Chapter 10 - Nascent Killing Intent

After scarfing down the pizza, I rushed back to my apartment.

Screw privacy—if the game wanted to read my mind, then so be it. It’s not like there was much going on in there anyway.

I chuckled dryly.

As for my kids, I found some comfort in knowing they were both adults now. I still wanted what was best for them, of course, but the truth was I hadn't played a meaningful role in their lives for quite some time.

If I reached out now just to tell them to stop playing Cultivation Online, it'd likely backfire spectacularly. Odds were, they'd just end up resenting me even more than they already did.

Moreover, my ex-wife might have her flaws—plenty, in fact—but neglecting the kids had never been one of them. If they suddenly started acting weird, she'd be the first to spot it.

And, as much as it pained me to admit it, her new husband James wasn't entirely clueless either.

That is, he wasn't a complete and total moron—not that I would ever admit that to my ex-wife.

In the back of my mind, I couldn't help but question whether my return was really my own choice—or just the result of some devilishly clever manipulation. But if that were the case, then congratulations to them, I was already thoroughly compromised.

"Worst-case scenario, I'll sue them," I muttered with a smirk. I'd never sued anyone before, but this felt like decent grounds for a pretty lucrative lawsuit.

Thus, anxious that even a moment's delay might cost me, I returned to the vibrant and intoxicating world of Cultivation Online.

…

By this point, I was already starting to become familiar with the login procedure. Shapes and colours manifested as the darkness—

“Fucking finally," an unfamiliar voice cussed.

Before I could wrap my head around what was happening, a sharp pain blossomed in my left shoulder.

“Shit," I keeled on one knee, clutching my aching shoulder. “Is that blood?”

“Man, spawn camping feels a bit…” A second voice suddenly said, his tone laced with a bit of remorse.

“Meh,” the player who I now recognised as one of the twelve-star talents from my evaluation shrugged. “In this world, ya’ do what ya’ hafta to survive.”

My attacker looked me in the eyes. “Ya’ agree with me, don't ya’, Mister-Blessed-by-the-Heavens?”

Just as I was about to open my mouth to respond, the spear lodged in my shoulder twisted in agony.

“It was a rhetorical question, ya’ fuckin' imbecile.” The player smirked, clearly enjoying the moment. “But I guess Heaven doesn't give with both hands, ey?”

“Bart…” I recognised the second assailant as one of the twelve-star talents from the evaluation. “Let's just get on with it, alright? No need to drag it out."

Another spike of pain erupted as Bart twisted the handle of his makeshift spear

[System Alert: An act fulfilling the stipulated criteria for torture has been flagged. Would you like to terminate this session? Death penalties will be applied.]

Instinctively, I dismissed the prompt in anger.

“Why the rush?” My attacker scoffed, glancing at his compations. “Doesn't it piss ya' off that this idiot gets—"

Sensing the momentary distraction, my body moved before my mind could catch up.

Maybe it was all the practice I'd put in, but I drew my sword in one smooth motion, and to great effect.

My attacker didn't even have time to react before his severed arm hit the ground—followed swiftly by the rest of him as he writhed in agony,

“Aaaarrrghhh my arm!!! Ya’ll fucking regret that, you piece of—”

[System Notification: You have killed—]

“Later.” I decided, shifting my focus to the second attacker. But before I could act, a cloud of crystalline pixels appeared, obstructing my line of sight.

“Shit, I forgot about that!”

Thankfully, my second attacker was too stunned to seize the moment.

With a wince, I pulled out the spear from my shoulder—noting half-heartedly that the blood seeping out of the wound dematerialised before it hit the ground.

“So even blood disintegrates into pixels huh.”

It was a detail I hadn’t known about before.

“You killed him," my opponent suddenly mumbled. His dazed eyes moving from where his friend had turned into pixels onto me. “You’re so fucking dead.”

When he lunged, my body moved on instinct. I deflected the crude spear with my left arm—pain flaring through my already injured shoulder. Luckily, my opponent's spear was more a sharpened stick than a real weapon.

Then, before either us could process what had happened, my sword was buried deep in his neck—bare skin offering little protection against sharpened metal.

His shocked eyes met mine—just before he dissolved into pixels.

[System Notification: You have killed a mortal human with a sword. Swordsmanship proficiency has increased significantly.]

[System Notification: You have killed a mortal human with a sword. Swordsmanship proficiency has increased moderately.]

