บท 3: Imi

Above the mountain range, the green grass and mild blows of wind making the trees sway created a scenic view.

A young man holding a sword shining with a resplendent light of sword qi was battling a zombie.

"Sword Qi Slash!" the young man yelled.

With a whoosh, the white sword qi shot through the zombie, slashing the zombie in half. But in a blink of an eye, black liquid poured out of the zombie's body connecting the zombie's body back to its original form.

20 something meters away from them was a figure wearing a cape. This figure looked like a withered corpse when you look at it closer.

The figure in a cape was called Regurr, he was the one who saved the dying child right next to the orphanage. And the child that he saved back then was the young man who was fighting with the zombie at the moment.

The zombie gave-off a ferocious glare towards the young man. The zombie charge with both hands radiating with dark lights. The zombie's level was a level 1 zombie, and that attack was a fist technique that the zombie learned when it was still living, the attack was called Yin Fist.

The young man lowered his body, waiting for the zombie to come near him. When the zombie was a few feet away from him, the temperature started rising. The young man jumped back making a distance between him and the zombie while releasing a burning fireball towards it.

Boom!

The zombie was pushed a few feet before losing balance and dropping on its knees. The young man hurriedly charges towards the zombie and slash the sword right above the zombie's head, killing it completely.

The young man harshly panted, trying to replenish his lost stamina.

The cape figure claps its bony hands. His smile looked sinister but there were warmth and praise within his eyes.

"Your skills had improved, not bad little one," Regurr said.

"Will you teach me undead magic then?" Asked the young man.

"You're still far from being ready. You needed to study literature and common knowledge before I teach you the undead magic." Regurr answered.

The young man was confused, "Why do I need to study? It's plain and boring."

"You need to learn literature to read the system that you have. How can an illiterate person understand each and every description given by the system? And you need to learn some common knowledge to build your problem-solving skills." Regurr calmly replied

"But…." Before the young man could continue speaking Regurr waved his hands.

"No buts, the world outside is chaotic and dangerous, and I don't really want to teach you undead magic because it's too dangerous, people outside despise and were disgusted towards our profession."

The young man lowered his head and was listening attentively.

Regurr smiled and patted the young man's head. "Don't be sad Imi, I still have to reward you for taking down that level 1 zombie."

The young man was named Imi. The sad look he has was replaced with a gentle grin. "What are you going to give me gramps?"

"I'll teach you how to use the bow," Regurr replied.

Imi's eyes brighten he excitedly nodded his head and he carefully watched Regurr's instruction about the bow and arrow.

Regurr gave Imi a simple looking bow and a few arrows to let him practice.

Imi is not a heaven-defying existence, his not even comparable to Regurr's talent in his childhood. Even though Imi was not that talented but he was hardworking. He excelled in his studies too, but he became more interested in swords and magic.

Regurr taught him how to build up his body. Early in the morning, Imi will jog to the mountain range, used his sword to chop firewood, and he also exhaust his magic every afternoon diligently training the single magic he knows.

Regurr never told Imi where he came from or what really happened to him. There is really no need to do so after all.

At noon Imi finished his cultivation routine. He checked his information window.

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Name: Imi

Race: Human

Age: 14(100)

Profession: None

Cultivation Level: 0-6

Cultivation Technique: Devouring Death Qi

Talent grade: E

Fate grade: E

Skills:

(Fireball), (Sword Qi Slash)

Status: Cursed(Life)

_______________

Imi sighed, looking at his stats and his low-level talent and fate. For almost ten years of cultivating he is still far away from reaching level 1. "If it was gramps he will reach level 1 in a year." Imi sighed again. He stopped thinking about his talent and fate and continued his daily routine as usual.

The next day Imi manage to breakthrough his five months long bottleneck and finally reaching level 0-7. With bloodshot eyes, he excitedly ran to where Regurr was staying.

"Gramps I finally made a breakthrough," Imi shouted.

"Oh, very good child. You're improving quite well." Regurr praised. "You are now allowed to train outside this periphery but don't wander too far, there is an orc tribe deep inside the forest. You can't match a single orc, they are much stronger than you."

"Yes gramps I know. I can take care of myself." Said Imi with a smile.

"Good. Come here first I'll give you an early birthday present." Regurr said.

"But my birthday was today. You have forgotten it again gramps." Replied Imi.

"Oh! My bad, my bad. How old are again? Hmmm, 15 right? You're a step closer to being an adult now so I'll give this to you." A magic wand suddenly appeared on Regurr's hand.

"But I have my sword gramps. It's not good to bring a magic wand, I'll need both my hands to hold the sword. Changing from sword to a wand is very complicated. Just teach me two magic skills." Imi said while rejecting Regurr's first gift.

"Don't suddenly jump into conclusions. I didn't even explain why I'm going to give you this." Regurr replied.

Imi scratched his head, smiling wryly.

"The truth is you didn't need a wand. You've trained to the point of mastering releasing magic with your hand. But using a magic wand can strengthen the magic you release and can reduce casting time. I'm a little proficient in the field of weapon refinement and magic mechanism. I can fuse the magic wand's magic circuits to your sword's blade, enabling you to release much powerful sword radiance and magic. Making your sword both a blade and a wand." Regurr explained.

Imi was grinning inside. Even though they are both alone in the mountain range, he saw a lot of treasure that came all around the Pangea in his gramps room. This treasures where known as legendary types. Even Imi don't have any knowledge about smithery or mechanism he knows the different grades of treasures. His gramps works and those treasures' level were comparable. Regurr's level of weapon refinement and mechanism was on-par of the legendary blacksmiths and magic mechanics.

Imi shyly handed his sword to his gramps.

Regurr placed the magic wand on top of the sword. With a wave of his hand, a magic circuit appeared. Regurr inserted a portion of magic to the magic circuit increasing its size like the size of the sword's blade. He pressed the magic circuit to the blade, a second later the magic wand turned to dust and slowly fused to the blade. The blade contorted, the color changed from silvery white to dark brown. Regurr then waved his hand stopping the contortion, changing the form of the blade back from its original appearance.