The Villain's Sword Is Sharp

Back at his house, Isaac had just finished meditating. He was absolutely starving, so he used the fireplace to grill some rabbit meat for dinner and washed it down with a glass of icy cold water.

Then he spent an hour practicing swordsmanship stances and forms in his house. Of course, he didn't actually swing a sword inside since he'd break everything.

After that, he simply bathed and went to bed.

In the morning, Isaac did the same thing he did yesterday. However, there was also another group doing the same thing they'd done yesterday.

At midday, a woman with 2 wolf pelts appeared in the square by the sect gates. She looked around, then walked into a nearby street. Just like she'd done before, she took some twists and turns, then sat down and began to eat defencelessly.

Again, nobody had followed her.

"What the fuck?! It'll work, it'll work, try again tomorrow? Did it just fucking work?! No, it fucking didn't! I'm leaving, see you never."

The woman picked up the pelts and left angrily; she felt like her time had been wasted by a bunch of clowns. Meanwhile, the group that had been hiding was seething with anger.

"See, I told you she was unreliable!"

One of them hissed as they stepped out into the light. Of course, this was the same group of 6 who Isaac robbed twice. However, they were currently a group of 5 instead, since one of the guys hadn't recovered from his severe head injury.

They gathered around and began bickering. Many insults were hurled, particularly at the person who had come up with the plan and the and the one who'd recommended hiring the freckled woman as their bait.

They'd actually paid the 2 wolf pelts for her help, so she'd still profited from this little farce despite how angry she looked. Instead of her, it was the group that should've been infuriated: they'd lost 2 pelts, wasted their time, and hadn't even caught a glimpse of the guy they wanted revenge on!

But what could they do? They couldn't give up now; they'd invested too much time and resources into this to simply accept the fact that they'd never get their revenge. But they also couldn't continue – all the time they spent trying to trap Isaac was time not spent hunting. It was time which was not spent earning resources or cultivating. Essentially, it was time spent not getting any stronger while their target and everyone around them was doing precisely that.

So, while they were completely unwilling to accept defeat, they had to make the mature decision! They couldn't simply halt their progress and be left behind just so they could get revenge on one guy. It just didn't make sense to do so, and they knew it.

So they could only grit their teeth, grind their heel against the cobblestone pavement in frustration, and take their anger out on each other by arguing.

Eventually they finished venting their sorrows and came to an agreement. They would hunt for now, and wait for an opportunity to expose the mysterious thief's identity in the future. Then they would finally have their revenge – after all, revenge was a dish best served cold.

*************************

Isaac was still meditating while sitting on his bed, completely unaware of the failed trap which had been set for him. He could feel himself getting closer and closer to the barrier for middle stage. It felt great to know that his effort was being rewarded and he felt a sense of achievement every time he inspected the rising level of liquid Qi in his core.

He knew he wouldn't reach middle stage in the next couple of days, but in a month or so... he might break through before some of the 2nd class talents.

Cultivation wasn't something you could succeed in with just effort. There was an unshakeable gap between talents which became evident from the moment cultivation began: reaching Rank 2 would be impossible for 5th class talents; it would be troublesome for 4th class talents; but it would seem easy for those with 3rd class talent or better. Just one class in talent represented the difference between easy and difficult. A gap of two classes was the difference between easy and impossible.

So long as the person with better talent just put in minimal effort and did the 'easy' things, they would never be surpassed by a less talented person no matter how 'hard' they worked. At most, they could equal the more talented slacker, hence the saying 'Talent cannot be overcome with effort alone.'

Isaac knew this. That was why he didn't just put in maximum effort, but he also fought tooth and nail for resources, then cultivated intelligently to maximise his resources and effort. For example, many people would spend 6 hours meditating with a Basic Qi Pill and use the 3x multiplier it gave to cultivation speed. In comparison, Isaac would spend 6 hours meditating with a pill, take a break, then spend 5 more hours meditating while pushing his will to the limits, just to get small benefits that still remained in the pill.

Training this way was more exhausting than running a marathon, but it had its benefits: it helped to slightly strengthen Isaac's will and improve his cultivation speed. Strengthening his will was important since it would help Isaac cultivate longer and with less breaks. It created a positive feedback cycle which allowed Isaac to match or surpass the 2nd class talents who only cultivated with moderate effort or didn't have many resources.

Of course, he still couldn't touch people like Erik or Johan who were both talented and hardworking, but Isaac knew he was taking steps in the right direction.

That was why he cast aside these useless thoughts and continued to focus on his cultivation.

*************************

3 days later, Isaac woke up with an improved cultivation base and no more Basic Qi Pills. That meant he needed more resources to feed his developing Qi Core. Where would he get these resources? Of course it was the same answer as before... from other people.

Since he knew hunters wouldn't return until past midday, Isaac went to the training grounds and spent several hours practicing swordsmanship. It was a little harder to learn without a teacher, but Isaac had taught himself many things – such as how to read – so he was used to figuring things out for himself.

Speaking of reading, it had been a while since he'd read a good book, and he felt a strong urge to visit the library. However, he restrained himself and focused on the task at hand... or rather, the sword in hand.

When he was done, Isaac returned home to bathe and eat, then he headed to the square next to the sect gates. When he got there, he saw a surprising sight. There were many people like him, standing around the edge of the square and pretending to be preoccupied by something else while actually watching the sect gates.

Hell, some people didn't even pretend they were doing something else. Everybody was here for the same thing and who didn't know it? In that case, what was the point of hiding your intentions?!

Things had changed drastically while Isaac had been cultivating. Theft was becoming increasingly common and only the strongest disciples dared to go hunting since they could protect their loot from thieves.

Even they weren't completely safe, since strong people and groups would try to rob them as well! The area for new disciples was in chaos right now and most people who walked through the gate would have at least 3 or 4 people trying to steal from them.

In just 15 minutes of watching, Isaac had already seen mad chases through the streets and a whole pack of people trying to sneak up on one guy.

In the next hour, he witnessed several more crazy scenarios. And in every one of them, a good target was chased off by hordes of other people. Each time Isaac spotted suitable prey, that prey was targeted by many other people. It reached a point where Isaac realised he'd never get an ideal situation and he'd probably have to target somebody stronger, a person that not many others would try to steal from.

His chance came in the form of a man who had a scar under his left eye. The man carried the head of a bear and a bag, presumably containing his supplies and the bear's claws. Isaac noticed that several people around the square couldn't even make eye contact with this guy. They'd probably all tried robbing him before, causing the guy to beat them to a bloody pulp.

However, that was just Isaac's guess; he didn't know for sure. Whatever the reason was, this man had a reputation which made others hesitant to steal from him.

Isaac didn't care about some worthless reputation. The important thing was that he wouldn't be competing with 10 other people to steal this guy's stuff. He even had the bear claws that Isaac was missing.

That was why, when nobody else dared to, Isaac secretly followed him down one of the streets. However, Isaac didn't quite know what he was getting himself into...