After a night of hectic activity, William Reed's condition finally stabilized. His slumbering consciousness gradually awakened, and as he slowly opened his eyes, he saw a little girl dressed in a thin garment, her cheeks seemingly flushed red by the night wind, gazing at him with deep concern.

Months of hardship had stripped William Reed of his former naivety, making his mindset resilient and somewhat mature. At this moment, he calmly looked at the little girl, carefully recalling the events before he lost consciousness. When he saw the tattered cotton-padded jacket on his body, gratitude appeared in William Reed's eyes. “Little sister, thank you for saving my life.”

The little girl let out a sigh of relief and smiled beautifully. “Good, it seems your brain hasn’t been fried. My name is Emily Harris. You killed the scar-headed wolf—very impressive. So, you can call me Emily.”

Just as William Reed was about to speak in confusion, Emily Harris stopped him. “You just woke up, don’t waste your strength talking. Your body is very weak. For now, you can’t eat roasted wolf meat, but I’ve prepared some meat broth for you.”

With that, Emily Harris brought over her small iron pot, which was still simmering, and used a spoon to feed William Reed the broth, one mouthful at a time. The broth was flavorful, with salt and various seasonings. After drinking the hot broth, William Reed gradually felt invigorated, regaining much of his strength. Even the battle energy within his body recovered a little in its natural state.

Energy is conserved; battle energy does not appear out of thin air. According to the continent’s theory of battle energy, after eating, part of the food is converted into stamina factors, while the excess becomes stored energy like sugar and fat. For those who have mastered battle energy, even if they don’t actively refine and condense stamina factors into battle energy, as long as the battle energy in their qi sea isn’t full, their bodily functions, through breathing, will slowly refine the stored energy into battle energy, replenishing the qi sea and maintaining consumption.

But aside from natural recovery, strong practitioners can also actively circulate their battle energy to speed up the recovery process.

At this moment, William Reed was already accustomed to recovering his battle energy through meditation in any environment. After expressing his gratitude to Emily Harris once more, he sat cross-legged and entered a meditative state.

Using deep, steady breathing as a catalyst, his body entered a complex operational mechanism. The air he inhaled reacted with some of the solid stored energy in his body, miraculously transforming into stamina and replenishing every life factor in his body.

Once his stamina was fully restored, theoretically, the body’s mechanism would automatically stop the replenishment. However, William Reed began to circulate his battle energy, letting it slowly flow along his meridians. Through micro-vibrations, he stimulated the life factors, further condensing and refining the stamina into battle energy, adding it to the ever-growing army of battle energy within him.

As his stamina was extracted, his bodily functions had to keep operating to replenish it. Since battle energy is a higher form of stamina, it naturally condenses much more than stamina. At this point, William Reed needed about four stamina factors to condense a single battle energy factor. Therefore, when a battle energy factor was burned, the energy it produced was four times that of a stamina factor.

“Huh? Four times?” While recovering his battle energy, William Reed was slightly startled. He could already reach this level? Could it be that he had broken through? From life to death, had he taken another step forward?

William Reed quickly examined himself internally, and sure enough, his current battle energy was much more robust and refined than yesterday, as if it was brimming with explosive power. This was definitely not something a mid-bronze rank could achieve; it seemed he had truly broken through to high-bronze rank.

He felt an immense sense of joy—misfortune and fortune are intertwined. He had thought he would die in this desolate place, but not only had he stubbornly survived, he had even turned misfortune into a blessing, breaking through his shackles and advancing to high-bronze rank.

It must be understood that every breakthrough is a leap in life. Now, his battle energy was not only more explosive, but his qi sea could also hold more. Moreover, so-called evolution is the transformation of life factors, making them stronger. After advancing, all aspects of his body—vision, hearing, smell, reaction, and so on—became sharper. His raw strength and speed increased, and his constitution improved. Most importantly, his stamina and ability to refine battle energy also underwent a qualitative leap.

……

Chapter 7: Don’t Judge a Book by Its Cover

This time, after fully recovering his battle energy, William Reed felt his lower abdomen’s qi sea was full and bulging with battle energy. He was brimming with vitality, as if he had never been injured. The fatal wound on his lower abdomen had also mostly healed under various circumstances; with a bit more battle energy healing and a few days of rest, he would be completely recovered.

Those who cultivate battle energy are entirely different from ordinary people. Because of their powerful constitution, it’s hard for them to die from injuries, and their wounds heal extremely quickly. In addition, using battle energy to burn and nourish wounds can stimulate the life factors to accelerate metabolism, greatly speeding up the healing process.