“Use your Jarids first,” said Sir Inolet quietly from behind the party. “The guards will keep them at bay for now. No reason not to get yourself a few levels first before you start to fight them in melee.”
Both Alissa and Ethan nodded at the old knight’s words, but it was actually Joshua that beat them to the punch after he received similar instructions from Magus Drummond. The bespectacled boy – fortunately the world they were currently in was advanced enough to have corrective lenses so he would not be rendered useless if he lost his glasses – raised his crossbow to his shoulder like it was a rifle, took aim, and launched the bolt in one smooth motion.
His shot missed the head of the Winged Scavenger he aimed for and only tore off part of its ears before the bolt broke itself against the hard stone of the cavern’s wall.
“The fuck!? I never missed with a rifle at this range!” complained Joshua even as he lowered his bow and worked the winch attached to its back to span it once more. All his shot did was to anger the Winged Scavenger, its shrill cry piercing their eardrums somewhat, though none of them did more than flinch slightly at it.
“Maybe you ought to have spent more time practicing with that crossbow instead of thinking of it like a rifle!” chimed Ethan in even as he hurled one of the Jarids he carried in the holster on his back. Both he and Alissa had practiced quite a bit with the short javelins, got themselves accustomed to its weight, and called back on their experience in the previous world where it applied.
As a result, the two javelins they hurled found their target unerringly. Ethan’s pierced all the way through the chest of the same Winged Scavenger Joshua clipped with his bolt, while Alissa’s throw struck another directly between the eye, the throw forceful enough for the javelin to pierce deep into the creature’s skull with its point even protruding out from the back of its skull.
Both of them also heard the notifications in their minds right afterwards.
You have defeated [Winged Scavenger Lvl12]!
You have gained bonus experience for defeating an enemy of a higher level than yourself!
You have leveled to level 2! +1 Free Major stat point gained! +1 Strength Gained, +1 Dexterity Gained, +1 Constitution Gained!
You have leveled to level 3! +1 Free Major stat point gained! +1 Intelligence Gained, +1 Perception Gained, +1 Wisdom Gained!
You have defeated [Winged Scavenger Lvl13]!
You have gained bonus experience for defeating an enemy of a higher level than yourself!
You gain less experience for defeating an enemy with the help of others!
You have leveled to level 2! +1 Free Major stat point gained! +1 Strength Gained, +0.5 Dexterity Gained, +0.5 Constitution Gained!
“Oh, come on!” complained Ethan when he saw the notice in his mind. “How come clipping the damn thing on the ear counts as contributing to the kill!? Not fair!”
“That’s called working using your brain rather than your brawn, Greene,” chipped in Joshua from behind them as he shouldered his crossbow and launched another bolt, this time catching a creature right in the belly. The injury he dealt was probably fatal, but it was not immediately so as the wounded creature just threw itself at a guard’s shield like a rabid animal.
“Less talking, more killing! Finish off the enemies before you even think about anything else!” barked Sir Inolet sternly at the young heroes. Both Joshua and Ethan shut their mouths at the old knight’s command while Alissa pretended to not have noticed the argument as she hurled another Jarid and finished off the creature Joshua wounded. Her throw found the creature’s eye and went deep into its brain once more.
What followed was pretty much a massacre. There were around a dozen of the creatures in the pack they ran into, with levels ranging from eight to fifteen. None of them proved much of a threat to the second-tier guard around the Heroes, who just repelled the creatures’ advances so as to allow the heroes to finish the beasts off for experience and levels.
The battle lasted less than five minutes before all the beasts lay still on the floor. To Joshua’s frustration, he failed to score a single clean kill over the whole battle, with either Alissa or Ethan finishing off the beasts he struck but failed to kill. On the other hand, the two had killed six of the beasts each, none of them needing a second throw of their javelins.
Even the level-up notification seemed to mock Joshua as he knew that the other two likely gained more levels than he did as they managed to get several kills entirely on their own.
You have defeated [Winged Scavenger Lvl9]!
You have gained bonus experience for defeating an enemy of a higher level than yourself!
You gain less experience for defeating an enemy with the help of others!
You have leveled to level 5! +1 Free Major stat point gained! +0.5 Intelligence Gained, +0.5 Perception Gained, +0.5 Wisdom Gained!
You Have Learned the Class Skill [Calm Mind Lvl1]!
“Okay, everything’s dead,” he heard Greene say in that confident timbre of his, something that annoyed Joshua a lot. His fellow classmate seemed all too comfortable with their current situation, all too confident and prepared. “What should we do with the free points from the levels we got so far? Up to us or do you have any suggestions on what’s more efficient?”
“If you could enlighten us on the gains from your classes, we might be able to advise better,” said Magus Drummond as his hand ran through his beard, a habit he had when he was pondering over matters. “Ah, do not inform us on the exact values, as those are secrets best kept to yourselves and those you trust with your lives. Just inform us on the general direction of the stat gains you have achieved.”
“It… keeps changing from one attribute to the next every level, and gives out equal amounts to everything,” Alissa said. “I think it wants me to go generalist from the looks of it? Jack of all trades sort maybe?”
“All Body with a focus on strength here,” replied Ethan. “Pretty much what I expected since I’m a [Warrior] and all.”
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“All Mind, even distribution,” said Joshua after the others finished their reporting.
“Then I would recommend either following what the class itself focused on, or shoring up your deficiencies. If you intend to do things physically, then shoring up your Body some more this early on would create a sturdy foundation that paid dividends in the future. The same applies with Mind for magic and Soul for the Priestly arts,” said Magus Drummond. “Do you have anything to add, Sir Inolet?”
