There was no overwhelming sound like before but without cloth to mask their arrival, everyone could see.

It wasn’t a pack of giant monsters. Rather, it was, but the scale was different. They weren’t giants like the ones before. Giant compared to what their mundane counterparts would be, for sure, and terrifying still. However, it had none of the fear factors from before. And there weren’t too many of them, too.

Rats, a mischief of them with a mere ten in it, which was far less significant than before.

But there was a single difference: there weren’t as many of them now as well.

With the number of people on the carriage and the weight the horses were pulling, they were moving slow. Perhaps that gave off the image of being vulnerable. Why were they attacking them in the first place? Hunger? He assumed they didn’t need them now that they had a strict diet of Qi.

“They’re here!” shouted the Titan and pounced over the side of the cart, a large sword in his hand, which was his preferred choice of weapon. It was a two-handed sword being used with only one.

Did he do that before as well?

Adrian couldn’t remember.

He summoned the sword from his ring and held onto it tight, remembering the time it got knocked out of his hand so easily: a mistake he’d never make again.

By the time they came up to the elevated ground of the path, climbing up, they were ready. Perhaps they weren’t last time. Maybe that’s why so many died. Or maybe it was just the fact that the wolves were far stronger, larger and deadlier.

“You aren’t spacing out,” said Emma, a small smirk on her face.

“I’d be dying if I was,” he mumbled and let a breath out. Then he breathed in, bracing himself for a metaphorical impact as the beasts came up to the path.

They weren’t out of the forest yet and it’d last for another half day’s worth of travel if they didn’t suffer much of a delay. That gave the rats something of a cover but when they were the size of humans while standing on their hind legs, that factor was almost nonexistent.

It was twice as many of them against far fewer, and possibly weaker Aural Beasts than the wolves they encountered before.

Adrian caught a glimpse of the Titan cutting straight through one of the rats, splitting its body in half, letting the colorful Qi wash over him and another one of his men taking down another rat with just as little effort.

The fear from before was gone and the shock wasn’t present either, so he was ready.

Just as one of them pounced at him, Adrian managed to put his sword before him, the last few weeks of constant practice with Emma paying off. It skewered the rat straight through the chest and he didn’t just stop.

The moment it pierced flesh, Adrian swung it down, holding the sword with both hands. It wasn’t simply swinging down either. As he swung down, he twisted his wrist downward to add to it and it ended disemboweling the beast, making its innards spill to the ground while the body itself hit him in the shoulder.

If it had been a wolf, he’d be pinned to the ground but this one was lighter than him so it wasn’t much effort to push it sideways.

From the massive hole came out the Qi and seeped into him, as if he was a magnet.

Adrian scoffed and turned to the others to find all the rats dead.

Was it this easy before as well?

Maybe Emma was right. Maybe it wasn’t all that dangerous or scary. He just had to be cautious and more importantly, he had to suppress the urge to freeze or run away. Despite their size and appearance, maybe they weren’t that dangerous.

Relatively speaking, of course.

The injury from yesterday was almost gone but after he absorbed the Qi from the beast, it seemed to become even better. It was fully closed but a scar was left in the place of the holes.

Adrian stared at the sword in his hand, now bloody. His mouth was agape and his eyes narrowed.

This was the first time he’d killed something, and yet, it felt right, like it was meant to be.

There were no casualties on their side and it had been a breeze. There was no need for teamwork, too.

He squatted down and stared at the carcass of the rat. It was a disgusting creature, with teeth that stuck out of their mouths. They had long whiskers and had disgusting dark brown fur, now soaked with its blood.

Yet, after he did that, it felt hollow.

There was no struggle and there was no effort. With just one stab… no, it wasn’t even a proper attack. It was just a slight movement of his sword, and it was dead, just like that.

Were Aural Beasts this fragile?

No, rather, was life as fragile as this?

Diana’s hand had been cut off with little effort and the life of the beast faded just as easily. Even if they had flesh strong enough to halt a mortal’s punch in its tracks or bones that couldn’t be broken by a fall from the top of a palace, they died just like this if you used a weapon.

He stared at the sword in his hand and stared at the edge. Slowly, he ran his finger along the edge, careful not to cut himself on it.

It was sharp, unbelievably so.

Like it could cut paper if it fell on its edge.

Adrian gulped.

“Did you just fall in love with your sword,” chimed in Emma, dragging him out of his stupor.

He didn’t answer.

