Chapter 5

Even though he had been running for a full hour now, Haru barely felt tired. The adrenaline pumping in his veins and his game character-like body made sure that he has almost infinite stamina.

Haru only realised it now. He knows nothing about this world, other than from Mike's memories. Heck, he didn't even know the direction he had been heading at.

He stopped his run, opened his hand, and a bottle of water appeared. He started drinking as he swept his forehead, not sweaty at all. It seems that he usually sweats when he practises his skills, meaning Chi consumption was what would make him tired.

He looked forward. A terrain full of trees was in front of him. This was a forest that he never knew about.

Haru stood up in front of a tall tree and took a bending stance. He kicked on the ground and thrust his arms up.

The spot he was standing on separated from the earth and flew up along with him, making him reach the highest spot. He then jumped and stood on the highest branch.

Being in the top spot will give him the best view. As he looked where the forest will end, he saw a small river, and beyond it a flat land with a road.

Before he got off the tree, Haru hesitated for a moment. He was going in a direction he knew nothing about.

At this moment, he could remember his mother's tears. He felt like an Asshole now. And he also remembered his father who is prisoned. Luckily, he didn't kill that Shin. If he did, then forget about the Fire Nation punishing his mom in his place, Shin's family will take revenge.

That will assure his mother's death, and possibly his father's.

If Haru remembered correctly, the Fire Nation barely execute anyone. Even Sokka's father and others who led a rebellion against the Fire Lord were prisoned and not killed.

Maybe the Fire Nation fears that someone may take vengeance on their citizens.

If the best happened, they will take his mom to the offshores prison. That way, she will reunite with his father, until he comes back and frees them.

'I must move on.'

He determined and decided to give one last glance at his village. As he turned his head, his eyelids shook. Dust was flying, and the small cloud was growing.

When he focused his vision, he could see the silhouette of some large animals. Above all of them, there were red shapes. When he focused on his vision, he could determine it.

They are firebenders. And they were after him. Haru didn't know if he could take all of them. They were five, and most importantly, they had fast animals with them.

If he got into a direct battle, they may burn him. And, even if he decided to run, those fast animals will catch up to him.

Haru turned his head. There were so many high trees around. Looking down, he stared at the spot from which he jumped earlier. He pointed at it with his hand and clenched his fist, and the earth compressed, removing his trace. Haru moved his hands left and right, removing his footprints from the ground.

Haru then started jumping between the trees, heading into the one in the middle.

The feeling of adrenaline rush was fantastic. But he couldn't enjoy it due to the intensity of the situation.

He squatted down on a branch, making sure that he was covered by the leaves.

'This is my best option. I can't run, so I'll stay here. In the worst case, I'll kill them.'

Haru decided. For his life, he was determined to kill. A wave of dust passed by, Haru turned his head and stared as the animals slowed their speed as they were in the forest.

Above them, the firebenders were staring left and right.

"He can't get so far." Said one of them.

"That Asshole… he didn't even leave poor Shin a hole to piss from."

"Remember, we can't kill him. We have to bring him alive, so he can break that shell."

"You are right… But what kind of rocks is that. Nothing could break it or cut it. It took me to use a hammer to break a small piece, and Shin was the one to take the most damage."

"Let's make sure to get him. He will bend Shin out."

Haru was listening. When they approached his spot, he held his breath.

The animals, which looked so different from the ones on earth and scarier, started sniffing.

One of the firebenders reached his belt and grabbed something.

When Haru saw it, his eyes shook.

It was a piece of clothes that belonged to him.

Obviously, they took it from his home.

He threw it to the man in the middle, who put it above the huge dog's nose, which started sniffing on the ground.

Haru had removed his footprints, but to remove his smells requires an Airbender.

He took a deep breath. if it came to the worse, he has to be ready to fight. But how will he?

Haru closed his eyes, trying to remember more about his previous life.

Mike used to be a good player when it came to strategy games. He accumulated experience that the older Generals couldn't have. Simply, because he had fought too many battles, even if they were virtual.

He should use that strategical thinking with his abilities.

"Okay." He muttered slightly as he opened his eyes. 'I can't run nor hide. If I make their number go less in the beginning, I will have an advantage.'

The sniffing dog was walking left and right, before settling on the tree, lifting its head and barking.

Every bender lifted their head high.

They didn't see Haru, who had already jumped down and was about to land on his feet.

Without anyone seeing him, he stretched his hand forward, pointing at a bender.

<<Spears rush>>

The earth shook, rocks floated and took the shape of a spear, one meter long.

