“Of course, Joe,” Gwenvair replied and began casting a triple blade, allowing three wind blades to form. They formed quickly and easily, the mana field around her having long been prepared by her and seeded with her control, allowing the blades to curve sinuously towards the goblin king, striking it in the back. She sent another two triple blades before ending her strikes.
“I believe that is enough, Joe.”
“You sure?”
Gwenvair quickly nodded, “Yes. I drew blood.”
Joe chuckled, “That should do it. If that doesn’t count, I’m not sure what will!”
Gwenvair nodded, but did not reply, uncertain of how to reply and confused by his statement. Despite his oddity of phrase and language being a curiosity to her, it was of no importance now as she avidly focused on Joe’s attacks, seeking to sense if he was using any magic or enhancements. But even as she suffused her mana into the world around her, she felt nothing from the Eccentric. No wave of mana or flow of power. He simply began to … move… almost dance, his skills of such high level and his ability so powerful he had no need, even now, of any enhancement or mana skills.
His spear strikes pounded firmly, rapidly and with unerring precision into the goblin as he struck at odd angles all over the creature. She could not understand the reasoning for his attack pattern, but it was obvious it was deliberate as she could see the turn of his wrist, the twist of his foot, and the thrust of his hip as each strike hit its target: throat, upper chest just where the arms met the chest, and one strike at one of the legs of the goblin, burying into the upper thigh. The strikes were rapid and came as a riposte from a single strike of the goblin’s sword which the Eccentric perfectly took against his shield easily. It was truly mesmerizing. And then, the goblin was dead. And still, no mana, power, or emission came from the Eccentric. He could kill monster kings with nothing more than melee skills. Gwenvair struggled to breathe.
* * *
The goblin shrieked again, its voice a shrill squeal a bit higher and definitely more in pain than its first squealing roar it had used to challenge him at the beginning of the fight. He’d almost laughed at the squeak. It was like watching a mouse attempting to roar. It had looked ferocious, for all its size, but it lacked the body mass and lungs to truly back its roar meaningfully. Joe quickly put it out of its misery, bringing his spear down in one last strike to the upper chest just where the clavicles dipped down and left the throat vulnerable, instantly killing the goblin king. Joe took a deep breath of relief of a job completed and stopped while looking around quickly for any other goblins that may have ‘agroed’ them. None were, all of them surrounding them still wandering aimlessly like mindless drones waiting for any hostile entity within the engagement range.
His check complete, he looked back at the others, “So, let me see your status, I’ll check to see how you did, if you got the titles.”
Joe made sure to glance at Kilniara meaningfully before flicking his eyes to her brother. She quickly understood and slipped to her brother’s side, whispering in his ear. He nodded quickly and stepped back, allowing the others to show their status while trying to hide that he was hiding his own.
Joe beckoned Kilniara over first after she finished talking to her brother, “Let’s check!”
Kilniara excitedly opened her status and swapped it to the titles screen easily without need of guidance, now used to its many functions. When she saw Joe’s bright smile, she began yipping and dancing.
“I got it? I got it?”
Joe nodded, smiling, “Yup. Two new titles. Monster king killer and goblin king killer.”
Kilniara whooped and danced, but stayed quietly tightly around them and Joe let her go before turning to Gwenvair.
“Would you like me to check?”
Gwenvair also nodded quickly, although she tried to hide her excitement under propriety. She flipped up her status but needed some guidance to find her titles tab, which Joe easily showed. Her excitement matched Kilniara’s, if a bit more subdued, when Joe confirmed her new titles. Garnedell quickly came over after and Joe looked at Kilniara quickly, catching her attention.
She easily took the hint, quite incredible at being able to read him, somehow, and pulled Gwenvair over to excitedly speak with one another and turn her away from the others. Joe immediately took the chance.
“Garnedell, let’s check yours. Yup! Nice. You got it!”
Garnedell also whooped and Gwenvair looked over to congratulate Garnedell when he came to their group. Joe took that time to call Zilnek over while she wasn’t watching.
“Alright, Zilnek. Your turn.”
Zilnek stared at him and Joe quickly nodded his head to his side, but also shook his head subtly. Zilnek nodded quickly and came over. Joe stepped to Zilnek’s side to shield him from the main safe zone on the floor and, to a lesser extent, from Gwenvair if she turned.
He came, and Joe quickly replied before he could open his status, “Nice. You can shut your status! You got it, too!”
When Zilnek saw what Joe had done he smiled, relief evident before nodding in thanks. Joe nodded back subtly and leaned down next to his ear.
“We’ll check in the room, tonight,” he whispered very softly to Zilnek.
Zilnek said nothing, but nodded quickly. However, he didn’t really react with excitement either, so Joe whispered again, quickly.
“So act excited! You just got two new titles!”
Zilnek’s eyes widened then he yelped, quickly shouting in happiness before joining the others who all happened to be bouncing excitedly. Joe shook his head at their antics but left them there for a bit longer before he called an end to their craziness. They were still in the middle of the floor surrounded by goblins.
“Alright. Alright! Let’s go check the chest and sit on the throne again.”
The other’s quickly reacted, but otherwise completely ignored him, still chatting with each other excitedly before heading to the throne. They each sat in it in turn, although Gwenvair did ask why and when she learned it was another title, eagerly sat in her turn as well.
