9 – On the Way to the Next Town
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It was getting dark.

After filling our stomach, Yang and I moved to sit somewhere more comfortable. I had been staring at the bonfire, waiting for him to talk.

The fire was dancing, imagining them as a dancer who moved to the sound of cracking firewoods. The burnt smell reminded me of an explosion or incineration plant, but much more pleasant.

No one had a fireplace in their home and I had never been camping, so this was new.

"I had a little sister." With a bitter voice, Yang said.

If I didn't hear it wrong, he said had, right? Was he going to tell me something heavy? I wasn’t a fan of a sad story.

"She was gifted in martial arts, strong and confident. But... she was killed. In Wind Pagoda, the competition between families had driven to where it became an internal war. I- I couldn't save her—” He paused. “My mother and I fled from the clan, but I'm the only survivor..."

This was why he was the sole Asian looking guy in this squad. 

Yang mentioned his mother. His father either died a long time ago or wasn’t affected by the conflict inside the clan. Did I remind him of his sister?

"You knew an outlander can revive from death, right?" 

"I know—I know outlanders are immortal... Yet, when I see you it reminds me of her, though you're not as talented as her."

This guy's personality was the best. I tried to be sympathetic listening to his story, but he managed to slip a satire. Like, wow, you just destroyed the mood you had set.

"Instructor, have you ever thought about revenge?"

“...”

Was it a reflection of flame he was starting at or rage? To be honest, I couldn’t tell the difference. I would prefer an LED light because the brightness a fire gave was shitty.

However, that silence answered me. If he moved on, he would shrug off and say something right away. That was how people who let go of their vengeance should be. Even a slight pause showed their lingering malice in their heart.

Although the revenge thing hadn’t happened in my life, I had encountered several people who held their resentment.

Well, his story was short… If he didn’t want to talk more, I should head to sleep. I guessed apart from being his student, Yang only considered me an acquaintance.

“Anyway, I’ll go to bed now.”

“Wait...” Yang stopped me. “This is my mother’s keepsake. If you happen to visit Wind Pagoda, can you give this to the clan leader?” He pulled a knife in the sheath that was made of plain wood out from his shirt.

 

[You received a quest. Would you like to accept?]

 

A Message From Feng Yang Ji
Difficulty: D

 

Clear conditions:

  • Deliver the knife to Wind Pagoda’s clan leader.

 

Minimum rewards:

  • ?

 

Failure:

  • -

 

The young master of the Feng clan, Feng Yang Ji, wants the player to deliver his mother’s keepsake to the clan leader. If the player loses the knife and cannot find it within 7 days, the quest will be failed.

 

What should I do? Should I accept? Even F-rated difficulty like training camp quests was troublesome. Then, how hard would the quest that was rated D be? More importantly, the reward was unknown.

Hmm… there were no consequences for failure.

“Will I get caught up in your clan’s conflict?” Safety measures, I asked him.

“Don’t worry… We do not harm outsiders because of that.”

“Alright—But don’t put too much faith in me.” I accepted the knife. Why would someone have a knife as a keepsake? I was curious.

 

[You received Meiling’s Knife. The item description will not appear on your skill list due to a lack of knowledge.]

 

Meiling’s Knife (Unique): a nameless knife owned by Feng Meiling. It was made by an unknown blacksmith.

 [You don’t have knowledge

Dear lord, this was a genuine beauty.

The sheath and the handle were made with such delicate craftsmanship. The carving was minimal yet elegant. The purple color didn’t come from paint, rather from the material itself. It was rare to see this kind of wood. After all, exotic wood species had become untouchable in the real world due to the laws and their scarcity.

Shit... the exterior finish was so smooth that I could touch it all day. 

My love for craftsmanship wasn’t limited to technology and machinery. I admired them all. Even if I wasn’t into knives, I thought I could stay in a knife shop staring at those beauties for days.

”What

Note: Because of limited info from the narrator and in case that you’re curious about the knife’s appearance, it's like Japanese Tanto. From what I look at on the internet, Chinese weapons have something similar to Tanto. Just imagine a smaller version of tanto that has a thinner blade/cheek.

