Giving a wide birth, Marcus led his parents around the side of the fort. The forest had encroached upon the fort, especially on the side of their approach, concealing them. The three of them eventually found a gap large enough for three individuals to pass through.

Motioning his parents to be quiet, Marcus knocked his bow and quietly entered the gap. Marcus slowly scanned his widening vision as he passed to the opening, but the first thing he noticed was not within his sight. To his left, he heard the ever faint tapping sound. Having created the sound before, Marcus knew what was causing it.

Knowing there was an enemy to his left, Marcus stuck to the left edge of the gap and peered to the right. This world was no longer a game, so stealth was considerably more difficult and even more critical to remain unnoticed.

Eventually, having confirmed no one was within eyesight to the right, Marcus slowly rounded the corner. There, he found a woman dressed in mage robes with her back facing him. Marcus was slightly startled when he noted the staff she had secured on her back. Thankfully, this mage was busy concocting alchemy, or the staff may have ended up problematic. Silently as possible, Marcus to game and let loose. The arrow struck true, piercing the woman’s neck, and she instantly froze and fell over.

Marcus was not naïve enough to allow such a dangerous element alone, even women. The divine realm strengthened people in this world, quickly shrinking the gap between genders. Mercy to the enemy was damaging to oneself. Perhaps, if there were not the bodies of stormcloaks strewn about, he would hesitate more, mainly because the target was attractive. Of course, the hesitation would’ve only been slight. Though his mind was still naïve, the combination of pre-puberty and previous life’s romantic drama rendered the female form far less attractive in his eyes. At least for the moment.

Lifelessly, the woman’s body collapsed to the ground. The noise from the fall did not alarm the others as they were too far away, and they did not expect any enemies to breach through that area. When Marcus confirmed her dead, he immediately locked his sites on the two mages at the entryway.

Marcus had already confirmed through the system that these enemies were only level 10. Marcus was not too surprised by their apparent low levels. Given that these Mages were bandits, it was likely that they lacked the knowledge that would otherwise be available at a magical institution. This meant that their max level for their skills would be relatively low, which reflected their low overall level. Additionally, HP worked differently than it did in the game.

Reaching zero HP did not guarantee instant death. Assuming an attack barely brought one to 0 HP, the exact effect would differ. If the blow were to a fatal location, it would result in death. If the blow was in other areas, the damage could be as severe as crippling or dismembering or as low as non-lethal incapacitation. However, being brought to zero HP, especially with a weak blow, would universally stun an individual for a decent amount of time. The real danger was when damage dealt far exceeded HP. While reaching zero would not guarantee instant death, this sheer shock from the injury could potentially kill depending upon the damaged area. This meant that targeting vital areas was far more critical than in the game. Of course, Marcus benefited from being able to target said areas more accurately than the game, but that was true for everyone.

Coupled with their low levels, Marcus was also confident due to their lack of defense. These mages would often use magic in place of armor. This gave Marcus a tremendous advantage as their spells were not cast to fight an enemy they were not aware of. Additionally, not all of their stats were distributed as they could not directly control them. Stats would typically be distributed automatically by taking damage, casting magic, and feats of endurance for HP, MP, and SP, respectively. Given that these individuals were mages, nearly all of their stats were distributed to MP, leaving their HP no more than 120.

Additionally, thanks to Marcus’s previous life, the level of his archery was substantial, and he had heavily invested his perks into it. This effectively turned Marcus into a glass cannon, more deadly when at range. These factors were his primary confidence in his ability to dispatch them quickly.

Being a world where magic and the divine existed, some rules that would be taken as common sense in his original world could easily be overturned. As Marcus aimed at the mage at the fort entrance, he would overturn his previous common sense. The breath leaked out of the mage’s lips as the arrow impacted his back, carving into his heart. Surprisingly, this arrow appeared to have even more penetrating power than the arrow previously fired. This was due to one of Marcus’s perks, which increased his damage with distance. In the real world, this would not be the case as arrows would slow the further they traveled, but that did not affect the rules of this world.

“Old man, are you all right?” The mage atop the fort entrance asked as he moved towards the inside edge. However, what met him was only two more arrows, which seemed to be shot near simultaneously. They impacted both sides of his chest, sapping the life out of him as he slowly collapsed and crumbled on the ground. The arrows were shot by Marcus’s parents, who were not far behind him. They glanced at the nearby mage corpse before glancing at each other with a worried expression on their face. As if they were going to say something, they glanced toward Marcus but swallowed the words back as he made a gesture to remain silent.

Quietly, Marcus traveled up the wooden stairs to the fort’s walls and entered the nearby tower. He climbed the spiraling stone staircase and gave himself an overlook of the entirety of the fort. He surveyed for a few seconds and found the only other mage within sight was atop the corner of the far wall. Without hesitation, Marcus fired another shot, effortlessly killing him. With his skills, stationary targets were easy pickings. Confident that the outside of the fort was clear, Marcus walked back down the tower as he stretched, getting used to the new weight from the items that had automatically been picked up. Eventually, he made his way back to his parents, who were checking the corpse of a stormcloak. “What have you found?” He asked when he noted the serious expression on their faces.

“Even in this cold, the body still contains a trance of warmth. Whatever fight occurred here must have happened within hours.”

Marcus nodded. “In that case, we should hurry. If they took any prisoners, the longer we wait, the worse their chances.”

The two parents suddenly snapped out of their train of thought as he glanced at Marcus with a worried look. “Marcus, are you okay?” Mother asked.

“Yes? Why wouldn’t I be? They didn’t even notice me.” Marcus asked in clear confusion.

Marcus’s father pointed towards the nearby mage. “You just killed a humanoid. Don’t you feel anything?”

Marcus was startled by the question. In truth, he had never killed a person, at least not on Earth. Within the Utopia Project, the game many claimed to be in a real world, he had killed many. As such, he was no stranger to death or causing it. However, in his parents’ eyes, their nine-year-old child, who had only hunted wild game, had just killed a humanoid without changing his expression.

With a confused frown, Marcus glanced at his parents. “But they are evil people, right? They killed the stormcloaks. If I didn’t kill him, we could be in danger.”

The two parents looked at each other before they made a bitter smile. Perhaps a blessed child was more immune to the psychological impact of taking a life. At least, that thought gave them comfort. At the very least, Marcus had justified his killing and did not imply he would kill others at will.

After several seconds, mother finally relented. “All right, we should hurry. We are unsure about how many enemies are in the fort, and our archery will be greatly hindered in close quarters, so we need to be careful.”

Marcus nodded as he glanced at the door across the fort. With a nod, the three of them moved towards it.