You were weaker than me?
The thief heard the unexpected, slightly astonished tone, and while it fueled his rage, it also left him unsettled.
Something was wrong with this black-haired kid!
He was clearly a Magic Caster, yet his physical skills were no weaker than the thief's.
His attack had actually been blocked so easily?
The thief's eyes revealed a trace of disbelief.
Bang!
Tang Zheng stomped the ground and charged at the thief. This was no time for pointless chatter.
"Courting death!" The thief roared in fury and shock when he saw Tang Zheng take the initiative to attack. He raised his left hand to his waist, pulled out a short dagger, and hurled it at Tang Zheng.
Whoosh!
A sharp whistle cut through the air.
Tang Zheng's eyes flicked over it, easily catching the dagger's trajectory. He swung his shortsword and knocked the flying dagger aside.
However, that slowed his charge.
Stealth!
The thief muttered lowly. In the already dark night, his body rapidly blurred, as though he were about to blend into the darkness.
Tang Zheng immediately went on guard, but the next moment, surprise appeared on his face.
He saw that—
The thief did not attack. Instead, he turned and ran.
I can't let him escape!
That thought flashed through Tang Zheng's mind. He raised a hand toward the front. "Magic Arrow!"
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Three magical arrows formed in midair and shot toward the thief at high speed.
The urgent sounds from behind forced the fleeing thief to stop and roll to the side to evade them.
Using that opening, Tang Zheng caught up.
Fourfold Slash of Light!
Tang Zheng's shortsword instantly became four afterimages as it stabbed toward the thief.
Pfft! Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!
Four sprays of blood burst across the thief's chest, drawing a miserable scream from him.
However!
Because of the magic Silence, the man's scream could not travel at all.
"Y-you..."
The thief lay on the ground, covered in blood, his eyes bloodshot. "How could this be... Gazef's..."
Before he could finish speaking!
The thief completely lost all signs of life.
Experience gained: 380
"Huff."
"Huff."
Tang Zheng panted heavily as he looked at the corpse on the ground, finally letting out a breath of relief.
Looking at the blood on his clothes and the droplets sliding down the blade of his shortsword, Tang Zheng fell silent for a moment.
He had killed two people at once.
It was something Tang Zheng had never imagined before. He had expected that he would kill people someday, but he had not expected it to come so soon.
Disgust?
No.
Guilt?
No.
Instead, it felt strangely natural.
"What a terrible, hateful world," Tang Zheng cursed under his breath.
He raised his head.
Tang Zheng swiftly scanned the surrounding street and found that no one had appeared during the entire encounter.
Those two had really picked a good spot!
Tang Zheng wiped the blood from his cheek and quickly walked over to the two corpses, storing them in his Item Box.
He even stored away the bloodstained paving stones.
This Item Box, which was similar to a spatial backpack, had no other restrictions besides being unable to store living creatures.
After cleaning up the scene,
Tang Zheng quickly left and headed back toward the small inn.
When he passed an alley, Tang Zheng entered it, stored away his bloodstained clothes, and changed into a clean set.
Luckily.
He had bought quite a few ordinary clothes beforehand, so he was not left without anything to change into.
Inside the small inn.
"Oh, the guest is back." The innkeeper was a somewhat plump, freckled middle-aged woman named Marishi.
"Ms. Marishi."
With a gentle smile on his face, Tang Zheng nodded to Marishi, then headed upstairs to his room.
"Ha..." Marishi yawned as she watched Tang Zheng go upstairs. "What a polite young man."
Click!
As the door closed,
A tired expression appeared on Tang Zheng's face.
He had a total of 13 mana points. After casting Magic Arrow twice in a row, he could no longer use magic. If that thief had escaped, he would likely have faced considerable trouble afterward.
Fortunately, he had finished him with Fourfold Slash of Light.
Tang Zheng had never had a chance to use it before. After using the Martial Arts skill this time, he finally understood what the consumed "focus" was.
More precisely, it was a kind of "stamina" expenditure. It was like how he had felt after running 200 meters in his previous life—not exhausting enough to call tiring, but enough to make him feel fatigued.
Most importantly!
Through this unexpected battle, Tang Zheng gained a fairly clear understanding of his own strength.
That black-robed Magic Caster could use the Second-Tier spell Shield Wall, so his level was clearly above seven, though not by much.
The thief who had been with him should have been around the same level.
Under normal circumstances,
Tang Zheng was only level five. Even if he had caught them off guard, he should have been completely suppressed when facing the two of them together.
But the result...
It would have been one thing if the black-robed Magic Caster had failed to make use of his advantage, but in Tang Zheng's eyes, the thief had been slightly weaker than him in both speed and strength.
There could only be one reason for that!
Tang Zheng's base stats were higher than the thief's!
"Since Genius does not increase base stats, I put all my experience into the Mid-tier Class Sword Saint."
"People of the New World do not have the convenient abilities of Players, so most of them can only level up Basic Classes. It is even uncertain whether they have Mid-tier Classes at all."
Tang Zheng thought of his own attributes. With 53 physical attack and 53 agility, he had already come to a realization.
"In that case, my base stats should be higher than those of a normal level-seven human in the New World."
Next—
A thought crossed Tang Zheng's mind.
A dark brown Magic Staff, a glowing white necklace, a Short Staff, and a dagger that faintly flashed with purple light appeared on the bed.
Four magic items!
Other than these four items, the two men had not carried even a single copper coin, much less anything that could prove their identities.
Tang Zheng did not know whether it was an Eight Fingers rule or simply a habit they had when hunting prey.
If it was the former, then Eight Fingers was far more terrifying than it had appeared in the anime!
"Unfortunately, I haven't learned the Item Appraisal spell. Otherwise, I could find out the exact effects of these four magic items."
Tang Zheng glanced at the magic items on the bed and sighed to himself.
The only thing he could confirm was that the Short Staff with the Silence effect still emitted traces of magical fluctuations, so it should still have uses remaining.
There were quite a few Magic Casters who had learned Item Appraisal, but he had just dealt with members of Eight Fingers. If he took these magic items out for appraisal, it would easily draw Eight Fingers' attention.
Those people were highly vindictive.
Tang Zheng did not have time to play with them.
"Perhaps I'll have to visit the Magic Caster's Guild tomorrow," Tang Zheng thought.
With a wave of his hand,
He stored the four magic items away again, then took out the remaining three Magic Scrolls.
Papermaking, Warming, Odorless!
He tore up the three Magic Scrolls one by one and spent Skill Points to learn them.
Fortunately, all three Magic Scrolls contained support magic, so they would not create a major disturbance like Magic Arrow.
Odorless could remove his scent, allowing him to avoid quite a bit of trouble when he entered the forest later.
Papermaking needed no explanation.
Warming was something Tang Zheng had decided to buy at the last minute, to test his guess. It did not matter if his guess was wrong.
After all, the spell was quite convenient. It allowed adventurers to heat food and water without using Ignition and exposing themselves.
All things considered, it was essential for the wilderness!
Before you continue