A young child stood alone in a living room. He held a scythe bigger than himself on his shoulder, standing still in what he believed was a valiant pose.
He opened slightly his mouth to speak, when—
“Cough! Cough! Cough!”
—The putrid smell from the rotting corpses he had left behind invaded his nose. Before he could even complain, the sound of several notifications rang in his mind.
[Quest Success: Tame the Scythe of Doom! (Revenge special!)]
[Quest Difficulty: S-]
[Quest Reward: 30 BS points.]
[You now have 33 BS points.]
[You have freed the 3 trapped souls!]
[You have used your free sky weapon coupon.]
"Damn! I'm finally back and this happens!" Shu Himo felt exhausted. He didn't expect that he would need a whole month to learn the skill. And without taking a single second of pause at that.
That old man is so strict! He shivered even just by thinking about it. Instead of encouraging him, the old man would chase him with a whip in his hand for every mistake he made. He would always say, ‘physical pain’s the best way to learn!’
He let out a heavy sigh. Shaking his head to dispel such thoughts, he then asked, “How much time was I there?”
[0.3 seconds.]
“What?!”
[The time inside the sky weapon shop flows faster than outside. And the time inside the scythe is even faster than that.]
“Ah… I see.” Nodding to the explanation, he then muttered, “Status!”
§-----------------------------------------------§
[Shu Himo, 10 Years old]
[Hp: 100%] [Mp: 164]
§-------§
[Strength: 4.1][Endurance: 1.5]
[Agility: 4.9] [Dexterity: 13]
[Intelligence: 16.4] [Perception: 17.3]
[Realm: Body Strengthening] [Stage: Muscles Strengthening][Foundation%: 100%]
[The maximum stats points at this realm is 20]
[The average cultivator’s stats points(In the area close to the User) at this realm is 3]
§-------§
[Khenqi Quality: Low][Khenqi Amount: 0.02]
[???: Chaos][??? Grade: Locked]
[???: None]
[Skills: [Intimidation lv_1], [Hopper lv_1].]
[State: Can you hurry to level up?]
§-----------------------------------------------§
[Hopper lv_1]
[Produce an invisible solid platform mid-air to stand on. The platform can generate a force of propulsion, enabling what the user loves to call “double-jump”.
Limited uses while in mid-air based on the skill’s level. Standing on a steady surface will replenish the uses. Max consecutive uses at lv_1: 2]
Reading the description of the skill he had painstakingly learned, Shu Himo felt that it was worth the effort.
“Oh! My stats increased a bit, it seems like the efforts paid well. Right, what about the stats of the scythe?”
[(High-grade growth Sky Weapon) The Scythe of Doom]
[Passive abilities: [Fear lv_5], [Bloodshed], [loc/ked].]
[Weapon growth requirement: Reap the lives of 10 worthy enemies. 0/10]
Reading the passive abilities, he couldn’t help but rub his eyes. “They changed?” Confused, he questioned the system. “Can you give me the descriptions of the passive abilities bloodlust, bloodshed, and fear?”
[Fear lv_5]
[Induce distinct terror upon anyone who dares exist in presence of the scythe.
Cultivators from nascent soul realm and above are immune to this ability.
Note: being the wielder of the scythe, the effect of this ability doesn't apply to the user.]
[Bloodlust]
[Seizes control of who dares to touch the scythe, forcing them insane and to rampage against any form of life.]
[Bloodshed]
[The scythe's wielder will gain a temporary stat boost based on the strength of the one killed.
Absorb the blood essence of worthy cultivators killed by the scythe to upgrade it.
Seizes control of any unauthorized lifeform attempting to take the scythe.]
"So the reason it was so hard approaching the scythe was these two passive abilities..." He nodded as he spoke his thoughts.
Suddenly, he widened his eyes by recalling a doubt. “Ah! System, why does that old man have two titles? He refused to be called ‘Wicked King Dragon’ and chased me every time I mentioned it to him!”
[The user talked with him?]
The system’s voice seemed surprised for a moment, but it then continued speaking.
[The price to unlock that information is 50.000.000 BS points.]
“So pricey! Why every single thing from you is so pricey?!”
Feeling drained of all his energy, he walked away from the corpses and seated on a chair in the kitchen. After making sure that the stink didn’t reach the area by closing the doors, he closed his eyes to recover.
Once the initial curiosity for his improved stats had quieted down, he felt all the fatigue press down on him. He thus decided to rest before adventuring outside.
An unknown amount of time had passed, when he opened his eyes once again. He yawned as he stood up. He stretched out, his arms resembling those of a bear trying to grab honey from a tree only to fail miserably.
“Well then, it’s finally the time to see this world with my own eyes!”
Although he had the previous Shu Himo’s memories, he didn’t truly consider them as ‘his,’ albeit he still held some of the former’s body’s emotions. Example being the ones toward his new family.
