After the whole Ye Feng incident, I couldn’t help but to feel like some of the novelty of the trial had lost its original appeal. At this moment, all I wanted was to be done with it.

  Sure, I could most likely accumulate a few more talismans if I played my cards right, but at this point, I just wanted to finish the trials and start cultivating in peace.

  Unfortunately, however, my wish turned out to be a pipe dream as the closer I got to Mount Longhu, the more the roads converged, subsequently increasing the number of provisional disciples roaming around.

  At this point, I couldn’t trust anyone who even resembled a teenager.

  Of course, I did my best to sneak around the ones on my path, but I knew in my heart that it was only a question of time before someone found me.

  And once they did, another deathmatch would undoubtedly erupt. Moreover, though it pained me to admit, I still wasn’t ready to surrender, not after everything that had happened already.

  Killing Ye Feng had undisputedly affected me greatly, but I honestly didn’t know if I would’ve done anything differently if I had to go through it again. The closer I got to Mount Longhu, the clearer it became to me that I was willing to do next to everything to reach it.

  Maybe it was the game manipulating me, but for some reason, I didn’t think so.

  No, Mount Lonhu and the correlated sect had turned into something more than merely a destination. The looming mountain had transformed into a purpose. One that I had sorely lacked for a long time.

  And now that I was so close to attaining it, I couldn’t find it in me to give it up.

  Thus, I turned into a shadow, skulking behind trees and shrubs as I advanced towards the distant mountain, hiding from both man and beast alike. Though it slowed down my journey immensely, my efforts did not go unrewarded.

  [“By successfully sneaking past five potential enemies without arousing suspicion, you have unlocked the proficiency “Stealth”. You can check the progress of your proficiencies under the cultivation tab.”]

  Even without a cultivation method, my progress was coming along nicely.

  [Cultivation]

  [Name: Bishop]

  [Age: 15]

  [Cultivation Aptitude: 14 ★]

  [Affinities: Sword, Water]

  [Affiliation: White Tiger Sect (Rank 4)]

  [Rank: Provisional Outer Disciple]

  [Cultivation Stage: Mortal]

  [Cultivation Method: N/A]

  [Qi: N/A]

  [Proficiencies]

  [Swordsmanship - Beginner Lv. 7]

  [Meditation - Beginner Lv. 1]

  [Stealth - Beginner Lv.1]

  Evidently, it was clear that my swordsmanship was both head and shoulders ahead of my other proficiencies. The reason, I reckoned, was multifaceted. Naturally, the progress of my swordsmanship proficiency could be attributed to experience. I’d simply participated in a lot more combat scenarios than I had meditated lately. However, I also surmised that it was intricately connected to my sword affinity

  I suspected that my affinities partly acted as passive experience multipliers for any related proficiency. Although still a conjecture, I was pretty confident in my hypothesis.

  Finally, I couldn’t dismiss the role that my basic swordsmanship exercise “Bishop’s Kendo Drills” played in the development of my proficiency.

  Not that I’d had much opportunity to exercise lately.

  Skulking behind the thickets, I kept a close eye out for wild beasts, and another eye out for provisional disciple competitors. The closer I got to Mount Longhu, the fewer players I detected and the more NPCs appeared. I speculated that this was the real challenge for any player who aspired to join a rank 4 sect.

  You had to make it through this proverbial ocean of talisman-hungry aspirants in one piece somehow.

  More and more it looked like I’d made the wrong decision to go about this single-handedly. Undoubtedly, there was strength in numbers and if I’d stayed with Percival, Lilac, Raven, and Grim, I probably wouldn’t have had to sneak through the bushes like some kind of animal.

  Additionally, I was readily aware of the fact that what I was doing wasn’t sustainable. At any moment, a beast could appear and the gig would be up. Neither was I foolish enough to rely on lady luck rescuing me twice in a row this close in succession.

  No, it was clear that, whilst I didn’t know when, I would have to wet my sword again and carve out my own path to Mount Longhu. And this time, I wouldn’t be allowed to show even a hint of mercy or remorse as any hesitance could easily spell my doom.

  The time for second guessing myself was over.

  Finally, just as I was starting to grow tired of traversing the undergrowth, it happened. After following the road whilst maintaining a carefully measured distance into the forest, a ravine appeared in my path.

  Moreover, in order to cross the ravine, one would have to follow a narrow road snaking its way down the canyon before once again ascending a steep slope on the other side. During the walk down the ravine and the subsequent ascent, one would essentially be a sitting duck for both ambushes and ranged weaponry.

  Although I hadn’t personally encountered anyone with a bow yet, I was willing to bet a thumb and a pinky that the native NPCs were much better equipped than players at this point of the game. Even Ye Feng had wielded a proper sword. A far cry from the sharpened twigs my original ambushers had attacked me with.

  While considering my options, a part of me wanted to try circling around the ravine. But with the sun blazing overhead, I wasn’t sure if gambling on there being another way across was the right way to go. Albeit unlikely, this could quite possibly be the only way across for miles to come.

  And so, unwilling to commit to either alternative, I postponed the decision while taking a break to catch my breath.

  …

  Fortunately, the wait paid off as in less than half an hour, a familiar group of players appeared, trudging on the road.

  “We meet again, Lana.” I thought as I sneakily observed them from behind some bushes. Slowly but surely, they approached the ravine. Furthermore, I could easily tell by their rough appearances and measured stride that they hadn’t gotten here unmolested.

  Stolen story; please report.

