Joe breathed in worry and glanced back at his backpack and saw Garnedell’s smaller sized spoon spear before breathing a sigh of relief. OK… that… would have been bad! This… crap! This just… Well… maybe should … check it… carefully… tonight… or tomorrow…
Joe’s joy soured at that but then softened, as he realized he still had the weapons rings, but was just a bit frustrated. He finally decided he should be annoyed at himself because all he needed was another twenty kills or another unique weapon whereas he’d taken away an entire weapon from everyone else by bringing it up. It also made him wonder about the system as well.
Regardless, there was little he could do about it now and could explore his thoughts when he’d gotten back to the inn later, focusing instead on getting the last of the fifty percent for his armor skill. Well… actually… fifty eight… but who’s counting.
He continued fighting, but this time stayed with his tonfas the entire time, finding them a joy to use. He even began pulling two goblins at a time if he could make sure they came with simple or useless weapons such as sticks or small clubs. When he did so, he made sure to always focus on the goblin with the actual weapon and allowed the goblin with a stick to just tire itself out on him. He ended up dragging out fights for quite some time, allowing the goblins to strike him a dozen or so times until he felt like he was losing control and quickly ended it if he had to.
During this time, he decided to play a bit with mana infusion, sending mana into his weapons, but when he did so, he noticed the goblins began to instinctively shy away from his tonfa, more fearful of it. Joe found it a bit odd, but continued on and noticed that the more mana he put into the tonfa, the more worried the goblins got. That actually got annoying as the goblins began actively dodging the strikes from then on and Joe wondered at their propensity to do such things. It was quite odd.
He began taking a closer look at his mana as he struck the goblins, and for a while, he didn’t really notice anything at all, his mana simply resting in the tonfa until one hard strike actually broke the skin of the goblin. As soon as that happened, the mana seemed to suck into the goblin, a curling wisp of mana piercing out of his tonfa much like a snake strike directly into the wound. As soon as it entered, the goblin spasmed and Joe was easily able to dispatch it because of that. That gave him pause and he took a moment to think carefully.
This time, he pulled another goblin and brought the tonfa down upon the goblin very hard, a spinning strike that would easily break the skin of the goblin. As soon as he knew the strike would hit, he flooded the tonfa with infused mana and the goblin quickly grew terrified. When the tonfa hit this time, the mana that erupted from the tonfa was a veritable river and thundered into the goblin which dropped dead immediately at his feet. Joe looked at that and frowned. OK… so… what would happen to me?
Joe took another quick break, heading back and pulling out a small dagger and infusing it with a minimal amount of mana before piercing his skin. Like what happened with the tonfa, the mana erupted out and entered in through the small wound, but Joe felt nothing. His frown deepened and he pulled out the dagger. His HP immediately healed the small poke and he flooded the dagger with a bit more mana. He did this a half a dozen times until the last when he’d overwhelmed the dagger with mana and nothing really happened to him. He felt nothing; no pain of any kind. He frowned. Only against monsters? But… Gwenvair seemed to think it was dangerous for us, too… so… maybe… just not really a big deal against yourself? Hm… well… another question to the list.
About two hours after he’d entered, the goblin king spawned and Joe took him on with his tonfas, finding the fight a lot of fun, spending more time simply leaning into the fight as the goblin king was quite a bit more intelligent and he needed a decent fight than blind repetition. He had to continually force himself to take hits, forgetting his purpose many times throughout the afternoon. Regardless, with the boost from the goblin king, which had given him five percent growth just itself, and a never ending streak of goblins, he was able to raise his light armor skill to one as well. He wasn’t sure what the time was, but he felt good, exhilarated to have gotten both those skills at least available for use.
He went back to his backpack and settled to the floor, taking a break, but as time passed, he found himself completely fine and not exhausted at all, his excitement only burbling higher and higher. He glanced at his status and his grin only grew. Right… I got time… this… it’s all good. Swap gladiator’s char: all weapons skill to Saga chaplain’s change job skill. A glance at his status showed the change worked and Joe grinned. Nice! Change job to Loki Acolyte.
* * *
Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.
Kilniara slipped away from Joe, light on her feet and with pounding excitement in her heart. She did stop to wave back at him and say goodbye when Gwenvair turned to bow towards him and offer her goodbyes with quite a bit more formality. She couldn’t help rolling her eyes and bumped Gwenvair as the sped down the street.
“You are too formal with him.”
Gwenvair smiled and looked up at Kilniara, “He is an Eccentric.”
“He truly is quite eccentric, and he prefers less… formal relationships.”
Gwenvair stared up at Kilniara for a bit before nodding and smiling, a look of understanding humor graced her face just barely tinged with slight sadness. Kilniara saw, but said nothing, and maintained her good mood, hoping to draw Gwenvair back into a good mood. They walked down the street side by side, still happy but in silence as they escaped towards the inner city before Gwenvair spoke quietly with obvious worry and a bit of fear.
