Mountain Bandits' Night Raid

Three nights later, they arrived outside a forest on a hilltop and set up camp.

They couldn't go any further. In the pitch-black night, it was best to stay in an open area where they could react immediately to anything approaching.

The dark forest was dangerous, so they would rest here for one day and pass through the forest ahead tomorrow.

Mel Carlo was practicing his Back Hop by the bonfire. Doing it fifty times a day was non-negotiable if he wanted to reach full Proficiency quickly.

He considered practicing one of the four skills: Mighty Slash, Slit, Thrust, or Rising Uppercut, as he currently had no skills he was actively practicing.

People easily became complacent, and Mel Carlo was no exception. After acquiring Flying Blade, he hadn't bothered learning any more upper-body skills. They were all close-combat skills, and with his current physical condition, facing an enemy in close combat was practically a death sentence.

"Perhaps I'll choose between Mighty Slash and Slit."

One was a warrior-class skill, and the other was a thief-class skill. Speaking of warriors, there was one right in front of him. In the game, Swordsmen were classified under Warriors, and their Skill Trees were the same.

[Theft] Proficiency increased by 35, current Proficiency 505.

[Back Hop] Proficiency increased by 350, current Proficiency 3451.

Current Effort: 33842.

"Hey, little thief, is practicing like this useful? You only practice this much every day."

"Really? I thought I was already working hard. Maybe I'm just talented, and this much practice is enough." Mel Carlo sat back down by the bonfire. He knew when his skills would reach their limit: when his practice reached 10,000 repetitions.

This talent wasn't genius-level. True geniuses might learn something by just looking at it or reach their peak after a few tries. But his effort guaranteed results, results he could see from the very beginning.

Mel Carlo then began practicing Mighty Slash. Since he already had a thief-class skill, learning a warrior-class skill at such a low Level would significantly increase his survivability. It would also make using long swords or clubs perfectly fine in the future.

He stood up again, picked up a wooden stick beside him, and started practicing [Mighty Slash].

As soon as Mel Carlo swung, Kate, who was nearby, became much more alert. As a Swordsman, she naturally recognized this as the Swordsman's basic skill, [Mighty Slash].

"Little thief, have you learned swordsmanship too?"

"No, I practiced it myself ten times, and then I learned the technique."

He planted his feet firmly, twisted his waist, and swung with all his might.

"Impossible. Who do you think you are, learning that in just ten tries?"

Kate clearly found it hard to accept. She had studied very diligently back then, taking a whole month just to get the basics, practicing until she was exhausted every day.

Even the legendary Imperial City swordsmanship prodigy had taken a full day to learn this move.

"Believe it or not. You can even let me see your Mighty Slash. Because when I practice ten thousand times, the gap between us will truly become apparent." Mel Carlo didn't stop his slashes; all he needed was time.

The 10,000-repetition limit – he wasn't sure if it was good or bad. Even though it was full Proficiency, the skill's quality wasn't all red. White, green, purple, gold, red – just looking at the grading, he could tell red was the highest. Currently, only Assassin's Breathing Technique was gold.

"I'll worry about the future later! Just focus on what's in front of me!" Mel Carlo cast aside his distractions and continued to swing his sword relentlessly.

If he could practice five hundred swings a day, this skill would only take twenty days, or at most a month, to reach full Proficiency.

Since they were resting today, Mel Carlo only performed ninety-nine practice swings and didn't continue.

[Mighty Slash] Proficiency 100/10000.

Current Effort: 33941.

Mr. Freli was on night watch tonight, so Mel Carlo and the others slept soundly.

Just as they were drifting off to sleep, faint sounds reached their ears, like people talking. But by the time they sobered up, sharp blades had already entered their camp.

"Who are you?" Freli was pinned to the ground.

Kate was completely bound by ropes, tied tightly to the side. No one was on watch; they had been too careless.

Carefully observing their surroundings, there were about five enemies, with Levels 5, 7, 8, 9, and 5. None of them were above Level 10.

Although Mel was not tied up, he only had a dagger, and there were five opponents. Claire was still a child.

"What do you want? I am the eldest daughter of the Green family! If my father finds out, he won't let you go!" Kate was also a little panicked. Bound as she was, she couldn't resist. She had been sleeping too deeply and hadn't sensed the danger at all.

"Is that so? We've really caught a fat sheep. With so many monsters around now, who would suspect us after killing you?" A mountain bandit licked his dagger with his tongue. It was clear they had done this before, taking advantage of the increase in monsters to commit their crimes.

After all, it would be difficult to track them down during this period; everything could be blamed on the monsters.

Mel Carlo was also contemplating a way to break free. If he tried to escape, it would be difficult; his small arms and legs couldn't outrun adults.

For these desperate criminals, intimidation was useless without absolute power.

He subconsciously tightened his grip on the dagger.

A mountain bandit slowly approached Kate, seemingly intending to rob her first, then assault her. There was still a carriage nearby, and disposing of the bodies wouldn't be difficult.

"Let her go!" Mel Carlo instantly threw his dagger.

But the bandit merely dodged it with a sidestep. The other four bandits instantly drew their swords, watching the child with amusement.

"You want to die first, brat!" The bandit drew his sword and charged at Mel Carlo. Mel Carlo quickly used Back Hop to create distance.

Almost simultaneously, a sword pierced the bandit from behind, followed by a Cross Slash. The bandit in front of him was instantly dismembered.

The other four bandits immediately tried to flee.

Mel Carlo's dagger throw hadn't been a miss; it was aimed at cutting Kate's ropes, a hundred percent hit rate.

Kate was precisely their only hope. Mr. Freli was clearly not skilled in combat, let alone Claire.

The sharp sword glinted coldly in the dark night. The remaining mountain bandits were quickly dealt with, all in a swift and clean manner.

"Level 15, you're level 15, right?" Mel Carlo slowly walked towards the bandit corpses, preparing to scavenge for loot.

Kate stood to the side, saying confidently, "You guessed right, so what? Am I amazing? But how did you know?"

Mel Carlo wanted to reply that [Cross Slash] was a skill that could only be learned at level 15, but it was highly unlikely that there were geniuses who could transcend levels in this world. This game world wasn't entirely the same.

"I guessed," Mel Carlo reached out and began searching the still-warm corpses.

After searching all four bodies, he found a total of 300 Oren. There was also a "corpse chunk" gentleman, whom he decided not to search.

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