CHAPTER 39: CHAPTER 16: LV3! (PART 2)

Since it originally belonged to the Mortal World, after being defeated, it ends up like this, with even the remnants being expelled from the Human World?

In his mind, Gu Mo instinctively came up with this guess, but at this moment, it wasn’t appropriate to stop and ask, moreover even if he asked, it wouldn’t matter since the girl could not answer him.

......

Thirteen Sakura Village is not large; it is built on higher ground, surrounding the river and crucial traffic points, and the roads are straightforward without much meandering.

It makes no sense that an obviously nearby place would require taking a winding detour to get there, and a broken wooden door being bolted from the back would force the protagonist with pseudo-mystical combat power to take a detour to open it from behind... hence the clearance was especially quick.

It wasn’t long before they reached the area behind Thirteen Sakura Village, nearing the village shrine.

Moreover, this was under the condition that Gu Mo had requested the girl to let him "have a try," where he personally cut down common monsters like small Hungry Ghosts with a weapon, only letting Hidechika finish off stronger Demon Ghosts with a single slice.

This indeed wasted some time, and the girl was somewhat helpless, but considering that the village now had no living residents and there wasn’t a rush for demon hunting, she didn’t oppose it.

Hidechika patiently followed this strange client, watching him outwit and struggle with small Hungry Ghosts, sometimes cautiously drawing them out individually to corner and beat them.

When more powerful or numerous Demon Ghosts appeared, or when there were stronger enemies hiding in the Mortal World through Demon Qi, she would decisively step forward to protect Gu Mo behind her, slaying the enemies in front with clean efficiency.

It indeed felt very secure.

Yet no matter how one looked at it, their roles seemed mismatched, creating a sense of dissonance.

——The graceful, slender girl leading with prowess...

——While the big man is the one being protected, the burden...

Gu Mo was well aware of this, which is why he pushed himself to be courageous despite embarrassment... putting more effort into cutting down small Hungry Ghosts. After all, he knew what he needed to do at present, without worrying about losing face, shamelessly seizing every opportunity available.

If not, he wouldn’t have brought himself to request Hidechika to escort him, securely battling and leveling up.

As it had already been seen, what’s left to lose? Everything is insubstantial; to concretely seize every opportunity for growth, to make himself develop as quickly as possible, is the most important thing to do... Not many like Ah Xiu, who are so agreeable and don’t reject such troublesome proposals.

"Huff... Huff..."

Breathing heavily, he discarded the chipped machete, looking at the dismembered corpse of the small Hungry Ghost lying on the ground. Gu Mo reached out for another weapon, calmly handed over by the black-haired girl, an untuned white-board katana.

All the way here, he had picked up quite a few weapons, but none with any grade.

Moreover, due to the overall low level of smelting and craftsmanship in this era and country, against non-human entities with neither copper skin nor iron bones but hard skins, the efficiency wasn’t quite high and wear was rapid. By the time he reached here, he had already changed weapons twice.

It’s too real, causing discomfort...

"Up here, it should be the shrine behind the mountain..." He looked up at the road leading up the mountain and found that the road suddenly looked much better, with neat stone steps ascending along the mountain path, and structures built like bird house gateways and pillars.

No place in the village received such treatment, and the only place for which villagers would spend so willingly seemed to be the ancestral shrine ground of great importance in ancient times. Gu Mo said, assessing based on the image in his mind:

"If we clear that area, the village should be free of demons."

"Mm."

Upon hearing this, the black-haired girl lightly nodded, letting out a sound of affirmation, one of the few times she directly expressed her opinion through voice.

"Should we prepare before heading up?"

Looking around, Gu Mo asked. This was also near the village’s back mountain area, with the river also winding past here. In his impression, there was a shrine here for characters to rest... of course, it wasn’t there now.

Much like in games where this village, besides Demon Ghosts, might also have fearless mountain bandits or thieves, with Demon Ghosts in one area and bandits in another, peacefully occupying their separate spaces... But in reality, throughout the journey here, he hadn’t seen a single humanoid monster; all enemies encountered were Demon Ghosts.

But this made sense.

Hidechika shook her head; she didn’t need to rest.

"Then I might need a break, sorry, I’m really a bit tired..." Gu Mo chuckled dryly, and under the girl’s helpless gaze, walked to the riverbank to squat down, washing the blood off his hands, the water’s sound spreading in the quiet night.

Previously, he wouldn’t have wished to approach the water.

However, along the journey, he discovered that he could see the health bars of Demon Ghosts hidden in the Mortal World within his range of vision. Hidechika always thought he couldn’t see, and each time any hidden Demon Ghosts appeared nearby, she would be the first to block them defensively.

Using the handwashing act as a cover, he stared at the faint reflection on the water’s surface, finding the options listed on the right side of his mirrored image.

Opening the "level-up" page, he saw that his Life Level was shown as LV3... he had really leveled up? And it had risen by two levels back to back? He felt an unusual excitement, and quickly noticed the current progress bar nearly full, indicating another level-up was imminent.

Is it because the leveling mechanism is the classic type—very easy at first, getting harder as it progresses? Or maybe there’s an experience-sharing mechanism, with Ah Xiu as his current teammate, allowing him to gain experience from the Ox-headed Ghost and other stronger Demon Ghosts that she defeated?

He thought rapidly, focusing his attention on the plus sign after the physique attribute, causing the small icon to flicker twice and then disappear, turning 10 points of constitution into 12 points.

During the battles along the way, Gu Mo realized his stamina was currently the biggest shortcoming; strength and agility were sufficient for bullying low-level small Hungry Ghosts, and the gap with general Demon Ghosts wasn’t as large as expected. Perhaps they didn’t provide an advantage as much as a good, handy weapon would.

As agility was sufficient for now and adding strength wouldn’t make his bare-fisted attacks comparable to a blade’s, enhancing constitution was a sound choice to improve life force and increase resilience...

Even disregarding the margin for error, it could extend his endurance, preventing needing a break after a few small Hungry Ghost battles.

Upon confirming, a moment passed where Gu Mo slightly squinted his eyes, feeling a surge of warmth flowing through his body, as if his limbs and bones were soaking in a hot spring, feeling extremely comfortable. After a mere two or three seconds as the warmth faded, an indescribable feeling followed.

Full of energy, feeling as if he had endless strength, the accumulated fatigue from the battles earlier virtually vanished.

Not sure if the level-up brought a refreshed state change, but he instantly felt full of vigor, capable of punching a bull to death.

Eh?

The black-haired girl held a torch, looking somewhat aimlessly around, then furrowed her brows slightly, glancing toward the strange young man crouched by the riverbank.

Was it her illusion? Why did she suddenly feel his aura had grown much stronger?