Two kids, a ten year old male and an eight year old female. A Muscle Strengthening phase and an Acupoint Opening phase. A lazy weak boy and a sweet caring girl.

That was the report he had been given.

He had rejoiced as soon as he had heard that the two were directed to the slums by themselves. Assembling many Dantian Core Formation realm experts, he had planned to assassinate the two before their parents could save them.

It was supposed to be an easy job, but...

“What the hell is this?!”

Lazy? Weak? Sweet? Caring? There was none of that! Those two were worse than devils!

The boy was fighting against ten, while his sister sent people flying left and right!

However, that wasn’t what truly worried him. While there had been deaths, there were only a few so far. Albeit killing them would cost a few more experts, he knew that the two were in a hopeless situation.

His gaze darted toward the boy.

Even with several years of experience as an assassination squad leader, he had never seen such a thing before.

Surrounded by numerous cultivators stronger than him, the child kept evading their attacks by a hair’s breadth. A single error would spell his death. But he feared that was exactly why...

That child had a smile on his face.

A smile not from fear, despair, nor hope. A smile from sheer euphoria.

He took a step back. Deep down, he soon realized... if he didn't succeed now, death would be his future friend.

-----

It was already several minutes since Shu Himo’s fight had started. He had seen how Aria could fend the enemies for herself, so he could fight without worries.

When he had first started fighting, he had a frown as he wondered how to defeat such opponents—while they were all in the first string, they were Dantian Core Formation experts nonetheless—but that frown slowly turned into a smile, a smile which widened even more for each attack he avoided.

A tinge of excitement pervaded within his body as he glanced at the blade he had just avoided. Then, a spear scratched his leg, a punch barely missed his head, and a sword nearly severed his arm.

His muscles screamed in pain, his bones seemed to crack, his heart thumped crazily. Countless cuts and bruises covered his body. But the smile wouldn’t leave his mouth.

At that moment, he found himself surrounded at all sides.

A mix between fear of death and excitement grew in him. It was something the monotony from Earth could never hope to rival. His life could be reaped at any time, and yet, it may have been precisely because of such closeness to death that he felt truly ‘alive’.

Intimidated by his behavior, his opponents were in shock. Some dashed madly towards him, while others dared not to approach, trying to shoot him with arrows or to stab him with their spears.

But no matter which of the two reactions they had, the sheer number of their attacks was overwhelming by itself.

Three spears attacked him from each side, but he ducked to avoid them. A massive hammer descended upon him, but he avoided it by dashing with [Hopper]. A sword chased after his neck, but he blocked it with his own.

He tightened his grip on the sword, and an invisible platform appeared under his feet. Thrust by it, he rammed onto an enemy and tried to slash it with his sword, but his attack was blocked.

Although he had failed to take his opponent’s life, he was out of the encirclement.

While using the scythe may give him a higher chance, it would be merely in the short term. Knowing that the leader of the group was watching from afar, he wasn’t as naive as to think that the existence of the storage would be left unknown.

And once the news spread, he knew that the real strong powers would hunt him for it.

Less than a second had passed when Shu Himo was surrounded once again by enemies. He didn't have a moment to rest. His body started to feel heavy, the exhaustion hindering him.

It was then that an ominous feeling arose in his heart. His sight darted toward the enemy leader, only to find him holding a bow.

The man held four arrows in a hand, three of them between his fingers. He soon nocked the first arrow and drew the bow. He aimed toward Shu Himo, took a heavy breath, and after a second of silence, loosed the arrow.

A shockwave exploded from the bowstring as the bolt pierced through the air. Three additional explosions soon followed after the first.

The sight of those arrows’ speed sent shivers down Shu Himo’s back. Those weren’t just arrows, they were bullets!

He reacted quickly. Forming an invisible platform under his right foot, he dashed to his left with its thrust. But just as he had moved a single step's length, the first arrow sped up without warning. He couldn’t do anything but watch as it grazed his cheek.

Had his dash been slightly slower, his head would've been pierced instead.

“Interesting!” Feeling the blood running down his cheek, Shu Himo tightened his grip on the sword.

The second arrow, as if the enemy had predicted how he would dodge the first one, darted toward his dash’s destination.

In front of such threat, he held the sword behind his back—posing like a batter about to respond to a baseball ball—and swung it with full force toward the oncoming arrow.

A 'clang' sound rang as the metal from the sword struck the arrow tip. The strength contest between the two lasted for a mere instant before the arrow's course was deviated. But it wasn't for free.

Bearing the brunt of the attack, the sword got chipped.

A frown grew on Shu Himo’s face. But before he could grieve the loss, the last two arrows appeared in his sight. He dashed yet again to the side using [Hopper] and rejoiced at the sight of the two arrows piercing the ground.

It was then that a hoarse voice sounded behind him.

“You’re mine.”

Shu Himo’s body tensed up. Too focused on avoiding the four arrows, he had neglected the other enemies. He could only turn back to look at the voice’s source.

He saw a spear tearing the air as it sped up toward his torso. He saw his sister's anxious expression on the side, contrary to the relieved expressions of the other enemies. And he saw the disdainful smirk of the middle-aged man wielding the spear.

Placed in front of such a situation, one undeniable truth emerged in his mind.

It was already too late to avoid the attack.

The spear was about to pierce through his heart as a doomlike feeling crept into his soul. Everyone—enemies and his sister alike—stared at him, each with opposing wishes.

When suddenly… a stone coming from afar crashed on the assailant’s head. Helpless against its force, the head exploded into a blood mist that splattered over the cobblestone.

