It was the day after Diablo had gotten his 'new' [Old Spear]. He had accidentally pulled the spear too hard out of the dummy and caused it to lose a single point of [Durability]. Griff had started laughing so hard a pair of guards showed up and questioned them. The guards seemed to know Griff though and quickly left the pair alone with a warning to hurry home.

Right now though, the boy was out in the forest once more. He had a plan. Most people became Adventures because they were either poor, loved the lifestyle, or simply were born with a combat [Skill] and didn't want to join the army. Diablo was of the second kind. He enjoyed the thrill of the fight, even if he did not want to admit it. But he could not join the guild until he was sixteen. Fighting monsters while not being apart of the guild was ok. But possibly killing a monster that had a price on its head was not, as the guild did not get their fees then.

It was like someone selling wares outside the city. Some people would buy it, but not many. But if that person tried to sell in the city without the Trade Guild's say so, it cut into profits and that person had to make up for the loss. But if the person sold on the black market, they could make enough money to ignore the guild and sell openly, until getting big enough to start at the head of the guild when finally joining. That was Diablo's plan, but with [Monsters], [Skills] and [Levels].

Griff had told him as they left behind the guild that he would sell any [Items] that the [Monsters] dropped, as well as teach Diablo skills, for a certain price. 50% of the [Items] price Griff claimed. As for the [Skills], he was willing to sell them at a 'special discount.' The boy was sure he was being ripped off, but he couldn't turn to anyone else.

The next skill was meant to be [Double Shot]. But he needed both 500 copper and level 3 in [Spear Mastery]. As far as the boy could tell, there were actually many types of [Skills]. [Passive], always on. [Active] had to be used at a cost of mana. Then there was [Masteries]. [Masteries] where needed to access the [Passive] and [Active] skills of combat [Classes]. The higher level the [Mastery], the more combat-related [Skills] could be learned. Apparently, [Masteries] could even upgrade existing skills into something more powerful. But Griff had refused to tell him about that, saying it was only for those who had hit [Level Forty] in their [Mastery].

Strangely though, Diablo could access fire magic without the use of a [Fire Mastery]. It confused him slightly but wasn't bothered too much by it. He could use magic, and that gave him a good ranged attack against [Monsters]. But that is not what bothered him at the moment. In order to learn his new skill, he would have to work at the guild for another three weeks to earn the copper. Not to mention he had to fight in order to level his [Spear Mastery].

But that is why he was in the forest, looking for [Monsters]. He was unsure how many he could fight at once, but was strangely eager to find out. Diablo had never been a violent person, often avoiding fights and not retaliating when someone picked on him. But the thrill of a fight where everything was on the line awoke something sleeping deep inside of him. Something that scared him.

After roughly an hour of wandering the forest, the boy came across three [Goblins]. They seemed younger than the last one. They were slightly shorter in size, lighter in skin tone and had almost no muscle mass. In fact, these three seemed to be almost starving. Since there were no clan signs around, like the skull last time, these three were most likely either random spawns that had yet to join a clan or were outcasts deemed useless by their clan.

Diablo readied [FireBolt (Lv.0)] in his left hand, holding the spear in his right. Crouched from a bush where they couldn't see him, he quickly threw it at the closest of the three. It not only missed, it set the bush on fire. Luckily, it did not miss entirely. Although the target didn't get hit, the one standing next to him did.

When the [FireBolt (Lv.0)] hit the [Monster], it somehow felt stronger than before. Although Diablo didn't know this, as he couldn't see the popup as he was neither a [Hero] or had the appropriate [Title], but had done [Sneak Attack Damage] for three times the normal damage. The [Goblin] died instantly.

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With only a moment of hesitation, the other two charged the burning bush, as the spell clearly came from there. Even if there was not yelling coming from it. Diablo meanwhile was yelling and trying to put out his arm that had caught on fire from the bush. It went out quickly, as it was rather small. But that had given the [Goblins] all the time they needed.

