Possessing Nothing

After he arrived at the entrance of the forest, Sungmin opened the huge bag he was carrying on his back. It was a bag that Jack, the owner of the inn, had given to him as a gift. Although the bag was just an ordinary item that wasn’t enchanted with a dimensional pocket, it contained everything he needed on this trip.

‘I didn’t know I would come face-to-face against orcs so soon…’

He wasn’t planning on stressing his body until he developed the necessary muscles required to fight. Sungmin’s body was only that of a 14 year old, and he lacked the cultivation and stamina to fight orcs.

But now, his hands had calloused. He hadn’t noticeably grown stronger after 2 weeks of strength training , but his body was more-or-less accustomed to utilizing his spear technique after days of vigorous exercise.

Second stage of the Genuine Heavens Cultivation Method. Second stage of the One Thunder Cultivation Method. Second stage of the Iron Skin Cultivation Method. Second stage of the Stone Body Cultivation Method. Fourth stage of the Chasing Soul Spear Technique.

These were Sungmin’s current accomplishments in the various cultivation methods. His attainments in the Chasing Soul Spear Technique grew the fastest due to this past experiences, but he couldn’t bring out its true force due to his lack of muscle development and internal energy. Because of his fragile body, his [Iron Skin] and [Stone Body] had barely progressed, and because of his lackluster cultivation using [One Thunder] proved to be difficult as well.

He wasn’t prepared ; he was going to wait at least half a year before fighting the orcs. Sungmin knew from experience how quickly and unexpectedly  death could befall on a person .

He knew because he died once. He didn’t want to die again. Thus, he would thoroughly prepare himself for any possible dangers in this life. It would be a ridiculous joke if he was to be slain by orcs.

‘But… This is a rare opportunity to acquire a dimensional pocket.’

This dimensional pocket worth around 600,000 Erie was something he couldn’t easily give up on.

‘There wouldn’t be a need to worry about my items breaking either’

Sungmin pulled out a glass bottle from his bag. After shaking it a few times, he uncorked the bottle.

A distinct scent permeated the air. Concocted using the poison from the goblins as the base, it was a poison that he created using other poisonous plants from the forest per his experience in his previous life.

This new solution had the same effect of paralyzing one’s opponent like the original goblin poison. But the main difference was in its potency and effectiveness. If the poison was injected into a living organism, it would completely paralyze their entire body in only five minutes.

‘It works on orcs.’

Sungmin knew this because of knowledge from his past life. During a period where he lacked strength, using tricks like these was the only way for him to survive. Feeling relieved that he knew a little bit about poisons, he started rubbing the poison onto his weapon.

Five throwing knives, one short sword and a spear that were all coated in poison.

With this, he was ready. Sungmin prepared himself for the worst and stood up.

He had already mapped out the general location of the territory of the orcs. Hunting small prey like goblins, rabbits and boars weren’t the only thing he was doing during the past 2 weeks. Gathering information could be as important as one’s flesh and blood.

‘I know their patrolling routine, but I still have to be careful.’

‘5 orcs. In my current state, they won’t be easy opponents. Wouldn’t it be easier if I had a partner helping me out?’

It wasn’t that he did not think about this matter before.

‘But I would have to split the spoils.’

There was no guarantee that Hans would keep his mouth shut about the dimensional pocket. It would be easier to defeat five orcs with a partner, but that partner would then know about the dimensional pocket.

There were tens of hundreds of otherworlders that passed through this forest everyday. These otherworldlies would usually take caution to not bump into each other.

This was due to suspicion.

Sungmin was like that as well. Relationships? It sounded lovely. However, the reality was not so simple. There was no guarantee that his own kindness would be returned.

He couldn’t trust others. Especially when he didn’t have any strength right now.

“Whoosh!”

An orc was passing by. The mongrel had little equipment. He was wielding an axe with a rusted edge and did not don any armor. Only a piece of worn cloth that could not be called clothes was wrapped around his body. In other regions, there were a orcs that possessed decent equipment, but the orcs of Genavis generally didn’t have any exemplary pieces of equipment.

But no matter what kind of equipment they had, orcs only amounted to existences who competed with mere goblins. They lacked the intelligence to pose any real threat and could only rely on their brute strength.

However, it was still dangerous to underestimate orcs. As much as they lacked intelligence they made up for with their sharper instincts and strength. Sungmin poured out the bait for the orcs like he did with the goblins.

He didn’t draw blood on himself like last time. Their sense of smell was more developed than goblins, so they might find him in the midst of his preparation.

An ambush. Sungmin chose that.

He might have prepared a trap if he had the time. Alas, time was a luxury he didn’t have. There was little he could do with his current body, anyways.

After brainstorming various ideas, he decided an ambush was the best option. Sungmin swallowed his breath; he couldn’t execute his attack from above.

Sungmin was ready to use the more potent version of the goblin poison along with the attacking needles. The problem was that he couldn’t penetrate the leather cloth of the orcs by spitting the poison-needle from his mouth.

Because of that, the throwing knifes wouldn’t work either. He wasn’t sure if he could penetrate the bastard’s outer cloth even with imbuing his attacks with internal energy.

“Smell…. I can smell.”

