“I get it Mags, we’re each looking for an apprentice, but does it have to be in the beginner area? Everyone here is either guild-affiliated or too worthless to get a guild affiliation and college prospects wouldn't take a step in this place,” I said, making sure the exasperation in my voice came through.
“Vel, for the love of all that is holy, please stop asking me that. We were both there when Grey went over the criteria. This is the only zone in the city that has people who are guaranteed not to be affiliated with a large guild and without a scholarship to any battle college out there. Hell, even the Kobold dungeon next to this wouldn’t meet the criteria because it’s the best starter dungeon for group training. Now please keep your eyes peeled for potential prospects, Grey will have our heads if we come up empty-handed today too.”
“Ugh fine Mags, I’ll ‘Keep my eyes peeled’,” some new people were making their way through the entrance near where we were stationed. Like always they made their way past us without sparing us a glance. All except one guy, a brown haired boy who couldn't have stood taller than five foot six inches, met my gaze perfectly before quickly turning his head and moving further into the dungeon. “Hey Mags, you see that?” I asked.
“See what Vel?”
“This guy looked me right in the eyes and then sped off. He looked kind of embarrassed?”
“He looked at you, Vel? That shouldn't be possible,” she started fiddling with the watch in her hands, “Is the watch not working? Did anyone else look at you?”
“No one else looked at me Mags,” I reached my hand out to touch the barrier being output only for ripples to form across its surface, “and it looks like the barrier’s still holding strong. It was that guy right there,” I outstretched my arm to point at the boy who had just made it to the outskirts of the woods. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Mags turn her head to look at where my finger was pointing. Before entering, the boy turned his head once more to look at us before quickly flicking his head to be straight and running into the woods. “See Mags, he just did it again! I told you!”
“Yeah, I saw him too. That’s concerning, this barrier should be imperceivable to anyone without an incredibly high cognition substat. Do you think he might be a newbie killer?”
“No, I don't think so, Mags. He seemed too genuinely surprised when entering the dungeon for him to be that experienced. Do you think he has some sort of skill that would allow him to see through our spellcraft?”
“He would have to be some sort of mage class for that to be true, in which case he would definitely be signed and would probably be holding mana-boosting items instead of that flimsy sword.” Magenta was right, as always. Mages were not exactly rare but that didn't make them any less valuable. Their ability to work with blacksmiths to create spellcraft was important, even in everyday society.
“Do you think we should follow him? It might be a promising lead and worse case we stop him from attacking someone and turn him in to the police, no harm no foul.”
“Yeah, let's see what's up with him,” Mags said, already getting up from where she was seated. “I’m gonna keep the spellcraft up for extra insurance though.” The barrier started to move with her silently, centered around the watch in her back pocket. That watch, an advanced piece of spellcraft made by Yell and his blacksmith friend Black, creates a barrier around the wielder that conceals their physical forms and all sounds made inside. There are only three ways to break the illusion, high-level dispelling magic, a skill that enables the user to see through the illusion, and finally a cognition substat high enough to see straight through it. The boy hadn't cast any magic and there's no way his substats are high enough to break through something even seasoned veterans aren't able to see through so that only leaves a skill.
This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
“Wait mags, stop. I can see him,” the boy was crouched in a bush looking at a goblin who was searching for something to attack. Grabbing a decent-sized rock next to him the boy threw it at a tree behind where the goblin was facing. The goblin turned and the boy seized this opportunity to cut off the goblin's non-sword-wielding arm. He managed to slice clean through the arm before the goblin could counterattack. It immediately jumped back and turned to face the boy who was already in position. His stance, while subpar, was more than something one goblin could break through. Each time the goblin's sword would slash at the boy he would parry it but would never counterattack. It was almost as if he was toying with the goblin.
“Vel do you see that?” Very rarely was Mags ever surprised, but even so, it was perceivable in her voice.
“See what?” Squinting my eyes I focused even harder on the boy. Watching his movements more closely. There wasn't anything out of the ordinary except for the fact that each of his parries were completely flawless. It didn't look like he had any formal training outside maybe the subpar instruction that some top schools offered. I started to look up at his arms, they were shaky, he wasn't experienced in live combat, at least not to the extent that it would warrant such flawless parry. Something isn't adding up, how could he do everything else so subpar but have that one movement be so good? “It doesn't make sense how his parry’s are so good. He’s not moving with the practiced ease of a veteran or with the skill of a swordmaster. He’s moving like he has all the time in the world to perfect that one action, to move perfectly. For us that would be true, our speed stat would be high enough to where something as measly as a goblin would be moving in slow motion but for someone like him that shouldn't be possible. Unless he was a -,” My train of thought was interrupted when Mags spoke.
“Look at his eyes Vel,” Mags spoke, her eyes never leaving the boy's form. Looking away from his stance and into the boy's eyes I could see him tracking the goblins' movements, but it wasn't in the conventional way. When a skilled fighter of equal to slightly superior stats tracks an opponent's movements there is always some amount of guesswork involved. They try to predict what their opponent is going to do based on micromovements like how their shoulder twitches or where their eyes are looking. The boy though, isn't doing anything like that. He’s watching what the goblin is doing, not predicting. His eyes are perfectly following the goblin's movement right up until the swords collide. Doing that should only be possible if he was multiple times stronger than the opponent. Goblins aren’t exactly the most powerful creatures in the world but that should be possible for a newbie.
“That doesn't make any sense. How is he doing that?”
“I don't know vel but let’s see what he does after this goblin falls, it’s losing blood quickly. At most, it’ll last maybe two or three more swings until it passes out.” As usual, she was right. After the third swing, it passed out from blood loss. The boy looked tired. He was panting and sweat was starting to run down his face. Looking to his right, he was clearly taking a look at his status window privately, he began to smile. Swinging his sword downwards and decapitating the goblin he began looking for a second victim and quickly found them. This repeated for about another fifteen goblins, a sneak attack followed by endless parries until they eventually passed out from blood loss where he would then decapitate them and move on to look for the next. He had seen us following him at least a couple of times if his nervousness was any indication. “He’s definitely a newbie. Probably one of the people from the assignment that just happened,” I could tell there was a bit of hope in her words.
“Do you think we should approach him? I’m more than a little skeptical, his skill and his movement just don’t add up." Mags was clearly done waiting though because she dropped the barrier and silently began making her way towards the boy. The boy was seated on a log close to his newest goblin victim catching his breath with his eyes closed.
“WHAT THE HELL DO YOU PEOPLE WANT!” The boy screamed quickly standing up and brandishing his sword. I could feel a smile creep up on my face, one way or another, this was going to be fun.