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Chapter 18: Am I forgetting something?

When the group went out of the town, pink slimes soon approached Sila and snuggled him.

Sila meant no harm to them. He simply put them away so that they didn’t get in the way of his group.

“Ewww, don’t you feel disgusted?” asked Alice when she saw one of the slimes clinging onto Sila’s legs but he smiled at it and slowly put it down.

“Hmm? No, I think they’re cute,” replied Sila, totally forgetting that he was the only one who could see their lovely appearance by the effect of Heart of Slime. Meanwhile, others could only see them as disgusting gelatinous liquid beings.

Hearing that, Alice didn’t say anything more. She perceived that Sila had a weird taste.

Sila’s group didn’t attack the slimes because it would have been a waste of time and also considered as seizing them from newbies. To be honest, some new players didn’t even want to waste time attacking these slimes.

During their journey, Sila kept picking up Pink Slime Cards that were left on the ground. This couldn’t be called looting since items dropped from monsters would always automatically be added into a player’s storage upon the death of the monsters (except if the storage was full at that moment). Thus, the fact that they were on the ground implied that someone had left them by their own will. This could be seen a lot; as slimes were monsters that people tended to kill if they had nothing to do while passing by. Still, the cards couldn’t be found in large quantities as they would disappear after being left ten minutes on the ground.

“Big Brother Sila, why do you keep collecting Pink Slime Cards? They’re not even worth selling,” Tod asked. The rest of the members also wanted to know Sila’s answer.

“I feel sorry for the loss, that’s all,” answered Sila. As he was a member of the slime race, even when others saw slime cards as something worthless, he somehow felt like he should at least collect them. He didn’t know how he could utilize them though.

Now, even Tiger, who had never have a bad impression toward Sila, started to think that the man must be very poor since ten of these cards could be sold for measly 1 silver.

‘So Sila doesn’t have much money, huh? We will divide more money to him, then,’ Tiger thought.

In fact, everyone in the team also thought the same way. Alice, who always talked badly toward Sila, even began to pity him. Moreover, Jundtrathep truly sympathized with his poorness to the point that she almost shed a tear.

Thus, everyone became friendlier towards Sila. Alice became nicer, and Jundtrathep, who usually didn’t talk much, tried to have a conversation with him. All these slight changes somehow made him quite confused.

When they nearly arrived at the edge of the eastern forest, there was a voice calling to them. It came from behind the group.

“Hey, you! Stop right there!”

Sila and the gang turned around to take a look. They found that the opposite side was a group of around ten people. Many players in the group were wearing decent armor while some were wearing mage cloaks. There was something they all had in common though, and that was they wore the expression of someone who wanted to pick a quarrel.

Tiger was deserved to be called an expert in the aspect of commanding. In the blink of an eye, he organized his team through eye contact before stepping up to stand next to Sila. Meanwhile, Aek and Tod stood slightly behind both of them, while Alice and Jundtrathep stayed at the back.

“What do you want from us?” Tiger asked people from the opposite side.

“Not with your guys. We have a business with that man alone,” replied the man in the front.

“Me?” Sila said while pointing his finger at himself. He was very sure he had never met these people.

“Yeah, you took what’s ours.”

Sila furrowed his brows. The only things that he had ever picked up were Pink Slime Cards, not to mention that they were something people throwing off on their own.

“Fine, I can return them to you. How many cards are yours?” That was Sila’s response.

“We don’t need cards. We need you to pay us for them, or else, die,” said another person in that group.

Tiger frowned. These people had previously said that Sila took something from them, but when the man wanted to give it back, they refused. They were clearly picking a fight here.

“As for you guys, don’t meddle in this if you don’t want to die,” said the man in iron armor while looking at Tiger’s party.

Sila was expressionless. If they wanted to pick a fight, he would gladly give them one. He circulated Intermediate Qi throughout his body while using God’s Cathedral. His qi was spreading out into a sphere of twenty-five-meter radius around him, covering all the players standing here.

Inside the sphere, Sila would know the motion of everyone in great detail. Moreover, with Soundless and Qi Concealment, no one here noticed that he had already made his move.

[Special skill: God’s Cathedral]

[One of qi techniques. Allows you to spread out qi into a sphere around your body. You can detect the motion and/or attack everything within a sphere. The distance that qi can be spread out is depended on your expertise.]

Actually, Sila could use Qi of Litter Tiger instead of Intermediate Qi to combine with God’s Cathedral. Doing so would cause the health points of people inside the sphere to decrease without them being aware. However, he didn’t do that since it would also affect Tiger’s group.

By the way, the members of the group of around ten players here were all bounty hunters. As they perceived that Sila’s level was only 3 (It’s old intel though. Most people couldn’t check his current level as he had upgraded his system window) while having a high bounty on his head, it’s no wonder he would naturally become their prey for earning easy money.

