Chapter III: Encounter with bandits and learning the Tiger's series!
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Before leaving the Jiangsu Village, Yin Yun bought several goods such as leather armored gear, rations of steamed buns, a dagger as his weapon and a large backpack to carry everything.
He put the all his stuff inside his backpack including the Soul Regenerating Pills that were within another bag and left the Jiangsu Village. Having spent thirty silver coins to buy his goods, only thirty silver coins remained.
Entering the forest near to the Jiangsu Village, Yin Yun's destination was the capital of the Qin Empire, Qin City. Qin City was the largest city of the Qin Empire, located at the center of the Qin Empire, he will have to travel for a whole month before he can reach Qin City.
Surveying his surroundings, Yin Yun decided to take a break after walking for an hour. Sitting on a grass field within the forest, the area was an open field allowing him to monitor without any risks the incoming wild beasts that could appear during his break.
Opening his backpack, he took out the leather-armored gears he bought beforehand such as a leather tunic, a leather belt, and leather armbands. Picking up the leather tunic, using Analyze on it, the detailed notification of the leather tunic popped into his head.
Item: Leather Tunic Grade: Low Armor: 9 Upgrade Requirement: 10 Soul Energy Enchanting Requirement: 40 Soul Energy
'As expected, not only upgrading foods, but I can also upgrade equipment!'
Without hesitation, Yin Yun upgraded his leather tunic.
'Upgrade!'
'Upgrade!'
'Upgrade!'
Taking a closer look at the leather tunic once again, he showed a satisfied expression after upgrading it for the 10th time.
Upgrade Successful!
Item: Leather Tunic Grade: Low Enchanting Grade: Low Upgrade Level: +10 Armor: 9 (+10) Additional Bonus Effect: +8 Agility. Upgrade Requirement: 20 Soul Energy Enchanting Requirement: 40 Soul Energy
'Is enchanting being a kind of improvement too? Let's try out, but I hope it won't fail and destroy the leather tunic...'
With that thought, Yin Yun enchanted the leather tunic.
'Enchanting!'
Successful Enchantment!
Item: Leather Tunic Grade: Low Enchanting Grade: Low Upgrade Level: +10 Armor: 9 (+10)
Additional Bonus Effect: +8 Agility.
Enchantment: Minor Damage Reduction (Reducing the Physical Damage received by 2%)
Upgrade Requirement: 20 Soul Energy Enchanting Requirement: 41 Soul Energy
'Oh! I can sense that the leather tunic is releasing Soul Energy now.'
As Yin Yun said, a weak Soul Energy could be sensed on the leather tunic. Taking out the dagger inside the backpack, he started upgrading the dagger in his hand.
'Upgrade!'
A few seconds later...
Upgrade Successful!
Item: Copper Dagger Grade: Low Enchanting Grade: Low Upgrade Level: +10 Attack: 9 (+10) Additional Bonus Effect: +10 Agility Enchantment: Minor Beasts Damage Increase (Increase the Damage Dealt against the beasts by 5%) Upgrade Requirement: 32 Soul Energy Enchanting Requirement: 51 Soul Energy
'5% chance of increasing attack speed uh... the chance rate is rather low, I probably should not rely on it. But the 10% of increase of attack speed should be amazing during a fight, I wonder how do you know when your attack speed is increasing... In any case, let's finish upgrading and enchanting the equipment first.'
This time, Yin Yun picked up the Leather Belt and the Leather Armbands.
'Upgrade!'
A few minutes later...
Upgrade Successful!
Item: Leather Armbands Grade: Low Enchanting Grade: Low Upgrade Level: +10 Armor: 3 (+10) Additional Bonus Effect: +5 Agility. Enchantment: Minor Damage Reduction (Reducing the Physical Damage received by 2%) Upgrade Requirement: 21 Soul Energy Enchanting Requirement: 28 Soul Energy
Item: Leather Belt Grade: Low Enchanting Grade: Low Upgrade Level: +10 Armor: 5 (+10) Additional Bonus Effect: +6 Agility. Enchantment: Minor Damage Reduction (Reducing the Physical Damage received by 2%) Upgrade Requirement: 28 Soul Energy Enchanting Requirement: 32 Soul Energy
'Alright, this should be good. With all that Agility increased, It should be worth upgrading them.'
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Having upgraded and enchanted his leather-armored gear, Yin Yun took out eight Soul Regenerating Pills from his medicine bag inside the backpack, exhausting almost all of his Soul Energy just by having upgrading his equipment, he could feel his body totally numb from the exhaustion.
Swallowing five Soul Regenerating Pills to completely regenerate his Soul Energy, he took out a steamed bun from his backpack and started improving it before eating it.
Successful Food Improvement!
