A swift kick cut through the morning light. Shin reset his stance and kicked again, an exact copy of the first, as sharp and powerful as he could. A third flowed seamlessly into a leg sweep and then a high front kick, just as deftly as he had done many times already. Shin drew two daggers and slashed at imaginary enemies before coming to a stop.
He had been training for a few hours now, since the crack of dawn, or rather testing himself. As far as he could tell, there had been no change to his martial prowess since acquiring the Basic Martial Combat skill, leading him to deduce that it was actual ability reflected in skill levels, not the other way around. He had felt himself intuitively growing more competent with healing magic but it was much more obvious with a skill he was far more familiar with.
In any case, two hours of shadowboxing had not been enough to raise the level, regardless of how much he applied himself to improve. Shin suspected he needed real combat to see progress, at least to do so at any acceptable speed. Speaking of progress, there was another development he found. Shin opened his status to inspect it once more.
[Human Priest (common) - Intermediate Peasant]
Strength - 18
Agility - 25
Constitution - 28
Vitality - 25
Dexterity - 27
Perception - 29
Force - 21
Spirit - 42
Control - 83
Willpower - 36
Skills:
Treat Wounds lvl. 9, Holy Screen lvl. 1, Summon Angel lvl. 4, Cushion lvl. 1, Call Petty Spirit lvl. 1, Basic Martial Combat lvl. 7, Jab lvl. 1,
Traits:
Body Supremacy, Eyes of the Spirit King,
His Vitality had increased by 1. It wasn’t just skills, but stats that could be gained naturally too, which Shin thought obvious now in hindsight. His physical stats had certainly been lower than the potential of the Igarashi, and if skills can be learned, it stands that attributes can be trained, although based on how his magical stats had not budged at all despite focusing much more on them was a sign it might be more difficult to increase them the higher they were.
Shin figured he should avoid putting points into his physical stats for now and do things the old fashioned way. He would have to push himself anyway to level Combat. Returning to the topic of skills, Shin lamented at the seven filled skill slots he possessed.
He had succeeded in acquiring a skill that enhanced his striking speed, not just in punches but all manner of martial strikes. However, try as he might, he couldn’t materialize any of the tricks of the clan’s trade in the form of a skill after that, almost certainly due to the fact that he lacked the open space to acquire them.
The flap of the tent behind him parted and Grace exited in full gear fit for travel, storing the tent as she left. The journey to find this new camp site was uneventful thanks to Shin’s spirit eyes which allowed him to detect creatures at no mana cost, but it had taken several hours to find this spot. Shin recommended she sleep in as much as she needed and it seemed to have been a good idea. Her expression was cold as before but lacked any sign of fatigue.
“Good Morning.” Shin greeted to no response. ‘This way looks best.”
---
The off key pair moved at a steady but brisk pace. Shin periodically used his eyes to scout around for moments at a time. It might cost no mana but he didn’t maintain the eyes full time, being far less precise than normal vision. The occasional beings and creatures he saw through the overlap didn’t help either.
Shin glanced to the left and burst off in a sharp turn, and quickly dispatched two goblins with slashes to the throat. No sooner had he finished them off that he rushed back in front of Grace at the same speed and continued on their path. Shin tried to avoid fighting whenever possible for her sake but those goblins had been charging right at them.
Shin spared a moment to examine the breeze around them. The goblins were downwind, smell had given them away most likely. Their perception was on the high side after all. If it was only that, there was nothing to worry about, so Shin put it to the back of his mind and his focus to the goal at hand, finding other players.
Shin would have liked to take the opportunity to train some of his skills but he had to conserve mana just in case they ran into real trouble. Even still, his base combat abilities were more than enough for the vast majority of monsters they encountered, unskilled and unintelligent as they were. Unfortunately that was likely the reason his Combat skill still hadn’t increased.
Shin stopped in his tracks, in the middle of thought and raised a hand signally her to hang back. He sprinted off ahead, farther than he had the goblins, until he came behind a tree, concealing himself. The target of his interest 50 yards away, a party, eight in total he counter. A few Identifies let him know the robed players were a priest and a druid, no mages in sight. Ideal, certainly. He spared the mana to inspect the man who seemed to be leading things, and immediately caught his interest.
[Human Monk (common) - Intermediate Peasant]
The first fellow intermediate peasant, he had encountered. Perhaps he could answer some things Shin had been pondering, or at the very least give him a better picture of the rules of this system. Still, that was secondary. The first priority was to get a better picture of this party.
---
“How long are we going to walk?” A young woman with short curly hair asked, or more accurately complained. She wore a coarse dark green robe, not the most suited for travelling, and carried a plain wooden staff.