5 patrolling orcs. It matched with the information that Hans gave to him. Hans probably knew that Sungmin was going to hunt the patrolling orcs. Hans would scavenging for items from corpses in the forest and sell them for money. Figuring out the patrol patterns of goblins and orcs should be a cakewalk for him.

‘Five… I want to split them up, but it’s not that easy to do.’

The orcs bent over and started sniffing the air with their pudge noses. It was the place where Sungmin had peed on.

Now?

No. Not yet.

Sungmin was lying on the ground as if he were a crawler. He had covered his entire body with mud and dug a light indent on the ground to camouflage himself. Breathing was kept to a minimum. An intense glare hidden somewhere in his dirt-covered face was awaiting the perfect opportunity to strike.

“It’s the scent of a human.”

“Human… Where?”

“No body. No blood.”

The orcs were muttering among themselves.

It was now!

Sungmin threw the rock that he was clenching tightly in his fist into the air.  The rock drew a curve and landed behind the orcs. Startled by the sudden sound, the orcs look behind them to see what it was.

As soon as their backs were facing him, sungmin bolted forward. He swallowed a huge gulp of breath, and brandished his short sword instead of the spear. Utilizing the [One Thunder technique], he ran towards the nearest orc and stabbed it in the back of its head.

“Shrook!”

The orc screamed. He had stabbed as hard as he could straining his wrists. The short sword was plunged into the head of the orc and blood splurted out, but it wasn’t a fatal wound. The blade was barely able to penetrate the leather cloth, losing most of its power after breaking through the unexpectedly tough resistance.

Without any hesitation, Sungmin let go out the short sword. He didn’t even try to pull it back. The poison… had already began to spread. The blade of the short sword that was coated with poison would spread through the orc’s entire body in a matter of minutes.

‘Four left’

“Human!”

“Kill!”

The orcs roared and charged forward together. Although they were bumbling onwards without any formation, their hideous visage and stocky bodies gave off an intimidating energy.

“Ha!”

Sungmin let out a deep breath out and pulled out two throwing knives. He began to revolve [One Thunder] again. Pah! He dove sideways dodging the axe plunging towards his head and twisted his back.

Crash! One of his throwing knives hit its target and broke the skin of the shoulder of one orc. He wasn’t aiming for a death blow; a small wound would be enough for his purposes. Leaving the knife buried, Sungmin quickly moved his body.

“You rat!”

An Orc screamed loudly and swung his axe in a wide arc. Even if an orc could not cultivate internal energy, their strength was beyond that of an adult human. If Sungmin was hit… his body wouldn’t be cut in half; rather, his bones would be shattered into pieces. Sungmin wasn’t able to block a blow of that calibre with his current physique.

‘I can’t get hit…!’

Desperation was starting to set in for Sungmin as there were still three orcs left. Any one of them could rip the body of a 14 year-old with their bare hands. Feeling the horror of the axe that flew past a few centimeters away from his chest, he immediately ducked and rolled on to the ground.

As he was rolling, Sungmin switched the knife from his left hand to his right and swiftly stood up before throwing it towards an orc.

“Krgh!”

He did not utilize his internal energy in his throw. The orc seemed a little surprised but was able to block the flying knife by batting it away with his axe. This was enough of a distraction. Sungmin immediately pulled out his spear and prepared to risk his life on the line for this fight.

Wram!

Sungmin’s spear was able to pierce through the orc’s chest.

Blood spurted out from the orcs mouth. He attempted to pull out the spear with both of his hands but… Along with a terrible foreboding, the spear started to come loose. No, It was better for him to abandon the spea as the nearest orc roared and swung his axe down towards Sungmin head.

“Krugh!”

Lee Sungmin desperately hoisted the spear shaft up in an attempt to block the oncoming blow.

Crash!

The spear broke into two pieces.

“You son of a b*tch!”

Sungmin cried out at the top of his lungs over the loss of his spear. Nonetheless, Sungmin was still attacking the orc as he was screaming.

The move Rising Soul Light from the Chasing Soul Spear Technique. The end of the spear would soar into the air to strike the enemy. Although half the spear was gone, Sungmin used the remaining end to thrust the shaft upwards like a sword.

The orc who was in a hurry to retreat was hit was grazed in the chin by Sungmin’s strike.

‘I already used the poison. It’s not enough!’

Most of the poison was smeared on the head of his spear that was already inside the other orc. Sungmin didn’t have enough poison on hand. Luckily for him, the blunt blow from the axe had caused the broken spear shaft to be jagged with wood spikes.

“Krug!”

Summoning every last bit of his strength, he stabbed it straight through the orc’s neck. It’s mouth  mouth flung open. One left.

Although Sungmin was tired, one orc wasn’t that difficult to handle. He looked around his surroundings while breathing heavily. The 4 orcs who were inflicted with the paralysis poison was lying on the ground twitching, and the one whose neck was penetrated with the shaft was already dead

“I’m…tired.”

Lee Sungmin spat onto the ground and muttered. It was stupid. It was stupid to fight against multiple opponents that he wasn’t completely ready for.

“…But still…”

A sense of accomplishment welled up within him. He was able to take on 5 orcs alone. This was something he never even dreamt about in his past 14 year old self. Sungmin contently grinned as he headed towards the orcs who were flinching.

To gouge their eyes out.