In the middle of a warm sunny day, deep in the forest, an intense battle was currently underway.

Gerald and the bandit leader, Stone Face, as Gerald called him, fought with their lives on the line.

They both battled for a few minutes already, exchanging punches and kicks, but the defense of both of them was too great, making them unable to damage each other.

But then, Gerald suddenly laughed, "Haha, you are lucky Stone Face! You will have the privilege of experiencing my new creation first-hand!"

Stone Face frowned inside his stone shell and attacked with even more vigor. His Mana reserves were quickly draining away as the spell was quite difficult to sustain.

If he could fight with his sword, maybe he could get the upper hand, but his spell didn't allow it. His hands were covered in stone and he had no way of holding his blade. And he was not capable enough to modify the spell on his own.

Gerald utilized his superior agility and slipped past Stone Face, facing his side. He lifted his hand and then slapped his opponent's stone-covered shoulder.

Boom!

As soon as Gerald's palm landed on the stone armor, a massive explosion was formed.

Stone Face was pushed to the ground by the sudden force, but he quickly rolled and got back up. His face under the stone mask was full of shock.

His upper back and right shoulder were in pain and he felt warm blood flowing down his hand.

The broken stones quickly rearranged themselves, covering the hole in his armor that the explosion created.

"Uh! What was that?!" Stone Face roared in pain, his eyes glaring at Gerald with hate.

Gerald showed his white teeth as his lips formed a wide smile, "Oh, it's just something I came up with on a fly… I call it Destruction Palm!"

The Destruction Plam was actually just the failed result from the time Gerald tried to create explosion magic. Back then he almost blew up his own hand.

But now that he had the Stone Body, his defense was high enough to be able to use it, while experiencing only mild pain.

Even failures could turn to success under certain circumstances.

"Pah! Don't you think you can beat me with those small tricks! Same shit won't work twice on me!" The bandit leader was thoroughly enraged, sending his punches flying toward Gerald's face once more.

Gerald just casually lifted his hand and intercepted the punch with his palm.

Boom!

Another explosion sounded out as soon as the two hands collided. Stone Face's fist lost the stone protection in the explosion and blood started to flow between his fingers.

"You underestimated me…again!" Gerald smiled. "Now's my turn!"

He attacked swiftly and aggressively!

Boom! Boom, Boom!

Hand, shoulder, chest, and even leg, they all sustained painful injuries. Gerald kept dancing around the bandit leader, slapping him all over. And with each slap, pebbles flew as the stone armor exploded to pieces.

Eventually, Stone Face's Mana completely ran out and the wounds on his body were too severe for him to continue fighting.

Exhausted, he collapsed to the ground.

Gerald stepped closer and looked down at the beaten opponent.

Stone Face was in a bad shape, he coughed out blood and mocked, "What are you waiting for, hero? Finish me and rid this world of pests like me and collect a reward! Isn't this what you want?!"

Gerald rolled his eyes and scoffed at his words.

"Don't waste your breath. And I'm no hero, I only work for myself, but I'll tell you this; The only reason you and all your friends will die today is that you stupidly assumed that I was your enemy. We could have had a nice chat, relaxing by the fire, and then I would be on my way. We would never see each other again," Gerald slowly spoke.

"But then you had to try and kill me… Sigh~ Well, if you get a chance in your next life, if there even is such a thing, try to get a better grip on the situation first, alright?" He placed his palm on the bandit leader's forehead and sent a surge of Mana towards it.

Boom!

Stone Face was no more. His head exploded like a watermelon, showering Gerald with blood and brain matter, but he didn't mind. He was already covered in blood from head to toe anyway.

He demolished the stone walls with a wave of his hand and walked around the camp, collecting a few Mana regenerating herbs.

He ate them directly, as he didn't have time to make potions. Then he sat near the fire and meditated for a few hours to recover his exhausted body.

When he opened his eyes it was already afternoon. He walked around the camp, picking and looting anything valuable he could find.

But, he didn't have anything to store his loot in, so he just collected the money and threw the rest on the fire.

He already changed his clothes, taking a spare set from a saddlebag on the horse.

There was just that one left, and it seemed that the other one was so spooked by the explosions that it snapped the rope and ran away.

Gerald cut the horse loose and let him wander away, after all, he couldn't just take it. Not to mention he didn't have anywhere to put it, it would be weird if he suddenly got a mount out of nowhere.

He was trying to keep most of his abilities a secret...at least for the time being.

Lastly, Gerald examined the body of the leader.

Around his neck, he found a beautiful gold necklace with an Earth Crystal in the middle. He poured a bit of his Mana inside and estimated the capacity.

It should contain around 30 MP, and by the size of it, he guessed it was a low-grade gem.

He took it and put it around his neck, hiding it under his shirt. He then collected some coins and two silver bracelets, that also contained Earth Crystals.

"Oh, how nice! My bracelets were ruined by the lizard so I needed something like this." Gerald wore both of them on the same arm as he had no other choice.

Lastly, he found a small booklet in a pocket near the chest of the bandit leader.

"Property of B.O.?" he read the first page. There was an insignia as well, but it was too damaged and blurry to be recognizable. It probably belonged to some noble that got robbed. "Oh well, what does it even matter…"

He smiled after reading the title, "Stone Armor – Medium-rank Earth defensive spell. Well, well, well, that's something useful!" He happily skimmed through the pages and then stored the book in his pocket with satisfaction.

Now the only place left to explore was the cave. It appeared quite natural at first, but then Gerald noticed a wooden building camouflaged inside.

It was hidden storage of the bandits! Gerald found all sorts of weapons and armor inside, as well as food and wine. Searching for a little while, he found the most precious storage chest he has ever seen.

It was full of gold and silver, jewelry, and precious stones!

"I'm rich! So freaking rich!" Gerald celebrated his finding.

He quickly found a few pouches and stuffed them full of money. He didn't care for the rest of the stuff, although the weapons and armor were worth quite a few gold coins. He just couldn't carry them all and also it would be suspicious if he came back to the city with dozens of weapons.

Especially now that people in Geldern considered him a cripple, incapable of combat. He could easily be assumed to be a thief.

He made sure not to leave any valuables behind before deciding to leave. But the cave went further underground, so Gerald decided to check if there was anything left deeper in.

He picked up a torch that was lying around and used it to light his way. He didn't want to waste his Mana just for light.

As he was walking for a while, the ground below his feet became soft. He looked down and saw the entire surface covered with tiny brown grains.

"Hm? Guano?" He observed it closely, before lifting the torch and looking at the ceiling. It was covered in small black animals.

"Oh, it's just normal bats…" Gerald murmured. These bats didn't seem to mind him and continued to sleep. He also didn't pay them any more attention and continued down the cave.

Soon the road ended and a rocky wall blocked his path. "That's weird, it's a dead-end, but I can still feel a draft…"

He came closer to examine the wall and he noticed many small holes in the rock, through which wind was blowing.

He utilized his Magic Eyes to look at the rocky wall, only to see a mass of lifeforms on the other side.

"Oh, the cave continues? Are there more bats on the other side?" He considered this possibility since many small shapes were containing Mana on the other side.

And that meant that the cave probably had another exit. He decided to continue straight through the hard rock, and explore the rest. You never know what might lie on the other side.

He pressed his palm on the rocky surface as Mana inside him surged forth.