Roy thought of the word “Status” in his mind, and a screen materialized in front of him.

Stats Attributes Rank Level Strength Sentinel B- Constitution Sentinel C+ Agility Sentinel B+ Mana Sentinel A+

Skills Fireball

He then focused on the Fireball skill and a new screen appeared, showing its description.

Fireball Description Launch a fireball (size depends on mana used) toward a specific location where it will explode into a larger one (size depends on mana used) Proficiency 5.2%

Damn, that proficiency number is gonna take a long time to fill up. It took him a full day of firing fireballs of all sizes at dangerous monsters for it to go up by only five percent. At this rate, Roy would need nineteen more days for the skill to reach a hundred percent.

Even though he was disappointed at his increase in skill proficiency, he was very happy at his growth in stats. He had killed two boss monsters, twenty ogres, and countless wolves and other beasts. All of that effort has shown itself in his updated stats.

I guess that achievement also helped

The “Pioneer: Boss Killer” achievement rewarded him with a great increase in stats. Without it, Roy knew that his numbers would be far less impressive.

“So, how is it? What’s your Mana now?” Robb gestured with his head at Roy. The rest of the group also looked at him with interest.

“It’s A+.”

Robb smiled at Roy’s response while Alfonse looked at him with amazement. “Same for my Agility. I guess that makes sense since we fought together the same monsters.” His smile turned into a grin before he continued, “But now you’re not the only one with a skill, I also got one.”

“Damn, is everyone getting a skill other than us?” Fred interjected with a mix of awe and jealousy. “You got one, Roy got one, Jack got one; It’s a free for all buffet and we’re not invited.”

“You’re goddamn right,” Alfonse responded. “How the hell do you guys get all these skills, you gotta teach us.”

Jack burst out laughing and continued teasing his two friends. “It’s about talent, it’s not our fault we were born this way.”

Roy chuckled at his two friends’ remarks. “If we understood we would have told you, but I will tell you how I got mine at least.” He then looked at Robb with an interested expression. “But before that, what’s your skill? What does it do?”

Robb smiled and immediately answered, as if he was waiting for that question, “Ghost step, that’s its name. It lets me push energy into my feet to accelerate super hard for a few seconds. I guess it’s kinda like how those knights used their aura to increase their speed, just more powerful but less flexible.”

“Wow, you are already so fast. You are going to become a true ghost with such a skill,” Marth remarked from the side. He then raised his eyebrow at the mention of other knights. “Also, did you meet some knights other than us? What were they like?”

Roy looked up at the ceiling in thought before answering, “Actually, pretty strong. They had their aura and these weird skills that boosted their speed and power. But there was this guy, Davis, that was just on another level. The way he used his aura was so good that he blocked the full-power punch of the blue ogre. Plus he really had a pair in his pants, that guy.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Marth’s eyes widened at the mention of Davis before his expression softened as he listened to Robb’s compliments. “I see, he is still alive and good. That’s great.”

“Are you friends with him, Marth?” Roy interjected and asked.

Marth sighed before letting out a weak smile. “Yeah, he is a squad captain like me, and I’ve known him for many years. I told him to come and escape with me, but he is a man of honor and law. Since he swore an oath to sir John, he will not betray him or go against him. It was already a show of sympathy that he did not report back what I told him to the lord.”

The room grew silent at Marth’s explanation. The mood turned sour at the thought of such a strong man being loyal to their enemy.

“Didn’t he also swear an oath to protect the people when he joined the army?” Alfonse’s question struck in the heart of Davis’s hypocrisy and stung Marth’s heart.

“Yeah, I told him so too, but it’s not an easy decision for him. He served in the Kasperian order for thirty years, and he doesn’t know a life where he is not a knight that serves his lord.”

“Well, if he is as honorable as you say, then it should be no problem.” Jack shrugged his shoulders. “Just give him some time, the more he sees the dirty shit John does, the less he is gonna want to serve him.”

“Yeah, it would be good if we got someone like that with us. Would make it so much easier to hunt those ogres,” Alfonse commented from the side.

