Chapter 3: One Step At A Time

Name: Qin Shujian

Identity: Ordinary Mountain Bandit

Affiliation: Liangshan Stronghold

Stage: Martial-Entry Level Two

Cultivated Technique: Bodyforge Manual Level Two (+) (Five Levels in Total) (Mortal Tier Low Grade)

Life Value: 5

Equipment: Large, Chipped Blade, Tattered Shirt, Tattered Trousers, Tattered Straw Sandals

The plus sign finally appeared behind “Bodyforge Manual Level Two” after his Life Value reached five.

Qin Shujian tapped on the sign with his consciousness without any hesitation.

His five Life Value dropped to zero immediately.

Buzz!

The words “Bodyforge Manual Level Two” immediately transformed into Level Three in his mind.

His stage also changed directly from Martial-Entry Level Two to Martial-Entry Level Three.

A warm current surged upward around his body and instantly spread throughout his limbs and bones. His blood and energy also started to heat up slightly.

The distance between his blood and muscles seemed to have become tighter. His once slightly pale skin seemed to have become much darker.

“My strength has doubled again from what I had before,” he thought.

Qin Shujian felt as though he had cultivated the Bodyforge Manual for many years. He had become familiar with all of the information regarding the third level of the Bodyforge Manual.

He seemed to have an absolute understanding of the improvements to every inch of his body.

His strength had doubled from the level he was at previously. That was not a small upgrade.

It had to be understood this way.

His strength had already doubled once when he advanced from Martial-Entry Level One to Martial-Entry Level Two.

Now, his strength had doubled once again when he advanced from Martial-Entry Level Two to Martial-Entry Level Three.

Since that was the case, it meant that his strength was now four times what he had initially been.

Furthermore…

An increase in strength was not as straightforward as one plus one equals two.

Now that he had advanced to Martial-Entry Level Three, Qin Shujian suddenly had a premonition that ten Mountain Bandits wouldn’t be able to pose any threat to him even if he had to face all of them head-on.

Aside from that, “All aspects of my body have had some form of improvement after I advanced to Martial-Entry Level Three. Even though it was not as obvious as my doubled power, the improvement to those areas is also quite significant,” Qin Shujian thought.

After he took a short time to familiarize himself with his body’s status, Qin Shujian once again looked at his attribute panel.

His Life Value had been emptied to zero.

He thought, “I only needed one point of Life Value to move from Bodyforge Manual Level One to Bodyforge Manual Level Two.”

“Yet, I needed five points of Life Value to increase Bodyforge Manual from Level Two to Level Three.”

“The difference between the two is about five times the original value.”

Qin Shujian felt a little pain after he did a few calculations.

If he really needed five times the original amount of Life Value to improve Bodyforge Manual to the next level. In that case, he might not be able to reach Bodyforge Manual Level Five even if he killed off all of the Mountain Bandits in the Liangshan Stronghold.

However, Qin Shujian felt that it was natural after knowing how his strength would improve with every level.

If not for the high requirement, this game might be a little too easy.

“Bodyforge Manual Level Three corresponds with Martial-Entry Level Three. That should mean that Bodyforge Manual Level Five would make my stage Martial-Entry Level Five. My abilities should also be doubled with every level I advanced,” Qin Shujian mulled.

“If that’s the case, I should be able to fight against a hundred people when I reach Martial-Entry Level Five!” Qin Shujian guessed to himself.

A person at Martial-Entry Level Five should be 16 times more potent than a Martial-Entry Level One person.

But…

Those were all conjectures. He should not believe them as truth.

Qin Shujian felt consoled now that he knew that there was no cooldown time to enhance the Bodyforge Manual and that all he needed was Life Value.

It was just Life Value!

There were many Mountain Bandits in Liangshan. He did not have to worry about that problem before he killed all of the bandits in Liangshan.

After all, he was currently only at Martial-Entry Level Three. He did not have to consider the matter of Martial-Entry Level Five yet.

He had to be more practical.

He had to take one step at a time to make himself more powerful.

That was an important principle.

Now that his abilities had reached Martial-Entry Level Three, Qin Shujian felt that he became one of the most powerful fighters within the Liangshan Stronghold.

At the very least, the small-fry NPCs who were only at Martial-Entry Level One would not be able to pose a threat to him.

It was no longer realistic to wait for the NPCs to come to him if he wanted to obtain even more points of Life Value.

Furthermore, he could not guarantee that he would not attract the Liangshan Stronghold Chieftain’s attention if too many Mountain Bandits died.

There was always a Stronghold Chieftain in a stronghold.

The Stronghold Chieftain was also the most powerful NPC in a stronghold.

Even though Qin Shujian had never seen the Liangshan Stronghold Chieftain in person, he knew that the other party was not comparable to the small-fry NPCs that were only at Martial-Entry Level One.

“I have to enhance my abilities as best as possible before the Liangshan Stronghold Chieftain notices what is going on,” he thought.

“That way, even if I was caught, I could at least guarantee my escape if I can’t defeat the Stronghold Chieftain.”

Qin Shujian attacked decisively after coming to a decision.

Picking out lone NPCs as he did in the past was too inefficient.

There was only a little more than two days before the Players arrived. He might be driving himself to a corner if he wasted more time.

Soon after, Qin Shujian had not walked for too long before he saw three Mountain Bandits.

Two of the Mountain Bandits were on patrol, while the last one was stationed in the area.

Qin Shujian approached them with quick steps and no hesitation. He created a fierce gust of wind with the large blade in his hand as he cleaved it toward the neck of one of the Mountain Bandits on patrol.

He had four times the strength of an ordinary Mountain Bandit. The large, chipped blade in his hand felt light as a feather. He was much faster in unleashing his blade than he was before.

The patrolling Mountain Bandit had no time to react before the blade struck his neck.

Thump!

His large head flew upward, followed by a jet of fresh blood.

The other patrolling Mountain Bandit and the Mountain Bandit who was guarding the area did not know how to react to the sudden incident.

However, in the next instant, a merciless look swept over the eyes of the other two Mountain Bandits. While they were intelligent, they knew what had happened before their eyes.

While the Mountain Bandits were about to take action, Qin Shujian was already one step ahead of them.

He took a step forward and sliced his large blade down diagonally. He cleaved his knife into the shoulder of the other patrolling Mountain Bandit with immense speed.

The blade entered the Mountain Bandit through his shoulder and sliced downward until it was three inches under his throat.

“Ah!”

After a brief, pathetic cry, the patrolling Mountain Bandit fell onto the ground, dead.

At this moment, the other Mountain Bandit, who had been guarding the area, was charging toward Qin Shujian with his large blade. Qin Shujian immediately pulled back his blade and met his opponent head-on.

Thump! Thump!

Sparks flew as the two blades met. The blade of the Mountain Bandit flew out of his hands from the impact.

Then, Qin Shujian waved his blade once again and cleaved the Mountain Bandit to death.

It only took five seconds for the three Mountain Bandits to be killed.

Qin Shujian had dominated the Martial-Entry Level One Mountain Bandits with his abilities at Martial-Entry Stage Level Three.

Qin Shujian was a little out of breath. He had to put in some effort to kill all three Mountain Bandits in one go.

However, the brief battle had given him a clearer understanding of his abilities.

As he looked at the Mountain Bandits on the ground disappear, Qin Shujian, who had gained three points of Life Value, was elated. He grabbed onto the large blade in his hand and continued searching for his next target.

Sometime later, another Mountain Bandit entered his field of vision.

Qin Shujian showed no hesitation. He immediately raised his blade and sliced it toward the person, no, toward the NPC.