Tiger picked up a sword and a shield to fight. Aek and Tod also readied their spears and shields. Meanwhile, Alice drew her bow, and Jundtrathep tightened her grip on her wand.

The opponents saw Sila’s comrades were about to fight back, so they pulled out their weapons too.

“You guys had bounties from the Heavenly Dragon Guild too. It’s not much, but since you’re getting in our way, we will think of it as a bonus, then,” said the man on the other side.

Tiger was about to invite Sila into their party, but his opponent was quicker. The end of that man’s sentence was like a battle signal. Eight arrows were shot by enemies. Three of the arrows flew towards Tiger while the rest flew towards Sila—their main target.

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Tiger lifted up his shield to guard. He panicked as he could see that the arrows were dipped with poison. He was fine since he had the shield, but Sila, who fought with barehand, would be in grave danger. Thus, he immediately shouted.

“They’re poison-dipped arrows! Dodge them!”

Sila didn’t even take a glance at the flying arrows. Inside God’s Cathedral, he could perceive every motion as though it was happening on his palm.

Sila swung his hand while using Universe Momentum to attract the arrows to gather together. Then, he repelled them using the same qi technique. In addition, he secretly put Qi of Little Tiger into those arrows to increase their attack power.

[Special skill: Universe Momentum]

[One of qi techniques. Allow you to attract and repel objects. The size of objects that can be attracted or repelled is depended on your expertise.]

It was a strange sight when all the arrows flying towards Sila had been waved at once before flying back. In addition, their flying speed was shockingly high.

The shield holder, who stood in front of one of the archers, stepped forward and blocked one of the flying arrows. Unexpectedly, the shield in his hands broke and he was severely damaged by the qi concealed inside that arrow. Afterward, he coughed blood and lost consciousness.

By the way, the arrow still had remaining power left in it. It slipped over the shield and scratched the arm of the archer, prompting him to drink an antidote in panic.

Meanwhile, the other two archers were unlucky enough not to have a protector near them. As soon as the returning arrows flew back, one of them was hit at the chest, while the other was hit at the head, resulting in their immediate deaths.

The battle had started not over ten seconds ago, but two people already died. This fact alone was able to make the other side shudder in panic. Of course, Sila didn’t wait for them to calm down. He used this chance to rush at them, using Qi of Little Bird.

Tiger’s team members were also stunned by the sight. They knew that Sila was considerably strong, but they never expected him to be strong to this extent.

Back then in the Town of Beginnings, the Heavenly Dragon Guild members had previously fought against them and were in an injured state, so it wasn’t too weird that Sila could defeat those guys in one hit. However, it was different this time.

Although Tiger had previously thought highly of Sila, it seemed that his estimate was still not high enough.

In any case, Tiger was an experienced player, so his shock only lasted for a brief moment. He knew that this wasn’t the right time to talk. Now that the opponents had lost their moral, it was their chance to counterattack. With this thought, he quickly rushed following Sila.

With that, the rest of the team also regained their senses. Aek and Tod rushed forward too while Alice began to shoot the opposing side’s magicians and Jundtrathep cast several buffs on the party members.

With Sila rushing and Alice’s arrow hitting one of their magicians, the bounty hunters regained their sense too.

“Don’t be afraid! He is only level 3! Kill him and we can be rich!” shouted the one who seemed to be the leader.

Greed was really a great source of power. Upon hearing the word ‘we can be rich,’ they completely forgot what they had seen. They poured their attacks to Sila.

Sila was like a tiger in sheep’s den. Every move he made always resulted in one person dying or at least heavily injured. The reason why they didn’t die in one hit was that he had only been using Intermediate Qi, not Qi of Little Tiger nor a hidden weapon.

This was the nameless elder’s teaching. The old man told Sila that he had obtained Qi of Little Divine Beings too soon and that relying on them too much would be dangerous. The old man taught him that basics were much more important than Qi of Little Divine Beings and advised him to train Intermediate Qi first. While Sila didn’t wholeheartedly agree with the old man’s statements, he had been raised in an environment where he was extremely obedient to his teacher. As a result, he tried to follow the old man’s teaching.

As for hidden weapons, the nameless elder warned Sila not to use them until he could fire them tracelessly. The reason was simple. If someone knew he could use hidden weapons, the hidden weapons would no longer be called ‘hidden.’ In any case, the old man told him that he was free to use them against wild monsters, as they wouldn’t tell anyone.

Since the battle had started, Sila had used Qi of Little Tiger only once when he returned those arrows. Until now, his hands were only shimmering in the aura of Intermediate Qi.

Of course, the reason he didn’t used Qi Concealment was also due to his in-game teacher’s doctrine.

The nameless elder told him that, if he could make others believe that he couldn’t conceal qi, he would be able to utilize this perception by concealing qi at the right moment. This method was commonly used by almost all skilled fighters. No one would be foolish enough to announce that they were capable of concealing qi. His teacher also told him that if he wanted to stay safe in the world, he must reveal only seventy percents of his abilities while keeping the rest a secret.