Item: Steamed Bun Quality: Average Ingredients: Flour, Yeast, Water, Salt Level of Improvement: +9 Bonus Effects Given: +18 Deliciousness, +9 Stamina Permanently, +9 Strength Permanently Improvement Requirement: 39 Soul Energy
Filling his stomach, Yin Yun stood up and prepared to continue his journey when all of sudden, a woman's scream resounded the whole forest. Putting the three Soul Regenerating Pills in his pocket, he picked up his backpack and ran towards the direction of the cry.
While running towards the destination of the cry, he was surprised that his movements were faster compared to before.
'I know that the Agility increased was amazing but to that point...'
Following a road, he saw a carriage a few meters further, next to the carriage, two bloody bodies of young men at the same age as Yin Yun could be seen lying on the ground.
Approaching closer to the carriage, there were two young women surrounded by a group of bandits several meters farther from the carriage.
'There are four bandits, I should probably be able to handle them. This is also a good timing to try out my Body Strengthening Technique.'
Each of the four bandits was equipped with longsword and leather-armored gear. None of them were releasing Soul Energy, which means that none of them were a Soul Warrior, only normal bandits.
Even though that they were bandits that could be found everywhere, if Yin Yun wasn't careful enough, there was still a slight chance for him to be endangered and lose his life during the process of saving the young women.
With that thought, Yin Yun's body suddenly started to tremble while recalling the fight he had with the wild wolves when he first found the Legendary All Jobs Book.
'Not good, get a hold of yourself! You are stronger than before, just trust yourself.'
After talking to himself, he took a deep breath to calm himself and charged towards the bandits.
Coming out of his bush, a slight moving sound could be heard from Yin Yun's location. The bandits who noticed the noise turned their heads towards him.
"Wha-"
The distance between Yin Yun and the bandits was roughly around fifty meters. Running as fast as he could, he closed the distance between them within 5 seconds and strengthen his right fist with his Body Strengthening Technique.
The bandits who didn't expect a sudden surprise attack all of sudden didn't have the time to take a fighting stance.
Pow!
A strong sound resounded once his right fist entered into contact with the stomach of one of the bandits. Not enough to break his bones, it was still strong enough to collapse him on the spot.
'One down.'
"You bastard!"
Blocking the incoming attack of the bandit on his left with his left wrist strengthened, the longsword entered in contact with his leather armbands. A "Clang" sound resounded as if the longsword collided with a metal bar which destabilized the bandit and numbed both of his hands.
Strengthening his right foot, Yin Yun gave a low kick towards the bandit's left leg. Receiving the strengthened low kick from him, the bandit dropped his longsword from the numbing of his body and the pain received by the low kick. Losing his balance, he made an agonizing cry.
Regaining his fighting stance, Yin Yun didn't give the opportunity of the bandit to regain his balance.
Closing the gap between them, he grabbed the back of the bandit's neck with both hands and strengthened his right knee before aiming at the bandit's face with a knee strike.
Receiving a strengthened knee strike on his face, the bandit has been knocked out and fell to the ground before realizing what happened to him.
'Two down.'
Recovering from the surprise attack and realizing that two of their comrades were beaten, the two remaining bandits finally regained their composure and tried to land a simultaneous attack towards Yin Yun. It was a coordinated attack from both side perfectly synchronized.
"Wha-"
Blocking both of their weapons with both of his wrists strengthened, he raised his arms violently in the air. Losing their balance due to that, Yin Yun took advantage of that opportunity and strengthened his right foot before kicking both of them in their stomach. At that moment, his movements were so fast that only a blurred motion could be seen from his move.
'Four down!'
Knocking out the four bandits within five minutes, he sighed in relief. Using quite a large amount of Soul Energy due to the [Body Strengthening Technique], he was afraid of exhausting all of his Soul Energy.
Walking towards the young women, he suddenly lost his balance due to the exhaustion of his Soul Energy and the overuse of his Body Strengthening Technique.
'Ugh... The Body Strengthening Technique uses really too much of Soul Energy... I already almost depleted all of my Soul Energy after only a few minutes of using it!'
Taking out the three Soul Regenerating Pills from his pocket Yin Yun swallowed the three pills them in one gulp. The three Soul Regenerating Pills completely regenerated him 60% of his Soul Energy returning him back his strength to move properly.
The young women who were watching the fight not far away from Yin Yun opened both of their eyes wide open while muttering the word, "Amazing" before realizing that Yin Yun actually saved them.
"Are the both of you alright?"
"Yes...Thanks to you we were saved. Are you perhaps a Soul Warrior?"
It was the only explanation that could come out from the young women's mouth after watching such an unbelievable scene with her own eyes.
