Max was stunned, not by the fact that Lucy killed herself. That's normal.
What made him stunned is the fact that her research actually had results.
[you died]
[ding, simulation ended entering cooldown.]
[cooldown duration one week.]
[ding, Host, please pick a reward.]
1- Complete memories.
2- complete body stats.
3-An ability, skill or a talent.
4- an item or equipment.
Max checked the laptop first.
The last thing played was a sci-fi anime, but that wasn't supposed to be for Lucy.
After all, staying in the wild with no access to the web can get boring sometimes, so Max downloaded a few things for him to enjoy.
“I don't remember watching it with Lucy?, but on second thought, the little one is technically everywhere.
Most probably, she watched it with me without me realizing.”
After realizing the Inns and outs, Max just shook his head, focusing on the important matter at hand.
“Simulator, pick emerald water and show me Lucy's stats.”
[Ding. Scanning].
Name: Lucy.
Race: mountain fairy.
Strength: E.
Agility: E+.
Vitality: E.
Spirituality: E++.
Overall evaluation: E+.
Skills & abilities :
1- [Mountain ruler]. 2- [Misty Mountain]. 3- [wood aura]. 4- [blessed mind]. 5- [wind’s chosen].
......
6- [Emerald water] :
Skill rank: green.
Proficiency: Perfected. {water of life}
Condense the moisture in the air into a miracle resource filled with nutrients.
-Triple beast's & vegetation growth speed.
-Can speed up natural healing by ten fold.
-Prolonged consumption can increase lifespan.
....
7- [blessed].8- [dragon Vine].
Max started checking more detailed information, looking for weaknesses at the same time, finding the best way to utilize this skill.
After sometime, Max knew everything he needed, and he was honestly disappointed.
There were too many skills to assist in farming, but Max picks this one specifically because it offers help to beasts and pets as well.
He wanted to increase Lucy's growth speed, the crow's as well, but Lucy was the main target since the crow’s growth speed was already fast enough.
But this is just a green skill after all and it had limits, but thankfully it should have some effect on Lucy, but definitely not triple.
“Sigh. Whatever, it's still good enough with this. The crows should hatch before the next simulation.”
Max looked at Lucy in front of him.
Unlike the previous times after the simulation, she wasn't too excited this time and just sat down in front of Max, waiting for instructions.
In her mind, this skill wasn't too useful.
all she can do with it is to help the eggs.
So Emerald water being the skill that got improved this time disappointed her a little.
‘well at least it can grow mosquitoes. ‘ she thought to herself while tilting her little head.
Max began speaking without having any knowledge of Lucy’s current thoughts.
“little Lu, control the mountain and start producing emerald water, and don't fill the entire room like last time, just the suitcase, since the production speed is much slower now.
Also, check the surroundings, please.”
Lucy nodded, turned into green light and disappeared, while Max switched his gaze towards the sunrise.
“huh?, E-rank Vitality is really good. I feel energetic even though I didn't sleep all night.”
Max was in a good mood, since progress was much faster then he planned originally.
So he decided to take out a paper and pen and started writing some knowledge he plans to teach Lucy.
However, he suddenly received a mental message that completely switched his mood.
‘humans.’
Max’s expression was dark.
“Let me guess, they are already close to us, right?”
Lucy could feel Max's agitation, so she didn't mess around and answered immediately.
‘yes.’
“how close are they exactly, and how about their strength?.”
‘weak very weak.’
Lucy did her best to respond to the initial question, but she was unable to, because she didn’t know how to measure distance, so she had to improvise.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
‘ a few trees away.’
“huh?” Max was confused for moment.
“Let's go take a look.” Max picked up cold blood and left.
If the intruders were government people or some important individuals, he won't confront them directly.
Even though he thinks of the government as an enemy, since they stand in the most comfortable, profitable position as the leader of the continent, and Max wanted that.
But even so, he understood his current strength and with the crow's about to be born; he had no plans to clash with them for now.
But Max won't let them go easily. He can't make a move directly, doesn't mean he can't kill them.
For example, let Lucy throw mountain beasts on them until they're dead, or collapse the ground above the Oubach tribe.
..........
Mist covered Max as he started flying towards the bunch of intruders.
Max knew something about his so called bad luck, but currently he couldn't do anything about it.
But that doesn't mean he wasn't angry, and someone had to pay for his anger.
.............
On a flat plane approximately 200 meters below Max’s house, a group of seven men were in pursuit of a lone individual.
Within the group, three of them were pet masters.
One man possessed a reconnaissance pet, resembling an unattractive bird, while the other two had similar pets - towering tigers standing at a height of two meters.
