He had to give up on the technique for his bow for now. After making his choice, he thanked Aunty May and bought her a treat.
She grumbled, of course. She said, "Do you think I am a child who will be happy because you bought me a meal?"
She grumbled, but she didn't refuse. She did so quickly too.
Auntie May spent the hunting points he gave her right in front of his eyes to prevent him from going back on his promise.
He didn't mind her grumbling. After all, she is always grumbling. She is always in a bad mood as if someone is forcing her to do her job. But she is harmless most times and can be helpful to him some times.
She is the one he is on the best terms with, and she helped him this time around. So he had to treat her so that she would help him next time. Then he chuckled at her antics and turned his attention to the others on the fifth floor.
He said to them, "From today onwards, my students will not be used as bait anymore. If they must be used, I must be informed, and I must have a significant share of the loot after."
"These are my terms and conditions. Breaking them means disrespect to me and trouble for yourself. Have a good day."
He left the beast-hunting center after saying that. He wanted to say more, but he restrained himself from cursing at them.
Actually, he didn't want to reason with them. He wanted to beat them up for using his students as bait. It was because he felt that his pride had been trampled.
He knew that he wasn't strong enough to defeat all of them, so he planned to find the weakest ones and beat them in front of the others in order to teach them a lesson.
It was a good plan despite it being motivated by pride. It was a reasonable plan too. At the very least, pride hasn't made him stupid enough to just go at all of them and beat them up.
But executing this plan will definitely expose the fact that he has enough power to fight cultivators at the second mortal coil despite being at the first mortal coil himself. That isn't something he wants.
This situation caused a stalemate within him. He wanted to redeem his pride, and he also wanted to keep his strength secret. He couldn't have both. So he asked himself a question.
"Is the secret of my strength more valuable than my pride?"
The answer was simple. It was yes. The Mountain Sitting Dao is definitely more valuable than his pride. There is no argument about it.
In fact, his great pride is reliant on the fact that he is special and possesses the Mountain Sitting Dao. No matter how proud he is, he can't kill the goose that laid the eggs for the eggs.
So he decided to settle for warning them. It didn't satisfy his pride, and he wanted to curse them. But doing that might make the matter escalate. So he left there as soon as possible.
He had two boxes under his armpits as he left. They contained the second skin and one gauntlet.
She could only afford one gauntlet for his hand. It was that expensive.
A single gauntlet was nearly as expensive as the giant sword. Two of them needed for both his left and right hands cost nearly twice as much as the giant sword.
Fortunately, he still has two years left to prepare. He can acquire more hunting points. which he plans to use to get the other gauntlet. He also plans to get the expensive technique for the bow.
He returned home with what he had and began to practice the techniques that he had bought. He did so for the next two years until the regional sect examination.
During that time, he was still hunting, teaching in his dojo, and distributing bread. But there was a slight change in the situation.
This change was that his students were still used as bait, but they knew about it, so they were careful and could escape in time.
In the past, his students didn't know that the rampaging beast was coming after them. Now that they knew, they could prepare and escape better.
Of course, his students didn't want to be used as bait. But they became tempted to do so when there was a reward in it for them.
Arthur also got a reward. It was a financial reward that depended on the value of the beast being hunted.
The financial reward was good, but it could not match the feeling of satisfaction he got from being respected. This feeling made him feel like he was flying and that the sun was shining brighter.
Two years went by, and it became time for a special regional sect examination. He was seventeen years old, and he was prepared to participate in the exam.
On the day he was to leave for the exam, he wore the second skin. He didn't wear it like some cloth. He had to wrap it around his body as if he were a mummy.
He wrapped himself tightly, but it was the second skin that did most of the work. As long as they touched each other, they would stick to each other and form one unified whole. This way, he was able to wrap himself completely without any gaps and without any concern that the strips would loosen and fall out.
When he was done, he did look like a mummy. Even his face was covered up, so he looked scary.
Only his wild red hair was free. His hair made it look like he was carrying a large flame on his head. This flame cascaded down his shoulders until it reached his lower back.
He was very satisfied with the second skin. He had tested it many times and found out that it was reliable.