Chapter 39 - Lyvan

“Does your family just not understand the concept of doors?” Mason said while yawning.

It was the next morning, and Mason had been poked awake by Mayry, who had once again climbed in through his window.

“I could use the door, but then I wouldn’t get to see the face you make when you wake up and see me in your room.”

Pulling the covers over his head in a weak attempt at getting more sleep, he asked, “What do you want?”

I was going to introduce you to your new trainer, but if you wanted to get more sleep, I could always come back…?”

“No, I’m up, I’m up. Who’s the trainer?”

“You met him just before the Basilisk attack, General Lyvan. He owes me a favour and said he’d train you a few hours a day before his shift. He’s tough, but he’ll teach you what you need to know.”

Grumbling something to Mayry as a reply, he made his way to the shower. As the hot water cascaded down his body, Mason couldn't help but feel a mix of excitement and anxiety about the upcoming training. He knew he needed to improve his combat skills if he wanted to stand a chance against higher-level Monsters, not to mention all the seemly all-powerful ‘Others’ that he was supposed to eventually defeat. However, he just knew this training was going to consist of him being beaten up over and over again.

After quickly getting dressed in clothes other than his armour, Mayry led him to the training area that was just behind the guard barracks, where he was greeted by General Lyvan. The general was a tall, imposing Gnoll with a stern expression on his face.

He had forgotten how big he was. He had seen him very briefly before the Basilisk fight but hadn’t paid much attention, his mind preoccupied with the rapidly approaching fight.

He was at least half again as tall as Mason and several times more muscular.

“You must be Mason.” His voice was low and came out sounding like a growl.

“Yes, sir, I really appreciate you taking the time to train me.”

“I’ve heard a lot about you. You killing the Basilisk when you did, saved a lot of my men. I figured I owed you at least this much. I will warn you; this isn’t going to be fun….” He paused, looked at Mayry and then back at Mason before adding. “for you.”

Two hours later, Mason was tired and bruised, certain that Mayry had purposely found him the biggest, meanest, and most sadistic trainer she could. Sometimes he wondered if that woman liked him or hated him. Right now, he was definitely leaning toward hate.

The training had gone fine for the first 30 seconds. Lyvan had explained to him that he was there to learn to fight and was not to use any of his triggered abilities. Everyone in Town had heard of his fight with the Basilisk, and there were all sorts of rumours about him and what sort of powers he had.

After explaining the ground rules, Lyvan shouted, “DODGE!” and attacked Mason with no holds barred.

It took him a few punches to the face to process what was happening. Mason had expected Lyvan to go easy on him, at least to begin with. But no, Mayry had seen fit to tell the General that he had enhanced regeneration and resilience. The General had, apparently, taken that as a challenge.

The Gnoll looked possessed as he moved around Mason, throwing punches and kicks with lightning-fast speed and ferocity. Mason did his best to dodge and block, but it seemed Lyvan was always one step ahead.

Mason was confused. How was this sadistic bastard hitting him so hard? How was he hitting him at all? His Agility stat was only at 19, but surely that was enough that the Gnoll shouldn’t be kicking the crap out of him so effortlessly.

This couldn’t be a normal Gnoll, he was sure. General Lyvan must be some special breed of war Gnoll bred or something!

General Lyvan - General Level 31

Master of martial arts and head of the Town Guard. His mastery of multiple martial art styles makes him an extremely formidable opponent on the battlefield. He has a reputation for being almost unbeatable in one-on-one duels.

In his spare time, Lyvan enjoys long walks on the beach and reading romance novels.

Just a normal Gnoll, then… great. Mason's body was covered in bruises, and sweat poured down his face. Lyvan seemed to be enjoying himself immensely; a fierce grin was plastered on his face as he continued to attack. Mason attempted to dodge each strike, but Lyvan always seemed to know exactly what Mason was thinking.

Finally, after what felt like hours, Lyvan stopped and stepped back, a satisfied look on his face. "Not bad," he said, "but you've got a long way to go. See you back here same time tomorrow. We’ll step it up a notch.”

Mason collapsed to the ground, panting and exhausted. "You did well," she said, "Lyvan is one of the best trainers in Town. He seemed… impressed.”

Looking up at her, he croaked out, “I hate you.”

Mayry put a hand on her chest and, acting deeply offended, said, “Well then If you hate me so much, I guess I’ll keep this Stamina potion for myself.”

Mason's eyes widened, and he quickly sat up, holding out his hand. "Give it here," he said, a hint of desperation in his voice.

Mayry smirked and handed him the small vial, which he quickly drank, immediately feeling the potion’s effects. He felt a surge of energy run through him. He took a deep breath and let it out, feeling worlds better.

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“So, what are you doing with the rest of your day?” Mayry asked.

“I need to complete some contracts. Fancy tagging along?”

“It’s my day off, and I have nothing better to do, so sure. What are we hunting?”

“Well, there weren’t many good contracts, so we could either exterminate a small tribe of goblins or track down a pack of Dire Wolves. Your pick.”

Mayry considered for a moment before deciding. "Let's go after the Dire Wolves first. They're a bigger challenge, but nothing too drastic.”

Mason nodded in agreement. After they both got changed into their amour, the two of them set off towards the outskirts of Town, looking very strange in their matching set of pink scale armour.

Once they arrived at the location, the contract stated, It didn't take long for them to find the wolves. They were big vicious and very aggressive. Mason drew his sword in one hand and his dagger in the other and charged towards them. The contract had estimated there to be between six and eight wolves. Mason counted 16. While he charged ahead, Mayry stayed back to protect their flank. Dire wolves were known to be smart creatures that used tactics to trap their prey.

