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Chapter 3: Bandit encounter and a mantis...

Chapter 3: Bandit encounter and a mantis...

Hyakuren stretched as he let out a large yawn. He slept late but still woke up early due to his habits in the war of his world. He opened the curtains and judged that the sun had not even rise yet.

Hyakuren looked at himself in the mirror. He had took off his shirt before sleeping due to it being bloody and now he stood shirtless in front of a full body mirror. His lean frame littered with scars from the terrors he had faced in his world.

Hyakuren traced the one on his shoulder, it was one of the most memorable memories he had of his ‘father’ before he died. “Maybe I should check my status…”

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INFORMATION

Ichiharu Hyakuren

LVL 28

Title: [Blacksmith]

Male, 19

Human, Esper

Rank (s): Copper adventurer

Captain of [Mikatagahara] Vanguard unit

STATUS

STR 660

AGI 1020

INT 1220

PHY.RES 10021

VIT 890

DEX 700

LCK 909

MEN.RES 28020

COMBAT PROFICIENCY

SWORDS: LVL55, 89%

FIRE ARMS: LVL90,  1%

ARCHERY: LVL44, 35%

MAGIC: LVL0, 1%

DUAL WIELDING: LVL91, 1%

STAVES: LVL79,91%

PORJECTILES: LVL13, 9%

CURVED BLADES: LVL3, 3%

TWO-HANDED SWORDS: LVL2, 10%

SHIELDS: LVL12, 39%

HAND TO HAND: LVL53, 4%

SUPPORT MAGIC: LVL0, 0%

SCYTHE:LVL59, 11%

HEALING: LVL9, 30%

SPEARS: LVL20, 73%

DAGGERS: LVL61, 11%

MACE: LVL11, 0%

HAMMER: LVL30, 30%

CLUBS: LVL5, 10%

EXPLOSIVES: LVL 39, 30%

CONDITION

Healthy

No debuff

No status condition

Sleeveless Black shirt, +2def

Dog tags, no bonus

Camo pants, +2def

Combat boots, +3def

Fingerless gloves, +1def

Abilities:

[transmutation: creation]

[transmutation: reconstruction]

[Transmutation: deconstruction]

[Transmutation: Material analysis]

Miscellaneous:

Coins on hand: 19380

Coins in bank: 0

Not part of a guild

Not part of a party

No bounty

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Hyakuren whistled. He jumped a lot of levels so his status naturally went up. He then noticed a button with a question mark on the upper left screen so naturally, he pushed it.

[Monsters, when defeated, have their experience and memories turned into energy and are given to the one who defeats them. Some special equipment allows the increase of energy gained when defeating monsters.]

“How convenient… I found a manual.”

[When fighting in groups, the energy is not split among the battlers. The energy given is equal to everyone. For example, if one was given 100 as a reward, the others will also gain 100.]

“Interesting…”

[To form a group, also known as a party, one has to gain consent of the person that is about to be invited. Once gained, the party will automatically form with the leader being the one who invited them.]

“I guess this world is like a game…” Hyakuren closed the window magic and put on his shirt. Hyakuren ran his hands over the shirt and the blood was gone along with the smell of sweat and iron. “Maybe I should start my adventure today…?” mumbling out his thoughts, Hyakuren descended to the reception table where he met the innkeeper.

“So how was your stay?” Hyakuren was questioned as soon as the innkeeper saw him.

“It was more comfortable than where I slept before, that’s for sure.” Hyakuren answered with a laugh, earning him a smile from the old innkeeper. “Well then… I’m off to another adventure.” Hyakuren smiled at the middle-aged innkeeper and proceeded outside.

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Hyakuren took a deep breath as soon as he stepped outside the inn. He stretched a little before going to the west of the town.

After the monster siege, Hyakuren had accumulated a lot of materials both for miscellaneous things as well as equipment. Seeing as his powers were somewhat of cheats in the world he was currently in, he opted to only use his powers for making weapons and miscellaneous items.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Hyakuren spotted some knights coming back patrolling the city and its outskirts. He knew that even if the town had several guilds residing within the city, they could not rely on them as they were adventurers. Not every adventurer would choose to stay in one place for a long time.

Walking with a leisurely pace, Hyakuren waved at some children who were helping their mothers in the morning in the west wing who cheerfully waved back. After the incident just the day before, the people of Eclana knew of him so he did not get chastised.

“I wonder if there will be a time where I would have such cute children…” Hyakuren mused to himself of a normal life with a wife and children making him smile and laugh. 

“Someday… I am sure someday…”

Hyakuren felt a bit more energized seeing the innocence of the children he had met and proceed to the western gate with a quicker pace, unaware of a smiling figure taking an interest in him.

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Exiting the western gate, Hyakuren saw some [Red Balloons] and other colored balloon monsters like the ones on the eastern side but without paying them any mind, he proceeded to walk down the dirt path without being disturbed by the balloon monsters. The road led through a forest.

“And if I am not mistaken… there are beast type monsters here…” Hyakuren recalled the book he read the night before. The book titled: ‘Eclana and its surrounding monsters’ gave him a lot of information regarding the monsters that can be found in and around Eclana’s sphere of influence. It also gave him a somewhat detailed map of the country he was in. Apparently, he was in a country called [Ragna Ys].

