30 Up the Mountain
Emile walked away from the auction as a satisfied man. He equipped the items he got. His cultivation stage increments with his stats.
He became a peak stage of Skeletal Refining stage due to equipping the items.
The Butler, the person who followed Emile was shocked. He witnessed someone breakthrough four small tiers in less than a second.
The butler got worried for a second but didn't give up. He followed Emile.
Emile had an urge in the back of his mind. He predicted that someone followed him from the auction. He trusted his sharp senses.
Emile wanted to confront this urge. He walked into the next alleyway and continued to walk casually.
The butler suspected nothing since he believed his sneaking skills were top-notch. He faith in his stealth was like Emile's faith in his senses.
The butler went for a sneak attack aimed at the back of the neck. Emile turned around and caught the hand.
He twisted it breaking the hand. His strength from the sword also worked with his hands since he equipped the sword to himself.
Emile noticed a few differences between this world and the game world. No matter how much damage he did, no notification would put up saying he dealt damage. This didn't bother Emile since knowing when someone would die appeared easy for him.
"Who sent you," Emile tried to create a cold voice.
Even though the person happened to be in the peak stage of Skeletal Refining, Emile
easily defeated him.
"My master," The butler said with gritted teeth.
"And who might this master be," Emile tried to sound sophisticated.
"Won't say," The butler replied.
The butler was faithful to his master. Emile believed that he would be able to force the answer out of him. He twisted his arm even more.
"Agh..." The butler yelled out.
"So are you willing to tell me yet," Emile asked again.
"Kill me," I will never reveal the truth.
Emile tried all the torturing techniques he recalled from his mind. Nothing cracked the butler. He stayed quiet and revealed nothing.
Emile didn't have a clue at what to do in this situation. He didn't want someone to find his information, so he killed the butler and ran away. The technology of this world was outdated. They didn't have good ways to figure out who killed who.
There was a near zero chance of him being caught.
Emile cleaned himself before going back to bed.
Emile spent the next few days looking through the market for items, he wanted to equip more items. He saw nothing useful. As the days passed by, an increasing amount of people showed up at Scarlet City. These people had arrived for the Fire element.
The master of the butler never showed up. The master had been seeking Emile. They never found Emile. He used all his connections to find Emile but never discovered him.
Emile had wanted to rest until the Fire Element appeared. He mostly slept in the inn when he wasn't looking through the market. He also read a few books and understood more about this world.
The Muscle Refining stage did as the name stated. It made their muscles grow and compact to deal stronger punches or use more force.
The Skeletal Refining stage made the bones fortified and stronger.
The Nerve Refining stage increased reaction speed and how fast the mind functioned. This involved a dangerous process since one mistake would cause people to go insane or even die.
Earth stage is when people begin to gain control of nature. That's why most people arrived to gain the Fire element. If they absorbed the Fire element, they would instantly break into the Earth stage. This would only work for people in the Nerve Refining stage.
The only reason people at the Skeletal Refining stage showed up was that they could have a smooth sailing ride up to the Earth stage. The Nerve Refining stage would hold almost no challenges for people with the Fire element.
Sky stage is the stage that allowed the person to fly. These people had control of the environment and had long lives.
Emperor stage didn't have much information about it since not many cultivators had reached this state of cultivation.
An Emperor stages expert would be able to annihilate 100's of Sky stage experts if they wanted to.
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Two days before the element appeared Emile walked up Scarlet Mountain. The mountain was like a volcano. It never exploded in its history but they could see lava when looking from the top. There was a long winding road that leads to the top.
On an average day, it was rare to find anyone on this road. But these days were special.
The fire element caused hundreds of cultivator to climb the mountain and hope to get the fire element. They could only pray for it. Cultivators at the peak of the Nerve Refining stage were present. They had the highest chance of getting the element.
Emile walked up the mountain with the other cultivators. No one had the ability to fly, Emile didn't want to be a unique entity by flying so he walked.
The trek up the mountain took 8 hours. When they arrived at the top, there was a large flat area with a hole in the middle. People had built settlements on the flat area.
Emile didn't buy a tent. He brought food and water with him. He felt slightly stupid.
Luckily there were others who didn't bring tents either. They found logs and created their own homes. Emile followed one person and also found numerous logs.
He broke the trees and brought the logs back up the mountain. Having high strength allowed him to have an easy time carrying the logs.
He created his own home after asking around for help. Some kind cultivators taught him how to make a home. He created his lodging after a few hours.
Emile didn't know how to spend time since he didn't need to cultivate. He walked around and started socializing with people.
Emile also sparred with other people. He made a decent amount of friends. Most of them were in the Skeletal Refining stage and some were in the early tiers of Nerve Refining.
Emile needed to gain the Fire Element without dying. He thought of ways to do it. His mind was leaning towards the method of force. He knew he was too weak to use force. He couldn't avoid someone who was near the peak stage of Nerve Refining.
Emile thought of different applications of his skills. At this moment he had an epiphany. He knew how he would get the Fire Element. All he needed was something to hide his face. He found his fox mask in his bag.
Emile fell asleep with a plan to gain the Fire Element.
