'Welcome back!' Ed smiled on the inside as his partner finally got back. He looked at the bandits and thought about using magic to blow this place up. But, after looking at the slaves he gave that thought up. There was also the possibility of the bandits seeking revenge and coming to the village early. That would interrupt his reunion with the system.
Ed teleported outside the base, and then to the entrance of the village. There was another state of commotion. Ed left as soon as the bandit did, so he didn't know. Most people don't manage to gather enough points until the last day. And, since the last day is today, they were panicking. 'Procrastinators.' Ed thought to himself and entered his room in the inn. He opened up a pocket dimension and entered.
[Let your monsters out.] The system told him as soon as they were inside the dimension. Ed did what he was told, and summoned his companions. Raikou was there as well after getting out of his shadow.
"what is this abo-" Before Ed could finish, all of them had a burst in power. Ed was surprised and checked their stats. Everyone one of them was now at Heavenly Establishment level 5.
[Since host will keep getting stronger, and keep getting companions. It was decided to make them a uniformed cultivation. This way you wouldn't have to keep check of their power-ups. Now, every time you advance a level, they will as well.] The system's words were like music to Ed's ears. Although the difference was only three ranks, all of his monsters were now that strong. It definitely meant a big improvement.
[Next up is Gacha function. The host has both the Blacksmithing and Pharmaceutical skills, at Legendary grade. The weapon and armor Gacha became obsolete due to this. So those two will be removed and instead replaced by a Material Gacha.] Ed was keeping check of what he was told. These improvements concerned him and not someone else, so he had to keep his attention.
[Lastly, for the Gacha tickets. The tickets can now be exchanged for a higher grade. One Gacha ticket is a guaranteed common item; two can be exchanged to guarantee Uncommon. Three for rare, five for Epic, and ten for Legendary. For Mythical and Supreme you need 25 and 50 tickets respectively.]
Ed was glad that he gathered twenty tickets. This meant that he would be able to draw at least two Legendary cards. He wanted to use the tickets immediately, but he had the bandits to prepare for. Ed also had a question to ask the system. He told him about his encounter with Johan.
"He should be related to them, right?"
[Yes, that's how the Map works.] The system gave Ed the answer he was expecting. Ed was now even more confused as to why Johan treated him so indifferently. 'It doesn't matter.' Ed stopped thinking about it and started preparing for the bandits. He was worried about the Leader of the bandits being strong. But, now that his companions leveled up, he didn't care anymore.
"System, can the Transformation cards do specific conditions?" Ed asked.
[As long as it's simple]
'Great.' Ed smiled as he withdrew three of them. He transformed into one of the thugs he beat on Port city back on his continent. He recalled his companions and teleported out. Upon meeting someone, he started panting and screaming. "The Bandits want to kill us all!!" his shout attracted everyone's attention. The condition he set on the Transformation card was bloody beat up body. Usually; people wouldn't believe someone so easily. But, looking at him they had no choice.
"What do you mean?!" a flustered middle-aged man asked. He was afraid for his life.
"What do YOU mean?! They attacked me and my friends saying today is our last day here! We ran away hoping to let everyone know! Now, I don't even know where my friends are!" Ed quickly told them his lie. He spent the whole night doing this and transformed two more times. By morning, people were panicking and some of them tried to use the teleportation circle. Quickly, however, they overheated it and now it needed a week to start working again.
People now were on edge. Fear took over their rationality and made them go berserk.
"They're here!" one of the men shouted on top of the wall. Not all bandits came as only a group of them usually did this job. Before they could enter the village, arrows rained on top of them along with magic and spears. The bandits were stunned at the sudden development and had no choice but to run away.
'Phase one successful.' Ed, who transformed into his black disguise set, smiled. He wasn't stupid to fight over 100 Heavenly Establishment people. Instead, he used those that he could, the ones in the village.
The Bandits now came over with their Leader in the front. "What does this mean?!" He shouted on top of his lungs. He was in control for so many years, but now people were revolting. It didn't make any sense.
"Why do you want to kill us?!" another villager screamed at him.
"Because you attacked my grunts!"
"They attacked us first!" By now, Ed's plan was in full effect. However, even he wasn't heartless enough to involve those who were innocent. Those represented by a blue dot were under Ed's surveillance, while he didn't care about others. It was his selfishness and he didn't care about what others thought.
Soon, both parties started fighting while Ed secretly summoned his companions. "Sieg, Raikou take care of the leaders. Suika and the others, you can kill bandits, but make sure that these people don't die." He showed them those who were blue dots and all of them rushed away. Ed was killing bandits very swiftly. No one managed to catch a glimpse of his due to his speed and the chaos that took place near the entrance. Same was for his companions. Only Raikou stood out, but since some people were using monsters as well, he was ignored. Ed finally met someone who was a monster tamer.
Hello everyone! No Gacha for you in this chapter!!
Hope you enjoy^^
The monster tamer belonged to the bandit group. It was easy to tell the difference because of their unified clothing. They had military-like pants while they wore sleeveless jackets, men and women wore the same clothes. Ed was surprised by their unity as he thought that bandits usually did whatever they felt like. 'I guess the leader beat them into it.' Ed thought.
