Stone Fort Village got its name because of the massive stone fort covering the entire village. Legend had it that one of the first ancestors of Stone Fort Village was actually a sky realm cultivator with earth element, and it was he who constructed this thirty foot rock wall surrounding the village.
As for what sky realm was and how powerful they were, Leon honestly had no idea. Even in the original owner's memories, since he was treated even lower than a servant, he had never come in contact with cultivation, neither was he interested in it.
It was only after reaching Stone Fort Village that Leon had actually come in contact with cultivation. He knew about the first six realms called the mortal law realms.
It went like this: mortal realm, iron realm, copper realm, silver realm, gold realm, and platinum realm. Each of these major realms was divided into ten minor realms called ten heavens.
It was said that there were even higher realms above this, but no one in Stone Fort Village had ever heard of them.
In Stone Fort Village, the highest cultivation was currently held by him, at the seventh heaven of mortal realm. According to the rumors, even the city lord of Rose Valley was only at the first heaven of the iron rank. So Leon with his cultivation was regarded as a prodigy, though he himself knew he was not that impressive considering this area was just a first tier circle with the lowest chi volume in the atmosphere.
"Oh my god, little brother Leo truly lives up to his name as the strongest hunter of Stone Fort Village. You really took out this beast," the guards at the entrance to the village greeted Leon and John with cheerful smiles.
"Uncle Sal, don't joke around. I was just lucky and managed to land a critical hit at its neck," Leon scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
"You brat, I knew from the moment I first saw you battling the wolf with a stick that you would grow into a formidable hunter," Sal laughed as he patted the tiger's belly, but his expression suddenly changed when he sensed the chi fluctuations coming from the tiger.
"An iron realm beast? Didn't they say it was just a beast at the seventh heaven of the mortal rank? Could it be..." Sal's expression twisted into rage as he thought of something. "Bastards, this is the fifth time they are giving us false information. We can't let this go like that."
John sighed helplessly. "Calm down, brother Sal. If we complain, it will only make them vengeful and they will probably find some other way to settle the score with us. Before you act, consider your wife and little Lilly."
Sal fell silent when he heard this. Leon nodded at him and walked inside the village along with John.
"Wow, it's a tiger."
"Sister Amy's brother truly is the strongest hunter of our village."
"Yeah, yeah, sister Amy even boasted to us that her brother could cook even better than Aunt Jane. Gosh, I am truly envious."
"He is handsome too."
"Mm, look at his muscles. Even though they are not as big as the village chief's, they are more pleasing to the eyes."
A group of little children flocked around Leon and John as they walked towards the army camp stationed in the village. Since this was a mission directly entrusted to the villagers by the soldiers of the army camp, as hunters they could not even take a hair from the tiger's tail. Otherwise they would be beaten by the soldiers and might even be targeted the next time the yearly taxes were collected.
Among the houses constructed from wood, only one building, the army camp, stood as a stark contradiction. It looked like the concrete buildings from Leon's previous world, but in reality was built by earth element cultivators and was even more durable than concrete buildings from Earth.
Seeing Leon and John walking in with the tiger, the two soldiers leisurely drinking at the shed attached to the building stood up arrogantly and walked over.
"Mm, the body is mostly undamaged. Keep it in the ice vault inside," the leading soldier with a long beard said with a wide grin on his face as he patted Leon on the shoulder.
Leon and John followed one of the young soldiers into the building and placed the tiger's corpse inside a room enhanced with ice element spell. There were also many other beast carcasses and some rare natural treasures in the room, all plundered from the villagers.
"Don't loiter around. Recharging the ice spell in the room costs money," the young soldier urged impatiently.
Leon and John nodded and followed the young soldier outside.
"What?" the head soldier asked in irritation when he saw Leon and John standing before him.
"Sir, we haven't received our pay including the last time. This time even the information provided by the army camp was wrong. The tiger was actually at the first heaven of the iron realm," John suppressed his fury and said in a respectful tone.
