Silence enveloped the room. The wolf-man did not answer and was simply staring intensely at Shu Himo.

Seeing the reaction from his opponent, Shu Himo smirked lightly. The third rule of the MC Way: always fight cross-realm battles!

Eventually, the man broke the silence. "The main character? You? What makes you think to be different from others? In this world where the strong eat the weak, there are existences you can't even imagine. What cross-realm battles; if you hope to survive, you can only bend in front of the strong!"

Hearing those words, Shu Himo staggered for a moment. His gaze dozed off as if he had fallen in thought.

The man abruptly dashed toward Shu Himo without waiting for an answer. He planned to exploit the fact that Shu Himo was sitting on the sofa, and was thus limited in his movements.

However, he stopped before he could reach him. A distinct pain appeared in his foot, so he looked down reflexively to see what the reason was.

In his sight, many sharp nails were lying on the ground. A green, disgusting substance coated them.

“This—”

“Poison,” answered Shu Himo, predicting his question. “So, do you like the feel of poison flowing through your veins?”

The man’s expression stiffened. His mind was sent in disarray. He did his best to recollect his feelings. However, as if he were a demon who exploited the heart’s weaknesses, Shu Himo changed his expression. From his earlier playful gaze, his eyes became cold.

He had used [Intimidation].

The atmosphere turned heavy. Unprepared to deal with the sudden change, the man’s body shivered. He felt as if he were locked-on by a deadly monster, a monster ready to swallow him whole. Only at that moment did he understand why the tiger-man had earlier reacted like that.

Noticing his faltering, Shu Himo stood up from the sofa and dashed toward him.

Although the man’s mind was in chaos, he wasn’t a fool. He had never strayed his gaze from his opponent. As soon as Shu Himo started moving, he grabbed a hidden sword from his sleeves and slashed toward him.

But as if he were expecting it, Shu Himo avoided the strike by jumping upward.

Startled by his action the wolf-man's sight quickly turned up, only to find his opponent with his feet planted on the ceiling, ready to strike exploiting the gravity.

It was already too late to block the attack with his sword, so the man chose to tackle the attack with his own fist. As a Blood Strengthening phase, he believed that defending against someone two phases below would be easy.

He was right. Even if the legendary cultivation technique boosted Shu Himo’s strength exponentially, it could not do miracles. But Shu Himo was aware of that. He had never wanted to fight fairly from the start.

When just a small distance divided the two, the space in front of Shu Himo's hand seemed to bend and a kitchen knife appeared out of nowhere. Injecting his Khenqi in the knife, Shu Himo easily cut through the man's left hand.

As if he did not notice his own hand getting sliced, the man stared dumbly at the kitchen knife. Impossible! From where did that knife come out?!

He quickly jumped back to defend from any successive attack, but he had forgotten the existence of the nails due to his fright. As he felt a twinge in his foot, his composure kept crumbling. Damn! He tried to hide his anxiety, but his brows’ frown betrayed him.

Shu Himo threw the kitchen knife toward him. The knife flew straight for his head, however, the man dodged it by a hair's breadth.

Shu Himo wasn’t surprised by his evasion, the knife was meant to be a distraction in the first place. For a second, a glint of killing intent appeared in his eyes. A second knife appeared in his left hand and he slashed it toward him instantly. The corner of his mouth rose slightly.

The man's eyes widened in horror. This guy... is having fun? Not having another choice, he gritted his teeth and used his right arm as a shield. The kitchen knife pierced his skin until reaching the other side of his arm.

Shu Himo knitted his eyebrows. He had intended to kill the man with that attack. He quickly jumped back to not get counterattacked, when his expression slightly eased up. He felt the result he obtained wasn't too bad either.

“Hurgh!” With his left hand unusable and a gaping hole on his right arm, the man understood that victory was impossible. He was about to run, when—

“Running away? Good luck with the poison!”

—A line from his opponent clouded his judgment.

“Monster!” Screaming, the man started to chase after him in a frenzy. He was filled with doubts—especially about the poison and Shu Himo’s change—but both his mental and physical state did not allow him to make any coherent thought.

Seeing his reaction, Shu Himo smiled satisfied. He had managed to respect another of his rules. The second rule of the MC Way: gift your enemies true fear.

Instead of fighting the wolf-man head-on, he then ran toward the kitchen. “You earlier asked me what makes me think that I am the main character, right?” He grabbed a wok as he spoke, and hurried to the room where he was previously held captive. He opened the door and moved toward the living room once again.

The wolf-man was still chasing after him, when a pungent stench invaded his nostrils. “Another poison?” He frowned. Turning quickly to look inside the room, he froze.

His legs became weak, and his body would not stop trembling. In front of him, he could see the eviscerated corpses of his former teammates. With their intestine out in clear sight, the smell of death spread quickly out of the room.

Why would he do this? He blanked out for a moment, but quickly realized it. It was to diverge my attention!

Although he was distracted for only a moment, even just a single instant has the power to change the outcome of a fight.

He quickly turned behind, only to see a black wok flying toward him, covering his entire vision. Startled, he blocked it with his left arm, but failed to notice Shu Himo approaching from behind it.

A bad feeling pervaded him, so he tried to jump back. But he wasn't fast enough. Before he could realize it, an excruciating pain spread in his torso. He needed but a moment to know what happened. Shu Himo had just pierced his stomach with a kitchen knife!

Suddenly, he heard the answer to his previous question. "Everyone has the potential to be the main character, however, whether you will actually become one or not depends only on yourself.

Strength? Wealth? Prestige? None of that matters. Not at all. That won't make you the main character, and in the end, you would still be the pawn of someone else. The only thing that can make you one is to go forward.

I refuse to be a side character. I will go forward with my own rules and ideals, even if the price will be to fight against the whole world.

This is what means to be the true main character."

The wolf-man was stunned, he did not know what to say. He opened his mouth but words wouldn't come out. A moment later, however, a bitter smile grew on his face. "I've lost... completely." He had already resigned to his destiny. Due to the wound on his stomach, he felt that death was around the corner, ready to seize him in less than a minute.

He could not help but wonder; had he heard such words before, would he have done something differently? It wasn't something he could know anymore. Using his last energies, he looked toward his opponent and asked, "Hey... at least before I die... please tell me... was the poison real?"

Surprised by the question, Shu Himo stared deeply at the man for a moment. He then answered, "No, it was cabbage."

Not only hearing that it was not poison, but that it was, in truth, the same cabbage he intended to eat later, he broke into a crazed laugh. "HAHAHAHA— Cough, cough." He spurted blood. "I just got tricked and died thanks to my lunch! Heh... the others were right—this lunch was a killing!"

The wolf-man laughed as tears began to fall from his eyes. In but a moment, however, he felt his strength fade away and fell to the floor.

Looking at the man whose life turned off, Shu Himo muttered, "Have fun in the next world, nameless kidnapping leader."

*Ding!*

[Quest Success: Escape from or Kill the kidnappers!]

[Quest Difficulty: A]

[Quest Rewards: 3 BS points + One free sky graded weapon!]

[You now have 3 BS points!]

"Wow, how generous to give me both the rewards..." He was surprised.

[Entering the Sky Weapon Shop...]

Shu Himo blinked, and in but a moment found himself inside a room full of exhibited weapons. The room seemed to extend endlessly, resembling more a museum than just a mere shop.