After the story was completed the village elder asked, "So how was the story??"
Ling Chen replied, "It is too unrealistic"
The village leader laughed, "My little Ling is smart after all. Every story is unrealistic but that's what stories are, they are nothing more than the imagination of the people. In any story, there would be a hero who would always save innocent people, when I was at your age I too believed someday heroes would appear and save us from those bandits but I was too naive. Living for more than sixty years I have never seen even a single hero come to save us, we should never expect a hero to emerge but we should be the hero"
Ling Chen looked at the sky and said, "But I reckon anybody would want to bear such hardship"
The village elder nodded, "You are right, many people dream to become a hero but only a few become but those few might even cower against powerful entities"
Ling Chen nodded in agreement, in the previous life he had seen many people asking for help but barely anyone would step up to help them in fear of offending the other party unless it was worth offending them.
Ling Chen looked around and noticed a hammer on the table. He pointed the hammer and asked, "What is that grandpa??"
The village elder looked at the direction where Ling Chen's small hand was pointing, "Oh that is my hammer, it is a tool which helps me make weapons"
Ling Chen asked, "Is this why your arms are so muscular??"
The village elder nodded, "Yes you are right. To make weapons we need strong physical power as such our arms are very strong compared to normal people"
Ling Chen already knew these things but he for now wanted to behave like a child and children are always curious about strange things.
Village elder looked at the sky from the window, "I wonder how your father is doing"
Ling Chen replied, "Don't worry grandpa my father would be a good leader"
Village elder sighed, "I hope so". The person who was supposed to become the village leader was his second uncle. His second uncle was also the leader of the hunting group as such he was strong and he was also quite charismatic but unfortunately, he was killed during one of the hunting trips. As such Ling Chen's father was decided to become the next leader after Ling Chen's grandfather retired.
Ling Chen wondered which beast was able to kill his uncle. From what remembered his uncle was at the peak stage of Yellow rank so unless a grade 2 or higher grade monster attacked there was no way his uncle could have been killed.
A powerful person at yellow rank being killed was without a doubt a great blow to the Silvermoon village, from what Ling Chen could see there was only two-person capable of defending the village and the first one was none other than his grandfather, his grandfather was getting old so his power was questionable, still, a power of a person at purple rank wasn't be underestimated. The second was his father though he was weaker than his deceased second uncle, he is still at the late stage of Yellow rank. Judging by the scars Ling Chen had seen while his father was changing clothes, he was pretty sure his father has experienced warrior and it looked like his talent wasn't too bad either.
Ling Chen has sensed his father was on the verge of breaking through to the peak stage of Yellow rank. Ling Chen didn't know the exact time but he estimated it would in a few weeks or days.
Some of the villagers were a mid-stage or early stage of Yellow rank but they weren't worth mentioning. After his father's breakthrough to a peak state of Yellow rank, the village would have another reliable protector. The only thing Ling Chen feared right now was the attack of a grade 2 or even grade three monster, Grade 2 beast can easily fight for to toe even against a person at the late stage of purple rank. Even if his grandfather was able to defeat the beast the village would surely be damaged. Currently, Ling Chen was only at an early stage of Yellow rank making him stronger than many villagers of the Silvermoon village but this wasn't enough if he wanted to protect the village then he should be at least at the late stage of Yellow rank. There were also bandits which should be taken note of. The Wild horse gangs earn more than tens of thousands of silver coins each year by collecting tribute and they are also involved in looting merchants passing by, considering how many merchants traveled from nearby routes Ling Chen estimated they would be earning at least 40,000 to 60,000 thousand silver coins per year. This money was without a doubt a lot and even cause envy from other bandits groups. If it wasn't for the wild horse gang being strong, other gangs would have surely challenged them. The wild horse gang's leader also seems to be quite capable, not only did he spend most of that money to buy weapons and equipment but also hid his main base's location very carefully. The reason Ling Chen knew the wild horse gang's leader was spending a vast amount of money on buying weapons was quite simple. It was because they bought those weapons from his grandfather. His grandfather was very skilled in blacksmith even compared to those from prominent cities as such the wild horse gang usually ordered weapons from grandfather. Ling Chen didn't know the exact reason but the white horse gang might be preparing for war.
Currently, the wild horse gang might be the undisputed overlord gang of this region but it didn't mean there were no other gangs. Other gangs were living in the region but due to the overwhelming power of the wild horse gang, they could do nothing.
Ling Chen looked at the sky and sighed. Currently, he was very weak but he still knew from his past. Those techniques and experiences were engraved in his mind. Using those techniques, experience, and knowledge from his past life, Ling Chen was sure he could once again achieve power when he was at his prime. For now, what Ling Chen had to do was build up his foundation and strengthen his body