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Chapter 10

Hiro opened his eyes. It was night and he could feel a fire providing warmth against his skin and something warm and soft under his head. His eyes slowly began to focus. At first he could only make out some shapes and colors so he blinked his eyes. After a few seconds, there he saw it Foria’s beautiful face. She had laid him on his panther pelt bed and placed his head in her lap. When she saw his eyes open she said, “I was worried about you.”

Laughingly Korin said, “Yeah, she hasn’t moved all day waiting for you to wake up. It was actually quite cute. I've never seen my sister act like this. You must have made have made quite the impression on her out here in these woods." Korin winked at Hiro and Foria blushed.

This was the first time Hiro had actually saw Korin. He was about average height for a man. He was not very muscular. Actually his physique looked very slender and face was so perfect it was almost feminine. He had shoulder length blonde hair and green eyes. He was the classic pretty boy. This was the type of person Hiro definitely hated most.

“I saw that I have you to thank for my rescue. Oh I’m sorry. Please forgive me for my manners. My name is Korin. What’s yours?”

“You’re welcome and my name Hiro. Nice to meet you”, he replied. Then Hiro moved his glance over to the larger man who was next to Korin. “Excuse me. Umm…. Who are you?” The man turned and faced Hiro. His body was covered with scars that appeared to be from countless battles or possibly torture. His hair was all white even though he did not look much older than 25 or 30 years old. He was about 215 cm tall and his physique was something out of a cartoon. His muscles were huge. It looked as if he was born to be a warrior.

The man turned and said, “I am called Snow and I am from a small village far to the north of here. I was captured by these orcs when they raided my village. I have been tortured and imprisoned by them for the last 2 years.”

“I’m sorry for all that has happened to you. You are free to return to your home now if you choose. I suggest that you go with us though as the forest is not safe for you to travel alone. It is riddled with monsters of all kinds and I’m sure there may be more orcs out there. Snow agreed to go with the group. They all decided to rest in the orc camp for the night.

In the morning Hiro woke up early. The sun had barely broken the plane of the horizon.  "That beastmaster was one tough bastard. I barely made it out of that fight alive. I really have to find a fighting style that works for me. The sword and shield was nice but it doesn’t really suit me as it requires a lot of strength which I do not yet have. Maybe fighting relying mor on my agility might be better for now."

He decided that he would take the beastmaster’s sword and gauntlet as that fighting style appealed more to him. He went over to the beastmaster’s corpse and inspected the equipment. The leather armor did not seem to have any advantage on the chainmail he had so he then looked at the sword and gauntlet.

ClaymoreType:GreatswordDurability:85 / 100Quality:MediumAttack: 22  Claymore: A greatsword made of steel. This sword was created with the intent to kill and man while he was riding a horse in one blow. The blade is long and the hilt is heavy. The weight of the blade adds to its destructive force-

Black Iron GauntletType:GauntletDurability:150 / 200Quality:Medium15Vitality +3, Agility +3 Black Iron Gauntlet- A gauntlet that covers the arm from should all the way to the hand. It protects it’s wearer like a shield, while giving them the mobility of still having a free hand.

"Wow! These two are a huge improvement over my others. The gauntlet actually has the same protection ability as my shield and it gives some stat boosts." Hiro equipped them both but he immediately fell sluggish as the weight of the 2 items together was massive. “How strong was that beastmaster to wield both of these at the speed he did?” Hiro decided to hold off on wearing the new weapons and focus on training his body to strengthen himself so he could move in the new equipment.

He began with his calisthenics. "i guess I'll try sets of 50 since my strength has increased." He got through 5 sets of each and was feeling some fatigue. "I've got to push myself further." He continued until he was so exhausted he could barely move. He was surprised he was now able to do over 400 of each of his situps, pushups, and squats. Hiro sat up and noticed and looked down at his arms and chest. "What has happened? Is this the result of my daily training?" His arms and chest had become a lot more toned and defined. His training was not only showing in battle but in his general appearance.

Passive skill unlocked, Warrior’s Body.

Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:Warrior's BodyBeginner010%Through numerous daily repetitions of physical training you have acquired a warrior’s body. This body has heightened senses, strength, speed, even reflexes. As you continue to train your body will improve faster than before allow you to go beyond the limits of a normal human being.

