by Pegaz
John was flung into the rocks by the force of the explosion. His enemy was pushed up, out of the lava. Crawling out of the rocks, John flew straight up towards the now flying Fire Elemental and kneed it again.
BOOM!
The Rank 4 Fire Elemental was knocked even further up. The higher it went, the colder the air was. The Rank 4 Fire Elemental was turning into rock faster and faster.
John, however, was buried inside the rocks again. He was so deep in the ground that he went through the surface of the volcano and into the lava underneath. His insides were moving, and he could feel it. Organs, bones and even his circulatory system were being pushed back to their original positions. He gritted his teeth, clenched his fists and put his head down towards his chest, trying not to scream in pain.
BANG!
The Rank 4 Fire Elemental, which was now nothing more than a giant piece of rock, had crashed into a part of the capital. Luckily, nobody was around where it had landed. However, all the immortals turned round to see what the noise was. All the smaller Fire Elementals were now leaderless. They turned around, fleeing.
John emerged from the lava and rocks and punched the rocks to close the hole. He looked around and after seeing the Fire Elementals flee, he smiled and walked towards the capital. He turned Life Vision and Immortal Eye on and looked at all the immortals that were helping kill the Fire Elementals. He noticed one person he must have missed earlier.
???
Rank: 2
Level: 3
Sin: 1,450
This is perfect. I can test something that has been on my mind for a while, and people will think he died to the Fire Elementals.
John flew as fast as possible towards the person. At the moment he was alone, but that might not last long.
He snuck up behind the man and knocked him out with a hit to the back of his head.
Grabbing him by the nape of his neck, John teleported using the map. He teleported the maximum distance each time, 7.5 miles further into the east with every teleport.
Reaching an isolated place, he tied the man up using all one million threads. Then, he slapped him hard a few times, trying to wake him up. Finally, the man opened his eyes, mumbling something. John thought he must be confused.
He slapped him again. “Wake up.”
The man’s head jolted backwards from John’s slap, eyes wide now. Before he spoke, John had his palms covered in the blue flame and shot a small fireball into his mouth.
The man attempted to scream in pain, but the heat scorched his throat and tongue. He was unable to make noise anymore.
John poked different parts of the man’s body while the flame was still alight. Fifteen minutes later, the man died. John burnt his body using the black fire, reducing it to ashes and flew back towards the capital.
I tortured him as much as I could stomach for so long, but received no Sin points. Maybe, because I had no greed, wrath, or any other deadly sins while doing it? Does that mean, if someone does it for the pleasure, they receive no Sin?
If that’s true, then the worst people might have 0 Sin because they feel nothing while doing it.
John shivered at the thought. The system would miss someone like that. If someone had 0 Sin, John decided not to trust them from that moment on!
Chapter 51
Owen
‘Ding!’
Tooltip - People who take pleasure in inflicting harm on others will now have the Status: Psychopath
John was so surprised that he stopped exerting Life Power and plummeted to the ground. He hit the ground hard enough to get buried in a foot of dirt.
Sitting up, he knocked the dirt off his shoulders and out his hair.
Oww... The system is getting better at surprising me. I’m sure someone is controlling it and laughing at me right now.
Standing up, he flew toward the capital again. While flying, he made the Defence’s Wall turn back to its silver colour so he could check it. There were a few pinholes he found but he could see them healing.
The shock of the explosion moved my organs, but maybe this Wall stopped some of the force? My body is at the peak of what is possible, including the blood, organs and bones. All of those still can’t stop things like Life Power. This Wall can help stop Life Power and other forces, while the body can stop the five natural elements found in the universe.
But this Wall has a limit. There were already pin sized holes when I checked and I didn’t see it when the explosions first happened. That’s how my organs got shifted. I can use the threads to make shields to help too, but what if something gets through all my defences? It’ll kill me, if I’m unlucky. I need a better way to defend myself.
Looking at the silver veil over his arms, he commanded it to turn colourless.
Opening the map, he remembered the place he wanted to investigate from earlier. The location was clear, so he teleported into the room. Within the room he found swords, armour, books, and all sorts of rare items.
Is this property of the Adventurer Guild or a private treasury? Let’s check the books first.
He read the descriptions of the techniques at the start of one of the books in the treasury. Counting how many were in the bookcase, he took them all and replaced them with ones from his personal collection.
I’m not a thief but doing an equal exchange is okay with me. If I’m still here when I’ve read all these, I’ll exchange them back.
He teleported back outside the treasury and walked toward the cluster of immortal icons.
The immortals were gathered around the giant Fire Elemental rock. Its tail had broken in half when it landed, and the arms had disappeared. John reached the group and stood at the back, looking over the people to see his handy work.
The only problem now was how to go about telling them that he did this. Only the one woman he met earlier knew it was him who went to fight the boss, but she could be dead, for all he knew. She wasn’t in the group. He stood there and listened to some immortals talking.
“I wonder who did this… They must have mastered changing the Life Power to the water element.”
“I was close enough to the fight earlier, I saw this Fire Elemental in the air and then got launched upwards by an attack made of water elements!”
