Long Live System

Late into the night, once Rock was alone in the street, Yue Yang made his move. He could get to him the warrior way, the assassin way, or the avenger way. In the end, he choose all 3 ways. At least he tried.

He was in his assassin outfit. From the Shop, he had bough several drugs and poisons, as well as their cures. He dipped 2 needles into paralysing poison and sleeping drugs, and held them ready. He was keeping his distance, making full use of his Counterfeit and Shadow Concealment skills, and disappeared from his place.

The next moment, he was behind rock, left hand speeding toward his throat, while the right one, holding 2 needles, moved toward the jugular. He had used the Celestial Step to get close to Rock without him noticing his advance. By the time he noticed the attack, it was too late to dodge or block. He struck Rock's throat with the palm of his hand, preventing him from making a sound and summoning his beasts. Simultaneously, the 2 needles pierced his neck, releasing the substances they were coated in in his bloodstream.

Rock, while unable to avoid the attack, still had good reflexes. When the attacks struck, his counter was already launched. His elbow burrowed itself into Yue Yang's ribcage, making him wince but nothing more. Rock tried to turn around to face his foe while distancing himself, but Yue Yang's finger jabs struk his arms and shoulders, while using his legs to disrupt his footing and prevent him from kicking. He locked one of Rock's leg in place while striking the other, disabling it like he did for the arms and making him collapse. Then he disabled the second leg, and knocked him out. He quickly grabbed the body and disappeared with Celestial Steps.

"...Well, that was underwhelming..." he said as he appeared in an abandonned property with his target, dumping him on the ground. He looked at him and sighted, before crouching and started to loot him. He aquired the crystal holding his beast, a element-type strenghtening beast Stone Skin.

"I didn't even really need the poison and drugs. I overestimated him a bit, except for his initial reaction. But then again, my first strike was more complex than necessary... And I held back..."

Yue Yang had wanted to disable him with assassin methods and kidnapp him, then fight him in an abandonned location to not only test hiself, but also torture the guy during the beatdown he planned to inflict on him. He could have instantly knocked him out with a strike in the back, rather than aim for the throat to silence him and use substances that wouldn't take effects instantly. The time he took to aim with those 2 strike was the time use by his enemy to retaliate. And to be honest, he was still anxious about killing, slowing him down.

"I made a complicated plan for nothing, and it could have seriously backfired on me... As they say, simple is best..."

As for the idea of testing himself against Rock, he gave up on it. After the initial exchange, he realised he was just too fast for his opponent to keep up. And while his strike were meant to disable, he noticed that they packed a lot of power, judging by the grimaces Rock made with each hit. Not only was he faster, he was also stronger. The elbow strike didn't hurt him, so he was tougher. In a direct battle against Rock, he would jsut destroy him.

From what he could tell, Rock was at the peak of Braveman rank, and probably reached Hero rank with his strenghtening beast. Since he had the backing of someone strong, he expected him to be better than what his rank suggested, especially since he was a veteran fighter and still alive despite his name being in the Vengeance Hunters list for some time.

"Now that I think about it, I don't know how my attributes are compared to my cultivation rank. Nor do I know the average for Soaring Dragon Continent. I guess my stats are much better than my rank, but how much is something I'll have to determinate later."

Since he started his post-action analysis, some of his anger had drained down, but not enough to spare Rock some pain, and ultimatly, death.

Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!

"Nnnggghh!"

Just like that, Rock's wrists and ankles were broken by Yue Yang. Even in his unconscious state, he felt it. And he would feel it even more soon, because Yue Yang was appliying the cures to 2 new needles. As further precaution, he dislocated the shoulders, which sped the awakening of Rock.

"Nnnnnggh-AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGHH!!!!!!"

He howled in pain as his consciousness fully returned. His initial trashing and susequent spasms of pain didn't help his condition at all. He was growling on the ground, desperatly trying to remain motionless.

"Good evening, mister Rock."

"Nrgh... Who the f.u.c.k are you? You'll pay for what you did to me! Do you know who I am?"

"Why, yes I know who you are. You're sc.u.m that has caused a lot of people a lot of grief. You can spare me the threats, because I don't care. You're not in a position to do anything to me. Once I'm done with you, not even your corpse will be found. The only reason you're conscious right now is because I wanted you to see your end coming, because I wanted you to suffer as your life ended."

The words were spoken in a calm, matter-of-fact tone. And it chilled Rock's blood in it veins. He started to get really afraid. Before he could recover his wits, his captor summoned his grimoire, and summoned a beast. Seeing the Spitting Thorny Flower, he started to relax, at least as much as someone with broken bones and dislocated joints could.