"No, only a mere apprentice Soul martial artist, I can't call myself as a Soul Warrior yet."
'Only a mere apprentice Soul martial artist you say...'
It was true enough; Yin Yun didn't have the ability of a real Soul Warrior yet.
A 1-Star Soul Warrior such as the instructor of the Xu clan in the Jiangsu Village could easily deal with those kinds of bandits three times faster than him.
It was just how strong a Soul Warrior was.
"We should move away from this place before they wake up. I only knock them out after all."
Looking at the unconscious bandits, Yin Yun didn't want to waste any more time there. Looting their equipment and money, he tied the bandits to a tree using a rope that one of the bandits possessed.
Talking to each other during their journey, Yin Yun comes to learn the young women's names.
The black-haired tall girl with round black eyes, a jade-like nose with perfect curves and beautiful red lips was called Cai Hong, she was the daughter of an innkeeper. The other blue-haired petite girl with beautiful green eyes, thin eyebrows and pink rose lips was his little sister, Cai Chen.
Both of them were accompanied by two bodyguards and were returning to their home after visiting a friend of them.
Unfortunately, they ended up encountering a group of bandits during their travel, they were bandits coming from the Xuegong Mountain. A gang of unsavory thugs focused on targeting traveling carriage around the Xuegong Village. Led by Qian Zexi a dangerous 1-Star Soul Warrior, the bandits were controlling the road between the Jiangsu Village and the Xuegong Village.
"Since you're directing towards Qin City, then you'll probably need to cross the Xuegong Village right? What about staying in our inn during your stay in the Xuegong Village?"
Yin Yun didn't answer to Cai Hong directly, his mind was busy with another thought.
'Exterminating the bandits of the Xuegong Mountain can be beneficial. They must possess quite a good amount of booty in their hideout. But I need to be careful about that Qian Xezi, for now, I need to become stronger before fighting a 1-Star Soul Warrior.'
"Yin Yun?"
It was until that Cai Hong called once again his name that he finally noticed that she was asking him a question.
"Oh, yeah, sorry I was lost in my thought. What did you say?"
"She asked you if you wanna stay in our inn during your visit in the Xuegong Village, I also want to learn more about you. You're really strong after all!"
"Yeah sure, I'll gladly accept your proposal. By the way, is the Xuegong Village still far from there?"
"Not really, if you keep following the river, then you'll arrive in the Xuegong village after around fifteen minutes of walking."
After fifteen minutes of walking following the flow of the river, the village's entrance of the Xuegong Village could be seen several meters away from them. It was a small village similar to the Jiangsu Village.
Passing through the bustling market with people doing their shopping here and there, an inn with a wooden big sign above the door's entrance could be seen. "The Cai's Family Inn" was written on the sign.
Inside the inn, wooden chairs and tables filling the large room. Directing towards the counter, Cai Hong and her sister were welcomed by a beautiful black-haired woman in her earlier thirties.
"Hong'er, Chen'er you finally came back! Your father and I were worried since you arrived later than expected."
"Sorry mom, we were attacked by bandits during our trip, fortunately, we were saved by him."
Noticing the brown-haired boy behind her daughters, the woman grabbed Yin Yun's both hand while showing a charming smile filled with gratitude.
"Thank you so much for saving my daughters. Our inn is not really luxurious, but we will give you one of our best room for free during your stay in the Xuegong Village. "
"Please don't mind too much, I just could not ignore the situation before me. Helping someone in troubles is common sense."
Guided by Cai Hong, Yin Yun directed towards his room. Entering in his room, Yin Yun closed the door and sat on the bed. Looking at his surroundings, the room was three times larger than his bedroom back in the Jiangsu Village. Picking out the loots he dropped from the bandits, Yin Yun started to upgrade them.
Several minutes later, he finished upgrading and enchanting the items. Most of the equipment that he upgraded from the bandits were the same stats as his equipment, either it was the leather-armored gears or the weapons, the only differences were the enchantment and the bonus effects given.
Upon finishing upgrading and enchanting the last weapon that he looted from the bandits he defeated, his body was suddenly filled with a large amount of Soul Energy.
It was both a pleasant yet painful feeling that made his body lighter, Yin Yun doesn't know it yet, but his strength was now reaching the stage of the 1-Star Soul Warrior.
Exceeding the total amount of 600 Soul Energy within his body, a notification popped into his head.
You have reached the minimum threshold required to learn the [Tiger's series]!
Similar to the first time he learned the Legendary All Jobs Book, tons of information and images entered into Yin Yun's brain.
Looking at the wooden wall in front of him in deep thought, images of experts martial artists practicing strong martial techniques were parading before his eyes as if he was watching a movie.
Just like this, Yin Yun learned the Tiger's series!