Cultivating in the hot spring, Himo felt his bones and muscles tempering, gradually enhancing their resilience and augmenting his strength.
Like him, the numerous cultivators in the water were also sitting cross-legged, cultivating—no one would waste such a chance.
A few hours later, Himo noticed that his body was starting to get used to the Qi in the water, and consequently, the rate of growth dropped. Nevertheless, he decided to remain until it became ineffective.
After a last hour of cultivation, he stood up. Throwing a glance at Seji who was cultivating beside him, he said, “I will wait for you outside, take your time,” and walked out of the springs.
As he walked through the hallway, he thought, Status.
§-----------------------------------------------§
[Shu Himo, 10 Years old]
[Hp: 100%] [Mp: 574]
§-------§
[Strength: 33.2→56.2!][Endurance: 17.1→29.8!]
[Agility: 52.4→61.4!] [Dexterity: 46.2→51.4!]
[Intelligence: 57.4] [Perception: 63]
[Realm: Body Strengthening] [Stage: Meridian Strengthening][Foundation%: 100%]
[The maximum stats points at this realm is 70]
[The average cultivator’s stats points(In the area close to the User) at this realm is 9.4]
§-------§
[Khenqi Quality: Low][Khenqi Amount: 0.026]
[???: Chaos][??? Grade: Locked]
[???: None]
[Skills: [Intimidation lv_1], [Hopper lv_1].]
[State: Searching for a power-up.]
§-----------------------------------------------§
Seeing the increase, Himo stumbled on his steps and almost fell to the ground. That’s a lot! Never had he expected to see such an increase.
And wow… His eyes darted to the status’ last line. System, this is the first time that the state doesn’t sound like an insult!
[The system thought to give the User a suggestion after seeing such a slow improvement speed.]
Just how high are your standards?!
Dumbfounded by the system, Himo walked back to the entrance room.
“How was it?”
Hearing the voice of the old man, Himo grinned. “Wonderful. It was indeed worth those gold coins.”
“I’m happy to hear it.” The old man likewise grinned. “I see that your friend hasn’t come out yet… do you want something to drink while you wait?”
“To drink… now that I think about it...” He turned to look at the men drinking at the side. “What are they drinking?”
“Ale.”
“Th—”
“No, it’s a bit too early for you. You’ll have to wait a few years to drink that.”
No, I wasn’t going to drink it anyway. Himo stared speechlessly at the old man. “Then, I will take some lemonade.”
“Ah, I apologize, we’re short of lemons, so I can’t make lemonade.”
“Eh? What do you mean?”
“Lemons are rare in this kingdom, we have to import them from elsewhere. Sorry about that.”
Himo staggered backward and nearly blacked out. No lemons? That was a disaster. If lemons were hard to find, what else could he put on fried food?
Seeing that Himo got pale all of a sudden, the old man was shocked. “What about some orange juice? We have that!”
After thinking for a second, Himo nodded.
The old man took out a bottle of orange juice from under the counter and poured it in a glass. He then gave the glass to Himo. “This is on the house.”
“Thank you.” Himo smiled.
Sipping the orange juice, Himo waited for a few minutes. Finally, two figures walked out of the hallway, chatting with each other. Curious on what they were talking about, Himo walked up to them, but Jonhan waved at him and vanished before he could react.
Is disappearing all of a sudden his hobby? Himo wondered, but then turned to look at Seji. “What were you talking about?”
“Master said that we will be for the rest of the day without him, and that tomorrow we will go by ourselves to the jungle. I guess he will follow us from behind.”
Surprised, Himo felt something weird about such a choice, but then figured out that it was most likely a test for the two.
Noticing that it was nearly night-time, Himo and Seji said goodbye to the old man and walked outside.
“Where should we go to sleep? An inn?” Seji asked.
“Since we’re going to a jungle tomorrow…” Himo pondered. “We could try to sleep on a tree?”
[Only the User could have such a crazy idea.]
It’s not crazy, it’s training!
After falling in thought for a moment, Seji nodded. “Okay, we don’t know how many days we will take anyway. If we get used to it now we may have fewer problems to sleep the next time.”
You see? Even Seji agreed!
The system was speechless.
And so, the two walked out of the village to find a tree. Soon, they lied on a five meters tall tree’s branches, trying to sleep. To Himo’s surprise, Seji fell asleep in but a moment. However…
I can’t sleep…
The same couldn’t be said for Himo—he took two whole hours to fall asleep. He regretted deeply suggesting to sleep there.
-----
The next morning.
"So that is the direction to the jungle Kemister?" Pointing toward the east, Himo asked drowsily as he walked amidst the trees.