"He he he he he... What do you intend to do with that trash beast" he said with weak bravado.

"Enjoy your time being eaten alive."

With that said, he disappeared from Rock's view, and the plant opened its mouth wide. The disabled man suddenly paled, and start to scream for help and beg for mercy. His voice was soon muffled as his head and upper torso were slowly swallowed. Soon enough, the rest of his body followed.

[First human kill. +5000 credits. +1 blood essence stone. +1 wisdom fruit.]

Yue Yang had observed the whole thing from afar. He was frowning, he wasn't bothered by the physical pain he inflicted, he had even enjoyed it a bit. It was the terror he inflicted that disturbed him a little, the terror of death slowly claiming you that he felt not so long ago, the finishing move being dragged over time. He discovered that he could torture, then kill a real human being without having a mental breakdown, without being disgusted with himself (but with a swift final move if possible).

It was still an unpleasant business, and it was just a start.

The reputation of the Violent Beast mercenaries was as flattering as their name, and led by the intermediate level 3 Hero Tie Kuang, the Armored Beast. He had commited many crimes in the city, from the lowest to murder, and around a dozen of families had united in the common goal of taking him down. As a member of a big family from the empire, he had strong protection and support, and aquitained with the lord of White Stone City, which was why the Assassin Guild didn't touch him.

He remembered that the night ladies had quite the grudge against him, and chose to use them, like his fictional part.

The following day, in the morning, a young woman woke up, still tired from the previous night of work, and entered the main room of her very modest home. She had dark brown hairs reaching between her shoulder blades framing a charming heart shaped face, and curvaceous body. A childless widow, one of the many victims of Tie Kang's crimes. She was going to do her morning routine when she froze. In the darkest corner of the room, a man in dark clothing emerged from the shadows.

As the man got closer, she didn't move a single muscle, her breath held and her eyes wide in fear. He stopped in front of her, without invading her personal space, and gazed at her.

"I'm going after Tie Kang. I know that you, and many others want him dead. But you don't have the money to pay. We can come to an agreement."

The woman was stunned for a moment, before relaxing. She kept a neutral expression on her face, but he could see the burning hope in her eyes.

"Are you really going to kill him?"

Yue Yang nodded, and at once she got on her knees and bowed her head to the ground, tears streaming down her face.

"Thank you young master. It's been 3 years since we put him on the Vengeance Hunters list. My sisters... Our husbands, sons, brothers and fathers were killed by him, and we were forced into prostitution to serve him and work for him. We are living a nightmare daily because of him. If you're going to end him we will do whatever you ask of us. I will do anything."

While the woman was kowtowing to him, Yue Yang took out 2 small vials from his pocket. The first contained a cyan liquid, and the second a clear one.

"Tonight, some of you will service him and get him drunk. Take these... The cyan one is to be put in his bottle of drink. It will calm down his violent impulses and make him cheery and relaxed. The other one is to be put in the second bottle, it's long acting and will put him in a deep sleep an hour and half later. Once he's down, I'll take care of him, and there won't be a corpse left. I'll come find you some time later."

With the drugs and instructions delivered, he swiftly disappeared from her home. The woman looked at where the stranger stood for a few seconds, then at the vials in her hand. Her expression became determined, and she went about to make sure Tie Kang wouldn't see the next day.

That night, Yue Yang followed his target while out of sight. During that time, he noticed someone whose description he barely remembered from the novel. A certain Bright Eyed Thief. For a few seconds, his gaze was locked on one of the girls that would become his lovers. He understood why his fictional counterpart was instantly smiten with her, she was quite pretty, and while Bing had a nice toned apple b.u.t.t, Yi Nan had a wonderfull buble b.u.t.t.

[Inherent Skill Divine Vision advanced to level 3. Inherent Skill Counterfeit advanced to level 3]

That was another pleasant surprise. He had been using these skills as much as possible daily to raise their levels, but being confined in White Stone City made improving them difficult. He need more challenging things. He didn't know wether to laugh or sulk, thinking that the skills improved only due to him looking at a babe.

'Now that I think about it, Yi Nan's mother and aunt Xian are related. I bet it was partially due to aunt Xian that she came to White Stone City. That woman was more than what she seemed. I guess I'll see you soon, my future fiance...'

Yue Yang resumed his mission. He would have plenty of time to meet her later, he had a dude to assassinate. The girls had done a good job. Tie Kang was out when he snuck into his house. It also made him wonder how easy it would be for someone to sneak into his own house. After feeding Tie Kang to his flower, he looted the house of anything valuable that could enter his inventory.