Leyla was two years younger than Xavier, but she had always been more impressive than him. On her tenth birthday, her grandmother had gifted her a bow and arrow and since then she never touched any other toy.
Leyla began practicing archery from a young age and her impressive skills led her grandmother to enroll her in a professional archery class. After that there was no looking back for her. Over the next few years, she won several Championships in archery competitions and was said to become one of the best archers in the country within the next year.
And she was not just blessed with the skills. Leyla got the looks as well. She had long blond hair, vibrant green eyes and an athletic physique. Her posture was always upright and she would always roam around with the quiver strapped to her back and an arrow in her hand – if she wouldn’t have to follow the law.
That made her easily stand out from the crowd. Leyla was quite popular among boys and men of varying ages. However, she was also quite popular among older women because she was kind-hearted, humble, and always repaid kindness with even more kindness.
Wasn’t she supposed to be abroad participating in the World Championship? What is she doing here? Xavier wondered, staring blankly at the young woman standing in the middle of the street.
By now, they’d defeated the group of Infected, giving them some time to talk.
“Hi Xavier, long time no see…” She waved at him. Her complexion was pale as if she was drained of all blood.
Leyla then answered Xavier’s question from before, “Nanny fell sick so I stayed here…but now…” Leyla couldn’t speak any further. She was usually cheerful but she seemed shaken right now.
And there was a good reason for it. Xavier didn’t have to guess why she trailed off. And there was not much he could do except being silent to let her mourn quietly.
She grit her teeth and tried to control her trembling arms as her nails scraped the arrow, her knuckles turning white. She tried to speak but a lump formed in her throat and she fought back tears that threatened to leak out of her eyes. Not wanting Xavier to see them, she looked down to the ground.
So her grandmother turned into an Infected. How unfortunate… Xavier finished her sentence in his mind.
He knew that Leyla was raised by her grandmother from a young age. Xavier’s parents told him that her parents died shortly after she was born. One could say that her history and achievements were the perfect foundation for a real protagonist with a heart-throbbing story.
Xavier pitied her. Leyla never had an easy life, yet she never gave up on herself. Her grandmother was her first fan, and the person who encouraged her the most to pursue her dream to be called the youngest World Class Archer in history. But now her grandmother was dead. Maybe Leyla had been forced to kill her own grandmother after she turned into an Infected as well. Xavier didn’t even want to imagine this possibility.
“Did you see some Goblins? Possibly even their base?” Xavier asked all of a sudden.
Rather than asking if she was fine, or drilling her with questions, Xavier felt like distracting her might be the best decision. For the time being, at least. Once she was somewhere safe, she could digest what happened and overcome the trauma – or crumble in the face of it.
“Goblins?” Leyla asked, quickly wiping away her eye with one hand, “You mean these green things?”
“Yup, exactly those.”
“I think I saw a large group of them in the village’s center. On the isle of the roundabout if I’m not mistaken. But don’t go there. There were too many of them. Definitely more than a hundred of them. I left as soon as I saw their huge group,” Leyla warned Xavier, who smiled in response. He didn’t seem to be scared. On the contrary, his smile widened.
“That’s good.”
“Good? What is good about that? They’re disgusting and it looks like they’re intelligent enough to construct a base. How can it be good to find more than a hundred monsters suddenly pop up out of nowhere and start living in a community in our village?!?” Leyla asked with her hands on her hips.
She was kind and soft-spoken, but the loss of her last relative left her visibly shaken. It was too sudden, too unexpected.
“It is good because that means I can hunt down the Goblins in my street since they have no business being alive. They only have some value for me once killed,” Xavier winked at Leyla, who rolled her eyes. She knew Xavier and his carefree nature from a young age. They hadn’t met up often, but they always encountered each other in community meetings of the village or during other events.
Xavier was a cheeky little brat.
The only good thing about Xavier was that he never approached her with ill intentions nor did he ever cross a boundary. He was cheeky and mischievous but a good fellow. It was a weird mix, something that allowed Leyla to enjoy some parties in the village more than the large events she had been invited to in big cities all around the world.
“If you want to come with me to hunt down a bunch of Goblins feel free to join me. If not…well, then I don’t know. Go wherever you want as long as you survive,” Xavier was not sure what to say to Leyla. He didn’t want to force her to come with him, but he felt like it would be much better to team up and hunt together.
Leyla would be a great addition to his team.
“Do you think I enjoy walking around alone with Infected and these hideous Goblins everywhere in the village? I’ll gladly follow you. Let’s show them the spirit of us village people!” Leyla smiled vibrantly. Most other guys would have to swallow their saliva hard seeing Leyla smiling this beautifully, but Xavier merely gave her a thumbs up.
“Good decision. Let’s beat up some green bastards!”
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Leyla and Xavier bantered a little bit more with each other, but their funny little chat was soon interrupted by the appearance of another group of Infected. Xavier promptly shut his mouth and activated Dash to charge ahead without saying anything else. Leyla nocked an arrow on her bow, pulled the bowstring back, aimed for a moment, and fired.
