Only after seeing the situation outside did Dusk understand what had happened.
On the wide road, several burly men clad in leather armor were standing in the middle of the street, weapons in hand, glaring fiercely at them.
The leader, a bearded man, snarled viciously, "You three, hand over every valuable thing you have on you! I might spare your lives if you cooperate! Otherwise, don't blame us for being merciless!"
Nara and Quito were both stunned, unable to react immediately.
They were… encountering bandits?!
Dusk couldn't help but laugh bitterly.
He, a Cultist… no, rather a Malevolent Deity, hadn't gone robbing others, yet here he was getting robbed?!
Was there really such a ridiculous thing in this world?
A sense of absurdity filled the three of them.
Seeing they made no move, the bearded leader's face darkened further as he growled, "Didn't you hear what I said? What are you standing there for? Hand over your valuables quickly, or we won't be so polite!"
One of the short-statured henchmen behind him arrogantly added, "Yeah, didn't you hear our boss? Hurry up and give us everything you got!
And that woman there—nothing must be left on her, everything comes off."
The other bandits cheered and jeered, their lustful gazes shamelessly fixed on Nara.
It was the first time in their lives they'd seen such a beautiful girl.
Dusk remained silent, while the expression on Nara's face vanished without a trace.
Beside them, Quito clenched his fists tightly, his bones cracking audibly.
He squinted at the reckless bandit rangers in front of him, a cruel smirk curling at the corner of his mouth, and said, "What if I don't? What can you do to us?"
Hearing his words, the bearded leader immediately snapped angrily, "You little brat, you're really asking for it—"
Before he could finish his sentence, a flash of bloody light appeared, and Quito vanished from where he stood, reappearing right in front of the bearded man.
Then, a fist as large as a sandbag rapidly grew bigger, before crashing hard into the bearded man's face.
"Bang!!"
With a muffled sound, the bearded man's skull exploded like a watermelon.
Red and white brain matter, mixed with blood and bone, scattered everywhere, his entire head shattered by Quito's punch.
The other bandits were all frozen in place, stunned, unable to react for a long moment after witnessing this.
"D-dead?!" The short bandit who had spoken earlier wiped the sticky mess off his face, only after a while realizing what had just happened.
In an instant, all their eyes turned to Quito, filled with terror.
They had thought this was going to be a big score, but instead, they had run into something big!
"Kill them all." Dusk said flatly, too lazy to even spare a glance at these idiots who were marching to their deaths.
He turned to Nara and said, "Find a way to get another carriage here."
Nara respectfully acknowledged the order, then vanished in a flash.
Quito's gaze, filled with murderous intent, locked onto the several pale-faced bandits trembling in fear.
"Now… it's your turn." He stepped forward, eyes blazing fiercely.
Since becoming a Super Level powerhouse, he hadn't killed such low-level lackeys in many years.
At that moment, the bandits finally realized what was happening. The short bandit shivered and was about to say something.
But Quito didn't give him the chance.
His blood surged, and with a burst of power, he transformed in an instant into a giant hand formed of concentrated blood energy.
With a thought, he grabbed the necks of the bandits.
A series of cracking sounds followed.
In a split second, every bandit was dead!
They didn't even manage to resist or utter a sound.
Watching this scene, Dusk felt the gap between Extraordinary Beings keenly.
To an ordinary Extraordinary Being, normal people were no different than stray dogs, easy to kill with a flick of the wrist.
To a High Tier Extraordinary Being, low-tier Extraordinary Beings were just as insignificant as ordinary people, crushed with a mere gesture.
This filled Dusk with a deep, burning desire.
After all, the most important thing in this world was power.
Although he was currently protected by his identity as a Malevolent Deity, the day would inevitably come when he would be exposed.
When that day came, without enough strength, his fate would be far worse than these bandits'.
Power! He must gain much greater power if he wanted to survive in this world!
Dusk silently made up his mind.
When he reached the imperial capital, he must complete his Class Change as soon as possible.
At that moment, Nara, who had left earlier, returned.
Behind her followed a caravan pulling a line of wagons loaded with goods; it seemed to be a merchant convoy.
"Master, this convoy is headed to Fallen Dragon City, so they can give us a ride," Nara said.
Dusk looked over and saw a richly dressed, portly middle-aged man jump down from the lead carriage.
He hurried up to Dusk and said with a flattering smile, "My lords, are you also headed to Fallen Dragon City?
"If you don't mind, we can take you along."
As he spoke, the fat merchant's legs trembled uncontrollably.
It was unclear whether he was frightened by the pile of corpses Quito had left behind or intimidated by Nara.