The remaining four men exhibited signs of being beast holders, evidenced by subtle physical transformations such as eyes resembling cats and animal-like ears.
Riding on the backs of the two tigers were five individuals, while the other two pursued on foot.
The owner of the strongest tiger, who also appeared to be the leader of the group, urged his companions.
“faster you bunch of idiots, if we catch that bitch, we are set for life.
And remember, don't kill her. We need to hand her in alive.”
“alright boss, you will definitely be promoted this time.
Don't forget about us brothers. “spoke a man with dirty yellow long hair and a pare of hyena ears while running bare feet.
The boss laughed out loud. “of course I won't forget about you, especially you Aiden. “
The man was clearly excited by the aspect of a possible reward.
Aiden, although seemingly excited about the potential reward, had a peculiar glint in his eyes that went unnoticed by the others.
Everyone smiled, offering their congratulations to the boss, even though they had yet to capture their target.
Aiden smirked and absentmindedly scratched his unkempt yellow hair, his thoughts racing.
‘only someone with a slave mentality will think of giving such a good thing after finding it, and I plan on keeping it to myself, but how would I deal with this bunch of brainless fools?’
Everyone was lost in their thoughts while chasing, unable to spot Max's figure above them.
Max had a smile on his face, because through his passive he can recognize this bunch of idiots as mere lowlifes.
There are no consequences of killing such people, or to be more accurate, he can handle any consequence that comes from killing a bunch of lowlifes.
“finally I don't have to hold back, four E-ranks and three F-ranks. Let's have some fun.”
Max glanced at their target not far away, then jumped from the Mist cloud, holding his hammer up with both hands.
Frrrrr.
One of the men running on foot notice that something covered the sunlight. He stopped and looked up.
But what he saw was a man falling holding a blood red hammer right above him.
It was too late to react, his expression was horrified as the hammer connected with his face.
Dong!. Ban. Crash!.
Max used his full strength as he felt the hammer crash into the man's skull.
He pulled the hammer, drawing blood and bone fragments, under the stunned expression of the group.
Max gave them a smile. “This is private property, bitches.”
...
The boss reacted first and jump down from the tiger and pulled out his gun with the others.
While Aiden wanted to circle around Max.
But Max didn't give him a chance and threw cold blood at him using full strength.
Aiden used his left arm to block and deflect the hammer away.
Dang!.
He was slightly injured, but it was worth it since the enemy was disarmed.
But under Aiden's stunned gaze, Max just opened his palm, and cold blood rushed back to him.
Woosh.!
Max ignored Aiden and focused on the group behind.
These guys held their guns pointing at him, but they didn't shoot.
“you there, we are just passing by. Let us go and take it as no harm was done,” yelled the boss. While the bunch next to him nodded.
Even Aiden stopped advancing.
Even though Max just killed one of them, under the effect of his passive, they still wanted to negotiate.
But Max didn't give a damn. “I don't know if my body can take bullets, but I don't want to try it, so I am gonna have to take those. “
As he spoke, Mist appeared around all the guns and. Pulled them away, throwing them into the distance.
Max didn't wait for them to absorb the shock and aimed cold blood at Aiden again.
Aiden blocked and deflected it again, then rushed towards Max, but this time the hammer didn't return to Max but rotated midair and rushed towards Aiden, since, in the last hit, the hammer already absorbed a little of his blood.
At the same time, one of the two Tigers rushed to Max, while the other stayed next to the group.
Max just gave it a glance and a giant hand made of mist appeared under it and crashed the tiger into meat-paste.
Max shrugged. ‘it's only fair for pets to fight against pets. ‘
Aiden was in shock as he stared at the lifeless tiger, completely bewildered. Bang! Out of nowhere, he was struck in the back of the head and fell unconscious.
The group at the back had a complete mental breakdown.
A man, clad in armor resembling that of a knight while holding a tower shield, charged towards Max while yelling in a frenzy.
“ahhhhhhhhhhhh”
He held the shield in front of Max while one of his companions stood behind him, holding a dagger.
Max rushed towards them, but he didn't hit the shield.
He held the shield with his left hand, forcing it down, and hit the man's head with cold blood.
Did this guy really expect him to hit the shield like an idiot? He could see the stunned expression under the helmet as cold blood hit him.
Bang!.
Because Max used some of his strength to hold down the shield, the hammer didn't do much damage, but blood repulsion was triggered.
The guy behind planned to take the chance to attack Max, but looking at his friend leaking blood like an opened soda-can with one hit, he gave up the idea and start running in fear.
Thud!.
