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Path to Prosperity - B1 Chapter 32
🕑 Added 2024-07-05 10:00:07 +0000 UTCNobody taught Percy how to organize and digest foreign streams of information invading his brain, but it worked somehow. Percy’s understanding of blades, a blade’s trajectory, strengths, and weak points increased quickly. That was only the beginning. Even though Percy had been training a lot in the last few weeks, the old man was the only proper combat teacher he had.
Greg taught him a lot, but Percy forgot many of the old man’s teachings. At that time, he was a child and was more motivated by fooling around than following the old man’s instructions.
That came back biting him in the last few weeks. Death had been looming over Percy too often, and he regretted not listening better to the man who’d raised him with painstaking effort.
[Blade Mastery] solved some of his issues. It granted him a basic understanding of blade and bladed combat and stimulated his muscles.
Percy and the Gnoll moved quickly through the small inn room. They clashed, the Gnoll Blade and Percy’s iron dagger resounding as metal struck metal. Their movements were fast, but they accelerated further as the mana within them resonated with their movements. They twisted their bodies to evade the incoming slashes and strikes before responding with a counterattack.
The muscles in Percy’s legs constricted and seemed to breathe as they expanded as he kicked the ground. The wooden floor cracked and threatened to break apart, but Percy didn’t notice. His full attention lingered on the unfamiliar movements his body executed with shocking precision.
Even though Percy had known what a Mastery Augmentation was supposed to do to a Cardist, he was flabbergasted. Not only did it teach him how to wield a blade properly, but it aided his movements as well. Percy’s movements were still far from perfection, but some of the habits and flaws other Adventurers had pointed out disappeared as he greedily devoured the foreign streams of information. The Gnoll improved a lot as well. To be precise, it improved even more than Percy. The Gnoll Card’s prowess reached new heights.
It could slay ordinary Gnolls without help now that it acquired [Blade Mastery].
He didn’t know how much time had passed, but it couldn’t have been more than a few minutes before someone knocked on the door. Percy didn’t hear the knocking at first, but the familiar voice that followed was enough to pull him back to his senses.
“Percy? Is everything alright?” Bertha asked, slowly opening the creaking door to take a look inside. It was already late, and most guests would either be asleep or drinking downstairs. Yet, despite the cacophony in the dining room, Bertha heard the commotion from Percy’s room and decided to check out what he was doing.
The wooden floor was broken in multiple spots, the bed was messy, and the remains of a chair were spread throughout the room.
Bertha’s eyes narrowed at the desolate room’s state, but a sigh of relief escaped her lips when she saw that Percy was fine.
“Sorry about that. I…”
“No, it’s okay. I was just worried something happened,” Bertha waved her hand dismissively, but her eyes trailed to the Gnoll blade opposite Percy. She could see the [Sharpness] Enchantment on the Gnoll’s Blade, but her expression didn’t change. There was not even a twitch. Instead, she asked calmly, “Did you start practicing with two blades?”
Only now did Percy notice the Gnoll disappeared. He retrieved the Gnoll Blade and smiled gently at it, “Something like that.”
He turned, sheathed the blades, and retrieved a silver coin.
“I’m sorry about the damage. Is one silver enough to fix it?”
One silver coin should be more than enough, but Percy didn’t want to throw a silver coin at her and act like a snotty brat. Destroying her room was already embarrassing enough.
“That’s more than enough. One silver is enough to stay a whole week and pay for the damages.”
“Sounds like a good deal,” Percy responded with a smile. He handed her the silver coin and left the room with Bertha. Digesting the information streams from [Blade Mastery] had occupied his mind long enough to forget about his rank-ups and the aftermath of ranking up three times in quick succession. But now that the knowledge and mastery of the blade had been imprinted into his mind and muscles, Percy’s stomach occupied him once again.
It grumbled like Percy had starved himself for several weeks.
Calm down, my friend. I have enough money to fill you dozens of times!
He might have consumed two gold coins, but his fortune was more than that. Percy had 51 silver coins and enough copper coins to purchase food for several weeks!
They reached the dining room, which Percy didn’t leave until his stomach was filled to the brim two hours later. His pouch was 41 copper coins lighter, which would have stung if Percy was the same kid he used to be several weeks ago. But that wasn’t the case.
