23 I’m In Charge of My Own Fate
Translator: Exodus Tales
Editor: Exodus Tales
The barbarians had always viewed strong Vigor as strength.
They respected the strong and naturally, they didn’t dare to keep on lecturing Lu Chen anymore after a few words.
After they stopped the lecture, Lu Chen asked about some details.
“Have any of those fireballs entered the village before?”
“Yes, there was. But as long as it didn’t enter your body, it’d be killed right away once it’s crushed.”
Lu Chen was dumbfounded by the reply.
Crushed once? Was it because the human-head fireball back then wasn’t as strong as this one?
No, that’s not it. Although the human-head fireball had no intelligence, it trying to escape from me proved that it still had a fear of dying. If it wasn’t as strong as this fireball I killed, it wouldn’t even dare to enter the village.
So what made it, an even stronger human-head fireball, able to be killed so easily?
Such questions filled Lu Chen’s heart.
But he didn’t think for too long and turned his gaze to the center of the village, looking up to the high standing totem pillar.
So I see. The Evils didn’t dare to enter the village protected by the totem pillar because the totem pillar has an intimidating aura on them.
Outside of the village, the human-head fireball could rekindle itself three times or even more before it could be killed. Furthermore, when it was crushed, it’d try ways to enter the human bodies and rekindle within. However, once it was within the totem pillar’s domain, it will die right away once crushed. This was the effect of the totem pillar.
Lu Chen finally understood just how suppressive the totem pillar was to the Evils.
He finally knew why the patrollers were never willing to leave the totem pillar’s protection and deal with the Evils outside of it.
The battles outside and inside of the totem pillar’s protection had two completely different difficulties.
As he was piecing things together in his mind, Lu Chen inspected his Vigor again. This gave him more insights to the patrollers’ conservative behaviors of not clearing the Evils around the village.
Other than the difficulty of dealing with the Evils outside of the totem pillar’s protection, the other reason for the patrollers’ unwillingness was the cost of their Vigors.
Feeling the lost Vigor from the battle with the human-head fireball, Lu Chen was better able to understand the patrollers’ decisions.
The barbarians are strong, their cultivation path was to keep on strengthening on their fortes, cultivating their Vigor and fortifying their bodies.
This gave every single Barbarian Blood Warrior a strong body and intense Vigor. The intensity of their Vigor could be used to kill the Evils and fight in battles.
However, while this made Vigor the barbarians’ strongest strength, it also made it their biggest weakness.
He wasn’t saying that Vigor was weak in battles, but he meant that Vigor was too valuable to spend.
On normal days, whether it was training or a battle with the Evils, everything required Vigor.
But the amount of Vigor they could regenerate every day was limited.
At the same time, a huge amount of nutrients were required in order to regenerate their Vigor. All of these factors contributed to the barbarians’ unwillingness to spend their Vigor and impair their cultivation base.
It was true that the Vigor was a barbarian’s foundation and the only reason they were so strong. But because of that, it also made them reluctant to spend it carelessly.
The whole idea wasn’t that hard to comprehend. Their training and cultivation to increase their strength required Vigor.
But if they spent their Vigor on the battles, they would have less Vigor to use for their cultivation.
It was still acceptable if it was just normal battles. They could rely on their fortified body to help them defeat their enemies, this way, the consumption of Vigor wasn’t that much.
However, when it came to battles with the Evils, they would have to paint their weapons with their Vigor-intensified blood or spit it out to kill the Evils. The consumption of Vigor was definitely much greater.
This meant that they would have less Vigorr to spend in their cultivation, which also meant their cultivation progress would be hindered.
Moreover, if they didn’t take in enough nutrients after the battles to regenerate the loss of their Vigor, they would feel weak and in extreme cases, even falter in their cultivation levels.
Which was why the others aren’t like me. They can’t use their Vigor so easily in the battles.
Finally, Lu Chen understood why the barbarians were not willing to take a more active approach of clearing the Evils outside the village.
It wasn’t that they didn’t want to, but their hands were tied due to their circumstances.
Yes, poverty. If they were a little more wealthy and had more food, the Barbarian Blood Warriors wouldn’t even have to fight so conservatively.
Sigh, how nice would it be if we could hit the Evils without spending our Vigor.
As he thought, Lu Chen squinted his eyes.
Then, Lu Chen looked to the two barbarians and asked, “Do you know if there’s any weapons that can harm the Evils? I’m not talking about Vigor, but just weapons.”
The consumption of Vigor for fortifying their bodies was not high. If there was an uncommon weapon, Lu Chen wouldn’t have to spit or spill his blood in the battles anymore. This would solve the biggest problem of the barbarians’ fighting style.
However, the two barbarians exchanged a look at one another at Lu Chen’s question.
Sometime later, one of them finally answered, “I’ve heard about these uncommon weapons in the bigger villages. They say the weapons can harm the Evils. However, they are incredibly valuable. You can’t even find any of them in the annual market, let alone our village.”
Lu Chen twitched his mouth helplessly and thought, The barbarians really are poor.
Then, the other barbarian also said, “I’ve also heard in the annual market that there are people in the Central Plains who can make powerful pieces of paper. Stick these papers on the weapons and they can somehow damage the Evils. However, those pieces of paper are incredibly rare. A piece of it is often worth more than a cow.”
Paper? They should be talismans!
Of course, the Central Plains was more advanced than the Wilderness. With the help of the talismans, the situation in the Central Plains will surely be much better. But it’s all useless to me now. Be it the talismans or the uncommon weapons, they were all way too rare. It’s not something I can get my hands on now.
How poor, the Wilderness is just too damn poor.
He shook his head and stopped thinking about it anymore. He waited some time until his Vigor stabilized and walked away from the totem pillar’s protection again.
Seeing it, the two barbarians were shocked.
“Ah’Chen, why are you still going out?”
“The Evils are uncanny, they are hard to deal with. We just have to stay here and guard the village.”
Lu Chen smiled at them and replied, “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.”
After that, he didn’t care about them anymore and left quickly.
Lu Chen of course knew the Evils were uncanny and that dealing with them required a huge amount of Vigor.
He also knew that the roles of the hunter and hunted would change anytime outside of the totem pillar’s protection.
Despite so, Lu Chen still had to do it.
The Wilderness is not safe, even the totem pillar isn’t invincible. Many villages have been brought down by strong Evils with the villagers in it left to die. That’s not something I want to see happening to me. I’m the one in charge of my own fate. Even when that means I might die anytime here, I don’t want to sit in despair and wait for my end to come.
Furthermore, the barbarians are afraid of spending their Vigor, but I am not. Other than being a Barbarian Blood Warrior, I’m also a Swordsman.
I might spend more Vigor in the battles and slow down my Barbarian Blood Warrior’s advancement, but as long as I can defeat the Evils and earn more Mastery Points, I can level up my Swordsman class. With it, I can still become stronger even when my Vigor is lacking.
As he made up his mind, Lu Chen’s eyes turned sharp like eagles.
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