Come out and Fight!

Later that night...

"Where did this rooster come from?" Ryan asked.

Lucky: o(〃＾▽＾〃)o

"It's the one I brought on the carriage, remember?"

"The one you left behind?" said Fletcher.

"Well... yeah. I kind of forgot about it."

"I thought you left it behind since it would probably die in your attempt to escape."

"Well... I didn't think about that way."

William thought about this. If he had brought Lucky along, It probably would've been killed while they were escaping, or William would've had to leave it on the battlefield so he could escape. Leaving it on the carriage seemed to give it a much better chance of survival. Could it be that him forgetting about it was what kept it alive? William glanced at Lucky.

"You really do have good luck."

(_　_)｡zｚZ

"Oh. It's asleep already?"

Ryan smiled.

"We should be sleeping too."

Fletcher sat down near the entrance of the cave.

"I'll keep watch first. Ryan will go next, then William."

Ryan settled down near the back without a word, sprawling on the floor. William chose a place near the walls of the cave, where he usually rested.

'System, collect the spirit stone and sell it.'

"Affirmative."

"Spirit stone sold! You have received 1,000 SP!"

William thought about what to do with the money. There was no point in buying more techniques when he hadn't familiarized himself with his current ones. And buying ultra comprehension boosts to master them wouldn't help if he didn't have time to gain experience with using them. His current weapons were also sufficient to deal damage to his opponents. The only thing that would raise his fighting strength significantly would be cultivating, and he didn't have the rest of his current techniques.

'System, do you sell cultivation techniques? I didn't see a section for that in the shop.'

"That is one of the few things I don't sell."

'What are the other things?'

"You are not qualified to know yet."

'...whatever.'

William looked in the shop to see what else he could buy

______________________________

[Shop:]

[Armor]

[Artifacts]

[Beasts]

[Combat Techniques]

[Cultivation Resources]

[Entertainment]

[Electronics]

[Exercise]

[Fashion]

[Food]

[Formation Blueprints]

[Furniture]

[Home Appliances]

[Medicine]

[Pills]

[Talismans]

[Tools]

[Weapons]

______________________________

'Pills or some medicine might be useful. I can't create formations so the formation blueprints are useless. WelI, I could also buy some armor to prepare for the battle that's coming. System, show me some armor that's around 500 SP.'

______________________________

...

[Light Darksteel Battle Armor] [470 SP]

[Heavy Steel Battle Armor] [480 SP]

[Ornamental Gold-Plated Armor] [510 SP]

[Light Crimson Alloy Battle Armor] [530 SP]

...

______________________________

William looked at his options.

'I don't want to be too weighed down by armor, so one of the lighter armors would be better. The one made of crimson alloy should be better, since it's more expensive. System, show me the light crimson alloy battle armor.'

______________________________

[Crimson Alloy Battle Armor]

[Price: 530 SP]

[Mortal Peak Tier Armor]

[Armor forged out of crimson alloy. Only the most important areas are covered, leaving the rest to be protected by leather from a spirit condensation realm beast.]

______________________________

'Not bad. I'll take it.'

"Would you like to purchase [Crimson Alloy Battle Armor] for 530 SP?"

'Yes. And remember to place it in my spacial ring.'

"Affirmative."

William wondered if he needed anything else.

'System, is there anything I can buy to increase my chances of beating the opponent?'

"If you're going to use the sword control scripture, I suggest you buy another [Spirit Boosting Pill]."

'Oh, right. Go ahead and get one of those for me. I almost forgot about that.'

"Would you like to purchase [Spirit Boosting Pill] for 200 SP?"

'Yes.'

William checked in his spacial ring.

'Well, looks like I'm well prepared for tomorrow. Shouldn't be an issue to beat anyone coming, and I won't have to be afraid of any injuries, either.'

William yawned, curling up in a fetal position. A moment later, darkness engulfed him, and he was sound asleep.

The following morning…

"The escort is here!" The burly man quickly led his group over to the side of the path, watching an expensive looking carriage come to stop. A man came out of the carriage, and the burly man's group quickly ran over to them and bowed.

"We greet the-"

"Shut up."

