Monster Soul Online Chapter 18

Chapter 18: Am I forgetting something?

When Sila's group went out of the town, pink slimes soon approached Sila and snuggled him.
 
Sila meant no harm to them and just put them away so that they didn't get in the way of his group.
 
"Ewww, don't you feel disgusted?" said Alice when she saw slimes clinging onto Sila's legs but he smiled at it and slowly put it down.
 
"Hmm? No, I think they're cute," said Sila, totally forgetting that he was the only one who could see their lovely appearance by the effect of "Heart of Slime" skill, while others could only see them as disgusting gelatinous liquid beings.
 
Hearing that, Alice didn't say anything more but perceived that Sila had a weird taste.
 
Sila's group didn't attack the slimes because it would've been a waste of time and also considered as seizing them from newbies. (Some new player didn't even want to waste time attacking these slimes.)
 
During their journey, Sila kept picking up Pink Slime Cards that were left on the ground. This couldn't be called looting since items dropped from monster would always automatically be added into player's storage upon the death of the monsters (except if the storage was full at that moment). Thus, their being on the ground meant someone left those by their own will. This could be seen a lot; as slimes were monster that people tended to kill if they had nothing to do while passing by. Still, the cards couldn't be found in large quantities as they would disappear after being left ten minutes on the ground.
 
"Big brother Sila, why do you keep collecting Pink Slime Cards? They're not even worth selling." Tod asked, the rest of the members also wanted to know Sila's answer.
 
"I feel sorry for the loss, that's all," answered Sila. As he was of the slime's race, even when others saw slime cards as something worthless, he somehow felt like he should at least should collect them. He didn't know how he could utilize them though.
 
Now, even Tiger who didn't have a bad impression toward Sila started to think that Sila must be very poor, since ten of these cards could be sold for measly 1 silver coin.
 
'So Sila didn't have much money, huh? We will divide more money to him then,' Tiger thought.
 
In fact, everyone in the team had thought the same way. Alice who always talked badly toward Sila even began to pity him. And Juntrathep truly sympathized with his poorness to the point that she almost shed a tear.
 
Thus, everyone became friendlier towards Sila. Alice was being nice, and Juntrathep who usually didn't talk much tried to have a conversation with him. All these slight changes somehow made Sila quite confused.
 
When they nearly arrived at the edge of eastern forest, there was a voice calling to them.
 
"Hey, you, stop right there."
 
There was a voice came from behind.
 
Sila and the gang turned around to take a look. They found that the opposite side was a group of around ten people. Many players in the group were wearing good armor, while some were wearing a mage cloak. Anyway, what they all had in common was that they looked as though they wanted to pick a quarrel with Sila's team.
 
Tiger was well deserved to be called an expert in the aspect of commanding. In a blink, he organized his team through eye contact before stepping up to stand next to Sila. Meanwhile, Aek and Tod stood slightly behind both of them, while Alice and Juntrathep were stayed at the back. The combat formation was very suitable for this kind of situation.
 
"What do you want from us?" Tiger asked people from the opposite side.
 
"Not with your guys. We have a business with that man alone," said the man in the front.
 
"Me?" Sila said while pointing his finger at himself. He was very sure he had never met these people.
 
"Yeah, you took what's ours."
 
Sila furrowed his brows. The only things that Sila had ever picked up were Pink Slime Cards, not to mention that they were something people throwing off on their own.
 
"Fine, I can return them to you. How many cards are yours?" That was Sila's response.
 
"We don't need cards. We need you to pay us for them, or else, die," said another person in that group.
 
Tiger frowned. These people had previously said that Sila took something from them, but when Sila wanted to give it back, they refused instead. They were clearly picking a fight here.
 
"As for you guys, don't meddle in this if you don't want to die," said the man in iron armor while looking at Tiger's party.
 
Sila was expressionless. If they wanted to pick a fight, he then would gladly give them a fight. Sila circulated "Intermediate Qi" throughout his body while using "God's Cathedral" qi technique. His qi was spreading out into a sphere of 25-metered radius around him, covering all the players standing here.
 
Inside the sphere, Sila would know the motion of everyone in great detail. Moreover, with "Soundless" and "Qi Concealment" special skill, no one here noticed that Sila had made his move already.
 
Special skill: God's Cathedral
One of qi techniques. Allows user to spread out qi into a sphere around the user. User can detect the motion and/or attack everything within a sphere. The distance that qi can be spread out is depended on the user's expertise.
 
Actually, Sila could use "Qi of Litter Tiger" instead of "Intermediate Qi" to combine with "God's Cathedral." Doing so would cause the health points of persons inside the sphere to decrease without them being aware. But he didn't do that since it would also affect Tiger's group.
 
By the way, the members of the group of around ten players here were all bounty hunters. As they perceived that Sila's level was only 3 (it's an old data, now most people couldn't check his current level as Sila had upgraded his System Window) while having a high bounty on his head, it's no wonder Sila would naturally become their prey for earning money.
 
