[Leviathan’s Pov]
After leaving the inn I went straight for the gates. My objective was to go into the Magical Forest that students would train in, and hopefully kill either a bunch of students or/and Magical Beasts. Everybody knew that the Magical Forest was dangerous and assassins would often try to kill you to take your cores, so only those either with enough courage and strength enough would go there. I left the town without a problem… I would like to say, but I was stopped as I was leaving the town’s gates by that Xoi guy.
“Hello, Leviathan. It’s a good day isn’t it?” I look at him and then at the sky, noticing how it was indeed a good day, then back at him and I give him a nod. He smiles and says “Well, I was just wondering where you were going…” He trails off, not knowing what to say. I look at him with my usual poker-face and say “… Magical Forest…” He looked at me like I’m crazy and quickly said “The Magical Forest!? You’re going there?!” His scream earned quite a bit of attention, but they turned away the moment he glared at them.
As I was about to answer, a man came and said to Xoi “Brother Xoi, let me talk with you for a second.” Xoi turned to the man for a second, then back at me, then finally nodded absently at the man and went away. How troublesome, can’t they just leave me alone? That, or do give me your souls, then I might start to like you. Maybe. Probably not though.
I stared at the two men’s retreating backs with a questioning gaze, before shrugging it off as ‘Men…’, then changing my thoughts to ‘Chinese men… English men are easier to understand…’. I might be a bit racist here, but don’t get confused, China holds it’s charm, but I definitely don’t want the whole world to be so… chinese? I hope they have tea… or cofee… that’d be nice…
With such thoughts, I left the city and started walking towards the forest. There were some merchants on the road here and there, and sometimes you could see a disciple of some sect as well.
It took me three hours to finally arrive at my destination, the Magical Forest. It was… a forest? It was densely populated by plant life, and some trees reached 30 meters in height. They seemed small from my prospective, but that’s because I’m a 150 meter long marine snake monster, so I’m not quite sure how to compare. I entered the forest and simply walked forward.
It didn’t take me long to find a magical beast, which was a panther-like animal. I quickly killed it by crushing it’s head with a punch. I ate it’s core and left the rest for other animals to eat. It was quite weak in my opinion, hopefully the beasts get stronger deeper inside, as this beast only gave me 30 soul essence.
I spent 5 more hours killing monsters. It did improve to the point where a single beast would give me 80 essence, but it did take me a while to find even just a single beast. After said 5 hours, I smelled the air, and turned in said direction. Why did I smell the air? There was smoke. Smoke means fire. Fire means humans. Humans mean lots of good soul essence.
I walked over to the source of the fire and found a small camp. There were about 5 people, two girls and three boys. They were all around 15 years of age, but since they’re this far in the forest and more importantly, alive, they must be quite something.
They had set up a small camp and were cooking a beast whilst chatting between themselves. I could see 10 cores in their pockets, and they looked pretty high-level. Licking my lips, I came out from the bushes and strolled over to them. They notice me and tensed up, but then relaxed since I didn’t show any signs of aggression.
The three boys blushed as they saw me and the two girls frowned, Heh, is this a love… quintuple? Not sure how that’d work…
I smiled at them and pointed at myself, then at the cores. They looked at me strange, so I said “… Give.” They got up and took out their weapons, and one of the boys screamed “You want our cores we worked so hard to get? Just try it, bitch!” They were cautious though. I guess they expect me to be strong since I looked so relaxed.
I simply shrugged and walked towards them. One of the girls and another boy jumped back and began chanting something. Hm? Are those mages? So they do exist… How fun…
Grinning happily, I suddenly blink from their eyesight and reappear behind them, in front of the two mages. The three close-range fighters looked around, confused. They quickly turned to face me as they heard the screams coming from the mages though.
I had stabbed both in the chest using my nails, whom I coated with a mixture of extremely deadly poisons. They fell down clutching their chests and trying to breath, but they died after a couple of torturous seconds. Heh, that’s what it feels like to have your entire nerve system destroyed along with a poison that blocks your blood from moving in your body? Looks painful… Too bad for them…
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
The three surviving kids paled in a mixture of anger and fear. I simply rushed at them too quickly for them to see and did the same thing I did to the mages. A quick poke in the chest and they all fell down screaming in pain. Isn’t this poison, like, really strong? I wonder how lightning, who’s supposed to be one of the strongest fruits, would be like…
I heard the voice say in my head “120 soul essence collected from each human. Congratulations on your first kills, Leviathan Reaper. A total of 600 soul essence has been collected.” How nice… That’s quite a lot more then going around eating cores…
Feeling happy, I search around for anything of value. I take all of their cash, which was around 50 gold coins if added up, then take all of their cores and I eat them. There were quite a number, but nowhere near what I could gather. I ate them all and my soul essence now was up to 4000. It wasn’t that much, but it’s still something…
I spent the rest of the day hunting magical beasts, and the occasional lone hunter who appeared. They’d always have quite a number of cores with them, so they were quite nice…
Happy with myself, I head back towards the city. I didn’t bring anything back from the forest, but I doubt anybody would really care even if I didn’t. Whilst it’d look suspicious, I’m suspicious enough already with my looks and strange blue hair, so it’s not like it’d be the tip that overflows the cup… right?