With one hammer throw. Blood rushed out of his body like a river and he died.
Max looked at the three shivering pet masters behind the tiger.
With the low Vitality of a pet master, one hit is all it takes.
Again, under Max's mental command, Lucy crushed the tiger just like last time.
“sir we are really just passing through. We didn't mean to. Thud.! Ban.
A hammer crashed into his head, turning it into a bloody mess as blood escaped out of his body.
“I don't care.” Max didn't speak much and killed the two left, then glanced at Aiden.
“stop pretending to be dead, fool.”
Aiden stood up and put his hands in the air. “just please listen to me, just don't kill me. I'll do anything. I can work for you, just please.”
Max stood in front of Aiden, cold blood resting on his shoulder. He felt his passive, taking hold of this guy.
“Well, that’s new.” Max muttered as he brought the hammer down.
Thud!. The look of horror didn't have the time to solidify on his face before he died.
Max didn't plan to keep anyone around him. What would this guy do anyway, take care of the pet? Cook? Drive for him?.
Max isn't retarded and can do those things himself. Even if he couldn't, he can learn or hire someone temporarily.
................
A tall woman with curly red hair approached carefully.
“hi, thank you for saving me.”
She was beautiful. Max would give her that much, but he just glanced at her, then turned around to leave.
The red-haired rushed after him. “Wait please, can you take me with you?”
Max gave one word while checking the equipment on the ground. “No”
“Please, I can be useful.”
“No is a no, and stay away, otherwise I'd really kill you.”
The red-haired gritted her teeth. “I really can be useful. I have the Crimson brilliance just like you do. That's why you are so strong, even though your rank should be weak. I can be like you if you help me, please, please.
Just help me save my brother and I’d be loyal to you, please.”
Max's dull expression changed, and he focused on her for the first time.
She was the one who led the group here while running, and she was heading to his house.
Obviously she wanted to bring the trouble to him.
Originally he planned to let Lucy threw her the Oubach down stares after he leaves.
He judged that she was some princess of some big family, being kidnapped, thus he didn't want to kill her by personally to avoid more trouble.
But her words changes everything, the benefits outlay any potential risk.
Max lived long enough in this world, and come to know about most common legend stories and such.
Crimson brilliance was something like a special physique however, it had one problem, if you kill the owner.
The Crimson Brilliance will transfer to the killer.
Max had to kill her personally.
Looking at the greed practically shining for Max's eyes the red-head knew that something was wrong.
But Max didn't give her the chance to react and threw cold blood towards her.
Before the hammer could hit her, she turned into a faint red light and appeared 30m away.
“ teleportation? “.
Max was so jealous. Crimson brilliance abilities change from holder to another, so obviously he wouldn't get the same one as her.
“what are you doing? Please stop”.
But Max didn't stop. He pulled his sniper rifle, aimed, then shot all in one go.
Bang!.
Same as last time, the red-head teleported 30m away.
“stop I know I was in the wrong for leading those guys to your place. I am sorry, please stop. “
If Max wasn't strong, then he would be the dead one now, all because of this idiot, but Max didn’t care about that.
All he cares about is his crimson brilliance.
Bang!. Bang!. Bang. Bang.
Max kept shooting, and the redhead kept teleporting.
If you look at the scene from above, you'd notice that Max's kept pushing her to the center of the mountain.
He didn't know how long she can last so he wanted her to stay within Lucy's range.
Bang!.
Under Max's superb marksmanship, one bullet finally grazed her cheek, drowning some blood before she teleported.
Max stopped to reload while a tiny mist ball landed on the hammer with one drop of blood in it.
A cloud made of mist appeared under him and started chasing at a high speed.
.........
The redhead was desperate no matter how she tried to talk her way out of this. Max would just respond with a bullet.
By now she realizes that Max might not be a crimson brilliance holder like herself.
......
Soon Max was only 20m above her, but she didn't teleport and just kept running. She had to save it to dodge the Attack.
Max first threw the hammer using his full strength. He immediately aimed his sniper, waiting for the right moment.
Cold blood curved mid air targeting her.
She felt the danger from this hammer and teleported without hesitation.
As she appeared 30m away, a hand made of mist was about to crush her.
She instantly panicked and teleported again.
Bang!….. But when she appeared again, a bullet made its way into her right eye, digging its way towards her brain.
Bang!. Bang!. Bang!. Bang!.
Max gave her a few more bullets for good measure.
Crimson brilliance usually gives a set of abilities, not just one, but maybe she was a new holder, thus having only one, requiring more time to develop.
Max didn't care and smiled excitedly, looked at the red light rushing from the corpse to his body.