After waking up from his rest in the cave Michael felt refreshed and ready to fight. He and Uriel explored the rift until they found a similar bear to the one from a couple weeks earlier. Determined not to hide this time, Michael brandished the knife he's been using and prepared to attack. He was readying the invisibility spell and movement spell simultaneously to land a blow quickly without being seen. Golden light surrounded him turning him invisible before he moved quicker than the eye can see. Several after images of light trailed behind him as he closed in on the bear before it could react, plunging the knife into its throat.
(That was a decisive kill.) Uriel was impressed with his skill to hunt and thought to compliment him. The average champion would take much longer before they were ready to hunt like this.
(Let's go up to the high ground and hide. I want to see if I can get a new weapon soon from some passerby's.) Michael wanted to lure some adventurers here with the bait of the bear's body and monster core. His knife was getting dull and after that last attack he knew it was time to get another weapon. Since he and Alicia were orphans he figured they were poor and looting was the only viable option for them.
Per his request, they both jumped up high and began to hide in the tree leaves while looking down. Since it'll take time for some awakeners to come, Michael sat crossed legged and began to learn a new skill. He discovered a basic skill amongst his memories that allowed the user to coat their weapon with light mana. This helped make the weapon sharper and to reduce the wear that is put on it. It was exactly what he needed until he was able to acquire a high grade weapon.
Through his memories he saw the same young man from before. He was dressed in gold and black with his hair in a high ponytail. In the same room as last time, he was sparing using two slim short swords while fighting with four adults who kept parrying his attacks. In his frustration, he began coating his blades with light mana wishing to inflict some type of damage to vent his anger. Right when he began to land an attack again, the memory faded.
Michael wanted to know who was this young man and why was he so skilled, but he knew answers come with strength. He didn't feel like asking Uriel because he knew the answer would be to get stronger before asking. As he opened his eyes, he finally heard a group of people down below. They were three young men who looked to be around eighteen years old. The apparent leader had black hair with a short haircut wearing a blue track suit with a black backpack. The other two people were short and fat, always staying behind the dark haired young man both wearing standard white shirts and blue jeans.
"Greg, who do you think could killed this bear? It was done in one hit and with a hunting knife at that." Asked one of the sidekicks.
"There are dozens of kids awakening and coming here e everyday, how should I know which rich kid's body guard got so bored?" Asked the leader in annoyance.
"Do you think it was one of those Worldview high kids? I heard they're all monsters compared to everyone else." Said the other fat kid.
"Why would one of those freaks be in a beginner's rift? They all awaken straight to E Rank so what's the point of them coming to an F Rank rift?" The leader spoke as he squatted down and began to search the bear for its core and important body parts.
After discovering the core, they began to cut and dice open the bear quickly. Too immersed in what they were doing, they failed to notice Michael standing behind them.
"Excuse me, do you have any swords on you?" Asked Michael as he looked down upon them with his arms crossed.
Startled, all three jumped up and reached for their weapons getting into a fighting stance. The two fattys pulled out guns while the leader pulled out a black sword from his backpack.
"Who are you kid?" Asked the leader who was filled with suspicion. He wondered how a kid who looked no older than twelve years of age was able to sneak up on them. Besides sneaking up behind them unheard, this kid also has an air of suppression around him.
"I just wanted to know if you have weapons, and since I see you pointing them at me I'll ask you kindly to let me borrow them." Being a soldier in his last life, Michael wasn't very good at robbery so his straight forwarded behavior was out of place. The three teenagers couldn't believe their ears that a child was attempting to rob them.
"Pfftttt hahahaa hey dude, just go home to your parents. This rift is dangerous, and trying to become a bandit is even more so. We're doing you a favor by not beating on you." Said the leader who now had a smirk on his face as he laughed.
"I told you we should've just quickly killed them and took everything they have, no Michael?" Asked Uriel who has sneaked up behind them as well. They turned around quickly but decided to face back to back so no one was ambushed.
"Who the hell are you kids? You really think you can kill us when we are years older than you?!" The leader Greg was screaming now, he hated the feeling of two preteens talking as if he was air.
"Ok, we do it your way. I don't have time for more nonsensical conversation so let's make this quick." As Michael finished talking his entire body disappeared. The three awakeners were now visibly afraid and alert.
(He has a stealth skill, it's about a C Rank talent but it's too damn useful and hard to guard against. This may be toug-) as he was thinking mid thought, a hard blow hit him in the back of the head knocking him out. Thud! Thud!
Uriel had incapacitated the two fattys in a similar fashion and is about to loot them, they seemed to have forgotten her after being shock by Michael's stealth skill.
"Why didn't we kill them human? You could've devoured them." Asked Uriel ask she began to inspect the guns.
"We just needed the weapons, money, and gear. There's no need to kill them over that. Also devouring humans without useful talents doesn't sit right with me. I rather devour the monster cores since I get more from them." Michael was now finished looting and looked at the black sword approvingly.
"Good point, I'll just go with using twin guns from here on out, these should make hunting together more fun." Said Uriel who seemed more excited than usual.
"What will you use when you run out of ammo?" Michael felt that guns in a society ruled by personal power was useless.
"These babies run off of mana and not bullets. They're perfect for me!" Michael stared at her for a minute before walking off. He figured he shouldn't ruin her fun.
"Ok, now that we're armed, let's massacre the monsters in the forest before killing the boss. It's about time we got back to the city."