She held her ground for a second before going back to step one. Leyla didn’t have to look at the target to know that she hit the bullseye. Her aim was precise enough to tell that the Inferior Infected died the moment her arrow impacted. The notifications she received for every kill was just a distraction.
Leyla ignored them mostly and continued to fire one arrow after another.
Meanwhile, Xavier used his superior Strength, Agility, and Perception to move in between his enemies. He beheaded three Infected and cleaved through the head of the 4th Infected before Dash’s effect wore off.
He didn’t obtain a single Soul Essence, but one Common Card Shard dropped from one of his kills. Xavier didn’t pick it up immediately. His eyes moved across the street to pinpoint his next enemy. However, Leyla had already taken care of the remaining Inferior Infected belonging to the group.
“I got three Common Card Shards. Nice. I almost got 10!” Leyla exclaimed. She rushed up to the Infected she had killed and began to retrieve her arrows. Then she collected the Common Card Shards they had dropped upon death.
“I have four Common Card Shards. How many do you need to complete a Common Card?” Xavier asked lightly, but Leyla looked at him confused.
“Well, I need two more to get my first Card…I think,” She responded, only to see Xavier retrieve two Card Shards and throw them at her.
He then turned away to observe their surroundings.
“If you want to focus on your Archery Skills, make sure that you bind Cards related to your desired profession. Your Soul might get injured if you remove too many Cards from your Deck later,” Xavier advised Leyla with the little knowledge he had procured before.
He saw a few more Infected further ahead, but that was it. There was a large intersection ahead. Less than a hundred meters behind the intersection would be the roundabout where Leyla had stated the Goblin’s community to be located.
Should I take a look to see how troublesome it is before moving back home? To deal with the other Goblins in our street, I will have to take the intersection either way.
“Xavier, do you like magic?” Leyla asked suddenly. Xavier turned back to Leyla and his eyes landed on a white card resting in her hands. Xavier didn’t even notice when Leyla started to combine the Common Card Shards.
A strand of hair fluttered in front of her vibrant emerald eyes that looked straight at Xavier.
I guess it is a good thing that you can easily distract yourself. Hopefully, that won’t make you feel worse later when there is nothing to distract you. Xavier thought, looking at Leyla before he nodded his head.
“Who doesn’t like magic? Everyone does!”
The corners of Leyla’s lips twitched but she didn’t respond to that. Instead, she handed him the Common Card with a sigh, “The Card might be useful for me, but I want to keep using my arrows and bow. I have to keep pursuing my dream…for my grandma… This Card will only be a hindrance no matter how tempting it is!”
Xavier accepted the Common Card with a wry smile. He was a little bit surprised, but not against the thought of adding a second Card to his Deck. Leyla had her own reasoning and Xavier was not the type of person to discourage people to follow their dreams and stay true to their principles.
Curious about the Card Leyla gave him, Xavier inspected it thoroughly.
Air Bullet
Common - Level 1(0%)
Elemental Spell
Active
Requires Energy to be used.
Effect – Conjures a bullet made of air.
–
Energy consumption decreases according to Card Level.
Effective range expands according to Card Level
Power of Air Bullet increases with Card Level
“Wow. That is quite impressive,” Xavier mumbled, glancing over to Leyla, “Are you sure that you don’t want it?”
Even though Leyla said that she didn’t want the Card, Xavier didn’t want to steal something precious from her. The Card’s effects could come in handy when surrounded by a large group of monsters.
“I want to keep focusing on archery. This Spell Card will only distract me from that. Take it, or I will throw it away,” Leyla said, her eyes filled with determination.
“I’ll take it then. Don’t complain later though,” Xavier responded, putting the Spell Card into his Classless Deck with a firm nod.
Elemental Spell Card has been linked to your Deck. Please prepare for the Influx of Information!
Since Xavier was already aware of what was going to happen, he prepared himself mentally for the influx of information. He groaned as the back of his head felt like it was stung with a sharp knife. Breathing in and out deeply, Xavier endured the bombarding of information. Two minutes later, he groaned loudly again, his hands coiled in fists and eyes shut tight. Leyla tapped his shoulder and pointed to the next group of Infected that approached them.
“Do you want to test out your new Card?” She asked lightly, ignoring the pained expression plastered on Xavier’s face.
Xavier opened his eyes, smiled, and responded by using an Air Bullet. In the next second, gusts of wind began to swirl around his left hand. They compressed and formed an invisible air bullet.
Xavier sensed the cooling energy residing near his stomach churn.
The energy was slowly drained to conjure the Air Bullet and to maintain it.
Therefore, Xavier took a stride forward and released the Air Bullet.
The Air Bullet was released with a burst of energy and whizzed through the air with great speed. It impacted hard in the head of the nearest Infected, almost piercing the Infected’s Skull in one go.
“A Skull is too hard to cut through at this distance? In that case, how about a closer distance?” He mumbled, conjuring another Air Bullet right before he kicked the ground.
Xavier appeared in front of the Infected, his flat palm less than half a meter in front of the Infected’s face.
Before the Infected could try to scratch him, the invisible Air Bullet was released and Xavier saw it easily penetrate through the rotten skin. Loud crackling noises filled the air as the skull broke into pieces.
Inferior Infected has been slain.
****
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