[collapse]

I wondered what would the blade look like—

“Please tell him I, Yang Ji, will return one day… Are you going to leave tomorrow?” 

Tsk… Yang interrupted my sweet artistry admiration time. 

I nodded.

“Okay, instructor—Now, I would like to excuse myself because I’m exhausted from the fight and need a good rest.”

If I kept sitting like this, it would take a while to finish a conversation. The body fatigue wasn’t a problem because I could circulate qi to restore my stamina. Traveling alone at night was the problem. 

“Rest well.”

 

***

Good morning, good day~ Sunshine and rainbow—well, even if there was no rainbow, who cared? I was happy that I could leave this place, this damn prison.

Although the inside of me was happy, I remembered to keep my looks outside calm and collected as always.

Wearing the training camp clothes for many days, it felt strange to wear one that I selected in the character creation.

Pat pat pat!

I didn’t have to guess who did it.

“HAHA, Good job, missy! I didn’t expect that you would throw the dirt into his face.” Dorian approached me with his signature back pat. That was probably the way he showed affection.

Compared to the first day I arrived, my body became more sturdy. Normally, the human body shouldn’t grow stronger this fast. I bet it was because this was a game or influenced by the qi.

“Hahaha... Did you watch?” I let out a dry laugh.

“From afar—Are you on your way to meet Viktor?” 

“Yes, instructor.” 

Pat pat!

“Don’t be formal! You’ll leave this place soon, so just call me Dorian.” This big guy patted me again. “Oh! Hey, Viktor!!! This girl has already completed the training!” 

Dorian called Viktor, who was chatting with Yang, with the 110-decibel voice which wasn’t being kind to my ears. This could kill a person if they were in the cave with Dorian. 

“Congratulations, Pandora!” As the loud duo had united, Viktor spoke. “Take this”

Viktor handed a backpack to me.

 

[You received 100 exp.]

[You received 50 coppers.]

[You received Traveler’s Backpack.]

[You received 3 Bread.]

[You received 1 Bottle.]

 

Judging from the weight, all the rewards were in the bag. What about the weapon?

“Pandoro. I had something for you—This was also my mother’s belongings. Please use it.” Yang brought out a pair of gloves. ”Since you didn’t learn any weapon, I’ll give you this instead.”

Today, Yang had a brighter expression on his face. Did he feel better after he shared his story or he was happy that I was leaving?

“Don’t you want to keep it?” It felt like he had given away his mother’s stuff.

“Mourning over the dead wouldn’t do any good. They’re too small for my hand.” 

Who would refuse a free gift!? Freebies were always welcomed. I nodded to show sincerity and put those on.

[You received Meiling’s Gloves. The item description will not appear on your skill list due to a lack of knowledge.]

Meiling’s Gloves (Unique):  nameless gloves owned by Feng Meiling. It was made by an unknown leathersmith.

 

Aside from little to no item description, the gloves were made of leather; thin and comfortable, yet firm. They fit nicely. I wondered if every item size had to match the player.

“Instructors. Thank you for everything.” 

Pat pat!

“HAHAHA! It’s our job, don’t sweat it.”

"Before I leave, can I ask you something?"

"Certainly." Viktor replied.

"Why would Alfedel train outlanders for free?"

"Hmm… I don’t know much, but I've heard, there was a prophecy. It said that the outlanders could save us"

That prophecy probably had a negative outcome for the kingdom. They were going too far to spend resources over 12 years to nurture new players for a prophecy.. Did it have high accuracy? Superstition was subjective, I couldn’t judge them.

Let us say goodbye and leave this hellhole.

 

_______

I missed the wooden tub. I really really really missed the training camp. Even though I had been walking on the road to the next town, all I saw was a forest. I had been walking half day yet there wasn’t even a house to be seen.

There were 2 bread and a half full bottle of water in my bag. How long would I last till I reached the town?

Rustle!

A noise came from the left. What was it? Was it an animal? Should I prepare to fight?

Rustle! Rustle!

It was getting closer. Whatever it was, I had to be proactive.

Bolb

It was a slime. Why did I worry for no reason?

