Walking down the forest path, a red haired man accompanied by two old men suddenly stopped and looked around with vigilance, before digging a hole and pulling out a blue gem.
After a brief moment of silence, Winston spoke, "Young master". Winston called out
"Yes, Winston?" Greg answered as he put the gem in his storage ring.
"Forgive my impertinence, but are you really going to let that boy go scot free after rejecting our invitation?". Winston asked with furrowed eyebrows.
A small chuckle escaped from Greg's mouth as he crouched and scribbled something on the ground, "Uncle, I'm not that spoilt brat from all those years ago".
"If he rejected my offer, so be it, after all there are far more willing people out there who are also talented". He added as he marked a tree with a small knife.
"And besides,I could tell he didn't want to be some chilvarous knight or someone who commands respect either". Greg added with a smile.
Winston couldn't hide his surprise as he watched the amused expression as he talked of blue eyed man.
'Last I checked, young master wasn't gay'. Winston thought seriously as he listened to Greg.
"He strives to be strong like all others, yes, but he doesn't want to be the strongest in the world and fight battles with people who could shatter the universe with their bare hands". Greg added with a chuckle.
'To be able to tell this much from just a battle, young master is truly Lord Leon's son'. Winston thought in awe as he watched the back of the departing Greg.
"Let us depart quickly and get the rest of the treasures so I can go back hoke and prepare for the tournament". Greg urged Winston and the other ever silent bodyguard to follow him into another part of the desne forest.
"Something tells me I'm going to witness something exciting on that day". He added, as a wide grin appeared on his face.
.....
I woke up with a jolt as I felt a shiver run down my spine.
'Who was thinking about me?'. Scratching my head, I stood up and opened the window with a yawn.
"Mmmhhh"
A low groan came from the bed as the half asleep Laura covered herself with a blanket to shield herself from the cruel rays of the sun.
"Get up sleepy head". Rolling my eyes, I brushed my teeth and freshened up, only to see Laura still sprawled on the bed with her yellow hair spread all over as she snored lightly.
"Haahh....i'm going hunting, take care of the house and meet me at the spot, understand?". I asked with narrowed eyes as I looked at the sleeping Laura.
"Mm...sure, don't.....get....huaaaammm". With a yawn, Laura fell back on the bed and went back to sleep.
"Guardians don't sleep, she said, tsk". Mimicking her, I walked downstairs and bumped into the receptionist that checked me in a few days ago.
"Oops, sorry didn't see you there". Picking up the scattered pieces of paper, I apologized.
"No,it's fine". She responded calmly as she pushed her glasses upwards.
"Well, I'll be on my way now". I bowed slightly and headed for the door.
"I know it's not my place.....". A calm voice halted my footsteps and I turned around to listen to what she was saying.
"I think It'd be better if you don't talk to yourself so much, it might give others the wrong idea".
"Eh?"
"Eh?"
"Anyways, I'll leave you alone now". She said hurriedly as she went into her room.
"What was that about?". With a shrug, I headed back to the forest and found my way to my tree house.
"Now, let's go wyvern hunting. Again". Muttering to myself, I pulled out my scythe and imbued it with mana.
"Still badass". I smirked and swung it a few times.
"Now, back to business". After a few more swings and role play, I sorted through the memories Greg transferred to me on the account of our bet for the dwelling place of wyverns.
"On that mountain, huh". Looking far into the distance, an ominous looking mountain caneinto view and I gulped audibly.
"Ain't no way in hell I'm going in there, I'm sure they'll be some small fries at the bottom"
Making my way to the mountain foot, I marked some trees to follow in case I got lost and readied my scythe at all times.
Getting close to the mountain, I could hear audible screeches coming from the numerous large holes in the mountain.
Taking cover, I activated [Masseuse] and [Calculative] and crouched closer to a dark spot in the mountain.
'Judging from the screeching sounds, a wyvern should be right behind that boulder'. Moving my eyes to the boulder, I moved stealthily and hid behind the boulder.
*Khieekkkk* *kiikkkikkk*
Low screeching noises passed through my ear as I moved right to the edge of the boulder to get a good look at the wyverns.
'Two, smaller sized'. I said inwardly and jumped on top of the boulder with enough speed to catch them off guard and sliced the two of their heads in one fell swoop.
"That was easier than I expected". I muttered in surprise as the metallic scent of their blood permeated my nose.
********
[Ding!]
[Mission: kill 15 wyverns]
[Mission progress: (4/15)]
Remark: Break your limits!!
