Soul of Searing Steel
chapter-21

"2,400 experience points to go. Luckily, there's no need to complete the [Quest of Glory]. Or else I would not be able to get to Gold tier even if I'm given a few months."

Joshua looked at his attributes again. After confirming that he did not have to complete the quests that would take an entire to upgrade his rank, he was relieved.

During his previous moments in the game, unless the players reached Level 31 and beyond, the players would need to complete one extremely difficult quest if they wanted to get to Gold tier. The quest had all sort of strange instructions that were quite specific. Players were not allowed to skip the tedious and complicated process of the quest. If the completion of the task was below 75%, the players would fail the quest.

There was nothing much to say about succeeding in completing the quest. However, if the players failed, not only they would be rolled back to level 30, they would also have to wait for a full month before they could attempt the same quest again, which was a lot of time wasted.

2,400 experience points would mean that Joshua had to defeat another four to five Silver-tier warriors to gain that amount of experience points. Truth to be told, that wasn't such a challenge for Joshua. Furthermore, he also had another solution to that problem.

"Adding up the number of patrollers on the streets up to the last Silver-tier guard I killed, I should have killed more than fifty enemies by now. Plus, I'm getting an additional reward of 5,000 experience points for completing the achievement [50 Kills]. So I guess I'll have no problem in leveling up now."

Attempting to bring up the Achievement tab, Joshua noticed that the system had a minor lag. A few seconds later, the tab finally appeared. He could not help but laugh.

"I can't believe that even after I transmigrated, there are still delays."

After mocking the system a little, the achievement list was brought up to him. Suddenly, a massive amount of data began to load out right before Joshua's eyes. His achievements were astounding. Joshua scrolled through the long list of achievements that he completed before he located the section [Can be repeated]. Then he selected [Killstreak] on the list to have a look at it.

"Only over 30 kills?"

Joshua furrowed his brows but decided to brush off such a trivial matter.

"It must be because I let one of them live back then. It doesn't matter much. 3,000 experience points are just enough for it."

At the same time, Ying had stopped looking at the ruins of the mansion or feeling sorry for it. She walked up to Joshua, raised her head to look at her master and asked, "Master, what do we do next? Do we eliminate all enemies within the city?"

"No need to rush for that." Joshua shook his head a little and answered, "They're too scattered around the entire city. Why don't we wait for them to gather first? They'll surely gather in a spot to exchange intel later on. So for now, we rest."

After that, he found a rock and sat on it. Ying followed suit, right next to him.

Warriors were used to waiting around.

Creak—

Meanwhile, in the nearby neighborhood, one of the residents pushed the door open with care. It was a middle-aged lady. She stuck her head out to observe the situation on the streets.

These people were unaware of the recent happenings in the city. Furthermore, the patrollers and the guards in the city had been switched. The residents could still talk about it because they had not seen the faces of those new warriors and soldiers. Also, the weather was awfully cold which was even more of a reason for the people not to step out of their houses.

Now, people needed to buy some groceries out at the stores. This middle-aged lady had already given up the notion of going out of her house as she decided to ignore whatever was happening out there. However, the explosive sound that just occurred was really different; it was much louder than anything she had heard. So she could not help but take a peek outside.

Lifting her head, she glanced at the area outside her doorstep. After checking that there were no guards or soldiers patrolling around, the middle-aged woman let out a breath and started to observe the surroundings for real.

Moments later, she dropped her jaw at what she saw. She was so shocked that she drew a sharp breath and exclaimed, "Good heavens..." She covered her mouth with her both hands as she backed up. Her legs buckled, causing her to collapse on the floor.

"The count's mansion… The count's mansion has been—"

"What happened?"

An impatient man's voice was heard from the house. Also, a faint sound of a child who was complaining about being woken up from his or her sleep could be heard.

"Shut the door quick. The cold wind is coming in. Don't let the child freeze!"

"Geez! Just come and have a look, old man!"

She had no time to explain what she saw. She also did not know what words could be used to describe what she was staring at now. With an agitated expression on her face, she barked, "Quickly! Come here!"

"You foolish woman," grumbled the man. He guessed that something must have happened out there. So he quickly walked out of the house and pulled his wife up from the ground who was sitting right in front of the doorstep. After that, he narrowed his gaze to focus on observing the surroundings.