The faster of the pair had already reached Diablo and swung a [Broken Falchion] at him. This time, the boy only panicked a lot, instead of completely. He grabbed the spear with both hands and activated the [Skill] [Power Thrust (Lv.1)]. It took the [Goblin]

right next to the heart. Not killing him, but causing him to stop and have a major artery cut open, effectively putting him out of the fight.

Next was the last [Goblin]. Things did not go quite so smoothly this time. By the time he had turned towards it, a shortsword was being swung towards his head. The boy tried to move out of the way, but was not quite quick enough and received a glancing blow to the head, causing him to stumble and fall over a tree root.

Diablo could tell he was bleeding. The left side of his head felt warm and there was blood getting in his left eye. The [Goblin]

saw this too and tried to pierce the boy's left side with his sword. Luckily Diablo was not as dumb as he looked at this moment, and rolled out of the way, taking a small cut to his left arm.

Unfortunately, he had rolled next to the still dying other [Goblin], and it was not happy to see him. It grabbed him and tried to claw his face, but the boy managed to headbutt it, causing another wound to bleed on his forehead. As it turned out, the bumps on a [Goblin] head were actually small spikes. Though this did manage to stun the creature enough for Diablo to crawl away.

As he tried crawling, he felt something grab his ankle and start to pull him towards it. In his panic, he ended up dropping the spear. Even stretching out his arm and trying to reach for it failed, as the [Goblin] threw him at a tree. This almost knocked the boy out. But luckily the immense strength of the [Monster] compared to the child had meant that it made some room between the two. Enough for Diablo to throw a few dozen [FireBolt (Lv.0)].

Although it had died after the third [FireBolt (Lv.0)], Diablo didn't let up until he was out of mana. Since he had a high Intelligence for his age, this meant he had plenty of [MP] to spare. Not only that, he also had a decent Wisdom, meaning it regenerated at a good pace. Nothing compared to a proper [Mage], but for his age and skill, it was impressive.

Though eventually, the [MP] did run out. When it did, so did Diablo's mental fortitude. He ended up simply breaking down into tears. Covered in his own blood, in the middle of a forest, the child cried. He cried for the mother he killed. He cried for the father that ordered his death. He cried for the kind-hearted lady that did everything in her power to turn him into a man. He cried for the people of the guild, Griff, Millie, and Hall.

Most of all, he cried for strength. Because all-through he was in pain, something stirred inside of him. Something that told him he would do it again and again until he was strong though that these monsters were not a threat. Then he would go find one that is.

[Ding]

[Congratulations! By using this skill in combat, it has leveled up to [FireBolt (Lv.1)] You are now truly on the path of fire magic. No more stat points will be earned through leveling this skill unless a milestone is hit.]

[+1 Intelligence]

[Ding]

[Congratulations! By using this skill to give you an advantage in combat, it has leveled up to [Sneaking (Lv.1)] You are now truly on the path of shady activities. No more stat points will be earned through leveling this skill unless a milestone is hit.]

[+1 Dexterity]

[Ding]

[Congratulations! By using this skill in combat, it has leveled up to [FireBolt (Lv.2)] You are now truly on the path of fire magic. No more stat points will be earned through leveling this skill unless a milestone is hit.]

[Ding]

[You have leveled up! The gods shall assign you five stat points]

[+1 Constitution]

[+3 Intelligence]

[+1 Wisdom]

Diablo

Level 3

Strength: 3

Dexterity: 7 [+1]

Constitution: 2 [+1]

Intelligence: 15 [+4]

Wisdom: 10 [+1]

Charisma: 1

Titles

[Fire Duelist]

Skills

[Flame of the beginning (Max)] [Candle's Flame (Lv.2)] [Sneaking (Lv.1)] [FireBolt (Lv.2)] [Spear Mastery (Lv.1)] [Power Thrust (Lv.1)]