While the battle was intense, it was nothing compared to the ‘training’ he had endured earlier that day. He dodged and weaved, blocking the wolves' attacks and striking back, mostly using his dagger but also getting a few good hits with his sword. Mayry was just as deadly, darting in and out of the fray and taking down wolves with quick, precise bursts of fire and spikes of ice.

Once they dispatched the last of the wolves, Mason noticed Mayry was frowning. “What’s wrong?”

“That was really easy. With Wolves, there is usually an A-“

A noise from behind them cut off whatever she was going to say. They spun and saw nothing. They heard the noise again, and then suddenly, Mason felt something huge slam into him from behind, knocking him to the ground. He rolled and managed to land on his feet. Before he stood a wolf far bigger than the ones they had just fought.

Monster - Alpha Dire Wolf Matriarch level 21

Dire wolves always appear in packs led by an alpha. The Alpha is far bigger, far tougher and fiercely protective of her pack.

“-Alpha”, Mayry finished needlessly.

*DING*

Quest Received! The big bad wolf

Quest Objective - You killed her children while she was out hunting. Now she’s pissed and wants to eat you. That’s fair enough in my eyes.

Reward - Medium item box (Rare).

Accept? Y/N

After accepting the prompt, Mason shouted to Mayry, “Do you have any ideas?”

She shot a fireball at the Monster, thinking maybe it would be vulnerable to fire. It wasn’t. It tanked the hit and was only pushed back a few steps. It looked over at Mayry.

“No! They’re not usually this big.” She shouted back, dodging out of the way as the Monster pounced at her.

“Okay! Keep it busy for a few minutes il try and summon something! Maybe we’ll get lucky.”

She caused the ground below the wolf to shoot up, sending the wolf into the air. “Okay, but no Demons, please.” The wolf came back down and darted towards her.

Trusting Mayry to take care of herself for a few minutes, he turned his attention to using his summoning ability. He held out his arms, and the crack appeared.

He lost focus when Mayry shouted, “MASON! WATCH OUT!”

He looked over and saw the wolf running over to him, probably wanting to stop whatever he was doing.

He jumped away from the crack. The wolf had been too late. The summoning had worked, and whatever was going to come through would emerge any moment.

As the wolf drew near, it seemed to ignore Mason in favour of the portal. It started sniffing it frantically until it jumped back at a noise.

A snorting sound was coming from the other side of the crack. A fat pink pig waddled through. It looked at the wolf and seemed to disregard it as a threat. It waddled closer and started sniffing the floor, looking for food.

The wolf just stared at it, stunned at the animal’s appearance. It sniffed it a few times, then backed away as if suspecting it to be a trap.

“What the fuck is that!” Mayry called.

Well, it was obviously a pig, but maybe it was some really powerful, super pig? He winced as he read the description.

Pig level 1

It’s a pig.

“It’s a pig!” Mason called back.

Mayry got closer, shouting, “I can see it’s a pig, Mason. Why the fuck did you summon a pig?!”

Before Mason could answer, the wolf did a sort of wolf shrug and decided the pig wasn’t a trap, just a very strange attack. It bit down on the pig and started to eat the creature.

Mason, seeing a chance, turned invisible and snuck over to the distracted Monster.

When he was close enough, he simultaneously plunged his dagger into the Monsters neck and shot a Magic missile at the back of its head.

The sneak damage from the dagger had been enough to kill it instantly, but he didn’t want to take any chances.

“That’ll do, pig, that’ll do,” Mason said sadly, looking at the half-eaten pig.

Mayry gave him a strange look as he walked over but didn’t comment.

They had been successful, but not without a few injuries. Mason was bleeding from a deep gash on his arm, and Mayry had a nasty bite mark on her leg.

Mason was fully healed within a few minutes, but Mayry needed to take a healing potion.

Once they were both okay, Mason checked his notifications.

Notification 1/3

You have slain – Monster – Level 10 Dire wolf x 5

You have received a portion of 500 XP.

You have received 250 XP.

Level up!

Stat points allocated

You have slain – Monster – Level 11 Dire wolf x 8

You have received a portion of 880 XP.

You have received 440 XP

You have slain – Monster – Level 12 Dire wolf x 3

You have received a portion of 360 XP.

You have received XP 180.

Level up!

You have slain – Monster – Level 21 Dire Wolf Alpha Matriarch.

You have received a portion of 210 XP.

You have received XP 150.

He was back where he was before the Demon, he had no points to spend, but progress was progress.

Notification 2/3

You have absorbed 1 stat point of Intelligence from Level 21 Dire Wolf Alpha Matriarch.

Notification 3/3

Quest update - The big bad wolf

Objective: You killed her children while she was out hunting. Now she’s pissed and wants to eat you. That’s fair enough in my eyes.

Quest Complete

Reward options – A. Medium Weapon box (Rare) or B. Medium magic item box (Rare).

Naturally, without a second thought, he chose the Magic item box.

The box appeared before him, and he excitedly ripped it open.

Wearable Item - Ring of the All-knowing Eye (Rare) - He knows all and sees all.

Effect: While wearing the ring, your Identify skill is boosted. It will allow you to identify beings stronger than you and will allow you to see an approximation of their HP bar.

“Ever heard of the ‘All-knowing Eye?” Mason asked Mayry.

Mayry shook her head. “No, I don’t think so. Why?”

“I got a new Magic ring. It’s got a weird description.”

Mayry just shrugged. “Are you nearly done? It’s really boring when you zone out like that.”

Rolling his eyes, Mason replied, “All done, just need to the bodies, then we can head off.”

He walked over to each dead wolf and looted the corpse. He had gotten almost a silver in iron and bronze coins which he split with Mayry. He had also gotten dozens of wolf teeth and loads of slabs of what the system called Monster meat.

“So, are you up for some goblin slaying?"