Tiger picked up a sword and a shield to fight. Aek and Tod also readied their spear and shield. Meanwhile, Alice drew her bow, and Juntrathep tightened her grip on her wand.
 
The opponents saw Sila's comrades were about to fight back, so they pulled out their weapon too.
 
"You guys had a bounty from Heaven Dragon guild too. Although it's not much, since you're getting in our way, we will think of it as a bonus, then," said the man on other side.
 
Tiger was about to invite Sila into their party, but his opponent was quicker. The end of that man's sentence was like an attacking signal, eight arrows were shot from enemies. Three of the arrows flew towards Tiger, while the rest flew towards Sila - their main target.
 
Tiger lifted up his shield to guard. Then, panicked as he could see that the arrows were dipped with poison. He was okay since he had the shield, but Sila who fought with bare hand would be in grave danger. Thus, he immediately shouted, "they're poison-dipped arrows! Dodge them!"
 
Sila didn't even take a glance at the flying arrows. Inside "God's Cathedral," he could perceive every motions as though they were happening on his palm.
 
Sila swung his hand while using the "Universe Momentum" qi technique, attracting the arrows to gather together. Then, he repelled them using the same qi technique. In addition, he secretly put "Qi of Little Tiger" into those arrows to increase their attack power.
 
Special skill: Universe Momentum
One of qi techniques. Allow user to attract and repel object. The size of object that can be attracted or repelled is depended on user's expertise.
 
It was a strange sight when all the arrows flying towards Sila had been waved at once, and then flew back with a shocking speed compared to the ones originally fired at them.
 
The shield holder who stood in front of an archer stepped forward to block one of the flying arrows. Unexpectedly, the shield broke, and the holder was severely damaged by the qi concealed inside that arrow. Afterwards, he coughed blood and lost consciousness.
 
By the way, the arrow still had remaining power left in it. It skimmed over the shield and scratched the arm of the archer, causing him to have to drink an antidote in panic.
 
Meanwhile, the other two archers were unlucky enough not to have a protector near them. Therefore, as soon as the returning arrows flew back, one of them was hit at the chest, while the other was hit at the head, resulting in their immediate deaths.
 
The battle had started not over ten seconds ago but two people had already died. This fact alone was able to make the other side shudder in panic. Of course, Sila didn't wait a second and used this chance to rush at them with "Qi of Little Bird."
 
Tiger's team members were also stunned by the sight. They knew that Sila was considerably strong, but they never expected him to be strong to this extent.
 
Back then, in the Beginner Town, the Heaven Dragon's guild members had previously fought against them and were in an injured state, so it wasn't too weird that Sila could defeat those guys in one hit. But, this time, it was different.
 
Although Tiger previously thought highly of Sila, it seemed that his estimate was still not high enough.
 
Well, Tiger was an experienced player so his shock only lasted for a brief moment. He knew that this wasn't the right time to talk. Now that the opponents had lost their moral, it was their chance to counterattack. With this thought, he quickly rushed following Sila.
 
With that, the rest of the team also regained their senses. Aek and Tod rushed forward too while Alice began to shoot the opposing side's magician and Juntrathep cast several buffs for the party members.
 
With Sila rushing and Alice's arrow hitting one of their magicians, the bounty hunters regained their sense too.
 
"Don't be afraid! He's only level 3. Kill him and we can be rich!" shouted the one who seemed to be the leader.
 
Greed was really a great source of power. Upon hearing the word 'we can be rich,' they completely forgot what they had seen, and collaborated to attack Sila.
 
Sila was like a tiger in sheep's den. Every move he made always resulted in one person dying or at least heavily injured. The reason that not everyone died in one hit was because he had only been using "Intermediate Qi," not the "Qi of Little Tiger" nor a hidden weapon.
 
This was the nameless elder's teaching. His teacher had told Sila that Sila had obtained "Qi of Little Divine Beings" too soon, and relying on them too much would be dangerous. He taught Sila that basic qi was much more important than the "Qi of Little Divine Beings" and advised Sila to train his "Intermediate Qi" first. Sila actually didn't agree with this statement, but as he had been raised in an environment of always being obedient to his teacher, he tried to follow this teaching.
 
As for hidden weapons, his teacher warned Sila not to use it until Sila could fire it without others noticing. That was because if someone knew Sila could use hidden weapons, the hidden weapons could no longer be called 'hidden'. However, the old man told Sila that he could use it against wild monsters, as they wouldn't tell anyone.
 
Since the battle had started, Sila had used "Qi of Little Tiger" only once when he returned those arrows. Until now, Sila's hands were only shimmering in the aura of "Intermediate Qi."
 
Of course, the reason he hadn't used the "Qi Concealment" skill was also due to his in-game teacher's doctrine.
 
His teacher told him that, if he could make others believe that he couldn't conceal qi, he would be able to utilize this perception by concealing qi at the right moment. This method was commonly used by almost all skilled fighters. No one would foolish enough to announce that he himself could conceal qi. His teacher also told him that if he wanted to stay safely in this world, he must reveal only 70%of his abilities while keeping the rest in secret.
 