Hiro thought to himself, "I should try more exercises to build my strength." He went to his bag and found the large battle axe that he had taken from of the orcs.  He decided to use it to chop down a tree. He went to the outskirts of the camp and found a tree with a relatively small trunk to test his strength. He grabbed the axe with both hands a swung it with all of his might. The axe cut deep into the small tree. After about 5 more swings it fell to the ground.

Hiro then proceeded to cut the tree into pieces. His shoulders, back and arms, started to burn from swinging the axe. Sweat poured off of him profusely. After some time passed Hiro had finally cut of the tree into about forty 2 foot sections. He sat down as he panted for air and his muscles throbbed.

 Due to your rigorous training your strength has increased by 4.

Warrior's body increased to level 2

Hiro decided to continue with cutting up the tree. He placed each piece up so that the rings of the interior of the tree were facing up. He placed another piece in the same fashion on top of the previous piece. He then swung his axe and cut partially through the log. He placed his foot on the log and pulled it out. He then swung the axe down again. The log split into 2 pieces and fell to the ground.

Hiro picked up another piece and repeated the process over and over again. His arms began to hurt again. He looked around and noticed that he had cut up about 30 pieces of wood. He also noticed that he was splitting the wood in one cut now. He was not sure whether his strength had increased or that his skill with slashing weapons had improved due to swing the axe so many times. He kept going until he had split the entire tree into smaller pieces.

Through your continued training your strength has increased by 3

Warrior's body increased to level 3

"I’ve improved this just this morning. Is this due to the warrior's body passive skill?" Then he took a deep breath and looked his work. He counted up all of the pieces and he now had about 80 pieces of wood that he could use for fires. He went back to the campsite to grab his magic bag.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

When he returned everyone was awake. Everyone had taken the leather armor that the orcs had worn. This force looked very strong. They were just missing a couple of things. Hiro decided to ask some questions so he could ascertain the strengths and weaknesses of his group.

First he asked snow, "Do you know how to use a weapon?"

Snow laughed and said, "I was am warrior who learned to fight in order to protect my village. I was only defeated by the orcs because they came under the cover of night and used magic to bind me before he could reach my weapon."

Hiro then asked,  "What weapons do you have the greatest skill?"

Snow paused for a moment and replied, "Heavy weapons and armor. I like to stand in toe-to-toe with my enemies so my weapons and armor usually have high defensive and offensive capabilities."

Hiro could have guessed it with Snow’s huge frame and freakishly muscular physique. Hiro gave snow his iron shield and long sword. Snow put them on and began to move taking practice swings. His speed and power were ridiculous. The heavy shield seemed like it was weightless while snow was wearing it.

Next, Hiro moved on and talked to Korin. He already knew Korin was a mage from the spells he had already seen him cast. "Korin, have you been trained to fight using weapons or are solely trained to cast spells?"

Korin replied, "I had very little training in martial skills but what skill I do have is  in using a staff."

Hiro went to his magic bag and pulled out the staff and cloak he took from the goblin mage and gave them to Korin. Korin smiled, took the staff, and put cloak around his body it fit him well. Hiro then went put on the gauntlet and picked up the claymore. It was still ridiculously heavy but he could hold if he used both hands. Now everyone was equipped. Now it was time to see what everyone could do and to get some fighting experience with his new weapons. Everyone thanked Hiro for the equipment.

"In order to properly work as a team they would need to know each other's skills, strengths as well as their weaknesses. If we are going to travel together we should see each other's skills. I would like to have a spar with each of you if that's ok?" Everyone nodded in agreement.

The first battle was with Snow. This battle was over quickly as Snow’s overwhelming strength coupled with Hiro’s hampered mobility due to the weight of his equipment gave Hiro an insurmountable disadvantage.  Hiro tried to use his speed but he could not find an opening against Snow. He slashed at Snow but each time the shield was there to meet his blade. On his last blow, Snow rammed the shield into Hiro's blade causing a shockwave to go through Hiro's arm. The shockwave caused him to drop his sword. Snow immediately took the opportunity. He kicked Hiro who placed his arm protected by the gauntlet in the way. The kick was so powerful that it knocked Hiro off his feet. He quickly jumped up but as he did Snow thrust his sword straight at Hiro's head. "It's my win young warrior." Hiro bowed his head in acknowledgement of his defeat.

Next up was Foria.