The monster summoned by the bandit was called a Gale eagle. It was an Epic grade monster and its cultivation was Heavenly Establishment level 1. True to its name, it was a specialist in using Wind magic. The villagers who were locals were terrified by the monster, as they didn't fight all the times. On the other hand, the ones who came to challenge the tower could easily kill it with their team. Unlike Ed, the monster tamer's abilities were very low. Ed was killing bandits in stealth mode. He used space magic along with Spectral Shadow Steps to achieve completely silent kills. Other than some exceptional bandits, the ones he targeted were killed in a single sword slash.
As expected, after a while, the bandit's leader noticed Ed and targeted him. He was on the front lines but retreated to catch Ed who was killing his comrades or grunts as he called them. "You bastard!" he angrily rushed towards Ed.
"Are you sure you have the time to mess with me?" Ed didn't lose his cool. In fact, this was also part of his plan. Having Raikou and Sieg kill the leader would definitely bring attention towards Ed. Unwanted attention. So he had to lure him from the front, and the rest was simple.
"You!!" The bandits' leader was surprised as Sieg appeared in front of him. "Why are you on this floor?!" Apparently, the bandit's leader was familiar with Sieg.
"There is no reason for you to know that." Sieg caught the leader and teleported him away. It was a skill similar to Ed's long-range teleport, except that its range was limited. Sieg couldn't bring along many people either.
Both of them appeared a couple of kilometers away from the village.
"You may have defeated me before, but my cultivation is higher now! I won't lose again!" the leader who Sieg had defeated before was confident in his victory this time around. That is until, "and what gave you the idea that my cultivation is still low." Sieg's answer shocked the leader. Sieg's aura erupted and he showcased the extent of his abilities as a Heavenly Establishment level 5.
"Still, my abilities have improved over the last years. I won't lose!" Still refusing to admit his weakness, he boasted about his strength. A black smoke appeared on his hand and then was directed at Sieg. The grass that was touched by the smoke withered and died.
"Gyaaah!" The leader stumbled down as he felt pain in his leg. Frightened, he looked back and a black wolf stood behind him. "Both of us seem to be a little excessive for a weakling like him." Sieg who emerged unharmed from the smoke told Raikou. Now, the leader could only look in horror as both of them approached him.
Back at the village, the bandits who lost their leader went into an unorganized struggle. Ed managed to kill all the strong ones, while his companions, who had human forms, were able to protect those that he intended to protect. By now, the bandits were almost annihilated. The villagers sustained casualties, but not as much as they expected. In fact, if Ed and his companions weren't around the villagers would probably end up dead. But, he was also the reason why the bandits attacked in the first place.
"My liege," Sieg, who teleported back, called Ed something inconceivable. "We finished the mission," after he spoke to him, Raikou appeared out of his shadow. Ed recalled his companions and teleported away from the scene. He appeared next to the entrance of the bandits' hideout. He was going to loot whatever they had left here. Ed started examining the hideout, and suddenly he heard something.
"Who are you?" a feeble old voice reached Ed's ears. It was almost as if the voice had given up on life, only to find some hope.
"Why would you want to know?" Ed obviously knew why. The source of the voice came from inside cells. It was a slave who spoke to him. The slave was an old man who could very well be over 60 years old. Ed was surprised to see that he was at Heavenly Establishment level 7. He was curious how the leader managed to subdue him, but he knew there were many ways.
"Please help us!" Before the man could respond, other slaves who noticed Ed's presence started pleading.
Ed ignored them all as he moved ahead. "I can tell you where the treasures are." Again, the old man spoke to Ed. Even amid all the noise of the other slaves, he could easily discern that voice.
"I can find it on my own, why should I help you?" Ed knew very well that the old man wanted to give him the treasure in exchange for freeing him.
"That's the only thing I can offer. If you won't accept, then I'm sorry for taking your time." The old man didn't push any further. Ed was planning on releasing all the slaves before leaving. If he left them here, there was little chance that someone would end up freeing them afterward.
Still, the old man intrigued Ed so he opened the cell by cutting it open. The other slaves left in a frenzy, but the old man walked slowly towards Ed. "this way," he kept his promise and lead Ed to the treasure room. Gold, weapons, jewelry, potions, and pills. All of these things were neatly organized which shocked Ed. He imagined that they would all be thrown on the ground, or in a spatial ring. Instead, they were organized in shelves properly.
Ed took the things that caught his attention. Unfortunately, nothing was worth much in here, at least in Ed's standards. After taking the things, the old man asked Ed, "what about the rest?"
"you can have it," Ed told him as he walked outside. A man appeared and swung a blade at Ed. "the treasure is mine!" one of the slaves was too greedy and tried to kill Ed. His brain didn't function correctly as he failed to notice that since Ed wasn't a bandit, it meant that he killed one of them to know this place. On top of that, his nonchalant attitude would show that he could take his time. Meaning that he wasn't afraid of the bandits coming back and finding him.
A thread emerged out of Ed's shadow and killed the slave. The old man witnessed everything and was shocked, his eyes wide open. Ed wondered why the man waited until Ed left the room to attack him, but, apparently, it was simply idiocy.
"If you're done then let's go, I can take you to the teleportation circle. Ah! It overheated so you have to wait for a week." Ed told him as he was walking out.
Hello everyone! Unfortunately, I'll be dropping this novel T_T.
Now if you're still reading this, I'm sorry for giving you a mini heart attack and thank you for caring about this story :P.
If you feel like the events are a bit rushed, it's simply because I want to hurry up and start the next arc, which should be very interesting since Ed will leave the tower!
Enjoy the chapter^^
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GOT IT