As soon as the light of life faded away from the thug's eyes, Hunter heard the system's voice in his head.
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for killing an Apprentice level 4 warrior. The reward is 4000 Experience points and 400 Badass points]
Hunter quickly summoned the system to take another look at his status window. Unlike the first and second times, the status window had two new records. One was Experience points and the other was the number of badass points he has.
Name: Hunter Sterling Blade
Age: 26 (Earth) 21(Current Body)
Level: Null
Experience Points: 4,000/6,000
Badass Points: 400
Abilities: Null
Spells: Null
Occupation: Slave
Race: Human
Status: Healthy Slave
Goals: Null
Base of Operations: Null
Subordinates: Null
Familiars: Null
"What have you done?" When Hunter exited the system, he heard Kolvar's panic-stricken voice. Kolvar's eyes were full of fear and shock. He glanced at Hunter and saw no signs of fear. Instead, Hunter cracked his neck, snickering at the dead thug.
"I killed him," Hunter said as though it wasn't a big deal. To be honest, it wasn't a big deal for Hunter. After all, he just nuked all the countries in the world before dying. He literally killed billions of people just to spite the United Nations. For Hunter, there was no right or wrong. If someone messed with him, he would end them without discrimination.
"Pa-" Before Kolvar could finish his thought, Hunter dashed at the elf. He grabbed Kolvar's by his neck, slammed him against the wall, and placed the devil's cry on his neck.
"What are you doing?" Kolvar shivered.
"Listen. The Parker you used to know isn't here anymore. It's me who's gonna run the show from now on," Hunter slowly uttered these words. The voice may sound like Parker's to Kolvar, but the man who spoke these words was a stranger. It definitely wasn't Parker.
"I don't understand," Kolvar's eyes welled up.
"Since we have a history, I will give you a choice. Walk away or bring the cart to me. But choose carefully, if you pick the latter, you won't get another chance to walk away," Hunter released Kolvar,
Kolvar coughed a couple of times. He looked into the predatory eyes of Hunter and then at the dead body, lying on the ground. The rain washed away most of the blood, still, Kolvar could smell the blood in the air.
"You have ten seconds to decide," Hunter didn't even bother to look at Kolvar. Instead, he walked to the thug. Hunter squatted down before the thug and searched his body for valuables.
"Five seconds more," said Hunter, searching the thug's body.
Without speaking a word, Kolvar turned around and ran away as fast as he could.
"A pity," Hunter sighed. He could have used the elf. Nonetheless, Hunter didn't fret about losing Kolvar. Although Hunter still hadn't decided what he wanted to do in this life, he was adamant about having loyal people around him. He would rather have loyal people with him than cowards and opportunists.
After searching the dead thug from head to toe, Hunter managed to get three astral coins, a silver chain, and a dagger. He stared at the three crimson-red coins in his hand. They sparkled and were the size of casino chips. He could feel a chilliness from the coins as though they were stored in a refrigerator for hours. A sudden thought struck Hunter's mind. He took the two coins in one hand and kept on in the other. He then closed his wrist, focusing on the chill energy within the astral coin. His neck hair stood up due to the strange sensation. Warm energy swept across his body. He had never felt this great before. It was like taking a dip in hot springs.
"So this is how it feels to cultivate?" Hunter smiled.
But his joy was short-lived. His smile froze when he heard the system.
[Experience points converted 1]
"System, what the fuck?" Hunter entered the system once again with the intention to bitch about the measly point he received by absorbing the astral coin.
[The system converts the energy to a numerical value. The energy from one astral coin is equivalent to one experience point]
"Still? Only one?"
[Stop bitch about this and get rich]
Hunter was taken aback by surprise. He had never expected the system to talk back. In his mind, the system was similar to a supercomputer with special powers, and it only existed to help him. Not talk back at him like a human being. To his surprise, he was thrown out of the system before he exited it.
"This is new," Hunter took a mental note about the system's personality. Compared to absorbing astral coins, killing a cultivator seemed like a superior way of leveling up. Just killing one lowly thug earned his 4000 experience points. But Hunter knew killing had its own downsides. Even though Abbalon was a fantasy, medieval-ish world with no technology or law enforcement like on earth, Hunter doubted he could run around killing people without facing the consequences.
If he wants to survive in this world, he knew he must be smart and apply everything he had learned on earth to Abbalon. That was the only way he could overcome everything and reach the pinnacle of this strange new world.
"So system, don't you have some kind of storage for me to put these items into?"
[Upgrade the system to unlock more functionalities]
Hunter heard the system's voice in his head. Unfortunately, Hunter's current rag had no pocket to store the silver chain, dagger, and the two remaining astral coins. He sighed, pondering how to keep these items with him without raising suspicions. A slave carrying a dagger and a silver chain would definitely put a target on his back. The last thing Hunter needed was to get attention from the nobles.
