grade of Skin Refinement. She wondered about how he broke through the seventh and reached the eighth grade of Skin Refinement in only a few hours. Even the most talented genius couldn't do that.

'Maybe he hid his strength before. Father once told me that some special medicine could hide the true ability of a warrior, ' Heather guessed.

Then they left the swamp with Ricky still building himself up and Heather responding coldly from time to time.

Ricky didn't talk about parting with Heather, and neither did Heather. They sparred, training for the Iron Blood Trial together. And they got closer while doing so.

Ricky had killed the Anaconda-tailed Tiger and taken the black dots from Finn and Waylon, so he had nearly seven hundred black dots on his ironwood. There was no point in continuing to hunt down fierce animals.

But once he found out about the secret of his Blood Zone, Ricky started hunting fierce beasts again.

Before they finally left the mountains, Ricky had killed five more ferocious beasts—all of them at the eighth grade of Skin Refinement.

Each time, Ricky snuck into the place where he killed the beasts and dragged the corpses into the Blood Zone. He didn't let Heather know about this.

Ricky's strength reached the peak of the eighth grade after he refined three beasts at the eighth grade of Skin Refinement.

And Ricky figured that he could make breakthroughs by refining a certain number of ferocious beasts using the Blood Zone.

But Ricky decided to hold off on that for a while. Instead, he focused on honing his technique. Using the Blood Zone, he didn't need the Body Refining Pill to eliminate the impurities inside his body. But there was a price.

'So using the Blood Zone isn't foolproof. It doesn't provide a solid foundation for improving my strength. That will become a problem later on, ' thought Ricky.

I take some time and spar more, then maybe I can get past

Blood Zone to make breakthroughs and then eliminate this defect with fights and

time marched on, and the end of the Iron Blood Trial was less than four

when Ricky decided to look for Jim.

knew he was no match for the warrior. But things were different now. He was at the peak of the eighth grade of Skin Refinement. He should be able to go toe-to-toe with ninth graders.

guessed correctly. Apparently Jim had summoned several disciples from the Snow Sect, intending to hunt Ricky down. Many warriors who attended the trial knew his

......

that made it easy

ambushed some of the contestants in the trial, but he didn't take their ironwood nor kill them. He just told them to let everyone know where Ricky could be found. He believed he could make Jim come to

to get out of here before long,"

would leave a friend in the lurch?" Heather

the disciples of the Snow Sect. You shouldn't get involved. What if you being here causes them to go after

Heather went silent.

knew that Lion King Castle was nowhere near a match for the Snow Sect. What if they

face this alone!" Heather made up her mind and

still deny you're in love

softened. Aside from his father and his mentor Grace, no one else had cared about him like

about you as a friend!" Heather said shyly, her cheeks a

"Ha ha!"

bashful Heather

......

remained hidden, so she could help if needed. She'd

......

as Ricky had expected, Jim showed up with three companions. One of them was a nominal disciple of Connie and was a contestant in Iron Blood

Jim said maliciously, glaring at Ricky. Anyone could tell that he wanted

you waiting for?" Ricky responded with a smile.