Enjoy!
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Having taken a quick break Zaran hopped into the pod again, placed his crutches to his side and connected to the game's server. Compared to the desolate login screen he had seen the first time, the current one was the complete opposite. Now the login screen showed various populated areas in a bird's eye view, changing to another area every few seconds. However Zaran did not have time to admire the view and quickly logged in. He closed his eyes and his consciousness quickly slipped away.
A few moments later he opened his eyes and he was still standing right where he logged out. The familiar stench of the sewers hit him soon after. Seeing that No one else was around, Zaran quickly take seat in a lotus position and started to go over the fight with the Rotter knight again. While he was rather happy with how the fight went, he still felt that he could have done better. Moreover what he was not happy about at all was the fact that he had largely relied on his magic skills to beat the knight. The fight would have been drastically harder if he had not used those and he would have been able to settle into this body better if he had not done so. Regardless what's done is done so he couldn't keep being dissatisfied by that fact. Moreover it would have been impossible to beat the Rotter knight without the use of magic as he simply would not have had enough ki to beat it, so he really should not be feeling bad about. When Sylphie arrived and buffed him he would no longer have to rely on his own magic anymore as he would then be able to harm Rotters without expending all too much of his own strength.
Minutes passed by swiftly as he recalled every move he had made within the fight and contemplated on whether or not it had been the right choice at that moment. While the fight had gone well, it could always have gone better.
A few minutes passed before a flash of light appeared next to Zaran. After it disappeared Nuvahn's character was revealed. Noticing that Zaran was in a meditative position, Nuvahn quietly stood guard next to him.
A quarter of an hour passed before Sylphie arrived with Irina by her side.
Compared to before Sylphie now donned white armour with pink accents that covered her entire body. In her left hand she had equipped a large but thin shield that looked much like a book, in her right hand she wielded a formidable battle lance and at her waist hung a small sword for emergency situations. Irina on the other hand was clad in a very revealing light brown leather set, just merely covering a bit more skin than her private areas. Her knees and elbows were protected by knee and elbow protectors and in her hands was a set of daggers that emitted a red sheen. Compared to Sylphie, Irina really did not look all that well equipped.
Hearing the approaching footsteps Zaran opened his eyes and stood up.
"Who's this? Why does he have the same weapon as you?" Sylphie asked while nudging towards Nuvahn.
"A friend and disciple of my swordschool." Zaran calmly said.
"EEEH???? You can have disciples? Why didn't you tell me so and make me your first disciple!" Sylphie said while running towards Zaran, dequipping her weapons and grabbing Zaran's collar and violently shaking him.
Zaran let his sister work out her rage before quickly and skillfully freeing himself from her grasp. "I did not say it because... It resets your class and the skills you learnt in previous classes lose fifty percent of their power. While yes I still should've asked you, you would've become an ordinary swordsman and I know for a fact that is NOT what you wish to be at all. Therefore I am not completely in the wrong for not telling you... right?"
"Muh.... yeah, but still..." Sylphie started but was quickly interrupted by Zaran. "Even if you wanted to become my disciple in the game I wouldn't allow you to do so. Being a swordsman is just not your style, instead a supportive class fits you more. Regardless what's up with that shield? Why does it look like a book?"
"Oh, uhm... it is the [Shield of wisdom], when I equip this the wisdom requirement to cast spells is removed so I do not have to spend points into that stat at all as long as my armour and stuff does not require it. It is also an item that you can level up so you never need to replace it..." Sylphie whispered quietly.
"You bought it with real money didn't you?" Zaran said as he rolled with his eyes.
"Yush... sorry."
"Well, if you can level it along the way and if it really negates the wisdom requirement completely I guess it can be categorized as a really good item. Regardless we are not here for some chit chatting and we need to hurry up and clean those sewers out or else we will most likely be facing harder and harder enemies if I am not mistaken. So both of you quickly accept my party invite and equip your gas maskers so we can start cleansing the sewers!"
After equipping their gas masks and entering the party Zaran instantly noticed that Sylphie was a mere level 20 while Irina on the other hand was level 28. As Sylphie and Irina had only been playing together this whole time the disparity felt a bit off so Zaran decided to ask about it. "Hey, what's up with your level Sylph? Why is Irina so much higher leveled than you?"
Sylphie sighed and said "It is because of the skills I took, no one wants a paladin in their team that has mostly defensive and healing skills and they always complain that I should be dealing more damage. Due to the lack of damage I fell behind of Irina, because she got more exp and then later I just let Irina join parties on her own while I sat in the town training my skills."
"I see well, let me, Nuvahn, Kirin and Cindarrah help you with that leveling problem then." Zaran said while unlocking the sewer gate. "Oh yeah... you two girls should just watch us fight for a bit... these things decay your gear pretty devastatingly. Actually it would be better for you to buff yourself and Irina from the moment we enter the sewers, me and Nuvahn will be fine, unless we start to meet Rotter knights. When we start seeing those instantly buff us okay sis?"
"Kaykay!" Sylphie said while equipping her battle lance and shield.
