Chương 5

''I can't believe I tried so hard to get basic skills. There is no system. There never was,'' Ethan murmured to himself, burying his face in his hands. Thankfully, no one was there to witness him making a fool of himself.

''Since when do monsters give Exp in cultivation worlds, anyway?'' Oh, it was actually called life essence, by the way. Not that it mattered, he'd call it Exp regardless. As for the rules of a cultivation world, admittedly, he didn't know much about it. That was his friend Wu Qian's expertise. Unlike her, he never played the game Heaven's Dao. He'd only read a few xianxia novels among the classics and couldn't even finish them all.

In all honesty, they were absolutely addictive, but they also contained many cringeworthy elements and bizarre norms.'' Arrogant young masters, crazy jade beauties, obsession with face, the culture of bullying the weak and kowtowing to the powerful, wiping out entire clans because someone from them looked at someone else funnily.'' Ethan stood up from the lounge chair and started pacing in the attic.

''It can't be like that in here, right?'' The information he'd gained pointed out many oddities. Some of the names included Duchess Lyra Ashcroft, Sir Tristan Valehart, and High Inquisitor Edwin Nocturne. To be frank, there was also a Heavenly Emperor Haotian Zhenhuang... but then again, mentions of creatures like wraiths, basilisks, and gargoyles could be found as well. The words 'Life Essence' and 'Mana' were thrown around a lot, but the word 'Qi' never came up.

That didn't sound like a xianxia setting; however, this was definitely a cultivation world. Apparently, the power scale was divided into nine tiers. Ethan wasn't even tier-1 yet. Comparing it to his makeshift system, levels 10 to 19 were tier-1, levels 20 to 29 were tier-2, and so on. Every tier also consisted of nine minor breakthroughs, which corresponded to a level-up in his book.

But they were commonly addressed in four stages; for example, level 10 to 12 was low tier-1, 13 to 15 was mid tier-1, 16 to 18 was high tier-1, and level 19 was peak tier-1. The cultivation part was the most troublesome one. One could advance their cultivation with a cultivation manual, or by killing other beings and taking a small part of their life essence, until the peak of tier-2.

Unless they advanced one of their rank 1 skills to rank 2 through some form of enlightenment and increased their comprehension, they would be stuck in a bottleneck and couldn't progress any longer. It didn't end there either. The requirement to reach tier-3, having a rank 2 skill, applied for tiers 4 and 5 as well. The tiers 6, 7, and 8 demanded a rank 3 skill each, while a rank 4 skill was a must to advance to tier-9.'' Right, skills…''

Ethan stopped his pacing and turned to look at the bookshelves, the corner of his eye twitching. Among the hundreds of books he'd just speed binged, there was not a single skill book or cultivation manual. Scratch that, most of the useful information came from the diary of this house's lady and the other texts he'd read in the past two days. As for the rest… they were all smut novels. Yep…

Well, at least they helped him to learn the language, but Ethan didn't know how to feel about suddenly having the knowledge of so much steamy content. Chuckling wryly, he shook his head and walked toward the oculus window. He gazed at the ancient ruins and bit his lip. I wonder if I can find skill books in the other houses? All Rank 1 skills could be learned from scrolls and stone tablets, except for mana skills.

He didn't understand that part much, but supposedly, he would be learning [Mana Sense] at tier-1 instinctively, then [Mana Flight] at tier-5, and finally, [Mana Gate] at tier-9. Just thinking about [Mana Flight]–if the name had any indication of its ability–made him shiver in anticipation. As for the [Mana Gate], the skill was some kind of spiritual portal that led to their soul space, where they could remove, modify, or merge their skills–or even create a new one on their own.

At the peak of tier-9, or level 99 as far as he was concerned, creating a new skill would let them ascend. Ascend to where? Ethan had no idea. Then there was the enigma of the mysterious temple in the heart of the city. It wasn't even mentioned once in the– A bestial roar snapped him out of his thoughts. Not seeing anything from the window, he left the attic and climbed to the roof quickly. Lightning cracked through the sky like divine judgment, painting the city in cold azure for a heartbeat.

Ethan lifted his head warily and spotted the big golden hawk in the clear sky. The majestic bird looked pissed. A blinding bolt struck down, tore apart everything on its path, but fizzled out after meeting its target. Ethan's eyes widened.

''What is that!?'' A large humanoid creature glided on the ground, radiating a subtle feeling of wrongness. Its body portions were off. It was shaped out of slick mud, covered in rotten roots and moldy moss. Its glassy black eyes were barely visible behind the long strands of algae, dropping to its chest like wet hair. A swamp monster, perhaps? His eyebrows rose as he looked around. Where the hell did it come from?

