Chapter 5:

I stared at the corpse at my feet for a long moment. The one I’d finished off. The one that now glowed with a blue halo. Which meant I could get a Skill from it. Probably a good one at that given that he was some kind of cultivator.

I should have felt good that I could get something to help me survive all this. But even though the guy was now face down in the dirt, I could still see those angry and fearful eyes in my mind.

Fuck.

But no, I couldn’t break down over this now. The fighting was still going on. I should hide again. And… Damn it, I needed to take a Skill, didn’t I?

Fuck! I wanted to go home.

I focused on the body again and the blue halo of light. I tried to make myself say the words but they caught in my throat. Still, a screen popped up. Guess the command wasn’t necessary.

Defeated Enemy: Human Early Qi-Gatherer Tang Yin

Available Skills to Harvest:

* Basic Swordsmanship (Passive) (D Rank): Gain the knowledge and skill of a basic swordsman

* Minor Cultivation Talent (Passive) (D Rank): Gain the cultivation talent necessary to cultivate.

* Opportunistic Strike (Active) (D Rank): Strike at a weakness in your opponent's defense and deal an additional 50% damage.

* Cost: 5 Qi

I quickly read through the options available to me and made my selection. Maybe it would have been better to think about it more. But I didn’t have it in me. And I wanted to go back to hiding in the crates with an illusion of safety. So I took basic swordsmanship as I felt like it would help me the most right now. Even if it didn’t sound as impressive as I hoped.

The body at my feet glowed blue for a moment before it disappeared into motes of light. I idly noted the sword in its throat and its clothes remained, but my focus was elsewhere. A rush of information seemed to fill me for a second. Then just like that it was gone. I couldn’t quite recall all of it consciously but…

I looked down at the dead man’s sword. Not the one I’d—not the one I’d killed him with but his own. I reached down and grabbed it. Then I gave it a few practice swings. Like I knew what I was doing. Which I kinda did now. I wouldn’t be able to teach someone else, but I could fight with it. I felt it in my gut. It was pretty weird.

The sword was alright from what I could tell. Nicely balanced, and surprisingly well taken care of. It would do a decent job in a fight.

A feeling of confidence filled me. And for a brief second, I considered if I could join in the fighting and help turn the tide. But I quickly forced such delusional thoughts out of my head. I knew how to fight with a sword now. The Skill was honestly a lot better than I feared, as every swing of the sword felt natural to me. Like I’d been trained for it.

Guess what the System considered basic and what I did was very different. Maybe it was because it was a D-Rank Skill.

But despite that, I had no experience fighting and killing people. I was also still much weaker and slower than everyone else. If I joined in on the fighting now, I would just die.

So with a grimace I left the body behind and rushed back to the wagon. I pulled myself up and moved to hide behind the crates again. Because that was all I could do here. Hide and stay out of the way. And hope for the best.

Damn, I hated this world. Or at least I hated being weak here.

Though I could at least watch some of the fighting. Just to get a better idea if I was going to get screwed or not. So I snuck closer to the front of the wagon and peeked over a crate to see the battle going on.

Things were still a mess. Apparently, everyone left now was the best of the bunch and had no intention of losing here. Because neither side had diminished all that much since I last checked. Shui Jianfeng and Ming Lin I could see brief glimpses of, but things were too chaotic for me to keep track of them.

People fought, one of the wagons was toppled over, and occasionally someone did something to further remind me I was in a fantasy world. Like slashing out a beam of fire. Or launching a large slab of rock out of the ground and punching it into a shotgun blast of rocks. Or slashing apart one of the wagons with a single swing of their sword while trying to kill someone else.

Yeah, I really was out of my fucking depth here. And this world was unfortunately everything I was worried about when I first heard Immortal Cultivation Realm. Especially since these guys were probably not even that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things. Not when compared to what the upper levels were like. The kind of people these the ones fighting here might aspired to be but probably would never become. Immortals.

That was a very sobering thought.

I continued to watch, gripping my sword tightly and hoping for the best. Cheering internally when a bandit fell, but cursing when one of the guards did.

Then something happened near the front of the caravan. People started shouting. It started further away but eventually, as the shouts spread, I could hear what was being said.

“Victory is ours!”

“Kill them!”

“Boss is the strongest!”

“The Black Hammer strikes again!

“The captain is dead!”

“Gather together!”

“Everyman for themselves!”

“Run!”

I stared dumbfounded as the tide of battle turned completely. One moment it was a slow grinding stalemate. The next the guards fell into chaos and the bandits surged. Some of the guards ran off without a second thought. Others tried to rally together but were cut down as others lost their nerve and ran as well.

And then things got worse.

I could barely make out what happened because it was so fast. A blur rushed through the battlefield. People were sent flying like rag dolls. It took me a second to realize they were all guards, getting tossed around like they were nothing. The bandits’ cheering grew and all the guards who hadn’t run before did so.

But none were fast enough. A blur caught up to them and slammed them into the ground or sent them flying with broken limbs.

I winced at the screams of pain and the sickening crunches of bone.

Then I caught sight of Shui Jianfeng and Ming Lin again. They were running away too. Fleeing away from the caravan towards the grassy hills. And for a second I locked eyes with them.