The party quickly entered the sewers again. Unbeknownst to Zaran and Nuvahn the Rotters had started to respawn after they left the sewers. Thus they had to clear every Rotter they had killed before all over again.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Sylphie and Irina were both shocked when they saw Zaran and Nuvahn fight. Both looked like extremely accomplished swordsman with to their eyes flawless swordplay. The quick succession of skills along with their footwork completely blew them away. If it were one of them, they'd have perished while fighting a couple of Rotters but to Zaran and Nuvahn it looked like child's play.
Due to having to clear out all the Rotters again, Sylphie's level simply skyrocketed and grew ever closer to Irina's. Still, Sylphie and Irina both were far from able to catch up to Zaran and Nuvahn as both their killing speed just eclipsed the two of them and due to that they got awarded a larger share of exp.
Two hours of seemingly endless fighting passed until they arrived at the spot where they killed the Rotter knight. Like before a Rotter knight was guarding the area and upon seeing the knight Zaran immediately said "Buff me now Sylphie! Irina, Nuvahn you two stand back for now I want to see how much different the fight goes with Sylphie's buff!"
Sylphie used the powerful [Paladin's blessing] spell on the whole team which shrouded them in a holy aura and gave them a 20% damage boost versus undead and turned all of their damage to holy. The chant for this buff took a full minute to complete but the buff lasted for a full hour so it wasn't all too bad.
Having watched Irina's and Sylphie's fights against the Rotters earlier he had already concluded that the holy aura he was currently shrouded in fully negated the Rotter's aura. While he felt that the Rotters became far too easy an opponent when they lost that aura, he still believed the knight would give him a good fight as long as he didn't use any of his magic spells.
With a wicked smile on his face Zaran rushed forward and quickly did an upward slash, starting from the Rotter knight's sword side. The Rotter knight quickly shifted his shield to the right and Zaran revealed a wicked smile upon seeing this. Quickly using his left foot as a pivot, he did a quick pirouette and now his greatsword, which lit up from the activation of Mountain Strike, struck the Rotter knight from his unguarded left side.
-316 (1684/2000)
Through the combined knock-up from Mountain Strike and the knock back effect from Zaran's greatsword Gigenkai, the Rotter knight was slightly knocked up and knocked back, giving it ample time to prepare for Zaran's next strike. However Zaran had already expected this to happen and used 'Swiftness' to massively increase his speed. While the Rotter knight was able to somewhat shift his shield while knocked up a full turnaround in midair was completely impossible.
He circled towards the back of the Rotter knight and used 'Mountain Strike' again to keep him suspended in air and then used 'Flutter' followed by 'Rise and Fall'. Only after 'Rise and fall' had been completed did the Rotter Knight manage to recover. Due to the combination of Sylphie's buff and the combination of three skills a large chunk of the Rotter knight's hp was instantly depleted.
-1153 (531/2000)
The next instant the Rotter knight used Shield Wall followed by an instant vertical 'Slash of Decay'. Zaran quickly used his right foot as a pivot and fluently dodged the 'Slash of Decay'. By sliding his left foot further around he was able to instantly move towards the Rotter knight's open side and delivered a powerful slash combined with an instant activation of Velocity, beautifully finishing the Rotter knight off.
On the sidelines from start to the finish of the battle Irina's and Sylphie's jaws had dropped to the floor from shock. The mere fight took ten seconds at most and Zaran had bursted down an enemy of level 35 without even taking any damage at all! Moreover he didn't even seem to have made a single mistake during that fight and all his movements had been stunningly beautiful.
"Bro... is that really you?" Sylphie stammered, her eyes still wide open in utter shock.
"Uhh... obviously? Why would you ask that?" Zaran said while raising an eyebrow, not really sure what his sister was hinting at.
"How can you fight so well?!? Wasn't that a level 35 opponent?"
"Yeah it was, so what of it? The fight was rather easy with your buff, it wouldn't have gone so smoothly without it."
"So coooool." Irina suddenly said while looking at Zaran with sparkling eyes. "I see you in a whole new light now Zaran. Could you fight the same with other weapons? Like my daggers or Sylph's battle lance and shield?"
"I am rather certain I could. Why, do you two want guidance after seeing my might?" Zaran said while chuckling.
"AS IF!" Sylphie yelled while stamping with her feet.
"Yup! We both could use some guidance." Irina said while playfully knocking Sylphie on her head.
"I guess I could give you two some guidance after we're done with the sewers."
"Hey don't start ignoring me and deciding everything on your own!" Sylphie yelled.
Irina brought her head closer to Sylphie and whispered. "Hey calm down, if he is really going to give us pointers we could make skills of our own too I bet, plus wouldn't we not be able to find out how he got so good during all that?"
"Still... my little brother giving me training... just does not feel right." Sylphie calmly whispered back.
Irina rolled her eyes and whispered. "Just roll with it already! Or I will tell your brother about... you know..."
Sylphie's eyes widened on Irina's threat and quickly said "Yeah okay okay! I get it!"
Irina snickered and jokingly said "All right then, please guide us well master Karaz!"
Zaran just shrugged and calmly replied "Whatever, we've wasted enough time, let's be on our way!"