"How much farther?" Michael asked as he walked down a muddy road toward his quest.
"Two miles," Gaya replied tersely.
Her usual arrogant and witty self was conspicuously absent, replaced by an uncharacteristic silence during their journey.
"Someone's having a bad day. Come on, princess, say something," Michael teased.
"Leave me be, human," Gaya retorted, her voice devoid of its usual arrogance.
He thought he might enjoy the silence, but after traveling in quiet for a while, he began to miss the witty and arrogant princess. He decided to offer a way to lift her spirits.
"Alright, your loss. I thought I might give you another pill or two," he said.
"Really?!" Gaya's tone perked up.
"Only if you stop acting like a crybaby," Michael replied.
"I can do that, human. Now give this princess the pills," she agreed quickly.
"Damn," Michael muttered to himself. He didn't expect her to change her mind so quickly, but it brought a smile to his face. "Let's finish the job on hand, shall we? After that, I'll give you two pills. Deal?"
"Deal. Let's go and kill some maggots," Gaya said, seemingly regaining her confidence.
"That's my girl."
"NO, I'm NOT!" she retorted.
Michael chuckled and quickened his pace, determined to reach their destination before the drizzle extinguished the torch in his hand. Eventually, he arrived at a crossroads, and he noticed that the red mark on the map was not far from it. In the distance, he saw a small village, and near the crossroads, the dense forest and thick trees made it an ideal ambush spot for bandits targeting traveling merchants and villagers returning to their village from Rivertown.
"We should have come during the day, human. Now the bandits will be at their camp," Gaya remarked.
"Exactly. At night, they'll likely be at their camps drinking or sleeping, which makes them vulnerable," Michael replied.
"Even if you manage to silently kill a few of them, you won't be able to take out all of them that way," Gaya warned.
"I have a plan, Gaya," Michael said with determination.
With that, he ventured into the forest where the bandits likely set up camp. After a few minutes of walking in the dense woods, he sensed a group of fifteen people about fifty meters away from him.
"I need a vantage point. Let's see what this bad boy can do," Michael said.
He aimed his grappling hook at a branch above him and, like Batman, launched himself off the ground and onto the branch.
"Whoa, how did you do that? What is this thing? Where did you get it?" Gaya asked in astonishment.
"Cool, huh? It's called the Mark 3 grappling hook. Stick with me, and I'll show you more cool stuff," Michael replied.
"What's Mark Three? Who named it? I bet it might be those wretched dwarves. Whatever, give it to me later. This princess wants to try it," Gaya demanded.
"Why? Are you going to kill me with it?" Michael teased as he moved to another branch using the hook.
"Damn you, human. I promised I wouldn't. Besides, didn't you hurt me enough without caring that I'm a girl?" Gaya retorted.
"Oh, don't pull that card on me, princess. I'm a strong believer in equality," Michael quipped.
As they continued, Gaya spotted a campfire in the distance with a group of men gathered around it.
"This must be their camp," Gaya concluded, while Michael sensed two bandits who had strayed away from the main camp, venturing alone.
"Even though there aren't any level 10 troublemakers like Datra, each of these bandits is at level 7 or 8. Considering their numbers, it won't be as easy to deal with them as it was with those snakes. If they spot you, they can eliminate both of us with a single spell," Gaya cautioned.
"They won't have time to cast any spells," Michael replied confidently.
It was much easier for him to move from branch to branch using the grappling hook than jumping. In a matter of moments, he reached his first target, a bandit who was relieving himself without a care in the world.
"Gross, why did you make me see that?" Gaya complained.
"I am a free bird, free bird~" Michael sang cheerfully before abruptly stopping the bandit's horrible song by slitting his throat.
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for killing a Body Refining stage, level 6 cultivator. The reward is 4500 experience points as well as 200 Badass points.]
Rather than leaving the body on the ground, Michael brought it with him and placed it on a nearby branch before moving on to the next target.
"Pathetic, he didn't even put up a defense spell," Gaya remarked.
Unbeknownst to her, even if the bandit had used a defensive spell, it wouldn't have made any difference since Michael's knife could bypass the defenses of anyone below level 6 of the Body Refining stage.
