Chapter 4 ; Bandits Attack
Back in the bamboo hut, Lucien sat at the table, enjoying the simple breakfast Freya had prepared. He had a strange sense of contentment, a feeling of peace he hadn't felt in a long time. He looked at Freya, her face flushed with a rosy hue, with sparkling eyes.
"Freya, since we already did that, call me husband now," Lucien said, a playful smile gracing his lips.
"Ahh..." Freya fluttered, her cheeks reddening even more. "Ok, from now on, I will call you hus... husband," she said, her voice barely a whisper.
"Can you tell me, what kind of world is this? I forgot everything," Lucien said, his brow furrowed, he felt like a blank slate in a new world.
Freya nodded, her eyes filled with a gentle understanding. "This world is called the Land of Myr," she said. "We are now in the eastern part of Myr, the Eastern Continent." She paused, taking a sip of her porridge. "Since you forgot everything, I will tell you everything I know. The Bamboo Village is under the jurisdiction of Whispering Town, one of the towns of the Falcon Kingdom."
"There are two types of cultivation," she continued. "That is body cultivation and magic cultivation. You can cultivate by absorbing mana in the air. Even knights, archers, assassins, or priests are the same. They all cultivate using mana to reach a higher rank.
The ranks are:Beginner ,Apprentice,Master, Grandmaster ,Earth and Sky rank.
"They said that the Sky rank will be able to fly, but I never saw one. The highest rank I saw is Apprentice Knight."
"There are different classes," she said, her voice filled with a sense of awe. "But Mages and Priests are the most rare. You can be a mage, magic knight, magic archer, or magic assassin. Priests are the same, you can also be a dual class if you want. It's a combination of magic and martial arts.
"They also possess more mana, and they can use magic anytime, as long as they have mana. While knights and other classes, their priority is strengthening their bodies."
"For example, knights strengthen and toughen their bodies," she explained, "while the archers enhance their vision and speed using mana, and the assassin is almost the same as the archers."
"They said there are three categories in every technique and skill," Freya explained, "It's divided into 1-star, 2-star, and 3-star. The higher the star, the faster you cultivate, the higher the star, the skill is more powerful. But the higher the star, the more difficult it is to learn."
"But there is one problem." Having a class is very difficult. You need a cultivation technique. But the cultivation techniques are mostly in the hands of nobles. It's not easy to obtain one.
Even in the army, you need to serve the kingdom for five years to have the qualification to learn a 1-star Low Grade Breathing Technique and a 1-star Low Grade skill."
"Even if you receive the technique and skills," Freya said,"you will need to sign a magic contract not to spread the skills and techniques."
Freya lamented the unfairness of the kingdom, high qualifications meant nothing without access to techniques and skills, which were largely controlled by the wealthy nobles. This system, she believed, was designed to keep the common people subservient and prevent them from rising above their ranks.
Lucien listened intently, his mind absorbing the information Freya had shared. Soon, the two of them were done eating. He came to the back of the bamboo hut, picked up a piece of wood, and tried to use the Knight skill, Heavy Strike. But to no avail, it didn't work.
"Maybe it's because I don't have enough energy in my body to use the skill," he thought. "After all, I didn't even have body cultivation. Expecting to use a knight skill without body cultivation is just a fool's dream."
Even so, he felt a sense of familiarity, like he held a sword before. "Maybe it's the 1 year of body cultivation I received from the system," he mused.
But, 1 year of body cultivation is not enough for me to advance to 1-star body cultivation. Just like my magic cultivation, I received 100 years, but I only advanced to 10 stars.
"So, in order for me to advance to 1-star, I need 10 years of cultivation," he thought, a sigh escaping his lips. "What a poor qualification. Luckily, I have the system," he whispered.
"I need to find more women and have a lot of children in order to become strong," Lucien muttered.
"I still have more than a thousand gold coins I received last night." I put it inside my closet, together with my old clothes. I hope those gold coins are enough for a dowry." He was already thinking ahead, planning his next move.
"My only concern now is to find a woman who is willing," he whispered. "Of course, as a man, I can't just find any woman. The woman should be beautiful and exceptional.
As Lucien was thinking about his next move, he heard a commotion in front of his bamboo house. He walked out slowly, his heart pounding in his chest, and heard shouts.
"It's the bandits... the bandits are attacking us!"
Lucien furrowed his brow, his mind racing.
Then, he heard Freya's panic shout from inside the hut. He saw a thin man with monkey cheeks dragging Freya from the hut. She was struggling, her eyes wide with fear, her face pale with terror.
"Take the food and valuables, kill the man and the old, and take the children and women," a hulking man with a thick beard riding a horse shouted. His eyes gleamed with a greedy and lustful look, his face contorted in a cruel smile.
The village was surrounded, the bandits forming a circle around Lucien's house. Panic and anxiety could be seen in their faces. The villagers were small in numbers, from what Lucien could see, it was about less than 40 people, old, young, men and women.
Story continues…