Finlay was certainly pissed but he kept his calm. He was still not sure about the thieves' numbers or affiliation. He kept a level head and decided to buy time. He held onto his stomach and pretended that he was hurt from the surprise attack. Even as he stared back at his attacker and his goons surrounding him, he secretly held a water attribute core to quickly recover his spent Qi and lightly heal himself in the process.
Normally, he wouldn’t be worried about such weaklings, but right now, he had just spent almost all of his energy fighting the supposed “Red Kicking Demon.” That was the first time he heard of it. The old blacksmith had kept the information to a minimum, Apparently due to a certain rule set by the sect about disseminating information about the training areas to newbies.
“Who are you lot? What is the meaning of such a honour less sneak attack?”
“Hahaha! Look at this idiot spouting such crap with a straight face. What’s wrong with taking resources from weaklings? Precious resources should belong to the strong. I’ve merely arrived late to the fight and you being hurt so easily speaks to your weakness.”
Finlay had to keep a nerve from bursting at the audacity of the shameless sneaking thug. But he was able to keep his calm as the others returned from their search of the battle site.
“Boss, we found no others in the vicinity. He seems to be alone.”
The “boss” looked a bit confused.
“What? That doesn’t make any sense. You have obviously missed something. Check again thoroughly.”
As the thugs talked amongst themselves and kept checking the surroundings, Finlay had recovered enough that he felt confident in dealing with his wouldbe victims.
He slowly put away the water attribute core and tidied his clothes as he stood up calmly.
“....what? What are you doing?”
Finlay once again stared at those surrounding him, this time with a sharp, predatory gaze.
“Do you belong to the same gang as Meng Peng?”
“*scoff* Huh! Are you trying to insult us? What made you think we were from such a Piece of sh*t gang? We actually belong to-”
Finlay didn’t care what other thieving gang these idiots belonged to and cut him off “Then you lot might as well bendover and present your rear ends for a good spanking.”
“...What?... Did that beast peck your brain or something? What kind of nonsense are you spo-,” the late stage practitioner didn't get a chance to finish his response. He immediately received a surprise uppercut that almost cut off his tongue in half. Before he could recover from the pain, Finlay slapped him with just enough force to knock him out.
He then turned towards the remaining 6 who were staring dumbfoundedly at their ex-big boss, except for the guy at level 5. He was, surprisingly, already running away at full speed. Even Finlay was a bit surprised at the man’s quick escape.
Obviously, he will not be allowed to slip away, lest he might disrupt his harvest of the beast he took so much effort to bring down, by spreading the information to nearby opportunists. Since the other 5 were lower levelled anyways, he immediately chased the fleeing one.
He was still able to quickly punch and kick a couple of the 5 weaker ones as he passed by them to further slow their escape. The “chase” didn’t take long as Finlay had a significant advantage over a level 5 body transformation practitioner. He quickly knocked him out and soon, all 7 of his ambushers were gathered at one place.
He tied them up, decided that enough is enough, he would teach these idiots a lesson and show everyone that he was not to be messed with easily. He would set an example and as for the consequences from their gang? He had no reason to worry. The gangs were already being cleared up or warned as of now.
He decided that he would abide by his silly remark he said earlier. He rolled over the tied up men onto their bellies and couldn’t help a vicious grin from showing on his face.
----------------------------------------
It has already been an entire day since he finished harvesting the Red kicking Demon, the fire attribute magical beast. He took his time to carefully take apart the beast’s corpse after giving out his “punishment”.
There was a surprising development from the quick witted Level 5. He traded some information for not being “punished” about an Alchemy based stone plaque, deeper into the forest. He now had something to aim for, once he acquires better equipment. He soon made it back to the old blacksmith to submit the materials and finish his job.
“What?! You already have the materials from the other Beast? That was rather quick. Let me take a look then.”
