I Heard You Wanted Revenge?

The mayor's residence stood on the western side of town.

It was also the only two-story house on that side.

As soon as An Kai arrived, he spotted a pile of bones by the entrance.

They lay strewn every which way. He kicked them aside and entered the courtyard of the mayor's residence.

Dozens more skeletons lay there as well.

An Kai guessed that the mayor had chosen to remain in Nameless Town, only to be surrounded and attacked by outsiders...

He kicked aside the bones in the courtyard, walked to the door, and knocked the skeleton leaning against it out of the way...

Creak...

The door swung open.

A rusty smell of blood washed over him, mingled with the stench of rotting wood.

Frowning, An Kai entered the room and took in the scene...

There was only one skeleton in the entire room, seated in a chair at its center.

An iron sword remained lodged in his chest, piercing straight through it.

That had been his fatal wound.

An Kai looked closely and caught a faint glimmer flashing through the skeleton's abdomen.

Joy lit up An Kai’s eyes. He hurried out of the room, grabbed two skeletons, and hurled them at the one in the chair!

Bang!

The bones collided, sending up a cloud of dust...

It also confirmed that no danger lurked there.

An Kai stepped forward, pushed the bones aside, and retrieved a ring from the skeleton's abdomen.

The ring was solid black, with the number "1" engraved on it...

[Storage Ring No. 1: Lv1]

[Quality: Common]

[Usage requirements: None]

[Note: Its three cubic meters of storage space are merely a disguise. Take it to Buklin Capital, and perhaps you will find an unexpected reward?]

The system notification appeared. With a thought, An Kai saw what was inside the storage ring.

A dozen or so gold coins lay scattered inside, along with a book that radiated magical fluctuations.

Those gold coins could be exchanged for ten to twenty Lower-grade Magic Stones.

That was assuming he could find someone willing to exchange them. In the past year, Hanks was the only person An Kai had seen offering that service.

He took out the book and placed it in the courtyard, then An Kai formed a fireball in his hand and hurled it at the book.

Bang!

The fireball dissipated. The book remained completely unharmed, but the impact of the fireball spell blasted a crater around it...

Seeing this, An Kai stopped testing it. He put the book away again, planning to investigate it later.

He slipped the ring onto his right ring finger, where it fit snugly.

"What a good man!" An Kai sighed as he looked at the bones scattered across the floor.

The ring had probably ended up in the man's stomach because he had swallowed it before dying, preserving it that way.

That also gave An Kai a reminder: after killing an enemy in the future, he needed to cut open their stomach and check whether he had missed anything...

As for the ring's description telling him to visit Buklin Capital, An Kai merely chuckled.

The capital was in the middle of a civil war. Wouldn't going there now be asking to die?

Besides, one glance at the description made it clear that the ring had some connection to the Bukelin Duchy...

After leaving the mayor's residence, An Kai formed fireballs in his hands and hurled them at the house one after another.

Before long, the mayor's residence went up in flames...

The bones vanished in the fire, along with every trace of An Kai's visit...

With that done, An Kai jogged toward the Mage Association.

Once he arrived at the Mage Association, he rushed up to the third floor.

He packed up every last one of the old association president's books, along with the mahogany desk that had held the [Meditation Staff]...

Putting them into the storage ring filled well over half its space...

Before, he had had no choice but to pick out a few useful books to take with him.

Now that he had a choice, he was obviously taking everything.

Then he left the Mage Association. Just as he had done at the mayor's residence, he sent fireballs flying from his hands, and before long, the Mage Association was ablaze...

With everything finished, An Kai quickly left town...

The sky was also beginning to darken.

Wearing a satisfied smile, he entered the desert and headed south...

A sudden gale swept through Nameless Town, fanning the fires An Kai had set until they engulfed the entire town...

In the end, the whole town burned to ash and was buried beneath the windblown sand...

"Boss, are we still pretending to be traveling merchants?"

"No. You three are too burly. People take one look and run. Here's the plan: you three hide, and I'll stay out here alone. Once someone gets close, we'll..."

The fake traveling merchant An Kai had robbed a year earlier raised a hand to his neck and made a throat-slitting gesture.

The three burly men beside him understood instantly. Chuckling, they hid behind a mound of sand.

Their group of four had not stood still over the past year. All three burly men had advanced to tier-one, second-stage warriors.

He himself had also become a tier-one, third-stage Warlock!

Compared to a year ago, when a little brat had robbed them blind, they had undergone a massive upgrade!

Along the way, their group of four had also made something of a name for themselves in the area...

The three burly men had barely settled into their hiding place when a figure slowly approached in the distance...

The traveling merchant hastily smeared his face, then began roasting meat. A dozen or so silver coins were scattered beside him...

Together with his appearance, they made him look like a merchant down on his luck.

"Quiet. Whether we make anything today depends on him!"

After leaving town, An Kai headed toward his new secret hideout.

He stopped and started along the way, holding a book he had borrowed from the old association president and clicking his tongue as he read...

Suddenly, An Kai put the book away.

He had not expected another surprise windfall.

Not far away, someone was roasting meat, and silver coins glinted every so often.

An Kai recognized the blatantly obvious baiting tactic. He had run into someone in the same line of work.

Unfortunately for them, he was no fish. He was the fisherman.

He took the iron sword that had been lodged in the skeleton out of his storage ring and held it in his hand, pretending to be a warrior...

With an honest, guileless smile on his face, he walked toward the man roasting meat...

Halfway there, An Kai suddenly paused. "It's him?"

He recognized his old acquaintance, and his smile broadened. To avoid scaring the man off, he took out a strip of cloth and covered his face...

An Kai's sudden halt made Reed, who was posing as a traveling merchant, feel a jolt of alarm.

Fortunately, the fish merely took out a strip of cloth and put it over his face instead of turning around and fleeing...

As Reed watched the distance between them shrink, he could barely contain his delight.

But to keep his prey on the hook, he still put on a frightened expression and watched the approaching An Kai warily...

Before long, An Kai stood a few meters from Reed, iron sword in hand...

He pulled the cloth off his face and chuckled. "Long time no see... traveling merchant!"

"It's you!" Reed cried out in terror when he saw An Kai's face!

"Where are your three guards? Call them out too."

An Kai folded his arms, still holding the iron sword, and spoke without the slightest hurry...

As soon as he finished speaking, the three burly men sprang out from behind the sand mound!

The moment they appeared, they surrounded An Kai in perfect coordination!

At that moment, a palm-sized crystal flashed in Reed's hand, displaying a line of text: "Tier one, first stage."

Seeing this, Reed burst into wild laughter. "Hahaha! You're only tier one, first stage! Brothers, our chance for revenge has come!"

"Boss, I'm going to smash his skull!"

"Boss, I'm going to use his leg bone as a sword hilt!"

"Save his spine for me. I'll make it into a whip!"

Reed and his three warrior brothers laughed wildly, discussing how to divide up An Kai's body without the slightest restraint...

An Kai did not know how Reed had discovered his level.

But it was good news for him as well.

At the very least, his true strength would remain hidden.

Just like now...

Hiss!

Two head-sized fireballs radiating scorching heat suddenly appeared in An Kai's palms!

"I heard you wanted revenge?"