It was a beautiful day at the Heavenly Apothecary Sect as everyone was doing their duties or cultivating. The sky was cloudless and showed a peaceful setting. Some disciples were collecting their rewards after a mission when a loud explosion was heard. Everyone turned towards the Sect Conference building and saw smoke coming from it. Then, it started raining blood! They saw three figures fighting against one who was holding a sword and his hair was blue.
"A demonic figure like you should not be allowed to be alive!" the middle aged man they recognized as the sect master said. Their opponent just laughed.
"And shameless people like you should have their tongues cut off," Nicklaus said as he dodged a kick to his stomach with wide evasion. He landed twenty feet away from the three with a smile on his face.
"What's the matter? You just realized you bit more than you can chew off?" Nicklaus mocked them.
"You killed all the masters in the room!" the sect master said, bitterly. "Even though they tried to take what is yours you should be forgiving!"
"Old man, I never had the patience to deal with fools. Even if I told them the skill book was in the library they would still have a reason to try and kill me," Nicklaus said then grew serious suddenly. "I don't want to kill you three because then I will be a target. Please, just turn back and go back to drinking your tea."
"As the Sect's Protectors we cannot let this go. You killed its masters and elders in cold blood," one of the old men said. From the rubble, another old man got up, coughing painfully.
"Old Karl, good to see you alive. We need you to tell all the disciples to leave the sect immediately. This is a battle between Legendary Realm experts," the Sect Master said. The old man nodded and ran off to tell the disciples. Nicklaus nodded at this for he did not want them to be collateral victims. He took this chance to do something that shocked the three men in front of him.
"Level up!" he shouted. Suddenly, his aura flared as clouds started gathering above the sect. Everyone felt the natural energy swirling towards one place, into Nicklaus. He felt his whole body become stronger and stronger as his senses too. With a roar of joy, his aura exploded outwards, destroying buildings and throwing away anyone it came across.
"This is the power of a Legendary Realm expert?"
"So powerful. His aura alone is this strong that it destroyed every house in the sect!"
"Who is this expert that is fighting the sect master and protectors?"
"You all need to get out of this place immediately. That is a demonic expert who pretended to be one of the sect members to..." Old Karl never got to finish his sentence for his head suddenly burst open and a pebble fell twenty metres in front of him.
"I hate been badmouthed," Nicklaus sneered before he continued to feel the strength of this realm. He was now a King Level expert in the Legendary realm. The realm is made of three levels which are the King, Emperor and Saint level. Going from one level to another is as hard as surviving in a furnace for a normal person with no protection gear. Nicklaus started flying suddenly to his surprise.
"Wait, I can fly!" he exclaimed in delight as he remembered this from a book. "I feel like it is the most natural thing to do!" He turned to the three dumbfounded men. "Good news, I will fight you later or never." With that, he shot to the sky with a trail of laughter behind him.
"This is amazing," they heard him say before he disappeared to the horizon.
"The dragon just got an extra pair of wings," Felix said with a sigh. The battle itself was anticlimactic with the opponent flying off to enjoy flying!
"Does this mean we do not have to evacuate?" a disciple said. They all turned to the sect master who was trying to reign his emotions. He was glad that he did not have to fight Nicklaus but on the other hand, he felt like he should have revenge because of the destruction of the sect yet he knew it would not go well.
"Let's first call our disciples who are out there and ask them if any would want to be Martial Masters of the sect or Sect Elders. We need to do that fast before any other sect near us get wind of this. For the disciples, have them pitch tents where they can sleep before the buildings are erected again," the Sect Master said with a sigh. The destruction caused by Legendary Realm experts when they fought would change the topography if the land they fought in completely. He was not ready to completely destroy the Sect and was happy when Nicklaus became too happy about flying that he called off the fighting
Nicklaus was happily flying in the sky without a care in the world. As he did it, he came to know a few tricks. First, he can have an invisible energy shield to make sure he is not hit by the winds. Second, he did not use up any energy at all when flying which could alarm every other expert. Third, using his energy, he could leave trail behind him which he did with different colours.
Nicklaus flew all over for two days straight because of his excitement. As a person from a technological world, he had seen movies, animes and read books of people flying and he had dreamt about it countless times. But now here he was, flying in the sky, up and down, sideways and just stand in the sky. He felt like if he was in his world, he would have the Superman's suit and just look down on earth waiting for crime to happen. Landing next to a road, Nicklaus could not stop grinning.
"With this, I have added a new escape means to my arsenal. I read that flying burns quite a lot of energy for King Levels but I am an anomaly, as usual. Now that I can't go back to the Sect, perhaps I can go to the Bounty Hunters' building. I can become a bounty hunter and I can fight strong criminals too. Yosh, it is decided. Now, to locate where the capital is." Nicklaus flew back to the sky once more, flying at great heights that his Level could not hold but his body kept on evolving, making it easier to breath. He looked at the land below him and started using his memory of the map to make out his directions. After two minutes, he flew off, hoping his memory was quite good.