[Results: +1 Swordsmanship Level (Beginner 5 → 6); a nascent killing intent stirs and is beginning to manifest.]

Though the ending had been quite anticlimactic, the moment I registered both of them were dead, my legs buckled, and I crumpled like a house of cards.

"If it weren't for the game numbing the pain, I'd be dead right now..." I realised, wincing at the thought.

In truth, my victory had less to do with skill and more to do with circumstance. If Bart hadn't been so focused on dragging things out... If the second attacker had possessed even a modicum of combat experience... If the wound had been on my dominant shoulder instead of the left...

There were too many ifs for comfort.

“Lesson learned.” I muttered, pressing against the wound on my shoulder. "Never log out where psychos might be waiting."

A sharp throb surged through my arm, forcing a wince. "Still... two hours? That's some next-level pettiness."

Moving on, I arched an eyebrow as the notification prompts finally caught up with me.

“Swordsmanship levelled up…” My eyes widened—only to widen even further as I read the rest of the notification. "A nascent killing intent?"

I dismissed the prompts, though my mind lingered on the implications of that last line.

"So, the more I kill, the deeper my killing intent grows?" I frowned. "PKers are going to have a field day when this becomes public knowledge..."

This wasn't a world for the kind-hearted. That much was becoming clear.

“And speaking of how twisted this place is…” I muttered, collecting two talismans and a four copper from the corpses' remains.

[Barthololol’s Provisional Outer Disciple Talisman (White Tiger Sect, Trial #224).]

[Deznut’s Provisional Outer Disciple Talisman (White Tiger Sect, Trial #224).]

Just as I was about to pocket the two talismans—bringing my total up to three—a familiar voice rang out.

"Bishop?"

Further down the road, two dirt-smeared teenagers stood frozen, eyes widening as they took in my bleeding shoulder and the discarded makeshift spears at my feet.

"Atom, Dark," I said with a weary smile. "Long time no see."

…

“So you passed the first part of the recruitment?” Dark asked, not bothering to hide the envy in his voice as he wrapped my shoulder with a strip of cloth torn from my tunic.

Somewhere along the way, he'd picked up the "First Aid" proficiency. Clearly, I wasn't the only one who'd been put though the wringer lately.

Nodding, I answered truthfully. “Yeah. The first part of the recruitment is a talent evaluation, just like we theorised. They check your cultivation talent and affinities to see if you match their criteria. To pass, you need to be either a twelve-star talent with combat-type affinities, or thirteen stars and up. But that's just step one. You still have to reach the sect with two talismans, or you're not getting in."

I watched as Atom fiddled with the two spears next to us.

“I hope we’re talented enough…” Atom muttered softly. Seeing his expression, I decided to postpone revealing my own talent for now. For some reason, I really didn’t want Atom and Dark to give me the same kind of look as the ones I’d received back during the evaluation.

“If only we hadn’t gotten lost," Dark groaned with an exasperated expression. “Can you imagine? We actually wound up in the wrong town! You should’ve seen the look on the guard NPCs when I asked him if we’d arrived in Durnatel.”

“But you have to admit…” Atom added with a smirk. “It was pretty funny when that racoon creature attacked. Bishop, do you know what the racoon did to my older brother? It totally tried to—"

“Shut up!” Dark glared daggers at his younger brother. “I thought we agreed on keeping that private?”

“But Bishop’s a friend, surely we can—"

“No.” Dark said, crossing his arms.

Listening to the two bickering brothers, the stress of the ambush and the battle slowly started to dissipate—along with the pain in my shoulder.

I felt like I was recovering in more ways than one.

“So?” I asked, deciding to interrupt the two brothers before a brawl erupted. “Are you still heading to Durnatel?”

The two brothers exchanged a look before nodding in unison.

“Yeah.”

“Yup.”

“In that case…” I looked up, peering at the sun.

"Was it noon already?"

“I’d suggest you hurry, the cultivators did say they’d start the second recruitment an hour after noon.”

“Oh shit,” Dark’s eyes widened in fear. “You’re right, come on Atom—we gotta hurry.”

I glanced at Dark’s younger brother—at his youthful avatar. Sometimes, it was hard not to conflate the two, to forget that behind the character was someone older, someone more experienced.

“Don’t worry," I said, offering them a reassuring nod. "We’ll see each other at the sect."

I hesitated. Part of me wanted to wait for them. They were good people. But were they good enough to risk failing the trial for?