***********
"I'll never get used to that". Ignoring the system notification, I stared at the dead beasts and steeled my heart and prepared to search for the cores.
With my nose scrunched, I sliced open the belly of the wyvern and tried looking for the cores while holding back the urge to vomit.
'Nothing here'. I thought as I felt a little dissapointed.
After searching the two bodies, my hands were covered with blood and there were no beast cores to show for my efforts.
"Maybe it's only the mature beasts that have them". I said with a contemplative expression.
"Guess I have no choice then". With a sigh, I climbed the mountain and followed the already carved out path.
"My first victim". I grinned as I saw an unsuspecting wyvern eating what looked to be a baby boar.
"Dying while eating, how tragic". Smiling widely, I propelled myself forward with my mana and swung my scythe downwards.
*Kieekkkk* *Kieeeeekkk*
Dodging my attack, it spread it's wings and flew forward to attack with it's sharp talons.
'This might hurt'. Clenching my teeth, I ran towards it and jumped to it's level, swung my scythe at the confused wyvern and slashed five of it's ten eyes at once.
*Kiiiiiiiiiiikkkk* *kieeeeeeekkk*
Loud screeching noises assaulted my ear drums as it's flying became awkward and blood spilled out of the destroyed eyes.
Sliding on the ground to lose the momentum I gained while in air, my brain worked at light speed to triangulate it's next position and a proper attack to launch.
The wyvern eventually got it's footing and cried out in anger while flying downwards with a large gust of wind.
*Kikikikiiii* (Translation: Die, you bastard!!)
Dodging at the last minute due to its sudden increase in speed, it managed to tear a piece of my clothes and a large cut appeared on my shoulder.
"Argh, that hurts!". I clenched my teeth and ran forward with my scythe held horizontally as the runes glowed.
"Crescent slash two point o babyyy". I screamed loudly as I got to the perfect distance and imbued thirty percent of my mana into my scythe to activate [Crescent Slash].
The effect was far more devastating than I imagined, the surrounding rocks were blown to pieces, the wyvern was cut in half before it could evade my attack and the recoil from the attack blew me backwards as I hit a rock.
"This is some OP shit!". Ignoring the pain on my back, I looked at the damage done and looked back at the scythe in my hand.
"Zangetsu–kun, you're the best". Chuckling lightly, I stood up with the support of my scythe and my system notification rang.
********
[Ding!]
[Mission progress: (5/15)]
********
I squinted my eyes as I looked through the rubble in an effort to locate the core of the deceased wyvern.
I spotted a red glowing object in the far distance and made my way towards it carefully.
"So this is a beast core, I thought it'd be blue though". I muttered lowly as I inspected the rhombus shaped gem.
"I guess it's ranked, just as Greg said". Placing the core in my storage ring, I searched for my next victim as the knowledge Greg and my system transferred to me ran through my head.
'Red is the lowest ranked core, I think orange follows afterwards, then yellow, green, blue, then Violet is the highest, but that's the stuff you only see in dragons'.
Reciting the rankings, I made my way to another cave and spotted another wyvern roughly the same size as that of the last one I fought.
'This is a hassle'. With a sigh, I ruffled my hair and took cover in a bush near the wyvern.
Waiting patiently like a hunter waiting for it's prey, I studied it's surroundings to make sure there were no other wyverns nearby.
Once the coast was clear and it's back was exposed to me, I crawled extremely slowly and imbued my scythe with ten percent of my mana just to be safe and I slashed downwards.
*Kki–*
It's body was almost split halfway before it had a chance to cry out and it's blood spilled like a fountain, drenching my clothes.
"Bleeerrrgghhhh"
Despite trying my best to get used to the nauseating sight of blood, I still ended up vomiting all the food I ate in the morning.
Cleaning my mouth with a sigh, I sliced open the wyvern with a contorted expression and brought out a red core from it's stomach.
"This better be worth the trouble". I muttered discontentedly as I stored the second core.
Moving to the next location, I repeated the same process – Lurk, attack, sometimes vomit and get a core and managed to get five red cores and I had killed ten wyverns in total, lucky for me, unlucky for the children.
The sun was still up despite how long I had been hunting and I made my way back to the tree house with much difficulty while trying not to fall asleep on the ground.
As I reached my destination, I saw Laura sitting on the tree stomp with her legs crossed, "You finally thought to come, huh". I muttered tiredly as I lay on the patch of grass with a thud.
