As the sword was about to slice the girl's arms, a gunshot rang in the air. Soon, the raider had his head burst with a bullet that penetrated right until the other side of his head.
In the distance of fifty meters away, Luke walked over with some blood on his clothes and shouldered something big that wrapped with black cloth. His clothes were still that of the soldier's uniform, before they wore their mech armor.
Looking at Luke who was walking towards her, the girl tried to stand up and pulled her throwing dagger. Seeing her so vigilant at him, Luke sighed loudly as he shook his head, trying to say that he didn't mean any harm.
After she saw Luke's gesture, the girl moved her gaze away from and looked for her grandfather. The old man already tried to stand up, but blood flowing down from his back had made him feel dizzy.
"☌⍀⏃⋏⎅⌿⏃! (Grandpa!)" The girl immediately ran to the old man's side and ripped apart some of her clothes to bandage him.
Looking at the old man's condition, Luke couldn't bring himself to be mad anymore. As the old man saw Luke in his vision, the old man was about to ask how about the raiders but he stopped midway.
Glancing behind at what lies behind Luke, a mountain of bodies was stacked together as all raiders who attacked him had died. Walking to the old man, Luke crossed his hands in front of his chest as he squinted his eyes.
"Okay.. I think we have a need to talk."
.....
In another place.
An old man that wore a luxurious hanfu and decided to give a lesson to Luke now was flying towards a building atop of a mountain.
The mountain was filled with mist, a red mist, and the smell of blood was so thick in the air. All the residents of this mountain had been used to the smell of blood as everyday, their line of work would involve a lot of blood.
Blood and rotten smell were something that had been parts of their life.
The old man flew towards a building that was much grander than any buildings in the mountain, it was so big and majestic that one would think it was the palace. Landing himself in the building's courtyard, the old man moved his hands on his back and proceeded to meet with the other clansmen.
Soon, he found himself in a garden that was decorated with many strange and bizarre plants and flowers. Some plants had the face of a human and two small hands, some flowers had sharp teeth growing out of its petals, and the others had so many varieties of weird things in them.
In the middle of the garden, there's a table shaped like a giant coin but was made from marble. Surrounding it, the old man saw his clansmen, whom all of them had the same age of him and position like him, the sect elders.
Their eyes lit up when they saw him walking towards them. One of them smiled politely and greeted him with a small joke, "Hey, old Lu. How's your journey? Did you find the seven-coloured bamboo?"
Smiling lightly, the old man that was called old Lu then nodded confidently as he replied, "I had found it. It's just a small matter."
"But it was a rare commodity these days, especially since the war of the dark sects against those righteous, pompous sects. I sent my direct disciple before but he had come back with empty hands." one of the sect elders sighed out loud and said his complaint. Then he glanced at the old man Lu and said, "You are lucky."
Smiling back, the old man Lu nodded slightly to acknowledge that he was just lucky, but inside, he felt proud and thought that all the connections he built in that certain city were not wasted.
"Alright, now that every elders has been seated and present, let's start with our discussion." one of the old men who had been sitting amidst them and had overbearing aura then continued, "This month, it was the event for the candidates that would become our direct disciple to experience the world and succeed in the mission we had assigned them as a test."
"Anybody had a place for the candidates to compete with each other?" asked the old man to the rest of the sect elders.
Putting his hands on his chin, the old man Lu smiled as he thought of a place after he encountered a weird young man that was covered with a blue shell. There's a town that was near that part of the jungle.
With that in mind, the old man Lu decided to say it out loud, "I have an idea."
"Let's send them to Musho town."
...
"Musho… town?"
Luke, the old man, along with the young girl now walked together side by side on the road.
It was already thirty minutes after they had a small talk. Although Luke didn't understand what they had said and so did the old man and the girl, Luke was able to let the system decipher their words and language.
It was going well. Though the system was still in the process of learning the language in the last thirty minutes, there were already some basic words that Luke could use to talk.
"What.. You.. Guys.. Job?" said Luke with the thick accent from his native's tongue.
Chuckled at Luke's effort to imitate their language, the young girl answered quickly. But Luke immediately shook his head to say he didn't understand and his palm gesture for her to slow down.
Still smiling, the girl then replied again, but this time, she said it with some interval after each word, "We.. Are.. Poison.. Makers. We.. Came.. From.. Wuta.. City.. To.. Musho.. Town."
Pointing at the holographic display that was projected through Luke's black bracelet, the young girl asked with a tone of awe even after watching for a while, "What.. Are.. Those?"
The hologram panels had shown some images of sound waves each time any of them talked and then deciphered it and relayed it to Luke's communicator. The image was ever changing, with it had different tasks, such as mapping the surrounding areas from how far Luke had walked, making a rough map from it, the surrounding temperatures, and so on.
"This? Something.. That.. Quite.. Useful." answered Luke with his messed pronunciation as he shrugged his shoulders.
"You.. Are.. Not.. From.. Here.. Right?" this time, it was the old man that had talked as he sighed, "Apologize.. Warrior. I.. Shouldn't.. Let.. You.. Involved. But.. I.. Had.. No.. Choice."
Hearing the old man who had apologized again, Luke shook his head as he remembered what the first thing they said when he was finally able to talk over some words to them. It was the word sorry as they said they didn't want to. But knowing that he wouldn't help them without a reason, they could only try such a trick for their survival.
Luke was so speechless after hearing their explanation. He understood that they had been chased by bandits and asked for others' help. But that wasn't the way to ask for help! It was fortunate for them to meet Luke, but what if it was someone's who was weaker instead? What they had done was sending that person to their doom!
Luke wanted to lash out really bad. But after he saw the old man's pale face from his injury, along with the girl that never failed to look at him with a pitiful gaze all this time, Luke could only swallow the words he wanted to say and let bygones be bygones.
"Yes. I.. Am.. Not.. From.. Here." replied Luke as he decided to not dwell on something in the past unless he wanted to get a stroke so bad.
"What's.. Your.. Plan.. Warrior?" asked the old man as he stared at Luke with a meaningful gaze.
Contemplating for a while, Luke shook his head and answered, "I.. Don't.. Know."
With a smile, the old man then replied quickly, "Then.. Why.. Don't.. You.. Come.. Along.. With.. Us? You.. Said.. You.. Have.. No.. Memory.. Of.. Yourself. Who.. Knows.. Maybe.. You.. Will.. Find.. Something.. By.. Sticking.. With.. Us."
Frowning, Luke thought of the old man's proposal. He had used the excuse of amnesia on their way before to avoid getting asked about his identity. Because it won't be weird if he was called an alien on this planet.
Though, he had said it was a memory loss Incase they didn't know the word amnesia. Not to mention, that memory loss only made him unable to remember who he was, but he still recognized his skill, equipment, and so on.
Nodding after a while, Luke answered, "It.. Wasn't.. A.. Bad.. Idea. I.. Will.. Go.. With.. You."
"Good.. Good." said the old man with a smile on his face.
Behind Luke, the young girl made a 'V' sign to her grandpa as her lips moved without a voice, ".~Good job, Grandpa.~"
Winking at his granddaughter, the old man quickly looked to the front and whistled a song, while Luke focused his attention on his holographic panel.
Unbeknownst to Luke, the old man and the young girl were in need of a bodyguard to the town after they had been left behind by the caravan group. But now with Luke as their companion and had witnessed Luke's capability first hand, they were sure they would be able to deal with any ordinary bandits on the way.
'Not to mention, if I stationed this young man in our shop in that town. We won't have to pay any protection fee anymore from those hoodlums!' laughed the old man inside as he felt satisfied.