Major Events
William had no idea what had happened. He was concentrating on recovering himself. Besides, even if he knew, there was nothing he could do from here.
It took him seven days to recover. At that time he had finally finished the book. He couldn't remember a time in his life when it took him so long to read a book. When he started a job, he usually did not leave it unfinished.
The day he felt recovered, he began to learn the more advanced technique. The new technique proved to be even more difficult than he had expected. This difficulty filled William's mind with various thoughts.
'I wonder if all these techniques are beginner's level? Because this technique looks like something even a real expert would have trouble with.' He brooded but still did not give up.
It took him three days to master the technique. He never tried it because he was afraid it would damage his room. He just tried to apply his qi as quickly as possible by following the technique. He would have to go to the forest to try it. After leaving the academy, he did not want to leave in vain.
Therefore, he made a mission for Worm Blood, which no longer appears on the quest table.
Before leaving, he left a note on Baldur's door.
"I will get you more worm blood. Prepare my money!" He wrote it and stuck it between his door.
It would be inappropriate to disturb him by knocking on the door now. It was taboo to disturb someone during the breakthrough. He didn't want the same thing to happen to him. That's why he left without being disturbed him.
He was overconfident at the moment. Even today, his destination was the cave where the metal heart was found. Since his dimensional bag was large enough, he considered taking it with him. That way, he wouldn't have to go to that cave every time.
When he was far enough away from the academy, he used the 'Like a Volcano' technique. It lived up to its name. William realized that it was as fast as a top-of-the-line sports car, but it would take some work before he could use it through the woods. With this technique, the slightest movement of his feet gave him explosive speed. He couldn't help but hit a few trees as it was stronger than he expected. Even his nose bled when he hit a rock. Luckily, his body was strong. His nose healed in a short time without any swelling.
This time, he had covered the same distance in two hours. That was at least two and a half times faster!
William was laughing all the way through the forest. He thought that he needed to collect more contribution points and improve his Execution Sword.
He made plans in his mind. He would combine each technique one by one, slowly.
When he reached the foot of the Worm Mountains, the mountains once again greeted him with their usual majesty. He went back to the cave he had entered before. The last time he was here, he didn't know much technique. Besides, the creature he encountered was above the bronze level. He couldn't tell its exact level, but he had an approximation of its size and the sounds it made.
It was about the same size as the worm he had killed with Baldur. That was where William's confidence came from.
Just in case, he pulled his sword from his dimensional bag as he entered the cave and hung it around his waist. He needed to react quickly if necessary. He used his old technique, the Fire Sword, as he was having great difficulty moving forward in the dark. Although it might sound a bit insulting to use this technique on this sword, there was nothing to be done. Like a fool, he had forgotten to bring a torch. And he wasn't a mage like Baldur. So his only weapon was the fire sword.
The cave was very quiet. He looked around for things like footprints, but he couldn't find them. It was as if no one had been here since his last visit. Of course, most people wouldn't take on such a risky mission for such a small reward. The quest appealed to William because he liked to be alone.
After a while, very carefully, he came to the place where the worm's corpse was. He could not sense any creature in the area. This place was empty if his eyes and senses did not deceive him. Even the corpses of the little worms he had killed earlier were gone. He saw a clean floor as if they had been eaten.
He waited cautiously for a while. He could feel the movement of a fly.
He could feel the metal heart on the worm's corpse. A huge metal element was beating like a heart. It was an illusion, of course, but it felt real.
William knew that he had to be careful. So he slowly descended from a height of three meters. His every move was made with the utmost care. After a while, he relaxed. Whoever was going to attack would surely have attacked by now. Besides, he could not sense any life force from those irritating holes.
He moved quickly and entered the large creature. There the metal heart hung, silent as always. William thought that this time he could cut it.
He took out the Firebringer and applied the execution sword. Then he activated the weight and sharpness strenghtens. This cost him ninety percent of the qi in his body.
Then he braced himself, grabbed the sword with both hands, jumped, and cut powerfully from left to right!
"DINGGGGGGGGG!!!" "Damn it! What are you made of?
William sighed helplessly. This blow with all his might did not leave a scratch on the metal heart. When he got down, he could only curse.
As soon as his feet touched the ground, he heard the voice that would make him curse again.
"ZIIIIIIIIIIII" "Damn!" This time he said it out loud.
He immediately jumped out of the creature's mouth and into the tunnel he came from. He looked back for a moment through the tunnel he had jumped into and saw the creature coming towards him. It came out of the mouth of the other tunnel.
Its skin was like stone. People would believe you if you said a few rocks rolled together.
William felt its strength. The creature was an earthworm and was in the middle of the Bronze level.
As much as William wanted to fight it right now, he couldn't. His Qi was almost depleted.
"We'll meet again." He said and left quickly.
William thought that last sentence was cool. 'Is my speech starting to change? How cool was I just now?'
He breathed a sigh of relief as he emerged from the still half-closed small entrance of the cave. Sunlight was always the best.
