Chapter 6 – Level 2

Orion left the bar, determined to break through to level 2 and finish the quest before his fight. Not only would a breakthrough double his strength, but it would also give him the system rewards. His bloodline would upgrade to level 4, greatly improving his physical attributes, but he would also get a minor skill as a reward and 12000 exp to exchange for the fireball skill, so completing this level would almost triple his current battle power. Excited at this thought, he walked through the streets, looking for cultivators to prey on.

After walking around the pleasure district, Orion had seen three mortals and 0 cultivators. With a sigh, he realized that he had no choice but to add mortals back into his list of victims. As soon as he made that decision, however, a cultivator walked into sight. It was an atrocity, the ugliest living thing he had ever seen. A female demi-serpent with no physiques and a level 1.6 cultivation. He immediately realized he would have to end the fight in less than three moves, otherwise his victory wasn’t guaranteed as their cultivation was equal and she possessed a level 4 bloodline. Additionally, she was a head taller than him and weighed at least 30 more kilos. He calmly walked by her and suddenly spun around, drawing his dagger and pushing every last drop of his aura into it, and stabbed it towards the side of her neck. Sensing the aura, she whirled around and activated her own aura, but did not have time to raise any defence before Orion’s dagger lodged itself to the hilt in her neck and the same effect as with the guard was repeated, his aura ravaging her throat. He rapidly withdrew his dagger and leapt backwards, ready to fight if she somehow survived. She clasped her hands on her neck, blood leaking through her fat fingers, and fell to the ground. Blood was spurting out of her mouth as she choked on it, eyes full of hate. In a few seconds, her struggles were over and she lay lifeless on the floor. This was by far his most gruesome kill, and the pavement was completely drenched in blood. He looked around to check that there were no witnesses and to his disappointment saw that a mortal man was running away, clearly having seen the barbaric assassination.

Orion activated ‘Flight’ and sped after the man. Just as he was about to turn the corner into the bazaar, which had guards 24/7, Orion threw his dagger in desperation. It hit the man with pinpoint accuracy in the back of the head and the man fell, a pool of blood spreading across the floor. The gains from those two kills had pushed Orion well into level 1.8, so he only needed one more kill, provided it was a cultivator of at least a level 1.4. Although Orion’s dexterity was quite weak, he guessed that luck had once more helped him to hit his shot. Orion landed next to him and yanked out his dagger. He slung the man over his shoulder and ran towards the nearest bar. Luckily, there was no one around to see him. He dumped the corpse in there and went to check on the ugly woman. Her corpse was also unmoved and he repeated the procedure, although moving this body was much harder. Fights in bars and brawling houses in the early morning were not too out of the ordinary, but the fact that two happened at the same time and no one came out alive would surely arouse suspicion, and security would certainly be increased. This pleasure district would soon stop being a usable spot for cultivation.

The sun had almost fully risen and the streets were starting to fill up, so Orion ran as fast as he could without using ‘Flight’ or aura. Soon, he reached the bazaar and headed to the animal section. As a cultivator, he needed very little food but it had been a whole day since he had eaten. He walked over to the closest stand and looked at the food. The man had chicken, meat, pork, eggs and milk. Orion purchased two eggs, two chicken breasts and a sausage for 23 copper. Since he had robbed the corpses of all his victims, he had 6 silver and 8 copper, so he paid for it evenly with one silver and all his copper. The merchant placed the food in a vacuum seal bag and gave it to Orion, who placed it in the satchel he had tied at his waist under his cloak. Orion was now facing a dilemma: he needed one more kill before noon. This meant he had five whole hours, but it was now daylight, and level 1.4 cultivators in isolated places weren’t common. Deciding that it would be better to meditate, he rushed back towards his hideout, sat cross-legged on his mattress and called the system.

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[What’s up, host. Long time no see.]

“Yeah, yeah, so great to see you. I have two more questions. First, how long would I have to meditate to break through to level 2, and second, how long does it take the average person to go from level 1 to level 2.

[Okay, so first off, fuck you. As for the questions, about four and a half hours and around six months.]

Although Orion had expected his cultivation speed to be high, that was unbelievable. He had only been in this world for a little over a day and by the time he had been here for a day and a half, he will have broken through to level 2, whereas it took the average cultivator 6 whole months. As for the answer to his other question, it was great news. The timing was perfect as his fight was in 5 hours. This meant that he could break through, receive the rewards and make it to the fight in time without spending time looking for a new target.

Orion closed his eyes and concentrated on cultivating. Although he didn’t actually know how to do it, he immediately realized that it was just like the system said: it came naturally. He felt the energy in the air being drawn into him and improving his cultivation. Although he missed the huge surges of energy after a kill, it was nice to constantly feel like he was progressing. Orion had expected meditation to be boring, but in reality it resembled sleep. Two hours passed in a flash, at the end of which he broke through to ninth step level 1. After meditating for another three hours, he felt infinitely close to breaking through. Soon, a golden light emerged from his body, signaling his breakthrough to level 2. A massive surge of energy, far, far larger than any of the ones before washed through him. A ding sounded in the back of his mind as the system reappeared, and with it his character panel.

name: Orion Yu

age: 16

level: 2

physique(s): n/a

race: Griffin Pureblood

skills: true form, flight, all-seeing eyes

title(s): n/a

dao: n/a

aspect(s): n/a

strength: 40

dexterity: 40

speed: 40

vitality: 40

endurance: 40

intelligence: 40

luck: 20

available skill points: 40

[Are you ready to receive the rewards?]

“Absolutely.”

[Alright, here we go. Main quest stage one: completed. +12000 exp, +level 2 skill token, +bloodline upgrade. Distributing rewards.

1200 exp allocated in shop.

Minor skill token allocated in shop.

Race upgraded to Higher Griffin (level 4 bloodline)]