35 Start of the trip to Ekueyta

Lux and his group went back to the adventurers guild to see if there was a quest for protecting a carriage or something similar that was going to the city that they were travelling to next which after asking around for a bit, they found out that it was called Ekueyta. It was apparently very safe and had a lot of strong adventurers with most of them being A or S rank. Although this did not mean much as Lux only had the SSS rank as it was the highest that the rankings go or he would have had a higher one and Petra was only at SS rank due to their being no more SSS rank cards. After all, she was a hybrid between two of the rarest and most powerful monsters that live on Aseviel which should have been impossible to create her.

There was a carriage protection job but it had not been taken due to the low reward and high danger. Lux was not bothered by this as he could just create money with no consequences and nothing could kill him in the tutorial and that would not change now. He decided to take the quest as he wanted to just relax for a bit as he realised that since he had arrived in Aseviel, all he had done was try to speed-run everything. During the tutorial, all he had wanted was a chilled out life and right now he was not helping that dream at all.

Lux and his group met up with the people that posted the quest and they seemed to be a poor family who were hoping to move to a safer city for a better life. They tried to tell Lux that it was dangerous and apologised for the lack of reward but he told them not to worry about it. The trip would only take around a week which was nothing to Lux as he had spent multiple months on single levels previously.

The carriage that they were meant to be travelling in was worn down and shoddily built so Lux decided to make a new one with [Matter Creation] that was very luxurious and moved quickly and smoothly along the ground.

The people were extremely surprised but very grateful for their new vehicle and wanted to set out at once. They all got inside except the father of the family that Lux was escorting as he planned to sit at the front of the carriage and make sure they were being pulled in the correct direction by the horses but Lux stopped him and used [Self Multiplication] to create a clone specifically for driving the carriage.

They started moving along the track and had no interruptions for about three hours and they were now a good distance away from the previous city and were in the middle of a forest but there was a track for carts but it did not seem to get much use. The carriage had two parts, one had the people who posted the quest and the other was where Lux, Jörmungandr, Petra, Fin and Ethan were sitting. Fin and Ethan were directly opposite Lux and Petra but there were two windows behind each of them to see any incoming danger. Just as they were meant to do, the window behind Lux had shown that there were a group of men and women brandishing weapons now blocking the road ahead.

Lux jumped out of the side and told everyone else to stay inside except Petra as he was going to test her actual combat abilities as she had been a slave since she was a child, and although she had strong abilities and high stats, she had no actual experience in battles. He analysed the people he assumed to be bandits and saw that they were weaker than Fin or Ethan and if Petra had any difficulties, he could instantly help her. However, first he needed to speak to the people to find out their motives instead of just assuming.

"Hey, what do you guys want? Any reason that you're blocking the road?"

"You know what we want, don't act stupid with us."

Lux did not want to make any assumptions so he turned to Petra and told her to use [Emotion Perception] which showed that they were emitting malice towards both Lux and Petra.

"Oh, I was right then, you are trying to rob us. Damn, I had faith in you guys not being terrible people but I guess I was wrong."

"Well, if you know that we're robbing you, then hand over all of your possessions."

"Sorry mate but that isn't happening. Give us a minute will you."

"You know what, fine, there's thirty of us and two of you, anything you try won't help so go ahead."

Lux once again turned to Petra and told her to fight and kill the bandits with any means possible but to not only rely on her skills or her stats as she would need to be able to use both to her full advantage if she would stay with Lux.

The bandits were confused as to why it was only Petra approaching them but were not upset as the men were getting ready for their next 'feast' and did not see her as a threat.

She used [Plant Manipulation] and made a tree's root shoot up from the ground and straight through the back of one of bandits near the front. He died instantly and created a crater in the ground when the root was pulled back into the Earth and he smashed down with great force. The bandits were on guard now as they had just seen one of their own be killed by the same woman that they had thought to be weak and helpless.

Petra then used [Explosive Seeds] to create the sticky version and threw them into the crowd of bandits. Two of them stuck onto a single bandit and as he tried to rip them off, they exploded as their body parts were sent flying into multiple directions, but the explosion also killed three extra bandits.

A bandit shot an arrow at Petra and Lux noticed that its speed was a lot slower than the arrows that had been shot at him in the past. Petra used [Defensive Wall] and a wall made of earth was erected which blocked the incoming projectile. She then jumped over the top of the wall and activated [Dragon Transformation]. Suddenly, her arms and hands turned into that of a Dragon's along with her legs and head which terrified the remaining bandits and caused some of them to attempt to flee to which Petra responded with moving quicker than Lux had seen her move so far and ripped their bodies in half with her claws and bite. She easily dispatched of the remaining bandits and deactivated [Dragon Transformation] and walked back over to Lux.

She was covered in blood but it was quite charming and also not a sight he had never seen before as he was constantly drenched in the blood of monsters during the tutorial.

"You did well considering this was your first real experience with killing or even just fighting in general."

"Thank you, I just did what I thought was the right choice at each point in the fight. I want to improve in the future to make sure I can keep travelling with you.."

"No problem, you want me to wash you off a bit?"

"That would be great, but how are you going to do it?"

"Just a little bit of water and fire magic for hot water and I'll dry you off with some wind magic. You're all done, lets go back to the carriage now"

They both went and got back into the carriage and the group set off again.