"I have been looking forward to another battle with you. My brother has healed my leg. It won't go the same as last time Hiro."

"You are full of confidence I see."

"No need for any more talking. Let's do this!"

Foria was extremely agile and she used the 2 knives that Hiro had given her from their conquest of the orcs. Her attacks were ridiculously fast and it seemed that all Hiro could do against her was rely on his predict ability to dodge her attacks until she eventually moved so fast that he lost sight of her. When he realized where she was it was too late for him to defend. She was behind him with a blade pointing directly at either side of his neck. Again he lost.

"I told you!"

"I guess you were right" Hiro was feeling really terrible now.

Finally, he began his spar with Korin. He thought, "This will be easy as long as I don’t give him time to cast his spells." As soon as Foria told them to begin Korin had cast his bind spell. Hiro was completely defenseless.

Korin walked over and tapped Hiro on the head with his staff and said, “You’re not my match yet. Maybe in a thousand years! Hahahaha!” Hiro was mortified. He was unable to do anything against his comrades. He felt like he was the weakest of all of them. He felt like he right back in school where everyone looked down on him.

The day had quickly gone by and they were in need of food. The all grabbed their weapons and went out in search of food. On their way, they found a group of forest panthers. Everyone was starving, so they set up a plan to attack. Korin would bind them with his magic then Foria, Hiro, and Snow would finish them off.  The plan went flawlessly Korin’s bind was extremely strong and none of the forest panthers could move an inch. As they were paralyzed the 3 used their blades and plunged them deep into the necks of the animals. Each died quickly with one clean blow.

They took the animals back to the camp. As they walked closer to the camp Hiro’s detect presence showed him that there were 3 large enemies at the campsite. When they arrived at the camp they saw several large birds that looked like vultures. These birds were about 1 meter tall with razor sharp talons and a curved beak that looked like it would tear flesh from bone. These creatures were eating the remains of the dead orcs. Hiro used inspect.

Bloody VultureType:AvianHealth:350 / 350Mana:00/00Bloody Vulture: A large bird that preys on dead and rotting flesh. They are often seen on battlefields among the freshly slain warriors.

The vultures noticed the presence of the party and began moving toward the group with their wings spread in a threatening manner. Korin used his bind skill to paralyze them while the others killed them off.

Now they also had birds to cook. They decided to dispose of the corpses of the orcs before cooking dinner so they would not attract anymore of the vultures. So Korin said that he would cast fireball to burn the corpes. He raised his hand to cast the spell but he stumbled saying, “I guess I used up too much magic”.

“I’ll take care of it Hiro said.” He raised his arm and cast his fireball spell. The flaming ball that came out from his hand was not as large as Korin’s but it burnt one of the bodies to to a crisp nonetheless. He had to take pauses after burning two corpses as his mana pool was not very large yet. After he rested he cast and regained his mana, he continued burning the bodies.

Fireball spell increased to level 3

After disposing of the bodies, Hiro began to skin the animals they had killed during the day so that Foria could cook the meat for dinner.

You gain 6 pieces of light leather.

Skinning skill improves to level 8

While Hiro was working on skinning the beasts, Korin gathered some fruit from some nearby trees  and Snow gathered fire wood from the blocks Hiro chopped up earlier and started a fire.  Foria began cooking the meat  from the panthers and the vultures and Korin helped by cutting up the fruit he had found.  While the food was being cooked Hiro took the time to create some more arrows for Foria. He saw how talented she was with the bow and wanted her to use that first.

He took some pieces of fire wood and cut them up into pieces that resembled the shaft of arrows. He left one end large so he could sharpen them to a point by using his hunting knife. Snow offered some advice saying that he should add feathers to help with the flight of the arrows. Hiro took Snow's advice and took the feathers from the vultures to place on the rear of the arrows. The first few did not go so well but after some practice, Hiro was able to make some good arrows.

You made 80 wooden arrows

Weapon making skill improves to level 7

He filled Foria’s new quiver which could hold 50 arrows and also placed the rest in her bag for later use. As soon as he had finished Foria called for the group. The food was finally finished. They ate until the all of the food was gone. After eating they laughed a joked for a while. Many of the jokes were from Korin who insinuated a lot of things about Hiro and Foria being in a cave for a few days all alone. Hiro and Foria were embarrassed. After a while they decided that they would leave camp bright and early to journey to Foria and Korin's hometown.