Ming Lin turned his gaze away. I wanted to say he looked ashamed but probably not. He had no obligation to try and help me. Shui Jianfeng, though, seemed to grit his teeth and then started rushing over. Ming Lin saw this, cursed something I couldn’t hear, and moved to follow.

I stared for a split second before I realized I should move too. Flee with them and—

The blur appeared behind Shui Jianfeng and Ming Lin just as I leaped off the wagon. It caught Shui Jianfeng by the back of the head and slammed him down into the ground with a sickening crunch. Then he was kicked in the side and sent into one of the wagons which exploded in a shower of wood.

Ming Lin reacted with fury and the light aura from before exploded out. He lashed out with a fist and tried to bury it in the big man’s side. The man blurred, caught the arm, and broke it in a split second. Then before Ming Lin could scream in pain he was smashed into the ground head first.

It was all over by the time I landed on my feet, only a couple of yards away from all this.

The big man turned to face me and I got a better look at him. He was tall and broad with a bushy mustache and a big nose. He had a warhammer strapped to his back but he didn’t need it to completely demolish Shui Jianfeng and Ming Lin.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

My legs started to tremble as he met my eyes. The man gave me a cruel smirk and walked towards me. My legs trembled more and I gripped my sword tightly.

The man looked down at my sword, then leaned down closer to me. He must have been almost seven feet tall as he towered over me even when doing this. Part of me screamed to try and jam my sword into his throat. Even though I knew he was too fast for that.

But before I could he spoke.

“Boo!”

I jumped back and landed on my back, my sword dropping out of my hand. It took me a second to realize what happened. And when it did, shame and frustration filled me. I looked up to glare at the now-laughing man.

But then the bottom of a boot appeared in my vision. Then I knew no more.

—line break—

“Alright, get up you pieces of shit!”

I woke to a shout and something hitting me in the stomach. I gagged and gasped. What the hell was that? Did someone just kick me? What th—Oh shit.

Memories of what had happened before rushed into my mind as I took in my surroundings. I had been lying on the cold stone floor in what looked like a big tent. Well, a massive tent. It was large enough for several dozen chained people to lie down.

Some of them looked worse than others. They were a lot more dirty than the rest of us and they looked both exhausted and a bit malnourished. I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach as I realized what this might be.

We were captives now. Or more likely, slaves. Fuck.

Several people dressed just like the bandits that had attacked us were walking around. They shouted to wake everyone up and kicked and beat those who were too slow. Unlike during the attack, their masks were tied around their necks.

“I said get up!” A big thuggish-looking guy with a large bulbous nose shouted nearby. He was probably the asshole who’d kicked me. And he reminded me of someone…

I shuddered. Right. He kinda looked like the hammer guy but smaller and younger.

The guy at his feet was still groggy and confused. He didn’t look like a fighter like Shui Jianfeng and the other guards. Instead, he was kinda reedy and weak. Worse than me before I started working out in my senior year.

And he looked much worse when the guy kicked him in the stomach again. The scrawny guy gasped then threw up near the man’s feet.

“Gah, fucking disgusting!” The big nose man shouted and stepped back. Then he raised his foot like he wanted to stomp the man’s head in.

“Hey! Stop!” Someone shouted and the big-nosed man stopped.

Then the man turned around and looked right at me. Oh fuck, I was the one who said that wasn’t I. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

The big-nosed man sneered and stomped over to me. “You got something to say, you little shit?”

“No—”

My world exploded into pain and my head snapped back. Did another one of these big-nose fuckers just kick me in the head again? I saw stars. Then my stomach exploded in pain and I was sent flying. I slammed into the ground on my side and almost blacked out from the pain.

“Yan Song!” I heard someone shout through the pain and my spinning head. “Stop fucking playing with the slaves. Do you want to do the mining instead of these weaklings?”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever man,” I heard a voice say from above me. Then I felt something press on my head. “I’m just teaching the new trash their place. Little shits are lazy and mouthy. Gotta keep them in line in case they get any ideas.”

“If they get any ideas then you can beat them,” the other voice said. “Now come on, gather them up, get them fed and water, then put them to work. I want to eat already.”

“Yeah yeah,” The voice said, and the pressure on my skull started to build. Shit, was this asshole gonna fucking kill me? I reached up weakly to try and get him off but it was like trying to move a car with my bare hands.

“Still got some fight in you?” The voice asked. Cruel. Mocking. I wanted to tear his fucking throat out, the fucking piece of shit. “You’re lucky I’m not allowed to kill or cripple your pathetic self. And that you're so weak that any more than this and you’d be worthless. But remember this the next time you want to open your shithole mouth. Do you understand?”

The pressure increased again and it felt like he was grinding my head into the stone below.

“I said, do you understand?”

“Yes!” I gritted out, “Gah!”

“Good,” the man said with a laugh and the pressure finally stopped. Then he stomped his boot down right by my head cracking stone. “Don’t forget this. Or next time I’ll pop your head like a melon. Now get the fuck up!”

