At that moment, Jihoon's head started to hurt again, and new information started to appear in his head.
He did not know but the tattoo on his back turned golden and started to hum with a golden light.
He grabbed his head but his eyes never left the bandits in front of him.
He just needed time. If he wanted to return to his world, he would need to spend a certain amount here before being teleported back.
Unfortunately, he could not control this ability. At least not yet. He needed to be stronger.
After receiving the information Jihoons attention turned back to the bandits.
"Tell me more information about this place."
The bandits, confused, delayed their answer a little bit but answered.
"Ehm… Honored one! We are in the Emerald Veil Forest!"
This does not help…
"Where are we in this world?"
The bandits looked at each other confused but answered.
"Honored one! W-We are on the Shattered Star Continent!"
"Tell me more… where are the other continents?
"Honored one! We do not know how many continents there are on Azure World, we only know that to the south the Golden Sun Continent lies."
The bandits started to get suspicious, this was basic information every Martial artist should know let alone a cultivator, they should know even more.
Jihoon however did not notice their suspicion and even if he did he could not allow himself to care, he needed the information.
Even if it meant risking his identity as a cultivator whatever that may mean.
"Then tell me how does an Innate Grandmaster compare to a Cultivator?"
"Honored one! An Innate Grandmaster should be as strong as a Cultivator who just broke through the first realm, after all, Grandmasters can use Innate Energy to compete!
Interesting considering the facts an Innate Grandmaster should be as strong as an F-Rank Hunter using Mana, maybe stronger because of their experience.
Jihoon thought as he stroked his chin unknowingly.
So I should be as strong as an Innate Grandmaster, but they were confused because I did not use any energy.
With the information at hand, Jihoon knew he had to find out what Cultivators were, however for now Martial Arts had the same importance.
"Say where is the nearest city or town?"
Jihoons voice, now sharper than before, made the terrified bandits even more scared as they began shivering.
"H-honored one! There is no city that we know of but there is a town two months away from here…"
Jihoons eyes narrowed.
"But there is a village just two days from here. Yes! Yes!"
Looks like I need to go to the village to find out more about Cultivators… I will go there disguised as a First Rate Warrior, that should be enough, I do not think that they would believe me if I told them I was an Innate Grandmaster.
"Now let's come to the last question and I will let you go…"
The bandits started to get visibly excited and started kowtowing on the ground.
Even though Jihoon knew it was probably not the best idea to let them go he knew he could not bring himself to kill them.
In his mind, there was not a good enough reason to do so.
Especially when looking into their eyes.
There was no sign of deceit nor did they think about revenge.
Either they were better than the best actors on Earth or they were genuine.
"What is Qi?"
Suddenly the atmosphere changed. Even though Jihoon was in full control of the situation he could feel the sudden tension.
They looked at each other, with a sudden understanding of the situation. Hatred started to appear in their eyes as they slowly turned red.
Their breaths became hagged, and suddenly.
They started shouting.
"You dirty invader!"
"Die! Die! Die!"
What is happening?
"You Demon! Leave our lands! Brothers, we have to let the world know! The Demons are back!."
They tried to stand but they could so they started to crawl away while shouting profanities at him and yelling for help.
What is happening? Why did they suddenly start yelling?? How did they conclude that I was an invader?! Are there other people with the same ability as me??
Jihoons mind went into overdrive as he thought of all the possibilities that could have led to this out come. However, as they continued their terrified yells Jihoon realized something.
I-I can't let them live…
Jihoon was horrified. He has never killed a person. Nor did he think he would need to. There were conflicts between Hunters but they rarely turned out deadly.
Sure he killed monsters that were humanoid but that was different. They were monsters, the same monsters that killed his parents.
These were humans. Real humans.
"B-Brothers run! I will buy you time."
One of the bandits cried as he crawled towards him while tears streamed down his face.
It was the stuttering one.
He did not even know his name.
Yet here he was.
About to take his life.
His hands trembled as he gripped his sword.
No! No! I-I can still talk myself out of this situation. Yes, I will explain it to them!
Jihoon started talking.
He tried to convince them that it was simply a misunderstanding and that he was actually an Innate Grandmaster.
However, nothing worked...
Everything fell on deaf ears as they continued shouting profanities.
He then tried to tell them that he was not an Invader, then he told what had happened to him and how he got here but nothing helped.
Exactly one minute later after the shouting began Jihoon made a decision.
I need to kill them. With that kind of reaction...being labeled as an Invader is not something I could survive.
His head became fuzzy and his hands trembled as he started to think about what he was about to do.
