Chương 3: Killing

I arrived inside the bushes undetected. He pulled down his pants and began peeing. This time I waited for a bit. I positioned myself to the side of the man, then as he relieved himself, I stood up as slowly as possible. Just as his eyes landed on me, I twisted my torso and hips, and generated as much force as I could in one horizontal slash. My blade met his neck and sliced through his flesh before continuing on with the bone. His head hit the floor. He was dead instantly. This time no noise was made.

I hid his body first, then his head, before cleaning my traces again. The next bout ended the same way. The one after that took a shit, rather than peeing, causing me to slash in more of a diagonal direction. He died too. The process was repeated over and over again until I almost felt bored. I felt bored of killing people. I had refined the process over and over again, within only a couple of hours, to the point it just felt like a routine task rather than a fight to the death.

I hid the last body behind another round of undergrowth, but this time further in the distance. The camp still hadn't noticed me. I was surprised at first, but it made sense. There were too many of them to notice nine people missing, especially when drunk. Done with that, I hid in the bushes again and stared at my objectives. The words could be summoned by will. Multiple times I tried to use my will to leave the simulation, but to no avail. First Objective: Complete.

Secondary objective: Failed Tertiary objective: 9/10 Note: All objectives are weighted the same. Complete all to receive full reward. The family had died. I sighed. I didn't regret my decision. I would have probably died too. There were too many bandits for me to take on. I just hope this place is not real. I looked at my missing arm, with another round of herbs stuck inside it. The bleeding had stopped by now, but they were also good against infection, so I kept them.

I willed the words away as my next victim walked towards me. This one stumbled less. His walk was steadier and more balanced. He was taller than the thin man I fought yesterday and more muscular. On his belt hung a saber, while the others happened to be weaponless, except one with a dagger. He looked like he could fight. Have they noticed me? I stared at the man carefully.

"Fuck," the man cursed.

"I hate this fucking shit. Getting drunk, celebrating and just doing God knows what. The next village is only a couple of days away..." He walked right towards the bush I was in. Then he began to relieve himself with a sigh. Slowly I began to rise from the bushes, my sword gripped tightly, my heartbeat steady. I studied his face carefully. Then his eyes swirled towards me. Our gazes met. I didn't wait for him to react and pounced, my sword aimed at one of his vitals. But he was quick.

He unsheathed the saber and blocked my strike. He knew how to fight. I didn't. I knew that if he gained his footing I would die. A flurry of wild attacks rained down from me as I kept the man on his backfoot and retreating. He didn't have the chance to counterattack. But it was only a matter of time. His panicked eyes began to calm again. I only had a few seconds. So, I did what any reasonable person would do in that situation. I threw my blade at him.

Not expecting such an attack, the tip of the sword grazed the man's saber-wielding arm. He yelped in pain. He was only surprised for a second. But that was enough time for me. By the time he realized what had happened, I crashed into him. I used my feet and remaining hand to trip him and we fell to the ground. Down on the mud, he hit me in the face and my jaw felt numb. He was strong. My vision turned blurry. I was dazed. But I didn't need to be fully there to know what to do.

My hand moved towards my back where I had hid the knife. I fiddled for the handle and another punch hit me. Warm liquid dripped down my face. I was bleeding. Yet, I managed to grab the weapon. Then, I stabbed the blurry figure beneath me. I went for the chest. I didn't want to miss. So, over and over again my knife left and entered his body. Each thrust was accompanied by a gush of blood and a groan of pain. He hit me a couple more times, but the first stab sapped him of most of his strength.

Eventually his wails of pain turned silent. He died. I slit his throat to be sure. The warmth of his blood spread across my fingers. I had taken another life. My ears perked up and I looked up. More than a dozen bandits were running towards me, weapons in one hand, torches in another. Their angry screams turned inaudible and their pounding steps made the ground shake a little. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. Our fight hadn't been silent at all.

I stood up and clenched my blade. There was no chance to flee anymore. I was too exhausted and with the light they would catch up to me. I would die fighting. Despite the situation I was in, my breathing calmed down again and so did my heartbeat. When you accept death, a certain calmness just overwhelms you. I already died once. So what was a second time? Then words formed in front of my vision. All objectives have either been completed or failed. Simulation ended.

And with that, the bandits disappeared from vision. No, that was not true. They just vanished. One moment they were here; the next, they disappeared alongside their weapons and everything that belonged to them. The tents. The campfires and even the cooking pots. The corpse below me was gone too, and so was the blood. The only things that remained were me, the silent forest behind me, and the burned village in front of me.