After a nervous minute of the Blacksmith examining the materials repeatedly with a frown, “Well, you didn’t do a good job with the meat but it can barely be considered a pass. You only have one good Claw and the other is only half as good, but you did deliver quickly and time was an important factor in this request too. So I’ll let you pass, consider this job done.”
The old man kept his promise and he exchanged the materials he acquired for a good armour based on the tire 1 late stage rabbits. It cost pretty much all of his current and previously gathered materials for a set of boots, a chest piece and a shoulder armour.
The Boots were designed to aid in running and manoeuvring when using water attribute Qi to perform a movement art. Although he didn’t yet possess one, they still fit and felt a lot more natural to him. It’s also not like he would never get a water attribute based Qi movement art.
Stolen story; please report.
The shoulder piece was designed to work well with a two handed spear, Finlay’s choice of weapon for facing the magical beasts so far. It provided solid protection for his right shoulder without restricting his movement too much. The chest piece was just the best he could get with the remaining credit.
“That beak you have from the second beast, it can be made into a solid spear head. It is an expensive job to craft it though and it can only be a fire attribute weapon. You seem gravitated towards the water attribute instead. Are you still interested?”
Others might have had second thoughts about the mismatched attributes but Finlay was different. He didn’t care what attribute of the primary elements it belonged to. It would still be useful to him.
“That actually sounds perfect! Please tell me how many materials you would need for such a trade?”
After some calculations, the old man gave some numbers. Finlay was a bit shocked at what was said.
“....Another entire set of materials from a Red kicking Demon or 2 twin-horned rabbit materials or 10 late stage Azure rabbit materials?! Old man, are you pulling my leg here?”
“Hmp! What do you even know? These beast materials are hardly useful outside of the valley. No matter how many of these materials you present me with, I can only sell equipment made of them here. Nobody else would accept materials that do not have value in the outside world, in place of direct spirit stones. This is already the most generous offer one can make without loss. Take it or leave it.”
Finlay had to reluctantly agree. He might have to grind a bit more before he went to the dangerous zones, but it would be prudent to get the best gear he can and be prepared for the dangers. That was another thing he disliked about the situation. Even though the place had been around for long enough, information about the inner regions is forbidden from being shared with newcomers and even the aberrants who prey on others are respectful, or rather perhaps fearful enough to follow certain rules and this is one of them.
He spent the next 2 days gathering as many materials as he could in the area with the late stage Tier 1 Beasts. He selected a suitable area to set up some simple traps. Nothing as extravagant as his previous hunt, just some traps to help deal with groups of enemies or to aid him in escape in the worst case scenarios. He returned once he had enough credits for the spear.
“Alright, I have started the crafting already and it’s half done. Give me another day before you can collect it. Meanwhile, if I were you, I would visit the Alchemy store and get some healing supplies and bug repellants.”
There was some hidden message somewhere in there and Finlay certainly didn’t miss it. He went straight to the Alchemy store with his remaining Beast cores. Once he got some supplies from there, he still had an entire day. He decided that he should use one of the books of the library’s access token.
He soon had a book on Alchemy that explained in detail everything a newbie Alchemist would need to know and even some information useful for an intermediate Alchemist. But it contained none of the actually useful recipes.
This was the first research and science oriented book he read in this new world, or at least this world’s version of science. This made him feel right at home as an Engineer in his previous world.
It began from the fundamental concepts of Alchemy in a Qi based world to the basic phenomenon of Qi when different materials interact, the necessary circuits through which he would need to channel Qi involved with the process of Alchemy and the various exercises he could practise to better his power and control over them. A significant portion of the book was also dedicated to the various materials, herbs and other resources of the world, used as raw materials. How they could be identified, their appearance, to commonly found locations and circumstances. He had to skip over them for now since it would take some time to memorise all of that.
He was so engrossed in it that the entire day passed by without him noticing as he sat under a random tree. As a peak Body transformation practitioner, he neither felt too hungry or tired.
It was certainly a very useful book for him to get an initial understanding to help with his comprehension when he gets to the Stone plaque and will still be helpful in the future when he practises whatever he finds on it.
