Four furious blue crystal ants charged toward Tristan's group. Tristan advanced, extending his right arm, causing a 15 cm (6") bck bde to appear in his hand. The ants were almost the same height as Tristan, but their bodies were much wider.

  He aimed for the joint of one of the front legs of the ant closest to him, but the creature was agile and managed to leap to the side. The ant jumped, its mandibles threatening to tear Tristan's neck. He saw the crystal's glint approaching and ducked at the st second. The creature's mandibles snapped shut in the air, making a loud noise.

  "Damn, they're fast."

  The other ant aimed for Tristan's leg. He analyzed its movements and waited for the right moment. He jumped over the ant just before it could bite his leg. The ant couldn't stop its movement properly and crashed into the ground. Tristan then spun his entire body in the air, his bck bde slicing through the ant's antennae, leaving it disoriented.

  The first ant leaped, trying to bite Tristan in midair. Its mandibles were just a second away from closing and crushing Tristan's abdomen. He had to grab the ant's mandibles with his hands, grimacing in pain as the sharp crystals cut into his skin. Gathering his body's essence and channeling it into his arms, he smmed the ant into the ground with all his strength.

  The ant fell on its back, seeing Tristan descend upon it. A bck bde formed on his arm once again, and Tristan swiftly cut the ant's neck with a quick motion.

  Wasting no time, he ran towards the ant that had lost its antennae. The disoriented ant moved in erratic patterns, trying to bite its enemy but hitting only the air. Tristan easily cut the joints of the ant's legs, making it stumble to the ground. Then he drove his bck bde into the creature's eye, ending its life.

  He looked around and saw that Jian was already finishing his fight with the other two ants.

  With the battle over, Tristan thrust his bck bde into what he believed was the creature's sor plexus. He searched for the creature's power core in various parts of its body for a while but found nothing. He then did the same with the other ants, but they had no core.

  Tristan let out a disappointed sigh and said to the others, "These ants don't have a power core; they aren't awakened."

  Jian, understanding the significance of Tristan's words, looked disappointed by the ck of something as valuable as magic gems.

  However, Lan, Yue, and Feiyan had confused expressions; they didn’t understand what Tristan was talking about.

  "Aren't these ants magical beasts? Why don't they have a core?" Yue asked Tristan curiously.

  "Hmm... Right, unlike Jian and me, ordinary people like them don’t have much knowledge about the magic of this world."

  "The beast race is simir to us humans. Some can form a core, and others cannot. Those ants were like ordinary humans who were not capable of cultivating. That's why they don't have a core or any special abilities."

  "This is good news for us. As long as we only encounter common beasts and not magical ones, we should be able to handle them," Jian said.