T/N: "Heaven Dragon guild" is changed to "Heavenly Dragon guild" from this chapter onward.
Chapter 49: Training"s Result
One week ago.
"Kid. do you know why I"m training you at the bottom of the Cliff of Heroes?" the Slime King said.
"Is it because of its wide area?" Sila tried to come up with an answer.
"That"s one of the reasons. But it isn"t the main one."
"Then what is the main reason, Your Majesty?" Sila was curious. Is there a secret to this place?
"The main reason is due to the fact that this place is a sanctum of us slimes. It has one special trait so we always use it as a training ground. As you have been tested by the three trials, aren"t you curious why we use this place to conduct the trials?" the Slime King explained.
Sila furrowed his brows. Why this place is used to conduct the trials? He was really clueless.
"Why is it, Your Majesty?"
"It"s to prevent an accident. What do you think when you heard about failing in the ordeal equal to death?"
"I think that it"s too cruel. It just an ordeal. Failing shouldn"t result in death," Sila honestly replied.
"Are you seeing us slimes as brutal creatures? We are a naturally non-aggressive monster; don"t you know that?" Slime King said. A smile was forming at the corner of his mouth.
Sila recalled all the important slimes he had met. Although Slime King seemed strict, he surely wasn"t a brutal person. Poluk was kind. Master Viola was self-centered but wasn"t cruel. Divine seemed very modest. As for Bow, the word brutal didn"t connect to her personality at all.
"No, Your Majesty."
"That"s the main reason. In this place, it"s impossible to die."
"Impossible to die?" Sila wondered. Dying is dying. What did "impossible to die" mean?
"Yes. At the bottom of the Cliff of Heroes, it will determine every near-death creature to be lacking in qualifications and automatically sends them up to the edge of the cliff. To put in simpler terms, once your health points are fully depleted, you won"t be able to stay here," the Slime King explained.
Sila nodded. He finally understood the Slime King"s intention. This place would prevent any accidental deaths. It was a great idea to use this kind of place as a training ground. Sila was well-aware that serious sparring is hard because people tend to hold back in sparring matches. How many sparring partners are there that are ready to stab a knife at their opponent without hesitation? Holding back is a way to ensure safety in a sparring match, but it also prevents the sparring session from being fruitful.
However, if there was a place where holding back was unnecessary since the sparring partner will not die no matter what, the training will be as efficient as if the partic.i.p.ants are fighting to the death.
"That"s incredible. By the way… why does Your Majesty have to inform me about this?" Sila asked.
"It is to put your mind at ease. You can now die without regret, right?" the Slime King said with a smile while Sila"s face suddenly became pale.
That was a week ago when Sila"s h.e.l.lish training had started.
***
Sila walked outside slowly. He was surrounded by twenty players spread out like a fan. Although Sila had been surrounded by enemies before, the quality is more important than the quant.i.ty. As this place was the Main Continent, the players here would be significantly stronger than the ones he had faced. Hence, Sila was very cautious.
Unbeknownst to Sila, Lockheart City is merely a gateway to Main Continent. Most of the players staying in this city were players who had just arrived at Main Continent too.
This city"s only good point was its economic aspects. Not many skilled players would spend their time here if they had a choice.
That meant Sila"s wariness was unnecessary. Almost all people here were players who had just arrived at the Main Continent like him.
"Do you have business with me?" Sila started a conversation.
"Don"t talk, kid. Just hand over your pet to us. Or else, die," A bulky man in wuxia clothes said. He was holding an axe in his hand.
"Boss, even if he hands it over, you"ll kill him anyway, won"t you?" said a man who was standing behind the bulky man.
"Oh, yes, I totally forgot. Then, just hand it over and you won"t die a painful death," said the boss before laughing out loud. The others in his group began laughing too.
Sila was looking around. This place was indeed different from Beginning Town. Wandering players would just ignore them without giving him a helping hand or showing a panicked expression. The merchants were selling their products as if nothing was happening. If Sila included the previous waiter who invited him out the backdoor, he could guess that this situation was a common occurrence on the Main Continent.
What Sila guessed was indeed correct. On the Main Continent, there were more situations like this than there were of people having a meal. The Main Continent is truly a world of big fish eats little fish. Players rob and kill each other day after day. Thus, most players on the Main Continent were apathetic and unconcerned about this kind of event.