"Pay? What pay? The reason we don't go on such missions is because our duty is to protect the people of this god forsaken wasteland. If some powerful beast attacks the village and we are not here to protect the residents, can you shoulder the responsibility?" the soldier growled at John, his saliva splashing on his face.
John wiped his face and asked, "What about the wrong information this time, sir?"
"Minor mistakes like that are bound to happen. Now don't waste my time and get lost."
"Sir, don't bully us just because we are poor. We still have connections in Rose Valley town who have the status to speak on behalf of us," John said coldly as he was no longer able to stomach his anger.
The soldier chuckled mockingly when he heard this. "A loner with no family or relatives, it is understandable that you are not afraid of death."
He then turned to Leon and said teasingly, "Kid, make sure to talk some sense into this idiot. Otherwise just for the crime of being his accomplice, it might be your sister who suffers. Let me tell you an open secret. Our squad leader has asked us to look out for fine little girls in secret, and your little sister happens to be the prettiest with white skin unlike these dark skinned monkeys."
Leon's face turned cold in an instant. His hands moved to his waist, but John quickly noticed it and stepped in front of him.
"Please forgive my rudeness. I hope sir will not hold it against us. We understand it is because of your tight schedule that you have to entrust such minor tasks to mere monkeys like us. My mind was muddled for a moment. Please overlook this."
The soldier laughed coldly as he eyed the expressionless face of Leon behind John and walked away smugly with a wine bottle in his hand.
John also hurriedly pulled Leon away from the place.
"What were you thinking, kid? If you act against one of them, do you know what the consequences will be?" John said sternly when he saw Leon kept looking back at the army camp like a hunter eyeing its prey.
"That so called squad leader, what is his cultivation?" Leon asked expressionlessly.
"Tenth heaven of the iron realm. It is said that he is already on the verge of breaking through to the copper realm. Furthermore, he is not an upright person. Even if you go and complain to him, the result might become worse than getting better," John said with a sigh, thinking Leon intended to complain to the squad leader.
Leon did not say anything more as he walked forward while looking at the Primordial Law Codex floating before him.
[Primordial Law Codex - page no:3]
[Owner: Leon (human)]
[Life essence points: 140]
[Technique: Berserk Monkey Palm]
[Technique grade: 2 star]
[Technique realm (mortal): 380/400 (major success)]
Unexpectedly he got 140 points from killing this beast. This was so far the highest life essence point he had ever earned from a single kill. The point he received was also not fixed. Sometimes even for killing two beasts of the same species with the same strength, he might end up receiving a huge reward for one and a meager amount for the other.
Still, Leon had a guess. Maybe it was because this tiger was already at the iron rank that the life essence points skyrocketed for the first time.
"Push the Berserk Monkey Palm to perfection," Leon commanded in his mind. The next second he felt a warm flow from his chest to his hands. Various insights and comprehension regarding the technique also appeared in his mind as though he was the one who had created this technique.
This was the terrifying aspect of a perfection level technique. While entry level gives a meager understanding of the technique, the minor success level makes the person proficient with the technique. The major success on the other hand makes one the master of the technique, able to use it to its highest potential. A perfection level technique pushes the understanding to a level where a person is at the same level as the creator of the technique and could even stand shoulder to shoulder with the creator of the technique in a combat with the same skill, sometimes even surpassing them.
Looking at his palms, Leon had a feeling that he could even smash a rock to smithereens if he slapped out now, but he quickly dismissed this thought as he was well aware that this was just an illusion brought by the sudden increase in strength.
He quickly turned to the second page and sure enough, there was an option to merge technique.
[Primordial Law Codex - page no:2]
[Owner: Leon (human)]
[Life essence points: 101]
[Technique: Ultimate Body Forging Sutra (incomplete)]
(Completeness: 19%)
[Technique grade: god]
[Technique realm (mortal): 400/400 (perfection)]
[Note: Can consume other compatible, lower or similar grade techniques at perfection stage to repair the technique]
(Compatible techniques: Berserk Monkey Palm (can be merged))
Leon gave the command and the next second the third page vanished. New insights and comprehension appeared in Leon's mind out of nowhere with that. The data on the second page also flickered for a moment before the page was refreshed.