“It’s a kill or be killed world out there. You either kill or get killed. As simple as that. That’s why we’re treated so well. Not us Nobles, but us Cultivators. We’re the murderers that can kill the murderers of whatever nation that stands against us,” said Emma and poked his cheek with a finger, “Mortals aren’t allowed to murder but we’re paid to do that. Isn’t it funny?”

“I was always ready to kill,” mumbled Adrian and summoned a towel from his ring. As he wiped away the blood with the cloth, he turned to Emma, “I just never realized it was this easy.”

“Easy?” she asked.

“Yeah. Easy,” said Adrian and put away the sword into his Spatial Ring, along with the cloth.

She scoffed.

“But you can die just as easily,” added Emma.

“Yeah. But I just have to kill them faster,” said Adrian.

He stared up at the sky and narrowed his eyes.

“Look up!” shouted Adrian.

There, in the sky, circled around more than twenty giant ravens. Their shadows had washed over Adrian for a second, blotting out the sun, and then disappeared. Clouds didn’t move that fast so it was clear what that could have been.

“They weren’t trying to kill us. They were running away,” said Adrian, more to himself than others.

“This is pretty dangerous,” said Emma and stepped back.

They made up a dark cloud over their heads and were now bloating out the sun. Perhaps sizing them up from the sky. It was clear that they were larger than normal but he couldn’t get an idea of just how large without them getting closer.

Birds had to be light and their bones couldn’t be refined, lest they lose the ability to fly.

That gave them an advantage.

They couldn’t possibly be more dangerous than the wolves, right?

But the worst part was that each one of them would have to take at least one down.

“Take cover!” shouted the Titan but not many moved instantly.

Perhaps it was shock.

Emma did. Almost the first one to do that, in fact. Out the corner of his eye, he saw the Titan and his men throwing the frozen ones down where the trees could cover them, but as a side-effect, it also covered up the vision of the ravens.

Were they hiding from the birds?

Their shadows were far bigger than possible. The rats were far smaller than the wolves, and despite their mundane counterparts being only a tad bit larger than rats, it seemed that the birds were far larger than the wolves.

How?

Perhaps it was because of their wingspans being longer, making them look larger despite their body being only slightly larger than that of the rats.

Then came the first one, swooping down through the branches like they didn’t exist. It was swift and quick, and before anyone could react, the bird had grabbed one of them with its legs and flown away.

Adrian’s eyes widened.

Just like that?

No, that couldn’t be the end of it. They could survive falls from the tallest buildings, so even if they were high up in the sky, it wouldn’t be difficult to escape.

That’s when he noticed that the man had left his sword behind, which was now on the ground.

He was dead, for sure.

Another one swooped down, but this one chose the wrong prey: it was one of the Titan’s people, who stabbed her sword deep into its gut and downed it.

One down and who-knew-how-many left to go.

“They’re dangerous but they can’t see us any better than we can see them! If you hear them, stab them. Try to even if you can’t. It’ll scare them off!” shouted the Titan and everyone shouted in unison.

It was dangerous, but what was this sensation that he was feeling?

His palms and soles were itchy and his heart felt like it was being tickled, a large grin on his face. It was a feeling that he knew innately, but coming out at the most peculiar time.

He was excited.

Emma was underneath the same tree as him and that reminded him of Diana.

She was right next to the Titan, hopefully safe, even with one hand missing. It had been cauterized with fire and ash, making for a difficult sight to stomach. Seeing her trying so hard despite that inspired Adrian.

“Did you fight any of these before?” asked Adrian as he leaned back on the tree.

“No. You hide from them. They’re dangerous,” said Emma, also leaning on the bark of the tree on the other side.

That’s when he heard a rustling from above him and instantly swung up, without even looking up, and that proved to be a mistake. He’d been too early and it managed to grab him, along with several other ravens managing to catch prey of their own.

As he was dragged up into the air with impressive speed through the branches, he could feel his skin being torn in places due to the trees. It flew with impressive speed and that was when he could clearly see what happened to the first one to be dragged out.

The man’s body was being torn apart and gobbled down while one of the ravens held it in its beak.

The sheer number of them let them do that to ten at a time, and that was when he saw that some of them were holding the rats rather than humans.

Did they eat anything?

After they finished feasting on the carcasses of the first prey and the rats, then it was apparent what would happen to him.

The sword was still in his hand, much to his relief. His fist was clenched far too hard around it to do that, and as he was turned sideways, he could easily reach its legs.

That was when it tightened its grip around Adrian’s body, making him shout out loud. They were large enough to fully cover his body and it was like he would be crushed at any moment, so he did the only thing he could: he slashed at its legs with all its might, and like cutting through butter, the sword cut off its legs and made him plummet down to the ground.