  They were also noticeably fewer than they’d been originally, from seven they were down to four.

  Apart from Lana and her male companion, there were two other players. One of whom was clearly the leader of the group: a surprisingly muscular man with facial hair. If I didn’t know for a fact that all players had to choose an age between thirteen and eighteen, I never would’ve guessed he was a teenager. I remembered him as the person whom Lana’s male companion had called Carlos.

  The second stranger was clearly the most perceptive out of the bunch, since he nearly spotted me hiding behind the thicket..

  They reached the ravine quickly enough before pausing to have an animated conversation. Unfortunately, I was too far away to hear what they were talking about, and I didn’t dare to approach any closer with how annoyingly perceptive they were.

  Nevertheless, a pleased smile spread on my lips when I noticed that they’d made their decision.

  They were entering the ravine.

  *****

  LanaekilI’s point of view

  Today had started off bad, before taking a nosedive to become way worse.

  To begin, the arrogant thief who’d run off with our talismans had actually had the audacity to stay in the same inn as us! We’d all assumed he’d skipped town entirely before logging out somewhere in the endless forest. But no, the crazy bastard had rented the room right next to mine!

  “Before jumping out of the window…” I thought about the nature of his escape. Try as I might, I couldn’t suppress the faint smirk that his actions elicited from me. Was I really that scary? For him to choose to jump out of a second floor window instead of risking a confrontation… I had to be, right?

  Naturally, I’d told Carlos’ party about my discovery, but after hearing about the thief’s escape, the bastard hadn’t even bothered rising from his chair.

  That was when I decided to ditch them the first chance I got.

  Neo, that two-faced idiot, had also shown his true colors now that he couldn’t brown-nose Derpman anymore.

  Unreliable morons, the whole lot of them.

  And they sure did their best to live up to my low expectations when, after a needlessly long breakfast, they picked a fight with every critter, player, and NPC we came across.

  The critters died easily enough. But the players either ran off before we could finish them, or they took one of the morons down with them.

  It was when Carlos and his goons started killing NPCs randomly that I started to feel a bit queasy about my new albeit temporary party. During breakfast, we’d all bonded over how amazing the NPCs were in this game, how life-like and animated their AI’s were.

  I’d even seen NPC children running around playing hide-and-seek in town. To my eyes, they were virtually indistinguishable from real humans.

  So, when Carlos and his goons started killing them without hesitation, I immediately felt uncomfortable in the pit of my stomach. Admittedly, it was hard to argue against their claim that all they were doing was farming a bunch of ones and zeroes. But when mimicry of life becomes indistinguishable from real life, is it still just a bunch of ones and zeroes?

  Personally, I didn’t know the answer to that question. But I sure as hell wouldn’t laugh as I cut a limb off of an NPC all while listening to them scream in pain.

  And worse, albeit after a brief moment of hesitation, even Neo had joined our new teammates in the slaughter.

  That was when I realized I’d truly lost the spineless, brown-nosing suck-up.

  Thus, I wasn’t overly disheartened when the group began to decrease, one member at a time. Disturbingly, however, Carlos didn’t seem to mind either, as he smilingly pocketed his former teammates' talismans.

  Several hours after we left Lonxin’s Pass, we reached a ravine; and almost immediately, a quarrel erupted as to whether we should cross it or go around it.

  Surprisingly, Carlos’ right-hand man Deus agreed with me that entering the ravine would be a foolhardy idea. However, neither Carlos nor Neo liked the idea of having to search for another way across. Hence, to my growing exasperation, we opted to risk it.

  “Something’s wrong.” Deus warned us again and again but to diminishing avail. Apparently, his tracking proficiency was acting up and telling him all sorts of things. Yet the group took his warnings with a grain of salt since they hadn’t always been the most accurate throughout our journey. If we’d stopped every time he’d told us too, we would probably still be in Longxin’s Pass.

  Still, as we descended the cliff, my hand was firmly grasping the hilt of Derpman’s sword.

  We made it all the way down into the ravine without raising any death flags. Sure, Neo had slipped on some pebbles and nearly fallen to his death at some point, but he’d recovered quickly enough.

  Needless to say, just as we were about to cross the bottom of the ravine, a group of Asian youths emerged from the shadows behind the boulders scattered around the area.

  The teenagers, who were obviously provisional disciples from the looks of it, were equipped with better weaponry and skill. Even worse? They outnumbered us, five to four.

  “Can we win?” I glanced back at the snaking slope behind us. “Can we retreat?”

  “We don’t mind sparing your lives if you hand over all of your talismans.” The leader of our ambushers announced with a shit-eating grin plastered on his face, one that rivalled Carlos’ ugly mutt.

  “Oh?” To his credit, Carlos managed to look completely unperturbed, as if he’d been expecting the ambush from the very beginning. Unpocketting a couple of talismans, he waved them in the air. “Are you talking about these? Why should I?”

  The Asian youth clearly wasn’t a fan of Carlos’ lackadaisical approach.

  “On second thought.” The Asian teenager stopped smiling. “I think we’ll just take them from your mutilated corpse instead.”

  “Yes.” Carlos’s eyes shined as the rest of us prepared for the inevitable clash. “An NPC will definitely be mutilated today.”

  I couldn’t tell who it was that initiated the fray, but suddenly, the sound of metal clashing against metal was all that was heard.

  “That fucking moron.” I gritted my teeth as I defended myself against a sword-swinging adolescent. The determination and confidence in his eyes trumped my own as I retreated backwards step-by-step.

  …