With a wave of its hand, the creature shot dozens of earthen projectiles at the thunderbird, only to watch them get obliterated by swirls of chaotic lightning. By now, the residents of the town had all taken their positions to enjoy the show. One in particular caught Ethan's eye: the big cat who had killed the winged snake the other day. After its victory, it stayed in the snake's territory but didn't settle in the house of its predecessor.

And now, it moved even further away, whereas he was pretty close to the place. Ethan's eyes shifted between the fight, the big shots of the town, and the old snake's house. In the end, he balled his hand and set his jaw. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Climbing down, he retrieved his knives and chose to leave his blowgun behind, putting two darts in his back pocket instead. This had to be a smooth operation, a quick ransack. In and out.

Without further ado, he hit the road and limped his way there as the sound of thunder mixed with angry cries in the background. Despite his best efforts, it took him about 10 minutes to reach the place. Thankfully, the battle was still going on, even more heated than before. The two-storey house that the winged-snake used to wrap itself around was one of the most damaged buildings in the neighborhood, but didn't look like it'd collapse anytime soon.

Most of its windows were shattered, and the front door was missing altogether. Investigating the building for a short while, he slipped inside and discovered he wasn't the only one with the brilliant idea. A stocky badger with a black and yellow striped face was excavating a pile of rubbish. It noticed him promptly and let out a threatening hiss. Its beady eyes and button nose were kinda cute, but as a rule of thumb, Ethan assumed everyone in this place wanted to eat him, including the plants.

Especially the plants. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. He spread his arm slowly, still holding his weapons.

''It's okay. I'm not gonna–'' The negotiations failed. The badger scuttled at a blistering pace and pounced at him. Claws met steel. Ethan found himself pushed back. The little savage was about the same size as the overgrown rats, yet both faster and stronger. He doubted it was at tier-1, but definitely close. It dropped to its feet and dashed behind him in a waddling gait before jumping for his throat.

Twisting around just in the nick of time, he blocked the attack with the flat side of his cleaver, but his injured ankle gave up as he fell backwards. Biting back a cry of pain, he swiveled his cleaver and slashed it. The badger pushed itself over the weapon and raked its claws across his shoulder, opening a gory wound. A jab with his other knife went for the beast's heart. Claws grabbed the blade and deflected the attack.

Taking advantage of it, Ethan pushed the badger away and kicked its belly, sending it back with a sharp shriek and giving himself the precious time to adjust his body to a crouch. Not wasting a moment, he dropped to a knee with a lunge and chopped with his cleaver as his shoulder burned with searing pain, but it jumped back once again with an innate deftness. The badger dug its claws into the ground and bolted in a zigzag behind him. It quickly found an opening and leaped with wild abandon.

Ethan didn't move; challenging this beast's speed was clearly not an option. Instead, he focused on pinpointing it and allowed it to attack from a blind spot. Then, he switched his knife to a reverse grip swiftly and stabbed backward. Realizing that it was heading straight into the knife, the badger raised its left foreclaws with startling speed to protect its head. As the knife pierced through its paw, it tilted its head and dodged, surviving with only a nick on its chin. Got you.

Ethan rose and swung his cleaver upright before rotating his torso rightward and bringing his weapon down in an arc as he spun. The movement ripped his chef's knife out of the paw, but before the beast could react, his cleaver met its neck, severing its head cleanly. With a stagger, he took a step back and caught his breath, his heart pounding in his chest. Despite the near misses or the accumulating wounds on his body, there was a faint smile tugging at his lips.

Fighting against beasts wasn't something he had any experience with. He had to analyze their attack patterns, consider their diverse stature, and improvise on the spot. It certainly didn't help when they were all stronger than him, but deep down, a part of him welcomed the challenge nonetheless. The Exp from the badger carried him to level 4 easily. He distributed the stats while leaning more on Vitality, but left a single one for an experiment of a later date.

Throwing one last look at the badger's corpse, he turned to search the house as he was still on the clock. The interior was similar to the other places he'd visited so far, with the distinction of remnants of battle scars on the walls, burnt furniture, destroyed columns, and so on. Sadly, exploring the place thoroughly didn't yield any results. He couldn't even find a single written text or anything useful for him, no attic or basement either.

Returning to the living room with a deflated posture, Ethan grabbed the badger's carcass and turned to leave before stopping himself. Over his shoulder, he glanced at the pile of rubbish the badger had been digging through. Another peal of booming thunder rumbled through the city. With a sigh, Ethan rushed to the pile, dropped his belongings, and started throwing the trash around, ignoring his body's protests. He almost gave up when he discovered it was mostly rubble halfway down, but still kept going.