It seemed their luck was pretty good to run into a merchant convoy in a place like this.
Dusk nodded slightly and said, "Once we reach Fallen Dragon City, you won't be left empty-handed."
The fat merchant quickly replied, "I wouldn't dare accept your reward, my lords. It's an honor to help you."
Dusk wasted no words and waved to Quito behind him, saying, "Let's go, get on the carriage."
After speaking, he was the first to board the carriage the fat merchant had prepared, with Nara and Quito quickly following.
"My lord, this carriage…" the fat merchant started to say something.
But Dusk had already gotten inside.
That's when he noticed there was a girl inside the carriage.
The girl had a delicate, youthful face and wore a yellow long dress. She looked no older than fifteen or sixteen but already carried an air of grace and elegance. Judging by her features, which bore some resemblance to the fat merchant, she was probably his daughter.
"You… who are you? Where is my father? What have you done to him?" The girl's face instantly went pale, and her bright, watery eyes stared at him warily, clearly frightened by the sudden appearance of a stranger in the carriage.
"Get out." Dusk frowned and spoke coldly, his tone hard.
He had no interest in kids like this, in fact, he was quite annoyed by those arrogant little girls who thought too highly of themselves.
The girl was feisty as well. Her pretty little face immediately pouted, and she said, "This is my family's carriage; you're the one who should get out!"
At that moment, the fat merchant came over and quickly said, "Emily, don't be rude to our guest. Get down right now. We'll ride in the carriage behind."
Emily, the girl, was reluctant but seemed to recognize that Dusk and his companions were no ordinary people.
After hesitating, she got down from the carriage, muttering under her breath, "What a rude guy, such a handsome face wasted on him…"
Hearing this, Nara and Quito both stiffened.
At this point, they weren't sure whether to say the girl was brave or just utterly reckless.
The fat merchant's expression turned serious as well. He said, "Emily, apologize to this gentleman immediately."
The young man leading the group very likely held a noble title, and in the Clinton Empire, offending a noble was a serious crime.
"Hmph!" Emily turned her head away, clearly thinking she had done nothing wrong, which made the fat merchant's face flush with anger.
Dusk, feeling too lazy to argue with the young girl, said, "Let's keep moving. We should reach the next town before nightfall."
Seeing that Dusk wasn't going to press the matter, the fat merchant also breathed a sigh of relief, nodded, and then called for the caravan to continue on their way.
Time passed.
In the blink of an eye, two weeks went by.
Compared to the magical carriage Dusk had ridden in before, the merchant caravan's wagons were naturally much slower.
What should have taken only a few days' journey ended up taking two weeks, and they had only covered about two-thirds of the distance.
Fortunately, Dusk wasn't in a hurry, and he took advantage of the time to learn more about the customs and people of this world.
Also, after spending this time together, the relationships among the group had eased quite a bit.
Dusk learned that the fat merchant's name was Ruen, a trader dealing in jewelry and materials.
Although he wasn't very famous in the imperial capital, he was considered quite wealthy.
This was evident by the several Mid Tier Extraordinary Beings assigned to his caravan.
For ordinary merchants, having a few Low Tier Extraordinary Beings as bodyguards was already good.
It was worth mentioning that this time Ruen had brought his daughter Emily to the capital, hoping she could try to pass the White Star Academy's assessment and enroll there.
"You're going to the assessment too?" Emily was quite surprised when she learned Dusk was also going for the test.
To her, Dusk looked like an ordinary person — probably without even a Class Change — so how could he dare to go to White Star Academy?
Dusk only gave a light "hmm" and didn't explain anything.
He was indeed still just an ordinary person.
So before taking the assessment, he needed to gather the materials required for Class Change.
Emily curled her lips and said, "Nonsense. The White Star Academy's test is so tough that even Low Tier practitioners might get rejected. You're just an ordinary person..."
Hearing his daughter start up again, Ruen immediately felt a headache coming on and scolded, "Emily! Don't be rude to our guest!"
Emily couldn't tell how strong these people were, but Ruen, having been a trader for many years and having seen more people and situations than most, could easily see that the three were extraordinary.
Not to mention the big man filled with vitality, almost solid in form, even the woman with the sheer veil carried a presence that ordinary people couldn't compare to.
And both clearly deferred to this young man — how could he be just an ordinary person?
Ruen turned to Dusk with an apologetic expression and said, "My daughter is ignorant. I hope you don't mind."
"It's fine, and besides, what she said isn't wrong," Dusk smiled calmly.
Let strength speak for itself; there was no need to waste words on a little girl here.