The next bandit was returning to camp when Michael appeared before him, swiftly ending his life with a slit throat, much like he did with the previous bandit.
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for killing a Body Refining stage, level 6 cultivator. The reward is 4500 experience points as well as 200 Badass points.]
"So far, so good. Thirteen more to go."
"How in the fuck did you advance to level 7 in just a single day? Did you take some restoration pills?" Gaya inquired, her astonishment clear.
"Just wait until you see me have another breakthrough," Michael responded with a confident grin as he swung to a branch closer to the main camp.
Gaya was perplexed. "How do you plan to take on thirteen body refining stage cultivators with your current level of cultivation?"
Observing the bandits merrily drinking and singing without any signs of fatigue, she couldn't fathom how he intended to eliminate them all without the element of surprise or targeting them one by one as he usually did.
However, before she could voice her thoughts, she noticed a small cylinder-like object appear in Michael's hand.
"What's that?" she asked.
"We call this a flashbang," he replied before removing the pin and tossing it into the center of the camp. He quickly closed his eyes and ears in anticipation.
BOOM!
As he had anticipated, the flashbang created chaos within the camp, throwing the bandits off balance. Michael didn't descend immediately, though; instead, he threw a smoke bomb he had purchased from the shop. Fortunately, this world seemed to have its version of smoke bombs and flashbangs, making them much more affordable than firearms.
The bandits yelled in confusion as Michael, unaffected by the smoke thanks to his sensing skill, systematically picked them off one by one with incredible speed.
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for killing a Body Refining Stage, level 6 cultivator. The reward is 4500 experience points as well as 200 Badass points.]
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for killing a Body Refining Stage, level 7 cultivator. The reward is 5000 experience points as well as 200 Badass points.]
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for killing a Body Refining Stage, level 9 cultivator. The reward is 6500 experience points as well as 200 Badass points.]
With each swing of his knife, a ding sound echoed in his mind, and the system rewarded him accordingly. Just as the smoke cleared, the last voice in the camp was silenced by Michael. Gaya stared in astonishment at the bandits lying on the ground, their throats slit and chests stabbed.
In a matter of moments, he had achieved this feat – eliminating 13 experienced bandits, all of whom were at the Body Refining Stage.
How... How was this even possible?
This human was evidently at the mere Foundation Stage level 7!
When Gaya saw Michael's reflection in a puddle of rainwater, a shiver ran down her spine. He was drenched in blood and bore a resemblance to the ancient demons she had read about in books.
But what truly sent her heart racing was that he had leveled up once again.
[Congratulations to host 'Michael' for leveling up. Your current stage is Foundation stage Level 8.]
[Congratulations to host 'Michael' for leveling up. Your current stage is Foundation stage Level 9.]
"Is he using some ancient evil cultivation technique?"
"Why didn't you assholes have one more bandit?"
He kicked the lifeless body of a bandit in frustration, realizing he could have reached level 10 with one more kill.
"He's dead, human. Instead of kicking him, take their badges as proof of the kill."
Hearing Gaya's voice in his mind, he sighed and began to remove the eagle-embodied badges from their chests.
"What kind of bandits wear badges?"
"Be glad they wore badges, human, or else you would have had to cut off their ears as proof."
"Shit."
After collecting the badges, he also found an additional six hundred silver coins in their cache. He decided not to linger any longer and left the area without further delay.
"I should take a bath."
He was overwhelmed by the smell of blood, and his black robes were now mostly dyed red.
"Gaya, is there a waterfall nearby?"
"If you walk east for three hours, you'll find a beautiful waterfall where I used to go with my maids."
"Hehehe."
He chuckled while turning and heading toward the east.
"Did I say something funny, human?"
"No, I just thought you were going to say 'friends.'"
"Why is that? Do you think I don't have friends?"
"I don't think, I know you don't have friends."
"Yes, I do. I have many friends."
"Quickly name three."
He waited for her response but only heard a 'hmm' sound from her.
"Thought so."
"Well, this princess doesn't need any friends."
She retorted, but he could detect a hint of sadness in her voice, which surprised him given her usual arrogant and prideful demeanor.