Even with a super human body, he felt stiff all over and hungry. He went to the only and relatively expensive bathhouse in the area to relax for a bit and then grabbed some quick lunch before checking in on the Blacksmith.
“Ah! You came right on time! I was just about to get to the Final part, laying down the Magical Restrictions. The weapon turned out much better than expected. It can just about hold 2 different restrictions.
“The basic fire attribute enhancing one is a must. What would you prefer for the second one? A movement enhancing one, a weapon enhancing one or a combat move. But be aware that none of them can be anything complicated though. This is still a peak Tier 1 weapon. An exceptional one for sure but still a Tier 1.”
Finlay was at a loss at having to make a quick decision. He eventually chose a piercing move that he hoped would be useful as a finisher. It was a simple ability to pierce better by channelling some Qi. If the Qi has a fire attribute, it works together with the other restriction to truly bring the weapon’s ability to the peak of what a Tier 1 can achieve.
Once the choice of restrictions were decided, the blacksmith prepared his tools and took a minute to concentrate. Once he was prepared to lay them down, his aura sharply flared in Finlays senses. He actively radiated intense Qi as his hand and tools moved at the speed and precision of a true professional. Only then did Finlay realise that he had never used Analyse on the old Blacksmith. He secretly used it now which confirmed his mounting suspicion.
Identity :
????
Male
94 yrs old
Job :
Common grade Blacksmith of the True Sky Immortal Sect
Cultivation :
Qi condensation level 3 (Fire attribute cultivation)
‘No wonder I never felt like he was a weakling even though I’m pretty much at peak Body transformation realm’
Once the Restrictions completely set in, the Blacksmith examined it for one last time for defects and assessed its quality before handing it over to Finlay.
“There, It might not be the most extravagant tier 1 tiem I created but it certainly is one of my finest in terms of quality. I hope you are happy with it.”
Finlay took the spear into his hands. It was a marvellous looking spear with an almost tribal appearance with the spearhead being made from a creature’s materials. The shaft in contrast was a plain dark metal rod. It clearly wasn’t solid or was some type of exotic material since it didn’t weigh too much. There was some grippy hide used in places he would hold the spear along the shaft. There were some groves and a guard just below the spearhead. The spearhead itself was bright orange in colour, being made from the beak of the fire attribute beast he hunted.
He was extremely satisfied and couldn’t help but show it on his face with a broad grin as he repeatedly swung it to admire its perfect balance.
“I’m extremely satisfied with it. All the tiresome work was worth it. Thank you for your help in all this, senior!” Finlay gave a deferential greeting with his cupped hands.
“Ohh, I’m glad it is to your liking but say, why the sudden deferential attitude now?”
“Why must the senior speak as if it’s a mystery. I obviously have to pay my respects to someone at the peak of the early stage Qi condensation realm. I apologise for not realising earlier.”
The Old Blacksmith raised his eyebrows in surprise but said nothing further and just acknowledged Finlays response with a nod.
Finlay rested for a bit at his place and set off early morning the next day for his venture into the deepest areas of the hunting grounds.
----------------------------------------
Finlay was now relatively familiar with the outer areas of the hunting grounds and coupled with his new, quality gear, he easily made it to the inner areas. He soon realised why the old man had recommended that he take lots of bug repellants and healing potions with him on this trip.
Finlay gloomily stared at a distant figure of a Deer lazily grazing on the ground. A small group of bright red balls of light slowly flew over to it. One of them sped up and approached the deer and before the poor thing could react, the ball of red blew up, spraying a toxic substance of deep red that melted the poor animal’s flesh, alive. The red goo looked almost like blood to Finlays eyes.
Yes he had come across the enemies of all men, a retaliation of mother nature itself against Humans, Mosquitoes. Worse, Mosquitoes that explode in corrosive blood.
“Fu*k this Shi*t.”
To be continued.