In the distance, the sun rose, its rays breaking the darkness apart and basking the horizon in an orange hue. Just a day ago, that would have been a beautiful sight. Congratulations! You have leveled up. 5 Attribute Points awarded. Congratulations! You have leveled up. 5 Attribute Points awarded. Congratulations! You have leveled up. 5 Attribute Points awarded. Congratulations! You have leveled up. 5 Attribute Points awarded. You have reached level 5! Class Skill awarded.

You have gained [Skill Transfer - Unique] I looked at the words. What a cruel joke this was. I landed on my ass and stared at the sky. For a moment, I just looked and listened. It was silence. Then I broke out into uncontrollable laughter, and tears streamed down my eyes. My laughter eventually turned into sobbing, and I was overflowing with rage. I hit the ground over and over again. Then, with tears still pouring down, I screamed at the sky and whatever put me here.

"Fuck you!" The cruel joke didn't end. Rewards are being calculated... You have completed the first objective: survival. You have failed the second objective: saving your neighbor's family. You have completed the third objective: killing ten bandits. Calamity Points increased by 7.

Proficiency reward: You have gained [Swordsmanship - Common] You have gained [Assassination - Common] You have gained [Hiding - Common] Special reward: You have gained [Mana Manipulation - Uncommon] All Skills have been placed into a limbo state until you choose to use them. You have gained the enhanced farm and herb knowledge of farmer Mila. I just stared blankly at the words floating in front of me—unmoving, barely breathing.

For a minute, I just lay on the ground and let everything that happened play out inside my mind. I didn't shrink away from anything. Fuck. I just closed my eyes. I didn't know when I woke up again, but my mind was significantly fresher. It wasn't that I changed, but rather that I accepted. I accepted this was my new reality. I had killed. I had killed willingly with the intent of murdering somebody. I had refined the process over hours. And I knew—I was going to kill in the future.

Whether I had a choice in the matter or not. So, I accepted it. I accepted what I couldn't change and moved on. I was a murderer that was going to murder more. I stood up, patted down my clothes, wiped away the dried blood from my face, and thought about the words that were still in front of me. First, I had gained 25 Attribute points, but I ignored them. I started with my new Skill. I thought about what the Skill could do, and its information appeared inside my mind.

I could transfer any skill that I gained onto other people. The Skills I could give out were restricted to the ones placed in a limbo state. I nodded. This was a good skill for a noble, especially considering how many new Skills I had gained and the Skill Limit of three at Wood Rank. I moved on to my Skills placed in limbo.

Swordsmanship [Common] - level 5 Assassination [Common] - level 4 Hiding [Common] - Level 6 Mana Manipulation [Uncommon] - Level 1 All four skills were greyed out and not placed underneath my General Skills section but rather had an entirely new one below it. I also understood what "limbo state" meant. I couldn't use the skills. I could choose to learn them, give them away with Life Transfer, or keep them in limbo. I kept them in limbo for now. I moved to the third point I couldn't understand.

This one put me a little on edge—Calamity Points. And the moment I thought about them, information entered my mind, and words appeared in front of me. Calamity Points: 7 Calamity Points increased with every objective I failed and could be sunk in case I fulfilled all. But not always. The points were indeed as ominous as they sounded. The more Calamity Points I had, the more bad shit would happen to me. Fuck². However, as bad as the situation was, I realized just how amazing my new Class truly was.

I had practically gained three General skills in the span of a day. Sure, at Wood Rank, I could only hold three. But at Sebastian's rank, Bronze, that would be 10 already. I could be the sole supplier of General Skills inside my territory. I could skew the path of progression of my town into any direction I wanted. I took a deep breath. I was getting ahead of myself. I couldn't skew shit with four general skills, with one I was already considering in choosing. Finally, I moved towards the last section.

This one confused me. I could guess what the other stuff meant from their names etc., but this made me think. Then it hit me. Not a sudden realization, no, but a wave of information. I learned more and more about herbs I used today—yarrow. It didn't stop there. More herbs and their properties entered my mind. Then it was farming knowledge. How to tend a field. Dig up earth properly. Which crops to plant when and how long it took for them to grow. I wasn't an expert by all means.

But I knew enough to call myself a farmer now. After that was done, the words in front of me disappeared and morphed into a new single sentence. Life Simulation fully complete. Congratulations. Then the words vanished, and I felt the earth shake beneath my feet. The shapes of the forest began to shift and turn black. A moment later, they morphed into something I vaguely remembered, and the world changed. My body bumped up and down. Green silk entered my vision, and the night turned into day.

I was back inside the carriage. A soft and plushy cat underneath me demanding pets, and a breathtaking view to my right. The green hills were still as beautiful as I remembered them. The blue sky was as pure as before. Not one cloud. It was peaceful.