He continues to search for other orcs while being stealthy. A couple of minutes later he saw a orc with his back facing him.
He discreetly approached the orc. When he was near, he rushed at him, aiming a slash at his Achilles tendon. However, due to his lack of real combat experience, he missed and cut his calf instead. What could have been an injury that would have greatly diminished the orc's speed became only a minor wound.
‘How I could miss that?’ Mikael thought disappointed in himself.
The orc roared in pain before rapidly turning and punching toward Mikael. Mikael ducked under the punch, slashing along the length of the orc's arm, and finished his move by cutting across his chest. All the cuts were light, but they were bleeding.
I’ll try to kill it by making it bleed to death. I think it’s the best strategy considering that it’s stronger and more durable than me, but I’m faster. The main reason I use this tactic is that I can’t cut through its bones with my sword.
The orc continued to launch punches and rarely launched some kicks but Mikael evaded all his attacks by being defensive and cutting the orc when he had the occasion.
The more the fight lasted the slower and the more tired the orc looked until he finally collapsed to the ground.
‘No kill notifications? Oh yeah nearly forgot I said that I didn’t want to see notifications too often… Now that I think about it’s a bad idea to not have the kill notifications activated, like now I don’t know if the orc is dead.’
“System, can you reactivate the kill notifications, but still keep all the other notifications at a minimum? ”
[Preference modified]
[C-Rank Orc killed 12K xp received]
[Class Martial Artist has reached the max level.]
[Selectable Class: Tier 0:Swordsman, Gunner, Hunter, Cartographer, Adventurer, Thief
Tier 1:Martial Master, Hunter(Aedris)]
Mikael looked at what the different classes were offering, but only three of them caught his attention.
[Swordsman 0/25
Tier 0 Class
Description: You’ve always liked the sword, and now you’ve begun to learn how to swing it, but it’s still extremely bad, so never stop progressing.
Stats: +1 AGI, +1 VIT, and +1 PER per level.
20% increase in the learning speed of sword skill.
10% faster attack speed when using a sword.]
[Martial Master 0/50
Tier 1 Class
Description: You aren’t a martial arts neophyte anymore and have already begun to walk the martial arts path.
Stats: +3 STR, +1 AGI, +2 END, +1 VIT, +1 PER per level.
60% increase in the learning speed of martial arts or related skills.
40% more damage when using your body to fight.
30% more attack speed when using your body to fight.
Your talent in Unarmed Martial arts is increased (Permanent).]
[Hunter(Aedris) 0/50
Tier 1 Class
Description: You have joined the hunter guild from the Aedris world and have become a hunter.
Stats: +1 STR, +1 AGI, +2 END, +3 VIT, +1 PER per level.
The body refining technique of the Aedris world is 2x more effective.
When using body refining techniques, you learn them faster and have an easier time understanding or upgrading them. Your body talent is also upgraded (Permanent).]
“System can you explain how the class system works and the difference between tier 0 and tier 1 class?”
[Classes are separated into tiers. Each tier is stronger than the one before, to unlock for example a tier 1 class you’ll need to have maxed a related tier 0 class and have done the necessary action. For example, the Hunter(Aedris) is unlockable by maxing a tier 0 fighting class (Martial Artist, Hunter, etc…) and becoming a hunter in the Aedris world.]
[Each time you max out a class in a tier, the XP cost will multiply, but it won’t affect the other tiers. For example, if you maxed out the Tier 0 class Martial Artist and it was your first class, the first level required 100 XP. Your second Tier 0 class will require 200 XP, and your third will need 300 XP, and so on. An important thing to note is that XP costs don’t transfer between tiers! You could have already maxed out five Tier 0 classes, but your tier 1 classes will not a an xp cost multiplier.]
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
‘Hmm, so the XP increases... It’s a little annoying and will slow down my leveling speed, but not by much, considering that the XP a monster gives increases faster than their strength.’
‘I think I’ll take the swordsman class because when I max the class I will maybe unlock a related class like Sword Master or a similar class! Sure the tier 1 class looks and is stronger but the thing is that to max them they need to reach level 50, if the XP cost stays consistent to pass from level 49 to 50 it would need like 1M XP soo……’
[Swordsman Class selected]
‘Let’s continue this hunt.’
Just after the third orc felt dead Mikael received a surprising notification
[Too many stats gained at the same time for the current strength level. Add the stats periodically to help the body adjust?
Warning: not listening to this advice can cause severe pain, or in the case that far too many stats are added, the implosion of the body and consequently, death!]
[Yes no]
Mikael logically took the yes option and saw that his stats increased for the next five minutes.
‘It seems that the time Kiara writhed in pain was because too many stats were added at the same time but if our stats were more disproportionate she wouldn’t have ended this lucky…’ he thought, feeling a little nervous about this possibility.
He frowned while thinking, ‘If she had died like that, I would have been a bit sad and angry about it. I mean, I have spent a lot of time with her recently, and she is good company. I’ll say we could almost be considered friends...
“System why didn’t you inform me about the danger of gaining a lot of stats at the same time when it was Kiara that was gaining stats?”
[You didn’t ask.]
“I didn’t ask for that—really? That’s your answer!?” He felt a surge of anger upon hearing the response but quickly calmed himself as a thought crossed his mind: ‘The system doesn’t owe me anything. Even if it—or rather, she—didn’t warn me, I can’t really blame her. I’ve decided to call her "she" since the voice is that of a woman anyway. In fact, I should probably consider that I owe the Akashic Records for this opportunity. Yes, I paid with my lifespan, but honestly, it’s a small price to access the incredible world of the Records.’