“The battle was so fierce… What if the person who killed the Fire Elemental is injured or dead?”
The group was silent. No one here could answer that. Some people shook their heads and others lowered their heads when they thought about the person who took the explosions. John looked around, seeing the people grow silent. He had assumed that normal immortals were vulnerable to things like explosions.
My common knowledge is still too shallow, it seems. I didn’t know changing Life Power to any element was rare, but I’m able to use all five basic elements. I’ve read there are other elements like light, dark, time, and space. I don’t know why I can only change parts of my body with different elements either. Is that common or uncommon? Did the system separate my body parts for a reason?
John looked up and saw the Fire Elemental he fought. That reminds me, this is the first monster I’ve killed since becoming immortal. I’ve killed millions of people, but no monsters up till today. The apes and crocs were beasts, not monsters.
After I’ve gained the 101 million Sins, the only thing I’ll need them for is to transfer them into seconds. But the conversion rate is 100 Sin to gain 1 second. It won’t be worth killing four people with 25 Sins for a single second of time, so I’ll change my minimum Sin to 1,000 points. I’ll get 10 seconds for killing someone with that amount. That’s worth it, I think.
John still had the map open. He noticed a few icons travelling to where this group was. He looked over and saw the woman he had talked to. She was flying on a sword behind someone.
She’s only Rank 4 but able to fly on the sword? I was in a hurry to notice earlier, so she must have a technique or something to fly... I bet she thinks the same of me too. I didn’t know the lowest cultivation to fly is usually rank 7 until recen
tly, or else I would have asked Michael how he flew at rank 4! Again, my lack of knowledge shows!
When the woman landed, she looked around and saw John. She smiled and was about to shout out towards John. John noticed this and put his index finger across his lips, signalling to keep it quiet.
Don’t want everyone to know it was me. She and the leader are enough, as long as I can get my reward. Wonder what the reward is anyway.
The woman saw John’s signal and closed her mouth. Turning around to the man she was with, she whispered. “Leader, that’s the man who can use the water element. He killed the Fire Elemental boss, but he signalled that he doesn’t want me to shout it out.”
The man she was with was the same Rank 6 Level 7 man who had gone after ‘Jonathan’. The same guy who, during the battle, had gone to the vault at the start of the fight.
The man looked up and the first thing he noticed was John’s silver hair and eyes. He’s got the same colour hair and eyes as the Sect Master. Is he related to him?
He walked toward the silver-haired man, smiling. When he got close, he nodded his head to the side as if to tell the man “follow me”. Both men walked out of the way of anyone who could hear their talk.
“Hello, my name is Owen Lane.” The Rank 6 Level 7 man held his hand out.
John shook his hand. “Hello, I’m John.”
Owen nodded and ended the handshake after a few seconds. “You are the person who killed the Fire Elemental boss by using water element attacks, yes?”
“Yes,” John grinned. “I was told I would get a reward for it, since this is my first time in a situation like this.”
“That’s right,” Owen laughed. “Judging by the size of the Fire Elemental boss and the size of its army, it should be Rank 4, maybe Rank 5?”
John was surprised. “That’s right, it was a Rank 4 judging by its strength.”
“Then, because this was an emergency, we will pay you six Grade 4 Life Stones as payment. Or, you could pick out a sword or armour from the guild’s treasury.”
John panicked when he heard the word treasury. “No! The Life Stones will do, thanks.”
“All right.” Owen nodded. “I’ll bring the reward to you later if you tell me where you’re staying.”
John told him the hotel’s name, address and his room number.
“Oh, yes!” Owen was struck with a question. “Are you perhaps related to a person called Frankie Knight?”
“No,” John frowned. “Who is he?”
“Doesn’t matter. What are your plans now then?”
“Well, I was here to buy maps, then heard about the auction so I attended that. I’m still surprised with how that ended. Then, this happened, so I’m thinking this isn’t a safe place.”
“This planet is safe.” Owen only gave a wry smile. “At least, every time I’ve visited it has been.”
“I would go apply to join the Sword sect since I’ve hit Rank 3, but maybe I should read more since my common knowledge about immortals is lacking.”
Owen perked up when he heard John. “You’re only Rank 3? And under 40?”
John nodded. “Yeah, I hit Rank 3 a few years ago. I was 29 when I broke through and I’m now 32. I was exploring to get experience and a better understanding how things work.”
Owen laughed when he heard John. “Great, I’ll recommend you! I’m a direct disciple to the Sect Master of the Sword sect. I’m Rank 6 but only 190 years old. Frankie Knight is the name of the Sect Master. The reason I asked if you knew him is that you have the same hair and eye colour as him.”
John’s jaw dropped in shock.
Chapter 52
New Way to Use the Scan
John blinked a few times. “Wait, you’re the direct disciple of the Sword sect’s Sect Master? What are you doing here then? Why would you recommend me when we’ve only just met?”
Owen smiled. “I’m here as a guest of the Adventurer Guild. Every major sect sends people over to help the guild for a few years for different reasons. In this way, the sects make friends, gain knowledge and offer our representatives time to clear the mind from cultivating all the time.
