Chapter 6 - Trouble and Opportunity

2301 words

A/N : Sorry for the shorter chapter kinda did something dumb xP

After a few days of living in in Luxemburg, Max explored the entire city and learned some good potential places where he could have his sword forged.

What he longed for was a moderately long one handed sword. But quickly he realised that the shops were at most subpar.

Some had pretty good products but most of them were way above a price that would be worth it. But with that Max realised that his money wasn't exactly enough for what he desired.

And so he decided to venture into the mountains as it was an excellent place to gather minerals. From what he found it wasn't hard to mine minerals. Like seriously you only needed to mine around it and if you have large enough storage for it you can easily commission a specialist to do the rest.

The price itself wasn't even that much and most people used that method, that is if they had the method to transport the mineral all the way to the city.

There was a place near the entrance to the mountain entrance where you could rest and resupply necessary resources in order to venture further.

The deep mountains were riddled in caves that all connected to each other. Expert speculated that it is because of the beasts living inside the mountains and some hundreds if not thousands of years of their work.

Thanks to that it was convenient to travel into the mountains but it was also an easy place to lose themselves.

If one wasn't careful they would be easily lost. For Max though it was easy as breathing finding a path back even if he slept and went in blind, all thanks to the hexagon.

Some would find him reliant on items but which id*ot would ignore such convenience for some pride or whatever. That stuff kills people and accomplishes nothing.

Even for cultivators the myth of heart demons is just something to scare their children into behaving properly. As long as one realised that he wasn't perfect it was virtually impossible to have a heart demon.

Combine the virtually infinite storage Max has and the deep mountains can become his home for few months if not years.

And so he ventured into the mountains after buying necessary items like food. As for water? He just went and found some random lake that was clean enough and dumped it in his storage system.

With all that out of the way it took him just about a day on foot to go there. And as for why he didn't buy a horse for convenience it's quite simple.

First of all he doesn't have a place where he can place his horse for a long period of time and taking it into the deep mountains is basically just a ticket of death for the horse.

Second of all he will soon be travelling to the Eastern continent and for the horse to be carried over with him too, he would have to become some kind of big shot which he certainly isn't.

Might as well buy one after he arrived in the Eastern continent.

When he arrived at the post near the mountains he found that there were blacksmiths as well. It was surprisingly mixed with very good blacksmiths. It seemed like they found it more convenient to be close to the main supply of ores as possible.

As he was walking by a few shops he saw a lot of people going in a certain direction.

"Excuse me, can you tell me why everyone is going that way?" Said Max to the most friendly looking people he could see nearby.

"Oh you must have arrived not long ago. Let me tell you an important person just arrived and it's said that no one ever saw her face except her parents and closest of friends! Everyone is debating whenever she is ugly or too beautiful to be seen." Said the friendly looking man as he started walking again.

'Interesting... I should check it out too in case they head into the mountains too. In any case if I see them there I should evade them before they see me.' Thought Max to himself as he followed the crowd and blended in.

After he arrived to a large plaza he saw a large carriage and bunch of Ether White Gold Horses. From what he read only nobility in the upper ranks and powerful wizards and warriors can acquire these horses legally.

After a few minutes of waiting an older man walked out of the carriage and was getting ready to say something.

"Due to some circumstances we need to hire people to accompany us to the deep mountains. For any warrior with ability of grade 7 and wizard of grade 6 that can prove themselves will receive 500 gold after the task is completed." Said the man as his words were magically transmitted throughout the entire plaza.

Right away few people started heading to the carriage. There were at least 8 warriors and 3 mages which shows the rarity of mages.

The first who arrived was a woman with above average beauty and short black hair.

"I am warrior at the grade 7 and completion rate at 150% in terms of combat prowess, and my choice of weapons include a short bow and daggers. I also travelled through the deep mountains for 4 years and know that place pretty well." Said the woman straightforwardly without pausing or any hesitation on her face.

"Good good. I will put you against someone and if you last more than 9 blows without getting any major injury you will be qualified." Said the man to the woman as he turned out to the public again.

"I would also like to specify that if someone tries to sign up if they are below the specified grade then they risk their lives as the person that they will be tested against will not hold back at all." Said the man and as he did so, multiple people started hesitating.

As he finished he beckoned at the seemingly invisible guard that was standing near the door the entire time.

"Don't go easy on her just because she is a woman." Said the old man to the guard while grinning.

"Don't worry Sir if it's for the lady then I shall strike against the God." Said the guard without a hint of hesitation and full of seriousness.

"Heiz that kid is too serious. It will be hard in the future for him to find a fine lady for himself." Mumbled the old man under his breath.

"Alright, after the sword that I will throw touches the ground the match will begin." Said the man aloud.

*ding*

As the sound of the sword hitting the ground sounded the guard dashed forward with incredible speed.

*wooosh*

The wind was disturbed whenever he ran by. Meanwhile the woman didn't dash out and patiently waited on the spot waiting for an opportunity.

'Tsk this place is too open for me to display my full abilities.' Thought a woman as she began to feel a bit nervous.