But then he took a deep breath and came to a final verdict.
He had to do it.
For his survival.
He looked down at the bandit below him, who just opened his mouth.
He lifted his sword as he steadied his breath and his trembling hand.
The bandit bit his leg, and one moment later his head was severed.
His body lay there limp.
Headless.
Yet the head was still attached to his leg.
The bandit bit so hard that his teeth were still in the flesh of Jihoon.
He threw up.
As his legs went limp, he lay there on the ground with tears streaming down his face questioning why.
"Why… why me?"
He said between sobs. His mind shut down as the yells of the bandits became a distant voice.
He wanted to do nothing more than lay down and sleep. Maybe it was all a dream?
But he knew the job was not done.
Unfortunately, he still had people to kill.
The fog around his mind slowly lifted.
He quickly gathered himself. He stood up wiped the snot and tears away and looked down to his feet.
What he saw made him wanna throw up again but he held it in.
He removed the head from his leg, ignoring the physical pain.
After all the psychological pain was a lot worse.
He looked at the bandits already ten meters away from him.
They kept shouting, now even more terrified they tried to speed up.
Their horrified cries echoed in Jihoons ears.
But he knew he had to finish it now.
Before anyone could hear their words.
He wiped the vomit around the corners of his mouth away.
The taste of vomit lingered in his mouth as he lunged at the bandits.
One by one their yells ceased.
He stabbed them in the hearts, trying to make their deaths as humane as possible.
With each kill his hand trembled more and more.
Jihoon now stood alone. Surrounded by corpses and the stillness of the forest.
It was now that Jihoon noticed for the first time how quiet the forest was.
At this moment he broke down. Again.
Crying, balling his eyes out.
He kept vomiting, he felt like his intestines were being pulled out.
"Why…? Mom? Dad? Please…."
He sniffed and fell unconscious.
He was after all an 18-year-old high school student that just executed four horrified men for his survival.
Fifteen minutes later he woke up again.
He sat up confused before seeing the corpses and coming back to his senses.
He looked around hurriedly to see if somebody saw him. But luckily nobody was there.
Jihhon thought about hiding the corpses but decided against it after seeing their lifeless bodies.
He quickly rummaged through their lifeless bodies searching for books that contained Martial Arts.
Fucking hell…
Jihoon's eyes twitched as he became even more disgusted with himself and continued searching body by body.
But he knew he had to do it. He knew what these Martial Arts would mean to him... to Amy...
A couple of seconds later he found two books, stored them in a small bag, found one of the bandits, and quickly ran towards the road.
While running he noticed that his legs stopped hurting less than before but he did not dare try to use Mana again.
The forest swished by his side as he continued running, at first he started in a full sprint but after the adrenaline subsided he paced himself with a quick jog.
One hour later Jihoon finally arrived at the dirt road. By now he has calmed down as he knew he had no other choice.
Even though he felt bad about what he did he kept repeating to himself that he did it for his own survival.
Slowly but surely his mind put these thoughts at the back of his head.
But he knew this was not over. He would need to face his demons later.
But not now...
He thought to himself before his eyes focused on his bag.
To distract himself he decided to look through the books.
He opened his bag and looked at the first book.
It was brown wrapped in leather but you could see the passage of time on the skin. The pages were already yellow and even slightly burnt but Jihoon did not care as he opened the book.
What met him was the image of a man in what looked like a yoga position.
He continued reading, completely fascinated by the book and its content.
Ironblood Breath:
Third Grade body strengthening technique
A basic body strengthening method that enhances blood and toughens the muscles.
Without any hesitation put the book away and took out the next one. It was also brown wrapped in leather but it was clearly a lot newer and cleaner.
Opening the book he was again met with the image of a man but this time the man had a sword in his hand.
Without lingering Jihoon continued reading.
Iron Wind Draw:
Second Grade sword technique
A quick-draw technique focusing on delivering a heavy horizontal slash
While these techniques were probably useless for high-level Hunters the possibilities are endless for low-ranked Hunters or even unawakened.
After all, what if you could almost have the strength of a Hunter while being a normal unawakened human?
You could easily become one by slaying a monster.
After that, you would be a Hunter with above-average strength which would make dungeon raiding easier which in turn would allow you to gain more skills and equipment from dungeons.
So even if these techniques only increased the strength by ten to twenty percent of a low ranked Hunter the domino effect would unforeseen.
With this Amy will become a Hunter…
Jihoon clenched his fist as his eyes watered a little bit.
Then he looked into the sky and noticed that the sun started to set.
Time to find a place to sleep… After that, I will learn Martial Arts.