Chapter 5: The journey
Bian met up with Zing and Gyu. Zing claimed to have stalked a red-eyed lemur back to its nest, He met up with Bian and Gyu then showed them the way. They made their way through the outskirts of the forest, then arrived at a tree taller than the rest with thick branches and bushy leaves.
"Up there in the leaves. That's where the lemur ran to." As they got closer to the tree, they stumble upon the lemurs unexpectedly, and chaos ensues as the lemurs start swarming towards them.
They use their abilities to fight the lemurs. Zing climbs onto a tree to stay out of reach while firing his expensive crossbow like a machine gun, Gyu brandishes his broadsword and turns the lemurs to minced meat.
Bian occasionally helped Gyu or Zing to avoid them getting cornered. They move back and use the tress to hinder the movement of the lemurs. The lemurs were acting quite strange as they didn't climb the tress but rushed straight at the three of them.
[Ordinary creature red-eyed lemur killed. Beast soul of ordinary red-eyed lemur gained. Eat the red-eyed lemur to gain zero to ten ordinary geno points randomly]
After killing dozens of them Bian finally gained a beast soul. The lemurs seemed to be endless as they rushed at them with their blood shot eyes, sharp teeth and sheer numbers. They were clearly outnumbered and needed to work together to get out of the situation.
A lemur snuck up on Zing from behind and pounced on him.
"Ahhh- die already" Zing cursed as he flung the lemur over he's shoulder and nailed it to the ground with three bolts. No one knows from here he got a fully automated crossbow.
"Fall back!" Bian yelled. He ran to Gyu who was getting overwhelmed and slaughtered the Lemurs swarming him.
Suddenly the lemurs all turned and ran back. A beastly growl was heard from the trees.
"I think it's time we take our leave" Zing said while packing a few dead Lemurs into his bag. Gyu and Bian didn't waste time and also snagged a few dead lemurs into their bags.
Looking at the corpses of the lemurs that filled his line of sight and the blood stain on the trees, it served as an assurance of Bian's increasing strength.
'If I had run into this horde a month ago I would be toast'. Of course if they had to fight out in the open without any trees acting as barricade things wouldn't have ended so simply.
After patching up his injuries Gyu said, "Let's come back after we get stronger, the growl we heard probably wasn't from a primitive creature." This could mean it was either a mutant or even a sacred creature.
"Agreed" Bian and Zing agreed simultaneously. They went back to the shelter, after a two full days Bian had smoked all the lemur meat.
Smoked meat had little to no moisture and could last a long time without spoiling. He needed to prepare for the month long travel. From their little onslaught where he and Gyu handled the front while Zing supported from above he could more or less conclude his strength.
"Maybe it's cause of the traffic I crossed in my previous life" Bian could effortlessly dodge the lemurs since they were slower than him. He didn't get a single injury in his person.
He bought a travelling bag and filled it to the halfway with the smoked lemur meat. He left the remaining space for the cage and other miscellaneous items he may pick up on the way.
The beast soul of a red-eyed lemur is an extendable blanket that looked like the fur of the lemur. A lot of stands used this blanket as it is very resistant to the natural elements, he had six of this beast souls.
His ordinary geno point tally would be maxed out during the journey. With nothing more to do he went back to the alliance and bought a geno art.
Although he should have done this earlier the wingsiders took up most of his time. He could only come home to rest and eat.
Browsing through the different hyper geno arts available, Bian was underwhelmed. To a novel enthusiast the skills offered by these geno arts were akin to trash.
Only one A-class hyper geno art caught his attention, vital point targeting. Allows the wielder to strike any vital point they set their eyes on with a hundred percent accuracy.
Stars were shining in Bian's eyes. 'This is such a good move, why isn't it in the S-class Hall.' As he kept reading his expression darkened.
Vital point targeting had a major flaw, a pause. One had to pause all movement to increase accuracy, it was basically useless for top class fighters. In the heat of a high classed battle, posing to strike would be a dead giveaway for the opponent.
Initially if you had a spear you would raise it and stay in the posture of 'about to strike' for ten seconds to ensure a hundred percent accuracy. But if you wanted to throw it you might need to hold that posture for minutes.
'They should have named it guaranteed strike and not vital point targeting. It doesn't automatically target any vital points.' The geno art was derived from an archaic sutra made by some unknown emperor.
Bian bought the geno art. A few hours later, the geno solution arrived, he gulped it down in one go and began practicing.
During dinner, his mom said "You didn't stay in the sanctuaries today?"
"Yeah" he responded "I'm going to be busy for a few months so don't worry about me"
"Okay" she smiled. Ever since he told her about joining the wingsiders she was less worried about Bian's safety, moving in a group guaranteed safety in numbers.
Especially since she knew Ohn and pleaded for him to help Bian. Due to that he got two geno points from almost every beast hunted, Ohn was the one to divide the beasts.
Occasionally they would hunt two to three time in a day, Ohn knew how to share the spoils in a way to ensure Bian got more than one geno point from each prey.
Bian spent his time practicing vital point targeting according to the instructions, the night before the departure he collected the Cage, the knife and the clench from the blacksmith.
The blacksmith said before leaving, I'm working on a Z-steel knife with seventy-five percent Z-steel just for a steal of a hundred million.
"Scram" Bian said, the blacksmith chuckled and walked away while Bian went into the sanctuaries.
The next day he met with the dealer who introduced him to the merchants. They didn't speak much and he didn't ask much, and so the journey began.
For days all they did was travel during the day and rest during the night. Bian practiced vital point targeting everyday before he slept in a makeshift tent made with the blanket beast souls of the lemurs.
He saw different sights during the journey including a magnificent waterfall, different animals beyond the yonder and so many more amazing, beautiful and intricate landscapes.
By the end of the month he saw a mass of land in the distance and his heart beat sped up. 'Steel armor shelter, here I come'
He had waited so long for this moment. He was planning something so crazy that if he succeeded, well...