If it was an area full of obstacles she felt like she would be able to easily beat the guard but in such open area the chances seemed bleak.

'I have to last few blows anyway. Winning isn't an option right now but withstanding a few blows should be fine right?' Thought to herself the woman as she tensed her body to react in an instant.

Right as she was getting into an optimal state the guard suddenly appeared before her and stabbed with his sword.

*Swoosh*

The sword ripped throughout the air and cut trough the armor easily leaving a cut on her waist because the woman dodged or at least tried to at the last possible moment.

Right after the sword cut through her waist she initiated a counter attack. Using her leg she dashed next to him and tried to stab him.

But as the daggers were nearing his heart and throat he kicked her in the stomach.

As she was struggling to get up from the unexpectedly powerful kick an barrage of arrows suddenly appeared behind the public annihilating everything in their path.

Amongst the public few dozen grade 7 and few grade 8 warriors sprung up accompanied by 8 grade 7 wizards and one grade 8 wizard.

The wizards created a barrier together with the grade 8 wizard as a base, the barrier got multiple times stronger after getting reinforced by grade 7 wizards.

Sadly it was all for naught as the arrows went through the barrier like it didn't exist at all. Within a second everyone except the grade 8 wizard and few grade 7 warriors and grade 8 warriors no one survived. Of course Max survived too.

It shouldn't be called a survival as he was completely unscathed. While the arrows were incredibly hard to fend off for grade 7s and somewhat difficult for grade 8s it looked incredibly easy for Max as he casually caught one arrow in his hand and the other two that were heading for him were dodged.

This went unnoticed for everyone except the old man. He was surprised at how easily that young teen dealt with those arrows as even for him it was a bit of a hassle.

While everyone was trying to recover from the shock the arrows dealt an even more powerful arrow arrived and it's destination was the carriage.

The guard immediately jumped before the arrow and tried to stop it. As he struck the arrow with his most powerful attack he could muster something surprising happened.

The arrow easily took the blow, not slowing down at all. It ripped a hole in the guard's stomach and continued to it's intended trajectory.

The old man was shocked at the outcome for a split second but then turned serious. The air started to vibrate and the old man suddenly had a huge mace on his back.

When the mace and arrow collided they were in a stalemate for four seconds. Thankfully the arrow lost it's power and dropped onto the ground with no visible damage on the arrow.

A single drop of sweat silently appeared on his face.

"HOW DARE YOU AMBUSH THE GREAT CLAN OF TITANS!" Bellowed the man, creating a huge sound wave that spread throughout the plaza.

"Old man I can't believe that you are still alive! You should have retired so you could live a few more years!" A shadow of a man appeared in the middle of a road laughing.

"Identify yourself! You lowly bug trying to attack our great clan!" Yelled the old man.

"Hahaha, which dumbass would tell their identity? Not that it matters much, because you will all die! I am just a mere slave for our great Cthulhu!" Replied the man with full of reverence on his face.

"You are from the Cthulhu cult?!" Yelled a grade 8 warrior with a face full of fear.

"How dare you call our holy clan a cult?!" The man's face turned frightening and all of the sudden the 8 grade warrior's head was nowhere to be seen.

'Grade 9 Completion at least 500%? This might be a bit tough...' Frowned Max as he observed his potential foe quietly.

"Humpf what do you want?! Do you really think that our clan is scared of you or your power?!" Said the old man trying to intimidate the cultist.

"Haha old man you can't stop me and the thing we need is naturally your little princess that is within the carriage! Do you even know how great of a potential she has?! Her body is the perfect conductor for our God! She should prostate herself before me and accept this sacred duty!" Preached the man with a face consumed by madness.

As the cultist and the man engaged in a brutal fight exchanging blows after blows. The cultist used huge long blades that were attached to his arms.

As the fight neared it's peak the cultist managed to slash a huge wound across the old man's chest.

As Max pondered whenever he should interfere and kill the crazy maniac or just leave, he decided to kill that mad man. After all connections are never a bad thing to have right?

A lady suddenly dashed out of the carriage with tears in her eyes.

"Please spare my uncle! I can go with you but just please don't kill him I beg of you!" Said the young woman in desperation.

"Truly a magnificent subject that will help our lord! I won't kill him only if you lay on the ground and declare your love for his holiness! Declare that your clan is full of filth and heretics and that only the almighty God is your only true love!" Yelled the cultist as he began to dive further and further into madness.

As the young girl struggled before slowly bowing down to the ground the head of the cultist fell on the ground right before her eyes.

As she looked up she saw a young boy that looked a few years younger than her standing there with a blade in his hand. As she looked dazedly at him the sword in his hand cracked.

"Sure enough the sword cracked. Haaah what should I use now?" Mumbled Max under his breath a bit annoyed.

As Max looked her in the eyes he said.

"Hey you. I want you to pay for this okay? Would be good if you buy me something better okay? After all I saved your life and that old man's too." Said Max to her face with a completely serious face.

The girl stared dazedly at Max before opening her mouth...