The raven shrieked, and just as Adrian let out a sigh of relief, one of the ravens that had been feasting on a rat elegantly lunged for him, aiming to catch him up in the air.

But he wouldn’t be caught.

He wouldn’t die, for he had a goal.

No matter what, he had to become Perpetual.

So instead of falling normally, he instead activated the Cloud Body Technique and slowed down his fall, making the bird pass through below him. Timing it almost perfectly, Adrian deactivated the technique and fell on top of it, and as he fell, he stabbed his blade into its neck with his loudest shout.

It penetrated and after a moment of flying straight, it started to plummet down as blood poured down his neck like a fountain.

None of the ravens dared to come after him.

Adrian could do nothing as the ones that were caught alongside him were torn to shreds up above him, and while he spaced out, the carcass of the bird hit the ground, rattling all his bones and head, making him dizzy for a second.

He’d fallen on the path, with a clear view of the sky.

After they finished gobbling down the ones that they had up in the air, the murder of ravens wandered away.

That was a close call.

Too close.

His body ached all over, not from any broken bones, thankfully, but bruises.

While his bones were durable, his organs and flesh weren’t.

As he knelt on top of the bird, he cackled.

Inevitably, the Qi left the bird’s body and entered the only one that it could find: Adrian.

It felt just like that of the wolf. The rat’s was underwhelming but this wasn’t so bad. It made him like he was floating among the puffy clouds: relaxing and more importantly, it made him calmer. That had the effect of halting his maniacal laughter.

Adrian stomped on top of its skull and pulled back the sword, then looked at it.

“Swords are useful,” he mumbled to himself.

That was when he realized he’d been holding a breath, and let it out. Slowly, he breathed in and the stench of iron was strong in the air. And that wasn’t all. A foul stench that he could only liken to rotten food or excrement also found its way to him, and that was when he realized that there were intestines lying on the ground right next to him.

Leftover from the feast of ravens.

That made him retch but he covered his mouth with his palm and looked away.

After a proper breather, he shouted, “They’re gone!”

Slowly, the remaining few peeked out of their covers and climbed out. Adrian half-heartedly searched for Timothy and found him nowhere.

He was dead?

A sense of satisfaction filled his chest and he almost wanted to smile, but he suppressed that urge. As much of a bully he’d been, he was a mere pawn that had been manipulated.

Just a pawn.

That’s what he told himself.

Adrian looked up at the sky and narrowed his eyes as if glaring at it.

“So the Calamity has already happened,” said the Shadow within his head, dragging him into his thoughts.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Adrian mumbled to himself as he’d gotten used to, for there was no one near them to hear him speak.

“The amount of Qi in the world. It’s more than octupled. Every Cultivator born after the Calamity has had a massive boost to their Cultivation Talent. Suffice to say, the lowest level of talent possible now is that of an Inner Disciple rather than that of an Outer Disciple. You are… only normal,” said the Shadow.

Only normal?

What was that supposed to mean?

He knew that there were those that had greater talent than him, but did it mean that no one had talent inferior to his?

It didn’t bother him much, but the thought that he would cultivate as slow as the slowest Cultivators in the world infuriated him. Not the implications of it, but the amount of time it’d take.

“So everyone is an Inner Disciple?” asked Adrian.

“It seems so. But still, even you easily broke through to the Bone Refinement Layer far too fast with that measly talent. It’s absurd by the standards of when I was alive,” said the Shadow, and Adrian nodded along.

That was when he felt something heavyweight almost knock him off his feet.

Two arms cupped themselves around his shoulders and he felt like he was being crushed by Emma’s grip.

“I can’t breathe,” he managed to say out loud.

“You’re alive,” said Emma, her eyes wide and a faint trail of tears visible on her face.

Did she cry?

Why?

“I’m alive, obviously. Some random birds can’t just come out and kill me,” he said and shrugged, now free from her hug and able to breathe and speak again.

“Ye took that damned thing down in the sky?” asked the Titan, a massive grin on his face as he stood a few meters away from him, arms crossed, “Not bad at all. And you say you’re only at the Bone Refinement Layer.”

“I was just lucky,” said Adrian.

“Ah, don’t be modest. You’re at least capable, and that’s commendable,” said the Titan and clapped a few times, “Alright, lads. Pack up and we’ll walk back to the city. We’re bound to run into some on the way back, eh?”

Walk back? When they had a carriage?

That’s when he realized.

Horses!

Adrian stared at the carriage and found none of them there.

He rubbed his forehead.

Walking for hours on end?

That was ridiculous!