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.

with the environment perfectly, making them good at camouflaging themselves

shrub, there were two blades shooting out at his neck so fast that the blades whistled

came close. Energy erupted through his body, covering

the same time,

tension. Instead, the saying, 'when you have one blade locust in sight, two

louder

forest was alive with thousands of blade locusts appearing out of thin

'Kill!'

the only thought running through Zen's head at that

points and a ticket to

couldn't use it to attack like a weapon or transform it into life vitality like people at the nature level yet though. Still, at this level,

scattered through the air like thin lines extending from Zen's body and the next moment his

'Die!'

blades rising, snapping at the air as they closed

the air. The blow summoned a horrifying

"Thump! Clunk!"

of both blade locusts were crushed into pieces under his fists. Their crystal cores dropped

whistling in the air behind him. He ducked in reflex avoiding the attack from a blade locust and then swung his fist at its gut as he turned

'Purple Fist Strength!'

abdomen was the hardest part of their body. Zen

to the deeper, softer

"Crack! Crush! Boof!"

its abdomen apart. The blade locust

rushed to Zen. He showed no fear, his parries steady and

as they kept dropping dead in front of him, it wasn't long before a pile of bodies rose like a

he noticed everyone else was fighting as

red light to pierce the blade locust in the blink of an eye. As befits a refiner at the nature level, he condensed his life vitality into a

their first time hunting blade locusts. Both of them were experienced fighters and aware

battle array against the raid

"Shield!"

"Spear!"

"Arrow!"

as stalwart as the four men from the Cloud Sect, their attack was reasonably effective under

"Crack!"

then poked its vulnerable

were no more living blade locusts around him.

Martin and

piled up. He estimated that there were about sixty blade

dead bodies. It was a long, hard fight, yet his hard work only