In just three days, I had hunted many beasts and gathered a massive amount of contribution points. I started buying cultivation-boosting potions one after another. Many middle-rank 1 cultivators watched me with envy. They had little fighting experience, so they had to move with caution, while I cheated with the experience from my previous life. I hunted as boldly as always.
Suddenly, the presence of many people appeared around me. I shrugged it off at first, thinking it was normal for groups to team up to kill beasts. But perhaps because I had been living in peace for too long, I had forgotten how vile the hearts of humans could be — unlike my own delicate and pure heart.
Many cultivators soon surrounded me. One from the group stepped forward and said with a fake smile, "You have killed many beasts. We seniors wish to protect you so you can hunt with ease."
I immediately understood. They had seen my hunting and knew I had exchanged the beast corpses for cultivation-boosting potions. Those potions would help them grow stronger and hunt beasts more easily. But that was exactly what I wanted.
I smiled and replied, "Nice. It really is nice, seniors. As always, I wish to compete with my seniors. How much karma is enough for an average fate battle?"
The word 'average' hit them hard. They answered with a sneer full of ridicule, "Did we hear that right? This junior actually wishes to fight with the consent of fate? We need to give him a lesson that is worth the payment."
I didn't roll my eyes. He spoke exactly as I had hoped—he even made me want to cheer him on.
We all took an oath and agreed to battle in the wilderness, where half the area was dense forest and the other half was open grassland. There were eleven cultivators in total, including myself. Later, I realized there were even more unknown cultivators wearing masks. It seemed they weren't idiots after all.
I thought to myself, "I feel a little regret for assuming only about five cultivators would ambush me. To think I am valued this highly leaves me speechless. But if I win, wouldn't I directly ascend into the high tier?"
My face turned serious. I made the first move because my skills demanded it. I ran straight into the forest. The ten cultivators were shocked by my shamelessness, but they quickly regained their composure and started to chase after me.
As I ventured deeper into the forest, they paid heavy attention to me and only me. One after another, they started falling into the foreign-designed traps I had prepared earlier. Only then did they realize they needed to be aware of their surroundings too.
I quickly changed my tactics. Using Shadow Jump, I climbed onto a tall tree and jumped down the moment they entered the pitfall trap. I successfully activated it. They all began falling in.
When I jumped, one cultivator tried to leap out of the pitfall and grab me. To my surprise, his body was sticky. I realized a normal jump wouldn't work, so I used Shadow Jump to escape his clutches—or so I thought.
But a light-user cultivator used light magic to cast a tracking skill. Although it was only a tracking skill, it landed on me and completely negated my Shadow Jump. My Illusion Weave wasn't enough to deal with the sticky body of that cultivator either. We started falling together.
I knew we only had about five seconds before we hit the bottom, but the sand kept flowing even deeper until an even more bottomless pit appeared. Panic struck me as I thought, Why the fuck did I ask for a fate battle? Otherwise, they would have left me after a short pursuit. Now I'm in a situation where I might not even survive.
As we fell, no one moved recklessly. Who knew which cultivator's skill would save them? But suddenly, the pitfall started giving off an eerie laughter — "Khekhekhe."
I knew very well that such a sudden sound was meant to be a distraction. I spotted the spikes below. I didn't warn the others. They only became aware of the spikes a second later thanks to a perception skill user.
The light user was the first to fall onto the spikes because his abilities only shone in lookout duty and he had low defensive power. The light on my body started to fade as I used Illusion Weave to stab fiercely at the sticky cultivator's heart. He died with a look of utter confusion — after all, they were allies, and there was no deep grudge between them.
The others focused entirely on landing safely. Pitifully, only four survived. Their defensive skills had saved them. Defense skills were still valuable since the human body was weak. But I couldn't let them live. Their deaths would be my shortcut to greatly increasing my luck in one go.
I watched as the defensive spells of the four remaining cultivators shattered. They seemed to be wood, transformation, earth, and phantom types.
I killed the earth user first — the environment was perfect for him. The other three cultivators immediately became aware that I was killing my comrades, but they quickly faced reality and readjusted.
Sadly for them, the wood and transformation users fell because they had no proper defensive skills to block my Shadow Jump. It was tricky to deal with, but the transformation user only had one ability and couldn't cover his whole body. He died shortly after.
The phantom user lasted a little longer, but in the end, he too fell.
I used a Dew Stone to replenish my karma and then stared into the dark tunnel ahead. It looked like it wouldn't be easy to travel through.
Suddenly, a voice echoed from the cave: "Huh? A young cultivator at middle-tier Rank 1. I am seeking an heir for my inheritance."
I thought to myself, "Well, sometimes risk and reward always coexist. To think it's not just a treasure, but an inheritance, plus enough enormous red luck to cultivate all the way to Rank 1 peak tier…"
My mind grew dizzy. Maybe because I felt assured that he wouldn't kill me, the exhaustion finally caught up. I fell into a deep, sound sleep.
The voice in the cave was left startled.