As the first light of the dawn broke, James and Amelia once again set out in the direction of the citadel. They had been travelling very cautiously after witnessing the aftermath of the mutation in person, greatly slowing down their speed. Overnight, the average level of creatures had jumped from level 3 to level 5 at the 7th day of the trial, completely catching most people off guard.

The problem was, at the same level these mythical creatures were much stronger than any human cultivators. Though they displayed a very low level of intelligence, the viciousness of their natural weapons an odd angles of attack they chose made them terrifying foes to face. They could be hiding in the trees, burrowed in the ground or move without any making any sound. Furthermore only a limited amount of weaponry and armor were available, leading to many conflicts that James could only catch glimpses of from afar.

Of course, the pelts of animals and their fangs/claws could be used as primitive weapons for a basic level of self defence. The only problem was that the challenge presented to them didn't scale linearly, but instead the difficulty was always increasing. James had personally tried to cult a level 3 boar's pelt with the fangs of a level 2 creature, the results were less than ideal. 

James was snapped out of his reverie by a crunching sound, someone was moving over grass and perhaps the dry twigs that were littered around the forest in their direction, at an unhurried pace. From the rhythmic, paced sound of footsteps it was evident that a two legged creature was approaching them. 

James signalled for Amanda to hide behind a tree based on hand signals they had devised precisely for such a situation. Neither of them panicked, they were used to such a situation now. Families rarely worked together.... and not all groups got this far with all their members intact. And if it came to fighting, Amanda was not going to sit around but instead wait for an opportunity to ambush the assailants. Thankfully, James did not seem like an attractive target, allowing them to avoid direct clashes till now. Not having any armor on his person was a big reason for that, along with his intimidating stature. 

"STOP! DON'T COME ANY FURTHER. " James said loudly, telling the stranger to back off. 

The man continued on unhindered, with the same pace as before pretending as if he hadn't heard anything. James was ready for battle at this point, but waited for the stranger to show his face, 

" I AM WARNING YOU. YOU WILL REGRET THIS. " James said, his hammer holstered on his shoulder, arms taut ready to explode with crushing momentum in a moment'snotice. 

"Hello" said the young man who appeared to be no older than 20 and of Asian descent. He was very short when compared to James, roughly standing at 5 feet 7 inches. He wore white cultivator robes that were dotted with splotches of red, and lacerations ran across his chest that had barely healed, fresh blood trickling out from the scabs. Though surprisingly he didn't appear to be bothered by it. If you'd discount everything else though, all you'd get was a normal, handsome looking teenager. 

" Fuck " James thought to himself. Those lacerations were clearly sword wounds, meaning this man had either fought and killed someone, or was the victim and survived. The only reason James hadn't instinctively attacked was because his sword was sheathed and he had no other weapon on his person. 

"Hello son, are you alright there? It seems like you need some healing pills. I can lend you one if you'd like." 

"Oh this? Don't worry about it, my constitution is high enough. It only itches a little bit" the man replied with a slightly crazed look in his eyes. 

"That's a relief son. I'm glad you're fine, but in these present times I prefer travelling alone. You see, I was unlucky enough to run into a group of four. They forced me to give up my armor, but none of them wanted to use my weapon. Luckily, they let me leave with my life." 

" I see, you're quite unlucky, huh old man. What happened to your family? Are they not with you?" 

" No, unfortunately. My wife lost her life to a mutated fox and my son had already died before the system came" James said in a slightly trembling voice. 

"Oh, I see. Who's the woman hiding behind the tree then?" the teenager replied in an amused voice. 

Amanda knew her cover was busted, holding closely to her makeshift weapon she stepped out hoping to dissuade this man from doing anything stupid after seeing the strength in numbers. 

"YOU ARE PUSHING YOUR LUCK, SON! LEAVE NOW, OR DIE" James growled out a response loudly. 

"Unfortunately, baldy the only one who's going to die today is you." 

"Why are you doing this young man. You are already injured, and we barely have anything worth robbing. Just walk away." Amelia replied in a shrill voice. 

The man, who had drawn his sword already started laughing at Amelia. Then he replied, "Why? You wanna know why? It's because I can. HAHAHAHA, JUST LIKE THEM." 

Trying to defuse the situation, James replied " Son I don't know what happened to you, but we didn't do anything to you. We are willing to listen, please lower your sword". 

"I was just..... just  trying to survive, TELL ME WHAT DID I DO WRONG? We were just trying to survive, didn't hurt anyone and just wanted to get to the citadel? DID I ASK FOR THIS? Those bastards attacked my parents at night, because they wanted our robes and weapons. WANNA KNOW WHAT I DID? 