Nicklaus looked at the guards inspecting the cart in front of him with a smile on his face. In front of him was a an iron double door which was held up by a large and intimidating wall. He had found the capital in half an hour but he waited two days to find an opportunity to get in without being suspicious. You know the saying the guilty are always suspicious and the MCs are always most definitely likely to attract the ire of guards. He had spend quite sometime with one and he had seen their bad mojo ribbon him. He had to make sure it did not become permanent.
The guards are Master Level experts so he was sure he would pinch one to death but he had decided to keep a low profile, for real this time. He had found a merchant that he had used Memory Scrambler on and the whole caravan believed he was with them the whole journey.
They were let in and as per 'agreement' the merchant paid him four million crystals for his services. The first thing Nicklaus did was go to a store that sold weapons, armour and the sort. Once he got in, the storekeeper noticed he did not have energy signature so he thought he was a servant and ignored him. Nicklaus was used to this back in Earth, the customers would shop on their own so he assumed it was quite natural.
He started looking for good leather armour, one that would make him look cool. He found one whose marked price was at sixty thousand crystals. He then found a leather overcoat for five thousand crystals, a hat that looked strangely like a cowboy's hat for two hundred crystals then some boots that were quite durable and had soft paddings inside for two thousand crystals. He brought them at the front desk with a smile. The storekeeper looked at the items and smiled evilly.
"That would be seventy seven thousand two hundred crystals," he said. Nicklaus was stunned at this but he once again knew what was going on.
"Curse you MCs bad luck," he cursed as he rubbed his temple.
"If you can't afford then get out of my store,"
"You added ten thousand more crystals in the buying price," Nicklaus argued.
"My store my rules," the storekeeper said. Nicklaus sighed then decided for payback. He used Memory Scrambler on him to make him get the items for free and even took the best long sword and short sword he had for free. The two swords were things of beauty and craftsmanship as well as how sharp they were. The only thing he bought was their scabbards. He left the store, got into an alley and changed into the armour. He was now a 6'4' man of pure badassery. He checked himself on a window and grinned. The hat hid his face well so he had no problem if any random person just happened to be from a sect he had a feud with or a noble that wanted him dead.
After asking his way to the guild, Nicklaus got in with the most badass way he could think. He opened the door slightly then let wind he created from his energy do the rest of the work. Everyone inside were surprised as the door swang open and this large man walked in, the wind making his jacket flutter as his footsteps echoed in the room. He was intimidating enough for the place to keep quiet until he stopped at the front desk. The people in line had made way for him unconsciously. The young lady behind the desk was quite afraid as she looked up at this mysterious person.
"He...How can I help you?" she managed to say.
"I am here to register as a bounty hunter," he answered in a deep rumble of a voice. The nervous girl swallowed hard as she started looking for a firm for him to fill in. Once she did, she gave it to him with a quill and ink.
The first question was his name which he wrote as Merlin Marvollo. The second was his age which he filled with a dash. The third was his height which he wrote down. Fourth was his cultivation rank which he wrote as Grandmaster Level. From there was an oath that he had to read then he had to sign with his blood which he did.
"Umm, welcome to the Graceland Capital Bounty Hunter headquarters. If you would wait for a few minutes we will bring you your identification card," the girl said as she stood up. Nicklaus grunted and went to an empty chair. He sat upright, his long sword in its scabbard rest on his leg. He looked around as he memorised the daily activities. There was a board where bounties were put. Each board had a rank from rank 0 to rank 9. He came to realize that they were according to the cultivation levels. Rank 0 were Energy Gathering experts and Rank 9 were Saint Level experts. He came to know that this association will take any bounty as long as they had people that could take it.
After an hour of waiting, the girl came to him holding the ID. She was quite pale and eyed him warily. When she saw him look at her, she almost stumbled.
"This is your ID, sir," she squeaked. Nicklaus took it from her hands and inspected it. It had his picture, the was he was dressed and his details except from his age and fake cultivation level. It had his real cultivation level which surprised him. He looked at her sharply and she must have been told of what to say for she spilled the beans immediately. "We used an array to make sure that you do not give us the Level that is too high so that we can write down the correct Level. I am sorry if it is an inconvenience."
"No problem. What if someone steals the ID from me and masquerades as me. How would you know?"
"Well, sir, we make each bounty hunter's ID from the aura of the blood they used to sign with. Once an imposter enters the building with a fake ID, it burns immediately and we are alerted."
"Impressive. So, when I take a bounty, do I have to pay a certain amount?"
"No. You just take the bounty paper and when you catch the bounty, you can either bring him here or his head to the guild. Also, if you can, we would appreciate if you brought the paper with you. It would save us quite some effort." Nicklaus nodded as he got up, easily towering over her. He put the scabbard onto his back and went to the board. He decided to take an easy bounty for his first bounty and go on increasing difficulty as his fame soared. He looked at the Rank 0 and 1 bounties with a scrutinizing eye. He saw one that he could do which was stated as a high end bounty for its difficulty among experts of the same Level as it's rank.
"I chose you," he said as he pulled the paper off the board and walked out of the building. Once he was out, almost everyone breathed out at the same time.