Mia was terrified, thinking that she would be pitted against more of those 8-foot Orcs. She barely won with her incredible battle prowess against one crippled Orc, would my sadistic master make me fight to the death against more? She nervously worried.
Looking at his disciple's nervous expression and panting. He laughed out loud.
"Do you think I'm so unreasonable, my disciple?" He spoke with a grin and pointed to the party of 20 Goblins. "You merely need more combat experience, your body is too weak to handle my techniques currently, for now, just take care of those 5" as he spoke, he waved his hand, and an air current separated the goblins forces with 15 on the right and 5 on the left.
"Amazing" She blurted out whilst staring at the spectacle. Controlling the elements, what stage would I have to reach before being able to do this? She thought with sparkling eyes.
He waved his other hand and brought forth the only 5 warriors of the village, leaving the old, women and children undefended. "What?!" they yelled, "Saint, we can't fight those things!" another one bellowed.
Tang Sheng furrowed his brows. "Has the world made you so soft? Do you understand the privilege in battling and gaining experience without the risk of death? If I am here, you won't die, so go on, take one of those green children each. If you don't, I'll leave you behind. How do you expect to survive in a world like this without courage?"
His speech awakened their fighting spirit, whilst also making them ashamed, blushing from their previous cowardice. He was right, they thought. How would they protect their families if they didn't adapt to this world? Gritting their teeth, they raised their crudely made spears typically used for hunting and raised them facing the goblins.
"Kreeee!" A goblin yelled, throwing himself towards Mia while the other surrounded her.
Mia responded by backing away to the treeline, utilising the environment to ensure no one could attack her from behind. With two interconnecting trees at her back, she thrust her spear at the goblin, piercing his chest from a distance. This was the benefit in using spears. Low danger and relative safety when facing low intelligence monsters like these ones, running straight towards their prey without mind to long range tactics or weapons.
"ARGHHH" the first goblin collapsed, the other four quickly replacing their fallen member. Mia quickly turned toward another charging goblin on her right, whilst occasionally eyeing her left flank, ensuring she wasn't ambushed.
'Interesting girl, crude but effective tactics, and an above average battle awareness. She is suitable to be forged into a great Martial warrior. Perhaps this girl will surpass my previous disciples' He thought.
Snapping his fingers, the four Orc's lost their heads, feeling as if an air current strong enough to crush their dense bones pressed from both sides against their skulls.
[Level up]
+5 Strength +5 Vitality
The familiar alert invaded his senses, feeling as if his strength and constitution had been raised once again. Looking over to his right, his disciple Mia had finished slaughtering the Goblins, albeit with some trouble. A small slice to her forearm from a goblins sharp nail had appeared, showing that she still had plenty of room to grow as they reached close combat even with her defensive techniques.
The villagers, on the other hand, were in a desperate situation. The lead warrior, Eric, had managed to kill two of the 15 goblins, the others killed two combined, leaving them to an encirclement of 11 goblins and closing in.
Mia looked at this scene and immediately picked herself up, planning to ambush the few goblins on her side of the encirclement. Alas, she was too late. The Goblins reached the 5 warriors with Eric in the lead and threw their clubs at the panicked villagers in a frenzy. Eric pierced the first goblin before getting hit form both sides with clubs, bringing him to his knees, blood dripping from his wounds. The others fell seconds after, on the edge of life and death, none of the five warriors retreated as they knew the women and children would be next, forgetting the existence of the Saint.
With a smile on his face, Tang Sheng quickly wiped out the rest of the goblins, allowing the village warriors to rest. He was happy with these underlings, although not experienced in battle, with the existence of the status page, he was sure they could become great warriors with time.
After looking around in a daze, the village warriors looked up and bowed their heads at the Saint, understanding that his words prior to the battle were fair. Eric, in particular, had grown significantly as he progressed to Level 2, while the others were close or bordering the second level. He was immensely grateful for this opportunity as the feeling of his strength increasing was addictive.
Tang Sheng walked over and healed the warriors, looking at his newest disciple with a proud expression.
Regrouping with the other villagers, he left Eric in charge of scouting and continued their journey to the city. He was also very close to Level 5 and only needed a few more goblins to reach it, which he looked forward to. He hadn't experience true joy in so many years, life was finally getting exciting for him.
----
Mia was looking at her master from behind, trailing with her head down. She knew nothing about her master but refrained from asking questions in the case that he was offended. Now, however, she believed she somewhat understood his temperament. Asking some questions shouldn't be a big deal, right? She thought
Gaining her courage, she asked "Master, the ancestors say you are ancient, are you really so old? You don't look it" she timidly asked, whilst attempting to flatter him.
"Hahaha little disciple, although I'm old, isn't ancient pushing it? Do I look ancient to you? I'm around 1,400 years old according to the calendar, assuming it hasn't changed since then."
The villagers, who were perking their ears up to hear their conversation, sucked in a breath of air. With widened eyes they internally screamed 'You are definitely ancient!'.
Mia similarly was astounded. 'Over a thousand years old? how on earth can a mortal live that long? Is he truly a God?' she thought.
Tang Sheng was satisfied with their reactions, it was fun playing the ancient unfathomable being card, one of the only perks in living an eternal life. In fact, reaching a certain realm of Martial arts could easily allow a human to live thousands of years. The Eternal being name was used because he was truly unable to die, if even a drop of blood remained from Tang Sheng's body, he would reconstruct almost instantly. To some this was a blessing, to others, like Tang Sheng, it was a curse. Waking from the experiment to so much time passed, and his beloved dynasty destroyed, he had nothing left. With suicide out of the question, every day for a long time was painful.
Mia noticed the saddened look on her master's face. Understanding he was likely the only one of his family left alive, she quickly asked another question.
"Master, what are my seniors like? are they strong?"
Sheng snapped out of his memories, replying to Mia. "Strong? Sure, but that isn't why they are my disciples. Each of them excels in a different area, specialising in intelligence, brute strength and technique. Mao Zhu, your second senior, is specialised in brute strength. I always tried to beat this path out of him, but he was stubborn. Always insisting I teach him techniques to make the most out of his inhuman strength. He should be the overlord of the city we are approaching."