Well, after that, he eyes widened and his jaw dropped. He froze momentarily then exclaimed, "Good grief! Oh my—"

Not far from where the two were standing right now, was a huge mushroom cloud rising slowly from the center of the city where the count's mansion was located. Right below the mushroom cloud was a large pile of rubble.

The husband and wife looked at each other. Anyone could see it in their eyes that they were currently bewildered at the same time.

So who was it? Who was the one responsible for making a mess in the count's mansion?!

Turning their eyes around, they noticed that there were two dim figures right next to the rubble pile.

At that exact same moment, Joshua had waited more than ten minutes there. Theoretically speaking, any warriors or guards that were Steel or Silver tier would have rushed to the site. However, no one appeared.

"It seems that I've forgotten about it," remarked Joshua, shaking his head regretfully. Joshua reflected on taking things for granted in the game.

After all, this world exists. There was only one life for each individual in this world. Unlike players in the game, these NPCs have aggro meters which will push them into battle until they drew their last breath. Not to mention that these were just mercenaries that were secretly trained by the Wilson family. They were most committed to the principle 'Take the money and work'. So if they ever encountered a monster that could demolish the count's mansion, the first thing that would come to their minds was 'run'. That would not even become a burden to their mental health.

Sometimes, it would be awkward if your enemy's too weak.

Joshua stood up with the intention of leaving the place.

"Ying, come over here. Let's get ready to move."

"Yes, Master. What are we up to now?"

"We shall go to the church square to sound the bell. We shall notify the entire city," declared Joshua who felt that it was right and natural to do so. He then casually added, "Tell them that I, Joshua, the count of this land, has returned."

Since that his greedy uncle died, there shouldn't be anyone who would spring out of nowhere to snatch the count's title from him. Furthermore, his cousin Chris was not the type to go behind his back. Since that was already the case, it would be best to immediately notify the entire city and lift the high alert status from the city. Then he could just get over to the Fort Dark Forest and get reinforcements to maintain order. Any other things that were related to obtaining the title could be dealt with later on.

Walking in the streets, Joshua noticed that many of the residents left their windows and doors opened. They were looking towards the direction where the count's mansion was located at. Their attentions were not on Joshua or Ying as they were fixated on the mushroom cloud that was dispersing with the blowing wind, with bewildered expressions on their faces. Also, some of them had noticed the absence of soldiers and the patrollers and thus walked out to take a look around. The voices of people began to fill the corners of the streets.

All of a sudden, Joshua stopped in his tracks.

He frowned and turned his head. Then he looked into the distance. His eyes looked past the buildings and the blizzard ahead. His eyes were staring straight at the clouds above the sky.

"The sound of the wind." As he said it aloud, Ying overheard it and looked at him with a puzzled expression. Joshua turned around and he suddenly looked dead serious.

What he heard was neither the winter wind that was sweeping the streets cold nor the sound of the northern winds that swept the clouds and frost of the surroundings. What Joshua heard was the rumbling sound that existed between spirits and elements where ordinary people could not notice.

In a distance where men could not see with the naked eye, there was a man, an existence. His magic that quivered the surroundings around the earth. It seemed that the spirits and the elements were all under his command. The slight movement of that power could blow like a wind. Joshua could sense it.

"Gold Tier! Glorious Strength! I can't believe that it would come so soon. A change of plan is needed!"

Taking a deep breath, Joshua sudden roared out loud, "Residents all around, leave at once!"

His voice was not gentle but intimidating and threatening.

"This is not a joke, this is an order. I'll only give you three minutes! Or else..."

Before he finished his words, he stomped the ground. Instantly, the shockwave of his stomp spread out. It felt like a tremor. The explosive sound echoed across the city.

Right before the eyes of the horrified residents, the rocks and stones in the surrounding area of tens of meters were reduced to pebbles. A large crack was presented right on the ground.

There was nothing else left to say. That was purely terrifying to look upon! So was there any reason to hesitate at all?! Well, facing such a threatening man, it would be best to just follow what he wants!

The voices of the people in the surroundings began to get louder a little. After that, one after another quickly went back to their houses and homes. They quickly summoned their husbands, wives, and children. Then they quickly took everything that was previous to them and ran away from the city like refugees.

After the warning, Joshua did not say a word. He was staring at the empty sky. Meanwhile, the silver-haired Divine Armament followed him on his back. Countless people rushed past his left and right, trying to get back to their loved ones.

It was about to come.