Satisfied with himself and the changes he’d undergone in the last few hours, Percy dived into his bed, ignoring the broken planks and the like, and fell asleep.
**
Percy and the Gnoll broke through the thicket with sharp movements. Their blades flicked through the air, drawing the blood of their bloodthirsty foe. A claw, severed from a fierce slash, hurled through the air, drawing the monster’s attention to the Gnoll while Percy’s mana-infused blade cut deep into the monster’s neck.
The monster screeched in pain and tried clawing Percy but couldn’t reach him. Percy was too agile. He twisted the iron dagger in the monster’s neck and ripped it out while backing up. The Gnoll appeared behind its kin and cut downward, cleaving the enemy Gnoll’s shoulder smoothly. The monster shrieked once as the enchanted Gnoll Blade cut it and collapsed lifelessly to the ground.
A puddle of blood formed quickly around the corpse, but Percy paid little attention. He used [Consume] on the dead Gnoll, devouring its body and equipment.
[Goods worth 853 Prosperity have been consumed.]
“Not too bad,” Percy nodded, his head flicking to the Gnoll, “Or what do you think, Hyean?”
The Gnoll, creatively named Hyean for being a humanoid Hyena, didn’t respond. However, it looked at him as if expecting something.
“I’m not going to upgrade your Potential again anytime soon. We’re saving for something else. Did you forget that already?” Percy asked but scoffed inwardly.
I am talking to my Monster Card. Am I this socially awkward?
He chuckled but tensed up and changed into a combat stance when the bushes opposite him rustled. It hadn’t even been two days since [Blade Mastery] was added to the Gnoll Card’s Augmentations, but a lot had changed. First, Percy had gotten used to his acquired power after his Tier reached Mortal-9. Second, he and the Gnoll experimented extensively with [Blade Mastery]. It was a passive Augmentation that instantly boosted the Cardist and Card’s understanding of blades and bladed combat. However, there was more to it. Blade Mastery stimulated comprehension and growth with blades.
Going out to hunt for several hours for the last two days showed that clearly. The stimulation of [Blade Mastery] wasn’t extraordinary, but it was noteworthy. Both Percy and Hyean improved decently. However, their improvements were also how they went deeper into the forest than intended. They encountered several Gnolls but managed to avoid their packs and larger groups.
But that didn’t mean Gnoll packs couldn’t find them.
Fighting a pack of Gnolls was not planned for today, but I’m fine with tha–... Oh. Nevermind. There are no Gnolls.
Percy clicked his tongue in frustration. What awaited him in the bushes was much worse than a small pack of Gnolls.
“You can come out. There is no need to hide any longer.”
Nothing happened for a few seconds. Silence remained after his words resounded through the vicinity until a grayish flash burst through the bushes. An arrow whizzed through the air and would have struck the Hyean if they weren’t prepared for an attack. The Gnoll lifted its blade and blocked the attack.
Percy didn’t divert his attention from the bushes and circulated mana through his body. He nibbled nervously on his lower lip and tensed up when a small group of familiar faces emerged from the bushes.
Three men and a middle-aged woman stepped out of the thicket. The woman grasped a bow tightly in her hand and aimed at the Gnoll, ready to shoot Hyean again at any moment.
“Don’t be mistaken. The first shot was merely a warning. The second will kill your little toy.” One of the three men said. He wielded a large broadsword, an Artifact of some sort, and smiled calmly at Percy.
His physique wasn’t extraordinary among Adventurers, but he was tall and strong enough to swing his massive sword casually through the air. The two men behind the leader wielded a set of daggers and a shortsword. One of the daggers was also an Artifact, but that was already it.
“Was it really necessary to cling onto me like that?” Percy scrunched his nose in displeasure.
The leader and the archer woman were the pair who’d been pursuing him for over a week. Their tracking skills weren’t great, and it was rather easy to trick them.
These new guys must have tracked us. Do I know them from somewhere? I don’t think so… Are they Bronze Rank Adventurers then? But does that change anything? Niko and Lea are Silver Rank Adventurers.
