-

In the blink of an eye , 10 days passed , and Carl already 'killed' many talented children , making him have the peak talent that one in this world could possibly have..

He sighed regretfully as he couldn't have any 'meals' anymore..

-

In the current time , deep in the forest , in an underground cave.

Slashh!

Tens of puppets could he seen coming to fight Carl in all directions , while he had a bloodied figure with a calm expression on his face.

They continued to leap and attacked Carl aggressively.

If it was like before, Carl would retreat without a doubt. But now, he stood on the spot with a cold expression, still like a rock.

It was because he was currently honing his skills that were from his soul to his body - as even though he'd been in hundreds of life and death battles in his two lives , that didn't mean he could be an expert right off the bat..

But the reason he wasn't retreating was that after he ate the 'meals' , he successfully had a strength that was half-step apprentice knight in this world.

And the current puppets were made by him ( with the knowledge of the artifact ) to temper himself to a certain extent with life and death battles , gradually making his current body's will and battle experience rise in levels quicker.

Every time the puppets attack Carl, his sword's surface which looked extremely bright would flash faintly.

At the same time, Carl could feel a trace of his bloodline being expended slowly.

He knew that it wasn't due to him absorbing blood or flesh , or having 'meals' , but due to his bloodline having near-death battles that tempered it to the extreme.

At the same time, he counterattacked.

Slash Slash Slash Slash Slash!

His slashes countered like a dozen of swords flying to the same direction of the puppets . His strikes were simple, yet brutal and effective with an imposing aura.

Dozens of puppets were hit by Carl. Some were kicked away, knocking on the stone pillar; some were killed in midair, breaking into fragments when they landed on the ground.

Carl had exterminated the puppets in a short moment of counterattack, with only ten or twelve remaining.

Carl killed another six with a slash of his, and the remaining stone monkeys broke down, frantically rushing towards him with all their strength.

Carl did not retreat, but instead stood there with a calm look on his face , slashing towards them with a final strike.

Slash Slash Slash !

The remaining puppets all broke down , and then turned to dust as they were made of stone , because Carl didn't have any resources to make tougher puppets .

He then sighed helplessly as he said:" These puppets can't temper me anymore, I've already killed more than a hundred at once , so anymore would be just me bullying my own creations.."

These days, he had been working hard to temper his will and battle experience to its peak , With continuous battles, he had stepped foot on half-step apprentice knight level but couldn't breakthrough yet.

He then got back to his calm exposure, as he thought:' Well , I did my best so I'll only wait for the academy for now, and then start the plans that I've set up...'

-

He found the cave among the ones that were the most hidden and most dangerous to step into - as the forest was in the forbidden areas that one shouldn't think about stepping in carelessly.

Carl knew about it though, but he wasn't naive to think he'd be safe just by his current strength.

He had nearly been killed when he first stepped into here , as even luck wasn't on his side when a Minor Knight attacked him out of nowhere.

But he knew there was no chance in success in that battle , since it wasn't tempering anymore , it was plain suicide.

He ran with all his speed , but the winning factor that helped him in successfully fleeing was his spiritual energy that he'd used as a last resort in order to hide him from the beast's senses.

And he didn't come only 3 days later when he'd recovered 40% of his spiritual energy , as he used most of it in the process of quickly looking around for a cave to start his training.

He then made the puppets according to one of the puppeteer techniques in the artifact - heaven's manipulator , that could manipulate anything even the heavens once he reached the very peak of it , but he knew he couldn't even manipulate a nascent soul realm beast , much less the heavens.

-

It was sunset now.

Walking alone, he headed towards the orphanage.

Yet Carl did not go directly, but took a few reroutes to prevent the way to his cave from being found out , just in case someone was trailing him from behind.

Cold wind flew in his face as it showed a calm expression on it , despite the bruises that he had in his body.

Back in the orphanage, he could only sneak out at night. As he was being on constant watch by orphanage's owner for any suspicious movements , and he also had to go to the mine in every morning.

Now that he was half-step apprentice knight , he could move about freely in the day without any suspicion , except the morning of course.

'It's time to kill that owner of the orphanage , as he could be used as a tempering for my body and will'

Thinking of this, Carl's eyes shone with cold light, he had plans already.

The orphanage owner had been in the apprentice knight realm, for over 30 years .

While the difference between half-step and early apprentice knight realm seemed small , it was comparable to the difference between heaven and earth as they could finally use the Qi in the air to start tempering the bodies.

But the orphanage owner didn't have talent in that category , as he couldn't temper his body with Qi.

But that didn't mean his body wasn't strong , in the contrary it was quite robust due to the Qi moving towards his body for the entire duration of his life without his knowledge , refining it at a snail's pace , but that was enough for him to he a threat to Carl.

Carl knew of this , and it was the sole reason that he was going to fight the orphanage owner - and that was to lead him to a place in order to fight him , and temper his will and battle experience even further...