Truths

Time waited for no one. William's two years passed in the blink of an eye.

For two years he had been extremely active, just like an active student in his old world.

He had completed all of his plans and had also taken care of some 'small' missions, such as taking care of the bandits his father had given him in between.

Today was his big day. His father had written a letter of recommendation for him to the Academy. This letter of recommendation did not allow him to enter directly. It was like a chance. He would still have to pass a test to enter the Academy. Theo was confident that he would easily pass the test.

At that time, William was saying goodbye to his family at the gate of the castle. Theo, Wilson and Sophia gave him a big hug.

William wore a simple black robe over a silk shirt. Again, he wore black pants that were a little tight but not too tight, and finally, a guitar case was hung on his back. After a long struggle, he had it sewn by a tailor from the skin of an iron level creature. The guitar inside was also a work of art that took the carpenter about a week to complete.

Before William jumped on his horse, Sophia pulled him beside her and handed him a small bag. "Guide your qi to it." She said.

William had thought he was getting something like a purse, but when he sent the qi to it, the feeling he felt made him incredibly happy. It was a dimensional bag!

The main characters in the books he read always used such a dimensional bag. Now that he had one, it was normal for him to be excited.

The next journey would be easier. But Sophia warned him. "You shouldn't show this to everyone, it might attract unwanted glances," she said.

Fully understanding what she was talking about, William hung his dimensional bag on his belt and covered it with his black robes. He put his sword inside.

Since his mother was thinking of him, she had filled his dimensional bag with a lot of food, clothes, and gold. It was about five hundred gold coins. This was enough for him to live for a long time without worrying about anything.

The size of the bag was already about two cubic meters. So there wasn't much room left with Sophia's additions.

Finally, William hugged Wilson once more and jumped on his usual veteran horse.

As he left the castle gate, nine riders came up to him.

"What are you doing?" asked William.

"Haha! Captain! We came to bid you farewell!" said Godo.

They would follow him to the Barony's borders.

During these two years, his team had not changed at all. They were always on missions with the same people.

The others had finished their five-year contracts. Theo made them sign a privacy agreement. Anyone could leave, but they all chose to stay. They knew that no barony in the kingdom was so powerful.

If there was to be a victory in the future, they wanted to be a part of it. That's why they decided to stay. After signing a loyalty contract, they were given new meditation techniques. They were able to become even stronger. Compared to the duties they performed, their pay was considered good.

Theo fed them as much as he could with the money he earned.

William knew his father was about to do something very frightening, but he never spoke out against his wishes. When the day came, he offered all the help he could.

In the evening of the same day, they reached the city of a count. Godo and the others said goodbye to him.

After that, he was alone.

...

He showed his father's seal through the city gates and entered comfortably. This city was too dark. Even their own city looked bigger from here. Besides, with so many adventurers in their own cities, the fun would last until morning.

This city was as quiet as the plague. This gave William goosebumps. He quickly found an inn, gave the horse to the stableman next to it, and entered.

The inn was not very crowded. There were about fifteen people. He found a table in the corner and sat down.

Immediately a thin, frail-looking woman came to greet him.

"What would you like?" she said rudely. She didn't even look at William's face.

"What do you have?" asked William.

"Wine, beer and meat," the woman said.

"Okay, bring me beer and meat."

William was very confused. He wanted a good meal in every city he stopped. He was not a heavy drinker in his previous life, so he didn't care about drinking. But he didn't want to eat straight meat(No!) either.

"Anyway, let's have something hot." He said and started to wait. He listened to the men talking quietly on the side.

The men were talking about this strangeness in the city and that a mage might have caused it. Although William heard them clearly, he paid no attention to the conversation or the state of the city . He didn't want to deal with these clichés.

After a while, his meat and beer arrived. The color of the beer was like urine. The taste was not much different. The meat was okay. He had two unfamiliar vegetables placed next to it, normal without any extras.

He ate quickly and got up to ask the innkeeper for a room to sleep in.

