As I walked back to my house, I received another quest notification.
[Quest: Charge Kedron for touching your things.
Time limit: None
Reward: Sword Gods Swordsmanship (manual). A manual containing the peak of all swordsmanship, compiled by an ancient being who was known as the sword god.]
Kitty seemed unusually silent on the quest front until now, letting me find my own way. Sometimes she even told me to figure it out myself. This reward, though, gave me a strange feeling that I couldn't practice it until moving to a more powerful world.
"Kitty, let me guess. It's another really good reward that I can't use yet."
[Why do you care if you can use it? You don't even have a sword.]
Well, whatever.
Now I had to make plans for Kedron. The first thing I needed to do was get more energy and perfect my two techniques. The fastest way to get more energy is stones. Obviously, if I get any stones from the sect, Kedron will take them. So, that means I'll have to hunt my own. I don't know the first thing about hunting beasts, so I'll ask Nicholas about it tomorrow.
I finally arrived at my house and went inside. I was so mentally exhausted that I didn't even bother with a bath and just went to sleep for the first time in a long time.
The next morning, I went outside to the courtyard and practiced my footwork, determined to perfect it. Every time I made a mistake, I went back to the beginning and started over. After a few hours and over a hundred tries later, it was time to meet Nicholas at the sparring ground for the daily spar.
As I walked out of the courtyard and down the street, I passed a few familiar faces from yesterday. Thankfully, they didn't even seem to remember me. How many people do you have to go through to not remember them? Or maybe they thought everyone they beat up yesterday would still be recovering at home.
Thinking about this, I decided to take a detour from the main roads and be cautious, lest I get recognized. I made my way down the alleys and back streets while making sure I didn't go down a path where anyone I remembered was walking.
After I made my way to the arena, I saw Nicholas waiting while leaning against a wall. Because of yesterday's incident, I missed our match. I walked over and apologized.
"Sorry I missed yesterday. I ran into Kedron after receiving my monthly crystal." I further explained everything that happened, except the price Kedron was going to pay, as Nicholas would probably have a heart attack if I told him that.
He looked at me with a bit of pity. "Don't worry about it. Nothing anyone can do if they meet him. Let's start anyway," he said, then smirked, "Now you have an excuse to lose today."
I snorted. "Unfortunately, no, I'm all healed already."
I jumped up onto the stage, and Nicholas followed right behind. After getting into position, I was the first to launch an attack. I almost connected, then Nicholas's image disappeared.
Whiff!
I struck nothing. I caught myself quickly. I was nothing if not an expert in the fine art of recovering from misses.
Striking out with my leg behind me, I managed to connect.
Bang!
Turning around, I saw Nicholas stumble backward a step. Not giving any time to recover, I launched forward with my fist technique.
Bang!
I connected again! Two in a row.
Nicholas disappeared again. "You've gotten better, but still can't beat this prince of combat!"
I turned toward the voice, but it was empty. Alarm bells started ringing, and I ducked just as a fist passed where my head was.
Bang!
A fist landed on my stomach. I may have dodged the first one, but humans have two hands, and I missed the second.
He stopped, "If you don't know where I am, don't just stand there. Retreat in a direction I'm not, or you'll just get hit."
After going a few more rounds, we were done for the day, and I decided to ask about hunting for astral stones.
He told me that some beasts have astral stones in them, but it would be very inefficient to just go around and kill everything while hoping to get one with a stone inside. The best thing to do is get a book containing images and descriptions of all the beasts containing stones. This book could be found in the library.
After thanking him for the help and parting ways, I made my way to the library using a roundabout way and avoiding familiar people. After arriving at my destination, I went inside.
The same librarian was working there and asked if there was anything she could help me find. I explained I needed a book on the beasts that have astral stones and any others that would be helpful in hunting them. She nodded and went off into the numerous aisles of tall shelves.
After returning, she placed three books in front of me and explained that the first one was about identifying and where they lived, the second was about their weaknesses and attacks, and both of those were free to borrow, while the third costs a rank 1 stone and is the same as the second but way more detailed.
I'm a poor boy, so I went with the first two. Well, I could buy a rank 1 stone from the system shop, but that just seems like a waste of energy.
After carefully making my way back home, I felt like a weight had come off my shoulders. I didn't really realize how stressful going out and about while worrying someone was going to recognize me was until I got back home safely.
I sat down and started to ponder how to charge Kedron for what's mine. Maybe I should start with his minions. This would remove some of his support and make it harder to blanket the area in his people if they ever did come after me. But this brings up the problem of how to hide the bodies if I kill them or how to lock them up if I keep them alive.
Since I have to hide them as well as keep them from escaping if I keep them alive, just kill them. It's not like they are useful alive. In fact, it just causes more problems.
If they're dead, I still have to deal with a body, though. It's too much work to bury them, not to mention getting caught with it taking so long. Burning them causes too much commotion with a raging fire. After thinking about it for a few minutes, I had a wonderful idea.
'Kitty, I should be able to completely disassemble a body using my energy and even then absorb it, right?'
[What is everything made of?]
'Yeah, yeah, I get it.'
I needed to be stronger first so I can kill them without any struggle that would draw attention, so I'll have to take it one step at a time. Get more stones, then refine my plans.