Mana – 5
Aldric sighed when he saw the notification pop up. Just as the System had said, his Mana would be drained once every hour.
Although this currently had no effect on him, over time, the rate at which his Mana was drained would increase. If he didn't level up quickly, he feared he would run out of Mana and die.
"Damn old man!" Aldric shouted, "I'll come back and punch you in the face."
In fact, Aldric had a reason to hate Nedaric: his mother's death was related to Nedaric.
Not directly, but indirectly. He let his concubines force Aldric's mother to leave the Sterling family. On the way, she encountered a band of robbers and was killed.
Aldric luckily escaped and was rescued by adventurers. In fact, they immediately recognized him as the young master of the Sterling family, so they saved him only to claim the reward.
That was also the reason why, deep down in Aldric's mind, no matter how much Nedaric pretended to be a good father and treated Aldric well, Aldric could not accept him.
"Luckily, I made a plan yesterday to carry out the mission," Aldric muttered.
Yes, he had made a detailed plan, which was why he dared to demand 200,000 gold coins from Nedaric.
He happily grabbed the reins to control the horse, looking at the road ahead filled with the morning sun: "That damn family is so stifling. The world is so vast, I can't be confined to that rotten family."
"Besides... kekekeke... there are so many beautiful women out there, I have to take a look."
Aldric drove the carriage out of the Sterling family's castle grounds while thinking about the plan he had made yesterday.
He rubbed his chin, thinking silently: 'Right now, I have two tasks: leveling up and acquiring the first woman for my harem. However, I can't just find any woman; she has to meet the standards set by the system.'
Aldric sighed, feeling a bit weary. Both tasks were quite difficult, but he only had three days to complete them, so he didn't have much time to prepare.
"Luckily, I got 500,000 gold coins. With this amount of money, I can easily carry out my plan."
The carriage left the Sterling family estate, entering a long dirt road stretching into the distance, flanked by forests casting cool shadows, reminiscent of fairy tales.
The Sterling family castle was built about 10 miles from the city, and this was the only road he needed to take to reach the city.
[Ding! Detected a woman who meets the criteria to become your woman.]
"Heh?!" Aldric was a little startled when he saw the system notification: "Hentai Radar has a maximum range of 100 meters, so does that mean there's a woman nearby who meets the system's criteria?"
[Ding! The system would like to remind you once again, this is the Harem Radar, not the Hentai Radar.]
"There's no difference." Aldric shrugged.
He looked around in confusion. The place was completely silent, so quiet that it made him feel a little scared.
Apart from the rustling sound of leaves in the wind, there was no other sound.
He looked behind him, in front of him, but there was no one there. He looked to both sides, deep into the forest, but it was so dark that he couldn't see anyone.
"Oy! System! Are you mistaken? I don't see anyone. Could she have left already?"
The system did not respond but displayed a radar screen in front of him. On the screen, a white dot in the middle was him, and there was a green dot about 80 meters away from him, flashing.
"80 meters..." Aldric looked in the direction the radar indicated. It was deep inside the forest, but his view was blocked by the trees.
"Hm..." Aldric frowned, thinking to himself, 'Strange, why do I feel uneasy?'
Suddenly...
BOOM!
The carriage exploded, followed by a deafening roar. The two horses pulling the carriage broke free from their reins and immediately bolted into the forest.
Bang!
"Damn it!" Aldric cursed silently as the explosion threw him into the air, then back down to the ground.
Luckily, he only suffered minor burns and no serious injuries, but...
Aldric looked at the burning car cabin, panic rising in his heart. He immediately understood what was happening, muttering, "Damn it! That old man really won't let me go."
He gritted his teeth, trying to endure the pain from his burns, turned his head, and immediately ran away.
Although he didn't know what would happen next, he trusted his instincts.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, a black shadow appeared in front of him.
"What the hell?!"
BAM!
"ACK!" Aldric was kicked in the stomach by the mysterious person, feeling as if his stomach had just exploded, followed by a mouthful of fresh blood that he spat out.
Aldric flew backwards several meters, then rolled a few times on the ground before coming to a stop.
"Huew!" He opened his mouth, vomiting another mouthful of blood, his face pale as an anemic patient, his eyes wide open, filled with bloodshot veins as he stared at the mysterious person.
It was a man, thin, with messy black hair, a gloomy face full of murderous intent and greed, staring at him.
"Kakaka..." The man laughed strangely, a dagger in his hand, slowly advancing towards him.
Aldric gritted his teeth and shouted, "Who are you? Did my father send you here?"
"Kakaka... I cannot say. But I can only tell you two pieces of news, one bad and one good. Which do you want to hear first?"
Aldric took a deep breath, feeling both frightened and uncomfortable.
Although he was now a black mage, he was still only a level 0 mage. How could his combat strength compare to that of an assassin?
Aldric gritted his teeth and said, "What's the good news?"
"Kakaka... I won't kill you. Instead, I'll take you to a very nice place."
Hearing the man speak, Aldric naturally didn't believe him. He frowned and asked, "Then... what's the bad news?"
The man licked the blade, his face revealing a cold killing intent that made Aldric shiver.
"Cut off your limbs."
"Damn it!" Aldric tried to back away, using all his strength to run.
Whoosh!
The sound of wind whistled as the knife in the assassin's hand flew towards him.
Thud!
"Agh!" Aldric cried out in pain, falling to the ground, his face contorted with agony.
He looked down and saw the knife had pierced his thigh, fresh blood beginning to flow like a small stream.
Aldric gritted his teeth, feeling despair in his heart: 'Damn it! I just arrived in this world, am I really going to die for nothing?'
The man slowly walked towards him, laughing and sneering as he went: "What's the matter? Can't run? Kakaka... how pitiful. Don't worry, it won't hurt much, I'll be quick..."
He took an axe from behind his back, then swung it up, aiming straight for Aldric's thigh and bringing it down.
Aldric saw the axe blade coming down, his heart pounding with fear, but he couldn't run anymore.
"Stop!" Aldric shouted. "How much did my father pay you? I can pay more!"
The man stopped, his eyes fixed on him, and sneered, "Kid, it seems you don't understand your current situation. After cutting off your limbs, I can take all the gold coins. Why wait for you to pay me?"
"You..." Aldric gritted his teeth, wanting to say something.
However, the man seemed to have lost patience, swinging his axe again: "Alright, you won't die, it'll just hurt a little."
Aldric: "..."
'Damn it! Getting my limbs chopped off is just a little pain? You think I'm stupid just because I look young?'
Whoosh!
The axe blade swung down again. Aldric tried his best but couldn't dodge it, only able to open his eyes wide as he watched the axe blade chop down onto his leg.
BAM!
Suddenly, a dark figure appeared, kicking the axe out of the assassin's hand.
Clang!
The axe fell to the ground with a shrill metallic clang. The man immediately stepped back, drew two daggers, his eyes sharp and wary as he stared at the dark figure.
"Who are you?" the assassin asked coldly.
Aldric gasped for breath, sweat pouring down like rain, feeling as if he had just stepped one foot into the gates of hell.
At that moment, he looked up at the shadow that had just appeared, and at the same time, a system notification popped up before him.
[Ding! A woman who meets all the system's criteria has been detected. Master, please quickly flirt with her and bring her into your Harem.]