Degrade from Nobility to a Humble Slave

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Loud sounds of drums from outside woke Zen up in the early hours of the morning.

As soon as he opened his door, he was infected by the atmosphere.

Amidst the bustle of the drumming, a hundred imperial soldiers were marching out of the fort in groups.

Martin located Zen, assembled the team, and they took up the task of hunting blade locusts beyond the confines of the fort.

Hundreds of miles in front of Dragon Fort was the principal battlefield against blade locusts.

Dead blade locusts were piled up in heaps on both sides of the path.

Zen saw some people crowding around the heaps as if they were searching for something. Occasionally one of them would prod at a corpse.

He noticed that all those scavenging the bodies were ordinary citizens. None of them were body refiners.

'So why are they out there?' he wondered. Common people were so weak that a single blade locust could easily kill them all. The battlefield was too dangerous for them.

After watching the people rifling through the remains, Zen asked, "Why are these civilians risking their lives outside the fort? Aren't they afraid to die?"

Martin laughed at his question, "Afraid to die? Of course, they are afraid to die. Every year many civilians get themselves killed here. Just a few days ago, some damned blade locusts got lucky! They rushed in, killing a dozen civilians."

"Then why do they come out of the fort?" asked Zen, puzzled.

Martin smiled, "It has to do with your sect."

Zen was still confused, so, Roger explained, "Each blade locust has a crystal core in its chest. In our sect, they only need the crystal cores you have collected to count the number of blade locusts you have killed. Usually, we take the crystal cores after we kill them. But, we always miss some amidst the many carcasses. These people are here to take a chance on luck. Crystal cores are sold at a premium in the fort."

That explanation cleared it up for Zen.

Twenty crystal cores were worth one point. One point was worth two cubic crystals.

Refiners would love to buy some crystal cores with gold or silver that they had no use for. At the same time, through trade, ordinary individuals could make a fortune, living a prosperous, comfortable life. It was a small wonder why so many men were willing to risk their lives looking for crystal cores outside of the fort.

Ahead, the lush green rain forest was quiet.

In the face of the insect army, other beasts migrated yearly because they were as defenseless as humans when it came to the insect horde. The creatures either went into hiding deep underground or fled the forest entirely.

All was still. The only sound was the leaves rustling in the wind.

Moving silently, Zen and the others made their way into the forest.

grass-green hues, they blended in with the environment perfectly, making them good at camouflaging themselves in the forest. When prey was close enough, they would leap out and make the kill.

by a shrub, there were two blades shooting out at

hand as it came close. Energy erupted through his body, covering every inch

between his fingers. At the same time,

Zen killed it quickly, but that didn't relieve the tension. Instead, the saying, 'when you have one blade locust in sight, two thousand more are close,

grew louder and

of blade locusts appearing out of thin air and closing in on

'Kill!'

running through Zen's head at that moment.

more than points and a ticket to get into

or transform it into life vitality like people at the nature level yet though. Still, at this level, he was able

Zen's body and the next moment his fist landed forcibly on

'Die!'

side of him, their sharp blades

His fists severed the air. The blow summoned a horrifying force, the Purple Light

"Thump! Clunk!"

crushed into pieces under his fists. Their crystal cores dropped to

in the air behind him. He ducked in reflex avoiding the attack from a

'Purple Fist Strength!'

body. Zen

through the insect's thick shell to the deeper, softer part of its body, where the

"Crack! Crush! Boof!"

ripped its abdomen apart. The blade locust staggered before collapsing dead on

Zen. He showed no fear, his parries steady

front of him, it wasn't

he noticed everyone else was fighting as desperately as

locust in the blink of an eye. As befits a refiner at the nature level,

It was not their first time hunting blade locusts. Both of them were experienced fighters and aware of blade locusts' weak spots, which came in handy during

Haze Group drew together in a battle array

"Shield!"

"Spear!"

"Arrow!"

as stalwart as the four men from the Cloud Sect, their attack

"Crack!"

a blade locust and then poked its vulnerable head with his other hand, making it

were no

and they surrounded Roger, Martin and the others, and soon those

around him. Dead bodies piled up. He estimated that there were about sixty blade locust carcasses. He would get sixty crystal cores, which equaled only

started collecting the crystal cores from the dead bodies. It was a long, hard fight,