Finally, his eyes grew wide as the bottom of the pile revealed human remains. The skeleton was missing an arm and a leg. Its tattered clothes were decayed, and it didn't have any other items around, except for the two pendant necklaces it still wore. Elongated, rectangular gems hung from rusty chains, set within a similar rusty frame. Ethan grabbed one of them and cleaned its dusty surface, noticing it was actually some sort of transparent crystal with a small piece of paper stuck inside.

The paper contained bizarre symbols and complex drawings that made no sense, but it was enough to spark his interest. Unfortunately, all his ideas fell short against the weird necklaces and their usage. Before trying to wear the potentially cursed items or smear his blood on them, he decided to bring his experiment forward, and after some hesitation, with a glimmer of hope, he allotted his last bonus stat to Intelligence, quickly confirming that his suspicion was correct.

Ever since arriving in this world, he had been feeling an indistinct sense of connection, but couldn't figure out what that was, or what he was connected to. It had an icky feeling attached to it that got intensified when he tried to identify it. Its source seemed so close yet so far away. After learning tidbits about this world, he started to suspect that it could be related to mana, and so it was.

Once he increased his Intelligence stat, the icky feeling reached a point of making his skin crawl before shifting into a familiar, soothing warmth, almost like reuniting with an old friend. As his mana pool expanded, it allowed him to locate the source. Well, 'locate' was a big word. He knew that it was there, and he was able to call upon his mana instantaneously, letting it traverse in his body through ethereal channels he was vaguely aware of.

It was like finding out he had another limb all this time, but it was rigid after not using it for so long. It was a novel experience like none other, but Ethan's mind was somewhere else. Breathlessly, he guided his mana toward his hand that was still holding the pendant. From the tip of his thumb, a wisp of his mana slipped into the crystal without a hitch and created a bridge of connection. Through it, information rushed into his mind.'' A talisman!''

Ethan exclaimed as he gripped the necklace tighter, a wide smile shaping on his face.

''Now, that's what I call loot!'' Compared to Ani's memory transfer, the transition of knowledge was much smoother this time. In a flash, he gained an intuitive understanding of the talisman's purpose, inner mechanics, and activation. Hidden inside this enchanted marvel lay a formidable binding skill. Upon activation, thick, obsidian chains would burst from the ground, wrapping around the target and locking them in place.

Unless the subject got hit with another attack, the chains would last up to a minute, depending on the target's powers. The required mana was already stored inside; however, out of three charges, there was only a single one left. A surge of anticipation pulsed through him as he grabbed the other talisman and sent his mana. This one turned out to be a shield skill for blocking a single physical or magical attack from anyone below tier-5, and there were two charges left in it.

Ethan pursed his lips, briefly disappointed by the absence of calamity-level destruction spells, but his jovial mood returned the next instant. Life-saving treasures, eh? Yes, please! He gingerly removed the necklaces and wore them himself. Looking at the freshly mugged skeleton, he gave a nod of gratitude.

''Thanks, mate. I'll give you a proper burial when I have time.'' It came to his attention that the moment he stopped his contact with the crystals, he lost his connection. In order to use them, it seemed that he had to touch them beforehand. Hence, he tucked them under his t-shirt and slung one over his back to keep them from tangling and breaking the connection. Getting his knives and the badger carcass, he quickly started his return.

The meat of the badger, together with the rat he'd left in the murder weed's shop, were essential for his new experiment. He wanted to stuff them with a bunch of darts and use them as traps for larger game. The true rulers of the city, the ones rocking the place at the moment, could probably shake off the sedative effects easily, but he still wanted to see it with his own eyes. As he got close to his base, the sounds of the battle ceased at once.

From his rooftop, he saw that the thunderbird was chilling on its nest, looking slightly haggard. The swamp monster, on the other hand, was nowhere to be seen. Looking at the devastated battlefield, rather than its possible retreat, Ethan was more inclined to believe that it was burnt and shredded to pieces, again and again, until there was nothing left. Note to self: Don't get on the wrong side of that bird.

Settled in his new base, Ethan made himself at home and spent five more days in this charming town, getting a few more levels and mild PTSD along the way. At the start of his second week, he decided to leave for good and search for the place the swamp monster came from, somewhere at the mountain's foothills, because water was still an issue.

On the bright side, two days after settling, he'd actually woken up to the pitter-patter sound of rain at night, and did his best to store some water, but he didn't have enough containers as he was caught unprepared. Worse yet, the rain started as a drizzle and turned rather heavy, but it only lasted for half an hour. Even after collecting water from the leaves in the forest, he ended up with a pitiful amount, which lasted him for three more days. He had no choice but to set off.

It was just that there was no way he was leaving without checking out that fancy temple first.