It was all due to the system, who had integrated the memories of the former Shu Himo in the form of ‘information,’ instead of ‘memories’. All to prevent the development of split personalities.
As he stepped toward the door, Shu Himo expected either of two scenarios. The first was to be in the middle of the wilderness, while the second was inside a city, in a likely abandoned area.
When he walked through the door, however, he found out that reality was different. Instead of green grass or grey buildings, a group of dantian core formation realm cultivators stood in front of him covering his view.
They wore black padded armour which covered down to the knees, leaving exposed their leather boots. A belt held a pouch for basic survival items. Some had their leather gauntlets clothed hands posed on their sheathed swords, others were just rubbing their eyes for reasons unbeknown to Shu Himo.
Startled for a moment, Shu Himo asked out of reflex, “Who are you all?” However, he quickly noticed an odd emblem on the upper part of their padded armour.
The emblem displayed a downwards facing scythe with a crown hanging loosely from its blade. Scarlet eyes blended in the background, looming as if someone hid within the framework in search of a chance to strike.
Seeing that pattern, some information resurfaced to Shu Himo’s mind.
During the great war from a century ago, his grandfather went alone to attack an enemy empire. Everyone thought he had died, but in a few days, he returned while dragging the enemy emperor’s head in a hand and a scythe in the other. As a reward for his achievement, his family had been given nobility and provided with a symbol representing his victory.
A scythe, huh? He felt amused to find out about such a coincidence. Wait, the scythe?! Panicking for a moment, he shot a look at his own hands. Seeing that they were empty he sighed in relief, feeling lucky that he had already put the scythe back in the storage when he had taken a nap.
He then returned his gaze back to the group. “The Shu family elite troop? What are you doing here?” He expected a quick response, but his expectations got betrayed once again. The ones he awaited an answer from had completely stopped moving, staring dumbly at the child in front of them.
“Ehm…” Unsure about which virus had infected their brains, Shu Himo decided to wait until their brain.exe booted up once again.
Meanwhile, the group in front of him was stupefied. They could not believe to see the child in front of them. What happened to their rescue mission? Did they chase after those kidnappers for no reason?
A few more seconds had already passed when the troop leader’s stupor finally eased up. “Young master, I thought you had been kidnapped? May I ask what is happening?”
Hearing those words a light smile grew on Shu Himo’s lips. “Kidnapped?” He waved his hand. “Those fools who dared to bother me have all been punished with death. You don’t believe me? Just check inside the house, you’ll find the three corpses.”
Albeit startled by his words, none of the elites believed him, and therefore some walked inside the building to check.
How could they believe that someone they had always deemed as weak and hopeless could kill those kidnappers? His opponents had a cultivator at two whole phases higher than him!
However, one soon ran out of the house, a bewildered expression covered his face. "In the house there are signs of fighting and three corpses!"
Hearing the report the elites could not help but stare at the child. They did not think that Shu Himo had killed the three, thinking instead that someone had rescued him. But why would someone help him?
They all looked at each other and nodded. They knew it was something that couldn't be simply ignored, even if the third party had helped purely out of goodwill.
Understanding that, the leader was about to voice his doubts, when Shu Himo interrupted him first.
"Now then, let us depart to Arsia! Ah, right, where are we now anyway?"
Arsia. It was the name of the capital of the Arsia Kingdom, where Shu Himo’s hometown was. The name originated from the royal family, who was also under the name of ‘Arsia’.
Caught off guard, the leader postponed his question and replied to Shu Himo's instead. "We are at north-east of Arsia, a few hours away from the Kheliphods' territory. My name is Hains, and I'm the current leader of the Shu Elite Troops. If there is any question in your mind, feel free to ask anytime."
Shu Himo nodded to his words, and they all began to walk toward their destination, leaving the house behind. With the group making way for him, he finally saw the view surrounding the place.
Standing at the foot of a mountain filled in thriving green trees, the house he was previously in stood well-hidden from view.
The blazing sun shone upon the sky, its lukewarm rays seeming to embrace the world. However, the area was still dark due to the countless trees' shadows. Some birds’ songs resounded in his ears, as the sweet scent of nature swept to his nose.
He was admiring the landscape, when Hains's bald head entered suddenly in his sight. "Young master, may I ask who the rescuer that killed the three kidnappers is?" His brown eyes staring straight at the child, awaiting an answer.
When he saw those eyes, Shu Himo sighed inwardly. He understood that while he was being treated respectfully on the surface, not a single elite had any respect for him.
Feeling underestimated, he scoffed at those words. “Rescuer? Do you really think I would need help to kill a few weaklings?” Thinking back at the days of his training with the Dark King Dragon, he could not help but laugh at his first three foes. It was an exaggeration even just to define them as weaklings, they did not deserve to be mentioned at all!
Hearing his reply, Hains raised his eyebrows and thought, Weaklings? Did you forget you were kidnapped by those weaklings? But he surely would not voice such words.