In the end, I chose not to take the chance.

And so, after giving the brothers some final warnings about what they could expect from the trial, we exchanged our farewells.

…

As the sun began to dip below the horizon, I figured it was time to take a break—one that lasted more than just a few minutes.

I'd been running so much lately I was sort of surprised I hadn't unlocked a "Running" proficiency.

Moreover, in the past several hours of travelling, only one wild board had been dumb enough to pick a fight with me. The rest of the wildlife had had the good sense to stay hidden in the treelines.

Regrettably, the fight with the boar had ended before it even began; it only took a single thrust to skewer the mortal beast on my sword. Aside from a prompt announcing I'd slain a mortal boar, and a minor increase in my swordsmanship proficiency, there was no loot to speak of.

Still, the encounter reaffirmed a suspicion I'd held since the fight against the two twelve-star aspirants.

Following the increase in my sword affinity, I'd noticed a distinct shift in my combat instincts—specifically, an integration of the sword in my natural movements. Before, my instincts had been limited to bodily reactions; now, they extended to blade positioning and combat flow.

The change was subtle, and difficult to notice at first. Almost like my mind had installed a subconscious targeting system.

Which, considering what I feared about the game, was very plausible.

Admittedly, my swordsmanship still couldn't compare to Hou Wen's. But with my sharpened instincts, I felt more confident in my ability to at least survive a real encounter. And after more than six hours of walking and running—occasionally stopping to ask passing NPCs for directions—I found myself, strangely enough, looking forward to another ambush.

A chance to refine my so-called nascent killing intent.

"This is a game after all... and with how bloodthirsty this sect trial is, I should be prepared for more slaughter."

During my journal, I'd had ample time to think. With three talismans tucked away, my place as an outer disciple was all but secured—provided I didn't get ambushed, stabbed, or caught in some freak accident before reaching the outer courtyard.

"Knock on wood."

That said, my inner goblin had started whispering lately. And frankly, judging by what I'd seen of the other aspirants, my impression of them wasn't exactly glowing. With the possible exception of Grim, I was confident I could best any of them in a one-on-one fight. Even against Grim, I might not win—but I was certain I wouldn't lose.

All things considered, I was now put in the lucrative position where I could theoretically extend my lead even further. All I had to do was kill some more of the competition and steal their talismans.

Naturally, I was under no illusion that it wasn’t a cruel and despicable thing to do. With every talisman I collected, I was basically throwing someone into the gutter. Every player killed was another player who would lose their chance to become an outer disciple of the White Tiger Sect—at least for this recruitment session.

I knew all of this… so then why did I find the prospect of being the hunter so exhilarating? When I played games before, I'd never been much for PvP or PKing—so what was different this time?

In the end, I realised I wasn’t like Percival—someone whose moral compass dictated their actions.

No, I was much more pragmatic than that.

“But if I’m going to do this, I need to establish some ground rules...” I thought, leaning against a tree—my body hidden from anyone passing by on the road.

“First, I’m not going to initiate combat with any NPCs.” Killing a fellow player was one thing—they’d respawn and have another shot at a lesser sect after waiting out the death penalty. But the notion of murdering an NPC when they acted so… human… well, let's just say it left a bad taste in my mouth.

“Second, I should pick my battles wisely. No fighting multiple players at the same time if I can help it.” I nodded. I was alright with the sword, but I wasn't under the illusion I could single-handedly win versus a group of players.

Morons excluded.

When one mistake was all it took to lose everything, I wasn’t going to take any undue risks.

“Third…” Although despicable, this rule was warranted if I was going to do this. “No leaving any witnesses behind.”

After all, any potential witness could have a negative effect on my standing in the sect later on. If I could help it, I didn’t want my reputation to be that of a deranged killer.

“Four, I’m not going to attack any of the players who participated in the same recruitment as I did… well, as long as they don’t attack me first, that is.” The crab cake grandma’s words echoed through my head: Durnatel wasn’t the only town hosting a White Tiger Sect recruitment. And odds were that the closer I got to the sect, the more provisional sect members I would stumble across.

“Finally, I should focus on making some serious headway before wasting time trying to off my competition.” I didn't want to take any unnecessary risks until my arrival at the sect was all but guaranteed. Moreover, I was certain that I wasn’t far away from Lingxin’s Pass, I could feel it in my bones.

And so, after a quick break to satiate my hunger in-game and in real life, I returned to the road and continued my journey.

…