PROGRESS

"Come again?!"

Kibe falls out of the bed after hearing the revelation.

"You seem surprised. Did you perhaps come from my world?"

"I think so actually, except I died in 2021. When did you die?"

"1645… but I was unbeatable nonetheless."

The two have a laugh, talking about life before reincarnation and they did this for a couple hours.

"I'm going back to the forge."

"I know you were going to do so. I wish you better luck this time."

"Thanks Asakusa. Now then, where will you go?"

"I am headed to Nishikawa to join a sect. I wish you luck."

"Same to you."

The two see each other off and Kibe heads to the Forge. Upon entry, Markos stares at Kibe. Kibe hops over the counter once again.

"Normally, customers stay behind the counter."

"I'm here to try my hand at crafting once more."

"Seriously? Just give up. You are the last of the people who will be leaving to go to Nishikawa."

"I refuse. If I don't finish this, I will never live with myself as an inventor."

Kibe looks at Markos with Determination. Markos sighs and hands him a hammer.

"This is only because you saved some people, kid. Go ahead, use only bronze and silver."

Kibe smiles at the chance and takes the hammer. He searches for all the equipment necessary and tries his hand at creating a new longsword, using the bronze and silver as well as the storage core of the spatial ring.

"Oh?"

"Sit back and watch Gramps."

After some tries, Kibe eventually creates the ideal longsword, which surprises Markos.

"Well, I didn't believe that it would take a day but this is pretty good!"

"I told you I could do it!"

Due to Upgraded Creation, the mid low tier longsword upgrades into a mid tier longsword.

"Fine, I apologize for how I acted towards you."

"It's all good, if you allow me to make more stuff that is haha!"

Kibe smiles awkwardly at Markos and they both stare at each other for an abnormally long amount of time. Markos eventually breaks eye contact and sighs, with dread.

"Sure, just don't touch my expensive metals and sell anything you make!"

"Yeah yeah, I hear ya gramps! Let's get to work!"

Markos and Kibe work on weapons for the rest of the day until the afternoon. This lessened Marko's workload tremendously as these weapons were to be sold to the Military of Misaki. Today alone, 10 longswords, 5 Spears and 5 Bows were completed.

"All in a day's work!"

"You said it gramps! It's too bad that I have to leave now since I gotta go to a sect."

"That's fine, I need to sponsor someone anyways."

"Yeah, yo- Wait what?!"

Kibe falls off his stool and Markos laughs at him while helping him up.

"You heard correctly. After seeing your skills as well as the rate at which you improve, I decided to sponsor you."

"Could this be? Do you actually care for me, you tsundere?"

"Don't push it kid."

"Noted! Sure, I accept!"

The two shake on this deal, with Markos now sponsoring Kibe.

"When you get to Nishikawa, say hi to my brother for me. He should be able to help you out more than I can."

"Alright, I will! Take care old man!"

"Good luck on your journey."

With that, Kibe leaves Naganohara, with more confidence in his abilities.

…

4 days later

Marlin is seen walking through the forest, wearing his mask, while being cloaked. While walking, he reminisces to his past life where he was a martial master who sat at the peak of the world. He remembers the wars he went through, the struggles he had against rivals, the friends he garnered along the way, and most importantly, the dedication he put into cultivating daily to get stronger so that he could protect the things that he cares about. The sun gets covered by clouds and he snaps back to the present.

(I have come a far way, and yet, none of it matters after death. If that is the case then what is the point of living another life? If the cycle repeats itself once more, will I still be alright with it? The answers that I require reside at the peak of all things. I will have to get stronger to achieve my answer. My cultivation, though currently low, will eventually place me at the top, comfortably, and from there, I will gain what I wish. The people I meet do not matter if life is a cycle. I need to gain strength quickly; No distractions.)

While walking through the forest, Marlin spots some bandits robbing a carriage and killing the people who occupy it. They appear to be merchants. He smirks beneath the mask and unsheathes his blade, sneaking up on them to hear the conversation.

"So you're telling me we went through all this only to get 100 silver pieces?!"

"The boss needs all the money necessary so why not? Stop complaining, we have a job to do."

"Minimum wage is terrible!"

Marlin switches his Excalibur to a longsword clad in fire and uses Chi Stride to get close to the bandit without them noticing. He slices the bandit in the back then kicks him onto the second bandit who jumps away instinctively. Startled, the second bandit rushes at Marlin with a Longsword and dashes at him to pierce his leg. Marlin effortlessly dodges and counters with a slash at the neck. The bandit parries this but loses his longsword in the process. Seeing this, the bandit takes off utilizing chi under the soles of his feet to create wind and runs off, to which Marlin follows.

"We didn't do anything to someone like you! Why did you attack us?!"

"Did you consider that when taking the lives of those merchants?! Reflect on your actions in hell! Fireball!"

Marlin shoots a fireball at the bandit who puts up a barrier of wind to block it. This fails and the bandit gets slammed into a tree making the tree lean slightly. Before finishing him off, Marlin hears a sound through the forest coming towards him, seeming like another person in combat, closing in on his location. Hearing this, he hides behind a tree and waits. After a while, he sees someone clashing with another person.

"Can't you just go down already?! I already told you, I'm broke, you bum!"

"You don't know what you could find on a corpse!"

Unexpectedly, it seems that Kibe, while going to the next town, got ambushed by a group of bandits, similarly to the merchants. Now he is faced with what seems to be a higher level bandit.

"I don't have time for this! Dragon Sight!"

Kibe's eyes change into that of a dragon's, glowing gold and looking around the area, he sees Marlin observing behind a tree!

"You! behind the tree! You are terrible at hiding so how about you either help me or help him!"

Marlin, surprised that Kibe could see him, steps out with his sword unsheathed and dashes past him, slicing the head off the bandit that Kibe was fighting.

Kibe, surprised at the speed of this masked individual, jumps back instinctively, dodging this.

After they both land in front of each other, weapons: drawn, waiting for the other's movements. During this instance, they both think the same thing.

(This is gonna be an annoying fight.)

[END OF CHAPTER 7]