Several people gather around Mina and me. They are the captured slaves and prisoners of the bandits, supporting me with Mina.
I look around and see piles of the burned corpse, Mina has eliminated her pursuers with ease.
Parts of my body are still pulsing with electricity but Mina doesn't seem to be bothered.
--------------
Obtained:
Thunder resistance rank B
--------------
Suddenly, the griffin shows up in the sky and flies into the cave through the hole in the top.
!!!!!!!!!!
It lands in front of me before looking around and walking to a pile of rubble. The griffin pushes the rubble aside to reveal a golden egg, presumably stolen by the bandits from the griffin.
The griffin takes the egg and flies off.
One of the feathers came floating down into my hand. A gift?
!
A griffin feather...this is very valuable!!
I keep it in my storage ring as a group of cultivators appears. It is the recon squad of the imperial army who came to check out the commotion.
...
Ugh...
My head throbs with a sharp pain as I fall unconscious.
----------------------------
...
Cold...
It's cold...
And soft...
I open my eyes to realise I'm lying in the snow. Even though it is freezing, I do not seem to be bothered by it.
Looking around, I can see tall blue crystals protruding out of the ground at the horizon far away.
The region of death? What am I doing here?
It's empty. The sky is just pure white. I look around to find a small girl with her back facing me. She is short, about the height of my waist. Her white long silky hair blends into the surrounding snow, I've never seen anything like it. If she laid down in the snow, I wouldn't even notice her.
She seems to be holding a teddy bear and is wearing a white long dress that extends down to her feet.
Suddenly, I notice the snow that I'm standing on, is her hair.
Everything is her hair.
I blank out afterwards and drift back into someplace far away.
--------------
I open my eyes again...
I see a tall marble ceiling and feel a soft bed. I look around. A marble room with a window to the right.
I am in the imperial hospital.
What was that? That dream?
No, is it a dream?
It felt real...
I tried to move my body but every single muscle hurt. Even sitting up is a pain.
A healer magician steps in at that moment to see me and she gasps.
"H-He's awake!" She screams as she runs out.
...
What?
After about an hour, running footsteps can be heard as my family appear at the door.
"Loi!"
They run to me and hug me tightly.
"Ouch ouch ouch!!..."
They loosen their hug when they realise my injury isn't healed.
"You idiot! Why do you have to go that far!" My mother says.
"Do you know how worried we are?!" My father follows up.
Mane, Lee, and Christina are staring at me with tears in their eyes. Their mischievous personality is gone.
"Well. I'm still alive so..." I say.
"You almost died! Why did you do that?! And you want to become an adventurer?! How will I support you if you keep doing dangerous things like this! First, it's the tournament, now this, you've gotten bold!" My mother nags.
I smile. With this loving family, I cannot possibly ask for anything more. In this cruel backstabbing world, my family are the only ones I can fully trust...
I used to hate my mother's nagging. She would always scold me instead of consoling me, saying that I shouldn't do this and that. I didn't realise that beyond her anger are worries.
"I'm sorry for worrying you," I say.
My mother widens her eyes.
I finally said the sentence I always wanted to say...
"Y-You... Idiot..." My mother hugs me again.
...
"I will become strong enough. Strong enough that none of us will have to suffer anymore. Strong enough that you won't have to worry about me."
"..."
My mother nods while hugging me tightly.
...
"O-Okay, it is starting to hurt now," I say.
"Ah! Sorry."
"It's okay."
----------------
My mother left and returned home with my sister, my brothers went back to their school. The only one remaining is my father.
He stares at me as I avoid eye contact.
"Get ready. Deeds of your accomplishment had spread throughout the entire capital, upon being notified that you awoke, the king has summoned you to... 'reward' you." He reluctantly says
"But, don't let it get to your head. It will be like an interrogation with the only difference being the entire capital watching." My father says.
...
"How long was I out?" I ask.
"2 weeks." And my father left.
My father is curious about how I managed to find the Tiger Bandits' hideout or even how I avoided death when the expedition was ambushed. Those are questions the king will be asking.
Most likely those nobles will be there too, the captain I crippled...what was his name?
I decided not to think about it yet and change into a tuxedo suit prepared for me. I checked the suit beforehand to discover some poison powders sprinkled on it.
I close my eyes. The abrupt increase in the abundance of qi in my body is nostalgic...
The Foundation Establishment Realm, it took me... I can't remember but I know it took me years to get to this cultivation.
While it has only taken me less than a month now. Are the system and my prior knowledge the work of Karma?
I find it pointless to dwell on it and decided to focus on the issue at hand.
Normally, only people at the core formation can manipulate external qi but that doesn't mean formation establishment cultivators can't. It's just... It's difficult...
As I try to manipulate the qi in the atmosphere to gather the poison powder and place them in a cloth bag, the numb feeling in my palm returns. At my level, it takes an exhausting amount of effort to do this.
I look in the bag after I am done to realise they sprinkled a quarter of the bag of poison powder, they really want me dead huh...
I touch the white powder slightly with the tip of my index finger and sniff it. I start to feel a slight headache.
!!
This smell, they used Allure Venom?!
One of the most lethal forms of poisons, Allure Venom can instantly kill the target by corrupting their upper dantian, causing qi deviation in the brain. If the target didn't die by a miracle, the target will become retarded.
------------
Obtained Poison Resistance Rank F
------------
I store the rest of the powder in my storage ring. Just a small amount of Allure Poison can cause an irritating headache, those fuckers used a quarter of a bag...
Building immunity to poison is simple, just take a non-lethal amount of poisons once every week, but feeling the side effects of the poisons is inevitable.
I wear the Tuxedo as a knight knocks on the door to my room. He seems to be my escort.
We walk to the castle in the third section of the capital. The entire event is broadcasted to people all over the capital.
We walk into a throne room, a tall room with three pillars on both sides. On the tall wall in the middle facing the two gigantic doors is a picture of the current king. There are chairs beside the pillars on both sides, all nobles are already seated with both the princes seating beside the king.
I kneel as I meet the king. "I am here, your majesty."
The atmosphere in this room is suffocating. Every noble are glaring at me, and both of the princes are staring at me, gauging if I will be a threat to them or someone useful.
Someone else walks in after me, it is Mina. She kneels beside me and says "I am grateful for this opportunity, your majesty."
The King's frown is unfazed.
"I am here to congratulate you, young ones. You have managed to find and eliminate an era of horror and saved many lives." The king says. "However, please do not mind me, it is unbelievable that two of you can do what the imperial army cannot so I would like to ask you to provide evidence."
Mina grits her teeth as she clenches her fist. Her head is down so only I can see her reaction.
I turn my head. The captain I crippled is smirking at me, beside him is an old fat lady, presumably his family.
Further to the right of the captain is the Nelson family. The old lady, with purple lips and nails, glares at me as she openly releases her killing aura. Irina and her brother stand behind that lady. They have bruises on their face with bandages on every single part of their body. That old hag, what did she do to them?
Standing beside the old hag is Orland, his eyes are wide open as he glares at me. The plan to assassinate me and Julius is probably organised by those two fucks. Are they related to the demonic cult?
I take out a leather bag from my storage ring and throw it on the floor. The head rolls out of the bag.
"Will this suffice?" I say.
!!!!!??????!!!!!!!
I look around to see the nobles' reaction. The sight of their faces is amazing. From an arrogant smirk, it turns into a contorted rage glare.
However, this is only the beginning.