The spear flew forward and pierced the head of the one in the middle.

[Spear Rush up to level 2]

[Killing a low-rank firebender]

[+200 exp]

[Ding, you levelled up]

[level 2 (130/200)]

He got a notification, but the heat of the moment didn't allow him to focus on it.

Haru didn't stop here, he didn't want to lose the momentum. Spinning his arms, he made a large rock float and fly at another bender, hitting him on the head and knocking him out.

[Defeating a low-rank firebender]

[+200 exp]

[Ding, you levelled up]

[Level 3 (130/400)]

By this time, the rest benders were awake from the shock of their friend getting murdered, and they knew they were under attack.

Haru stretched his arm, creating another spear.

This technique actually cost 200 Chi points per use, that's why he barely uses it. But now it's level two, it should con sum less.

A spear formed from the earth and floated. It then headed to one of the three benders.

That guy scoffed, formed a fist, and punched forward, sending a steam fire, which stopped the spear in the air.

Haru pushed with his hands, giving the spear more momentum. He wanted to make sure to kill.

The other two didn't stay idle, they jumped off their rides and aimed fire at Haru, forcing him to jump backwards. He raised both hands, summoning a piece of the ground to take the blast for him.

Haru lent on his feet. The third man seemed to stop the earth spear with his fire as it lost momentum.

"You fucking scum." The one on the top of the ride said, clenching his teeth. "I changed my mind, I will kill you."

"Why so? Will you let Shin poop in his cell forever?" Haru smirked, his green eyes scanning everyone. "You need to bring me back alive, don't you?"

Knowing that he has a better chance when fighting three, he decided to provoke them.

"You killed him, you monster. How am I supposed to tell his wife and son that." The leading firebender pointed to the man who was pierced by the earth spear.

"You invaded a village that you shouldn't, and a scarred kid was defending himself. That wife deserves to know that she was with an evil man." Haru furrowed his eyebrows at them. "I bet she is like him, an evil person."

Haru wasn't really meaning what he was saying.

But he had another purpose for making this conversation.

"Evil, you are calling us evil."

Haru was intentionally making this conversation.

Secretly, he opened his system, to make use of his levels.

As it seems, each level up gave him 4 Affinity Points and 2 Skill Points, leaving him now with 8 Affinity points and 4 Skill Points.

As much as he wanted to save those points to level up his Metalbending, he was in a situation without metal, and only earth was around him.

He decided to put all of the points on Wisdom.

He will see how to build his character later, that if he survived.

After putting all of the points on Wisdom, Shin felt something changing about him. His Chi sea grew bigger than usual. He felt that he was more connected with his energy. The rate his Chi was flowing through his veins increased. His connection with nature also grew.

[Chi (5500/5500)]

Each point boosted his Chi points by 500. It seems like a great gain, but he knew that in some types of gains, the points would contribute less when he reaches a certain level.

Nevertheless, he is happy with what he has.

Now, it's time for some skill points.

"You dare to call us evil, you little maggot. We came here, to share our advancement with the world, and that is what you think. You bastard, you should bow your head seven times a day to the Fire Lord's picture. Uncivilised people like you don't know how lucky they are that we put them in jails…"

It was so hard to focus when you are trying to stall time and talk at the same time. Haru narrowed his eyebrows at the man.

How can someone be this narcissistic was a question he wasn't paying attention to.

"What advancement, again?" he asked.

"I expected a maggot like you to ask such a question. We have great technologies…"

As the man started talking, Haru focused on the skill points. He has 4 points. Each can level up a skill directly.

And each one of them can be used to learn an Associated Skill, just once he is near to discover one.

For now, he decided to level up the strongest offence skill he has.

[Swords Spiral Ring up to level 9 (0/12000)]

12000 experience points to level it up to level 10!

Holly shit!

It will take him days, if not weeks to level up.

Also, it seems that since he didn't practise this skill to level it up, Earthbending didn't level up.

"… You understand now, how our great nation is helping ungrateful ass like you."

"Huh?" Haru lifted his head and rubbed his head with his finger. "What were you saying?"

Some veins appeared on the forehead of the man in the middle. "Kill him!"

The other two took their stances and fired fire bolts at him.

Haru lifted his hands and slammed on the ground, creating a wall of earth to withstand the blast, which broke it.

The leader, who seemed to be the one on the top of the ride, punched a few times forward, sending fireballs at him.

Haru knew that fire blasts can break rocks if he faced a strong bender. But that only if the earth substance used in defence was weak.