“Yes,” Seji answered as he skipped around eagerly. “If we run we should need just an hour to reach the entrance of the jungle. Master gave me a map, so we shouldn’t have any problem.”
-----
An hour later, they reached the entrance of Jungle Kemister.
The flora overruled the place, countless trees covering the area. The mantle of leaves shielded the jungle from the sun, leaving a fresh shadow underneath; only tiny specks of light passed through, sinking on herbs and mushrooms equally.
Himo gazed at a small mushroom. It had a purple cap with a few black spots and a red stalk. Just as he contemplated on whether or not taking the many mysterious mushrooms spread everywhere, Seji turned toward him.
“Oh, right. Master said that there may be bandits in the entrance of the jungle, so beware your steps.”
Before Himo could reply, a rustling noise came from leaves above. Landing on the ground, twenty figures surrounded the two.
One of them bellowed, “Don’t move! This is a robbery!”
Himo was speechless. “For the bandits to appear as soon as you said those words, am I inside a novel?”
Gazing at the twenty figures, he noticed that they were all Acupoint Opening phase cultivators. He was surprised, but there wasn’t a single hint of worry on his face. Instead, he nodded toward Seji—who was confused over what Himo had just said—and drew out his sword, ready to fight.
“Oi, oi, trying to fight us? Just with you two alone? What a joke!” The bandits laughed. “Give us all you have and we will let you run unharmed!”
Surprised by those words, Himo recalled how that type of phrase should include a broken arm or leg, and looked puzzledly toward the guy who had just talked. Were the novels wrong or is this guy too naive? It must be this guy who's weird!
“You, bandit, how dare you lie to me! This isn’t the phrase you should say! You forgot a broken arm or leg! Redo it!”
“Eh?” The bandit expected almost any reaction—begging, surrendering, running, and much else—but what Himo said completely dumbfounded him. Was the kid a masochist? Blanking out for a moment, he then burst into a rage. “Are you making fun of me? You bastard! Men, kill them!”
The other bandits were as dumbfounded as their leader, but as soon as they heard the order they didn’t hesitate. Holding their swords, they charged toward the two.
But the result was not what they expected.
Those charging at Himo only saw him vanishing from their view and got beheaded before they could react. Meanwhile, those who charged at Seji only heard a chant before drowning in a sea of heat and flames.
Following the fireball’s explosion, the burned bodies of the robbers scattered everywhere. Arms and legs flew to the distance as splashes of blood dyed the soil.
Seeing the effect of the explosion, Himo widened his eyes. Luckily, he had dodged that attack during the fight in the arena.
Soon, every single bandit was eliminated. Shortly after, Seji and Himo looted their bodies—especially Himo who searched for money.
“I found five gold coins!” Himo laughed. With those, he had fifteen gold coins. While he didn’t know if they would be enough, it was still better than nothing.
"I found four!" Seji likewise laughed.
The two relaxed a bit, believing that everything was over. But suddenly, a thunderous voice resounded from afar.
“You bastards! How dare you kill my underlings?!” Following the scream, countless birds rose into the air from the trees, fleeing from the area.
“Ooh! The true boss is coming?” Himo's eyes lit up. He just needed some more gold coins.
“Hah! Exactly, I’m the boss that will kill you now!” Storming toward the two, a bulky man emerged from amidst the trees in the distance.
He initially didn’t bother to move since the two targets were just Body Strengthening realm cultivators, but he regretted such a decision. At this moment, a surge of rage overflew from him as his killing intent pressured the two, displaying the strength of his cultivation.
Dantian Core Formation realm, third string.
Seji frowned. “Himo, I don’t think we can fight him, as much as I would like to. I fear that if we don’t run now we may die.”
Hidden on a tree, Jonhan was surprised by that aura—the boss was on the verge to breakthrough. Knowing that it wasn’t an opponent Himo and Seji could handle, he considered to reveal himself.
However, Himo smiled. “Seji, stay behind.” The gaze he held toward the boss was akin to that of a hunter eyeing its prey. “I will fight this guy by myself.”
“Hahaha! You?” The boss sneered. “You may be strong for your realm, but you should learn not to overestimate yourself!”
Although they didn’t voice their opinions, both Seji and his master thought the same, believing that he was spouting nonsense. But...
Tum! Piercing the ground, a weapon appeared in Himo’s hands.
“This…” The boss staggered backward, his previous wrath swapped with deep terror. A similar expression was also on Seji's face—only Jonhan stood with a simple frown.
A deep black crescent moon blade appeared over Himo, as a dragon eye overwhelmed the lower life-forms. In the range of several kilometers, countless animals fled as far as possible.
Himo chuckled. “Now, who was going to kill who again?”
[(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]
[Status: Found a worthy enemy — Thirsty for blood]
