The Attack

Late at night

Garen was fast asleep. (-_-) (-_-)

Suddenly, an alarm sounded in his mind.

Since reaching level three, the system's Map Function had been able to monitor an area more than a hundred meters around him.

At that moment, the Map Function showed a dense cluster of red dots more than a hundred meters away.

The Map Function used green for allies and red for enemies. It was very straightforward.

Could bandits be sneaking up on us?

Magical beasts usually came charging out of the forest, but the red enemy dots were showing up in the tall thicket ahead.

Garen jolted awake.

"Enemy attack!"

Garen shouted.

The guards on watch stared at him in confusion. The rest of the Guard Team woke up, too. They looked around, but saw nothing.

In the thicket not far away, a group of bandits had planned to launch a surprise attack. They hadn't expected the guards to be so alert.

For the past two years, they had often ambushed caravans here. The place was close to the edge of the Magical Beast Mountain Range, where caravans tended to let their guard down.

The thicket was also very dense, making it easy to hide in and stay out of sight.

"Boss, they seem to have spotted us. What do we do?"

"Forget it. There are only thirty-odd of them, and we've got more men. Attack! Start by firing a volley of arrows."

"Whoosh, whoosh..."

After hearing the shouts nearby, the guards saw arrows slice through the air toward them and hurried behind the wagons.

Only two of the slower guards were hit. They cried out in pain, then scrambled behind the wagons as well.

"Get ready to fight. We don't know how many enemies there are yet, so wait until they come closer."

Not knowing the enemy's numbers, Lucas took charge of the group.

Garen was still inside a wagon, so he was relatively safe for now.

52, 53, 54, 55.

Using the Map Function, Garen counted the enemies closing in.

A small bandit gang like this shouldn't be too strong. Humans are much less durable than magical beasts. I've just learned Triple Fireball, so I might as well see if I can kill bandits above my level.

After weighing things over, Garen waited until the bandits were closer and the arrows had thinned out. Then he quickly climbed down from the wagon and slipped underneath it.

At night, the space under the wagon hid him well, and it wouldn't stop him from casting magic.

An adult wouldn't have been able to squeeze in there, but Garen had only just turned eight.

Before long, the arrows stopped. Garen didn't need to look. Sensing the red dots drawing closer, he silently began chanting a spell.

As the bandits rushed out of the thicket, one unlucky fellow saw a head-sized fireball flying toward him and hurriedly swung his blade at it.

A powerful blast knocked the Steel Blade aside.

The fireball exploded against his battle-qi shield. Before he could react, another fireball slammed into it, shattering the shield.

"Boom!"

The final fireball struck him squarely in the chest and exploded.

"Ah..."

With a scream and the smell of charred meat spreading through the air, the bandit fell to the ground, rigid and still.

Ding! Killed a level-four bandit. Gained 82 experience points.

Ding! Side Quest complete: Kill an enemy above your level. Reward: Bloodline Atavism.

Garen watched the bandit die, then saw a glowing orb floating above the body. He knew he'd gotten another drop, but before he could celebrate—

A mysterious power suddenly surged through his body. He felt swollen all over, his blood roiling as wave after wave of strength burst through his veins. Then a gentle force began to heal him.

The pain made him roar again and again, but the fighting outside was so intense that his cries were drowned out by the sounds of battle.

White hairs as hard as steel rods sprouted from his skin. His body and limbs grew stronger, and his height shot up from 1.3 meters to 1.5. Before long, he had become a humanoid tiger monster.

After more than ten minutes, the battle cries outside gradually faded, replaced by one groan after another.

Garen finally completed his first transformation.

After transforming, his eyesight improved. Even at night, he could see everything around him clearly. Looking at his body and recalling the system notification that appeared after he killed the bandit, he thought, Bloodline Atavism? This transformation has covered me in tiger stripes. Could I be descended from the Tiger-Striped Warrior, one of the Four Ultimate Warriors?

He sensed the strength coursing through his body. He had no idea how many times stronger he was than before.

All that pain was worth it. The Tiger-Striped Warrior is the fastest of the Four Ultimate Warriors, with powerful attacks. His defense isn't as good as the Dragonblood Warrior's or the Undying Warrior's, but he's still far stronger than an ordinary warrior.

He checked the system in his mind.

Garen

Warrior Level: Level 3 (568/2000 experience)

Transformation State: Level 5

Magic Level: Level 3 (800/2000 experience)

I was a level-one warrior before. Bloodline Atavism raised me by two levels straight to level three, and I'm level five when transformed. Awesome.

With a thought, all the fur on his body retracted, and he returned to normal.

Garen crawled out from under the wagon. One look at the scene before him made his heart sink.

The Guard Team had numbered more than thirty, but now there wasn't a single person without an injury. Nearly everyone was hurt, and seven or eight bodies lay on the ground where the others had arranged them.

"Uncle Luke!"

Garen saw Luke lying not far away. One of his arms had been severed, and a wound ran straight through his chest. He was clearly on the verge of death.

The sight made Garen feel as though something were lodged in his chest. It hurt terribly.

They had only known each other for two years, but they were together almost every day. The entire Guard Team had always looked after him, their little one.

"Garen, don't be sad. That's how this world is. As long as you aren't strong enough, danger can strike at any moment. So you have to become stronger."

With that, Luke took a Magic Crystal Card from his chest.

"Take it. This is an unregistered Magic Crystal Card your father asked me to look after for you. It has your tuition and living expenses. Remember to activate it with your fingerprint when you get to Fenlai City."

"Your father saved my life on the battlefield back then. Now I've finally repaid him..."

Luke seemed to want to pat Garen on the head one last time, but his arm would no longer move.

Uncle Luke was dead. Garen came back to his senses from the joy of transforming into a Tiger-Striped Warrior. In this dog-eat-dog world, only by growing stronger could he control his own fate. He was still far too weak.

If the Guard Team had lost this battle, he might already be lying on the ground as a corpse. Having a system wouldn't have helped him at all.

Garen picked up Uncle Luke and gently laid him beside the fallen guards.

He bowed deeply.

Tears spilled uncontrollably from his eyes.

The faces of Uncle Luke and the other guards rose before him, along with the memories of their warmth. They cut into his heart like knives.

At that moment, Garen felt keenly how fragile and precious life was. He swore that he would become much stronger and protect the people around him.

"I can't change this cruel world, but from now on, I'll do everything I can to make sure every bandit who crosses my path disappears."

"Little Garen, don't be sad. If you hadn't warned us, we might have suffered much worse losses. This is already the best outcome we could have hoped for."

Lucas comforted Garen.

Once he had calmed down, Garen went to pick up the item dropped by the bandit he had killed.

Primary Experience Card: (500 experience)

After thinking for a moment, he added the experience to his Warrior Level without hesitation.

Warrior Level: (1068/2000 experience)

Half an hour later, the Guard Team had finished tending to the fallen warriors. The team had started out with exactly thirty-three members, but fewer than twenty remained.

Once again, Garen had seen just how dangerous and cruel this world was.