Arthur possesses a talent that even the true children of the family don't have. It is a talent that he can never possess.
If he had half as much talent as Arthur, his situation would be better. Unfortunately, he wasn't so lucky.
Since it wasn't his fate to be talented and accepted into a sect, he will have to settle for second best.
Second best had usually been bullying commoners and running the criminal world from behind the scenes. But today he has the opportunity to enjoy something rare. He has the opportunity to kill a genius.
The killing of geniuses is a rare treat. But Arthur's genius is something he can only encounter probably once in his life. So killing such a genius is a special treat that he might never enjoy again.
Just thinking about it made him curl his lips in a grin. Then he called back the waiters and resumed enjoying his lunch.
—
Meanwhile, Arthur returned home and continued his day. He behaved just like he did before. If there was time to exercise, he did. If not, then he didn't.
The following day, he went to distribute bread. Then he went to teach at the dojo. That took two hours of his time, after which he went to hunt.
Hunting took longer that day. For some strange reason, he didn't encounter anything to kill for hours.
But he didn't give up. He continued to move around looking for what to kill.
The one thing he didn't do was move deeper into the green forest to look for prey. He wasn't that desperate yet to face that kind of danger.
The edge of the green forest is usually inhabited by weak creatures. Occasionally, creatures at the seventh transformation of the first mortal coil and above would venture to the edge, but this is something that he can manage.
But if he moves deeper into the forest. His odds of encountering beasts at the second mortal coil increase. They are things he can't handle right now.
If a full blow of his can barely cripple a boar at the seventh transformation because of the defense and size of the boar, and if all that that boar at the seventh transformation of the first mortal coil needs to injure him critically is one contact with its tusk, then he stands no chance with a second mortal coil beast.
Fortunately, his time didn't go to waste. His dedication was rewarded after a while. He encountered a 20-meter python.
The python had ambushed him. If not for Ruff, he wouldn't have noticed it lying on a tree and slowly creeping towards him.
Ruff barked when it noticed the python. Then it ran away.
The python didn't care about him. It lunged at Arthur instead and entangled him.
The resulting fight was difficult because of the size and scales of the python. Plus, he couldn't take advantage of its weaknesses as easily as stabbing the nose of a boar because he was entangled.
On the other hand, the python couldn't do much to him either because of his armor. It could only try to wrap around him and crush him slowly.
This tactic would have worked if not for the giant sword in his hand. The giant sword meant that he couldn't be swallowed directly, and it meant that he had a reliable means to injure the python.
No matter what the python did, he just kept hacking it over and over and over again.
Blood and scales flew everywhere. They tumbled and rolled through the forest, knocking down weak trees and scaring the whole forest.
It was not an easy fight like the one he had with the boars these two days. He truly had to fight with his life on the line because the python was indeed crushing him.
After wrestling with the python for a long while, he managed to kill it. But at that point, he was nearly at the end of the rope.
He had injured the python severely, but like most beasts, it had a terrifying vitality. It refused to die.
It was hell-bent on eating him. It was because the python tried to put him in its mouth that he was able to stab his giant sword through its mouth and into its skull.
He managed to kill the python, but his troubles were not yet over.
He stood beside the python, breathing hard like a bellow, and said to Ruff beside him, "How are we going to carry this now? Do you think it is worth the trouble?"
Ruff tilted his head in confusion, which made Arthur laugh.
As soon as he began laughing, he had to cough because his chest felt tight and stuffy. His armor had been deformed by the python.
He coughed and said, "Looks like I have to fix this. In that case, he must carry this python back and exchange it for money."
His question earlier to Ruff was a joke. The python is indeed large, but there was no way he was going to leave it behind.
He had struggled too much to kill it just to leave it behind because it was too big. He also couldn't leave it behind because he thinks its corpse will be very valuable and because he believes that the python is responsible for the lack of prey in the area.
It would make sense that boars and other creatures would be wary and leave this area because of the python. If it is true that prey are avoiding this area and giving up the corpse of the python, it is unlikely that he will be able to get something to kill soon.
He would have to go deeper into the forest or spend more time hunting at the edge of the forest. He didn't want to do that, so he dragged the python by its tail out of the forest.
This time, the troop of monkeys that had been harassing him these past two days of hunting didn't show up. Even if they did, it is unlikely that they will continue to harass him after seeing the long snake he killed.