Niko was the leader of the group, and Lea was their archer. Both were veterans and acquired the Silver Guild Emblem before the Adventurer training was added to the exam requirements.
They don’t look like they’re out hunting a lot. Their tracking skills are lackluster, and they’re not good at hiding. Are they rusty and trying to make a quick buck?
Niko frowned deeply at the unmoving Gnoll. Hyean didn’t pay much attention to the Adventurer and focused on the archer instead. It snarled at Lea and would have pounced forward if Percy wasn’t restraining it mentally.
“So the Gnoll we’ve seen multiple times in the last few days was yours. No wonder we lost your tracks,” Niko said matter-of-factly. The Bronze Adventurers inspected the Gnoll Blade with unmeasurable greed glimmering in their eyes.
“It has an Artifact,” One of them murmured.
“No wonder he grew stronger so quickly. Tom has been telling everyone how lucky Raewood is for finding a treasure with a combat gift alignment, but it was your Gnoll Card doing all the work all along!”
Lea’s eyes narrowed as Hyean’s blade flicked smoothly in its hands.
“Stay on guard, idiot. It’s a special Monster Card,” She looked at Percy, “Or am I wrong?”
Percy didn’t respond, but his answer wouldn’t have changed much, either way. Niko and his group eyed Hyean in greed. Both the Gnoll Blade Artifact and the Monster Card were worth a fortune.
“If you hand over the Monster Card and your Artifacts, we might leave you alive,” Niko declared, his eyes glimmering dangerously, “...And we might keep your little secret.”
They saw me use my Ego!
Percy’s eyes widened, and his mind wavered. Under normal circumstances, that wouldn’t have been bad, but the situation was much worse than what it looked like. Percy was more proficient with bloodlust after being around Hyean and fighting a few Gnolls. He knew what bloodlust felt like, but he had never sensed so much bloodlust from humans.
They’re not planning to leave me alive…They’re….going to kill me…
The realization hit Percy much harder than expected, creating an opening for Hyean. The Gnoll’s wild instincts suppressed Percy’s authority in a moment of weakness, and the monster shot forward.
The four Adventurers didn’t expect Percy to attack them so decisively. Their scheme never failed to push rookie Adventurers to the edge. Rookie Adventurers weren’t mentally prepared for possible fights with fellow humans, let alone the chance to be forced into fighting them to death.
That didn’t seem to hold Percy from sending the Gnoll at them.
Lea’s eyes narrowed to tiny slits. Something about the picture unfolding before her seemed wrong, and she cast a short glance at Percy, who had yet to move from his spot. In a quarter of a second, she considered shooting Percy and killing him to claim his Monster Card, but the Gnoll was already too close.
She made her decision – not without forgetting to curse in her mind – and released the arrow. But because the Gnoll was already too close, Lea didn’t manage to channel enough mana into both arrow and bow to unleash their full potential. The arrow headed for Hyean’s head, but the Gnoll had lowered its body until its hyena-like head was about to touch the ground. It looked more like a Hyena than a Gnoll as bloodthirst – which Percy had subconsciously suppressed to focus on their seamless teamwork as a Cardist-Card duo – filled its entire being.
The arrow hit the Gnoll but pierced its ear instead of its skull. Hyean, in its thirst, didn’t feel anything. It appeared before Lea and struck her with full power. Lea stepped back, and Niko reappeared in her place, taking the brunt of the attack. The Gnoll Blade collided with the broadsword, which swung through the air immediately after the Gnoll’s attack was blocked.
Niko’s strength and speed were superior to the Gnoll. It was no problem to block the incoming attack and use the remaining momentum to raise his broadsword high overhead and slash down. The broadsword hummed dangerously as it cleaved down, forcing Hyean to dive to the side when imminent death engulfed it.
But instead of cleaving the Gnoll into two, the massive blade slowed down suddenly as it descended. It missed the target and dug into the ground, where it remained momentarily as Niko’s eyes trailed the Gnoll. The corner of his lips curled upward as the Bronze Rank Adventurers followed his example, injuring the Gnoll before it could get up rather than landing a killing blow.
They’re planning to kill me but are still torn between killing Hyean or not?! Greedy bastards!