"I overslept didn't I?". She asked with a wry smile.
"No shit, Sherlock". I responded without changing positions on the ground.
"So, how did hunting go?". She asked, trying to change the subject.
I couldn't be bothered to play her mind games and answered straightforwardly, "Hectic".
Flying and sitting next to me, I placed my head on her laps with the last bit of energy I could muster and she caressed my hair with a gentle smile on her face.
"We could always again tomorrow". She suggested
With my eyes still closed, I shook my head on her soft lap, "Nah, I've already hunted ten wyverns, five more to go".
Laura asked surprisedly, "You killed 10 wyverns by yourself?"
I smiled smugly as I replied, "Not at all at once, I added the first two I killed two days ago, and the little children were easy to kill so it was fairly easy".
I didn't need to know what expression Laura had on her face as she responded, "So you killed little kids to complete your mission?"
I smiled wryly and answered, "It sounds a whole lot worse if you put it like that".
"But it's true". She retorted calmly as he hand never stopped stroking my head.
"Bah, whatever". I dropped the topic and snuggled deeper in her tummy, eliciting a chuckle from her.
After a long while, she asked, "How about I weaken the wyverns for you and you just add the finishing blow".
I opened one of my eyes slightly, "That's what they call a kill steal, only low lifes do that, and I'm not that low yet".
"Okay?". She replied, clearly not understanding my MMO language.
"Just heal my wounds and I'll be fine". I added nonchalantly.
"You got injured?". She asked in a voice that sent shivers down my spine.
"I–it was just some little cuts here and there". I chuckled dryly.
"Where". She asked with a calm voice.
I gulped audibly as I pulled off my already tattered clothes while still laying on her lap.
A small gasp escaped from her mouth as she saw the amount of clotted blood and different sized wounds all over my body.
She immediately extended her hands and a green energy flowed into my body and my wounds closed up in real time, only leaving the clotted blood.
Silence prevailed for some time as she inspected my bare body with her eyes, after a while, she eventually sighed and said, "Just... be careful next time".
I nodded as a small smile appeared on my face as I looked at her eyes filled with worry.
'This feels nice'. With my eyes closed once more, my head laid on Laura's lap as I was bare bodied which eventually caused her face to turn a deep shade of red as she stared at my toned body.
Of course I couldn't know all this now could I? (Wink, wink)
A few more hours passed like that, I regained my energy and we set out to hunt the remaining wyverns – well it was mostly me doing all the work with Laura dropping comments here and there like my survival was some live show.
I eventually killed the wyverns required for my mission to be completed and Laura went off somewhere, saying something about having a score to settle.
Sitting on a wyvern corpse, I looked at my system screen that was filled with notifications.
************
Name: Clark Thompson
Rank: F
Class: Battle mage
Lvl: 10 (Congratulations to the host for advancing 5 levels!!)
Exp points: 150
Mp: 170/170(+20)
_________________
Strength: 35(+10)
Agility: 35(+10)
Vitality: 24(+4)
Intelligence: 41(+11)
______________
Weapon in use: Aether scythe
Weapon rank: Mythril – touched
Weapon proficiency: 79%
______________
Skill(s) in use: Masseuse lvl.4, Calculative lvl.4
Skill proficiency: 40%(Masseuse)
Skill proficiency: 77% (Calculative)
Skills possessed: Liar lvl.3, magic fingers lvl. 2, Rank nullification lvl. 3,Desperation lvl.5, Stealth lvl.2 (New!), Eagle vision (New!)
_______________
Rewards: –2 years from rate of improvement!!!!
[Stealth]: Reduces host's visibility when activated.
[Eagle vision]: Increases host's eyesight when activated, eyes can be imbued with mana for better results.
_______________
[Alert!!]
[Rate of improvement of the host has been decreased to the bare minimum!]
[The host's rate of improvement is now fixed at 1 year and 11 weeks for a minor rank breakthrough!]
Remark: We made it!!!
________________
Looking at my system interface, I noticed something, 'The system gives me skills relating to the actions I take during missions, same goes for my stats'.
Take for example, my intelligence, agility and strength had the highest boosts, since I used them for the most part during my missions.
Same goes for my skill proficiency, the percentage increase was in relation to how well I used them.
While I was in deep thought, Laura appeared with a wyvern fur draped on her back.
"What are you doing?". She whispered behind me.
My body jolted in surprise as I turned around quickly and our lips met by mistake.
We kissed. Again.