“Huff… Huff… This should be far enough.”
Rein looked at his back and saw nothing but a ruined city and thick vegetation. It was strange to see the combination of these two, but it exists.
“It should still be here…”
After some time, he found a cave. Seeing it was untouched, he breathed a sigh of relief.
“Wait…”
Noticing a set of footsteps leading inside the cave, his heart tightened. Rein could still fight with his bare body alone, but there was supposed to be his vehicle and spare armory inside this cave. It was covered with a camouflage cloth, but he couldn’t be too sure.
The two remaining grenades on his waist couldn’t be easily used, either. One small mistake and a portion, or even the entire cave will collapse.
Only one answer remained.
Utilizing his [Stealth], Rein went inside the cave.
It was still broad daylight. As a demihuman, his eyesight was far different when he was “Tsukasa”. It wasn’t only a pair of wolf-like ears and a silver tail that was added to his body. His entire physical body was stronger than before.
‘Is this skill board unique to me, or could others use it as well? But if they could… I wouldn’t have so many free points.’
He could recall that ‘Rein’ doesn’t have anything like this.
Thus…
‘Either a specialty as an otherworlder… or it’s only to me.’
With this, he eliminated the possibility of a very strong person entering this cave. If they’re far stronger than him, they wouldn’t have kept an eye for his belongings. If he’s still wrong in this regard, then so be it.
Soon, he saw the intruder. A person was sitting behind the huge cart beside the motorcycle. Rein heard some chewing noises from the person.
‘My rations…’
He became more certain that the intruder is not that strong. He was further convinced when a black panel showed up.
=========
[Livia Schrein]
Age: 15 | Rank: 9 | 0
[Control]: 1/30
[Energy]: 16/30
[Mana Control]: 2/10
[Mana Engraving]: 2/10
[Mana Affinity]: 4/10
[Fire]: 6/10
[Wind]: 4/1
[Mind]: 3/30
[Analysis]: 3/10
[Misc]
[Sage]: 1/3
============
Seeing her skill board, he was dumbfounded.
‘What…’
The 16 points on [Energy] was more than enough to shock him. None of his status came close to hers—at least not now.
She also had a skill under her [Misc].
{[Sage]: Utilize 50% less skill points on [Energy] skill tree.}
‘What the flying…’
Fortunately, she was more like a glass cannon. She didn’t have much status outside [Energy] and [Mind].
‘There’s only one way.’
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Confident in his stealth, Rein drew his dagger. It was the sole belonging that was left with him… or at least that’s what his adopted grandfather told him.
It was extremely tough as it was made with unknown materials.
Without hesitation—
Swoosh-!
“Eek..!”
Rein dove straight into the robed person. He was sitting on top of the person’s chest, with his dagger pointed to the person’s throat.
“I-I…”
“...”
It was a girl not much older than him. However, what surprised him was not that, but her appearance.
She looked just at his age. Her smooth red hair made it clear that she wasn’t used to hard physical work. Add to that her milky white skin, it became clear that she’s a noble lady.
“...You’re not a scavenger at all. A rich lady?”
Upon the mention of ‘rich lady’, the girl’s eyes turned dull.
“I’m not a rich lady. If you want, kill me. No one cares to pay any ransom for me.”
As if remembering something, her eyes became even duller.
“...Tsk.”
Putting the knife away from her neck, Rein stood up.
“There’s a thing known as manners. You don’t just eat another person’s rations.”
“I… I didn’t know. I thought someone left it behind here.”
“As expected of pampered brats.”
“You… I won’t refute it.”
The girl picked up the snack bar that fell from the ground and blew on it. Then, she continued eating it.
Her pale ruby eyes stared intently at the snack bar.
“...Go take some more until you’re full.”
Hearing this, the girl no longer hesitated. She, who had lost anything, didn’t care about anything anymore.
“Thank you…”
“Rein. You can call me as you like.”
“Thank you, Rein.”
Rein sighed softly. Be it “Rein” or “Tsukasa”, the two of them aren’t cruel enough to dismiss others who need help. The latter even took a punch to his face due to him meddling with other’s affairs.
That was when he decided not to be too nosy, but if there are people who need help, he’ll lend them a hand.
“Where are you from? This place is still too dangerous.”
“I… I don’t have any place to stay.”
Rein understood that this was a girl with a story. He doesn’t know what to do, hence he was left staring at the cave’s ceiling.
“...What about a [Party] with me?”
Scavengers, combatants, dismantlers, or even scholars could join the group known as the ‘Adventurer’s Guild’. A party refers to a group where people complete tasks together to increase their so-called rating.
“All you need to do is to do enough work to sustain your needs. As for your place to stay, I could let you borrow some money to rent a hotel.”
The girl’s eyes widened at his offer.
“Why would you—?”
“You remind me of myself.”
“...I see.”
The girl remained silent for a while.
“I-I promise. I won’t be a deadweight…”
“Alright, alright.” Rein replied. “We’ll be leaving in ten minutes. There’s a huge black dragon in that city.”
“A black dragon?”
In this world, dragons are synonymous to ‘corrupt beings’ who pledged their allegiance to the ‘Devil King’, a ‘demon-king’ figure of sorts. Though, the former sounded much more ominous compared to the latter.
In comparison, the uncorrupted dragons’ are termed ‘drakons’.
Basing off the color of its scales, a black dragon is proficient at Evil Magic—an antithesis of Holy Magic.
“If it comes to that…”
Roar-!
A low roar came from the cave’s entrance. Instinctively, Rein picked up the rifle stored on the cart.
“Stay here. I’ll settle that monster.”
“...Um.”
When he reached the entrance, he saw a tall humanoid monster. Its green skin and red tattoos indicated its position—an ogre warrior.
Within the guild, it was classified as a Commander Rank monster. It was comparable to a Master-rank, With Rein’s current status, he could barely qualify within the Formal-rank, an entire level of difference.
Fortunately…
‘Stealth is working against it..?’
He discovered how absurd the [Stealth] skill was. He could walk undiscovered within several meters of the ogre warrior’s radius.
‘If I max it out…’
Shaking these unnecessary thoughts, he dashed right in front of the ogre warrior.
“Gr..?”
It was only at this moment did it ‘feel’ something, albeit it remained extremely vague.
Bang-!
Bang-!
Bang-!
The rifle was pointed at its weak point—its genital. Dozens of bullets peppered it, making the ogre warrior cry out in pain.
Thud-!
Green blood flowed from its waist as it twitched lifelessly. It should’ve been able to dodge and even tank these bullets, but them coming at point-blank successively made its groin extremely vulnerable.
Bang-!
With a final shot to its head, the ogre warrior died.
“Keuk..!”
A warm current suddenly flooded his entire body. He instinctively clutched his chest as a result of it.
A few seconds later, the suffocating warm feeling disappeared.
[Rank: 5 → 8 | 0 → 4.5]
“Hm..?”
Rein was surprised at the additional decimal on his free stat point. He quickly opened his panel and scrolled through it, only to notice a certain skill that was ignored by him since the beginning.
[Hero]: Grants growth buff. Increases soul point gain depending on its level (Current level: 1.5x).
‘Holy sh—’
Without hesitation, he placed three stat points into it.
[Hero]: Grants growth buff. Increases soul point gain depending on its level (Current level: 3x).
He had finally found his other cheat.