To his surprise, Kolvar returned to him, pushing a makeshift cart made of wood and stone tires.
"You returned?" Hunter tilted his head. To be honest, Hunter didn't have much hope for Kolvar's return. He thought after seeing him kill the thug in cold blood, the elf would get the hell out of his sight.
"I am surprised," Hunter said with a smile.
"Get in before someone else comes out," said Kolvar. The elf seemed less scared of Hunter than before. Without wasting time, Hunter put himself into the most uncomfortable transportation in the entire world. The cart bumped up and down even on the flat road. Quickly, Kolvar pushed the cart to escape the dark alley. Finally, the world opened up to Hunter.
The city before him was called Bellburn, one of the three cities in Kingdom Ceva. Two of them were ruled by dukes, and the king ruled the capital city. The city of Bellburn was built among the towering trees of a huge forest. Its charm was matched by the backdrop of clear blue skies, which have helped shape the city into what it is today. The city looked like a place stripped out of fantasy anime. Stone-paved roads, simple wooden buildings chaotically without any plan or order, people dressed as if they were going to a fancy dress competition, and carriages pulled by horses filled Hunter's vision.
Due to the heavy rain, the streets were pretty much empty except for a few young kids playing by jumping into puddles of water. When they saw Kolvar and Hunter, their smiles turned into disgust. They quickly ran away from the cart's path. Among those kids, a chubby kid picked up a pebble.
"Damn slave," He screamed before throwing the pebble. Before it could reach Kolvar, Hunter caught the pebble. His eyes turned predatory. A single murderous look from Hunter made the chubby kid tremble in fear.
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for successfully being a badass. The reward is 200 Badass points]
The notification surprised Hunter. He never thought giving a deadly glare to a snorty little kid would earn him two hundred badass points. He almost regretted not throwing the pebble back at the kid. Hunter would have certainly done it if he wasn't a slave.
"So why did you come back?" asked Hunter. He was curious to know Kolvar's reasoning.
"I don't have anyone other than you. Brothers till we die. Don't you remember it, Parker?" asked Kolvar. Only then did Hunter recall Kolvar's promise to take care of Parker and vice versa.
"As long as you don't stab me in the back, I can be your best friend and a brother, Kolvar," His threat was real, and Kolvar knew it.
Parker had been acting so strange ever since he woke up. Kolvar didn't want to think about it, but deep down, he knew Parker died. His pulse stopped and his body went cold. He was a slave, not stupid. Parker showed every sign of being dead. But somehow, he woke up, and was acting strange as though he was a new person.
Kolvar wanted to question Parker about his strange behavior. For now, he chose not to.
After almost an hour, they navigated through the labyrinth of streets to exit the city. Hunter remained silent all the way. As far as he could see, there was nothing but fluffy white blady grass that danced with the wind. It was an alluring scenery. Coupled with the heavy rain, the view soothed Hunter's soul until he saw the large mansion on the horizon.
The mansion of Honeygolds, the family who bought Parker and several slaves, along with him to work the devil's button field. The closer they got to the mansion, the clearer the devil's button field became. The field resembled paddy fields, except the devil's button was a crimson-red blade-like grass with a thorn-covered fruit on top. The field expanded endlessly. At least a hundred people were working the field despite the heavy rain.
From the outside, this mansion looked posh and extravagant. It had been built with tan bricks and had walnut wood decorations. Tall, half-rounded windows were added to the mansion mostly symmetric way. According to Parker's memory, the mansion was equipped with a spacious hall, fifteen bedrooms, a grand dining area, and an underground basement for torturing the misbehaving slaves, the place Parker hated the most. The second story was bigger than the first, which created a stylish overhang on two sides of the house. The roof was high and triangular, but one side was longer than the other, covered with slate shingles. Two small chimneys poke out of the center of the roof. A few large windows let in just enough light to the rooms below the roof. A well-kept garden with grass, flower patches, trees, and walls surrounded the mansion, adding charm to the mansion.
When Kolvar and Hunter arrived at the gate, two soldiers stepped out of their small huts behind the wall. They were dressed in yellowish leather armor for better agility and flexibility.
"Took you two long enough. Get to the field," The brown-haired guard ordered, almost sounding like a barking dog.
"Yes, my lord," Kolvar bowed.
"Damn cripple," the other silver-haired man kicked the cart. There was a clear hatred in his voice.
"Don't do anything," Kolvar whispered.
"I am not stupid Kolvar. I know when to strike and back down," Kolvar sighed in relief. His relief was short-lived.
"I will kill every single one in this mansion and burn this place to the ground,"