“Not much. You two should use your points to balance out your Body stats since you lean into physical fighting anyway, while you might be better off focusing on your Mind. You’re probably one of the worst shots with a crossbow I’ve ever seen,” said the old knight, referring to Alissa and Ethan, then Joshua in turn. Joshua seemed to seethe a bit at the old man’s judgment but held his tongue.
The three of them then distributed their free points as they were advised to, and took a look at their screens.
Name : Alissa Faith O’Connor
Race : Human
Age : 18
Class : [Hero Lvl7]/???/???/???/???
Stats :
Free Major Stat Points: 0
* Body : 21
- Strength : 21
- Dexterity : 21
- Constitution : 21
* Mind : 13
- Intelligence : 14
- Perception : 13
- Wisdom : 12
* Soul : 13
- Willpower : 13
- Intuition : 14
- Sanity : 12
Skills:
Class 1: [Hero]
* Weather The Storm: EX
* Weapon Proficiency: Lvl 1
* Divine Blessing: Lvl1
* ???
* ???
General Skills:
* Respawn: EX
* Language Understanding: Lvl 2
* Quick Learner: Lvl 3
* Analysis: Lvl 2
* ???
Name : Ethan Louie Greene
Race : Human
Age : 18
Class : [Warrior Lvl7]/???/???/???/???
Stats :
Free Major Stat Points: 0
* Body : 25
- Strength : 30
- Dexterity : 20
- Constitution : 25
* Mind : 10.33
- Intelligence : 10
- Perception : 11
- Wisdom : 10
* Soul : 9.66
- Willpower : 10
- Intuition : 9
- Sanity : 10
Skills:
Class 1: [Warrior]
* Raging Bellow: Lvl 1
* Weapon Mastery: Lvl 1
* Taunting Cry: Lvl 1
* ???
* ???
General Skills:
* Respawn: EX
* Language Understanding: Lvl 1
* Athletic Savant: Lvl 2
* Analysis: Lvl 1
* ???
Name : Joshua Smith
Race : Human
Age : 18
Class : [Mage Lvl5]/???/???/???/???
Stats :
Free Major Stat Points: 0
* Body : 9.33
- Strength : 9
- Dexterity : 10
- Constitution : 9
* Mind : 21.33
- Intelligence : 22
- Perception : 20
- Wisdom : 22
* Soul : 10.66
- Willpower : 12
- Intuition : 10
- Sanity : 10
Skills:
Class 1: [Mage]
* Mana Manipulation: Lvl 4
* Elemental Mastery: Lvl 1
* Calm Mind: Lvl 1
* ???
* ???
General Skills:
* Respawn: EX
* Language Understanding: Lvl 3
* Bookworm: Lvl 2
* Identification: Lvl 2
* ???
“You have learned the [Elemental Mastery] skill? Good. That means you can start making use of those lessons you’ve learned so far in practice,” said Magus Drummond with a nod when Joshua reported the skill he gained to him. “[Calm Mind] on its own isn’t that great, but it has the potential to evolve into greater skills in the future. My own mentor had his evolve into [Parallel Thought] which allowed him to cast multiple spells at the same time. That’s a good long-term skill.”
“Understood, master,” said Joshua with a nod, somewhat pleased that the skill he got had more potential, if in the future.
“That said, I would recommend raising your Body attribute by at least half again its current state before you reach your next tier. Having a too lopsided stat distribution rarely gives as many good options as a slightly more balanced but still focused one,” continued the old Magus. “It would also be greatly useful from a practical perspective for you to have more stamina than a wet noodle.”
“How much Body value do you have then, master?” asked Joshua as he seethed a bit at the jab. He knew he was definitely less fit compared to his fellow classmates, but that was a no-brainer. Those two had been athletes on the level of getting sports-based scholarships offered to them already! Of course they would be far fitter than he was!
“Enough that I can crush most second tier and early third tier knights in a barehanded fight, boy,” replied the Magus with a smirk on his face to the question. “As you increase in tiers your class will generally give more stats on each level, so you can use the free points to compensate for your weaknesses even more. The increase isn’t that great on the second tier, or even the third, but from the fourth onward it gets really noticeable. Based on my knowledge as summoned heroes your current level gains should match second tier classes at the very least.”
On the side, Sir Inolet huddled close to Ethan and Alissa as they asked him various questions about the skills they had recently gained. The old knight put on a patient face that the young heroes had rarely seen before as he answered their question one after another.
“So how come I get only [Weapon Proficiency] while Ethan gets [Weapon Mastery] to play with?” asked Alissa, slightly discontent over the differences between the skills they received.
“Because those above likely did not intend for the [Hero] to just be another [Warrior],” answered the old knight patiently. “You can expect a more diverse selection of skills compared to what Ethan here will receive, with more indirectly beneficial options like your blessing which allows you to strengthen yourself and your allies, instead of his more direct options.”
“They want you hero-ing it up, Allie, not to be another lug who just whacks things with a big stick. That one’s my job!” replied Ethan rather cheerfully. “Also it meshes really well with the skills I got! The buffs from you should stack up with mine from [Raging Bellow] and would really kick me up to high gear. Too bad that skills like those won’t level unless used in real combat, and I only get to use it once a day too!”
“I still wonder how the hell this system even knows how to separate sparring to real combat, but whatever, I guess,” said Alissa. “I get your point. My skill’s also got a day-long cooldown after use, so we’ll save it for whenever we run into a boss in this place that’s hard to handle?”
“Sounds good to me, Allie,” said Ethan.
“On that point, rest assured that you will have the chance to practice with it here in the dungeon. A dungeon like this one might be on the shallow end, but it will still take at least three days to clear it thoroughly. During that time I am sure you can find foes deserving to use the skills on,” said Sir Inolet with a nod. “Also as far as my knowledge goes, skills that are only usable in real battles like these level faster, and the cooldown time will greatly reduce as they level, so you two should manage to get it going after a while.”