“Yeah, talking about ogres,” Marth turned and looked at Roy. “What’s that dungeon thing you told me earlier? You said we have to kill ogres easily if we wanna do that.”

Alfonse, Fred, and Jack looked with interest at Roy with the mention of the word “dungeon”. Even though they did not know what it meant, the way Marth spoke told them that it was going to be a good opportunity.

“Yeah, before I explain that, let’s share our stats first. That would tell me who can do it in the first place. I’ll start, my Strength is B-, Constitution C+, Agility B+, and my Mana is A+.”

Jack raised his eyebrows in shock. “The hell? What did you kill to get your stats so high?”

Roy scratched his chin for a second and looked blankly at the ground as he calculated all of the monsters he hunted. “Well, one blue ogre, one giant wolf that can throw lightning from its mouth, a shitload of beasts, and twenty normal ogres. What about you, what did you kill?”

Jack’s mouth opened wide in shock. “Eh, yeah, let’s not talk about that.” He then looked back at Robb, who was covering his laughter with his hand, before shaking his head and continuing, “Anyways, my Strength is C+, Constitution is D, Agility is C, and my Mana is D.”

Marth stated his stats right after him. “Both my Strength and Constitution are at C-, my Mana is at D-, and my Agility is D+.”

Alfonse, Fred, and Robb announced their stats after Marth. Alfonse’s Agility and Mana were at D+, while his Strength and Constitution were both at D-. Fred’s stats were also in a similar range with his Constitution being C, strength D+, and both his Agility and Mana were D-. Robb was the last one to tell his stats.

“My Strength is at B-, my Constitution C+, my Agility is at A+, and my Mana is B.”

Jack squinted his eyes at Robb who had a smug look on his face. “You’re just lucky that you don’t have a group to look after. If I could hunt the whole day, I would have flown past you in no time.”

“Is that jealousy that I hear?” Robb replied with a devious smile. “If you have time for excuses, you have time to hunt more.”

“Okay, okay, drop it off you two,” Roy interjected with a serious expression. “For the dungeon, let me explain what the hell it is in the first place.”

Roy then proceeded to tell the group about all that happened in the forest. He started with the Kobold monsters that were able to speak, to the surprise and doubt of everyone. He then explained how they reached the Wolf Den and the floating words that appeared when he and Robb tried to enter it. After that, he described the interior of the dungeon, with all of its grey and black wolves and their abilities. Before finally concluding with the boss monster, its speed, power, and skills, and the treasure chest and portal that appeared after they defeated it.

“That’s… Are you sure you did not get bit by them vipers and hallucinated the whole thing?” Jack looked at Roy with shock at first, before his expression morphed into doubt and worry.

“Yeah, tell me you’re hallucinating this sword too because that’s where it came from.” Robb raised and showed his Moonlight Silver Katana.

Marth looked at the weapon with confusion and interest. “I have never seen a sword with that shape, and the craftsmanship on it is amazing.”

“Yeah, and it’s sharp enough to slice through an ogre’s bone.” Robb looked at the blade of his katana with a smile.

“Anyways,” Roy interjected. “Even though they say that you need Initiate S stats to clear that dungeon, I say that’s bullshit. Unless you all have skills or that aura, you won’t be able to handle that final boss. I think you need at least an average of Sentinel E+ to clear, and that’s if the group has good synergy and is used to big and powerful monsters like the ogre.”

“I see, so that’s why you wanted us to kill ogres first.” Marth cover his chin with his hand and looked down with a blank stare.

Roy nodded and replied, “Yeah… Trust me, ogres are just a piece of cake compared to an overgrown wolf that can shoot lightning from its mouth.”

“That and he has that stupid white aura too. It makes him bigger and stronger, and his Agility goes up to—I don’t know— Sentinel C to C+, I guess?”

Robb’s last comment turned the room silent. Having to fight against a monster that was stronger and faster than them, and had long-range destructive magic spells was not something they could take lightly.