“As for recommending you, it’s because few people can use elements to attack. I have a good gut feeling about you, probably because of the colour of your hair and eyes.”
So, the Sword sect’s Sect Master has natural silver hair and eyes, or he’s achieved Silver Grade Life Power, but either way he has said nothing to his disciple.
“Fine,” John nodded. “But how does this work? You’ll still be here while I head to the sect… Ah, I also need to do a few more things before I go to the Sword sect too.”
Owen then took a round object out of his pocket and passed it to John.
“I’ll give you my token. When you go to the Sword sect to register, give it to the person in charge.”
John looked at the object Owen handed him. It was small and round with two silver swords forming a cross. In the middle was a big S. The design was coloured red with a black background. They made the token from metal and it was heavy for its size.
John pretended to put it inside his bag but threw it inside his Storage Space. “Thanks, but in case I need the information, how does the recruitment work?”
“Well, they test your Life Power’s rank and age through a device. If it’s good, you become an outer disciple. When you’re part of the sect, you need credits to buy items within the sect. You can purchase credits, but most people can’t afford it. Instead, they do missions in exchange.
“To become an inner disciple, you need to reach Rank 5 under the age of 100. You must also do at least ten missions from the same rank. If you do the missions in a group, then it only counts for one person.
“Then, there are elite disciples. The bare minimum to become an elite disciple is Rank 7 under the age of 300. You must also do at least fifteen missions in the same rank. Same rules apply for groups.
“The highest-ranking disciples in the sect are direct disciples like me. It’s the Elders that pick the disciples. They can choose from many things like talent, ability or even wealth.
“There are plenty of differences depending on which type of disciple you are, but someone will explain it to you when you join the sect.”
John nodded. “Thanks for the info. I’ll go towards the Sword sect after I’ve received my reward.”
“All right, I’ll go sort out the rewards for everyone who took part in this emergency. Maybe, we can find out if something connects the luring of these monsters to the deaths of those people.”
John’s eyes widened at Owen’s remark. “Wait, someone lured these monsters? And you think the man who killed all those people lured the monsters too? Why?”
“Because the monsters showed up right after the man finished killing those people.”
John shook his head, scrambling to think of a lie. “I saw the man who killed those people. You arrived right after he disappeared. The man was stronger than you, so if he wanted to kill everyone here then nobody could stop him. I don’t know the reason he killed those people and left others to live, but I believe he wasn’t the one who lured the Fire Elementals.”
“You saw the man?” Owen asked with no signal as to whether or not he believed John. “What did he looked like?”
John froze for the slightest of moments, mind racing.
“I couldn’t see his face, I could only see his backside. All I know is he had long black hair.”
Owen smiled the weakest of smiles, obviously disappointed. “All right then. I’ll get your reward soon and meet you at your hotel room later tonight.”
The two men departed. John walked toward his hotel, deep in thought.
So, I’ve got the basic knowledge of the Sword sect now, thanks to Owen. The treasury most likely belongs to this world’s Adventurer Guild branch, and under the Sword sect’s protection. If they find out about the exchange I made, would Owen get in trouble? I must speed-read all of the books and switch them back as soon as possible.
When John reached his hotel room, he took out the books in question, held one book in his hands, and flipped through it with his eyes closed. Concentrating his Scan skill on the books, the information on each page came inside his mind, and another part of his mind read it, fast. He could read a whole book in just a couple of minutes, but scanning a whole book took only a few seconds. If he concentrated hard enough, he could do both at the same time!
And so, John stayed up all night reading all the books he could. He got faster at reading and scanning as he got used to using his mind this way. By the end of the night, he could scan a book under a second and read the book in five seconds flat. He read all the books by the time it was noon the next day.
John stood up and stretched, opening the system map. The Adventurer Guild’s treasury vault had no people around it, but he had the system scan it again just in case someone without an icon was there. Once the coast was clear, he teleported inside and exchanged all the books back. With his perfect memory, he made sure it looked like nobody had disturbed them. Work complete, he teleported back to his hotel room.
All the books were still there, so that means nobody took a book out while I had exchanged them. There’s no evidence that anything happened. Owen won’t get in trouble, and I got free knowledge.
Waiting for Owen to deliver his reward, John started speed reading the other books he had taken from the Rogue sect.
Owen came over around an hour later and gave John eight Grade 4 Life Stones.
“We added a couple extra Life Stones as a bonus, since you killed it fast enough to stop any deaths at all. When the report came in that nobody had died during this emergency, it surprised even the higher ups back at the Adventurer Guild’s headquarters.”
John smiled. “Got lucky, that’s all. I got it out of the lava, but if I hadn’t, it could have taken a lot longer to kill it.” John put the Life Stones in his bag. “Since you’re a guest here, is it for a mission from the Sword sect? How long will you be here for?”
“Yeah, it’s a mission from the sect. I have to protect the treasury vault that the Adventurer Guild and Sword sect owns. I’m to stay here for another two years. If you join the Sword sect, then I’ll see you again about three years from now.”