"What are you looking for, kid? Is this your first time on the Main Continent? There will be no one b.u.t.ting in to protect you here," The boss of the bandit gang said.
Sila felt an odd sensation. Sure, he also was the type that wouldn"t b.u.t.t in to help others. Looking back at when he had helped Tiger and Alice, it was purely due to him having a grudge against the Heavenly Dragon"s guild members. He would have just walked away otherwise.
Strangely, when the same thing was happening to him, Sila felt depressed. He started to put himself into other people"s shoes and decided to change. He decided he would be like Lone Wolf and start helping innocent people if he could.
"I"m not hoping for someone to help me. Anyway, I have my own business to attend to. Can you guys just hurry up and come at me?" Sila calmly asked.
Silence fell. Even the merchants now turned their attention toward Sila. No matter how they looked, Sila was just a new player. He only possessed two pets which were a sparrow and the strange pink creature. Everyone had thought that this situation would end peacefully by Sila handing over his pet. No one had imagined that this guy had a screw loose in his head.
"I don"t know where you"re getting your confidence from, you rascal. Don"t you know who my boss is?" The man with a long mustache asked.
"I am a new player. I don"t know any of you," Sila plainly replied.
The boss"s face reddened with embarra.s.sment. He had been making a living in this place for a long time. No one had ever ignored him. He even paid his tributes to the Heavenly Dragon guild to back up his robbery.
It could be described as the police and the bandit joining forces. How could there be a righteous side without the unjust? The Heavenly Dragon guild was a righteous guild who allowed the thieves to be savage for a while before pretending to banish them time after time. Once the news about the thieves had faded away, the thieves would become active again. It was an endless cycle. The thieves got their hands on the goods while Heavenly Dragon guild could obtain tributes and became more famous. All the troubles would end up in the hands of normal players.
In the eyes of new players, the Heavenly Dragon guild was always a righteous guild. There were only a handful of people that were aware of the truth, but they were powerless to go against it.
"My name is Thief555, leader of the famous White Dragon thief gang," The boss said. He was relying on his reputation and hoped to end thing quickly.
T/N: The number "5" in Thai is p.r.o.nounced as "Ha", so this character name "Thief555" is equal to "Thief Hahaha" referring to him being a thief who loves to laugh.
"A mere name cannot kill me. Whatever you want to do with me, just do it now," Sila said expressionlessly.
The brow of Thief555 was twitching. One of his underlings couldn"t take it anymore so he rushed forward and lifted his axe up into the sky. "You insult our boss. Die!"
Sila moved his shoulder. Bow jumped downward and landed on the ground while Lookhin flew up into the sky.
Sila lifted his arm to block the incoming axe.
Seeing that, his opponent grinned. He was reinforcing his axe with qi and the axe was glowing with a red aura.
*Clang*
The sound of metallic clashing resonated in the air. Everyone"s expression was changing, especially the one who slashed his axe downward.
Once his arm had successfully blocked against the attack, Sila stretched out his right hand to grab at his opponent"s arm and pulled it toward himself. Next, he activated the hardening attribute of Formless Soldier in his left hand while using qi reinforcement. He thrust it into his opponent"s chest where the heart is. This hand of Sila was currently stronger than even a mid-level sword.
The body of his opponent turned into light and disappeared. A complete silence fell all over the market square. Many players were rubbing their eyes in disbelief.
Their target was using pure power without any techniques to kill their comrade. They couldn"t hear this man shouting any skill name. This alone was enough to cause the thief gang to panic.
"If this is the extent of your ability, I am sure I can finish all of you in just five minutes," Sila declared while ordering Lookhin to come to him via Mind Connection.
The face of Thief555 reddened with anger. People in this city always shuddered in fear when his name was mentioned. However, this young man in front of him was not only unfazed but also humiliated him again and again.
Nevertheless, he was a man with a lot of experience. Since he still couldn"t determine what trick the other party had used, he decided to temporarily delay his next course of action.
"Lookhin, please look after Bow. If there"s anyone approaching her, you can kill without having to hold back," At the end of Sila"s sentence, Lookhin nodded prior to flapping its wings beside Bow.
Thief555 finally snapped right then and there. Their opponent even viewed them as so weak that they could be killed by a level 1 sparrow.
"Everybody, kill him!!" The boss shouted.
Tens of arrows flew toward Sila while many of the bandits came charging at the same time.