William felt helpless at the moment. He sat down on the rocks at the entrance of the cave and began to meditate. The qi pool was almost empty. Returning to the academy might bring him an invitation to die.
Fortunately, his meditation technique was good. It was half full in no time. Even if he couldn't use the sword's strenghtens, its sharpness and weight were enough. For now, he could use Like a Volcano and Execution Sword for a long time.
Just as he was about to wake up from his meditation, he heard a sound that excited him. It was a loud howl. He recognized the voice. It was the voice of that sneaky bastard!
Tired of the worms, he thought he could trade with the wolves again. Besides, he wasn't afraid of the bronze-level wolf right now. Even if he couldn't defeat it, he was sure that he could escape. He might even leave a big scar. After all, his new sword was very powerful. Half of a warrior's strength came from his equipment.
He immediately started running towards the forest. This time it was different.
When he came to a large clearing in the middle of the forest, he encountered wolves gnawing at the flesh of an elephant that was at least five meters high and seven meters long.
The sneaky bastard had already eaten his dinner! He was busy licking the blood from the corner of his mouth as he rested.
He knew William was coming from hundreds of meters away. He didn't make any special moves because he didn't see him as a stranger. Even the other wolves recognized him, and after a glance, they resumed their meal.
William approached the larger wolf. Next to him was the same bronze-level wolf. It licked the dirt off the little wolf's fur.
Although it was angry with him, they were now considered friends.
"Hello, my friend! How's it going?" William asked the stupidest thing you could ever ask a wolf.
The wolf shook his head and pointed at the elephant's body.
'Damn! Just like a human!' he thought.
The wolf had absurdly communicated with him like a human. It was like, 'Well, here we are, we just caught some prey.' He was saying!
This might go down in history as the most ridiculous conversation in the world.
William quickly recovered from his surprise and stared at the still calm wolf. Then he made a fist and showed his muscles.
"Does someone need to be beaten again? Can we trade?" he said.
With his little wolf head, he pointed to the wolf in the corner, slowly gnawing at the elephant. The wolf's level seemed to have increased a bit, but there was probably still time for it to advance to the bronze level.
William was disappointed.
Then the wolf tried to speak again. It looked like it was pointing north. It mumbled something, but William didn't understand.
Finally, the wolf tilted his head to the side, as if asking a question, and looked at William. William had no idea what the wolf wanted to say. But the mission didn't matter if he could get what he wanted. So he felt he had to present his own terms.
He drew a flower on the ground with his hand and put a cross on it.
"I'll help with whatever it takes, but I don't want any flowers this time." He said. He crossed his arms.
Then he pointed at the big wolf beside him. "I want its blood this time!" he said. Then he took the dagger he had taken from Baldur and cut off his hand. He pointed to the drop of blood that fell to the ground.
As he drew the dagger, the big wolf looked at William with hostility and began to growl. Then it calmed down as he cut his own hand and pointed at the blood that fell to the ground.
The little wolf understood completely what William meant, but did not know why he wanted the blood. He narrowed his eyes and stared at William for a long time. Then his lips moved slightly. And he opened his eyes.
"How much do you need?" William seemed to hear him say that.
"Wow!" he thought.
He quickly showed ten fingers and took a barrel out of his dimensional bag.
"Ten barrels!" he said.
Wolf immediately shook his head. He thought ten barrels was too much.
William did not want to be low. That's why he changed the nature of the offer.
Again he pointed with his hand and said, "Five barrels from this wolf. But twenty barrels of the others!".
He showed the wolves eating. He pointed to the other wolf who was deliberately trying to become a bronze rank.
The little wolf looked at the other wolf thoughtfully for a while and finally nodded. It was as if the blood of the other wolves didn't matter.
William was immediately pleased. As if there was a person in front of him, he forgot for a moment, "Then we got a deal!" He said and held out his hand to shake it.
The next moment, the strangest scene in the world took place. The little wolf found William's movements strange at first, but then realized what he was trying to do. He reached out his forepaw to William.
Astonished, William grabbed his paw and squeezed it. He shook it up and down a few times.
Next to them, the big wolf looked at him with murderous intent, for he had touched the little wolf.
William noticed this and retreated immediately. Thus, an agreement was made between the wolves and a human that would go down in history. And it was done with a handshake!
The little wolf said something to William. Of course, William did not understand what he meant. But he could guess. He probably said, "Rest well."
Seeing that the wolves were already busy eating, William immediately began meditating to practice what he had guessed. He had to be at the top of his form. He didn't know what kind of trouble the little wolf would cause him. Perhaps they would take him out to hunt a silver-level creature?
Everything was uncertain. So it was best to be prepared.
Finally, a few hours passed and all the wolves and William were completely rested.
The little wolf immediately called a wolf in the middle of the iron level and told William to get on it.
The direction they were going was north. 'I hope this isn't the place I thought it was,' William had thought during the whole journey.
And after a few hours, he realized that what he had feared had happened. They had arrived where he had never thought to go before reaching the Bronze level.
...