“Now,” Zach said. Five people emerged from the pond, soaked from top to bottom. Zach took the lead, speeding towards the wildfire, and the rest followed in a line. He ran towards the first tree that was burned, which was rendered black without leaves. His boots crumbled the embers into dust and Zach sped towards another line of burning trees beyond the black soot tree. He covered his head with the shield, running below the burning leaves. The heat was unbearable. Passing through his skin, boiling him on the inside. Now he knew how those firefighters felt, and it wasn’t pleasant.

“Branch!” Teena’s voice resounded from behind. Zach looked up and swung his sword. A branch cut in two, and the journey continued.

“It’s close,” Zach shouted. His sight saw the green untainted by the flame. He ran with his might and left the prison of heat. A cool breeze greeted his achievement, and yet the hot clothes dampened the sweet coolness.

Zach dropped his shield and sword and went for his clothes. He took them off one by one as the skin of his fingers felt the heat latched on the fabric. A rather daring move considering there were others, but he wasn’t alone. The rest who escaped the flame didn’t stand on ceremony after seeing what Zach was doing as they too felt it.

Before long five people stood there under the cool shade far away from the heat of the flames. Some were dressed while some were half-naked. Zach was the oddest one out. He had the shortest undergarment of them all when compared to the other men. It was like a modern boxer except made out of the purest silk from the land of Sui Ling. While Matias and Calrin had similar knee-length underpants with Matias having the better quality.

For the ladies, they bore through the heat as they kept their decorum and honor intact. But even extreme heat had its ways. Teena was the first to give in. She borrowed Dayana’s sword and tore her long skirt apart, cutting them short, and revealing her fair calves.

It was a bold move, and Calrin looked away. His face flushed brighter even after going under the canopy of flames. While Matias didn’t bother looking, not unless there were a pair of hills for him to see. Right now his attention was on this strange mysterious Gardwin. He thought he was the most peculiar in this realm, but it seemed there was someone stranger than him, and that silk boxer was one of those signs.

“For an ugly man, you have exquisite taste,” Mathias said. Eying at the silk boxer. He knew quality silk when he saw one, and that was top-tier.

Zach glanced and ignored him. It wouldn’t be this bad if Mathias didn’t pull off that stunt with the scattered fireballs. Although he acknowledged Mathias saving them from being impaled by stingers, Matias still put them in quite a dangerous situation, and he dared say if it wasn’t for the system and added points, their survival through that fire would be close to none. He advised them all to put the three points to agility, in hope of being fast enough to escape the ring of fire, and thankfully it worked. Their being alive was evident enough.

“Where are you going, my lord?” Teena stood up. Asking Zach as she saw him walking away from the group.

“I need some time alone,” Zach said. He left while concerned eyes gazed at his back.

“He’s not leaving us is he?” Calrin asked. Whispering to Teena, the only one who was a commoner other than him.

“Fear not,” Dayana said. She unintentionally eavesdropped. “His action befits an honorable man, and the name Gardwin also holds its truth.” She returned her gaze back to Zach, contemplating the things that happened within this short time.

Zach found a nice shade. He sat and leaned on the wide tree trunk. At the distance, the flames from Matias’ mess still burned. He reckoned he still had time before the fire reached them again, and it was time he wasn’t going to waste.

Name: Zachary Gardwin

Level: 3/50

Species: Human

Title: -

Class: -

HP: 190/190

MP: 100/100

SP: 80/80

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Strength: 12

Vitality: 8

Defense: 5

Agility: 15

Perception: 6

Intelligence: 10

Spirit: 6

Charisma: 7

Point: 0

Skill: Phlegmatic Will(Lv.Max), Living with the Pain(Lv.Max), Value of Water(Lv.Max), Dominion of Satiety(Lv.Max)

His high agility proved its worth. He could feel it while he ran, and when he swung his sword. It felt effortless and light. Something far more incredible when compared to the time he was diligent in swordsmanship training. For that fact, he knew the numbers of his stats were everything, and he was at a disadvantage.

The decision of choosing none showed its detriment. Despite having a bonus of one point extra after gaining a level, it paled in comparison to the bonus status points that were automatically distributed after leveling up to those who had their class. He heard the numbers of Calrin status and it was enough proof to cement that fact. Thus he needed a way to surpass that, and the only thing he could think of was the assumption of being able to learn skills from different classes.

