There was a day left before Lucien would arrive at the academy as an instructor. In the meantime, he was back in the great forest, hunting slimes and boars to increase his level.
Multiple trees surrounded him, but at that moment, the trees weren't the problem. The real threats were the boars closing in from all directions. He stood in the middle, the one who would be hunted in a minute.
In his hand was the shining Atman Blade, its silver hilt embedded with a red gem. He raised his sword slightly. Killing them with a skill would be easy, and easy was his greatest enemy. I would rather die than do something too simple for me. He would kill them all using only his swordsmanship.
The boars, eyes red with rage, charged at him at once. Lucien took a deep breath and lunged forward.
With one slash, he severed two boars' heads simultaneously. But because the sword was heavy, his second swing was delayed. Three other boars sank their teeth into his left arm, gripping tight. Lucien turned his gaze toward them. He didn't flinch. He felt the pain, but being born on the battlefield had taught him one crucial lesson.
Showing fear was a warrior's greatest weakness, and a warrior must never reveal weakness if they hoped to conquer the battlefield. That was why they were called warriors.
Lucien clenched his fist and struck a boar across the face, knocking the creature backward. The other boars recoiled in fear, and Lucien once more raised his sword high before charging straight at them.
All the boars scattered in terror, yet none were fortunate enough to escape his relentless pursuit. The entire area soon lay drenched in blood, and upon a jagged rock sat Lucien, drained from repeatedly swinging his sword.
He tore into the raw flesh of a slaughtered boar. It possessed no flavor, yet it filled his stomach, for he had also been taught never to seek pleasure in the taste of fine food.
[Level Up]
[Level Up]
[Level Up] x20
Notifications swarmed around him from every direction. He glanced at the glowing prompts, then brought up his stats screen.
"Level 41 already… did anything new open up in the market?" Lucien muttered to himself, flipping it open out of habit.
His remaining credits weren't enough to purchase anything substantial, but a freshly unlocked category caught his attention: [Armour].
"So before, I only had access to items and weapons… now armour too?"
He scrolled eagerly, only for disappointment to set in — every single armour piece was still locked, requiring [Lvl 80] just to view their stats.
He closed the window and stretched his body. Just as he was about to leave, a sudden prickle of danger brushed his senses. Turning sharply, he felt something thud against his leg.
Looking down, he found a lone boarlet ramming into him with all the feeble fury it could muster. Lucien blinked, then crouched, tilting his head at the tiny creature.
Gently patting its bristled head, he murmured, "Sorry, little guy… I had no other choice. But you should go. I'm not here to fight you."
With a soft motion, he nudged the boarlet aside. The small creature squealed, stumbling, then frantically looked around — searching for the bodies of its parents. Lucien watched for a moment, then silently turned away, leaving the grief-stricken boarlet behind as he continued on his path.
---
In the streets of the capital city, Lucien was walking around. Passing many markets and people, in the end he found himself standing in front of a slum area. He could see people sitting on the ground; some were even crawling through the dumps, trying to find something to eat.
Too sad… even after being such a developed land, it still has an area like this. No one cares about the people who live here.
Lucien turned back toward the market. After reaching there, he sold the fresh meat he had brought from the forest and used the money to buy some bread.
It's good that I took some fresh meat with me before leaving. Now I have food — maybe I can save those people from hunger, at least for now.
With that thought, he walked back to the slum area. Once he arrived, he went further inside. An old man who was leaning against a ruined wall looked at Lucien, who had bread in his hand.
Lucien put on a smile and walked toward him to give him food, but seeing Lucien's noble appearance, the old man got scared. "You f*cking noble, go away!" he shouted, throwing a rock at Lucien. It hit him beside the eye.
Lucien instinctively placed a hand on the spot. The old man thought Lucien had become angry. His body started trembling and he dropped to his knees, "S-sorry, lord, forgive me! I won't do a-anything like t-that again!"
"Look up," Lucien said, his voice firm yet gentle. The old man looked up, trembling.
He froze in shock when he saw the bread Lucien was offering.
"W-what's this, lord?" the old man asked, his voice shaky.
"It's bread. It's yours. Eat it," Lucien said, smiling.
The old man's shock was completely replaced by happiness. Tears formed in the corners of his eyes. He took the big piece of bread and bowed before him. "T-thank you… thank you, great lord."
The old man started eating the bread as if he had not eaten in a long time. His wrinkled, pale skin made that painfully clear.
Eat, old man. I wasn't able to help any of you in my past life, but this time it won't be the case.
[+1000 Credits!]
[+1000 Credits!]
[+3000 Credits!]
Multiple notifications popped up as the old man welcomed Lucien in his mind. Lucien smiled, left him there, and walked further inside, looking for more poor people to help.
Lucien was completely consumed by all of that, he forgot the time and it passed from afternoon to night. He was now standing in the depths of the slum, and he had given all the bread he had.
His entire vision was filled with notifications of credits. By the end of the day, he was standing with [58,000 Credits].
He looked up at the sky. It's too late… I need to leave. This is slum, so there will be bandits who might try to steal from me.
He started walking back. Even though he knew he should leave quickly, his movements weren't fast and he continued walking calmly.
Suddenly, he felt someone breathing close to him. He turned his gaze in that direction but saw no one. What was that?
CLANG!
A sharp noise of a blade rang in his ears from behind. He turned around,
What? This isn't a bandit?