Chapter 16: The Blade Escapes the Cage
Su Xiao slowly approached the bushes, his flintlock pistol aimed at the thicket, with only one bullet left in the chamber.
"Wait, I'm not a bad guy." A clear, childish voice came from within the bushes.
A kid? Su Xiao eyed the bushes suspiciously.
How could there be a child in the dangerous Kolpo Mountains? This put him on high alert.
"I'll give you three seconds to come out, or else you won't need to."
The trigger of the flintlock gradually tightened. If the other party didn't come out in three seconds, he would fire.
"Is that so? Then I won't come out."
Perhaps the child in the bushes had misunderstood Su Xiao's words.
Su Xiao's eye twitched. He could now confirm that there really was a child in the bushes, and that child wasn't very bright.
He put away the flintlock. The last bullet might be useful elsewhere and shouldn't be wasted here.
"Get out here."
Su Xiao rushed to the bushes in a few steps and kicked them hard.
Instead of the feeling of hitting a human body, he felt a springy resistance.
"Boing~."
A sound like kicking a ball came, and a small, thin figure was sent flying far away.
"Boing, boing~."
After the figure landed, it bounced a few more times before finally lying face down on the ground.
"Waaah, waaah~."
The kid Su Xiao had kicked might have been hurt, as he sat on the ground and started crying loudly.
This strange elasticity made Su Xiao squint his eyes as he focused on the child.
Yellow skin, black hair, pitch-black eyes, combined with that bizarre elasticity, Su Xiao guessed the child's identity.
Wasn't this the protagonist from the original work, Monkey D. Luffy? He had been wondering earlier why a child would appear in the Kolpo Mountains.
If it was Luffy, that explained it. The boy lived in the Kolpo Mountains during his childhood.
Su Xiao walked up to Luffy and examined him. Luffy was sitting on the ground crying bitterly, with snot running down his face. It seemed Su Xiao's kick had hurt him. Young Luffy's Devil Fruit ability was barely developed, so his immunity to attacks wasn't strong.
Right now, Luffy was just a little brat, completely lacking the style of the original protagonist.
"Kid, stop crying, or I'll kill you."
Su Xiao was covered in tiger blood, looking extremely fierce, so the crying abruptly stopped.
"Don't kill me, I don't want to die."
Su Xiao shook his head with a bitter smile. What a straightforward answer.
He wasn't paying attention to Luffy because he was the protagonist of the One Piece world; he just wanted to observe a Devil Fruit user.
Grabbing Luffy's cheek, Su Xiao lifted him up, stretching his face long.
Luffy sniffled and looked at Su Xiao with a dazed expression, looking especially funny.
Just then, Reincarnation Paradise suddenly issued a series of prompts.
[Warning! Warning! The Hunter is contacting the World Child. Please stay away from them!]
[Warning! Warning! The Hunter is contacting the World Child. Please stay away from them!]
[Warning! Warning! The Hunter is contacting the World Child. Please stay away from them!]
The prompts that appeared this time weren't the usual light blue but blood-red, giving a dangerous feeling.
[Warning: An ultra-powerful creature is approaching. Detection identifies it as Monkey D. Garp. Please evacuate immediately.]
[Triggered Quest: The Strangling of a Legend.]
The Strangling of a Legend
Difficulty Level: LV.79.
...
After seeing [Difficulty Level: LV.79], Su Xiao directly dropped Luffy from his hand and then walked toward the water source. He didn't even look at the quest rewards and wouldn't accept this so-called [The Strangling of a Legend].
No need to think about it, a quest with LV.79 difficulty must have astonishing rewards.
But for Su Xiao, this level of quest was too early. Right now, completing an LV.3 quest was already a struggle.
When he entered the One Piece world, the difficulty displayed was LV.6, but that wasn't the true difficulty of the One Piece world. The so-called LV.6 referred to the difficulty of the Goa Kingdom capital region.
Su Xiao wasn't too concerned about Monkey D. Garp. The other party should be far away; otherwise, he wouldn't have had a chance to leave.
Arriving at a small river, Su Xiao began to wash himself.
The blood was washed away by the clear river water. After Su Xiao cleaned himself, a section of the river was dyed red, and the smell of blood attracted a large group of fish.
A big fish leaped out of the water. Su Xiao instinctively drew his blade, directly piercing the two-meter-long fish. With a burst of arm strength, the fish was tossed onto the bank.
This slash was at a very tricky angle and had excellent control of force, which even surprised Su Xiao himself.
His swordsmanship had improved significantly, and he had only experienced one battle.
The reason for this leap in swordsmanship was related to his training in the Real World.
In the Real World, Su Xiao rarely had the chance to fight at full strength. This life-or-death battle with the giant tiger had activated the results of his three years of hard training in swordsmanship.
The Real World was like a 'cage.' The killing techniques he had painstakingly practiced were useless except for revenge.
And when he took revenge, it was usually a single slash, with no real combat opportunity.
But Reincarnation Paradise was different. It was filled with all kinds of dangers. Even if someone was as rich as a country or held high power in the Real World, if they weren't strong enough, they could only wait for death in Reincarnation Paradise.
Breaking free from the 'cage,' Su Xiao felt a sense of relief.
Reincarnation Paradise was indeed dangerous, with the law of the jungle like a primeval forest, but compared to the Real World, he liked it here more.
Perhaps he was naturally suited for Reincarnation Paradise. Only here could he fully utilize his talents.
Adventuring in other worlds while gaining power might be a good experience.
Su Xiao took a deep breath. He decided to make a name for himself in Reincarnation Paradise, to become stronger, stronger, and stronger until he was stronger than anyone else, because only then could he break free from his shackles.
But before fulfilling this grand wish, he first needed to fill his stomach. The big fish struggling on the grass was undoubtedly the best lunch.
Bleeding, scaling, gutting, starting a fire...
After more than ten minutes, the two-meter-long fish was already roasting over the fire.
Without any seasoning, this big fish might not taste good. He also noticed one thing: killing this fish didn't grant any mana points.
This was probably because the fish was too weak to meet the standard of his talent ability [Soul Devourer].
This was reasonable. If killing any living creature granted mana points, Su Xiao could just step on an ant nest and directly gain 100 mana points, which was the maximum he could obtain in each world.
As for the use of mana points, Su Xiao wasn't clear yet, but it might play a key role later.
The burning branches made a few crackling sounds, and the big fish was soon roasted. Oil dripped from the crispy skin, sizzling in the fire.
Cutting a piece of fish meat, Su Xiao directly stuffed it into his mouth. Although it looked good, the taste shouldn't be great since no seasoning was added.
But after chewing a few times, Su Xiao paused.
The fish meat in his mouth was tender, smooth, and had a primal fragrance—the inherent flavor of the fish itself. Any seasoning would have been superfluous.
Delicious, very delicious. This was probably the best food he had ever eaten.
Swallowing the fish meat, Su Xiao looked at the big fish and swallowed his saliva. Perhaps he could not only gain power in derivative worlds but also taste various delicacies.
After enjoying an exceptionally delicious lunch until he was completely full, Su Xiao left reluctantly.
The side quest was already completed. The identity of the guard leader, barring any accidents, should also be obtainable. It was time to prepare for the assassination of the king.
That was his final task. Everything he had done so far was just groundwork.