Sila glanced briefly at Tiger and found that Tiger had considerable skill. Judging from the aspect of defense alone, Tiger's ability even surpassed Sila's. Tiger could block every attack and counterattacked whenever there was a chance. This was completely different from Sila's fighting style which focused on offense to open up the next attacking chance without a care for his defense.
 
Aek and Tod seemed to learn from Tiger as their styles were similar to Tiger's. Well, their abilities were considered much lacking when comparing to Tiger's.
 
Alice seemed to be a skilled archer. Sila couldn't tell much as he didn't excel in archery. He thought so just because he saw her arrows reached the targets frequently.
 
Lastly, Juntrathep only casted buffs and healing spells to support her friends. As Sila didn't know anything about magic, he couldn't tell whether Juntrathep was skilled or not.
 
A magician on the opposing side was very unlucky. He had been secretly chanting a high-tiered spell in hope to put an end to the battle. However, Sila spotted him and secretly fired a golden needle to stun his movement, causing him to die by Alice's shooting later on without his consent.
 
If it was the "Golden Needle" skill, Sila could easily fire it as a hidden weapon. That was because it was small to the point of it being invisible to the naked eye, but it also dissolved after hitting the target. Thus, the golden needle was currently the only hidden weapon that Sila could fire without being noticed.
 
Finally, the fight ended with an overwhelming victory. Not even one member of Sila's side was dead, while the bounty hunters' side was completely wiped out. However, the experience points acquired from them wasn't enough for Sila to level up by even a single level.
 
"Big brother Tiger! Juntrathep was poisoned," Alice called out, causing all members to notice Juntrathep's condition.
 
Juntrathep was sitting on the ground. Her right hand holding her left shoulder which black blood was oozing out. Her face went pale. Meanwhile, Tiger's face was stiff.
 
"Don't we have an antidote?" asked Sila.
 
"No one has one, big brother Sila. No poisonous monster lives in Beginning Island, so the shop doesn't an antidote and so we didn't prepare it," explained Aek.
 
"I will quickly go and look for it from the merchant in the town. But the problem is we don't know what kind of poison it is," said Tiger.
 
"Would you like me to try detoxifying the poison by using qi?" Sila proposed.
 
Tiger smiled at Sila's good intention, but he still felt skeptical.
 
This was because just having a qi didn't mean you could detoxify the poison. It must be a qi with healing property to do that. By the way, judging by Sila's action, Tiger believed that Sila was more likely to possess a qi with combat property.
 
Well, since he didn't have many choices, and trying it out shouldn't be harmful, Tiger said, "please try."
 
Sila nodded before putting his hand on Juntrathep's white shoulder. He had never used qi to detoxify poison yet. No, to be honest, he hadn't even experienced transmitting his qi to someone else before. Nevertheless, as he had already offered his help, he hoped that the result wouldn't turn out to be disappointing.
 
Sila circulated "Intermediate Qi" while using "Unblemished Aqua" qi technique that had a cleansing property. Then, he transmitted that qi into Juntrathep body through her shoulder.
 
Special skill: Unblemished Aqua
One of qi techniques. Allow user to cleanse impurities in the body. The degree of cleansing depends on the user's expertise.
 
Juntrathep felt slightly cool. It was the feeling as if she was bathing in nice water. Soon, the black blood flew out of her wound, and her face seemed better.
 
As Sila witnessed the effectiveness of his qi transition, He also transmitted "Recovering Qi" to heal Juntrathep wounds as a bonus. The wound was closed almost in an instant.
 
Everyone was looking at Sila in shock. No matter how they looked, Sila was obviously a combat type. They had never imagined that he would possess qi with healing properties too.
 
Juntrathep stood up and looked at her previous wound which completely disappeared without leaving a scar.
 
"Thank you, big brother Sila." She bowed. Her cheeks slightly dyed in pink.
 
"No problem," replied Sila.
 
Meanwhile, a system sound alarmed.
 
Player Sila has learned a passive skill: Qi Transmission - Level 1.
 
Afterward, Tiger suggested that the time would be evening soon and they should put up the tents at the edge of the forest now.
 
Sila thought that it would take around three to four more hours for the sun to be set, so he asked Tiger why they had to put up the tents this soon.
 
"That's because, for us to go to Illusion Forest, we have to pass through the territory of Tree Dragons first," answered Tiger.
 
"Tree Dragons? Are we okay that way?" asked Sila.
 
"We'll be fine. Although it's true that Tree Dragons are quite strong and have a relatively high level comparing to monsters in Beginning Island, it's known among players that they're not active during daytime. Thus, if we rest here and start traveling again in the morning, we won't have to encounter them. In the contrary, if we go into the forest now, it'll be night time and we'll have to fight against them."
 
Sila nodded in understanding, then followed Tiger to start camping.
 
'Umm... I feel like I'm forgetting something here, no?'
 
Good grief, Sila pondered about it, but he didn't care much.
 
Since he forgot it, it must be something unimportant - he would remember it again when the time came, or so he thought.

Chapter end