Hyakuren took out a small notebook from his [Magic Pouch] and proceeded to read the information he had gathered yesterday. “Bandit raids on the highways… highways mean a lot of traffic so it probably leads to somewhere there are a lot of opportunities to trade and work…” Hyakuren mumbled. “Let’s see…” Hyakuren put the notebook away and took out his hand drawn map. “The imperial city: Sofia and nearby are several villages that have high quality products such as silk and weaponry…”

Hyakuren raised his head from the map he was reading when he heard some rustling in the bushes in front of him. Slowly, Hyakuren put away the map and proceeded to transmute the air into adamantium, a metal that was said to be able to absorb any type of impact, in each hand and transmuted that metal into gauntlets.

The metal first wrapped around his hands and spread up until his elbow. The metal slowly began to reshape into something more armor-like. The fore-arms resembled forehand protectors and on the back of his hands were several spikes.

Hyakuren gave the arm protectors special characteristics. ‘Creation: [self-repair], [elemental immunity], [flexibility of clothing]…’ The gauntlets slowly change colors from dull grey into lustrous silver. Slowly, Hyakuren clenched and unclenched his hands to test if the characteristics he gave the pair of gauntlets.

Hyakuren knew that the people hiding behind the bushes were surprised by the quiet cursing he heard. They probably thought that he was just a normal adventurer who did not equip any other weapon other than the knife on his belt.

Hyakuren got into a battle stance by getting into a normal boxing stance. “Just come out will you?” Hyakuren called out to the hidden enemies. They, of course, did not come out but Hyakuren knew they were trying to cast a barrier to prevent him from escaping.

The area within fifty meters was covered by a pale blue barrier that instantly disappeared upon completion. Hyakuren merely scoffed as the 20 or so enemies came out from their hiding space between the trees and bushes.

A bald male wearing what seemed to be animal fur and leather armor called out to him. “You better get ready for a world of- ugh!” Hyakuren used his newly acquired strength to propel him to the bald man and landed a punch in the face of the bandit using the momentum he gained from his propulsion, knocking the bandit leader out immediately.

Hyakuren looked around the gaping group of bandits. “Five minutes…”

Probably hearing Hyakuren’s proclamation, one of the bandits paled and issued out an order. “Kill him!”

With the order as a catalyst, the other bandits began chanting magic and rushing forwards towards the blue haired male.

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“Now tell me where your camp is.” Hyakuren demanded the tied up bandits but they just ignored him. Sighing, Hyakuren grab hold of one of the bandit’s knee and pushed it to the ground; making a rather large snapping noise and a small splatter of blood. “I will not ask again… where is your camp?”

Ignoring the screaming bandit, Hyakuren inquired the other bandits who instantly gave him the information he needed.

“There-there’s a camp f-five kilometer away towards the south-west…! Please, let us go!” the bandits pleaded. “We were only trying to make a living; we did not wish to harm anyone!”

Hyakuren knocked them out, ignoring their pleading and stripped them of their armor and weapons. He deconstructed the weapons they used back into iron and bronze ore using his ability [transmutation: deconstruction] and reconstructed the armors into his size with his ability [Transmutation: reconstruction].

Putting on his newly acquired armor; Hyakuren tried moving about to test if the armor had any flaws.

“It feels a bit stiff…” Hyakuren commented as he gave it the same characteristics as his gauntlets and tried moving again. “There, much better!” Hyakuren stretched as he felt a bit of satisfaction.

Removing the binds of the unconscious bandits, Hyakuren made his way down the road again. Not caring if anything happened to the unconscious bandits all the while continuing to sing: “Hunt~ Kill~ Loot~”

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Hyakuren had walked for hours as seen as the sky turned from dark dawn into blue as the sun was now in the middle of the sky. Hyakuren found an empty clearing near the road and thought it was a good idea to rest and eat before proceeding with his journey.

With the rocks and firewood he collected, Hyakuren made a little fire pit and began roasting the [Al-Miraj] meat he procured a little while back. He knew it was going to be a while so he took out a small turquoise colored rock that emitted a small crack of electricity.

Using his ability [Transmutation: Material analysis], Hyakuren gained some information about the small ore.

[Volt stone: an ore that contains electricity by producing its own electrical current. The ore is popular as a means of torturing as its electric sparks are not lethal but just very painful. It is also used to power golems in place of steam.]

Hyakuren read the screen that appeared in his vision. “Interesting… maybe I can use this to create a weapon…” Hyakuren mused as he stared at the small stone.

Hyakuren put away the ore into his [Magic pouch] and picked up one of the skewered meat and began his lunch.

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Hyakuren removed any traces of him using the clearing as a resting spot and continued his way down the road through the forest. He enjoyed his walk through the forest and wished that his world was more like this one with its greenery.

Hyakuren remembered the information he extracted from the bandits he defeated before. The camp was five kilometers away from that point; he had travelled roughly 3 kilometers. If he continued to walk westwards, ignoring roads and such; Hyakuren will find the bandit camp if the information was true.

“Should I subdue them myself or let some knights do it?” Hyakuren mused. He did not want to make himself more conspicuous by defeating a bandit camp but it would really help him get a lot of material and loot. “I never thought I had to choose between eradicating and letting others to eradicate…”

Before Hyakuren noticed it, he was already at the edge of the forest and was a few steps away from leaving the forest and without hesitation; he took those few steps and exited the forest. He saw a wide plain filled with a handful amount of trees.

“I just came out from a dark forest and the first thing that welcomes me is one of the designated [Disaster target]…” Hyakuren commented as soon as he looked up.

Standing 10 meters away and staring at him was a 20 meter tall mantis-like creature wearing silver armor and wielding two halberds. The monster stared at the 19 year old for a few seconds before roaring and rushing at the boy in full speed.

—end of chapter—