A man had come out of the carriage, with his hands in the pockets of his coat and a face that looked like he would fall asleep at any moment.

"...are you..." The burly man wanted to say something, but couldn't voice his words.

"Yes, I'm the guy your boss sent. I'm more of a mercenary, actually, but just know that I'm here to help you losers."

"...can you show some evidence? I can't really confirm if he sent you or not..."

"Sigh, can't you show some more trust?"

'I just met you!' The burly man had many words to say, but in the end, he didn't say anything.

The man threw a shiny token over and the burly man caught it. He inspected the token.

'Seems real to me.'

The burly man handed the token back.

"Finally. Now, one of you go get the mouse from the carriage and catch up later. As for the rest, follow me." The man yawned.

"And starting now, address me as uh... nine heavens celestial lord. Or just lord for short," the man said, smiling.

The burly man and his companions froze.

'...you're kidding, right...? Just what kind of person did the boss send?!'

...

"Dude, wake up!" Screamed a voice in William's ear.

William sat up, looking around sleepily.

"Yawn... Oh, hey Ryan. What is it? Don't tell me they're here already?"

Ryan rolled his eyes.

"Of course not. It's your turn to keep watch."

William yawned again.

"Oh, right. Well, get some sleep. See you in the morning."

"Alright, tell us if you see anything, alright?"

"Yeah yeah. I know."

William went to the entrance of the cave and went outside. He wasn't supposed to be out there, since the others were worried that the enemies would spot them, but he already knew they were coming, so he didn't bother.

"This is the perfect time to practice the fleeting cloud movement technique that I recently bought."

William took out the book related to it and read through it once more to jog his memory.

"Alright, I'm ready."

William used the movement technique, circling his spiritual energy around his legs and running forward in a certain way. Almost instantly, William moved forward, and before he knew it, he was already racing forward at a speed he never thought possible.

Suddenly, he saw a tall brown object enlarging in his vision.

"Crash!"

Without enough time to stop his momentum, William faceplanted into the tree.

"Ow..."

William stumbled away from the tree and rubbed his nose.

"I need better control over this."

William had yet to even try going into the air and landing on other objects to propel himself, and he was already messing up with this.

"Well, I have plenty of time anyway. I'll get this eventually."

For the next few hours, William continued practicing, continuously refining the use of the movement technique until he could proficiently use it to move around, although he couldn't get it to work in the air yet.

After that, William returned to the cave and sat near the entrance, so that when Ryan and Fletcher woke up, they wouldn't know he had left.

William had sat there for only a few minutes when he heard the sound of Fletcher waking up.

"Good morning."

"Yawn... good morning."

Ryan woke up a moment later, and they all ate breakfast together. Afterwards, William woke Lucky up and gave it some bread and water.

"Be good today, okay? If you hear a fight, just stay here and don't go outside. Got it?"

Lucky nodded, which surprised William.

'Did this rooster get smarter after eating that blue rock?'

Speaking of that, William had the feeling that the blue rock Lucky ate could've been a spirit stone. They looked similar, it was just that the one Lucky ate seemed to be a lot rougher, bring more like the shape of a rock rather than a smooth oblong shoppe, like the spirit stone from the auction.

Suddenly, William heard a loud noise from outside.

"Hey, brats in the cave, come out and fight me if you dare!"

William glanced towards Fletcher.

"Should we go out?"

"Better than being cornered in here. C'mon."

The three walked outside. Almost immediately, William noticed that the number of people chasing them had changed from three to four.

Plus, the burly man that looked like the leader before was actually weaker than this person.

"Lord, these are the people I was talking about. The small one over there is on the that foiled our plans. I was unable to catch him before, but as long as you prevent them from running away, I'm sure I can deal with them my self!"

William's expression became grave. To be addressed as Lord, could it be that this person was their leader? William overheard their conversation again.

"Alright, go capture them. I'll wait here."

"Yes, Lord!"

The burly man turned towards William and the others, suddenly becoming arrogant.

"You hear that, brats!? There's no way you're escaping from me today!" The burly man laughed evilly.

"Now, come and meet your death!"