Silence spread in the area as the headless body contorted itself and fell to the ground.

Breaking the quiet, a thunderous voice erupted from the distance.

“To attack my children, do you have a death wish?”

On top of a building, a wolf-man stepped in clear view. His black eyes overwhelmed anyone in their sight. In his hand was a black-edged sword.

The eyes of the group were fixed on him, unable to shift their gaze, frozen by the fear growing in their heart.

Suddenly, the wolf-man vanished from their view.

In but a second, the experts who had given so many troubles to Shu Himo were being beheaded before they could react. Not a single drop of blood tainted the black-edged sword as if those experts' blood wasn't worthy of touching it.

“Dark Edge!” Seeing who the man was, the leader of the group had an awful expression. “Their parents are here, there is no hope to kill them anymore. It seems that it is time for me to vanish… but don’t worry, I will surely come back! Just wait, the next time I will absolutely take your life!”

Stepping back, he vanished from everyone’s view.

Or so he thought.

A white gauntlet appeared in his sight and grabbed his face. Before he could even scream, his head got crushed to a small pebble’s size.

“I let you bunch fight for a bit since my son was having fun, but you really thought you would get away? Don’t underestimate the strength of a military family.” Appearing out of the shadows, a cat-woman remarked casually.

Seeing his parents’ true strength, Shu Himo’s lips twitched. Did his father even try during the mock fight?

“Big brother! Are you fine?” Since the enemies were dead, Aria ran up to him. She stared worriedly at the several cuts on her brother’s body. Some of them had blood still flowing.

“Yes, these cuts are just superficial ones, don’t worry. Moreover, what about you?”

“I’m fine.”

“Great.” He fondled her head. “Good job on fighting against those guys.”

“Hmm.” She nodded.

Once he had beheaded the remaining enemies, Shu Mo ran up to Shu Himo, the panic in his eyes clear to view. “Are you hurt anywhere? Fast, take this pill!”

“Thanks for saving us, father. But I’m fine, really. There is no need to worry.” Shu Himo said as a river of blood kept sliding down his cheek.

“At least clean up from the blood and take this pill. It’s a basic healing pill, it will help close the small cuts in a few hours.”

Shu Himo smiled as he took a towel and the pill from his father’s hand. “Thank you.” He first cleaned his face from the blood, but before he could eat the pill his expression changed drastically all of a sudden.

“What’s wrong?” Seeing his son’s dispirited expression, Shu Mo was startled. “Don’t be sad… those opponents were way above your realm, it is already incredible how you fared against them.”

Hearing his father’s words, Shu Himo slowly raised his head towards him and smiled bitterly. But my BS points...

Staring at the display in front of him, Shu Himo felt like crying.

[Quest Failed: Annihilate those who dares to challenge you!]

[Quest Difficulty: SS-]

[Quest Penitence: -5 BS points]

[You now have 15 BS points!]

Since he had killed them with external assistance, the quest was considered failed.

Shu Himo sighed heavily and turned his gaze toward the pill in his hand. System, can you give me the description of this pill?

[1-Star Low-Tier Healing Pill]

[Concocted by some random nobody, this pill can heal small wounds in a matter of hours. Its effect depends on the consumer’s cultivation phase—the higher it is, the less effective the pill will be. This pill will not have any effect on someone at the Nascent Soul realm and higher.]

One star? So it’s like the typical ranking of cultivation novels... Shu Himo thought to himself as he munched on the pill. Its taste wasn’t horrible, but it also wasn’t great—it was bland.

He soon swallowed the pill and a soothing sensation spread on his skin. He closed his eyes to savor on that feeling, when a voice sounded from behind him.

“Himo, why did you want to come here?” It was his mother.

After hesitating for a moment, Shu Himo decided to explain. “I planned to earn some money in an underground arena to buy a storage ring.”

His answer shocked the two.

“Why didn’t you ask us some money to use, if it’s for a storage ring there’s no prob—” A light jab in the ribs suddenly interrupted Shu Mo’s words.

“Shut up for a moment, our son is trying to be independent!” Ashey whispered to him from behind.

“But it’s dangerous!”

Ashey sniggered at his worries. “In the worst case we’ll just save him… and then destroy the whole place.”

Shu Himo was speechless. I can hear you.

She then turned to her son and pointed southeast with a finger. "There is an underground arena visited by commoners and nobles alike in that direction. Have fun fighting there."

Shu Himo nodded and was about to walk away, but he stopped. He thought back about the enemy leader and frowned. There was one question he wanted to ask, but his indecision on whether or not he should ask it led him to just gaze at his mother.

Seeing his expression, Ashey nodded in approval. “I know what you want to ask. I killed him because there was no point in leaving him alive.”

“What do you mean?”

"That guy was the former head of a noble family, a renowned archer of this kingdom. He was soaring through the ranks, at least until he got his nickname..."

“Nickname?”

“Yes. He was called ‘The Quick Shooter’.”

Shu Himo’s mouth twitched.

“It originally represented his bow’s quick shooting speed, but then it soon got a second meaning…” Stopping for a moment, she gazed at the two kids and coughed.

“Anyway, there was finally a day where he could not resist the humiliation anymore and shouted loudly during a royal procession ‘Fuck you all!’ before vanishing from that day.”

Reminiscing back about memories from when she was but a kid, she added, “I had that guy as a classmate when I went to the academy… so I sort of know about it. That guy is as stupid as he is stubborn. Even if you were to torture him, he’d just stare at you with his dumb smirk.”