Most benders use the earth under them, mostly dirt, to create walls, so it's natural for it to be weak.

But for Haru, he had already found a solution.

Haru waved his hands, lifting everything around him that had the earth; rocks, cobblestones, and dirt. The destroyed wall floated, and all started combining.

<<Compress>>

At first, they were large. But as soon as they combined, they shrunk in size and became heavier and more solid. They formed an earth wall that was slightly taller than Haru.

The fire blasted on the wall, which didn't move an inch or crack. The other two joined in the attacks and started sending fire.

Haru stood there still, defending.

He noticed that fire would slip through his defence sometimes, and the heat was getting him.

[Health -15]

'Fuck!' he thought, squatted, and pushed forward, sending the wall flying at a high speed.

It headed to the rider and its ride. The dog-like animal, larger than a horse, tried to block it with its head.

The wall cracked a bit, but so did the dog's head. Blood spread everywhere and it fell.

Haru almost winced. Surely, animals aren't very smart.

But he didn't have time to progress his thought.

<<Swords spiral sword>>

He summoned one sword, even though he could do more. The sword spun around him at a very high speed. Taking a bending stance, he jumped and kicked. The sword bolted forward while spinning. The firebender tried to send a few fire bolts to stop it, but he couldn't, and he jumped to the side to dodge. Unfortunately for him, his armour was cut.

Haru squatted down and stared left and right. Summoning more from the earth, he used compressed to create a solid layer in front of him and divided it into three.

The three benders looked at each other and nodded.

Haru could tell what they are thinking. They are thinking of exhausting him.

Two of them ran and they settled once they formed a triangle around Haru. They started sending fire bolts at him. Haru used his earth-compressed layers to defend himself. Since his mastery over Earthbending and Bending with Hands was quite high, he could smoothly control those layers to defend himself.

Unfortunately, he was was one person against three thinking people. One of them would attack low, the other would attack high, and the last one would attack from the middle. They would also change their attacking pattern, making it high expectable for Haru.

[Health -10]

[Health -20]

Haru endured. While being pumped by adrenaline, he was defending himself based on instinct. His focus was purely on the fire bolts.

The firebenders, with each attack, were approaching him, getting nearer and making it hard for him to defend.

Once they got into three meters range, Haru spread his arms, making his earth layers fly at the benders, who did their best to dodge.

<<Swords Spiral Ring>>

He used his best offence skill.

Four swords appeared from the ground, compressed, and two meters long floated and started spinning around Haru.

Even when this skill was level 5, it was good enough to slice a tree in half, and its spinning speed was quite high.

Now it's level 9, no doubt of it, the swords would be sharper. Their spinning speed is very high that they are blurry now. The swords sliced through the Fire Nation men, cutting them in half. It didn't stop here. As their bodies were falling, Haru spread his hands, and each sword got inside a man, pinning them into a near tree.

Blood splashed and covered Haru, who was heavily breathing. Haru looked at the bodies, and he almost threw up.

He would have felt sad for them, if not for the fact that they were trying to catch him, poison him, and treat him like a dog. Remembering this, he gathered some saliva and spat it on the ground.

"At least I can do this to you."

Haru killed the unconscious man. Haru started earthbending, creating some graves for them, before putting them in and covering them with the dirt. He then bent the earth and made their graves bend with nature. No one will see their graves. This way, people will think that they vanished.

But everyone will tell that a battle happened here. The smell of the burning grace and the burning marks on the trees and the spreading fire will confirm that.

In order not to let the forest get burned, Haru used his bending to stop the fire.

Since he had been immersed in the battle, he had been ignoring the ding voices.

[Killing 2 low-rank firebenders]

[+400 exp]

[Killing 1 mid-rank firebender]

[+400 exp]

[Ding you levelled up]

[Level 4 (580/800)]

[Ding, battle rank: B]

[bonus: +900 exp]

[Level 5...]

It earned him 4 skill points and 8 attributes.

Since he levelled up, Haru's health and Chi resorted to their peak.

He looked at his body, to find that the burn marks and the small injuries he had sustained from the fire had vanished.

Haru was in his peak condition to move now. He turned his head, to the forest, thinking if he should go in this direction.

Fuck it, he thought. Since he came this far, he will go and think about where to go from there.

He went to a near ride, which was left by their dead owner, and picked up a one. That beast was at first resistant, but when Haru made an Earth sword float in front of its neck, that animal calmed down. It seems that they have some intelligence. Haru then made it run.