The Idle System (A LitRPG series Book 7): Family, Pegaz [learn to read books txt] 📗

kick, but the recoil pushed her away. She landed in a bush a few feet away, but she soon got back up and rejoined the group.

Throughout the fight, there were a few mistakes like someone getting hit by one of the claws due to poor timing with defence. Luckily, the wound wasn’t too deep, allowing the man to continue fighting.

It took over two hours for the bear to run out of energy and collapse on the ground. Its eyes shut tight as its laboured breath grew heavy with each passing minute.

When it finally fell, the defenders followed suit, gasping for air as rivers of sweat ran down their backs.

John smiled at the group. “For your first group battle, I suppose you all did pretty well. Let me explain what this trial was about.

“Knights are not hunters! They don’t go off on their own to single-handedly kill an enemy. Instead, they work in groups like all of you just did. They surround their enemies and wear them down until an ally is able to deal a fatal blow.

“When fighting humans, the tactics change depending on the size of the group they’re fighting. If you’re against a small band of bandits, then you’d surround them just like a wild animal. If you’re fighting an organised army, the tactics are completely different as you would group together to defend each other’s sides while facing the enemy head on.

“This trial was to get you to see what it’s like to be a knight and help you become familiar with facing death head on to help you eventually overcome the natural fear of it. From now on, you need to keep practicing what you’ve learned but also start training as a group and your stamina, so you can easily outlast even the strongest monsters.

“You’ve all passed the trial and can use the new equipment starting tomorrow. Now, go home and get some rest.”

John watched as each member stood up and made their way home. Kelly, however, remained sitting on the ground, staring at the bear with a strange look in her eyes. After a few minutes, she finally gathered up the courage to look at John.

“Can I kill this bear?”

Chapter 11: First Kill

Kelly’s sudden question caused John’s mind to go blank for a while. After regaining the ability to think, John thought about the pros and cons to letting Kelly kill the bear. “Why do you want to kill it?”

John saw Kelly look down again to think about it after he asked the question.

A few seconds later, Kelly lifted her head to stare at John. “Food for the villagers.”

“Then I can kill it for the same results,” he replied with a chuckle.

“To protect the villagers,” Kelly squeaked, immediately changing her answer.

“Still the same results if I kill it. We can use this bear to train everybody, including you. If we kill it, we’ll have to find something else to train with, and that’s a real hassle.

“Unless you can convince me that you killing this bear is in the best interest of the village, I’m going to release it.”

“I want to kill it so that I’m not affected as much when I have to kill for other reasons in the future!”

Kelly’s words were sharp and loud at first, but they trailed off as she finished her sentence, lowering her head once again.

John smiled. “At last, the truth.”

He approached her with a serious face and sat on the ground next to her. “There are two things that are almost guaranteed to happen to you when you kill something.”

Kelly lifted her head up to look at John.

“Before the actual deed, you might get a sense of superiority and this can be a serious problem if you let it.

“A creature’s life is in your hands and you can kill or save it on a whim, but that feeling is dangerous. It can easily become an addiction where you want to bring creatures on the brink of death in order to feel that superiority again and again.

“That feeling will fade with each kill, so you’ll move on to humans to satisfy the urge. This is especially dangerous for people who have felt powerless at one point in their lives.

“Then there is the second possible outcome. After the deed is done, something in your head will react to it. I can’t say what, exactly, as it’s different for everyone. Some people feel guilt, sadness, a sense of loss… Others will shut down emotionally, while a select few will feel pleasure or maybe something between everything I’ve just mentioned. The only people who don’t have a reaction are people who’ve killed at least a few hundred creatures, or psychopaths who don’t feel anything anyway.

“It might not hit you straight away, but it could come a day, a week, or six months later.That’s why I wanted you to wait until you’re older before you kill something.

“Even now, I think you’re too young to do the killing, but it’s best if I let you do it while I’m here to supervise; otherwise, you’ll sneak out to try to kill something alone.”

“You don’t trust me to do the right thing?” Kelly asked, tilting her head to the side.

“I trust you, but this is about life and death. Even if you get used to killing things for the right reasons, it’ll still affect you in different ways.

“Take me for an example. I can’t remember how many creatures and humans I’ve killed, and because of that, I can only trust you and your mother.

“I always assume that I’ve got to kill the people I interact with one day. I don’t trust the villagers. Hell, even the knights in the kingdom and the king are untrustworthy in my eyes. If it wasn’t for you and your mother, I would be really lonely, and loneliness can cause people to spiral into dark thoughts… especially when they’ve witnessed as much as I have.”

As John finished his sentence, the bear started to moan as it