I arrived at the city’s gates just as the sun as coming down. The guards looked at me with lewd eyes, but let me through anyway. One of them did shout something at me which got my attention.
“Hey, girlie, the young master Xoi had asked us to tell you that he wanted to see you again~. Did you catch his attention?” I turned to the guard and looked at him blankly before saying “… Beaten up pervert. Then… followed. Tell… meet… Auction.” I say and walk away the guard was quite confused. I don’t know how to speak properly, so deal with it.
I arrive at the inn I was at, and again, the receptionist said the same thing as the guard. I ignored her and simply walked upstairs. She looked quite confused, as I guess she think that Xoi guy looks hot and is nice, so she’s probably confused to why I would ignore something he said. Must also be pretty important to be considered a young master by the guards… Maybe it’d actually be a good idea to get by his good side?
After I entered my room and locked the door, I changed into my night gown and began cultivating. I spent the entire night doing so, and I also spent the following day hunting beasts at the forest. I did meet a couple humans too, who for some reason fell down. Dead. By my hands. Or poison I guess. Still, you get the idea.
As I was returning to my room at the inn, an old man arrived and entered the inn just as I was about to head upstairs. He looked at me and then said “Girlie over there. May I ask you to come with me for a moment?”
How annoying… I bet it’s related to that Xoi guy, as this guy and him resemble each other. Following this pattern, he’s either here to test me to see if I’m worthy of his son, which I never asked for, or to kidnap me for him. Hopefully it’s the first one…
I shrugged and nodded. He walked out of the inn and everybody began to whisper. I ignored their comments
Outside the inn, there were 4 people who looked and probably are bodyguards. He motioned for me to follow and I did. We didn’t say anything for a while, until he said “You see, young miss, I can see it in your eyes that you somewhat understand the situation. My son, Xoi Kuan is my son, and I’m the patriarch of the Kuan clan. We are the strongest clan in the city, but we know we mean nothing to the outside world.” Why is he telling me all of this… I don’t care…
“I know you are probably thinking why I’m telling you this.” I raised an eyebrow at him. Am I that easy to read? “Ah, no young miss, you’re not easy to read at all, I’m just too good and experienced at reading people.” What a bragger… but he is smart though, I wonder how old he is…
We reached a giant mansion and the bodyguards went and talked with the guards, who readily opened the gates for us. He escorted me all the way to the backyard and then sat on a chair. I stood up in front of him, not sure what to do.
“As you probably already know, my son has took a fancy in you. For as much as I agree with him on your looks, I simply can’t have him go chase after unknown people. I’ve been researching on you, and found out some interesting things. I found out some sailors who claimed that you were coming on a small boat, and you were headed towards this city. However, no matter how much I investigated I couldn’t find any clan with the name Reaper. So, tell me, who are you, young girl?” I looked at him blankly for a second, before saying
“…Leviathan?” He face palmed, and said “… I already heard your name. I mean where are you from and what relations you have with which clan.” I looked at him and said “… Born… Island… Relations… None.”
He looked at me with a raised eyebrow. Seriously, old man, how suspicious are you? Before he could say anything I said “… What if… Don’t want… Son… yours?” He nodded at that and said “Background aside, that was my main concern. You see, my son has been holed up cultivating almost his whole life, and he has very little experience with the outside world, and thus, women.” Before he could continue, I raised my hand and said “… Don’t care… Auction… Meet… If want.”
I simply left and he didn’t try to stop me. I went all the way back to my room at the inn and simply cultivated for 10 hours nonstop. After said 10 hours, it was finally time to go to the auction.
I left my room after bringing with me all my money, and converting 1000 soul essence into another 500 gold coins just in case I might need them. I also bought a really expensive-looking and beautiful blue dress with ripples that reminded me of waves on it. It costed 500 soul essence, but I found it completely worth it.
I spent a good amount of time combing and doing my hair. I left it flow freely on my back, as I think it suits me best. After everything was ready, I left my room and began to walk towards the auction house. The plan? Establish a reputation, and maybe get some connections with people. For as much as I hate to do so, having people willing to help you in exchange for favors is useful. That is my personal definition of ‘friend’.