My Fate Is Mine to Decide

Robust vitality and blood were what barbarians saw as strength.

Barbarians worshipped the strong. Since Lu Chen was powerful, after berating him a few times, they naturally did not dare say anything more.

After they stopped reprimanding him, Lu Chen took the initiative to ask for some details.

"Have Human Head Fireballs invaded the village before?"

"Yes, but back then, as long as they weren't struck head-on and driven into someone's body, they would dissipate immediately once scattered."

Those words gave Lu Chen a slight pause.

"They dissipated as soon as they were scattered? Could it be that the Human Head Fireballs back then were weaker than this one?"

"No, that's not right. Human Head Fireballs may not be very intelligent, but the fact that it fled at the end means it still knew to avoid danger. If it were weaker than this one, it wouldn't have dared invade the village."

"What made an even stronger Human Head Fireball disperse after a single blow?"

Confusion spread through Lu Chen's heart.

But he did not ponder for long before turning his gaze toward the center of the village, where he looked at the towering Totem Pillar.

"So that's how it is. The reason evil entities don't dare enter villages protected by totems is because totems exert an enormous suppressive effect on them."

"Outside the Totem Pillar's range, a Human Head Fireball has to be scattered three times, or even more, before it vanishes. And whenever it bursts apart, it will do everything it can to invade a human body. But within the totem's range, once it is scattered, it dies immediately. That is the Totem Pillar's suppression."

Only then did Lu Chen understand just how greatly totems suppressed evil entities.

At the same time, he understood why Patrol Team members were unwilling to leave the totem's protection and fight evil entities outside.

"Fighting outside and fighting under the totem's protection are completely different levels of difficulty."

As he thought this, Lu Chen sensed the vitality and blood within his body again. That gave him a new understanding of why Patrol Team members did not clear out the aberrations outside.

"Other than aberrations being harder to deal with beyond the totem's protection, the consumption of vitality and blood is probably another reason barbarians are unwilling to fight."

Feeling the vitality and blood he had lost from dissolving the crimson flames, Lu Chen gained a new understanding of the village Patrol Team's actions.

"Barbarians have powerful bodies, and their extraordinary path further develops that advantage by constantly condensing vitality and blood, making their bodies even stronger."

"It could be said that barbarian strength has little flair to it. They simply temper their bodies and increase their vitality and blood."

"This grants every Barbarian Blood Warrior a sturdy body and abundant vitality and blood. Their transformed vitality and blood can also be used to break evil and fight enemies."

"However, powerful vitality and blood are both the greatest strength and greatest weakness of barbarians."

This weakness did not mean they were weak in battle. Rather, it was because vitality and blood were too precious.

Normally, whether barbarians trained, fought, or dealt with monsters, they had to expend vitality and blood.

And the amount of vitality and blood a person could produce each day had a limit.

At the same time, producing vitality and blood required consuming large amounts of nourishing resources. All of this made barbarians reluctant to use their vitality and blood lightly, because it depleted their foundation.

Yes, vitality and blood were the foundation of barbarians. They made barbarians powerful, but they also made them wary of using vitality and blood recklessly.

This was easy to understand. Daily life and training both required the expenditure of vitality and blood. Expending it on training could make barbarians stronger.

But if vitality and blood were invested into battle, ordinary battles were still manageable. Barbarians could defeat enemies with bodies strengthened by vitality and blood, so the expenditure was not too great.

However, when facing evil creatures, Barbarian Blood Warriors had to smear the transformed vitality and blood from within their bodies onto their weapons, or spit it out, in order to harm their enemies. That made the consumption of vitality and blood terrifying.

Furthermore, the more they expended while fighting evil creatures, the less vitality and blood they had for training, slowing the rate at which Barbarian Blood Warriors could grow stronger.

And if their bodies did not receive sufficient nourishment after battle, barbarians would grow weak from the loss of vitality and blood. Over time, they might even regress in rank.

That was why: "Other barbarians can't be like me and casually use vitality and blood in battle."

At last, Lu Chen understood why barbarians were unwilling to clear the aberrations around the village and instead allowed them to roam freely.

"It's not that barbarians don't want to. Poverty has restricted them."

Yes, poverty. If they were even slightly wealthier and had enough food, Barbarian Blood Warriors would not have to huddle so completely within their defenses.

"Sigh, it would be great if I could harm evil entities without releasing vitality and blood."

As that thought crossed his mind, Lu Chen suddenly narrowed his eyes.

Then Lu Chen directly asked the two barbarians beside him, "Do you know of any weapons that can harm evil entities? I don't mean vitality and blood—I mean weapons made by hand."

Barbarians did not consume much merely by using vitality and blood to strengthen their bodies. If there were extraordinary weapons, Lu Chen would not need to spit out or smear blood to fight enemies. That could solve the barbarians' problem.

However, Lu Chen's question made the two barbarians look at each other.

After a long while, one of them finally spoke. "I've heard that larger tribes have extraordinary weapons. Those things should be able to harm evil entities. But such weapons are extremely precious. Forget our village—even at the annual market, there are no extraordinary weapons."

Those words made the corner of Lu Chen's mouth twitch.

"Barbarians really are poor."

At that moment, the other barbarian also spoke.

"I once heard at the market that in the Central Plains, humans can make paper. By sticking that paper onto weapons, they can harm aberrations. But that kind of paper is also rare. Even a single sheet costs a cow in trade."

"Paper? Those should be talismans!"

"As expected, the Central Plains are somewhat more advanced than this barbaric wilderness. With talismans to assist them, conditions there should be a little better. But that does me no good. Whether talismans or extraordinary weapons, both are far too rare. They aren't things I can obtain right now."

"It all comes down to poverty. This barbaric wilderness is truly too poor."

Lu Chen shook his head and stopped dwelling on it. Once his blood and vitality had calmed somewhat, he headed beyond the totem's protective range again.

Seeing what he was doing, the two barbarians were both startled.

"A'Chen, why are you going out again?"

"Yeah. There are evil entities and aberrations out there. We just need to defend the village."

Lu Chen smiled at their words.

"Don't worry. I'll be fine."

Having said that, Lu Chen ignored them and quickly strode forward.

Lu Chen naturally knew about evil entities and aberrations. He also knew that dealing with them required expending a great deal of blood and vitality.

He knew even more clearly that beyond the totem's protection, the roles of hunter and prey could switch at any moment.

Yet despite knowing all this, Lu Chen still chose to go out and fight.

"The wilderness is not safe, and totems are not invincible. Villages are often breached by powerful aberrations, leaving the barbarians inside with nothing to do but await death. That is absolutely not what I want to see. My fate can only be decided by me. Even if I die fighting out there, I would rather do that than wait in despair for a powerful aberration to arrive and kill me."

"Besides, barbarians fear expending their blood and vitality, but I am different. In addition to the Barbarian Blood Warrior path, I also have the Swordsman advancement path."

"Perhaps in battle, I will expend too much blood and vitality, delaying my advancement as a Barbarian Blood Warrior."

"But as long as I win, I can obtain Experience Points. Once I have enough Experience Points, my Swordsman rank will rise. At that time, even if my blood and vitality are somewhat lacking, my strength will still increase."

With that thought, Lu Chen's gaze gradually sharpened.