“Until we find somewhere safe.” The man that answered her was the intermediate rank Shin had spotted, a young man, not yet thirty but stood a head taller than most. He sported a fade and a light beard, slightly unkempt, and the body of an athlete, obvious beneath the yellow dogi.
“Nowhere in this hell is safe…” The druid muttered.
“Now, now. We still have half the day left. Plenty of time to find what we need.” A fat man in white robes said with a pleasant smile.
“How ‘bout you find-”
“Hey.”
Whatever the druid was about to yell was cut off by the calm clear voice of someone above them. The party snapped into a defense, some slower than others, but all surprised to see the source of the voice, a boy in his teens, long curled black hair and a beautiful face, crouching on the ledge of a small cliff beside them, bearing a slight smile and subtly eerie eyes. Most took a moment or two to realize the robed woman standing near.
Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
“Who are you?!” The monk yelled, wary of strangers who snuck up so close to them but it didn’t seem like he wanted a fight.
“You have space in your party.” Shin ignored his question. “Take her with you.”
“What…?”
“She has firepower as a mage and a good summon. You’ll live longer.” Shin continued his pitch to a baffled and unwilling audience.
“Have you gone mad?” The druid asked, not uncalled for.
“No.” Shin answered seriously, though to everyone else, it seemed nonchalant at best.
“Just fuck off-”
The monk held out an arm to cut her off. “Why aren’t you asking for both of you?” He questioned with a serious vigilant tone.
“I have stuff to do.”
“He’s fucking suspicious!” The druid started to lose her patience.
The man fell silent for a moment in deliberation. “...Sorry, but we can’t take on people we aren’t sure about.”
Their wariness was honestly a positive for Shin. It showed a sense of competency and their general impression wasn’t a troubling one. They seemed about as good as his initial party, save for the soldier, but it was a good thing this leader had a different air about him. He fell into thought about how to make them accept Grace, before looking over at the monk.
“How do you reach intermediate rank?”
“...shouldn’t you know?”
“Happened early. Don’t know specifically.”
The man hesitated before answering him. “Your total attribute points needs to hit 250.”
“I started with more. Putting in points must have triggered it.” Shin recalled. But that left another mystery. Even the soldier hadn’t reached intermediate rank. “Are you murim?”
“Mur..? I don’t know what that is.”
“Doesn’t seem like he’s lying…” Shin felt. “How did you reach 250?”
“You get points from maxing skills, at level 10. You can learn skills too. I did a lot of combat sports. The skills I got started a bit higher so it was easier to level them.” The monk seemed to be growing more comfortable talking, at the very least he preferred it to a potential fight.
“What was your starting total?”
“...202.”
High, Shin thought. Most of his former party members were below 150 when he identified their corpses, factoring in the 25 points they got from the start. The soldier was the highest at 161. Shin considered the possibility of the guy lying but then figured he could just be descended from a clan and not even know. Bastards weren’t that uncommon. Plus the numbers seemed to add up. With the starting stats, he would have only had to max three skills, or just two if he did some physical training.
“What’s your starting total, then?” Druid glared.
“Char.”
“He’s not fucking shy about asking questions.”
“275.” Shin’s casual reply put most back on edge. Seventy points more than the guy they already thought was a big deal was no small matter.
“Bullshit!” The druid called Char yelled, half certain.
Shin’s head titled a bit to the left. “If I beat you, then you take Grace.” He directed at the monk, though no response came. “No weapons. Not to the death, just sparring.”
“It’s fine. She can join us.”
“What?!” Char looked at the monk Hongyi like there was something wrong with him.
“This place is dangerous. You said so yourself. More help makes us all safer.” Char tried to muster a response to him but couldn’t argue against that.
The party didn’t seem to be fully on board yet, but Shin didn’t wait. “Looks like you can join.” He turned to Grace.
She stood in silence for a few moments before turning her head slightly to him.
“You didn’t have to kill them all, did you? As strong as you are, you could have just run off on your own.”
“Yeah.”
“Then why…”
Shin thought about how best to put it into words so she’d understand. “It felt right.”
Grace’s expression deepened, as if something in her hollowed, and walked off. Shin recognized a look of disdain and wondered if she understood.
“Keep moving.”
It was the same casual tone as always but there was a strange depth to it. It wasn’t an order or an insult, but advise almost. Something deeper even. Grace’s stride slowed for a moment before continuing on. Shin on the other hand, rose to his feet, about to head off.
“Wait.” The monk shouted up, causing Shin to turn back his attention to the party. “A couple hours back that way there’s a giant tree. A bunch of strange goblins, 20 or 30 of them, all intermediate. We lost two of us to them. But they don’t follow past a certain point so just avoid the tree.”