‘This small talk has put me in a bad mood. I’ll go kill some orcs to clear my head.’
Just after he had this thought he began to hunt the orcs. Of course, he was cautious and consequently hunted orcs slowly. In the next 5 hours, he was capable of killing 8 more orcs. Naturally, his hunts weren't easy each time. Some were done without injury and some caused him some wounds. Once, he escaped from a fight after a second orc appeared during his fight with the first orc.
During this time he also maxed the Swordsman Class and consequently unlocked the tier 1 Class Sword Master.
[Sword Master 0/50
Tier 1 Class
Description: You aren’t a novice swordsman anymore and have already begun to walk the path of the sword.
Stats: +1 STR, +2 AGI, +1 END, +2 VIT, +2 PER per level.
70% increase in the learning speed of sword arts or related skills
30% more damage when using a sword.
50% more attack speed when using a sword.
Your talent with a sword is increased (Permanent).]
“Status”
[Name: Mikael Angelini
Race: Human (Earth Origin World)
Lifespan: 21/99
Overall Power: Tier 1
Military Rank: Recruit 0/10 MP
Global LVL: 25 : 8,9K/39,7K XP
Class: Sword Master LVL: 1/50 : 240/18,2K XP
Stats:
Strength: 48 > 63
Agility: 50 > 91
Endurance: 49 > 64
Vitality: 25 > 63
Perception: 24 > 62
Active Skills: None
Passive Skills: Unarmed Martial Arts Mastery Tier 0 Level 1, Footwork Mastery Tier 0 Level 1, 6th Sense Tier 0 Level 1, Swordsmanship Mastery Tier 0 Level 1
Life Points(LP): (0) 140]
“Uh, System why the fuck does the Sword Master Class need 18,2K XP to pass from level 1 to 2 !?”
[It’s because Tier 0 classes are considered Newbie Classes, so the XP cost grows exponentially to make early leveling easier. However, from Tier 1 onwards, the XP needed to level up will be calculated by taking the total XP required to go from level 0 to level 50 and dividing it by 50. This also means that each level will require the same amount of XP.]
‘So every level will be just as hard to gain… Interesting.’
Mikael thought for a moment before deciding to end the hunt and head back to the city, but just when he was ready he saw the state of his clothing.
His clothes are dirty with earth stains from all the time when he fell to the ground during his fight but above all he had blood stains all over him.
Mikael was speechless. ‘I look like I just committed a murder and then decided to roll around on the ground!’
‘Whatever, it’s not like I’m going to a fashion show in these clothes. I’ll just head back to the guild and grab some hunting gear for next time.’
Next, he walked out of the forest and entered the city. His bloodstained clothes drew a lot of stares, but nobody bothered him, so he didn’t mind.
After wandering around the city for a while, he arrived at the Hunter’s Guild branch and walked in.
Just after he heard a loud voice say “What the fuck is a hobo doing here?”
The loud voice drew some glace and Mikael looked in the direction of the voice and saw a bald man drinking with 2 other guys but they weren’t looking like proper hunters they looked like they were 7 months pregnant probably from drinking too much alcohol.
Mikael answered because he didn’t share the mindset of some protagonists who think that staying silent is a sign of humility—he believed it was just a sign of being a pushover. He shot the man a disdainful glare. “I’m no hobo. I was out hunting, and my clothes got dirty during the fight. If you can’t even tell that, maybe you should stop pretending to be a hunter.”
The hunter was instantly enraged by his words. He jumped to his feet, slamming his hand on the table. “What did you say, bastard!?”
Mikael gave him a sympathetic look and calmly replied, “Even your hearing’s defective... I really pity your parents.”
The man saw red instantly. Mikael’s seemingly casual words hit a sensitive spot, as he had indeed been abandoned at birth. Enraged, he charged at Mikael, screaming, “YOU BASTARD!”
‘I can’t kill him, or I might get into trouble. After all, I don’t know the rules of this world. But it should be fine to hurt him. I can use this opportunity to send the message that I’m not someone to mess with.’
The man threw a clumsy punch, which Mikael easily dodged, before delivering a ‘powerful’ punch straight to the man’s stomach. He was sent flying two meters before crashing to the ground while the sound of his bone-breaking where heard!!
"ARGHHH" he screamed, writhing on the ground in pain.
Instantly, the noise in the building died down. Mikael glanced at the man’s friends, who looked ready to join the fight but quickly reconsidered after seeing what had happened. None of them dared to even meet his gaze after watching their friend get taken down with a single hit.
Mikael ignored all the stares on him as he approached the counter, where Ruby stood. She was a bit surprised to see him take down a man with a single hit, but not overly so—after all, she had witnessed his examination, and a D-rank hunter was considered strong even among the hunters, certainly stronger than a random drunkard.
Ruby glanced at his bloodstained clothes and said, "It’s good you decided to abandon this quest before it killed you."
Mikael noticed where her gaze had landed and inwardly rolled his eyes. "I’m not here to forfeit the quest. I’m here because I finished it!"
“Wait, you’re serious?” Ruby was stunned. It had only been about five hours, and he had already completed a quest above his level!
“Of course I’m serious,” he said, opening his backpack to reveal the blood-soaked orc ears. “So, what do I do with these?”
Still surprised, Ruby replied, "Give me an ear—I need to check its authenticity."