“He… does not claim you.”
Kilniara stared at Gwenvair then snorted with laughter, “Oh, he claims me alright!”
Gwenvair’s eyes rose sharply at that before a gasp slipped from her and her worry quickly gave way to excited thirst for scandal, “You… what…”
Gwenvair’s thoughts skittered a bit before she was able to ask Kilniara for proper clarification and the two fell into excited gossip and talk, almost entirely surrounding Joe. After some of the more juicy details were discussed and both girls were quite red in the cheeks, Gwenvair returned to her serious topic.
“That… still does not… he seems … he appears so honorable. I cannot believe that he would not lay claim and yet you…” Gwenvair trailed off and stared at Kilniara.
Kilniara blushed a bit and shook her head, “His people seem… strange, but I am claimed. I know this well. He has made it plain, although I do not understand his people’s ways.”
“How so?”
Kiliniara flushed a bit but pushed on, “He… could have me at any time, but refuses.”
Gwenvair nodded, her cheeks reddened even more, “You told me of this before.”
“Yes, but it is very strange. He was quite plain on this, stating that he is… I believe he is traditional, by his people’s standards. He will not have me until he has claimed me, but claiming is… strange? It appears to be of much more significance amongst his people, somehow. He wishes for time to know me well and to be certain before pursuing his claim. So he is…”
Gwenvair interrupted, shaking her head and a bit of heat seeming to flush through her, “See, he’s not making his claim, so how can he…” her anger trailed off at that as realization came at the same time as Kilniara defended him.
“But he isn’t…” Kilniara replied quickly, but softly while staring at Gwenvair with some concern.
Gwenvair stared at Kilniara, both stopping a bit in the middle of the road before both started again as some of the other pedestrians complained. The returned to their walk and Kilniara continued.
“He was plain. He expects loyalty, but also promises the same in return, but asks for time to be certain of our relationship. I am uncertain why he is this way, but he claims to be somewhat strange compared to most of his people in wanting more caution.”
Gwenvair fell silent for a bit as she considered for a moment. Kiliniara looked at her and noticed that she was deep in thought and gave her some time to think. They walked along quietly towards the inner city gate. After about a minute, Gwenvair turned to Kilniara.
“Do you … want me to speak with him?”
Kilniara looked at her, surprised by the offer, but quickly smiling in gratefulness.
“I would… uh,” Kilniara trailed off after her initial excitement was overwhelmed by concern, “I’m… I don’t want to offend him.”
Gwenvair looked up at Kilniara, eyes searching carefully, “Has he gotten offended before?”
Kilniara nodded, “Once.”
Gwenvair waited for Kilniara to explain, but then continued when she noticed that Kilniara seemed reluctant to explain so continued the conversation, “Was it justified?”
Kilniara chuckled and nodded, “Very much so, but he was very … kind in seeking justice.”
Gwenvair quirked an eyebrow while smiling, “Then it seems he is not one easily offended.”
Kilniara joked at that, “No. Truly, he is not one easily offended. He seems to seek understanding before offense.”
Gwenvair nodded, “He appeared as such to me as well.”
They fell into silence a bit more but Gwenvair did not allow the conversation to end there, “I believe I have found a way to speak of this to him without offense.”
Kilniara looked at Gwenvair with hope, “Truly?”
“Yes.”
They again retreated to thoughtful silence, this time Gwenvair gave Kilniara all the time she needed to think carefully as now was the time for her to make a decision. The two walked along in silence until they had almost reached the inner city doors before Kilniara finally responded.
“I think… I would like confirmation.”
Gwenvair smiled brightly at that before nodding and laughing, “Of course. As would I if I were in such a situation.”
Kilniara released her own relief in laughter as well before reaching over and giving a hug to Gwenvair quickly, completely at ease. Gwenvair froze at that, shocked by the easy physical contact and as soon as she did, Kilniara quickly pulled back, fear quickly washing across her face as her hands came up in front of her, half defending herself half trying to reach out to Gwenvair to protest her innocence.
“Oh! I’m sorry… I was… I’m… truly… I meant no offence! I … did not think…”
Gwenvair shook herself from her shock and turned to Kilniara quickly, grasping her hands and holding them to halt their stuttering movement, “Please. Be calm. I found no offense in your embrace. I was only … shocked! Please, be calm.”
Kilniara’s quick breathing bordering on hyper ventilation calmed and she searched Gwenvair’s eyes carefully for the truth in her statement. Gwenvair did not leave Kilniara in suspense or allow her to find the proof in the words as she continued on quickly.
“Please. I was … only surprised. I’ve never… had such an easy relationship or… friendship. I’ve never truly had friends before. This… easy relationship you have with Joe and your fellow apprentices… this is not something found amongst the clan. I… envy you it, and … please… I would truly desire to have such with you… if you are willing to continue.”