Even me who wasn’t playing video games knew a slime. It was one of the most popular creatures in Japanese fiction. Mostly, slimes were cute and weak looking. This one looked weak, but definitely not cute. Without eyes and mouth, it was a small and simple transparent blob.

It didn’t attack me, at least yet. Seemed like it just minded its own business trying to cross the road. 

Was it better to let the slime go or kill it? Well, the fun part of MMORPG was fighting monsters, wasn't it? I should try killing it.

Should I strike first? But I trained to fight with hands, it would be difficult to attack something below chest level. Bending the upper body down every time I attack was troublesome.

Let's do this!

As I chopped down, I strengthened my right hand with qi.

Blub!

It didn't go through! Was my attack off its center?

The slime started wiggling. I should retreat a bit and see what its attack was capable of.

Whoosh!

There was a small cut on my arm, but when!? 

Several tentacles extended out from the slime’s body. As I moved 2 steps away, the tentacle met its maximum reach at around 1 meter. The tip had a blade-like shape; thin and deadly. 

The slime retracted the tentacles back, returning to its previous form. How did the slime perceive my position? Was it not aware of my position? One thing for sure, it didn’t have an optical visual system. If it had, the slime would 

Let me try again-

Stab!

 

HP: 82/88

 

[You’re bleeding.]

Shit! I had to cut it! 

Blash! Screech!

I quickly pulled the tentacle that stuck on my leg and dodge incoming attacks. 3 tentacles were launched into my direction.

wuh-PSSSH!

Fuck! I dodged them, but those tentacles swung at me like a whip. 

As I slid low, a sweat dripped down on my face. Was it the same feeling when one avoided death? 

Clatter!

The tentacles hit a tree instead, leaving large carvings on the miserable victim. What if I was hit? No, this wasn’t a time to think.

There was something I needed to confirm… I took out one copper coin and tossed it a few meters away.

Woosh! Woosh!

The slime attacked that way. It seemed that this thing perceived information from ground vibrations. Should we test its limit?

2 coins in different directions.

Woosh! Woosh! Woosh! Woosh!

3 coins.

Woosh! Woosh! Woosh! Woosh! Woosh! Woosh! Woosh!

'That was impressive Mr. Test Subject 01! Would you like to increase the difficulty? More? Do you want more coins!? Prepare yourself HAHAHA!!!'

 

***

The slime limit was 5 directions attacks with a total of 16 tentacles. It did well to be able to keep up for a while. I ended up throwing all the coins in the bag, so I had to do all the pain of collecting them.

The creature seemed to have a basic survival instinct, but it was too exhausted to run away from me. 

Okay, okay, it was time to end your suffering. Let me give you a fast pass to heaven.

I chopped it.

Blashhh!

And it exploded anticlimactically.

 

[You've killed a monster.]

 

That was it!? No reward? There was nothing but a corpse of the slime. My boots had also become dirty from splashing mucus. 

“Haaa...” I sighed.

Damn. It hurt. The wound which had an approximate diameter around 2.5 centimeter wasn't a big deal, but it pierce my leg all the way through. It didn't cut the tendon—I was lucky.

 

HP: 74/88

 

Leaving wound open like this would bleed me to death. I should circulate my qi, waiting for the wound to close... 

 

***

As the irises widened, everything in the dark could be seen. Because the forest wasn’t lush, the moonlight made everything less scary. Well, I wasn’t afraid of the dark, but if I happened to encounter a monster, it would be hard to fight in the dark.

There was one bread left, and the water was around a quarter. I tried my best to drink less, but the dehydration held me back.

On the road, a water source was nowhere to be found. I didn’t want to go off the track to find water since I didn’t know if I could find my way back. Also, it wasn’t guaranteed that water would be drinkable. 

Taking a break to circulate qi wouldn’t be bad and it was a chance to fully try the new cultivation method without interruption.

I better sat on the sideway. Grass was a better cushion compared to dry dirt.

Awoooooo

Speaking of the interruption… Was that a wolf cry?

 

I think I'll revise all the chapter after releasing next chapter. 

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