At that moment, the door of the inn was opened with a kick. Everyone, including William, who had just gotten up, stared at the door in amazement.

Four large-looking men entered. After entering, they stepped aside to allow a fat man to enter.

The innkeeper must have recognized the man, but he remained silent.

The fat man coughed and began to shout.

"Ahem! We're on a mission. It is said that this gloom in the city was caused by a mage. Does anyone want to join us?"

No one made a sound. The fat man looked at the people in the inn for a long time. Then he began to speak again, as if his explanation was not enough.

"The mission was given by Count Seymour. The total reward for the mission is fifty gold coins! And the purpose of the mission is just to investigate. The mage is said to be an advanced apprentice. So it's not a very dangerous mission."

Now the inn began to move a little. The groups at the tables whispered to each other.

Then one of the middle-aged men asked. "How will the prizes be distributed?"

The corner of the fat man's lip curled up. He knew they were taking the bait. "Don't worry, I'm an Iron Level warrior! I and my men will take a total of twenty gold coins, and we can divide the rest equally among you." He said.

The whole inn began to move more and more. Finally, the men sitting near William stood up together. "We, the four friends, are willing to join you in this mission." Their first participation encouraged more and more people, as if they had lit a fire.

"We agree too!" "So do we." "Count us in!"

There weren't many people in the inn anyway. Even if thirty gold coins were divided among all the participants, there was still a nice coin like two gold coins per person.

William was the only one in the big inn who didn't participate. The fat man noticed this. "Aren't you going to join in?" he said.

William pointed to the guitar case on his back and said, "Sir, I am a weak bard. I don't know anything about fighting." Said.

The fat man did not insist and quickly left with the men he had gathered. William was pleased. He had thought that he would definitely want to take him away by force. That's how clichés always worked in books.

Still, he was suspicious of their mission tonight. If the lazy looks of the people in this city had anything to do with the mage, it was best to leave early.

He gave the innkeeper a piece of gold from his pocket, took the change, and left quickly. As he mounted his horse and headed for the exit gate, he sensed something was wrong. He felt an inexplicable tension.

He began to ride faster. The streets were already empty. Just as the horse's hooves passed through the exit gate, he heard the sound of a geyser erupting behind him. The sound was accompanied by a shock wave.

"Whoosh!!"

He could still see the guards as he left the city gate. It was as if a black mist was being drawn out of the guards at the level of the Death Meridian. This withdrawn mist was moving toward the center of the explosion.

'I really fell into a cliché,' he thought to himself.

Those guards had dried up and shrunk after a while. It was as if all the blood and water had been drained from their bodies. In almost half a minute, their hair began to turn white and they looked like ninety-year-old grandfathers.

William did not want to waste any more time. He did not want to be the main character, a victim of stereotypes. So he kicked his horse and started to ride.

He was only fifty yards away when he heard voices behind him. He could have sworn it was the voice of the fat man from earlier.

"You can kill the others! But I am an Iron Level Warrior! Die! You damned evil mage!"

William was still riding, but for a moment he turned and looked back. After the fat man had spoken, a silver light appeared. It moved toward the place where the dark mist was. After a while, he heard the fat man's cries again.

"Ahhh! Don't come! I beg you! Let me live! I will do whatever you want. ARGHHH!!"

Then the fat man's voice stopped. William trembled from earlobe to toe.

"But it's so cliché!" he said to himself. He was still on the horse. He didn't want to get into trouble with it.

William was wrong. Although he thought he had escaped early and would not get involved, it was too late for everything.

Two hundred meters before the forest road he heard a voice from the sky.

"Where do you think you're going?" A gray-robed, youthful-looking man with white hair was following him across the sky. This flying man was as fast as his own horse! It should not be forgotten that this horse was one of the fastest horses under the Iron Level!

William looked up at the sky. He made eye contact with the mage.

"Sir, I am just an ordinary bard. Why don't you leave me alone? I can play you a song if you like." He said, but his face was calm.