“Thanks.” Shin replied, glancing at the direction, before running off.
“Strange means they’re probably variants. So as strong as the goblin warriors.” Shin’s mind ran along with him, interested in the so called giant tree. But he had to stave his curiosity. Four goblin warriors were still too much for him at the moment, let alone thirty. “Time to train.”
---
Shin sidestepped a charging almiraj and cleaved the airborne horned hare in two with an axe, his eyesight sharp enough to see clearly enough under the moonlit sky. Shin evaded two more powerful lunges right into the aim of three vicious charges, only for their horns to catch nothing but the shield that materialized on his arm. With a swift and brutal motion he cracked the almiraj on a tree, and the three went limp at the neck, horns lodged in the shield. Shin dropped the shield and thrust a dagger up when he had just been, piercing another dead.
Five almirajes in a matter of seconds but the carnage had done nothing to dissuade the rest of the herd he had intruded on, several more leaping his way. Almirajes seemed aggressive creatures in general but these were particularly hostile. Shin glanced for an instant at the source of their relentlessness, a larger one with a longer horn who had done nothing since the fighting starting but let out shrill chirps.
[Almiraj Alpha (common) - Lesser Peasant]
The dagger disappeared and a shortsword and axe took its place in either hand. The nearest almiraj curled its body in, slightly more than its usually jumps, and Shin moved before it did, leaving the sword to carve through its neck in his place. The horned hares could move faster than him, especially with that lunge, but their attacks were always telegraphed, giving him enough time to react.
Two more lunges gave two more bodies to the earth, and behind them the lunge of the alpha, finally enraged enough to act. Its attack swifter and more threatening than its peers but Shin had seen coming all the same. He fell back and launched the almiraj up with the back of his foot, using its own power against it.
The almiraj wreathed in the air, helpless without footing to run on. Shin drew the bow he had taken out the moment he launched the creature, and from his leant back sitting stance shot an arrow through its heart. The leader of the almiraj herd slammed into the ground but twitched for only a moment before falling still with its kin.
[Basic Martial Combat has reached lvl. 10. 10 attribute points rewarded.]
Shin preferred hand to hand and shorter weapons to any other method, but Martial Combat involved all forms of fighting, and as such it leveled faster if he used a variety of weapons, as he had learned through experimentation. Shin rose to his feet and put the points he received all into Spirit, bringing the total to 62.
He had maxed Treat Wounds not long ago, and in this time raised Summon Angel to lvl. 5, although the rest of his skills had remained the same. Not that they were useless, but he lacked the mana to spare on them with the angel as his priority and at least some thought given to self preservation. Jab leveled faster, sitting now at lvl. 6, the reason being it used aura. A separate energy source based on Vitality. Still, he had to be at least somewhat economical with it as well.
Shin’s eyes turned iridescent as he looked around to make sure he had gotten all the monsters before turning to head back to the spot he had made his temporary base. However, just as soon as he was about to take off, he caught something in the corner of his eye way in the distance. A small humanoid creature with transparent wings like a butterfly, clear and normal amongst the sea of colors, and an eight legged mass of mana inching down towards it.
The frantic little fey tugged and pulled desperately on the web that bound it. Its panic deepening with every step the giant spider drew nearing clicking its large mandibles, cold unsettling eyes reflecting the terrified face of its prey. A hatchet flew out of nowhere and buried into the center of its body. It screeched and fell from the tree, squirming on the ground until a throwing knife sunk into its head, silencing it for good.
Shin cast two identifies on the common tier giant spider and the pixie before walking towards the trapped fey with a skinning knife drawn. The little fey struggled harder at the approach of its savor, until well aimed slashes carved out the web trapping it.
“It’s okay.” The pixie flew off with all its might at Shin’s comforting words without a moment’s hesitation.
Shin watched it go with a smile for a moment before turning his attention to his skinning knife. A few attempts to wipe the viscous web off the blade on the tree proved fruitless so he tossed it to the ground. He had a few more in his bags to spare anyway. He pulled the hatchet and dagger out of the dead spider and wiped the gooey green blood off with a rag cut from looted clothes before tossed that too.
Shin glanced up at the moon, seven or so more hours till dawn by his estimation, although it didn’t matter. He would be staying up all night again. Three days and three nights at this point. Even with his stamina and training, he was still human. Another day and night and the effects of a lack of sleep will start to be noticeable. After that, his performance would diminish rapidly. This would have to be the priority before training, Shin thought as he stored his weapons.
“I need to find more players.”