Sila glanced briefly at Tiger and found that the man had considerable skill. Judging from the aspect regarding defense, Tiger’s ability even surpassed his. Tiger could block every attack and counterattack whenever there was a chance. This was completely different from Sila’s fighting style, which focused on offense to open up a chance to inflict further damage without a care for his own defense.

Aek and Tod seemed to learn from Tiger as their styles were similar to Tiger’s. Well, their abilities were considered lacking when comparing to Tiger’s.

Alice seemed to be a skilled archer, though Sila couldn’t tell much as he didn’t excel in archery. He simply thought so because he saw her arrows frequently hit targets.

Lastly, Jundtrathep only cast buffs and healing spells to support her friends. As Sila didn’t know anything about magic, he couldn’t tell whether she was skilled or not.

A magician on the opposing side was very unlucky. The man had been secretly chanting a high-tier spell in the hope to put an end to the battle. However, Sila spotted him and secretly fired a golden needle to stun his movement, causing him to die by Alice’s shooting without his consent.

If it was Golden Needle, Sila could easily fire it as a hidden weapon. That was because it was small to the point of it being invisible to the naked eye. It also dissolved after hitting the target. Thus, the golden needle was currently the only hidden weapon that he could fire without being noticed.

Finally, the fight ended with an overwhelming victory. Not even one member of Sila’s side was dead while the bounty hunters’ side was completely wiped out. However, the experience points acquired from them wasn’t enough for Sila to level up by even a single level.

“Big Brother Tiger! Jundtrathep was poisoned,” Alice called out.

Jundtrathep was sitting on the ground, her right hand squeezing her left shoulder. Black blood was oozing out. Her face went pale. Noticing her condition, Tiger’s face was stiff.

“Don’t we have an antidote?” asked Sila.

“No one has one, Big Brother Sila. No poisonous monster lives in the Island of Beginnings, so the shop doesn’t sell an antidote and we don’t have it,” explained Aek.

“I will quickly go and look for it from the merchant in the town. However, the problem is that we don’t know what kind of poison it is,” said Tiger.

“Would you like me to try detoxifying the poison by using qi?” Sila proposed.

Tiger smiled at Sila’s good intention, but he still felt skeptical.

It was because just having a qi didn’t mean you could detoxify the poison. It must be a qi with healing property to do that. By the way, judging by Sila’s action, Tiger believed that the man was more likely to possess a qi with combat property.

Well, since he didn’t have many choices, and trying it out shouldn’t be harmful, Tiger said, “Please try.”

Sila nodded before putting his hand on Jundtrathep’s white shoulder. He had never used qi to detoxify poisons before. In fact, he even had no experience transmitting his qi to someone else. Nevertheless, as he had already offered his help, he hoped that the result wouldn’t turn out to be disappointing.

Sila circulated Intermediate Qi while using Unblemished Aqua that had a cleansing property. Then, he transmitted that qi into Jundtrathep’s body through her shoulder.

[Special skill: Unblemished Aqua]

[One of qi techniques. Allow you to cleanse impurities. The degree of cleansing depends on your expertise.]

Jundtrathep felt slightly cool. It was the feeling as if she was bathing in freshwater. Soon, the black blood flew out of her wound, her face regaining its usual color.

As Sila witnessed the effectiveness of his qi transmission, he also transmitted Recovering Qi to heal Jundtrathep wounds as a bonus. The wound was closed almost in an instant.

Everyone looked at Sila in shock. No matter how they looked, he was obviously a combat type. They had never imagined that he would possess qi with healing properties too.

Jundtrathep stood up and looked at her previous wound, which completely disappeared without leaving a scar.

“Thank you, Big Brother Sila.” She bowed. Her cheeks slightly dyed in pink.

“No problem,” replied Sila.

Meanwhile, a system sound notified Sila.

[You have learned a passive skill: Qi Transmission – Level 1.]

Afterward, Tiger suggested that the time would be evening soon and they should put up tents at the edge of the forest.

Sila thought that it would take around three to four more hours for the sun to set, so he asked Tiger why they had to put up tents so soon.

“That’s because, for us to go to the Illusion Forest, we have to pass through the territory of Tree Dragons first,” answered Tiger.

“Tree Dragons? Are we okay that way?” asked Sila.

“We’ll be fine. Although it’s true that Tree Dragons are quite strong and have a relatively high level comparing to other monsters on the Island of Beginnings, it is known among players that they aren’t active during daytime. Thus, if we rest here and start traveling again in the morning, we won’t have to encounter them. On the contrary, if we go into the forest now, it’ll be night time and we’ll have to fight against them.”

Sila nodded in understanding, then followed Tiger to start camping.

‘Umm... I feel like I’m forgetting something here, no?’

Good grief, Sila pondered about it, but he didn’t care much.

Since he forgot it, it must be something unimportant. He would remember it again when the time came, or so he thought.