"Unfortunately, young man, I have to kill you as well. For the entire city must be sacrificed for my spell to be complete, and you are the last." The mage said as he slowly descended from the sky.

"But I came out of the city gate before everyone else, and my life force wasn't drained like the others." He said.

"I calculated you when I activated the spell. How do I know you'll be smart and run away?"

At that moment, a dark ball of mist appeared in his hand. He had begun to read his spell.

William realized he could not escape and dismounted. This was the same situation his father had talked about. 'Sometimes you have to kill to move on, even if you don't want to,' he thought.

He touched the dimensional bag his mother had given him with his hand. His usual sword appeared.

The mage was a little surprised, but his astonishment passed quickly. "So you are a warrior." He said.

"Mr. Mage, I didn't want it to be like this. I would like to team up with you and hunt honestly... What a shame." Said.

The mage started to get angry and impatient. "What the hell are you talking about? Continue your dreams on the other side. Die now!" he said and black arrows came out of the black mist ball in his hand. It moved at full speed towards William, as if from a real bow.

William was still calm. He didn't mind being interrupted. When the black arrows came towards him, he did not flee. He simply used his Iron Body Technique and let them crash into his body.

"Ding!" "Ding!" "Ding!" The arrows bounced back as if they had hit a steel wall and landed in front of William. After a few seconds, it disappeared again and vanished into nothingness.

William felt that the arrows were just 'itching' him. He looked at the mage again and began to speak.

"Mr. Mage. I mean, that's it. I don't know how you just killed that fat guy, but you can't mess with me since you're not level one yet." He said. At that moment, his sword caught fire.

The mage, on the other hand, was extremely surprised. He thought he'd pierce this weak-looking bard in a few seconds, but the guy's defense was on another level. The reason why he had just killed the fat man was very simple. The moment he made the sacrifice, the life force of the entire city had gathered in his body. At that moment, he could be compared to a first-level mage. But now that his condition was stable and the life force had been added to his body as vital energy, his magic power was still at the level of an advanced apprentice.

He immediately began to recite two spells that would best suit the current situation. One of these spells is Dark Flight, which can only be used at night. The other was Dark Shield. It was an extra powerful defensive spell at night.

William sprang into action as he saw a shield form around the mage and slowly fly into the sky. Using his fire steps, he sprinted towards the mage like a truck with a broken brake. They were twenty meters apart, but that was enough distance for William in the blink of an eye. The mage's face was not yet covered by the shield.

William swung his flaming sword at the mage's head. He wanted to split it in two!

The mage waited with a dagger in his hand, just in case. Seeing that he was going for the head, he held the dagger horizontally above his head. But he had underestimated William's strength. How could William, who had been fed the blood of powerful creatures since childhood, be weak enough for a mage to defend himself?

When the sword touched the dagger, it continued its descent without hesitation. The dagger was undamaged, neither broken nor scratched. But the same couldn't be said for the mage behind it.

Unable to block the sword, the dagger changed direction slightly, slicing from the mage's head to his waist.

The mage was still torn in two, but not as beautiful as the bandit leader he had killed. William sighed slightly as he looked at the mage's dead body. 'Dude, even if you're going to get into trouble, at least pay attention to how big it is. What happened now? What did you get when you died?' He talked to himself, frowning.

Then he bent down and began to search the mage. Since he found the dagger too strong at first, he immediately threw it into his dimensional bag. He found some potions and two scrolls he didn't know what they did.

He could understand what was written on the scrolls, but when he tried to read it, he got a headache.

Even reading magic words, as his mother had told him, required magic power. These were definitely scrolls that contained a spell. He placed them in his bag, then lifted his head to look around.

There was no one in sight. It was obvious that the entire city behind him was dead, and if anyone from the kingdom came, he would be in big trouble. How could someone leave a completely dead city alive and not be suspected?

His foot used the fire steps to kick the dead mage all over. The mage's lifeless body soon went up in flames.

Then he turned and mounted his horse, continuing along the forest path.

Humming a familiar song, he thought, "I hope I don't live to see any more clichés.

...

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