Sila sighed and tried to empty his mind. He waved his hand in front of him. His hand was acting like a paintbrush, spreading a semi-transparent color on the air miraculously. A mirror was created in midair.
Once the arrows collided with the mirror, they entered it. Meanwhile, the arrows in the mirror flew out at a higher speed than the ones that entered the mirror. They were all directed at the heads of the charging thieves.
The screams echoed. Since the head is a vital spot, these thieves immediately died and turned into light.
Actually, Moon Reflecting Mirror could only return the same amount of power back at the opponent. However, Sila had discovered by chance when he was being trained by the Slime King that with his Hidden Weapon Mastery pa.s.sive skill, all flying weapons fired by him would be affected by the skill proficiency. Hence, small flying weapons like arrows, flying knives, or hidden weapons had turned out to be his favorite playthings. They would exert more power and precision.
That was why Sila had yet to kill the archers of the opposing party. He hoped he could perform this move again.
But Thief555 wasn"t stupid. As he had seen that the arrows had no use, he gestured an order to his underlings to stop shooting arrows.
Now, except for Thief555 himself, there were only three archers and two qi pract.i.tioners left in his gang. Sila had mercilessly killed more than ten of them in an instant.
As Sila realized his opponents were calming down, he made use of the fact that their formation was still in a messy state to activate Formless Soldier. Sila"s body became lighter while his ankle was as soft as a spring. He shot himself toward Thief555.
Thief555 panicked and pushed his subordinates in front of him as human shields.
Sila could recall Poluk"s trial clearly. Once he was about to collide with the bandits, he changed his body to become heavier and harder. Turning into a human bullet, Sila smashed into two of the thieves. They immediately died from the impact.
After his training with the Slime King, Sila now was able to use two attributes of Formless Soldier simultaneously. Good grief, he could only combine "heavy" with "harden" or "lighten" with "soften". That was his current limit. He still wasn"t able to use them in a different way.
The three archers began their escape by turning around. Seeing that, Sila flicked both his wrists. Three daggers flew and accurately stabbed all three of them, causing them to fall down and eventually disappear.
Thief555, who witnessed the scene, couldn"t help but exclaim, "Hidden weapons?!"
Sila approached Thief555.
"Are you Sila?" Thief555 asked lightly.
Sila was surprised that this thief knew about him. "Yes, I"m Sila."
There was a clamor in the market square. On the game forums, news about Sila"s re-emergence after missing for two weeks started spreading.
"But you… you aren"t able to circulate qi, are you?" Thief555 continued.
"So? I haven"t circulated qi anyway," Sila answered.
Thief555"s face was filled with panic. He couldn"t fight back at all despite the fact that his opponent even didn"t circulate any qi. This situation was really him making trouble for himself, but it was way too late to realize this now.
The fact that Sila uses hidden weapons and qi was not a secret anymore. During his battle against Montra, Sila had shown everyone else that he could fire hidden weapons. As there are not many hidden weapon users in the game, Thief555 could accurately guess Sila"s ident.i.ty.
"I will get my hand on that creature at all costs," Thief555 said.
"I won"t allow you," Sila finished his sentence by grabbing Thief555"s neck and lifted it up. His grip was as hard as steel. Thief555"s feet were hanging in the air.
The thief tried to resist by using qi reinforcement and using his hands to release Sila"s hand from his neck. He also kicked at Sila"s body. But Sila was like a metal statue. The thief"s attacks were completely ineffective. He was even hurting himself by doing so.
"Be reborn as a better person," Sila said while changing his body into fire element.
For the slime"s magic, Sila could only use it to attack at blank-point range by directly touching the target. He still couldn"t freely use it like the Slime King or Master Viola.
Thief555"s body turned into flame. He was screaming in great pain while Sila was unaffected by the fire at all.
Sila dropped his opponent onto the ground. Thief555 writhed in pain for a moment before turning into light.
Sila was quite taken aback by Orbiting Cosmos" power. He had thought that it would just cause his enemy to feel very hot, not be set on fire like this.
Sila had temporarily forgotten that this skill was an S-grade skill which specializes in fighting against dragons. He had been training with the Slime King whom could resist it easily so he had misunderstood how powerful it was.
Sila felt uncomfortable as there were many eyes watching him with various feelings. Hence, Sila sealed Lookhin and Bow inside the ring and quickly left the scene.