When she asked about the titles, Joe promised to explain over lunch, and instead directed them all back to the corner to continue their training after pulling out the rings from the chest once again. Joe was feeling quite excited to see what the Loki monk job gave him and the possible chance of being able to fight in the afternoon as well. If he could get it done, he could get his own job change ability in the Loki line already And… Maybe... soon I'll be able to get a sub job skill somewhere soon! Gotta be in the priest line, right? That’ll be so nice! Joe sighed at the thought.
When they arrived back at the corner, Joe restarted the two groups, Kilniara naturally gravitating to Gwenvair and the two guys hanging out together. The two groups settled quickly and easily into their habit and Joe stood to the side, focusing on one group with training and helping them until exhaustion drove them to rest in the corner at which point the two groups would swap. Joe never rested in the corner, staying out for the entire day until noon. When the others were resting, Joe ramped up his fights, actively attempting to kill the goblins as fast as possible. However, when a group joined him, he would back off, primarily blocking attacks and only hitting each goblin once, making sure he was gaining experience for the kills the others were doing.
He did check at the beginning, looking over his logs as goblins died to see if he got experience gains, but rarely did it any longer, although he did check every once and a while. As they were fighting throughout the day, Joe began to notice that the girls were growing more excited and agitated, Gwenvair seeming to be encouraging Kilniara who was growing more embarrassed.
Status
Blessings
Current Job
Available Jobs
Current Skills
All Skills
Log
Joe McConnell
Status
Physical Resistances
Magical Resistances
HP
31.00
Physical:
Wind
31
SP
31.00
Piercing
0.00
Water
31
MP
31.00
Crushing
0.00
Earth
31
Attack
31.00
Slashing
0.00
Fire
31
Defense
31.00
Ice
31
Magic
31.00
Gravity
31
Magic Defense
31.00
Loki Monk
31
Magnetic
31
Strength
31.00
Unselected
0
Light
31
Dexterity
31.00
Unselected
0
Shadow
31
Agility
31.00
Unselected
0
Space
31
Speed
31.00
Spirit
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
31
Endurance
31.00
Mental
31
IQ
93.00
Sound
31
Wisdom
93.00
Electricity
31
Will
69.75
Learning
310.00
Luck
0.00
He didn’t make any obvious point of noticing it and instead attempted to ignore the dynamic and leave them to their own as neither appeared to be truly bothered. There didn’t appear to be any real conflict. Noon came, and Joe checked his status quick to see how much he’d leveled, not wanting to leave the dungeon too early. However, he was quite disappointed to find that he’d barely made level thirty one, despite making thirty five with the previous Loki jobs. When he looked at the job’s skills, he understood.
Cure Disease: Cure any disease related to Loki.
Cure Debuff: Cure any debuff related to Loki, one at a time.
Cure Curse: Cure any curse related to Loki.
Well, that makes sense, I guess. The Saga monk also had these kind of skills as well. It appears, maybe, the monk in each line tends to focus on curing diseases and curses… maybe even debuffs as well? Joe pondered it for a bit while he stood where he was, ready to fight the next goblin. He took a deep breath and finally decided that it really didn’t matter at this point. What he needed was the job change skill, not to worry about getting this specific job up to thirty five as he’d hoped.
He quickly checked his available job page and saw that the chaplain job was now available and decided to call it a day anyway. He turned back to the corner, and found all four staring at him quietly. He stopped, wondering what happened but when no one said anything, he continued walking and came up to them.
“Everything OK?”
Everybody turned to look at Gwenvair but she shook her head, then decided to talk, “Are we eating lunch?”
“I was hoping to? It’s lunch time.”
Gwenvair nodded, “At one of the Guilds.”
“Is that OK?”
Gwenvair quickly nodded, “That would be more than acceptable.”
Joe didn’t respond for a bit, pondering carefully before replying, “It seems like … you have a serious topic?”
Gwenvair shook her head, then nodded, “Yes. But it can wait for the meal.”
Joe nodded, accepting it, “OK. Let’s head out for lunch. Oh! Garnedell, how did you do?”
Joe stopped to ask, hoping to reinforce Garnedell’s choice and give him a bit more comfort and confidence in his choice. Garnedell’s grin grew huge as he nodded.
“Five times.”
“Five times just this morning, huh?”
Garnedell’s grin grew huge he nodded but didn’t reply.
“Feeling better now?”
Garnedell laughed and nodded, “Yes… it’s… so much faster!”
“Wanna show off your status?”
Status
Blessings
Current Job
Available Jobs
Current Skills
All Skills
Log
Garnedell
Status
Physical Resistances
Magical Resistances
HP
10.70
Physical:
Wind
2.40
SP
28.70
Piercing
1.90
Water
2.40
MP
6.90
Crushing
1.90
Earth
0.00
Attack
8.80
Slashing
1.90
Fire
1.90
Defense
8.80
Ice
2.40
Magic
6.90
Gravity
0.00
Magic Defense
6.90
Magnetic
0.00
Strength
10.70
Light
0.00
Dexterity
8.80
Shadow
0.00
Agility
8.80
Space
0.00
Speed
8.80
Spirit
0.00
Endurance
12.60
Mental
0.00
IQ
6.90
Sound
0.00
Wisdom
6.90
Electricity
0.00
Learning
13.87
Luck
0.00