But to be honest, it was a little far-fetched. His assumption was derived from his past life which might be entirely wrong and turned his gamble into a waste. But now, it was do or die. He had no chance of turning back as the only path he had was going forward. The question right now was, how was he going to learn a skill?

An idea crossed his mind. Repetition was the mother of success and perhaps it might birth a skill that he yearned for. Zach got up on his feet and drew his sword. The light in his eyes changed. Focus on the blade. Zach slashed down his sword vertically in a stance. It was the first thing he learned in his journey of learning the sword and now he performed it again. Starting from scratch with the heart of a rookie.

He was a bit sluggish at first, seeing how long it had been since the last time he did this training. But after a few swings, he adjusted his motion and stance and found the perfect stance he had trained for all those years. Zach maintained his focus. Cutting down an invisible enemy with the edge of his sword. The new strength he had carried a terrible force behind each swing, and he too realized such strength.

“The fire grew near,” Dayana said. She came from behind a tree, and her shield never left her left hand.

Zach stopped. Breaking from his concentration, noticing the growing red on the horizon. He glanced at Dayana. Her eyes roamed elsewhere as Zach was still in his silk boxer.

“How’s Calrin?” Zach asked. The boy had to run even when his thigh was still injured. It had healed quite a bit, but Zach worried whether that intense run would open up a new wound.

Dayana did not answer. She looked a bit flustered by that question of his as she never placed much concern for the boy. “Um, I think he’s fit enough to run,” she said.

“You should ask him properly,” Zach said. “Monitoring the numbers in health points is a good way to see if one is in danger or not.”

That tidbit of information only riled her frustration up. She betrayed her determination and locked eyes with the half-naked Zach. Dayana focused her sight only on his head and head only.

“How do you know all of this?” she asked.

“Does that even matter?” Zach replied. He picked up his clothes and wore them back one by one. They had cooled off after an hour of his training.

“If you ask me, I see you as a very suspicious man,” Dayana said.

“Why is that?” he remained nonchalant. Pulling up his pants up to his waist. As he didn’t even look the lady in the eye.

“For starters, your grasp of these numbers and words are somewhat odd,” Dayana said. “We are all in the same situation and yet you have the gist of it all with a disturbing calmness in it also.”

“So it shows I’m smarter than you all, so what then?” Zach said. His disinterested gaze met with Dayana’s.

“Are you implying I’m a fool?” Dayana asked.

“I’m implying I’m better,” Zach said. Then he further gesticulated. “See here. There’s average, and there’s outstanding, and unfortunately, I’m at outstanding.”

Zach went past her, returning back to the group. Dayana trailed from behind with a scowl, pushing down her vexation from blowing up.

“If my eyes are not betraying me, but I think your face looks less ugly,” Mathias said. True to his words, the side-effect of dehydration was lessening.

Zach just maintained his gaze on Mathias for a few seconds in silence before rallying them all to move. The five-man squad trod through the forest path, taking in these strange places they had never been. Most commented they had never seen such trees and shrubs before, especially the hunter’s apprentice, Teena. Zach came to know of her background after the lass kept talking beside him during the journey, and it seemed her skill with the bow was well deserved.

Yet their travel stopped.

“I heard something,” Teena said. Her eyebrows arched and her hands readied her bow. The rest got into a stance while Mathias sneakily positioned himself in the middle of the group.

“Is this how a man behaves, Mathias? Hiding behind a maiden?” Dayana said.

“Well, I guess you don’t know the true pleasure of a man from behind,” Mathias replied with a grin.

“Pervert,” Dayana said. Gnashing her teeth.

“Someone’s there, I can sense them,” Teena said.

“Are you certain?” Zach asked.

“I don’t know, it’s just this feeling I have in the heart,” Teena said.

Incredible was the first thing that popped into Zach’s mind. He imagined that this must be how the perception attribute worked, enhancing the sensory capability of a person that went beyond what a normal person could.

“What should I do, my lord?” Teena asked.

Zach turned, whispering to them to prepare for battle. “Take the shot,” Zach said, and there it went, the arrow went loose from the bow, flying and vanishing into the distance.

A scream came at the other end, and it wasn’t from a beast or an insect. It was a human.

“Shit,” Zach said.