I clutched at my head but forced myself to stand. The man was still beside me but I didn’t dare look at him. Both because I was scared of what he’d do if he thought I was still defiant. And because I didn’t think I would be able to look at his big fat stupid nose and not glare. And probably end up dead.

God, fucking damn it, I hated this world. And I hated being weak.

“Move,” the man said, then shoved me away.

I almost fell off my feet but managed to just right myself. Then I followed the rest of the chained-up people out of the tent, leaving the rough canvas that had kept us from the rest of the world. I stumbled a few times as the world was still spinning a bit for me and because of the shackles around my ankles. There was enough slack to move but not comfortably or quickly.

My head was also still hurting like hell from where he’d kicked me. But I bore with it as there was nothing I could do about it.

Outside of the tent, I saw that we were in some kind of large primitive-looking camp. There was only a single building made out of wood at the center. The rest of the structures were just a couple more large tents like ours, then a bunch of smaller ones and some lean-tos as well. All of this was surrounded by tall wooden walls.

Our group of slaves—I fucking hated this world—were herded to a large open area. We were forced to move into a line and then given a wooden bowl. We were allowed one bowl of water and then we had to use the same bowl for some rather runny-looking rice porridge.

The bowls didn’t look all that clean, nor did the barrel of water we drank from. And normally I’d be green at the thought of just touching the stuff. But I forced myself to ignore all that, as I had a feeling I’d need all the energy I could get.

So despite the grossness and my lack of appetite from the pain, I ate as much as I was allowed. All the while I cursed this shitty world and my own weakness. Damn it, I might have been better off trying to hunt more leopards in that forest.

After that, we were led along like cattle to the base of the massive cliff face that the camp was built next to. There was a massive cave entrance there. It was a mine, I realized grimly. Probably the one that one bandit had threatened me with.

We were herded into a massive chamber that had more than a dozen tunnels leading deeper into the mines. There were wooden supports everywhere to keep a cave-in from happening, though they looked old and worn down. Lighting the whole place looked to be dozens and dozens of torches. But they were strange. The light from them was blue and they didn’t seem to produce smoke.

One of those tunnels was also a lot bigger than the others. And at the end of that tunnel, I could see a lot more slaves toiling away with pickaxes, while occasionally the watching bandits would whip them.

Have I mentioned that I hated this world?

There were other groups of slaves as well being led around the main chamber. Some were being led out, looking tired, haggard, and even injured. Others were being escorted into the other tunnel entrances.

We were led to one of the tunnels on the right of the chamber. A smaller group of slaves was brought over to us, looking a lot worse than most of the slaves here. They were all bandaged up and some of them had their arms in slings. Would they even be able to work like that?

After that, each of us was tossed a pick axe, and our shackles were removed. Some of us were given our own strange blue torches and were told it would last twelve hours. Apparently, when it started to dim, that would be our signal we had to come back up. Then the big-nosed bastard that had been leading us around held up something in his hand.

It was about the size of my index finger but a bit wider. It looked a bit like a semi-transparent blue gem but glowed with an inner light.

He said it was a spirit stone and we had to bring back one the size he was holding or enough smaller ones to equal a big one. Apparently, small patches of them could be found in these smaller tunnels if we were lucky and if the spirit beasts that lurked in the tunnels didn’t get them first.

A worried muttering came from the slaves at the mention of spirit beasts. It was quickly silenced by the big-nose man telling everyone to shut up. After that, he explained that they were just Rank 0s down there, as long as we didn’t go deep enough to see some blue glowing moss.

However, he did gleefully explain that the moss layer is where there were more spirit stones. And that if we didn’t want to work the central mine or get whipped, then we might have to brave the real spirit beasts down there. Clearly, the idea of us getting killed down there was amusing to him.

The bastard.

Despite that, relief still seemed to run through everyone that the upper levels wouldn’t have any powerful spirit beasts. I, on the other hand, was more than relieved. If Rank 0 spirit beasts were weak and could be dealt with, maybe I could get more Skills from them. Depending on what I could get, maybe I wasn’t so screwed after all. Or at least I now had a chance.

Hell, maybe I could get some crazy Skill, or combinations of Skills, that would let me come back up here and make the bandits pay.

I clung onto that hope like a drowning man onto a liferaft.

After that, Big-nose gleefully explained that if we failed to meet our quotas then we’d be whipped. If we failed three days in a row then we were apparently too unlucky to get to explore the abandoned tunnels and were forced to work in the central mine. Which was apparently a much worse fate, given the extra cruel grin the big-nose asshole gave.

Though after giving it more thought, I could see why. At least in the tunnels, we were free from the constant watch of the bandits. And apparently, Rank 0 spirit beasts weren’t all that dangerous. Just nuisances, though they might end up as resources for me. Still, even ignoring my possible advantage, spelunking for glowing stones sounded a lot better than back-breaking labor under the cruel gazes of these damned bandits.

Once that was explained, we were all herded into the tunnel together. I moved along with the group, staying in the middle so I didn’t get harassed by the bandits for being too slow.

As I did, both anticipation and worry turned in my gut. If the Rank 0 spirit beasts could give me Skills then I had a chance. If not… Then I was screwed.