"Please relax, calm down" Amelia tried to soothe the teenager. 

" I ran. RAN LIKE A FUCKING COWARD. I chose the five levels, thinking I'd be some badass ranker in this new world. What an idiot I was, I-I couldn't help it i panicked and ran instinctively. B-Before I knew it I was too far away, because of my high agility levels. It was all my fault." 

Amelia lightly gasped at this revelation. 

"So now, old man I'll give you a chance. Tell your wife to go back at least a hundred steps. My high agility will make sure you can't trick me. Or you could both come at me together, but I will go for your wife first. You see, I fancy myself a new pair of robes and I really don't care if I die. Man to man, let's fight it out." 

"Does it have to be this way?" James asked in a downcast tone, but inwardly he was trying to determine whether the man was bluffing or not. 

"Ask that to those guys? Did I ask for this? No. But it is what it is". 

Before any further conversation could take place, the man attacked James, going back on his words. The tale he told had not been false, but something in him had snapped. His personality was a warped shell of the original, all he wanted to do was share the pain this unfair system had given him with others. It may not be correct, but it was in line with the rules of this new world. The world was doomed and they were all going to die anyway, so what did it matter if it was sooner than later?

James was taken aback by the sudden burst of speed. He had not bought into the kid's story, instead expected there to be an ambush lying in wait for him. The kid wanted to separate Amelia from him, thus it was only logical to expect a group lying in wait preferring to overwhelm a single opponent instead of battling two. 

There was a distance of 10 meters between James and his assailant, but he moved in an odd fashion. His body was slightly hunched, head angled downward, trying to achieve a lower center of gravity. Such a way of movement wouldn't be effective with a normal human body, as it would be hard to generate speed while straining the back. However theoretically, a leaning motion while running would reduce the distance between the center of mass and Earth, reducing the pull of gravity on the body. A theory now made possible in this new reality. 

The man was ecstatic as he plunged his long sword into this bald giant, a little bit of trickery had made his job easier. To be honest, as a level 6 he really didn't have to fear much, but the last group he killed managed to hurt him pretty badly in their crazed last stand. Such speed and power gave him a certain thrill Earth could never provide. His adrenaline spiked as he felt his cold blade come into contact with flesh, plunging into the man's innards and slicing through it like butter. 

This wouldn't kill him, but all he had to do now was withdraw his sword and make some distance as the man slowly bled out. If the woman tried to interfere, she would die too. He wondered what they had in their inventories. Well anyway, this guy was done. 

He gave a tug to retract his sword. It didn't budge. He pulled again, wondering how it got stuck. 

'Huh' he thought. 

James was too slow to react to the blade strike, he felt a burst of sharp pain in his abdomen. It had happened too abruptly, even though he was prepared for it, he couldn't react to it. At this critical juncture, it was not his assailant that he was thinking about but his wife. 

If he fell here, what would this lunatic do to his wife? That.... could not be allowed. It was a grim thought, but he knew how the system's healing mechanic worked. Thankfully, the man underestimated James or thought there was no way he could launch an attack in time. Which was indeed correct. The problem with his posture was that he was always looking at the ground, lacking spatial awareness. 

James tightly gripped the sword lodged in his organs, while he used his hammer as if it were a sword, uncaring of the weight. It was a painful trick that he had inadvertently learned, but it might just save his life on this day. With a snapping sound, the hammer was almost upon his assailant iin a matter of seconds.

After tugging on his sword twice, he knew there was something very off about the situation. He had clearly felt the sword tear through flesh, he was stupefied. The next second, the light of the sun went out for some reason. His instincts were screaming at him to run..... but it was too late. 

A disgusting splattering sound came as the man's head exploded. James felt the warmth of healing envelop him, but there was no joy on his face, not even the relief of surviving was visible displayed. The system had forced his hand, he had been used as a pawn in a game that was beyond his understanding. From the irrational actions, and the lack of an ambush when things went south, James inferred that this man about the age of his own son was not lying to him. 

Everything he had said was the truth. 

Amelia had already reached James' side, but the whole exchange was so short lived she had no opportunity to intervene. James was shivering as he spoke. 

"Amelia.... this guy wasn't lying. And I.... killed him. Perhaps many have already gone through this process, perhaps this is the way people act now. But it doesn't make it any easier. I no longer know..... what is correct and what is wrong. Is what he did justified? No. Is what he did wrong? I cannot say with conviction. If we want to live, we may have to rethink our approach or we will be forced into situations like this. The only thing I know for sure is that I love you, and so I will do what I have to."