Chapter 046: Limits! Limits!
Life force increased by 205?
“If I’m not mistaken, this is the first time a single kill has yielded more than two hundred life force!”
Tang Mubai murmured to himself.
Such a substantial amount of life force meant that the man with glasses was far stronger than any of the orcs he had encountered before!
Elite-level peak? Or commander-level?
Orcs…
No, it should be that all non-human beings had their own ranking system for strength.
Ordinary, elite, commander, lord, king!
Of these, the ordinary level was equivalent to a professional martial artist among humans.
Elite corresponded to career martial artists, commander to master-level martial artists, lord to grandmasters, and king to innate experts!
Unlike humans, among orcs, the higher the strength, the more vigorous the life force.
The system had retrieved over two hundred life force from the man with glasses. Comparing that with the orcs Tang Mubai had slain before, it meant the man’s strength, even if not at commander-level, was at least at the peak of the elite level!
Equivalent to the peak of a career martial artist.
But in humans, the life force of career-level martial artists was hardly different from that of professionals.
Of course, body-refining martial artists were an exception.
…
Not lingering in the alley, Tang Mubai dragged the corpse of the man with glasses in another wide circle before returning to the mercenary group's headquarters.
He placed the body in the open space behind the building where the conference room was located, went to the warehouse, and fetched a bottle of “corpse-dissolving solution.”
With a waft of odor drifting on the night breeze, the body of the man with glasses dissolved into a pool of liquid.
A bone bead, round and white, emerged, floating in the liquid, exposed to the air, catching Tang Mubai’s attention.
“Another bone bead?”
The man with glasses also had a bone bead on him!
“Could it be that every orc has one of these?” Tang Mubai mused curiously.
Shaking his head, he crouched, picked up the bead, slipped it into his pocket, and decided to study it later when things were settled.
He went to the flowerbed, fetched some soil, sprinkled it over the liquid, and cleaned up thoroughly along with the dirt before dusting off his hands.
There were still several orcs left to be dealt with.
Since he had chosen to kill, he would wipe them all out!
To be safe, Tang Mubai consumed another hundred years of lifespan, raising his strength to 20.
An invisible yet overwhelming force surged into his body, inflating his muscles and skin as if he were being pumped with air, swelling instantly.
He suppressed the urge to cry out, focusing on every change within.
For a long while, the flood of newfound power slowly merged with his body, coming under his control.
He opened the system panel—
[Name]: Tang Mubai
[Constitution]: 20
[Strength]: 20
[Agility]: 10 (+)
[Perception]: 5 (+)
[Will]: 5 (+)
[Vitality]: 55k (+)
[Martial Arts]: “Golden Glow Art” (Perfection), “Tiger Roar Fist” (Perfection), “Wave-breaking Blade Technique” (Perfection), “Nine Arrows Over Mountains” (Perfection), “Grass Step” (Perfection)
[Divine Ability]: Pressure Manipulation (Intermediate)
[Lifespan]: 116.5 years
[Retainers]: 3
…
As expected, strength at 20 had also reached its limit; there was no longer a “+” sign behind it.
“With strength at 5, a full-force punch could deliver over a thousand kilograms of force. Now at 20, how many kilos could I unleash with one punch?”
Tang Mubai was eager to test it.
At this moment, he felt as if one punch could shatter a bull!
To shatter and to kill were two different things.
The former was akin to a cannonball—far more destructive!
He took a deep breath to calm himself.
Tang Mubai entered the warehouse, retrieved an E-class alloy warblade, a bow with a two-hundred-kilogram draw weight, and a quiver of ten arrows before stepping back outside.
These were all his father’s legacy.
If Tang Mubai were to purchase them himself, he wouldn’t be able to afford them for less than a hundred thousand federal coins.
A two-hundred-kilogram warbow was extraordinarily expensive.
With both constitution and strength maxed out, Tang Mubai’s demands for a bow had increased. This two-hundred-kilogram bow was just barely enough. But it was the strongest bow available in the warehouse.
Armed, Tang Mubai locked up the warehouse and conference room, bypassed his car, and slipped away into the night on foot.
Again, making a wide detour, he returned to the area where the man with glasses had previously been lurking, opened his senses, and followed the scent left behind, tracking all the way back to the scene of the orc disturbance by the roadside.
Confirming that no orcs had been left behind in ambush, Tang Mubai stepped from the darkness, sniffing the lingering scent in the air, and continued the pursuit.
Through alleys, over rooftops, he moved swiftly.
Ten minutes later, Tang Mubai halted atop a six-story building, crouched, and gazed down at a courtyard a hundred meters away.
It was well into the night, yet the courtyard was still brightly lit.
Though high walls blocked most outside views, from the rooftop a hundred meters away, Tang Mubai could see clearly into the courtyard.
“One, two, three… nine people!”
Focusing his gaze, Tang Mubai counted the figures inside.
Among them was the man who had been vigilant on the roadside, who had knocked out orcs and kept a wary eye on Tang Mubai—a man of evident authority, now sternly rebuking several drunken orcs who had sobered up.
“Nine orcs?” Tang Mubai narrowed his eyes, mapping out their positions in his mind.
After a moment, he drew three arrows and loaded them on the bow.
He sprang to his feet and, like lightning, loosed the arrows.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Three arrows split the air.
Immediately after, another trio of arrows shot forth with deadly force.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Without pause, a third volley of three arrows whistled through the night.
Nine arrows in all, released within a single second.
They tore through the air, each aimed at one of the nine orcs in the courtyard!
As the last arrow flew, Tang Mubai leapt from the rooftop, executing lightfoot techniques, vaulting from roof to wall, covering the hundred-meter distance in moments, landing atop the courtyard wall.
[Detected the loss of life force. Recycle?]
“Yes!”
[Life force +163]
[Life force +159]
[Life force +171]
[Life force +168]
[Life force +172]
…
System prompts flashed through his mind.
From his vantage on the wall, Tang Mubai swiftly scanned the situation below.
Five orcs had died instantly. Three more were gravely wounded, arrows lodged in their bellies. Not daring to pull them out, red-eyed and furious, they scanned their surroundings, growling in low, angry tones.
Only the vigilant man had managed to deflect the arrows, now glaring at Tang Mubai with eyes ablaze.
“It’s you!!!”
“It’s me,” Tang Mubai replied with a grin, drawing his bow once more and taking aim.
The power of maxed-out strength, combined with the perfected “Nine Arrows Over Mountains” and the two-hundred-kilogram draw weight, had produced a devastating force—yet the man had deflected it.
This man’s strength was not to be underestimated…
Buzz—
The air trembled.
A formless pressure abruptly exploded, descending from above and enveloping Tang Mubai!